Swim Lessons

Ella's begun her first swim lessons down at Pearl Harbor. She's so excited about learning to swim but the entire 30 minute class, I was nauseous with fear. There are 6 kids to an instructor, there are 2 instructors as there are 12 kids under 6 years. They had all the kids line up and enter the pool, the ones who could swim were to go to the opposite side, the ones who couldn't were to use the wall to make their way to the end of the pool. It was the first time Ella was left to her own devices in a body of water. She did great and held onto the wall and listened to the instructor. There are 3 in her class that cannot swim at all, and of the 3 she's the only one who is willing to blow bubbles, put her face in the water and even dunked her head under.

My fear was that in typical Ella fashion, she would get hyper and forget to hold onto the wall while the instructor was with another kid and I'd panic and jump in fully clothed. The other two moms of the kids who couldn't swim seemed as nervous so I tried be as calm, cool and collected as possible. :) Ella was great, she had so much fun and can't wait to go again today. She even went on the slide at the end of class - but only those who would get their faces wet were allowed so Ella was the lone non-swimmer to do it. I seriously can't wait until she can swim... or at least float!

Waimanalo Beach

We headed out this morning to the Shriner's property at Waimanalo Beach. Ron helped restore the breakwater by re-piling rocks that had been washed out from some winter storms. It was a gorgeous day, at a gorgeous beach, complete with a BBQ.

Favorite Quotes

I have been seeing some quotes here and there and found a brilliant storyteller artist named Brian Andreas. I will be posting my favorites as I blog; many are just too beautiful to resign to a list of favorites.

"There are lives I can imagine without children but none of them have the same laughter & noise. " ~Brian Andreas

Nimitz Beach

Ko Olina

Hickam Beach

Ella and I went to visit Emmi and Christina and hang out at the playground while Dad and Jackie saw the Arizona Memorial.Then it was off to hickam Beach ...And Finally out to dinner for my birthday!!!

Papa's Here!

Papa arrived Monday night and Ella has been on cloud nine since his arrival!!

Nature Lesson

Ella was stung for the first time by a bee. How do we know it was a bee? Well, after the hysterical crying coming from the playground and then calming her down enough to have her say, "a bug bite me", we examined her finger and saw that it was bit red and swollen.

"Did an ant bite you?"
"Yes"
"Did a bee bite you?"
"Yes"
"Did a spider bite you?"
"Yes" ...hummm

"Was it on the ground?"
"Yes, I catch it with my hand"
"Before it was on the ground, did it fly?"
"Yes, mommy a bee bite me."

A little ice and some quick KidsHealth.com info on bug bites, we were able to get the stinger out of her finger tip and all seems to be well.

It's our fault really. We encourage her to look and learn about bugs and even catch geckos in our house and put them outside to "go back to your family, gecko." I don't kill bugs in front of her, I act excited to see one and distract her so I can squash the sucker. So it stands to reason that we would catch a bee in our hand if the opportunity arose, right??

We have nature to thank for this latest lesson and had a big talk about what things are safe to catch (ladybugs, beetles, geckos, worms) and what we should never touch (bees, spiders, centipedes). Ella's finger is fine, complete with a Dora The Explorer band aid which is purely for the pity and hugs she gets when she reminds us of the traumatic event. Just another war wound in the life of a 3-year-old. :)

Update

Ella is doing much better. Her blood work came back and all is normal. The antibiotics are working and her cough has substantially decreased, you wouldn't even know she's been sick. Ron and I have caught the beginning of this bug, we're under the weather a bit, he's got a mild cough and I have a sinus cold. Ahhh, the joys of living in a small house and sharing all the germs!! :)

Despite this, we started our backyard project today. We're building a raised-bed veggie garden. I'll post photos of the progress but our seeds have started to sprout and we're in the process of staining the wood for the beds, one is complete so we may begin planting tomorrow...I love Hawaii :)

Improved

Ella has been much better today. No leg cramps and her cough is subsiding. I canceled her doctor's appointment this morning as she was treated and given new antibiotics last night. The doctor called and I updated her but she seemed agitated that we went to the acute care clinic (ACC) and essentially got a second opinion. She said the new antibiotic was the one she was going to prescribe today and basically said everything that I just told her but made it sound like it was her diagnosis and that she knew it to be the case all along. Seeing as her diagnosis consisted of "I'm not sure", "Ella you're a conundrum", "it sounds like", I wasn't too impressed. If it's such a "conundrum" why weren't further tests done?

We did go to the lab for Ella's blood work and as soon as she figured out what the tech was doing she tried to run in the opposite direction - not surprising after last night's failed attempts. She cried, but he got a line in one go and once she realized it wasn't all that painful her cries turned to whines of "Mommy, I need a tissue for my tears". A lollipop put the tech back in her good graces and she thanked him and waved goodbye. Off to McDonald's for lunch and Walmart for a Dora coloring book... all seems to be well in the house :)