March 2011 – Daisy and Caisen are both getting swim lessons for their birthdays. It’s been a long winter with a lot of sickness (though nothing near as bad as last winter!), and we’ve had cabin fever. They did 12 days of refreshers and Brinlee, Kimball, Sawyer, Caisen and Daisy are moving on to twice a week. They made so much progress in those 12 days! It is amazing to watch them progress. Brinlee and Kimball are already jumping off the diving board and swimming to the edge. Sawyer is going down the slide into the water, which is a big deal for him. He doesn’t like heights. It’s been intense and a lot of work, but it’s something to do, and I’m looking forward to having a lot of fun swimming this summer.
Daisy will continue to have lessons 5 days a week for about six weeks. She is screaming less than she was. That first week she was SO MAD. She would buck her body while they were trying to float her and scream like I’ve never heard her scream before. Then she’d look at me accusingly like, “How could you?” She’ll get it eventually, like the others did, and then we’ll all have fun in the pool./
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/Brinlee licking frosting off the whisk./
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/Daisy after her birthday dinner. We had pizza and she had chicken noodle nutritious dinner (that’s what it says on the jar). A few days before her birthday I finally got serious about real food and she started eating some at every meal. We dropped one bottle, and within a few days started her on a straw cup, which she mastered in a day. A few days after that we’re down to one bottle a day to top her off before bedtime. I want to make sure she got enough to eat until I feel sure she’s got this eating thing down./
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/Daisy blowing out her candle on her first birthday. /
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/I wrapped up this singing puppy dog that I pulled out of our box of baby toys. You can see what a stellar wrapping job I did. I hate wrapping presents. She had no idea what it was, so it was sufficient. /
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/Unlike Brinlee, Kimball and Sawyer, Daisy loved caked. I made her the traditional strawberry cake from my family in a Daisy pan. I had no real decorating tools, and the cake was just ugly. I mean, really awful, but it tasted delicious. The recipe came from my grandmother, Charlotte. Daisy’s middle name is Charlotte, after her. Besides, who ever heard of a chocolate Daisy. I tried to make the strawberry icing purple, but it looked more like cement. Oh well, I tried, and it tasted good, so that’s what matters./
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/I’m ready for more cake! Check out her awesome hair! I love it!/
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/Brinlee told me this was her hunting hat. I asked her what she was hunting, and she said, “Toys!” Daddy said, “At least she didn’t say boys.”