Just keep swimming!

This is our 3rd summer living in this apartment and our 3rd summer that we have used the lovely pool that is in our complex. For the past 2 years our trips to the pool have been limited because Riley was young and we would spend the majority of the time in the pool sitting on the steps or holding Riley as she held on to us for dear life. It wasn't very fun.

I was certain that this year would be the year that Riley swam by herself. We even bought her a brand new puddle jumper back in early spring to be prepared for swimming. Boy was I wrong!! Starting from back in May when the pool opened our trips there included yet again, sitting on the steps and having Riley needing to be held (this year it wasn't for dear life). She wanted nothing to do with letting go. We tried everything...even bribery!

Yesterday we went to the pool for the first time in a few weeks and Riley decided to on a whim float around the pool with her puddle jumper and noodle. After over an hour of her independently swimming around, Jeremy and I asked for a turn with the noodle. She said "ok" and handed the noodle right to Jeremy and began to swim all on her own. It was nothing short of awesome.

She's been non-stop since! So below you will see her swimming with the noodle and then a picture of the prize she got at the BIG toy store (aka Toys R Us). She picked out a bird that she calls Tweet and Tweet has an egg in her belly with a baby bird that Riley named Zee. And after the pics enjoy some video of Riley swimming all by herself!!

My little day trip

Mommy and daddy took a few days off from work and said we were going to spend the few days together doing little things. I insisted that we should go to a zoo. I was also very clear I wanted to see a giraffe. When I wasn't looking, mommy and daddy found a zoo that had giraffes. It was all the way in Buffalo. I had never been to Buffalo before, but it's not too far from home and it is what I know now, to be a super awesome zoo!!


I saw so many animals that aren't in our zoo here like giraffes, polar bears and a sea lion. Totally worth the 2 hour drive!!

The we drove another 20 minutes to the Niagara Falls Aquarium. There I got to feed the seals!! That's right I touched itty bitty fish and threw them into the water for the seals to snack on.

Mommy and daddy told me about some really big waterfall that was near where we were. I begged to go see the big waterfall and did!!! It was GINORMOUS!!!! I had fun getting sprinkled by the falls and I saw a beautiful rainbow.

Overall, this was the best day trip mommy, daddy and I have taken. I definitely give it:

TWO THUMBS UP!!!

What a fun, fun day!!!

If you want to see more pictures from the zoo, aquarium and the falls click this link:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150282595476096.391407.669006095&l=42bee5a553

A,B,C it's easy as 1,2,3...or is it??

With Riley transitioning into the pre-school room at daycare I decided to sit down with her a few weeks ago to see just how many letters she would be able to identify. I randomly went through capital and lower case letters with her on the chalkboard. She was able to identify 19/26 capital letters and 16/26 lower case letters.

Then the panic set in!!

I was worried that she would be the only 3-year-old in pre-school that couldn't identify all of her letters. I mean I didn't even know if she SHOULD be able to recognize all of her letters. I figured it was time to go out and get some flashcards.

Thank goodness for the $1 spot at Target. I was able to get cheap flashcards for letters and numbers. It was on to studying from that point forward.

Two weeks later, Riley can now identify 26/26 capital letters and 21/26 lower case letters. She struggles with b, d, g, h, and n. So I say it's been a successful study session over the past 2 weeks. But my vow is that by the time August 23rd rolls around and she is OFFICIALLY a pre-schooler she WILL know all of her lower case letters!!!

As I sat down to write this blog I decided to do a little research to see when a child should be able to recognize letters and according to babycenter.com (which is a site that I tend to use to gauge where Riley should be developmentally) they say:

"Most children begin recognizing some letters between the ages of 2 and 3 and can identify most letters between 4 and 5. This means that you can start teaching your child the alphabet when he's around 2 - but don't expect full mastery for some time."

While this makes me feel better, I don't plan on slowing down anytime soon. If she remains interested I am going to keep moving along!!

Up next - WRITING her name!!!! Hahahahaha - Just kidding. I'll be happy with her just knowing all the letters!

July is proving to be promising

July has started out great! We spent the weekend enjoying time with each other and family. The weather for the 4th of July weekend was absolutely perfect!! On Friday night we went out for ice cream, Saturday we spent the morning in the pool, Sunday we went for a BBQ at Babcha and Pop's house and on Monday we visited the zoo. What a busy but oddly relaxing weekend. Here are some pics from our weekend.

Getting ready to go to the pool.

Hanging in the little pool at Babcha and Pop's

Checking out the elephant at the zoo.

If every weekend this summer is like this - it's going to be one awesome summer!!