Here we are, middle of the month of August (which still is mind blowing to Oskar that it's August, AND he has a brother named August...), with just a handful of weeks
left of summer. It slips away just as fast every year, and as much as we try to
make the most of it, we never have enough time for everything I dream up or jot
down on our summer bucket list. Here’s a little round up of what life has
looked like lately and what the boys have been up to. They’re both growing so
fast…time is truly a thief.
Oskar learned to SWIM this year! He’s always been our fish.
As much frustration as pool ownership can bring, and trust me, it has brought
LOTS this year, it’s worth it for the amount we use it. He’s jumping in the
water every spare minute he gets, and is in and out of the water 100 times a
day. My mom calls him Jacques Cousteau
because he lives under water with his goggles.
He’s also all about diving
rings and sticks, and throws them to himself to grab before they sink to
the bottom. All of this makes me a little more comfortable from a water safety
standpoint, and the stronger he gets at swimming, the less I have to worry. We’ve
practiced jumping off the diving board and swimming right to the side, which he’s
able to do really well 2 or 3 times before getting too tired. This
article really resonated with me and touched me deeply, and I’ll never
think about pool safety the same again. A worthwhile read for any parents of
little ones. We’re thinking about continuing swimming lessons into the fall and
winter months—both because he just loves to swim, and also because it lessens
my worry. I was a competitive swimmer through middle school and into high
school, and I can already see him following in my footsteps.
Oskar also starts Pre-K on Monday, which is still somewhat
surreal. How I have a 4 year old attending a class with the word Kindergarten
in it, I’ll never know, but here we go! He’ll still be attending the same
school he goes to now but will transition into the older classroom along side some of his best little friends. I’ve been working hard on a
back-to-school lunch ideas post, which I promise is coming soon, but for now,
we’re loving this Bento
Box and these
little cutters for sandwiches, fruit, cheese, and cucumbers.
On the August side, we’ve gone though a really rough few
days. On Monday evening he bashed his teeth into his brother’s head and
pushed his upper teeth up into his gums and back toward the roof of his mouth.
Matt rushed him to Children’s ER and then we were seen emergently by a
Pediatric Dentist the following day. The long story short is that nobody
knows what the future holds with his affected teeth. For now, they’re leaving
them be, in hopes that they descend and reposition to some extent on their own.
It’s so heartbreaking to see your sweet baby in pain, and to see their beautiful
smile looking so different. His gums are still black from being so bruised, and
he has lots of swelling that we’re waiting to go down. He’s completely back to
his normal, hilarious, crazy self though, and he was ooh-ed and aah-ed over at
the dentist where he sweetly told everybody what happened to him, word for
word, and that it was his DADA that cried. So, for now, we wait, and go through our Rolodex
of soft foods for 2 weeks.
On a happier note, he had his first hair cut after 2 years and
a handful of months, which resembled shearing a sheep. His long, unruly baby
curls were all trimmed off and he now looks years older. New hair, new attitude for our little Boss Baby.
As far as summer activities, we’ve
gone to Kennywood, Roundhill Park, Oglebay, the Trolley Museum, Sarris’, and the
Carnegie Science Center, and more often than not we’ll take a drive somewhere
on a Saturday morning. We’ve had lots of pre-school birthday parties and play
dates with our friends, and are still hoping to check off the County Fair and an
Outdoor Movie in the Park.
As for us, Matt’s been working like crazy and I have a work
trip booked to Germany early next month. We celebrated our 7
year wedding anniversary by ordering take-out and drinking wine at home,
which was exactly what we wanted.
Looking forward, we'll be soaking up the sunshine during these warm weather days. These boys and their endless energy...there's no better place to be than outside, wild and free. Fingers crossed for no more lost teeth.
