My Little Fishie

Kade has been in swimming lessons for a long time. Almost a year, I think. While he loves them, he was always stuck in the first level, because he HATED going under water and jumping in. He got water in his eyes once and screamed so hard that the life guard came running over, sure that he had broken a leg or something.

Last week, Kade's cousin invited us to go swimming on a very hot day. I took the opportunity, while I was actually IN the water with Kade, to try and get him to go under water. I couldn't convince him though. I was about to get out of the water when, out of the blue, Kade dunked his head, all on his own! To his suprise, he discovered that he LOVED it! I couldn't get him to stop! The trick, for him, was wearing goggles and pinching his nose. The next day (4th of July) he was at another cousins house, and was in the pool for hours, happy as a clam! He was so cold and his lips were turning blue, but he didn't want to get out.

I now call him my little fishie. He has been in swimming lessons every day this past week, and has shown so much improvement! He jumps off the edge all by himself now. He does sitting dives. He back floats on his own. He goes under the water so much that he gets in trouble for it! Only a week ago, he was the boy clinging to the edge of the pool, afraid to let go, determined to keep his face dry. Just look at this picture and you can see how excited he is now:


He is most excited about getting closer to being able to swim with his cousins, all on his own. Every time during lessons when he does something he is proud of, he gives me his little version of "thumbs up":


(I've tried to teach him to use his thumb, but the finger just wants the job so bad, and besides, it's cute!) He has gone from, "I can't do it," to, "I did it!" It makes me so happy to see him gain that self confidence. Go, little fishie, go!

Reusable snack bags + free tutorial for a sandwich wrap

Last week, Kade went to day camp. I packed him a lunch every day, and realized by the end of the week that I had used at least 8 plastic ziplock bags! Next year he'll be taking lunch to school, and if I use that many baggies every week for a whole year.... wow. Lots of money wasted, lots of plastic bags in the garbage. So, I decided to make him some reusable snack bags.

(Chocolate milk is there so you can see how big they are)

I have made two sets so far (SpongeBob and outer space) and will probably make one more. They are the same basic size as the snack size and sandwich size ziplocks. They have tabs to make them easy to open, and velcro all the way across the opening.


The inside is made out of PUL (polyurethane laminated fabric)- it is soft and flexible, waterproof, washable, and safe*. I got mine at Kids in the Garden- she is very reasonably priced, and you can buy by the inch! You could also use oilcloth, or just regular cotton fabric.

After I made the snack bags, I decided to try and make a sandwich wrap. The boy I nanny uses them every day at school, and loves them! They hold everything in nicely, make a nice clean place mat for his food to sit on, and also work for crackers, apple slices, cookies, etc. So, I sat down and drew out a little tutorial for myself (I have to figure stuff out before I start sewing, or who knows what I'll end up with!), and here's what I came up with!

(Once again... chocolate milk was easier to show the size than making an actual sandwich!)

Cute, huh?! The great thing is that all three items (2 snack bags and 1 wrap) only cost me about $5, total! I love saving money! And I feel good about reducing (even if only by a little bit) the amount of trash we throw out.

Here is my little tutorial for the sandwich wrap. Now you can make some for your kids too! :) I don't know how to attach a PDF to my blog, so just click on the picture to make it bigger, and save it to your computer if you want to.


So there ya go! If enough people want me to, I'll also do a little tutorial sheet on the 2 sizes of snack baggies. I hope the tutorial makes sense, if you have any questions or if anything is confusing, just let me know :) Enjoy!

* There is a lot of conflicting information on the web about whether PUL is food safe or not. From all my research, I have decided that I am comfortable using it for my family. PUL is plastic, so if you don't like saran wrap, ziplock baggies, etc. coming in contact with your food, PUL might not be a good choice for you. PUL is also not to be heated up, of course. As with anything else, do your own research and come to your own conclusions about whether or not to use PUL.

Sneaky Little Ninja

I was doing laundry one day and I found a tiny, 1" tall ninja at the bottom of the hamper. He's pretty brave for such a little guy. Very sneaky too. I hid him in Jer's shoe. When Jer found it, he stuck it on the computer desk peeking out from behind the speakers. Here are a few more places this Sneaky Little Ninja has been found lately:

Up on a high shelf full of vases and jars, hiding right inside a small glass bottle near the back:

Amidst the leaves of my Snake Plant:

Balancing on top of the frame holding our engagement photo:

I wonder where he'll turn up next...