April Happenings

During March, we decided to put Grant into swimming lessons. It was a long and thought out process because public swimming pools are dangerous for germs and Grant's immune system, but Grant is such a cautious kid and will not let go of a parent when he is in the water. He has refused to put his ears under water which I have been told before can remind kids subconsciously of being under anesthesia and so they attach an underlying emotional fear and anxiety to the situation. The other struggle we have had is that most swimming pools are only heated to around 85 degrees and that is fairly cold for Grant. He turns purple quickly and then his body struggles to maintain his oxygen saturations while it works hard to keep warm and still exert energy. A year ago, Grant started doing pool therapy with his physical therapist and we found a local athletic club with a therapy pool at is heated to 92+ degrees and is open only to members. Grant did well during therapy, so we decided to bite the bullet and pay the high non member price for swimming lessons. He started in March with only one other girl in his class. After one month, he was making good progress, so we put him in a larger class with four other kids. 

Grant had a blast. He gained so much courage to try new things (amazing how that can happen when someone besides mom and dad push him!). I had to laugh because in his first session, it was Grant and one other little girl his age. She was always trying to hold his hand during class and would take Grant by surprise every time. In his second session, there were three boys and then one girl. She took an instant liking to Grant (and ignored the other boys completely) and on the second day of class popped out of the water and kissed him. Her mom was embarrassed and apologized to us that her daughter had gone home talking all about her new friend from swimming. She joked that she was quite the aggressor and was not afraid to go after what she wanted! She tried to make moves every week and I had a hard time holding in the laughs. I guess it is true... Chicks dig scars. :)

See those ears under the water? Yay Grant! This is such a big step for him! Eventually he finally went under the water all the way too. He has a long way to go, but this finally helped him get over his fear.

We stopped lessons for the summer since the pool will be lots more crowded, but hopefully we can continue working with him now. 

Another highlight of April was getting to see my former roommate Michelle and her family. Michelle was my first roommate freshman year at BYU in our lovely dorm at Robison Hall in Heritage Halls. She was from Canada and we had so much fun together. She came home with me many weekends since home was too far away and she became like a part of the family. She married Andy and moved away with him to pursue his next degree at Purdue and I hadn't seen her since she moved, though we have kept in contact. About a year after Kyle and I were married, we were talking about his relatives who lived in Parma, ID. I joked that my roommate had married a boy from Parma and sure enough, we discovered that Kyle and Andy are second cousins. Michelle and I had always wanted to be related and by chance, now we are! Andy and Michelle recently moved to North Dakota and conveniently have to travel directly through our town on their way to visit Andy's parents. Hooray! They stayed the night with us on their way to his brother's wedding and we loved catching up. We thought we would see them on their way back, but plans changed, so we didn't take all the pictures we had planned on. At least we finally got our kids together to play. Grant has not stopped asking when he will get to play with Alice and Matthew again and hopefully Miles and Rachael will be good friends as they grow up too.

We bribed the kids with fruit snacks to get them to sit still for a quick pic. They are so cute!

Thanks for coming Robinson's! We can't wait to spend more time with you the next time you are passing through. I am so glad we had the good sense to marry cousins!

The last set of pictures here has to do with Grant's absolute love of digging in the dirt. As soon as the snow melted, Grant was out digging in my flower beds making construction sites and having a great time. He had a front row seat to all of the construction happening in our backyard. You can see from the pictures just how close it is. I have loved not having any neighbors for the last few years, so it will be quite an adjustment for us. I look forward to getting a fence and to. It being woken up at 6 am by construction!

I guess I can't complain too much, it has provided HOURS of free entertainment for the kids, but it makes me nervous to have it so close to where they are playing!

Grant waves and makes friends with all the guys. I think they get a big kick out of his enthusiasm. He tells them they are doing a good job and watches from his playhouse. 

See how close is is? Yikes!