Floaties.

Hey, I don't know if you guys know this, but Ellie likes swimming, and we love to take her swimming, even if the Resort and Spa's pool is not as warm as we would like this summer.

This week, Gigi took it to the next level by buying Ellie some floaties. Or as the floaties like to call themselves these days, "Aqua Leisure." They are hot pink and we love them. It gives Ellie a chance to work on kicking her legs without having to worry about keeping her head above water, and unlike the wet suit with floaties inside of it,the Aqua Leisures don't cause her to drift to her back, and then onto her front with no way to get her face out of the water.

She can still blow bubbles if she wants.

As she does with Auntie Sara

Meanwhile, she has to ruin my floating by climbing up and giving dirty looks

She is really such a delight in the pool. She will suddenly scream with happiness "I'm swimming!" The other day when I asked her who was a shark, she yelled "I'm a shark!" Grizz, Sara and I are also sharks. Gigi is not. She also likes to splash, and much to Grizz's delight, doesn't mind getting splashed square in the face. I love her fearlessness in the water, and I hope she stays this way forever.

A milestone: we have reached the point in our lives where Tim can go see a movie with his buddies and I am not tearing my hair out trying to get Ellie to go to bed. She has always been a tough nut to crack when it comes to bed time. As a newborn, she'd nurse for hours and then cry for hours in Tim's arms. And since we're not fans of the cry it out theory, it has traditionally meant that someone had to lay quietly in bed with her while she wound down at the end of the day - no sneaking out until she was completely, stone cold asleep. After a long day with her, I was rarely capable of such a feat of patience - lying with her made me want to smash through her bedroom window and run screaming through the streets, tearing all my hair out. But recently as she's gotten better at understanding English, we've started a bedtime routine that involves less work on our ends. We get into her jammies, brush her teeth with her fancy electric toothbrush and then bring her into her room for a round of Goodnight Moon (looking for the mouse on every page) while snuggling with her friends. Then we turn off the lights and I rock her and sing her a lullaby, and then into bed. Now the parent who sits with her just has to sit in the rocker at the foot of her bed. It's SO much easier than laying silent and still with her. PLUS I get to screw around on my phone while I wait for her to fall asleep. It still takes her awhile to settle down, but it's sort of funny - she'll be rustling around and I'll say "Missy!" sort of sternly and she stops kicking her feet, rolls over onto her kitty and lamby, and usually is out within five minutes. It is SUCH a relief. I finally feel like someday we'll be able to lay her down and walk out. Or, she'll go to college, and it'll be her roommate's problem.