summery

I love that our town has these wading pools in a few of the parks. Too bad they're only open while school's out for the summer and then only for two hours on weekdays.
They're free though, so I won't complain too much.

sanity, saved

blurry but hilarious

Tuesday night, I had a chance to get away and meet my friend Jen for dinner. Taking a break from mom-ing makes the actual mom-ing more fun the next day, ya know?!
Jen is a good listener and a good talker and also pretty funny. She also happened to have the above-pictured nosey-things in her purse (they're nose-pieces for Jen's daughter's upcoming dental work, sent home by the dentist to play practice with). Much hilarity ensued.
I also managed to snap a pretty cool self-portrait for 7days while waiting in front of the restaurant. The setting sun was really intense, and I'm happy with how I captured it:

pool boy

Noah playing in Annalie's pool last month - happy as a clam.

Yesterday, Noah had his first swim lesson. He spent the entire 25 minutes we were in the (3 feet deep) water clinging to me for dear life and crying that he wanted to get out. I can't say that I was surprised - he loves to play with and in the water, but he's not a fan of deep water (and when you're not quite 3 feet tall, lots of water is too deep). I had hoped, however, that being with other children would make the deep(-ish) water less scary. And while he did let go of my neck with one of his arms for a few moments (!) to retrieve a rubber duckie that a (perfectly happyly splashing) baby girl had thrown his way, that idea didn't really pan out.

Today, when it was time to get ready for swim class, Noah refused to put on his swimsuit. We had a lengthy conversation about it, and decided that he wouldn't go to swim class anymore.
We both feel better now.

(temporarily) giving up on eloquence

I spent several hours yesterday working on a blog post. The harder I tried and the longer I sat there and thought about it, the less I was able to put my feelings into words. The problem, I think, is that I don't actually have any answers; I only have rudimentary ideas.
This morning, I came to the conclusion that I needed to give up on eloquence and just say what I had to say without trying to be profound.

National Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC

Yesterday was a slightly sad afternoon. It's just that I suddenly really miss the baby I'd be getting ready to have any day now had I not had a miscarriage last winter.