New Beginnings

Exhibit A: Annie's new refrigerator chart. I guess I could say that my goal is to give her ownership, or to foster independence, but really, it's to avoid any more meltdowns of epic proportions like the one we had on Monday morning. Even though we've been following the same routine every single school morning since September, Jason and I still find ourselves nagging her to do the usual things, while Annie continues to be shocked and appalled that mornings do not contain enough time for dress-up, playing with Molly, dancing, reading a magazine, or sitting on the heat vent with a blanket while looking at the American Girl catalog.

Today, then, was the first morning of the new chart, which I made in a fit of What Else Might Possibly Work Here after she left the house in a rage on Monday morning. See the clothespin attached to the right side? This morning, Annie merrily moved the clothespin down the side of the chart as she completed the items and got to the last task with twenty whole minutes to spare. She was so proud of herself, and I hope this makes the rest of our school mornings happier.

Exhibit B: Day two of playing outside in the balmy (okay, 40-degree) sunshine from 3:30 - 5:00. Scooters! Bikes! Sidewalk chalk! Neighbors! Yay!

In other new adventures, I went ahead and actually Got In The Pool at the hotel in Chicago this weekend. I've been half-claiming since New Year's that I'm going to do a triathlon this year, so I thought it might be time to see if I can still swim. I mean, I can swim. I take the girls to the pool, we swim in Lake Michigan, I tread water in Walloon a few times a summer while Jason does cannonballs off the boat, but it's literally been since high school that I've gotten in a pool with the sole intent of swimming from A to B using some type of regular stroke. And even then, it was never my strong suit. (Suit! Ha!)

So I put on my (five-year-oldish) one-piece bathing suit. I showered. I got in the pool. It was cold. Jason showed off by racing ahead of me each lap. But for twenty minutes or so (with some breaks in there, for sure) I swam laps, alternating breaststroke, backstroke, and freestyle. I might really be able to do this thing! I definitely need the six months to train, though. (Also, a swim coach, goggles, swim cap, road bike, and surely many other things that I haven't even thought of yet.)

Exhibit C: the white bean dip I made for part of this week's Meatless Monday dinner. It's basically hummus, but with white beans and italian flavors instead of middle eastern. It looked disturbingly like paste, but tasted pretty good. As an extra bonus, Jemma ate one of the sugar snap peas and declared it "kinda" good.