Just swimmingly

Olivia started swimming lessons tonight. She was very excited for the last few days, and the half hour lesson went very very well. We are so proud of her. She was happy excited throughout and had a little difficulty floating on her back with her teacher holding her up, but though she sputtered and arced back up to sitting, she never stopped smiling. Each of the 4 kids in her lesson group took turns being held up to swim their arms around, then held up to kick on their stomachs, then back floating, then jumping in to a little deeper water, then chasing after some thrown rings and toys to get more comfortable with depth. They would occasionally stand in a circle in the water and swim their arms through the water.
I watched her the entire time, held my wife's hand, and remembered moments of her pregnancy. I smiled and waved back every single time she looked over at us, but she only did a few times. Which is very good, that she was so involved and attentive and not seeking out Dad or Mom's approval. Maybe she knows she has it? I hope so. I love to watch her bounce up and down when she is excited, and raise her hand to answer a question in the water, even though I couldn't hear what was asked and there were only 4 kids even being asked the question. And that, when she is through swimming and we had to go pick up her brother and sister, she is wrapped in an Iowa Swimming towel, given to her mother back in undergrad for being a swimming support cheerleader/manager - sorry honey, I can't remember the name of the role and can't describe it any better than that.

Big Curls for the Girl

When Audrey got her hair cut, Olivia did as well AND got it curled with a real curler. She loved it. Cindy never gets to do this to my hair.

Pony Presentation

On March 11, Olivia delivered a fine report on the habitat and diet of the Shetland Pony. She made a wonderful model in clay of a pony, and placed it in it's natural habitat: a field of grass and flowers, which she made by painting a cardboard packing board. Her research question was: What do ponies eat? She found out that they eat carrots, hay, oats, apples and, for a special treat, peppermints.
We are extremely proud of her scholarship, and of Olivia in general.
I cannot believe that she is four years old and delivering oral presentations to an audience of parents, teachers and her peers. And she insisted on dressing up.

Little Girl Hair

Pig tails and a barrette. I put these in. I'd do it every day, she looks so stinkin' cute.
But she usually won't have it.

Just General Antics

This was the answer to some little girl question in her head.

Popular. Music.

Last week I was trumped by my four year old daughter in popular music awareness.
She had been singing something at the dinner table that Melissa and I had a hard time understanding, but finally got out something about "Can't put a RING on it" and "All the Single Ladies!"
It is disconcerting to hear your daughter, who was a toddler in your memory just about 5 minutes ago, singing anything at all about Single Ladies. Especially at the dinner table.
Fortunately both of these lyric fragments were googlable, and returned references to the song stylings of Beyonce. When we asked her, she divulged that it came from a CD at school called Kidz Bop, the website for which described said remakes as cleaned-up songs re-sung by kids (FUBU?). Of course I knew OF Beyonce Knowles, but was completely unaware of this song, which turns out to be years old and already parodied on SNL. And she also likes to sing this Train song too called Soul Sister, but I'm not all that ashamed that I didn't know this one.

I write as an embarrassed father. Already old, unhip and hopelessly behind the times, and could you please turn that crap down already? I can't hear myself think.
C'mon, really? I'm already behind at four? I really didn't see this coming. And I'm starting to really question my assumption that someday she will think my old Zeppelin, Beatles and Dylan are really great. Or really Easy Listening.
Well, Wheel of Fortune is over, so there's nothing left but to pop my dentures out and hit the hay. Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.

Church

Olivia has been going to Sunday School fairly regularly now, as freedom from illness or travel has allowed her a month or so of Sundays in her own bed and schedule.
She really seems to like the singing and class experience of Sunday School, and I've gotten to sit in with the class a couple times to verify that she is very verbally involved and interested.
This and her great-grandmother's funeral a few months ago lead to lots of interesting statements and questions. About God and heaven and what we do with peoples' bodies when they die and where their spirits go. And how did David kill Goliath with a little rock and what is a sling anyway? Today she told me that Oma was not crying for Great Grandma any more because she is up in heaven. And I told her that was true and that she could ask Oma about that anytime she wants to; talk to her about how she feels and what Great Grandma means to her. Told her that Oma would be be happy to talk about that anytime.
She sat on my lap for the sermon in church today, and defied my warning that Pastor Mark is going to talk for a while now and that he might say some things that she won't understand. She would regularly lean back and whisper in my ear things like "that means that Jesus is trapping people in a net" as Mark was discussing aspects of Matthew's verses of James and John leaving Zebedee and their nets to join Jesus on the shores of Galilee. Right she was.