Splish Splash Baby Seal

Chou-chou loves the water! Chou-chou's always loved the water and his bath, but I think his fun in the water hit an all-time high today. We started out the day with his swim lesson over at Dolfun Swim Academy in North Portland. We've been attending fairly regularly (when he's not under the weather) since February, and although I was a little apprehensive about the whole dunking thing, he's done great all along. We're now to the point where the babies wear goggles in the water, do several "send swims" and swim to the wall under water in each class. It's pretty amazing to see the youngest baby in the class-- he's the best and can float on his back at 4 months! Anyway, Chou-chou just had a really great day in the pool, splashed a TON, and did well at holding his breath under water. Then tonight, I think he took a twenty minute bath! In baby time, that's really long, especially at the end of the day when we're all pooped! We started a pretty lengthy bedtime "routine" several months ago with Chou-chou (to try and improve our nights... not so sure it's made a difference, although bedtime usually goes okay), which commences with his bath. The sign for bath is one that he knows well by now. We'll be playing or finishing up dinner, then when it's time to go take a bath I ask him "Tu veux aller prendre ton bain?" and do the sign for bath. He gets all excited and starts "howling" in Chou-chou style! By the time we get him undressed on the changing table he practically jumps into your arms, all naked and cute. Jarod and I take turns getting in with him, but either way, as we sit down in the tub he squeals with anticipation, knowing that his toes are about to touch the water! It's to die for! Tonight I filled the tub less than usual, and it was way more fun that way. When there's only two inches of water or so, we discovered that Chou-chou can lie on his tummy and kick all of his limbs at once, splashing water all over the bathroom! Because he's so used to getting his face and head wet (we've been pouring water over his head on cue at least 3x per bath since the beginning of swim lessons), he just sort of squints as the beads of water cover his face. I'm hoping he sleeps better after expending all of that energy! He's also having a lot of fun with his water bucket lately, and especially tonight. We've been told that he'll likely start pouring water on his own head within a couple months of starting swimming, but for now he enjoys holding the bucket (a large yogurt container) in one hand and "drumming it with the other". He seems to love musical toys and has been practicing his "percussion" on his oatmeal box drum (which Jarod has dubbed his "Charlie"...??... weirdo!) with impressive dexterity lately. So now his water bucket is a new drum. And also a mallet, it would seem, since he discovered it makes a loud noise when banged against the side of the tub as well! Wow! That's a lot of info about Chou-chou's bath and water time! I would say that we definitely named our boy appropriately, as his real name means "little/baby seal"... Aww:)

Real quick, I should also note that we went on our first picnic as a family tonight! We ate on blankets over at Raleigh Park. Chou-chou had an unfortunate bout of constipation (that's a whole other blog, though... when will this boy's digestive system ever get on track?), but after he managed to "go", his mood improved and we did a little swinging. He was so over-the-top happy about swinging in the Spring night air. Jarod blew on his face as he swung forward each time, which just sent him into fits of squealing! Have I mentioned that he loves loves loves air being blown on him? The hair dryer? Anyway, very nice picnic and a lovely hint of what's to come...