Olivia Starts Swimming Lessons, I Contemplate Stuff, and We Both Put on Our Big Girl Underpants
So yesterday was Olivia's first swimming lesson, and I think it went pretty well! We signed up for a once a week baby/toddler class that runs for seven weeks at the Ft. Lauderdale Aquatic Center. I'd never been there before, and WOW is that place huge! Anyway, we're in the Thursday 4:15 class, and yesterday it was only Olivia and a baby, and he looked to be somewhere between six months and a year old. I really liked the way the instructor went about getting the little ones comfortable in the water and was patient in showing the parents how to do the different activities and techniques with them. Olivia loves the water and got right in, but since she's my child and has a mind of her own, there was a lot of "No" and "I can't" and "I want to get down" while we were in the water and trying out the basics of what the instructor was showing us. By the end, though, she seemed to have gotten over her need to do her own thing and happily let me pass her off to the instructor who held her for a bit and told her she'd done a great job, and then she climbed right up the ladder and out of the pool by herself. I think she'll end up doing really well, and I liked the instructor a lot, and the fact that the "baby" pool was shaded and WARM and not full of chlorine. If this class goes well, then maybe we'll sign up for the next baby/toddler class, too, which should take her up to her third birthday, when she can do lessons without me, and just be in the water with the instructors.
I've been doing a bit of thinking (and a bit of discussing with Leo) about marriage equality this week since it's the main thing in the news and on the Internet, and the conclusion that I've come to is this: I am all for any person or group of people of legal age of consent getting married. Straight, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, polyamorous, you name it. Another person or persons getting married has no effect whatsoever on my own marriage, which, hey, would have been illegal a mere 46 years ago! (And let's face it, there are still people who wouldn't look favorably on a marriage between a white woman and a black man.) Most of you probably know that Leo and Olivia and I live in a predominantly gay city just next to Ft. Lauderdale, and here are some fun facts about it: Wilton Manors is known as a gay village. Wilton Manors ranks 2nd in the U.S. for its percentage of gay residents as a proportion of total population, with 140 gay residents per 1,000 residents. Wilton Manors has approximately 1270% more gay men per capita than the national average. Our neighbors are mostly gay men. Our friends in our building are mostly gay men. The people we see out and about in our neighborhood stores and restaurants are mostly gay men. Our state's government, and also our country's government, telling our smart, hilarious, caring, kind (BUT GAY OMG!) neighbors and friends that they can't get married if they so choose? Well, that's more than a little fucked up, and I do not understand it.
In less political news, posting over at my daily music blog continues. I've come to the conclusion that I would make an absolutely terrible critic, but I'm having fun listening to music every day and talking about it. I'm always taking suggestions for new things to listen to, or stuff to blog about, so feel free! Also, I'm kind of astounded, but I've read 27 books already this year! I'm really glad to have gotten back into reading for fun after doing that damn English degree. My poor library card is getting quite the workout!
Which kind of brings me to something else I've been thinking about a lot lately, which is that I've really come to love and enjoy and embrace being a stay-at-home-mom. It took a while, but now that we're well out of the baby stage, and Leo has finished school and is in a job that he seems to like, I feel a lot happier about being at home. I think the first months of motherhood were intimidating and full of anxiety (hello, PPD!), but I really feel like I'm doing a great job now, and I enjoy Olivia more and more as she gets older and we can do a lot more fun stuff together. I like me a lot better, too. I think my focus on weight loss and exercise has made me happier (and healthier, yay!), and I love that I have the time to have a music blog and read three books a week and try out new recipes whenever I feel like it. I feel like in the past I let my work or my course of study or other things define me, and now I have the time to define myself, to find out what I like and just do it, instead of telling myself that I don't have time. Most of all, I like that I am privileged enough to be able to be at home with Olivia and take care of her and watch her grow into a fun, smart, hilarious, adventurous, beautiful kid.
And she really is turning into a kid! On Monday I've decided we're going to start the dreaded potty learning! I have no clue what I'm doing, but Olivia is two and a half and smart as hell, so it seems like it's time. She's had a potty for ages, but we're going to spend next week without diapers, working on peeing in the potty during waking hours. Miss O and I are making a special trip to Target tomorrow morning so that she can pick out her own big girl underpants (and maybe a book or two about the potty from the bookstore!) to add to the stockpile I've got at the ready. I figure we'll give it a go and see where we are at the end of the week. If there's been zero progress made, maybe we'll back off and try again a little later, but she'll be three in August, and it's time to at least give it a serious try.
And on that note, I'm off to get Olivia up from her nap soon and get my workout in before dinner so that I can have some well-deserved Mama Time this evening looking for new jeans and bras at Old Navy and Target - I'm shrinking out of all my clothes! Tomorrow night Grandma is babysitting so that Leo and I can have a date night, which I am really looking forward to. Hope everyone is having and has a great Passover and Easter if you're celebrating!
PS, welcome, new friends! :D
I've been doing a bit of thinking (and a bit of discussing with Leo) about marriage equality this week since it's the main thing in the news and on the Internet, and the conclusion that I've come to is this: I am all for any person or group of people of legal age of consent getting married. Straight, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, polyamorous, you name it. Another person or persons getting married has no effect whatsoever on my own marriage, which, hey, would have been illegal a mere 46 years ago! (And let's face it, there are still people who wouldn't look favorably on a marriage between a white woman and a black man.) Most of you probably know that Leo and Olivia and I live in a predominantly gay city just next to Ft. Lauderdale, and here are some fun facts about it: Wilton Manors is known as a gay village. Wilton Manors ranks 2nd in the U.S. for its percentage of gay residents as a proportion of total population, with 140 gay residents per 1,000 residents. Wilton Manors has approximately 1270% more gay men per capita than the national average. Our neighbors are mostly gay men. Our friends in our building are mostly gay men. The people we see out and about in our neighborhood stores and restaurants are mostly gay men. Our state's government, and also our country's government, telling our smart, hilarious, caring, kind (BUT GAY OMG!) neighbors and friends that they can't get married if they so choose? Well, that's more than a little fucked up, and I do not understand it.
In less political news, posting over at my daily music blog continues. I've come to the conclusion that I would make an absolutely terrible critic, but I'm having fun listening to music every day and talking about it. I'm always taking suggestions for new things to listen to, or stuff to blog about, so feel free! Also, I'm kind of astounded, but I've read 27 books already this year! I'm really glad to have gotten back into reading for fun after doing that damn English degree. My poor library card is getting quite the workout!
Which kind of brings me to something else I've been thinking about a lot lately, which is that I've really come to love and enjoy and embrace being a stay-at-home-mom. It took a while, but now that we're well out of the baby stage, and Leo has finished school and is in a job that he seems to like, I feel a lot happier about being at home. I think the first months of motherhood were intimidating and full of anxiety (hello, PPD!), but I really feel like I'm doing a great job now, and I enjoy Olivia more and more as she gets older and we can do a lot more fun stuff together. I like me a lot better, too. I think my focus on weight loss and exercise has made me happier (and healthier, yay!), and I love that I have the time to have a music blog and read three books a week and try out new recipes whenever I feel like it. I feel like in the past I let my work or my course of study or other things define me, and now I have the time to define myself, to find out what I like and just do it, instead of telling myself that I don't have time. Most of all, I like that I am privileged enough to be able to be at home with Olivia and take care of her and watch her grow into a fun, smart, hilarious, adventurous, beautiful kid.
And she really is turning into a kid! On Monday I've decided we're going to start the dreaded potty learning! I have no clue what I'm doing, but Olivia is two and a half and smart as hell, so it seems like it's time. She's had a potty for ages, but we're going to spend next week without diapers, working on peeing in the potty during waking hours. Miss O and I are making a special trip to Target tomorrow morning so that she can pick out her own big girl underpants (and maybe a book or two about the potty from the bookstore!) to add to the stockpile I've got at the ready. I figure we'll give it a go and see where we are at the end of the week. If there's been zero progress made, maybe we'll back off and try again a little later, but she'll be three in August, and it's time to at least give it a serious try.
And on that note, I'm off to get Olivia up from her nap soon and get my workout in before dinner so that I can have some well-deserved Mama Time this evening looking for new jeans and bras at Old Navy and Target - I'm shrinking out of all my clothes! Tomorrow night Grandma is babysitting so that Leo and I can have a date night, which I am really looking forward to. Hope everyone is having and has a great Passover and Easter if you're celebrating!
PS, welcome, new friends! :D