Last Day As a Three Year Old

Lillian and her Yia-Yia had lunch together on Lillian’s last day as a three-year old. Tomorrow she is four!

Lillian Swimming Solo

Lillian with one of her swimming teachers, Ms. Linsey: she is on her back, kicking to the side of the pool, without her teacher’s help. She’s had two months of lessons and is coming along nicely at the fabulous Houston Swim Club in Sharpstown where it seems like just about every kid on this end of town learned to swim.

Pink is for Girls: The Logic of an Almost 4 Year Old.

Lillian: Hey, ePa, I have on a pink dress!

ePa: That is true.

Lillian: Pink is for girls!

ePa (the very model of the politically correct grandpa): Well, Lilz, some boys like pink, too.

Lillian: Do you like pink, ePa?

ePa: Well, not exactly.

Lillian: That’s correct. You are a boy. You like blue.

ePa: Girls can like blue, too.

Lillian: Silly ePa!

ePa: Why do you like pink, anyway?

Lillian: Kaitlyn likes pink. Na Na likes pink. Yia Yia likes pink. Amy likes pink. We are girls, ePa. You are a boy.

Using Your Hands to Draw? B-O-R-I-N-G

Lillian and her Uncle Paul

Breakfast with Yia-Yia

 

After Lillian’s Yia-Yia and ePa got to spend a few days relaxing at the beach (including an exciting day at the doctor where Yia-Yia found out she had strep throat), Lillian brought her Yia-Yia up to date on the various goings-on while they were away. Lillian’s uncle Paul and aunt Nina and cousin Samuli, visiting from Finland, made Yia-Yia and ePa’s trip possible and Lillian got to hang out with them. She particularly enjoyed the company of her aunt Nina, who, Lillian will explain to you, is a girl, not a boy.

Making Rocket Ships

Lillian built this rocket at her summer day camp today (it’s space week). There’s flame shooting from the bottom, but it does not remain airborne for long, despite many vigorous launches. A number of those launches end by crashing into Lillian’s ePa.

Lillian continues swimming lessons, and floated on her back this week without her instructor’s support — until she realized that her teacher had let go!

Lillian wishes all of her many friends a Happy Midsummer’s Eve!

Learning to Swim

Lillian will finish her first two weeks of swimming lessons tomorrow. She’s always loved being in the water, so now seemed like a good time for her to learn to swim on her own. She’s in the Houston Swim Club’s two-week beginners class, which is five days a week, and will graduate to the Goldfish level and have lessons three days a week through June. It seems as if most of the kids on this end of town learned to swim at HSC.

Day one was fine, right up until her teacher wanted her to put her face in the water. This did not seem like a good idea to her, and she let everyone know. She was not alone: the other three members of her group viewed the entire exercise with emotions that ranged from simple fear to stark raving terror. By the end of the first week, terror had given way to pleasure, and now, at the end of the second week, they are all at home in the water. The instructors have been through this a time or two before, and handle the kids very well. Parents and grandparents are banished to an observation room behind one-way glass.

 

It’s Important To Keep Rain Off Of Your Swimsuit

Lunching with Lillian

Lillian wanted to have lunch at the Statue of Liberty in outer space. We ended up at House of Pies, where pancakes, bacon and eggs seem to have overcome any disappointment she had at not getting her first choice of venues.