Last Day of Summer

School starts tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about it. I've enjoyed slow, relaxed mornings and less time in the car. On the other hand, I'm getting tired of sibling fights from sheer boredom, and mother-son fights over why 6 hours of Wii Lego Star Wars in one day is excessive. Ethan will be gone from 8:30 to 3:00 five days a week...that's a lot, and I think it will be an adjustment for all of us at first. I know he'll love it, though, and will be much happier if he's in a stable routine and kept super busy (those are two of my firmly held beliefs in how to survive raising boys).

The last day of (our) summer, Ethan spent the afternoon at the pool. He has really struggled to learn to swim. It finally dawned on me that he might benefit from a snorkel/scuba mask (which is what I prefer myself) that would keep water out of his nose. We started using it two weeks ago and now he's a little fish and wanting to join swim team next year. Today he swam the entire length of the pool and then treaded water, earning his swim band, which allows him to go off the diving board "whenever I want." He is so proud and we are so proud of him, too. It was a huge accomplishment for him and he did so great. I told him at the beginning of the summer that if he went off the diving board on his own (into 9 ft of water) by the end of the summer, I would buy him the Lego Power Miners Crystal King. (This is referred to as "positive reinforcement" and a "reward system," which makes it sound like a legitimate parenting technique, as opposed to a "bribe" which sounds like lazy parenting. It's all in the spin, you know.) I've never been happier to have to buy him a toy.

After dinner we headed over to a local frozen custard place to celebrate his success and to celebrate/mourn the last day of summer vacation. Ethan wanted to get Maddie out of the car by himself and carefully walked her across the street while I was getting Colin out. My heart just melted. He shared his custard with her, too, after she decided that his Oreo version tasted better than the vanilla I got for her. He's a sweetie.