Earrings and Swimming

Today Julia lost one of her beloved sterling silver heart earrings, and despite our search through the house, we were unable to find it.  I suggested she put her birthstone earrings in for the time being, until we can either locate the heart earrings OR a birthday or holiday comes upon which she receives new earrings.

The only problem was that Julia keeps her pajama drawer stuffed full of not only pajamas, but various jewelry boxes which are themselves stuffed full of ALL SORTS OF TRINKETS.  Silly bandz, erasers, Rainbow Loom bracelets, necklaces, Harry Potter rings, you name it.  Finding her birthstone earrings was a feat in and of itself. 

As Auntie Shannon, Julia, Madeleine and I all joined in the search for the earrings, we remarked upon the various bric-a-brac we found in Julia's pajama drawer.  Madeleine was especially befuddled by one item in particular.

MADELEINE: (pulling out a Happy Massager) Huh?  Uh, Mama? What's THIS?
ME: That's a Happy Massager.  Julia, why do you have a Happy Massager in your pajama drawer?
JULIA: (distressed) I don't know!  Everything keeps CHANGING where it's getting PUT!

Fortunately, Auntie Shannon was able to retrieve the birthstone earrings, and Julia once again has a matching pair of studs in her ears.  Madeleine headed off to her own bedroom, and Julia and Auntie Shannon began organizing Julia's jewelry in a more logical fashion. 

And then:

MADELEINE: (bursting into Julia's bedroom) Uh, Julia?  About the Happy Massager.  I just TOOK it out of your drawer so...so...so that you don't have so many STUFF to put in there.
AUNTIE SHANNON: Yeah, because you *definitely* need more trinkets in your room, Madeleine.
MADELEINE: Well, I do need a Happy Massager, in case I...I...I...I have some BUMPS that are GRUMBLING under my skin.

I mean, that's what *I* use the Happy Massager for; those bumps grumbling under my skin are constantly driving me crazy.

On a different subject entirely, the girls are LOVING their new levels of Swim Lessons.  Almost too much so; yesterday I had to get into the water to command Madeleine to stop interrupting her teacher to tell and show her things unrelated to the swim lesson; after the lesson, in fact, I had to instruct Madeleine that she is allowed to give her teacher ONE hug when the lesson ends, but that she can't be continually swimming over to hug her teacher throughout the lesson.

The girls have made great progress in their lessons, with Julia taking on the challenge of flip turns and Madeleine working on her front crawl and breast stroke.  I got a short video of a few of Madeleine's stroke attempts at Free Swim today:






Keep up the great work, girls!