Swimming fun

Here is Michael playing in the pool last night and chatting away.  Yes, at the end, he does say "yummy swimming pool."  I think "yummy" sometimes applies to anything he likes ... we do tell him not to drink the water!  I'm glad he's getting so comfortable in the water. 




In other Michael news, he is constantly chiding Malcolm not to play with anything that he (Michael) can identify: Don't touch the car!  Don't touch the book!  Don't eat the letters!  Well, that last is okay, but we keep trying to explain to him that it's all right for Malcolm to play with toys sometimes too, and they can take turns.  This is going to be a long-term teaching challenge, because right now he does not get "taking turns" or "sharing" even though he understands the words.  He just knows if his brother has something, he wants it right now.  We've had a few tantrums and removal from the situation, and then we explain the concept again and eventually he gets (over) it.

We continue to be surprised at his memory, both in general and in reference to things that seem trivial to me.  At the store with me last week, on our way to check out after making the usual selection of groceries, Michael asked repeatedly, "Find the Snoopy? Find the Snoopy?"  I realized that the last time he and I made a trip to the grocery store (about a month earlier) we had picked out a birthday card for his dad, and he identified all the Snoopy cards in the greeting card aisle.  Apparently that was pretty memorable for him!  Also last weekend, we made a second trip to a new-to-us playground.  Michael immediately ran to sit in the exact spot we'd had an apple snack the previous week and waited expectantly for me to provide the same.  He then kept pointing to a bench and saying, "Time out!" -- because the previous week a little girl's mother had put her in time out on that particular bench.  I don't know if I mentioned on here a third example that really struck me - when we made our special trip to visit my friends in Atlanta in May and checked into our hotel, Michael asked when we would get to see Grandpa and Kadence and Mayah -- because the last time we had been in a hotel, in Chicago *at Christmas,* we'd seen Grandpa and the rest of the Lawlers.  So, although we have plenty of examples of how his memory works, they still collect!