Gingerbread Men and Humpty Dumpty

Yesterday was a busy day - but a great one! We started at the library for a puppet show about the Gingerbread Man - which the girls loved. The girls were very attentive listeners, and I was very proud of them. Nana and GrandBob went with us, and after the puppet show suggested stopping by a small bakery they used to frequent that made gingerbread men. So we stopped to buy 4 of those, along with 4 pink iced stars! Yum! After a trip to the Chinese food buffet, we came home to chase the gingerbread men.

GrandBob made them 'run' for the girls to chase. Then Meredith so kindly reminded us that they were gingerbread girls, not boys.

Amanda, Melissa, Meredith, and Claire

After naps, I got the girls ready to go swimming. Did you know a washable swim diaper won't hold pee - at all?? I learned the hard way, as I was changing Amanda and looked up when Melissa started crying, "Uh-oh!" while standing on the carpet...

We met Greg at the swimming pool, but had to wait about 15 minutes since traffic was making him a little late. The girls were very patient while we waited, just watching the other boys and girls swim in the pool. (We had to go on in, since I didn't want another "uh-oh" on the carpet at the Y, and I wasn't going to wait outside with it being over 100 degrees!) The girls finally got in the pool, and I was quite surprised at how they just climbed on in to the first step - so different from last time where the little girls seemed to scared to get in. Greg had picked up some new swim suits for the girls, that have flotation devices built into the swim suit, and these allowed the girls to move around a little freer than the life vests they wore last time. After a few minutes of playing on the steps, Meredith and Greg swam down to the deeper end of pool (5 ft), and yes, Meredith swam! Well, it was more of a doggy paddle, but she doesn't hold on to the wall and doesn't want anyone to help her. Wow! When they got back to where I was with the other girls, Meredith decided to jump off the side to Greg. Amanda, aka Little Baby No Fear, thought this looked fun, so she climbed out and went around to the side of the pool. I couldn't believe it, but she jumped right in to Greg! Not to be out done, Claire got out to try it, but after one jump, she had had enough. Amanda and Meredith continued to jump over and over. As soon as they jumped in, Greg helped them to the steps and they immediately climbed out and walked over to the side to jump again. Melissa even got out to give it a couple tries. Meredith had her face go underwater for a second, too. I was so proud of them all! Especially considering last week the triplets just sat on the steps - the TOP step! This week they not only went down to the third step and played and splashed, but they all jumped in the water. Way to go, girls!

So maybe you're wondering why the title is 'Gingerbread Men and Humpty Dumpty'... When Meredith was in swimming lessons about two years ago, the swim teacher had the kids "do the Humpty Dumpty" - they would sit on the side and jump into someone's arms. And they recited the nursery rhyme to help them get the courage to jump in. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall" and Meredith would fall into the pool into Greg's arms.

Yesterday was a fun day; the girls started out chasing gingerbread girls, and ended by doing the Humpty Dumpty. What more could a girl want!?