Nature

Thursday is when I leave work early and accompany Ricky to his swimming class. Till last term I was paying huge amounts of $ to have Ricky coached privately. And he was doing very well indeed. Except that he always swam alone. So I asked his coach to let me know when he thought Ricky would be ready to join a swimming class. And this term the coach said that he thought Ricky could handle being in a class of 5 or 6 children.

I was thrilled! And we started 3 weeks ago. Everything was fantastic! The swimming school accepts children with all sorts of disabilities. And the instructor knows Ricky for a few years now and felt that he was ready for a group lesson. Ricky was paying quite a bit of attention to his coach, he was enjoying the company of the other children and best of all - he was competing with them. I could see how he was trying to improve his technique, and swimming strongly to try and get ahead of the others. It was wonderful to see him like this and I could not think of a better way for him to learn!

Until today ... Ricky wants to be friends with the other children. Unfortunately for him, his approach is not always very easy and children who do not know him get a bit scared because he does not yet understand the concept of personal space very well. His social skills are not what they should be, but they are not so bad either. Left to their devices, these very same children, after a while, actually start talking to Ricky and get pretty friendly. Over the last few years, with encouragement from concerned teachers and parents, some children in his school have become good friends with Ricky.

But sometimes things turn nasty. The mother of one child in the class came up to me today and asked me to control my son since he was a threat to the other children. She said that she saw him bump into her son twice. She had seen him swimming too close to the other children. She told me that she had already complained to the instructor but he apparently did not agree with her. (Mind you, I have also been watching every lesson and I did not see one incident which could be construed as 'Dangerous') She informed me that my son was a menace and if I was not able to control him, she would complain to the swim school and have him thrown out. I have experienced this kind of treatment from the time Ricky was a toddler. I should be immune to it by now. But by golly ~ it hurts!!

There ~ got that off my chest and now on to nicer things: The first layout is Club Scrap Aromatherapy kit and K & Co chipboard letters. The second layout is with Club Scrap Bugs kit, a few buttons and an Art Warehouse sticker.

The photograph above somehow emphasizes how sweet Lily always is with her brother. She keeps him company, plays with him, makes him laugh, puts up with his tantrums and is really the nicest little big sister anyone could ask for! Now all I have to do is figure out some nice words to do the journaling on the right hand side of the photo ~ in little strips. Will have to finish that later. The design is inspired by a layout in a CK magazine.

This photo is my absolutest favorite photo of Lily and Ricky. There is just so much naughtiness in his face and so much niceness in hers. Really shows them as they are. The photo just had to go into my 'Book of Me' ~ they are my treasures. This is how I see them even today.

Now watch this and you cannot ever again say that women can't drive!!

And I just have to share this one ... OMG!!!