Sweet Home Wisconsin

Well, I am back home from my trip to Tennessee, and I gotta say, it's great to be back. It was surprising how much I missed Grace and Aaron--sure, I knew I would miss them, but I didn't know that I would MISS them. By the time I got home really late on Wednesday night (actually, early Thursday morning), all I could think of was snuggling up with a sleeping Aaron and surprising Grace when she woke up in the morning. Good stuff. And, as soon as Grace woke up in the morning and noticed that I was home, she jumped out of bed and ran over and gave me a bear hug. This is the child that normally rouses in the morning at a snail's pace and is grumpy for a good half hour or so after waking up. I guess she missed me, too.

One thing I learned on the trip: I need to get over my fear of flying. I decided to drive to Tennessee when I found out that it really wasn't THAT far and justified it by telling myself that road trips are totally cool and that this would be a fun adventure for me. Well, it was really THAT far and road trips are only fun when you can share them with someone (and, when you can share the driving with someone). Next time I have to go on a business trip (which will be later this month), I'll take some Valium, suck it up, and fly.

In other news, Grace has officially graduated from her parent and child swimming class and last night, she started a child-only class. She wasn't overly receptive to the idea of being in the pool without me, so to help her get used to it a bit, I took her to the pool about a half hour before her class started and told her I could stay in the pool with her for a while. When it was time for her class, I got out of the pool and Grace started looking a little sheepish, sucking on her fingers and slouching down (Grace's non verbal ways of saying "I'm scared"). I sat close to the pool with her until her teacher took over, and soon, she was splashing around with the other kids, laughing and having a grand ol' time. She did well in class, except when it came to bobbing in the water. The kid doesn't like getting her face wet, and certainly that will become an issue when she really starts learning to swim. And, she didn't do a great job of keeping one hand on the pool wall while the teacher was working individually with other kids. (The teacher kept yelling at the kids to stay at the wall and not splash each other. That killed me...these are preschoolers. Yeah, right lady.) But, all and all, I think she'll do just fine in this class.