Toot Toot

I hope that I'm not seen as the type that's always bragging about my children and their amazing accomplishments at the ripe ages of 3, 6, and 8 but every now and then they make me incredibly proud and I do feel the need to share it sometimes.  With that said, please forgive me if it drives you crazy to read about my amazing little men!

Carter fell in love with swimming hook, line and sinker when he first swam on our neighborhood summer swim team at the age of 6.  He made fast friends and realized his backstroke wasn't too shabby, which led to lots of fun first place ribbons that made his day every swim meet Tuesday.  He begged us to let him swim "year round" after that summer, but we were hesitant to commit to something so serious and time consuming. He was persistent with his begging so he started with the Marlins of Raleigh in December of 2012.  They practice three times a week for one hour, which I thought would drive him crazy, but he really did like it.  He did a few meets here and there but the competition at these meets is crazy competitive compared to summer swim.  Carter didn't stand a chance at placing or getting a medal but did get a bit faster, little by little.  Last summer he stopped MOR and swam for our neighborhood team again and I thought for sure he would be done with year round after almost 8 months of swim!  When the time came to decide what sports to try this fall, he said swim again much to my surprise.  Once again this year, his practices are at the same time and same place and he hasn't complained a bit.  He tries hard in practice, listens to his coaches, and really gives it his all each time he's in the pool.  He had a few meets before Christmas and did fine but not great and his times were about the same as last year.  Being the competitive person that I am, it's hard to watch him just stay the same when he's had so much instruction but as long as he was happy I tried to be as well:).

This past weekend he had a meet for just 8 and under boys and I'm not sure what lit a fire in him, but I hope it happens every meet!  He had best times in all 8 events he swam, beating his previous times by 3-10 seconds.  He looked like a different kid out there with perfect flip turns and pretty strokes and he even managed to win his heat twice.  I don't think I will ever forget the look on his face as he got out of the pool after his 50 backstroke and got his heat winner prize!  He was beaming and smiling from ear to ear.  It's times like this one that I don't want to forget.  I was bursting with pride and emotion as I watched him swim his heart out and finally have it pay off.

Cooper has had a small ulcer-like bump inside his mouth on his lower lip since about October.  When we went for his cleaning, the dentist commented then that it looked like a mucocele and that they sometimes go away but that it could also become larger and would need to be surgically removed.  Not words you want to hear about your 6 year old so we just hoped it would go away!  Unfortunately it didn't and was getting bigger and bigger and bothering him more and more.  I called our dentist and she confirmed that we did need to have it removed.  She offered to refer us to a pediatric dentist in order to remove it but also said she felt comfortable doing it but that it was just up to us.  We chose to stick with her as Cooper is comfortable with her but I was so nervous to think of my little man having to go through it.  Her plan was to give him Nitrous to calm him down but she said even with that, the novocaine would really hurt as she had to numb a really soft, vascular area.  He told her he didn't want the gas so she proceeded to try without and see how things went.  She was so nice to let me sit back there with him and it definitely put my mind at ease to see what was going on and know exactly how he was doing.

Let me just say he is the toughest child I have ever seen.  He didn't even flinch and laid there like a perfect angel the entire time.  I honestly think he wiggled less than I would have!  He did say afterwards that the pinch of the novocaine hurt but that was all.  She and her assistant just kept saying how amazed they were by how well he had done and by how tough he was...the dentist even told him he could have the whole treasure box because he'd done so well!  He's been living off of Gatorade, ice cream, Italian Ice, and yogurt but loving every minute of the TLC and attention!

Hudson is busy just being funny and cute Hudson but I'm proud of him too:)!  I keep meaning to video him reading to us.  He has a 32 page Rudolph book that he brought to me last week and told me he was going to read to me.  With a few missed words here and there, he proceeded to "read" me the entire book cover to cover almost verbatim.  I was absolutely blown away by his memory and it's now become our bedtime book that he reads to all of us each night.  It really couldn't be any cuter to watch or hear so I'll try for that video!