Sunny day

The weather was nice outside today. Emily took the afternoon off, and we both took Jack to his swimming class. I go every week, so I see the more gradual improvement, but she hadn't been for more than a month, so she was pretty amazed. We watched as he threw his arms high in the air to do his strokes, lunged through the water at the start of his swimming run, and raised his hand to be chosen for different activities. Afterward, she showered him with praise, and meant it.

We picked up Kate a little early. She seemed pleased that we were all there. "And there's Mommy, and Daddy, and Jack!" We headed home, and since it was nice, we played out in the yard a little bit. Laney ran around, Jack slipped in the mud, Kate was alternately brave and fearful of Laney.

We then took the party around the block. Walking with a puppy, you get a lot of "Ooh, puppy!" and "Wait a minute!" as a little girl ran in the back yard to get a parent, so she could make sure it was OK to pet Laney. Then we saw Jack's friend Nick, riding his bike -- and I realized I have to get Jack out practicing on his bike so he can ditch the training wheels, good grief -- and played a bit in his back yard, chatted with his Mom, heard Kate deliver some ear-piercing screams when she was surprised by a dog the size of a Buick, and generally enjoyed the nice weather. Much later it occurred to me we wouldn't have gone on that walk if we didn't have a dog.

Nice day out.