Congraduations!

We've had lots of progress to celebrate in our family in the past month. I started a new job. Ezra started walking and has several new words every day. Navin's company, New Moon Ideas, celebrated 5 years of being in business. And Ari graduated from Mom & Baby/Tot swimming lessons to doing classes on his own.

We enrolled in the 'Tykes' program where the parent is with their kid for the first half of the sessions, then at the half-way mark we leave the pool part-way through the lesson. Then the next week (which we missed because we were in Seattle) the parent sits at the poolside and watches but doesn't go in, and the week after that, they're on their own with the Instructor while you watch from the viewing gallery.

We were so ready for this. I thought I might feel bittersweet - proud of my big boy, but also sad for this part of our lives to be over. But I really wasn't sad at all.

The pool has a strict no-pictures policy. Otherwise I would have whipped out my phone to take a picture of my face the first day that he had swimming lessons and I didn't have to get wet and chlorine-y. It was pure joy. A grin from ear to ear.

And he was so happy too. Maybe even braver without me around; dunking and kicking and floating around.

This week, he finished his classes, and got his report card telling him that he's ready for the next level.

"Con-graduate me," he said as we were tucking him into bed. "You need to say 'Congraduations' because I graduated to doing swimming lessons on my own!"

Congraduations to you, big boy Ari. And congraduations to us all!