David was having a not so good day, a lot of whining and complaining. This is not unusual these days, but I decided to be proactive and offer him a wonderful opportunity--peeling the parsnips. This is some serious big kid action with a pseudo knife. He was all over it. I showed him how to hold the peeler and the parsnip. We did a couple rounds together, and then he peeled six parsnips. Yes, I had to get down on the ground and gather up parsnip peels, but we had ten minutes of David feeling proud and helpful and focused and whatever has been bugging him receded, if only for a little while.

We almost made it through the entire day without a playdate. Perish the thought. My sister said her gang was going swimming at 6:30. I know, way late. David stepped outside, and said, "It's dark! I can see the moon!" It turned out to be really great. Both kids were cheerful and jumped right in, literally. I got a life jacket onto David, and we both could have a very relaxing time. Rose took a few practice runs, and then passed her swim test which involved swimming the width both ways. Then she followed Miriam down the big slide in the deep end and off the rope swing. I love that Miriam is the leader in brave swimming adventures, and I love that Rose is starting to try them out. She can't wait to get back on that rope swing, and I can't wait either.

We had a potluck after jazzercize and Rose ate. Yes, you heard that right, Rose actually ate food not provided by me. Well, I had brought the gluten-free sugar cookies (see yesterday's entry), and a bag of corn chips to get the ball rolling, but she also ate pieces of cheese, pieces of ham (!), carrots, and snap peas. She ate so much she called it lunch. I call that big progress.