Y Pool with Yulia and Leila

Ivan and I went to the Y pool today with Yulia and Leila. We had a great  time. Ivan and Leila played in the pool really nicely. While neither could swim they kept walking back and forth in the "middle pool," where water came to Ivan's neck. At his own pace, he even tried putting his face under water.

When we arrived at the pool, he was, of course, initially really interested in exploring and examining water filters. Other kids don't even notice filters, but that's always the first thing he notices--and must figure out how things work.

We were in the pool from 10:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. or so. Leila and Ivan played really nicely. I was surprised because I don't think that they ever played just the two of them. Usually it's a bigger group of kids. And the last time we saw Leila at the playground at the bottom of Dale earlier in the summer, Ivan and Leila didn't even acknowledge each other, as if they never saw each other.

After the pool, we went to get ice cream at this little doll-size hut near the edge of the lawn area. Ivan very eloquently told the girl in the hut that "I want vanilla and chocolate with sprinkles." He insisted on placing the order himself and absolutely refused my help. However, I had to intervene because the hut didn't serve scoops of ice cream, but rather prepackaged ice creams. So for the confused girl, I translated Ivan's order  into a vanilla cone dipped in chocolate.

I was proud of Ivan for wanting to order ice cream on his own, eloquently putting in his order and wanting to be independent. When it comes to ice cream, he knows what he wants.