Isabella's Gymnastics Class

This month we've enrolled Isabella in a gymnastics class at our local Tumble Stars. We wanted to get her into some sort of class not only to learn new physical skills but also to have her in a class where she has to learn to follow directions from someone other than mommy and daddy. We're happy to report that it has been a big hit! She loves to go every wednesday & watching her in her class is so much fun for me! They do various tumbles, balance beam work, and bar work not to mention the trampoline jumping! She is also learning things such as walking in a line with her class mates (she likes this b/c they are a choo choo train), waiting her turn, going to the end of the line, and trying to do various activities on her own. Jackson & I sit in the waiting room & watch her through the glass windows (which is why some of the pictures are not so great... the reflection on the glass is tricky to work with!). On the first day, at the end of class, I couldn't see Isabella through the glass for a minute (she was over on the side out of view). Then I see her running around the corner & to her teacher for her stamp & high-five. She runs out to me & says, "Mommy, I got to drink out of the waterfall!!" For a split second I was mystified. Then I realized, she had gotten to drink out of a water fountain! She has never used one and probably hasn't seen anyone use one so so when her teacher said water fountain, she misunderstood & thought she was drinking from a waterfall. (Which I guess in a way, it is a waterfall... just not the typical one we think of when we use the word waterfall!)

Jackson clapping

Jackson was enjoying his new skill of clapping & our encouragement! :)

cute little boy

And just a cute little picture of my baby boy. Ahhhhhh! Love it!

crazy things kids say

I've been wanting to write down the things that come out of Isabella's mouth... so now I'm actually going to.  And these things both relate to the potty so reader beware!

Us parents know how fun potty training is.  Well thankfully we have moments like these to make the chore a bit brighter! :)  I was helping Isabella in the bathroom after she'd pooped.  We'd wiped & I was instructing her to flush the toilet.  So of course she has to look in the toilet as she flushes & she says, "Look, Mommy, the poo poo & toilet paper are dancing! .........  Now they're going down the tunnel to see their poo poo friends!"  Ahhh... imagination at it's finest!

The next quote occurred in a public restroom with a lady waiting her turn.  I was encouraging Isabella to pee so we could get out of there.  So Isabella says, "I know what I'll think of to help me pee!  I'll think of sliding down a slide with my pee!"  Oh.... that's very nice.  She's never been on a water slide before, I guess one with pee would be fun to her!

Isabella's big girl bed

It was a few days before Christmas when we decided that Isabella *might* be ready to switch her crib into a big girl (toddler) bed. So we asked her if she was ready & of course she said YES! So Daddy switched it & we had the "talk" with her about when to get out of bed & when to not. Well for a couple of weeks that talk worked. She would even call us in the mornings to come get her when she woke up rather than just coming out. Oh, & the first time she did come out in the morning it was the cutest thing. I was in the living room with Jackson when I hear her door open. I then look over & see her bounding out of her room with the biggest smile on her face. She was so proud of herself! With the change in the bed situation we also made a change in nap time. She now has "quiet time" where she must stay in her bed but she can look at books or play with her stuffed animals *quietly* (that being key). So again, she did really well with this for the first couple of weeks & was excited to be able to have this freedom.

After a bit though she discovered that she could get out of bed & we wouldn't neccessarily know. One day I hear her door close (she does not know how to do this quietly yet!) but I don't go check. Then I hear it close again. Finally I go in there to discover that she is not only out of bed & behind her rocking chair in the corner, but she has lots of her play kitchen items back there with her (which is why the door closed twice... she was gathering the kitchen items in 2 trips). So she was busted & had to get back in bed. Mike & I went in there 4 or 5 more times that quiet time to find her out of bed each & every time!!! Thankfully it isn't always that bad... but we have our days. Night time is the same although she is a bit better about staying in bed then & going to sleep. We finally had to tell her that if she continued to get out of bed when she wasn't suppose to we'd have to change it back into a crib. Which isn't a bluff... we will do it (well daddy will be the one to actually do the labor on the converstion)!

Snow from OK Blizzard 2009

A few days before Christmas Isabella asked me, "when is it going to be winter?" I told her it already was winter. She then asked, "where is the snow?" So then I had to break it to her that we live in a place that doesn't get too much snow. And then a few days later, the blizzard came. :) Boy was she anxious to get out in it & play. The first time she went out was on Christmas eve when it was still coming down. She didn't last very long out there... she said it hurt her face. The next time she got the opportunity to go out in it was the day after Christmas & she & I had lots of fun playing together in the snow. We built a snow man (a very small one... the snow was tough to compact! see bottom right corner in collage), made snow angels, & made a little house in the snow bank. When we made it back inside (my feet were getting very cold!) & I started getting her undressed, she had snow up her pant legs & her little legs were bright red from being so cold! I never heard her complain though... she was having too much fun out there. The next day, she went out with her daddy & they built on our snowman & mad him bigger & redid his eyes, mouth, nose, & buttons with m&ms (notice the dye bleeding in the picture on the top right of the collage?). They also gave him a hat. Isabella really enjoyed watching Frosty the snowman this year & talked a lot about snowmen coming to life... but ours didn't (at least not when we were watching!). In the bottom left corner is a picture of just outside our back door... Mike had to shovel a path several times on Christmas eve so that our dogs would be able to make it out the doggy door to go outside. The snow drifts were high (see pictures next to it of our grill to see just how high!).

Expect the unexpected in Oklahoma weather!