The Girls' First Day of Ballet Class

Grandma's present to the girls for their 3rd birthday was new pink tights, new pink ballet slippers and 6-weeks of ballet classes! The girls were ecstatic!! They couldn't wait until their first lesson asking every day when their ballet class would be. Finally, the day came when one morning I could tell them that their ballet class was today. I thought this would quell their insistent questions. However, it just continued to frustrate them because they had to wait until after breakfast, then after getting dressed, after driving to Grandma's and then until after lunch. Even Dad was excited - he called about a half-hour before class to see if the girls had already had their class.

When we arrived at class and got to take out their ballet slippers, they had never been so proud! Along with another 7 kids or so, they lined up outside the classroom in their new shoes waiting for the doors to open and reveal a room full of mirrors and their new teacher. I soon realized that most of these kids were already familiar to the teacher - she knew them by name. There were only 3 or 4 kids completely new to ballet. I also quickly realized that moms are expected to wait outside and can't watch their little girls skip, sachet or twirl around -- I started to panic wondering if the girls would be OK with that. I didn't warn them about it. Miss Jenny said that parents could watch the first 5-minutes, but then she hoped we would quietly leave and wait outside for the remaining half-hour.

I must say, it was disappointing for me listening to the pretty music and hearing Miss Jenny call out my kids' names and then give compliments without being able to see it for myself. The upside: the kids do a dance recital on their last day. I guess the girls' progress will remain a surprise to everyone: Dad, Grandma and me up until then.

Here are two videos: one during class and the second is Ava teaching Mommy how to do first position.

Wonderful Weightlessness

The weather has been absolutely warm and blessed lately. So much so, that it demands that we start out the swimming season. Today we met playmates "Auntie" Tiffany and her son Dean at the pool at Roberts Regional Park for a nice swim. The sun was wonderful, but even better was the incredible weightlessness that the water allows a very pregnant woman - temporary relief from the anchor that is constantly pulling one forward and down and reminding me of what my body used to be.

I'm going to have to get the girls new swim suits (theirs are still from last summer and are 2 and even 3 sizes too small now) because the weightlessness - even though temporary - is just too much to resist.

Bugs in Art

Ava & Bettina have been studying bugs in school. As I've mentioned before, they attend a Reggio Emilia style school where long-term child-centered projects are the curriculum. This bug project started when a way-ward cricket entered their classroom. It then morphed to include leaf-hoppers, ants, beetles, centipedes (which they find and explore during outdoor bug-hunts) and, most recently, caterpillars and butterflies. As an ex-educator, I find myself in wonder and amazement when certain little benchmarks begin to show themselves in the girls. This week, not only did the girls continue to wonder, explore and talk about bugs after leaving school, but their drawings have started to change and grow as well.

Up until now, their drawings or art have just been lines, colors and sometimes, circles. This is usually called the "scribbler" stage (how profound, right?). Ava, usually more developed with fine-motor skills, has started drawing letters (namely "A", "H" and "X"), which is great and pretty well into the later part of the scribbler stage of drawing. They floored me, however, when, after drawing on the drawing boards before bed, Ava insisted on showing me her drawing. "It's a bug," she said. Sure enough, there was a round body with lots of legs extending from (and through) it and a set of eyes, a nose, a smile and the all-important belly-button. "My, Lord," I think, "she's starting the 'schematic' stage!" I am astonished and likewise upset that it's wasn't permanently fixed to paper. So, I ask if we could take a picture of it.

Bettina likes the attention that Ava and her bug are getting and decides to draw her own. "Mommy, look - it's an ant!" she says, showing me her drawing board. It's pretty darned good as well. We take lots of pictures and praise their growth in drawing and art.

Tuesday's Special

We've found a new favorite activity with Grandma on Tuesdays.

Tuesday just happens to be "Twofer Tuesdays" at Cold Stone Creamery. So, if you buy one kids sized ice cream, you get another free! We found this out by accident, but it has gotten our attention, and now, almost every Tuesday, Grandma comes with Mommy to pick up the kids from pre-school and then we all go out for ice cream.

Ava's already decided her favorite is "blue" ice cream. She's also discovered she doesn't like gummy bears - only rainbow sprinkles. Bettina always goes for the same as well - her niche is pink ice cream with rainbow sprinkles.

Today, Ava tried pink ice cream as well. The one she chose was watermelon sorbet, which was different than Bettina's traditional strawberry. Ava decided that Bettina should try her watermelon and see how the "pinks" can taste different from each other.

Cousins Picnic

It had been awhile since all of us cousins had gotten together. Since last year, there's been a population boom -- here are 3 of the 4 new babies (the other one is on the East Coast). But, here's a look at what we've added to the family name in the last 3.5 years....six new babies (with another 2 outstanding) and another one in the "oven."

We met in Sacramento at a picnic area in the triangle of three toddler attractions: Fairytale Town, the Sacramento Zoo and Thunderville. Most of us went to Fairytale Town after our potluck picnic. More pictures of our fun-filled day can be found here.

Tahoe Bliss

Just to balance our week, here's a look at some of the fun we had before the stomach flu afflicted our house. More pictures can be seen by clicking here.

Sick

When a child gets sick, especially a little one, it is usually at least disruptive. Our recent ordeal with being sick, however, just absolutely sent the whole family in a tail-spin and through the wringer! It all started with a lovely vacation to the snow...

Along with my mom, Paul's sisters, and a cousin and their families, a total of about 20 people, we trekked up to a rented cabin near my sister's place in Tahoe. A weekend filled with the promise of bonding with family and frolicking in the snow - something Ava in particular had been requesting since mid-January. One slight concern: my sister had just recovered from the stomach flu. Our remedy was to just not visit her for 24-hours.

The weather was great! Snow flurries gave the kids the essence and excitement of magic while it was still too little to prove any inconvenience for driving or shoveling. Our cabin had snow up to the 2nd story balcony, so with just a quick hop out of the family room, kids and dads (bigger kids) were quickly enjoying making snowballs and sledding down little bunny hills. All was wonderful for the first 36-hours.

Then, in the middle of Saturday night, Ava woke up saying her tummy hurt and quickly started to get sick. "Must have been the chocolate you let her have," my husband tells me. "Must have been all the sledding with no nap," I think as we argue and pull off bedsheets, trying frantically to clean up. Fifteen minutes later, she's at it again. Ah! It's clearly neither. It's Aunt Ainsley's stomach flu!! Poor Ava is up every 40-minutes all night long. Finally, at around 6am, she sleeps. The upside to the night is that she's become an expert of where to put the "yuckies" when they come. This is good, especially considering that our rental didn't come with spare bed sheets. We've gone through all the bed sheets on the bed as well as all the spare towels from the bathroom. I had to do 2-loads of laundry during the night.

All seems well for the car ride home. However, for some strange reason, I'm getting all sorts of Braxton-Hicks contractions. They arrive every 3-5 minutes, so I call the on-call nurse. I'm instructed to lie down when we get home, drink lots of water, and count contractions for an hour. "Don't get up," she says. Paul busily unpacks while I lay down and count. About 45-minutes into my hour, Ava comes in. "My bee-boo hurts again, Mommy," Ava says. I call for Paul, hoping he can take her to the bathroom. He's not listening. I tell Ava to find Daddy. She goes halfway down the hall and comes back again to throw up all over me and the bed. Oh, man. So much for my hour. I strip the bed, myself and her and start another 2-loads of laundry, hoping that everything will be clean before we go to sleep. After a second hour of counting, the contractions get better, but aren't quiet enough for the nurse who instructs me to check into OB Emergency at the hospital for observation. They continue to lighten at the hospital and they release me, telling me to call my doctor in the morning for more instructions.

I go home, dog tired, and crawl into bed, praying that Ava is done with her sickness. Seems to be only a 6-8 hour thing. I call the doctor's office in the morning and they ask I come in tomorrow for a fetal Fibronetrin test (fFN). I switch gears and after unpacking from the trip, start lunch for the girls. Bettina is slow to the kitchen and is sort of mopily wandering around the table complaining that she's not hungry. She starts holding her tummy and whining and it's all the sudden very clear -- I pick her up, almost soon enough, and throw her over the kitchen sink. Round #2 starts with Bettina. She continues until just after Daddy gets home. No one eats much of a dinner and we all go to bed early.

Life seems calm until I wake up suddenly at 3am. If the last thing I wanted was to get the stomach flu being 8-months pregnant, well, too bad. I'm up all night and well into the morning. I call the doctor to see if they still want me to come in now that I'm sick and probably contagious. Yes, they answer - it's very important. Paul tries his best to stay at home more today and bounces in and out of the house and the office. He bounces in again in time to let his mother in to take care of the girls while I go to the doctor's. I'm glad he's there since, while brushing my teeth, I found I suddenly needed to spend more time next to the toilet.

Miserably, I make my way to the doctor's. Unfortunately, I find that my doctor has just been called to the hospital with not one, but three patients who need her. Who knows when she'll come back. The receptionist says she'll put me in with another doctor. Even though I remind her I'm sick and ask to be put at the top of the list, I watch 4 other people get called into exam rooms. It's been an hour. Finally, after threatening to leave to come back another day, I'm ushered in to meet a new doctor. She gives me the test but shows concern about my urine sample -- too much protein which means my kidneys are compromised. After ruling out pre-clampsia, she decides I might be really dehydrated and sends me down for more tests fearing I might have to be hospitalized over-night. She'll call me in a few hours with the results and to tell me whether or not I'm hospital-bound.

Well, I didn't get the call from her last night, so I stayed home. We all slept well. The new doctor did call this morning with the results. She said, "Well, the tests came back worse that I thought. Had I talked to you last night, we definitely would have admitted you to the hospital." She then wanted me to come in for an IV bag of fluids until I convinced her I hadn't been sick since and would likely come out normal very soon.

So, three and a half days later, we're starting to rebound. Now it's to attend to all the gorcery shopping, house cleaning and laundry that's been ignored throughout. A spring cleaning of sorts. Glad it's all in the rear-view mirror!!