Rose gymnastics

Here's Rose at the end of the Winter Gymnastics session

Ever since Rose was 2 years old in gymnastics the coaches have mentioned that she is super strong.  I asked her coach if there was a level that would be a bit harder for next year.  Right away she said she was ready for a challenge and mentioned I could bring her to tryouts for a pre-competitive level.  So I figured why not, and I took her to the tryouts.  Now they have placed her in the highest level for her age.  Even then she would be the youngest in the class.  They want her to train for 4 hours a week.  It starts in July and goes all the way until next june...49 weeks straight.   We aren't sure what to do about it, as she will also have school next year...plus she's 4.  At the same sense, it's exercise, and if she is talented, then maybe we should encourage it.  What to do, what to do.  The funny thing is that we always talked about Rose's dancing and forgot about gymnastics.  Meanwhile, she's a born gymnast. Also will probably have more of a gymnasts stature. The funny thing is that at her age she fully doesn't comprehend being skilled at something. I have some more questions to ask the club, but we also have the option to send her for 2 hours a week.  With the 4 hour thing comes a lot of parent volunteer work as it is part of the competitive track and the rates for the classes are lower than the recreational. Not sure what to do. I would have thought it was ridiculous, but faced with someone telling you your kid is talented, it's hard to know what to do.  Plus I am around to get her there and back, not an option everyone has.

Henry 11 months

First time in the swing!

Henry at 11 months...what can I say.

He is fully capable of walking but hasn't taken off yet.  Last week he took 5 steps a while bunch of times, and the other day he took 13 steps in one shot.  Soooo he can do it, just chooses not to.  Not sure I'd write it in the baby book yet, but I assume it won't be long before he really takes off.

He now has 10 teeth.  He's been a bit whiny the past week or so, and we realized he had 2 random molars on top?? Didn't notice them coming in at all.

He continues to say his few random words...."this", "that", and possibly "Scout".  He likes to mimic people.  Right now I just heard him say "ah-dah!" and Mike copied him and then they went back and forth saying "ah-dah" a whole bunch of times since Henry thought it was funny. He's also beginning to think that things are funny, such as dropping things off the highchair repeatedly.

As I said he has been a bit whiny the past couple of weeks, but is typically very easygoing.  He's not fussy dropping the girls off at school and can go with the flow.  I do, however, make sure he is home for his nap as he has converted to 1 large nap smack in the middle of the day.  If we were out and he fell asleep I think he would just ruin his day.  Along with his large nap comes an early morning wake up.  I don't have much time to read in the morning really as he's usually up between 6 and 6:30.  He continues to sleep through the night every night.  Phew.

Winter....wouldn't....end.

Ah, the year of the polar vortex.  What a disaster.  So much snow, SOooooo much cold.  It was really impossible to do anything out there.  Thank goodness that spring is (mostly) here. The girls have now begun to actually play outside again.  Of course there were days that they played in the snow but Henry really didn't have proper clothes to be outside for long periods.  School pick up was often an utter joke with Rose crying, and me practically freezing my hands off strapping everyone in the car and loading the metal framed stroller back into the car. There was actually a day that was so disaster snowy that we were only able to park the car about a kilometre from the school and trudge in while Rose was crying and I was carrying Henry in a baby sling.  Then we drove home while I feared for our lives.  I made a resolution not to send them to school in a snowstorm ever again, and if it starts while they're there, then I will just go to the office well before the end of the day to get them.  Not going to deal with that again.  But now the spring is beginning and there is light at the end of the tunnel.  I even contacted our pool man and sprinkler people to get all of that opened up in a few weeks.  I can't wait to see a glistening pool out there again, even if we can't swim in it.  It'll just add a little something to our view and remind us that summer vacation is near.

Easter madness!

Taking a tally

Girls were majorly excited this year. They sprang right out of bed.

Here are the eggs we made on Good Friday:

Harry potter ban

Paige and I are reading Harry Potter together.  I started reading it to her, but as her reading level is so high she is able to read it by herself for the most part.  I'm sure some words she doesn't understand, but then again I don't either with some of the british expressions.  At night Paige reads for a while in her bed with a flashlight and then goes to sleep.  Usually she reads her library books but one day she wanted to keep reading Harry Potter so I sent her into bed with it to continue a bit on her own.  Since I've obviously read the book it didn't really matter if I missed any of it.  Eventually Paige comes out of her room (close to 10:00) saying that she couldn't stop reading because the chapter was long and there was never a sentence that ended at the end of a page. AND she was scared of the 3 headed dog. So now Harry Potter has been banned for alone reading. We are reaching the end and I've told her we can re-read the first book for a couple of years but that Harry Potter is for older kids...especially all of the other books in the series.

Henry 10 months

Everyone likes me...

Rose has been super shy for a while now.  Maybe since September.  If I'm around she basically won't speak to anyone.  Apparently she is very talkative at school, and I see her talking at gymnastics and dance class.  Something about me being there makes her embarrassed and mute.  She has mentioned not wanting to wear certain things because people tell her that they like them, which I guess makes her uncomfortable as then they expect her to talk back.  If someone asks her a question she averts her eyes and won't speak and waits for me to answer for her.  I'm not making a big deal out of it or asking her to go out of her comfort zone.  I'm sure she'll just grow out of it.  One day after riding around in the shopping cart and receiving numerous comments on how cute she was she says to me in a sorrowful voice, "everyone likes me".  I think she used to be pretty quiet around adults, and then started to open up as we became friends with the neighbours on our old street last spring (right before we moved).  Then when we moved away she totally stopped talking to people.  I'm sure things will change, although I was very quiet too.

A sad goodbye Florida!

We have now been back from Florida for 2 months and I am just getting around to finishing the Florida blogging.  The ironic thing is that I would have had time to blog on the road, and hence would have been all caught up, but I spent any free time reading.  I read a couple of really good vacation reads and I was loving it.  My plan was to get home and just frantically do the blog, but that obviously never happened.

At any rate, after the extended family left we had a full week left of just our little family.  We did the indoor skydiving and Epcot, and then literally just vegged out at the hotel for the rest of the trip.  Days of swimming in the pool and visiting the playgrounds.  Enjoying the weather and relaxing.  Unfortunately Paige had a lot of homework to do.  Next year I will make it very clear to the teachers that she would like to complete a lot of it beforehand.  Not only was she fully not in school mode, but the last thing I wanted to do was constantly have to remind her and force her to do school work.  Added a negative element which was none too relaxing.  It would be worth the headache to force her to do it before in order to avoid doing any of it there.  Oh well.

I packed Henry only a few toys for the trip and I'm glad I didn't bring much more.  He was too interested in exploring the hotel room and putting things in his mouth to bother with traditional baby toys.  The girls hardly touched their toys either.  I always remind them before cottage trips and Florida trips that they barely need anything, and then it is always proven to be true. It was nice though with fewer toys that we could pack both of their suitcases with toys and books on one side, and clothes on the other.  We had one more person this year, and fewer suitcases.  I think we packed well and I keep meaning to make a list for 2015 with notes about what to pack.  The only bummer thing was that my one sweatshirt that I brought decided to randomly lose it's zipper pull and I couldn't do it up at all.

The girls really really enjoyed themselves this year.  Of course there was the week with Lizzy which really was awesome, but also they were really playing well together.  They also enjoyed having Henry in the pool and watching him have fun.  Rose was that much older that she wasn't napping and could really run around and keep up.  Of course this year was a little more difficult having a baby, but clearly we'd rather be in Florida than at home in the winter.   We really had some super hot days this year and really lucked out.  We cannot wait to go back next year.  Of course we have summer coming up here and really we should be looking forward to that first, but it is so cold still it just seems like summer will never come.

Ahh Florida, only a 3 hour plane ride away.  Love it.

Girls in their other bedroom...

The girls have now spent 8 weeks at this wonderful hotel over the course of their lives.  We always give Paige the bed by the window and tell her not to open the drapes as it looks open onto the hallway.

Making sand art at the hotel...

Hmm didn't actually take photos of the finished product! Will have to do that...