Monday Amelia started her gymnastics class. It is a tumbling class for kids 18 months-3 years old. Most of the kids had been taken the class all year, but it was her first time. This class is very different than any of the toddler classes we have taken thus far. Our hope in bringing her to this class was that she would learn some body awareness, balance, as well as socializing with other kids, more opportunities to take direction from another adult, and work on some simple toddler things like waiting your turn. I was surprised by how intense the class is. This class is not meant to teach toddlers to tumble, but is meant to prepare toddlers to be gymnasts. The teacher definitely knows her stuff and is a professional gymnastics teacher. Parents have a lot of responsibility in keeping their kids on track and if a child is running around/unable to wait in line, is loud, etc it is the parent's responsibility to pull them out of the gym area and put them in time out. A gymnastics gym can be a dangerous place so I understand the rules, but it is also like a candy store for kids. It was so hard to keep Amelia on task when she can see things like trampolines and slides all over the room. She is pretty good at sharing (because we worked really hard on that the past couple of months), but she is not good at waiting in line (kicking/screaming/crying) and she is not good about doing things she doesn't want to do when there is something she is more interested in within visual range. She did have to go to time out once, and probably should have gone a few more times. I'm hoping that this class goes better next week and that by the end of the 8 weeks she has learned the routine and how to be patient. Pray for us.
Since we started music classes it has always rained on Music day. There is a park next to the music school and the kids have waited 5 weeks for a sunny tuesday so they can play. Finally yesterday was Sunny.... but of course I had an appointment immediately following music class. What to do? Go to the park before class. The playscape was still a little wet with dew but that didn't stop Amelia. We got to the park 45 minutes before class and played. Amelia loves to climb so she spent a lot of time doing that. She is still scared to slide alone, I wish I knew why since she used to love it.
Next week is our last music class until September. Music class is our favorite class so it will be greatly missed. Next week is also our first Mommy and Me swimming lesson. She will love that. In the fall we will continue the music classes, swimming lessons, and then start the ballet class again as well as the tumbling class taught by the same teacher at the rec center in town. Last spring we did ballet because we weren't sure Amelia could handle taking both classes, but they are only 40 mins each and after this summer we think she would enjoy taking both. In addition to the classes we will be officially starting our home pre-K curriculum.
Other Amelia updates: She has taken to only eating scrambled eggs, toast, cheese, mac and cheese, ice cream, and grapes. She goes through really funny food cycles. The only exception is if we go to subway she will eat a Ham/Turkey/Cheese/Mayo/Back Olive sandwich on flatbread and chips. She has also really taken to chocolate milk but still loves her honest juice. She is still enjoying the nude, and takes off all of her clothes in the entryway as soon as we get home.
Aaron update: Things are still going. He is working a ton but we are grateful to have a good job that allows us to live very comfortably. His bees are doing well. A few weeks ago he was really upset because he had accidently squashed one of his queens. But the bees have since reared a new queen and she has started laying eggs, thank goodness. Aaron still isn't able to take time off from work, with the exception of a very quick trip we will be taking for a dear friends wedding at the end of the month. Usually he uses all of his vacation time in the Summer. Aaron hates winter (we are opposites on this subject)! He loves the summer and tries to get the most out of it. It will kill him if he misses the entire summer and then we have another long NH winter so we think we'll have to take a trip somewhere warm during the winter so he can enjoy some sunshine, relax, and avoid seasonal depression. Mexico maybe? Only time will tell, it all really depends on how these next few months pan out.
Jillian update: There isn't much news with me. Im enjoying staying home with Amelia more than I have ever enjoyed anything in my life. I have embraced a healthier way of living based on the Eat to Live book and have lost 11 pounds so far. I'm working hard to make our lives simple and happy and I think the way to do that is to have a faith centered home, keep things simple and organized, eat a healthy diet, enjoy being active together, and limit the amount of unnecessary stress/and ugliness that we let into our lives. Now I just wish this was easy, but nothing is easy at first. With Aaron's life being a bit work overloaded at the moment I am trying to take as much as possible off of his plate, and Im trying to be ok with letting some things slide. Our poor neighbors have to look at our crazy lawn, but I can't mow it when it is A) Raining and B) when I have to watch Amelia. With Aaron working 6 days a week and Sundays being the sabbath this makes it really hard to get done. But it will eventually and I'm learning to be ok with weeds growing up to my knees :)
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