Random thoughts...

Since I (once again) have been ignoring this blog, here's a few random thoughts from the past weekend....

--- Both kids are still sick. They no longer have a fever, but their coughs are terrible. It's that deep in the lungs kind of wet cough that I HATE! Oh, and they're congested, really congested. Runny nose, watery eyes, the works. The poor little kiddos seem miserable -- especially since they've had this for over a week at this point.

--- Today after preschool, the kids and I met up with some friends at the mall to play, have lunch and go shoe shopping (for them not me -- bummer!!). I was hoping to find them some summer shoes, and since Caleb has been asking for Crocs, I thought we'd see what we could find. Since Payless was right by the play area we stopped in there first. Caleb instantly saw and fell in love with the ugliest shoes I've EVER seen. They're made of the plastic croc type material and bright red. Oh, and it's just not any shoe.... No way. These shoes are actually Lightening McQueen. When he's got these things on, all you notice is his bright red shoes. Let me assure you, these babies are something!

So I tried to get them off him (obviously) and have him try on something else, but he'd have none of it... He absolutely insisted in keeping these things on. Needless to say, yes... I bought them and yes... he wore them out of the store. I can't even count the number of times that he thanked me for buying them and told me that he "YYYOOOVED his new shoes". He even had me call Grammy so that he could tell her all about them. I'll have to take a picture of these things. They are something!

---- Gymnastics.... This was actually the first activity we did all week last week with the kids being sick. Before class I told Mr. Tarry that she'd been sick all week, and if she started coughing a lot or seemed overly tired to just have her sit down or send her out with me. He claims she didn't cough once, but once class was over she sat on the bench and looked absolutely exhausted. She just zoned out and the bags under eyes instantly came back....

Every week Tarry has the girls doing some sort of strength training exercise. This week, the girls were to hold onto the bar which was high above their heads (Katherine's arms were about 75% extended if that gives you an idea) and bring their feet off the floor and touch the bar. So, essentially they're doing leg lifts... He held their backs with one hand and their feet with the other and helped each girl touch their toes to the bar. The class record (with the exception of Katherine) was 2. When it was Katherine's turn, he put one arm on her lower back to stabilize her, but didn't touch her legs... Guess how many leg lifts Katherine got BEFORE HE STOPPED HER??? 20. That's right. T-W-E-N-T-Y! Since I was chasing Caleb, I wasn't able to see it all, but I heard cheering and clapping, and looked up to see Tarry beaming and giving Katherine high 5's. Evidently that's the most anyone (that was working at the the time) had ever seen a 5 year old do.

At the end of class the girls get two hand stamps (one on each hand) if they are well behaved in class and try their hardest. Don't get me wrong -- Tarry is amazing with kids. I can't imagine a better gymnastics coach and I feel truly blessed that Katherine has him. But, with that being said, he's been known to be stingy with hand stamps. In fact, when one girl gave him some lip and started crying, he took a baby wipe and removed her stamp. Last week Katherine came out with *three* hand stamps which is first. She was beaming and said it was because she did 20 leg lifts. Tarry them came out to talk to the parents and said the same thing. He wanted to make sure she got tons of kudos! Anyway, he then went on to tell me that 20 leg lifts like the kind Katherine did is a level 6 or 7 skill and most of the girls have a really tough time doing that many. So, yea for my little girl.

After class Tarry asked me if I had registered for summer classes yet, and I told him no, I hadn't done it yet. He asked if I was planning on enrolling her and when I told him yes, he asked what I was going to put her in. I laughed and said gymnastics, and he looked at me and said "SuperBunnies????". Of course. Superbunnies is the lowest level of "competitive" gymnastics and gets the girls on track for future competitions.

After I told him that Katherine would be in the SuperBunnies class, he pulled Katherine aside and asked her all about her new leotard. (I'm shocked that he noticed.... Fran and I had picked her up a new one at Target over the weekend, so it was the first time she had worn it to class). Anyway, he told her that he liked it, but thought she needed a new one. He brought her into the little shop that they have and pulled out a bright red leotard that she'll be able to wear now that she's in SuperBunnies. Talk about making a little girl's day. She was giddy! He then pulled out a blue leotard with red and white stars, and told Katherine that he wants her to wear this someday. I assumed it was the Level 5 leotard (which means you start competing in regional meets), but he quickly corrected me -- it was the Level 7 leotard which few girls ever reach. He went on to tell me that few girls ever reach that level, but he believes that Katherine will. He said that girls don't just show up here at 10 years of age and become an amazing competitive gymnast.....They're always found at 3 or 4 years old and when they see one, they "just know". He looked at me, smiled and said, "When I look at her, I just know. You've got a great one on your hands, and if she continues to like gymnastics in 5 years like she does today, the sky's the limit". WOW...

I know I've said this before, but truly... there is nothing better as a mom than finding your child's passion in life and watching them taste success at it. She's growing so much through gymnastics -- becoming more confident, more determined and more driven that it's absolutely impossible to look at her and not smile.

Friday we went to her private lesson, and the feel there is so different. First of all, she's in the big gym and on the "competitive" side which is a HUGE deal, and secondly, Tarry doesn't treat her like a little 5 year old. He's much harder on her. If she's doing a cartwheel or round-off or anything else, and her form isn't perfect, he's all over her. He's constantly trying to correct her and is paranoid that she'll develop bad habits. Also, he's working on her upper body strength which pales in comparison to her core muscles. It's amazing watching her though... each week, I can see her getting better and loving it even more. She's the kind of kid that would be in a gymnastics class every day if I'd allow it!

Oh, right before Katherine and Tarry went into the big gym for her lesson, she started to take off her street clothes -- sweat pants and shoes. She always leaves them with them me, but this week he told her that they didn't belong laying on the ground outside. From now on, she'd be putting them in the "team cubbies". Oh, man... does he know how to push her buttons or what??? LOL!

--- When I was cooking the other day, I turned my back on Katherine for 2 seconds, and before I knew it, she pulled one of the bar stools up to the freezer and was trying to pull out a bag of frozen peas. (This is actually the second time she's done this....). When I asked what she was doing, she looked at me like I was a total moron, and said,

K: Mommy, I need to put a few peas under my mattress

Me: Oh, really???? Why is that?

K: This will prove that I'm a real princess!

For anyone who's interested, Here's the fable. I haven't told her this story, so quite honestly I have no idea how she ever came up with it!

--- Summer has officially begun! Saturday afternoon the neighborhood had its first impromptu backyard gathering of the season and it was wonderful! They kids played so hard -- they ran around the backyard, climbed the tree, and totally enjoyed the sun. It was great! I'm so thankful that the winter is almost over and we'll be back to playing outside every day again soon!

-- Oh, I almost forgot something *really* important! Remember the Chinese house in the backyard that Matt and I wanted to buy about a year ago? (The husband was living in California and the wife and son were here). Well.... the husband just moved to Texas and Sharon (his wife) is going to move down there.... So that means that if we want to stay in this neighborhood, and add a bedroom, this may be the perfect opportunity! I must admit... I'm not as excited as I was a year ago. The thought of getting our house ready to sell, and actually moving while super pregnant, isn't super appealing, but who knows.... Maybe I'll be able to sweet talk Matt's mom to coming down for a while and helping us get ready! Oh, Fran.... LOL!