Kids

Bella wants to be a fairy ballerina for Halloween. This is a costume that can pretty much be done with things we already have. All I need is a pink leotard because the only one she has now is black. Jacob wants to be Buzz Lightyear. I ordered a Buzz Costume, new with tags, off eBay for $25. Since the same one is $49 at the Disney store I thought that was a good deal. We are going to try out the costumes up at church this Friday night where they are doing Family Movie Night plus wearing costumes and getting Goody bags.


Last night Jacob's loose tooth started bothering him and bleeding everywhere. He could only eat yogurt for dinner. I tried to pull the tooth but he was crying and very upset from all the blood pouring out so I just let it be. This morning Will barely tugged and got it out. It's easier if it comes out at home. One of his previous teeth came out at school and got lost, the tooth fairy came anyway, but it bothered Jacob that it was lost. It bothered Will too, he keeps things like that.

This is the 5th tooth to come out. So far he has lost both his upper and lower central incisors. The one this morning is his upper lateral incisor on the right. This is the first tooth where we couldn't see his adult tooth coming right in behind it. I think it's neat to see the kid's dental x-rays with the rows of adult teeth sitting up there waiting their turn. It's weird to think that they have those big old teeth in there all that time.

Last weekend we had two major dramatic events. We thought they would be huge and dramatic for the kids but actually it ended up just being things that upset Will and I - the kids were fine.

The first one has to do with FFPS soccer. FFPS soccer rules says that since the coaches are volunteers, they get to pick the time and day of practices. Our coach picked Sundays to hold practice. I called him to see if it was up for discussion but he explained that he works Monday through Friday out of town and Sunday was the only day he could do it. Will and I talked it over and made the decision that we would withdraw Jacob this season because we opt to keep Sundays for family and church. We did not want to set a precedent for secular extracurricular activities being on Sundays. I thought, Jacob won't get it when he's only 6, or even when he's 16 or 26, but by 36 maybe he will look back and understand why his Mom and Dad chose this.

"Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son..." Genesis 20:8-11

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve..." Joshua 24:15 Sometimes doing the right thing is hard.

We looked into some other activities for Jacob. A while back the children went to a stranger danger presentation up at KUMC and I was very impressed with the instructor, Kevin Henderson who is also the owner, chief instructor and 6th degree black belt at a local martial arts academy. Jacob seemed very receptive to trying martial arts so maybe we will do that.

The other drama we had is that Will sucked up Bella's fairy tent with the vacuum cleaner. I'm not sure yet if I can fix it or not as many of the major seams have been ripped out and I don't have a sewing machine. I don't know if I can fix it by hand because it is such fine gauge silk type material and really should be serged to look right and for the seams to be strong. Will told Bellaabout it very gently, expecting her to be really upset, telling her we would for sure either fix it or replace it. She just said "Oh, could I have a pink one instead?"

Annual Check ups…

 

What a difference a year makes…Officially, in the last year Bella has grown from 31” to 35” in height and from 25 pounds to 26.2 pounds. Hmmm, I have weighed her often at home at a solid 28.5 on several occasions, so I’m not sure what this 26 pounds is all about. (Isn’t it funny how when it’s MY weight that seems light at the doctor’s I love it and think, oh they must have a super accurate scale, but when it is Bella I think Oh that can’t be right???)

It’s funny that although her metrics haven’t changed much, the way she looks and moves is totally different, she is definitely a little girl now and not a baby.  Although she is at 10% for height and weight, her chart shows that she is on a perfect curve so we aren’t worried.  The only vaccination either child had to have today was for flu, and that one was nasal and not an injection so they were happy and it was an easy check up.

I don’t have pictures from Jacob’s 5 yr old checkup. I am thinking that maybe his Daddy took him?

 

I tried to get him to pose with his stats on the paper like we did for Bella. In case it is hard to read – he is 47.2 inches tall and 47 pounds. Remember last month in Vegas when he was too short to ride the kiddie coaster? Well if we went now he could ride it (a full inch in just a few weeks – man!)  Jacob is at 77% for height and 60% for weight. You all know me, I don’t worry too much about stats but I am glad they are both healthy and doing fine.

Jacob actually hit an important key critical childhood milestone while we were waiting for the doctor – he learned to play Uno! I personally love to play Uno and sadly Will does not, so I’ve waited many years to have someone to play Uno with!

First Astros Game

A few weekends back we attended our first Astros game. Work gave me two free tickets to the game and to the Mercy Me concert that followed the game. (Amegy sponsors the Astros and has all the ATM’s at the ball park)  I thought it would be fun if we could all go, so I went online and bought two cheapie tickets for Bella and I and we let the boys have the good seats. Then for the concert part we were all able to sit together. OK, how cute is this picture????

I love to see people at baseball games with tiny babies – I think it is so cute, especially when they are all dressed up in baseball clothes or tiny jerseys. However, I have never taken my own kids to games while they were very little because I am a total klutz. Just in normal life I drop things, I fall down, I walk into walls. I have no depth perception, truly my vision is not good (I am negative 7 in one eye and negative 6 in the other – sad I know!)  Those steep steps at Minute Maid Park scare me and I have never wanted to brave them with a baby or toddler in my arms.  But now that the children are older I feel better about it (although I still had that really tight Mom grip going on Bella when we were on the stairs)

 

Bella and I were WAY up there.  I was surprised that she actually followed the game somewhat. Although mostly she was primarily interested in eating snacks.

 

First hot dog at the ball park!

Cotton Candy

That’s Mercy Me performing down there at third base.

Jacob had a grand time,  he has been building ball parks out of blocks.

  

 

It’s hard to tell in this picture, because it was taken on my phone and I couldn’t zoom out or in, but she is actually standing up, with her head in the seat, sleeping – right there during a loud concert!  We ended up leaving after a few songs, she was really wiped out.

Bella Ballerina

Bella began asking about taking dance classes this Spring.  I looked into it and discovered there isn’t a lot available for children younger than 3, and that she needed to be potty trained.  The day of her 3rd birthday she woke up at 6:30 AM and said “Can I go to ballet class today? I’m 3!”  The following week when we went to Las Vegas marked the first full week where she went without having any potty accidents.  It was time to start dance classes!

Here she is buying her first pair of ballet shoes – size 8. 

Of course we had to wear them home in the car.

First day of class!

 

One thing about the quality of the studio pictures – they don’t let parents in the actual room during class – so these are all taken through a glass window without flash – so if they look a little odd sometimes that is why.

This dance studio believes that tumbling and dance go together – so each class has some gymnastics  activities.  I think is great because Bella already takes gymnastics at her school, so it means at least some of the class feels familiar to her.

 

Bella has a great sense of balance, she is very steady, I guess her center of gravity is low or something.  There is a sense of purpose and sturdiness about her that  I love.  Whenever we go to Gymboree or the playground I can see parents looking my way, as if they are thinking “You are going to let her do that? “  But I let her because I have watched her and know that she can be trusted in that way.  She has none of my fear or clumsiness or hesitancy. She will not be a girl that rides her bike into trees or gets hit in the head with volley balls.

One thing I like is that they pack a variety of activities into the one hour class so the girls are not ever bored.  In between activities they line up by the wall – so cute when they are all in a row! 

The barre work – Bella is still working to really understand what they want her to do. Mostly she hangs and climbs around on the barre, I think she thinks it is monkey bars or like uneven bars from gymnastics. She is so tiny that it is way up level with her head.

First position! (Sort of)

  

Dancing around in tutu’s with big strips of Pink organza – it was little girl heaven!

 

We have been to three classes so far.  In October she will be doing some tap. I remember when I was a child I got some tap shoes at Goodwill or something – man I LOVED those things, I wore them around until there was just no way I could cram my foot in any longer.  Her first recital will be in December.

I saw this video on a blog that I follow…

 

“Be content in the charm of God’s image in your life…Shaped by self control, modeled in good works and pleasing first to God.”  Wow.