Bean's Dancing School: Observation Day

A few weeks ago they let parents come watch Bean's dancing class for the entire hour.  It happened to be my birthday so S was home to watch Boy, so I could go enjoy myself distraction free.  I think at first Bean was confused as to why I was staying there, but she quickly got over it. 

They started off with tumbling.  Poor girl is still the only one who can't do somersaults by herself, but compared to how she was a few months ago, I can see huge improvements!  (Especially in her backbends!)

Then they moved to the jazz portion.  It was so cute seeing these girls do their "dancing exercises."  It really took me back to my teaching days.  Their technique is pretty primative at this age, but I thought Bean did exceptionally well at her chaines and pirouettes {for a 3-year old.}  Her leaps were better, too.  Last time I saw her try, she'd run up to the doll they had on the floor (which was supposed to be leapt over) and just hop over it.  This time she did kind of a one leg hop, but it definately resembled a leap more than a hop.

The best part of the class was when all of the girls finished their exercises.  They curled up into little balls on the ground (Bean layed out flat like a pancake) and each one would take turns "waking" another girl up with a magic wand.  I have to admit I reverted back to my dancing days and anxiously thought please don't let her be last, please don't let her be last...  She wasn't, but the girl who was hopped up angrily and stomped off saying "I HATE BEING LAST!"  I guess nothing really changes.

I thought this was so nice being able to come watch what she's doing.  I can tell a difference in her at home so I know she's learning something each week.  But it's nice to be able to connect with what she's telling me now.  Although I still have no idea what a "bus chin" is...

Fall-idays

In case anyone out there thinks that our holidays are always sprinkle-coated bundles of fun...

Labor Day

S was working this year, but his Aunt and Uncle were having a big Labor Day bash at their house for the whole family.  I thought it would be a fun excuse to take the kiddos out, especially Boy.  (This would be the first time many of his relatives would meet him, after all.)

It kind of started off on the wrong foot.  Naturally, my non-napping Bean decided to take a nap that day.  I had to wake her up from a sound sleep to go and she was grumpy.  Then I went to pack up our leftover coleslaw from the previous night's dinner to use as our potluck only to realize there was hardly any left so I showed up empty handed.  Then my 3 hamburger buns intended for myself, Bean, and Aunt B ended up not being enough when MIL/FIL decided to do turkey burgers too.

We got there late, of course.  The house was awesome, though.  They literally have everything--including a two story play house which Bean wasted no time playing in.  Until she fell down the stairs and hit her head.  I didn't even know anything was wrong until I noticed her walking around dazed with a ginormous (!) goose egg on her head.  She hadn't cried until her mommy freaked out asking what happened.  Thank goodness there were willing hands to take care of Boy while I took care of Bean.  It was about this point I really wished S hadn't had to work.

Bean was back to her normal self, wanting to run around and play.  She loved the trampoline!  (I actually can't tell if these pictures were taken before her accident or after, can you?)  Well, I needed to get her and Boy home so I told her it was time to go and she started throwing a tantrum.  I counted her "1,2,3..." and when she still refused, I carried her kicking and screaming inside to have a timeout.  Awesome.

So after her timeout, she's still whining and crying and at this point Boy is starting to cry.  My now dazed in-laws helped us out to the car and I must have looked equally dazed because my MIL told me that "this too shall pass."  I went home utterly discouraged and promising I would never go out again with 2 kids on my own.  Which was quickly broken because I have short-term memory loss.

Halloween

I started off feeling rather optimistic about Halloween this year.  We bought our pumpkins in plenty of time.  I finished Bean's costume a week early.  I even stocked up on candy at the perfect time: not so early that S and I ate the whole bag and not so late that all the store had left were Dots and Tootsie Rolls.

Bean decided that she would be a Lion and Boy would be a Tiger.  After some discussion this led to a costume idea for S and me.  (Fittingly this is the only picture I have of mine and S's costumes...mine's a bear.  You can read S's.  Do you get it?  Hahahaha...)

Bean was unbelievably difficult the day of Halloween.  (This picture pretty much sums it all up.)  Like, we probably should have just cancelled the whole thing, but my inner guilty conscience kept thinking "you can't just cancel Halloween!"  So we gave it a go. 

The idea was that S would take Bean out again this year, with Boy in tow.  Should have been perfect, but Bean was/is now terrified of hills.  Our neighborhood has an awful lot of hills, including our driveway which, as it turns out, sparked a giant tantrum which had Bean back inside after only being out "trick-or-treating" for 30 seconds.  After Bean calmed down (and after I explained Bean's new phobia to S) they went out and tried it again but I guess every time they had to go up a driveway, Bean would freak out, leaving S to do most of the trick-or-treating himself, all with Boy in his arms.  Sounds like it was a party.

On top of that, we went out and realized that the 2 pumpkins we carved were half gone.  I automatically blamed it on wreckless teenagers and I was furious!  Hey, I was a teenager once, but I never messed with people's pumpkins.  That is just so mean.  I went out the next day to further investigate and I realized that they had teeth marks on them.  After a huge ah-hah moment I called S and told him I thought it was the deer instead.  It was later confirmed when we tossed the leftovers in our garden and noticed a deer eating it later.  So I guess if there is a silver lining in the whole thing, it's that we helped feed the deer.  Again.

The Summer of Baseball

If there is one thing that I believe epitomizes summer far above anything else,  it's baseball.

Every year S's family meets together to go to a game on or around the July 24th holiday.  This year S's brother and his family were in town.  Bean was in heaven to be able to play with her cousins the whole time we were there.  And eat their food.

We weren't sure whether or not we would go this year, since Boy had just been born, but I just felt like getting out and going to a game.  Boy surprised us: he was an absolute angel the whole time!  The only glitch concerning him was that I forgot diapers.  (I was only 3 weeks into this new experience.  I've learned...)  Luckily, a newborn bladder isn't too big so we squeaked by on that one.

My favorite part of that particular game is that they show fireworks at the end.  Bean has been before, but it has been a few years and so this was really her first firework display.  We moved a few rows forward to get a better view and I held her on my lap.  She loved them!  (How can you not?!  At this ballpark they are practically on top of us!)  Another favorite thing is that they choreograph the display to music.  This year was particularly exceptional. To this day, whenever I hear a song from that game it takes me back to summer. 

Boy also did very well for his first experience with fireworks: he slept right through them!

 I don't even remember who won the game.  I do remember that my 2 Chicago Dogs (standard fare) were delicious.  I can't wait to go again next year.

Bean's Dancing School: First Day

You may or may not remember that I made it a goal of mine to enroll the Bean in dance this fall.  Late last year I started looking into a school that is literally just down the road from our home.  I used to dance with a girl who was now teaching there (and as it turns out the owner actually knows the two previous owners of the school that I attended--which was sadly bought out by another school, otherwise I would have enrolled Bean there instead.)  It made perfect sense to enroll her there, but when it came time to submit her registration I found it was a little difficult to contact the owner.  Luckily a few weeks prior I was able to get her signed up--and just in time too.  When you own a dance company in a city where the majority of households have kids, classes fill up quickly! 

Initially I had planned on enrolling her in the tap/ballet class, but ultimately thought she would probably have more fun doing tumbling and jazz instead, so that's what we went with.  I was giddy with excitement on the day I took Bean shopping for her uniform.  A pink leotard, white tights, and white ballet shoes.  I opted for the pink skirt too.

The night before her first class, I told Bean that we would have to get up extra early (thinking, like, 9--which is actually early for this "usually sleeps until 10" girl.)  She woke up at 7:30.  Needless to say we got to the school before the owner had even arrived!

I told her it was tradition that, on the first day of school, we get our picture taken.  She was more than willing to oblige her mother.  Thank goodness.

She was excited to go the first day and has been excited to go every day since.  Possibly because she gets a sucker at the end of every class.  She struggled at first with somersaults and backbends (what 3-year old hasn't?!)  But it's been neat to see how much she has grown, both as a dancer and as a kid in general.  She is more confident and it's hilarious to see her running around the house doing leaps and turns.  The girl definately has it in her.

Her first recital is in a month.  And you thought I was excited to have her start dancing...