Carlsbad

We took a little day-and-half spring-break trip to Carlsbad this weekend. It consisted mainly of relaxing, going to the beach, and visiting the flower fields. Sweet time.

Mercy

um...self-explanatory.

Tumbling Take 2

Disclaimer: This is a little bit of bragging on our girl. But it is a whole blog about her, after all. And the people who read it love her and would be proud of her too. Am I right?

Mercy is taking a tumbling class again, but it's FUN this time. Ahem. Last summer, when she was 15 months old, we took it for the first time, and frankly, I was the one getting the workout squatting up and down for 45 minutes trying to help her do all the stuff! And then there was the fact that she would simply refuse to do some things. AND it was really crowded with other 1 - 2 1/2 year olds and their parents, many of them just wandering around (the kids, that is). . . Anyway, I was brave enough to sign up again, and am SO GLAD I did. Mercy is doing great and really enjoys it, too. She's not afraid of the apparatuses (yes, that is the plural. My instinct was apparati, but I guess not), follows directions much better now and is just so much more physically capable. Plus, there are only 4 kids in her class this time (and three teachers!) so it's just better all around. She talks excitedly about tumbling class during the week and practices the things they've taught her. They have pretty high expectations, in my opinion, and each week I think the maneuvers are kind of a stretch, but then she amazes me and gets it by the next class. She is doing forward rolls and eagle rolls (feet apart and hands behind the back) on her own, and wants me to help her do headstands at home, and she is surprisingly good on the balance beam (don't worry--it's hardly above ground-level). The first week her teacher asked her to walk on her tiptoes backward on the beam and she did! I thought, "Wow, Mercy, you have skills I didn't even know about!" So, I'm not saying she's the next Shawn Johnson, but I think this class is so beneficial for her and lots of fun. Of course, getting a stamp on her hand at the end is a major highlight, too. (SS)

Going Forth

I found out that the posts can be back-dated, so I can go ahead with what's happening now and fill in the past at the same time and everything will be in chronological order. So, scroll down once in awhile to check if there's anything you haven't seen. Thanks for your patience everyone! (SS)

We're Still Here!

Apologies to the readers, if anyone is still out there. No, we didn't drop off the face of the planet. Life just got busy and then so much time went by I didn't know if I should jump in months later and leave a big gap of time, or fill in where we left off. I've finally decided to do the latter since this is our only type of ongoing record for posterity, so look for a series of retro-posts coming soon.

(SS)

Mercy's First Haircut

I've been putting barrettes in Mercy's hair for about a year now. She's always been a good sport about having her hair done, even asking for pigtails or a ponytail and sitting still for them. However, we finally reached a point where the front became unruly and I just couldn't stand Mercy peering at me through scraggly clumps of hair anymore, so I took her to get some bangs. She did really well. It may have helped that I went first and got some bangs of my own, and that we talked about what it would be like beforehand. Her favorite part seemed to be seeing herself in the big mirror. At some point we'll need to cut the back, too, but we're just not ready to lose her little waves yet! (SS)

Ice Skating!

Well, it turns out they make ice skates in toddler sizes. Who knew? Mercy and I had a chance to go ice skating and she loved it. I think it would have been WAY more fun for her if I could stand up on skates myself, but oh well. I held both her hands and we teetered our way part way around the rink, and then enjoyed watching the other kids. I wanted her to know what ice skating was so she would have a reference when we watched the Olympics. She loves describing her experience (how COLD it was, how ice skaters go "like this" and imitates them in her socks on the wood floor, and how the Zamboni goes round and round). She's so much more coordinated than I am, though. I bet if I had given her 10 more minutes on the ice she would have figured out how to do a double axle on her own. (SS)