Misc March

Rainy days

Rebekah perfecting her picture taking skills

Elephant craft from story time

Rebe's hand with my hand - Rebe helped decorate her elephant

Steak & Shake lunch with grandma and Frank

First fishin' of the season

Those eyes! 

Taking a little drive

(I know I wasn't driving when I was three...)

What better to practicing spreading with than carrot cake cookies

AHHHH!

Sunday's primary - Little Purple Pansies

A close up

Love this:

Rebekah and her friend Clara waiting for me to trace them with sidewalk chalk

The completed project

Sharing a water

Painting with Grandma

My goal is to make sure Rebekah tries all sorts of new things. Even things that I am not good at. Especially things that I am not good at. Hence painting:

Rebekah seems to love it.

And good news, grandma is GREAT at painting! She has some awesome skills! So fun to see them paint together and Rebe learning from mom.

Family Lunch Out

Don knows I love Chuy's chicken tortilla soup. He tries to take me there very often. One day Rebekah got to come true. She was very excited to be out on a date with daddy and mama.

She actually ate pretty well considering it was Mexican and she is very picky.

On the way out she kept jumping up and reaching towards the ceiling. Couldn't figure out what she wanted. I looked up (the picture you see is higher than eye level for me) and there was a little tiny car on the wall. Seriously? There is nothing my daughter misses. 

Sidewalk Art

Warm enough to be outside = sidewalk art. Started with tracing Rebe then she said she had to trace me. Then she wouldn't rest 'till we had the rest of the family. She was very proud. She wanted pictures and the pictures had to be on the blog.

Daddy and grandma

Rebe and me and part of daddy

Mama Needs A New Pair Of Shoes

My first run also taught me I needed new shoes. My big toe was pushing its way out the top of the shoe. So I asked mom to babysit Rebe and began the search. I found some running shoes I really liked. They had a buy one get one half price sale so I went looking for another pair. Apparently my foot isn't the easiest to fit. Kind of thin but long too. Dress shoes are impossible! So I gave up and went into Rebekah's section. I wanted some summer sandals. And look at my find! Couldn't be happier. I love dressing up my little girl!

First Run

We finally had a spring day and I knew it was time to get the running shoes out. Rebekah wanted to go with me however I talked her into to waiting until I got back and then we would go together. So I went. It was humiliating. 

Last year I made so much progress with my stamina. That all went out the proverbial window. It was painful how out of shape I was. When I got back the last thing I wanted to do was go back out there. However a promise was made so I got my Rebe all ready and we ventured. But first, a picture was in order.

Rebekah did very well. I mean she's 3 and she made it almost down half the street without stopping. It was fun watching her little ponytail swing in the wind. It inspired me to do more of that kind of stuff with her. It's so fun to have my little buddy around!

Muddy Mud Puddles

Snow was melting. There were perfectly good galoshes to use. So we ventured out in search of puddles. 

Found some!

Rebekah jumped from puddle to puddle. But then she found one that was more mud then puddle. It was traumatic. She couldn't handle the mud. Looks like she is my girl after all.

I showed her how she could walk through snow and get the monster galoshes cleaned off. That worked. She had such a great time walking through snow, that is until one of her boots fell off and her sock was exposed to snow and... well it just went down from there. 

Good bye winter! We had fun but now we are ready for something new. 

Summer, here we come!

Daddy Love

My little girl loves her M & M's. 

But M & M's wouldn't be as good without sharing them with that dad.

She loves that dad!

Other evidence: 

Riding on his shoulders - look at her face!

Snuggling dad's head 

(And yes, that is a forced smile out of Don.)

And final evidence:

Rebekah pretending to be dad

More Snow

In honor of hopefully the last snow of the season I thought it a good idea to post my last fun in the snow day.

Rebekah wanted to go sledding. She even called Frank to ask if she could borrow his sled. When we finally got to Frank's house to go sledding Rebekah wanted none of it. It was decided I would go down first to show her it was safe. Hence my first sledding experience:

I got Rebekah on for a few minutes and pulled her around the flat ground.

However, at the mention of going down the big hill, she wanted off. It was not her thing. I think somewhere along the line she developed this very severe fear of heights.

But we still had fun.

Throwing snow at grandma

Throwing snow with grandma

Kicking snow at grandma

Grandma kicking snow at Rebekah

On the way back to Frank's house to get hot chocolate Rebekah made her first snow angel of the seasons. All that instruction daddy gave her finally paid off.

Best part of snow? Hot chocolate made by grandma.

Hopefully that's the last of the snow and post from now on will be warm and sunny. But here's one more of my little snow angel to last until next winter:

Tumble Dance

Warning: this blog is going to include a lot of my emotional ranting so if you don't want to be that invested, feel free to scroll through and just look at the pictures.

I wanted Rebekah to be involved in some type of lessons this year. We started in the fall with a dance class Anderson which, after I saw a few sessions I wasn't too happy with. But I wanted her in something. Then a friend suggested I come to her child's bring a friend week. It was so much better! I spoke to Don and talked him into enrolling her in that class as well. 

Rebekah started not wanting to go to her Monday dance class. She started vocalizing - or trying to - what was going on. I spoke to her teacher and she assured me that everything was okay and Rebekah was enjoying the class. Sometime in February I was able to watch again. I did not like what I saw.

For example: they were doing forward rolls and Rebekah said she wanted to do it herself. She did it not quite right - her neck turned a little - and the instructor still did not help but let her continue doing it wrong. It look dangerous. I was a teacher and I understand a student being difficult but as a teacher I still had an obligation to make sure the student learned correct principles. I spoke to the teacher after class and she was very defensive: "She won't let me help her." Seriously? What am I paying you for? I know she can be difficult but find a way or at least tell me what's going on so I can help you help her! 

I also saw some students treating Rebekah poorly and when Rebekah was proactive about it and tried to move away from the problem the teacher had her move back. 

Needless to say I was not happy. So I talked to Don and we pulled her from the class. 

However, I was worried. What was going on in the other class? I have never been able to watch a full session. I called the instructor and we set up a meeting. She said Rebekah was doing well and her only concern was her forward rolls. Then she showed me how I could help her. I asked if Rebe was not letting her help and she said no, that most of the time Rebekah won't do it without her help. She also mentioned there would be a watch week in March.

I went home and helped Rebekah with forward rolls. A lot. Finally we got it:

(Please excuse my first in the morning look and just watch Rebekah)

So cut to March. They sent home a paper about watch week rules - no cameras, absolutely no video, no phones, no young kids, etc. I of course follow directions. It's who I am. However, I was the only one who did. Everyone had phones and cameras and of course video. One had her 6 month old baby. If that wasn't bad enough the instructor commented to us, "Now that you have the routine recorded you can help your child at home." 

Seriously, what's going on with the world! First if you don't care about us following rules, why do you send home a list of rules? Especially if you really expect us to break the rules and record the routine so we can help our child? I was SO mad! I wanted pictures and video as much as anyone. More so because these students have been together for two years and Rebe was getting a late start. I wanted to help if I could but how can I unless I know what they are doing? So MAD!

So I did what I could with my cell phone (starting to ache that I don't have a smart phone) and took the following:

Besides the rule thing, I liked everything I saw in the class: the students followed instructions, they knew where to go, the teacher was prepared and classroom management was awesome. I liked what they were doing. 

Then they did tumbling. Forward roles were first. I was nervous but Rebe wasn't. She got right up for her turn. The instructor went to help her but Rebekah did it all herself. The instructor was excited - "that's the first time she did it by herself!" Then Rebe turned around and said, "that's 'cause my mommy helped me." What a sweet girl I have! My eyes were moist. 

They also did pencil rolls and hand stands.

a bit closer

Then they went to do their jumps on the trampoline. During that time I went from parent to parent trying to find someone who would send me their video of the routine, the whole time feeling embarrassed because I didn't have it recorded because I was naive enough to follow the rules. 

I found one parent who said she record the instructor and would be happy to send it to me. I watched it and ironically the little girl right next to the instructor was my little girl. Couldn't have recorded her better if I shot it myself. I guess God will always come through for those who are obedient.