Stella the Gymnast

Stella is enrolled in gymnastics!  Yep...you heard me.  Sure, she is only 16 months old but hey...why wait to begin building coordination and kinesthetic awareness?

The class is 16 months-3 years old, so she is definitely the youngest in her class.  She doesn't quite know what to do but still seems to have a good time.  We've only done 2 classes so far but she is already improving.  The first class consisted of me lifting her and carrying her through different stations.  But the second class was much better.  She went on the trampoline by herself (granted she still can't hop with 2 feet but she liked it all the same), and ran to the vault by herself.  She is even getting the hang of tucking her chin to do a forward roll by herself. 

Most of all, I'm proud of what a good listener she is.  She stays in circle time to stretch (even though she has no idea what we are doing) and follows the cirtuit activities well.

Here is a picture of her in her new leotard after our first day of gymnastics (9/19/12)

Miss Frequent Flyer

Wow...it has been way too long since I have updated this blog.  So much has happened in our lives since the last post but as Stella gets older, her progression slows down a bit so it is hard for me to remember to post something about her new accomplishments and journeys. 

In the last few weeks, Stella has become quite the traveller.  We all know that she has made countless 5 hour car trips to Auburn and back over the summer but she has now officially crossed the country.  In Mid September, Matt had a softball tournament in Orlando, Florida.  He's competed in this tournament for several years but I've never gone with him.  However, this year my brother and his wife live in Florida so we decided to make a vacation out of it.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a tad bit nervous about flying across the country with a 16 month old.  I knew she would be missing both of her nap times and she really never falls asleep in people's arms anymore.  To state it simply, I was scared of the unknown (and the dirty looks other travellers give to parents of screaming children). 

She was great from Spokane to Seattle and then was great on the 6 hour flight from Seattle to Orlando.  She was sitting on daddy's lap while the plain taxied down the runway and wouldn't you know...she fell asleep before we even took off (So did daddy)!

She slept for the first 1 1/2 hours of the flight.  Then was content watching Bubble Guppies for the rest of the flight.  Yes...she had a few 2-3 minute melt downs but overall, I think she did really well.

This gave me a bit of confidence for the flight back but I was still nervous.  She didn't fall asleep quite as easily on the flight back.  She fought it and cried for about 10 minutes but eventually caved and slept for a good portion.  Poor monkey probably had no idea what time zone she was in.  That night when we got home, we gave her a bottle at about 5:45 (much earlier than normal but 8:45 Florida time) and she fell asleep drinking her bottle.  Poor thing!  She ended up sleeping 14 hours that night and woke up at her usual 7:30am the next morning.

To make her life more complicated, we went to Kansas the next week to visit my grandparents (her great grandparents).  These flights didn't go quite as well.  She really fought going to sleep.  I definitely felt the eyes of the people around me glaring into my soul!  She really probably only cried a total of 15-20 minutes but I know that is a long time for people travelling without children.  Shoot...that was a long time for me.  By the end of the second flight (from Kansas City to Seattle), I was just about in tears...exhausted, frustrated and hurting for my upset baby.

Needless to say, we had wonderful trips but we are done traveling for a while.