Wednesdays...
Vivianne attends a class called Music and Movement on Wednesday mornings. There are three other girls and one boy in her class. It is by far her favorite time of the week. The class is structured so that the kids participate in circle time followed by scheduled free play throughout, a perfect balance of instruction and play. The teacher keeps the children engaged and on task the entire time. She is gifted, there is no doubt! During the circle time, the kiddos can sit on their mommy/caregiver’s lap or beside them, in front of them, where ever basically as long as they are in the circle. When we first started the class, Vivianne would always, always sit on my lap, she never ventured very far from me (which is nothing unusual). Now, we are nearing the end of the second session, and she chooses to sit next to me or in front of me, all by herself, as close to the teacher as possible. The transformation is unbelievable. She started off going to this class as this timid, passive little girl and now, pretty much likes to lead the class! Her confidence has grown so much in the past two months, it’s almost like she becomes a different person. During the “hello” song there is a verse that says, “hug a friend” and she is the first one to jump up and run over and hung her teacher! How is that our little shy bird just comes out of her shell??? My only conclusion is that she truly loves music and anything that goes with it. She loves to dance, in fact, there is another song they do where a part of the song says that they can “do their own dance.” I wonder if she realizes that on most days she is the only one who is doing their own dance. Everyone else just sits back and watches her bust a move. She is in her element 100 % and I feel so fortunate to be able to experience that with her every single week :-)
When we drop off Dad at the train in the mornings, he will say goodbye to her and say, “Vivianne, I want you to dance today like nobody’s looking.” She usually just smiles and waves goodbye, but I am wondering if deep down inside she is thinking, “Ok, Papa.”
Could Spring be on its way?
We enjoyed a couple hours outdoors today! It felt so good to be outside.
The Juggler Extraordinaire
We went to the library this morning to see Andy Head, juggler extraordinaire, perform for the kiddos. He put on quite the show. At one point during the show, he asked for a “big” kid volunteer…no one raised their hand, so he called on Tom :-) This was the second time he was asked to volunteer at one of these events. The first time was at the Thaddeus Rex concert last month. He was called upon by Thaddeus Rex himself to come up on stage and judge the dancing competition. I figure he must just have the “face” of a good sport. HA!
I was so glad I had my camera with so that you all could enjoy watching this as much as we did!
What they don't say...
The other day I bought Vivianne a new pair of jeans. This morning I decided she should wear them. I put them on and they fit so nice! I yelled, “Hey, honey, come see Vivianne’s new jeans.” So Thomas comes in and tells her they look great, she smiles.
He goes off to shower.
Now, when I bought her these new jeans I also bought her a new pair of shoes. So I asked her if she wanted to wear her new shoes too. I help her get them on. I tell her they look so pretty and she yells, “Honey, honey, shoes!” She was wanting Thomas to come check out her shoes!
(Early) Saint Patrick's Day Celebration
We thought it would be fun to have a few of Vivianne’s friends over for some food and fun!
Here are a few pictures of us attempting to make shamrocks in celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day (next week). Basically we melted white chocolate, added some food coloring and let the kids dip and sprinkle away. It was a big yummy mess!
We also had a surprise shower for Marney, due with number two very soon!
Vivianne feel on her face yesterday outside…so her nose is pretty scraped up! Boo hoo!
Dora the Explorer Musical
We took Vivianne down to Chicago today to see the musical, Dora the Explorer. We took the train down and it just so happened the woman sitting next to us and her daughter were also going to see the show. The woman started talking to her daughter about the characters and at that point I think Vivianne started to catch on that something big was about to happen. When we get to the theater we see every type of “Dora” souvenir/memorabilia imaginable. There were hundreds of little Dora fans just as excited as Vivianne. The lights go down and the show starts and everyone cheers and chants along with the cast, except Vivianne…she is sitting so still in her seat, her eyes fixed upon the stage, not moving a muscle, completely mesmerized. I think the term “star struck” would have been an understatement. She remains motionless throughout the whole show, only at one point did she wave her little star sign in the air. Thomas and I kept looking at her and then at each other and secretly laughing inside. It was like she was trying to take it all in and didn’t want to miss a moment. At the end of the show she started to whine a bit, saying, “More, Dora, more, Dora!” But we somehow managed to get her out of there without any lost tears. Most likely she will not remember this experience, but I know that Thomas and I will never forget it :-)
