My Ballerina

We've been "shopping around" for some extracurricular activity for Samantha. She's talked about dance because her friends are there but loves to jump and is equally enticed by gymnastics. So I took the gymnastics plunge first thinking that she would be too uncoordinated for ballet. Does that sound mean?

Samantha is a very vivacious child, but has never been particularly coordinated. She walks around with a book attached to her nose these days and is just learning to catch a ball. I have to admit it the sports thing I just don't quite understand. I may be accident prone, but I was fearless and always doing cartwheels and jumping rope at her age.

So she tried out gymnastics this week and I was in hysterics. I was glad my mom didn't come because we would have had to excuse ourselves from the grounds for incessant giggling. Samantha is sooo uncoordinated. But she tried and was happy about it, which is what really matters. The next day, however, she was sporting a sore ankle. Hmm. I don't think so.

Today we tried out ballet--both girls got to try a class. Alyssa lasted about 15 minutes until they closed the door and she didn't see me, then she cried the rest of the routine. They finally just gave up and handed her to me. Maybe after preschool we'll try again. And so we stood and watched Samantha and I was amazed.
She is a natural. She pointed her toes like was supposed to, ran like she was supposed to, and while her plié needs some work, she surprised even me. So she's found her niche and I'm finally satisfied. While she may never throw a softball or dribble correctly, she's found what she's good at and I couldn't be prouder.   :)

A first

I've finally started going to the gym on a regular basis. I am not fighting it as much as I have before. Since money is such a precious commodity these days I figure I better make every dollar count. I've seen improvement in my abs for sure. While they are not rock hard by any means, they're starting to hold in the ol' post-natal gut a bit better.

This week I started the South Beach diet. I've never dieted in my life, but I figure I need to jump-start my system. I had started to eat whatever I felt like and didn't exercise in the last year. It all seems to have coincided with Al's unemployment. While the scale hasn't shown any deduction in weight, I've noticed a tighter core. Let's hope week 2 gives me some better results.

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In other news, Alyssa is fully potty trained; she's finally in the 25th Percentile; and we've signed up her for preschool at Sacred Heart. She can't wait until she can go to school.

Samantha is a copy of her mother--she's a voracious reader. I introduced her to a series about a kindergartner named Junie B. Jones and she's already read 3 in the series. The books are about 60-70 pages and broken up by chapters. I bought Samantha her first one and she finished it in three hours. We found some more at the library so we've been checking out 2-3 every two weeks. I love that she is so hungry for the written word--finally someone in the house as insane about reading as I am.