... When No One Else is Watching

Oh, To Be Loved

It was Avery's Little Gym class today and a good time was had by all. It is getting to the point where the parents and children are more comfortable with eachother and really enjoying the class more and more. Avery is not nearly as stand-offish as she was in her first couple of weeks and she is very receptive to learning the new skills each week. She is also coming dangerously close to being able to do sommersaults by herself which is such a cute little maneuver when done by a fourteen month old!

There is a little boy in our class; the same one Avery growled at during her first class, who is now just one of my favorite people. He is such a little jock and shows off at every moment possible and he is just such a cute boy, the kind of boy I would love to have. Well, I guess the feeling is mutual because today, as I ran outside to get my camera, he started to cry because I had left. He stood by the door until I returned, while his mother stood watching in bewilderment. She was so surprised he had such a reaction to my leaving the room, I simply told her that's what happens to all men when I leave a room. So not true, but wouldn't it be lovely? Of course, my own daughter practically walked me to the door and wished me a fond farewell. Actually, she never even noticed I left the room, but that's okay, that just tells me she's confident. That is until she would want to leave, then she would wonder where the woman who carries her around all day was, then she would cry.

Here's a picture of my little confident one at the gym playing with bubbles, waiting for them to come to her of course, because hey, everything else does.

Thoughts about our world

A few thoughts and opinions about news stories of the day.

• It's a sad day when the Anna Nicole Smith trial gets more coverage than when President Ford passed away. It's even more sad when I'm surfing my tv channels and I stop on Court TV just to see the latest news on this train wreck. Watching this stuff is not going to make me a better human being, it will however populate my mind with a lot of useless trivia, which I am proud to say I have a ton of! Okay, I'll stop watching.
• Famous young-uns entering rehab - What?!?!?! It seems like rehab is becoming a status symbol for a lot of young starlets.  And then there is the indecisiveness of these girls. "No, I don't want to be here, okay, maybe I should go back. Oh no, I can't drink any more alcohol? I need to leave. Okay, well I have had people threaten to take my children if I don't get help so I'm back." Good Lord! If you even have the thought of going into rehab because you think you have a problem then that is probably where you need to be. As I say to my dog. Sit. Stay.
• Grey's Anatomy - I have to say I was a bit bummed by the three episode arc that they had been touting as 'the best television of the year, so you better not miss it!' I really could have missed it. I LOVE Grey's Anatomy but I'll be honest, it just kinda sucked. The one moment I really did like though was at the end of last night's episode when Izzy was walking down the hallway and she stops and then you see Denny as he whispers her name, I was physically moved and it made me tear up. So they redeemed themselves with that one scene. Because you know all the writers are thinking, "I hope Jennifer was happy with this episode" and care about what I thought. Let's be honest, I'll still be watching every week.
• Oprah - She opened a leadership academy in Africa for girls (yes, I know she did this months ago, but now ABC is going to televise a special on it and I can see all the life changing she has done for myself.) Can this woman get any better? I adore her. I want my daughter to be just like her and change many people's lives. Yes, I just said that, I want my daughter to be like Oprah. No pressure.

Well, that's all I've got except for one tiny little plea to Mother Nature. STOP SNOWING! I really would like to see Spring, and I know it's only the end of February but we've went over this before, I'm not a patient person. We've had some sneak peeks of spring and now I want it to be that way every day! It's like sugar, it's addicting, which is another thing, I've given up sugar for Lent and I'm only on day three and would love a piece of chocolate. Hopefully, the next six weeks go by quickly! You never can tell what my mood will be without chocolate! Not pretty people, not pretty!

She Likes It!

It's been a while since I've posted because I've been busy with the child. She's so much more high-maintenance since she started to crawl and stand and be a human being! It's exhausting!

We did go ahead and enroll her in The Little Gym class and it's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. She thoroughly enjoys being around other kids her age and she is constantly giggling and moving and climbing all over the equipment. It's actually really great for me as well because her nap times are so good after we get her home from her class. She's the only girl in her class but I am proud to say she can hold her own with all those boys! The other day a little boy was climbing through some rainbow equipment and Avery was at the end to greet him... with a big growl! The little one's mother told me, "your daughter just growled at my son!" That's my girl! It was really funny and all the parents got a kick out of it, thank goodness they don't just think my daughter is a bully!

Avery is the only one in her class that isn't walking yet, that's right, she's still not walking. I'm trying not to freak out too much about it because I figure it will probably be exactly like her learning how to crawl. I worked so much with her to get her to crawl and she wanted nothing to do with it until one day when she was ten and a half months old when she decided that crawling was for her. I work with Avery every day on walking and she will walk with assistance although her legs stay completely straight. It's actually quite funny to watch, my sister and I were saying she looks like a little russian dancer when she tries to walk, all we need now is the music. I'm sure she'll develop the skill of walking in no time and then I will wish she would just go back to crawling!

Avery turns fourteen months old today and to say these have been the best fourteen months of my life is an understatement, yet the most tiring! She's a joy and it is so enjoyable to really see her personality coming out now. She's a sweet, lovable girl but she is also quite a pistol. I can't wait to see what the next fourteen months hold!

Let's go to The Little Gym, Mama!

I'm still a picky eater, but this will do!

I haven't felt this way since high school

Since before Avery was born I always said I was going to get us into a mothers and babies group so that she could be with kids her own age. Because she only has one cousin who lives in Texas and he is 10 years old and all of my friends don't have kids in her age range she usually just gets to hang out with adults. I truly feel she needs to be around other children so she can learn all those wonderful lessons such as sharing and playing nicely with others, as well as how to handle being bitten so she can see how it feels when she bites her own mother. Not really, but you know it will happen so I'm just preparing myself. Up until now I haven't been wonderful on following through because let's just put it out there, I don't share well and having my baby to myself to cuddle and play with all day suits me better. Maybe I need the class more than she does. Oh,,, and I'm a procrastinator.

Yesterday I finally made a phone call to The Little Gym so that Avery and I can go to a complimentary class tomorrow. I think it will be really fun for her as she loves being around other little ones and with the class being for children in her exact age range it will be fun for me to see how she interacts with the other little wrecking balls (it's been one of those mornings and that's the only term I am using for my child today, my two and a half foot tall wrecking ball!) Now that I have made the class arrangement I am starting to get a bit nervous, not for Avery, for myself! I was talking to my friend Susannah yesterday and we were discussing that when we joined this club they call 'Parenthood' we didn't realize we were getting into the most competitive club in existence! It seems other mommys love to critique every move another mom makes and if you're not raising your child the way another mom does you are raked over the coals for decisions you make. Now that I know this I am a bit scared to get into an interactive class with other parents and know they are critiqueing my parenting. I am most likely over analyzing this in every way possible but that's what I do. See, how awesome of a blog session is this today? I've admitted to not sharing well, being a procrastinator and over analyzing every decision I make! I sound like an awesome person! Getting on with it, I just hope Avery and I can go and really have a good time with it and have it be something we want to sign up for for the next six months. Yes, it's like a gym membership, you can't just go and pay weekly, they want to hook you in and make sure you get there every week so that they get more of your money, which I guess makes sense for their business and the children that come hoping to see their new found friends every week. I hope I will be able to meet some other young moms who are a bit like me and our children will get along and it will be a fun experience for all involved.

Now I just have to get past my worries and stop thinking what people will think of me and how I'll get along with the other parents. Isn't it funny that those thoughts never leave your mind no matter how old you get? And how do you not pass that off to your child? It's a natural emotion, wanting others' approval. Hopefully, I will be able to raise my child to really not care what others think about who and what she is, I want her to be herself and be proud of who she is but I know that someday another person will make her wonder if the decisions she makes are the correct ones and if she should change herself to fit in. I hope will all my heart she will be who she is most proud to be,,, her original self.