I find it amazing that my kids continue to grow and reach milestones while I never age. I'm still 30. Even my dad agrees, as he lopped a few years off my age earlier this month when he said he'd been a parent for 40 years. Love that man - he knows how to give a great gift to his oldest kid. :)
Milestone: Kindergarten graduation
Despite the "Leopards don't wear unnerwears" incident at Halloween, Bea graduated from kindergarten this spring.
She can read (when she feels like it, usually when it involves an Elephant and Piggie book), do simple math, draw some humans with exceptionally bird-like feet, and ask "why" like nobody's business.
Milestone: High school planning
We need to think about where Liv is going to go to high school. We need to apply for those places this fall. We started the process with an open house at Oakland Catholic yesterday. It's an all-girls school, and has a fantastic mix of academics and extra circulars. She and John both loved it. I really liked it, too, despite the Catholic end of things.
(Aside: It's really weird to be thinking about kindergarten/first grade and high school at the same time.)
Milestone: First summer camp
Bea embarked on the Summer Camp Rollercoaster this year. Her first camp, ever, was Zoo Camp. She was pretty damn dubious at first, but by the middle of the week when they got to see the polar bear poop IN the water (it sinks, just in case you wondered) and touch an armadillo, she was pretty gung-ho. By the time it was Pizza Friday, she was ready to take up permanent residence there.
So far, Camp Deer Creek is a winner, too. (I may have mentioned before how much I love this camp; the bus picks up the kids in front of the house at 8:10 am, lets them swim and run and play in the creek and feeds them lunch, then drops them off -- dirty and exhausted -- at the house by 4:15.)
She needs to work on her food identification skills, though. "Today we had a hot dog and chips and salsa for lunch. I didn't like the hot dog so I just ate the chips and salsa." I thought this was suspicious, so I checked the online menu. Yeah, that wasn't a hot dog. It was a beef soft taco. Dude, really?
Milestone: First solo-ish part in the spring performance
Liv navigates through life with a random selection of dance moves. Just last night, she did a leap and double piqué turn down the sidewalk on her way to the car. As she gets older and stronger, she has more control over her body and muscles, and is showing good improvement year after year.
For this year's spring performance, she had four pieces to do. One of them (the jazz number) featured her in a small solo. She was so nervous, but I'm proud of how well she did. In all three ballet pieces, she smiled beautifully and had a great presence on stage. It was great to see her up there, and great to have Grammie fly in for the day to watch, as well). Bea was thrilled. "That's my sister up there!" she stage "whispered" each time.
(I purchased the next two pics, so please ignore the watermark 'til I can scan in the actual prints)
Milestone: Kung Fu and yoga class
Bea started martial arts this summer in a class that is horribly called Kung Fu Panda. Yes, really. The studio itself is good (they run the classes at Chinese School, and we've watched the amazing performances), and at this level they really do animal-named poses, but still... I can't say the class name with a straight face. Bea's favorites are the tiger and the snake, and John says she's doing well. She seems to really enjoy it, and I'm just waiting for her to bust out some moves so I can see what's she's been doing.
Liv and I, meanwhile, are not punching or kicking anything. Instead, we are contorting ourselves into wheels, pigeons, and plows at a Sunday night yoga class. For a dancer, she lacks flexibility in some critical areas, so I thought yoga might help. She LOVED the first class and can't wait to go back this week. I loved it, too, and am excited that she's able to go with me. It's been years since I've done yoga and I missed it.
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