Just Dance!

Ingrid has started two major firsts this fall: Mother's Day Out and Dance Class. More on MDO later. This post is dedicated to dance. I started dance class in 1st grade. I took ballet, tap, and jazz from an amazingly talented lady in Bergman and it was the highlight of my life every week. I loved it. I have some wonderful memories from recitals and practices and dance trips. I couldn't decide if I wanted Ingrid to try dance or gymnastics first. I really thought she would enjoy both so my mom looked in to both for me. (Most of you know my phone phobia issues...) Gymnastics doesn't start until three, so the decision was made for me! Ingrid got all signed up for dance with Gammy because Derek and I were out of town on our little before-school-vacation on the day of the sign-up. Ingrid was so excited to pick out her uniform--a black leotard and pink tights. She got fitted for ballet and tap shoes and she couldn't wait until her first class. Knowing her history of major anxiety upon the moment of separation from a family member, I was super nervous for her first class. It's also during her nap time, so I was worried she would be cranky too. Here she is after she got ready to go at Gammy's house. I was glued to my phone (while my kids in class were reading and totally engaged of course) to get an update from my mom. Class starts at 2:30 so I won't ever get to take her :( But I'm so thankful mom can. Mrs. Deborah scooped Ingrid up out of Mom's arms and whisked her down the hall. Ingrid didn't cry a single tear!! She loved everything about her first class. Gammy took her to Sonic for a drink and to Walmart (her choice of store) for a prize. She picked out a My Little Pony. Ingrid informed me that there were two girls in her class. One was "little and cried for her mom the whole time." hahaha. I thought that would be her. The two girls were Brooklyn and Emma. She told me they danced to a clown song and it was so fun. The second week, Mrs. Deborah and Miss Kylie stayed back in the room and the girl working the desk walked them back. Ingrid had a few tears because she "didn't know that girl." She quickly stopped crying and had "so much fun in her dance class." She told me they did the clown song again and teddy bear, teddy bear turn around. There was a new girl this time named Kaydence. Here is Ing after class. Meme watched Liv the first week, but Mom took her the second week. She did so good waiting the hour of dance. I was so proud of her! I met Mom and the girls at Walmart after dance. Ingrid informed me that she wanted to bake cupcakes so we got a small cake mix and headed to the house. She was very proud that she made cupcakes and thanked me for helping her a little. Today was Ingrid's third dance class and I was afraid she was going to miss it since she's had fever for five days! Luckily, she had no fever today and was able to go. She got to be the leader going back to their dance room. There were two new girls today, London and Macy, for a grand total of six. Ingrid said they had new music and new dances today. She said Mrs. Deborah gave them red flags to use and one girl put it in her mouth and Mrs. Deborah had to tell her NO MA'AM! haha. I love how she tells everything! I asked her what she did with the flags and she started waving her arm around and said, "We just had our flags and flagged them around like this, mom. Just while we were dancing." heehee. She LOVED it! Here she is coming out of class today with her paper and backpack. My project of the week is to make her a dance bag! She wants it to have ballet shoes on it. Hopefully it will be as cute as it is in my mind!

10 months old

Dear Livy Riley,

You have become quite the voice in our house. We love to hear you trying to say new words and babble so loudly! You can say dad(you say dad more often than dada--probably imitating your sister), mama, baba, hi, bye bye, thank you, and meme very clearly. You are trying so hard to Ingrid and Gammy. You make sounds for their names but they aren't matching up yet. You put together hi dad and hi mama all the time. Sometimes you say meow for a kitty. You love to laugh and squeal at the top of your lungs. I love it when we tickle you and you laugh so hard you go silent. Then we all start laughing right along with you. You always laugh at everything Ingrid does. You think she is absolutely hilarious. Liv, you are just such a bright light in our lives. I can't imagine a day without you! You are very steady on your feet. You can stand up anywhere in a room, on your own, without holding on. You are so very close to walking everywhere. You can take about ten steady steps on your own before you bend down to crawl again. I can't believe you are walking so much. You just look so tiny to be doing all this big girl stuff!! You love to play with all your toys. You give babies and kitties kisses and hugs. You take the pieces out of our "baby puzzles", as Ingrid calls them, but haven't started putting any pieces in yet. You are beginning to love books! You will sit in our laps and listen to two or three at a time and you love to turn the pages and look at them by yourself too. It is getting harder and harder for you to take a bottle because you are too worried about missing out on something. You still take a bottle in the night, though, and usually drink about 4 oz. I haven't mentioned your sleep habits in a while because they're still pretty rocky. You just cannot stay asleep for a long period of time. We rock you to sleep and lay you down around 7:30 or 8:00 and you usually wake up twice before midnight. I give you a bottle the second time you wake up and rock you back to sleep again and lay you back down in your own bed. Around 1:30 or 2:00 you're up again and once again, I rock you and put you back in your own bed. At the 3:00 and 4:00 mark I'm usually exhausted and just let you sleep the rest of the night with me. Sometimes I stand my ground and make you go back in your own bed for the whole night, but most of the time I'm just so tired, I give in. You love to snuggle up right beside me with your face pressed against my cheek. I do love snuggling you, but I will be very happy when the time comes that you sleep through the night! It's hard getting up and teaching my little six year olds all day with just a few hours of sleep each night! You wake up each morning rearing to go! You crawl around the house at the speed of light. The other day Ingrid was asleep in her room for nap and you kept trying to crawl into her room and wake her up. You would not play with me in the living room! Finally, I shut the door to the living room so you couldn't crawl into the hall and open the bedroom door. I hadn't even finished shutting the living room door and you took off--you went the other way, through the dining room, kitchen, and computer room to get to the hall and to Ingrid's room. You are a smart girl Liv Riley! You outsmarted me that day. You are going to nursery at church for Sunday School and church--over 2 hours! You usually cry a little bit when I drop you off, but then you do great. I'm so proud of you. In just two months we will be celebrating your birthday with a poodle party! Since we call you poodle or Livy poodle most of the time, this will be the perfect theme. I can't wait to see your face when you see all the decorations. I know you will love it. Until then, I am going to savor these last few days of being "zero!"

Love you to pieces,
Mama