Christmas dress up

While I assume she'll grow to love it, dress up isn't Brooklyn's favorite pasttime just yet. It's a little tedius for her liking. An unecessary interruption to her playtime. But it's Christmastime & irresistible for her mom. I hope she understands some day...

Her school hosted a birthday party for Jesus on Thursday. She signed up to bring the cupcakes and wore her red ruffle skirt for the occassion.

We've made 5 attempts to see Santa now. She's dressed up each day, only to either have an interruption in our schedule or a line of kids holding us back. So we killed some time ooh-ing and aah-ing over the Bass Pro Shop's sites. It's a pretty happening place, but I still don't understand what attracts hundreds of people here every day. Not sure I'll ever get it...I can think of many other places I'd rather be!

We entered the Rhema parking lot right as Brooklyn's eyes were getting heavy last night. But as soon as she was lifted from her car seat, her eyes lit up at the beautiful sight! It was much more entertaining this year than last (when she was but 6 weeks old!).

And this is just a bonus...her Lil Cupcake Apron & Chef's hat!  :)

Gymnast in the making

Brooklyn's been developing her gymnast skills since August by attending classes once a week at The Little Gym.

After school every Tuesday, we head to gymnastics for 45 minutes of pure fun! Daddy came to check her out today, and he snapped some pretty good photos.

Balance Beam Skills

Sometimes the boys distract her and she turns into a little flirt...

This is also where she's mastered her climbing skills. She's pretty fearless on these obstacles!

The 'Skill of Focus' for today was for her to walk across the balance beam on her hands, and do a somersault at the end of the beam. Below is a snapshot of her reaction..."whoa! Mom! Dad! I did it!!!"

 

Watch out, Alicia Sacramone...Brooklyn's coming after your gold! :)



Playtime

Brooklyn is inventing new ways of playing with things. For example, her dog has become a balance beam (such a focused gymnast!):

And instead of playing music on her music table, she climbs on it!

 She uses her dollhouse treetop as a hat...

...sometimes it gets slippery and falls to the side...

"Uh oh! Where'd your hat go, Brooklyn?!"

(This keeps her busy for several minutes, at least!) 

And water bottles: They're for playing, not for drinking, you silly adults!

The love for her puppy hasn't dwindled at all. He gets big puppy hugs every day!

 



Rock-a-bye, baby

My lullaby list is limited to say the least. A friend recently asked me if I sang to Brooklyn when she was newborn. My friend didn't want to deprive her new daughter of anything; singing included. But she was in the same boat as me, with a limited lullaby vocab. I fessed up that no, I don't sing to my baby regularly. And if I do sing, I don't do it in front of an audience that speaks the English language because the homemade rhymes and lyrics are an embarrassment!  But I told her that even a mom without a lullaby can be a good rocker! I love to rock Brooklyn in my lap. When she's cuddled up against my chest, blankie and all...these are the memories that will be cherished forever. Forget the seemingly endless, exhausting hours of cries, tears and fears that motherhood duties necessitate. It's nights like tonight when I hear whimpers coming from the monitor, and while I know she's okay, I just want to go check on her, hoping that she needs to be held. And even though 9 times out of 10 she doesn't need to be held or rocked, I sometimes choose to pick her up anyway. And tonight, as I stood in her room rocking her back and forth in my arms, I felt the baby squirm around and I realized: I'm rocking both my babies goodnight.  This of course, brought tears to my eyes, thanking the Lord for these blessings in life.