Her First Medal

I wish so badly that I would've taken pictures of Brooklyn's first gymnastic classes. She started when she was about 9 months old...she'd been crawling for just a couple weeks. She was not at all social yet; very weary of the teachers and classmates; mainly just focused on my whereabouts.

Honestly I didn't see the benefit of the class in the beginning, but we'd already paid in full, so I put forth an effort to get there each week.

She learned to walk during the semester. Each week the teachers would recognize what improvements she was making, both socially and physically.

 Before I knew it, she was running around the warm-up circle, dunking basketballs in the hoop, sharing the balls with other kids and parents, helping clean up toys after play time, and rolling around for attention from other kids!

 She grew leaps and bounds during this short semester!

She became a social, fearless, curious gymnast!

She accepted her medal of completion last week.

 

Hopefully it's just the pregnancy hormones, but just looking at her in these award ceremony pictures brings tears of pride to my eyes! I'm so proud of my big little girl!

Wheels, wheels, wheels

Between her Princess car and her fancy wagon, Brooklyn prefers to spend most of her free time hoisted above ground by four wheels nowadays. Whether she's climbing in through the passenger window of the car to plop onto a baby's head, or loading up random household items (mail, water bottles or towels) to accompany her for a wagon ride, this girl is all about goin for a ride! 

The garage is organized again, which is nice, but it's also created a new obstacle for Mommy when getting home: The first thing Brooklyn sees is the wagon at the front of the garage! And she is sucked in by a magnetic force, causing her to lose all strength and will of her own. Because the weather's been so mild this week, we've been going on daily rides around the neighhood & to the park, but I fear for the reaction I get next week, when it's wintertime outside again, and the answer is no. I think she'll yearn to feel the breeze through her hair, and the meaning of no will no longer be understood.



Christmas Highlights

I know I'm late, but better late than never! Here are some highlights from Brooklyn's second Christmas.

We did our little family exchange on Christmas Eve, when she got her first big girl chair:

She climbed right in:

but couldn't decide the best vantage point.  'Shall I stand like this?':

'Sit nicely like Mommy sits in her chair?':

'Or chill like Daddy in his chair?':

Still undecided after numerous poses, we moved on to the other gifts:

'Shoes? Really, Mom? How boring!': 

A bow on my head is more exciting than those shoes are!' 

'C'mon, Dad...you're too slow and it's past my bedtime!' Yawn... 

Jackson's wrapping skills...this is the front, can't you tell? Beautiful, babe! :) 

Christmas Morning

Brooklyn got a pep in her step when entering the living room to find her new Princess Cozy Coupe car on Christmas morning!  Finally, her dreams had come true: she was a free woman with wheels! 

The interactive basketball goal paled in comparison to her new ride. But she did humor her mom and shoot a few baskets...from inside the car, of course!

I began to worry that she was going to have to relearn life! She refused to exit the vehicle! After shooting hoops, posing for pics, and loading her babies up for rides, she even ate breakfast in the car:

The exit wasn't a pretty sight, but it had to happen so that we could make it to Aunt Nessa's house for Christmas breakfast & gift exchange.

The mentality that she was the best gift of the season continued as she climbed into gift boxes.

 

But she did play her part as Santa's helper, too, delivering a gift to her Great Grandma: 

After breakfast, we headed home, changed clothes & hit the road again to get to her other Great Grandma's house for more food & gifts. I failed to capture memories there :(, but did get this one on the way home: 

The day full of family, food & presents that started at 6 a.m., ended abruptly as she was placed in her carseat. She was out for the count! Which was a good thing, considering we still had a full day ahead of us the next day.

Christmas Day #2

We headed to McAlester to see her other Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and more for lunch the next day. After lunch, she showed off her rockin skills on her doggy... 

read some stories with her Great Aunt Jan: 

sang songs (or rather, watched inquisitively as Great Aunt Jan sang silly songs!): 

...and again, crashed on the way home after another long, fun-filled day with family!

I'd say Santa was good to Brooklyn this year. Out with the old and in with the new!  All the new toys took over, forcing me to pack up old toys and move them to the attic.  As we arranged boxes in the attic, it became very real to me that we'll be pulling some of her stuff out in just a couple months for the new baby. This was the last Christmas for the Markert Trio!

She's getting lots of practice being a big sister, though. She has babies all over the house. Here she is taking them on a ride:

(I believe there are 3 in there with her...one under her feet, while the other two are partially under her bum!)

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.