Big Girl

This picture is from October, but it works for this post. We are very excited in our house. Caroline has gone poo poo (that is the technical term) in the potty two days in a row now!!! I did not think that was ever going to happen. Both days she just went in and got on the potty on her own. We did not even know she was in there until we heard "Mommy, I went poo poo." That statement caused instant frustration for me. It means having to clean out another pair of panties. But she was in sitting on the potty. Yay Caroline!

First Day of Swim Lessons

Yes, I know, these are terrible pictures. It is all I have. We were running a little late and things were very chaotic.

Today was the first day of swim lessons. Here are both girls before we went in. Caroline refused to look at me. Typical 3 year old behavior! Her lesson was first. When you go in the kids line up along a wall with their towel. Caroline got in line, but she had absolutely no clue what was going on. I tried explaining swim lessons to her. I am pretty sure she still thought that the two of us were going swimming. Here she is in line. Sorry for the blurry pic!

There were 3 girls and 2 boys. There were 3 teachers that I knew of, but Kayla told me there were 5. Anyway, Caroline would have been fine if it were not for her sister. Kayla kept going up to her and asking "Are you ok? Are you scared?" I got really frustrated because Caroline did not know there was a reason to be scared. So she kept getting out of line and coming over to me, whimpering but not crying. I just put her back in line. She went right in with the teacher when it was time to go. Parents do not get to watch until the last lesson.

It was a long 45 minute wait for me. I wanted to know what they were doing. When Caroline came out she had a blank expression on her face. Here was the descriptive and informative conversation that took place:

Mom: "Caroline, how were swim lessons?"
Caroline: "Good."
Mom: "What did you do?"
Carolne: "I swimmed"

That was about it. She did tell me that she blew bubbles. She told me she did not put her head under the water, but her entire head was soaked when she came out. A friend said "Maybe SHE did not put her head under..." The true test will be what happens tomorrow when it is time to go back.

Not to leave Kayla out, she said her lessons went well. She said only 2 kids got to play in the deep end during free-play and she was one of them. That made her day. That is about all I was able to get out of her.

Dance Rehearsal - Caroline's Birthday - Dance Recital

The last weekend in May was a crazy busy weekend for us. Friday night I went and helped my friend Jennifer with her dance recital. Saturday morning was rehearsal day for Kayla. We started her makeup at 8 am. Then it was off to the auditorium to wait.
Then we got to do some more waiting in the dressing room. This makes for a really long day.

Ballet

Tap

Kayla always amazes me at recital. She is never nervous and she knows her dances. She is one of the few that can stay with the music and she is always smiling.

We finished up with rehearsal around 2:00. That gave us a little time to relax before we started all over again at 4:30. Saturday night was Recital Night 1. Kayla was only in tumbling and gymnastics that night so we were not there very long.

Ready for Gymnastics

In the meantime it was Caroline's birthday. We managed to have a little celebration with cupcakes and a present. Thank you Dad and Sue for doing that for her.

There was a certain doll that Caroline really wanted. She drove me crazy every time she saw a commercial for it. "I want that swimming baby." That is what she got from her big sister.

Sunday morning we went to church and then at noon it was time to get ready again! It was Recital Night 2. She was in the opener, ballet, tap, and the finale. I think the whole show lasted about 3 hours that night. Kayla did a great job. She was really upset about making a small mistake in her tap dance. She has never messed up in recital before. I honestly don't know how she did as well as she did. The girl next to her in tap was very spastic. She was all over the place and kept running into Kayla. I am not sure how Kayla could concentrate on her own dancing, but she did a great job.

No recital is complete without flowers from daddy!

Good job, Kayla!

Caroline's 3 Year Doctor Visit

This picture has nothing to do with this post...it was just a quick picture I could find of Caroline. Anyway, she had her 3 year visit at the doctor today. There were no shots so it was pretty easy. Here are the stats (my favorite part):

Length: 36.5 inches - 45% (Kayla was 38 3/4 inches at 3)

Weight: 24 pounds, 10 ounces - 3% (Kayla was 33 pounds, 4 ounces)

So, the doctor wants us to try to fatten Caroline up a little. We have to go back to 2% milk, more milk every day, more carbs, and fatten up the foods she likes with butter or cheese. He wants to see her again in 6 months for a weight check.

He is not very concerned, but he wants to keep an eye on it. He said someone has to be at the bottom of the charts...why not her. Overall it was a good check-up. And she used the potty twice while we were waiting!

Potty Training

I love potty training. There is a reason I have waited so long to get Caroline out of diapers. She has done really well - when we remember to put her in panties. But here is what just happened.

I am sitting in the kitchen and Caroline walks in with something in her hand. She says "Mommy, here is some more poo-poo." I tell her to go put it in the potty and we get her cleaned up and wash her hands. The whole time we are washing her hands she is saying "I like princesses, not poo-poo."

I have to say I feel the same way. Now it is time to go clean her rug...YUCK!

Field Trips

The last two weeks of school seem to consist of nothing other than field trips. Last Monday (5/11) Kayla went on a field trip to Incredible Pizza. This was the AR Mystery Trip (I don't really know what that means). Here are the girls (Kaylie, Emori, and Kayla) as they arrived for the fun.

It was our school and 4 or 5 other schools. We all arrived at the same time. It was complete and total chaos. Kids don't seem to pick up on these things.

They had a great time. I was down in the back, so I planted myself on a bench and did not take many pictures. When they loaded back on the buses Kayla was in the back between two older boys. This trip was for 1st - 8th grade students that met the AR goal. Kayla's teacher was more than happy to remove her from that situation and let her ride home with me. Kayla said that it was the best Monday EVER. Every few minutes she would ask me if her friends were still in school. (We left the pizza place 2 hours before school got out.)

On Wednesday (5/13) it was the first grade field trip. They started the day off at the park. I met them at the park and had Caroline with me for a little while. Caroline was a little annoyed because all of the girls were acting like mothers and were trying to carry her everywhere.

Here is Kayla and her teacher, Ms. Walton. She is a wonderful teacher and Kayla has had a really great year.

Here are some of the girls - Caroline was a little overwhelmed and would not take her hand out of her mouth or look up for the picture. Just imagine being around 98 first grade kids!
After the park we headed to the skating rink. Kayla had not skated since spring break with Aunt Jenny and Caleb. It took her a little while, but she got the hang of it.Here she is with her teacher getting a little extra lesson. I think she told her teacher she did not know how to skate so she could get some extra attention!



I have to say this field trip was the funniest thing I have ever seen. First graders do not know how to skate. They were falling all over the place. Ice packs were being passed around. I could not believe they still tried to do the limbo. Kayla survived for several rounds.

They are worn out!

Here is a clip of Kayla skating at the end of the trip. They had been there for 2 hours so she was getting pretty tired. I think she did a good job!

Who knows what excitement next week will bring! We have a trip on Monday, awards assembly on Wednesday, and Field Day on Thursday. Thursday is her last day of school and she is so excited.

Kayla's Piano Recital

Kayla had her piano recital this evening. We just found out this week that recital had been moved up to today. The day started off well with a special flower delivery for her. Thanks to PawPaw and Grandma Sue for making Kayla's day feel really special!



I am not sure if Kayla was nervous or just not willing to cooperate, but her patience for picture taking was very short. Combine that with my camera difficulties and this is the best picture I could get of her before the recital started.



Sigh of relief...she made it through! We are very proud of her. I think she did a great job.

She got a certificate for participating in the District contest. She has the state contest next weekend.

Here is Kayla's first song: Evening at the Ballet

Here is her second song: Rondo Capriccio

Kayla did a great job and we are all glad recital is over. Now we have a lot of work to do to get her ready for the state contest. She will play the first song (Evening at the Ballet) next weekend, and she is so tired of playing that song! Good luck Kayla!