"I'm SO Good At Basketball"

I got a few live action shots of Victoria's first tykes basketball lesson on my iphone yesterday. It's a parent/child class made specifically for kids her age (3-6yrs), so that is why you see Dave chasing her in all the pictures. The basketball class meets on Saturdays all this month, then next month we can do t-ball lessons and the next month we can do soccer, so we will probably have a few more updates on her athletic progress as she gets a good introduction to all three sports. She was one of only 3 girls in the class, but she was taller than just about everyone, which Daddy was pretty excited about. During the first drills, where they just asked the kids to race down the court and back, she WASN'T the fastest one (she is always the fastest at preschool) - gasp! She will have to work on her speed!




The whole family went to the gym too - the baby wasn't all that impressed, probably because it was naptime. His squeaks of "I'm ready to sleep NOW" were very echoy in the gym. Jonathan (seen here clutching his mini-basketball) was a totally different story, he couldn't wait to get out there with the kids and play too. He watched his big sister intently the whole time and studied everything they were doing. When the lesson was over and everyone was off the court, Daddy took him over to the lowered hoops and let him shoot a couple of baskets by holding him up in the air. He was THRILLED! It was the greatest thing in the world!!!!

In this picture Victoria is supposed to be dribbling down and back across the court, but as you can see, she was more like kicking the ball and chasing it down the court. She got pretty good at chest passes and catching them, but dribbling is not coming naturally and despite five tries on the low hoop couldn't make a layup. Of course this was only the first lesson, so all we wanted was for her to have fun with it. Coach Sarah took a real interest in Victoria (I'm sure because there weren't that many girls) and helped her work on her form a lot - even gave her a hug when Daddy clocked her in the face with a chest-pass.

She had two moments that had us (and most of the parents in the gym too) in stitches. The first was when she announced after the dribbling exercise that she was "SO GOOD AT BASKETBALL" to the entire gym full of parents and kids! It was doubly hilarious given the fact that she was horrible at dribbling, but she was just so damn excited about the whole thing, it was so cute. The second was when the coaches asked what three skills you need in order to be a "triple threat" in basketball and Victoria yelled out "I KNOW!!!!" Everyone went completely quiet to listen to her answer the question and she FROZE!!! Daddy even fed her the answers, but she was absolutely silent. I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face. The coaches were fantastic and really dug how excited she was about the whole thing. She is already asking me this morning when we have another lesson.... poor kid has to wait a whole week!!!

Not Sure How I Feel About This....

So let me get this straight Mommy..... You are going to leave me for FOUR DAYS in March to go to England to visit Great Grandma Evie with only Daddy to take care of me??? You are leaving me???? I realize I weigh 19lbs now, but what are you, a wuss? I don't know if you realize this, but Daddy doesn't have any boobs!!! How am I supposed to eat or find comfort while you are gone? What are you thinking? I know she's 102, but c'mon. Obviously you aren't thinking how I'M going to feel - ABANDONER!!!! How can you live with yourself??? I don't think I'm going to speak to you for a very long time if you go through with it...

Ok, we'll talk more about this later - it's time to crawl! I'm gonna get you Mommy!

3 Shots, A Hippo and a Buzz Cut

The orange afro pre-buzz cut (above) and post-buzz cut (below).

I swear these two look like they are plotting something here in this picture.... probably revenge on Mommy and Daddy for taking them to the doctor this morning to get their second H1N1 vaccines and for V to get her 5 year old well kid check-up. Victoria is really healthy and all systems check out - clocking in at nearly 40lbs and 45inches tall. She is sitting around 12th percentile weight for her height and at about 90th percentile for height for her age. Since the last two years she has had hospitalizations in March, I was hoping for a consultation with an allergist/pulmonary specialist, but our pediatrician seems to think that with V still on her inhaled steroids that she should be ok this year. Guess we'll keep our fingers crossed.

An interesting note, Christopher didn't seem to notice his shot this morning. I guess there is a benefit to having some seriously chubby thighs!!!

Hello Kitty!

Victoria asked if we could have a dog on the way to school this morning - she has been taking a big interest in puppies like Abby, the sweet and completely ancient golden retriever who lives at the preschool. So I explained to her that we are kitty people and pointed out that she has on a Hello Kitty shirt today - can't fight the logic!!!

Houston We Have Crawling....

Getting up is half the battle - look at that determination on his face - no power lifter ever worked THIS hard - aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Now that he is up, the rocking back and forth thing takes place to help him figure out how to move forward. Then he does it, moves one hand and one foot and goes a few inches. Then he gets all impatient and shoves with both feet and face plants.

It's official, no cat is safe and my piece of mind is now gone. Crap!

Roller Derby Boy

Sunday we saw that the local skating rink had a beginners class, so we packed up the crew and headed out to relive a little of our youth. Jonathan was a natural, after about 30 seconds he got his balance and started to get himself around. The only problem was he wouldn't stay with me and I had the baby too, so I couldn't really chase him. After he took off without me for the seventh time in five minutes, I deskated him and he threw a fit loud enough to be heard in Canada. Victoria who had further to fall, was much more nervous and wouldnt let go of Daddy's hands - which is a strict NO NO for beginners. I guess the chances of really hurting yourself are a lot higher if you fall when holding onto someone else and you don't learn your balance as well. So when I exited with the boys to go sit in the car and nurse Christopher while Jonathan calmed down, Dave and Victoria decided to call it quits too. All in all, not the greatest first time out and I only got this one picture, but I spose it could have been worse. We just need to either leave Christopher at home or do it one kid at a time. One cool thing is that they teach in-line skating as well, so maybe mommy could learn to rollerblade at the same time!!!

"He weighs a metric ton. His name: ...."

Ok, so technically he's not fat and he's not illegitimate either, but you wouldn't believe how big this boy is getting!!! He is well over 18 pounds now and is getting so hard to lift (my arms are looking more and more like the first lady's arms - woot!!!!). The sleeper he is wearing in this picture is 12 months sized and he is almost out of it. In fact at just under 7 months of age, he is already weighing more than Jonathan did at a year adjusted age (15 months chronological age). He is starting to get a real personality about him as well and he loves the song Poker Face by Lady GaGa. I'm not even kidding, the kid does the "Ma Ma Ma Maaahhhhhhhh" at the begining of the song. GrandmaAnn can attest - he seems to be singing to it. Such a funny little guy!!!