The Little Things - A Precious Gift

I haven't posted "The Little Things" in quite awhile but this post is in honor of a wonderful friend. My dear friend Cynthia sent me this hand towel in the mail last week. It was such a thoughtful gift and it reminded me how thankful I am for wonderful friends like her! I was so touched! Cynthia - this one is for you!! :)

Haylie - This week we stopped dance class. I know it's very sad but I had to make the tough decision that I didn't think Haylie was quite ready yet. Every week in class she was the last one in line, the only one swinging on the ballet bar when the other kids were all sitting in a circle listening to the teacher (and she wasn't supposed to swing on the bar in the first place), or the child showing all the other kids how to crawl around on the floor when they were supposed to be doing a shuffle step. I think we all want our kids to be the perfect student, listening and following instructions so I'm not sure if she was the one not ready or I was! I think we'll try it again in the fall. It's funny because even when she was a year old when we went to Gymboree class - all the kids sat on their parents' laps and did the itsy bitsy spider motions along with the teacher, but not Haylie - she had to stand in the middle of the circle and dance all on her own! I absolutely love her sweet, silly personality, so I want to find ways to allow her to use that and shine!

James - James has been saying all sorts of words lately. He loves to repeat things we say and Bernarda even told me he said his first Spanish word: "agua." His newest favorite word is "burp" - typical boy. Whenever he burps he says "burp" and then cracks up at himself. It is pretty hilarious!

Raider - Raider is on the track team again this semester and I just had to share this story. He isn't exactly the fastest runner (no pun intended), so when I picked him up from school a couple weeks ago after one of his track meets and he told me he won his race, I was so excited for him. He told me he got 3rd in one and 1st in the other. I was so proud and he sure was too. The whole way home we talked about how he was getting better at track and what an accomplishment that was. Later that night when Micah and I were getting ready for bed - I mentioned the fact that Raider had won his race. Micah said, "did you ask him how many people competed?" I said "No, did you?" He said "yes, that was my first question." I didn't think that was a very nice question but I asked how many anyways - come to find out Raider was the only one in the race that he won!!! Can you believe he bragged all the way home and never shared that information with me? Teenagers are hilarious! I guess he needed some encouragment and a little self esteem boost! I never said anything about it to him - pretty funny!:)