As I mentioned with skating, Ellery has been a bit reluctant to try classes that don’t involve her sitting on my lap. I suppose this is the flip-side of being dragged to all your older siblings’ commitments—once it’s finally your turn to step out on your own, it feels unfamiliar and daunting.
When a good friend said that her kids were taking a dance class, I leapt at the chance to sign her up. With friends by her side, this ballet/tap combo is right up this girl’s alley.
Of course, the added bonus is the pinkpinkpink outfit.
The two oldest kids have been in skating lessons for some time, but Ellery has declined, as she’s scared of going to classes without me.
But today, with Tom gone to a circuit bending workshop all day, we had some time to fill. I mustered up my courage, and headed to open skate with all three kids.
Ellery was nervous, but after a few minutes on the ice with her red pushy-thing, she was whizzing around. Alex was on the ice for the first time, too, so the two of them made quite the big, red, plastic train.
In other news, Neko nearly won the limbo competition.
(Tom had my Lumix with him at the bending workshop, so you’ll have to contend with these phone photos.)
I went to the doctor today. I decided the sinus infection I was humoring was no longer welcome to hang around these parts. Seven days is plenty, thank you.
Ellery didn’t have school, so she joined me. She sat quietly and watched while the doctor gave me the once-over.
When we returned home, she decided it was her turn to be the doctor. She strapped on the stethoscope, gathered up the toy medical bag, and headed my way. I let out a huge laugh, however, when she pulled out her “laptop” and as she asked me for my symptoms, she typed furiously.
Clearly, Fisher-Price needs to add something to their doctor’s kit.
Ellery ran off with my small camera for a while this afternoon. Around the house she went, snapping photos of the things in her world. These are my favorite shots, untouched except for the third, which was shot vertically, and I simply cropped horizontally.
We took the kids to go see one of Neko’s friends play basketball. Between soccer, skating, swimming, and the impending riding lessons, basketball just wasn’t in the cards for us.
Based on the average height of folks around here, I doubt we’ll book much time in our future on the basketball court, but it was pretty inspiring to see all these young girls getting into the game.
The weather turned, and then the sun came out. And with it, I’m feeling that itch to be outside.
After dinner, I decided to take a walk. The Oldest wanted to come with me. And then the Youngest. And then suddenly we were on a family walk.
When I take these walks with my kids, it reminds me why I love living here. We found little holes in the grass where mice made their winter homes. The tracks of deer. The kids delighted in milkweed pods that burst open with silky seeds.
They found the intact wing of a bird, which may sound repulsive to some. But my junior naturalists aren’t squeamish. They were fascinated by the delicate array of feathers, and insisted on bringing it home to take to science tomorrow.
They threw dozens of rocks in the pond. But the highlight? Cattails. I never lived near a pond growing up, so I experienced my first cattail as an adult. It starts as this innocuous looking, compact plant. But with a few swift moves, it explodes into this huge cloud of fluff. It beats most anything in the fireworks aisle. The kids could do that for hours.
I can’t wait until the days stretch longer, and we can fit these sorts of outings into our evening routine more often.
On a side note, these photos were taken with Tom’s phone. Hooray for pocket technology!
