Beaming with Pride

Yesterday my 7-year-old Cecilia had her first gymnastics meet of this season. During practice the night before the meet, her coach asked all the girls, “What is something you are nervous about and what will you do to get through it?”

Cecilia responded, “I’m nervous about doing my scale on the beam. I practiced my beam routine 5 times tonight, and I fell off the beam during my scale all 5 times.”

*Above is a picture of a gymnast doing a Scale — Back leg must lift a minimum of 90 degrees and be held for at least 2 seconds. The Gymnast must keep both legs locked out and chest up while performing both the scale and arabesque.

When C’s coach asked her what she will do to get through it, Cecilia said, “I’m going to relax because I know I can do it, and I believe in myself.”

WOW. I need to remember that the next time I feel nervous about anything!

During the meet, we watched C go through her warm-up on the beam. When she practiced her scale, she fell off! Yikes!

A few minutes later, it was time for her official routine. While watching, I felt like Olympian Aly Raisman’s parents, doing the lean, making facial expressions, mumbling under my breath, grabbing F’s arm. (Click HERE for the video of Raisman’s parents watching one of her routines.) I was tense and did not want to watch, not only because I knew C was nervous about it, but also because it’s the beam for God’s sake! That thing is SCARY!

C, on the other hand, seemed completely calm and cool and did not look one bit nervous. She looked focused, confident, relaxed, happy and completely in her element. And, she NAILED her routine. She kicked that scale in the ass.

While C has been doing gymnastics since she was 2.5 years old, F and I are not the type of parents who push her or pressure her in any way. The path she has taken in gymnastics has been completely her choice. She absolutely loves the sport and has had incredibly positive relationships with the coaches and her teammates/friends.

This was the first meet during which F and I actually kept track of her scores; however, we did not keep track of her scores in relation to her fellow competitors. So, we were pleasantly surprised when Cecilia was announced as the 1st place winner on BEAM in her age group, as well as at the 4th place All Around winner for her age group.

Yet the best part was after the meet when C beamed, “I’m so proud of myself!”

Gettin’ Digits

This afternoon Penelope told me, in her very confident way of speaking, “Mommy. At school today. Madison’s grandpa dropped Madison off. I told him I wanted a playdate with Madison. So. I got his business card so you can call him.”

At age 4, Penelope is already collecting guys’ numbers. She goes after what she wants and she gets it. Seriously. Watch out, world.

Chocolate, Vanilla or Swirled?

I was texting with my friend RR this afternoon. Today’s topic was once again parenting, and as we were going back and forth, she told me I had to blog it. So here it is:

Me: Is it bad that my kids refer to skin colors as chocolate and vanilla?

RR: Omg so funny!

Me: Yup. Cecilia asked Penelope about her friend Yadira. She asked her, “Penelope, is your friend Yadira chocolate?” And Penelope said, “No, her skin is vanilla.”

RR: How do they see themselves?

Me: Caramel.

RR: OMG. So funny!!

Me: Actually, C says she is more chocolate-caramel and P is more vanilla-caramel. They also call themselves “swirled.”

And that is skin color broken down by a 7 and 4 year old. It does remind me of when I was in the 3rd grade in rural Wisconsin. I was drinking chocolate milk, and one of my vanilla skinned classmates said to me, “I know why you are brown! It’s because you drink chocolate milk!” He was so excited, as if he had just made some brilliant discovery. Ah, kids.

For those of you with swirled kids like mine, Swirl Syndicate has some awesome t-shirts to dress your children. We have the “I’m Swirled” and “Mixed Tape” t-shirts, compliments of Tito Jose, the girls’ chocolate uncle.

Gravity

This morning I was listening to the song “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles. (It’s an amazing song, by the way. And check out this incredible dance choreographed by Mia Michaels to the song Gravity.)

Anyway, Penelope bounded into the room, listened to the song for 20 seconds and said, “I know gravity, mommy. I’m gonna jump up and gravity is going to drop me down. Watch.”

She demonstrated.

“Where did you learn that?” I asked her.

“From the juggling person…at DaVinci Days,” she told me.

Thank you, Rhys Thomas, for teaching my 4-year-old about gravity.

In Case of Emergency

Frequently, on the way out the door to the store, the library, the gymnastics gym, a restaurant, the park, Penelope asks, “Mommy, should I bring my emergency pack? You know, in case we need my stuff?”

“What’s in your emergency pack?” I ask her.

“Come see! I have socks, in case I need socks. My pink sparkly wallet. Plastic bags. My special papers. And…my shell. In case we need a shell. For playing.”

And there you have it – a 4-year-old’s emergency supplies.

P’s emergency pack and all its contents (I particularly like her “special papers.”)

 

Chocolate Lover’s Paradise

While listening to the radio this morning, we heard a commerical for chocolate covered bacon.

“Yum. Who wouldn’t love that? It’s chocolate AND bacon!” exclaimed Cecilia.

“Not Grandma Doris. Grandma Doris wouldn’t eat chocolate covered bacon. She’s allergic to chocolate,” said Penelope.

“Not anymore…” Cecilia responded.

“Yea, ‘cuz she’s dead,” Penelope said matter-of-factly.

“Yea,” said Cecilia. “I bet she LOVES chocolate now!”

Kids say the darndest things?

(Fred encouraged me to blog this one. He’s confident that his Grandma Doris would have appreciated the girls’ conversation. She was tough as nails with a great sense of humor, and it’s awesome that the girls still talk about her.)

Opposites

The other night after a late dinner in Ashland, Oregon, we were walking back to our hotel. We walked by a bench that had a red solo cup on it.

“Look, a red solo cup,” Penelope pointed out to us.

As we continued walking, Cecilia sighed heavily and said, “I’m ready to get on the couch and go to sleep. It’s way past my bedtime.”

A beat later, Penelope starts dancing and singing, “Red solo cup. I fill you up. Let’s have a pawty. Let’s have a pawty…” Yup, the 4 year old gets her second wind at 9:30 at night. She’s definitely going to be the party-animal.

This is yet another example of how different my 2 children are. They come from the same two parents (Fred assumes) and have been raised under very similar conditions. While I see a lot of myself and Fred in Cecilia, Penelope often makes me ask myself, “Where did she come from?”

So different, but we love them both!

The Elder

The Wild One

Peanuts?

Penelope (the 4 year old) was in the shower this afternoon.

“Ok, Penelope. Time to wash up. Be sure to scrub your bottom,” I told her.

“And my PEANUTS?” she yelled above the sound of the shower.

“Peanuts?” I asked.

“Yes, PEANUTS!” she yelled again.

“Umm…you mean penis? You don’t have a penis,” I told her.

“No, PEANUTS. And yes, I do.”

“No, a penis is what a boy has,” I tried to explain.

“No, Mommy. It’s my PEANUTS. Ok? My PEANUTS is my PA-JIE-NA!” she explained to me.

“No, Penelope. It’s a penis that you are talking about, and you don’t have one! You have a vagina but not a penis.”

“Mommy. It’s Peanuts. And I do have one. Ok? I do,” she said again, clearly frustrated.

Oh dear god.

Move Over Blake Mycoskie

Your Toms might have some competition.

Cecilia has said she wants to own a factory. Perhaps it will be a shoe factory?

We got home one day from school and Cecilia found some thin foam sheets from a recent package we received. She went into the playroom for a period of time and next thing I know, she comes out wearing homemade shoes.

Don’t ask me how she made them because I have no idea.  Give her some foam and duct tape and anything can happen!

The shoe designer and her shoes…yes they fit!

Up close

C asked me to buy her more foam, duct tape and decorations so that she can custom make shoes for her friends. She wants to sell them, so if you’re interested, message me. 🙂 She also wants people to know that if you supply materials, she will charge you less for the shoes. 

P’s Pockets

Fred sent me this picture after he picked up P from school.

He followed the picture with a text message:

This collection of leaves was in P’s undies because she said, “I didn’t have pockets. They’re stories. Nora gave them to me.”

‘Nuff said.