Gymnastics

The girls started a toddler gymnastics class two weeks ago. They already had three classes and it's going well. I will post some pictures and short videos soon.

Big Breakthrough

Well, this is pretty cool. Yesterday, Emily had her first full day without a diaper! Technically, we put one on her when we went to the park to meet a friend for a couple hours, but otherwise, she didn't need it. And what's even more amazing - she slept through the night last night without a diaper. No accidents!! And furthermore, we're almost done with the day today, and still no diaper!

Posting Schedule

Just a quick "administrative" update. My posting schedule last week didn't work out, so you will now see several new posts that appear today, but were dated before Christmas. Please take a look at the posts starting last Monday, 12/22 because there are some good ones (if I do say so myself). :)

Christmas Cookies

On Friday night after the gym, Sarah got the great idea to bake some Christmas sugar cookies. Sarah did the baking and we all had a great time decorating.


Here's a quick video:

Gymnastics Class

On the Friday before Christmas, we took the girls to Miyagi Gym in Auburn. They teach gymnastics for people from 18 months to 18 years and I think even older. We went to the Parent and Toddler class, which is 18-36 months. They are four week sessions. The first time you go, they let you "tryout" for free. Friday's class was the last one of the year and the end of that 4-week session.

The class started at 9:15 am and went for 45 minutes. Sarah and I went together. There were probably 6-7 other children in the class. There was one other dad. We recognized one of the mom's from Placer High School. She was a grade or two above us. I think her name was Tina May (Sarah remembered her more than I did). It took our girls the typical 15-20 minutes to warm up, but then they were playing like everyone else.


The first activity was a warm-up, which was just running around the mat on a white line. After 3-4 laps, they began what I would consider the more structured activities. They had the children run an obstacle course that involved climbing up pads, hopping down, crawling through tunnels, riding a see-saw, and walking two different directions on a balance beam. The girls still weren't totally into it, but they had fun.

Next was another, more involved obstacle course. The children had to climb up a ladder, hop onto a pad, run up a padded ramp, go belly-first onto a hexagonal "log," roll along the log and do a somersault off, hop backwards about 5 feet, then climb across horizontal bars. It was great fun, especially the backwards hopping. The girls did a Great job. I was surprised at how well they went up the ladder and across the horizontal bars. We have some video of them hopping backwards, too.

Emily:

Ella:

After several laps for each child, the teacher brought out a parachute, and we played various games, all of them involving balloons. At the end of the parachute games, the children got about 5 minutes of free play. Here's a quick video of Ella (white and pink) and Emily (blue and grey) playing with the balloons on top of the parachute.

And here are a few stills from the class.

Grandpa Bud's and the Piano

We went to my dad's house on December 14th for a few hours. The girls had a great time playing with the piano.

Christmas Lights & Parade

We put up Christmas lights the weekend after Thanksgiving and then went to the Holiday Light Parade in Auburn. It was cold, but we had a great time.