We have a little Yoda in our midst these days. Just a couple of months ago, she was uttering just one or two words at a time, but now she's issuing three, four and five word directives. They're a little jumbled, and they're mostly lacking prepositions, which just adds to her "little dictator" personality.
Here's some phrases you're likely to hear in our playroom these days:
"You talking ME??"
"We now go?"
"You cook me!"
"Baby sit me now!"
"Wash hands, me!"
"Please, fix you now!"
"My room, I go!"
"Play hair you, Mommy?"
and, most commonly of all,
"You, sit, lap, me! You, sit, lap, me!" This will escalate quickly in tone and urgency, until you acquiesce, and finally haul little Yoda baby into your lap. She's pretty hard to say no to.
This summer, a band of the littlest Lamorinda Theta Xi girls descended on an amazing new studio in Lafayette, Lamorinda Theatre Academy, run by "Uncle Mark" DeWeese's sister, Renee.
Six of our offspring fit neatly into their class offering for dancers aged 2 to 3.5, capturing Molly, Dylan, Ava, Grace, Eloise and Mela! We almost felt sorry for the lone non-Theta Xi pupil in the class, with our boisterous group of dancers, parents and siblings taking over the classroom space, the play area, and the viewing area!
Dylan, Molly, Ava, Grace, and Eloise on the first day of class.
Grace, Molly, Ava and Eloise a month later
Molly was one of the youngest in the group, and needed to be held for the first four or five classes. Mommy got more instruction in dance and ballet positions than she's ever had in her life!
Luckily, by the second month of the class, Molly suddenly decided she was okay with participating in more than clean-up (which she excels at! she practically mows down the other girls in her race to put supplies away).
She now loves zooming around the class pretending to be a buzzing bee, running pell-mell toward one of the many mirrors in the class, and practicing high kicks with bells strapped to her ankles.
Molly, way too eager to snatch a maraca out of the box
Practicing her "spider" form
"Hands on hips" is now a favorite everyday pose thanks to dance class!
Finally, here's our tiny dancer practicing her "tip-toes"
Molly loves Miss Renee, and we love our weekly Theta Xi mini-reunion!
Another swim season came to a close last night. Many hurrahs are in order for the retirement of the swim bag, and the fact that we're doing one less load of laundry per day!
Most importantly, though, we're celebrating how far our little fish have come in the last few months!
Joey started off the season bringing up the rear in most events -- but thrilled to collect his fifth and sixth place ribbons -- and ended the season on a high note at his first OMPA swim championship. He qualified for the backstroke finals by a hair -- placing 20th in a pack of more than 100 boys six and under -- and surprised everyone, especially his coaches, by shaving another two seconds off his time and finishing 13th in the finals. It turns out he was the most "improvingist" on his team this year, and walked away with an extra trophy at the awards night!
This swim mom was a little overwhelmed by the craziness of OMPA, with three kids to shepherd around a huge aquatic center on a 100-degree August day. I'll admit, on learning that Joey had qualified for the finals, my first words were, "Oh no!" I was not excited about lingering at that crazy scene for three or four more hours! But our little Marlin was pretty jazzed!
I think he was inspired by this ultra-cute sign one of his teenage coaches made for him, and left on our garage door in the middle of the night. Just in case you can't read it, it says, "Your strokes are gonna be anything but slowey, mister Joey!"
Clara wrapped up her "Mini-Marlin" season a couple of weeks ago, and earned a medal for all her hard work this year. How much does she love this medal? Too much to say. I can definitely see her trying to work this into her back-to-school wardrobe.
She swam a length of freestyle and backstroke in the annual "Mini Meet," and is pretty excited to be joining the "real" swim team next summer!
It's been a long season, full of fun, friendship and SPF. Here's a glimpse into the CCC world we've been immersed in since June!
Our littlest fish has started swimming short distances by herself, up to about 6 feet. She's incredibly buoyant and can wriggle easily on the surface of the water, and loves to "streamline" and hold her breath. She's our only one who didn't get any formal lessons at this age... just a lot of help and instruction from Mommy!
Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get it on video yet. Our latest attempt was:
...in the evening
...in a cold pool
...and involved a sassy little girl.
See for yourself.
Hopefully we can get some real footage before the summer is over!
The theme for the week is apparently art. Clara presented me with this masterpiece a couple of days ago, and informed that this is what people who live on the sun look like. Despite her brother's indignant protestations that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to live on the sun, she stayed true to her chaotic, crazy vision.
Also, she's prone lately to putting together fashion ensembles like this:
... and (sigh) kicking fellow dance camp members in the shin "for being in my way." She either has the makings of a future CEO or a prison inmate. Hopefully we'll have a clearer picture after her Ferocious 4th year comes to an end in September!
The latest installation of Cecchin Kiddie Art is now available for viewing, a mere year after the first gallery was unveiled. I know, it's hard to keep up with this dynamo pace around here.
Hold on to your seats (or maybe take a seat in the highchair). Our new gallery highlights the work of THREE artists this year, running the gamut from toddler scribbles to caricatures of TV pigs.
In the upper left corner, we're featuring the work of our 4 year-old artist-in-residence, who put marker to paper and created "Daddy Pig," a hilarious character from the British "Peppa Pig" series.
She had a most appreciative audience when she first previewed this portrait to a select group of peers. It was met with howls of laughter and even tears. Ah, Peppa Pig.
Another piece that deserves special mention: an aerial depiction of a freshly mowed baseball diamond. We're sure the identity of this artist will be no mystery to our loyal readers.
And finally, not to be outshone by her more accomplished colleagues, our youngest artist put forth a maiden effort that is very "Crayola." If you think this is colorful, you should see her hands!
The rest of our 2012 gallery is rounded out with some solid rainbow/ hearts art (times two, it's a popular theme), and a classic self-portrait.
Bonus: Want to see where our little artists do their work?
