Yesterday Natasha returned for her 2nd year of gymnastics. The “Tumbling Toddlers” parent+tot class was scheduled for 10:15am, and so when we arrived, I was a bit surprised to see a bunch of tiny toddlers who looked no older than 2.5 waiting for their class to start. Soon enough the program director approached us and inquired about Natasha’s age, and when I told her that she’s turning 3 this Friday, she recommended we switch to the “Jumping Juniors” class, which is not parent+tot. Oops. Was I read to let her go? Was she ready to attend a class all on her own?

I walked Natasha to the big trampoline and was told I could sit on a bench and watch… but only for the first class. Next week, all the parents will have to remain in the seating-area behind a glass wall. We could still watch our kids, but they cannot see us.

So… our big-girl is now attending ballet & gymnastics all on her own. No more parents+tot classes, she’s too big. Natasha didn’t seem to mind; when she got stuck, she just watched the other kids and copied what they did. What a relief… so proud of her! And this just means that in February, Veronika will probably start gymnastics as well, “Bouncing Babies” class which is at the same time as her sister’s.

My sweet Natasha attended her very first ballet class today. She put on her pink bodysuit, tights, tutu, and ballet slippers and told me that she was a princess. Her first class went very well; only 2 little girls attended today so she got lots of individual attention. I cannot even describe how happy and excited she was! She was pretty mesmerized by the entire 45-minute class.

I cannot describe the class since I only watched the first 10 minutes before the kids were led away into a different room. But Natasha did great and did not care that she couldn’t see me. I think it’s good that she is so independent and wasn’t afraid of anything. She danced, learned different ballet moves, standing on the tips of her toes; they used different toys, instruments, and other objects throughout the class. She did not want to leave and is already looking forward to next week. My sweet girl is growing up!

Today is day 5 of our poor Natasha fighting the stomach flu. She’s getting relatively better, but still has the symptoms coming in, although less frequently. Her doctor wanted her to stick to the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast), so this has been 95% of her menu the past few days. We’ve been slowly adding back other foods, but in small quantities. She’s been in a lot of pain but hopefully she’ll recover over the long weekend.

On a brighter note, the sit+stand stroller we bought (see previous entry) was delivered and we got  a chance to try it out. We’re still getting used to it and so are the girls; Natasha couldn’t really make up her mind on whether she wanted to sit, stand, or walk, but she liked it overall. Veronika uses the entire thing is climbing-grounds so that was pretty frustrating, although expected.

Being stuck home for almost a week (sickies and all), I let the girls play on the balcony yesterday to get some much-needed fresh air. They had fun playing with their sand & water table, although sand will have to wait until next year because *someone* thinks it’s food… =)

We’ve come to the decision that we need an extra double stroller… something a bit lighter and not as long as our Graco DuoGlider. We’ve seen several of the newer sit & stand strollers around our neighbourhood and decided that it’s probably just what we need.

Baby Trend Sit 'N Stand LX Stand-On Tandem Stroller

We tried it out at Toys R Us and really liked it. The girls loved it too! Natasha (at almost 3 years) loves walking to most places now, so the back seat is perfect to rest when she gets a bit tired; she could also ride standing up. She really loved that option! I also liked that it had both a parent & toddler tray and a large basket underneath.

We’ll still be using our DuoGlider for longer trips, but I think that at almost 1.5 and 3 years, they’re ready for something new.

On Monday I took the girls to an indoor playground to kill some time. We have a lot of them across the city but many are either hard to access or their schedule didn’t work for us. And now with Veronika only taking one nap, our mornings are free to do fun things like that.

The place was mainly a huge room filled with a huge variety of toys – anything from ride-on toys, ball pits, baskets with balls, dolls, play kitchen, motorized cars & motorcycles, trains, and 2-3 slides and climbing areas. The girls had a blast!

Our poor Natasha is going through a really rough phase and we think it may be related to toddler “growing pains”. In a nutshell, 15-20% of children between the ages 3-5 and 8-12 experience growing pains which are dull aches in their knees, thighs, and calves as a result of growing bones; the pain usually occurs in the evening and during the night. We don’t know for a fact that this is what she’s experiencing, but this is what we’re guessing it to be.

We planned on taking her to the zoo today. She was really excited and kept listing all the animals she was going to see. But that never happened because she had a pretty rough night – she kept waking up every 30-50 minutes crying like you wouldn’t imagine. When we asked her what’s wrong, she’d say- “arm hurts”, or “knee hurts”, or “leg hurts.” It seemed like the pain only lasted  a few seconds, just enough to wake her up, but then disappeared yet to return again some half hour later. Needless to say, we cancelled the zoo trip so that she could stay home and take a nap to make up for lost sleep.

We’re going to monitor her over the next few nights and see how she does… if the pain persists, we will take her to the Ped. Hopefully this won’t be a daily thing.

I think Miss. Veronika has hit the “no stage” pretty early, but she’s definitely there now. It goes like this:

- “Let’s change your diaper.”
- “No.” Followed by head shaking.
-”It’s time to get dressed.”
- “No.”
- “Nika, come here.”
- “No.”

Ahh. And she totally knows what she’s talking about. Because when I tell her it’s time eat… or go outside… she’s right there beside me, all ready to go. She has also started saying “yes'” but it’s a lot less frequently. The other common thing she says is “no more”. As soon as she’s done eating, she says- “no more!” and takes off her bib. Today at the park, after 5-7 minutes of swinging, again she said- “no more!” and put her little hands up to be taken out. It’s hard to believe that my little baby is communicating already and actually using words.

Natasha has actually learned to interpret her sister’s language and can make out most words she says. She knows that “tuto” is a turtle, and can distinguish between “caaar” (car), and “caaaa” (cup). She knows that “nonnie” is both birdie and doggie. And she also knows that “ticka” means Nika and “tata” means Tasha! Fun times :)

I collect Pampers points from their Gifts to Grow program. I’ve been collecting for a long time now and received some great free gifts – toys, books, and Shutterfly credit codes. Well, most recently I had enough points to get 6 new books and a set of those included these 3 books:

Duck & Goose, How Are You Feeling?
Duck & Goose, 1, 2, 3
What's Up, Duck?

All I can say is that both girls are in love. It was a nice change from reading Dora every night and Natasha learned some great new words from there, such as ‘frustrated’ and ‘selfish’. She has memorized all 3 books and “reads” them herself each night after Matthew reads these to both girls. She also acts out some terms, such as “slow”, “fast”, “loud”, “quiet”, etc. Even Veronika sits quietly through each book. I really recommend these! They’re good for both babies and toddlers; I might get her some more from the series.

July 2008

July 2009

Did they grow up, or what?

Veronika is 15.5 months now and still takes 2 bottles of whole milk a day. One before her afternoon nap and one before bedtime. When I asked her Pediatrcian about eliminating the bottles, he told me it’s not a big deal and as long as we brush her teeth before bedtime, she can still have her bottles. The worst thing that we can do is send her to bed with a bottle, meaning the milk would sit on her teeth all night and cause them to rot. So none of that. But he stressed the importance of toddlers her age getting enough milk which is equivalent to 2 full bottles (about 16oz). Veronika is stubborn – she would drink water, juice, or even chocolate milk from a sippy cup but not her sleep-time milk… she wants that from a bottle. But hopefully by the time she’s 18 months old, we can take out the bottles.

And Natasha… seeing as her sister gets milk before sleep, has decided that she would like some milk before sleep too. She now drinks 2 full sippy cups of milk before nap and before bed! It’s pretty awesome, actually. Both my girls love their milk!