Swimming!

This past week Gracie and I took a Mom and Tot swim lesson. We enrolled with our friends Dan, Leann, and Madison. I was really excited to get Grace in the water from an early age to make sure that she loves the pool as much as I do!

Being a Mom and Tot class, the lessons were short (only 30 minutes) and mostly consisted of singing and splashing in the water. We sang The Wheels on the Bus and Ring Around the Rosy, as well as some other pool/tub songs I'd never heard before. Gracie enjoyed splashing around while we circled the pool and sang.The only thing Grace didn't seem to care for was laying on her back. Every time her head hit the water, she'd jerk back up into a sitting position. After a few tries, I decided to keep her on her tummy when the other kids went on their backs.My favorite part of the class was getting Gracie on her stomach and trying to get her to kick. The lifeguards would come up behind her and tickle her feet, and before long she had the kicking down! And a few times she even extended her arms to paddle... I know, she's a genius. What can I say, other than good genes. :)

Trinity missed the first few days of lessons because he was out of town, but he met us at the pool on Thursday and took some great action shots, which you can see on our Picasa site! I was so glad he got to see our little fish in the water!

And She's Off...

In the past month Gracie has started turning into a little girl. It is so hard to believe how much she has learned since gracing us with her presence in October!

We recently bought her a "big girl" rocking chair for the living room. The first time she sat it in, she just rocked away... right out of the seat. It was hard not to laugh! Thankfully I think the crying was more from fright because she got right back in it and started rocking again.

Grace has learned to crawl in her own special way: one knee on the ground and the other in the air with her foot on the ground. Even though it's not as fast as traditional crawling, she's learned to get around pretty quickly like this! It is so fun to watch her crawl throughout the room to explore. She now loves to crawl under the barstools and play. So far she hasn't gotten into any cabinets, but I am sure that is only a matter of time. Which means...we are behind on baby-proofing!

This is one of my new favorite picture of Grace

Grace is also learning to pull herself up. So far she's only done it completely on her own a few times, but she is getting better at it every day. Grace can also take baby steps along our coffee table while she's standing. She walked from one side all the way to the other and back the other day, which makes me wonder how long we have before she's walking or running all over the place.

Playing with a ball is one of Grace's new tricks. One evening Trinity was tossing a plush toy block to her while she was in her exersaucer, and she kept dropping it on the ground next to him. He figured it would be a good time to start playing toss, so he kept tossing it her way, and she kept dropping it back down. I think she would have played forever if he hadn't quit after a while! Then a week later, Trinity was on the ground with Grace and rolled a ball to her. After a few tries, she finally rolled it back to him!



This month we also bought Grace a rocking giraffe. So far she hasn't decided whether or not she likes to sit on it, but I can only imagine that she's learn to love it as her balance while standing up improves. As well as rocking, it also plays four songs about the alphabet, counting, shapes and colors.

VOTE!

UPDATE: Gracie is in 61st place right now! Keep on voting!!!

We've entered a few pictures of Gracie into the Parents Magazine cover contest. The grand prize winner gets a trip to NYC for a cover photo shoot, but there are also weekly winners. Weekly winners are determined by voting from friends and family.

Vote for Gracie in this week's contest here! You can vote once daily through June 19th!

Broke.My.Heart

I knew this day would come, but I was definitely not prepared for it...

The door to Gracie's daycare room has a large window, so after telling her I love her and kissing her goodbye, I always wave through the glass on my way out the door. She usually just smiles at me and then looks away to play with her friends. But today she waved goodbye to me and then burst into tears as soon as I stepped away from the window. I had to muster all my strength not to peak back through the window. I know that Miss Silvia will calm her down quickly... but it doesn't make it any easier.