A Dream is a Wish. . .

Every little girl dreams of being a ballerina, right? Well, maybe, but I bet most moms have dreamed it at one point for their little girls as well! I'm not sure how long it took after finding out that I was going to have a girl for me to wonder if she would love dance as I do. But not long! I can picture her lighting up the stage, having perfect technique and confidence, dancing many different styles, and loving every minute of it. Now, I know some stage moms, and it is a very scary sight. So I'm not saying that I'll turn into a monster (well maybe a little bit) but I can't deny that I would love to be standing off to the side, camera in hand, beaming with pride.

What I never imagined, is that I would already be doing that, even though she is not yet two. Evelyn was about 4 months old when I went back to teaching dance. And she came with me. At first she would just lay there and I would hope she didn't need to eat during class. Then she started sitting up and watching the girls dance. As soon as she could crawl, she would crawl after them, laughing as they danced around the room. She just barely learned to walk before summer of last year and I took the summer off from teaching at the Y. I was a little apprehensive about bringing her to class in the fall because she was running all over and very busy. I thought I would try it, see what happened and if it was a nightmare I would just have to arrange childcare. I was so surprised at how well she did! She loves coming to class with me. I give her a snack at first and she watches the girls. Then I let her out of the stroller and she runs across the room with them as they do their floor dances (going from one side to the other in different steps and formations.) She tries to waltz, gallop, jump, and twirl with them. I see her watching them and then trying to imitate their moves and my heart melts, just a little bit (I posted a video of this on facebook.) The girls of course love her. They bring her presents, ask about her when she's not there, and by now, boss her around! "Evelyn, don't climb in your stroller" "Evelyn, do you want a ball?" "Evelyn, you can't chew on that!" They even know her middle name, and just like we do, call her Evelyn Joy all the time. It's absolutely adorable and just about nothing makes me happier than to see her dance around the room with them during free dance or run up to the barre and put her chubby hands next to theirs. We talk about "Going to the Y to watch the girls dance" and she is always excited to be there with them.

So will she love dance when she is their age? Will she still want to dance across the room and laugh in delight at the way it feels to twirl and jump to the music? Only time will tell. But, I've learned the best thing about dreams is to see the ones coming true around you right now and just live in that moment.

Glimpses

Yikes, good thing blogging more wasn't one of my New Year's Resolutions! Although eating better was and I'm trying to figure out a way that my four boxes of Girl Scout cookies are going to help me with that goal. . .

So, since I've gone from blogging ever week to one blog over the past two months, let me give you some glimpses into our life.

Let's see, I don't remember January, so how about February?!

The first week of February we got to fly down to visit Bard's family in Southern California, where Empress Evelyn held court for a whole week! The trip went really well, we spent lots of time with parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, high school friends, college friends, co workers, and dogs. And we even slept a little too. Because Bard and I have traveled to visit family many times now, and it only took us three times and two years to learn that I need some down time during these trips, unless we want to continue having a big fight each time we travel, we also threw in some down time for the two of us. A nice lunch out while Evelyn was napping, and a trip to Nordstrom Rack to buy Bard three pairs of shoes. Oh, how many shoes did I get, you may ask? Zero. But that's okay, we all know I have a good memory and this little shopping injustice will come back to haunt Bard, I would guess right around the time my spring wardrobe needs some sprucing up!

But, back to Evelyn! It still amazes me how social she is. We threw her at dozens of new people and she smiled and asked where they went when they dared to leave the room (much to their delight!) She had no qualms about being dropped off at the church's nursery and when we went and visited the school where Bard's mom teaches, she squirmed to get down, ran off to play with the kids, and cried when I picked her up to go. I was really proud of her. She loved seeing all the new people, actually, she thrived on it. And she was so excited about flying on an airplane that when we were flying down, she woke in the middle of her nap and started crying, "fly airplane, fly airplane!" I told her we were still on the plane and to go back to sleep. She did! She still talks about the family members we visited with and asks where they are. I love that she was able to deepen her relationships with everyone and that she had such a great time.

The week after we got back was Valentine's Day and Bard and I left her with my parents overnight while we stayed in a cabin at Mt Rainier. It was beautiful and incredibly restful for being just a two day trip. We went on a hike the first day and out to dinner and then the next day we drove up to Paradise (Mt Rainier) and snowshoed for a few hours-it was gorgeous. I know some people who live in this area feel that they forget about the mountain, how beautiful it is. But I really don't think I do. I remember going to college and actually missing seeing the mountain. I love to look at it-through clouds, covered in snow, blue caps, at sunrise and sunset. And, years ago, I think as far back as high school, I started calling it "my mountain." You may disagree, but you'll have to prove me wrong! The great thing is, Evelyn now loves the mountain too! She'll look for it when we're driving, ask where it went, and says how pretty it is. Best of all, she refers to it as, "Mama's mountain" What a smart kid!

She is doing really well. She finally entered the dramatic play stage and loves to carry her baby dolls and stuffed animals around-feeding them dinner, changing their diapers, and putting them to bed. I celebrated by buying her another doll, of course : ) She recognizes all her letters and many numbers. She can count to 20 in English and 10 in Spanish-yep, she got her dad's IQ, and she is starting to recognize some words-no not read, just through memorization. She loves singing (we're still praying that she inherited Bard's voice, not mine!) and her favorites are Ring Around the Rosie and Rock a Bye Baby. She still loves reading books and has phrases memorized from most the pages-sometimes even saying what comes on the next page. Her favorite book is Jonah, probably because there is a fish and because she is stubborn! She still sleeps really well, in fact, she is sleeping right now! One of the funniest things about her is that she laughs all the time. She'll run over to put her shoes on the shoe rack and then she'll laugh and say, "Put shoes on rack!" I don't what there is to laugh about that, but apparently it's funny. The other day she threw her food on the floor, laughed, and said, Evelyn's naughty!" Yeah, uh oh. Other than that, clearly we have the most amazing child ever! ; ) Today is March 1st, which means she is one month away from turning two, which I can hardly believe.

Anyway, that's a glimpse into our world. Both January and February pictures are posted to the right. My March resolution is to get back to blogging again, so we'll see how I do!