Ballet

Stella has been asking to take ballet lessons for the past 6 months or so. Thankfully her gymnastics school just started offering classes, and we didn't have to commit to the entire year and a recital or two.

Her teacher is great, and so young and it makes me feel old just saying that. There is so far only one other girl in the class Maddie is also three years old.

They are, to put it bluntly, freaking adorable.

At the end, they were allowed to dance 'any way they wanted'. Stella went round and round and round and round, never even changing directions until... Kerplonk.

Her head hit the wall, and what did her mom do? Took a picture.

First Day of School

Violet started school on Monday. She loves her teacher, she loves school, and Jason and I feel very confident in our decision to send her back this year. Her teacher is, in short, spectacular.

I know I don't have to say it. Look how much she has grown!  Look how old she is! I don't think I was nearly this gorgeous in first grade.

Here she patiently puts up with the antics of her sister.

Waiting for the bus with her little first grade friends.

And how sweet is this. Violet and Grandy, who came to see her get on the bus.

Horse Show!

Violet has been riding at Equest for three years. She started out in Hippotherapy, and just this summer started therapeutic riding. I know next to nothing about horses, so it has been hard for me to understand what therapeutic riding is all about. It's not like hippotherapy, where Violet rode all but upside down on her horse. That was OT, which I completely understand. Now Violet is learning to ride, and ride well. She is taking care of her horse, and learning actual skills. It became obvious to me this weekend where this is headed. The Student Horse Show was on Saturday, and it is the first time we have made it all the way through the show. As I told Violet "Sometimes to do the fun stuff, you have to have a lot of patience." She did amazingly well through the 3+ hours we were there.

She was in 2 classes. First was one she did last time as well - costume class. I can't help but throw in a picture from the last show she was in. This was 2008, so she was 4 years old. (these pictures were taken by Violet's awesome speech therapist, by the way. Did I really not have my camera with me? Shocking.) Isn't she cute! I can barely remember her at this age. She had just finished her first year of preschool, and was just starting to really talk to us with more than a couple words at a time. I think that is Zack she is riding in the second picture. I remember she loved that he had handles on him.

Fast forward to this year. That is Onyx she is riding, and if it looks like she is small up there, it's because Onyx is big.

I never cease to be amazed at how wonderful Equest is. Every single person we encounter is happy to be there, is kind to my children, and makes us all feel like we are the most important people in the world. Not only that, but they make all of their students and families feel that way. I can't imagine that is easy to do when they are all there in the same place, but amazingly they manage to pull it off.

Violet was also in the Walk/Trot Equitation on Lead Line class. And here's what I mean about not knowing a thing about horses. I had to ask what equitation meant. Then I saw what Equitation meant when I saw the older kids ride. I wish I had taken some pictures of them as well. Here she is walking in the first picture, trotting in the second.

We also got to see a few friends while we were there. Sadly I didn't get a picture of Violet with her Grandy and Bubby, but here she is with her best friend, Evan, and his family.

Wait a minute. Violet is missing from that picture. Here you go.

We saw Bailey, the girl she currently rides with.

We saw Laura, one of  Violet's sidewalkers from last autumn.

And we saw Hunter, the boy she rode with over the spring session. They were on the same team for the show, and do you notice something? Something big and blue and red and yellow?

Violet was on the winning team this year. It's a minor distinction, since everyone who participates gets these fabulous ribbons. She has her 'reserve champion' ribbon from last time hanging in her room along side this year's 'champion' ribbon. And let me tell you - the girl is proud of her ribbons.

Here is are the teams waiting for the final tally. The other team waiting in an orderly, attentive fashion:

And Violet's team. What a motley crew.

Can you see what Violet is doing?

I'm sure Violet had no idea who this girl was, and it matters not a whit to me that she is not waiting with anticipation to see who won. My girl got out there, and within moments she had taken up playing rock-paper-scissors with another girl. When I think of all the time and energy that has gone into enabling her to do that - the speech therapy, the social skills, the cooperation training. Well, folks, we have a winner. No doubt about it.

Stunning

It all started with Violet playing Battle for Wesnoth. There's nothing unusual about that, unless you count the fact that Violet is playing a nerdy teenager-and-up strategy game and downloading various campaigns to keep it fresh. Did I just say that about my 6 year old? Somehow it seems less odd in real life.

Violet has downloaded  a campaign that includes elves, mermaids, wizards and the like, and this morning she came into the kitchen in a white full length slip that went with a second hand flower-girl dress we got at Mama Goose in Ithaca (Hi Amy!). She had worn that outfit several times over the past couple days, which is new. Today she explained to me that she was the Elvish Lady. The Elvish Lady dresses all in white. I asked her if she wanted me to do her hair in an elven style (which was seriously just an excuse to do her hair - an activity I adore and Violet loathes). She agreed, and I twisted up the sides, and then she showed me a picture of the Elvish Lady. The Elvish Lady wears a crown of red flowers over her long blond tousled hair. I opted to ignore the tousled part and asked Violet if she wanted flowers in her hair. She decided on white over red, so I tucked in some just-turning-pink hydrangea flowers.

Awhile later, she shows up in my bedroom, and the camera happens to be sitting there. Amazingly, she is up for a photo shoot.

Holy cow, is that my kid? The same kid who won't put on clothes, won't let me brush her hair, certainly won't wear a dress.

After I finished her hair, she stood in front of the mirror, obviously enchanted with herself. It was amazing to watch and see such pride. Not pride because she was wearing a pretty dress, or adorned with flowers in her hair but pride because she is beautiful. You could almost see the gears turning in her head and the realization overtaking her.

Yes, she might be beautiful, but you know she is always Violet.

Mini-Golf

Jason and I took Stella to play mini-golf for the first time on Independence Day. She was thrilled to get both parents to herself which rarely happens, and she was thrilled to play mini-golf, which she had never done before.

We tried to help her out with the rules and her form, but she wasn't having any of it.

She just wanted to do it her way. Her way included hitting the ball once, picking it up, placing it carefully next to the hole and hitting it in. Sideways.

I don't know if it is her inherited stubborn streak or her inherited love of croquet that renders her incapable of hitting a golf ball properly. Or maybe I should cut the kid some slack? I mean, she's only three.

She was very amusing, in any case.  In this house we spell diva with a capital D.

Family