Run Off To The Circus

Sunday we went to Circus Flora, St. Louis's own one-ring circus starring Nino the clown. Alex went last year and only made it thru the first half because of teething and the heat. We thought it might be a repeat this year since during the day she was a might grumpy from her teeth, but by showtime she was doing pretty good and it was a wonderfully cool night (for St Louis) so heat wasnt an issue. As the lights dimmed and the music started, Alex had her eyes locked on the ring. Trapeze artists flew thru the air while all around were jugglers and dancers. The famous Flying Wallendas formed a 7 person pyramid on the high wire without a net. The horses entered the ring, there were bareback riders doing flips and an aerialist flying from his horse on red scarves. And to Alexs delight-doggies, dressed as horses doing twirls. And thru it all was Nino, involved in everything in his own funny way. Alex did very good, its a long show, almost 3 hours with just one 15 minute intermission so we had to add a few of our own intermissions but she did make it through the whole show and even stayed to get a hug and an autograph from Nino who called her Pretty Blue Eyes.

Water, Water Everywhere

This weeks swim class went better for the most part. Only 5 people showed up so people are getting frustated with it which I can't blame them, especially with the really rude and not very patron friendly staff (Our instructor is OK but thats about it). Alex was still a little clingy and not totally loving it, but she did splash around a bit. This class we were suppose to work on coordinated arm and leg movements, only the one older boy got anywhere close to doing it, Alex wasn't up for even trying. The other thing we worked on was hanging on to a ledge along the side of the pool, Alex loved it for some reason, was perfectly content to just hang there. The instructor said you could take it one step further and just kinda throw them towards the ledge and see if they grabbed on before they went under the water, but we weren't going to try that (and its a wonder some of the kids are traumatized). We also practiced pushing off from the side again which she's a pro at and also jumping in from a few feet above the water. Only 2 more classes to go.
So to be sure that she still enjoys the water, we got her a Animal Playground Pool. Oh what fun! It has so many things to play with-an elephant slide, a tiger ball toss, giraffe ring toss, rattly snake, sprinkling palm tree. She had a blast! The community pool is just across the street, but this is even more convenient and with a little water from the hot tub no more chilly water. We're going to get so much use out of it this summer. And Dad likes it too-he didnt have to replace the deck this weekend cause we set the pool up under it on the patio. Oops. Theres always next weekend. We'll get the supplies and I can work on prestaining everything throughout the week. I'm sure Alex will want to help with that-Yikes.

Fathers Day

Thursday we did our usual Storytime with Miss Jane. It was a bit overrun by a church nursery group with a couple of real wild children that Alex was amused by. Hopefully she didn't pick up to many ideas. Swim class on Friday didn't go so well. More people showed up than I thought would, though the one Mom who last week said she couldn't take it anymore did send her husband instead. Alex had fun in the kiddie pool, but wasn't thrilled when we moved to the big pool. I don't know if she was a bit traumatized from jumping off the side of the pool last time or what, but she pretty much clung to my neck most of class. It may just be that she's been a bit cranky in general. I cant believe I'm saying this but I think she might be teething again. The second set of molars usually comes in around 20-24 months so I thought we'd have a little break, but she's showing signs of teething again. At least after this she'll have a few years before anymore teeth.
Saturday we did our usual IHOP breakfast and then hung out the rest of the day while Dad went and played lacrosse. Fathers Day we went back out to Faust Park and played on the playground. Alex gave her Da a gift and also got her own set of lacrosse sticks which she and Da broke in at the park. She's got the basic concept pretty well.
Tuesday we went to Storytime at Borders. She just loves all the singing and dancing with Miss Daryl. She especially likes the "shake your silly self" song. We met up with 3 moms from the yahoo west county Moms group there. They all had boys under a year old so Alex had her pick of younger men. After Da got home from work we went to the Magic House-they have free admission on Tuesday nights. She really had a lot of fun exploring and playing in all the different sections. It's a pretty cool place.
We tried to go the "cry baby" free summer movie on Wednesday-it was "Because of Winn-Dixie. I thought she might like it since it was about a dog, but after waiting for 15 minutes for the movie to start we got about 5 minutes into the movie and she was ready to go before the dog even showed up on the screen. Oh well. . Maybe we'll try again in a few weeks when they're showing "Madagascar". Today was the first day in the Level 4 Gymboree class. She seemed to really enjoy it. Its not much different from the other class, maybe its just a better time for her, but she just really seemed to like it more. There was one girl in the class, Maddie, who's 18 months and about 5 boys. We have the same instructor, Ali, which is good cause Alex really likes her. It seems to be a bit better fit for me as well, the Moms seem a little more laidback and nicer in this group.
Bed time was still rough tonight. She's just putting up such a fight. I'm thinking about moving her to the toddler bed soon-1. I'm afraid she might crawl up and out of the crib pretty soon 2. Thinking maybe the change of sleeping arrangement will be novel enough to make her want to go to bed. Alex ended up cosleeping last night. She was absolutly miserable in her crib and it took her awhile to settle down even after we brought her downstairs. After the motrin kicked in she settled down and cuddled up and went to sleep. She's definetly showing all the signs of teething. We went to a very abridged storytime today and she wasn't really in to it so we came back home and she nursed and went down for a nap. I think thats going to be what we're doing most of the day. It'll probably be a very tough week but we'll get through it.

Teaser...The rest of the story

Here's some photos from this past week. Obviously this is from Swim class. We start each class in the baby pool for a few minutes and then move to the big pool. Only 5 out of 9 kids showed up this week and I wouldn't be surprised if there were fewer next. Alex is doing great and enjoying it, but a lot of the other kids aren't, 2 boys wont even unclutch from their Moms neck. The class is suppose to be from 6 months to 36 months, but it seems who ever designed it, didn't really take that into account. Last weeks class was on back stroke arm movements, most of the kids wont even go on their backs or know how to kick yet. They also had the kids being dropped from the edge of the pool about 4 feet into the water, Alex did it and didn't really seem to mind, but that can be pretty traumatic for most 16 month olds, which is the average age of the class. But Alex seems to like it, at least so far.



We went up to the mall to go to playland and saw these adorable doggie purses on sale at Penneys. The experts say you should give them a choice at this age, but that didn't work for us. I showed her 3 different kinds, she opened her arms wide and took them all, then proceeded to run thru the clothing racks playing keep away. It took about 15 minutes to get her talked down to one, with much protesting.

Alex had a slight mishap with a piece of chocolate so it was an early bathtime.
Here she is with tools in hand helping me pull out the staples from the floor so we can put down the laminate. She certainly is a big helper.
















Tuesday we skipped storytime (heaven forbid) to meet Clara (one of my volunteers from the zoo) at the Butterfly house (whose gift shop is run by another old zoo acquaintance) . We had a wonderful time catching up and enjoying the beauty of the butterfly house. Alex had so many butterflies and pretty flowers to point and squeal at. We rode the carousel which at first she wasn't too sure of, but by the time it was over she wanted to go again. We went out for lunch and then came back to the park and hit the playground. Here's Alex showing Clara how high she can swing. She went down for a nap very quickly after all that.
Today was our last day in level 3 at Gymboree, she'll be moving up to the next age group next week. It'll be nice to have a change. In one more month, we'll be able to take some of their art classes which should be fun.

Fables, Fun and Fairy Dust

Tuesday was another fun day at Storytime. Now that school is out, more kids are coming so Alex is having a blast watching everyone. I can see we're going to have to work on the fact that staring is rude. Wednesday at Gymboree we met a little girl about Alex's age whose name was Blue, thats a new one. From what we've encountered so far, Alex is probably going to have a lot of Olivia, Abigail, Emily, Lilly and Madisons in her class. Thursday was Storytime with Miss Jane. Alex got mentioned as the veteran of the group and what a good listener she always is. Friday at Swim Class we learned about going under water. Alex did great, no crying at all, just a little coughing. She went swooshing thru with her eyes wide up, coming up with a "what the hell was that about" expression. She enjoys swim class, but was ready to go after that lesson. Saturday we went to the Renaissance Faire. Right behind dogs on Alex's list of favorite animals is birds so she really enjoyed the birds of prey show. She wanted to get on the stage with them, but had to settle on giving the raven a dollar bill at the end of the show. It was great to watch her dance to the minstrels and play peek-a-boo with the fairies. No turkey legs for her lunch feast, but she enjoyed her favorite-corn on the cob. Going to bed is still an issue, she's screaming all the way to dreamland. Hopefully this will be a short lived phase. Shes's making up for what a great sleeper she was her first year.