Gymnastics

When I picked Tali up from nursery school today, one of the teachers told me that I need to put Tali in gymnastics. She went on and on about how flexible she was, as well as coordinated and fearless. The perfect combination for a gymnast.

Tali regularly sits in a full split (see picture above, we were rolling a ball back and forth and that's how she chose to sit), but I just assumed all little kids could do that. Apparently not. I did have her in a general gym class over the winter and she did well with the gymnastics part. However, she got very frustrated with the balance beam because the other children went slow and needed help while she was practically running across it. While the other children were learning how to a somersault down a wedge, I was teaching Tali how to do it on the beam. She has excellent upper body strength and tons of energy. At home, she likes to do headstands and handstands (with help) and always begs H for more when he flips her in the air.

All of these things, plus others, indicate that she would enjoy gymnastics. I did when I was a child. Now I just have to find a class for her and the time to do it. And for the record, I have no desire to be a "stage mom" and push her to go to the Olympics. I just want her to have fun with it.

Uh-Oh

H and I just punished Tali in her crib for pulling Jackson's hair (something she rarely does). When she's punished in her crib, she's not allowed to have her blanket. But that doesn't stop her from asking for it. We're in another room listening to her scream for her blanket and all of the sudden I hear a thump. I rushed in to see her on the floor on her knees! She'd completely climbed out of her crib and wasn't even phased by it! She just wanted to get her blanket. H told her she's not allowed to climb out of her crib and that it's very bad. I'm not so sure that's going to work, though. I thought she was too short to climb out but I guess I was wrong. Good thing I bought a toddler rail months ago so that we'd be ready when this happened.

Five Days

Although I consider Tali potty trained, it seems we cannot get past the five day mark without an accident. It's usually a "number two" (won't go into details) and she's always very upset by it. I know she isn't doing it on purpose, but it's very frustrating for both of us. I've been told that's the hardest part for them to learn to control and it just takes time. But she'll go four days without any sort of accident and then once day five rolls around, she just cannot hold it.  I try not to get upset in front of her but it's hard. It's even harder because I need to comfort her and clean up the mess. Yuck.

So the sign on our bathroom door is back to zero tonight. This time I drew a sad face inside.

Manipulation

Now that Tali's potty trained, she's found a new way to try and manipulate me. The past two days, she's tried to get out taking a nap by telling me she needs to go potty after I've put her in the crib. She knows I'll go in there, take her out, and bring her to the potty. But, what she hasn't figured out yet is that I'll just put her right back in the crib after she goes (or doesn't go, as has been the case). She might try, but I still win.