Birthday Girl

Birthday Celebration Weekend~ Part One

It's amazing and so hard to believe that my tiny baby girl is 3! We had a fun weekend celebrating her birthday. It was packed full of fun things to do. We got to sleep over at Grandma and Pa's house, went to a free class at Gymboree with her cousin, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows at the family bonfire, survived a hayride at night with lanterns, played Hide and Seek in the dark (Ghost in the Graveyard), played in a new nursery class at church, AND had cake and ice cream. E had a blast and we thank everyone who added to the birthday fun.

Gymboree~

She has never done anything like this before, so she was extremely nervous to leave my side. After nudging her along and several "You're going to be ok" lines, she began to explore....on her bottom or scooting herself along. She wouldn't dare stand up or climb.

Crawling along...very slowly, but she really liked it.

Still crawling, but at an increased incline! She watched all the other kids RACE by her, crawl through tunnels, slide down slides and jump off the platform ahead of her. She constantly turned to me for reassurance.

A slide. She can do a slide. This little bumpy slide helped E tremendously. From this one act alone, she gained a great deal of confidence.

Hooray! Up and down ladders by herself.

Rocking in boats.

Hugging the Gymboree clown. Now that is confidence, my friends.

The best part was that E conquered the fear of jumping off the platform. It took some nudging. It took some convincing. It took me saying "1...2...3...jump!"about 15 times. Finally, she took the plunge. The look on her face was sheer amazement.

Near the end of the class we explored a giant parachute.

Look at that face! Bubbles always bring such joy.

At the end of our session, all the kids got a stamp. This is where E wanted hers.