Belated Updates on Rebekah

My little Rebekah is growing into such a wonderful young girl. Each day she surprises me with her mature way of caring for other people. She is blossoming and gaining confidence and that is so fun to watch. I know this isn't the only factor, but I think much of her recent growth has been largely due to her participation in gymnastics. Up until now, it was always Alex's activities. Now that she is three, there are more things we can involve her in. We tried dance and she would not under any conditions step foot in that dance room. So, we waited awhile and she expressed interest in gymnastics after I showed her some clips of it on line. The first time we went I was worried. She would NOT go in without me and would NOT so much as look at the teacher. Thankfully they were very patient and understanding and let me stay with her class until she warmed up...which took about 4 times going with me in there. In fact, it was so bad the first time that I would finally get her to do something and then the coach would clap for her and she would immediately freeze and look down at the floor. ha! Poor girl. Each week we went, she would gradually let me go further and further away until one day she decided she could go in all by herself with her coach! The amazing thing is that the following Sunday after she went all by herself, we were walking to her Sunbeam class and she said, "Mommy, I am not going to cry today. I am going to be brave." Before that she would get hysterical and scream/kick/run every time I tried to take her to Sunbeams. It was like she just had to see that she could do something on her own and now she is fine. She is even becoming more willing to talk to new people that she meets instead of staring at the floor. It is so fun to see her grow!

She is loving the preschool time I am doing at home with her and Alex and it is really helping her to master the recognition and sounds of letters and numbers. Plus, she feels smart doing school with her big brother. She loves to practice writing her letters since he is next to her making words out of the letter we are working on.

She is so excited for our baby boy and often comes up to me and rubs my belly and says, "I love our baby."

Here are some photos.

This is her "pink fluffy banasticks suit." She never refers to it by any other name. We let her pick a leotard out once she started going all by herself. It had to be pink. It had to be fluffy (soft).

She also has this old black one that I think my mom got for her at a garage sale awhile ago. I love her face. What a pretty girl.

That is her "I know I'm cute" smile. And she is. :) 

I took this video about a month ago...maybe less. Anyway, she has come a long way. Now somersaults are easy for her and she is flipping over bars by herself. Crazy! They learn so fast.