Sometimes it saddens me that everything academically has always come so easy to my Caroline. She was that kid who was reading the Bible fluently at age 3. She's currently devouring the old Nancy Drew novels in less than 3 hours each. (!!!) She's at the top of her class, and she's just a really bright little girl.
Sounds like a great thing, doesn't it? In many ways, it is.
But since everything has always come easy for her, Caroline has come to expect things to always be that way. And if something doesn't come easy, she tends to crumble and run off. Perfectionism often keeps her from trying, and her mistakes can produce much anger and frustration within herself.
Thankfully, she has a mama that shares her struggles of perfectionism, though our responses to it are often opposite. (I kill myself striving to get something just right, and after she explodes in anger, she flees the scene crying in total defeat...) And for all the hugs and Gospel talks she and I have had over the years about accepting and laughing at our own mistakes, perfectionism still maintains its solid grip upon both of our hearts.
So, being the loving parent that I want to be, I think it's important that my daughter has opportunities to fail. I don't think I need to shield her from mistakes and challenges just because she's afraid of them. If anything, I need to provide her with more places to safely make them and work through to overcome them.
And since maybe school isn't that place right now, we're taking dance.
dance buddies
I enrolled Caroline in a jazz dance class knowing she'd be the youngest kid, knowing she'd be the only one without prior dance training, and knowing she'd have a great time, but have to work hard to keep up.
She's really liking it! And she's really doing well at it, too.
I feel like it's not only teaching her skills of coordination and musicality, but it's giving her a fun opportunity to work through some deeper level life skills.
She can't run away when it gets hard.
She can't emotionally unload on her teacher if she doesn't understand something.
Instead, she has to keep trying, keep going, and do the best she's able to do.
So I can't tell you how proud I was of her at her second dance recital ever. She felt unprepared and knew she wouldn't be "perfect" at this difficult routine. She was super nervous. And yet, she did a WONDERFUL job!...
I'm so proud of her confidence.
I'm so proud of her courage.
God fashioned her so uniquely and specially.
She has no idea how many mistakes she'll continue to make her whole life long.
And yet, she's got parents and a heavenly Father who will keep on loving her in spite of them all. That's what grace is all about- despite all of our failures, that love never stops and runs away.
Since music is such a big deal in our family, thought we'd give you a little concert electronically. (an "e-concert" if you will...)
Here's Jameson belting out one of his favorites (with some motions!):
Next, Caroline performing her first original song while Nanny was here to visit last week. The song is called "Magic" and when you hear the lyrics, you'll probably guess it was written by an 8 year old girl.
Here's another song Jameson looooooves, complete with a "slingshot":
And to wrap up our e-concert, how about a sample of my band, Cabell St Collective? (We are fun and available for hire!)
I've laid low on the extra curricular stuff thus far in Caroline's life. Every parent knows the crazy pressure there is to enroll your kid in every imaginable thing from the time they begin walking. And while I'm all for giving my children enriching opportunities, I'd like to pace myself and only do what is truly manageable for our family, both time-wise and money-wise.
Kindergarten was enough for us. The poor girl was exhausted at the end of a school day, and afterschool trips to the library or park were about all we could handle. School WAS the extra-curricular thing added in our life that required a major adjustment for all of us as a family.
In first grade, we found a free weekly ukelele class and a one hour of "open gym" at a gymnastics place (for $4) that we would do when we were able.
And now, in second grade, we've embarked on Caroline's first official extra-curricular: DANCE.
1st dance recital
We've signed up for a jazz dance class at the downtown ballet studio less than one minute from our house (!!), and my mom has graciously offered to help pay for the classes.
With only 3 months of dance EVER, she had her first recital a week ago!
And can I just say as a side note, it's always interesting how alopecia affects normal life stuff. Like, for this recital, I had to figure out how to do full make-up on my daughter for the first time, and with no eyebrows and barely any eyelashes, it's a CHALLENGE, lemme tell you! At some point, I need to learn how to draw on some natural looking eyebrows...
Caroline thought she might want to wear her wig in a bun to perform, but after she considered how hot and itchy that would be, PLUS she realized that dancers pull their hair up in order to get it out of their face, I think she realized she actually had the upper hand. (he he!)
Who knows what the audience thought when they saw a gorgeously bald dancer on stage! Bet it was a first for them! I did hear a few "aww"s in the audience when they first saw her, but you couldn't help but keep your eyes glued to her BEAUTY!
I was a little nervous for her. Not because of alopecia, but because she's in a class with two other girls who have both obviously danced for years, and I didn't know if Caroline would be able to keep up!
But check out her performance! She did a great job, especially for having only 3 months of class!
Bravo, Caroline!
We love you and are so very proud of you, our beautiful gal!
Hi, Everyone!
This is my favorite blog post. I would like to share with you
two awesome videos.
1. My school report.
2. Piano.
I LOVE these videos! My school report was about a
heroic lady. Abigail Adams. That day was American Hero's day so
we all took home a paragraph to look at and take out three important words in the sentence.
We underlined the three important words so we could remember which ones were the words we were using.
Then, we wrote our own sentence using the three words we picked in our sentence. We all dressed up in red, white, and blue. We invited all our parents to our classroom to see our paragraphs.
Here is a video of my paragraph...
'
Now here is #2. I love it! Now, this is the piano piece: "The Waltz", and
the next piano piece: "Old Woman". My mom teaches me piano lessons.
I started with piano lesson books 1, 2, 3, and 4. Then I learned a book that I will be playing these
two pieces.
We interrupt our vacation pictures to bring you a few videos I found on my phone to share! One of Caroline's favorite things to do is to watch old videos I've posted here on crazyforcaroline, so I've realized I need to keep 'em coming as this blog is half functioning as my children's "baby books."
Jameson's currently obsessed with the movie "Snow White." Not really for Snow White herself, but he mostly wants to watch the seven dwarfs who carry hammers and hit the walls of the mines. So here's my kid who has progressed from always having to carry a baseball bat to a sword to NOW- a hammer.
He even took his "hammer" to surgery with him as his comfort item, ha ha!
Here's a very common scene around my house right now! Jameson and Caroline with their "hammers" acting out Jameson's favorite scene from Snow White:
And the next is from a few months ago when Jameson (age 2) was helping me tell the story of the Three Little Pigs in the car.
Just recently, we found out about a free group ukelele class in town for ages 7 and up. Not being one to pass up an opportunity for free music lessons, we showed up and Caroline has really enjoyed it!
Three weeks later, she's made a video for you guys of her first song.
(I'm going to dedicate this one to all the grandparents and great grandparents in our life whom we love and who probably remember this song very well.)
Would you believe it? She CAN sing something besides "Let it Go"! (thank you, first grade!)
What trip to the White House wouldn't be complete without singing the order of its residents? (You can't tell, but by the end of the song, she had quite a group of admirers!)
I've reached the "terrible 2's" everybody! (Hurray!)
Let me tell ya a little about what life at age 2 is like these days:
I'm the good-natured kid who continues to keep my parents guessing. My big sister was the good eater, the good sleeper, the predictable one... you know, the kid that would make someone believe they could write a book on parenting or something. Me, however? Ha ha. My way is much more fun. I keep 'em humble.
I ditched the idea of being contained a few months ago when I started climbing out of my crib in the middle of the night. But NO WAY am I going to stay in my toddler bed all night. Are you kidding me?! Sure, I'll take a short afternoon nap in there, and I'll even go to sleep at night in there (as long as you hold my hand until I'm out...), but you better believe that I'll make my nightly pilgrimage to Mom and Dad's room. To their dismay, sleeping in between them right now is how I roll. And for their own survival and mental sanity, now is not the time for them to fight it.
To add to my unpredictability, I can be a finicky eater and meal time is often a stage for me to show off my "best" behavior. You think you want me to eat vegetables, Mom?!? You think I should be buckled in?!? You think food should stay on the table?!? You better think again.
But to my credit, now, there's WAY MORE about me to love. I'm a really fun-loving, athletic guy. I love my big sister, and when I'm not trying to tackle her, I absolutely adore her. She's starting to get more and more frustrated by me, though, as I'm asserting my will around here more. I'm great for teaching her patience.
And you guys, my speech is really improving! The other day, my mom was telling me something that she didn't want to do, and I surprised my whole family with these words:
Pretty awesome, right? My vocabulary might be small, and my language is often in Swahili, but I am making huge strides! ("nooooo" is my favorite word right now)
I LOVE my Mommy and Daddy. I have separation anxiety when they leave me in the church nursery or with a babysitter. I'm calling out their names LOUDLY wherever I am. Secretly, Mommy kind of likes it in public because then there's NO question as whether she's the babysitter or not.
first pair of Jordans
I like to think of myself as quite the cool kid. At 2, I've now got my first pair of Jordans.
And the sunglasses don't hurt my style, either, wouldn't you say? (thanks, Mamie!)
But even this cool kid needs his Mama to kiss his little boo boo's.
There is no talking about me without talking about bats and balls. It's what I love the most in this world, and I'd play ball with you all day if you let me. I'm quite a natural with the bat, AND right now it looks like I just might be a south paw, too! Mom and Dad, I know y'all aren't... ahem, the most athletic people out there, but you'd better be getting ready to watch me from the bleachers someday!
Speaking of how unpredictable, yet good-natured I am, here's a little snapshot of me when I popped up out of bed at 11:00pm one night and instead of giving in to their frustration with me, Mom and Dad decided to laugh along with me:
Two years old is pretty great. I'm learning, and I'm growing. I'm super active and I can be awfully stubborn, too.
One thing's for sure, though...
I've got a family who's CRAZY for me, and I'm pretty much the best thing that's ever happened to them.
After so much longing, so much heartache, so much waiting and hoping and trusting, there are few words that can describe the moment an 11-day-old baby boy is placed into your arms.
Sorry it's been so long. Really. It's not you, it's me.
My camera is being repaired and life has been crazy and overwhelming as of late.
I've had to focus on important things first. You know, just small things like realpeople... :)
But I just want you to know I'm here. I haven't left and I'm not meaning to ignore you. Forgive me for the silent treatment as of late.
Things will be okay and we'll be stronger than ever. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? ;)
In the meantime, here's a few recent shots off of my phone I can share with you...
Jameson wanted to comb MY hair for a change. I'm relieved to say that it was just as difficult for him to figure out my hair as it is for me to figure out his.
I gotta give this kid credit, though. He's beginning to take some ownership in the hair care department.
Like when he smears peanut butter all through it, at least he'll assist in the washing process now.
We were so honored to have THIS GUY come perform some of his music after RUF (our ministry to college students in Lynchburg) one evening. So, SO good. (He and Jameson have the Haitian connection going.)
Caroline's been so busy and in love with school. (as you'll see if you click on the picture above to see what she said) Just last night she was asking us about September 11th because her class had just learned about it in their timeline of western civilization. (Geez.... hard stuff to chat about over dinner.)
(Here's Jameson checking out his cousin Elijah's new wheels.)
This weekend we made a quick trip down to South Carolina to visit our niece, Laura, who mysteriously suffered a stroke last week. It was scary, and though she is recovering well at home now, our family would covet your prayers for Laura's continued health and fears.
And just in case you haven't had enough "Let it Go" in your life, here's a fun little rendition I captured when Caroline and her cousins were singing in Nanny's kitchen. Even Jameson tried joining in the singing...
