My Baby Turns Three!

Anthony turned 3 on March 4, 2011...I can hardly believe it! The time has gone by so quickly! Well, since we weren't celebrating his birthday for another week, we had a special present for him to open on his actual birthday and spent the day doing some fun things!

his birthday surprise...what could it be???

opening the package...just look at that grin!

wow! his very own lawnmower--just like daddy's!

Ever since I can remember, Anthony has loved to push things. He'd push carts, strollers, and buggies at church, friend's houses, etc. Our playgroup met at one of our friends' parents' houses who are on a lot of land. (I think I blogged about that before) When Anthony had pushed their play lawnmower the entire time we were there (a couple of hours), I knew I had to get him one as an outside toy. Ever since he opened this one, he's been helping his daddy cut the grass.


Can you tell how much he admires his daddy??? :)

Anthony's First Gymnastics Class

At the end of February, we did a trial class with Anthony at The Little Gym to see how he would like it and if he would even be interested in taking some type of group class. He's always climbing and jumping and flipping around, so I figured a gymnastics class would be a good place to start. It was a really new experience for him, and I wasn't sure how he would do. He was in the 3 year old class (and this was right before his birthday, so technically he was still 2!). He attended the class all by himself--it was not a mommy & me class. So, I had to sit on the other side of the glass and watch. Let me just say that he did really, really well at listening to his teacher and following instructions! I was so proud! He had soooooooo much fun, and as soon as he walked out to me he asked if we could come back! We may do a trial class at a real gymnastics gym to see how they compare.

all ready to attend his first gymnastics class

here's where we went

his class and his teacher (who was fantastic with the kids, by the way)

he did quite a bit of thumb-sucking while he was figuring things out

i love how attentive he is in this picture!

(i'm not just being a bragging mommy, but i was watching all the other kids, most of whom are regular attenders of this class, and anthony was the best listener out of all of them!)

Some video clips I thought were cute...

Learning to follow directions by running and then "freezing" when the teacher stops

Anthony gets instruction on a forward roll down the cheese mat...I love his "ta-da" at the end!

They did a little bit of everything in the class...some "squat-ons" on a vault mat, chin-up pullovers at bars, walking one foot in front of the other on beam, some obstacle courses, and of course, lots of running around on the floor.

This video cracks me up. Anthony is trying first on these parallel bars to do it like the teacher told them (I think they were supposed to crab walk across). He's not quite getting it, so he tries another method, and then finally just runs through! Haha! See how happy he is, though? So fun!

Lucas Learns to Walk

Lucas has been working really hard to keep up with big brother Anthony these past few months! Here are some video clips of his learning to walk. He took his first steps at 11 months, but he still crawled more than he walked until about 14 months (March). As you can see in the last video, he run-walks now wherever he goes!

This first one is from mid January. He loved pushing the radio flyer while Anthony pushed his shopping cart. The radio flyer is great for beginner walkers because it is very heavy and sturdy and won't tip over...it's just impossible for little ones to move it once they bump into a wall and get stuck! Sorry about the video quality when we zoom in--it gets quite fuzzy.

The second video clip was taken mid-February. I know it looks like his head gets precariously close to bumping the fireplace hearth, but it really wasn't as close as it looks! I love how he does his little shuffle or sidestep to make it all the way to daddy! Gotta love that southern drawl when he says "ball"!

This last one was taken in early March. As you can see, he's pretty much got it down pat at this point. You can't really tell from this video clip, but Anthony has been "practicing" his walking too--every time we do it with Lucas! It's so funny to me how Lucas wants to be like Anthony, and then Anthony wants to be like Lucas!