Bella knows her stuff...

Bella just begin her third session of gymnastics and she has come a long way! From the double bars and the beam, to summer salts and the trampoline, she's learning by having fun. We first enrolled her in this class as a way for her and I to spend some alone time together, but her confidence has grown so much that she barely notices that I'm even there. This class is definitely one of the best parental decisions we've made. She's learning to follow direction, making friends, and trusting her own abilities. As soon as we pull into the parking lot of the gym, she giggles with excitement and begins running off her list of friends that she will soon see. I love this last one because having friends has become an important concept to her. She seems to understand friends as people who are close to her and people that she enjoys being around. So she calls her own cousins and her grandparents her friends too. When she looks at one of the many photo frames around our home, she will point to one and tell me "Mommy, dis is my fend Shake", which translated means "this is my friend Jake (her cousin).

When we walk into her tumbling class she immediately runs to her friend Eva, who is often referred to as her favorite friend. This past week she asked if her "brudder" could come, and so Sammy tagged along. He even got into the act by romping around in the play pit with his big sister.

So maybe this is how Mary Lou Redden started? Taking home the gold in 2024? Well a Mom can dream can't she:)