Sick and Running out of Kleenex

We have all been sick. Marielle is sick, I am sick, and Vivian is just getting over being sick. The only one of us that didn't get sick was Sophie. By the way, why is that? How come our dogs don't catch our colds? This dog has spent the whole week eating bits of food that Marielle had dropped, licking her runny nose, and chewing up the occasional kleenex that we forget to snatch up. You would think she would have some sort of mutant mega cold from all three of us.

Anyway, us being sick is not the excuse for us blogging, but rather the subject of this blog (until I shoot off onto another tangent . . . wait for it). We think Marielle caught her cold last weekend at a gymnastics class we checked out. Although we haven't let this fact reflect negatively on the experience. She had an awesome time checking out the class, and it's definitely something we want to explore with her further. She enjoyed learned somersaults and climbing across the mats and blocks. The gym also had a large inflated mat the her and the other children could jump and tumble on. When they finished with that portion of the session, the kids sat with glee as the mat was deflated out from under them. The high point of the class was Marielle learning to hang from a bar for the first time. Teaching her the concept was quite amusing. The first four or five times we brought her hands up to the bar, she would only pretend to really grab it. This became apparent each time we'd go to let go of her, and her hands would just slide off the bar. After a few more tries, I tried wrapping her hands around the bar and holding them there. When Viv started to let go, Marielle instantly realized what she needed to do. She was totally amazed with herself! There she was hanging by her hands on her own. The look on her face as it was scrunched between her two arms stretched above her head was hilarious. Just a complete look of awe and accomplishment.

Later that day, we went on to music class. The class came with a CD for home that we use to learn the songs (we are all required to sing along in class). Marielle loves the class. She spends half the class participating by singing and dancing along, and the rest of the class is spent wandering and exploring the classroom. At home, she can't get enough of the CD. I ripped it to our Media PC, and she has started to realize that this CD, and her other favorites have been saved to the Media PC as well. She has taken to standing in the living room, pointng at the TV, and saying, "Music? Music?"

Later last weekend, on Sunday, the runny nose started. We then proceeded to Geoff, Colette, and Alex's new house for playtime at the park and dinner. We warned them, but being the great frineds that they are, they did not turn us away. Although turning us away would have been OK. Afterall, we did this to a coworker of Viv's once.

So far, we have managed to pass the bug on to Colette, Alex, and my Mom. Our new nanny and her son seemed to have made it through last week unscathed. This week is looking better.