Gymnastics, Eyechart

For Christmas, Parker received a little doctor's kit. Almost immediately, all her stuffed animals fell ill or needed a checkup. When Parker goes for her well visits, part of the routine is an eye exam. Since her doctor kit didn't have an eyechart for testing vision, she made one:

In other news, last week we started gymnastics. We were discussing summer plans, and I mentioned that we might try gymnastics...and Parker thought it was such a great idea that she didn't want to wait until summer. She didn't even want to wait until the next day, she was ready right then. It really sealed the deal when she found out what the attire was: bike shorts and tank tops! Her dream outfit! We did a trial class and she loved it, and this week we went back for our first official class.
She's hard to see in this picture...she's wearing pink and blue and she's underneath the red smiley face leaning on a block. Not sure if I'll ever be able to get a good picture, my camera doesn't do action shots very well, plus I feel like a weirdo snapping pictures of kids doing gymnastics.

She is in the 'Bronze' class and they are working on the basics - cartwheels, rolls, and beginning skills on the various apparatus. She's catching on quickly and seems to really be in her element. Parents sit up on the padded bleachers and watch/read/surf on their iphone. It's a much more comfy setup than at ballet, which is a good thing. Something tells me I'm going to be spending a lot of time there.

Trip to the American Girl Store

Over Christmas break, we needed to fill an afternoon, so we took a trip to the Galleria area to the American Doll store. Parker's doll Elizabeth was in serious need of a trip to the AG beauty shop.

Walking in. You can see Elizabeth's hair is a total mess.

You choose your hairstyle and ribbon, and then wait while the stylist combs out a year's worth of tangles.

While we were waiting, we went upstairs to the little cafe, where girls and moms and dolls have lunch. I'm not sure if you can see in the background, but if you bring your doll with you, they have little booster seats so the doll can sit right up at the table with you. And if you don't have a doll, they have loaners.
We just sat at the ice cream counter and had some juice while we waited. Parker was getting a little tired at this point. She perked up a little after the juice.



This give you an idea of how the store looks. Doll displays and people everywhere. I've only been there during the holiday season. I wonder if it's less of a zoo during the summer.

The finished hairdo. You can see that Parker had had enough of the the crowds. Later she rallied a bit and really enjoyed the mall. She put Elizabeth in a shopping bag and drug her all over the mall with us, even though I could tell it was pretty cumbersome. Next year we'll have to make time to ice skate. She was super mad that we couldn't stay longer to skate.

And believe it or not, Elizabeth's hair still looks pretty good! This is her cowgirl outfit by the way (sans hat). Not sure if I've posted that or not.