Animal sightings and creative moves

The past few days have been really nice, so the girls and I have spent a lot of time outside together. Madeleine spotted her old squirrel friend out in the backyard, this time running after him calling out, "Moo!" We also attended an outdoor birthday party over the weekend, and had the delight of discovering a little toad hopping around in the grass. "Ribbib! Ribbib!" Madeleine squwaked joyfully, following him along his hopping path. This is the first time she has actually ever seen a toad, though I think she was well-prepared thanks to Julia's frog imitation a few months back; neither Ethan nor I recalls showing Madeleine pictures of frogs or teaching her what frogs say, so I give all the credit to Julia's very convincing frog hops.

Speaking of Julia hopping, I have to admit I'm awfully impressed with how much progress she has made in gymnastics lately. You may remember her at-home gymnastics show from last winter; boy, has a year made a huge difference. The girls and I went to open gym time to play on the equipment today, and while a video camera would have been a more appropriate way to capture Julia's moves, all I had on me was my digital camera, so I snapped some action shots while she showed me her skills. Here is Julia in motion:


Jumping on the trampoline


Now THAT'S a straddle jump!


Forward roll on the low balance beam


Completing the roll


Front flip on the bar


Dismount

Madeleine, for her part, managed to walk all the way across the low beam without falling off, complete with tongue out for concentration and balance:



Too bad I didn't have the girls demonstrate a frog hop across the beam. Next time...