Hark! the Harold Angels Sing, Christ is Born in. . .Bella's bedroom??

This morning I walked into Bella's room to find her standing on her bed, huge smile on her face, and a giant bulge under her princess night gown.
"Look Mommy," she says, "I'm gonna have a baby Jesus!!" Then she reaches under her night gown and "births" a little stuffed Savior right then and there. Baby Jesus was born today in my daughter's bedroom. It's a miracle!!
She was such a great mommy to Baby Jesus all day. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloth (a.k.a. her lovie) and carried Him around with her until bedtime. Throughout the day she tended to all of His needs: she fed Him "delicious Lucky Charms" for breakfast, shared her peanut butter sandwich for lunch, she took Him potty, and even kissed His booboos (that He sustained from repeated dropping on His head! ouch! Can Jesus get brain damage??).
It was really neat to watch her "interact" with Baby Jesus all day. So many of the things she said to Him, were exactly the same things I say to her. When He'd "cry" she would hold Him and gently bounce Him and whisper, "It's ok baby, Mommy's here" just like I do with her. After He'd "potty" she would clap and cheer, "YAY!! Mommy is so proud of you!" The love and care that she showed her baby was so touching; the gentle way she tended to Him let me know that maybe, just maybe I'm doing a pretty good job as a mom. Moms, if you ever want to know what kind of job you are doing, watch your daughters playing with their babies.

last ones. . .

here are a few more pics from the rehearsal. . . .

A Star is Born 12/5/08

So tonight was rehearsal night for the Princess's very first ballet performance, The Nutcracker. We arrived really early so that I could get a good spot to photograph from , but it turns out that everybody else had the same idea. 45 minutes before rehearsal even starts there are about a million people already there. Of course this puts my little prima ballerina into freak out mode, and she assumes her usual "crowd position" which consists of her face crammed into the back of my thigh, death grip on my leg. 

Well, she looked adorable (picture this:pink leotard & tights, LEG WARMERS, [ahhh! too cute!!] and a scarf , so naturally everyone wanted to see her and talk to her. This attention only sent her into SUPER freak out mode, and she attempted to test her climbing abilities up my body.  She succeeded.

So anyways, we headed into the auditorium where we patiently waited for her group to be called up. . . .

here is a run down of the 3 year olds' parts in the performance. 1. they are dressed as gingerbread girls and they basically walk across the stage. The outfits are brown and have nothing that sparkles on them. Bella could care less about this part of the show. 2. next, they are "Christmas Girls". For this part they do an entire little choreographed  number in the most adorable costumes ever. Red velvet dresses, white fur trim, sparkly headbands. Bella would live in this outfit for the rest of her life if I'd let her.  Each time they have to put the gingerbread costumes on, I have to force it onto her and threaten her with no red dress if she doesn't do the gingerbread part. Every time she even sees the brown, she instantly says, "I want the red one." Diva.

So anyways, her group is finally called backstage to prepare to go on. I kiss her, tell her I love her, and send her on her way. Then there is a mad dash amongst the mommies for the little area right in front of the stage, all of us hoping to get front and center for the best photo ops. I won. I'm am not against violence when it comes to getting the best spot for pics of my baby.(So, other mother's beware-I won't lose.) So there we all sat, cameras aimed and ready, when the curtains are pulled back, and there stood our tiny dancers.

 I recognized all of them, except one. . . .my own. The little girl that couldn't be invisible enough only an hour before had suddenly turned into an attention crazed maniac!! She was up on the stage with the biggest smile on her face and waving to the crowd like she had just been crowned Miss Ballet America!! When the music started she really went crazy, she was like a pint sized Rockette. Dancing and moving like the stage belonged to her alone; her toe perfectly pointed the entire time . She was not the least bit scared or shy. The crowd LOVED her!!! 

When her part was over I had to practically drag her off stage. Backstage, she refused to take off the red dress until she had sufficiently modeled it in the ballet mirror-this meant at least 15 minutes of looking at herself while she made various faces and struck different poses. She had some of the other moms laughing so hard; they couldn't take their eyes off of her! No one could believe that was the same little shy girl from the lobby.  I never really expected her to to be afraid onstage, she does love to perform, but I never  expected her to come alive the way she did either. I think at three, she's found her calling.

It was an amazing night; one I know I will remember for a long time, but should I start to forget, I know she will remind me- she told me repeatedly how "AWESOME" she was the entire way home! She certainly won't be forgetting any time soon!