Yoga Babies

I have two amazing nieces, Madeline and Lily. Madeline is eight and such a unique, beautiful, complex little soul who is chock full of LOVE. She's also exceedingly bright, always a skeptic and often a comic. In a lot of ways, I see a lot of myself in Madeline. She can be VERY private, and I always get the feeling that there is a lot more going on behind the eyes than she lets on. She's really sensitive to other people (and bugs/animals/the earth) being hurt. She's always been immensely creative (my sister says it's because she wouldn't stop Madeline from doing things like artistically decorating her entire body with lipsticks at 2 years old - HA!!!) Madeline was a god-send for our whole family in a lot of ways; she was born just three months before my mom died - an incredible juxtaposition of joy and sadness. Lily is two and has an exuberance and vitality about her that is just breath taking. She's been matching pitch since she was less than a year old, which I'm convinced means she is going to be a musical genius, and she has the most captivating eyes, smile and demeanor about her that you can imagine. And she's HILARIOUSLY funny. She is also affectionate, shy, respectful (sometimes) and ritualistic; she likes to close all of the doors, throw things away, and sit on a specific rug (the one next to the yoga mat in the kitchen, as a matter of fact) to eat bowls of berries. Her love of berries is one of our connections - when she stayed with me while my sister and her family went to Disney World in December, she ate an entire container of blackberries, an entire container of strawberries and an entire container of blueberries in approximately 30 minutes.That was a fun diaper. (Ew).

Madeline has actually taken a couple of my public yoga classes at the YMCA. Lily is just a complete MIMIC, and incredibly limber. Tonight my dad gave me a Manduka Black Mat Pro for my birthday. I rolled it out as soon as I opened it, but before I could give it the good old Downward Facing Dog Test, Madeline and Lily beat me to it! Thank goodness for iPhone cameras in easy reach! I really couldn't believe it.

I adore my two little yoga babies. 

xo