Tuesday, June 15, 2010

practice makes perfect

To escape the heat and give us something to do, I enrolled Addi in gymnastics this summer. It's a class of 2, 3 & 4 year olds, of all different levels and attention spans. You can imagine that these teachers have their hands full! And my sweetness, of course, adds to the excitement. In the last few weeks they've conquered front rolls, the balance beam, and Addi's favorite, the trampoline. Our biggest hurdle however, has been sitting still (and not running to the double bars or ball pit) in between turns. Her teacher Mandy sought me out that first week and gave me a stern talking-to. I thought "she's 2?!". But visions of sitting in a principle's office 5 years from now flashed through my mind!! I quickly went to work. For the next week, Addi & I sat on our own "carpet squares", a collection of hand towels and dish rags, as we played games at home. Day in and day out, I was determined that this concept WOULD sink in by our next gymnastics meet! And yesterday it completely paid off!! Addi sat on her square, waited her turn & then killed every front roll, kick and trick in the book. And then WENT BACK TO HER CARPET SQUARE! I was SO proud of her!! We met Ben for lunch & I went on and on about how great she did. People around us probably thought the next May Lou Retton was in their presence! Forget the fact that she was just doing what she was supposed to do...something that every other kid had pretty much done from Day 1. My baby is an All-Star and I could not be more proud of her.

These pictures were taken on Day 1. Addi freaked out at the thought of running in a circle. Crazy girl. She has no problem doing it anywhere else. Her friends, Brooke & Hallie are in pink, right behind her.
Jumping & rolling are her strengths. No encouraging necessary.
She was unsure about the parashoot game & thought she would spice things up a bit.
Can you find the bump in pic 2??

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