Our Gymnasts

Tonight was Sean and Sierra's third session in gymnastics. Of course, their age difference is too much for them to be in the same class and their classes are not offered at the same time, so on Tuesdays, we spend 1 1/2 hours at the gymnastics center.

This is Sierra's second time of being exposed to gymnastics. The first time was when she was still 2 and she had to have a parent (me) in class with her. After they do warmups they divide the kids into 3 groups. I signed them up at the last minute so Sierra did not have a pre-printed name tag and went with one of the regular groups. They played on the rings, the balance beams and the obstacle course. The second week, she was put into a group with kids who were older than her. I still don't know if it is an accident or if they see some natural talent in her because she is in the Advanced 3 & 4 year old class. No more obstacle course. She's learning more advanced skills and keeping up really well with the other kids, I think. The only thing is she gets confused at first when they are doing something new, but she seems to catch on.

Sean is in a 5-7 year old class. Before we left to go to class tonight, he mentioned to me that there were not very many boys in his class. He is right. There are no other boys in his class. After exercises, they split into two groups of 4 each. Sean is by far the tiniest among all eight kids. Today, they got to work on the horizontal bar for a while. Sean asked if he could go first so they let him. There were two instructors and the one told Sean they would need to lower the bar (since it was at his eye-level) and then she asked him if he could get up on it. He said yes, so they watched. Sure enough, from eye-level, he pulled himself up and straightened his arms until he was leaning on the bar. You should have seen the look that the instructors gave each other. I got the same look from another mom who knew Sean belonged to me. There must be a little muscle on those skinny arms afterall.