Gymnastics!

Ever since Samma started climbing on the arms of the couches and attempting to jump off for fun, we knew that gymnastics was going to be the ideal past time for her as soon as she was old enough, and luckily our local gym starts taking toddlers at 2 years old, and with her birthday upon us, the time had arrived.

Practicing

Last Saturday was Samma's first day of gymnastics, and I think I was more excited about it than she was.  Of course, she was having a day when we went, and I think she was overtired from the night before, so I'm not going to blame her too much, and just chock it up to next week will be better.

I'm glad I called when I did too, for the Saturday class was filling up - and fast!  Joan's Olympic Gym has been in Braintree since 1983, and me and everyone else I knew attended at some point in their childhood.  The crazy thing about this was that Joan, the owner and still teacher, actually remembered ME when I went in to register Sam... what goes around, my friends.

As Samma was going to be 5 days shy of 2 when the Gym Tots classes started, I had to confirm it was OK for her to sign up for this session.  For those who may be curious, the class is $70 for 4-week "terms" plus the $25 yearly registration fee.  I'm glad it's broken up into terms because at least we won't be locked into months of torment should Sam really not want to attend.  But all was well, and she was still right up there with the rest of them, ready to go!

Of course, taking pictures to document the day was a little harder...here we are trying to take a "before" picture prior to our first gymnastics class.

I had to hold her down to even begin taking a picture...

Reading a book was much more fun than looking at the camera...

... so's climbing on the crib.

Class started at 10am - we arrived around 9:55am and they were already getting ready to go.  We started with the parachute, then the kids were split into 3 separate groups, one for floor, one for vault, and then beam/bars.  The first lesson they wanted to teach all the kids is that you start with "TA-DA" with your arms in the air before and after all you do.  In talking to Joan, she mentioned that the "TA-DA" was the first step in practice and once they got that down, everything would start fallowing after.

We started with the floor, and everyone had to bring their own little mat with them to each station to sit on.  With floor they were shown how to tumble, obviously with the help of the teachers.

Mats were then carried over to the vault, where they first were able to jump off just the springboard, then were able to run to the spring board, jump, climb over a rectangular pad, and then jump down to the floor.  Samma had absolutely no problem running and jumping.

From the vault, we marched over to the balance beam, which Sam is pretty much a pro at already (see picture above).  The teacher just held her hand, and she walked to the end.  They also had this little beam that sat on the floor, called a "french fry" that they allowed the kids to play on with the parents' supervision.  Samma loved that, too!

From the beams, it was a quick turn-around to the bars, another of Sam's favorites.  They had the kids grab onto the bars, tuck their knees in, and swing - 1, 2, 3! - and jump off... all with the teacher assistance, of course.

As the end of the 40 minutes, each kid was given a Star Card, and they were able to pick a sticker for their card.  The parents were informed that these were theirs to bring to each class, and that we should put them on the fridge for all to see!

Showing off her Star Card

I was with her the whole time, and the whole time was spent wrangling her to stay with the group (as opposed to running off and playing with the other equipment) as well as sitting on her mat and waiting her turn... the turn-waiting is going to be the thing to work on.  Every time someone went, she goes "my turn!" and started to get up to go next, in which I then had to pull her back to her mat and remind her no, she had to wait her turn.

Samma is not impressed.

One of the things I applauded Joan for was coming to the groups and reminding us parents that this was all about participation, not where or not they do something right.  I could see a few parents around us who were getting frustrated because their child was running around, or not doing as the teacher asked them - when they're this young, can you really expect them to follow every direction?   But she reminded us it will be better with time, and just remember to praise them for all they're doing.

Honestly, I'm excited that Sam has something to do now and an outlet for her energy, even if it is one day a week.  I think it's really worth the time and money, and I'm looking forward to bringing her on Saturdays for as long as she wants to go.