Gymnastics

A couple months ago friend in Rome told me that the local recreation center was offering Summer gymnastics classes for kids. The price was very affordable and since it was only for 4 sessions so we thought it would be a good chance to expose Mara Kate to something new and challenging. So we decided to enroll her and and let her give it a try.

If you know my daughter well then you know she is a very, very cautious child who doesn't push herself physically. She is 4 years old and sometimes won't even go down the slide at the park or crawl through tunnels because she might get dirty. She'd rather sit at home and look at books.

I was not like Mara Kate as a child. I was up in trees and all over the place as a kid, wanting to do everything myself without anyone's assistance, but thankfully I had an older sister who had a personality more similar to Mara Kate's so it helps me "get" her and understand why she isn't as adventurous as I was. She (and Tara) just have a different personality than me.

That isn't a bad thing at all. It is who God made her to be and I think it's fine, but I do think it would be good for her to be a bit more agile and able to do more for herself. I'm not expecting her to become a star gymnast, I'm just expecting her to try her best and to find out for herself that she can do some of the things she thinks she can't!

So, we went to her first gymnastics class yesterday afternoon and although it was a challenge for her I was very proud of her. She tried hard and she did everything that the teacher asked her to do. I could definitely tell that each thing she tried she did with extreme caution, but she DID TRY!

Here are some pictures of her in action...

Her little class

Working her way through an obstacle course---getting ready to do a downhill somersault.



The balance beam

A backwards, downhill somersault!

Holding herself up on the bar and swinging with assistance.

I am thankful that when it was over she was excited about coming back next week and was sad she had to wait an entire week to go back, but she did say she wanted to practice a lot at home so next time she could do everything perfect! ha!

(That's the first born personality coming out for sure!)