Beijing's Not An Option,

but Olympics 2024? Maybe.

Wyatt had his first gymnastics class this morning and it was big fun. For both of us, truth be told, since it's really a parent/kid set-up. I expected lots of tumbling or kind of just big motor activity kind of stuff, but was more than surprised when we actually completed activities on four apparatus. But before we could, "play! play!" as Wyatt was loudly demading, we had to sit in a circle and stretch. Wyatt is a bendy boy but wasn't exactly following Miss Chelsey in her stretching.

Finally it was time to start on floor, where the kids did a teacher-assisted forward roll down a big wedge, then landed on the ta-da mat where they stood up and said, "ta da!", then rolled sideways down another wedge mat, then crawled through a tunnel, jumped up on a platform, jumped down, then stood up on another folded mat where they 'split leaped' to another folded mat, then through another tunnel, over an arch and then walked across some little pods. Whew! I was tired after one round but Wyatt was having big fun. Luckily we only made three passes before heading to our next event: bars.

The plan on the bars was to swing with legs parallel to the ground on the low bar, then the same on the high bar, then crawl (?!) on hands and feet across the parallel bars, then move to the high bar where the kids were supposed to attempt holding on then bringing their feet up to the bar. Last stop was at the rings, where the kids were supposed to just hold on and swing. My kid? Was the strongest one there, hands down. Definitely not the most coordinated, definitely not the best at waiting his turn but holy cow, definitely the strongest. As in, I hung him on the high bar and he immediately pulled his feet clear up to the bar. It's probably because he's part monkey. It garnered comments from a few other parents and the teacher. Ahhh, yes folks. That's why we're here.

Third event was balance beam. Let's just say that when you walk on the your toes, the balance beam is a hair more challenging. Second go-round I suggested that Wyatt walk on his heels. So he did, literally. My little flexed-footed kid walked only on his heels. Smart aleck.

Last event: trampoline. Wyatt was so excited that the teacher asked if he'd like to go first. With all the eyes on him, my kiddo made me so proud. He just paused, smiled from ear to ear and said, "pease!" I'm so glad we've been working on manners. The trampoline was so much fun that Wyatt cried after his last turn. And then he was remarkably upset to learn that "gin-ast-ic-ns" was over.

We have a few things to work on before our next session, like waiting our turn and not turning into jelly when we're stretching, but otherwise today's outing was pretty successful. The best news is that the last day of class (in August) is open for observers, so hopefully Jeff will be able to swing it and take some pictures of our future medalist.