Saturday, January 13, 2007

Gymnastics ... we LOVE it

We loved gymnastics today. LOVED it!
There was a bit of a rough start because Matt decided that he wanted to stay home and watch Cars instead of going out. But, with the lure of a bottle of chocolate milk in the car he decided to get dressed and join me.
So, there were a few mishaps on route. Aren't there always? The first was that there was ice on the car so we got started late. And then when I was driving there I went around the corner to fast and my phone went flying. And of course it started to ring, and, since there were no cars around I slowed down in the middle of the road (empty road) and stopped and leaned over to reach the phone. Somehow I managed to shift the car into neutral and could not figure out why the car wasn't working right. And, then I went to the wrong place and it was locked. Oops.
Okay, so I told my sister I would call her back and managed to negotiate my way to the correct gymnastics facility where we arrived still in good time.
Everyone was really nice.
I got Matty into his shorts and t-shirt and then we waited for the warm up.
So, all the 9am classes are kids. So the whole gym is set up for little kids. It was super cool. BUt there's a warm up room and then a gym with all the equipment.
All the kids from that hour warm up together with the parents who are in the parent tot classes. How fun is that? I rock at Mousercise. So does Matt. It's like 7 minutes of really gentle aerobics. Matt followed along really well. I did okay too.
Then finally we met the coach and went into the gym. Basically the kids all go to different stations in groups and they go through a circuit. It's teaching them the basic gymnastic skills. We learned stuff like how to stop on the trampoline which was neat. And Matt did a zillion sommersaults. The teacher actually asked me if this was his second time doing gymnastics! I know. Soon he'll be in the Olympics.
Actually, he just loves sommersaults. And the balance beam. He was pretty excited by that one. And they also let them swing on the bars and he screamed "I'm a monkey." Adorable.
Honestly, I had a blast. And, I am looking forward to these Saturday sessions.
I was a little worried about the other parents. I didn't know what to expect. But everyone was really cool. In contrast to some of the parent/tot classes I did in Toronto, I did not feel super young. Some parents were a good 10 years older than me, but others were around my age. A couple of the parents who do this are fathers and I thought that was pretty cool.
I did, however, realize that I have the capacity of being a pushy sports parent. I kept wanting Matt to be at the front of the line. I'm embarrassed to say that I was being a tad over-excited when his sommersaults were better than the rest of the class (in my opinion) and I was thrilled when he totally listened to the teachers.
Am I one of THOSE parents??? Oh No!!!! I must check this attitude quickly. It's about fun, not competing. I know this. I must remember this.
By the end of the session I was tired. He kept me going.
Last night I went to the gym and pushed it a little too hard, so I was a little stiff to start with. And, since we're going skating this afternoon ... I'm really getting back in shape. Wow! Can you tell it's January.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, I think I've told you this before, but we love gymnastics too. Ours sounds a bit different set-up, but similar types of activities of course. It really gets them active!

Laural said...

HI! My name is Laural too. I rarely find anyone with it spelled the right way! I live in Idaho and have 3 children and am 29.

Sorry for commenting when you don't even know me, I just thought it was great to find someone else with my name!

If you want, you can see my blog at forevermusicmom.blogspot.com

Thanks! We love gymnastics too, just can't afford them right now. :)

Deborah Fantasia said...

It sounds like Matt(and you:) really liked it, that's great !!
Deborah