Gymnastics

Yesterday, I took the girls to try out a class at a gymnastics place in town. It was the first time we had been to this place. And I was pretty impressed actually. Its not the most popular place in town, but it seems to be just as good...and newer (which means cleaner and not as smelly ;).

Brooke has decided she's done with dance (after this year anyway). She really wants to do swim team (which I'm not quite sure she has the competetive nature for, so am still undecided on that). And she also wants to do gymnastics and/or cheerleading.

I also really wanted to Brenna to try her hand at gymnastics. I think she needs an outlet for her more adventurous side and to learn safe ways to do things. But I was worried she might not like the idea of a class where she has to go by herself (even though she's ready for that for Kindermusik..a new place is different thing). When she tried dance for a short time, she didn't fair too well. I think it was more b/c she was in the 'baby' class and all the other kids did was cry, but still... I digress.

So, I found a class where they could go at the same time and they both did great! Actually Brenna did 10x better than I expected and better than Brooke. They were both the youngest in their perspective classes. Brooke was a bit intimated with the other kids already being able to do a lot of things. It was a small class (with Brooke, there were maybe 5?) and 2 of them were trying desperately to befriend Brooke and help her. But she wasn't receptive. Arg. The whole new situation stuff...and why I worry about her making friends at her new school next year. Ugh. Afterwards, I reminded her that when she first started gymnastics last summer, she didn't know anything, but learned, got better and got more confident. And I begged of her to please be more receptive of the girls that were being overly nice to her. So we'll see. She's now signed up for regular gymnastics once/week and cheerleading once/week (they give you a discount on 2 classes and she really wanted to try cheerleading too).

Brenna, as I mentioned, did fabulous! She was so cute out there ..and so tiny! I was hesitant to let her try a class since her leg is still healing and all. I told her coach ahead of time that she couldn't do any impact activities yet (ie - no trampoline or jumping off a platform..that kinda thing). The day's activities were supposed to be the trampoline. I told the coach that that was ok and that Brenna knew she might have to sit out some because of her leg. That I was really just wanting to see if she'd even go into the class on her own and listen/follow directions. But the coach insisted and changed the day's activities to disclude the trampoline so Brenna could participate in every activity. I thought that was nice of her!

And participate she did! Again, she was the youngest (the class goes from 3-5..and she's a fresh 3 yr old!). But the teacher said she was a great listener! And she did everything the bigger kids did and did it pretty well too. She needed a little help getting up onto the bars/rings, but could hold her own once there. Those were her easiest ones for her, as they didn't require any leg strength. The balance beam was tough on her (poor girl!), but its another good reason for her to be in gymnastics I think...to gain some strength back in her leg.

Notice her right leg sure is straight!...haha....

So, she is enrolled in regular gymnastics class once/week (the same time as Brooke's gymnastics class). They both start the first week in June. :)