Brady Tries Gymnastics

Today we went for a trial class at a gymnastics studio in Greenville. This was something I wanted to try with Brady since he's so active and does well with the climbing at Gymboree. The class was for walkers up to 3 years old and required parent participation. There were four other kids in the class and they were all at least a year older than Brady.

The first part was stretching and then going around a little obstacle course. There was a small trampoline, which Brady enjoyed, and he was even able to hold onto a bar and lift his feet up onto the same bar and hang like that. They had wedges that were for forward rolls, but Brady just wanted to run up and down them like at Gymboree. We tried getting him to do a roll, but he wouldn't cooperate.

The next part took us out into the main arena, where there was a long trampoline, which the kids were supposed to bounce down with their hands at their sides. Brady just wanted to run down it to the end. He's so fast now that I have to run to keep up with him. It wasn't long before I was sweating. They had a vertical ladder and he climbed all the way up, which was about 6 feet and that's something he learned from Gymboree.

The final activity was going over to this pit filled with large foam squares. The older kids use it when practicing new vaults so that they don't get hurt. They set up a slide for the little kids and they would slide down into the pit. It very much reminded me of the scene from A Christmas Story where they go down the slide after visiting Santa and are immediately stopped by fluff. Brady thought it was funny, but he wasn't able to get over to the side himself, so I had to go in after him every time. It was almost like quick sand because the squares are constantly moving, which makes it hard for you to get to the edge and even harder to pull yourself out.

One of the other moms was saying that her daughter wasn't grasping things until she turned about 2 1/2 and there was a 2 year old there who just wanted to run around like Brady. Since Brady is still young, we decided that we'll wait for a bit before signing up for something long term. By the time we get back from Germany, he will be much better at communicating and following directions, so that might be a good time to get him started again.