Our Budding Gymnast

We are officially obsessed with gymnastics around here.  I mentioned that we had tried four different gyms in a previous blog post but we ended up registering for a "Tumble With Tots" class with West Valley Gymnastics Studio, which is one of the two large, traditional gyms we tried.  I love it.  But more importantly, Clara loves it.  We practice gymnastics every day, usually at her initiation when she starts showing me her "donkey kicks", cartwheels, and "tables".  We've been going for about a month now and she is doing great.  Here is a super short (7 second) video of her on the bar at class today where she was able to lift her legs up to the bar entirely on her own for the first time and hold in pike position.  I about cried it was so exciting.

 

When we started at WVGS, Clara was afraid of this giant foam pit but she loves it now and will jump in on her own and not want to get out.

One thing I love about this gym is that every time we go there are new stations set up using different equipment or balance obstacles.  Clara's favorite thing though have to be the bars - she loves hanging and swinging from them. 

I am just in awe of how strong she is.  Look at those muscles! 

And she is SO happy at gymnastics.  Clara has always been a little bit clingy, which is totally fine by me, but she pretty much does whatever is asked of her with a big grin when it comes to trying new things at gymnastics.  Sure, sometimes she wants a hand to hold, like when she is walking on the balance beam, but she basically just wants to try all the new things that are being offered.  I mean, just look at this happy smile.  I love it.

Practing "open, close" jumps today.  She loves jumping and has yet to truly figure out that the "freeze" command means she has to stop.  We may have to practice on our friends' trampolines to figure that one out.

I also really love the coaches at WVGS.  They are so fun and nice and really know what they are about.  And there are only 5 kids in Clara's class (including Clara) so the coverage is really good.  Clara's flexibility and strength is just so awesome.  I love this picture of her holding a pike position on the bar. 

Her handstands are getting really good too.  She can hold this position for three full seconds while I count for her before she comes down.  I have tried doing this myself just to see what it is like and it isn't the easiest thing in the world.  When we first started about four or five weeks ago, she had a hard time keeping her arms straight because she hadn't developed those muscles enough but she is already keeping them locked like a pro.

At the end of class, each of the kids gets a page to color and stamps on their feet.  The little girl on the far right is named Chloe and Clara likes her and waves to her with a little "hi Chloe!" when we get to the gym.  Chloe turns three in a couple of weeks though and will move up to the next level. 

I apologize in advance for this new obsession but I foresee many gymnastics related posts in the future.  And if you find yourself trapped in a conversation with me where I am gushing about how much I love the sport, please forgive, m'kay?