Our Little Gymnast

After soccer in the Fall of 2009 (which, at age 3, was too soon, we learned), and T-Ball during the Summers of 2009 and 2010, this past fall we were eager to get Ivie involved in something that we didn't have to DRAG her to.

So we started her in Gymnastics classes (Monday nights, 6:30p) on August 30, 2010. And, 3 months in, it's been a great choice!

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't have visions of her turning into a high-level gymnast. While she might have the body type for it, she's greatly hampered, unfortunately, by having her mom and dad's flexibility. Awful, times two.

But our hope is that, through this class, she will be able to fight those genetics at least a little bit and, just maybe, be able to touch her toes without bending her knees once she gets to high school. Or to at least score a positive number on the Sit and Reach portion of the President's Physical Fitness Test (apparently they still have those) in middle school.

When Dale is home on Monday nights, our routine is for him to take Iv to gymnastics, and I stay home for some one-on-one time with Macie. The good part of this is that Dale cherishes this time with his big girl. The bad part is that I don't get to watch her on the gymnastics floor very often and, when Dale's out of town and I get to take her, I spend most of my time entertaining Macie in the play room at the gym and don't get to see her working on her skills.

But each Monday evening, Ivie is excited to walk out the door with Dale, and, when they return, she always answers "FUN!" when I ask her how Gymnastics was. Ahhhhhh. Music to my ears.

On November 8th, Ivie's teacher for the fall, Miss Breanne, took the time to fill out a "report card" of sorts for each child to give the parents an idea of how well they were progressing on the various skills. Ivie is in the Flippers class, which is for 4 and 5 year-olds, so she's presumably on the lower end of the age spectrum for the skills being taught. And, as you can see, she has some room for improvement with many of the skills identified below (most of which I have no idea what they are). So she won't be moving up to the next level any time soon, but, for the mom that doesn't get to go to class very often, it's fun to see what she's mastered and what she still needs to work on...


The week after the skills tests, the gym management let parents watch class from INSIDE and bring their cameras (a rare treat!). Dale took Ivie (and the camera) and was only slightly frustrated with me for not sending him with our zoom lens. He struggled a little with finding the best mode for shooting, so many of these pictures are blurry (I've made them black-and-white to hide that a bit), but you'll get the picture.

Here she is, our little gymnast! At least until this, too, becomes "old" and she wishes to move on to something else...