Tumbling with Kailey

Log roll and Bouncing Track

Sorry, the pictures on this post are pretty blurry because they were taken with my cell phone. (As an aside, I'm not thrilled with the Razor's picture taking capabilities. The pictures are dependent on how steady the subject is... and our subjects are never steady).

Anyway, these pictures are from a gymnastics class that we took Kailey to last Saturday. We felt that Kailey needed to have something to do. Heather has dance and Kailey just sits and waits for Heather to finish every Saturday. About 500 feet from Heather's dance studio is a new gymnastics company. We have talked about looking into it for a few months, but never get around to it.

Well, this week, we finally stopped by. They have a Parent and Tot tumbling class offered on Saturday from 9:30-10:15. So, we decided to take them up on their 'one session free' option and took Kailey this past week. There were only 3 kids in the class (including Kailey). They did some stretches, which Kailey followed pretty well. They did an obstcale course which included some bouncing on a bouncing track which was basically a long runway type of trampoline, worked on log rolls, summersaults and balance beam balancing. They spend some time on two real balance beams and then moved onto some activites on the rings and uneven bars. They finished with ribbon 'dancing' and then a romp in the ball pit.

I think the class was very well run considering teaching 2 year olds is kinda like herding cats. Kailey was the youngest of the three, but kept up with them very well; probably a result of keeping up with her big sister. I spent most of the class encouraging Kailey to follow the instructor and NOT the other kids who were frequently running around doing what they wanted to do. The biggest eye opener occurred for me during the last 10 seconds of the class: kids who are signed up for gymnastics/athletic type activites are the active type of kids, not the quiet ones who do as they are told!

I'll probably run over to the gymnastics place tomorrow to officially sign Kailey up for the class. The timing is great! Heather has dance from 9-10 and this class runs from 9:30-10:15. The only problem will be when we don't have two people to be in two places. Heather doesn't need anything between 9 and 10, but she does need someone to pick her up at 10:00. Kailey's class doesn't end until 10:15. We'll have to play around with this and see if it's possible for the instructor to be in charge of Kailey from 10:00-10:05 while I run over to get Heather. Or, we just pull out of class early to get Heather.

Unless there is a willing participant to come down a few Saturday mornings every few months... sign up early, space is limited!


Ribbon dancing and ball pit