Moving up in Gymnastics!

Saturday Abby started her "Big Girl" gymnastics class! She was placed w/ the 4 and 5 yr old class b/c she's doing so well in her class following directions. Recnetly they have added a bunch of babies to the "Mommy and Me class" so I was very relieved to have her in this class. Instead of sitting and waiting for the other kids to get w/ the program, she got a lot more attention. Part of the problem before was the coach had orignally said the kids who were in line would go first. Well Abby was the only one ever in line, so she ended up taking other kids before her if they happened to "run by" the mat. Over time Abby showed signs of wanting to run around too, so we felt it was in her best interest to be with other kids modeling better behavior. She was a STAR in her new class! I was sooooo proud of her! It was a bit of an adjustment for her b/c before she would "lead" activities and now she's a "follower". The other girls are a lot faster and developmentally more coordinated, so we did notice her being slightly intimidated, but the coach did a great job of using the girls to encourage Abby to try new things.

stretching out before they started. Abby fearful of letting go on the balance beam, and Coach Mary using the older girls to show Abby how to do it!

Ahh.. progress.. for just a few seconds she was willing to let go!

Trying something new.. not sure what this is called??

another new trick.

giving her all...Ta Da!!!! :) "Look at me!"

My favorite part of the day was watching her attempt to hop on one foot! She takes instruction "very literally" at this age. The coach said "Hold up your one foot"... and that she did! :) Then it was also funny to watch her b/c she knew that one foot was supposed to remain up, but she couldn't figure out how to keep it up, so she'd put it down really quick, then pop it back up! Check this link below out for a good laugh!! :) We've been practicing on the driveway but I'm not sure she's developmentally ready to do this.

http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/mm269/trustinginHim-2/?action=view&current=learningtojumpononeleg.flv