Gymnastics Buddies

So, after the better part of year spent in the balcony watching his older brother “play” at gymnastics every week, Little Brother, having turned 3, is old enough to take gymnastics, too.

We were fortunate to find out that a class for his age group is offered on the same day and with the same instructor as Big Brother’s class.

We were less fortunate to find out that there is exactly 1 hour between classes.

1 hour, which is just about enough time to load up in the car, drive home, unload, go potty, reload, drive back, and re-unload.

1 hour, enough time to drive Mom-E (mostly) batt-E, especially depending on how early Dad-E is able to arrive from work to provide reinforcements.

So, with some fear and trepidation, we signed Little Brother up for a trial class, with a plan to have a picnic dinner (in the minivan) in between their classes.

Overall, we did “okay”. And by “okay”, I mean Mom-E still had at least 1 (but not more than 3) nerves left by the time I arrived.

Then it came time for Little Brother’s class to start.

I was very pleased when he went right off with the coach without so much as a single scream (I wondered if he’d cling to me with a super glue-style death grip) OR fear of having to wear at leotard.

We returned to the balcony to watch the class.

It was so cute as they started warming up by running some laps around the foam pit. Little Brother, who was probably the smallest child out there owing to his age, was just trucking along, as quickly as he could motor. Every so often, however, he’d slow WAY DOWN to wave to us in the stands.

He appeared to very much enjoy himself throughout the class, high 5-ing the coach after a somersault, or proudly carrying his “carpet square” on his head as the boys marched from area to area in the gym.

At one point, Little Brother’s class and coach completely disappeared. Turns out they went for a potty break (to be expected with a group of 3-4 year olds, although we’ll never know who “instigated” the bathroom break.)

When the class was over, we met up with Little Brother, who was grinning from ear to ear, with matching gymnastics hand-stamps.

“You did so well, Little Brother!” we exclaimed. “Did you have fun?”

“Yes!” he beamed.

“Would you like to do gymnastics every week?”

“YEAH!”

So we proceeded, to sign him up.

However, as we were finishing the paper work, Little Brother blurted out, in a concerned voice, “But I want to take another class!”

“Don’t worry buddy. You will. We’ll come back again next week.”

Suddenly, sobs and sobs and streaming tears.

Apparently, he thought he was going to get to do another class RIGHT THEN AND THERE.

Well, I guess that gave us a pretty good idea how much he liked the class. That will make the ensuing chaos of the weekly picnic dinners at the gym well worth it for our two gymnastics boys.

Have a good week,
Busy-Dad-E