Little Gym

A few weeks ago was the boys' last week at Little Gym before summer break. This year was the first year that Drew was old enough to be in a parent-free class (only kids and their teacher in the gym). From my side of things, it was nice to see him listen and follow the instructions of someone other than me or Nathan, and he did great! Collin, of course, is still too young for this sort of class, so he always had Kathleen (or me, if she was out of town) in class with him. Although he did love Little Gym overall, Coll usually spent the first ten minutes not sure that he really wanted to be there. On one of the days I had taken him to class, I had another parent ask me if his attitude would change if he came early and got to "warm up" to the idea of Little Gym by watching the class before his for a bit. Um, no. I had to laugh because throughout the year we had tried just that. We also tried coming late by 10 minutes in order to skip the warm up time on the mat and neither made much of a difference. He just seemed to need five or ten minutes all to himself to just check things out before he'd be ready to jump in and play. By the end of each class though, he was always running around like the more typical wild munchkin we see at home. Silly baby (...Not so baby anymore?).

The very last class of the semester is always "Showtime", where the kids get a chance to show off all of their skills they've been working on throughout the year. Little Gym is usually Grandma's date day with the boys, but she wasn't able to make this class, so I took them. Both boys were excited to show off that day, and much of it came off as silliness. ...And of course, on the very last day of class (go figure!), Collin was happy and raring to go from the start, which made for some cute pictures.

Parents usually sit on the outside of the classroom, but for Showtime week, they put the chairs on the inside so parents and grandparents can watch and also take pictures. Drew and Collin's classes were back-to-back this year, which meant that while Drew was waiting for his Showtime class to start, he got to wait in on Collin's. I think this probably played a part into why Collin was so amped up from the get-go that week. Little brothers always like to show off when their big brother is watching! :)

So much dancing/showing off/general goofiness that day! Silly boy! 

"Heeeeeeeeese!" (We've got to work on the smiling part now, but the "cheese!" part we've got! I'm actually not sure he realizes that when you say "cheese", you're supposed to smile while saying it!)

At the end of class...bubbles! ...stomping them is always a hit!

And finally, they tried to get all of the kids together for a group photo. As you can see by the crying child running back at me, we weren't having anything to do with this.  I laughed because there were probably five or six other kids all doing this very same thing back at their parents. And I love that the little boy behind Collin thought it was just more worthwhile to curl up in a ball on the spot rather than run back to Mom. Such a funny age for things like group pictures. (In fact, if I recall correctly, I think I have a few pictures of Drew looking very similar in earlier years!)

After Collin's class finished up, it was his turn to sit and Drew's turn to play. Because Drew's class was a parent-free class, their Showtime was much more of an actual show. They had been working on three routines throughout the year depending on which station they were at and so for Showtime, each child ran through the routine all on their own. No parent, no teacher (other than supervising). Before beginning their rotations though, they all did a warm up dance/run with these noodles. I was astounded that they weren't bapping each other with them instead of doing all the motions that they were supposed to, but they all did great!!

Routine 1: hop from vault, somersault, donkey kick and cartwheel (as best they could)

Routine 2: Walk sideways across the beam, dip each foot off the side, somersault backwards, stand and dismount

Routine 3: Bars! Swing up onto the low bar, stand on the low bar and hold onto the high bar, walk a few paces sideways, swing onto the high bar, turn around and dismount. 

At the end of class, just like in Collin's, they did an awards ceremony. Drew was so mellow while he was on the podium itself, but the second he jumped down he was hopping all over the place singing about and showing off that medal with his little buddies. 

And of course, as they get older, those group pictures do eventually get better!