Last night we had our first ever Moms, Pops, and Tots gymnastics class. It is a class put on by the Chicago Park District so for a very, very, very low price we have a Wednesday night activity between now and December. I thought this would be a good way for Gracie to get to stretch her legs, particularly as the cooler weather settles in. I was right: leg stretching abounds. However, as I noted on social media last night: toddler gymnastics is akin to teaching rabid cats to swim. In sycnhronized fashion. At least one toddler is running away from the class at all time (and at least 90 percent of the time, it is my toddler) because a huge expansive gym is sort of mind blowing.
The class started off on the wrong foot. I pulled into the field house parking lot only to discover you don’t have to pay for parking until 6 pm….but class starts at 5:45, ends at 6:15 and no, you can’t buy your paid parking slip early. Poor planning park district! (In my view…don’t schedule parent involved classes that start before and run over the 6:00 hour, or give all the people in that class a parking plackard so they don’t get ticketed). Sigh. But after figuring that out (apparently all the parents just slip out a side door to buy 15 minutes of parking….) we settled in for some stretches. Gracie was not impressed with stretching, it was boring and the teacher told them to reach up high “like they were picking apples” so she thought it was snack time. Sorry to disappoint my little bebe, back to the calisthenics! No apples for you.
After stretching the kids went around to different stations to work on different skills. Given their age the skills involve bear crawling, crab walkings, log rolling and frog hopping. Do you know what this means in parent involved classes? I was busy bear crawling, crab walking, log rolling and frog hopping. Gracie humored me and played along (not the crab walk she stared at me like I was crazy) and was quite adorable at the log roll. Particularly because her log roll looked a lot like bacon frying ala Dazed and Confused, but adorable nonetheless. The second half of class was dedicated to teaching the young ‘uns how to do a somersault.
Haaaaa. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
It was cute and Gracie had a blast but to recap: two kids refused to try, one was clearly terrified but going along with it, Gracie was gung ho but only wanted to bend at the knees not her waist, and a few kids nailed it pretty good.
Also, Gracie learned her voice echoes in a gymnasium and wanted to really spend some time testing that scientific theory out. Does it echo here? HERE? WHAT ABOUT OVER HERE?
Anyway, the class was just what I expected in terms of an opportunity to get the wiggles out but 1000% more exhausting than anticipated. Until next week!
