The first gymnastics lesson

The start of every new term brings with it a responsibility for Mama Bear, i.e. scheduling Rebecca's after school activities. I'm still keen on keeping her on a half day schedule as much as I can to allow her more flexibility in her timing and enable her to pursue more interests as well as have fun with her friends in terms of play dates.

One of the new classes we are trying out is gymnastics. Now, this is one of the activities I always wanted to try as a child myself, but never did. In all honesty, Rebecca was the one who asked for this. We were watching the heats during the recent Olympics and caught the US and French teams on TV. She was entralled and asked if she could "be like Jie Jie on the TV". I told her sure.

It was a medium sized hall that we walked into at the Luwan Teenagers Activity Center. We had gotten there early and the 5 and above class was on. Rebecca was immediately taken in by all the activity going on the floor, the uneven bars, the trampoline and the balancing beam. I couldn't get her to change into her leotard as she kept saying "I want to go....I want to do"

It was finally her turn when the clock struck 11:30am. She stood near the coach and I could see a bit of her uncertainty in her eyes. Nonetheless, she followed the coach and started off running 4 rounds around the floor mat, giggling all the way. My little girl can't stop laughing when she runs - its a joy really to watch her react this way.

They then had in total 4 coaches going through various floor excercises including walking like an elephant (she couldn't manage to lift her bum off the floor), walking like a worm (coordination problem!) and even simple rolling across the floor was messed up as she rolled in the wrong direction instead! Through it all, she was really excited and will occassionally wave at me at the sidelines and twice even ran up to me saying "you wait here mama, I finish my gymnastics first ok?"

They then split into 3 groups and she walked on the balancing beam. Considering its the first time and the beam must have been about a meter off the ground, I think she did really well.

What made me most in awe as a first time parent was when she climbed up to a platform about 3-4 meters off the ground and held onto one of the coaches hands swinging for about 3-4 minutes or so before falling into the soft foam below. No cries, no tears, no struggles. Very unlike a not-yet-to-be-three kid.

She then quickly graduated onto the beam itself. I was a bit worried, you know...typical mother...and dear papa Bear assured me that it will be fine. The coach had her grasp the bars directly and put his palms onto hers, pressing hers down to help her hang onto the bars using her own arm strength.

Eeks.

I could barely look. Anxious, amazed and just itty bitty proud of my little cub.

The class ended with the coach telling all parents that we were not going to be allowed in next week. Better for the children, better for the parents.

Rebecca is super excited and already asking when her next gymnastics lesson will be. Praise the Lord for this little girl's enthusiasm.