Day of Tricks...

Alexander showing off his skills at gymnastics

Gymnastics fun...

This week in gymnastics...

Let's Roll...

A new trick he's learning at gymnastics

Boy got skills...

Alexander showing off his gymnastics tricks and how well he does....

Gymnastics - Round Two...

Alexander started gymnastics again for the winter/spring season. Although it was just the first class, it was amazing to see how much he's grown in a year - and not just physically. He appeared much more grown up emotionally as well. He listened, followed directions, and loved doing all of the routines.

He also had the quote of the day! During circle, he told the teachers:
"I'm not a girl right now, because I'm a boy. But when I grow up I'll be a girl because I'll be a mermaid"

Big Show...

Today was Alexander's final gymnastics show of the semester. To wrap up the season, the kids had a big show where they showed off their skills & everything they learned! Mommy, Daddy & Mimi were there to watch Alexander.The kids did great and everyone had a blast! Alexander did a fantastic job showing off all of his skills! When he was introduced he came running in full of energy and did a crazy hop! They had the kids go through their routines (by alphabetical order) which included the uneven bars, floor routine and then the balance beam.Alexander was great on all the routines and although I thought he'd nail the floor routine as he does that stuff all the time he did just as good on the uneven bars & especially on the balance beam.
After all the kids went through their routines, they had a medal ceremony which was very cute and then the kids all took a class picture. Overall it was fun & adorable.

Saturday Activities...

On Saturday, we had a very busy day!

First off, we had gymnastics in the morning. However, before we left for gymnastics was a little rough. He had to have a timeout before gymnastics even started. Alexander was not wearing his 'listening ears' nor was he behaving well.

Daddy came to watch gymnastics this week which was quite exciting for Alexander. However, at gymnastics he seemed to be a bit rambunctious by not necessarily listening to his teachers at each of the stations. He wasn't doing his backwards rolls nor was he paying attention to what he was supposed to do on the spring board. This meant that he ran over the spring board and didn't land on his feet.After gymnastics, we went to a birthday party for his friend Sean! It was a fun dance party followed by cake! The kids had a blast during the dance party - pretending to be different animals, using different instruments. After dancing, it was time for cake! Unfortunately, Alexander still did not have his listening ears on and had to be spoken to for his behavior (running, yelling, blowing birthday blowers in people's faces). And to make matters worse, as we were leaving he ran away from Mommy so he was put on warning.

Up and Over...

This week in Gymnastics, the kids learned how to use their own upper body strength!

They had to climb up using a mat & flip themselves over a bar by using their own strength. They loved this, in fact Alexander couldn't get enough of trying it out. He kept going back to flip over again!
Sorry my pics are so blurry but he moves too fast for the camera on my phone!

Gymnastics...

This week's gymnastics class was fun - Alexander learned how to start a hand stand and he's improving on his donkey kicks. However, this week had a bit more running around than usual so this gave him a "free pass" to be rambunctious. And it didn't help that they ended this week with a game of dodge ball. These poor girls didn't have a chance against Alexander...not only would he just run around, but he kept kicking balls around and most times they ended up in people's face.But with actual gymnastics skills, he did well on the beam, unbalanced bars, & rings...he was just overly excited.

Gymnastics - week 3

Alexander had gymnastics Saturday morning & did a great job! Gymnastics is a great activity for him - it keeps him engaged & interested. Plus, he listens to his teachers and doesn't run around when he shouldn't. This week they did more practice on the bars and he spun around.And he's getting better about holding himself up on the rings too!

Gymnastics - Week 2

Alexander had his 2nd week of gymnastics today and did such a great job! He does a much better job of listening to his teachers and paying attention to the instructions than he did with soccer. This week they learned some balance, how to control hula hoops and their 'ta-dahs'. It's a lot of fun to watch him and see how excited he gets!

Practicing with a hula hoopHe swung on the rings for a bitHe did great with the uneven bars as he learned to hold on and them jump off

Gymnastics: Videos...

Here's a quick glimpse into Alexander's gymnastics class

Video 1


Video 2

Future Gymnast...

This morning was Alexander's first gymnastics class! He was quite excited to learn "new rolling things". This class was all about learning safety - how to land & roll properly.

They started with learning how to roll backwards and then balls & showing them how to balance & handle them. Then they got to run a bit (so exciting for Alexander), and then it was time to break into little groups to go to the different stations.
First up was the rings where they would swing and then jump off them. Then they would climb on balance beams and do some tumbling. Then it was onto jumping off a mat to learn how to land, and then the final station was the bars. They each took turns on the bars and until it was their turn, they went on a balance beam, and then tumbled down off a high mat. One time, Alexander was going so fast to beat a little girl on the beam so he could tumble before her (he realized that she was pretty slow), but he fell off the beam. So one teacher had to show him how to go all the way to the end of the beam, slowly.

Then at the end of class they got to play with the balls again with another quick round of backwards rolling! Overall a very successful first class. I love how structured it is and that there really is not a lot of opportunity for him to just run around crazy as he has something to focus on for the entire hour!

Gold Medal...

We have picked our new activity for the Winter/Spring... Gymnastics!

We didn't want to do soccer again as he seemed to be getting bored with it, t-ball is not until late Spring and I didn't want to do swimming until summertime...so we wanted to think of something else for Alexander to do. This way it keeps him focused, gets him/us out of the house & has him involved in a new activity.We went to our first trial class on Saturday to see if he liked/enjoyed it. And as it turns out, not only did he enjoy it but he was pretty good. He was able to tumble, do the rings & walk on the beam. One of the teachers commented to me she thought he was there for a make-up class and was shocked that it was his trial class.He'll learn new skills and new techniques as the sessions go on & at the end they have a little "show". And for those of you wondering - there were 3 other boys in this particular class. I do not know how many will be in his actual class.We'll go every Saturday starting January 29th!