Reid had gymnastics again last night. It was as fun as the first class. Reid’s strength and balance were pretty impressive (said the proud mama who has poor balance herself). She was able to walk up the wall to do the handstand all by herself. I’m wondering if we’ll rue this ability but she hasn’t tried to do it at home. Yet.

On one mat, there were some hand marks and there were feet marks next to the mat; the kids were to use them as guides to hop onto the mat. The next mat had both hand and foot marks and the kids were to jump off the mat. Reid was able to do these relatively well, with her performance improving at first and then declining on the last couple. I’m not sure if she was getting over confident or tired but she did a pretty nasty-looking face plant near the end the resulted in a sad face but no tears and she tried again the next time we got there in the circuit.  There was a thick mat for rolling backwards onto, as well. Reid didn’t want to hug her knees. It’s funny. She refused to do it during warm up and then at the activity. She *did* like the wedge mat that helped her do some fabulous sommersaults. I think of these as building block activities that are leading to some greater skill.

In the next part of the class, we moved to the bars. The teacher said that the kids were to be monkeys and, boy, did they obey. Reid loves to hang from the bar at daycare - and from the towel racks at home! (We’re on the lookout for the latter.) The teacher had Reid try to lift and hold her legs in front of her at one and at another she hung and did the splits (I don’t remember the official term). She was able to let go and land from a few feet from the ground. Bravery and balance, Reid has both. They hung lengthwise from their hands and feet, in what we called a “ketchup bottle” pose when I was a kid. There were parallel bars that Reid climbed onto from a wedge mat and then made a tunnel on with one hand and foot on each bar. By the end, she was creeping forward a bit. The last piece of equipment was a large-weave net that was secured only at the top. Reid was not interested in it at all but it was facinating to others and so she got more turns on the hanging bars and that was okay for her.

We were on the trampolines for the last segment. There were 4 kids and 4 trampolines. Reid seemed disconcerted by the bouncing. Last week, she ran/hopped but this week she was to hop on the spot. She insisted I hold onto her hand while she jumped. Reid’s a bit of a control freak but she comes by it honestly. From her dad, of course.

At various points through the class, the teacher asked “who wants to …” and “who can …”. Each time Reid smiled and whispered to me, “I do” or “I can” and waited like a coiled spring to move to the activity.

Many times over Reid was told to “ride her motorcycle” in description of the stance they wanted her to adopt at the end of a movement. *I* understand that they want her to land with her feet together with her bum lowered and her hands extended. It’s a stable position and good for stopping motion. Reid though, thinks of revving the engine and making the vroom-vroom noise as she moves about rapidly. I’ll have to think of a different way to describe what is required. Suggestions are welcome.