Gymnastics Graduation! June 15, 2011

Hannah and I have been attending a Parent & Tot gymnastics class since the beginning of February.  Saturday was graduation day and I was one proud Mommy to see how much she’d learned and how she’d improved in 4 1/2 short months!  I’m still in awe considering she’s only 27 months old!

Each Saturday when we’d wake up I’d mention that today was ‘nastics’ and she’d get so excited!  It was something she really enjoyed and we’ll be signing up again for sure.  Originally I was going to wait until next winter’s session but I may sign her up in the fall.  We’ll see.

Since it was the last week of lessons we were invited to take pictures and videos which is something I’ve wanted to do since the very first lesson (and maybe did a little undercover early in our lessons).  Mom and Dad also came to cheer Hannah on as well as help capture the moment.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

I’m so proud of all that Hannah has learned and how she’s matured!  The first number of weeks she didn’t want to stay with the class and I sometimes ended up chasing her around the gym.  Now, most times (but not all as you can see by this pic of her Saturday laying under the beam rather than walking on it)

she enjoyed staying with the class even though she sometimes did her own thing.  The class was a great combination of doing things together with understanding that toddler’s attention span is sometimes only fractions of a second long! 

Here she’s doing what Coach Emily asked and showing us her beam skills.  Walking sideways was new this day and I was so excited that she’d achieved this new goal!  Only 2 weeks before I was still holding her hands when she walked forwards and here she showed us she could walk sideways by herself!  Way to go Shaoey!!

I love how her little arms go out at her side for balance just like she was taught.

Now it’s time to try a somersault

One of Hannah’s favourite activities (and that of many of the kiddos) is the Tumble Trak.  At first she would just run from one end to the other (and try to tackle the child in front of her.  Yah…we had to work on that one!) but as time moved on, she learned to do more and more on the Tumble Trak.  Check out these awesome star jumps!

Another jumping event at class was the trampoline.  My busy, jumping, running, hopping, skipping little girl loved all the events that allowed her to use up some of her endless energy!

Waiting her turn with Coach Emily.

The seat drop makes me laugh as you hear everyone’s reaction.  Hannah loves to jump and it’s not unusual for her to do similar jumps like this on our bed or from the back of the couch.  I’ve quickly learned that rather than stop her from all her daring moves I need to teach her how to do them safely and also when they’re not appropriate.  Most times they are though and she loves it!

The final stop of the day was the cheese pit.  In the beginning she didn’t care for the pit but now she can’t wait to get there!

After we’d visited all of the events for the day (we didn’t do floor or bars on graduation day) it was time for the actual graduation ceremony.  I didn’t know what to expect and I was very impressed with how they had each child go up on a graduation block, do their ‘present’ and then were given a certificate!  Once again I was surprised and proud at how well Hannah did!

I love to watch her little face in this video.  You can see how excited she was and how pleased she was with herself too!  Great job Hannah!!!

Hannah’s first gymnastics experience was a huge success and I know we’ll be signing up again!  Thanks Coach Emily!

When Emily was away we had another coach named Cathy and Hannah loved her and flourished under her teaching.  Cathy and I chatted after graduation and she feels Hannah will be ready for Kindergym in the fall which Cathy leads with another coach.  This is exciting as this class is *GULP!* without Mommy!!  Normally kids are 3 when they enter this class but Cathy feels she’ll be ready at 2 1/2 so we’ll see how it goes.  I have a feeling she’s going to do great!!

Hannah and her proud Mommy….in case you didn’t get that from reading this post! ;o)