The Skill of Awkward

I’ve been meaning to write about Taylor starting in gymnastics, but I hadn’t gotten pictures and just isn’t the same without pictures right?  And the reason I don’t have pictures is not because I just forget, but more that Taylor looks so awkward I was more worried she see herself and realize how awkward it is.

However, Taylor has been practicing…a lot.  Most nights when I get home for work she asks me to run through her stretches with her and Jordan and Elijah join right in as Taylor struggles to get it right (important to note that Jordan does it great unlike her older and younger sibling).  After her stretches she practices her cartwheels, somersaults, and hand stands.  She’ll practice over and over.  In her typical Taylor fashion she does get upset at herself for her mistakes, but we keep reminding her what great progress she is making.  We also have watched a couple of gymnastic type things on tv so she can see if “good” people fall and make mistakes, I think that has helped.  She is less down on herself then she is normally.  And you can see the sparkle of excitement when she feels she’s done something well.  She can finally point her toes…this skill took about 3 weeks to master since whenever her teach said “point your toes” she would literally just point TO her toes.

Since Jordan and Elijah have been practicing right along with Taylor and Taylor is “instructing” them on how to do things correctly, Jordan has actually been doing a pretty good job.  So we asked her last week if she wanted to start doing gymnastics and she did – but she wanted a pink leotard – so pink it is.  They also only had size 2T/3T so it is always up in her rear end – so until I can find a new one in her size she’s stuck wearing shorts over her leotard.  At least I found it on clearance so it was only $3!

This Saturday was Jordan’s first weekend so I took the risk and actually took pictures of the girls.  I didn’t get good ones of Jordan sadly, so I’ll have to try again, but they both had lots of fun.  This was Taylor’s first week of doing most of her things on her own.  Since she is so horribly awkward on the equipment the coaches have been holding her all the time, but this week they actually let go and let her do things on her own and just stayed there to spot her.  She was so proud of herself despite her few “near falls”.  She didn’t like the feeling of almost falling – I don’t think she completely realized that her coach is still there and would not let her fall so it freaked her out a little, but after a short pep talk she was back in and ready to go.

I’m so proud of my babies and their first “class”.  They are learning something new and doing it with a smile.  I’m super glad I found these SUPER cheap classes through the city’s website so they can get fun opportunities like this one.  And now on to the pictures:

This coaches is name is America...no joke.  So her name is "Ms America"

 Taylor just got done organizing the other girls to ensure she would get to go on the bar first

 Jordan using the benches as her balance beam

 Getting ready to do a flip - she loves flipping over the bar.

 The Vault...she runs full speed and the stops at before she jumps...every time.

Stretching - the girl in front (black and pink) is amazing! Her mom said its her first time in gymnastics but she has been "practicing" at home since she was like 2.