Backflips Coming Soon!

Kate has done gymnastics for about a year and found a sport that she really loves. Not that she has tried all kind of sports, but at age 4, soccer was not her thing. Maybe it will be later, but not so much right now. Dance was just okay, but once she tried gymnastics, she fell in love. 

Tuesday nights have been gymnastics nights for about a year, and Karsten often accompanies us to practice.  I've learned to take coloring books and the iPad, which entertains Karsten for the hour that we wait and watch.  However, Karsten would MUCH rather be out there with big sis than sitting in the observation area. 

Well, last week, her dreams came true. 

I didn't tell her about starting gymnastics until the night before because, well, if you've ever had a 2 year old, you know that they don't handle waiting very well, nor do they understand timelines (i.e. - what next week means).  Needless to say, she was pretty pumped.  I asked her what she was going to learn on her first day of gymnastics.  

Me: "Are you going to learn how to do the splits?"

Karsten: "Nope. I'm gonna do a backflip."

Guess I can't say she doesn't set high goals for herself!   

Kate was pretty excited for gymnastics too.  We'd taken the month of June off, due to vacation and other things going on, so she was ready to get back in the gym.

In the spring semester last year, I asked to bump Kate up to an older class. She's only 5 so technically she could still be in the 3-5 year old class, but she started going to a 6 and up class just because there were a lot of really younger kids with her group.  We've switched days and times for the summer so it worked out to have her back in the 3-5 year class for the next few months, which puts them in the same class.  And as it turns out, on our first day back, my two girls were not just the only ones in their class, they were the only kids in the entire gym.  Apparently this was a popular vacation week for many! Lucky us, because it turned out to be a perfect "first day" for Karsten.

Check out Kate's bridge!

Karsten was actually pretty impressive with her balance and coordination. Pretty sure all of the things Kate has been "teaching" her on our living room rug are paying off!

This swing right here was probably the MAIN thing she was looking forward to.  You can barely see it in the picture, but this is the very spot that we sat in almost every Tuesday evening to watch Kate at her practice. The fence/gate in the bottom section of the picture is where Karsten would press her head up against and watch all of the bigger kids get to do the rope swing.  Man, was she jealous.  So THIS was exactly what she wanted to do, and of course ended up being her favorite part of the day.

I'm thinking this will be a fun year, and I can't wait to see what both of my girls learn.  If Karsten ends up having as much fun as Kate, it will definitely be a successful adventure for them.