Living the Dream

This past summer, for a variety of reasons, Z really took an interest in gymnastics.  And then the summer Olympics started and that interest turned into a deep passion :-)  Our living room was transformed multiple times a day into a gymnastics arena.  She started wearing a leotard around the house with a "warm-up" sweatshirt over top.  One day she asked for a pair of headphones and proceeded to put them on and then put the hood of her sweatshirt up over the headphones.  When I asked her what she was doing, she said she was getting ready to perform and needed to concentrate (just like she would see the gymnasts do on the Olympics).  She would strut around with her stomach puffed out and her hands swinging down at her sides when her name was "announced" as the next competitor.  Oh, and when she competes, she is almost always McKenna Brooks (the American Girl doll that is a gymnast), though she sometimes throws in a Gabby :-)  Anyway, when her love for the sport did not wane after the torch was extinguished, we decided to enroll her in a class through community ed with her little pal, P.  It's taught by one of the high school's gymnastics coaches and we thought it would be a good intro into the world of gymnastics.  Here she is on her first day (to say she was excited is a drastic understatement).

And here she is with her good buddy - these two are quite the duo!

Z now has four classes under her belt and she loves every minute of it.  She is learning (and so am I) all about tuck jumps, straddle jumps and pike jumps.  She loves working on the (low) balance beam and especially likes doing flips on the bar.  Running and jumping off the springboard is also a favorite.  I realize that her height will likely make her career as a gymnast short lived but we are having fun for now, that is for sure.  And actually, yesterday her teacher/coach told me not to write her off.  He said she is a strong little girl and that some of his most recent captains of his teams in past years were 5'9 and 5'10.  I took this advice to heart because by all means, I don't want to be a dream crusher :-)  (But she'll also be playing basketball later this winter)!