Alli's First Gymnastics Class

Alli had her first gynmastics class this evening. The fun started with us trying to find the place, then once we found it, we realized that we were 20 minutes early. So, we sat there for 20 minutes, waiting for her class to start; just enough time for her to look around, see all the people, and to get shy.

The gym used to be a car repair shop and was crowded as there were two gymnastics classes and a karate class going all at the same time. This probably didn't help Alli's shyness.

When it was time for her class to start, Alli's instructor started blowing bubbles. I guess that was to get them to loosen up and get comfortable away from their parents. We had to pry Alli from our legs, but we got her out there and she popped quite a few bubbles. After popping the bubbles, they had to stretch their legs. Alli, once again got shy, but she did the stretching at our feet. Dad even had to go out there with the class and "stretch," so Alli would get close to the other kids. Then it was time for the "workout."

The instructor pulled out a slide and a wedge mat. The slide was for something to do between tumbles on the wedge. The tumbles were log rolls, some kind of sideways roll where they tucked their knees and wrapped them with their hands, a forward roll and a backwards roll. The balance beam was next.

Alli stepped right up to the balance beam, stepped up and started walking forward. She made it to the end and jumped off. She did this a couple of times and then the instructor had her walk backwards. This was a little more challenging, but by the second time, she could make it to the end without falling off. She liked jumping off the end when she reached it. She then had to go sideways on the beam. When she got to the end, she said "It's like a penguin!" She went that direction again and turned around and went sideways facing the other direction. The bar was next.

This was her favorite part. Alli got to swing on the bar! When she was able to swing back and forth five times, the instructor had her jump and try to to hold herself up and lean forward. Oh, the bar was three feet tall. Alli wasn't daring enough to try leaning forward, but she might get there next time!