Gabby's....I mean Larkyn's gymnastics

Larkyn has been taking gymnastics since January 2012 and has gained so much coordination and strength throughout the process.  Last January she was in the Parent/Tot class and Shea or I led her through the activities after the teacher explained them.  In March they said she was ready for the 3's class without a parent. It was fun to watch her listen to her teacher and interact minimally with the other kids in her class.  She worked hard to balance, hang from a bar and kick her feet up to knock off a bean bag, do a forward roll, learn the beginning of a cartwheel, and sit back up from a safety roll without putting her hands down to help her. 

We took the summer off and she started back up again at the beginning of September.  It didn't take long for her to pick up where she left off.  She is now interacting with her teachers and classmates, telling stories and making them laugh (I wonder who she gets that from?).  Her skills continue to get better each class.  I love seeing her practice her forward roll as she says "high, low, over I go!" Larkyn is able to do a cartwheel and land on her feet now!  She also enjoys jumping on the trampoline and doing tucks, straddles, and "seat to feet" jumps (bounce on feet, bounce on bottom, bounce back up to feet without the help of hands).

It is amazing to see the coordination and strength she has gained and how it has helped her in other areas, such as riding her bike, throwing and catching a ball, balancing and hoping, etc.

 

Many times when Larkyn begins a station she will start and then stop and look around at what all of the other kids are doing.  This is the case with the parallel bars. She is suppose to be doing a crab walk down the bars, instead she is watching the other group in the room and then me video taping!  She then goes on to try the single bar and pushing herself up proves to be a challenge!

This is one of the stations Larkyn was doing involving balance beams.  Her favorite walk is the Princess point where her hands are up over her head like a ballerina. However, this is a video of her doing "apart, together" on and off the balance beam.

Larkyn was told she needed to do "apart, together, apart, together" as small jumps.  She was trying very hard, but ended up doing a whole bunch of straddle jumps.  Looks like a future cheerleader???