Sonia Lou Retton

One of the greatest parts of having my mom visit is having her take pictures of our adventures.  First of all, she's a better photographer than I am, and second of all, that means I actually make it into a few pictures!  We had the benefit of Grandma JoJo's awesome photography skills when she came with us to Sonia's "parent-tot" gymnastics class, and I am so excited to finally have pictures of Sosini's gymnastics class to show everyone!

Sonia has never been a fan of the portion of the class where we warm up and stretch (I think there's not enough action for her), but she's been participating more and more during the past few weeks.  I credit her Stepping Stones (pre-preschool) program with her finally learning how to sit still and listen to a teacher.

 Make a bridge!

This part of the warm-up time where we sing "The Grand Old Duke of York" and lift the kids in the air several times is pretty hard on the ole' back...  Sonia weighs almost 35 pounds!

Once the warm-up period is over and it's time to hop down the long trampoline, the REAL fun begins.  Even though the temperature was sub-freezing outside and not all that warm inside, I still had to put Sonia in a short-sleeved shirt, because that little girl works HARD!

Forward rolls are much easier to learn on a soft downward slope.  This is part of the ever-changing obstacle course that the kids do every week.

Another part of the obstacle course: a balance beam that looks like a little street.  Even though Sonia barely needs any help, she has always wanted me to hold her hand....

....until this past week!  We convinced her to walk the last 12 inches or so on her own, and she did it several times!  I'm so proud of her.

Sonia LOVES jumping into the pit filled with foam blocks.  This is the pit that the older kids fall into when they are learning skills on the uneven bars and rings.  Crawling around in the pit is really, really tough and takes a ton of energy.  It feels like you're trying to move through quicksand!  Sosini has gotten really brave about taking huge leaps into the pit all by herself.

Yellow trampoline time!

We've only tried doing handstands at the handstand wall a couple of times, but Sonia seems to love it!

Parachute time!  Sosini thinks parachutes are hilarious.

It is so genius to give the kids stamps at the end of class....  I'll bet it averts transition tantrums!

Gymnastics class is so much fun!  I really don't think Sonia will end up going to the Olympics, but she sure has a blast.  It's amazing to see how far she has come since we started gymnastics class just four months ago.