The Athlete

After a 4-month hiatus, I started Maggie and John in gymnastics classes again this month. We like our local gym - it is 5 minutes away, and unlike most gyms, it is all about fitness and fun since they don't have any training for competitive gymnastics. (The professionalizing of kids' sports over the past generation is a personal beef of mine.) Maggie has taken classes there once a week for a few years, and we had John enrolled in their preschool program for two years (a little art time, some letters and numbers, lots of time in the gym).

Both kids have been begging to go back ever since we stopped in May. I finally felt that I had the fall schedule figured out enough that I could manage this additional activity, so I signed them up to start today. At the door, we were met by the assistant manager, "Mr. Chad," who helped us find the right instructors. Maggie went to Girls Level B with Kaitlyn.

"John," asked Chad, "You are in kindergarten, right?" (Chad remembered him as a recent preschool graduate.)I explained, a bit nervously, that he was in kindergarten, but that I had signed him up for the Boys Level A, which is for first grade and up. "His preschool teachers told me last spring that he should be okay to skip into Level A. If it becomes a problem, just let me know." Chad agreed to let John try it and escorted him over to "Mr. Nick." I felt a bit more nervous about my decision to promote John as I saw that he was at least a head shorter than all the other boys in his class.

When I picked John up, he was clearly excited to be back in the gym. He ran up to tell me about how he ran up the wall. (The gym has a large mat standing against a wall. It is wedge shaped, so about 1-2 feet deep at the bottom and maybe 6 inches deep at the top. It stands against the wall to a height of maybe 10-12 feet, creating an inclined plane, nearly vertical. Mom, remember how I could run up the mat on the wall about halfway in preschool? I got all the way up and touched the top today!" It was nearly as disappointing to me as to John that I had to stop him from going back into the gym to demonstrate this feat - I will have to stay next week and watch. (The next hour's classes were already using the gym by this point today, unfortunately.)

I got the extended report from the kids at dinner. When I asked John how he liked class with Mr. Nick, John was nonchalant. "It was good. But he does get mad when people don't follow his instructions and listen." Hmm. That wasn't you, was it John? "Umm, no. Well, maybe once or twice." Okay, now I was a bit worried that I might be having to demote John to a kindergarten class. Fortunately, Margaret's report eased my mind quite a bit. "Mr. Nick came over during class and was talking to Miss Kaitlyn. He said, 'Is that kid really only five?! He is awesome at gymnastics!" So, perhaps Mr. Nick will let him stay, after all.