El Gimnasio Pequeño, parte dos

Last week was the end of the semester at Little Gym. For the last few weeks, they always try to have the parents sit for a little while the kids do some of the activities alone. (If with the teachers is alone.) So this is Joaquin playing with their giant parachute supervised only by the teachers. Turns out getting Joaquin to participate can sometimes be tricky. It's kind of fun to watch someone else deal with that other than me! But Joaquin loves the parachute so he was very willing to play this game. Then we showed Daddy a few of our tricks and posed with our metal on the 'podium'. Olympics here we come! Just Kidding! I have no athletic greatness aspirations for Joaquin, but they are totally trying to evoke that image with these little 'graduations'. The exciting/scary part about this is that with the start of the new semester Joaquin is now old enough to attend Little Gym BY HIMSELF! (That's in all caps b/c if you could hear me saying it, it's almost a yell.) I was both relieved, since his participation was waning with only Mommy's appreciation, and scared.

Today was his first class solo. Normally he's supposed to be in a class with only 3 and 4's, but because I'm a horrible mommy and missed yesterday's class, we went today to a combined class. Combined means there were also some 4 and 5s in the group. Joaquin was obviously the only kid there straight from Mommy & Me class. They had to keep hauling him back to the group. However, it was kind of a good thing. By the end of class he was getting much better about taking turns and doing what everyone else was doing. Plus, watching the big kids made him try several things he's always refused to try for me. I'm kind of tempted to leave him in this class for a few weeks and see if the inspiration keeps helping him, what do you guys think? (I'm serious here, could totally use input.) Either way I'm very excited that we're finally to the stage of learning structure! Both here and in Sunday School schedules are being emphasized and focusing on group activities is a major skill to learn. While I'm sure it's possible, it's something I'm finding hard to teach him myself. Go Joaquin go!