Recently Joaquin had his semester award ceremony for Little Gym. This was actually a bigger deal than normal since this is his first class without Mommy and he was supposed to be learning 'routines' that he would perform mostly by himself. Which may not seem like a big deal to you, b
ut was a big deal to me. Especially since Joaquin is by far the squirrelist kid in his class. He is frequently just running around when he's supposed to be doing something specific. The teacher's still like him since he's cute and not nasty, but sometimes it tries Mommy's patience to watch. We made a big deal of it,
he decided as a former gymnast to come and observe. So Joaquin was, by far, the most popular kid in the room. He celebrat
ed this by running around like crazy while he was supposed to be practicing skills with the foam noodles. He never participates well in this particular activity and an audience had no appreciable effect on him. He will often attempt the skill after the other kids have done it and the class has moved on to something else. I suspect h
e's asserting his independence in some way. "Look, I can do it, but I'll do it on my own schedule, thank you." He was a little crazy when they started the individual routines, but then did a surprisingly adorable little routine on the balance beam. The teachers are really good (he absolutely loved both Mr. Isaac and Mrs. Katy), and they have little stories for their little routine. On the b
alance beam they're caterpillars that turn into butterflies and then fly off the end. They have to bend down, walk, turn, stand on one leg, etc. Joaquin did most of it with only minimal hand support and he knew exactly what he was supposed to do. I was totally impressed but then he felt he'd been cooperative enough and refused to come over and participate in the floor routine. While we cla
pped and watched the other children, he played on some of the equipment. Finally when Isaac begged him to come over he deigned to come and did a perfectly fabulous little floor routine. Matthew kept saying, "Is he some kind of secret genius?" It certainly felt like he was just manipulating it so every eye would be on him and we would have to beg him. Sigh. On a up note, he had a great time with us in there, kept show
ing us things he could do. One of my favorite pictures if one where he's popping out from behind a mat with the other children to 'surprise' Mrs. Katy. Since they do this every week, I don't think it's really a surprise, but his expression is so delighted that the picture is fabulous. We finished with a celebratory lunch at McDon
ald's. Notice Joaquin's cool Shrek watch. Even Aunty Boo-boo swung by since she was done with school. In fact, Joaquin was able to coerce both her and Uncle Bryan into coming down the slide with him. I think he is some kind of secret genius!
ed this by running around like crazy while he was supposed to be practicing skills with the foam noodles. He never participates well in this particular activity and an audience had no appreciable effect on him. He will often attempt the skill after the other kids have done it and the class has moved on to something else. I suspect h
e's asserting his independence in some way. "Look, I can do it, but I'll do it on my own schedule, thank you." He was a little crazy when they started the individual routines, but then did a surprisingly adorable little routine on the balance beam. The teachers are really good (he absolutely loved both Mr. Isaac and Mrs. Katy), and they have little stories for their little routine. On the b
alance beam they're caterpillars that turn into butterflies and then fly off the end. They have to bend down, walk, turn, stand on one leg, etc. Joaquin did most of it with only minimal hand support and he knew exactly what he was supposed to do. I was totally impressed but then he felt he'd been cooperative enough and refused to come over and participate in the floor routine. While we cla
pped and watched the other children, he played on some of the equipment. Finally when Isaac begged him to come over he deigned to come and did a perfectly fabulous little floor routine. Matthew kept saying, "Is he some kind of secret genius?" It certainly felt like he was just manipulating it so every eye would be on him and we would have to beg him. Sigh. On a up note, he had a great time with us in there, kept show
ing us things he could do. One of my favorite pictures if one where he's popping out from behind a mat with the other children to 'surprise' Mrs. Katy. Since they do this every week, I don't think it's really a surprise, but his expression is so delighted that the picture is fabulous. We finished with a celebratory lunch at McDon
ald's. Notice Joaquin's cool Shrek watch. Even Aunty Boo-boo swung by since she was done with school. In fact, Joaquin was able to coerce both her and Uncle Bryan into coming down the slide with him. I think he is some kind of secret genius!
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