We enrolled Ava in Kindermusik when she was barely old enough to hold a rattle. She really loved it. Once she figured out how to walk, she got even more enjoyment from running around the classroom, jumping and clapping and twirling. It was interesting to watch her interact with music.
Ava’s become more physical now, and while she still loves to dance (this morning she took great pleasure in showing us a new dance she’d come up with after she’d practiced it for a while in front of the mirror in the living room…no musical accompaniment other than whatever she was hearing in her head). And she loves to salsa dance with her Aunt Rachel. So we decided this winter to get her involved in something a little more strenuous. Enter gymnastics. Now, Saturday mornings, we go meet Ava’s friend Nora at a local gym for 30 minutes of romping around on pads, trampolines, and big chunks of foam in a pit. Ava always tells us the trampolines are her favorite, but gosh it’s hard to get her out of the foam pit; the bigger you are, the more difficult it is to move around in there.
Nora is clearly ahead of Ava in coordination and physicality. She’s very adventurous when it comes to jumping off things, and she’ll just hop right up and run off without a peep if she happens to fall down. Ava’s a bit more…reserved. I’d like to see her become more confident in her abilities, and I’m hoping gymnastics will give her that. It could be that sport turns out not to be her thing, which is fine. The world doesn’t need another Mary Lou Retton (though ML does have a million-watt smile).