When A Mom Gets Tired of Headstands on Couches . . .

. . . she signs her able-bodied preschooler up for gymnastics.

I had to do something. He was driving me nuts.

(Sorry for the poor photos. The gym was dark, he was far away, I didn't have a flash, was using a point and shoot and had Avery wiggling in my arms while I was trying to shoot a moving target.)

Boys are notoriously busy. They don't walk like girls would. They bounce, leap, climb, and swing instead.

But this little boy was a few steps above that even.

He was doing cartwheels, headstands, and front rolls both on and off of the couch. He was jumping off half walls, trying out new twists and turns in the air.

I knew I had to get him busily involved in something outside of the house.

Something that would suck his energy up and leave an almost-limp boy in its wake.

Judo, I thought, might promote more martial arts fighting between the boys. Swimming was a big NO when I thought of cold temperatures, soggy boys who both needed help changing in a gross change room while I juggled Avery in my arms. All for a measely 30 minutes. Absolutely not.

So, gymnastics it was.

The program seems great. There is only one other child in his class so he gets semi-private lessons . . . and even more time to be running and exerting energy for that full hour.

I knew he was in the right place when they did suicides for a warm up.

Ahhhh. I had some marvellous visions of Jackson sprawled out, unconcious on the couch for an afternoon nap. I could get things done without wondering if I needed to worry about laundry detergent being used to wash his stuffed animals in bed. I didn't need to worry about calling poison control. (By the way, am I the only one who has a 24 hour hotline for poison control in their personal--friends and family--phone directory??) An afternoon of not breaking up fights between the boys.

My dream looked even more like a reality when I watched him going through his rotations with less and less energy. His little legs went up lower and lower in the air on every headstand.

By the time he got to the tramp circuit he could only do 3 runs of jumps, seated landings, and "gymnast crawls" before he just gave up and started walking it. Not even the thrill of jumping could entice him to move his body to jump anymore.

(Of course, he somehow found more energy for the afternoon and forewent the nap.)

But he did absolutely LOVE gymnastics. And I am glad that he has something fun to do. Something all to himself, that Jayden doesn't do.

And maybe (I mean, hopefully) the program will get so energy intensive that my dreams will come true too.