Show Week

For the past few months, Elina and Eli have been taking a Sports Skills class at the Little Gym.  We purposely put the kids in this class because it's one of the few classes where they can be together.  They really enjoy being together and I feel like Eli performs better whenever Elina's around.  In the class they have learned about lots of fun sports--hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, as well as gymnastics.  

Their all-time favorite game there was Slam the Cheese.  At The Little Gym, they call the wedged mats "cheese" because they're in the shape of a triangle.  So the game is that the cheese is standing up on it's short side (it's standing up tall), the kids stand far away, then run toward it to knock it down.  This is the funniest thing to watch and the kids get so giddy about it!  I mean, look at these faces!

Last week was Show Week, where the parents go into the gym and the kids get a chance to show the parents everything they've learned.  Unfortunately, Elina had pink-eye on her Show Day so she wasn't allowed to go into the gym.  It was quite a sad scene because everyone went into the gym and Elina was the only one left outside.  I would look over to check on her and she'd have her sad face pressed to the glass.  She admitted she was kinda sad about it. We had to have her do a make-up Show Day on Saturday with another gymnastics class.

The whole thing was really cute though.  First, they make the parents go inside the gym and sit.  Then they announce each child's name and they run out and do their favorite trick.  In Elina and Eli's class (which is a small class), all the boys ran out and just smiled.  They were really just excited about getting to run out by themselves while the parents applauded for them.  

During the class, the kids just showed off tons of tricks and did a great job!  Here is Eli having some fun--

Here is Eli showing off some golf skills--

Here is Eli trying to do a tummy roll on the bar.  Unfortunately, he's still at the stage where he just lets go as he's rolling over.  It's terrible because it's so dangerous.  Luckily, the instructor was prepared to catch him!  She says it's a natural reaction for little kids, but it just looks scary when they fall like that.

Here is Elina (in her make-up class) doing some tricks of her own.  She has gotten so brave on the bar.  She loves to do flips over it.  She's also gotten better with her handstands and can now do cartwheels!

Here is Elina doing a few small routines--

 

Then at the end of the class, the kids each got to run up to this "podium" and get their medals.  They were so excited about it.  It was just adorable.  

Don't they look so cute with their medals?  I was just sad that they couldn't get the medals on the same day because Elina couldn't even be in our last class picture!  Boo on pink-eye...but yay for Little Gym!