Hi Ellie!
Well… it is another gymnastics day and I have to say that I
am so glad that your Mommy and Daddy count on me to take you to your class now
and then because it is certainly a precious site to see! This blog will not be long, but before
they come to a permanent end, I want to touch upon your cartwheels. And that is because if gymnastics comes
to an abrupt halt like ballet did, (where you lose interest in the hobby after
one year), I doubt you would remember this moment in time years down the road.
Final Thought: There is a saying “Practice Makes
Perfect”, but more times than not the saying should really be “Practice Makes
Us Better”!
And Ellie, you are true testimony to that statement! Let me back up for a moment and explain
your gymnastics class weekly agenda and my first time observing. First Ellie, there are about 6 of you
in the class and all of you are pretty much equal in “gymnastic” ability! Your instructor usually has you all
doing a few stretches to start off.
You are the only one El, who can split your body into a perfect “T”
shape (like the plastic Barbie dolls whose limbs can move inhumanly) while
laying face down, body flat on the floor with arms stretched outward and still
pat out the pizza dough your instructor has you pretending to make. Next comes forward and backward rolls
which are pretty much done with ease by everyone. Following that is the walk on the balance beam which to be
honest with you boggles my mind.
Ellie, for the life of me, I don’t understand how you do not fall off that
thin board as your eyes are constantly darting to wherever there is activity in
the room, everywhere except for where they should be and that is focused on the
end point of the balance beam! The
next rotation sends you to the spring board where you are to run, take one hop
(with one leg) at the beginning of the board, then two hops (with both legs) at
the top of the board and then land on your knees as you spring towards the
mat. Ellie, this gymnastic
activity always makes me giggle because it is like watching you play Hop
Scotch… the one foot/two foot hop doesn’t always happen when it is suppose
to! Next up is the cartwheel mat. When your instructor laid it down, I
thought… “Hmmmm, that is kind of cool.”
There were two perfectly positioned hands and two perfectly positioned
feet boldly outlined on the mat for you little ones to use while turning your
bodies upside down from one side of the mat to the other. The visual was pretty
self-explanatory. Well… actually
for adults it is. You and your
classmates saw it a little differently.
Ellie, instead of standing with arms raised tall and ready to glide your
upper-body downwards and sideways as your lower body raises itself upwards and
over your head… you turned into a little robot!
First you studied the position of the right and left foot
and then set your own directly on top of them. Next you studied the position of both hands and quite
robotically placed yours directly on top of them. Then instead of hoisting both legs overhead like a windmill,
your cartwheel looked more like a frog with led in its bottom weighting it
down! You swiveled your hips
sideways with a hop that was no more than 2 inches off the ground and leaped
from one side of the mat to the other.
El, the impressive part of this ‘definitely not a cartwheel move’ was
that your feet landed perfectly in their rightful spots on the other side! Now fast-forward a dozen weeks. Your cartwheels are officially the real
deal and you are having lots of fun performing them. You no longer need the mat to show you how to position your
hands and feet and only use it as a reminder to where you are to be in the
rotation. The parallel bars, the
trampoline, the floor mat and the pit follow in your class’s one-hour time
slot. And with so many versatile
activities to practice and hopefully some day master, it is amazing that you
don’t ever leave there exhausted! You
are quite agile little one and it is only a matter of time before all the
gymnastic moves become comfortable to you.
Poppy and I saw a movie last night about the life of Stephen
Hawking, a physicist and cosmologist who was riddled with a motor neuron disease. The movie ended with a great quote of
his and it is definitely great wisdom to live by. He said, “ However
difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.” How true Ellie… All we need to do is
practice.
Love you Ellie jellie-gumby-bean!
Mimi
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