Monday, January 28, 2013

The Case of the Balance Beam and the Daredevil

I decided to sign the girls up for gymnastic classes at The Little Gym. Sammi had taken them a couple years ago but she was in desperate need for more classes. Her favorite thing in the entire world is jumping, flipping, balancing, cartwheels, hand stands which is exactly what this class is all about. She loves the balance beam.

Today in class they were supposed to walk to the end of the balance beam and WITH THE HELP of the teacher do a back tuck off the beam. Now I would like to note that I have emphasized the words "with the help" because Sammi is pretty independent. I would also like to note that this is a legit balance beam. It is probably a couple feet off the ground which is a pretty intimidating height for a three year old.

I was watching through the big glass windows with MaddiLu as Sammi was doing her little walk and flip. It was pretty impressive. The second time however Sammi got to the end of the beam and brushed off the teacher indicating she would like to jump off herself. Well the teacher assumed that Sammi would just make a regular jump off the beam. She obviously didn't know my kid. Sammi full on nosedives off the end of the balance beam in an ill-fated attempt to front flip off the beam. The teachers face was in shock as she yelled "Sammi!" so loud I heard it from behind the glass. The other parents watched and gasped in surprise. I explained quite loudly, "Oh my gosh!" Sammi just jumped right up after her face plant. For those of you needing a visual it looked like some sort of belly flop/taking a bow combination. Now I can look back on this moment as quite funny as she was really going for the front flip. All the other parents commented on how she was quite a daredevil. So true...

On the drive home I asked Sammi what happened on the beam and she said simply, "I tried to flip of the balance beam." I asked her how that worked out and she said, "Not good. I fell on my face." Poor kid but I have to say it took some guts to attempt which makes me a little proud even if it took a few years off my life.



No comments: