Gymnastics and Danish

I love little kids.

Tonight Mom and I taught our preschool gymnastics class at Owen's gymnastics academy. It's a very small gym, so Mom and I help out as often as we can.
Tonight, we had Vihhan, Emma, Kayla, and Victor. These four kids are ADORABLE. Vihhan is five, Emma is three, Kayla four, and Victor is four. I love working with these little cuties.

Tonight, we started off trying to teach them handstands against the wall. The boys got it right away (Vihhan is a natural gymnast, and Victor has been in our class a while) but it took the girls a little longer. Then we moved to vault. Well, it's actually just a small springboard with a mat. They practiced jumping on the springy part and landing on the mat, feet together. Once again, the boys were pros and the girls were a little.....how shall I put it.......flighty? They couldn't really get the whole jumping-on-the-springy-part part. Hopefully they'll be better at it by next week. Then it was forward roll time. All four kids are great at these, which was good. Sometimes Victor rolls on his head, so he needs supervision. Crazy kid. :) Then, the best part of the night: trampoline. They all made a beeline for it. We did seat drops, tuck jumps, and straddle jumps. Kayla loves to jump really high, which is kind of scary. She's a sweet girl, but has so much energy!
After a quick water break, we headed to the rope. The big rope. It reached from the floor to the ceiling. Of course, our class didn't climb it. They just held on while we swung them back and forth. They all loved it. Vihhan had a great big smile on his face, which is good: he's a pretty serious little boy.
And then class was over! Time for stamps and pickup. Victor's dad was late (as usual) so he and I hung out in the lobby. The gym has an old piano in the lobby (not really sure why) and Victor likes to gently push all the keys and listen to the different tones. He loved it when he would touch a lower octave key and I would touch a lower one. He got this great big smile and started to laugh. So cute. Then his 'Papa' came and it was goodbye 'till next week. Which is fine with me........keeping those kids safe in a crowded gym is hard work! For example: A couple months ago, we had this one girl who would just run out in front of someone vaulting or doing cartwheels or whatever. Thankfully, she never got hurt, but she did cause some panic. Mom and I are always on alert for the 'big kids,' as we like to call them.

Tonight was a good night though: No one got hurt, everyone behaved, and Mom made cherry danish. =D