First, we walked out onto the floor and Coach Antonio took us to the trampolines and the pit. He tried to teach us how to spot Anderson doing a back flip into the pit, but Anderson just wanted to jump on the trampoline and play with the "blocks" (the foam squares that make up the pit). We sang "The Wheels on the Bus" while Antonio bounced the kids around on a little yellow mat that he placed on the trampoline. Anderson was pretty sure that everyone was singing just to him and had the biggest smile on his face. This was the moment that Richard and I knew we had made a "good parent" decision.
This is also where I tell you that I was so excited about this first gymnastics lesson that I forgot my phone throughout this first part and did not capture a single second of it except for in my brain. This means, as most of you know, that it will be gone unless I write it down. Thank goodness for blogs!
Next, we headed over to the balance beams. There were three beams and we were to aid Anderson in walking across all three. Once he finished this, he was allowed to go down the slide. Richard and I took turns helping Anderson across the beam and even gave him some opportunities to walk unassisted back and forth between us.
After the beam, Coach Antonio (that is much more fun to say, than it is to type) took us over to the obstacle course. Anderson LOVED this! He didn't follow all the directions exactly, but he had a great time and did go through all the obstacles! At this point in the evening, Richard and I were really just there for decoration as Anderson was climbing in, out, over, and under different mats.
There were two parts of the obstacle course that Anderson seemed to like more than the others. He really enjoyed what I loving refer to now as the "mountain mat." This is a mat that is very steep and the kids climb up it, only to slide down in on the other side. Anderson had a great time doing this!
He also loved hanging from the bar at the end. I, of course, did not get video of this because I was busy explaining to him that if he did let go, he would not fall a great distance (maybe 5 inches) and he would, in fact, live to see another day.
Those were all great, but Anderson's favorite part of the evening was...the water fountain. Yep. He spent a good portion of the evening getting drinks from the water fountain. Fantastic!
All of these things were very fun and at the end, Coach Antonio gave all the kids stamps. Anderson pointed to the stamp on his hand several times and said, "What's that?" To which we would answer, "Your stamp from Coach Antonio." He would then say, "Stamp, Tonio." It was a fantastic experience and we are so glad we did it! I am thankful for these moments that we get to spend doing new things as a family. Loving Gymnastics!
