Ian at The Little Gym

Sorry for the lack of posts, but it's been quite a juggling act since Jeff left on Friday for a business trip. Luckily, I have help with the cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc., or we would be sitting in piles of laundry and the kids would be naked.

I think Ian was definitely affected by Jeff going away. Going to bed on Friday night, he asked me, "Why Daddy isn't coming home? Why Daddy has to take a airplane to go to work?" To top it all off, it was a miserable, rainy, muggy weekend. Saturday wasn't so bad because Ian has Chinese school, which he absolutely loves, and then he goes to a gym class at The Little Gym, which he has been resisting. We have kept going hoping that he will get into it once he felt comfortable, but he's been putting up quite a fight. I was about ready to give up. He was doing his usual thing of sitting there and not participating. Jeff called from Manila to say he had arrived safely, so I went outside to take the call. When I came back in (after lamenting his lack of participation), he was holding Miss Amanda's hand and walking through one of the activities, a giant inflatable mattress-type thing. Of course, he refused to jump like everyone else or do any forward rolls, but at least he walked on it -- 3 times! He waved and laughed at me through the windows and seemed to be interested in some of the other kids. But then he went back into uncooperative mode. So I went into the gym (the parents sit outside of the gym area and there are big glass windows so we can watch, but we are not allowed in unless absolutely necessary) and I reminded him that he had promised me he would try two new things. Still not much reaction. Then I said, "Remember you told Daddy you would try something new? Let's try something new and then we can call Daddy and tell him all about it." I think that did it. Suddenly, he perked up and jumped on the equipment. He did a forward roll on the mat, then he crawled through the "tunnel" (a foam block with a semi-circle cut-out on the bottom), then did a "bear walk" (facing forward on his hands and feet) up two parallel bars and a "crab walk" (with his bottom down and belly up, his hands and feet under him) down two parallel bars, and a "straddle roll" down a foam incline.

Then it was time for the "train to leave the station" and go to the next one. At the next station, he got to walk across a balance beam, do some donkey kicks, bear walk across some bars, swing on the uneven parallel bar (the lower one, of course), then do a straddle roll down a foam incline. He was so into it, he asked me to pick him up so he could swing from the higher uneven bar. He did the circuit twice and then it was time to get back in a circle. I left the gym area and let him finish off the class on his own. They always give the kids a stamp on each hand before they leave. This time it was a bear paw print. He loves that part. He was so excited and proud of himself when he came out. When we got in the car, he asked me, "Can we go call Daddy and tell him about The Little Gym?" By then it was 1:00 am Manila time, so I told him we could call Daddy later when Daddy woke up. Ian reminded me again in the afternoon and at dinnertime. And when we finally called Daddy and Skyped him, it was all Ian could talk about.