With as much attention as Alexander tends to receive due to the surgery
and his therapies, it becomes even more imperative that Nicholas have
special activities and times that are his and his alone. Bath time and
the obligatory story before bed are two of those times in Nicholas'
daily routine.
But it's even more important that we help him release the nearly boundless
energy he has and for that, we turned to a gymnastics class designed for
little ones of his age. It's a weekly session that lasts about 45
minutes (when you get into it...there is the hurry up and wait
before and the pack 'em up after).
Now imagine this if you can! This class is a mixed bag of toddlers...
the ones under two-and-a-half years old are Beasts and the ones
closer to three years old are Super Beasts. On that scale,
Nicholas falls right in the middle of the scale so I don't know if that
makes him Above Average Beast but whatever. :) Into the class
they go and there are big mats and gymnastics equipment strewn about
this big open room.
For their part, the students are very orderly and amenable to the
classroom setting. You know the bit...attentive to the instructor when
she's speaking and fully engaged in the paying attention thing
without unnecessary commentary.
And whilst we're on that subject...does your home state's
postal initials stand for "Fantasy Land"?!?*
The people running the programme were smart enough to know that you have
at most three or four minutes for a given skill before the class descends
into a thinly-veiled chaos!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to try desperately to
keep up with your particular beast and help keep them at least
reasonably on-target with the skills the instructor is trying to impart.
If you're not in decent shape, a few weeks of chasing after an excited
two year-old who is faster and more agile than you are when it comes to
slipping round other parents and children will certainly do the trick.
Atkins and South Beach wishes their exercise programs were this good!
Seriously, there are a lot of good things that Nicholas can learn from
this class above and beyond the gymnastics skills (which he is pretty
good at but he won't jump off the platform...he'll go butt-on-platform
and then to the floor every time...come on, Gramps used to jump out of
planes at high altitudes...three feet, I tell you...it's just a three
foot drop instead of ten thousand feet!!!). You learn pretty quickly
about cooperation and sharing in this class, how to tidy the play area,
and a whole lot of other useful little nuggets. Plus the whole
taking direction from an instructor thing.
But most importantly, it's his time to be in the spotlight with his
special activity. And that plus the fact that he's usually quite tired
at the end of it and sleeps well through the night...well, you just can't
put a price tag on that, can you? :)
*For our Eagle-Eyed BLOG Readers who actually live in
Florida, please don't shoot the messenger!!! I can't help it that the
US Postal Service didn't consult with
Disney before picking an abbreviation
that actually could stand for Fantasy Land. Of course, having
lived there myself, I have to wonder if it wasn't at least appropriate
for the denizens of that big white tower in Tallahassee... :)