Gymnastics

I mentioned in a recent post that I thought I'd sign Lawson up for gymnastic class.  Well, I did and we've had two classes so far, which were a great hit!  He was completely overwhelmed with excitement when we walked in the gym for the first class - I honestly think he liked it better than Christmas morning!  It's a "Mommy & Me" class, so I'm with him every step of the way.  These pictures are a little far away, but hopefully you can get a sense of what his typical class is like.

We start out on the trampolines, which he absolutely LOVES!  He calls them the "black bounce" and would stay there all night if he was allowed.  He does a seat-drop really well, but doesn't follow any of the other directions just yet.  Sigh...  We're in the middle, on trampoline #7.

Next up is the circuit rotations.  This is hard!  He does a mean sommersault since he's had lot of practice from his one class at daycare:

And he can manage the balance beam pretty well:

But beyond that, he has a hard time staying focused on the rest of the pieces.  He'd really rather run and do his favorite few things, so I get an awesome workout, myself, just trying to keep him on track.  This picture is a blur, but I love the sense of action you get.  He loves to jump!

And finally, the hour winds up with a long "swim" in the foam blocks.  This is awesome.  Lawson loves to run and take a flying leap into the blocks!  This night, they had a slide, which was pretty cool, too.  Someday, he'll get up the nerve to go at it Tarzan-style with the rope swing they have....but that won't be anytime soon.

So, hopefully, you get the overall idea.  It's a fantastic gym and we're looking forward to many more months of practice.  I keep hearing this is a great way to get kids started in athletics - they learn balance, strength, coordination and discipline early and it will hopefully help with other sports later.  For me, I'm just glad he has an outlet for all that energy! 

The Definition of Optimism...

Is this....

I keep forgetting to mention on here that we are embroiled in that great rite of passage (for both of us), otherwise known as potty training.  Lawson go this great, personalized Elmo-goes-potty book from his G-Daddy and Judy and he loves it!  I started off with a bang over spring break, trying the technique of putting him in underwear immediately and following him around all day, putting him on the potty every 30 minutes.  We had some success, but not enough to warrant doing another day of 10 pairs of underwear.  We switched to pullups and we're both happier for now. 

We've had good days and bad, but we're getting there.  I keep telling myself that all kids eventually figure this out.  It may seem like I'll be changing his diapers when he leaves for the senior prom, but I know that he WILL learn to use the potty much sooner than that...all in good time. 

Playdate

My friend, Brittni, and her daughter, Avy, came to visit us today for a fun playdate.  I know Brittni from a mom's forum I participate in online and we've been chatting since we were pregnant with our kiddos.  She's from a town about an hour away and although she lives at Camp Pendleton in CA, she's home visiting for a while.  We got together once before when the kids were about 13 months old...they've both gotten so much bigger!  Here's a picture we took when we met up before, outside Cracker Barrel.

Our first activity was to take the kids out to play in the famous Texas bluebonnets.  They were both too interested in wandering around - we couldn't get them to sit down for a picture together.  But at least I wound up with a fun shot of Lawson by himself:

When we were done there, we headed back to our house and made some springtime sugar/cutout cookies.  Lawson and Avy had fun for a while, but then got bored.  Brittni and I had a blast finishing them up!  However, all 4 of us enjoyed eating the yummy final product!

Poor Avy broke her leg a few weeks ago, so she's wearing a cast.  She's a tough little girl - she gets around just fine! 

Easter Fun!

Easter Sunday was so much fun for us!  We started with a trip to church, which was extra special since Lawson's friend, Claire, was there.

It got really great when the education director brought out balloons for all the kids.  She was trying to get rid of them and the kiddos were more than happy to take them off her hands!

When we got home, it was time to explore the backyard and see what the Easter Bunny left.  He got lots of candy and a bunch of of cars based on characters from the movie Cars.  It's Wednesday and he's barely touched the candy, but those cars aren't out of his sight for a minute!  Is this MY child??? 

Eggcellent Adventure

Last weekend, our town had what they called an "Eggcellent Family Adventure".  Local businesses set up booths and kids walked around collecting eggs and coupons and info from each table.  We got lots of great information - in fact, there was a local gym there and I'm thinking pretty hard about signing Lawson up for gymnastics.  He has a class at daycare once a week and it's the highlight of the week.  He had a blast on this little setup.  He loves to sommersault and actually has decent balance on the beams.   

Note the signatures on the mat:  Carly Patterson and Nastia Lukin - the last two gold medal Olympians in women's gymnastics.  Both girls are from here and trained at the same same gym nearby.  Kinda cool...

Lawson also got to meet the Chick-fil-A cow:

And the Fire Department mascot (don't remember his name):

But most importantly, he got to meet the Easter Bunny!  Hippity, Hoppity!