First Day of Gymnastics!

With all of the flipping and the climbing, and the somersaulting and the jumping, Mama and Daddy have long suspected that Miss Carmela June is a prime candidate for gymnastics.  Before the Olympics, Carmela watched lots of gymnastics on YouTube on Mama's computer. During the Olympics, Carmela learned about Gabby Douglas, and developed her own "Gabby Douglas" routine, a routine that usually involved racing to her bedroom and yanking her bathing suit out of her underwear drawer and insisting (insisting!) that she be allowed to wear it in order to do her "gymnastics." On the walk to and from preschool every day, Carmela walks on a neighbor's wood retaining wall, using it as her "balance beam."

So, we can all imagine the anticipation with which Miss Carmela looked forward to her first day of gymnastics last week.  She was so excited! Daddy picked her out a pink leotard, which she loved, and which she wore to bed that very night. Completely unswayed by a persistent summer cold, she charged ahead last Thursday, and barely looked back over her shoulder when it was time to meet her coach, Coach Bailey, for the first time. As soon as she got the go-ahead from her coach, she was off for the rings, thank you very much, and she proceeded to dangle, jump, dive, and bounce for the next 45 minutes.  She loved it.  We love her.  It works.

Carmela smiles at Daddy in her new pink leotard.

Practicing her gymnastics finish.

Meeting Coach Bailey at the gym.

Almost ready to go! (Mama didn't bother taking any pictures of her doing anything because the cell phone doesn't take good enough pictures. But in the background of this picture, you can kind of see the  layout of this part of the gym (and this was only about a third of the total area) where Ela and her three classmates started out. Fun!)