Thursday, April 23, 2009

5, 6, 7, 8...Sit Back...Swing Up

5, 6, 7, 8. That is the mantra of my life. I've been hearing it since I was en utero and now my children are garnering the same exposure. It's paying off, though. Recently, I took my girls to an open gym class at The Factory where I coach cheerleading. Amber saw and heard my mom teaching the older girls how to do a back handspring, so she's been imitating Miss Shelley by yelling, "5, 6, 7, 8. Sit back, swing up!" and flailing her arms about like a prep for a back handspring. She's never dared to do it--not that she could...she's progressing well in tumbling but not that well--until today.

I put her down for a nap and went next door into my room to fold some laundry. I heard the familiar count-off and smiled to myself. Then, I heard a bounce on the bed. I couldn't resist, so I sneaked around the corner and saw Amber do a back handspring all by herself! I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm proud of (and terrified by) her for having the courage to try something like that and for knowing all the steps simply from observing other kids do it. She had such a serious look on her face and (this is ridiculous) it brought tears to my eyes! Adorable! Like, totally YAY for cheer!

6 comments:

Deanne said...

Wow, very impressive! You definitely have a little gymnast on your hands! Go Amber!

Becky said...

She's good! So, will we be seeing this girl in the Olympics? Did I tell you I signed the boys up for gymnastics? They love it! It's so funny to watch because Reed and Douglas have such different body types where Reed is a string bean, Douglas is a solid ball muscle. It's so good for them and I also signed up Isaac for the "littles" class which he also loves. This happens to also give me one free of reading or whatever I can do while sitting with the other parents.

Robogirl said...

WOW, that's so cool. Soon Karli will do the same as Amber, you just wait :-)

Kacey said...

That brought a tear to my eye, and it's not even my daughter! I can't believe she would dare try that. My kids are so cautious. I can barely get them to do cartwheels and forward rolls on the trampoline. They didn't get my gymnastics genes, that's for sure. Yay to breeding the next generation of cheerleaders!

Leslie said...

I can't believe my eyes! She is so good too! She will be a cute little gymnast! Karli did excellent as well!

Kahananui said...

Yay! That is adorable. She is a natural! She's fearless. It's so cute!! Your girls are so lucky to have you as their mom!