The next Mary Lou Retton

Well, maybe that's a bold statement, especially after only 2 sessions of gymnastics, but there's no doubt that Emma thoroughly enjoys going. After 2 weeks of not being able to go anywhere or do anything, Emma was thrilled to be able to go to gymnastics last night. Her preschool's been cancelled due to the weather the past 4 times and since she was sick last week, she wasn't able to do gymnastics. She about peed herself when I told her it was time to put on her "suit" (what Emma calls her leotard). She couldn't wait to see her friends & do "jumping & bouncing". We went & picked Jeff up from work & headed over to the Student Activity Center, where the classes are held. The only bad part of having the class there is it seems every other week they have men's basketball games there & we have to park out in the back 40 or else pay the parking fee. So the able bodied people who have a VIP parking pass only have to walk maybe 40 yards to the front door, while the people with small children have to hoof it from the Ozarks in the snow & cold. I didn't think this was a fascist society, but I'm beginning to wonder.
As soon as we get there, though, I'm already thinking that I should have brought her inhaler. She starts coughing before we even get to the class & once she's in there, and starts running around, the coughing continues. But after about 5 minutes she stops & is good for the rest of the class. Jeff took some pictures with our digital camera & I just put them up on the website, so check them out. The lighting wasn't the best in there & with Emma running around, a lot of them turned out fuzzy, but we still got some good shots. And after the warm-ups, where every 2 seconds she was looking at us & giving up a thumbs up, she seemed to forget about us & concentrate on her class & having fun. That allowed Jeff & I to relax a little bit. I was able to to have a good discussion with my neighbor from across the street & Jeff read his computer book. Emma didn't seem to mind that we weren't paying 100% attention to her, but whenever she DID look up to find us, she saw that we were paying attention. It was more like a "just checking up on you" thing for both of us. We were making sure that she wasn't causing trouble & she was making sure we were still there & hadn't ditched her.
Once the class ended though, it was a struggle to get Emma to get her clothes back on to leave. She, again, was having too much fun to be bothered with leaving. But I think she finally realized that we would be coming back, so she relented without much of a fight. Something tells me, however, that gymnastics are going to be something we do every year. She's been bitten by the athletic bug & I don't foresee her slowing down anytime soon.