Weekend activities

Skating

Liz, our daycare provider, turns her back yard into a skating rink during the winter months, and she's been teaching Henry how to skate. Last weekend we borrowed a pair of "bob skates" (double-bladed skates that strap onto boots) from her and took Henry down to the canal. He wasn't doing much more than standing still as we pulled him along the ice, but he sure did enjoy it. See photos

Gymnastics

Henry and his friend Jensen are taking Saturday morning gymnastics classes at a nearby community center. Last fall I noticed that Henry was spending most of his time in music class running around the room, paying no attention whatsoever to the songs, so I decided it was time to move on to a more physically oriented activity. It was totally the right call. The boys have a blast doing gymnastics. Obviously, the stuff they do is very rudimentary. And you can't put a group of preschool-age boys together in a padded room for long before a distinctly "Lord of the Flies" atmosphere develops (I've witnessed a couple whole-group pileups that weren't entirely unintentional on the part of the participants, and it's a miracle that one boy hasn't landed smack on top of another when they do their leap off the high mat). But the class is structured just enough to give some direction to all that exuberance. And I've noticed Henry's coordination improving week over week. He's getting close to doing a somersault unassisted, and he can walk backwards along the balance beam and do things on the mats like crab walking and sitting with his legs in a butterfly position (soles of feet together, knees bent). Check out the good times.

Note: my digital camera is dying. The focus lens has become very unreliable, and I find I'm missing a lot of shots. Especially when I'm shooting something like gymnastics class. I ended up with a lot of blurry pictures. Hopefully I'll get a new one soon. Item #68 on my list of how I'm going to blow my first few paychecks. . .