Jumpy

When the girls first started taking gymnastics classes, the thing they both loved the most was the trampoline.

Olivia neede a little help at first as she tentatively jumped on the big trampoline at the gym but these days, she's quite good at jumping down the length of the thing with no help.

At home, one of her favorite things to do it hand from my hands, jumping and swinging. It sort of drives me nuts because she wants to do it all. the. time.

So I let her jump and dangle for a few minutes at a time, telling her that some of the jumbs are HUGE and that the swings are amazing.

But then I tell her I have lots to do and she goes back to her dolls and I go back to making dinner or folding laundry or vacuuming.

Yesterday, we came across some of those mini trampolines at WalMart. They were only $29. I decided if nothing else it would be sort of a continuation of 'gymnastics as physical therapy'.

Both girls have barely gotten off the thing since got home yesterday afternoon.

Olivia woke up and requested immedialely that we put a gymnastics suit on her so she could go jump on the trampoline.

I put it behind a piece of furniture, so she has something to hold onto and honestly, I think, she's already stronger because of it.

Okay, that might be a bit much. But I do know it's good for her.

She still asks for me to stand beside the trampoline and hold her hands as she jumps but she doesn't actually need me. She can jump without help of the couch as well, but she gets a kick out of jumping as high as she can, just to prove that she can.

And that's all I want for her. I want her to do things like that just because she can. I want her to be like every other little kid who takes a few risks just because the risks are there. That's what being a kid is all about, the state of his/her chromosomes don't change that at all.