Winter fear

I am afraid of winter. Not only because I live in one of the cities with the longest winter in the U.S., but because I'm scared of being cooped up in an apartment with a 2 year old during the worst season of the year. So for the last month I've been searching for another class to have her take besides her music class.

This morning we checked out a tots class at a Gymnastics Academy. It was for toddlers 22-36 months old. My daughter is 23 months, tall and strong for her age. Perfect, right? Wrong. We first had to walk an obstacle course for what seemed like 20 minutes too long. Amelia got distracted more than once, but loved hanging from the rings, walking on a low beam and bouncing. We went around and around, not to mention sideways and up and down, since she clearly has the body of a 3 year old but the attention span of a 23 month old. I was sweating and exhausted by the end of the obstacle course portion. She was full of energy and ready to do whatever the heck she wanted, except for following along with her classmates and teacher.

It seemed like every other child was paying attention while mine was trying to discover everything her new surroundings had to offer. My husband tried to reel her in, but she was having none of it. I sat in the circle with the other kids and parents wondering: "what do we do now?"

Here's where I have to be careful and not influence my child. When I was a kid, if I didn't get something the first time, I hated it forever and decided it wasn't for me. It usually involved sports which I've never cared for so it wasn't that big a deal. But, I can see that I can get easily frustrated with other things if I don't "nail it" at once. That is not a trait I want Amelia to inherit or emulate. And what's dangerous is that I tend to be ready to leave class if she doesn't follow along during the first session. I admit I was even embarrassed that my girl wasn't getting it today.

Thankfully, I'm aware of this flaw in my otherwise flawless personality. So when she wasn't really getting level 5 at Gymboree, I gave it a month before pulling her out and going to music class. I waited until the obvious melt down as my cue to leave tumbling this morning. Good for me, right?

Now we are on to soccer for tots. Another sport I don't like to do, but then again, I don't like sports and my athletic ability is zero. Steve is really into the whole soccer thing, so maybe he can run after her for 50 minutes. Ay Mama!