Little Gym

Well, it's been almost a month since these pictures were taken, but I'm really so proud of Nolan I can't help but post them...better late than never. Actually, there are quite a few things that Nolan and I did in the weeks preceding the babies' arrival that I have yet to post about. Even if it takes me a few months, I will continue to post about them because they were such special times for us. Before we left for Missouri I was on bed rest and felt like I didn't have much quality time with Nolan. When I got to St. Louis and the doctor here said I could be OFF bed rest, I took full advantage and loved having some final one on one time with my little man.

Anyway, when we got to St. Louis I really wanted to get Nolan involved with something that let him be around kids his age and that was something just for him. Something to look forward to and that had nothing to do with his momma having babies!! I heard about Little Gym from my friend Dawn (through her blog) and since there is literally down the road from Grandma & Grandpa M's house, we checked it out. Nolan was able to enroll in a class and I was amazed at how quickly he caught up with the rest of the kiddos, how well he kept up and how well he listened and participated. He immediately loved it and looked forward to "Little Gym" every week. The final class was the first week of June and his instructor, Mr. Mark, told parents to invite grandparents and friends to watch them. We were invited inside with the kids to see close up what they had learned and had lots of photo opportunities. Much to my dismay, when Nolan saw both sets of grandparents, myself and his cousin Maddie inside he was NOT very willing to participate (at first). I was so frustrated because being the humble mother I am, had bragged up and down about how well he was doing. But he just sat next to me pouting for the first 10 minutes. At last (and after some tears on my part...we'll blame the twin hormones) Nolan snapped out of it and joined his classmates for some fun and showed us his stuff. These pictures are from that day!

After his class ended my parents treated him to two weeks of Little Gym camp. Little did we know how well the timing would work out. We had him in two days a week and each day was 3 hours. The first week of his camp ended up being the first week the babies were here so we were so grateful that he had something extra special! The camps were awesome, as well, and Nolan got to make fun crafts and burn lots and lots of energy. For anyone with a Little Gym near them with young kids I highly recommend giving it a try...you can even try a class for free!

This is how the kids got around, in a "train":

On the bars:I had to include this picture of Nolan on the balance beam because you'll notice my dad in the background chasing Nolan to tickle him. Yes, even during a gymnastics event, my dad is out to tickle.All the kiddos with their medals: