Strong-Willed Gymnast

Due to a bunch of scheduling issues with my work schedule and a super duper hard day on Ian's part, we decided to wait a semester on Mother's Day Out. In the meantime, we knew we wanted Ian to be around other kiddos in a more structured environment, so we decided to try gymnastics class. I shopped around online and found a great place five minutes away that had a Tiny Tots class on Saturday mornings. They even had a foam pit (big pit with foam blocks) like the gymnastics place I went to as a kid!

I loaded up Ian this morning and we headed over. I was so excited about it - I was pretty sure he would love the trampolines, foam pit, balance beams, and tumbling mats. And he did. He loved them so much, he didn't want to listen to anything the coach had to say. Initially he was the only one there, so Coach Maci started him off on the trampolines. She had her work cut out for her trying to keep Ian on just one trampoline! A few other kiddos showed up and they jumped for a bit more before heading over to the mats to do a song.

Ian kept running away during song time and throwing fits when I brought him back to the circle, so we went to the bathroom for a little attitude adjustment. When we came out, everyone had moved to the foam pit. Ian loved swinging on the swing into the foam blocks!

Then it was back over to the mats to do centers. There were different skills to practice at each place. This went halfway well.

Ian especially loved this little foam pit and didn't always wait his turn to get in it!

I have to admit, I got really discouraged with how Ian was behaving. He and I both ended up in tears at one point. Fortunately, both the coach and one of the other moms (she has two little boys) were super encouraging and totally non-judgmental. I had really hoped Ian would love gymnastics so much that he would just be happy to do what the other kids were doing. Ha!

I was still in tears when I got home and my sweet husband asked if I wanted to talk about it.

Me: I'm tired of my child being the worst-behaved at every play date, class, and activity we do!!!

Him: Silence.

Me: He doesn't listen. I didn't think we were going to have to fight this hard to get him to listen.

Him: Well, he's two. And two year olds have to learn to listen. (Yeah, but still!)

I sat down at the computer, and James, not really knowing what else to say started working on the dishes!! I thought that was sweet, but I was so upset I went up to him and said, "You know, it's okay to say I'm a great Mom and our child isn't that bad" (and yadada ha!).

Him: Eye roll. Sigh.

And then he gave me a big hug and proceeded to say some wonderful things (and he finished the dishes!).

He found me later curled up in bed (still) sobbing (thank you monthly hormones!) and proceeded to tell me some more wonderful things about how challenging it is to raise little boys (he was a handful himself apparently) and what a great job I was doing. Sigh. I love my little boy, but learning how to parent him is definitely challenging my pride and dignity! I'm thankful that James is such an awesome husband and father and is Ian's Daddy. I am sure we will make it all right just because James is here to keep us grounded!

After nap time, I self-soothed by ordering some great looking books on raising strong-willed children. I am really looking forward to learning better ways to interact with Ian. He is an amazing kiddo and I know great things will come out of his strong-willedness (as long as we all survive!).