August 31: aerial silks

Field trip to the local aerial silks gym. The kids had been looking forward to this all month, perhaps because there are silks at their gym, but they rarely get to use them. (Funny: the instructor of this clinic asked if anyone had done silks before. Peter made the "kinda-sorta" hand gesture. She pounced on this: either you have or you haven't. There isn't "kind of.")

Peter might look like he's showing off here,

 but I've stretched with him, and this isn't anything. 

If he wants to warm up his muscles, he's got to go deep.

Lucy had hurt her foot the night before, and was literally hopping or crawling around, so she'd planned to sit out this field trip. After ten minutes, she changed her mind. While she couldn't do everything, she was able to have some fun. (Pouting not optional.)

(this pose didn't hurt her foot, I guess)

The coaches were able to get the kids into some pretty impressive-looking positions. They weren't allowed to climb very high, but they could hang and twist. It was an interesting experience from a parenting perspective: Peter tried to pay attention to the instructions, but his small feet made it difficult for him to climb. Also (and probably more importantly), he so very much wanted to be the BEST at this that he opted to brute-force climb the silks, like he'd climb the rope at the gym. Unsurprisingly, he said it hurt his hands. 

Lucy didn't pay quite as much to directions as she should have, and was very preoccupied with her foot, so her attempts were..interesting. 

And Thomas toughed this trip out. He struggled to climb high, as body awareness isn't in his skill set right now. but he kept a positive attitude and accepted coaching. He was partnered with an older girl, and she very patiently helped him as much as she could. Really, though, I didn't expect much from him of tiny little feet and a sport that involves complicated wrapping of fabric and climbing upon said tiny feet. 

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These little girls played while the bigger kids climbed. Mary and Daphni are great at entertaining themselves, and, luckily for Mary, Daphni is pretty tolerant of her 3-year-old playmate. They have a lot of fun together, even if that fun involves running in the parking lot. 

"but what about socialization?" they say

(Yes, definitely hard to socialize in a mixed-age group of 25 children.)

We followed up our field trip with a Trader Joe's picnic at the one park in SLO that reminds me of the seasons. Here, the trees are starting to change to yellow. September must be around the corner.