Gavin and Declan: Cabin Fever Fun

Now that we're in the thick of winter, its more of a struggle to come up with activities to keep Gav happy. Gavin LOVES to go outside, even when its bitterly cold. If he even sees me or Ryan start to put on our coat, he runs over, grabs his shoes out of the basket, plops down on the floor, and hands us his shoes to put on!

So in an effort to get us out of the house and burn off some energy, I signed Gavin up for his first gymnastics class. "Gymnastics" is a strong word for what Gav does in this class. Its more about gross motor skills, learning to play well with others, and learning to follow a teacher's directions. So far we've attended two classes, and Gavin is having a blast! The first class was a little rough. Class starts with free play, which Gav spent shooting hoops. But then all the kids are supposed to come sit on a circle rug and do a few activities with Coach Kelly. Gavin wanted no part of the circle time (he's not really into being told what to do, I can't imagine why :). So we hovered on the outside of the circle and watched the other kids. I of course started worrying that my kid was never going to participate in circle time, but then a very nice dad told me that his daughter just sat in the corner and cried for her first 4 classes, so then I realized that I was just being a crazy parent again :)

The second week, Gavin participated in almost all the circle activities, and was much more excited about trying new things. He attempted a summersault and a log roll, and thought about getting on the swinging bar, but backed out at the last second! We also discovered that Gavin loves ball pits! Gymnastics class has two ball pits, and Gav likes to climb into the deeper one and sink in until just his head is "above water." Here's a few pics of gymnastics class:

Post-basket celebration!

Tolerating circle time only because there are maracas involved.

Group basketball time. Gavin deftly avoids the unique defense of blocking the basket by laying on the floor.

Buried in the ball pit!

Gymnastics isn't the only way Gavin fills his free time during the winter months. He also likes to make up his own games. Most of these games consist of throwing something in the air, and then asking "Where it go?" To which the other player has to reply with some version of "I don't know, can you find it?". Then Gavin excitedly nods his head and runs off after the thrown object. Gav recently discovered that tissues make this game even more fun, since there are so many to throw, and they float down in such fun ways.

Marvelling at the seemingly endless Kleenex box.