The next Mary Lou Retton?

Now that Zoey and I have some definite girl time with big brother at school, we decided to try out something fun and headed to our first mommy and me gymnastics class at a local little gym.

As expected, in the beginning, Zoey wanted nothing to do with the instructor, taking her shoes off or allowing me to put her down. But after she observed the class already in session and I explained to her what was going to happen, she practically threw her shoes off and ran into the room! She was very timid and shy and would not let go of my hand, but warmed up slowly by the end of the class, at times, pushing my hand away when I offered it to her for help! That's just Zoey! She definietly has anxiety with strangers and being around kids her age that she doesn't know, but will warm up a bit without letting her full personality out in public. She saves that for us at home! This is one of the things I'm hoping to help her accomplish with this kind of class as she still gets paniced in situations she is not comfortable with. (And I know...this sounds like most two year olds, but trust me, she has some severe panic attacks in these situations sometimes.)

Let's just say she has some major motor skills goin' on! She handled every apparatus with ease, including the balance beam and in regular Zoey style, took on the bars like a pro! While the instructor had to help the other kids climb the mat and hook their hands on the bar, then give them a little push to start them swinging, and finally let them down gently to land on their feet, Zoey waited till no one was around, (she of course refused to stand in line and do what everyone else was doing!) climbed the mat, jumped from the mat to the bar, caught it with her two tiny hands, and proceeded to swing back and forth before dropping to ground and landing on her feet!

All. by. her. self.

Did it surprise me? Not really. That girl hangs from my car door handle while she's waiting for me to load up the car and get her in! (Which, by the way she did today and hit the tire with her newly clean leggings, so she was absolutely filthy before we even left for class!)

So here's some pictures of the next Mary Lou Retton...she's well on her way!

And sorry some of these pics are dark or a little blurry, I had no motivation this evening to edit them. :0)