I have come to realize that I have an athlete on my hands. Maybe that means I am trying to set him up to fulfill this destiny in life, but serious, nothing brings my child as much joy as running and movement.
This weekend I started Kwabena in a gym class for 2-4 year olds. We arrived at the elementary school (on time! HA! Imagine that!) to find a class full of eager parents and children, sitting in a circle around Coach Doug, as he’s called. The first lesson of the 6-session course was going to be soccer. (I’ve always pegged Kwabena as a soccer player simply because of the sheer joy of running and using his feet and legs to kick).
The first thing the kids learned was something called a “trap” where you stop the ball with your foot and leave it on top of the ball, “trapping” it. After a quick demo, then everyone else was left to practice on their own. Imagine a gym with 20 toddlers and parents running after soccer balls. Crazy! Kwabena even accidently knocked a child down and the poor boy cried for a good 10 minutes! Luckily the boy was okay.
The biggest challenge was getting Kwabena to actually follow direction and do the exercise. All he wanted to do was run all over the gym and kick the ball (I have video of this, but since our camera is broken and we were using Uncle Kofi’s camera, we will have to get the wire to upload it later). Kwabena ran after the ball and kicked…kicked…kicked…..He totally disregarded practicing the drills, including the “dribbling” with his feet; just wanted to kick his way. But he had a blast!
As we were drawing on an end to class, Kwabena totally abandoned his soccer ball and started roaming around the gym. I could tell he was tired. I would be, too, after running after a soccer ball for 30+ minutes!
After we left there, we drove to the University of Maryland College Park, for Maryland Day. It’s an annual festival of activities and food, with a focus on educational things, and fun activities for kids. It draws thousands of people. Total mad house! Me, Kwasi, and Kwabena went last year, and we were disappointed by the lack of opportunity to even do anything because of the sheer number of people there. This year it was just Kwabena and me, and I found the same problem–too many people, and not enough opportunity to enjoy whatever activities they offered. So we ended up just waiting in some lines for food items. UGH…..We’re not doing it again next year!
And this morning Kwabena started his swim class! The last time he had swim classes was at age 6 months. Even then, it was amazing how he moved his little body in the water, whipping his arms and legs through the water just like how he does now, at nearly 3 years old!
It was so awesome to see the smiles on his face (and mine!) as we bounced around in the water, and as we performed the class exercises. Same problem as yesterday, though–Kwabena just wanted to do his own thing–when he was supposed to be standing on the wall and waiting until I counted to “3” before jumping, he would disregard that and just jump when he wanted to, with a big, eager smile on his face. Too cute, actually. 🙂 But I hope that as the few weeks go on, he will learn that he’s got to listen more. That’s part of the excercise main points–that you want your child to listen to YOU when it comes to getting in the water, not the child deciding when they want to get in. This makes sense, from a safety standpoint. Overall, the class was excellent, and again, I was pleasantly surprised at Kwabena’s agility and sheer joy of being able to move and let off energy. I don’t think I have ever seen such an active toddler!
As for everything else going on with Kwabena, he’s actually doing very well. I am sorry that I haven’t been writing more often to keep track of the things that happen. I am going to do better! 🙂
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