Gymnastics: Parents’ watch day

I think I figured out why Mother’s Day is in May. It is by all means the busiest month for me as a Mom. With the graduations, recitals, end of year performances, parents watch weeks and days, my days are full of extracurricular Mom’s activities.
Last week it was the parents watch week in the gymnastics class my three year old daughter is enrolled in. This was her first semester. And it was my first watch week. I expected moms to be walking on the floor with their caneras and camcorders trying to get the best shot of their kids doing cartwheels and balancing on the beam.

As we walked in, ten minutes before the class starts, we saw a long line of Moms standing at the door. Being a strong opponent of any kind of lines, we waited on the side. As the door opened, I quickly realized why moms waited in lines: there were only so many chairs by the wall. My idea of running on the floor with the camera was busted. I found the last free chair in the very end and started taking pictures. I should have taken my laptop, I thought. I won’t even see my daughter for half the session. I could have had some work done.

This being Masha’s first semester, she has not mastered a Split Leap or a Flyaway yet. She is mesmerized by older gymnasts and spends a lot of time watching them (sometimes skipping her turn for the next exercise). She wants to wear her gymnastics outfit all the time. She shows me her gymnastics exercises at home every night. She cannot wait until her sister can join her. Maybe in a couple of semesters, I will watch both of them on the floor…