This month Max has been taking a gymnastics class on Saturdays. It’s “Parent-Tot Gymnastics” since of course it’s not like he’s quite ready to just hop on the uneven bars and learn a routine. We figured it would be a fun activity and good for his gross motor skill development. I’m happy to report that it has been a great success, Max really likes the different things he gets to do and is eager to get started when we get there. At the end of class the kids sit on the edge of the gymnastics floor and the teacher comes down the line and stamps their hands. Maxwell wasn’t sure about this at first, but once he had a stamp, he was sold. At today’s class he got stamps on both hands and on his feet. The class session is over now but we’ll definitely be doing this again in the new year.

We had a home visit earlier this week to evaluate Max for speech therapy. We weren’t surprised that the results of the evaluation were that Max is ahead of his age as far as receptive speech, and behind in expressive speech. The therapist was impressed by how much he understands, and says that she sees a lot smart kids who figure out that they can get by with “yes” and “no” and pointing, which Max does, though he does say a few words and signs nearly 20 words. She gave us some techniques to use to encourage him to talk more, and we’re already seeing progress. We’ll have another visit in a month to touch base and see where to go from there.

Max is definitely showing his own opinions on things more and more. The other night Jeff was putting pajamas on him after a bath. I was downstairs and heard Max crying. I figured he must have slightly hurt himself, but he was still crying when they came downstairs. I tried giving him a hug, but he was having none of it, just crying and tugging on his pants. Jeff explained that Max was suddenly NOT a fan of the pirate pajama pants (never mind that he’s worn them oh, 50 times). His favorite owl jammies were in the wash, so we offered the dog jammies as his other option, and that was satisfactory. Since then we’ve been trying to give him a choice between two options whenever possible when dressing him, and that definitely helps.

And now, gymnastics photos! Maxwell and Daddy wait for class to start while admiring all the fun equipment:

Every class starts with the kids picking a small stuffed animal out of
a basket and then climbing up these ladders to retrieve it:

Running down the trampoline ramp. This ends in a big pit filled with foam blocks. Maxwell wasn’t too interested in jumping into the pit the first couple times, but by the third class he figured out that it was fun. To be honest, I wanted to jump in there myself. They even have a rope swing so you can swing out over the pit and then jump in. How fun is that?!

The balance beam:

And assorted other fun things: