Monkey Bars

Unfortunately Ally still cannot reach the monkey bars by herself at the park. We make a HUGE pile of wood chips to act as a step for her and she jumps as high as she can, but no luck, still not tall enough.

Fortunately Ally does not seem bothered by this predicament. All of her friends can reach and she still is not bummed or upset about it. I often think what a gift it is to be so comfortable with one's self as to never be upset by our physical appearance or limitations. But she truly never is. One of my favorite lines this year at school from her was when one of her friends said "I am bigger than you" and Ally's reply was "well I am bigger than Finn" Finn is a tiny 2 year old in the youngest class at school. But Ally has the most incredible positive attitude about size. I think the fact that she is growing and she does get bigger and better at things so she can see her own progression helps. And her size has an advantage in some things. We carry her more than if she was a larger child. I can swing her way up high like she is flying and I can't do that if she was 10 or 15 or 20 pounds heavier like some of her friends. It's easy for us to boost her up to the bars, afterall at the gym I am lifting 40-50 pounds regularly and a fully clothed Ally is about 31 pounds!

I think gymnastics helps. It gives her confidence a boost that she is in the big girl class and her friends are not. And she is good at it. She has been asked to be in an advanced class. Becky and I debated about it and talked with our parents, and with their support (thanks mom and dad) we decided to sign her up. She starts the end of June going twice a week for 90 minutes for the summer session. We'll see how it goes. For now she is excited at going to gymnastics 2 times a week instead of 1. As long as she likes it, gets something positive from the experience and we can manage it we'll do it.

Swinging on the monkey bars. In typical Ally stubborn fashion she insists on doing them up hill so she goes from lowest to the ground up hill to the higher bars.

And her form is unbelievable - she one arms for almost a 5 second count then reaches for the next bar. It's not really a swing like most people do it.


She loves it!

So much fun to swing.