Little Gym

I decided it was time for Marcelo to have a hand at some kind of organized activity, something he could do individually. I thought time without his older sister would be good for him. Having an older sibling always at his side is effectively like an automatic supply of self confidence in your pocket. It's nice, it's convenient but I want to make sure he has his own sense of self confidence that doesn't depend on Sofia's presence and Sofia always "going first".

Marcelo has always been very sociable and outgoing anyway. He loves to dance and recently, sing. He likes to jump and run. So we enrolled him in Little Gym class where he could do all of these things and have a chance to socialize and learn to be part of a group. He will also get individual Daddy time which is probably just as important. And Ray will reap some benefits as well albeit maybe not as life affirming. But getting out of the house is a welcome reprieve when you work at home.

On Marcelo's first day, we all went to see how he would do. Before going, I asked him if he would like to go to a gym class like the one Sofia used to go to where he used to watch her. He said yes. I'm not sure how much he understood that this was something we were all going to do for him. Since nothing has ever been just about him before, I don't really think he got that in essence, Sofia didn't get to do something that he was going to get to do.

When it was time to go in, I think he still expected Sofia to go in with him. We explained Daddy would go with him and he was OK. For the first fifteen minutes or so, he was very shy. Ray kind of dragged him around doing the activities like running in a circle. It took him a while to assimilate what this whole thing was about and what his part was going to be in it. Was he going to be made to do stuff he didn't want to do, was it going to be fun, was it going to be scary --all things that needed to be considered, I'm sure. Then suddenly, after the deliberation was apparently complete, he just started doing things, running here and there, wanting to try everything. By the end, he was the most enthusiastic child there. His cheeks were red with fun-filled excitement and satisfaction at this new activity.

I'm so glad we took him there. It's a positive experience for him in the "terrible two's year" that I hope will help mitigate some of the terribleness. He has been to two more classes just with Ray since, and he has done really well at the gymnastics activities, the group activities, and of course a little flirting with the teacher on the side never hurt anyone.