Meet Season is Upon Us!

We are smack in the middle of Gymnastics's Meet Season for Number One.  The traveling is killing me.  I never knew how much sitting in a car and driving places could tire you out.  Plus, eating yucky food on the road.

This weekend, Number One and I stayed with my friend Stacy.  She and I've been friends since we were four!  We used to both take piano lessons at Mrs. Nichols' house.  Friends for a lifetime, literally.  It's wonderful to have friends like that, who you can leave and come back to and it's like no time has ever past.  You're so comfortable with them, they're almost part of your family.   I really need to thank Stacy's husband Amir for making sure we had healthy food at their house. And by the way: Number One LOVED the smoothie you made. He talked about it three times on the ride home!

Number One attended the GAA's Men's Invitational in Kennesaw, Georgia.  We had to be there at 8 AM on Saturday morning (which is 7 AM our time).

We woke up, and I was just chatting with Stacy in the kitchen, and she says, "When are you going to get Number One up?"

I said, "Oh, I'll give him a little bit longer to sleep." 

Then I glanced at the clock and it said 7:15!  "Stacy, is that the right time?"

She nodded, and we went into full motion, waking up Number One, throwing on gymnastics's clothes, scarfing down part of a waffle, and then eating mint chocolate chip cookies in the car!  My iPhone had not changed over to Eastern time, so when I woke up I thought it was only 6:15!

We made it to the meet at 8:01, and my child who is punctual like I am said, "Mom, I'm late!" 

Of course, he wasn't.  They were just warming up on the floor.  The gym was well lit, and I went upstairs to join the other parents, grab a cup of coffee from the concession stand, and watch Number One compete.

Number One and the United Boy's Team before the competition at the GAA Men's Invitational

He did well, but the competition was fierce, and I think he was still weak from strep the week before and from going to Nashville and missing a few days in the gym.  Coach Ken was super proud of him though, and so was I. 

Here are his scores for the day:

Floor: 9.3 -- 4th overall (and I don't really have a video for this, because I didn't know he had started!  This was his best place of the day).

Pommel: 8.2 -- 8th overall (proud of this, as pommel horse is usually his weakest!)



Vault: 8.2 -- did not place.  He did a flip on vault, and then started crying.  It was heartbreaking for me, but he sat up, stuck his arm in the air, looked at the judge, and sucked it up until he joined his group.  Ken said it was his proudest moment of the meet, because Number One showed integrity and sportsmanship, even though he was upset with himself, and he scored better than we thought he would.

Rings: 8.3 -- tied for 6th with another child on his team. 

P Bars: 8.6 -- did not place

H-Bars: 9.7 -- did not place.  I looked at the list, and he came in 10th with that high of a score.  Like I said, fierce competition.  A child on his team took 1st in this event though!



He came in 8th all around, and I was so proud of him.  Afterwards, we went out to eat Chinese with Stacy and her son, and then saw Frankenweenie at the $1 theater.  Then Number One fell into bed around 6 PM and slept until 7 the next morning.  He was worn out!

Find Your Passion

I just spent half an hour searching the house for my iPhone headphones.  Half an hour.  My guess is that one of the little people who live with me has taken them.  I used to have two sets, so if one was misplaced (as is often the case in the disorganized world I live in) I'd have the other pair to wear. 

I finally decided it was getting too late in the morning to run and that looking for my headphones was not productive.  I needed them, because I'm doing this training program on RunKeeper and today I was supposed to do an 8x1 run: 1 minute Steady then 1.30 minutes Slow, Repeat 8 times for a total of 20 minutes.  I needed RunKeeper to tell me when to slow and when to go "steady."  I'm going to have to search the kids' rooms tonight, find my headphones, and then run.  I have to stay on my schedule.  It's my goal for the New Year.

One of my co-workers told me about a Kid's Marathon that W K Upchurch is sponsoring near us.  I went on the website yesterday, and I registered Number One (without asking him--how's that for parenting?).  I think this is such a great idea to get kids active.  They run or walk the first 25 miles on their own, leading up to the race day.  There's a sheet that can be printed off and filled in to show they've completed their 25 miles.  On race day, they (along with one parent) run the remaining 1.2 miles.  They receive a medal and the satisfaction of knowing that they've "completed" a marathon.  Such a great idea!!!  I'm excited to take Number One out running with me now. 

And speaking of Number One: He finally received his ultra-expensive gymnastics's uniform, and boy was he proud of himself!  He claims this is a Level 5 uniform.  He's a Level 4, but his coach says he will definitely move up after this season.  He can pretty much already do the back handspring.  He's just perfecting it.

 

 

And yes, the muscle pose is his typical pose.  So proud of my guy and how far he has come over the last year.  He's really found his motivation, and has made himself happier.  When you have a challenging child, you always worry about their mental well being.  I'm starting to worry less and less about Number One, as I see him dedicate his life to a sport he loves, making good grades, and starting to make the right choices. He's found his passion in life. I'm just wondering how the 8 years passed by so fast.

 

I remember when he was 6 months old telling my Mom I couldn't believe how fast the time went by, and she laughed at me and said, "You'll be saying that in a minute, but he'll be 20." And she's right.  Time moves too quickly to waste even a minute of it not doing what you love.  I've realized that this year, and I've poured my heart back into writing.

 

What's your passion?

Get A Grip

Number One has always been full of energy.  He started crawling early, and he seems to move all the time, even in his sleep.

In February, he asked to do gymnastics again.  He had gone when he was little, and he had gone over a few summers at daycare, and he just really enjoyed it.  I thought, sure, why not?  An hour gymnastics class, once a week.

Over the summer he was picked for the boy's team.  He now attends gymnastics 6 hours a week.  He has done really well with it, and it gives him a place to channel his energy.

This past weekend, we took him up to Pelham for his first meet, the Get A Grip meet, and he came in third all around for his age group.  Here are a few photos and videos of our day!


He scored an 9.0 on the Rings.


Caden scored an 8.3 on the High Bar.

Caden scored 8.4 on the floor, and he came in 2nd place.