purple ribbon

Right before Thanksgiving, I signed the kids up for gymnastics.  Their classes are at the same time, I stick with Kaitlyn in her class to keep her from falling off something dangerous and Ry's class is across the gym doing fun stuff like swinging from the rings, climbing on the parallel bars and bouncing on trampolines.  Sounds fun, right?
Well, in true Ryan fashion, he was slow to warm up to it.  The first 4 classes or so were filled with tears.  In fact, the second class he opted to sit in the waiting area and watch everyone from behind the glass instead of participate.  For the entire 45 minutes he sat in his chair!  Stubborn kid.  But, wanting to teach him that quitting is not really an option, we persevered and continued to endure the whining and crying, knowing that eventually he may actually crack a smile.  He also learned that he has the chance to earn ribbons for performing certain skills for the first time.  This was what kept us going.  Talking about the ribbons.
Over the weeks Ryan was getting more comfortable, but today was glorious.  He ran right off to join his group without a whimper or a tear in his eye, and actually looked like he was having fun the entire time!  AND he earned the purple ribbon….for doing a forward somersault without help.  A somersault is something Ryan has been able to do for awhile, but he finally did it in class today without being scared or crying or needing encouragement.  And it was exactly the lesson I wanted him to experience, how good it feels to get what you work hard for!
Who knows how much longer we'll continue with gymnastics (for Kaitlyn's sake hopefully a little longer, the girl loves it!), but after today's performance I don't really care.  Ryan can call the shots now.
I am proud of you buddy.

way to go big guy!