Perfect

I think this picture of the boys is perfect. Of course I only got it because I was trying not to. I was trying to take a picture of Josh, alone, looking past me (not at the camera and not smiling). He slid over, put his arm around Lucas, and they both looked directly at the camera and smiled. They look gorgeous. If I had tried to take this picture, it never would have worked.

Josh makes Lucas laugh with pretend hiccups (and ice cream)

Josh's new song

Lucas Gymnastics post 1

Lucas' class starts with bubble popping, and he is often one of the most energetic in chasing them down, catching and popping them. But he's more pensive in this particular photo:


Walking the low-low beam all by himself (he can also do the low beam, 6" off the ground or so, all by himself, but anything above that and I make him hold my hand, although he is increasingly trying to shake me off):


Landing on the "vault" pad after launching off the jump board:


And landing his dive off the high vault:

Lucas Gymnastics post 2

The rings circuit, which Lucas is becoming very good with. He knows to pull his legs up when he swings through, can almost bring his toes to his hands, and surprisingly has the upper body strength in that tiny body to lift himself all around:


Inverted Lucas!:
and he loves it, look at his smile!


Trying a new trick:

Success!:

And another climbing wall, another of his favorites:

Lucas gymnastics part 3

Apologizes to Josh, it was easier to get pictures of Lucas because, when I was trying to get pictures of Josh, Lucas kept sprinting off to try to join Josh's class and I'd have to stop with the camera and catch him. So I have a few more of Lucas.

Class ends with group time, usually with the parachute but sometimes with rings or some other fun thing. Today it was parachutes and balloon catching:

Josh Gymnastics Photos

Learning to flip himself over, a trick he shows off at the playground all the time:


And on the high bar:


Monkeying around on the parallel bars:


Another kind of flip around:

Big smiles. The girl sitting to the right, Gabby, was also in Josh's 2-year-old preschool classroom. They were buddies then, and now they have been reunited years later in gymnastics class:

Josh part 2

Practicing his hand stand with a wall climb:


On the beam circuit, going sideways, and being held up by the kid next to him (and if you were able to see the video, you know that kid doesn't succeed in slowing Josh down for much longer):


Beam #2 of this circuit: crawling downhill:


Beam #3, going backward (Ascher "mysteriously" now missing):

And finally, the high beam:

Josh's gymnastics class

Here is a short video of Josh in gymnastics class. This was shot while he was on the "beam" circuit (though he is best at bars). It's funniest (to me) when he gets to the third beam and, tired of being slowed down by the kid in front of him, just knocks him off and keeps going. Perhaps not the best behavior, but funny (and that kid causes a lot of problems in class so he's not exactly a hapless victim). I'll post some pictures too later, but am trying to get these videos up tonight.

Lucas' gymnastics class

And here's Lucas, climbing the rock wall (which he can do all by himself!)--his favorite thing. And then learning to dive off after--a new trick. Lucas LOVES gymnastics class.

Sorry that the video is sideways. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to turn it once it's shot that way, and I keep forgetting not to shoot that way in the first place. Hopefully it's cute enough to justify the neck craning.