Back At The Gym

I think the caption for this picture should be "It's Okay Officer, I've Subdued the Suspect."
I asked them to pose together and this is the way Natalie wanted to do it. Looks suspiciously like a headlock to me, but Owen didn't seem to mind too much. Nat insisted it was a hug.

Natalie and Owen started gymnastics last week. Natalie had been on "a break" for quite a few months now, ever since the Gymnastics Incident of 2009 not long after Owen came home. She was not quite herself back then, and we had a horrible meltdown and tantrum the likes of which I don't care to remember. Thus, the break. I'm happy to report that she seems to have come back from the dark side, and has regained her bounce. It really does seem like the old Natalie is back. So we started at a new gymnastics place, and she seems to really like it a lot. Plus a good friend from preschool happens to be in the same class. Oh happy day!

This is the picture I got when I asked to see their muscles.

Owen spent his first class mostly being worried about where Nahhhleee was. We can see her class through some windows, and he kept wanting to go look for her. This week was much better, and I think he is really going to like the class. He raised some eyebrows with his ring performance and rope climbing already. My new nickname for him might be Popeye. The first thing he did on the rings was pull his feet up above his hands and hold them there, and his teacher was all "Oh my. He is very strong!" This, I know. Then his rope-scaling tricks had people wondering how much spinach I've been feeding him. He is seriously strong and monkey-like, and can already climb a rope further than his mother. Not that that is saying much. Or anything, really.

I'm doubly happy about this class, because I had a discussion with an occupational therapist lady today (who works with the speech therapy people) about sensory disorder issues. He's improved so much since coming home that I don't necessarily think he has big sensory issues, but there are some behaviors (crashing into things, jumping off of things, using too much force with things) that can be related to sensory-seeking behaviors and are not uncommon after orphanage life. Anyway, her first recommendation was to get him into something like gymnastics. Hooray! We're already there! It apparently helps him understand where his body is in relation to other things (wondering if that means it helps him realize that he's flying through the air or speeding off the furniture....). Anyway, it's all good. She said sports will be a good thing for this boy. Can you imagine a happier father than Jim being told to do lots of sports with his son? I don't think we have to worry about that one. My only issue will be how to keep up with all three of them, I think.