try try again

Melissa, you are not the first wise woman to suggest that I buy my son a Spiderman shirt. The first to suggest it was L, the woman who cares for him all day. I guess she was getting tired of seeing him in his pajamas all day and/or having to do the dirty work of MAKING him change out of them. One morning she said "Tommy, you'll have to ask your mom to get you some superhero t-shirts."

Could I be any more dense?

That very day I went out at lunchtime and bought a Spiderman shirt and a Batman shirt, and they have been added into the rotation. Today I actually bought him 2 more. The jammies he was wearing Sunday are somewhat new (used to be Henry's), and he "wanted to show them to Grandma and Grandpa." I tried to talk him out of it, and then said "I'm just going to let him wear them."

"Of course you are" was my husband's response. What do you think that means?!
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Due to a schedule conflict Monday evening, I took Henry along to Tommy's gymnastics class. Over a year ago I had enrolled both boys in gymnastics: Henry in a "special needs" class and Thomas in a 2 & 3 year old class. Henry hated it and stopped going. Thomas loved it and continued.

I called ahead to ask Tommy's teacher if it would be alright if Henry came along. After the preliminary "he's not signed up for the class so he can't legally use the equipment" spiel, she said that she would work with him as she had time and let him try some things out.

Henry said he just wanted to watch, but also seemed excited to be there. (I didn't carry him screaming and crying from the place before class even started, like I did last year, so we were off to a good start.) The kids start off running in place, then do some stretches, and then a warmup song. Henry took a spot next to his brother and started running (stiffly) in place, clutching his prints and his newest Disney magazine. He continued to do some of the stretches and not others, but all with an interested attitude.

Tommy liked showing him how it was done, and Henry willingly tried jumping into the foam pit, doing a forward roll, the balance beam, donkey kicks, crawling through a tunnel, hopping, and jumping on the trampoline. I was so, so pleased! At the end of the class, the teacher said "Henry, last year, when you were in my class, lots of times you said 'I can't do it.' Today, you know what I heard you saying? 'I did it!'"

So I am considering signing him up for the class again, although I think the appeal of Monday's class was that participation was OPTIONAL. If I am paying for the class, I am going to want him to participate more of the time.

After gymnastics, we went to Bob Evans' for dinner. Maybe I was trying to re-write history, because it's the same restaurant we went to after that ill-fated first gymnastics class last year. It was during the first (also ill-fated) attempt at potty-training Thomas, and I remember a stinky and messy incident with a pullup...

Anyway, as soon as our waitress came to the table, Henry announced "I want blueberry pancakes and lemonade please!" No time to look at the menu, he was hungry! So we ordered right away. Tommy started looking around and coloring the kids' menu. Henry immediately began asking "Are they making our food? Is it done yet? Is she bringing my pancakes? Is our food ready?" He would not be distracted, and asked nonstop about his food. It reached the point where Tommy got exasperated and said "No, Henry. Our food is not ready yet. It is not coming yet. We have to be patient." (I guess someone was listening to me.)

Henry ate every last bite of his meal, and most of his brother's. He had also visited my office that afternoon, and visited L's house when we picked up Tommy. It had been a very busy evening. He had a pretty rough day the next day at school- I wonder if he was over-tired.

So here's to waiting awhile and trying something again. Henry may not be an Olympic gymnast anytime soon, but now I at least feel like he has had a positive experience there, and the three of us had a pretty pleasant evening together. Kind of an extended Mother's Day.