Laundry List: My Sweethearts at The Tumble Gym

In my Monday post this week, I talked about my new job at the Sports Club. In case you’ve missed it, I'll just fill you in now: Surprise! I'm a tumbling instructor for little ones. It can be quite intimidating at times, but so rewarding and lovely. As I've taught the kiddos these last couple of weeks, I've come to adore and love them so much, as if they're my own. Maybe it's my tendency to become attached to everything and everyone quite easily, or maybe it's just that they're such sweethearts (not all of them, mind you). FYI, most of them are three or four years old. (I changed the names of the kiddos.)

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Graham, my first love: the one, who on my first day, blushed and tucked his chin when I asked for his name. He has the sweetest smile and such a bashful nature, but he's so handsome. You know when you meet a little one and you can just tell that they'll be so handsome or beautiful when they're grown up? He's got one of those faces with his cheeky little smile and his cute hair. But lots of kids are cute. It's his sweet, little personality that makes him such an angel.

Cash, the wild child: he doesn't listen to anyone, but he also doesn't talk back. He just lives in his own little world. Once, after he had jumped off the double mini and ran down the tumble track, another boy tried to act all big by saying, "Cash is the weirdest person in the world.” With what must have been the most hurt expression, I suppose, I said something along the lines of, "Riley. That is not nice. We don't say that." It wasn't even a disappointed voice. It was much more protective, and his mouth just closed like a heavy door as his eyes went blank. He turned and did his trick off the double mini, then likely forgot it had happened at all. I didn't forget though. Instead, I realized that despite being wildly unmanageable and difficult to teach, I adored Cache in favor of being untamed.

Then, there's Calvin, the fantastic little flipper. Though she's absolutely young and the tiniest kid for her age, she's got the magic. The girl throws roundoff-double-backhand-springs as if it's as easy as eating a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Most of her classmates can't even do cartwheels yet.

Dana, about three, always wears the funniest leos and has her hair tied up in a cute braid or up-do, it’s just precious. When it's time to do a new trick, I gather the class together and explain what we'll do, "Straight jump, half-turn, back-tuck-jump." Once I'm done talking, Dana looks up at me with wide eyes and says, "So we're doing straight jump, half-turn, back-tuck-jump?" I nod my head and give her a yes. Then, when it's her turn, she asks me the same question. And she asks me the next time too, but I just say, "Yep, Dana, the same one." She won't do her trick until I give her the thumbs up, and it's just adorable how careful she is. The little one has a heart of gold.