Olympics 2028??

Climbers and Non-Climbers.  Kids fall into one of those two categories.  Katie is most definitely a climber.  Since she was old enough to walk she climbed everything in sight.  We had a baby gate around our kitchen table for months because if we didn't she would climb right up and have a little party up there.  As she has gotten older, her climbing has changed, but not subsided.  Her most recent climbing feats are.....

1) She climbs the outside of the staircase, her toes on the small overhand of the step and her hands holding onto the spindles.

2) She has discovered the ability to climb up her 5 drawer dresser by putting her feet into the groves and her hands on the knobs.  How did I find this out you might ask?  I went to get her after quiet time and she was playing with the jewelry from the jewelry box which is ALWAYS on top of the dresser.  When I asked how she got to the jewelry, she demonstrated quite proudly her newest techniques.

So, what to do with a climber....um, I don't know.  I don't pretend to be a parenting expert here.  I figure you just embrace it.  So we enrolled her in Gymnastics and today was her first lesson.  At first (as always) she was reluctant to leave Matt and I and join the class.  Then, she pouted through the first 2-3 minutes of class while they were stretching.  Once the floormat activities began, she decided she was going to like it.  By the end, she was loving it!

Its always a struggle for Katie to get acclimated to new people and new surroundings.  She did such a wonderful job today and made her mommy and daddy proud.