gyms, music, and pushiness.

I've been a terrible blogger lately. Well done to Rich for holding down things here! But a quick blog from me to share some photos of Raf's gym class. Remember the terrible first class we reported a month or so ago? Well, things have improved vastly. While he always has fun, today he really started to get into the spirit of the actual class. I do believe that he even took part in one or two of the warm-up exercises (usually he is climbing all over my back.. and though he did do that still, he joined in with the other kids quite a bit).

He LOVED the different stations, especially the rings (video below), and poor little Raf cried when the first part came to an end. I had to reassure him that more was to come. Mind you, he started to cry again when he had to wait his turn to go on the bouncy castle, but he did a very nice job when it was his time to come on out (I was a little worried about that part).

I think that these classes are really helping Raf. On Friday morning he goes to a Music Together class. It can be a bit hit and miss, and lately, when Rich has taken him, he's had a couple of meltdowns when it comes to collecting an instrument from the box in the middle. Without being there I couldn't work out why he was having such a hard time, but yesterday I took him. It was a little heartbreaking when it came to the part of him choosing an instrument. He ran to the box with the other kids but then hung back waiting for everyone to finish before he tried to look for something. The problem was that the kids kept coming back for more instruments so he never got a turn... Eventually I went to help him and took his hand and helped him move past some of the others. Raf doesn't really strike me as a nervous or unconfident boy, but he definitely was struggling to be a little assertive during class. I do love that he isn't a pushy little thing, but of course I do worry that he might be one day pushed around.

So much to worry about.