Gym-nice-tics?

I took Gavin to gymnastics last night fully accepting of he idea that this would be our last gymnastics class. We had paid for the whole month so I wasn't going to let this last Monday go to waste and besides, I must admit that I was holding out on the hope that there would be some major turn-a-round in his behavior.

I talked up this "last" gymnastics class all weekend. I told him that unless he participated in class.... unless he listened to me and Miss Erica.... unless he did what he was supposed to do... we would NOT come back to the gym. If he cried or refused to do class we were going to go home and that was it. Gymnastics all done. The entire drive to the gym I quizzed him on the consequences of his actions:

"Gavin, what happens if you cry?"

"We go home. We don't come back."

"Gavin, what happens if you don't listen to me or Miss Erica."

"We go home. We don't come back."

"Do you like class?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to do gymnastics?"

"Yes, I do class. I do my exercises. I listen. I be good."

Lo and behold, this was his best gymnastics class EVAH. He did the entire class from the warm-up to the stretches to the boring old circuits he has done sixteen million times before to the bars which are right next to a giant fan that he usually becomes obsessed with and refuses to do class. He was fantastic and performed effortlessly and appeared to have a lot of fun. He was happy and excited and even hugged me after all of his big moves. Are you ready for this?

He even waited his turn.

Waited.
His.
Turn.

Snowball fight in hell at 3:00. Be there or be square!!!!!

So, it looks like we're going to give gymnastics another month. If he acts up during a class or doesn't want to particiapte, we'll just leave and then talk to him all week about the upcoming class and give it one last shot. I hope this class was his last "last shot" but we'll see.

I also kind of sort of bonded with a new mom. Her son is three and a half and pretty much acted like how Gavin acted last week the entire time. She looked embarrassed and frazzled and I just smiled and asked if she wanted to do some DNA testing to find out if our boys were related.

At the end of class, the instructor called the kids over to get stamps and coloring sheets- their weekly rewards- by saying, "alright kids, over here with me for stamps!!" I muttered under my breath, "alright parents, over with me for margaritas." New mom heard me and smiled, high-fived me, and told me we definitely needed to make plans for a night out with margaritas.

That's right, I got a high five. I think new mom and I are on our way to becoming fast friends. We both have crazy sons, a penchant for liquor, and we both have been moms for so long that we have forgotten how to appropriately interact with other adults- hence, the high five.