YMCA Classes

I signed Everett up for two classes at the YMCA this summer: beginning swimming and tots' basketball. He really enjoyed them both, but I think swimming was his favorite. It was a great class. There were only four boys in the class, and one of the boys didn't come a lot of the time. Since his class coincided with the Y-Play childcare, I could just drop Ashley and William off so I didn't have to worry about them during the class.

Everett loved jumping into the pool. They were all pretty good about taking turns and waiting, which was a relief.

Basketball was also enjoyable. Everett had trouble on his first day with all the new faces, but he relaxed and had a lot of fun after that. I wasn't so concerned with him really learning the skills (like dribbling) as I was interested in him having a chance to run around with some other boys.

They began each day with two laps around the track (one lap is 1/12 of a mile, so it wasn't that far). Everett really looked forward to this.

I usually let Ashley do it, too. She would complete one lap by the time everyone else finished two, but she never seemed to mind.

This looks like they're playing a real game. The other boy is just helping Everett get his ball in. Everett was always hesitant to throw it in; he always wanted to just tip it in which was a problem because he is so short.

Have you heard of the game Mr. Fox? Everett and the other boys loved this game and asked to play it during every class. I don't know what this has to do with basketball, but I didn't care. I was just glad they got to run around and get tired.

Mr. Fox starts on one side of the room while the other players are on the opposite side. The players ask Mr. Fox what time it is, and they have to take the correct number of steps (6 for 6 o'clock, etc.). When they get close, Mr. Fox says "dinnertime!" and they all run to the other side before he can catch them. That is when this picture was taken.

Ashley always wanted to play. I tried to be really careful about this because I didn't pay for her to be in the class (she is too young anyway), and I did not want the teachers to think I was taking advantage of them. However, sometimes they invited her to play, and yes, Ashley was always thrilled. Everett loved having her play and would always be very careful and help her know what to do. In this picture he is telling her to stop because they had already reached the correct number of steps.

When Mr. Fox announced that it was dinnertime, Everett always made sure Ashley was running with him, even if it meant lagging behind and getting eaten. It was fun to see him "saving" his sister.

This is how I usually kept Ashley occupied:

Drawing--with an actual pen! (they are not allowed to use pens at home.)

Snacks. This bag of baby goldfish stayed in my purse and lasted for many classes.

I took a couple of videos of Everett one day. He finally learned how to shoot by actually throwing the ball. I think he wasn't confident enough to let go of it before it hit the rim. The first part is how his shooting usually looked. The second part is after he learned to do it correctly (well, sort of). The third part is him working up to an amazing trick. . .with the most anti-climactic ending possible. I don't know if Everett will ever really love basketball, but it will be fun to show him these videos when he gets older.

(password: basketball)