The Big Trampoline...

Fridays are gymnastics days. Ava used to take gymnastics "classes" but got pretty tired of having to wait her turn and do what the teacher told her to. My little independent gymnast. So, instead we go Fridays from 11-12 for open gym. There she can run amuck from apparatus to apparatus (oh, the germs!) spending as much or as little time on each as her heart desires.

The gym we go to has two sections, a large, more professional-looking area, and a smaller, more colorful, much more padded area. Ava has always gone straight to the latter side of the gym, where balance beams aren't that far off the ground, bars are within reach and everything looks like a box of Crayolas exploded on it. But today, she surprised me and headed straight for the "big side" as she calls it. She started out on a trampoline strip - running back and forth and then flopping onto a red mat (FLOP TIME! Just for you G-Pa), laughing hysterically each time as if it were a new experience. I love that! Then she announced she would begin jumping. Now, my daughter is talented in so many ways: she's smart, she has a memory like an elephant, she has great rhythm (you should see her shake her booty), but master jumper she is not. Let's face it, white girl can't jump. Her "jumps" are more of an over-exaggerated toe-up. Although, I must say, in recent weeks her feet have actually been getting off the ground on occasion... and both at the same time.

Anywho, while "jumping" something at the far corner of the gym caught her attention: pigtails. These pigtails were flying and flailing about. These pigtails were attached to a little girl. And this little girl was jumping up and down on the mother of all trampolines. Large it was not, but extra bouncy... ooooh yeaaah.

So, off she went. Her little legs chugging along while the rest of her body tried to catch up. Finally, she arrives, steps foot on the trampoline when the mouth on the head attached to the pigtails says, "You can't get on here. Only one person on this trampoline." Oh, the look on Ava's face. I could have stuffed those pigtails into that little brat's mouth. Sorry, Mama Bear Complex. I want to say something, but bit my tongue to see how Ava would react. "We can share the trampoline," she says and steps on and begins bouncing. That's my girl! And boy did she bounce. This was the bounciest of all trampolines. Both feet were in the air, her knees were bent, her arms were flapping about, her smile stretched from ear to ear. Awesome! Then pigtails says, "Please get off, you're going to break it. There's too many of us on here." Ava ignores her, "Look at me, Mommy." So, the little girl with the pigtails, which at this point, I think may not be so much a hairstyle but a disguise for her horns says, "Fine, if you won't get off, I'll make you get off." She begins to jump with all her might and bounces poor Ava off the trampoline. Yeah, she's evil. I was sure Ava was going to start crying, but instead she gets up, says, "hrumpf" looks at the girl and with her most stern voice says, "No, no, girl. That wasn't nice! You don't jump me off the trampoline!" I wanted to laugh because here is this teeny little girl giving a 10-year-old the what-for. So, my brave little toaster hops back on the trampoline. The evil-girl now says, "Get off." Ava ignores her again. Beelzebob tells me to get Ava off. I ignore her. Her cousin jumps on the trampoline. She yells at him to get off. He ignores her. So, everyone is having a good time. Except for Pigtails. Secretly, I'm glad. Take that you little turd!

Eventually, Ava gets all bounced out. She leaves the trampoline and says, "Bye, girl." Hey, she got to bounce, she's not going to hold grudges. As we walk away she holds my hand and says, "Mommy, that girl wasn't being a good sharer. But I was. I shared the trampoline. That was a good choice." "It sure was, honey. Doesn't it feel good to share?" "Yes, Mama. Can I have some fishy crackers, now?"