Being Three
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Natalie turned 3 at the end of June. She moved up to the 3's class in gymanstics a week later, on the recommendation of her teacher.
The 3's class is quite the jump from the 2's...45 min. instead of 30min., much more difficult throughout the class. She is in a class with 4 girls who are close to 4 and have been in it for a year, so they are pretty clear on what to do and really need help just for perfecting the moves, not just doing them. Natalie needs help with just about everything so far, getting her placement, understanding the move, etc. I think she realizes that and also realizes that she has to think more throughout the class. In the 2's, she was one of the best in her class, and all of her teachers said so. Now, she needs the most help.
The last 2 weeks she has cried at some point during the class. I finally went in this week. She came up with multiple reasons she was crying "I'm hungry" (no, just had lunch) "I have to go potty" (no, just went) "I miss Riff & Shelby" (our dogs, no).
Then, through tears, she lays it on me: "Mommy, I don't want to be 3 anymore."
Is that not the sweetest thing? I could have cried myself because I was thinking I don't want you to be 3 anymore either because you're growing too fast for us. DH and I talked later about how we've been talking so much about all these new things...riding her bike, going to preschool in a month, changing classes at gymnastics, going potty start to finish with zero help....all based on being 3. We didn't even think that maybe we would be overwhelming her with this "number"....we're just excited for her.
Anyway, as far gymanstics goes, we're going to evaluate the situation for a few more weeks and go from there. It was just so hard to hear her say that!
Awww. It would have made me cry for sure.
Just let them know she can't handle it...I'm sure they could put her back in the other class?
The teacher feels fine with her in there and it's obvious she's ready to move out of the other class. She just does this with transitions, and it's hard on us, and it *is* a big jump in the curriculum. We won't pull her out unless it's really necessary, but until that does/doesn't happen, we worry. 
Update: This is crazy but Natalie's crying at gymnastics stopped 2 weeks ago and we figured out why! It had nothing to do with the content of the class. She is doing fantastic now because she's finally focused on what she's being asked to do again. Here's what happened:
During the 2nd week of this class, very unusually, she just walked off from her class saying "I have to go pee-pee". I saw her from the window and realized a)the teacher doesn't know she's walking out and b)she's walking right onto the floor exercise area where some high school girls were working on tumbling. (They normally aren't there but it's a summer camp for the advanced girls). One of the girls picks her up and makes sure she gets to the bathroom. I meet her there. As I'm helping her in the bathroom, I tell her how important it is to tell her teacher when she has to go so that she knows where she is. Also, that she needs to walk on the white line because the "big girls are doing flips and they might hit you if they don't see you."
From that week on, tears everytime a big girl is even remotely in the same area as her class. She watched them out of the corner of her eyes, didn't pay attention to the teacher because she was too busy worrying about them. It took us a few weeks but she finally said one day, nonchalantly while playing on her swingset that "I hope those big girls don't hit me someday". It clicked!!!! I had said "they might hit you" (run over you tumbling) and she heard "hit me" (punch me!).
Once we figured that out it was easy, LOL! the big girls came over and talked to her and she's been on cloud 9 ever since. She's back to being her old relaxed self during class and she's doing so well. I'm so impressed with the new things she's picked up and it's all because she's able to concentrate on her teacher again and not thinking about getting beat up by a "big girl"!
Sometimes the things we say so innocently in explanation get taken COMPLETELY the wrong way. Isn't that crazy?! Bless her heart.
Poor thing. She must have been so nervous! I'm gld you figured that out and could explain it to her, and that the girls could talk to her and she realizes they won't intentionally hurt her.
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