We've known for a while, now, that Ayda was born to move. She loves dancing, running, climbing, jumping, you name it. Since watching a 1980's movie about Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci (one of Patrice's favorites when she was a kid), her new obsession has been gymnastics. So to give her another thing to work on in-between her somersaults and handstands, I thought it would be fun for her to have a mini balance beam. One of our neighbors had given us a stack of extra bed posts, so I took one and cut the knobs off both ends, covered it in faux leather (left over from a headboard we had reupholstered and some office chairs I took apart), and attached two pieces of scrap wood (also covered in faux leather) to the bottom to keep it from tipping over.
I think she likes it.
She made me put a ribbon in her hair, "like Nadia", and insisted on doing a couple Nadia poses (middle left, bottom right). I think she's going to like her birthday present this week. Patrice got her a couple of leotards & tights, and a three-week (8 lessons) tumbling class at our local rec center. Of course, this is all in preparation for January, when she officially becomes a preschool drop-out to pursue her gymnastics career (we're hoping to put her in beginning gymnastics classes at the university). Don't worry, she'll pick up school again when it's time for kindergarten. She's already been to a year and a half of preschool and is doing just fine academically. And no, we're not really planning on forcing her to become a world-famous olympian (but wouldn't that be cool?!).
Materials:
Bed Post (had an extra on hand)
Scrapwood
Faux Leather (leftovers from upholstered headboard and some scraps off a broken office chair)
Screws
Cost: $0
Time: About an hour
