kate the great

At any given time, on any given day, there is a good chance you will find Kate on her head. In a headstand, that is.



Kate is, as Emmy would say, a great "gymnasticker". She loves, loves, loves gymnastics, and is such a determined, strong gal that she is pretty good at it too! Once she finds a skill that she wants to master, she works and works at it until she's got it down.

For instance (even though this isn't really a gymnastics skill it's a great Kate story), one time Kate decided she wanted to learn how to jump rope. This was a few years ago and she was just learning. I was in kitchen doing the dishes and Kate asked me to help her count and see how many times she could jump rope without making a mistake. She decided to jump 100 times in a row. Always optimistic, I suggested that she might want to start out with a goal of 10 or even 20 jumps in a row. But no, Kate wouldn't be deterred. She was determined to do 100 jumps in a row, without a mistake. It took quite a while, and I thought she would get discouraged and change her mind. Knowing Kate, I should have known better! She kept on jumping, starting over each time she made a mistake. Before the afternoon was over, she had mastered jumping 100 jumps in a row. I cheered her on, thinking that she would be glad to be done. Instead, she grinned and said, "Now I'm going to count to 200 jumps!" And she did!

So you can imagine Kate's excitement when she received a letter last month inviting her to join the Gymnastics Pre-Team at the gym where she's been taking gymnastics this past year. She carried her letter around for days, showing everyone her exciting news. She was so excited, in fact, that the night of the parents meeting, she and her doll, Emily, both wore their leotards to the meeting!

Kate is loving her time on the pre-team, which means that she will work with the coach to master the skills she needs to compete on the team level. And if we know Kate, she'll master them for sure!

We love our Kate the Great!