I signed the kids up for a new class that the gym offers through February. It's basically an open gym format where they setup the inflatable bounce house and obstacle course along with tumbling mats and toys. Last week was our first session and the kids had a blast! The gym had an event planned for our second class so they shortened the time frame for the session and they also gave us only 1/3 of the gym to use as the rest was being setup for the event they had planned. This left things awfully crowded and there were a bit more bumps and bruises occurring.

Rory kept getting into confrontations with all the extra kids she had to share equipment with. If you don't know this, I'm a stand and watch type of parent, I like to see if the kids can solve their own issues before getting involved. So while I was surprised to see Rory quick to defend her turf, I silently stood by and made sure it wouldn't get out of hand. Usually she'd lose interest, every now and then I'd have to remind her that the equipment is everybody's to play with or I'd have to remove her. Pretty standard stuff for a two year old.

As surprising as Rory's assertiveness was, Max's protection of Rory was astounding! Whenever Rory got upset with someone playing with or taking a piece of equipment away and Max saw Rory get into an argument? He would run over and get between Rory and the other kid and either get up into the other kids face or sit on the object and proclaim, "That's Rory's!"

You guys, it was like watching a mob movie where someone starts to get into a verbal argument with the mobster and one if his cronies comes in to finish the job for him. Rory would usually just completely lose interest once Max showed up as if it was no longer her problem!

Now, I remember playing at playgrounds with my sisters and the three of us sticking up for each other, but being the parent on the sidelines is just a completely different experience. It's certainly led to some interesting conversations with my kids as we work on sharing, empathy, and finding out the whole story before picking sides. I think this new class is going to give us a lot more work then I bargained for!