He'll never be a gymnast...

I can predict without hesitation that James will never be a gymnast. He may end up majoring in quantum physics, but he'll never take the Russians on the mat. In all fairness, nailing the somersault can be a bit of a bitch, particularly when you inherit your athletic prowess from me.

I found these video clips when downloading a gargantuan amount of crap off my camera. I could not stop laughing. The first one is James attempting to nail it at 18 months, and he takes great pride in his attempts, as he should. His face-plants are rather magnificent.

The second clip is where shit gets nasty. It's about a year later, and he's still working on perfecting his technique. He comes awfully close to pulling it off, but the worm near the end to gain momentum ends rather badly. Go to the two-minute mark in the video to see what I mean.

And truly, I did not mean to laugh when he fell off the bed...I may be his Mom, but I'm not made of wood. You try watch it and not laugh. I dare you. It's been classified as a fan favourite in our household. After seeing it, Peanut declared: "Way to go, Jimmy! You somersaulted when you fell!"

Lesson for the kids: It doesn't matter how you get there, or how pretty it looks, what's important is getting it done. (Next up, a word on ethics.)

p.s. He was OK. No wounds, if you don't count a bruised ego. He was back at it in under a minute.