Maya has a dream...

Maya has a dream. Every day before bedtime, when she wakes up in the middle of the night, when she gets out of bed in the morning, when we head off to the park, she always makes the same request.

"Mommy. Up-and-down class. I want up-and-down class! I get older. I can do it. Up-and-down class."

Any guesses as to what she wants? Well, if you can't figure it out, I'll tell you. She wants to take gymnastics class! She has been asking for "up-and-down class" multiple times a day for at least four months. And it is not just any up-and-down class, it is a specific one (though I doubt she's be choosy). She wants "up-and-down class, one with the ball, with the music". Translated, that means she wants the rhythmic gymnastics class, you know, the one where they dance with the ball.

You might be curious about how she knows about gymnastics. Well, at the Gezira club in Zamalek, the gym where gymnastics classes are is right next door to the toddler playground. So she gets to watch them when we go to the park. And she loves it. Unfortunately, kids cannot enroll in classes at the club until their third birthday (and even then I think the club prefers them to be a little older). So Maya has at least nine long more months before she will be able to take up-and-down class.

She is already practicing the moves though. She can do a somersault while holding a ball over her head. And she can do the splits, and she pretends to make dance moves like the girls in the class. She also saw a picture of a girl doing ballet in a book we have about kids around the world, and she has already decided she also wants to do ballet, and requested "shoes like ballet".

We have told her that she can take up-and-down class (or ballet) once two things happen. She has to turn three years old, and she has to be potty trained. Once those two things happen, we will put her in up-and-down class. She does however, have a backup in case up-and-down class doesn't work out. She also wants to take "basketball class".