Jumping Bean

Recalling the amount of energy young girls can put out, Grandma and Grandpa Righter had a particular birthday present in mind for Reese--a trampoline. Mommy and Aunt Kim had a mini trampoline as kids and Grandma loves to recall how it earned "an exhaustion rating of 10 out of 10" by a parenting magazine. Parents now must know the same secret, because when Grandma and Grandpa looked into getting one for Reese it was on back order for almost 8 weeks. In order to make sure it arrived before her birthday they put in their order immediately.
The back order notice must have incorrect (or a giant shipment suddenly arrived) because Reese's trampoline arrived on our door step shortly after our beach trip--two months before her birthday.

Since outdoor time is limited for us due to the heat, we immediately assembled it, and there hasn't been a day without jumping in our house since. The first few days, Reese would spend LONG stretches of time jumping, now she opts for many quick spurts during the day, sometimes with the company of her stuffed animals. The trampoline has become a mini-jungle gym of sorts for her. Not only does she jump on it, she crawls under it (army-man-style), and loves to jump and then throw herself out onto the floor while hanging onto the bar. (VERY scary the first time I witnessed it--but think uneven bar action and you get the gist.) She loves to tell us how high she's jumping, or that she's a "jumping bean" or a "kangaroo." Just recently, when she jumps, she tries pulling her knees to her chest or alternating between jumping with her feet close together and far apart (think jumping jacks). If this keeps up will gymnastics be in our future? She already loves trying to do somersaults....