Austin's Olympic sports

Austin has been exploring and discovering new sources of entertainment or accomplishments lately. While I don't think we will see any of these "sports" at the London 2012 Olympics, Austin is enthralled with them.

Jumping...Austin has watched many events with jumping in them...like diving (jumping in the water), a little track and field and gymnastics (which in his estimation involved jumping). So he cannot actually jump, but will stand there and move up and down and say "Austin jumping".

Hanging...I think this started in Thailand, where we often rode "songtows", a kind of truck with seats that also has a bar above your head that you hold on to. When we rode the songtow, Austin would often want to "hang"- put both hands on the bar, though he wouldn't actually completely hang enough to hold his own weight. Now on the subway he wants to "hang" onto the hand rail. When we go outside he wants to hang on the jungle gym. He has seen the shu shu's (uncles) hanging during gymnastics routines. Today though marked an Austin record. He hung on a bar on the swing set by himself holding all his weight. His feet were about 6 inches off the ground, so it wasn't high but he was pretty proud of himself. "Austin hanging" is what he says.

Slingshot- today Austin found a big rubber band. For about 30 minutes after getting it, he kept popping it with his two hands so it would fly across the room. He would switch which hand would release it and you never knew which direction it would fly in. I think that was part of the fun- he would laugh every time and then do it again. And yesterday he discovered a measuring tape. We had guests still with us and our friend Josh would hold the base while Austin would pull the tape out as far as it would go and then release it, giggling in delight as it flew back into the holder.

Boom- Not sure what else to call this sport, since that is what Austin calls it. He will run as fast as he can straight into the couch and "boom" down on the seat cushion. He used to want me or Chris to pick him up and "throw" him on the couch, but thankfully for my pregnant back, he now will just run and throw himself onto it. Maybe practice for the longjump?

Well, that is it for the Austin Olympics...though he may have created new sports by the time you read this. A treat today was getting a brief visit with friends Matt and Laura- they flew up from their city in the south to go to the Olympics for a few days and they stopped by before heading to the airport. It is fun to have good friends see where you live and be in your home...since most of my best friends have never done that. All right, that is it for today.