I have never really gotten into cheer leading. I was never a cheerleader and I never had the desire to be one. Cheer leading was something that I rarely ever thought about. My only real experience with cheer leading was with my former high school students. In such a small private high school the cheer leading tryouts were not very competitive. Even though I supported my cheerleaders as their teacher, I did not truly understand or appreciate the value and benefit of their presence until recently.
In the last eight weeks I have reentered into the world of altheticism to the degree that I am trying to get my post partum body back into a more athletic state. One of the biggest struggles of getting back into the game, is making sure my baby is content while I workout. I feel rather fortunate in this area because my daughter is one of the most mild mannered babies that I have ever encounter (and she is mine!). For the first few weeks my daughter was generally happy sleeping (as long as she is well nursed). A few weeks after that she was very content to just watch me as I exercised. However in the past week or so she has taken great pleasure in being my little cheerleader. As I get ready to start my workout she is getting warmed up for her own feats. Once the music starts and I start moving to the instructions, she starts kicking her legs and waving her arms. Then she starts smiling, giggling, and cooing in my general direction. When I take a breath to coo back at her (sometimes I have to catch my breath first), she gets even more excited. She smiles, laughs, and coos while doing her moves for half of the length of the workout. Then she falls asleep. My baby daughter is my favorite cheerleader. Now I can really appreciate the motivation in a cheer!