Somersaults Galore

Little Man is an acrobat, gymnast, crazy man extravaganza.  There isn't a thing that he hasn't tried to jump, climb or flip off of.  Amazingly enough he hasn't racked up too many injuries (knocking on wood right now!!), but he still gives me a heart attack. Instead of trying to get him to not do these things, which would be an impossibility as I feel that it is built into his genetics (thanks mom) I am working on helping him do these things safely.  So today we worked on somersaults.  He loves doing them and will somersault across the floor, but he doesn't tuck his chin and lands flat on his back almost every time.  This means that there is more of a splat action than a rolling action.   

So our first attempt, he got into position and I told him to tuck his chin.  He did nothing and landed flat on his back, SPLAT.  I thought maybe he didn't understand "tuck your chin" so I told him to touch his chin to his chest.  This time he uncurled from the somersault position and started running in circles with his head down much like a dog chasing his tail.  He was trying to get his chin to his chest but didn't understand the simple act of lowering his chin, he was jutting his chin out and trying to puff out his chest and I guess thought that running in circles would help his cause.  So I tried another approach.  He again got into somersault position and I told him to lower his chin and touch his chest like this... and I demonstrated.  He quickly stands up, juts his chin out and touches it to MY chest.  For my last attempt at making somersaults safer for him I got him back into somersault position and told him to look at his bellybutton thinking that this would make him lower his chin to his chest without him even realizing it.  He reached down, pulled up his shirt and did a one handed somersault (without tucking his chin) complete with a splat not roll motion.  So I just gave up, he wins this round!

(Ok, tell the truth people, how many of you touched your chin to your chest while reading this post?)