Learning New Things
My husband and I agreed that our son needs time with other
children his age or thereabouts, for socialization. Gregory sees a lot of adults, but kids also learn from kids
and he needs this. When my husband
suggested that I look for other mothers and plan play dates, I went on an
Internet search.
There aren’t many groups and the few that do exist might get
together once a month and some had bad reviews, such as catty behavior,
etc. When I spoke to my friend,
Kim, about this, she suggested I look into Gym Rompers in Metairie.
The important thing to me about Gym Rompers is that it is
not a daycare. It’s for the baby
and the parent! It was perfect for
what I wanted – socialization and activity for my son and socialization with
other mothers for me. I liked that
each child had a parent – so each child was being attended too and the
instructor wasn’t overloaded with the responsibility of a group of children.
I called Gym Rompers and spoke with one of the new owners,
Jennifer. She was really sweet and
very reassuring. I have to be honest, I was nervous about going. Nervous about if my son and I would fit
in, if the other moms would judge, would my son enjoy it or would he get
frustrated around other children, would people give me strange looks for being
an older mommy, worried my son scream, puke and hate the class.
Gym Rompers offers classes in Metairie on Wednesday and
Thursday, separating the ages by 3 months to one year and other classes for ages
one year up. I made a time mistake
and we arrived for the one-year up group.
Jennifer was there to greet me and she suggested that I stay with
Gregory and let him participate.
It was a large group.
There were older children running around and the songs were faster
paced, but we managed to keep up.
Jennifer explained that the next class – the one in Gregory’s age –
these children are crawlers, not runners and the songs go at an easier
pace. But even with the older
class, during that time frame, I knew that we would be joining. It was Gregory’s reaction. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the
kids! Even if I didn’t connect
with any parent, we were going to return, because I knew this would be a good
thing for my son.
The class included games, puppets, singing songs, bouncing
on the knees, using the huge toys in the room (toys too large for a normal home
and well cushioned) and the parachute games. (I also like the classes because there are no computers - plenty of activity without being plugged in.) Gregory did great for the first class, but towards the end
he was showing his classic signs of being tired and hungry. I considered leaving at this point, but
I also wanted to see the other kids and mommies of his age group class. It was a much smaller group, but with
some really nice ladies.
One lady said she was 49 with her first child, a boy. She said, “When I first came here, he
was only able to do tummy time. My
friends’ kids are in high school and there’s nobody his age. (sounds familiar) This class has been
great for him.” I’ve never seen a
baby crawl THAT FAST before!
Gregory was zoned in to the baby crawling. But… he was tired and by mid-class he was cranky. It was time to go.
Below is a picture of Gregory and one of the girls in the
class. Believe it or not, they are
the same age! My son is a lot
larger!
As I was leaving, Jennifer suggested that my husband come
for the night class. It’s a mix of
older and younger, but she thought my husband would appreciate the class better
if he experienced it. It’s
designed for one parent and the child, but she extended the invitation to both
first time parents to the class.
On the way home, Gregory was out like a light. He slept the drive home and I carried
him to his crib and he slept for a good while after that. I think the activity, both mind and
body, was good for him.
Though it was a long day for my husband, who goes to work at
5am on Wednesdays, he decided to come with us to the night class. I was so happy that he saw the benefits
of the class for our son. During
the night class though, Gregory was a spit up machine. Lesson learned, don’t give your baby a
bottle right before a class! All
that tossing in the air and rolling side to side makes for a milk return.
So, yes, my son screamed (rather cried) in his age group
class and he puked in the night class, but he liked the classes! At the end of the night class, one of
the parents came up to me and said, “Gregory was focused and attentive to the
other kids.”
I’m glad we went to a variety of classes, each one had
supportive parents. We also went
to the Thursday morning class with the mixed age groups. Gregory did well. And you know what… by Saturday night.. my son who had
shown no interest in crawling… well.. he started doing the crawfish shuffle
(crawling backwards, which according to everyone, is the first step in
crawling). AND… my son said his
first two words… first, Baba (for bottle, we’ve been calling the bottle this
since he was born) and Dada – which Daddy is very happy with. (See Videos below)
Do I think it’s because of the classes? Well, I can’t say.. but yes, I do give
the classes credit, if not for the new skills, for Gregory’s further desire and
interest to learn new things.
To watch this on YouTube, Click Here.
To watch this on YouTube, Click Here.
To watch this on YouTube, Click Here.
Comments
I hope that works out for both of you and you make so really good friends that you have things in common with.