Gym Class

A couple of months ago, we started going to a toddler gym class after school on Thursdays. My Gym is about 10 minutes from Beth's house so after I grab Finley, we head over. Each week, he tries new things, watches everyone intently, pretends to be shy, forgets how to do the new things he tried the week before, gives the teachers high fives, and sometimes a combination of all of these things or none of them. Did that make sense? It seems to me that Finley isn't the adventurous sort, but more of a careful participant and while that's okay for now, I'm hoping that as he gets more comfortable with the scene and the people, he'll continue to come out of his gross-motor shell. This past Thursday was the first one that I remembered to bring my camera into the play area and while the week before was a much more eventful class for Finley, I managed to capture some of what goes on most weeks.

We start with a snack at the little picnic table in the waiting area since I usually pick Finley up just as he's waking up from his nap and is often starving.

Then, we wash our hands and head in. Sometimes he bolts for a specific spot or activity, but often he surveys the room for a few minutes to get his bearings.

It's free play for like ten minutes and then circle time. Finley's great at sitting on my lap and stretching, clapping, and sometimes even waving as I say his name to the group. They teach a song, a dance, and a "move" such as a log roll or somersault. Then the fun part, the gym is ours!

After free play and some teacher led gymnastics or obstacle course options, it's "separation" time when a whole bunch of toys are dumped in the middle and the kids play together with the teachers while the adults go and hang out off to the side for about ten minutes. Finley's getting braver and braver during this part of class and while I wanted to get some photos, I tried to stay far enough out of his line of vision as to not distract him.

What a good boy!

His favorite parts about class: singing/clapping, climbing stairs and ladders, sliding, finding balls everywhere, crawling through tunnels, trying to "jump" on the trampoline, seeing the puppet show at the end, and after many weeks of avoiding it like the plague--Finley's beginning to find the joy in the ball pit!

All in all, the classes have been fun and very worthwhile. It's given me good ideas about new ways to play with Fin and watching the older kids in the class has been a neat way to get a little preview of what skills are coming down the pipe for our little guy. Plus, he's learning how to follow a routine, wait in line, connect with his teachers, share, etc. As a teacher and mom, I'm dually happy with that! Hopefully Dan will get to sneak out of work early on Thursday one week to take Finley to class, it's been such a fun experience that I think he'd enjoy it, too.