Our First Gymboree

This morning we went to Gymboree Level 1: 0-6 months.

"These classes focus on developing your baby’s interest in the world through sensory exploration. Stimulating age-appropriate activities such as tummy time, flashlight play and infant massage help to build trust and security and emotional connections with others. Parent discussion time at the end of each class helps you to connect with other parents and learn more about your child’s development."

Basically for the duration of the class, the instructor and all of the in-the-know moms sing songs in really singsong-y voices incorporating the word "Gymboree" as much as possible. Seeing as I haven't done anything like this since I was a baby, this was a little difficult for me to get into. We held up things like feathers and scarves for the babies to feel. Paige was the most interested in looking at the other moms and babies. She just wanted to grab the objects and put them in her mouth, which wasn't allowed in the class anyway. Like the instructor said though, babies won't necessarily show interest in all of the objects. She HATED the part where all of the babies were on there tummies looking in a mirror and the instructor was blowing bubbles in the air. I think there were just too many babies in a confined space, and it was overstimulating and scary for her. She LOVED Gymbo the puppet that we danced around in front of our babies faces. She was tired and rubbing her eyes, but loved looking at him. The instructor walked around with a massive Gymbo puppet that gave them all a "kiss" on the face while singing the goodbye song to all of the babies. Paige was the only baby that grabbed the puppets face! haha.

Will we go back? Well, I felt slightly silly, and it was a bit difficult to go there when I knew Paige was ready for a nap. Of the 9 moms and babies there, quite a few of the babies fell asleep, 6 moms (I counted) whipped up their tops for a feeding, and a bunch of the babies freaked out at one point or another. It makes me think these moms just go there no matter what time of day it is, nap time or feeding time, just to get out. I like things to be just right...fed, changed, and awake in order to feel like I'm ready to go to an hour long class. BUT, Paige did seem to enjoy it, she stayed awake because she was entertained, and it did get us out of the house on this cold miserable day. So, we'll probably go back...