Oliver and I have spent some more Summer of Fun Days together. In our second week, Ollie stayed home from daycare three days, and we had some fun outings. On Tuesday and Thursday, we went to classes at local play places. On Tuesday we tried out a music class at Gymboree, and on Thursday we tried out a fitness class at Little Gym. Both places offer free first classes, so we went to see if it was something we would like to do this fall. Both are located in towns south of Nashville, so it was a little bit of an outing, and both classes ran up against lunch and naptime, which can be dangerous (Oliver falls asleep in the car and then has trouble taking an actual nap after lunch). But I thought it would be worth a try.
Oliver liked both classes well enough. The class at Gymboree was a little more structured, and there were a lot of songs and movement that, if you didn't know them ahead of time, were hard to learn in one class. Oliver kept staring at the woman running the class like, "Why don't you stop singing and just let us play on all these cool things." It made me laugh because it reminded me so much of Wes and what he would have thought had he been there. Oliver liked Gymboree a little better, which offers some structure and lots of rotating options, but lots of freedom to do and try whatever he liked. He had a few problems in sharing with others -- something I don't think has problems with at daycare, where he knows all the other kids -- but he got over it quickly enough. Given the option, I'd love it if I could use either facility on a drop-in basis -- when I have time to take him and other options are not available. The costs of the class are a little high, the trip is a little long to get there, and part of me feels like I'm paying someone else to teach me how to play with my own child.
That Wednesday, Oliver and I went to storytime at the local library. It includes music, movement, stories being read, and puppets. Oliver was very content to sit on my lap and watch for a bit over 30 minutes, but then his attention waned, so we left. There's a beautiful children's section there in the main library, which hopefully we'll get back to in time.
I think I would be bigger in getting Oliver into a class structure at one of these facilities or being a regular at storytime were he not already in a fairly structured environment at daycare. He knows his teachers and classmates, and he seems to do very well there. He did also have another class situation -- a parent and child swim class at the Vanderbilt Student Recreation Center. We were there for 9 classes over two weeks. It, unfortunately, also met at a bad time -- 5:30-6:00 PM, which meant we weren't getting home until 6:30 PM. One of Oliver's classmates from daycare was also in the class, and the two were almost beside themselves with excitement over seeing each other there. Oliver did great -- the teacher recommended that he, like the other children, move on to the next class next summer, one that is completely instructor-run (read: no mommy in the water) -- and he seemed to really enjoy it and get more comfortable. He even learned was "scoop hands" are!
So for now Ollie and I have no class. Come late August, I will have more than I know what to do with!
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