Not feeling it.
Today Falco and I met Lynne and Ruby for a Gymboree class in Los Altos. The class was at 1:30, which meant getting Falco up from his nap at 12:30, attempting (unsuccessfully) to get him to eat a rushed lunch, and then getting in the car for our 40-minute drive. He was pretty unimpressed with being strapped into his car seat right after waking up when he was ready to play, but we made it with minimal whining during the trip. We got there, and the place was a big room with lots of gymnastics-style mats all over the floor and various padded things for the kids to climb on, under, and through. Falco took off crawling immediately and seemed pretty excited about his surroundings. After a few minutes of playing on our own, the class started. The teacher said the theme was “off and on” and went through a couple activities focusing on that like the kids getting on and off this big rocker thing and whatnot. I felt a little silly and forced trying to emphasize saying “off and on” in a cheerful voice, but what was worse was the songs. I’m accustomed to song time at swim class, but those are real songs with a big group in a noisy pool. You can’t really hear yourself or others singing, and you’re in the water, which makes everything more fun. At Gymboree, the songs are about Gymboree, like singing about bubbles or putting toys away or the parachute or whatever. That was a little weird, and the fact that there were only five moms plus the teacher in a big, quiet room made it feel like I was singing a solo if I did attempt to sing along. Luckily, it was my first time there so I could just play dumb and keep quiet.
The equipment in the class was pretty fun, especially the parachute. At one point, the chute was laid out flat and the teacher said that the babies could stay sitting in the middle if they wanted. Somehow, all the other kids bailed except Falco. Everyone else was around the edges fluffing the parachute up and down, and Falco was just sitting there in the middle laughing and smiling like the whole thing was just for him. I was so proud of how confident he was! He was happy to try everything and had a pretty fun time.
After class, we had to get back in the car to drive home. I thought he might catch an extra nap on the way back, but he didn’t look tired a bit and just looked around and periodically whined because I think he was bored and didn’t want to have to sit still. I don’t think we’ll sign up for the class because it’s such a long drive and expensive and just doesn’t seem worth it. As much as I would like to take a class with Lynne, it would make a lot more sense for me to go to the Gymboree 10 minutes away from home. I think I’ll hold out for preschool acrobatics at the San Francisco Circus School, which he can start at 18 months. He can get on the fast track to becoming a circus freak and make us proud.
