Gymboree!

I took Grace to her first gymboree class today.  We were trying out the tiny tykes class for babies 7 months thru 13 months. We were the first ones to arrive - so we sat in the middle of the the gym anxiously awaiting class to start.    The other babies and their moms started coming into the gym.  We introduced ourselves and the class began.  I was nervous since this was the first time Grace would be a structured setting trying different skills that I wasn't sure if she was ready for with other children.

She was the youngest baby at class but my girl can hold her own.  We worked on a variety of skills from hanging from a monkey bar, balancing while walking, to forward rolls.  It was towards the latter part of the class when the teacher asked the parents to put the babies in the middle of the gym so they could play alone.  This is to help babies with separation anxiety.  So I placed my 8 month old baby girl down in the midst of toys and her new friends.  As I sat on the perimeter of the gym mat, I watched Grace and the world around her. The other babies were moving about - crawling, rolling, scooting to their favorite toys.  Two of the boys were interacting with each other while the others played in a group.  There was one baby that spotted her mom and started to cry - ah, separation anxiety at its finest.   

From the first time her little life, I was watching Grace's world from the outside.  All the moms were sitting around watching their babies and chatting about breastfeeding, formula, weaning, solids- all the exciting conversations you hear when you're around a bunch of moms.  Normally I would've jumped in on the conversation and chatted my head off but I stood there unable to concentrate on the conversation.  It was like in the movies when the surrounding world disappears and only two things are the main focus.  All my eyes could focus on was that little girl 50 feet away from me.
 
I watched her nervously - thinking "it's okay Grace, mommy's close", "go make some friends"  and repeated in my head "don't cry don't cry."  And she didn't cry! She sat there independently playing with the toys without a care in the world.  In that moment I was a basket case of emotions- I was happy, I was sad, I was excited, I was nervous but most of all I was proud.  oh, how proud I was!

Those 5 minutes were harder on me than her.  Separation anxiety is a two way street.

* I don't have pictures of the class because t I didn't know if other parents would want their child posted on my blog.  So I didn't bring my camera.  Will ask next time we go and get some pictures uploaded.