More Kid Stuff

Yes, I've been absent. Too wrapped up with the whole Penn State scandal. I'm not going to write about that because my feelings are way too strong, too emotional, and no one really cares what I think anymore on the subject. I'll just leave it at that. What I will talk about is what we've been up to in our house.

Birthday parties and just getting stuff done. I don't know where my time goes but I haven't even been able to get to a playdate for E. I was supposed to join Park and Play last week but I never got to it. I thought I'd be there the first day they opened but between the power outage and recovery from that and just other pressing errands and such, it just never happened. I plan to get there on Thursday (I think).

I still have a Music for Aardvarks make-up to do and somehow I've gotten to the last few weeks of class without managing to squeeze it in somewhere. I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving. Buy the way- Music for Aardvarks is going to be doing open registration for Winter Session in like two weeks. The 10 week winter session goes from January through March. They also are opening up sessions in Teaneck coming for winter. http://www.ahummusic.com/. You can also follow them on Twitter- @aHumMusic.

They finally moved to their permanent space in Ridgewood and it's awesome. To me, it's better than it was in the old Bookends. There are a lot of windows so even though it's in the basement of the Knights of Columbus (I think that's what it is- or a VFW?) it doesn't feel like a basement. It's REALLY sunny in there- enough to need air conditioning (which they have), because it gets a little hot when the sun is out. It's carpeted, there is nothing the kids can get into in there, and it's comfortable- not too big and not too small. I'm really happy I stuck with Ridgewood. I LOVE the Waldwick room room but the nice thing is that the windows in Ridgewood are up, where the Waldwick ones are kid-height. In Waldwick the kids can climb. In Ridgewood they can't.

We had a birthday party at In the Swing in Waldwick. I have to say- Hopper Ave in Waldwick is like a hotbed of kid-activity. In the Swing is across from the Superdome complex. I've been there for two parties so far. The first time I really didn't enjoy it because I didn't know adults can't go in the jungle gym thing and the party was for a child turning a year older than E. There were like 25 kids there so if someone wasn't in there with E, he could've gotten trampled. This party went a LOT better. Less kids and all around the same age. That worked out much better. The waiting area is big enough for all the adults and it seemed like the kids all had a good time.

So, if you're thinking of a party there, my advice is that it's great if all your kid attendees are very close in age and I wouldn't have more than 15-20 kids. Pizza, cake- it was the same as at any party.

Next up- trying out Gymboree. I'd bought a Groupon for a month at Gymboree. At first I bought Paramus. But, then I saw Waldwick was on the list of ok'd locations. SO many people bought Paramus so I didn't want to go there. I was afraid it would be too crowded and my class times would be really limited. I switched to Waldwick.

I realized the Groupon expires on Nov 17th (thanks to the reminded from Groupon). Well, September, October and now November are whipping by and I needed to use it. I went to their website and they only have ONE Gymboree Play & Learn "6" class- which is E's age group. That ONE class is while E is in school. They have a few "5's" classes which is 22-28 months. But the only one E isn't in school for is on Saturdays. I figured it would be packed because that's the only time working parents can go to these type of things.

I went last Thursday or Friday to sign him up and it was kind of weird. It's really small in there and there's no office. Or not that there isn't an office- I'm sure there is, but usually there's more of a "barrier" between coming in and the class area. That's what I'm used to anyway from Little Gym (also in Waldwick). At Little Gym, there's a real lobby, where there is a viewing window of the gym and family can watch the classes without being disruptive.

There wasn't any problem signing up for Saturdays so we were set. It just seemed...I don't know- not as professional as Little Gym. Gymboree put my info in a binder. I never thought of Little Gym as particularly professional, but they did everything on computer, we would earn points by signing up and the points were in our info in the computer, and the first point of contact there is the owner and front office. I'm just suspicious of any place that doesn't do everything on computer.

The Pros: It seems VERY clean. The staff is very attentive and at least the class I'm in, the teacher sings a lot and very well, I might add. The class is very interactive and moves quickly. Also, while most of these classes are only 45 minutes, this class seemed to go the full hour. I was pleasantly surprised by that because I'm really bummed by these 45 minute classes. It's never enough time but I feel like for the money these things cost, they SHOULD be an hour.

What I liked the best is that all the equipment is able to be manipulated/climbed on, etc by the kids alone. Well, unless you're a total helicopter parent (which there definitely was one giving E the stink eye for daring to come near her little princess, but whatever). At Little Gym, if E wanted to go on the balance beam, I had to help him. Same with the rings, the uneven bars, etc. He could do some stuff on his own like play with the balls, shoot hoops, and climb on the mats. But, he's almost three now- he doesn't want my help nor should he really need it in that kind of class, in my opinion. At this point, I don't even like to take classes I have to be in the room for because I'm seeing how he's thriving without me in school and in ballet- he behaves SO much better in those settings. At Gymboree, he was able to do everything without me, but it wasn't so easy that it was boring. He really seemed to enjoy every minute.

The Cons: They just don't really seem to adhere to the age groups for the class. One really nice dad told me it's usually mixed ages because there aren't enough people sometimes. He and his wife work so they can only come on the weekend. I'm baffled as to why these classes aren't filled. Try to get into Aardvarks on a Saturday and I'm pretty sure those spots are filled within hours of open registration. So, some of the kids in this class seemed MUCH younger than E. It was fine and it'll be fine for the next three weeks but I wouldn't sign him up for it and pay a premium for him to have to be "careful" of smaller kids in a gym-type class.

Like I said- he had fun, but I had to constantly watch that he was mindful of smaller kids around him. Not because I thought they'd really get hurt- he wasn't doing anything but running and jumping like he should be. But, because I felt like I was getting side-eyed like he was being wild or something. The only other MINOR thing I didn't like was when the teacher pulled out this big Gymbo stuffed doll. The kids were supposed to dance with it. But, there's only one doll, one kid went mental over it, and that was it- she got the doll. Then the sister was fighting over it with her, but the doll didn't get to anyone else. No quicker way to start a domino effect of meltdowns than to hand one doll between six or so kids.

That's my review for the most part. It's a decent place- I didn't investigate the pricing beyond the month I've gotten from the Groupon. Next week I'll inquire more. I heard not-so-great things about the Paramus location and it's just not in a good spot. It's on Rt 17 which is always a traffic nightmare so I didn't really want to go there. I love going to Waldwick for anything- it's easy and no traffic. But, I am curious if Paramus looks as clean and nice as Waldwick and check out their pricing as compared to My Gym in Glen Rock and Little Gym. I would've loved to go to My Gym, but I missed their grand opening deal and it's just really expensive for another "Mommy & Me" kind of class. Their drop off class doesn't start until kids are actually over three years old. Well, that's not till after the new year. So, that's out until he can go on his own. I also haven't been inside My Gym but I assume since it just opened it's in top shape.

http://www.gymboreeclasses.com/b2c/customer/detailProgram.jsp?progType=P

http://www.my-gym.com/franchisee_schedule.aspx?id=502&source=Homepage+URL

http://www.thelittlegym.com/WaldwickNJ/Pages/default.aspx

That's about it. E missed what sounded like a fun birthday party this past weekend because of Teddy Tennis but that's over in two more classes, so I'm assuming we'll be looking at a lot more Sunday birthday parties and a lot more venues!