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July 13, 2006
Hell Has A Ball Pit In It
And other adventures in the Terrible Twos.
I found a new way to torture myself on Thursdays. The message finally sunk in – music class was not working – so I very wisely didn’t sign Sam up for the summer semester.
Instead, I got the bright idea to try out a toddler gymnastics class.
This will be perfect, I thought. He’ll run around and tire himself out, and best of all . . . NO MORE CIRCLE TIME!
And then we had our first gymnastics class . . . and the very first thing the teacher did was have us all sit in a circle, and start singing songs.
Shit.
And not only is there the dreaded circle time, but the gymnastics class takes place in an enormous gymnasium, where there are at least four other classes of older kids (doing vastly more interesting things than whatever the toddler teacher is doing), and . . . wait for it . . . an enormous ball pit right in the middle of the gym.
That’s right. A fucking ball pit. Do you know what a ball pit is? It’s, like, the coolest thing ever. Imagine a giant pit, completely filled with balls. (Only in this case, it's foam squares, but whatever. You get the idea.) And then imagine little tykes taking a running jump into the ball pit. Big fun, right? Sam would agree with you. In fact, if Sam were so moved to express his feelings on the matter, he might say:
“There is nothing – NOTHING – in the world I want more than to jump in the ball pit.”
Yeah, except for one problem . . . the toddlers aren’t allowed in the ball pit. The toddler class is expected to stay in its corner of the gym, sitting in a circle and singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Freaking Star” . . . and then later, walk along the ground-level balance beam.
And all along, there’s a ball pit just over there.
So, I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. If Sam isn’t going to sit in a circle in a small room with no other distractions during music class, he sure as hell isn’t going to sit quietly when there are ball pits to be jumped in. Or high balance beams to walk on. Or tons of other fun things to climb on.
So I spent the entire hour of our first gymnastics class last week chasing Sam down all over the gym, and dragging him back to the baby circle time. Sam was good humored about this for awhile, but then as it started to dawn on him that he wasn’t ever going to be allowed near the ball pit, unless he did so on his own steam, he started to get indignant. And sneaky. Every time I turned around, he was sidling over to one of the bigger kids’ classes, and lining up with them. And I had to keep racing after him. When we finally left, he was in tears, I was muttering under my breath, and my hair had reached new levels in frizz.
In a word: exhausting. And now I have to go do it all over again in less than an hour.
Wish me luck . . .
Posted by Whitney at 8:21 AM | Comments (8)
Comments
Luck!
Michelle
Posted by: Michelle C at July 13, 2006 9:05 AM
That's RIDICULOUS!!! What kind of lame class/teacher has them SIT STILL and sing in a gymnastics class??? Is there anything LESS likely to appeal to a group of toddlers than sitting still?? And with a BALL PIT??? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???
Poor Whitney = I'm tired just remembering those days. We babysat a 3 y.o. and a 1 y.o. this weekend and Navy Guy and I both had twitches by the time their parents picked them up at midnight.
Posted by: Alesia Holliday ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.literarychicks.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 13, 2006 10:33 AM
Whitney, my love! Forget the classes. Find a nice big McDonald's with a ball pit and for the price of a small french fry and a milk, Sam can have hours of fun!
Sitting still and singing in gymnastics class? Ay yi yi!
Posted by: Eileen at July 13, 2006 10:40 AM
Class went better today. I only had to chase Sam down twenty times, which was a marked improvement over last week.
However, after class, I was chatting with a friend, and lost track of Sam for a moment. When I looked up he was – surprise, surprise – in the ball pit. And there was a big boy swinging on a rope right over the ball pit, about to drop in . . . right where Sam was playing. I had to jump in after Sam to rescue him. Gah.
Posted by: Whitney at July 13, 2006 12:10 PM
I'm sorry I'm laughing so hard...it's just that if you change "Sam" to "Aiden", and "ball pit" to "foam pit" I could be telling the same story. One good thing, the teacher's got a clue and now allow the toddlers into the foam pit, which is a good thing because Aiden RUNS and LEAPS off the balance beam into the foam pit. We stopped going to gymnastics because I couldn't get him out of the pit and to move onto to other activites and Aubrey sat bored in her car seat. At three they go to a class where the parents don't have to participate. I've got 6 more days and then viola--Aiden can take gymnastics again!! :)
Posted by: Robyn at July 13, 2006 3:43 PM
Ahh, the memories! However, when kidlet (who will be 7 in less than two weeks now, OMG!) was a toddler, we did gymnastics with him, too. Yes, there was circle time but it was stretching and movement oriented, not singing (thank god, because the room would have cleared immediately if I had opened my mouth to sing).
Not only did the kids get pit time each week (although I must admit that I think kidlet would enjoy it much more now, in terms of flinging himself in from the edge, than he did at the time when he climbed in from the edge carefully) but they had bounce time as well. There was a long skinny trampoline that I think the older kids probably used for...well, I don't know what, but the little ones bounced from one end down to the other, got off, and ran back to do it again. Kidlet adored it.
Now I'm getting nostalgic for those days....
Posted by: Dia at July 13, 2006 5:05 PM
That sounds like a lame assed class to me...what a horrible way to set things up! Just to make you feel better, Carson would be right there beside Sam! Actually..so would Ella, hell, I am sure she would lead them ..she's a sneaky one even at 15 months.
You know what I discovered to tire my kids, get some exercise, and pass the time? We go to the park at the elementary school across the street...but we avoid the slides and swings altogether, and we run and/or roll up and down the grassy hill next to the school! The kids love it...they don't have to wait their turn..and its free! lol
Posted by: Summer at July 16, 2006 1:17 AM
Was it at least fun to jump into the foam pit yourself? I've always wanted to do that. :-)
Posted by: Rebecca at July 18, 2006 8:03 AM
