Friday, January 14, 2011

Toddler activities

Now that Hen is officially no longer attending daycare we are finding new ways to fill our time. Two new activities on the schedule are swimming lessons (every Monday and Wednesday) and dance lessons (the Tiny Hip Hoppers class on Fridays). Hen is a hesitant participant. I don't believe it's fear based as he seems able to do whatever he's attempting once he decides to try it. It's getting him to take that initial step. So far we've had four swim lessons. Hen eventually participated in the first class but then sat out for most of the second and third class - he allowed Teacher Ryan to help him do a "Spiderman" jump into the pool during the second and he retrieved a floating duck and (nearly) returned it to the teacher when she was in the water with the other kids during the third. But the fourth class, when there was only one other kid there, he was in the water playing with the teacher and his other classmate for almost the entire class.*

Untitled from Christie Glynn on Vimeo.


The dance class? Oy vey. It's Hen, one other boy, and maybe eight girls. While prodding him to go and line up with the rest of the class, Hen turned to me and said, "Boys don't dance." And it's sort of true for this class as neither Hen nor the other boy take part. Since I was still bummed over his (lack of) performance during the first class, I basically bribed him into performing today. The deal, if he would dance and listen to Teacher Erica, we'd head over to the zoo. And so my boy got out there and danced. Reluctantly, sure, but he did it.

Hip hop Humpty Dumpty from Christie Glynn on Vimeo.


PlayDate PDX is quickly becoming our go-to place for Friday mornings before dance class. And we also hit Play Boutique in Lake Oswego earlier this week. Next up we might have to try the Portland Children's Museum again.

*Watch closely and you can see a dude walk past in a Speedo. As Megan so wonderfully described it, "how very European".

3 comments:

Amber said...

Have fun at the zoo! :) Seriously, whatever bribe you offered, it worked. He did great!

Shawn and Becky said...

Bribery works great for us when needed and there's always a time and place. What happened with his other daycare? I have a friend who is part of the Portland stroller strides and loves it. The parents workout, kids play, and they all hang out and do other cool things while not stroller striding :)

Cathy said...

Awesome. We switched Quinn to a more difficult swim class - like he actually has to swim during class and not just wait for his turn. (The teacher is just more efficient.) It's nothing he's not ready for, but he doesn't like. He gets a quarter each week he tries his best without complaining too much afterwards (crying).