gymboree play & learn

when nikko hit 12 months, i knew i wanted him enrolled in a play class.

he's been an expert crawler for the past 2 months but i want to push him further. he also "walks" when you hold him but never on his own. when we encourage him to take small steps alone, he tries but he "rushes over" to hold on to something. there are times when he just stands still and sits down instead of even taking a step. he'd much rather crawl than walk.

but, we did notice that when you don't mind him, he does try to take little steps. and he seems more confident when he's doing it alone.

since i wanted to "push" him a little more, i convinced nelo that we enroll nikko at gymboree's level 3 class. there, he'll be in a different set-up away from home. and i'm sure he'll have "classmates" in the class as well. i am hoping that this will encourage him when he sees other kids around his age.

when we went for a gym play session the week before his class, he was taking more baby steps already. i knew it was a good sign. we'll just see if he'll take it a step further.

on our first week of class, there were around five of them and mostly girls. there were just two boys including nikko. the session started with singing a song and clapping. he was a little shy as teacher mica started the class. it also made me realize that nikko needs to catch up on learning stuff. he's the type of kid who wants to do things in his own time and it makes me worried sometimes.

anyway, after the singing, they had to go through some of the play activities. nikko was participating very well! he was crawling up the slide, keeps pushing the foam roller and totally enjoying the bubble play. there was less walking for him that day but you can see that he's trying and he's enjoying the activities.

on his second week, i saw a different nikko! he was now more confident and interacting with the other kids. and he was standing on his own, less wobbly, and taking a lot more step than usual. he was also clappping now unlike the previous week. this week though, he wanted to be with his daddy more. so they were the ones doing most of the activities together.

we were so happy after this week's class. nikko had more confidence and was exploring more. we hope the next two weeks' classes will continue to improve his disposition and his learning skills.