Looks Can Be Deceiving

So this morning we had her first gymnastics class. Yes, we have done a free class once & have gone to several open gyms at gymnastics centers, but this was the first time she took a class that I signed her up for. I bought her this cute little outfit to bounce around in. And when we got there we were a little early and she did not like that we couldn't go in & start playing. I should have known then that this might not be so fun for us.

She looks so cute & sweet, but she didn't act anything like sweet. On her third & final warning, we ended up leaving from class 10 minutes early. She was not good about taking directions from me and I pulled her aside twice and gave her a warning to start listening or we would go home. I really didn't want to, but I had to follow through or it might never get better. The straw was when she wouldn't get out of the foam block pit because she wanted to jump around in it, not walk from one shirt side to the other like instructed. Would she have done better if I wasn't there and she just had the instructor to listen to? I don't know. She always seemed to do good at the Y when she had her classes by herself and had to take instruction from another adult.

We'll keep trying (& leaving if neccessary) through this session because I paid for it and can't be refunded (plus I had to pay the yearly membership fee as well, so that would kinda suck if we paid that for a year and we only do one session.)

I don't think the open gyms helped us, as she knew how to use everything and wasn't afraid or unsure. She was overly confident and wanted to do everything right away, even if we weren't working on that particular piece of equipment. During the open gyms she could just run around and do what she wanted, which is what she wanted to do today. Now she has to be taught how to be a gymnastics student and I hope she catches on soon, because I don't like the looks I got from the other moms. Looks that said "Control Your Child" or "She's Mean Making Her Leave" or "Been There". I wish more of the looks were for "Been There", but I don't think they were. I think for the most part most of these kids had never seen a gymastics center before and never tried the equipment and were just too scared to be sassy or overly independent. There were a couple of other kids I noticed that would run off & moms go chasing them, but then Isabel would run after them as well, like it was permission to do what she wanted. So, other moms might have been frustrated as well, but I was too busy trying to get my child to listen that I didn't notice.

This afternoon we have an ECFE class called "Your 5 Senses". They have these themed classes and you can sign up for whichever you want. This is the only one we signed up for because starting next week she will have her regular parent-tot ECFE class in the evening here in our town and I thought 2 things in one day was more than enough. I would have rather just done one thing a day, but as it turns out this is the only day of the Tiny Tots gymnastics and the only day for our town's ECFE class. We are taking an ECFE class on Friday mornings in the neighboring town and I chose the one & only separating class (out of 5 Two's Classes) so that she could get instruction from someone other than me.