Li'l Mover and Shaker

Tyler is still figuring out this walking thing. Sometimes it's one step,then a dive, sometimes it's 3 or 4 steps together. On Friday, as Tyson prepared for a Saturday Brew Day, Tyler took an interest in the 5-gallon water jugs Tyson had set in the hallway. I took advantage of his interest and built a small obstacle course out of them. Sure enough, Tyler walked!

Saturday morning was Tyler's final "Li'l Movers and Shakers" class for the season. This was a  motor development class, through Tucson Parks and Rec. Tyler was the youngest in the group, and the only one who wasn't yet walking. In retrospect, I wish I'd put him in the 6-12 month class and let him be the oldest, rather than bumpng him up into the 12-18 month class. (He turned a year old 5 days after the class began.) He had a hard time the first few weeks - he would have preferred to sit and focus on one activity for a long time, but this class changes gears every few minutes. There were tears for the first couple of classes, but smiles and laughter too, and he participated more and more each week. By the 4th class, he was doing almost all the activities, and by the final class, he was a pro.

While I got ready for class, Tyler checked out the balance beam.

The class begins with everyone sitting in a circle, singing songs together. Then the teacher has the parents help the children do a tumbling trick. Today it was headstands and forward rolls. Tyler, however, chose to do his favorite, back flips. Next is a series of races - running across the mat, then bunny hopping across, then flying like an airplane, then a bear walk. Tyler's not a fan of race time right now. Sometimes being the youngest is tough.

After the races, it's a free for all on the obstacle course.

The next obstacle was the bar hang, with the instructor, Miss Gigi (most likely misspelled.) Tyler waited patiently for his turn.

Miss Gigi has been working hard to get Tyler to walk,and always warns him, "Oh-oh, here comes that lady who always makes me work!" (And when she makes a child cry, she turn to the parent and tells the parent how beautiful said child is. While continuing to make the child walk/flip/cartwheel. I like her approach.) Clearly Tyler wasn't minding the work Miss Gigi made him do today.

Tyler's very curious about this tunnel, but not inclined to go through it!

Another teacher worked with Tyler on his forward somersault. He likes backward flips much better.

This video's long and clumsily filmed - Tyler was on the verge of falling off the equipment, so I kept having to grab his shirt and pull him back up. He hasn't figured out how to turn the corner just yet. Miss Gigi had assured me that all the kids figure out that they're supposed to go feet first down the wedge, and asked me to let Tyler figure it out for himself, as opposed to guiding him. Well, Tyler decided to go headfirst instead.

After the obstacle course, the instructors bring out something different to play with each week. This week it was balls and push toys.

The staff always put on the song "It's Time to Clean Up" and the kids help retrieve all the toys and put them a way. Again, Tyler's youth shows - he'll gather the toys, but has difficulty putting them in the box. Or he takes the toys the other kids have put in the box back out. I'm trying to work with him on this at home, and I know when he moves up to the toddler room in daycare, he'll be expected to clean up after himself.

Next comes my favorite part of the class! The parachute! First, the staff dump a bunch of balls in the middle of the parachute, to trick the kids into sitting in the middle.

Then the adults sing "Ring A Round the Rosy" while pulling the parachute, with the kids stuck in the middle. Then we retrieve the children and hold them while flapping the parachute up and down, to make "popcorn" (the balls bouncing up and down on the parachute). Next we lift the parachute over our heads, step under it, and sit on it, to make a bubble. Then we sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and other songs.

After the children help retrieve all the balls and put them in Ms. Gigi's bag (while learning Spanish at the same time, as she directs them to "pon las pelotas en la bolcita"), the children are asked to sit on color. Another instructor chooses a color, and all the kids on that color are sung to, e.g. "Tyler says farewell, Tyler says farewell, the day is done, we've had some fun, Tyler says farewell."  (Tyler doesn't have a favorite color just yet, and doesn't seem to notice if his name is sung. The other kids just love it, though!)

I'm sad that the class is over for now, but we're signed up to take it again in June. I know Tyler will enjoy the class even more this time - not only because he knows what to expect and will be walking more confidently by then, but also because his friend Leo will be in the class, too! Yay!