Mommy Blogging. Ugh.
When Erik was a baby I quickly decided that baby classes were a total scam. Going and sitting around with a bunch of women I didn’t know and a very uncooperative baby/toddler was a complete and utter nightmare. He wouldn’t cooperate at all. He didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t enjoy it. There was no point. I was a first time mom and freaked out about being judged by all the other moms. I was new to the East coast and didn’t know the proper wardrobe, small talk or anything else.
Elsa is a completely different child, I’m a completely different mother, and I’ve been wondering if a baby class would be something we would enjoy. I feel guilty that Erik can’t do a cartwheel or somersault because he was one of the very few children amongst our over-scheduled peers that never took a gymnastics class. I don’t want Elsa to miss out on those skills.
I hadn’t really looked into it because I knew it would be expensive and I wasn’t sure where I would want to take her. The other day a great deal came up on Living Social–four classes, four open gyms and a lifetime membership to My Gym for only $49 so I jumped on it. You really can’t beat that price, especially since the classes are an hour long. Typically classes for toddlers are 45 minutes.
We have several different kid-centric gyms in the area, and now I can say I’ve tried them all. My Gym is far and away the best of the bunch, from what little I’ve seen. Maybe Little Gym is ok for older kids, but I really liked the structure of the My Gym class. We did a song and a dance together then got turned loose for free play. During free play the staff (four of them!) brought out several different activities for the kids to concentrate on, but if the kids preferred to lounge in the ball pit or run down the slide that was ok. Well. Maybe running down the slide wasn’t ok, but Elsa wouldn’t listen to her mother constantly repeating “No, sit, no, sit, no, sit.” I guess I think she’s a puppy.
During the last fifteen minutes they had “separation time” and had the moms go sit along the edges of the play area while they let the kids play with some toys that they brought out of storage. I was very impressed with the whole thing.
Elsa didn’t like to sit and sing, but she didn’t have a meltdown. She didn’t really want to do the structured activities, but she didn’t cry when I made her try them. She loved playing with the various pieces of equipment. She was nice to the other kids. She tends to be a major bully (hitting, kicking, pinching), but I was able to nip it in the bud each time and didn’t have to deal with any “mommy of a bully” embarrassment. I’m glad she’s starting to understand behavioral limits. If she continues to do well with the class I’ll probably sign her up for a full session.
I am such a mommy blogger. Ugh. But what else is there to talk about? I have to keep drama close to the vest because the internet never forgets.
Moving on.
At least we had success with Erik’s karate tonight. We’ve had terrible fights the past few weeks, but I decided we weren’t going to fight him about going to his leadership class tonight. I can’t deal with more fighting. That’s not the relationship I want with my son. I called the karate school and left a message about our problems. I told Erik he didn’t have to go to leadership, but that we would all be really happy if he went. He wanted to go to Pizza Hut for dinner because he had a coupon for a free pan pizza. I told him we’d go if he went to leadership. Cue the shit fit. So much for not fighting. I managed to remain calm and just keep repeating “you don’t have to go, but if you do we can go to Pizza Hut” even when he was wigging out and rolling all over the ground.
Mike came home early just to deal with karate, which was an amazingly nice surprise. The owner never called me back about the message I left, so Mike talked to him and let him know we need solutions. We are paying a crap load of money for this and need some support to make it worth it.
I guess communication works. The teacher nicely manipulated Erik into staying for the class and being happy about it. That’s the kicker–he loves the leadership class because they are learning a sword dance, but he’s too afraid to stay.
So guess what? We had Pizza Hut for dinner and now I have a major tummy ache. I think Erik thought it was going to be like Chuck E. Cheese so he was a little surprised that it was just a restaurant with no games or toys. Despite the heart burn, it was really nice to be able to reward Erik for a job well done. I am hoping that he will start to understand that it is a lot more fun to do what we ask and have nice family times instead of refusing to take care of his responsibilities and having us nag him and fight with him all the time. Keep dreaming, right?
Speaking of fighting with a kindergartner, you guys will not believe what came home from school today. He brought home a scarecrow that we are supposed to “decorate as a family” using anything we want–glitter, fabric, straw, beans, buttons, that kind of thing. The scarecrow is due in 10 days and will be on display in the hall of the school. The child is supposed to write two sentences about the scarecrow with their own words using invented spelling.
Ok.
So do I nag him to do a significant part of this damned scarecrow? This is the child who hates craft projects. He might be into it for three minutes, but then he’ll get bored and want to go away, but he won’t want me to touch the project. Or he’ll want to do it all himself but just do a few scribbles and call it good.
Or do I do it and do it right since it says the whole family is supposed to decorate this thing?
I’d like to ask for his input, and let him do a few things, but I know he will not agree to let me come up with a master plan. I can try to trick him, but he’s getting very difficult to manipulate. He will want to be the boss, but won’t do the work. Why does it have to be so difficult? I’m sure the teacher thought this would be a fun family activity that would bring the kids and parents closer together. Excuse me while I go laugh in a paper bag filled with vodka.
Basically do I view the project as mine or his? What about Mike? I’m sure Mike is just dying to decorate a scarecrow after a 60 hour work week. Maybe he can decorate it with shredded satellite reports.
I went to kindergarten many, many years ago. I even graduated. Why do I have homework? I just need to get Erik to buy in to letting me do most of it so that he can be really proud of it when it is on display for the whole school to see. Grrrrrrrr. I don’t want to do most of it. It is his project! But it is the family project! But I want it to be nice! But I don’t give a shit! But obviously I do!
This is in addition to his regular homework, which is problematic enough.
Ok, let’s end on a positive note. I think Elsa may be trying to potty train herself. She took off her diaper and sat on the potty all by herself. It didn’t seem like much was happening, but then I noticed she had a chocolate chip, but she wasn’t eating it. She was just smearing it around.
Of course I had company. Thankfully it was another mom.
I jokingly said “Elsa, I really hope that’s a chocolate chip.”
I did a sniff test and it was definitely not a chocolate chip.
I’m focusing on the positive. Potty training! Whoo-hoo!