gymboree, trial class

decided to take LP to the do a trial class for his age group at gymboree, to see if he likes it, and if i like it. 10am to 11am, not so bad as he naps at 11 or 11:30. 

we rocked into class and there were 7 other kids in it, varying in age from 10 months to same as LP (1 year 2 months). the class is called Play & Learn, emphasis on learning while playing. nothing like rocket science to this psych major, but applications vary. besides, we were there to observe and see if we were committing for longer. 

observations:

+ teacher has a nice singing voice. great since half the activities involve a song. 

+ not bad for class size but any more and the play area which we use for the class might feel a bit too crowded, seeing that each child is accompanied by one adult, and there are a total of 3 gymboree staff on the floor with us (a main teacher, a secondary teacher, and a props/toys person).

- they tend to play canned background music and it is oftentimes too loud even the teacher has to shout above it to be heard

- they squeeze in a lot of activities into the class hour and there were moments when i felt we were being hurried along to take our turn (at the toys/props/play set-up)

+ the 3 staff on the floor with us do pay good attention to each and every child 

personally, half the skill sets we did we were already doing with LP at home (thanks to babycenter.com and a few odds and ends of my reading). however, we are interested in going because of the opportunity to take LP to a place made for people his age (hello lack of parks & playgrounds in cebu) as well as see/observe/interact with other kids. we are definitely enrolling. 

gymboree, initial check

so we went to have a look, on a monday, which happened to be their off day. luckily, staff were around to entertain questions and give us copies of their rate sheet, class and gymplay schedules.


for LP's age, he could join Play & Learn sessions and Music sessions. each would be 45minutes to an hour, each had two schedule options. LP himself was interested in the new surroundings and immediately crawled and chattered about what he could see. that was a good sign. the pricing was not such a good sign. 

i was looking to take him for "classes" no more than 2x a week and maybe for gymplay (essentially free play in the main play area, but supervised--i could not leave him to go shopping or do errands). 

4 weeks      1x/week     Php 2850 (712.50@)          2x/week    Php 5130 (641.25@)

8 weeks      1x/week     Php 5100 (637.50@)          2x/week    Php 9180 (573.75@)

12 weeks    1x/week     Php 7100 (591.67@)          2x/week    Php 12780 (532@)

gymplay, around Php250 per go, would be free if we sign up for 2x weekly sessions. 

(increments go up to 24 & 48 weeks with up to 5 sessions per week. only those currently significant to us are listed above)

this requires some serious thinking. fortunately, they have trial sessions/classes wherein you go and try out the real thing to help decide if you want to enroll for longer term. the trial fee of Php 350 is deductible from your future enrollment fee, otherwise non-refundable. 

we're trying it out on wednesday. 


for more about gymboree, their philippines website is http://www.gymboree-ph.com and i'm glad to note they have quite a number of branches in manila. i remember now, they had a branch in power plant mall, rockwell.

searching for a place to play

a couple of weeks back, i got more serious about letting our Little Person experience life beyond our little home office. not that we never bring him out, as he goes everywhere with us here in Cebu as long as we keep to his bedtime, and we have traveled to several places outside of cebu as well. 

however, my issue was our daily routine. perhaps he wasn't bored, but i certainly was, covering the same ground as bedroom, offices, living and dining area, kitchen and laundry room, as well as playing in our back garden and walking around our lot. the errands to ayala and sm and visiting the toy departments and bookstores weren't quite cutting it (for me) anymore. also we've observed that he is taking some interest in people his size, as well as wanting to climb and explore more. so i decided its time we did some serious research about where else we might go to do Little Person things. 

funny enough, one time we were in rustan's looking for a toy bin, a lady with a 20-month old son asked if we had tried Gymboree. i had forgotten about gymboree at BTC, mainly because we don't go to BTC anymore. yet that was one of the places we were supposed to have mentally earmarked to try for the baby when i was still pregnant. 

the other place i've kept my eye on is MyPlayroom in Ayala, mainly because we are quite often in Ayala (for supplies, groceries, some restaurants) but i did know that they only admit kids 18months old or above for their classes. anyways, worth checking them out. 

parkmall is supposed to be a kid friendly place with a number of toyshops and play areas but i have not had a serious look in there and so will do. 

SM has a paid children's area somewhere in the new wing on the second floor behind the bunch of salons. 

as a side note, i think it is sad that it looks like my main options for play areas for LP are located inside malls. the only decent real public park i know of in cebu is Family Park in Talamban, but having done a photo shoot there not long ago, i was much dismayed that the place was abuzz with mosquitoes. cebu is dengue-land, in case you haven't heard, and i was not to knowledgeably feed my child to deadly mosquitoes. i know the private subdivisions have play parks as well, and sure we could name drop or claim to be visiting resident friends, but that misses the point. 

at least, growing up in manila, we had rizal park. 

i didn't want to dye

i've made the stellar mistake of adding LP's brand spanking new bluish-black shirt (by Junior Jasper Conran, a birthday gift) to my load of delicates. it looked so good and harmless, and i just wanted to give it a pre-wear wash. gah. it has turned all my white lingerie into a sorry gray. sigh.