Last Day of Class

Today was our last day of Gymboree for the spring session and we had a great time. Ben was rightly given the title of "Shown Most Development Throughout the Session" by his teacher since we joined the class when he was just over four weeks old and he was truly a newborn at that point. Now he is so alert, able to track things with just his eyes, holding his head at a 90 degree angle, able to really interact with me during the class, smiling, cooing and so many other things. He even LAUGHED OUT LOUD during one of our silly songs....he was looking right at me, grinning in response to the silly face I was making at him, when all of a sudden he let out an unmistakable chuckle! One of my friends sitting next to me definitely heard it too, so I have a witness since Benjamin (of course!) wouldn't repeat this for us last night while I was telling Daddy about his acomplishments.

Here's Ben just hanging out during class:

Here he is with the infamous Gymbo puppets. Over the past two months he has really started to actively focus on the props we use and track them with just his eyes instead of being oblivious to them and/or tracking them with his whole head. As you can see, he is looking right at the puppet as it sings and dances for him, and is even smiling slightly for it (in that Mona Lisa sort of way).

We use a large parachute each week, lifting it over the babies' heads for tactile stimulation from the wind and when the parachute drapes over them. Ben has a funny reaction to wind in general - sucks his breath in deeply (and loudly, as if he is startled), flails will arms out to the sides and then holds his breath for a moment. So funny! Here he is during the parachute exercise in class. As funny as his reaction is, though, he seems to not be afraid of the strong gust of air, as he is one of only a few babies who almost never end up crying during this part of class!


Finally, the consensus is that Ben might be an early crawler since he has such good head control and squirms his arms and legs with force while on his tummy, sometimes almost elevating his body in a "push up" position. He has also recently been able to support some weight on his legs when we hold him up. With our luck, he'll skip crawling and go right to walking! Here he is during Tummy Time. As you can see, he is pushing his arms and legs forcefully and lifting his body slightly off of the ground. He really enjoys to look at himself in the mirror lately, too, and was smiling at and drooling on his reflection while "pushed up". We do this at home, too, since he loves the mirror and likes to see us in it whenever we go past. So funny and it's obvious that he is starting to actually recognize the images as opposed to just blankly looking at them.

Next week Ben and I start the summer session at Gymboree with the Mommy and Me Fitness class. Basically, it's yoga that incorporates mom and baby into the activity so it should be good interaction for the two of us and maybe some exercise for me as well! More photos to come...