Cue End Credits

Today was the last day of class for The Little Gym this semester. I have to admit that Oda Mae and I were both a little skeptical about going to such a place back in August. We were going to be out some $$$ for a whole semester of "play" time. I was worried that we wouldn't really be getting our money's worth. Since I stay at home during the day, I can do all sorts of stuff with her without somebody telling me what we should do. Our first day, if you'll remember left something to be desired.

Looking back, I'm really glad we enrolled for the Fall semester. She has learned so much. She loves to run in circles now; she hangs on the bars better than anyone else in the class; she can almost walk on the balance beam by herself. All of these little tasks are great, but the real sense of accomplishment is seeing her become more and more social and seeing how much she can learn in such a short amount of time. I have to say also, that I've grown as well. Today at The Little Gym, I had no less than five little kids (besides my own) hanging around me want to play ball, look at bubbles, and sit in my lap. What a great feeling! There were a couple of sessions this semester that I would rather have been sitting in an office somewhere doing paperwork. There were times when I wish Oda Mae and I could have just stayed home, but I'm happy that we didn't. We have both adjusted very well. I'm not that weird man who comes to the gym with his kid and all the other mothers now. I'm "Allison's Daddy", and I'm okay with that.

Every week we also go to story time after Little Gym. The first few weeks Oda Mae was pretty restless, and now she pretty much sits and soaks everything in.

Next week we start the Winter/Spring session and we can't wait!

Oda Mae and I have started "school" at home. It's an organized time for us to work together on stuff like letters, numbers, phonics, pictures, simple words, etc. After some thought, I decided that while we've been working on this type of stuff for quite a while, I would be able to keep up with her if I had a set time and a set "curriculum" to work on every day. The last 2-3 months have been amazing. Allison learns so fast and picks up new things every day. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up with her now. For a while there she was having several "pouting" and "crying" sessions a day. I look back now and see that she was just bored and needed something to do. That's my fault. The last few weeks have been VERY positive. She just wants to learn.


-OD