Gymbor-Wee

About a month ago, we grabbed a Living Social deal for Gymboree Play and Music. For those readers who aren't Gymboree savvy, Gymboree (Play and Music, yep, same chain as the clothing stores) is essentially a baby gym. They have classes for babies of all ages, new born to 3 years old, and then other classes for pre-school and school aged kiddos. Their classes encourage active play and teach concepts like up and down, through, over and under, hard and soft, and of course colors, while using music and songs.

Back in the day when I nannied for Sophie, we went to Gymboree weekly, often multiple times, so taking Cadence there was quite surreal.

Since she is an active and very social baby, she loves it there. We enrolled with a friend from Waterbabies so having a familiar face there is quite nice.

While Cadence hasn't expressed interest in standing unassisted or walking yet, she's daring and fast and easily keeps up with the kiddos who are out-toddling her.

One of the perks to enrolling in a weekly class is that we have unlimited access to free play times, a few hours each day where babies and kids of all ages can come  in and play on the equipment during unstructured playtime. Matt and I have made it a habit to take Cade each Sunday for some playtime with both of us. Its especially helpful as the weather turns and she needs to exert some energy.

Yesterday we took our Flipcam and captured Cadence at "her" gym. We're planning on enrolling again for another month and it'll be interesting to see her capabilities expand!

Without further adieu, here's Cadence at Gymboree (for email subscribers, please visit the blog directly to view these videos (andermr.blogspot.com)).

Bubbles are Cade's favorites and Gymboree has the best bubbles ever!

Signing with Cadence

Matt and I have signed to Cadence since she was 4 months old, and although we've waited a long time for accurate repetition, we've recently seen her start using her signs appropriately and frequently.

We sign to her daily, teaching her simple signs that she can use to communicate what she would like instead of squealing and yelling, that being said, she shrieks while she signs, but at least we have a concept of what she wants.

Most of her signing vocabulary is based on things she knows, uses daily, manners, and/or items. While she has been exposed to signs for people in her life (auntie, mama, daddy, Grand(ma)(pa), she doesn't use them yet.

For your viewing pleasure, I give you Cadence's current signs. Pretty impressive for an 11 month old!

"More"

"Milk"

"Please"

"All Done"

Cade's personal sign for "phone"

"Poop"

(If you've seen Meet the Fockers, you'll know how similar her sign is to the actual sign)