Calvary Preschool's Open Gym

In one of the recent Calvary Preschool Newsletters, I saw that every Friday there is an open gym for ages birth - school age. It's free and you don't have to register; you just show up if you can make it. It's coordinated by a mom in the area. I had hoped to check it out last week, but it was canceled due to the snow. So this week I was determined to go! My kiddos need to run! I emailed my friend Becca to see if her & her kiddos would like to join us. She said sure.

So, we met there. When we arrived, I saw Joshua's preschool teacher in the hallway and she gave us directions to the gym (now I'll know where to park so that we're closer). She told me that she took a sick day today because she's been fighting off a cold and finally scheduled a doctor's appointment to see if it's a sinus infection. 'Tis the season!

The second Joshua got to the gym, he grabbed the tractor and started to ride. He was in heaven! Becca & I agreed that we need a gym like this as a basement in our houses during these winter months so the kids have space to spread out and play.

The kids grabbed balls of all varieties (basketballs, soccer balls, volley balls and I think one may have even been a four-square ball) and the mom in charge grabbed a bunch of different toys to bring down on a cart. Caleb grabbed this soccer ball and was in heaven! He is really good at kicking the ball, and he loves it. He thought this ball should be his the rest of the time. I wish the picture would have turned out better. It was really dark and I tried to lighten it a little to capture his priceless expression. Alayna grabbed the Elmo ball.

When we got there, only one other mom and kiddo was there. But soon enough moms & kiddos showed up. The mom in charge brought out folding chairs and for the most part the moms just chatted while the kids played. However, my kids wanted my attention, so I don't feel like I got to chat that much. But, that's really okay because I was there for them. I wanted them to have fun, and I have other times for socializing. :)

Joshua desperately wanted to play with these bowling pins, but there were too many other kiddos there interested in them, too. He would set them up just in time for someone else to knock them down, which was frustrating him. He never did get to have fun with the pins he put up. But, it ended in him getting highly upset, which is not worth it. I told him that he wasn't allowed to be near the pins anymore and tried to get him interested in other toys, which eventually worked. I promised we could play Wii bowling tonight as a family. Then I took him to another spot where I saw something that looked like horse-shoes, and we played with it for a little while before asking me to play soccer with him. Here's a quick shot of the boys playing soccer. I think we're going to be glad we bought the soccer net this summer!

There were lots of toys to play with and lots of little boys and girls. The moms talked about the normal mom  things. My favorite was a mom talking about finally cleaning out her car after she went to pick up her daughter at kindergarten and stuff started spilling onto the ground. Haaa!!! My car isn't quite that bad, but it does seem to be the last thing on my priority list, and with kids something often has to go. So, while my house is typically clean, the inside of my car could use a little vacuum and dusting.

There was another mom who was due in a week, so we talked about names, pregnancy, birth, etc. Since I'm half deaf, I swear, I only heard about half the conversations. My ears were also tuned into what the kids were doing and my attention was there as well, so that was probably part of it, too. Here's baby Kyla enjoying her floor time.

The kids were having fun... here's the Bean on the hippity hop. He does a great job with it! Notice Caleb in the background still with his beloved soccer ball. He calls everything a baseball, though. He adores playing football, but he calls it a baseball as well (which sounds close to his pronunciation of "Bible").

And Joshua made a friend - a little 3-year-old boy had a train there and they made a 'train track' and enjoyed playing.

 Soon enough some kiddos wanted to play with the parachutes, and my boys LOVE them!

The girl that runs it used to be the nanny for my OBGYN and also goes there. It sounds like she had some complicated birth issues, too, so it was interesting to hear her story. She seemed really nice, as did everyone. I think we'll go and check it out again.

Caleb & Joshua would go back and forth between playing and coming up to Momma to be loved on. My boys are so precious to me! We had a good morning. :)

 

Soon enough we put our coats on and said our goodbyes! Thanks for coming along, Cintron girls!