Gymbo-wheeee!

I went shopping last night to augment my miniscule winter wardrobe and stumbled upon a humongo sale, so I got five new tops and a pair of tennies for only $92. Or actually $22 after cashing in one of my Christmas gift certificates.

I'm not an athletic-shoe type of person at all. I mean, I bought my last pair of sneakers on my honeymoon almost ten years ago. But my entire footwear wardrobe consisted of summer sandals, a pair of fine Italian leather boots and a few pairs of heels left over from my late, unlamented career days and I had nothing to schlep comfortably around in. So I hit the shoe department and looked doubtfully over the sneaker selection.

I really, really hate the funky-shaped soles they put on athletic shoes these days. They're hideous! They look like wads of chewed-up gum, don't they? I couldn't even bring myself to try on a pair. So I bought a pair of Vans. The brown ones. It was either that or Keds, and I'm not matronly enough for Keds. When I got home with the Vans, Mikey said, "Oh, so you're a skater now?" I don't care. They suit me.

So today was our trial Gymboree class.

We got there thirty minutes early and they were having playtime for about half a dozen younger toddlers, but they let Britt join right in. She climbed ladders, slid down slides, threw balls through a basketball hoop, walked the balance beam, jumped on the mini-trampoline and rocked on the rocking thingies. She was running here, there and everywhere at top speed and, since we have to stay within arms' length, so was I.

And then it was time for Britt's age group. Only three other kids showed up. There was more playtime and the woman leading the class would call us over occasionally for songs and parachute play, but Britt wasn't interested in that; she just wanted to play on all the cool stuff.

And that was pretty much it. I left thinking, "That was it? That's all it is?" I was expecting something more structured, more educational. So, I don't know.

They want $59 a month with a three-month minimum enrollment, plus a one-time $35 enrollment fee. So that would be $212 for Britt to play on the cool play equipment once a week for 13 weeks. According to the website we can also attend free Play Gym, but the lady who explained all this to me didn't mention that so I'm not sure what it means.

Mikey says to go ahead and do it since she enjoyed it and it does give her a chance to socialize with other kids her size, but I hate to spend that much if she isn't going to be learning anything. I really wanted to put her in Kindermusik, but the website said the class for her age group was full when I looked at it last week. I looked again today and it doesn't say that it's full anymore, so we might go try a trial class there to see what it's like.