Benefits of Mommy and Me Classes: Investigative Piece

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Yesterday was my first investigative piece that I was researching. Funny thing was nobody was the wiser. I asked lots of questions to the moms and nannies and received some great advice and feedback. Lizzy and I attended our first Mommy and Me classes. She had fun being around other kids. Granted she was the youngest there but she still had a blast. She made three new friends and mommy was able to have good conversation with other women my age. It was some much needed conversation with other people other than family. It was nice. The women that ran this program held the Mommy and Me Classes in a martial arts studio. The name of the studio is Higher Learning Martial Arts of North Bend WA. (They do teach kid classes) The name of the mommy and me class is called North Bend Play Time.

The schedule for this class is Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30am to 11:30am. The price if this class is free and it offers a chance for mommy and baby to make new friends in a fun environment. The toys that were available were slides, play houses, tunnels to crawl through and ginormous blocks to build with. It was a great learning experience for Lizzy.

In the picture above you see my daughter playing with another little girl. This girl came over to Lizzy and took the toy that you see from her. "Did that upset her?" you may be asking but even surprising to me she didn't cry. Being surrounded by other toys she just grabbed another one of her toys, that I brought from home, and started playing with it. I giggled at my little girl. She is five and a half months old and is already sharing. AHAHA! The arm of the woman in the picture was the nanny of the little girl and told her to return the toy to Lizzy. After that little act of kindness it started a friendship between this little girl and my daughter. It also showed a little boy near by that he could come and play with Lizzy. For a good forty-five minutes the two girls and the little boy played and cooed together. The ages of the little girl and boy is seventeen months and fifteen months.

As a mother, it was good to see my daughter be such a social butterfly. The benefits of mommy and me classes, that I came to discover, were a change of scenery of  playing area for my daughter, interaction with babies her own age, receiving more encouragement from other kids to try to talk and be motivated to attempt to keep up with them motion and activity wise and a good source of stimulation that mommy couldn't provide.

When we got home from her classes she attempted crawling for the first time. Usually I am putting her on her hands and knees at home but usually falls back to her tummy. It was so awesome to see.

The benefits for mommy was some fun conversations with other mommies and nannies and a chance to start some new friendships. Lizzy and I walked away with two play dates and some new friends.We enjoyed ourselves immensely. At first, I was not one for doing the mommy and me classes. I said I was more than happy to stay at home with Lizzy and just play with her there but I noticed all I was saying was "I". I was being selfish. My daughter is more important to me and that is what motivated me to try it. I have become a slight hermit since I have had my daughter and I noticed that she had been trying to tell me for a while that she wanted something new to do. I am so glad I went and feel better about taking her. She had a great time exploring a new place. We will be returning to mommy and me class.

So here is my advise to other mommies that have the same thought process as I had. You may be comfortable being at home and doing the same routine day to day but your baby may be wanting to do something more. Plus it is a great self esteem booster seeing your child interacting with other kids. It was for me.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Until Tomorrow Then!