Last Hall Mercer Session

I have been driving to and fro from New Jersey and Philly and i find the morning 2 hour drive during peak hours very tiring and stressful. Having Shane sitting in the car for 4 hours or more and driving from place to place doesn't seem like a very productive time for him (and for me). So I guess it's time to call it quits, and find stuff to do here in NJ.

So today, we had our last hall mercer playgroup in Philly. Mixed feelings for me (I don't think Shane realizes what's going on yet)… because I know most of the little ones (and their moms) in the group since they were really tiny! It's been a long 1.5 years journey watching them all grow up, playing with each other and enjoying the hang out sessions outside class.

Shane & Morielle when they were just 6 weeks old!!

Shane & Morielle @ 20 months old

So here are just some shots from today's last class. Hall mercer, we will miss you…. You have taught me so much on parenting and how to keep calm in the midst of baby chaos. You have instilled in Shane routine and discipline through songs and kind words. We (I) will always remember the last 1.5 years!

His newly discovered toy

His all time favorite Hungry Caterpillar slide. It was this slide that got him hooked to the book.

Shake Shake Shake… Oh what fun

Shane's favorite garden

Painting session since it was raining and we couldn't go to the roof to play

After months of stretching and reaching, he finally got tall enough to reach to the end of the sink to turn the tap on! Well done tall boy!

Milk and Muffins (one in each hand)… what else could be better

Hoarding the puppets...

And while I'm at this… I might as well add a few more photos of his wonderful time at the roof garden play area!

Baby Wordplay

This blog post is on a Gem in the heart of Philadelphia - Little Theatre, Baby Wordplay.

Little Theatre at 2237 Greys Ferry Ave - Graduate Hospital area in South Philly

Totally recommend Miss Pam's class to anyone here in Philly.  It's a walk in class where she sings songs, reads books and does her puppet shows. It runs all week from Mondays to Saturdays at either 10:30 or 11:30, and you can pop in whenever you have nothing to do with the baby. Each class is only $8 (or $7 if you get a set of 10). It's never too early to take your kid there... There were babies as old as 6 weeks there. 

I thought that Shane would not have understood what's going on, but after a few sessions, I noticed that he's been paying attention to some of the songs that have become familiar, and he stops fidgeting when his name gets included in some songs, or when he can be thrown around during the songs. There was also the little horsey and doggy puppet that popped out yesterday which he just stopped and stared. Today, we had the little chick and bees on the puppet show. So much action! The Peanut butter, marmalade and jam song, the good old skimery ke dinky dink song... etc, so many things to keep the little bubs entertained. A whole 45 mins of non stop action! I love it too because I get to "fly" Shane up in the air quite a lot with songs like the astronaut going to the moon, noble duke of york, etc. Also, I love it that Miss Pam has like almost unlimited number of books... And they're so interesting books - pop ups, song books, peek-a-boo books etc.

Miss Pam and Shane

If you can see close enough in the background, there's Maya the doll which she uses in her stories and songs, there's itsy winsy spider amongst the twigs, old McDonald farmhouse, and a whole range of stuff hidden behind the curtains.

That's Miss Pam during her class

Miss Pam is looking to open several more of these around Philadelphia and is on a fund raising mission now. There's a video of what she does on the fund raising site Indiegogo. Stop by and see if you can help out!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/babies-grow-quickly-and-we-can-t-wait#home