Back to Baby School: Fall Semester starts at Isis Maternity

This past Wednesday Baby M and I, along with 6 Mamas (and 6 babies), began our Fall Semester at Isis. We are all enrolled in the "Movers & Groovers" class, our 5th class that we have taken together since our babies are born. None of us can actually fathom this: when we finish this class, all of our babies will be one year old, and we will have been together (practically) every week since January 16th. As I have mentioned in previous posts, these women have changed our lives for the better in many ways, and I can't thank the Isis gods enough for putting us all in the same class!

With that said, I would love to just do a quick review of each class we have taken to date:

Last day of Great Beginnings class

1. Great Beginnings (for babies 2-10 weeks old): This was the absolute best class I took at Isis (both during pregnancy and after), but that could be due to the fact that I took it at a time where I needed something like this the most. It was a place where the 10 of us could open our hearts about being new moms, and realize that the things we were thinking were not as crazy as we thought they were at the time. Our "teacher's" name was Nancy, and she was a modern day Mary Poppins: wild salt and pepper hair, hint of a British accent and able to calm any fussy baby with a few bounces on the exercise ball. The first nugget she taught us was "ABC: All Babies Cry" and I will remember it forever. Seems so silly to say now, but at the time it was exactly what we wanted (and needed) to hear. During this class we talked about our babies development, breastfeeding (and not), our sex lives, and how to manage our newly chaotic life among many other topics. This class, obviously, was aimed more towards the moms than the babies and I cannot recommend it enough for all new moms out there. If you don't live in the Boston area it is more than worth your while to search out a local class just like this when the baby comes.

2. Next Steps (babies 3-5 months, or GB graduates): This class was kind of a blur for all of us in the group. I remember singing a lot in this class, which at the time I thought was pretty silly because my baby was only about 3 1/2 months old and couldn't care less about being sung to. The curriculum was much like that of Great Beginnings, and we all felt like a lot of stuff was repeated (yes, we know a crock pot can be a new mom's best friend, and we are aware of Peapod grocery delivery). Our teacher's name was Heather, and for some reason we didn't really bond with her that well. I think she might have been intimidated by the fact we all knew each other pretty well by that time, but we didn't really gel like we did with Nancy. We were all happy to attend the classes because we again got to see each other each week and thrived on that time out of the house with baby.

3. Caterpillar class (babies 5-7 months, or NS grads): During this class the babies started to pay attention to the singing and much more so to the teacher, Teresa, whom we loved. She was similar in age to all of us (early 30s) and has a child of her own, she took to us, and the babies right away. We spent about 30 minutes each class singing, followed by a book, and finally our 30 minute Mama discussion. This is when we really started to see the babies become more social with each other.

Last day of Social Butterflies

4. Social Butterflies (6-8 months old): Thank God for Social Butterflies and Miss Rebecca (as I like to call her). This was the most fun class for Baby M and I. Because she has been kind of a late bloomer socially, it wasn't until this class that she actually started to react and enjoy what was happening around her. Like all the other classes we sang for half of the time, and talked for the other half, but during the singing we had more advanced toys to play with to help the babies develop their fine motor skills. We talked about food in this class too, as all of our babies were now eating solid foods. In this class we also had a ball pool to play in, tunnels to crawl through (for those that were on the move early), slides, Rodis and all sorts of other interactive things for the babies to enjoy. I have to say Miss Rebecca was a fabulous teacher, with the voice of a Disney Princess. The babies took to her right away - and some wanted to go home with her they loved her so much!

If you are lucky enough to be able to attend class at Isis, I recommend taking as many classes in succession as possible. Like I have said before, I have met some great women because of Isis, and by the end of the class we will have spent an entire year together. It is a very rare situation that we actually all liked each other and got along so well, and even rarer that we have been able to take classes together.

For more detailed information, and to register for classes, visit Isis' website!