Gymboree vs. The Little Gym

I want my daughter to have extracurricular activities that she can enjoy throughout childhood and into adulthood. When she is old enough I will enroll her in ballet and music classes but for now she is too young to do those activities. In the latter part of 2012 I researched activities she can participate in as an infant and toddler and found out about Gymboree and the Little Gym. Both places offered free introductory mommy and me classes so I checked both of them out and LOVED it! Abby loved them too and had so much fun learning and exploring during the classes. Unfortunately most of the class times aren't convenient for a working mom, but thankfully both places have at least one time spot for her age group that would work for us.

Abby at 9 months waiting for class to start at Gymboree

Exploring during her first Gymboree class

Abby at 10 months waiting for class to start at the Little Gym

Exploring during her first Little Gym class

The class aren't super expensive but they aren't cheap either so Jonathon and I had a brief discussion about the pros and cons of enrolling her in a class. We decided it was worth it and plan on starting her at the end of this month. The actual hard decision making was deciding which class to take, Gymboree or the Little Gym? We finally decided on the Little Gym. Since Abby has SOOO much energy we feel the pace of the classes at the Little Gym suit her more and we like the fact that the Little Gym has classes until age 12 which gives us the option to continue her at the same place for a long time, whereas Gymboree stops at age 5. Another thing that nudged me in the direction of choosing the Little Gym is that the introductory class we went to seems to be the unofficial Duke Resident Mommy class! There was a surgery resident, psychiatry resident and pediatric resident in addition to me all there with their little ones. I'm happy with our decision and I'm looking forward to starting classes with my little princess at the Little Gym!!!