Holiday and Show Week preparations at The Little Gym of Lake Oswego

In my last post, I said that I’d give you some insight as to what we’re doing to prepare for the holidays, for Show Week, and for the upcoming Winter/Spring semester.
Well… the holidays are almost over. We had winter camps this past week, with themes from Holiday Goofy Games to New Year’s Beach Bash. It was a time for your kids to blow off some steam, and for me to do some back office work. Teachers Kelly and Amy went to the East Coast to see their family (hopefully the recent East Coast storms will let them come back this week). And Adam, Angela, Nicole, Michael, and Makenzie manned the camps. Angela was in her element… she traded shifts with me a couple of times so she could be in extra camps with your children.

I’m excited because I was able to place orders for Show Week certificates, some cool medals and ribbons we’ll be handing out to your children during Show Week, Show Week dance costumes, *and* I was able to reformat my PC’s hard drive and reinstall everything. You know how 3-year old PCs can get. Now I’m finally able to get all of the latest Microsoft security patches installed. Yay! (Yes, I’m not only a great singer, but I’m also a computer geek.)

Teacher Alex also came on board last week. We are indoctrinating her in The Little Gym philosophy of growing skills in your children in a fun, nurturing way, growing self-esteem along with rolls, jumps, and cartwheels. If you’re at the gym this week, say hi. She’s going to be training hard in our Pre/K and Grade school gymnastics and dance, sports skills and karate classes. We’re also interviewing a few other folks this week. It’s hard to find the right combination of love of children, customer service, attention to detail, and silliness.   We'll be in heavy-duty training mode over the next 4 weeks, getting Alex and the others up to the levels we expect our teachers to perform at.

In addition to all of these things, we managed to cut several hundred strips of crepe paper for our camp octopus craft, and 700+ strips of construction paper and 88 tiny eyes for our snake craft.

The only thing I can’t find the time to squeeze in, is how to work off all of the calories I ingested during the holidays. Several parents brought in some treats for the instructors to share. Thanks for thinking of us!  The cheese "snow balls" were quite popular. 

We hope you had a great holiday and will have a fun New Year’s, and we hope 2010 is full lots of memorable experiences.   [We just had one tonight.  We're finishing off some pumpkin pie which my son, Blaise won't touch.  So he's having a little bit of vanilla ice cream.  We have a couple of different ice cream syrups left over from Freya's birthday party so Blaise went to get them from the fridge to add some color and flavor.  He pulled out the two squeeze jars.   As he was putting them on the kitchen table, Blaise yelled out in surprise.  We all turned and realized at the same instant that he had plled out a jar of Hershey's chocoloate sauce, and a jar of Italian dressing -- one of the last things Blaise would ever be caught eating.  The ensuing laughter was a nice "cherry" on the top of a nice weekend.]

Holiday Musings from Teacher Ron

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But The Little Gym is sure delightful,
When the cold rains start to blow,
Come and tumble, swing, balance, and grow!

Have you listened to our new voicemail message yet? I spent about 45 minutes last Sunday morning composing it. The paragraph above is the first stanza -- sung to the tune of "Let is Snow." 

I've been meaning to do something fun to update our outgoing message and finally sat down and just did it.  Let me know what you think!  Call (503) 595-9702 to listen to it.

Yes, it's almost Christmas, a time to have fun, exchange gifts, and stress out.  My family celebrates Hanukkah and Christmas.  And when we find a fun Kwanzaa event, we'll often join in too. 

Personally, I'm not much into the planning aspect of the holidays.  I'm lucky that my wife, Marie, really wants to focus on the humanistic side of this time of the year.   Last year, we found a pretty cool tradition that we started incorporating into our family's traditions.  Each day of December, we do a simple ceremony after dinner.  We light candles of peace, hope, love, etc..,  say some kind of reading and discuss it, then we open up a tiny bag and pull out a tiny card that has an activity that we're to do the following day.  The other day was my son's "special day".  Marie took some time off from work and went to Blaise's school to have lunch with him.  Last night we found a local giving tree and purchased gifts for 2 children in need.   This morning we did a Super Secret Special Surprise -- we went to our children's classrooms at 7am and put a secret gift on the desk of each child.  

We bought a kit from Advent Bag & Box (http://www.adventbagandbox.com/) to do this.   (We have no affiliation with them.)  We didn't buy the acompanying book so we're winging it a little bit.  But this is a fun and mostly easy tradition to do.  Our kids calm down enough to do the ceremony and we haven't burned down the kitchen table yet.  Tonight we'll be doing "Advent" plus lighting our menorah.   Maybe we'll make some super-greasy potato pancakes (a la Grandma Esther's recipe). 

What traditions do you and your family have?  (And can we steal them for our family?)  :-)

For my next post, I'll let you know what The Little Gym is doing to prepare for the holidays, for Show Week, and for the upcoming Winter/Spring semester.

I'm looking for "Video Veg day".  Maybe it'll be one day this weekend?  Marie?

Happy Holidays,
  Ron and The Little Gym of Lake Oswego team

Thanksgiving... What a great holiday!

Today I am truly thankful... thankful for the Thanksgiving holiday.  

Thankful for the excuse to cook lots of delicious food. Even though we cooked a small turkey for our family, we'll have leftovers for quite some time.  Yum!

Thankful for the extra time with my family.  We combined two things that we hadn't done yet -- we visited Pittock Mansion (only found about 1/3 of all of the hidden reindeer hidden around the place).  And we visited Powell's bookstore.  We've been living in Portland and had never made it to these Portland institutions.   (Powell's reminded me of Spag's of Worcester, MA. Anyone know of Spag's is still around?)

Thankful for the mini-vacation.  I feel rested and ready for a great week at The Little Gym. 

But while I was recharging my batteries, we were busy at the gym too.  Look around when you come in to classes this week and see the great work that Adam was working on!

Early Bird Enrollment raffle -- win an Awesome Birthday Bash!

We just completed our 2 week "Priority Enrollment" period when current Members may pre-enroll for the upcoming Winter/Spring semester and secure a spot in a class of choice before Open Enrollment starts (tomorrow).  I was very curious to see how this particular Priority Enrollment would go.  It's our guage as to how well we're teaching classes, engaging our customers, and yes, how the economy is picking up.

We had a very strong pre-enrollment with 50% of current customers re-enrolling.  (Yay!)  By knowing which classes are filling, I can better determine where I need to shift staff schedules and recruit for new instructors. 

So this year, we've decided to have one more raffle drawing.  We are now starting our "Early Bird" enrollment period, where for these first 2 weeks of Open Enrollment, *anyone* who enrolls in our Winter/Spring semester, will be entered into the drawing for an Awesome Birthday Bash.   (Members who pre-enrolled during Priority Enrollment are already entered into the drawing.)  We'll do the drawing on Saturday December 5th. 

As I mentioned above, it is extremely beneficial for us to know *now* how many students will be in our Winter/Spring classes.  I'm excited to see how this Early Bird enrollment period and raffle will turn out.  Hopefully it will be a good way to optimize our Winter/Spring staff scheduling - which I'm starting working on this morning!!

Thank you!
 -Ron

Ever give in to the "dark side"?

Tonight I gave in to my "dark side."  My children are 5 (Blaise) and 8 (Freya).  After Freya's Brownie meeting we stopped quickly at the library and were heading for home when Freya pointed out that we were driving by Cold Stone Creamery.  She got a gift card from a friend for her birthday a few months back and has been dying to use it.

Tonight Freya said, "Too bad we can't go there."  I joked, "For dinner?"  Freya said something to the effect of, "That would be fun."  So I said "ok," and had to repeat it a couple of times as I was turning the car around and headed back to the ice cream store. 

Yup, we had ice cream for dinner.  I was heartened a bit when Freya said she'd have some fruit before bed and Blaise offered to eat an apple. 

Was I a bad parent?  Sure, I wasn't looking forward to telling Marie (my wife) what we ate for dinner.  But me and the kids had a *really* fun night together that hopefully they'll remember for a long time.  Tonight's the kind of night that recharges the batteries a bit.  This holiday season I hope you find plenty of times to create unique and lasting memories.

The Little Gym of Lake Oswego To Offer 25 Scholarships

My wife and I have been owners of The Little Gym of Lake Oswego/Tualatin for almost 4 years now.  This The Little Gym has been providing premier motor skill development programs at this location for 14 years.  Over the past year, our members have stuck with us, helping us get through these tough economic times. 

We recently thought about how to give back to this community and have decided to reserve 25 class spots in the upcoming Winter/Spring semester for local families that wouldn't otherwise be able to attend classes due to being hit by the economy.   The Winter/Spring semester runs from January 25, 2010 through June 19th.

We've provided partial and a few full scholarships to families in need over the past year.   I'm glad to be able to put smiles on the faces of both parents and children who are able to come to classes who would normally not be able to.

We're going to try to keep this process as simple as possible.  If you or someone you know has been hit by the economy and a scholarship to The Little Gym would enable your child to attend and benefit from our programs, please send an email to tlglakeoswegoor@thelittlegym.com describing how a scholarship to The Little Gym would  benefit your family.   Please also include your name, address, phone number, and email address.

Submissions are due by Tuesday, December 15th. The scholarships will be awarded in early January. 

For more news or updates to this program, watch this blog (http://www.tlglakeoswegoor.blogspot.com/) or the Announcement section of our website  -- http://www.tlglakeoswegoor.com/.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us or call the Gym at (503) 595-9702.

Happy Handstands!
 -Ron
  Gym Director/Owner

Priority Enrollment for Winter/Spring starts Monday. Here's the list of our raffle prizes!

Members may enroll for our upcoming Winter/Spring semester (runs Jan 25 - June 19) starting on Monday, November 9th.  Enroll early and be eligible to win all raffle drawings!!  You can enroll in person or by phone starting at 9am, or beat the rush and enroll online starting at 12:01am (I think!) using your Member Milestones account number and PIN. (Call us at 503-595-9702 if you need that, or your Family ID/"Magic Number").

Here are all of the prizes you could win! (Over $650 worth!)

• Mon, Nov 9: One free Parents’ Survival Night at The Little Gym ($21 value)
• Tues, Nov 10: The Little Gym CD, Water Bottle & T-Shirt ($23.50 value)
• Wed, Nov 11: One The Little Gym Winter Camp ($26 value)
• Thur, Nov 12: Custom his/her gymnastics-themed chocolates from Simply Sweets ($18 value)
• Fri, Nov 13: Pregnancy Activity Book for My Big Brother/Sister from UniquePregnancyGifts.com ($25 value)
• Sat, Nov 14: The Little Gym Annual Family Membership renewal ($35 value)
  
• Mon, Nov 16: The Little Gym CD, Water Bottle & T-Shirt ($23.50 value)
• Tues, Nov 17: One The Little Gym Winter Camp ($26 value)
• Wed, Nov 18: The Little Gym Annual Family membership ($35 value)
• Thurs, Nov 19: One night stay at the Phoenix Inn Suites Tigard/Lake Oswego (~$100 value)
• Fri, Nov 20: On-location photography session from Annie’s Sweet Pea Photography ($150 value)
• Sat, Nov 21: Grand Prize – free Summer semester of classes! ($200+ value)

Good luck!!!! :-)
 -Ron

Now Announcing... The Best Makeup Policy in the World!

I've been struggling lately... We have the best instructors in the world here at The Little Gym of Lake Oswego.  We have the best motor-skill development program that not only grows physical skills, but skills that provide a foundation for confidence and success in life.  So I was thinking the other day, what could we do to make our program better? 

It came to me in a flash... how about make our make-up policy even more flexible for parents! 

Up until now, makeups would need to be scheduled prior to the end of the semester that you're enrolled in. Going forward, if you miss a class, you will be able to do a makeup for that class up until 6 months after that absence, provided that you are still enrolled in a class. As with our current policy, we request that you call in prior to the start of the class to be able to do a makeup for that class. 

So now, you don't have to worry about your makeups expiring so quickly.  If your child is sick, now you don't have to be concerned with squeezing in a makeup before the end of the semester.  As long as you are enrolled in a class, (which, of course you would be!!), you can schedule a makeup class when you're ready. 

We have a few children in our program with conditions that make illnesses that are bothersome to most children, potentially life-threatening to them.  So hopefully this change to our makeup policy will make things easier for you and keep all of us healthy!

Tears of Joy at The Little Gym

I wasn't planning on writing a blog post today, but after our morning classes, Teacher Angela mentioned how she almost started tearing up in her Beasts class (age 19-30 months) today.  Sadie has been reluctant to walk on the high beam by herself. She typically holds on tight to Angela or her Nanny Sara.  Today, Sara suggested that Sadie try taking one step by herself.  Angela was by Sadie's right side and Sara by her left.  Sadie took one tentative step by herself... then another... then another... until she made it to the end of the beam by herself.  Sadie was bouncing with excitement.  And Angela's eyes started to well up as well. 

Of course, whenever we share a story like this with each other, our other favorite stories need to be shared.  Teacher Adam brought up a student (3 year old Funny Bug in our Saturday class) from a semester or 2 ago.  Gabby had been terrified of the high beam and would walk across with her jaws-of-life grip on the teacher.  At one point in the semester, she was ready to try it by herself.  Like Sadie, she took a tentative step, and then another, until she made it to the end of the beam.  Adam looked up and caught the eye of Gabby's mom in our multipurpose room (with windows right next to the beam).  It was Gabby's mom who had showers of tears of joy raining down. 

If you've experienced tears of joy at The Little Gym, please let us know!

What are your family's Halloween traditions?

Halloween is in a few days.  Most of us will take our kids out trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, or perhaps to our town's "downtown" area for some trick-or-treating at the local stores.   Then we'll gorge on our kids candy after they go to sleep. 

My children are 5 and 8 years old.  They don't easily forget about the candy they've collected from our neighbors.  So what we do is... we allow our children to eat pretty much as much candy as they'd like before going to bed on Halloween.  They share their candy with Mom & Dad. (I've got quite the sweet tooth.)  And then when we're sick to our stomachs, we throw the rest of the candy in the trash.  Marie makes sure I don't sneak some away for myself for later.

That's kindof our only Halloween tradition.  What are your favorite traditions?   I've heard of the Candy Witch or Faries coming after Halloween to take away all of your children's leftover candy.  I've heard of families who donate their candy to children's hospitals.  I know of neighborhoods that throw big Halloween parties.  What do you do?  (And are you ok if I adopt some for my family? )

In any case, we'll either see you at our annual Member's Halloween Party, or next week for our Progress Party Sleepover week at The Little Gym!

Happy Halloween!

Who is your child's favorite The Little Gym Instructor?

Yesterday, young Maddie came to do a makeup class in Teacher Adam's Thursday Funny Bugs class. She went right on in, no issues, no hesitation.  A few weeks ago, when Maddie came to do a makeup class in my class, she needed Dad to come in with her, and she hung out by the gymnastics stations, hesitant to join in.  When I asked Mom about it yesterday, she said, "Maddie has a crush on Teacher Adam."  I tried not to take in personally even though I am working towards becoming a certified "child whisperer."  

Although all of our instructors are fantastic, I'm curious... who is your child's favorite instructor at The Little Gym and why?

Sneak Peak at our Winter/Spring schedule

It's almost time to reserve your space for the Winter/Spring semester at The Little Gym of Lake Oswego/Tualatin.  If you'd like a sneak peak at our schedule, it is now online on our website on the Class Schedules page.

All members (as of October 6th) will be receiving a copy of our Winter/Spring schedule in the mail around Monday October 26th. It includes details of our two-week Priority Enrollment period in which only members may enroll.  We'll have schedules at the gym around Monday the 26th as well. 

During the 2-week period when only members may enroll (Nov 9 - 21), we'll have refreshments at the Gym plus daily raffle prizes.  I'm finalizing the raffles.  We've got some nice ones for you!  I'll reveal those over the next week or so as they become more solid.

Happy Handstands! -Ron 

Cool article about Teacher Kelly

Here is an article originally from The Virginian-Pilot newspaper (covering southeast Virginia where Teacher Kelly is from).  It's a suspenseful article describing the challenges of the beam in gymnastics and how Kelly saved the day for her high school during a gymnastics meet.

"Balance is everything"

The Little Gym is on TV....

... The Little Gym of Fitchburg, WI, that is.  On October 1st, they were visited by the Madison, WI television station WKOW and featured on a "Parent Project" segment.  

From the article:  Research shows classes such as these help parents learn more about their children than they would through everyday interaction. According to the journal 'Child Development,' "curriculum-based parent-child classes can help parents develop sensitive, appropriate responses to the individual needs of their child. Knowing how to respond best to your child helps them develop a secure attachment to you and in turn, provides a strong base for future relationships."

The link below has a brief article and a link to their 2-minute TV segment.  Enjoy!

WKOW TV Parenting Project: Benefits of Parent-Child classes  (article)  (video)

The most amazing The Little gym instructors

I am so lucky to have such a great group of instructors here at The Little Gym.  We have a 2-hour team meeting each week to review the following week's curriculum, practice skills & spotting, and train on various aspects of the gym, including customer service, class management, cleaning and any new initiatives that we are implementing.

Last night we took a break and took pictures of the team for our new Facebook page.   I'll include a couple of them here. Please visit our Facebook page for more photos.

In our meetings, I talk about how, in this challenging economy, I need everyone to be comfortable handling all aspects of the business, from answering questions correctly, to being able to schedule preview visits and enrolling new members, to doing the most important thing --- teaching the absolute best classes and growing skills and self-confidence in our students.  Each instructor takes their role here at The Little Gym seriously and are continually learning and growing their own skills, either as an instructor or in contributing to this small business.  By doing so, they free me up to focus on how to keep The Little Gym moving forward. 

In the past year, we've included new equipment, we've added a member rewards program, we've expanded our Pro Shop, added a scholarship program for struggling families, and renewed our focus on improving our customer service.  Our current initiatives include cross-training instructors on our various curriculum, and growing our instructors via The Little Gym certification process.  Several instructors are on their way towards being Gold-level certified by The Little Gym International.

I hope you have a chance to meet our great instructors.  I'll post more about them in the future.  If there are any The Little Gym topics you're interested in, feel free to send me an email!

Welcome to The Little Gym of Lake Oswego blog

Yes, it's time for a The Little Gym of Lake Oswego/Tualatin blog.  Time to get into the '00's.  Why blog?  Good question.  I hope to figure that out in the next several months or so.  As we say in our Super Beasts classes when we introduce structure via modified games, or have parents step back and have the children follow the teachers -- It's an experiment!  I'll start writing and see where it goes.

My wife Marie, and I have been the owners of The Little Gym of Lake Oswego/Tualatin for almost 4 years.  It's been quite the roller-coaster ride.  But *every* day, something happens at the Gym that provides the fuel to keep going, working our tails off to ensure we're always teaching the absolute best classes and providing the best customer service.  I'll be writing about some of those events here in this blog.  Feel free to post your comments too!

Today was no exception.  Each September, when we re-start our Bugs class (for 4-10 month-olds), it's a challenge.  Most parents automatically join Gymboree with their littlest ones.  (I know, I've got to get The Little Gym information into the hospitals, pregnancy classes, nursing/La Leche programs, etc...)   So when we get Bugs started it takes a little bit.  This semester we tried the class at a different time (9:15am Mondays), and decided to build up a wait list for several weeks before starting it.  So today, we had four little Bugs start along with their parents.  I love practicing my "Bugs whispering."  It usually takes several weeks for the infants to get comfortable with Teacher Ron.  Today,  I got a nice smile from even our youngest in class. 

Parents typically come to class not knowing what to expect.  There's a lot of learning going on, but just being able to spend 45 minutes with your child, focusing on their growth, focusing on them, bonding, and enjoying them, is tremendously valuable and worthwhile.  I love being a part of that.