I also am not a fan of cardio, but after a year of consistently going to the gym, I'm at a point where I can at least tolerate it (I do 30 minutes at a time as well). I read books as a way to distract myself from how much I hate what I'm doing to my body. I still get people coming up to me at the gym saying, "I can't believe you read real books." I can't help thinking: as opposed to the fake ones?
(I know what they mean, of course)
Anyway, you can adjust to the bouncing; I still sometimes read the same line a couple times, but it's not a huge deal. I love to read (it's been one of my post-college goals to do more fun reading) and going to the gym for cardio provides me with about 5 hours of reading per week. Not all my reading has been at the gym, but in the past year and a half, I've read 24 novels. I find it's easiest to read on a stationary bike; no bouncing there.
Aside from that, I've seen other people listen to music, "read" magazines, and my gym has television sets and you can plug your own headphones into your machine to listen to the tv. I also have a few workout dvds. Maybe you could get some so you can work out at home and still keep an eye on your daughter; maybe a video similar to one of your classes?
Whatever you do, if you're at all like me, cardio will never seem pleasant, but the most important thing is that you just keep up with it. It's definitely worth it when you see the results. And Wow! I just looked at your ticker and you've made incredible progress already! That's something to definitely be proud of. If you've made it this far, I'm sure you'll figure out a way to make working out tolerable enough to meet your goals. Best of luck to you!