A Trial @ JG

Sophie is growing up too fast and furious, not that I am complaining, but she is getting bored and restless staying at home most of the time. After much procrastination, we finally decided to give Julia Gabriel (PlayNest) a try. It is part of their EduPlay programme, for babies 6 to 18 months, twice a week. The trial we attended was a roller coaster ride of music, art, reading, playing and snacking, kind of like a tour package which attempts to cover as many attractions as possible. Both papa and mama felt dizzy after the lesson. And Sophie slept for 2 whole hours after that... probably overstimulated and exhausted.

We started with "Freeplay" aka "Waiting for Everyone to Arrive". It was not too different from our play yard, with all the toys on the mat. So everyone was helping themselves with the toys and occasionally interacting. Then we had "Circle Time" where everyone sat in a circle and the instructors would sing and greet each baby and their caregiver. After that, things got fuzzy... I could not recall what we did actually. There was some sort of story time with puppets and more singing.

"Sophie's first piece of abstract art"

I like the "Art Time" although it was short. Initially we hesitated when we saw paint... but poor Sophie was staring at the other kids as if longing to give it a try... so we let her do it. Sophie used a golf ball and paint to make prints in a drawer-like container with the help from papa and mama of course. I also like the "Snack Time" because Sophie got to sit in a miniature chair and ate her cookie at a miniature table. I love the furniture... I believe it to be the design of Montessori Education; the baby is encouraged to crawl towards the weaning table and chair, sit up and feed himself.

While we were there, papa pretended to make phone calls... actually he was trying to snap some pictures. I thought papa had taken many pictures... sigh... papa only took ONE... at the playground. He did not take pictures of Sophie crawling up the stairs and going down the slide.