First Day at Julia Gabriel

Today was Map's first day at Julia Gabriel. Map was in playnest class which was a playgroup for babies below 18 months old. For the next 10 weeks, Map would have classes twice a week on Wednesday and Friday for one and a half hour.

Map at Julia Gabriel

There were 6 studios for Julia Gabriel's playnest class at the time slot for which Map signed up. To mommy's disappointment, most babies in Map's class were very young - below one year old - and had not even started walking. There were only one baby around Map's age. Mommy swore she would ask to change class to the studio with more older babies next time. (Noted: Map was now in another studio with so many babies her ages! It was good to complain). There were 3 teachers for the class - one was the music teacher. The class size was around 12 babies per 3 teachers.

The one and a half hour class was very structured.  First they let babies play with toys for 15 minutes or so. The toys for this period changed every class. After that the class actually started, and teachers and parents sang nursery rhyme songs with babies. Then it was time to introduce character for that day. The first day character was a car named Connie Car. Reading time followed - the teacher read to the class a book related to the character of that day. After that it was art activity. For the first day, it was finger painting. Very bright watercolors - orange and pink - were provided. Parents had to apply watercolors to babies' palm of hands, then help babies press the palm of hands onto paper. Map refused to press her palm onto the paper, and instead rather wanted mommy to lift her up. So Map applied her bright orange watercolor onto her own hair and mommy's shirt in the process.  At the end, we got a baby with bright orange hair highlight and a mommy with bright orange stains all over her shirt - and an empty art paper.  A lot of people were laughing at us after.  

Map was hungry after the art activity and started saying "mumm mumm" which means eating in Thai. But mommy had to tell her it was not the time yet. Around 50 minutes in, the class stopped for snack break. Babies had to sit around the small tables in their small chairs. This was the first time Map had to sit on a small chair to have snack and she was not happy about it. The snack provided for that day was applesauce. Map refused to eat it, so mommy went to get her some cookies.  But one of the teachers saw and told mommy that the outside food was not allowed. That teacher offered Map some bite-sized biscuits instead, which Map ate happily. This was the first time Map had to learn to eat snack at specific time. Map's other activities previously only lasted 30-45 minutes - not enough time to get hungry.  This was great - it taught Map discipline to eat at specific time and also taught her school skills like eating snacks at a table, doing activity at a table.  This would be prepare Map ahead of time for preschool.

After snack break, it was playtime. The class went to the play area. There were tons and tons of toys - like tricycles, push buggies, pretend-play kitchen and toy-food, castle and slider. This was babies' and mommies' dream play area.

After 15 minutes of playtime, the class went back for the last section of class - music time. It was mommy's favorite. The music teachers would play the musical instruments like piano, guitar etc, and the whole class sang songs.

Babies gathering around piano during music time

The class sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with dimmed light

Map had so much fun. It was so exhausting though with new environment and one a half hour of excitement. Map came back home and had a shower to get rid of all the bright orange watercolor on her body and her hair. Then she had lunch and totally fell asleep on high chair. This was the first time ever that Map fell asleep on high chair after eating.

Fallen asleep on high chair after lunch