As a result of his absence for two of the Growing Up Gifted classes due to his Roseola last week (see Darius had Roseola?), we had to arrange for makeup classes before the end of this current term in mid-June.

Today is our first makeup class, and we had to take a cab down in the early morning. We decided to choose the 9.30am class as he would be most alert during then.

When we reached there at around 9.10am, there were already a number of parents waiting patiently outside the closed doors of GUG at United Square. Looks like we were not the only early birds. ^^|

Catherine and I had decided earlier that I would be the one accompanying Darius throughout the class today, to get a feel of the session so that I can help to provide feedback to Catherine before confirming if we are to carry on with the subsequent terms.

When I entered the classroom, I was relieved to see another 3 daddies accompanying their children; I’ve thought I was going to be the only daddy in the group. Phew!

With a total of 9 children, the class started off with a Hello Song after a brief introduction. It was then followed by some singing before an Arts & Crafts session. In this session, we were supposed to make use of the cut-outs of the cucumbers and carrots and the washable paint provided  to stamp onto a piece of circular paper.

I need to mention that actually before the Arts & Crafts session, Darius was already starting to get restless and cranky. Instead of sitting down and facing the teachers, he kept turning around and looked at me. Not wanting him to get distracted, I kept turning him back. Unfortunately, this only made him felt even more upset.

Back to the Arts & Crafts session, I had a hard time calming Darius down and he kept wanting to get off the chair. Though I managed to hold his hand and do some stamping successfully, he started struggling and ended up staining both our clothes and arms.

At this time, I noticed several parents were already leaving the room to wash their kids, so I thought I should do the same too before the stains got messier.

While I was washing Darius’ arms, he was still very cranky and I had a difficult time washing him. I thought he probably needed to pee and carried him over the toilet bowl when the other parents had left. After his pee, he was still getting cranky.

Catherine came over at this time (she had been sitting outside and observing us from the thin opening near the classroom’s door) and suggested that Darius might be hungry. We thus prepared a milk feed and he did calm down a little when he started drinking while I carried him in the classroom.

The class resumed shortly and seeing that Darius wasn’t very eager to drink on, I carried him back to the playmat to join in the class. Unfortunately, he was still upset and in order to pacify him, I either had to feed him a little more milk again (which he didn’t drink much) or carried him in my arms while I walked around the back of the class.

After the zoophonics sessions, it was the music session and we proceeded to the music room. It had a big mirror on the wall and Darius was in smiles when I propped him in front of it. I knew he had a liking for full-length mirrors (see No More Rashes!) so I’m glad that helped made him felt happier.

Throughout the music class, he was enjoying himself, since he loves music and got to walk/run around the class (with my assistance) as we sang along. To me, that was the only enjoyable times with him throughout the entire class this morning.

After the class, Catherine suggested that I should be carrying him in my arms or have placed him on my lap when he’s cranky, as he probably needed some comfort from me at those points in the class. I didn’t think of that and would take note of that in the future.

Anyway, after going through the class, I’m beginning to understand Catherine’s concerns after her class yesterday (see GUG lessons – Wk 1). I was also started having second thoughts to continue him for the next terms.

Travelling is inconvenient as we stay far from town and convenience would only come in exchange of the high cab fares.

Moody Darius... -_-|

So after the end of this term, we would probably wait a while before deciding to re-enrol him back into the classes again.

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