This is why I’m uncoordinated

I am utterly spent. I feel like I’ve just spent three hours at the gym. Instead, I’ve spent forty-five minutes at Gymbaroo with Pete and I am simply wasted.

They should make it clear on their website that parents are required to be fit. And strong. And fit again.

I will never forget our first lesson three weeks ago. Ten minutes into the baby exercises, our lovely leader Di had instructed us to lift our babies upside down by clasping our hands around their thighs. Naturally, I was the only mum who couldn’t do it. Poor Pete was crying hysterically with his face planted on the gym mat as his chronically unfit mum struggled to get him even one centimetre off the floor. Of course, it didn’t help that Pete is a 11-12 kg nugget baby or that I was laughing hysterically the whole time at my own incompetence.

Strangely enough, we weren’t just hanging them upside down for the fun of it: Apparently, it is good for babies to have lots of upside down time. And to have bare feet. Both help to promote mobile development, balance and co-ordination.

I was at once embarassed, mortified and enlightened when Di told us this. Embarassed because I was the only one (yet again) taking Pete’s pants off there on the mat so that I could in turn take off his Bonds bodysuit in order to achieve ‘bare feet’ status. Mortified because both Pete and Angus were almost never allowed to go bare feet by their Asian mummy. And enlightened because I finally understood why I myself was so uncoordinated: I’d spent my entire life in slippers while my typically Asian childhood had been filled with Kumon exercises and maths timetables instead of hanging upside down off trees, monkey bars and the like.

To my credit, however, I’ve since given Rick permission to fling and toss our boys around at home and to carry them upside down to his heart’s content. Plus I’ve stopped dressing Pete in bodysuits during the day and both he and Angus are now free to romp around the house with nothing (shock! horror!) on their feet. Talk about going against everything I’ve been brought up to believe.

Thankfully, our intensive at-home Gymbaroo regiment has definitely paid off. While Pete was watching In The Night Garden yesterday evening (shamefully, an essential part of our evening routine), he was finally able to sit up by himself the whole time! Hip, hip hooray for my little roly poly man)! I am so proud of him – even if he was the very last baby in our mother’s group to reach this prestigious milestone.

Anyway, today was the last trial Gymbaroo class (and can I just say that doing the Hokey Pokey whilst having to carry our 11kg Pete almost spelt the end of me), which means that as of this week, Pete and I have officially committed to an entire term of vigorous exercise (for him) and torture (for me).

Anything for your kids, right? As long as Pete turns out even just ten percent more co-ordinated than me, it will all be worth the pain, sweat and tears.

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1. It had to happen. Again. Yup, it had to happen again. Another terrible mother moment. This time the victim was poor little Pete. Yesterday we’d been to Rhodes Shopping Centre to find some toys for Angus and Pete, since Angus’ second birthday is fast approaching...

Tagged as: babies, confessions, funny, lessons learnt, parenting, Pete