It was only after we arrived for the Crawlers' trial class at My Kiddy Gym in Causeway Bay that it occurred to me that my daughter, Jessica, couldn't actually crawl. Slight oversight, but fortunately, the friendly teachers didn't consider it a problem.
The Crawlers' class is for babies from six to 12 months. From there, they graduate to Movers (12 to 18 months), Shakers (18 months to two years), Explorers (two to three years), Achievers (three to four years) and Builders (four to five years). By five, some children are doing handstands, bar work and cartwheels.
My chubby, stationary child is a long way away from that, so I was a little alarmed when the teacher said it was time to warm up before the 'heavy skills'. The warm-up involved helping them walk around in a circle, and running around with them tucked under one arm. By the time we got to the 'cartwheels', I was seriously regretting giving Jessica that last chug of milk. We held onto their hips and twisted them upside down. She loved it.
For that week's group activity, we were required to roll with our babies held tightly to our chests along the 'air track', which was effectively a bouncy castle, without the castle.
Before each activity, one of the two teachers explained what skills we were working on and chose a child to demonstrate it. They clearly not only knew each child's name, but their level of ability, which was reassuring.
That day's 'heavy skill' was the backward roll. I can honestly say I'd never tried to flip my seven-month-old baby backwards. However, with an expert guiding my every move, we not only did it, but it was also fun. I tried the backward roll again on the bed at home but was far too scared to do it unsupervised.