Brayden's First Performance

Our baby has grown up! He had his first performance on 2 December 2011. We were all excited and full of anticipation for this day.

As usual, the worrisome me worries about many things before this day arrived.

Will he have stage fright?

Will he forget his dancing steps when he sees so many audiences and back out?

Will he not perform when he sees us?

Will he cry on stage?

Not only the worrisome Mommy worries, even the jiejie and Daddy are worried too! They asked me the same questions as well.

I reminded them he is a big boy and will definitely do well. I told them and myself to have faith in him.

Full of anticipation, we sat patiently waiting for the N1 to perform. *Drum roll* Finally, we saw him on stage! He did us proud by doing perfect and was one of the best "bum-shaker" in his performance!

It was a magnificent performance put up by the school! We thoroughly enjoyed the whole concert!

Our baby has grown up! Well done Son! We are so proud of you!

Primary One Ended!!!

Now I can understand how some friends felt when they shared their stress and anxiety when their kids progressed to primary school, especially so during the examination period.

True enough, I felt as if I am in a pressure cooker especially the month during her final year assessment.

Glad thing is, this year has been a great year for us. For Ethyl has been working hard on her own of course it's packaged with my nagging and reminders), yet we had a good year.

She may not have top the P1 cohort, but there are subjects that she aces.

I hope she finds learning as interesting and remains so enthusiastic and a lil more diligent for P2.

She shall for now enjoy her birthday weekend and we will work hard together in Y2012!

New School, New Start - Brayden

He is all ready for school!

Most friends know I am really particular in a way for the schools I intend to send the kids to. Well, I think this is mother's nature. Hubs always thought I am too particular, after all we are both PCF graduates.

Choices are abundant these days, and cost is also pretty much along the same range, it's really no harm being a little more fussy on choices ya?

We had visited many centres for a few months and stopped our search, and begun searching again. We ventured to Punggol, Simei and even Tampines for the boy. I took a liking to 2 schools - both in private housing estate.

Curriculum were equally well planned, both centres we are comfortable albeit one of them is too far from home.

Hubs decided we shall take the one in the same precinct.

Wise choice indeed! We were so pleased with our decision to send him there.

The teacher in charge has been updating me very regularly and I am also pleased to hear him singing more songs, more independent as well.

Jiejie combing Didi's hair. Be the smartest looking boy in class ok?

Reminding Didi to listen to instructions


Jiejie sent Didi to school...she can't bear to leave the lil guy

Ehtylyn's Sports Day 2010

Almost the mid of term 4, it spells her last few weeks as a kindergarten kid. How fast things are moving!

Her sports day, quite a fun one I would say. It is an uphill task seeing the teachers managing to youngest amongst them and trying to maintain the order of the brood.



There are a total of 4 teams, namely Dolphin, Crocodile, Sea lion and Whale. Ethyl belongs to Sea lion.

When the race started, Sea lion flops! They were the last. My sweetie pie told me yesterday she wants to win home the trophy as that will be her first trophy if she wins it. I was praying hard for her, hoping she wins the race.

I was worried she will be upset, walked up to the team and heard the kids encouraging one another. JR and Ethyl even Hi-5 and said, "teamwork!" I am pleased to know they have great morale and sportsmanship. The team reminded each other to try their best and not be the last for the next few rounds.



Second game, they came in second, the third and fourth, their form came and they won both matches!

D's Mommy, JR's Daddy and myself were cheering and running around with the kids taking pictures as ours are in the same team.

End of the game, it was a tie. They PK-ed for the trophy. How excited can that be?!

While they were racing, D's Mommy was at the starting point cheering for them, I was at the the other end cheering for them and JR's Daddy was all over taking pictures. I think that is a really funny sight!



To think that D's Mommy actually jumped with joy and raised her arms swinging in the air when they were announced winners!

Quite fun and enjoyable to cheer for them all! Well done baby!

How Much Preparation is Enough for P1?

We are sending her for Chinese, English, K2 integrated program in prepartion for P1.

Besides these, I bought her assessments - English, Chinese, Math, Science upon her request. Am I doing enough?

Whenever I come across some parents who are no less kiasu than me, they will tell me they send the kids to tuition classes, blah...blah blah...somehow, I feel Ethyl is pretty much a kid who picks up concepts pretty fast and understands well. Am I doing too much?

She always comes to me complaining, "Mommy I am so bored, I don't know what to do!" This happens when she just finish her assessments on a total about 30 pages and completed in less than 15 minutes.

I gave her whatever I can, ask her to do her favurite painting, drawing, coloring, play pretending, or even tv watching, yet she still finds bored.

Class teachers feedback to me is she is pretty outstanding in her class. I told her, I may just send her to 3 academic focused classes, once every week. Other than those, she will get her art and swimming. She came back pouting and said, too few classes for her *I almost fainted* I also intend o send her for drum lessons which she requested, but the class has yet to start.

Stress is not something she feels at this moment. Because of her learning ability, I am a little lag in pushing her. I just hope she will enjoy her school and retain that enthusiasm for learning.

After saying so much, I guess preparation is a little ambiguous in this sense. Preparation not only is about academic excellence, survival skills are as important.

Learning to count money correctly, checking her school time table, preparing her school bag, ordering the correct food and complete eating in a shorter time are vital survival skills.

With bigger class compared to kindy, the part whereby she manages her emotions, friendships and her responsibilities towards her belongings are equally important.

Here, I play a role whereby I need to teach her how to strike a good balance, be her mentor, her friend in need, her Mommy where she can pour her woes to and a playmate when she needs one.

I hope she will enjoy her school days and we will be smooth in the transition.

I'm on a Roller Coaster Ride (again!)

Two days before, I looked at Ethyl's face and watching her with much attention. I know time flies past especially the time when I am basking in motherhood bliss. None-the-less, a part of me do hope the kids to grow up fast, while the other part of me is secretly hoping time would just halt and let me enjoy them longer.

It was like yesterday that I held Ethyl in my arms, nursing her and bonding with her in our room, in our hall of our first matrimonial flat. I loved watching her suckling and satisfied after dining on me and the fulfillment I get to be able to breastfeed her.

Soon, she flipped, crawled, cut her first tooth, took her first steps etc.

The days of her being a toddler, I brought her out shopping alone, dining at different cafes, restaurants and walking along the stretch of Orchard Road while Hubby was busy at work. All these are memorable and meaningful to me. Our first born, garners all the attention and love from me.

As I reminise those days, reality brought me back. I still love her, but the way I show it is slightly different. I am a little more demanding nowadays as I hope to incalcate the right values and mannerism in her everyday life.

Today, as I register her for P1, my heart undergone another tedious round of tension test. As we registered Ethyl, it was so natural that my eyes felt warm. I lost appetite after that.

As I approached the registration room, my heart thuds faster, probably my BP shot up to a new height then. I am anxious, no doubts as there are only 60 seats left for us. But the main reason behind it is because I suddenly couldn't accept the fact that my Ethyl is going to P1 next year.

As much as I wish time would wait, which is impossible; all I had to is simply enjoy her every moment I have. Having her chatting with me, requesting for my hugs and kisses, showing a little jealousy sometimes and smelling her hair whenever she lies next to me!

Yes, I am an emotional Mommy...I know that very well! I just hope the registration doesn't give us a tough time.

A Time When I Need Help

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions! There are moments in life we need to make decisions be it big or small. This time, besides her kindy, Ialso made other adjustments.

Firstly, I stopped her swimming lessons. I realise the previous swim school has been adding new students to the class and Ethyl, one of the better swimmer is always delayed because the coach has to focus on the newbies. Better arrangement could have been made and the school should make it a point to group students according to their progress.

I have since stopped her when her last term ended in June. Today, she starts her swimming with a new swim school. This is held very near our place, at least I can send her there in the evenings and one of our weekend is free from activities.


For the first lesson, the coach noticed her potential and teaches her seperately. Not that Ethyl is a good swimmer, at least she doesn't have water phobia and that makes her learning curve smoother.

Next, she will start her art lesson with Globalart as well. I seriously hope those fanciful drawings they showcased are not just for show. I really hope she can learn drawing, coloring and establish an interest in art that I lack.

Hubby just threw me a bomb asking me to homeschool Ethyl from home. Ethyl herself also requested I homeschool her from home. I have been doing it, non-religiously I would say. It is always impromptu whenever I coach her from home, however I made it a point, we do it at least 3 times a week.

Considering the unhappiness I face with the school, further chats with parents confirms my doubts are not unfounded.

Homeschooling takes alot of discipline. I have some time to think about it before school ends. Let's see...

Where is the school for us?

Tell me I am too fussy and particular. Shouldn't I be especially when it comes to pre-school education for the kids?

The current school Ethyl goes to, I found them pretty disorganized for a while, but kept quiet about it till I really couldn't take their nonsense today! How can they shift lesson timing and didn't inform me (I am not sure about other parents), only when Mom went at 12pm to bring Ethyl lunch, then she was told there is such a change?

Is this acceptable to you? The Principal said to Mom, they forgot. Well, this is pretty unacceptable to me from my point of view.

Brayden had an incident whereby his wound (at the back of his head where the operation was) was bleeding after school not long after he joined. I checked with the teachers and principal, apparently no one knew about it. I asked if he hurt himself, they were not sure either. As Brayden is also a very active child, I do not want to shift the blame nor point the finger and be someone so unreasonable, I close one eye since it isn't something to major. I also made a point to remind the teachers to keep a watch out especially the back of his head.

Next, his water bottle went missing. A brand new bottle. Follwed by he was scratched blah blah blah...no one could give me a good answer when I texted them to ask about the incidents. I know kids tend to play a little rougher...but as teachers, shouldn't they try to keep a watchful eye over the kids, especially those in playgroup?

Today's "miscommunication" is the last straw. I had enough of such disorganized pre-school. My decision to pull Brayden out and see how things goes seems pretty right.

Academic, though important, the environment, teachers'committment and the overall general health and cleanliness is equally important. I have seen them going into their classes without health checks. I have seen them ending their classes about 20 minutes before they are due for dismissal.

At the beginning of this term, I noticed a few new faces as well as some students withdrew from the school. One parent shared with me on how she felt about the school and decided to withdraw probably next year. She reaffirms my doubts on a few matters. Is the school over promising? In both our opinion, yes!

I went to the other school today when we passed by the PD's clinic. I walked in with Brayden to check out the school. The principal seems kind, how they conduct their classes also seems so similiar to Ethyl's MMI at ten mile junction. I quite like it. The focus on their curriculum is also ideal. At least I don't see self-praising and hardselling there.

A discussion with Hubby is needed. Though he is seldom involved in such matters, at least I would orefer he understands why I feel a school for them is so important.

Show and Tell - My House

Ethyl's school has a show and tell segment every end of the term. I helped her to take some pictures and put them together.


The gal and boy were distracted by the iPhone


Ethyl starts writing about what she wants her friends to know about her house.


seriousy working on it...


Completed and ready to bring to school :)

Her First Math Lesson

Ethylyn started her lesson with Tuition Guru yesterday. Before she went for the class, she feel uncertain if she will enjoy, will teacher be nice, will she be tasked to do very difficult sums etc. All her concerns were redundant!

We were late for our first lesson as we were caught in the jam (due to the rain!). Nonetheless, we were greeted by a pretty and kind teacher when Ethyl went to her class. Her eyes sparkled when she saw her peers were doing some art work and asked softly, “Mommy, is this art class?” I replied, “No” and she was warmly ushered into the class by Teacher Natasha.

This 90 minutes wait for us ain’t too long. Hubby, Brayden and I were shopping around United Square while Ethyl had her lesson. When it’s time for us to go back, I can see from Ethyl’s expression that she totally enjoyed her lesson.

The art work I saw them doing was to cut out various parts of the bee and recite a poem, coupled with counting and spelling of the numbers. This approach I believe is to be creative at introducing them to the numbers and Ethyl’s much dreaded dry spelling drills that she gets from me at home (most times).

Little girl is definitely enjoying her lesson! She told me she hopes there is another class as she totally enjoyed herself and feedback that Teacher Natasha is a very kind and nice teacher. She presented her bee to me proudly and started reciting the poem on our way back home.

Ethylyn joins Tuition Guru to Learn Math

There has been some concern that I have when faced with coaching Ethylyn in her math. To me, it is fundamental to build a sound foundation on this subject that I really dreaded as I didn’t have a solid foundation and had a hard time struggling with this subject back then.

Math is essential, it is part of our daily lives, BUT…how to teach and coach the little girl without losing the meaning of learning? I was pretty lost and a little depressed that both of us got upset over the drilling of worksheets she has as homework from school. We all hated it, but that is her homework, she has to do it.

I once asked Janice if she has any programs for K2-goers as a preparatory course as it is much easier for our kids to be taught by others instead of ourselves as emotion may rule our head more than anything else and makes learning lose its fun.

Her only session for that age group is full and on a weekday which I can’t really send her there. However, Janice came up with another class with and I am glad she kept me in mind and put me in the loop for the new class. As an educator, I am sure Janice and her teacher will know what is better for the kids and how to make learning more fun.

Both Janice and her teacher came up with an integrated program for the kids in order to prepare them for the assessments in school.
I will update the lessons as we move on. The first lesson is starting in term 2 and Ethylyn is already looking forward to the lessons! Oh, did I mention Janice’s centre is called Tuition Guru?

Brayden's Day 1 in School

As compared to Ethyl's day 1 in school, this time, the excitement is defintely lesser and the eagerness and anxiety were like 50% as compared. Probably I have been there, done that, that is always the case with kid # 2 for most parents I guessed.

I was not able to witness his first day in school as I had mentioned earlier that I have no leave to clear anymore as I am leaving my current job in less than 2 weeks' time. I trust Brayden as he has been very independent and adaptable.

I entrusted the photography role to the doting jiejie, however she didn't take any pictures and her argument was, "Didi and I go to different classroom. I don;t send didi to his class, how to take pictures?"

Oh well, I buy that. I shall take a symbolic picture when I have a chance. That is for safe-keeping purpose.

Day 1 ended well. He cried occassionally, not because he is unable to find Grandma, but because teachers refused to give in to him! On top of this, he cried for a short while the his friends were dismissed and he didn't see Grandma.

Today's update is really heartening. He followed the teachers into the classroom once he reached school, even attempted to help teachers carry things and also followed teachers' instructions. No cryig or fussing today.

I hope he continues to behave this way. I do feel the slight guilt by not being with him on such occassions, I hope he understands when he is older.

He will have his first dancing lesson tomorrow. I hope he is able to enjoy as much as jiejie does.

The Stress We Faced

There were times I wondered how my life would be if I am not a Mommy. No matter what the scenario might be, I am sure those are not as fulfilling as being a Mom.

Having said that, being a Mom isn't always a bed of roses. Whenever the little ones were throwing tantrums, behaviors were undesirable; it would be a hair pulling and tugging session for me. As much as I try to be rational and keep my cool, I still do have moments whereby I lost my cool and whacked them hard.

Ethylyn has always been a sweet darling. However, I notice the change in her behavior since last year. She has started to rebuked rudely at times. I know she may not be able to clearly differentiate what’s right and what’s not, I should be more patient and try talking to her about it, I still felt irritated by such reactions from her.

My expectations for her is high, I have to acknowledge that. This is not healthy in the long run. I need to adjust my expectations from time to time; she is after all a 5 year old kid.

Her new school has a very academic based and result oriented environment. I am already having sleepless nights! There are home works, lots of them. There are also spellings every week in both English and Chinese. I feel the stress, and I believe she does too. How? I need to prepare her for P1. My consolation from all these is her reassurance, “Mommy, I enjoyed school. I only don’t like to do writing.”

Teachers’ feedback about her was good. Even the principal said her English reading skills is good that she can only join the group for enrichment in the advanced level. Her Chinese enrichment teacher also feedback saying she picks up new words really fast. She can only read 85% of the passage before the class starts; she picked up all the words in one lesson!

My main concern is her Math. I realize she picks up languages really fast, but a little slow in mathematics, unfortunately, she inherited this from me. I know she is trying hard to do well. We will give ourselves time to make the adjustments.

I already find whatever she is doing as a K2 kid very stressful yet she is asking for more! She besides her usual curriculum, she already has Chinese, abacus and dancing classes in school. Additionally, she is asking for piano, arts classes. On top of these, she has swimming lessons every Sunday. I just hope my sweetie is able to handle so many activities.

Poor girl…

What Have We Been Doing?

Year 2009 had bided farewell and Year 2010 has greeted us. This is also the usual busy time of the year for me. I have been busy panning out the New Year’s activities for the kids, settling the new school, busied with the research of the various enrichments that my enthusiastic kindy-going daughter.

Besides these, we also tried to keep ourselves busy with some activities and maximize our time spent with the kids.

ECP

We went to ECP with my Anna’s family for Korean food and brought the kids around. We both enjoyed the food, except our man. They really don’t know how to appreciate Korean food! What a waste! Sigh…

Ethyl did clay painting.



She really enjoyed her virgin try on clay painting. The paint brush is a little too much for her to handle when she tried to paint the whiskers of Doraemon, however, she didn’t succumb to the challenge.

Jiejie did painting; the little guys took a ride on the carousel.





Ethyl got to take a ride on the carousel after her painting.



Hollywood Dino

A dramatic visit to the world of dino! I expected Ethyl to be so afraid of the dino and would wail and plead with us to leave the exhibition even before we finish half the journey!

She was still not sure what to expect while we were having lunch at Hawk Café.





Worried and fear crept on after seeing the first dino.


Her worst fear…



We spent minutes standing outside the “cave” persuading her…



While Jiejie was petrified by the robots, the 2 little guys enjoyed seeing the humongous rubber robots and watched with much curiosity.

I had to carry the little girl and run through the cave, however, there was a walking dino coming towards the direction that I am moving towards, I had to make a U-turn and run out of the cave and got the usher to open the gate and let me go out through the other way.





Ethyl only dared to take pictures with the poster.



Fear crept back when she saw 2 dinosaurs in the cages ahead…



She was reluctant to move an inch.



She was all smiles when we got of the exhibition area.



Day 1 in new school

It is really a shame that I missed her start in the new school. Due to some reasons, I need to be at work, and thus left Hubby the chore of taking photos so that I can see how little girl looks like in her new uniform.



Hubby told me our little guy was just as excited. Though he was running a fever, he still insisted carrying his new bag I bought for him, wear jigjig’s cap and walked together with them to school.

So lovely right? How I love the kids!

I am also in the midst of settling a school for Brayden. As I have seen how Ethyl benefitted from Montessori approach, I wish to enroll him in a Montessori environment for a start, as Ethyl’s new school is very academic focused and it is too heavy for the little boy at such tender age.

I prefer to let him bloom at his pace for a start. I am sure he is ready, though he still can’t speak many words. I hope I can start him when term 2 starts.

Here is my vain little boy.

Ethylyn's 1st Performance - 131109

This is world kindness day, also Friday the 13th. However, this is a very memorable day for us especially this is Ethyl's first performance on stage.

We were so looking forward to this day! Met Dad and Gina at Raffles City for lunch before going to Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel to watch Ethyl's performance.


The little boy loves Gong Gong and kept following Gong Gong everywhere.





Did you spot my little pig?









These were all pictures taken during the full dress rehearsal.

Concert about to begin...somehow I was touched by the little graduands when they went up the stage.

Little boy was really supportive of his elder sister.



Here's Ethyl with her classmate, Little Red Riding Hood. They were representing their class to introduce the skit to the audience. Together with them is their principal, Mrs Noor.





I think Gina has a better view from their side.









They enjoyed the concert!



my little pigs :)





We celebrated for Ethyl at Kbox :)


She asked if I am glad of her performance. Yes I am...all the parents who saw their little ones on stage were proud parents. Some kids has stage fright, but as a parent, we were all encouraging. Some kids forgot their actions, but we were all fine with it. Overall the performance is really wonderful!

Ethyl tells me she loves stage and performing and hope to have more performances.