Lunch

We had a death in the extended family recently and Sui kor (small aunt) from Australia has been in Singapore since the funeral. We were all kept busy with the wake and now that everything is over, we finally have the chance to have a meal together before she flies back to Melbourne. We brought sui kor out to Red Star for a round of push cart dim sum. Her friend, Robin ( sitted on sui kor's right) from Perth was in Singapore too, so she came along to join us. They are travel buddies whenever uncle John cannot join sui kor for her travels. We were lucky to get a parking lot easily and a table the minute we arrived. The place was packed. DD picked and chose her usual favorite dishes - char siew pao, carrot cake, siewmai etc

Shoes

End of dd's first week of school and for the last 2 days, no parents were allowed into the classroom or school compound.

So far so good. Altho' she has sadly lost one pretty hair clip. Sigh. Guess I won't let her wear any more hair clips to school.

We did have to do a rushed job of getting new shoes for her on Thurs night tho. Embarassingly, she was complaining that her brand new Clarks shoes was hurting her foot and that she needed to take off her shoes halfway thru her lessons. She is already wearing a size 6.5, the largest for the clarks toddler range. It made us wonder whether she's so comfy with sandals that she's just being ultra sensitive to covered shoes. Now she's wearing a size 7.5.

I feel that it's not healthy for her feet if she were to wear 'larger' size shoes rather than one that was her correct size but I had no choice.

This time I refused to get her any other clarks range because she has a few pairs (3 other pairs) thats just sitting in the cupboard because she refuses to wear anything that is just 'nice'. She wants them to be slightly loose. So I am left with all these lightly worn clarks. Hence, I decided to get cheap mary janes - if she complains, then I will dump them without fuss.

The offending pair of Clarks that dd is abandoning

Treat

Hooray!

Today marks the first day that dd will be fobbed off to the kindy to look after her for 3 hours everyday. I wonder if I am the only sahm who says this, but actually a daily recharge and respite is such a welcome treat.

After dropping her off at the kindy, dh and I happily sneaked off to have a small 'celebration' lunch. We went to Kushin Bo buffet restaurant at Great world city. The food was fantastic and we really enjoyed pigging out. Every dish was done to perfection, in our humble opinion.We took the challenge of having a 1 hour express lunch and only just managed to finish on time.

When we got back to the kindy, we were anxious (and guilty) whether dd had been bawling from being left there on her own. Well, according to the teachers, she was perfectly fine with no crying from her at all. We heard from some parent volunteers who were helping out for the next few days that dd's class had one of the highest number of bawling kids. We felt really sorry for them. We hope all the kids will enjoy each other's company and settle in soon.

After class, we whisked her off to sm for her lesson. This will be her first sm lesson ever since she started kindy. She surprised me by doing pretty well in class when I thought she would be grouchy for lack of a nap. She got all her ESP right and did pretty well for her instant memory too.

Nonetheless, I made a mental note to observe her future response to attending sm after kindy hours - in case she's too tired.

Playground

Almost late for school, dd was trotting along, when .. she caught sight of the kids in the swimming pool and got distracted

Third day of school. Today they had beehoon for the kids.

Even tho' most of the other kids had their parents/ grandparents fussing over them or feeding them, we decided to let dd fend for herself. She did marvellously well. Not spilling or toppling the bowl - in fact she was the first to finish all her beehoon and return the bowl to teacher Tracy. Surrounded by other parents, dd quietly slurped up her own beehoonPlaying masak with her friendsQueueing up to go to the playground. All the kids were very excited. The teachers gave a briefing to them before leading them out. I was standing to one side and with all the kids wearing their hats, I had a hard time telling them apart. Eventually I found a way of telling them apart - from their shoes. DD was very cute - she went around the playground, sussing out all the little tikes equipment and said: this slide and this slide is little bit dirty. She also inspected the table cum bench and asked me, why there were some stains on it. Hardly the rough and tumble, tomboyish type of girl - and not one to get her hands dirty if she can help it. I am beginning to see more of myself in her =PLook at all the anxious parents in the background, peering into the window to see their little angels start their kindy life. Playing with the slide
Lining up with her classmates to eat the apple that teacher Tracy was handing out. They were reading a book on apples. We left dd alone to attend the lesson on her own.

Classroom

Second day of school
Parents were still allowed into the classroom so the kiddos were generally happy. We tried to sit and stand really far from dd so as to allow her a chance to be 'independent'. Story telling time. It was good to witness the sort of activities the kindy has for the children since they are going to be here for 3 hours on a daily basis.

Coffeeshop

DD's trip to the coffeeshop - she likes the noodles, but midway thru she kept complaining how hot it was. Then she started to get restless...

Is my food ready? Aww.. I am hungry Why uncle take so long to cook my noodles?

School

A brand new year and what makes this year special - our little baby is going to school!

St James kindy was certainly clever to arrange the first day of school on a Friday - and only for a 1 hour session (usual kindergarten hours are 3 hours per day). They didn't start on Jan 2 so that busy parents don't have to deal with a pre-nursery child going to school and all the kids can go back over the weekend, talk about their first day of school and how successful it was =). And of course parents are allowed into the classroom on the first day. It will be the same next week for the first 3 days before the kids are gradually weaned off their parents. Thats pretty wise so the kids don't go cold turkey.

Her new school bag The assortment of things that dd sneaked into her school bag - she said she 'needed' to bring these things along.

In high spirits enroute to schoolWalking to class by herself. She wore her uniform for the first time today and asked dh: Is this a jacket?

DH: no , this is a blouse

DD: My blouse has buttons just like daddy's shirt?

Only then we realised that dd doesn't have any clothes (apart from jackets) that has buttons down the frontWhats dd looking so longingly at ? The playground! She was very disappointed when we told her she couldn't play there yet.

DD talking to her english teacher and mandarin teacher. Both teachers will be present thru out each day's lesson. Two teachers for 12 students.

Teacher Tracy, her mandarin teacher was very pleased with dd for putting all the wooden pegs for differing sizes back correctly. DD was very shy to speak much to her. Anyways, dd doesn't usually like to respond when she is spoken to in mandarin. Lets hope she outgrows that soon.

Kind teacher Tracy patiently playing another game with dd
Going to the loo since dd isn't wearing diapers anymoreWashing hands in the kid size basin. Our first day ! Many thanks to the teachers for making everyone feel comfy and patiently guiding the kids.