Double Birthday Celebration

Decided to do a combined early birthday celebration for RA and RL at Elfa today. RL's bd is next Tues, 2 Dec while RA's 22 Jan next year. But since it's RA's last year at Elfa and a lot of her K2 friends are withdrawing from cc today, it's a birthday cum mini farewell party.

Raelynn has been having a runny nose and slight cough since Monday. Last night the poor gal woke up to cry cos her nose was blocked despite us giving fedac. So in the end, we brought her to see the doctor in the morning so that she can get better since we don't want to cancel the school party.

Luckily the meds and the nap after helped her so after she woke up, we rushed to get the cake from Bengawan Solo, get the candles and inflate the helium balloons. I bought the helium balloons and goodie bags cheap from taobao. But never expect the helium air per balloon to cost as much as $9 each. But we were rushing to the cc, no time to shop and compare. So lesson learnt. :P

What is the theme for the party this year? What else can it be? Frozen of course. I think the gals probably ate more than 5 frozen cakes from their friends' parties this year already, Lol.
But luckily their classmates didn't mind. The cake was 3kg but the kids nearly finished it. Maybe because it was chocolate cake or maybe because it was tea break time. Anyway, I am glad we don't need to lug the cake back. Just a small portion for Ils to try. :)

Another Milestone for RA - P1 Orientation

Today is RA's P1 Orientation. She reported to the hall at 145pm. When the teacher brought her and her classmates to the classroom and the school tour, mummies and daddies stayed behind to listen to the Principal's speech and watch the various video clips and presentations. RA said she watched a video story, did some colouring in class, and went on the tour of the school.

Today, we found out that recess time for P1 kids is 9am. Lessons end at 130pm. Add another 15 mins for flag lowering, dismissal and walking home, the earliest she can eat lunch is 145pm. Some of the single session schools give a 15mins snack break at 12 o clock for the students to eat something light in the classroom. But Poi Ching does not have this practice. All along they were operating on double sessions.

So myself and another parent gave our feedback but the P said it's fine. They can pack some biscuits in their bags. But if the teacher does not give them an official snack time, the kid will not dare to take the biscuits out of their bags to eat. I think more than 4 hours is too long for 6/7 years old to go without food. Duh.

After the P1 Orientation 2 hr programme ended, the few of us whose kids are in the same class formed a whatsapp chat group. There were 4 gals and 1 boy. Coincidentally, all the gals went to Crestar Ballet before.

Our conclusion is that we cannot give the kids a full bf since they need to eat again at 9am and they need to eat a lot. If not, they cannot last till 2pm for those who stay further away from school. No wonder kids grow skinny after starting primary school. :(

RA's Graduation Ceremony

Today is RA's K2 Graduation Ceremony. She took a long time to memorise the thank you speech in both English and Mandarin but she finally did it. And she delivered the speech beautifully with the rest of her classmates at ITE East College hall today. She walked down the stairs to the stage waving to everyone with the other graduands but it was the furthest from my seat and I was trying to figure out the zoom function of my new camera so I missed it. Shucks!

After she walked to receive her certificate, she threw her mortar board up in the air but made sure it was close enough so that she can retrieve it back easily. She memorised her Speech and Drama item - I love colours and could even tell me that some of her classmates missed our parts. No wonder it sounded messy to me. She practised her dance moves and did everything beautifully not missing any steps. In short, she was great today and I am proud of her as always.

I imagined myself crying at her graduation since I did that for previous years' cc concerts even when she was not the one graduating. Lol. I did cry. But only a little when they played the graduation montage. The rest of the time, I was busy trying to capture the moments, record or take photos of her graduation ceremony so that she can see it without having to wait 1 month for the official dvd.

But seeing all the cute little toddlers turn into K2 graduating children make me feel sad somehow. Where did all the time go? How did my little baby grow up so fast?

Even though I quit my job to be a full time SAHM to spend more time with her when she was 13 months. I was only really a SAHM for 2 years because after that I tried out property, then teaching and now finally back at my ex company for a part time position.

She went to childcare when she was almost 3 years old. I picked Elfa because it has good Chinese foundation and I need her to have a good foundation since we intend to send to the nearest primary school which is a SAP school. Elfa has a half day programme for PN1, PN2. But from Nursery, there were only full day programmes. So she spent 8 hrs daily for N, K1 and K2 except weekends and public holidays. Add all that up, she really spent most of her formative years at Elfa.

Although I feel guilty because I feel I didn't spend enough time with her. What consoles me is that she made good friends at Elfa and she has two best friends who practically grow up with her at CC - Caleigh Au and Calyesta Tan.

Yesterday, the teacher got the kids to do appreciation cards for their best friends. And yes, my quiet gal received only 2 cards but they were from these two friends so they do treat RA as their best friend too. There were petty squabbles before and these are the same two gals who hurt her last year when they say "Don't want to be your friend", "Need to know the secret password for you to be my friend". She forgives and forgets and still treats them as her best friends.

RA is sad that her two best friends are withdrawing from CC after today's concert and they are not going to the same school as her. I hope she will always remember her friends and the fun times she had though I know that she will make new friends in primary school.



Tomorrow is another milestone for her. Her P1 orientation. She is lucky that one of her CC classmates (Jan08 baby) will be in the same class as her at Poi Ching. Her ballet classmate is also in the same class as she is also a Jan08 baby. Primary school will be another 6 years of her life. She will grow from a child to a teenager by the end of that 6 years. We are not withdrawing from cc yet since hb still has to work. School hols for him doesn't start until 2nd week of Dec. That's 3 weeks from now. And we've got a short couple trip in mid Dec. When we return, maybe we will try and let her skip school to give her a break. Unless she wants to go back to Elfa cc to play with her friends. :)

Thanks to all her teachers and friends at Elfa that made the past 4 years of her life so fun and memorable!

P1 Orientation Letter

Really excited. Finally received the P1 Orientation package from Poi Ching School today by post. RA will be in the first class and her house colour is yellow. Quite expected since I know the school allocates classes by the kids' birthday months.

Turns out I actually know of 3 other kids who will be her classmates next year. One is her current cc classmate, another is a neighbour. Both of them are my SMH mummy friends. So lucky that I am already friends with the mummies so we can update and tip one another off about class matters in future. Maybe even set up a whatsapp or line chat group. The third one is RA's ballet classmate. I am not very close to her mummy. Yet.... Lol.

Orientation is from 2-4pm on 14 Nov. There is a booklist included and a School Dental Services form that parents are supposed to fill up. We can start buying books and uniforms 1 week earlier on 8 Nov (Sat). Since Sat is our 'free' day, think we will probably drop by and get the stuff first, in case sizes and stock run out. Yes, the behaviour of a typical KS Singaporean. Haha.

Staycation at Katong Village Hotel

Since hb and I could not take leave for Children's Day, decided to make it up to the kids by bringing them on a staycation. Thanks to Agoda's credit rebates, we only paid $60+ for this staycation. According to my friends, this is the refurbished hotel. Used to Paramount Hotel and there used to be a Chinese restaurant run by Tung Lok.

Didn't bother us since we were there to check out Katong, i12 and maybe visit East Coast Park. When we checked in on Sunday, it was too hot to swim though Raelynn kept asking for it. We walked over to i12 and had lunch. Decided to skip watching a movie since that will take up precious staycation time. Lol.

Then we walked back and checked out the shops at the attached Katong V mall. There was an indoor playground recommended by my friends so we dropped the kids off for 1 hr of play. After that, we passed by a art and craft centre so decided to let the gals do some art and craft and create their own treasure boxes. When we finally hit the pool, it was almost 6pm. Definitely not sunny, but we didn't realise that there was no children's pool. And the only circular pool was 1.2m deep at one end and 1.8m deep at the other end. Definitely too deep for my gals so they were a bit freaked out. Luckily we brought along floats and even made use of the life buoys by the side of the pool.

After a swim, we walked over to the Katong stretch of eateries and ended up at Le Petite café. They serve French food. It was not bad but the gals were too tired to really enjoy their food. So we left immediately after dinner to let them have an early night.

Sleeping was a bit of a problem since I only booked a superior room. So there was only 1 King bed. With RL being a shadow kicker, RA did not get much sleep so I didn't get much sleep either. Luckily it was only for 1 night.

Buffet bf was included and it was not bad. The otah was recommended. They have an eggs and noodles station too. We decided not to take the shuttle bus to the beach since it was hazy. So the gals just had another shot at the indoor playground, it was time to check out. After check out, we walked over to Parkway parade for lunch leaving our car at the hotel. So it was really convenient.

All in all, we like the hotel especially the location. The only complaint was that there was no bathtub in the superior and deluxe rooms and bathtub is a highlight for my kids. Only for the expensive Peranakan room, the guest can get a huge round bathtub in the middle of the room. But that is at double the price of a superior room. Since the gals love staycations, if there are any offers in future, we will come back. :)

Lcentral

Raelynn started having spelling in July and it was tough for her. She did not even recognise all the alphabets from A-Z and definitely did not know her phonics. Spelling is frankly 2 levels above her, cos firstly, she needs to recognise the alphabets, know her phonics, recognise the words before she can spell.

The weekly spelling and the painful coaching by us made me realise that she needs help to catch up to speed for English. Maybe because she is a Dec baby or because she has not been paying attention in class.

I asked around. 'I can read' and 'Learning Point' were recommended but there were no centres in Tampines. A mummy friend recommended 'Lcentral' at CPF building, Tampines. I like it that they were ability based so there will be free assessment for each kid before they are put into a suitable class.

After the assessment which parents get to sit in, RL was assessed to be suitable for the most basic class - Foundation whereas RaeAnne was good for 'Preparing for Success'. In the end, we signed Raelynn immediately. RaeAnne only started last Sunday for Term 4 as there was a new PFS class on Sunday mornings with the same timing as Raelynn. Logistically, it is easier to drop off both kids and we thought it is good to give RA some exposure as well.

Lcentral fees unfortunately are not cheap, $560 per term for each kid so it works out to be almost $200 every month. But we have never given the gals academic enrichment so far. It is more out of necessity because RL cannot catch up with her peers and we don't want the gap to further widen. Hope we can see improvement after 1 or 2 terms then we can cut down on lessons. ;)

Ballet enrichment - Part 2

Ballet coaching started today but RA did not go. Simply because I did not sign her up. Have been asking her for the last month, but she has been saying no to Ballet exam (Primary). She said it's too difficult and her teacher cannot accompany them for the exam. I told her she will have a partner but she does not want to do exams. She just wants the usual Sunday morning ballet class.

Last year she was the one who requested to stop globalart and she was also the one who asked for ballet in May 2013. I tried to persuade her because I felt I should not encourage her to keep changing her mind and giving up when things get tough. After all, she already did the Pre primary ballet exam in April this year and all 4 of her classmates who went for the exam this year have also signed up for next year's Primary ballet exam. In fact, this time, 8 of them signed up. It seemed a waste to stop halfway.

She said she wants to go back to globalart because her cc classmate is there. But GA's Friday lessons clashes with Ballet coaching. So I brought her to globalart yesterday but her friend's class on Friday is full. Even if I sign her up, she won't be in the same class as her friend. So she was not keen.

I don't know if I am making the right decision by letting her skip the ballet exam. So hard to strike the right balance between allowing a child to quit due to lack of interest or just registering her for exams because she needs to learn hard work and commitment. I asked her ballet teacher that RA may not want to do the exam but all her teacher said was "She's still young".

Ok, maybe 6 years old is probably still young for me to force her to commit. I have given her a chance to learn ballet and to take ballet exams. If she forfeits her chance, so be it. Since she is entering primary 1 next year, she will have less time for enrichment. Plus, Her first piano exam will be in March/April 2015 (same timing as ballet exams) so guess we will just concentrate on piano for now.

First time to POLW, Sentosa - Review

We have a playdate with the Jan08 mummies today at POLW, Sentosa. Been quite long since I joined them since starting to work part time 1 yr ago. The weather forecast said rain and thunder in the late morning but it turns out to be a bright and very sunny day. Since we have never been to POLW before, I was so glad we didn't have to change plans. :)

The nearest carpark to get to POLW is Beach station carpark. We parked nearer to Palawan beach side so it was about 5 mins walk. Though it is a school holiday today, the place was not very crowded. But too bad the usual Passion 10% discount did not apply. So we paid for 2 kids, $15 each but adults' admission was free. Each kid was given a passport and paper curio coins so that the kids can join in the activities eg. bubble fun, rainbow loom, sandart, Paint splash etc.

After changing, the gals zoomed straight to the water play area. The slides were good, max was about 2 storeys high so the gals could play on their own. Hubby and I did not need to get into the water at all. But for kids 3 yrs or below, the occasional downpour of water from the oversized big bucket above can be quite scary because there is no alarm or bell ringing unlike the water play at the zoo and wild wild wet. One 3-yr-old gal in our group fell down due to the force of water n cried due to the shock.

The kids played from 1030am to 2pm when it got too hot. We would have left earlier but POLW has fringe activities so it was good at keeping the kids occupied. The gals tried the bubble foam pool and RA tried rainbow loom in between.

Will we go back again? Definitely!

RaeAnne's first tooth fell out

RaeAnne dropped her bottom left incisor last Thursday, it has been shaky for 1-2 weeks. It finally fell off when she was tossing and turning for bed. There was a bit of blood but I stopped the bleeding with a cotton pad. She was quite excited cos she thinks the tooth fairy will give her a present. But the tooth fairies were undecided on what to give her and fell asleep in the end. So the next day, tooth fairy no. 1 gave her a dollar coin while tooth fairy no. 2 got her a little soft toy bear which she wanted. Lol.

Her bottom right incisor is shaky too. Hope her top incisors won't fall out too soon because she has a graduation photo taking session next week. Not very nice to have a boh gay graduation photo. Haha.

Hurray!!!

Yeah! We are one of the 31 who got in without any balloting. Was so kancheong until results came out at 830pm. Can sleep easy tonight le. Haha.