Little Foot Steps: February 2006

1st school outing for Tien

The school had organised a farm visit for the children on Tuesday. The k1 and k2 kids got to go one more place, the goat farm. Eu was so excited about it, that on Monday evening when I went to pick him up, he said to me happily: "Mommy, going to the farm when sun wakes up, right?" On the other hand, Tien showed no emotion towards the outing, probably too young to comprehen. She slept on the ride there, and had a personal nanny to carry her as she refused to walk by herself. The poor school helper, but I'm very grateful for her patience and love. On the way back, she fell asleep again. Had two bowls of porridge for lunch and napped till 4pm.

Bottle of milk Eu brought back from the goat farm

Four tagging

Got tagged by Hsin.

4 jobs I've had in my life
1. Pizza Hut waitress
2. Souvenir store assistant
3. Tutor to pre-school and primary school kids
4. Accounts clerk

4 movies I could watch over and over again
1. The Sound of Music
2. Back to the Future
3. Star Wars
4. Finding Nemo

4 Places I've lived
1. 1-rm flat
2. 2-rms flat
3. 3-rms flat
4. 5-rms flat

4 TV shows I love (and loved) to watch
1. X Files
2. The Amazing Race
3. Dharma & Greg
4. Phua Chu Kang

4 Places I've been on vacation
1. Penang (no kids then, and we drove all the way there on a manual 1.6 litre)
2. Disneyland in Anaheim (drove down from Las Vegas)
3. Kuantan (1st driving trip after Eu arrived)
4. South Australia (Tien was less then 4 wks in my tummy)

4 websites I visit daily
1. Company's portal
2. Straits Times interactive
3. Hotmail
4. My own blog

4 of my favorite foods
1. Cakes (western, chinese, malay)
2. Ice-cream (any flavour but no mint)
3. Wanton noodle (soup or dry)
4. Porridge (be it cantonese or teochew style)

4 places I'd rather be right now
1. Home, sleeping
2. Orchard Road, shopping
3. Cafe, relaxing and snacking
4. Out of the country, holidaying

4 bloggers I'm tagging
1. You (if have not done this)
2. "
3. "
4. "

Hehhehee, I'm too lazy to find out who has not been tagged. Those reading this post, you know what to do lah!

Learning

Eu always has something that causes me to worry for him. He still couldn't really walk when he was near 18 months. Could barely speak simple one syllable words when he turned two. Children of three were talking among themselves, while my boy struggled to place words into sentence. A classmate came over to me one morning, when I brought Eu to the classroom. She said to me: "I cannot understand what he is saying!" A boy nearby echoed: "Me too!" I turned into a chatterbox for the rest of the year, trying to engage Eu in more conversation.

Last Friday, his English teacher had talked about her concerns that Eu was not able to sound certain alphabets properly, and suggested getting some phonics enrichment lessons. Huh? Then what is K1 for? Maybe I'm outdated on the schooling system and the expectation of each levels. Aiya, more hair dropping days to come liao lah!

Oh dear! I forgot the milk!

Totally forgotten about the milk I had prepared for Tien. When I reached office, opened up my bag, and saw that bottle sitting nicely in there. Oh s#@^%! This bottle of milk would have help to pacify her crying, how can I be so careless?! Now, for the whole morning, my mind keeps drifting to the school, wondering was she alright without her comfort bottle. See, I'm not that brave or cool actually. Had wanted so much to rush back to the school to pass the milk to the teachers, but refrained from doing so. I know I would love to take a peek at her if I'm there. I know I would want to ask and talk to her teachers when I'm there. I'm risking being seen by her and trigger her crying (if not she may be playing happily) all over again. *Sigh*, guess I'll just pray the day will pass by faster than usual, and I can go pick up my baby!

Tien entered pre-school

Tien started pre-school on February 1st. These pictures were taken when I was with her on the first day morning. No crying, in fact she was happy, as she loved the environment. She was curious about the classroom, walking around and exploring. The teachers were pleased with her behavior. What happened when I left? Well, the normal reaction you would expect of a child to display: crying, screaming, kicking of limbs, rolling on the floor, you name it, she did it. The teachers later told me she was venting her anger rather than being frighten. Okay, that's Tien alright. After she had off-loaded her frustration, she started to feel ~~sorry~~ sad of herself, and began her on-off crying, according to the afternoon teachers. She was still crying when I picked her up in the evening.

Had a check with the afternoon teachers today, and was told Tien did not cry in the afternoon for the past two days. Wow! Not bad. She still cling on to me like glue and cry when I left her in the mornings, but knowing that she will settle down later on, definitely helps to calm some of my nerves during the working hours. Will check with the morning teachers on her morning performance tomorrow!

**No crying pics, cos' I will just detach myself from her grips, kiss and hug her, walk out of the classroom without turning back or having second thoughts.