On the second day, I stayed with her throughout. After assembly, she had some movement class with the Chinese teacher. The kids had a tunnel to crawl through, followed by some obstacle course to walk on.
Kim didn't engage but just did her own thing. Soon after, the kids began to follow her instead!
.jpg)
After that it was supposed to be outdoors but it had rained that morning so they went to the TV room to watch videos instead. The kids seems to really dig Barney. Look at their reaction when it comes on.
Kim got bored after a while as with the rest of the kids. She wanted to see the terrapins outside. Her teacher was quite tickled that she could say "Peease" when she asked to do so and promptly carried her outside to see the terrapins and fish.
Below shows a very dirty tank with one goldfish.
.jpg)
She got to pat the terrapin. The teacher was quite surprised that she wasn't afraid to do so.
.jpg)
During lunch, she had rice and a bowl of soup. All she wanted to do with the food was to practise her skills of transferring with a spoon. So she first transferred the rice into the bowl of soup and then started to spoon out the contents of the bowl onto the plate. She was a huge mess at the end of the meal. She didn't eat much but she did finish her slice of honeydew.
I stayed with her while the rest of the kids showered. She played with the toys and interacted with some of the older kids from the playgroup. Then we left.
Day 3
I decided that I would not stay so close to Kim today but to distant myself where possible so that when day 4 came when I can't stay with her the whole day, the transition would not be so bad.
She got to do some painting with a sponge brush today. Her smock was really really huge and at some point, her hand got stuck under it.
Then it was outdoor time. That was 10am. At the playground, the Chinese teacher told me to go off. Reluctantly, I did. She cried. Really cried. I was quite upset myself. :( I walked to the supermarket to do some "retail therapy" but didn't buy much. Wasn't quite in the mood to. Then I walked back to the playground. Her class had returned and were going to the TV room (cos Kim was crying very hard, they decided not to be outdoors) so I went home instead. I knew she would be ok in a room with terrapins and fish.
By 10.45am I still hadn't heard from the teacher so I called the school to find out how Kim was doing. The teacher said that she was able to distract her with the terrapins and fish in the TV room but as soon as they returned to the main area, she started to cry and she wanted me to go down to help her with feeding Kim. So I did. I found her still sobbing. Teacher Shirin was trying to pacify her with a book. I carried her and her had to sit on my lap at lunch. She had mee ta muk, which she ate quite a bit of.
.jpg)
After lunch, we left.
Day 4
I stayed for the first half hour of the day. The other kids were sticking green leaves (from what they painted the previous day) onto a stem. Then Teacher Shirin took her at about 9.45am. I said bye to her and told her I was going to come back at lunch. She cried. :(
I still hadn't received any call at 10.45am which was the time they start to prepare for lunch. So I called the school at 11am to check on her. The Principal said that she was seated at the lunch table and feeding herself. :) I was really happy
I went down to buy myself lunch and of course to take a peek (who could resist?). Why else do you want to have the childcare so near your home? She was seated with her friends (the tiniest of them all!) and feeding herself. What a sight. I wanted to run in to hug her but I had to stop myself.
After buying lunch, I went to the back window (so that she wouldn't see me) to take a video for Peen. Her teacher was seated by her feeding her.
Day 5
The childcare centre was closed for curriculum planning (hurrah! I have my baby all to myself) so Kim and I made trips to Giant (supermart) and buy loads of her favourite fruit - blueberries, and we went to Spotlight! What fun. :)
1 comment:
Hi Van - I read your past two posts with my heart in my mouth! How hard it must have been to come to your decision to have to her start child care. Oof. It looks like she was starting to do really well on her own towards to end of this post, so that's good! She'll be better and better as she gets used to her teachers and friends. It's hard for us to leave K in nursery at church and that's just for a little over and hour during service! The hard part is not for us, but for the nursery workers because she screams and screams and goes to the door and calls, "Mummy! Daddy!" I've started volunteering in nursery and they rostered me in K's nursery so it does help when I am with her some Sundays. But it's a hard age (12-24 months) for her to be separated from me - she won't even let me out of her sight to change other people's diapers in the changing room when I am there! Gosh, this is a long comment. Will email you the rest.
Post a Comment