Breaking news

I have exciting news. But I think I'm getting overly excited about it. I am trying not to be too happy too early by this. And what is all this about you say?

I have for some time now been introducing K to the potty. When I say introduce, I mean I'd take it out to show it to her, try to get her to sit on it, ask her if she needs to wee or poo, tell her she needs to do it in the potty.

Well, she thinks it's all a game. She would sit on it fully clothed and then get up and continue this repeatedly, put it over her head like a hat, stand in it, push it around the house like a cart, etc. You get the idea.

She has been able to tell me whenever she poops. And it has been very accurate of late. But it would be better to tell before, instead of after or during, yes? This evening, she said, "Poo poo." So I checked her. There was none. So quickly, I helped her undress and put her on the potty. She smiled and then stood up and happily walked everywhere half clothed. Nothing.

I just let her be. Then later I saw her pretending (or so I thought) to drink from the potty. I stopped her and she looked sheepish. Then I realised that there were some little puddles of water around her. My first thought was that the dog peed in it. But how can (and why would??) a dog sit on the potty to pee? I checked the potty and indeed there was pee in it!!!!

My conclusion? K did her first wee wee in the potty! Yay. Good news indeed. As for the poo poo she mentioned? Well, I didn't see it tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

Dipping fingers

No one needs the biscuits when you can get to the dips with teeny weeny fingers and thumbs.

After 20 months

It has been about 20 months since I stopped work. We've been talking about my going back to work. Hence, childcare for K. The logistics have been in place for a while now. So I finally got off my butt and did something about it.

1. I signed up with MOE to do relief teaching. I think that's the extent of involvement I would like right now.

2. I called up nearby schools to leave my name with them.

Yesterday morning, I jumped out of bed in fright. It was 7.24am and my handphone was ringing. It was a foreign number. I answered it and it was Fernvale PS checking my availability for the day. I said I was ok to go down but I had to be there by 8am?

I had to get myself ready, wake my sleeping child, bring her to school and then drive over.

Somehow, I managed to be there at about 8am. It was rather nerve wrecking to be going into a classroom again after so long. At least it was only a P3 class. But the kids were huge! I think they were about the size of the P4 boys I had taught or even P5! Kids these days are getting bigger and bigger. Oh, except for K.

Anyhoo, it turned out to be ok. I did enjoy it. There were of course those trouble makers and those who mercilessly picked on their friends. But that is life in a primary school.

I am just glad I wasn't called up this morning. I need to sleep some more.

Progress report Aug 09

I picked Kim up this afternoon and Teacher Shirin gave me a verbal progress report.

She had this to say about K:

1) She learns things quickly. (This made Peen smile from ear to ear of course). She cited one example that she mimics others. The teacher would tell a pupil that he / she ought not to do something. She would then follow suit and do likewise by telling the pupil not to do it.

2) She doesn't cry when she falls down. The teacher finds this quite unusual. Kim would brush her hands, pout a little but then go on to do something else. Apparently, she fell while going down the slide yesterday at the playground. She bit her lip which bled and she had some scratches on her left knee. (Despite the fact that I put her in longs!! Maybe I should invest in some knee guards!) Teacher Shirin quickly hugged her but she didn't cry from it. Hmmm...somehow that isn't the case with us. She would just cry over rather small accidents.

3) There is a new boy in school. I have seen this kid. He is small like K. And he was picking on her at the playground. He tugged so hard at her shirt that she fell over! But she didn't quite complain. And he kept coming back to push her. Grrrr. At least the teacher knew and kept telling him off and separately him from her. Anyway, back to this boy. Apparently, they (this boy and K) were fighting over a toy today. She was protesting by screaming. But later, she gave way to him. Wow. I wonder if it's cos she just gave up or if she was being gracious? The former is more likely I think.

4) She is rather social. (Like whom I wonder? ;P) There are usually two kids who would sit out during play time at the playground. But she went up to them, reached out her hand and told them to "come" and they actually did join in to play. Amazing.

5) Teacher Shirin thinks that she is very cute. She would reach out her hand really high and then flick her wrist downwards to motion to her friends to "come" over.

Oh, did I mention that Teacher Shirin started the whole conversation with, "I think I have fallen in love with your child"? I was really quite taken aback. Stumped actually that I didn't quite know how to react. I just gave her a lame smile.

I'm really pleased to have received such positive feedback and I hope and pray that K would continue to show grace to all around her as we had hoped. Hence, K Grace L.

And she slides

She finally is able to slide down a slide on her own. What a thrill.

National Day celebrations continue through the weekend

We decided to do a hotel stay over the long weekend. We had initially wanted to watch the parade from a hotel in town but we decided that it would be more worthwhile to spend that money on an entire weekend instead of a mere one night stay.

So we drove all the way to Changi Village. It was a relatively short drive from our place.



We came here at least once everyday because Kim really enjoyed feeding the fish in the pond.



This was at our first dinner. She happily chomped down bread and chicken.

And there was rice and chestnut in the roast chicken which was very tasty too. This was just the first of our many we-overate-again meals.

In our room, Kim was very fascinated with everything. She would play with the phone, the light switches, the safe. And yes, we brought Da diang along.

Papa likes this outfit.

Mama was doing girly stuff with Kim before bedtime.

What she looks like in the mornings.

But she was especially cheerful this particular morning.

Kim's breakfast. She only ate the baked beans from this plate.

Papa's way of enticing her to eat more. It didn't work. :(

We went to the beach for some sand time. This little girl looked on with much fascination so we invited her to join us.

I finally managed to build my tower which lasted all of 2 seconds before these two promptly levelled it.

Isn't our new friend pretty?

We were joined by her sister (or cousin?).

And then the whole family descended on us. Kim didn't seem to mind. But she was also watching my reaction.

All smiles.

A nice cold treat.

And then a nice warm bath.....with the same sand toys. This is how she smiles at the camera.

One of two pools. This is the fish tank.

Back to the pond. This time feeding the fish with papa.

Our own version of fireworks.....with sparklers.

Changi Boardwalk. Admiring the flowers. Feeling the petals. Oops. Halved it.

Kingfisher.

Shiny green beetle.

A wave for the camera.

A family pic taken in the fish tank.

A photo taken by Kim!

Snoozing before checkout. I am now convinced we should have gotten a King sized bed!

National Day @ Skool

It's Kimberley's first National Day celebrations. The kids were told to dress in red and/or white for this mornings celebrations. Kim wore the Little Red Dot dress. Today is the first day she allowed any teacher to check her mouth for HFMD as a routine check. We told her to smile at the camera and this is what we got.



Her favourite spot in the classroom. The little round table that she likes to sit on.



The toddler class trouping to the multi-purpose hall.



The playgroupers making their way.

Waving their flags.

The toddlers were all put onto benches like that while they waited for the entire school (including nursery, K1s and K2s) to arrive.

The older kids making their way.

A selected few were dressed in costume.

Finally, the school sings the National Anthem and take the Pledge.

They sang the usual "Count on me Singapore", "Di Tanjong Katong", etc.

Kim looked like she didn't really know what was going on. She was just happy that she had a flag in her hands which she waved and twirled.

Mirror mirror on the wall...who do we look like most of all?

Again, just for laughs. But ffffttt, is the program non-committal or what? I've always known I look like neither of my parents. Yes, a constant reminder that I was picked up from the dustbin as our previous generation like to taunt us with. (wonder why?) But I thought Peen looks more like Dad. Oh well. That's technology for you.

Just for laughs

Do you agree with the meter?

Humphrey invades Kim's wardrobe

Kim likes elephants. She likes to see pictures of them but Peen and I have realised that she doesn't like the real thing too much, especially when it threatens to walk right up to her and swing that ever so long trunk at her. They also do trumpet really loudly. We witnessed this just last week.

So yes, back to elephants. Cute elephants to be specific. That started me on a search for elephant characters. Of course there is Dumbo. She has two of those. One on her bed and another which she brings to school with her.

Then there is Humphrey which I LOVE am sure Kim will absolutely adore. I mean look at that. Just how cute is he? Would have bought the toys for her instead of Dumbo but really, Humphrey products, be it clothing, toys or what not, is almost impossible to find here in Singapore. I've searched the net and well, they are available but bl**dy expensive not quite worth my while to purchase online.

So I embarked on a stolen idea. Iron-ons! (Thanks Lorraine!)

Went to Giant and bought nice stretchy comfy-looking tank tops. Trawled the net for usable images and ta-da......copyright infringed homemade Humphrey tanktops. Yes, while white is still the best for iron-ons if you want nice vibrant colours, it isn't ideal for self-feeding babies.