The last day at MFS

It was the kids' last day at MFS. 

I had wanted it to be on 15 Dec but due to payment issues, it had to be at the end of a month so I chose November.

Rushed around to get as many errands done as possible. Bought some flowers and made some cards for their teachers. Had to get a friend who is a Chinese teacher to help me do some translation! Thank God for friends who are great at Mandarin!

This is K's Chinese teacher who taught her for three years. She followed K from Playgroup to Nursery and now K1. Very dedicated and gentle teacher. Pity I can't communicate better with her to truly express how appreciative of her we are.

This is a very badly taken pic of her English teacher who also followed her from Playgroup. Also very gentle and soft-spoken. 

We were on our way to deliver the flower and card to the relief teacher who was there for her in Nursery class and half of this year until someone decided as K1s, they were old enough to take their own showers and hence, another pair of hands in the class is unnecessary. 

One of her three teachers from Nursery days who dotes on K and manages to get the children to hydrate throughout the day and also took it upon herself to ensure they were clean and had their hair neatly tied up. 

Here is B giving a flower to the Chinese teacher. She is really nice but he only recently warmed up to her as the only words he knew before entering Toddler class was his name so he couldn't communicate with her nor understand her. But that didn't stop her from constantly talking to him. He actually comprehends her now. The other day when I went to pick him, he said to her, "Mummy 接." I was very impressed. She said she can't bear for him to leave. Aww.

This is a relief teacher who comes every afternoon and when I arrive to pick him, I always see her sitting next to him with his bottle and a spoon to feed him water. She also constantly tries to engage him with the puzzles.

This is his English teacher and his initial favorite teacher. Communication being the key in this relationship.

This is his current favorite. But because she also teaches at the infant class, she only goes over to B's class now and then. But she always tries very hard to come up with something to entertain the kids. B really likes her and would look for her in the mornings and want her to receive him. She also took really good care of K.

This is the other Chinese teacher. She also taught K and was largely responsible for her settling in and potty training her. I had hoped that she would be able to do the same for B. Unfortunately, she had to take the Playgroup in the afternoons so she spent a lot less time with B's class. She mentioned that of late, he had begun to call her. But no, not 刘老师 nor 老师. He called her, "刘" Lol.

How I would miss spying on them to see what they are doing in class, whether they are being engaged and how they interact with their peers. And taking photos of them! Definitely will miss having photos of their days in pre-school.

Strangely enough, I think I am feeling the most sentimental about my kids leaving the school, their friends and teachers. I definitely don't miss the admin bit of the school but the teachers, they (at least most of them) have been really good to my children. Thank God for them.

Excursion to NEX

K had her last excursion with her current school MFS. I have to eat my words. In my post Girls' Day Out, I scoffed at how students from another branch of MFS were at the Kidz Rainforest water play area getting completely drenched, fully clothed! I remember I said to P that I hope it would never happen to K.

Well, the consent form came. The teachers were going to bring the kids to NEX. They were going to watch The Rise of the Guardians, have a picnic lunch and then go to the water play area. Yes, fully clothed. I had to let her go. It was her last excursion with her friends and teachers. And it would be a nice way to end this chapter for her. So she went. And so did I with another mummy.

After the movie, they gathered at the water play area, supposedly to have lunch but it was way too hot. And with very little shade, the poor things could hardly keep their eyes open. Our lady like girl simply sat on her bag while she waited for something to happen.

Finally they were led indoors. They lined two sides of a corridor and ate their lunch. Hmmm. Some were innovative and used their bags like a table. At the end of lunch, there was enough food on the floor to feed an army of ants. But some of the little girls helped to clean it up.

Finally, after endless requests that streamed in to visit the toilet after lunch, they returned to the water play area. They were told to remove their shoes and stand in one line. They did very well, considering it was a class of 28.

Charge!! They were set loose.

Some went straight into the water and got completely drenched. Others were a little apprehensive about being soaked and had to look around to check how wet their friends were getting before taking the plunge themselves.

Going down the slippery slope.

Running wildly with one of the triplets.

Completely soaked but happy. 

This was where the giant pail of water poured down.

Myu watching the pail. 

Haha. Love the expressions.

Splosh!

Yikes! Run away!

That was fun. Must do it again.

Time to get dry and changed.

All dry now and ready to return to school. Happy but tired little faces. 

What an end to a chapter of her life! While we await the next chapter to begin, it will be more playtime with mummy and B.

K got her ears pierced

For a while now, I have been talking to K about this. She was quite adamant about not doing it so I let the matter rest.

Just last weekend, K's friends from school, the triplets, got theirs pierced. It was at B'dazzle and apparently, there have been raving reviews from mummies about their ear piercing process for little girls. Even the triplets' mummy was very happy with it. As with all little girls, she began to show some interest in wanting hers done too.

Last night after dinner at my parents' place, she said that she wanted to pierce her ears! I was very surprised. Of course I said ok.

When I got home and passed the packed dinner to P, we discussed the matter and decided to go get it done asap. And since the store only closed at 10pm, we went. Strike when the iron is hot, eh? B cried about being left behind. He wanted to come along so three of us left home again, leaving P to enjoy his dinner quietly.

Drove all the way to Raffles City. Parked the car, checked with K again that she wanted to do this.

Went into the shopping centre, found the shop, B and I squatted outside the shop for a last confirmation from K, prayed (with B holding one ear and me the other! haha) for everything to go smoothly and in we went.

She was shown all the possible earrings that she could choose from.

The shop assistant showed her what the studs would look like on her tiny ears. It was only the day before when I realized that she has really tiny ear lobes. And I thought mine were small. Hers are even smaller! If you put on a pair of normal sized studs for her, you might actually cover her entire ear lobe! She was beginning to look nervous.

Put on THE chair. Too high to jump off and escape from.

Marking out the position which took a while due to the tiny space available.

Spraying some anesthesia.

And before I knew it, it was done! And our little brave trooper, though complained it was painful, braved it and didn't cry. Not a tear was shed.

Finally, a smile.

Look out world of princesses, here she comes!

Watching the rain

On Thu it was raining heavily when we arrived for B's swim class. As there was lightning and thunder, we waited to see if the class would be cancelled. 

So we took photos. Photos of the rain.

Photo of silly faces.

Photo of mummy kissing baby.

Photo of mummy squishing baby.

Photo of mummy hugging baby. 

I will really miss these alone moments with B when he goes to school.

The rainy season

It has been raining everyday. And when we say 'rain', it actually means a downpour. Mostly, it rains in the afternoons and has been a nightmare in terms of laundry.

But the kids enjoy the weather cos it's cool for them when they sleep and we get to look for snails after the rain. They also get to jump in puddles of rainwater. 

We had dinner at the club on Saturday. It had rained so heavily the pool side cafeteria was wet from the rain. The chairs were slightly damp and there were puddles everywhere, much to the delight of the two of them. Clad in gum boots, it was just splish splash splosh all the way till the food arrived.

Yesterday, on our way home in the car, it started drizzling.

K (exclaims loudly): Wah Lao Eh!! Raining already. 


P and I stared at one another, speechless. Ok, time to watch our own exclamations.

Animal letter game

We are trying to get K to be more deliberate in identifying the letters with which animal names start with. We have started playing the animal letter game where K chooses a letter and we all try to name animals beginning with that same letter.

Here was a recent conversation in the car:

K: Let's name animals starting with the letter B
Me: baboon
K: Bat
B: My turn, my turn!
Me: (trying to be helpful) B, say "bear"
B: Dolphin ball!

Pasir Ris Park Mangrove Boardwalk (2)

During the Deepavali break, we took a trip to the Pasir Ris Mangrove Boardwalk again. We were there 2 years ago when B was but a wee one.

We saw different animals this time round. 

A small monitor lizard tanning.

A crab peeking out of its hole.

An eel. 

Gar fish. 

Crabs climbing up to escape from the incoming tide.

A jellyfish! How unexpected.

Kingfisher.

Whimbrel.

Grey Heron. 

A slithering snake.

B walked the whole way and tried to look for things that we spotted and pointed out to him.

A row of crabs. 

Love it when they get along.

Mudskipper.

Swimming away.

I remember the last time K asked to feed the pony but chickened out in the end. Am very proud of her this time. She actually did it. B, however,  had to be "coaxed". But he did say it was fun but ticklish. They both declined the pony rides which Faith and Sarah both did.

We meet the Chens there and had lunch. The kids as usual had a wonderful screaming and giggly time with one another.