To Be Fair...

I must also keep an update of what the boys are up to...
(hope to get this out before any of the kids wake up!)

Micah is now 6 and has registered for primary school in Singapore. His school greets you at the lobby with this!



Isn't it lovely.
No, not all school in Singapore is like this. In fact our first choice of school, which is just across the road from our apartment blocks, is totally old-schoolish and square. (This school is 1.3 km away and it's considered a bit far cos not within walking distance. That's Singapore for you.)

I also checked out the school canteen and, yes, they have food that my picky eater will eat. Phew.


Now we need to go for orientation. I'm actually looking forward to it.

We recently made our visit for the last check up on Micah's arm and it's as good as new.
We are all very thankful.


Of course this boy is still running and climbing and falling like his accident had never happened.


Current craze: Star Wars, Lego, Animal Keizer (he's hovering on this, but mommy is saying no all the time).
He would love to go to Jedi school, he said, but since it's not real, he wants to go to a Kung-Fu school next time. Well, we'll see about that. Of course I've not mentioned to him that the school he is going to has Wu-Shu as one of the co-curriculum activities. :D


Max is up to his tricks on being the funniest and cutest.




Current craze: Star Wars, Lego, Food (ever)...

To be Continued... babies stirring....

Excursion: Fire Station

Last Friday, The Play group from Bangsar Gospel Center, the boys' school and another school called Mandarin Kids, had a joined-outing to visit the fire station.

We were all asked to dress in red, just so we look like the fire engines.

They were thrilled that we got to climb up and get a really close look at the different parts of the fire engines,


... ride on the fire engine,



... and also to play with the fireman's hoses.

Sure was a fun day at "school."

Have a good week, everyone.

Masterpieces

The boys came out of school proudly showing their masterpieces to their parents and Ee-ee.

Materials used: 2 toilet paper centers, 1 kitchen towel center, half a styrofoam cup, plastic boards and paint.

Thank you, teachers of Cornerstone Kindy. You are so brilliant and creative!
I'm so glad my boys have teachers like you.

Later they played with the planes the whole afternoon until another car ride out.

Now I am thinking of how I can hang them up to make it look like they are flying... but the boys probably still want to play with them.

Another Sleepless Night

There was this other boy who had his birthday celebrated in school today, the last day of school.

The Momma of the boy is super zealous and decided that it would be a dress-up/costume party. But she only informed us on Wednesday, the day before Micah's party.

So I decided to do first things first.

Only yesterday, after Micah's party, I set to work on the boys' costume.

Earlier the boys had said to me that they wanted to be knights in shining armors (Thanks to Mickey Mouse Club House and Sir Goofsalot).

And of course I could only do anything properly, i.e. with no interruptions, after the boys are asleep.

So work began at 12am.



And I only finished at 3.30am.

Sword and shield.
(Oops! Forgot to take photos of the "helmet")

The boys were happily surprised by what "magic" Mommy performed while they were asleep. But Micah got it right when he said, "It's a lot of work, isn't it, Mom?"

It sure was, but I also enjoyed it...somewhat therapeutic to me.
Now I'm dozing off while waiting for the photos to load...
Zzzz...

The boys and their costume in the morning.

The boys at the party.


Have a good holiday, everyone!!

Micah's Party At School

Well, thank you all for your well wishes. The party was better than I expected.

After the last post, I actually remembered where I had kept the stack of photos, so we did the "Sun-walk" in a chaotically organised way. Me looking like I have it all planned, but nervous like up on a tight-rope walking for the first time.

Items and photos used for the "Sun-walk".

Grandma and Myron were witnesses to the walk and the whole event too.

Grandma holding Myron.

There was too much food, because we had specially ordered pizza for a friend dropping in for the party (not a school friend, but one of Micah's favourites and long time friend), but they could not make it last minute.

Micah blowing out the candles on his cake,

with the help of Max.

Then, before Micah was allowed to open any of his presents, he had to hand out the goody-bags. We persuaded him to hang on a little longer to open it at home, as the teachers also wanted to head home and close the school.

10 things in the goody-bag.

In all our excitement, we actually forgot to bring home the boys' school bags and only discovered them "missing" this morning when we arrived at school (I usually leave their schoolbags in the car as they do not have homework. The only thing they carry in their bags are a change of clothes in case of any accidents, and for Micah, a set of toothbrush and toothpaste).

It was a good and busy day.

Thanks, everyone, for your lovely gifts.
:)

For the Teachers.

On Thursday night I got the boys to do this to give to their teachers for Valentine's day.



But "Thanks" to Tour deLangkawi, we did not make it to school the next day.

We were caught in an almost stand-still traffic jam for an hour and a half, and we were not even half way to the boys' school. So I texted the teacher and said we'll be missing school for the day and Gadget-daddy turned us round to head home. We had wasted 1.5 hours on the road for nothing.

While we were in the jam, Max kept whining, "why is it so long"?
and eventually, he got so tired and cried saying he wanted to go home.
Then Micah cried and said he wanted to go to school.

At the end I called and chatted with the teacher, and she correctly guessed which boy was crying for home and which one for school.

These two guys are so funny, and so different.

Anyway, we are still waiting to give the flowers to the teachers on Monday/Tuesday.
A belated Valentine's.

Meals On Wheels

The boys had their favourite snackie / lunch on the way home today:

Black noodle. Cooked by Grandma.
We had packed the food in a thermos tumbler.
Special thanks to Ee-ee who provided the containers and forks.





By the time we hit the toll, Max was already fast asleep. I had to pull over at the Toll office to lower his seat down and give the rest of his noodle to Micah who was happy for seconds.

Micah did not nap and had the rest of the afternoon to play.

Such is a life of pre-schoolers.

CNY Crafts For Show

These were the crafts the boys came back with last Friday.

Micah is actually quite possessive of his and would check his name to make sure he is holding his and his brother his own.

Anyway, Here they are on display:

Lanterns made from ang-pow packets.


The greeters for the New Lunar Year.

Drama In The Morning

Ee-ee and I figured: This boy is just pushing for luck.

In the Morning Max kicked up a big fuss about going to school.
He insisted it was already the last day. I explained that this is a new week.

He refused to change (forget about taking a shower), didn't want any breakfast and insisted that Grandma was to stay home and not go along so that he too could stay home.

I carried a wailing-and-kicking 3 year-old to the car.
He refused to get into his seat, so we both sat at the driver's seat for a while, while I talked to him.

Finally I managed to get in into his seat, with some coaxing and persuasion.
He was still protesting.

When we got to the main road he was alright.

We chatted about the different cars we spotted on the road and looked out for trains.

Mommy talked about how Mom and Dad both loved school from the first day of school and we never cried because there's just so much to do and it's so fun to be in school (this is all true, btw) and our teachers were all good and helpful.

When we got to school, Max protested a little at the stairs. He wanted to go buy sugar with Ee-ee and bake cookies with her. But when he got in and put his bag down, he was already running off to see what a teacher was doing in preparation for that day's craft. He never looked back.

Well, we might have... or we should probably expect a few more days of morning drama but I think he's ok.

Breaking Out Of The Clouds

Today I drove the boys to school as Gadget-daddy had taken a train to work much earlier.
MiL tagged along. She is always worried that one adult, me, is not able to handle two noisy boys in the car.

Along the way, Max was whining that it's not a school day and that we are not going to school.

I was trying to reason with him, telling him it's the last day of the week.

MiL said in Cantonese to stop talking about school and making him cry.
Then she started distracting the boys with what's out of the window.

It sure works in stopping him from whining and crying, but I am always wary if such tactics would have some other negative effects later on in life, i.e. in their coping with stress, etc.

Anyway, when we arrived at the school, grandma stayed close by the car while Ee-Ee and I walked him half way up the stairs and gave him a hug good-bye. We promised him red-bean bread and prawn crackers after school. He complained as he walked in to school, but no real tears. We were all relieved and impressed!!


Grandma and I went over to Ah MA's to help her in her last session of making love letters.

By the time I had to leave to pick the boys up, we were 3/4 way through the batter, so grandma stayed to help in my place while I went to pick the boys up.

Ee-ee helped to get the bread from a bakery a few doors from the bookshop she works in. She then picked the boys up and led them to my car which was double parked in the very busy street.

When I caught sight of them, I stepped out of the car. Both the boys raced to me and gave me a hug.
Max's greetings were, "MOMMY!! I didn't cry today, you know."

Then both the boys showed me the handcraft they made - a lantern for Chinese New Year decoration.

Both boys were happily starpped in, Micah with the sausage from a sausage roll and Max with with a prawncracker.

We made our way to Ah MA's house in no time and with no drama of any sort. All 3 happy people in the car.

I hope for Max, school will be as good as today from now on.

NOT Without A Shadow Of A Doubt

Poor Maxwell.
Going to school is a major adjustment for him.
He has never been away from Mommy.
The times Mommy was not with him, he was at least at home and with his family and all his toys and things he is familiar with.

Yesterday I asked him in a quiet conversation about his friends in school.
He declared that the only friend he has is his brother.

Today, at the door of his class, he clung on to my shirt crying in the most agonizing way,
"I want to go with you... I want to go with you..."
While his teacher pulled him away, prying his little hands of my shirt.

Last night he held me tight as he was falling asleep and just kept calling "Mommy... Mommy..." until he was finally asleep.
He didn't want any song sung to him.
Then in the early morning he cried in his sleep a lot.

Throughout today he kept me within sight.
If not engaging me in an activity or conversation, I had to be in the same room at least, even if I was doing something else and he was playing by himself.
The moment I disappear, he will cry and yell for me, not wanting me to go away.

Just now, during dinner we talked about what to do after dinner.
He asked if we were going to school.
I said, "No, not now. School is tomorrow, when we wake up from our sleep."
After that he kept saying to me over and over,
"After we sleep and wake up, it's not tomorrow, ok?"

Sigh...

This is so painful to deal with.
Did I make a mistake in signing him up for school at 3*?
He is still so much a baby in some ways, although we have been preparing him for the arrival of the baby brother in March.

Sigh...

I was already contemplating pulling him out if he does not adjust well to being away from Mommy.
I was planning to see how he is by the end of the week.
I don't know how much "trauma" he can handle.

Some relief/improvement:
At least today he didn't cry when I came to pick him up from school.
In fact, he quite happily showed me what he was doing and what he did in class: some colouring and some pasting.

Just as I was leaving the school grounds, I mentioned my intention to the teacher.
The teacher says hang in there. He is getting better.
He actually talked to the teachers today when he was not crying.

So all will have to bear this pain and burden together:
Max, his parents, his grandparents and his ever-doting Ee-ee.

* I also tried this with Micah when he was 3 and he had really bad nightmares.
He would wake up middle of the night and tell me he does not want to go to school and that he does not want to go anywhere. He only wants to stay at home. He would even hesitate going to my mom's and refused to go for playgroup with anyone else but me.

At the end, I pulled him out and we started again last June when he turned 4. He cried for a few days, but we were able to talk about it without him crying. Also, no nightmares this time.
Now he has forgotten his crying days and kept telling his brother he MUST go to school which really upsets him to tears.

Back To School

Today was the second day of school.

Max still cries when he discovers that I have disappeared after a few minutes of him stepping into class.

At the end when he is let out of class, he greets me with the saddest pout before bursting in to a heart-wrenching bawl. But the bawling stops quite easily when he gets distracted.

The teacher says he's doing well for a first timer.
In between he is quite alright.
Seems he cries now and then because he misses Mommy.
His favourite time is snack time.
I have also been told by the teacher that Micah has been a good big brother.
He tries to comfort his brother.

Even in the car on the way back today, just the boys and I, Max told me that
"Koh-koh takes care of me."

So I asked, "What does he do to take care of you?"

"He does this... (puts a hand over his mouth) to stop me from crying."

"Micah, that does not really help you know. You should tell him that Mommy will be here soon, and there's no need to be afraid."

Max quickly said, "He did. He did."

Well, Max will soon adjust to not being with Mommy for a few hours.
That would be good for him and me.
The most important thing is that he is not traumatised, no nightmares,
and he seems quite OK all the way from the prep for school in the morning and the car ride too.
So all should work out well soon.

As for Micah, he's been very happy getting back to school.
Most of his friends are still there except for three students.
Max and another girl, Natalie, are the new ones so far.

He did his usual, "Bye, Mom. Love you" at the stairs (the school is on the floor above), which was our usual practice from last year, but Max called out to me and asked me to walk him up the stairs and into the class. So I did.

Hopefully after next week I can just say good bye to the boys at the bottom of the stairs.

Micah In Action

So Gadget daddy has finally uploaded Micah's school concert and Christmas party onto the internet.


Cornerstone Christmas Party 08: Daylight Come from Michael Foong on Vimeo.


Cornerstone Chistmas Party 08: Children's Play - The Princess Song from Michael Foong on Vimeo.

It's a lot of work and very time consuming, editing and waiting for the videos to be loaded.

Thanks you, Daddy dear. These are real good record for our kids.
:)
I would not have known how to do it.

Other videos of the christmas party:
1. Singing "Down by the River"

Cornerstone Christmas Party 08: Down by the River from Michael Foong on Vimeo.

2. Singing "The Wheels on the Bus"

Cornerstone Christmas Party 08: The Wheels on the Bus from Michael Foong on Vimeo.

3. Jodie's Presentation on The Baker's Dozen

Cornerstone Christmas Party 08: A Baker's Dozen from Michael Foong on Vimeo.

4. The Left Right Game

Cornerstone Christmas Party 08: Left Right from Michael Foong on Vimeo.

Movie Special In School

Micah's school did a movie special today, bringing both the kindy and the playgroup (for Max) together to talk about what to expect and how to behave in a cinema.
It was really fun simulation.

We all were told to line up for a ticket.


Then we queued to get our drinks and popcorn.


The everyone sat in rows of chairs in a darkened room to watch a few short cartoon.



When it ended (too soon), the children moaned a little and washed up for their snacks.
Then some free play and it was time to go home.

What a fun day at school.