Raeyen's performance

Raeyen has been practicing the Malay number - Di Tanjung Katong for weeks.

Yesterday, we caught his performance at his Kindy's year end concert. He wore a nice purple Malay costume, complete with a songkok. So cute.

Kieran was excited as he is part of the audience unlike in the past years when he performed on stage.

Raeyen loves to perform and we were happy that stage fright was never a problem for him.

Mid-Autumn Festival & Children's Day Party by the Park

Raeyen's Kindy organised a party yesterday to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival-cum-Children's Day at a park near our place and families were invited. That, was a very nice gesture and a great opportunity for family bonding.

Kids were thrilled, took their Transformers lanterns, picnic mats and snacks. Kieran got to see his ex-classmates and teachers. It was a cloudy day and the moon was not visible, as a result.

During registration, Raeyen saw his favourite teacher, Mrs Rai and took a photo with her. He also joined his schoolmates at the "stage" singing songs that they learned. He really loves performing. Now he and Kieran are into the Wonder Girls' Nobody!

There was a walkabout around the park and some games. Raeyen was busy playing catch with his buddies while Kieran played ball. Both were drenched with sweat in the unbelievable heat! And, I was attacked by the irritating mozzies, arrgh!

We didn't win the make-your-own-lantern by parent-and-child contest and Raeyen could not understand why he didn't get a prize. He persistently asked, "Why Mommy, why I don't have a prize? Where is my prize?"

The Kids' Concert

Last Saturday, 1 November was Kieran's graduation concert and Raeyen's maiden performance. It was a moment we have been looking forward to witness these little milestones at the Victoria Concert Hall.


Their videoclips can be found in my Facebook.

Teachers' Day

Ya I know.... this should be posted long ago, but I've been busy with work and other personal stuff, hence had no time to update my blog.

The Kindy celebrated Teachers' Day on Thursday, 28 August with the theme of pyjamas party so that the kids would feel at home and the love within.

To save time and being more pragmatic, I bought some yummy organic cookies from Marks & Spencer and packed them into Hello Kitty clear bags bought from Daiso.

Raeyen's 3rd birthday at school

As promised, we brought the Thomas the Engine cake to Raeyen's kindy on his actual birthday, 10 July. When we were there, the kids were washing their hands, ready for their morning tea break. Raeyen was so happy to see us that he introduced his friends to me, such Ethan, Jeremy, Sean, Cheyanne, etc... I was surprised and amused.

I let him place the candles on his cake, and he actally had 2 candles stuck on the trains' faces! Their teacher cajoled them to do a "train" clap before singing the birthday song in English and Chinese. While the kids were eating the cake, Raeyen handed each of them a goodie bag.

He was happy and excited that day, but I fell ill after with headache and backache.

1st Sports Day

The kindy held its inaugural Sports Day (photos) on 1 May and both our boys participated. We were so afraid that they couldn't make it as they had high fever days before. We even took Kieran to KKH on Sunday where his fever reached 40.2 degrees Celcius!

It was a hot sunny day at the sports stadium. The boys put on their PE tees and took part in telematches for their respective levels. The kids marched out in contingencies representing their classes, so cute.

When Kieran's K2 level was up for a race, I was screaming my lungs out lending suppot to Kieran as I shouted "Go, Kieran, Go... Go, Lavender, Go" (Lavender is his class name). Lavender came in second but it was fun to watch them compete.

See Kieran's clip:



When the pre-nursery level came in, all the parents went ga-ga over their little tots. I armed myself with camera and green-bean shaker to cheer for Raeyen. As his classmates were crawling through the hula-hoops, I could see that he was anxiously waiting for his go. He crawled fast and raced through to meet his classmates, they carried a box (teamwork) across the finish line and emerged first. I was beaming and very proud of my little boy.

It was an exhausting but enjoyable day. We were all drenched in sweat, got home, bathed and the boys snoozed a little while we packed our luggage for our trip to Bangkok-HuaHin in the very evening.

Health & Hygiene

The Kindy is having Health & Hygiene week and kids at pre-nursery level took part this morning. Parents were encouraged to participate with their kids.

I took morning leave to help Raeyen out and the chores they did were washing laundry - own socks, hand towel and school toys. It kicked off with their teacher asking questions about how to keep healthy. She showed them the food pyramid and exercised with them. The kids were very cute exercising to the hippy tune (see video). Eh, in case you noticed his mismatched outfit, it's due to his accidental "shh-shh" on his denim shorts before I arrived.

I had fun bonding with Raeyen, I felt so good when I could see his eyes sparkled upon spotting me at the door. He asked me to sit next to him while his teacher spoke, so sweet.

The activity took about 35 minutes and each kid took home a toy tambourine.

Raeyen's 1st day of school

Today (at 2 years, 5 months, 3 weeks & 3 days old) is a little milestone for Raeyen as he started school at Kieran's kindy. Hubby and I were excited as we prepared him for his little journey into pre-nursery.

He was as excited as he finally could follow his gor-gor to school, just like a big boy. Happily we went to the car as we drove to the school. He chanted, "Raeyen go school!"

There were many parents like yesterday, Kieran took him to the line where the little ones were and his principal praised him for doing so. We stood far enough to avoid Raeyen from seeing us yet we could still see him. He was nonchalant and looked around the sea of children who dressed like him. He was the same throughout the assembly as the children sang and prayed for a birthday boy, all the children and new students.

After all the children were led to their classrooms, some teachers took care of Raeyen as he went (8am) an hour earlier than most pre-nursery kids. We were relieved that he behaved and was at ease with the staff. He didn't express any separation anxiety after spotting us and even bade us goodbye.

I couldn't stay for long today due to work but hubby did. He waited for him to return by school bus at the foot of our block at about 11.30am. He called me and said Raeyen returned home a cheerful boy. I was very happy to hear that and let's hope he stays the same in the days to come.

Busy & Kieran's Concert

I have been busy at work.... after our 2-week Perth holiday, headed to Sydney from 21-26 October, then Hong Kong from 30 Oct to 2 Nov - all for work.

No time to update my blog of what went on, etc.

Hubby, Raeyen and I attended Kieran's concert for the Kindergarten last Sunday 4 November. He danced a Mexican number very well with a girl partner. He was shaking his macaras, decked in all white (hmm... PAP-like) and wearing a straw hat. Very handsome and commanding on stage. I was beaming, not sure about hubby.

Here's a videoclip of Kieran dancing with the girl in pink dress:



By the way, Raeyen will be attending Kieran's kindy next year for pre-nursery. This little tot is already very excited, dorning on Kieran's old uniform and sashayed around the house!

"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it'" Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

Happy Teacher's Day

Kieran will be celebrating Teacher's Day at the kindy this Thursday while it closes on Friday.

I got him 2 key rings for his English and Chinese teachers and made a thank-you "card" for them. Incidentally, they were his teachers at pre-nursery when he was almost 2.5 years old. Chen lao-shi dotes on him and Miss Lee toilet-trained him. He likes them both very much.

Growing up

The Principal-Parents Meet at Kieran's kindergarten yesterday was great. His principal shared with us that Kieran demonstrated leadership qualities and has a close buddy in school, Eliot who attends childcare with him after kindy.

Kieran voices his opinions and rights openly and thinks a step forward before most kids do.

We were happy to hear that our first born has indeed grown up. At the same time, I can't help worrying for him... his school work, how will he cope in his studies in future, etc. As he is attending 2 schools, he has so far, 3 sets of spelling (one of which is Chinese) between Tuesday and Thursday. On every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening, I will coach him in the coming spelling, besides homework from both schools in Maths, English and Chinese. He is only going 5 years old but already quite overloaded with school work.

Luckily he is still as gregarious as ever!

Kieran's promotion

Kieran will be in K1 next year.

Last evening, when hubby & I reached home from work, he rushed to us excitedly...

Kieran: Mommy, Daddy, I am going to be K1/K2 tomorrow!
Us: No, you will be in K1 next year.
Kieran: No, my teacher said I will be K1/K2 tomorrow, and today I went to my new classroom with my Teacher Connie and Cheng lao-shi!
Us: Yes, you will soon be in K1 but that's about a few weeks from now, say a few days after Christmas.
Kieran: No, I am already in K1/K2! (pouting)

Parent-Teacher Meet

Kieran's kindergarten and childcare centre held PTM today which was a good coincidence as I could "kill 2 birds with 1 stone". Went to the kindergarten first at 10am alone as hubby was at work, and left the kids at home since having them around would have been chaotic.

I hopped over to the chidcare centre after 45 minutes and returned home with files of his work and photos.

I will scan his kindergarten class photo and his self-portrait and upload here when free.

I could summarise our discussions here as all 4 teachers (a pair of Chinese/English teachers each school) had almost the same observations. Kieran was said to have improved in terms of attention span, focus, work tidiness. They said he likes outdoors, music and movement, very "garang", inquisitive, not afraid to express and ask questions BUT doesn't know how to resolve problems with friends during play. He mostly resolved the problems by "physical expression" instead of talking it over. While his teachers are trying to guide him, I am at my wit's end how to help him overcome it. Apart from that, I am happy that he enjoys school better now and did his work well. His kindergarten English teacher, Miss Foong said Kieran would be able to do well in K1 next year.

His childcare English teacher said he danced very well in an Indian number for the concert and she put him in front due to this. The concert will be held on 25 Nov, and I will definitely capture his kiddie performance in our viewcam! I can't wait.

Confession of a Working Mom

A working mom is a juggler who multi-tasks as time is never enough! She rushes home every workday to see her brood. She is guilt-striken when she has to work overtime or travel; she feels the same when she has to apply urgent leave to mind her kids. She is afraid to be seen as being not committed to work by her superiors and peers. She tries relentlessly to perform at work and at home. She is ... me.

At Kieran's kindergarten Principal-Parent Meet early this year, one SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) said that her stress for staying at home way surpassed that of a working mom. She put 101% to her family and kids' well-being and when her child fails her, she becomes depressed and felt all that she has done were not rewarded or appreciated. While I was never a SAHM, I can relate to what she was saying and couldn't agree more.

I told hubby that if we were loaded, I would like to have 4 kids, be a SAHM and have 2 domestic helpers. It is of course wishful thinking. Some may say it is still possible to have 4 kids - just make do with whatever we have. But it is easily said than done for 1. we are not young anymore and 2. our quality of life will head South.

Being a working mom and having no other relatives to help mind the kids, Yani becomes a great help to us. Our kids adore her and she dotes on them. Yani is from Indonesia, joined when Kieran was 6 months old, she could barely speak English then! Almost 3.5 years now, she can converse in English pretty well and some of our friends thought she's from the Philippines. However, she plans to return home soon and it will be hard for us to find someone as good as her. While Kieran goes to a Kindergarten and childcare centre on weekdays, Yani minds Raeyen all by herself. So to get another trusty helper is going to be really tough! Like they always say, cest la vie! Till then, we will just take one step at a time.

"That fact is that child rearing is a long, hard job, the rewards are not always immediately obvious, the work is undervalued, and parents are just as human and almost as vulnerable as their children'" Benjamin Spock

Kids say the darnest things!

When Kieran was 3 and playing his trucks & all those wheelie stuff, I urged him to clean up before tucking him in. He bargained for 5 more minutes and I reasoned that his toys would wait up for him when he returns from childcare the next day, afterall, they have no "legs" to run away from home. He rebutted that "but Mommy, they have wheels!" Gosh, was I tongue-tied? I was astounded and I hope that chapter stays in my obsolete CPU (my brain) for as long as I want.

Kieran is a doll, well not literally. His Kindergarten principal told me that he is a sensitive and passionate boy. When he sees his teacher "holding" her tummy, he asked her "Miss Foong, are you having a tummy ache?" or when he sees his friends not drinking their water, he would go "you have to drink, or else you will fall sick!"

Since birth, Kieran has been sleeping with hubby & I in the master bedroom. On the night I returned home from the hospital after delivering Raeyen, he said to me "Mommy, I will sleep with kak-kak in the orange room today ok?" Kak-kak means "sister" in Bahasa Indonesia, she is Yani - our domestic helper and caregiver to the kids. I had mixed feelings after hearing that - 1. our first born has grown up; 2. if he would feel that we are "ditching" him? I am pleased to report that Kieran has since been sleeping in his own orange bedroom (but he still wears pull-ups!).

"When kids hit the age of one, they're like miniature drunks. You have to hold them. They bump into things. They laugh, then two minutes later they're crying. They drool." Johnny Depp