毕业典礼- Anders K2 Graduation Ceremony 2010

19 November 2010 was a BIG Day for me. Yes, finally, Anders is graduating from his kindergarten stage and would be going to Primary 1 in 2011.

This time round, my first Skool had decided to do the ceremony as individual centre based rather than a combined concert with other centers.

The concert was much smaller in scale but the importance and significance of the celebration remained HUGE in meaning.

The graduation was scheduled to start in the evening at 6.30pm. Around 6.15pm, Anthea and I took a slow walk to the centre. When we arrived at the centre, we realized that the Guest of Honor – Dr.S Vasoo was already making his speech. We entered the centre discreetly and quite luckily, we managed to be seated in the 1st row of the concert.

After his speech, the graduation began. The K2 graduands marched in with pride. They were all wearing the graduation gowns and mortarboard. It was a very special MOMENT for all the parents when they saw their children and cameras were busy flashing away.

Dr. S Vasoo presented each one of them with their graduation certification. After that, they took a group photo with the centre Principal and Teachers in charge.

Then the concert began – the program was well lined up and we had great fun and were well entertained throughout the 2 hours.

Finally when the show was over, we were treated to some light refreshment prepared by the centre aunties. The food was simple and delicious. The children were having a great time, eating their food and chatting with their friends.

For some of them, this would be the last month attending the childcare as some would be going on the next stage in their life.

This was my 2nd time attending a graduation ceremony and I found it to be much more meaning than those big scale show. It really allowed the parents to see the talents in their own child.

Once again, I am a PROUD mother for the day!

亲爱的勇学，

终于毕业了。这是新的开始。。路会很长不过妈妈会陪着你！希望你会勇敢的学习。

爱您的妈妈。

Kids in Charge & Happy Birthday Daddy

We had another sport-fun and indulgence weekends. Yes, it was the annual Kid’s in Charge event organized by Anders childcare – My 1st Skool. This year the theme was Sport and the event was held at Serangoon Stadium on 26 June – from 9 am to 12 noon.

In the morning we worked up early and had our breakfast. As Adrian was involved with the NDP, he could not join us for the event this time. We took a bus from our place to the venue.

Upon arriving, we saw the childcare teachers all busied escorting the children to the waiting area. Then the Guest of honor arrived around 9am and the “march passed” started.

After the march passed, the children were allowed to go to different corner of the stadium and play with the different sport. This will be our last time attending such an event. But somehow, I still like the one we attended in 2008 when it was smaller in scale and more personalized.

In the afternoon, we went back to rest before meeting our families for dinner at Eatzi @ Safra Yishun in the evening.

On Sunday, we had a Yum Cha lunch with the extended families. The original plan was to celebrate Adrian’s birthday at lunch but in the end, we decided to have the celebration at dinner time.

(aces family with our 1st niece - faith Tan)
My youngest Sister in law is doing her confinement and Adrian has been drooling for 猪脚醋and thankfully, my youngest brother in law invited the family over for dinner and Aunty ML has specially prepared the dish for Adrian…hehe.

So dinner was simple and yet sumptuous meal and Adrian ate till his heart was contented. I had picked up some tips from aunty and hopefully I can brew a good pot of the pig trotters…hehe.

After dinner, we had a simple cake cutting ceremony and everyone had a great time with the cake and also analyzing the World Cup results. : )

Lion Dance

Last Friday, Anders childcare celebrated Chinese New Year and had a mini Lion Dance performance.

As we managed to borrow a Lion head, Anders had the honored to Head the lion while his classmate tailed him.

Before the celebration, the teachers had made them practiced the dance steps. Being the eldest in the childcare, the K2 children had to perform for the toddles/nursery group and also the K1 class.

In the morning at 9.30am, I went by to the centre. As there were existing HFM cases, so parents were not allowed to go into the centre, we were allowed Window View..haha.

The 1st performance was for the toddles / nursery classes and the small children were all very excited to see the K2 children performed. It was a fantastic performance.

The 2nd lion dance was for the K1 children and one pair of the K1 joined in the K2 for the Lion Dance and they did equally well for this performance.

After the Lion Dance, they sang all the Chinese New Year songs and the atmosphere was simply joy & happiness.

Now Anthea & Anders are hoping to perform for the families before the Tiger Year roar away this weekends...

Graduation Party - “ 毕业派对“

"Mommy, what time are you fetching us today?” Anthea has been looking forward to the day and kept asking me of the day agenda...haha.

Yes, it is the day of the K2 Graduation Party; I believe this is like a “mini-prom” night for them, minus all the glam.

I fetched both Anthea and Anders from the childcare around 4.30 pm. Anthea had expressed her preference to be in Party Dress than school uniform, so I brought them home to take a bath and changed to their party clothing.

Then we went back to the childcare centre around 6pm. The party was scheduled to start at 6.30pm at the Multi purpose room. While waiting, we were entertained by the children singing Christmas Songs. They sang both the English and Chinese songs.

The party commenced at 6.30 pm with a simple Thank You speech from the Principal, Miss Wendy Sim. The graduation ceremony followed after the speech. Each child was presented with their graduation certificate and a gift set from Miss Wendy.

Then we proceeded to the open area where the Macdonald crew had set up the game sessions. The children played a few games and they had so much fun. Parents were seated by the side and having fun watching them playing the games.

When they were done with the games session, the children were guided to the dinner tables where Happy Meals were set up for them – Bon Appetite. They ate nuggets, cup of corn and drank apple juice. While eating, they were also chatting happily with one another.

The centre had prepared some fried bee hoon for the parents; it was really very thoughtful of them. The bee-hoon was tasty and very delicious. I even 打包 home for my dinner. Anthea and Anders had 2nd round of dinner and they loved the bee hoon too...haha.

After the meal, the crew started giving out the happy meal toys to the children. Anthea received a set of fork & spoon and I thought this will be very useful for her bento next year. Anders received a set of toy.

Anthea presented Ms Wendy, Ms Valentine and 罗老师 with a small token of appreciation from the Aces family for their effort.

Then it was time to bid good byes and the Party came to an end. A few mommies are planning for another get-together this Thursday; hopefully, Anthea will be able to join them after her tuition class.

One of the mommy commented, hopefully these children can maintain their friendship even after their graduation day. I wish the same too.

孩子们，毕业了！！

Anthea Graduation & Concert Photo

This evening when i went to the childcare to fetch Anthea and Anders, Miss Wendy passed me her graduation photo and also the CD of the concert photographs.

Hopefully, in another 15 years or so, i can see her in a real convocation ceremony... : )

Now we are all waiting for her concert DVD to see her performance again.

Parents-Teachers-Conference

Both Anthea and Anders PTC were scheduled between 10 am – 11.00am on 29 Nov 2008. We had a good home made ham& cheese burgers with scrambled eggs for Anthea and soft boiled egg for Anders.

Then I started to prepare simple lunch of chicken porridge before heading off to the childcare centre.

The 1st PTC was for Anders, 10am – 10.30am:

Both his English and Chinese teachers – Ms Kelyn and 张老师 gave me their assessment of Anders performance in the 2nd half year of 2008. I must say both their comments were very positive and I am very glad that Anders had such improvement.

His progress reports were as follow:

他能感激 别人的帮助，以及尊重长辈和别人的意见及看法。

Anders enjoys sport games such as bouncing ball and relay games. He displays very good team player spirit and as a good role model to all his peers. He has become more expressive in class as he will share his views with his peers. He has become more inquisitive during class activity time.

He will be starting K1 on 1 December and sad to say, his 2 teachers of Nursery class will not be taking them through K1 which I was hoping they would... : P

His K1 teachers will be Anthea existing English and Chinese teachers – whom are also very caring towards the children and I know Anders will enjoy his K1 lessons, like Anthea did so.

The 2nd PTC was for Anthea, 10.30 am to 11am.

This was her final PTC with the childcare and soon she will be going to Primary school and it will be a totally new experience for all of us.

Spoke to both her English and Chinese teachers – Ms Valentine & 罗老师。Feedbacks were also very positive and improvement had been observed, especially in her Mandarin.

Her reports were as follow:

艾妤上课时注意力短，但能回答老师的多个问题。她能人读很多词汇。好！

Overall for her English and Math, she is doing fine and she should be able to transit to Primary one quite smoothly. This was my understanding from Miss Valentine.

Anthea had been very fortunate to have these 2 teachers for her K1 and K2 classes. They had made a very great impact on her improvement in her respective areas.

Up till today, I am glad that I had made the decision to send both Anthea and Anders to NTUC Childcare. Their curriculums are very well organized and children learnt a lot through different activities: Hands on Activities, Gross Motor activities, English and Chinese Literacy programs etcs. The children had truly enjoyed all their lessons and playtime in the childcare.

Of course, the one person that should not be forgotten is the Centre Principal – Miss Wendy Sim. She is a “People Principal”. She is very approachable and always asking for feedbacks from parents. This is the culture of NTUC Childcare - 3 Ways communications. She runs the centre very well and I think for Parents who are visiting the centre and considering sending their child to the centre will be bought over by her knowledge and her professionalism...: P

Like what the K2 children said in their graduating speech: “NTUC Childcare is the best, of this I can truly vouch!”

Likewise, I would say the same. No fanciful name or fanciful game or even fanciful picture to showcase their children talent.

It is the everyday smile and lovely stories of the children that really matters.

毕业典礼 – K2 Graduation Concert 2008

Finally it's the Graduation day for NTUC Childcare K2 classes. The day I had been looking forward to and the day my girl made me a very PROUD mother.

In the morning around 7am, I brought Anthea to her childcare centre for the teachers to do her makeup and change of costume.

Then I went home to see how Anders was as he was still sleeping while we left the house. Thankfully, the neighbor 哥哥was sitting with him at the door when I reached home.

We had a simple breakfast and then got changed and got ready to go to the Graduation ceremony. The venue of the ceremony was Nanyang Polytechnic Auditorium, which is about 10 minutes drive away from our home. So we were in no rush and took our own sweet time.

According to the teachers, this year NTUC organized the ceremony into 2 sessions – morning session 10.30am to 12.30pm and afternoon session – 4.30pm to 6.30pm. In each session, there are about 18 – 19 Centers taking part. In Anthea morning session, there were a total of 381 children graduating.

I bought 3 tickets for the concert as originally my parents were joining me. But due to their China tour trip, they can't make it for the ceremony. So it was just Anders and me .

We reached the auditorium around 10.10am and collected our door gift. For Adrian benefit, I ordered the concert DVD, so that when he's back in SG, he will have the chance to see Anthea in her 方帽子and her performance. We were seated at H 10 – 12 and it was very near to the stage.

At about 10.30am, there were montages of the children preparation shown on the big screen on the stage. It showed all the practice sessions that they had gone through.

Then the 2 hosts started to make the announcements. (English/Chinese Version). The guest of honor was invited on to the stage to make a speech. Then after the speech, it was the moment that all parents were waiting for – seeing their child coming into the auditorium in their “convocation suit” and going on stage to receive their certificate.

When the host announced the arrival of children from AMK2, I was very excited and keep looking at the march in group. Luckily for us, Anthea came in via the side where we were seated. I was so PROUD to see her and she was very happy to see us. I took a few photos of her while she was standing next to us, waiting to go on stage. The children go up to the stage and one of the children will represent the centre to collect the certificates from the GOH. Then they took a group photo with the GOH and their teachers.

Then few selected children from different centre came on stage to do the graduation speech – My Journey in NTUC Childcare. It was like walking down memory lane when they were saying the speech.

(Anthea is the last person standing on the left hand side)

Extract -

“Finally, I am in the 5th year as a senior! I am in K2 now, a year short of primary school.
Hey, I am the oldest and I feel pretty cool, I look around me and I feel I know so much.
I feel so confident with my teachers in touch; NTUC Childcare is the best, of this I can vouch!

And as I step out of my centre's door into the crowd, I am feeling happy and proud.
Even as I shall miss all my friends, principal, teachers and aunties...
I am feeling so excited to learn new things and make new friends...
As I smiled and wave at this K2 concert 2008
Let's cherish our moment now, and celebrate a new tomorrow!!

After the touching speech by the children, the SHOW began – A CELEBRATION OF FRIENDSHIP.

Based on previous experienced in attending graduation concerts, I would assume that children would perform individual items from respective centres. To my greatest surprise, the children from all 18 centers put up ONE BIG stage show of the story. Alot of effort has been put into this stage show especially on all the logistic arrangement for practises and full dress rehearsal. Kudos to all the teachers, aunties and pricipals who made it possible.

The 1 ½ show was really impressive. The children were dressed in different characters for the stories. Anthea and her friends played the role of frogs. Though their performance was pretty short for the whole show. I know they had enjoyed it and I was very PROUD of her performing on stage, without any stage fright.

For the finale, the children all went on stage and sang a song for their teachers – Special Song of Thanks. Honestly I am very thankful that Anthea had 2 Great teachers in her class – Ms Valentine and 罗老师。They had provided very good opportunities to the children. Seeing how Anthea grow since K1 with the centre, I know both the teachers had put in great efforts.

I SAY ：”THANK YOU TEACHERS!!”

The very last part of the concert was when all the K2 teachers came into the auditorium and sang “You will be in my Heart”. A very touching song and the lyrics are very meaningful.

Finally after the 2 hours of speech, awards and performance, the ceremony came to an end. Parents were told to remain in the auditorium till the host called out the Centre name, and then we proceeded to the holding area to pick up our child.

Throughout the time, I shed tears of joy because I felt that Anthea had achieved so much in her childcare days. No words can express my feelings but I know these days will bring her forward to the next phase in life.

After the event, one of Anthea's classmates – Lydia's mommy asked me if I would like to join them for lunch and I said ok. We decided to eat at the Drive – thru Macdonald at AMK central since it's near to NYP. Then another classmate – Xiao Xing and her mommy also joined us.

The girls had so much fun at lunch and Anthea was so happy as she hardly had the chance to lunch with her friends in this manners. After lunch, the children played at the big playground area while the parents chatted. It was a very nice impromptu lunch outing and I hope we can keep in touch and the girls will have more chances to meet up, even after they graduated.

亲爱的艾妤，

今天你让妈妈感到好骄傲。虽然只是幼儿园的毕业，但是也算是一种成就。
接下来的学习路会更长，更难，不过妈妈会一直陪你走下去。

永远爱你的妈妈。

KIDS-IN-CHARGE 2008

NTUC Childcare's Kids-in-charge 2005 was a resounding success and has become a regular event on their annual calendar.

This year, Kids-in-charge is held on Friday, 19 September 2008, from 5.30p.m. – 8.30p.m. and is entitled “Play @ Work.” The event will showcase how games can be fun while boosting growth across critical development areas.

Parents are invited to join in the program to witness the children's achievements in learning through this event.

Well, I always enjoy participating in this kind of event as I know it's another way of getting to know my children better and their progress in the childcare.

As the event is scheduled to start at 5.30pm, I decided to pack Macdonald's Happy Meals for Anthea and Anders. At least they have some food before the event or else dinner may run late.

After dinner, we went back to the childcare centre for the event. Both Anthea and Anders were very happy and looking forward to the event.

I joined Anders Nursery class games – he had the Chinese memory game and English Musical Bases. I saw him played the games with his friends and he was very really enjoying himself.

Then I proceeded to join Anthea's K2 games – they had Dodge Ball and Chinese Words games. Anthea was also having a very enjoyable time with her classmates.

At the end of the event, the childcare event gave us 3 “dinner bento”. It consisted of an egg sandwich, a sausage, a fishball, a chicken wing, a piece of cake and a packet of drink. We enjoyed our simple dinner bento at home. It was very thoughtful of them.

NTUC childcare always STRESSED the importance of Parental Involvement in the child learning. They emphasized that children achieve more when schools and parents work together and parents understand what the school is trying to achieve and how they can help.

Today I learn a lot from my children and as the name suggested: “KIDS IN CHARGE”... : )

True Blue Singaporean

This morning in the wee hours, i was woken up by a song : "we are singapore, we are singapore.....blah..blah." Oh it was Anders Singing, i thought he has woke up and sang the song. I took a closer room and realised that he was still asleep. This meant he was singing in his dream and it's a National Day Song...haha. The childcare has been teaching the children National Day songs in celebration of the upcoming event. I am glad that they are enjoying the songs as these are really meanful songs for the occassion.

The childcare had planned a simple celebration for National Day today and all children were encouraged to be dressed in RED/WHITE. Being a TRUE BLUE Singaporean, how can we miss out this kind of celebration. So both Anthea and Anders were dressed in the recommended colors. I also wore a RED top to match their dress code for the day...haha.

We had the chance to take some photos in the childcare and these are specially for Daddy's eyes.

I am glad that at this tender age, the children are taught National Anthem everyday during the assembly. And also the pledge in both English and Chinese version. I understand that not all childcare practised the same as some are like "international school" so they don't enforced such practise.

To me, i am glad that Anthea and Anders had this opportunity to learn and be a real 新加坡人!!

Anders PTC & Anthea Vision Screening

Anders PTC was scheduled between 10 am – 10.30am on 21 June 2008. After breakfast, I went to the childcare to meet the teachers. This year Anders is in Nursery and he has 2 new teachers. For English lesson, he is taught by Ms Kelyn. For his Chinese lesson, his teacher is 张老师。

I had a quick chat with both the teachers on his progress in the class and generally, the feedbacks are positive and encouraging.
His progress reports were as follow:

勇学是个文静但有时又好动的孩子。他肯学，并积极参于一切活动。

Anders is a cheerful and active child. He enjoys playing and interacting with his peers. He has also shown his ability to complete tasks independently. He is able to express himself more confidently to teachers too. Keep it up!

I am glad and happy that Anders is doing well and enjoying his time in the class, I know it because every day he will come home with a story to tell...haha.

Anthea Eye-Screening

Anthea had her vision screening in her childcare on 30 May 2008. This is an arrangement by the Health Promotion Board for all the children. It is a National Myopia Prevention Programme. The result came out as:

Vision LogMAR Computed Snellen
Right/ Left Right / Left
Without glasses 0.00 0.00 6/06 6/06

Stereopsis Normal

Examination Notes: Vision Screening done – Normal Vision

I am delighted with the result. So far at home, we are maintaining a perfect Eyesight score. None of us is wearing spectacles or contact lenses. So I also hope that the children can do without them for a long, long time. This means we must continued with the effort of bringing them to the park more often as greenery improves the eyesight.

"Losing Out "

Today I had lunch with a few colleagues at the Original Sin. This is a mediterranean vegetarian restaurant and the food was quite impressive. On top of it, the restaurant has a very good promotion for American Express card holder: 1 for 1 set meal. For Citibank cardholder, there is also a promotion on the main course – 1 for 1 as well.

I had a set meal and it’s served with a soup of the day, main course (tofu burger / tortilla wrap with some special vegetables), dessert and coffee/tea. The set meal cost $24++.

My colleague chose a set meal and so we order one main course each and shared the portion. I like the tofu burger and it was very delicious.

During lunch, we had small talks on works and families. One of them, who are in the legal industry, had twins whom will be starting Primary School next year. This means that they are of the same age group as Anthea.

We were chatting about short listing primary school and he voiced his opinion on the MOE system of selections. As his twins is a boy and a girl, he is in a dilemma as to which house address he should use to register for his girl (aiming at MGS) & his boy (aiming at ACS).

Then also he commented that his children week days and week ends are packed – Mondays to Sundays.

Both his children attended K2 classes at Cambridge. Then following by Mathematics Tuition, English Classes, swimming, ballet, piano, squash, golf and his daughter is even in some modeling classes.

When I heard of his children curriculum, I felt so “lose out” for Anthea. So far, she is not taking any enrichment classes and for swimming, she is doing on her own leisure. I can’t help but felt a sense of guilt toward Anthea. The reason why she is not taking all these lessons is also mainly because we can’t afford all these extra $$.

I do hope that we can start her on some enrichment classes to better prepare her for Primary school. In NTUC childcare, they don’t do Spellings and Hanyu Pinying. So I think this we will need to train her little to get her gear up a notch.

There is a Chinese saying: “人比人，氣死人“! Well, I guess I just need to console myself by thinking positively – 知足常樂.

Let’s hope when she starts Primary school, she will be able to progress well.

Happy Childrens Day !!

On Monday, 01 Oct 2007, it was children's day. Most of the childcares were closed for the day. However, the childcare that Anthea and Anders attended was opended and it even organised a small party for the children.

Children were advised to go to school in their home clothings for the day, so both Anthea and Anders were very happy and excited. In the morning, Anthea hurried me to get ready for school. If only everyday is like this...hehe.

When we reached the school, most of the children were there and all dressed in different colors and styles. It was quite a nice view. There were balloons all over the place and i knew the children were going to have a good time.

This is Anthea and Anders 1st Children Day Celebration in this new childcare. End of th day, both came home with load of presents from the teachers.

Anders Presents :
1. Mrs Deva - Color pens with small note book
2. Zhang lao shi - A Packet of Biscuit
3. Teacher Jessie - a Looney Toon Tee-shirt
4. Ms Alice - Toy cars
5. Luo lao shi - toothbrush set

Anthea Presents:
1. Mrs Deva - Color pencils
2. Luo Lao shi - Toothbrush set

Her english teacher, Ms Valentine, has been on medical leaves and so she did not get any prezzies from her.

Even the school aunties bought some sweets and chocolates for the children. Both of them came home with so many stories and things to share.

Recently, the childcare has given parents a notice of increasing school fees from 2008. One of Anthea classmate's mother called me and asked if i will be making plan for change in 2008. She claimed that the school fees are too expensive and almost equal to private. So her intention was to change her 2 children to those few hours kindergarten and playgroup sessions. Also she is planning to change to Part Time to spend more time with her children.

In the evening i shared with Anthea about her classmate's mother plan to change school. She said: "mommy, i like this school, i don't want to change."

I was happy to hear her comment and i told her that i will not change her school because she will be in K2 and it will be a special year for her and for Aces family too. Also most important, there is a team of dedicated teachers here and also a group of good friends.

May Anthea and Anders have many funfilled Children Day Celebrations!!

教师节 快乐 !!

This is Anthea and Anders 1st Teachers Day with this new childcare. As a token of appreciation towards the teachers for their hard work, I am baking muffins for the teachers and the aunties.

For the form teachers and assistant teachers, I was thinking of getting them some gifts. I felt that the teachers here really deserve something as they give their 100% care and love towards the children. I can feel the differences as compared to the previous childcare.

There are many good gift ideas – bookmarks, fridge magnets, photo frames etcs. I happened to see this website – Good Bargain and they have this item – 80G Mini Honey in an Organza pouch.

I thought this will be a good gift for the Teachers. Honey is good for their throats; especially they are always talking during lessons. The pouch is also useful for them to carry small items. Practical gift, so with these in mind, I bought 6 of the gifts. Hopefully the teachers will like them and also not too many parents bought the same items…hee : P

Teaching is not an easy career and I have a few cousin and friends who are teachers. Hearing about their job scopes, I must really salute them.

Happy Teachers Day!!

亲爱的老师们，


在人生旅途上，您们为孩子们点燃了希望之光，

您们所做的一切润泽了孩子们的心灵，开阔了他们的视野。

今天我们向您致以崇高的敬意。

向您们表达我们最衷心的感谢

教师节 快乐 ！！！

Child TALK....

On Monday morning, Anthea requested that I helped to tie her hair for school. So I obliged to her request. I am quite hopeless when coming to doing hair, so ended up with a simple ponytail with 4 pins over her hair. When we were done, she asked Anders:

“Anders, nice or not? “

Anders replied her:

“Wow, so beautiful, like Princess.”

Anthea was all smiled and happy when she heard Anders replied.

I was smiling in my heart when I heard Ander’s reply. All these while, I observed that Anders is very “generous” in giving compliments and sharing toys with his elder sister. Usually it is Anthea who need persuasion in sharing her “properties” with her younger brother.

I believe as she grows older, she will learn to be more generous, like her brother.

In the evening, when I went to fetch them, Mrs. Deva, the K2 English teacher commented to me “Anthea is getting more talkative now.”

I was happy to hear her feedback. I also noticed that at home when Adrian is disciplining her, she will answer back when he questioned her, instead of keeping quiet, as previously.

I believe her interactive skills is getting better and also her peers in this childcare are more outspoken compared to the previous childcare, so this may be another reason that encouraged her to speak out more. When I mentioned to Adrian on Mrs. Deva’s comment, he was glad too and take it as a positive feedback. I told Anthea, it’s perfectly ok to speak out when it is time to do so. However, when teachers are teaching during lessons, she must listen. She said “yes mommy, I only put my hands up when teacher asked questions. “

I am really glad to hear this and feel she is doing progressively well at this stage of learning.

Last evening, I had my hands on baking muffins, using a different recipe from the website. Getting good tips on measurement translation from my SIL, Eve, I managed to bake the Chocolate Chip Muffins.

These batches of muffins turned out better than the one I did on Sunday. So likely I will use this recipe for Teacher’s Day.

I noticed that this childcare centre did not ask for parent’s food/drink contributions for Teachers Day. So out of curiosity, I asked Anthea’s Chinese Teacher: “does the childcare celebrates Teacher’s Day?” She said: “they don’t practice celebration of teacher’s day.”

I was a bit shocked because the previous childcare that Anthea attended celebrated this special day with so much food & drinks.

Anyway, I will still bake some muffins for the teachers, in appreciation of their tender care and passion towards the children.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the muffins will turn out to be presentable and delicious… : P

My Happy Moments..

This week time passes so fast…must be the after holiday mood still lingering around.

The children are back to their normal routines and for me; I am still enjoying a bit of leftovers from last week. Adrian is clearing his leaves for 2 weeks, so this week he is at home, doing his studies for his upcoming aviation examination in September.

The reason for me say that I am still benefiting from his leaves is – He is helping me with some of the household chores. Like I say before, any help for me, I welcome with open arms and closed my 2 eyes on the finished products….ha-ha : )

On Tuesday, he volunteered to help me sweep and mop the house but since I wanted to resume my routine, so I did it on my own on that day. This morning, I left him with the chores. Last night, he helped me with hanging up the laundry with his 2 assistances…ha-ha : )

It was fun to see father, daughter and son, doing house chores together. After that, Adrian told me: “wow…hanging clothes is so easy when you have someone to hand you the pegs. “

After our 4 days vacation to Malaysia last week, I realized that both Anthea and Anders are now more aware of happenings around them, maybe I have been treating them like small kids so certain time, their reactions to things happening can catch us by surprises. But luckily all the surprises are good one.

Example:
1. Anders wanted to buy a Dinosaur when we were at Petrosains but it was quite costly, so we tried to persuade him to change to other things, we chosen a pack of small dinosaurs for him, ½ the price. He accepted it and told me: “mommy, next time when I grow Big, then I buy BIG Dinosaur, ok? “

Me: “yes, next time when you are bigger, we will buy a bigger Dino for you.”

(I believe by normal standard, he would have insisted on getting THAT Dinosaur)

2. Anthea and Anders were discussing between themselves of who is getting the window seat for our return flights from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.

Anthea: Anders, later you let me sit window, ok?

Anders: Ok, I let you sit window, tomorrow you let me sit window, ok?

Anthea: OK.

(Ps: no idea why they agree that we are taking aero plane tomorrow…hee : P )

Both reached an agreement without parents’ interference. For our outbound flights SIN – KUL, we made an agreement all together when I did an internet check in.

By these 2 simple life examples, I can feel my 2 little ones are growing and are better at negotiating for themselves. I am happy and filled with joy.

Teachers Day Gift

Teachers day is just next week and since it is the 1st time that Anthea and Anders are celebrating this occasion in the new childcare, I thought we should present somethings for their class teachers.

Anthea has 2 teachers and Anders has 3, which means if I were to buy some small gifts, I would need to buy 5 of them. A BIG Headache for me!!

Seeing so many mommies baking cake/bread/cupcakes etcs, I am also “itching’ to do my baking again…hee : )

Should I or should I not…this is a tough one….sigh!!!

"Word-less"

Today after work, i went to fetch Anthea and Anders from school.

As we were walking back home, we met one of Anthea's old childcare friend's grandmother. We chatted a bit on the children & the old childcare.

When i asked her how was S progressing, she gave me a very sad & disappointing look. She told me on one little incident that happened recently during a Father's Day Celebration. S is a single-mother child, i understand that his dad passed aways in an accident or some illness when he was a baby. Very sad case, lucky his grandmother is very doting on him. His mum suffered from depression in the early stage.

Back to the schoool celebration, the teacher said to S : "You cannot celebrate Father's Day. YOU HAVE NO FATHER."

The grandma told me : how can a teacher said such a thing to a child of 4 years old. All these while, the mother & grandma has been telling S that he has a Father and he is now in Heaven.
By saying this, she put all of them in a spot.

I was totally speechless....and really LOST IN MY THOUGHTS.

A childcare teacher making such a statement....what is becoming of our Education System, i wonder?

S grandma said she had waitlisted S for a place in Anthea's current childcare centre and i hope that S will be able to join them soon.

I am glad that i made the decision to change childcare for Anthea, otherwise, i am not sure what will comes up next.

Anders PTC, Wednesday, 20 June 2007

This is Anders very 1st time attending a childcare, so this PTC is quite important for me to get feedback from the Teachers on his performance in school.

So at the appointed time of 5.30pm, I met with his English and Chinese teachers.

Teacher Jessie’s observations:

- Anders is matured for his age and he can take instruction well during her lessons
- He is able to effectively communicate himself to her
- He can eat his meals on his own and also socialized well with his classmates. He has a small group of good friends in his class.

Only area of concern – he likes to rub his eyes whenever he’s in doubts/worries or whatever reason.

张老师 的观察 ：

- 勇学 是个 乖巧的孩子。他能够 转心的听老师讲故事。
- 他的华语程度还得 进一步的练习，有时他还不大了解老师的讲解。

大致上他的进展还算不错。


Well, based on the 2 teachers, I am very happy with Anders progress in school, although I am quite sure at home, he is displaying another set of behavior.

Anyway, when the teachers asked me if I have any concerns to raised; I told them no because important thing to me is they come home a Happy Kid and I see many times – role playing of school events, I know that he is enjoying himself.

Teachers were quite surprised that I have no issues, probably the other parents may have raised issues with them before.

To me, most important thing is they grow up being Happy and morally correct. The “stress” part will comes in naturally when they start formal Primary Education. Meanwhile, we will take it easy.

Thank's God it's Fridays & Happy Father's Day!!

Our Prata Date.

Anthea has been requesting to go fro prata breakfast this week, so i told her on on Friday, we can wake up earlier and go fro prata breakfast.

Surprisingly Anthea woke up at about 7am in the morning and told me, "mummy, let's go for prata." I told her we will have to wait for Anders to wake up as well. So she had her milk and watched Disney channel as she waited for her little brother to wake up. Normal days, she usually wakes up about 8am.

At about 7.45am, i woke Anders up and he brought his milk along to the coffee shop, so he can have prata and drink his milk. We order 1 egg and 2 plain pratas and the children really enjoyed it. Anthea ate her plain prata with Sugar and Anders had his with mixture of curry & sugar.

After the pratas, they went to school, feeling happy & satified. I also had a wonderful Breafast DATE with my 2 A's.

Both Anthea and Anders came home with their Father's Day Handmade craft. A Shirt from Anders and a Car from Anthea.

Dinner was Western at Lao ma's place as my da-ge requested for Steak. So it was another feast for the Aces Family.

Friday is always the day that i look forward to as we are free to choose whatever we want to eat and we can enjoyed relaxed meal.

Anthea - PTC, Monday, 11 June 2007

On Monday, i was scheduled to meet with Anthea's English and Chinese teacher for her 1st Parent-Teacher-Conference. It is semi-yearly affairs, June & November.

It's been a long while since i attended such event because Anthea's previous childcare does not facilitate such meeting. For her progress, i only get a Progress Book from her teacher. Based on her assessment and written comments, i get to know how Anthea is faring in school. No interaction at all.

Well, with this new childcare, they are very pro-parents communication. So far, i have seen many articles and events that encourage parents to feedback to teacher/the centre if they have any concerns.

At 5pm, Adrian and myself arrived at the centre. Our appointment was 5.30pm but since we were early, we requested to have it at 5pm. The teachers were very accommodating and we sat through a 10 minutes chit-chat session with the teachers.

English teacher - advised us on the things that she had thought the children. She is quite new to this centre, so she did not feedback much on Anthea's progress. She is leaving end of the month.

Chinese Teacher (罗 老师) - she said that Anthea is very attentive during lesson and can answer her questions. Also she can socialised well with her classmates. There are times she will assert her rights when playing with them.

I am happy to hear of the teachers feedback on her performance in school. So far from her interest in going to this childcare and her change of mannerism, i know she is enjoying herself very much.

After the PTC, i brought Anthea for her long overdue haircut. She likes to go to this particular salon near the market place. Tried persuading her to go to a nearer one to the childcare, she refused. Anyway, finally we got her haircut. I think her hair is too dried and now new assignment is to get her a conditioner.

Anthea 1st Science Project.

Today is the last day of Anthea and Anders Childcare renovation, this means that this is the last time that she is taking school bus. I am really thankful that the 2 weeks of commuting between Ang Mo Kio and Yishun was smooth and safe. Anthea has been enjoying the bus ride, however, she is looking forward to going to the AMK centre next week.










Today i went to fetch both from the childcare. Anthea brought back a science project. It has 2 plastic cups glued togther. In 1 cup, there is a few Green Beans and in another cup, there is cotton bud stick. There is a "project book" title: Living and Non-Living Thing. In it, there are few pages where the children draw the picture of the contend in the 2 cups. By day 2 - the cup with Green bean starts to bud whereas the cup with cotton bud stick remains. Interesting project as this will make her see the growth of Living thing.

So timely is this project, we can also explain to her that her little cousin, Faith, will also grow as time goes by.

Anders is also enjoying himself with the daily singing session learning time in school. He is always happy and jovial when asked about his day in school.


My GM just came back from a vacation in Australia, Sydney and Cairns. He brought back some goodies and there is this box of Koala Bears chocolate that is just too cute to be eaten.. : )










Looking forward to a nice and relaxed LONG weekends as tomorrow we celebrate Good Friday, also know as Easter Holiday.

HAPPY Easter HOLIDAY !!!

"Easter is the time of springtime festivals, a time to welcome back the Tulips, the Crocuses and the Daffodils. Its a time of new suits, new dresses and patent leather shoes. A time for Christians to celebrate the life and resurrection of Christ. And a time of chocolate bunnies, marshmallow chicks, and colored eggs"