Natalie goes to school

Natalie has been loving school since enrollment on 17 oct.

Below are photos taken on our way there. you could see the big smile on her face!











At school: Natalie having her breakfast. She looks a little anxious here as papa and mama would be asked to leave soon.





Natalie at play with her classmates. You could see from the photo that the teacher student ratio is 1:1 at this stage as some of the teachers are from the infant care center and have been helping out before the school commences.





Do you see someone peeping at the window?





Here's a close up!





Papa took a day's leave just to fetch her to and from school!

Nathan at week 9

At week 9 Nathan has grown even stronger. He is able to hold his head pretty steadily and prefers the upright face toward position when carried. He would even kick you really hard at your abdomen if you carry him facing you with legs resting at the sides, some what like leaping out.

He also enjoys the companion of people and would coo and talk at the same time the conversations are going on, wanting to be part of the action I guess.

When it comes to sleeping, he is such an extremely good baby! Sleeps throughout! Wakes up only once if he poops. If he doesn't, he could sleep till 5 or 6 am which is perfect for me! Gave me ample rest time at night but this means he hardly sleeps in the day, taking pockets of short naps. so I hardly get to rest in the day since I had to entertain him. But that's alright as long as he is able to rest well at night!

He could better focus on objects and track them as you move them from side to side more than 30cm and differentiate my voices from other sounds and look to hear where it's coming from. He seems to know when I leave the house without him and according to my helper he would wake up crying and looking for us almost as soon as we locked the main door.

Which was why I took him along when I sent Natalie to school yesterday morning. He seemed to have enjoyed the walk with mummy!

Bath tub upgrade

We have upgraded his bath tub when he was 7 weeks old from a small tub for infant ( borrowed from uncle daniel) and it looks like the medium sized tub may soon be too small for him as well!







"look at me! I am handsome like daddy!"

Little adventure

Had a little adventure with Nathan last Friday!

Never thought I could actually manage him on my own without help! It was not breezy easy and knowing nathan who cries like a police siren driving alone with him is highly difficult where one should equip yourself with ear plugs to protect your drums! Plan was to feed and so he could sleep throughout the car trip of 20 mins to Ion, but I never expected him to poop in the car seat! He wailed and wailed, only taking occasion cry breaks to rest and catch his breath. It was a tumultous feat trying to concerntrate on getting there quick and talking to him at the same time!

Despite it, I definitely enjoyed myself without the helper. There is no need to order her share of the food; I could shop all I like without wondering if she has found a place to sit and wait; her time is maximized at home with thorough cleaning jobs; hopefully she might miss the kids and develop a stronger bond.

Had a good time with Theresa and baby Dan. Will definitely look forward to the next outing with Nathan on my own!

pic of the 2 children who were dragged along by their mummies for the long awaited solo shopping trip!

New environment

Although she seems to enjoy the Montessori classes, we've pulled her out of the session since the childcare below our block has called to inform us on her second day of class that they are able to enroll her this year! I was ecstatic as the school is brand new and conveniently located! I actually had the intention to pay the deposit that day and was so in luck that the administrator called me at 7 30 am. (who starts work at 7ish) Which I think it's godsend. Saves me the few hundred dollars and explanation to the teachers as well as trauma for natalie to readapt to the new school. Whats more she didn't quite enjoy the Montessori school as there are way too many kids who are older than her and she felt overwhelmed by them. In fact she was quite unhappy to be told that she had to attend school the second day.

Though the childcare is under the Pcf foundation, our basic objective is to allow her to build up her social skills before attending kindergarten next year. So curriculum doesnt matter to us at this stage.

It has been 4 days since she started school and she looks forward to going to school everyday! I was amazed at the total change of reaction and how fast she has adapted to the childcare lifestyle! She has allowed mummy to drop her and say goodbye without crying on the second day, and I think that speaks a lot for her experience so far! She would also take a long time to bid farewell to her friends! I was so fearful that she wouldn't be able to sleep, eat and play well but all these worries were unfounded. She was first to fall asleep on the first day I extended the duration of her class. She finished her lunch and snacks and refilled her water a couple of times! Now she is even partially toilet trained. She is able to pull down and up her own pants, lift herself up the bowl and flush after use. I am so surprised to see her so independent and without complain and assistance cause toilet training is something which I wanted to instill but each time I ask if she wants to use the toilet she would tell me a straight no if we were at home. So grateful that she is learning it from school!

We would definitely continue to place her there until end this year.



























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First day at school

This post was meant to be uploaded on 8 October.

Natalie has been asking me to bring her to school every morning. To fulfill her wish, I've signed her up with modern Montessori playroom and today was her first day at school.

Unlike her usual weekend classes, which is parent accompanied, this kindergarten requires her to enter class independently. We've explained the format and she understood that mummy and daddy won't be accompanying her in class and she said,"ok mama, I will be brave and go to school myself." I was really impressed at how she craved to attend school to the extend the shy little girl was able present a brave front.

On the day itself, She Tried vey hard not to cry! But simply could not withhold her tears! Fortunately there were some older children who befriended and helped with her orientation. She seems happier, but her limited courage at such tender age faltered again at instances where she felt uncertain about herself and wanted that reassuring hand holding from mummy.

Overall I thought she did really well for the youngest in her class! She fed the class pet ie a turtle, participated in the tasks, and sat attentively when the teacher was reading a book. I am so proud of her!

Hair clips

Always wanted to make some DIY hairclips for Natalie and finally found sometime to do it this afternoon. Take a look at the finished products. They looked super good on her!

Barney's theme song

Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination
And when he's tall
he's what we call a dinosaur sensation
Barney's friends are big and small
they come from lots of places
after school they meet to play
and sing with happy faces
Barney shows us lots of things
Like how to play pretend
ABC's, and 123's
And how to be a friend
Barney comes to play with us
Whenever we may need him
Barney can be your friend too
If you just make-believe him!


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An inspirational speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This is Such an inspirational speech by Steve Jobs! Appending it so our kids could be reminded of how short life is and we should live it with no regrets and love what we do every moment.

Having them definitely made life whole for me!

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Tantrums

Natalie hasn't really been herself since last week. She has been mimicking Nathan and his cries whenever she can't get her way. She would wail long and loud, not wanting to tell us what's wrong or what she wants. It's starting to frustrate me and I have a tendency to ignore such behaviours until she learn to stop the crying on her own. However, she could be just as adamant as I am and refuse to stop until I gave in to her. Now I've been using tv a lot to chide and console, sometimes its the iPad or iPhone as she wants to surf on utube for her Barney downloads. Restriction just invites further retaliation and I cant stand her wailing.

Gong gong said she may be bored at home and she may be wanting some alone time with mummy where she could get full attention with zero distraction from Nathan. So I heeded his advice and brought her out yesterday. She was super happy. Came home listening to most things that mummy says. But I
Can't be bringing her out everyday. Gong gong asked me to create a schedule so she knows what to do next, hopefully this works too!

Here's Natalie enjoying a hazelnut cake all on her own!




















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Nathan At week 7

Nathan would now return a smile when smiled at and insist on being carried over span of 3 hours during the afternoon.

He has outgrown the clothings for newborn and 3-6months clothings fit him snugly. With bulk, he is able to lift his head shakily and turn towards the directions that he wishes. When he throws a fit he could even attempt to stand up and lock his knees until he gets his milk. One has to be real careful when carrying him as he has a tendency to kick back against your body which may send him flying out of your reach.

He loves to be part of the action when jie jie is playing and would coo at her as she pretends to cook. Being the sous chef he always gets to be one of the first to try out her cooking!
























Here's Nathan directing traffic!























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Mental note 1

Just wanted to make a mental note to remind ourselves not to dismiss important remarks made by Natalie and displace it with our own understanding of what should have been the case or our assumption of her testing our limits. Instead we should investigate her claims physically and probe further and not trivialize it.

Simple example-
She told us she felt cold. We dismissed it as the Aircon is turned on and therefore it's cold. So we asked if she wants it off. She immediately said no and dropped the complaint of coldness as she didnt want to sleep without it. Later did we realize that she was developing a fever and therefore the feeling of coldness. To think that we didn't even check her temperature and thought she was just making an observation of her environment? Sigh, poor little girl developed fever over the course of 2 days but managed to fight off the infection caused by the flu bug.

Now it's just flu, cant imagine if it's some other issues that may lead to severe consequences. I must say we do have a tendency to make predisposed assumptions given our past experience and understanding of our children, it's therefore important to be reminded of this minor incident just in case!










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