Hanging Out with Awesome Am

The week hasn't been so good because I had another bout of sinus infection - chronic sinusitis, as diagnosed by the GP. Will leave this for another story, on another day.

I wouldn't have visited the GP on Thursday had I not made a commitment to the school that I will be one of the parent volunteer. Was hoping I will get better by Wednesday but the throat was still sore and the whole nose was stuffy and I couldn't think of anything else except to crawl back into bed.

So I had to see the Dr the day before the zoo trip, for a course of antibiotic and ta-dah! The nose and brain cloud cleared up after the first dose, no jelly legs and I only had a cough left to deal with.

I was a parent volunteer when Aidan went to the zoo so it was nice to experience it again and subconsciously , noticed some changes. Strangely, no kids commented about wanting to ride on the tram when we walked past it - although a girl mentioned that she has $12 on her to buy snacks. How odd, why would you not let your kid pack snacks from home? $12 - that can get two KFC meals which I doubt the kid can finish one meal alone!

The teacher in charge of Ammi's class was very thoughtful. She bought each of us volunteers a McD muffin for snacks. I had brought along a yogurt bar but Ammi hijacked it and shared it with five of her other friends. She also finished her bag of Caramel Corn and gummies. Also a few mouths of my muffin!

Since I wasn't completely well, I didn't want to shout or scream instructions this time. Where the teacher in charge yelled directions that needed to be followed (e.g. Find and partners and get in line!"), I simply tugged the kids by their sleeves to guide them back into line. For toilet breaks, I got one girl and one boy at each time to block the passage so that none 'escape' while I was still inside the toilets.

Most kids wanted to visit the panda enclosure but that wasn't part of the route so again, my short and sweet reply was "Go home and ask your Daddy to bring (you again)."

As the kids learn along this Learning Journey trip, I learnt new things too! The Mountain Lion is actually the Puma and the Cougar. All zebras have their unique stripe patterns (this was more of a refresh) and the Naked Mole Rat is resistant to cancer and is immune to pain! What great genes they have ... on the inside... For they really look ugly on the outside!

Sent my two kids home from school that day and Ammi remarked for the umpteenth time that she had a great trip - and if I agree with her? Makes it all worthwhile to wake up early and starve till 1pm and hunting down the toilets around the zoo. Aidan wasn't too happy as I didn't volunteer for his class outing the week before so I gave him a blank card and told him he can volunteer me for his next school event, even before asking me!

Goodbye Jan 2013

So... 2 weeks of canteen duties, 1 misplaced water bottle (Ammi), 1 misplaced lunch box (Aidan), 1 lost name tag (Ammi), 1 ear infection (Ally), 1 broken elbow (MIL), 1 spoilt phone and a new phone (me), 2 changes of computer hard disk and 1 Windows system upgrade (me), 1 case of diarrhea (Ally), 3 visits to the PD (Ally and Anya), 1 loss of a baby tooth (Ammi), 1 new subject for spelling (Aidan and it brings it to a grand total of 5 spellings I have to cover per week!), 1 embarassing note to the form teacher to request for a reply slip I had torn and threw away without reading carefully that 'a NIL reply is needed' (Aidan) and 1 birthday party later, we have survived the first month of January!

 

My photo folders and SD card are bursting with photos, which is a good sign = loads of good memories but I and the other half are D.E.A.D. tired. I have never craved for the bed so much, never took a nap because I NEEDED to or else I cannot function past 5p.m. Having to deal with 4 school-going kids is not fun, need to consider seriously if the trade-off for peace and quiet in the morning is really that worth while at all?

 

Here's a snapshot of all we went through in January. The twins are great girls, who have gotten used to school and Anya has even gone for 3 straight days bidding Ally farewell at home, since she had an ear infection and mild fever. In return, she expects Ally to wait for her when her school bus arrives at the gate - which of course - her twin is there for her since she doesn't really have that much to do while at home.





 

 Flowers above for my MIL when she broke her elbow on her first night in Beijing. I learnt a little more about flowers, such as white eustomas and I didn't know Tiger Lilies came in so many colours!

Ally in her Letterland costumes - how cute!

It was Buddy Time for Ammi and Aidan - the older Primary 3 kids have to partner up to two P1 (the capable, model students are assigned to 2 juniors) to teach them how to queue and pay for food. I had fun watching and helping some of the lost sheep and also found out the rent for the tuckshop stalls costs only $25 per month! Ran the idea of running one with Hubs and his instant reply was :"Later one cockroach only, you are dead!". Ok, I'm sticking to my office job.

Our brave Anya who apparently is very demure and obedient in class everyday. The teachers told me they saw her true colours when we came to school to celebrate her birthday, where she was shouting and jumping and chatting with Ally.

 Birthday party (above) with the two classes combined. Giveaways were helium balloons with lollipops tied at the bottom of each balloon. Too lazy and tired to plan party bags.

Duck Tour (right) with the family on the actual birthday which fell on a Sunday. Relaxing and everyone had fun.

 The pretty babes in their Chinese costumes I bought from Xi'an. Can't wait to have Ammi join them in the same costumes.

Tooth dislodged after Ammi munched on a lollipop. A tooth which she never complained of looseness or discomfort. I have been hoping that she can keep her upper front teeth intact until post CNY. They are so loose you can see the gaps next to them. In fact, the one of the left has been overlapping slightly because it is very loose.

Spot check in school during reccess, when I returned to the school to buy an extra set of P.E. uniform for them.

 

The school started an 'Eat Fruits Day' initiative so students of all levels are encouraged to bring fruits from home every last week of the month. Aidan says there are rules to it though - no durian and no juicy fruits because it's messy (like oranges) and something that you can finish in 5 minutes (so no whole mango?). Sounds do-able still.... except I have to make sure I hit the supermarket for fresh fruits every weekend before the last week of the month. No one was interested in bringing bananas - it's the more exotic, the better. But this, I can do. Had a request from Aidan to "... make me Angry Birds sushi like what Kenneth's Mom let him bring to school everyday? So good lor, Joshua's mother also rang Kenneth's mother to learn how to make and his mother even bought those cute, cute cutters for the carrots and egg." and I did start researching on Bentos, to take it up as a challenge but I can live with 'fruits bento' for a while until the kids get bored and start checking out what is inside Kenneth's lunch box again.

 



 (Photo obtained from Just One Cookbook blog. See link above under 'Bentos')

First Week of Nursery

The day I had been looking forward finally came, it was such a surreal feeling. My twins are finally going to school!

We had wanted them to go to the same school as their older siblings, and the school doesn't offer any classes for below 3 years old due to space constraint. So for the past year, I had been accompanying them every Monday for a playgroup class which I felt was too little for them (and too much for me).

I used to have Monday blues (unless I start to clear my inbox on Sunday nights) because of the amount of work I have to clear once I reach home around lunch time, with the twins wailing away sometimes from over tiredness, and then park myself in front of the laptop, 'check-in' and then scoop lunch into my mouth as I check my mails. I'm supposed to commit 5 hours of work per day, so if I start work at noon, I can only end at 5p.m. which by then, it's time to either spend time with the kids for their outdoor walks or run through Aidan's work with him or prepare the next spelling.

Maybe that is why I was more excited than worried when the day finally came. Nah, this isn't something worth worrying about, not even close to if I have lent $100K to someone I don't know. Not fretting at all, I know they will be in good hands. I can't say the same for Hubby, whose heart was aching because his little princesses were clinging on and tearing when they met new faces from the school.

Spare diapers - checked
Change of clothes - checked
Water bottle - checked
Towel - checked
Here's Ally Baby, all happy and (not) ready for the world she is going to. Anya changed but she didn't start on Day 1 because she was suffering from a fever.

Hey, art and craft everyday! So fun! In Julia Gabriel, she could only do it once a week!

Day 2: Anya joins her sister and we found out Ally's new Crocs had 1 side missing. What a damper. The funny part was Anya gave hers to Ally because she wanted a pair of Crocs worn by Fifi Jiejie. Works out all well!

The 'partners' were switched - I had plan to take Anya and Hubby takes Ally. But at the door, somehow the girls decided to stick to the opposite parent and Hubby shooed me into Ally's classroom before Anya saw me again. So the wild one is with Daddy and she behaved!

Day 3: *Ahem* That's me and Anya. Ally was alone, crying out loud with her rest of the class. I was the only parent allowed to stay because technically it was Anya's second day of school, while it's the third day for the other kids. The same goes to Ally's class, all parents were encourage to leave so as to give the teachers a chance to bond with the toddlers.  I thought Anya's class was bad (I'm allergic to children's cries), she had 3 crying toddlers. My ears were itching, I felt short of breath and couldn't wait to get out for outdoors or music so that I'm not in close proximity with so many crying kids. When I took a toilet break and peeked into Ally's class, the whole class of nearly 10 were wailing. How traumatising!

So, Daddy went off to work and constantly text me to check on Ally. I managed to spot Ally at the playground and thanks to iPhone, I could still take decent shots with one hand (the other hand carrying Anya) along the staircase.

Finally.... I could 'deliver' the results at the end of Day 3. Ally was reunited by the Principal with Anya and me! She was told that she could see Anya if she finished her lunch and she did. I am very proud of my girls because not only that they could feed themselves completely, they often have second or third servings in school.

Day 3 was also the day we finally took the schoolbus home. First 2 days ended too early and we decided to head home first. Today, we hung around until the drill came, for us to queue up by schoolbus and board the bus with the driver and assistant. That's Ally who allowed the driver to hold her hand and walk her to the schoolbus. She is one steady girl, emotionally more stable and does a good job comforting her twin. Each day, the teachers tell me that she will console Anya and tell her "(there's) no need to cry, will go home soon" before they spilt up to go to their respective classes. What a difference 5 minutes can do! Like real....

Here's the baby (above) and the big sister's below. Big sister was able to detach from us and walk, albeit, reluctantly to her teachers, with a letter 'n' on her lips while Anya clings a little longer before she allows new arms to takeover to carry her.

My darlings, I hope that you will get to enjoy school more as the days go by. Daddy feels you are still too young to enjoy the company of your friends, and home is the best place for you. I feel it's a good balance where you spend three hours with more interaction and activities with teachers and other children, plus you get to play with different playgrounds, toys and trikes!

Ammi Goes to Primary One

Awesome Am started Primary school yesterday. We were more confident parents compared to two years ago. More cool, less anxious although equally excited as the day approached, although it wasn't fun having to pack 4 school bags at one go.

She is a lucky girl because her elder brother is there already, and even though we know he is a good boy, we had to remind him to watch out for his sister and "don't you dare to come home without Amelie."

It turned out that he was equally happy about having company having breakfast together with him in the morning and someone to walk home with him and chat through lunchtimes. He looked at her during recess time, brought along his good friend and a gang of four boys ran looking for her when her class came out late and they wanted to help Aidan make
sure that Ammi knew where the school bus queue was. How fortunate! You can see she was all smiles too!

Good thing she said school was awesome (count: 2 days so far, but still...) Her brother had to add: "Awesome because no homework and lessons yet what? Next week you see if it's still awesome or not!" What a spoilsport!

I started my parent volunteer duties today. Each time I mingle with other parents, it's always an eye opener how other parents behave and how different mindsets can be. There are parents who complain about their kid not eating the prepacked food and almost fainted from hunger after school "because he doesn't like sandwich" (so, your kid is fussy, how is it our fault?); a mom who wasn't happy that kids were served noodles soup "because what if they spill on themselves?" (there are such things as tissue papers and dryers and I'm sure there are spare although-not-so-clean change of clothes in the office).

I asked myself whether I'm too 'Bo-chup' or uncaring? It has never mattered to me what is being served and in fact when I looked at the menu printed out for the primary one students, I was touched that the school went through so much effort to organize prepacked meals from various canteen stalls just to make sure the kids have a chance to try almost everything.

So my schedule is a little off these two weeks. Out goes my exercises (found a way to replace those classes - I walked 20minutes home from the school).

Twinsies start school tomorrow. We have half a mind to let Anya skip it as she is still recovering from a viral fever. No more fever but we are worried she may catch other bugs from school. They seem to understand they are going to school and that they "cannot cry, and must be happy". Let's see... It'll be interesting and I look forward to sitting on kindergarten floors for the last three days of my life . Cross my fingers my babies won't be wailing for too many days/ weeks/ months!