Happy 80th Birthday -27th

School celebrated its 80th Anniversary & Founders Day yesterday - 27th.

Mei-mei skipped school, brought her along to dance and enjoy herself. She did! In the morning, the girls had to proceed to the hall, whilst the parents waited in the canteen. Mei-mei was so impatient, kept asking me if the dance was going to start.

Here, mei-mei's with her favourite Aunty - Aunty K.


Loved the Wonder Girls' Nobody dance. Ehh.... with her dancing at home all the time, she's pro siah! Kidding lah! Still cannot get the 'chim' steps but it's still a joy to see her swaying and shaking her backside to the song. She joined the girls. Che-che did her job well in taking care of mei-mei too!!




Yah! The dance was that long!! 80 minutes of non-stop dancing, playing music from the 1930s right up to 2010. Songs that are so familiar to me, makes me feel a generation older. *gasp*

The thing that I like about my school is that the girls know how to have fun. We play hard and we study hard. That makes KC girls so adaptable to everything and nothing is impossible for us.

At 9 plus, the kids had their recess in class. My two girls didn't want to eat the cake they asked me to pack the night before, instead chose to eat snacks brought by teacher; friends and their mummy dearest - me. Hmm.... I closed both eyes and crossed my fingers they don't get 'heaty'. Not a good time to fall sick.
Mei-mei's not shy. When che-che's FT asked the girls if they wanted snacks packed by a girl's mummy, mei-mei stood infront of her and said "I want!!" Mummy's proud that she's outspoken, then again it makes it look like she's very 'yao gui' - hee!
FT commented on mei-mei being so different from che-che. Another parent seeing her for the first time asked me "this girl must be a great challenge to take care, right?"
Recess over! Kids proceeded up to the hall for prize presentation.

At 1050, school's dismissed. Last day of school. See you girls a month later!!

Results Day - 26th

Girls needn't report for school today as it's Results Day.

The day started with us (mom stayed over the night before) going to KFC for a hearty breakfast. The time slot that I was given was between 11 - 11.30am. We left for school one hour before the PTM considering the fact that I had to pick mei-mei up from school in 2 hours time. I'm smart right?? No!!! I should have made my way there much earlier! Was told that they didn't go according to the time slot but rather the teacher will meet whoever is there and we gotta queue. Wah!!! Since mom was with me, and after bribing her with a nice hot porridge, she had to do work for me. Haha! Asked her to help me queue up while I queued up to meet her 老师.

Was told my girl is very quiet in class, can only hear her voice when she's been asked a question. And 老师 is very surprised with her oral marks. I'm surprised too! 19/20. Wow! Even the talkative me don't think I ever scored that well. Needs to improve on her open-ended comprehension and writing. I totally agree with her coz' everytime I ask her to do Comprehension, she'd have that 恐惧症 - phobia. For both English and Chinese hor! Not that she don't understand the text but she's either lazy and just want to 'copy and paste' and risk getting scolded by me after I mark her work or she just didn't like doing Comprehension.
Everytime I ask her to do Comprehension - both subjects. She'd say "I don't know...." even though she knows my response would be "so.... you don't have to complete this Comprehension section for your exams??" She asks me to read for her, evil mother refuses and make her read instead. So did she understand the text? Yes, she did and she's able to point out the sentence to answer the question. So what's the problem? She usually loses her mark by not converting her sentence properly, you know lah! One mark gone here for wrong word; one mark gone there for copying word wrongly. By the time it adds up the mother goes berserk.

老师 says she does daydream sometimes in class. Haha! I can understand why she daydreamed last year in P1 coz' she had that headstart at home first. But this year too?? Hmm.......maybe it's heriditary?? That's why I got my book flung out of the class window. ?!?! I found it amusing when 老师 related to me that sometimes she dreams.. she calls her name and my girl hurriedly look around her book where 老师 stopped. I giggled. *bad move on my part* - goes to show mom is supportive of her being dreamy in class. Asked if she sat behind. No, she's sitting infront. Wah.... my girl so brazenly daydream when she's facing the teacher.

I've never met her FT - Form Teacher in person before. I longed to ask her how my girl behaved in class. And now that I know she daydreams in MT class, I had to know if she does that too in her class.
FT says "no chance for her to daydream in my class. They're kept busy." And she likes it when I set a high standard for my child. There's this one time when she did this mock test or was it a worksheet when she scored below my expectation and I refused to sign, writing down a short message to the teacher. Dunno if it's mockery or a real compliment for being so hard on my child. But she managed to meet this highly demanding unreasonable mother (and immediately blackmarked me).
She's quiet in class and is a model student. I never had the chance to ask her if my girl is helpful in class. I know last year she was, she was always there to offer her help kapo kapo to her teacher and friends. I was told my girl is very responsible and mature, infact she's impressed with this girl. Based on her observations, my girl makes full use of her time. Any free time in between lessons, she'd bring out her storybook to read or do her homework whilst the rest of her classmates chatted or simply prefer to stare into blank space.
However she noticed there was a behaviour change in girl recently. She became more distant and quiet, due to relationship problem. She mentioned about a girl who kindda ignored my girl (I can guess who it was anyway); didn't join her for recess etc.. FT talked to both girls separately. I mentioned to FT a note I saw in girl's schoolbag recently. It was a note my girl wrote to that girl:
You not my friend I am lost. Will you be my friend, OK? Please circle 'OK' or 'not OK'. Her note is very innocently funny and most importantly - no spelling mistake. Hee! FT was surprised... I managed to connect the whole picture together. When I questioned che-che after seeing that note, she quickly took the note away from me and said "no lah! nothing happened..." trying to avoid my question.
FT remembered last year, during Promotion Day (where children get to meet their next year's FT), che-che declared to her "XXX is my best friend." She must have felt that sharp knife stabbing into her heart. My poor girl. I'm her mother... I need to tell her in real life there's alot of backstabbing. Somehow she has to learn all these through difficult processes but ... you know I have that mixed feeling of wanting to protect/shield her but iI can't be protecting her forever.
The next day (27th) I spoke to K about this matter. She was shocked and she did explain to me how close the 2 girls were in school when she was helping in the school last year. Che-che is very protective over that girl, though that girl is more "sharper than her - streetwise and eloquent". Then, I must say without shame that I've done a great job in instilling EQ in my child.

Survival Test - 1 yr+ later - Part 1

My entry is 2 weeks late. No time, no time. 没有时间.

My last survival test was 1 yr 7 months ago, fast forward that same time later - things do look different. At that time, che-che was in K2. And now that they're both older and supposedly to be more 懂事, I thought I can handle better. Noooope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then, che-che was in full day childcare thus I had a much longer "window period". I can spent a longer time on household chores. Then, I only needed to bring her for Berries on Mondays evenings, after mom helped to cook her dinner (+ mine as well). Wednesdays evenings were her music class, then she gets to sleep over in mom's place for that night. I didn't have to get up that early the next day and can be a slave the whole of next day till I go over to pick her up. Fridays - I get to spend the whole day out as I had to bring mei-mei for her Shichida class.
And if I needed a bailout, mom could help out since they had a helper then.

Now, I'm totally relying on myself. To make it worst, hubby has been travelling extensively. He was back and feeling a little relieved, he told me he was flying off again. For 2 weeks, I was left single on/off. When he was back, he was working. It made me more miserable and grumpy, I know he's working really hard for this family; I shouldn't be feeling this way but because I was hoping for a lighter load and ended up ladled with the same load.

2 kids, although older, means I'm more busy. I have a shorter "window period" each day coz' have to pick mei-mei up from school early. I have only like 3 hours plus to speed through work. Exhausted! For the last 2 weeks, they had their classes from Tuesdays to Fridays consecutively. (Tuesdays were mei-mei's music make up lesson). I had been zooming around until I go giddy. Had to cook their lunches on both Wednesdays and Thursdays. So bloody busy and was still so concerned about giving them home-cooked food. Not like yours truly is a good cook.

Che-che asked me after she had a taste of my cooking for 2 days." Mummy, I thought you say you cannot cook?" "Mummy can't cook. I cook rubbish; you'll eat rubbish. Why? Is my cooking nice?" "Yes, very nice." "Nicer than Aunty Zet's?" "Yes, I like." *happy happy* Aiyah! Something new mah!

Today marks the end of the schoolterm. I don't have to handwash their school uniform daily. They change uniform daily. I can simply wait and throw them all into the washing machine. But still house has to be kept clean right? And for a extreme fussy person, I'll work myself to death.

Tomorrow, we fly off. I have a week off from housework.

Wait for my next blog entry on this topic then.

Mother's Day

I'm so many days late. Was too busy to make a date with brother and sister to bring mom out. Blessing in disguise coz' I fell sick over the weekend. Was so miserable, being alone and no one to sayang me. Mei-mei brightened up my otherwise quiet painful day by running into my room. Shouted in her sharp squeaky voice "Mummy.......Teacher S say I must hug and kiss you today!!" "Why?" "Because today is Mother's Day!!" Aww............... so sweet.

Che-che? Never even bothered. You say heartbreak or not?

Mom's card? I only made it today, 14th - 6 days late.

Sick!!

Haven't been able to blog coz' had been sick. Fever; sore throat; tornado in stomach; cough; runny nose. Blame it on exhaustion + bad weather + viral going on around now. I can't remember who passed to who, but this virus had been 'ding ding dong dong' around the house for about a week before the VOLCANO ERUPTED!!

Friday, 7th
Struggled to bring the kids to school, hubby had to go airport in the morning so can't help to send kids to school. Too last minute to make KZ cab down too. Popped by clinic opposite on way home. Doctor came in 20 minutes late, I was the first in line and fell asleep while waiting. Fever's 39.4 deg celcius. Woah!

Back home, climbed into bed after 2nd shower for the day. Then I spend the rest of the day sleeping and sleeping and sleeping. Never felt so weak before. Tasked KZ to help pick the children up from school.

Like I said the rest of the day I was sleeping. Heard the commotion the kids made when they got back about an hour plus later. They didn't cab back but took a bus back home. Yah lor! che-che wants to take bus.

Big thanks to KZ, definitely! She has been such a great help. She even helped me bring mei-mei for her music lesson.

As for che-che, I left her in her own resources - play! No energy to help her. Let me rest first.

Saturday, 8th
Che-che has her Berries in the morning. However she woke up this morning with a fever. Oh no!! Did she get the fever from me?? As for myself, I was feeling really tired despite sleeping the whole day yesterday. Felt like vomitting too, wah...... what happened to me?

As for myself, I rested till afternoon and then seeing that she's well and jumping around, did some work with her. Had my mask on, struggling to keep myself awake.

Her fever came back in the night. Huh?

Sunday, 9th
She woke up feeling alright. I was still feeling tired and better still for my diet plans - no appetite to eat.
Did some work with her again. And so timely - at 7pm - her fever came back?!?!?! Oh no! Last paper tomorrow and can't skip school.

Monday, 10th
Told che-che to call me after her paper, so that I can bring her home earlier. Standby near her school, didn't hear from her.

Picked her up from school, she looked tired. Said she has fever. Huh? Dropped by PD, but clinic's closed. Gave her fever medication and sent her to bed. Evening time, fever back again. This is a cause for alarm, if her fever comes periodically. It's definitely not from me.

Tuesday, 11th
She looked well to go back to school. I stayed in her school for some dialogue session with P/VP. So tired, I feel like going into the sick bay to rest.

Picked her up from school, again my girl came out all worn out. That's it! Brought them to another PD, can't wait for another day to see their usual PD. Sigh! Their PD's closed at mid-day today. Timing, timing, it's all about timing.

Hope everyone gets well fast.

When I grow up ..........

I want to be a teacher!!

Mei-mei was shouting loudly in the living room while I was resting inside the room. Walked out to see the commotion/din she's making.
"Listen to me. Keep quiet .........."

Took me a long long time before I managed to get a video of her, she hates to be videographed (which also explains why I don't even have much videos of her) Can't edit, can't link the firewire from my camera to computer. Duh!

She "reads" rubbish while sitting on the TV console.
KZ and che-che kept disturbing her. Haha!

Snapshots

" You sit down and listen to the book!!"

Video

A chatterbox

Teacher in mei-mei's school told me she was yakking non-stop in school in the morning. Ah doh! You mean now then they know she's so noisy??

In the afternoon, I got complaint from the doctor too. She chuckled and said "wah... she's been talking non-stop since the moment she came in. Was trying hard to write down prescription; turned her head to look at mei-mei who was oblivious to the surroundings and talking, laughing to herself. Sometimes when doctor was talking to me, she'd deliberatele keep us quiet by singing a song in between us. Sigh!!

I remember days ago, mom dropped by on a weekday afternoon. She was bugged by a persistent lil' girl. Girl never takes no for an answer; kept asking until mom agreed to give her something.
She makes a good salesperson. Dowan to buy house/insurance; got pestered by her until give up and buy from her.

That's my lil' girl!!

House Matters - Part II (Painting)

Day 1 - 3rd May
House looks terribly messy; dirty. Paint drips on newpapers, we accidentally stepped on it, kids bursts out laughing saying we all had "stamp on our feet. We are the same.... except daddy." Painted partial dining area, master bedroom and the study room. This time round, we changed all the rooms colour. Hubby says 'lomantik' purple for our room. I choose a bright peach colour for the study room (so my kids will not feel sleepy), sweet pink for the kids room.
Painter said the colours we choose reflects on our personality - we are quiet and peaceful. I'm not sure about "peaceful" coz' when I scream at the kids its deafening. He even commented he just painted another house with all the bright colours - green, dark purple, blue. Eeeks!

We were refugees in our own home. No where to run to, asked them to keep one room for me. The cabinets in their bedroom were made to good use, can sit there to do work. Exams week and she likes it when there's people in the house, keeps finding excuses to run out of room. Very frustrating! They finished their job at 5.15pm. No time to cook so asked hubby to help ta-bao back.

Dad came by with the chairs and table legs. But he had to re-spray coz' had some light scratches while transporting in his car. Can't put up the chairs yet. But finally, we got back our dining table. The last 2 nights of having our meals at the coffee table. Old woman (me) get leg cramp for sitting down on the floor and get indigestion.

Day 2 - 4th May
Painted the kids room, remaining living/dining area. House looks brighter with a new coat of paint. Finished their job at 6.30pm. Hubby bought dinner back again.

Our living room looks shabby.
The kids room, darker pink on the feature wall

Day 3 - 5th May
Painting is taking way too long. Thought they should have been able to finish in 2 days so che-che won't be distracted. Kitchen painted and the "bulge" was knocked off and smoothened with plaster. Door frames, water feature, our gate. I'm very disappointed with the final looks on our wrought iron gate. Painter says it's very nice. Eeks! I feel it's that old-fashioned taste in him (he's in his 50s). Dunno what hubby's reaction will be when he sees it. Argh! feel like changing the gate!! So tired! Finally the minor renovations done. Now to the part of re-organising and packing stuffs. Tedious! My che-che is a hoarder! I threw away so many rubbish from her drawer when I packed her study table.

Day out

Hubby decided to bring the kids out to Chinatown for Tim Sum.

Walked out for a stroll. Guess who we bumped into? Ian Wright.

Must be God telling me something siah! I don't carry camera all the time and today at last minute I made a dash back to the drawer to bring out my camera.

Been a great fan of his shows. To see him in person - wow! Had a short chat with him on the show he's doing, recommended him to get some small coconut to drink in this hot weather. He asked "Is that highly recommended?" I answered him "Yes! Now I will be hosting this Singapore segment show with you." He bursts out laughing. Great humour. I'm on Cloud 9 - makes me miss flying more.