Back to School on 初三

Boy went back to school today after the CNY holidays. The school requested students to dress up in red and also bring some CNY goodies to share with their classmates. School was shorter than usual with two hours of fun instead of the normal 3 hours. Boy was all excited bringing the goodies to school and getting some in return as well! Some pics to share:

His red outfit to the school

kueh bolu for the children

(home made by mum and helper).

Going home!Goodies from his classmates

Boy didn't forget his favourite Daddy...GT said boy saved half a kueh bolu in his school bag and told GT that it's for him. Hehee...

大年初一初二

This year's CNY is a little different. For reunion dinner, we had it on our own since my in-laws went for their cruise trip. With my big tummy, we also tried to cut down on the visiting since it's really quite tiring for a pregnant lady. Nevertheless, we have enjoyed our reunion dinner and for boy he has certainly enjoyed the CNY goodies that we had during the visits!

Our reunion dinner - Steamboat

The amount of food for 3 of us and helper...

First day of CNY

His second outfit for the same day

Yusheng for dinner

Second day of CNY @ 奶奶's place

Drawing the Sun

We have been teaching boy how to hold and pencil and write. So far, he can manage to write "1" and at times "2". I taught him how to draw the sun that day and he drew 2 in a day. Here they are:

His very first sun...looks like rambutan hor..keke

He drew another one at night (the green one)

Enjoying his favourite drink after
completing his master piece

Our trips to Chinatown and CNY decor

We went to Chinatown twice this year. Once was more than 2 weeks ago on a weekday night. It's quite quiet with not too many people. The second time was a few days after the first, more people this time round. Didn't buy lots of things, there was just too many shops that sell quite a few similar stuff and you walked here and there ended up dunno what to buy! hahaa.....we did manage to grab some pussy willows to decorate the house. Some pics to share:

Simple decor @ home

CNY card made by boy in school

A recap of the past week of school

We didn't take leave to accompany boy to school anymore after his first day @ school but instead let mum and helper bring boy to school. He started his "pattern" on the second day refusing to wear school uniform but mum managed to ask him to wear the uniform and reached school in time. The school requires the students to gather and sing some songs in the music room before going to the classroom. He refused to go in and cry on both the second and third day. Mum just left him with the teacher and went off. Haha....afterall, we all know that he's just trying his luck see whether we will relent or not. Mum checked with the teacher on how he was at the end of each day and the teacher fed back that he's ok and didn't cry at all moments after mum left.

On Thursday and Friday, he went to school happily and said "Hi" loudly to his teachers waving his hands happily. The teachers taught him to say "Good morning" instead :P. It appeared that he has "warmed up" after 3 or 4 days of going to school.

Generally, he loves school because of the company of friends and teachers and not forgetting the food there which he never fails to request for a second helping. All these have helped to let him settle down even though most of his classmates this year are different from last year.

First Day at School

Today is the first day of school for boy who would be in N2 this year. He's in the Love class. Both GT and myself took leave to accompany him to school. Mum went along as well. Hahhaa...imagine 3 persons accompanying cutie pie to school... When we reached there, we realised that only 2 of his former classmates are in the same class as him this year and that excludes his best friend, Issac. Hence, we were quite worried that Ziyu would cry or not get used to the new class and teachers.

The principal came to bring Ziyu to the classroom and asked us to go home. He didn't resist and let her bring him to his classroom. Subsequently we followed him up and hid somewhere to see whether he's fine. To our relief, he didn't cry and could mix reasonably well with his teachers and new friends. During snack time, he requested for his second helping of his favourite noodles (as usual) from his teacher. He didn't forget the great food that he had in school after more than a month of holidays...hehe...He was all excited telling us about school when school ended today. Hopefully, this excitement and happiness of going to school would continue.

Waking up early for his breakfast

All ready for school

In the classroomGoing home!
Telling us about his school today

Dec 2008

The last month of 2008. So what has my cutie pie been up to? He continues to be very talkative...in fact, at bedtime, he will often talk till dozing off. That day I asked him to go for his bath and he was playing with his trains. He answered " I'm busy, later." Sounds like a big boy already huh? However, he seems to exhibit some form of sibling rivalry already. I told him that Daddy will carry him and Mummy will carry Zi An. He said "No, Daddy, Mummy and Ah Ma will carry Zi Yu, Auntie (my helper) will carry Zi An." Quite naughty right?

We have begun to teach him how to recognise some simple words like cat, dog, car, bee, moon, boy, girl etc. with the help of flashcards. His concentration span is still limited at times but he managed to be able to recognise > 15 words by now. Hopefully, he would be able to read some really simple books soon. He has also been taught how to colour reasonably well in school. I asked him to colour a mouse that day...see how colourful his mouse is:) :

Happy New Year to All

Time really passes fast. It seems like yesterday that boy has his first day at school and now we are talking about his second year @ school to begin tomorrow!

I'm very happy and fortunate to be able to fulfill all the resolutions that I have set for 2008.

For 2009, I also have 3 resolutions for myself: 1) To be able to give enough attention to my 2 children as I venture towards my "promotion" of being a mother of two, 2) To be able to breastfeed for at least 6 months (I often regret not being able to fulfill that for Ziyu. I only managed to do it for slightly more than 3 months due to work constraint) & 3) To make full use of my hard-earned driving license and drive confidently on the road. :P Most importantly, I hope for happiness and good health for the family especially when 2009 seems to be a tough year to go through.

Ziyu would be going to school tomorrow :) for another year of great learning and fun. More updates of that later.