Preparing For Chinese New Year

Who can miss Chinese New Year with all those 'tung tung chiang' music blaring in all departmental stores and hypermarkets? I was at IOI Mall today and we saw Lion Dance Performance already ... and there are 13 more days to go towards CNY! My little Raymund was excited. Insisted that we go nearer to watch. There was a crowd and we were at the shop lots further away. No intention of getting into the crowd. We promised Raymund that there will be more lion dances that he would see when we get closer to Chinese New Year.

Actually, we were kinda late.. comparatively... for new year shopping. I have gotten my new clothes and my little girl's. The easiest. My boys are kinda tough. I wasn't too happy with the designs. My husband's...not all all. We are going tomorrow. For this long weekend break, we meant to stock up drinks first. We missed Giant's one day special last Friday where Tiger, Carlsberg, Guinnese went out for RM88.88 per carton only! So frustrated yesterday when we rushed to Giant and found that it was over! But just as well! Today's newspaper advertised even lower price - at RM83.88 per carton. I suppose it's also because of the Saturday-No-Plastic-Bag-Day, the Sunday's crowd at Giant was at its peak! Giant did a lot of PWP - got really cheap Top detergent and baby diapers too. Then I saw the can mushrooms and gift packs... oops! .. big time oops!! I totally forgot about the 'pai neen' shopping...ie. the gifts that are accompanied with mandarins and angpau (red packets) ... that I have to give to all my elders. I started grabbing stuff! Phew!! I do wonder if the drinks, particularly the beers, will go even lower. I remember last year, the drinks were at their cheapest almost like 1 or 2 days before CNY. Don't want to risk it.

My MIL who is ardent fan of Lilian Too, has been reading her 2010 predictions, of course. She told us over the full moon dinner that...

1. On 'Lap Chun' day (aka First Day of Spring) ie Feb 4th 2010 - all major cleaning must be completed by then.
2. On 'Lap Chun' day ie Feb 4th also - try to do a deposit into our account - signifies money going in. I hope I remember :)
3. On the same Feb 4th, be more careful so that no bad things happen on that day else bad luck will follow us thru the whole year ... hmmm
4. On Feb 10th, to hang the red cloth on the main door between 5am to 7am - best time! Ha,ha! I just told my maid to remember :)

More shopping to do. Also, I have to get new notes too. Some left overs from last year... since I have 3 kids now, angpau out is almost equal to angpau in. Thank God!! Hmmm what else. Oh yes! Stock up my kids milk and medicine. The Chinese medical shops will be having a long break.

Since I'm already at it, I might as well make a checklist now:

1. Buy clothes for all children and hubby
2. Change new notes for angpau this week
3. Get angpau packs
4. Buy biscuits and tit bits to put in the house
5. Remind maid to dust house and major cleanup before 4th Feb (Thurs)
6. Clean up the garden tomorrow.
7. Some CNY decorations in the house
8. Put up the red cloth on the door on Feb 10th
9. Buy milk and medicine
10. Get kids' cough and flu medicine from pediatrician, just in case
11. Buy mandarins

I'm an Aunt Again - Twice Over This Time

I'm an aunty again twice over within a short span of a month. Both my sister in law and my cousin gave birth. I've yet to visit my cousin's baby boy Nicholas but his photos on FB ...wooo...he is so very cute!! I didn't want to see her as my family members are taking turns falling sick. I'm ok - thanks to the loads of vitamins that I have been taking. A friend who is also a doc recommended Usana to my husband and I. My husband is less 'rajin' with the vits but I'm following to the dot. I'm alot more immune lately. I believe its due to the vits.

As I was saying before I got too carried away with that other topic, my sis in law gave birth on the 1st Jan, prematurely. She was almost 2 months early but Baby Sabrina insisted on coming out. She had to be put in the incubator and was in the hospital for about 2 weeks! Oh yes! The hospital bill went super sky high what with New Year public holidays and the special care!!! We visited her when she was 3 weeks old. Very small since she was premature but very very cute. Nice sharp features and I believe that she will be a pretty lady when she grows up :) My sis in law was so anxious for her.. her size and of course because of that, her feeding is not exactly easy. I would too if I am in her shoes. I can't give her much advice coz I don't know much about prematures. But the fact is that the baby is responding, eating and sleeping well, there shouldn't be anything to worry about, right? I told her so. Most importantly, she has to be careful not to fall into post natal depression due to all these worrying.

Just this weekend, we celebrated Baby Sabrina's full moon. The little girl slept almost throughout her celebration. She was awake when I went to see her in her room. She turned her head in my direction when I talked to her. Clever girl! I held her in my arms - quite weightless as with most babies. She snuggled in and fell right into sleep. What a cutie. I didn't take any photo, darn! When I put her back in her cot, she did all those stretching and making faces...and signs that she wanted to be carried again. Somehow all mummies will know. So, I took her into my arms again and she calmed down quite a bit. There is this thing about having a baby in my arms. This is a really nice feeling. That said, I'm done with 3 kids. I'm just too scared of going through pregnancy again. Mine had not been easy. But thank God all went well and I have 3 precious kids :)

I can't wait to see my little niece again during CNY. And perhaps for the 1st time for baby Nicholas.

No Regrets on SuperFun Learners

It's been sometime since I last blogged. My new job has been keeping me very busy during the day and completely poofed when I reached home at night. I just didn't have the energy. To my readers, my apologies. Not that I don't have anything to say..coz there are lots. Just that the energy level was low after work. Then the weekends were all filled with family. Then CNY is round the corner and I haven't done ANY shopping!!! Thank God, this is a long weekend.

Well, the topic for this post is really about my children's new kindy, really. To-date, no regrets!! Fungates system really works. What my Ryan had been trying to learn in Eduland.. and I'm talking about basic ones.. he got it within 2 weeks in his new kindy. Along the way, his personal tuition helps too. Remember? I was freaking about his new school's syllabus? The tuition teacher main role is to guide him with his homework and then Chinese and Malay. The homework here is also alot ..for a 5-6year old kid. Each day, he brings back about 4-5 homework. I see also 'kesian'. Then the home tuition, and Enopi and the Cambridge. I am so two hearts about cutting down for him. From my view point, either way he suffers. Perhaps until he stabilize in 2-3 months, then I'll cut down. Which one?? Worry later.

While he complains and cries over the homework and the extra classes at times... really heartsick about it...he is at the same time very proud and smug about his achievements. For the last few nights, he dug out him homework pouch, took out him English, Chinese and Malay books and read out to his Daddy and Mummy. I tested him over a series of Chinese that he wrote for his homework thinking that like Eduland, he probably could write but absolutely blank about how to read. To my surprise, he read confidently to me. Sounds a bit 'amor' but good! He was real smug and proud. Good sign.

As for little Raymund, he also wanted to show off. It was really cute to see him reciting letters, saying the sounds with hand actions. Apparently, the kindy teaches actions together with letters and sound recitals. I'm still digesting that my baby Raymund is no longer a baby. In fact, I'm seeing a change in him already...for the better.

So no regrets with my move to change kindy. Even though activities are less in this kindy, we can make up for it in other areas. Bottom line, going to kindy is to prepare our kids for the real school. And of course, kindies also make learning fun for toddlers along the way.

Which brings me to an idea... I think I will blog about how to choose a kindy next. I have done this before but I think I have more insights now. Hope will help other young parents.

Almost a Week Now..

One more day and it'll be already a week in kindy for Raymund. It wasn't easy.

On the 2nd day, Raymund refused to take the van. No choice. Have to take him into it. So, he went into the van crying. We went to the kindy to wait for him. We stayed in the car initially to see if he is ok alone. Shortly, we heard him brawling and the teacher was trying unsuccessfully to calm him. Poor boy.. he has never been alone before. Neither have most 4 year old kids there. There were still so many parents hanging around. Raymund wouldn't let us out of his sight - not just that, we have to be within 2 feet from him. He wouldn't trust us after my maid hid from him the 1st day. Suddenly it dawned on me that I have to let go that day. If he is still not manageable, I'm still at home to take him since I was on leave till Wed. Otherwise, it will be a problem on Thurs when I went back to work.

I got hold of the class teacher and her assistant and told them that we are making a move. I told Raymund as well as it is better not to hide from him and give him a shock. Of course, I expected more brawling. The assistant was holding on to him while he shouted and crying desperately for 'Mummy'. I had to make myself walk away. It may seem like a small thing...or that I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. But..believe me, it is not easy walking away from your 3 year old frightened child.

We went home and waited. Hoping that the kindy wouldn't call to say that they couldn't handle. At 11am, the van came. Raymund carrying his school bag walked smartly into the house and declared that 'I went to school myself. I sit on Uncle van myself'. Phew!

That afternoon, he had bad dream during his afternoon nap. He woke up crying so many times. My poor boy. It was almost a trauma for him.

The next morning and the next, he refused to get into the van. We had to coax him into the van and he looked back looking lost and desperate while the van drove away at 7:30am. My maid almost cried.

All these while, he has been comfortable, getting up only in the later morning. Now he has to be up at 6:30am. He was sooo not used to it. And he is definitely exhausted as well. Last night, he slept at 7:30pm!! Never before! And today, even though he had his afternoon nap, he went to bed at 8pm! He is that tired.

My heart felt very heavy for my boys. Ryan on the other hand has to take extra tuition and enrichment classes to build his fundamentals for his new kindy.. on top of his daily kindy homework. As I mentioned earlier, there is a vaaaast difference between Eduland/Beaconhouse and SuperFun Learners. He has to play catch up. He too is also exhausted. By 9:30pm-10pm, he was already asleep. I feel like cancelling his extra classes ... but do I have a choice? He will suffer also when he can't catch up. Maybe I'll lighten it when he is up to speed later.

I just feel that the education system is stressing kids younger and younger. Also it could be us parents' expectations and 'kiasu-ness'. Gone were the days when we just had fun in kindy. And the enrichment classes have been capitalizing on this need.

Hmmm...Thinking perhaps it is good to look into young children education business opportunity when I plan for my early retirement :)

(EeLin) Shopping for Confinement - For The Little One

For Ee Lin and new mums out there...

Here is my list of what to get before your little one comes home. Sorry abit later but I was busy and very tired after work. Here goes...

• Baby bath towels -- get at least 3 as you need to change pretty frequently. Go for soft and light ones. Remember your baby's skin is soft and delicate.
• Mittens and Booties (with and without holes) -- always get more as they usually get wet. Choose the small ones as your new born baby hands are very small.
• Cloth napkins (buy lots) -- if you intend for your baby to wear napkins. Also they are useful for bed lining - put on top of pillow to absorb sweat, wrapping up the new baby, blanket, etc. I got about 5 packs of 10s.
• Nappy liner -- if you intend for your baby to wear napkins
• Bips
• Tummy wrap for new born
• Baby soft face towels -- get the soft ones. Remember baby's skin is very soft and delicate. Get more as you need them for feeding, bathing, wiping, etc. You don't have enough time to wash.
• Short sleeves top and pants -- get more. They always get wet - vomit after feeding, etc.
• Long sleeves top and pants
• Short sleeves top with tiny holes -- this is cooling for a hot day. Also less risk of heat rash
• Beddings, flat baby pillows & bolsters, cot bumper (if use wooden cot) and their covers (get extras), mosquito netting
• Blankets - get the light soft ones. Don't use the comforter yet as the new born baby is still small.
• Bouncing Net
• 'Sarong' bed -- that is IF you want but be warned, once your baby gets used to this, you have to bring this sarong thingy wherever you go. I didn't.
• Detergent for washing bottles - optional. I prefer to wash with water and then boil them. No soap!!
• Baby clothes detergent eg. Nappy Clean, Pureen ABC. I prefer liquid detergent and I used Nappy Clean. This mild for babies. Separate your clothes from the baby's. The baby maybe sensitive to 'adult' detergent.
• Baby lotion/oil. I used Johnson and Johnson Diapers. Apply after bath.
• Diapers - I used Mamypoko (S) & (NB) for night time. Day time, my kids wore cloth diapers
• Body Powder - only if you want. I chose Johnson & Johnson. Some docs and CL advise against it .. pores clogging.
• Extra pails for washing -- Believe me you need that! Lots to wash!!
• Clothes rail -- Prepare more clothes lines or drying place for massive washing
• Cotton balls -- For cleaning… eg face, bottom
• Waterproof rubber changing mat (for changing diapers/after bath)
• Baby Nail clipper/scissors --- Baby's nails are very sharp. Only cut them when you can see well. Even after cutting, their fine nails are still sharp. Put on the mittens at all times. That's why it is better to have some mittens with small holes. Else the baby skin will peal due to sweat.
• Baby soap eg. Johnson & Johnson. If your baby develop sensitive skin later (rashes), see your pediatrician to recommend mild soap. I used Baby Sebamed for my kids. Warning - pricey!
• Cotton buds for BB (smaller ones) - for cleaning. Do not dig their ears!
• Yu Ee oil (mandarin brand) -- apply after bath. There are 2 versions - take the one with mandarin oranges picture which is less hot. This is good expel win and sooth tummy upset. Be careful, sometimes the baby skin may not be able to take it like my son. Watch out for rashes.
• Diaper Rash Cream - Bepanthen or Drapolene
• Menthol Body Powder (0ptional) for heat rash
• Bathing tub
• Rubber mat for bathing tub -- must have!
• Pacifier for new-born (optional) -- Mothercare, Avent, etc. Optional but better to prepare to sooth baby when fretting. However try not to make it a habit.
• Baby bottles -- recommend Avent. Use 4oz bottles for new born. The 9oz bottles are too big!! Remember to check the nipples. Make sure they are for new borns.
• Big pot -- to boil baby bottles, pacifier, etc
• Milk Powder (optional). Go for 100% breast feeding if you can.
• Gripe Water -- to expel wind. Best time to give is after bath time
• Travel Stroller -- If possible, get friends to give as baby gift
• Baby car seat -- If possible, get friends to give as baby gift
• Bottle warmer -- for travelling. Make sure fits bottle esp when you get big bottles like Avent
• Measuring milk container
• Flask for hot water -- for travelling - to make milk
• Water tumbler for cold water -- for travelling - to make milk
• Baby Carry Bag -- Suggest back pack style for your convenience
• Baby wipes - Anakku, Pureen

Can't think anymore already. Hope this helps.

(EeLin) Shopping List for Confinement - For the New Mum

This post is for sis in law, Ee Lin (hope I got the spelling right ;p) who just gave birth to a little baby on 1st Jan. Congratulations! And for any other new mums who find it useful, I'm gonna give a few posts about the things that I did when I was in confinement. I also did some earlier posts on Post Natal and Confinement - just check out my Label Cloud to see if they can help you too.

This one here is about the shopping list for confinement - for the new mum. I'll write another for the new baby. This was what I did. It may or may not be exactly what you really want but I would say that it wouldn't run far.

For the Mummy:

• Sarong and loose T-shirts -- for comfort. And the Chinese believe that ladies after child birth cannot be exposed to wind...it's up to you to believe. I'm quite banana and only believe 'pantangs' selectively, much to some older folks annoyance, hehe :)
• Disposable panties (optional) - in case of heavy flows and it is expected
• Socks - same reason above. The feet must be warm, they say
• Jumper/Jacket/Pashminas -- again same reason
• Sanitary pads -- here, I'd advise that you go for the cheap adhesive ones like Inoko that costs about RM5 for pack of 3. You need the softness and the padding. IF you go for the regular winged, thin and plastic ones, you'll hurt down there (for those who did natural births). Since its cheap, you can double it up. In fact, the padding makes it less painful.
• Rock Salt and plastic basin.. this is for the wound. Get a basin that you can sit on. Just before you bath, put a spoon of rock salt in the basin and fill it up to 1/3 with warm water. There is no need to get all the rock salt to melt. It'll take forever. Just sit in the basin (careful, water will spill over) for about 5 mins and then bath.
• Dettol Shower Gel. My gynae's recommendation. He didn't believe the pantang stuff about not bathing. In fact, hygiene is more important here. Bath with Dettol Shower Gel that has disinfectant ingredients
• 'Tumbuk' ('jung hump' in cantonese) to crush the ginger and kunyit. This is a must.
• Double boil pot and/or slow cooker - to cook your herbs and medicine.
• Some Dome and brandy in the house - your confinement lady will know what to do.
• Chinese medicine and herbs - ask your confinement lady what she wants
• Flask for red dates water. Again, here Chinese believe that you cannot drink any water but red dates water for xx days. Don't ask me what I did. As I said, I'm not exactly a very good 'follower'.
• Lots of pails -- Chinese again. They say new mums can only wash hands and face and bath in cooked water. Not heated shower also. Something along the lines of 'masuk angin'. I pity my confinement lady. She actually boiled pails and pails of water. Some left to cool for cold cooked water and some hot to mix in. And then, there will be lots of soiled clothes. If your hubby pantang, you have to separate your 'dirty' clothes from his.
• Massage lotion - I recommend Atika brand for Ginger and Lemon extract. This is a Malay product which you can get it from Malay stalls or shops selling Malay products. Very good!
• Bengkung wrap for the urut (the long long cloth to wrap your tummy and thigh). You can ask around. Not sure where to get as I borrowed mine. Ee Lin, I passed you mine already.
• Girdle. If you want to slim down fast, wear the girdle as often as you can.
• Breast pads. You will leak when you lactate!
• Breast pump - best borrow. Too expensive
• Bed plastic lining (optional). In case, you leak and dirty your linen
• Chinese Wine and Sesame oil. I'm sure this go without saying.
• and lastly, have enough pots and pans for the confinement lady to cook for you.

While you are at it, rest well. You have the perfect reason to laze out and you need to. When I had Ryan, I didn't rest enough and was picky with food. Took me 6 months to revert to my 'before' stamina and health level. When I had Raymund, I was good and ate whatever was on the table. I rested a lot with noon naps and so on. I was pink with health within a month.

Another thing to fast recovery, eat a lot and don't think about dieting at this stage. You need a lot of food, good food if you breast feed and for recovery. Not just that, eat what the confinement lady makes for you. Don't be picky. They know what they are doing.. at least most of them do. Rest well and leave the little one to the confinement lady. Remember, once the confinement lady leaves at the end of 1 month, the baby is all yours to take care. Believe me, you wouldn't have enough rest then.

The next post will talk about the baby. Not today. I gotta sleep already. Tomorrow is another ordeal with Raymund and new his kindy.

Chain Post #4.. Raymund's 1st Day in Kindy...Phew!

Today is Raymund's 1st day in kindy. Not easy to wake up though. After all these 3 years, he has been waking up at his own leisure. And today, he was awaken when the sky was still dark. 6:30am. Poor thing. Tantrums, of course. But we were easy on him. Ryan is also finding it difficult to adjust to waking up early. In his Eduland/Beaconhouse days, he only had to wake up at around 7:30am.

Anyway, they were pretty excited getting ready for school. Ryan was playing big brother, telling his brother, "Raymund, I take care of you, ok?" Together, they waited for the van which reached promptly at 7:30am. Surprised, Raymund went calmly and willingly up the van with Ryan. I expected screaming, shouting and dragging. In fact, I was telling my maid to be prepared to hop into the van as well.

It's my turn to watch the kids this week. Last week, my husband saw to Ryan's 1st day. This week, its my turn for Raymund. Ryan is pretty settled down in school already. It's just Raymund. And there is also THAT call from Ryan's teacher! I was told to observe him today. Sigh!

My maid and I arrived early at the kindy, waiting for the school van. My kids came down calmly from the van (they didn't see us initially). They were just fine. Ryan already knows what he has to do. I led Raymund to his class. He was ok and was playing with the toys on his table.

But I should have expected it. It's the calm before the storm! Ha, ha! Actually, it was my maid. I told her that I was going up to see Ryan and she is to watch Raymund. I suppose I wasn't specific enough. When I came back, she was outside the classroom, hiding from Raymund. You see, the classes are done in open concept. There were 3 classes separated by moving partitions in a big room. All the children were there and so were most parents. The kindy encouraged the parents 'to calm' the kids before the teachers take over. So, it was like a 'fish' market. Some children were brawling away, all parents were talking at the same time, teachers are trying to talk to and sing with the children. Headache!! As I was saying, I was surprised to find my maid outside the room and I asked if she was shoo-ed off. Then, I heard Raymund! He was crying and screaming for his maid. The teachers obviously didn't know who was the maid. I rushed in and hugged him. He wanted to go home immediately. I had to console him and talk him out of it. I was quite upset with my maid for ruining the 'sweet' moments. I told her to look after him but instead, she played hide and seek. I know she meant well but then! From then on, Raymund attached himself to us and made sure we were nearby. Being an active little 3 year old, he couldn't sit still too. He carried his bag all through .. my guess is that subconsciously he was preparing for flight. Darn!

10:45am. The 4 year olds were released early. They let the ones who were going home with parents go first, table by table. Then, they called the children who were taking the vans. The vans were making 2 trips. One to take the 4 year olds at 11am and another at 12pm for the older children like Ryan. So, Raymund had to travel alone. I knew trouble when trouble started. He refused to follow the teacher. He insisted to go home with his Mummy. No go! He has to go through this (gritting my teeth!). He cried so bad, and I could see that he was frighten. I told my maid to ride with him in the van. Didn't work. I had to close the van's door and walk away ... heart heavy. The van drove off. Then... I realized that my maid had my car keys!!! I was stuck!! Just as well, the van took them home 1st as Raymund was brawling. And just as well, the kindy is near to my house. I got my maid to cycle back and give me my keys. What a mess!!!

Ryan took the van later and was good and steady. I quietly observed him in class. I saw that he was following and participating in class. Good boy!

I got Raymund in front of me later and had a heart to heart talk. He didn't want to go to school tomorrow. Did some psycho-ing ...and more bribing. I had a deal with him that if he goes to school by van tomorrow without crying, listening to his teacher while Mummy and kakak wait outside and goes home alone in uncle's van... then he gets a nice cake. He loves cakes. Deal? Done! Let's see.

The ordeal will begin again tomorrow. Hopefully, things will go smoothly. You can't count too much on a deal with a 3 year old, right? And I don't want to frighten him either. Sigh!

Whatever it is... same thoughts... nowadays, the education expectations of the young children is getting higher and higher. If we are not carefully, the children of tomorrow will not get to enjoy true childhood. This is very very sad!

Chain Post #3.. Enrolled into Cambridge English for Life

Earlier, I have been pondering and pondering about whether to add another English class for Ryan. Worried that I would overload him. Wondering if it is truly necessary. All these thinking and dragging were wiped out in a matter of seconds after that phone call from his new teacher.

I took Ryan to Cambridge English for Life and immediately confirmed a class for him. Then the question was really about whether to put him in JE1 (the basic class) 3rd Term or JE2, the more advanced. At the back of my mind this time, it is clearly about reestablishing his fundamentals and foundations. My mind was pretty sure for JE1 3rd term (which is still around sound blending) is most suitable. JE2 class is too advanced. But still... I was not 100% convinced. (If you want more to know my 2 cents worth about CEFL junior classes, click here for my earlier posts.)

I was there at the centre with Ryan about 3:30pm on Saturday. It was like a fish market! Parents were enrolling their children and it was the 1st lesson for the year. By the way, just so you know, CEFL follows school term breaks. By the time, I have completed the necessary and paid the fees, it was close to 4pm. They have another JE2 class starting at 4:15pm. I asked to let Ryan join in the class to have a feel of the lessons while getting the teacher to assess if Ryan should indeed start from 2nd half of JE1 instead of JE2.

Peeping into the class, it didn't look easy. They were doing the 'air' sounds and spellings for words like 'hairbrush', 'dairy', 'repair', unfair', 'September, 'October' ... my son ain't ready for these. It was later that I discovered that that class was in the final term (4th) for JE2... no wonder!

I had a word with the teacher .. which coincidentally turned out to be a teacher for Ryan's kindy too. She advised for JE1 2nd half. Convinced and assured, I settled Ryan for it. Then there is this other thing that I mentioned earlier about not being able to attend classes on some Saturdays. We have to go back to my husband's hometown. How so, I asked. Would there be replacement or even a 20min quick brief before the following lesson? You see, CEFL follows a syllabus. If a child misses 1 class, then he misses that day's lesson. That is also probably why we pay by number of lessons. For JE classes, it would be RM48 per class x 10 lessons = 1 term. There are registration and book fees as well, totaling not more than RM200. Oops, I have spinned off tangent again! Back to the topic, I just told them that once a month, we wouldn't be able to make it. So the fees was prorated. There will be no replacement or even a quick brief unfortunately but we can arrange for the class work to be taken home to complete. Have to settle with that also.

Ryan likes the class.. he wants to attend CEFL. I suspect it is mainly because there are books and computer games in the waiting area. Whatever it is, this is an incentive to get Ryan to go for CEFL lessons. It is not as easy for E.nopi, though.

Am I having fun setting up all these classes for my son? No! Not because of $$, not that much anyway. I'm just very saddened and truly heartsick that my little boy is already going through the study stress. He is only 5 years old!! Just yesterday, a toddler and not too long ago, a baby! But today, the education is already pitched at this level. And we know some children even start lessons as early as 2years old. It wasn't like those days, my time, when kindy was all and only about having fun and getting playmates. How time has changed everything. Is it really the education system or the higher expectations from the parents of today? I felt that I'm a guilty member of the 'kiasu parents' club. It's just that we have to 'do the Romans do' now to keep our heads above water. How sad! For the children!

Chain Post #2.. Then Comes The Panic!!

Fingers were depressing the panic button... and still not letting go. When do mothers normally freak out like that??... I would say it's usually something that involves her beloved precious children.

It started off on Friday... a lovely day, had a great lunch and some satisfaction in my work areas. Then the phone rang at 3pm!!

"Good afternoon, this is Teacher A from SFL kindergarten. I'm calling with regard to Ryan. He has brought home the new set of text books and exercise books, 13 in all. Pls help him write his name and wrap it all up in plastic .. and then bring them back to school on Monday..."

I was thinking... either that was a very good 1 to 1 teacher-parent service ... or that is NOT the reason for calling. Here comes...

"At the same time, can I request for your help to assist Ryan with his alphabets and numbers? He doesn't seem to know the sequence about what comes after what. Not too much about numbers but more so the alphabets. We need your assistance as our syllabus will go very fast starting next week and your son may have a lot of difficulty otherwise."

Puzzled. "What do you mean that he does not know alphabets? Can you pls give me a good example?"

"I asked him to tell me the missing alphabets in a sequence and he couldn't do it."

"Could it be that he was nervous?" I said... heart beating faster already.

Immediately after this call, I placed a call to Ryan's tuition teacher. I told her to check him out. She was his Eduland class teacher last year and she was pretty surprise when I told her that. She assured that it could be that Ryan was nervous at that time.

6+pm. I was on the way home, hoping to catch the tuition teacher before she left. I called her to make sure. She told me that Ryan REALLY does not know the sequence of alphabets! WHAT!! I have never focused on alphabets when I was guiding Ryan in the past years. All these time thinking that his kindy Eduland would have taken of that well. Imagine my horror! What has his kindy been doing? How come no one there picked this up? And it has to take a new teacher in a new kindergarten to pick it up within the 1st 5 days of school? What happened??? I have some insights alright... coming up later.

Then came Panic #2. I saw the new books! The syllabus are so advanced.. for all 3 languages. The English and Chinese are into short stories. English going into grammar. Math in double language - English and Chinese. My worry was mounting. I showed it to the teacher and she too was surprised. Ryan was just into a little bit more in sound blending in Eduland/Beaconhouse. As for Malay, Eduland/Beaconhouse was only introducing basic Suku Kata which all students were still wishy washy at the end of the year. Do you know that the books are already into narrations/stories and the respective language's basic peculiarities?? If I have to guess, it looks like Ryan is at least 1 year behind!! Who wouldn't panic!

I did some desperate moves. My husband and I agreed that he needs some intensives to pump up his foundation. Did these...

• Got his Tuition teacher to follow the new kindy's syllabus instead. And to reinforce his kindy's teaching and help him with his daily homework. Forget about the leisurely pace of revisiting Year 5 Eduland/ Beaconhouse work! The Tuition Teacher asked for more $$. We agreed but until Ryan stabilizes. Can't take the cost and I'm open for other options later.
• Signed Ryan up for Cambridge English For Life today. Joined the 3rd term JE1 class, instead of JE2 to brush up the foundation
• Stopped temporarily his GlobalArt classes since Cambridge is also on Saturday. It's heavy enough for him
• Tell myself to make time for Ryan every day, at worst every other day, to reinforce his alphabets and numbers

Panic #3. Did the alphabets with him after dinner today. He was really upset. He was not confident with the alphabet sequence or even able to say the name of the alphabets smoothly. Poor boy. I hugged him good after the lesson and explained to him that he has to put in a bit more effort.. otherwise, he would have trouble in class. I had a discovery. He had absolutely no problem reading out the sounds of the alphabets but not the name of the alphabets. Thinking back, I remembered that Eduland insisted that they teach and concentrate on the sound of the alphabets instead of the name of the alphabets in Year 4. I remembered that this was one of the contention I had when I was considering whether or not to let my son continue for Year 5 in Eduland/Beaconhouse. The kindy convinced me that they are different from other kindies who goes A ..(a sound) , apple....and that their method is much better so as not to 'confuse' the children. See what happened?!! Probably I would not have spotted this if I had not decided to change kindy for Ryan. I'm just thankful that I'm still able to do something about it before he goes to Primary school.

I do not want my boy to suffer at this very young age. Truly upset and hoping for a miracle.

Chain Post #1.. My Sons' 1st Week in Their New Kindy

Starting this week's chain post .. #1 :)

Last 2 weeks have been quite hectic. I was busy preparing for my two son's 1st days of school. There was a list given by their new school about what to get for them.. specs and all. And I realized that I have to rush it out for them. Ryan's 1st week was pretty uneventful until yesterday when I received a call from his teacher that basically had me depressing the panic button and still is. I will cover it in another post. Lets have the light and easy one here 1st :)

The new kindy specified in very good detail how their school bags should be like, with the number of big and small compartments and areas to put clothes, homework pouch, work apron, water bottle, pencils, etc. Even the pencil box was mentioned ... where possible to get double compartment, one for the regular pencil, eraser and ruler, and another compartment for color pencils. Us parents have to 'kwai kwai' and prepare 2 hand towels, one to put in their pocket (to dry their hands), and the other dampened and put into a small container which we have to wash everyday after school. Then ... a change of clothes (just in case), a jumper, an empty container for food .. and that if we want to bring food, only to bring those which are non oily non messy, preferably biscuits and buns. That's not all. All materials, right down to the each pencil, have to be labeled with the child's name! Each item was also given their preferred size and specs. And so on and so on ;p

Were we put off by this fussiness? Did we say, 'So mah fan! Only a kindy mah! Why so par pai (fussy)!'? On the contrary. It just reflected how detailed and organized the kindy is. They have even arranged that all existing students wear uniform to kindy immediately on the 1st day but the new students to wear normal clothes in the 1st week (they made sure by NOT giving us the uniforms until the end of 1st week). The reason is quite simple. To differentiate the newbies immediately from the chaos and give them special attention. Very smart! I didn't have this level of detailed specification and advice even when I was attending Eduland's briefing in the last 2 years. We believe and we hope that our sons are in good hands. It's just that we wish that we could have transfered Ryan to this kindy earlier. You just don't know yet HOW MUCH I regretted not doing so!! Promise to tell you in the next post.

Raymund is also starting his 4 year old class this year. The kindy has organized that the younger children (3 and 4 year olds) start 1 week later. And that means next week. I'm foreseeing some tough time. My kindy is also asking all parents to accompany and sit with the 1st timers for about a week. This is quite a strange suggestion considering that most kindy would prefer parents to 'let go' after 2 to 3 days. They explained that they needed this time to bond with the little ones and the parents' presence is to help their kids get over the fear and start enjoying school. Makes sense. But I'm not going for the whole week. I've only taken 3 days with possibility of another day just in case. So, lets see.

Chain Posts

I haven't been around blogging for a while. Just started my new job not too long ago and it has been quite tiring after work. Moreover, last week was THE week for school going children and there were lots to prepare and prepare and prepare. I've lots to say. So much to express particularly along Ryan's studies. Not to mention that I promised my sis in law, the new mummy, some advises on post natal... which I never get to do. Figured that I'll do chain posting over the next few days instead one mighty long post to cover all. More so because I want to highlight some frus on Ryan's kindy. So here goes...

Phonics or Words Recognition... and Sight Words??

I learnt something new... and all from this new kindergarten parents briefing at SuperFun Learners. If you have been following my blog, I have always been trying to figure out whether Phonics or word recognition is the better way to teach my son English. My husband and I came from the old school as with all of us in our generation. We used to read and memorize and horrifyingly used Malay Suku Kata to help us pronounce English words. We didn't have Phonics. To this day, I hear friends pronouncing English the Malay way - eg. 'auto' as 'owto' (imagine suku kata). So, my hubby has been arguing with me about why not teach my son our way and here I am trying to tell him, Phonics is the way now. Then, the struggle came when some words do not work with Phonics. How? I used word recognition. I got Ryan to memorize with writing and spelling. Works well. But I was still confused as to the right method.

Guess what, the kindy briefing to parents answered this question for me. The good news is that I have not been wrong in teaching my son BOTH Phonics and Word Recognition. As we already know that there are some words that don't follow the Phonics rule. And my husband has always been saying that there are also words that he should already know without attempting to blend the sounds. And of course, I'm also arguing that he still needs to learn Phonics so that he can read new words. We are both right. We learnt from the briefing that there are SIGHT WORDS around. If you are like me, still trying to figure out what works best for our kids, then this is an eye opener. The English teacher in the kindergarten explained that preschoolers will learn Phonics, sound blending AND over and on top, sight words.

What are Sight Words? There is a comprehensive definition in Wikipedia (just click on this link) or you can Google for more. But here is a short and sweet one here. Sight Words, sometimes referred to as the Dolch Word List, are some of the most frequently used words in English. Once upon a time, before I was born, a guy named Edward William Dolch introduced a new way to improve the way reading was taught to new readers (mostly preschoolers to young children). He compiled a list of words that cannot be pronounced phonetically or even illustrated in pictures. But these words >300 in all are words that comprises about 50-70% of any reading materials, particularly children's books. There are 220 'service words' making up of pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and even verbs... plus another 95 common nouns ... all arranged by grade level. Sorry, I have given back to school the definition of some I have just mentioned :). In short, this is just common, frequently used words in books, that must be taught by sight, ie memorize. But by itself it cannot use in isolation. It is a supplement to balanced reading program. Hence, Phonics is important too. arguably, some says that there are words in the list that are no longer frequently used words since this was created in the 1940s. To me, who cares!

What prompted me to look this up. Of course, the kindy teacher answered my question. Then, I was looking up to download a Sight Words application to my new iPhone. The applications in the iPhone have brief description about this Sight Words thingy..then one thing leads to another... I checked it out further and now blogged about it. If you have iPhone, I suggest that you take some time and download Sight Words Flashcards too. It helps when you can flash it to your kid as and when ... like I did it to Ryan in the restaurant today. My kids find it cool to touch the screen and move the flashcards too. Makes the learning a bit more exciting.

I found a site that gives me all >300 words in a page, printable. Sharing with you. Click here.