Beautiful Teeth Baby

Remember Charlotte's first field trip to the dentist clinic? The school organized a mini event after that as a continuation of what the children learn from that field trip. It was a 3 weeks competition and the school will crown one boy and one girl from each class (4yr old, 5yr old and 6yr old) as "漂亮牙齿宝宝" (Beatiful Teeth Baby).

The criteria are:
1. You must not have cavity from the dental's record
2. Brush teeth the correct way
3. Always smile and with good manners, greeted elderly and teachers all the time

Charlotte was crowned as the first's week winner from the 4yr old class. Although she had teeth filling before and the dentist was aware of it when he did the check-up, she still won the title as she is always such an angel in school *bleah* and she is already a pro in teeth brushing since we started her early.

It Was A Nice Day Off

No, not off from work...but from the kitchen! It was those very rare day that Pat agreed to cook *grin*. We bought 3 pieces of fine cut rib eye and a bottle of red wine from Cold Storage last Saturday night and we decided to have a nice home cook steak on Sunday evening. It was a nice day off for both me and Brenda (yes, Pat cooked for Brenda too) and the little Charlotte enjoyed her Domino's thin crust pizza and her favorite cinnastix.

Looking back, it was like a special day for us. We had a pretty occupied day last Sunday, nothing planned but all turned out well. Charlotte and Simba (our golden retriever) had a nice play at the beach in the morning, we had a very peaceful brunch (peaceful means Charlotte ate well, ok?) after that. Then a short bicycle ride in the evening before daddy took over the kitchen :) No pictures on the steak, we were all too hungry but I gave it a 2 thumbs up!

I told Charlotte a few days before that Simba is very sad because he always stays at home. She then told Simba that morning "Hey Simba, I bring you to the beach ok? You don't sad ya!"

They played very well together. Simba is very tame and gentle, unfortunately we couldn't let him ran freely on the beach because there were quite a lot of Malays around that day.

Friends

I am very proud to say that Charlotte is very sociable, she mixes very well with friends, she is willing to share her belongings with others, and friends like her very much too. Her teacher even told me that she will automatically go comfort her friends if they are crying.

A friend came back from Singapore last week and it was their first trip back home with their new born baby girl. We were invited to their house for a gathering and we took Charlotte along as usual. Before we went, we stopped by baby Gap and gotten a nice baby dress for the new born. We gave it to Charlotte and told her that it's a present from her to the baby. She was very proud and couldn't wait any longer to go to the baby's house.

When we arrived, Charlotte greeted the host and gave the present to the baby. Split seconds later, we were surprised to see that she was already mingling around with several new found friends. They played very well together and I noticed that they took very good care of Charlotte since she was the youngest and smallest in size.

Here are the little angels:

Actually the boy, Isaac is just 2 days older than Charlotte. What a coincidence! He displayed fine lil gentleman quality throughout the entire night, not only took care of Charlotte but the other girls too. The girl in the picture, her name is Ru Yi, a very gentle little girl too.

Just last week, I was told by another friend who met-up with Isaac and his parents for lunch that Isaac was disappointed when he didn't see Charlotte. His mommy then wrote to me:

"...Yes embarrassingly, my son is displaying signs of being a casanova....We were looking at the photos yesterday and when he saw Charlotte's photo, his face lit up and he shouted her name" LOL!

I am just glad to know that Charlotte is much more independent now :)

What A Night!

I had a very bad migraine attack on Thursday night. I thought I felt the trauma starting around 9pm and I decided to quickly swallow a couple of pain killers as usual to stop it from getting worse. I always have pain killers in my medicine drawer but it must be a very unlucky day for me that night that it ran out! I thought I could probably endure the pain while hoping it doesn't get any worse I tucked Charlotte to bed as usual.

Unfortunately, the pain level kept increasing and I was really on my knees and I text Pat to quickly come home and get me some panadols. He was in town when I contacted him and it took him 45min to reach home at his fastest speed possible. I thought I will be alright once the medicine had taken effect but I was wrong! The pain had traveled from my head to my neck by then I knew that was not a good sign. I usually will throw up once it hits my neck and that was what happened. It didn't relieved me after the vomiting however and the pain was almost unbearable. Pat then decided to send me to the nearest hospital.

I was sent to the A&E as it was already past midnight. I was first examined by a GP and then blood sample was taken for some blood tests. I was then asked to be admitted and they ran a CT test while contacted a neurologist to come in immediately. I threw up another time after they transferred me to the room. I have to say that I was only half conscious the whole time at the hospital but I was worried. I knew how often I have migraine and I was really worried if they found something unwanted from the scan. I started to think about who will look after Charlotte if I'm gone, who can I trust to hand over this responsibility...

Finally, the neurologist came in and examined me again, with a whole bunch of questions. I tried my best to answer although I wasn't really sure if I gave the correct answer. Pat then asked "So what is the result from the scan?". I think he must have ran out of his patience, and it was a good thing that he asked. The answer was "it is normal". Phew! Thank God! Then I thought, ok Charlotte is still mine, for a long long time :)

I was not allowed to go home as they claimed that they need to monitor me. I then asked Pat to go home and took care of Charlotte, get her ready for school the next morning, told him what she should wear to school on Friday as they have recycling activity on Fridays, and her school bag, and her water bottle...

It was my first time admitted to the hospital except giving birth to Charlotte 4 years back. I was alone and I was worried if Charlotte would cry when she wakes up without me. As I was thinking of all that I fell asleep and the next thing I know a nurse came in to check my temperature, that was 6am.

I was discharged on Friday afternoon. The first question I asked when Pat came in the morning was "how was Charlotte?". Pat assured me that she was doing fine the whole night and this morning. Both Pat and Brenda got her ready for school and she was happily involved in the recycling activity that the school had put together. We waited the whole morning for the doctor's consent to discharge me and getting the medicine. It was very unproductive I have to say even though they claimed that we will have special service for executive room. Anyway, I am just happy to know that I am alright and I am home with my family.

Charlotte on the other hand stuck to me like a super glue the whole evening :)

我的爸爸咧? (Where Is My Daddy?)

Pat's work is very demanding and so the time he spends at home on the weekdays are very limited. He usually only home after everybody has gone to bed, at least 2 or 3 nights on the weekdays but he makes sure he is home on the weekends (if not on business travel). Charlotte is missing her daddy more now as she is getting more matured.

Last night, we went to bed early and I noticed that Charlotte was tossing and turning for quite awhile and I asked her why.

Me: Charlotte, why aren't you sleeping yet?
Charlotte: 我的爸爸没有来 (my daddy didn't come)
Me: No, you should say 我的爸爸还没有回来 (my daddy is not home yet) not 没有来 (didn't come)
Charlotte: Why 我的爸爸还没有回来 (why my daddy is not home yet)?
Me: Because daddy is still at work
Charlotte: Why work so long?

She fell asleep not long after that conversation. This morning when I walked her to school, suddenly she turned to me and asked "我的爸爸咧?" (where is my daddy). I told her daddy is still sleeping as he came back late from work last night.

Poor darling, she must be missing her daddy very much.

A Meaningful Event

Charlotte's school sent out an invitation to all parents of the 4yr old to attend a short 1.5hr event last Saturday. We were told to bring the child and they were asked to be in their uniform with tidy hair and clean socks. I was wondering why when I read the invitation because it was on a non-school day but then some parents told me that they will be presenting a little performance, that's why. Luckily it was a holiday replacement for her ballet class, otherwise I will be struggling which event should I send her to.

So everybody woke up on Saturday morning just like any other weekday morning instead of the usual lay back, sleep-in Saturday. Charlotte was very excited about the performance and was happily getting ready for school. We were greeted with warm welcome and respect when we arrived and once we got ourselves seated we read the agenda of the event projected on the screen, and yes the first agenda was a performance by the 4yr old! Then a series of updates by the teachers and principal. I thought I was "kiasu" as I made sure my camera was charged and memory card was not fully loaded before I left the house, but when I was at the school I noticed that almost all parents were prepared with cameras and even video cam! Of course, we were talking about our kids! So I guess no "kiasu" is too "kiasu" anyway :)

They presented a very nice song named "感谢" (Grateful) with sign language:

感谢亲爱的爸妈，给我挡风遮雨的家，
为我做香喷喷饭菜，陪伴我长大。
感谢亲爱的老师，教导我无穷尽知识，
指引人生迷惘方向，陪伴我长大。

感谢亲爱的朋友，分享生活苦辣酸甜，
一起探索这浩瀚世界，陪伴我长大。
感谢路边的小花小草，妆点风景诗篇，
感谢经过的大风大雨，增加我勇气。
感谢流动的水，伟大的高山，
感谢上天和大地，
我们拥有平安的每一天。

After the song, the children returned to their classroom while the parents received a full update from the school principal and teachers about their daily activities in the school since the semester started in Jan. There were video clips of what the children did in the school from the moment they arrived in the morning, the classroom activity, lunch, afternoon nap, lessons and other fun activities. I was very pleased with this type of update as we usually don't get to know or see what happened to them once we said goodbye at the gate. Although the teachers were always very kind to answer us when we have any concern or question about our children's well-being at school, nothing compared to a short video clip that you get see for yourself!

We were then presented with another surprise when we told that the children were going to serve us (parents) with snacks that they prepared. The kids were lining up with a tray on their little hands and they walked very gracefully towards their parents and served with great pride! It was not about showing off how well they present the food, it was all about gratefulness. They were taught to give thanks and appreciate the effort of people who helped them. I tell you, so many of us had tears of happiness in our eyes that moment!

Oh ya, the children had their snacks before they serve us. I didn't know it until we were home and was asking Charlotte if she was hungry. She told me "I eat triangle bread (sandwich) already in the school". Thank you very much to the teachers for being so thoughtful!

One thing that I am most pleased with the teaching is the values, the disciplines and the character building that they coach, and everyone in the school lives the teaching including the teachers, principal, and even helpers. The children are the reflection of ourselves and it is very important to live as example for the little ones. I am also not objecting the basic independent skills of life that the school is including it as part of the teaching. Things such as they are encouraged to make their bed themselves (for the afternoon nap), fold their laundry (the dirty uniform after lunch), clean up their own utensils after meals and etc. To me, these are important discipline in life besides academic achievements. Some may think "Doesn't matter! We have maid at home, why should my children do all this thing?" or "Why the school is wasting time teaching that while they are suppose to teach all the ABC and 123?". This was why the school took the effort to visit the new students before the academic year started, to ensure the parents understood the difference between this school and those commercial kindies and the expectations are calibrated. They do have academic focus and the teaching syllabus are according to the government's requirements, it's just that the balance is different. We appreciate the basic discipline, values and independent skills very much and we are committed to reemphasize the school's teaching at home too. We think that these are some of the very important "human" values that money cannot buy.

Towards the end of the session, there was a video clip sharing by the Master Cheng Yen and one of the many elements shared which I couldn't agree more was when she mentioned that it will be a waste if the smartness of someone is not guided with wisdom and goodness. We saw many high tech and highly sophisticated crime cases at this century, aren't they all smart people? A fundamental of goodness and wisdom is an important seed to plant in young children.

Some of you know that I am a Christian and you probably are surprised by my description in this post. I am still a Christian, but I am not against Buddhism and I am not against good elements of living for sure. Religion is something that someone realized for themselves but it is not something that encourages you to go against the others.

Moving

No, no, I'm not talking about us moving to new house. It's Charlotte's school, sadly to say.

The school is just within the walking distance from our house currently and it is VERY convenient for us. Charlotte loves to walk to school every morning. In fact, she prefers to walk to school instead of us driving her when we are also living for work. Unfortunately, bad news came last few weeks that the school is considering of moving. One of the many reasons behind this decision is that they are unable to get the license from government as one of the requirement is that the nursery has to been either a semidetached house or a corner unit of terrace houses. They are occupying 2 intermediate terrace units at the moment and this is the 6th years they have yet to obtain the license. There are many other reasons too.

The new location is very far and it is out of the way for both my husband and I. Although we are trying very hard to influence the decision, it is pretty much confirmed that they are going to move. My biggest headache now is how to get Charlotte to and from the school. Luckily the school recommended someone who is willing to fetch the children from the area that I am staying and she is also currently helping a few other parents to send the children to this school. Although I have secured a place for Charlotte, I am still trying if there are other options to consider.

Preferably not to change school. I am very happy with this school and the teachers. I expected the worst when Charlotte was starting full day school here but it turned out to be the best ever experience. I also try not to have someone to send Charlotte, considering safety issues and such. I will have to workout the work schedules with my manger if necessary.

We are also thinking that if the arrangement didn't workout somehow, we will need to send Charlotte to the one we considered before. Both Pat and I think she is ready now and this is definitely one of our options to consider.

Last night, Charlotte said a prayer before bed. She said "Jesus, please help me don't move my school!". I knew what she meant but I just couldn't help laugh out loud when I heard it.

Well, we'll see how it turns out.