His Happiness is My Happiness

He woke up early. He was very excited this morning. It is his end of the midterm kindy party day.

"Mummy, what shall I wear?"
"Mummy, don't forget to bring the vitagen today."
"Mummy, I love school. I like to go to school."
"Mummy, teacher said no need to bring homework today."
"Mummy, I don't want to eat breakfast. I will be too full to eat the party food."
"Mummy, maybe I will win a prize."

He wanted to wear his belt, just like daddy. Unfortunately the buckle of his belt broke and I couldn't fix it. Lousy belt! He was happy when I put some gel on his hair, just like daddy. He selected a long sleeve shirt, just like daddy. He tried on his Chinese New Year shirt but then he said he looked like a girl when he wore it. Another short sleeved shirt which looks just like daddy's, was too big for him. So he picked the long sleeved one. I thought it would be too hot for him but I let him be.

He didn't want to have his breakfast because he wanted to save his stomach for the party food. We bargained about breakfast and he eventually drank his milk and ate one biscuit and off we went to school with him clutching the heavy bag of vitagens to be shared with his friends. At the school, he looked soooo happy. He ran around playing "catching" with his friends. Sweat trailed down his face and neck from all that running and I thought that he should have won that short sleeved shirt I picked. :) For the record, he didn't even want to try it. Just exerting some independance here I guess.

I love seeing him so happy. I love him so much. His happiness is my happiness.

My Mother Said......

My girl told me that the girl sitting near her puts her bag in such a way that when she stretches out her leg, she kicks it. So, the girl told her.......

"If you kick my bag, you watch it!"

I told my girl to stop kicking the other girl's bag. "If it is in your way, use your hands to gently push it out of the way. How would you like it if someone kicked your bag?"

She agreed that she would not like it. However, I told her that her friend was wrong as well. She should not talk in that manner. What she should have said was.... "Please don't kick my bag. You will spoil it."

My girl told me the girl said "My mother said one....."

I sincerely hope her mother didn't teach her to say "You watch out/it!"

Little Love Notes

Remember his two girlfriends? Well, I had been too lazy to post up pictures of the little love notes but I thought I better get round to doing it for keepsakes. Haha. So that I can show it to him next time for a good laugh.

Here they are:

Here comes the love note all rolled up like a love letter cookie.

Taddaaaa! This is the surprised rolled up note which was tied up with a rubber band.

Here's another one featuring a boy and a girl enclosed in a heart.

There are more like these but I've lost them. Most of them come with lots of hearts and flowers with the couple holding hands or flowers. There was even one dressed in a wedding gown!

Aahhh little ones these days. I find it all very amusing but when he came back one day and said the girl mentioned the word "kissing", alarm bells rang and I had to quickly remind him "Cannot simply go around kissing people one ok? Kisses are meant for daddy and mummy only."

Apart from that, I think its sweet that they are such good best friends.

This morning he wanted to give a return note. He drew a similar picture and tied it up with a rubber band. However, when we reached the school gates, he chickened out and gave me the letter. "I think I don't want to give lah, mummy."

Welcome to the new century where even little girls are bolder than the boys. ;)

Parenting Challenges

I find that there are more and more parenting challenges to face when the kids go to school. Each day, I have a new set of problems to deal with.

"Mummy, today we were taking photos and the boy standing behind me vomitted all over my hair and clothes. Teacher gave me another uniform to wear but she says I must return it tomorrow." (I found her hair ribbon and net all torn and smelly. The boy's mother who happened to be around had helped her to "wash" her hair. She must have felt so bad and tried to clean the ribbon thoroughly ...till it tore. The girl smelt of vomit. Poor girl. She had to go around like that for a few hours.

"Mrs. MG, I think you need to know that your boy has been scratching his private part in class." (Alamak. The boy has this unconcious gesture of scratching there whenever he is feeling self concious and attention is on him.)

"Mummy, the naughty boy took my pencils and he almost poked my eye with it."

"Mummy, today, I climbed on the wall."

"Mummy, today, I looked at the boy behind me and he complained to teacher that I was trying to copy his test paper."

"Mrs. MG, I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him from crying. We were trying to play a clapping game and he couldn't clap in time with the rest, then he put his face down on the table and started to cry and we couldn't pujuk him no matter how we tried." (On that particular day the boy had been crying very hard when I went to pick him up. Usually he is laughing and smiling.)

And the list goes on........ Each day I hear something new.....

A Quick Grammar Lesson In The Car

Since the level of English is so poor in school, I have to find time to teach the kids English myself. One day, we were travelling in the car and I taught them when to use "much" and "many".

You use "much" for things you cannot count like the rain, sand, sugar etc. You use "many' for things you can count, like trees, lamp posts, people etc.

Then we had a game. We pointed out to things that we saw along the way and decided whether to use "much" or "many". The kids were happy with the game.

Suddenly the small one said.... "Mummy, the car is going fast and I can't count the trees so, its so "much" trees." Hehehe.

Grammar lessons can be fun. It need not be taught straight from a text book. It can be taught anywhere, anytime using real life examples. ;)