His First Test

The boy is having is first real test or school examination. He is in the six year old class in kindy. I have heard of kids in 4 year old classes having tests with a full exam schedule with several subjects. I shudder at the thought. There will be plenty of exams in the years ahead. I think they can wait till then. Why start them so young? To prepare them for what is to come? Hmm.... There will be plenty of time to prepare. We will start next year in Std One of Primary School, thank you very much.

Yesterday he had to stay back in school to finish his Mandarin test. "He is struggling to finish off his Mandarin paper" the teacher said. :P

When I asked him about it, he said the Malay paper is easy, "I think I can get 100 marks". I think I can also get 100 marks for English, Science, Maths and Moral." lol. We shall see. He is not so sure about Mandarin Chinese though. Haha. And he is going to enter Chinese School in a few months time. I guess that is one subject we need brushing up. He thinks Science, Maths and Moral are easy because they are in English now. Next year he will have to do them in Chinese. Yup. We definitely need to brush up on the Chinese.

Good luck baby. You are growing up fast.

Year End Kindy Concert

It is that time of the year when the kids are busy preparing for their year end kindergarten concert. The boy asks me to stay to watch him every morning. Some days, I stay to watch them rehearse. He is so happy when I do that. He will be delivering a short speech, so every evening we have speech practise at home just for the fun of it. Daddy is the speech coach. :)

I must not forget to bring in his uniform nicely pressed and labeled. Somedays I forget. Quite often I forget to dress him up in his gym clothes on gym days. Bad mummy!

This morning the little girl who cries every morning came up to me for a hug as soon as her mum dropped her off. I don't think she realised I was not a teacher or she didn't care. She just wanted comforting. She came close to me so I put my arms around her shoulders as we sat side by side and she mumbled something about mummy..... something something as the tears dripped down  her cheeks. Her mum was getting into the car so I asked her to wave which she did with wet eyes. I asked her where her elder sister was and she said she was at home, sick. Poor little sweetheart.

Poor mum too. Mum has to work but most days I see her trying to leave with two girls crying at the top of their voices and clinging on desperately to her legs. The elder one cries just as hard as the little one.

Many parents are bringing in little shoes and outfits for fittings (for those who are doing some solo singing). The rest will have costumes supplied by the school. Yes, it is that time of the year, the time for year end concerts. Just one more year for us and then we will have no more kids in the kindy. I feel kind of nostalgic already.

The easiest way to organise a kids birthday party

I am a lazy mum when it comes to organising party for my kids. So the poor kids do not have any birthday parties. Birthdays are always quiet celebrations, just us, a cake and some presents from mummy and daddy. I do not have the energy nor the inclination to organise elaborate themed parties and bake and cook stuff plus come up with party packs and games for attendees. Not to mention getting everyone to confirm attendance etc. Such hard work. Well, it is to me anyway. It will not be hardwork if you enjoy such things.

So, what is the easiest way to organise a kids birthday party? To me, the easiest way is to call a fast food operator and to do it at the kindergarten. All you need to come up with is $$$$. It is not that much more expensive as say a themed party at some special location.

A fast food party organiser will come with fast food naturally, party games, gift packs, birthday cakes and even a mascot. When you have it at the kindy, it is even better because your house does not get messed up and you don't have to clean up afterwards. :P

And so that was what we did for the boy's birthday this year. It was good and bad.

The first fast food operator that I called up did not have take-out parties for my area. The second one was worse. She never returned my calls or emails and sounded harsh and rude each time I called. Mind you, her name was listed on the website as a person to contact for outdoor parties. Hmm... Finally, a colleague of hers returned my call as a follow up.... 6 months after my party. 6 months!!!!

Eventually I settled for fast food operator number 3 which was excellent putting together everything in a jiffy over the phone. Unfortunately, they arrived an hour late for the party. 1 hour!!!! And the mascot was dirty and did not know what to do apart from walking around stiffly for just a few minutes. Nevertheless they did come up with some games and were generous with the prizes but it was a bit rushed (since they were an hour late!) and the games were over before we knew it.

Oh well, despite everything, the boy was very happy to have his birthday celebrated with his friends in school and to be surprised by the mascot and to eat fast food and get lots of gifts from the organiser. No gifts from his friends though since it is held at the school and a surprise party.

So, I guess there are pros and cons in organising a party this way. What to do, if you are a lazy mum like me who does not like organising parties then this will have to do. At least the kids are happy. Even his sister got to ponteng (skip) school to attend the surprise party. So everyone was happy in the end. As long as they are happy..... mummy need not feel guilty about not putting in much effort for their birthdays. :P

Divide and Conquer

Kids are really good at this strategy.

"Mummy, please don't tell daddy."

This term is often said when they have done something wrong and want to hide it from daddy because they know they will get a good scolding or beating from daddy if he learns about the wrong doing. It could work the other way around too as in "Daddy, please don't tell mummy." depending on the situation or simply depending on who is assumming the good guy/bad guy role in the family dynamics.

"Mummy, please can you tell daddy."

On the other hand, this other phrase is often used as a bargaining tool. Mummy is used as a bargaining tool to talk to daddy, when "communications" with daddy has failed. "Communications" usually means asking for something. As before, "daddy, please can you tell mummy" is equally common too.

In order to rise above this divide and conquer strategy by the kids, mummy and daddy has to put up a united front at all times, even when they do not agree. Shouting in front of the kids is a no-no.

We try to put up a united front in front of the kids but sometimes, communications fail too. ;)

Enjoy your kids when they are young

I bought new shoes. I opened the box to show my girl my new shoes. She takes a curious but not that interested look at it then looks at me and says "Not very nice" then goes on and does something else.

I left the box with the new shoes on the floor in the room. The boy comes along and opens the box. "Mummy, you bought new shoes." he said excitedly. Then he goes on to open the box. "I like the colours." he exclaimed. And then he proceeds to put them on his feet. Haha. And then he insists that I try them on.

Opposite gender reactions? Nyah. I think its just the fact that he is younger and therefore more excited about new things. So, enjoy your kids when they are young. The window of opportunity is quite small. Very soon they will grow up and be interested in other things and you are no longer their all, their world, their everything, as they grow up and away from you. Their world no longer revolves around you so if you don't enjoy them when they are young, you will have missed that time forever.

Ben 10 Vs Ben 10 Alien Force

"Mummy, I don't like this Ben 10! I like the Ben 10 with the green clothes not the Ben 10 with the white clothes! Its Ben 10 Alien Force Mummy, not Ben 10!" he kept on insisting.

????????????????

It took me some time but eventually, I managed to figure out that he liked the 15 year old Ben 10, not the 10 year old Ben 10. I hadn't realised that there was a difference. Haha.

Ben 10 with the "white clothes" ie the 10 year old Ben 10

Well, I guess that Ben 10 must have been such a success that the creators decided to create an older version to keep the younger boys hooked as they grow up as well as to interest the older boys too.

Ben 10 with the "Green" clothes ie the older 15 year old Ben 10

My 6 year old boy prefers the older 15 year old Ben 10 and when I asked him why, he said.....

"because I like the Gwen in Ben 10 Alien Force!"

Gwen Tennyson at 10 and at 15 years of age

15 year old Gwen Tennyson from Ben 10 Alien Force

My boy can remember the names of all the 20 aliens and all their special powers that both Ben 10s can transform into, 10 each since the older Ben 10 has a new set of 10 aliens. I wish he was that good in his spelling and other lessons!

Read up all about Ben Tennyson, Gwen Tennyson and Kevin Levin or check up my Squidoo lens for links to Ben 10 Online Games or take the poll on Ben 10 vs Ben 10 Alien Force.

Updated on 16 March 2012 - My boy is 8 now. He has outgrown his Ben 10 Toys but he still can't get enough of his Ben 10 Books. So I guess that is why they have two different Ben 10s. One to cater to younger kids and the other to the older ones. ;)

Check out these Ben 10 Action Figurines of Ben 10, Kevin, Gwen and the Ben 10 Aliens: