Thursday, June 14, 2007 ;
1:26 PM
Cold spell. My mom doesn't like the cold and so she enjoyed this summer visit very much, until a sudden cold spell presented itself. Weather here is always fluctuating and unpredictable.
There was even snow, in June! This pic shows the snow on the mountains.
June 11 to June 13
Mon to wed
Just so happen, ds1 preschool's summer school program starts this week. They have 5 weeks of summer school, but we only signed him up for the 1st week. Cost is a factor, but also cos we are going away during the other weeks too.
I only told him on Sat. First, I didn't know what his reaction would be. He tried preschool in Spore when he was 3 but cried every day till we had to pull him out. He only lasted 6 months then. So now I was wary. The preschool tr suggested we enrol him in summer school to try it out before term starts in the Fall.
To my surprise, he was excited about it. On Sunday, he kept saying he wanted to go to school right then. Sunday night, he couldn't fall asleep and I had to read stories, sing and do a lot more acitivities to quieten him down before he could sleep. Since he didn't sleep very early, I didn't expect him to wake early.
But he woke at 5.15am!!! Sob sob... He shook me and told me it was time to go to school. I asked him if he saw anyone awake at all. I convinced him to lie down and sleep awhile more, but he kept tossing and then finally, there was no choice but to make him breakfast. Dh also woke up by then, and then my mom and my dad. He woke the whole household! Except ds2.
And then he put on his school bag and kept hurrying dh, who was still eating his breakfast.
They finally left at 7am.
The morning was glorious for me. I had a lot of work done, cos ds2 was not up yet either. When I checked the clock, I was even surprised to find it was barely 9am, after I had seemingly completed all that I wanted to do!
Not having the noisy demanding one at home certainly makes a difference! :-)
I kept wondering abt ds1 though. Fortunately dh shared the same anxiety as me, and he called at 8.30am to tell me they reached, and that ds1 flew into the school with a quick goodbye. No shedding of tears. Ok, so far so good.
After ds2 woke, I was distracted for awhile but still kept wondering if ds1 would cry or be cranky as he had very little sleep.
At 9.30am, the phone rang and I dashed to the phone. Even my parents stopped what they were doing, half expecting history to repeat itself and to hear the teacher telling us he was crying non stop or whatever.
It was a sales call. Phew.
Then at 11.45am , dh called. He said he had picked ds1 up and they were in the car about to return already. I was sooooo relieved!
At 1+pm, the garage door opened, and I rushed to the garage, to see a soundly sleeping ds1 in the booster seat. haha, he was tired out.
That was the 1st day. By the way, the week's theme was Water, and so they did crafts and stories on water. I took a look at the other weeks and found some very interesting, too bad we are not ard for the Mad Scientist theme.
June 12
Tues
The preschool tr requested for some parents' assistance as they were going swimming this day. So I went with ds2 as well. Dh had to take leave, because the tr wanted each kid to have someone with him in the pool and also for each kid to wear a life jacket during the free play session. So i needed dh. Dh could enter the pool with ds1, but he said he didn't want to, if the rest of the parents were female. Then if I went with ds1, ds2 would hv to follow also.
Again we had to wake up really early, ard 6am, set off at 7am. Reached school at 8.30am. They had free play for awhile, then circle time.
During free play, ds2 was allowed to play too, and we took pics of them and the school.
Below left: Both ds with the tr's daughter, looking at the class hamsters.
Below right: some of the toys
Below left: one corner of the 1st room.
Below right: me playing a fool with the puppet stand and the box of puppets. haha
Below left: the play pretend corner with a lot of props and costumes.
Below right: one of the girls playing with the costumes. there was another dressed as a clown complete with a bright orange wig and colorful balloon gown, but before dh could take a pic, she changed out of it liao. :-) I wished I could play too, but nothing fit me. haha
I noticed none of the boys showed any interest in the costumes corner though, even though there were pirates and other boys' stuff. Both ds spent more time with blocks, dinosaurs and trains.
Below left: another part of the 1st room.
Below right: dining area
Below left: circle time - calendar and weather time.
Below right: Kids drawing in their summer school journal
Then we all set off for the swimming pool. There were about 5 other mothers too, and an assistant tr plus the main tr herself. At the aquatics center, we were met by 2 swim coaches.
Since the rest were all mummies, dh brought ds2 out to the playground to play while we had the 1h swim session. First half hour was swim instruction from the coaches, so the moms just hung ard at the side.
ds1 refused to get into the pool with the instructors. Flat out refused, no matter how many times they cajoled him. I have like 10 pictures of the 2 coaches taking turns to persuade him, using many different strategies, soft and hard approaches... aiyoh. I also talked to him for a long time. Aiyah, he doesn't want means doesn't want.
So he just sat there at the side the whole time, watching others swim and splashing the water.
Oh btw, the aquatics centers here are indoors cos of the unpredictable weather. Anyway we had long ago signed ds1 up at the aquatics ctr near our hse (sthing like a community club, eg if you stay in Jurong then you go to the Jurong East Swim complex) for swim lessons that start end July. Wonder how he would like it then.
Once the coaches lesson is over and it was time for free play at the adjacent water playground, ds1 came to life. This part was for the parents to take over and be with the kids. ds1 played, kicked, "swam", waded into the whirlpool, the lazy river, the fountains etc. Arrggh. Wonder why he doesn't want the structured learning, which is the beneficial part and the part we paid most for, I guess!
And I was very tired, following him all around, half kneeling and squatting. You know how those kids pools are? They are only up to my waist, and it's cold to keep standing up and so I keep myself submerged to the neck, but that means I have to move squatting. After that, leg muscles became sore liao. :-)
The cleaning up was a breeze. I really like the design of the showers here. At the JE Swim complex and the CCK one (the ones we frequented most last time), the showers always managed to wet my clothes and towel hung on the hooks. I'm sure you all know what I am talking about right? Cos the stalls are small and the blast of water out of the shower would reach our belongings hung on the door hook.
Here, there are double curtains, so when the part where you hang your belongings and towel is again partitioned away from the shower head.
Meanwhile ds2 had a ball of a time outside too. Glad he tagged along.
After that, it was back to school, debrief, and then home. We had another surprise when we got home. Our future neighbour came with her daughter and sent us bread, cherry turnovers and a large meal of roast beef and potatoes that smelt and tasted sooooo good! They had all heard about my dad, and so brought this over.
And then dh's father's day gift came in the mail too. A pewter keychain with a classic black-and-white photo of him and the 2 ds.
June 13
Wed
Next morning, when it was time for ds1 to go to school, he couldn't wake up already. Too little sleep, large sleep debt. When he was finally rudely roused, he couldn't talk. Had a sore throat. And then he started crying, said he had a headache.
In the end, after discussion, we let him stay home. I called the teacher to inform her.
He did keep to the bed and sofa for the rest of the day, as I told him to, because "sick people must rest". Was afraid he was just making excuses.
Anyway, after a day's rest, he was raring to go again on Thurs.
I am glad when Fall comes, he attends only 2x a week. Cos this will simply be too tiring for all of us. Having to travel such a long distance and waking up so early. I wish there was a better school ard this area...
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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