January 2012 is almost gone! The kids will be back to school tomorrow.  I am really looking forward to it, I kid you not.  The boys have been on holidays for the last 6-7 weeks and they are certainly ready to go back to school.  When I asked them about school last night, this is what I get:

Me: Athan, are you excited about going to pre-primary?

Athan: No, I want to stay with you!

Me: I have to go to work.  If you don’t go to school then you will have to go to child care full day everyday.

Athan: NO!

Me: Then its either school or child care.  Which is it?

Athan: I want to go back to kindy!

Me: Well, if you loved kindy, you will certainly love pre-primary!

Calvin: Yeah, there’s a lot to do and you can still play at the playground.

Me: You get to wear your new shoes too.

Athan: OK, then.  I will go to school

Gee….I thought this little guy is so ready to go to school tomorrow!  I think he is a little hesitant due to new teachers and classroom.  One good thing is that his whole kindy class will be in the same pre-primary class.  That helps a lot.  I just hope Mr A will adjust well at pre-primary. *fingers crossed*.

——————————————————————————————————-

Me: What about you, Calvin?  Are you ready for school tomorrow?

Calvin: No, not really.

Me: Why?

Calvin: I am a bit worried about year 2, mum.

Me: Why?

Calvin: Because I am not good enough to be at year 2!  I wish I can go back to Mrs L class!

Me: Well, Mrs L told me you are very ready for year 2 and she can’t have you in her year 1 class again.

Calvin: Really?  Did you talk to Mrs L?

Me: Of course I did.  Mrs L said you are definitely ready and so does Mr H, the principal.

Calvin: *big smile* OK, I want to go to school now!

As you can see, Calvin is lacking in confident about himself.  This little guy needs a lot of assurance even though he is doing well at school.  I find that what the teacher said about him has more weight! Well,  he seemed more convinced .  In any case, I guess with Mr Calvin, I have to be very careful with what I say to him and about him to others. Also, I need to help him to be more confident about himself.

We have also decided to let Calvin learn piano this year.  The husband and I think he is very ready.  We will give it a go and see how far he can go.  As I have no musical background myself, I guess I have to learn too so that I can practice with him.  Its going to be very exciting, I think.

We do pray for the boys that they will enjoy school this year and that we can guide them in the right way.

———————————————————————–

On a lighter note, last night I overheard this conversation between the boys:

Calvin: Oh………I can’t draw this properly! (Calvin was trying to draw a picture and was rubbing and drawing and was teary)

Athan:Oh “gor gor”, this thing (pointing to the picture) looks fat!

Calvin: Mum! Athan said my picture looked fat! *going to cry soon*

Athan: Don’t cry “gor gor” (big brother), its only a picture.

Calvin: hmmph!

Athan: If you cry some more, I will tell papa when he comes back!

I was somewhere hiding and listening t0 all these and trying hard not to laugh!  I know its not very funny, but I could not help laughing at Mr A, the way he talked. Such a little adult!

These tomatoes are from our backyard!  I kid you not.

Towards the end of last year, the husband and I decided to have a little vegetable patch at our backyard.  It turned out that the husband put in more effort than me — he bought the plants, looked after them and viola! we now have our own tomatoes! The feeling is fantastic.  Not only has the husband put in tomatoes, he has also planted various herbs that we use a lot such as parsley and chives.  We also have rocket leaves that can be used in salads.

I have to say that tending the vegetable patch involves quite a fair bit of work, but the results are worth it. The boys, especially Calvin were very excited to see the very first tomato growing from our plant.  Of course we have problems with bugs eating the fruit and veg etc, but I guess this is part of growing vegetables.

We hope to put in more vegetables in the near future.

On our way home from the shops, Athan asked me something:

Athan: Mum, do you remember “picamemu” …..

Me: What’s “picamemu”?

Athan: pi-ca-me-mu!

Me and the husband: *absolutely no idea what that was*

Calvin: He said “despicable me” the movie!

Me: LOL!

So, Mr A was trying to say “Despicable Me” and  somehow it turned out to be or sounded like “pi-ca-me-mu”! Btw, only Calvin can understand his brother — happens all the time.

—————————————————————–

Athan: Do you “le-member” ….

Calvin: its not “lemember”, its re-mem-ber!

Athan: Ok, RE-member!

I could only laugh at them!

————————————————————–

Athan is usually very chatty in the car and at times I just want to drive quietly ….. so I play this little game with them:

Me: OK, let;s see who can keep quiet for the whole journey home.

Calvin and Athan:* immediate silence.*

However, in less than 2 minutes, Athan let out some sound …. and I said –

Me: Ok, Athan you lose.

Athan: No, not fair, I was not talking!  I only made sound! I want to start again!

Me: OK, let’s start again.

In less than 2 minutes, Mr A spoke again!

Me: Athan, you lose!

Athan: Oops!  I forgot!  Can we start again?

Me: LOL!

No prize for guessing who is the winner.

Happy New Year to all our friends, and especially to our Chinese friends who are celebrating Chinese New Year, we wish you all a very happy and prosperous year ahead.

We have come back from our holiday in Singapore couple of weeks ago.  Time flew past and before I knew it, my annual leave is over and the boys will be back to school real soon.  I am actually looking forward to school days again.   We had a good time in Singapore catching up with friends and family although towards the end of our trip, the boys and the husband fell ill.  They were quite ill and were down for about 5 days!  I was spared from the “Singaporean bug” — perhaps I have immunity (?).  I really thank God that I was spared from falling ill else no one will be looking after the boys.  I will be posting snippets of our trip in the near future.  For now, if you miss the boys, here they are :

Have a good year ahead!  God bless.

The year is nearly coming to an end.  Time really does fly.  I hardly blog about the boys’ progress at school etc these days due to limitation of time.  But I thought I should share some of the highlights they had at school this year.

Mr A started kindy at our local primary school this year.  It was an adjustment for him, but I have to say he has done really well.  He has the same teachers as Calvin when he was at kindy and so the teachers already knew him.  They have told me that Athan is very different from Calvin which is very true.  Athan is the “loud” type.  He is with the “loud” boys in his class.  He also gets into trouble a lot more e.g.  he has already been sent to the naughty chair in term 1! I was worried, of course.  However, the wonderful teachers have assured me that Athan has improved a lot over the last term.  By the way, he also pulled a girl’s hair at their regular “show and tell” time.  When I asked him why he did that he said “hmmm… because I was bored” and then he added “because her hair is nice”! What? I just could not believe Mr A pulled someone’s hair! Calvin never did that … well, didn’t I say the two brothers are very different?   I should not compare the two boys too much.  That’s not helpful.  Anyway, the good thing about Athan is that he is very sociable and has no trouble making friends.  He is not shy and that helps (whereas Calvin had problem making friends at the same age).  At the beginning of first term, he has already made a friend — a good friend.  They are still best friends up till now.  I know the boy’s parents and I am very friendly with the mother.  Athan’s bubbly personality has made him a fun little person to be with (although also gets him into trouble in class).  There is also this little sweet girl who is very fond of Athan.  I just find the whole thing so cute.  Miss C’s mum has told me about how the girl was so persistent  to arrange a play date with Athan!  Athan is very fortunate.

Another highlight this year is the sports day for early childhood (kindy and pre-primary) kids.  It was a very hot day on sports day but the kids did really well.  They listened and followed instructions.  I am very proud of Athan not that he came in first or second but simply for the fact that he participated in ALL the events to his best ability.  He did not complain and did not say he want to go home.  For that, I am very proud of him.  Here’s my champion:

My other champion is this little guy:

Do they look alike?  This picture was taken when Calvin was at his sports day when he was 5 years old (similar to Athan’s sports day).  Calvin has really grown up ever since he entered Year 1.  He seems to have matured so much over the last few months.  His ability to reason, understand and argue has progressed.  He can remember important facts too — that’s something I wish I have! I think he is learning well.  His teachers have given him very positive comments in his final term report.  I must say I am impressed and a little uncertain.  Uncertain because I am not sure if he is really as good as the teachers have said he is!  Well, I have been assured that Calvin has been a good student.  Of course he has his weaknesses, especially in the area of self-confidence.  He tends to seek assurance from his teacher a lot.  However, this last term, he has shown great improvement. I believe the improvement is a result of his progression in his spelling, writing and reading.  The teachers have done a great job! I even spoke with one of his writing teachers.  She has been very kind to Calvin and Calvin really likes her.  It is not hard to see why Mrs L is one of Calvin’s favourite — she is very kind and never raises her voice.  She has told me that Calvin always try his best in class and never has problem with his writing.  I think Calvin has a keen interest in writing and that helps.  On any given day, he would choose writing over doing math!  He likes to write about his day or some event he has been or little stories or a letter to his cousin.  The regular writing at home has helped him a lot.  I guess I have to keep up with his writing.  I must say at the beginning it was a real chore (and bore) to sit with him and spell almost every word he was writing.  But all the efforts have paid off.  Thank God.

Calvin’s Physical Education teacher has also given him very positive comments/remarks in the areas of his effort and attitude in learning.  The boy loves sports and so it is not a surprise he did well at PE classes.  His favourite is running.

One of the highlights for Calvin this year was the school sports day.  He belongs to the green faction.  His favourite event was the junior boys 100m sprinting.  He was chosen to race with the division 1 boys — those who can run fast.  He wanted me to watch him race so badly that he made me promise to stay and watch him.  Thankfully his event was the first!  He came in fourth.  I was so proud of him.  He ran so fast!  Maybe not as fast as the other boys, but to me that was a fantastic effort.

Calvin also took part in other team games in which the teams came in either first or second.  He was so happy.  I hope he can maintain the positive attitude he has for sports.  At Year 1 he has learnt that he cannot come in first all the time.  There are people who are much better than him.  This has helped him in accepting his own ability (and not becoming angry like he used to be).  And that, is a sign of maturity.

Teaching the boys to do their best in everything and not to give up has been rewarding.  It has not been easy but with every encouragement comes a little improvement and that is simply amazing to witness.  We thank God for the boys and continue to pray for wisdom to bring them up in His ways.

We look forward to another great year next year!

My sister’s family came to Perth for a visit over  the past week.  The kids had a ball.  They played very well together.  Everyday after school, Calvin and Athan would join their cousins for a play.  It did not matter where they were or what toy they had, they just played when they were together. Happy.

When they left, Calvin said “this is the saddest day of my life”! I could only smile….. He really does miss his cousins especially my niece who is the same age as him.  Well, they will meet again very soon because we will be going to Singapore real soon!

Over the last school holidays, I brought the boys to our local museum to join in the fun at  a “Lego” event just for kids.

Many tables were set up inside the museum open area, and on each table, there were hundreds of white lego bricks waiting to be built.  The kids were encouraged to build buildings that were inspired by olden times.  But one can also build anything he/she fancied.

Calvin is a big Lego fan.  He loves to build with the bricks since he was very young.  When he saw the hundreds of pieces of white bricks on the table, he was simply amazed. So was Mr A.

The boys were at a lost at what they wanted to build at first.  Somehow, piece by piece and brick by brick, I began to see some structure taking shape.  Athan was only interested in building his “fighter plane”.   Well, that’s what he loves to build with Lego bricks at home.  As for Calvin, this is what he came up with at the end:

Athan’s plane is the one on the left.  I am pretty proud of the boys at what they came up with within the time limit.  Most of all, they had fun.  However, when they saw what others have built, they, especially Calvin, was so disappointed at his own creation.  Here’s a picture of some amazing structures that people have built using the bricks:

What do you think?  I can hardly imagine someone able to build such complicated structures using only the white Lego bricks.  Of course Calvin’s creation cannot be compared with those in the picture above, but I think he has done really well.  Me thinks he has *secretly* decided to play with his Lego more at home in order to improve his skills!

This is Calvin’s birthday cake.  Who would imagine “The cat in the hat” can be made into a cake”?  Amazing isn’t it? A very dear friend of ours made this cake for Calvin as a gift to him.  How kind of her!  I really do appreciate my friend’s effort.  She has done such a great job so  much so that every adult/parent present at the party wanted to order their cake from my friend! Besides this cake, my friend also made matching cupcakes for all the kids!  How wonderful is that?  I could only thank God for such a wonderful friend.  As for Calvin, he was amazed at his cake.  He could not say a word when he saw it.   By the way, the cake was really yummy although we were really very reluctant to cut it.

Does he look like a Mr Macho?   He is into wearing sleeveless top these days as he thinks he has lots of toned muscles to show. He thinks he is very strong too!  He really makes me laugh.

“Dear Santa,

Can I please have a real turtle for Christmas?  I want my brother to share the turtle with me.

Love from

Athan.”

That’s what I found in Athan’s school folder — a letter for Santa!  Sweet. This guy really likes turtle.  Its his favourite animal (reptile) .  Unfortunately, over here in Australia one needs to apply for a license to keep a turtle as a pet at home.  Its not easy to even buy a turtle at a pet shop.  There’s none!  I think one has to do a special order to get one.  This country is very much into protecting wildlife and reptiles and so I can understand the caution they are excersing.

I bought Athan a turtle soft toy last year in Singapore and ever since then he has been sleeping with his “mummy” turtle almost every night.  OK, let me explain the name “mummy turtle”.  I also bought a smaller turtle for him which he has named “baby turtle”. So naturally to Mr A, the bigger turtle toy is the “mummy”! I love the way he thinks.