The new school year starts today. Calvin has been accepted into our local primary school kindergarten program. He has been allocated to 2 full days of kindy per week — Monday and Thursday from 9am – 3pm. However, they are off to a slow start, a staggered start, where they build up the hours the children spend at the school over the next few weeks so as to help them to ease into the full day program.
I have been preparing Calvin for his first day at school, trying to get him excited about his new big school etc etc. The boy just say “I know!” I ask him if he would cry when I leave him at school and he said “No!”. Robin thinks I am mad to ask such a question! He reckons Calvin will be alright at school and if I asked such a question, he might end up crying . Oh well, I just wanted to hear it from the boy himself that he will be alright at school. I know, I’m silly — sometimes. 🙂
This is Robin putting Calvin’s name tag on his shirt. At this stage, they are not required to wear school uniform, but I might buy a set for him later so that he has a sense of belonging to the school. I’m glad that Robin could come with us today to the school. I think it means a lot to Calvin. I have also signed up for parents voluntary duty at the kindy. The parent will stay for 3 hours in the class helping out the kids and teachers. I think it shhould be fun.
The teachers are very friendly and nice. The whole format of the kindy is very similar to the one Calvin attended last year (3-yr-old kindy), and I reckon that’s why the boy has no problem adjusting (and has no separation anxiety). Anyway, today’s session is a short one, ending at noon.
The children were encouraged to play with some puzzles when they first arrived. The parents were welcomed to stay to help their child settle. We stayed for a while and Calvin asked “are you going home, mum?” I asked if he wanted me to go and he said “yes”. So we took that as our cue to leave him. Calvin has really grown up. He is a school boy now.
Athan did not want to leave — he thought he was staying behind to play! This little boy is so full of mischief and fun. This morning when we were leaving home for Calvin’s school, he wanted to be like his “gor gor”, carry a backpack, wear shoes, wear hat etc etc. He just can’t wait to grow up, I think.
By the way, Mr Athan starts his swimming lesson today.
He was very excited to be in the pool and did not want me to hold him! However, we were in the 1.2m pool and so I had to hold him. He soon realised he could not stand in the water by himself. He was also quite restless during the lesson as he did not want to follow instructions. He just wanted to do his own thing. I think that’s because he has never had any lesson before and we always let him loose at the waddle pool when we bring him swimming at the public pool. Oh well, he has to learn, there’s time. Other than that, I think he did really well. He’s quite natural in water — kicking hard and reaching for objects. Oh yeah, the other thing that kept him interested was the rubber duck that the instructor handed out to each of the children. He held on to the duck for the whole lesson. He refused (again) to leave the pool when the lesson has finished. I had to literally drag him out. *sigh*
Robin picked Calvin up from school and when the boy got home he said proudly to me “ma ma wo mei you ku!”. (mum, I did not cry!). I was very happy to hear that, really. Â I hope my little boy will have a great year at school.