Before bedtime just a while ago, Calvin announced that his front tooth was very wobbly.  I said “good! let’s pull it out!”. The boy was so frightful when he heard what I said, I kid you not.  Anyhow, I promised only to shake it a little to see how wobbly it was.  True enough, the tooth was very ready to be extracted.  Of course he would not allow me to do the surgery, and so he decided to take matters into his own hands.  He said bravely that he would try to pull it out himself.  Wow, what a brave boy, I thought. And so, Athan and I sat next to him, watching him trying his best to pull his tooth out.  I only gave him a wet towel.

After some time, he was still unsuccessful and the sight of blood worried him a bit.  He wanted to give up, but I told him I would reward him with 2 stars on his behaviour chart (more on that in another post) if he could persevere on.  Athan, sitting there watching quietly suddenly said he wanted 2 stars too! For? For being supportive of his brother. 🙂

After some more shaking of the wobbly tooth, it finally came out! Phew! He went to the mirror, took a good look at himself without his 2 front teeth and tried to said “the” to check if he could say “th” :). Well, not much success!   Anyway, this is how he looked like now:

There will be some getting used to without the two front teeth, but this is part of growing up.  By the way, I was instructed not to put any money or leave any money for him because he wanted to see if the tale of the tooth fairy is real. :)  I am thinking maybe I should …..

We were at a lake where there were lots of black swans and pelicans as well as other water birds.  The boys had fun watching the birds … although at some point, I think they were a bit too close!

New school term has started and the boys are well into week 3. Calvin had a little problem adjusting to new teacher and friends.  He kept wanting to go back to year 1 teacher and classroom! The very kind Mrs L has been reassuring the boy and it seems like Calvin has made some progress.  I hope he will settle and be happy soon.  As for Mr A, he is happy as usual although he is tired from the full-time school.  I think it is a matter of time before his body gets used to being at school everyday.  He is definitely enjoying himself — much more than when he was at day care last year.  He has a fantastic teacher — same one as Calvin when in pre-primary.  I am sure he will be happy in Miss B’s class.

Calvin has also started learning piano.  It is exciting!  Thank God that we have found a very good teacher.  Calvin seems to be enjoying learning and making progress each week.  I hope he will learn to appreciate music and be able to play the piano one day.  Learning a musical instrument is a very expensive investment, I kid you not.  We hope to give the boys a chance to learn when they are still young.  We shall see how far he can go.  Mr A will be learning when he is a little older — when he can sit still for a bit longer. 🙂

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.

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!