Teachers' Day 2011

This year's Teachers' Day is indeed different.

For more than 10 years, I had celebrated Teachers' Day as a student. And for a good 10 years, I had celebrated it as a teacher. This year, I am fully a parent.

This year, I got the 2 elder Gers to do their own present. Gerry is still too young to be involved. After looking at ideas from the Internet, I had adapted and planned something simple for the Gers...

Looking at what we have in the house, I was simply delighted to find a huge tub of pre-cut heart shaped confetti. That was actually meant for for customary marriage!

Get ready the hearts.

Working intensely...

Look at this!

There! One's done!

Factory...

And of course, Mummy is good at recycling, cos she's in the school's Environment Education Committee! The body of the bookmark was the ice-cream sticks bought for the window decoration activity...

The message was typed by Mummy. Guide lines were printed at the back, so that the Gers can follow the lines and cut. Alas! Their motor skills are not that refined to control that yet. Hence, the product ended up very 'artistic'...

Working with the pinky shears


Packaging in progress

The presents were divided into 2 batches as the Gers found it tiring to cut with the shears. So, the 1st batch was for their form teachers and subject teachers. There was also one for their auntie, Auntie Elsie, who gave Mummy a lot of invaluable advices. The 2nd batch was meant for other staff in the Centre, including Auntie Sharon and the VP Ms Chin. However, the presents were given out on Mon evening in a haste, as the Gerry was down with HFMD, while Gerlyn was put in the suspect list. A decision was made that Gerrard will also stay at home. Hence, the 2nd batch, which was meant to finish up yesterday, had to be given away without the complete packaging...

The product of 2 weekends. A photo collage was attached behind.

What are my learning points:

1. Patience. It really took long hours to do this with the children.

2. Room for mistakes. If the heart or stick was pasted out of alignment, or if the children cut away from the line, so be it!

3. Expectations. If the task matched their ability, they can accomplish, and they feel good about it!

Overall, it was indeed a very good experience and I enjoyed it! I sure hope the teachers like their present!

Gerry's First Days of School

Gerry's finally in school!

Day 1 is bad! Just like the 2 elder siblings, Gerry had the 'first-day-syndrome'. Mummy was too focused on the immersion rather than documentation. Hence, having only one photo at the end of the day...

Hey, it's Daddy and Mummy!

For Day 1 and 2, Gerry was able to wake up in time and he was very fresh after a night's sleep. We left house at 7am. Pretty early for a young kid.

Having a photo taken while waiting for Daddy at the void deck.

For both mornings, Gerry had episodes of his lung and voice box exercises. Think the trs in the Centre will know that he is strong with good lung capacity. Luckily the siblings are around to play a small role of comforting this young bro.

Hmmm... Let me have my burger sweet 1st...

They have books here too? I like reading.

Boohoo! I dun wan Mummy anymore!

Breakfast is served. This banana cake is yummy!

Gerlyn's around to comfort the brother. Good sister!

Fire-drill at Day 2! What an experience. Gerry went down the stairs on his own. Luckily Mummy is around, so he got 3 flights of stairs being 'flown' down. Hmm.. I wonder what happens during a real fire? Children in Pre-Nursery 2 clearly outnumbered the number of adults that they have in the class!

How much luck do we get? Fire drill on Day 2!

A private moment...

Theory of evolution.

Maid's not around and everyone was eating on their own. So Gerry, at Day 2, picked the spoon and ate on his own. Day 1, too hungry, so Mummy fed 1 bowl and Gerry down the 2nd serving on his own.

Bathing, can't do on his own yet. So gotta Q and wait for his turn.

Su Su is not here! I can eat on my own!

Cheese! Q-ing up for a quick bath.

Couldn't wait for naptime. Because that was when Mummy got to sneak out! Just like Gerlyn, Gerry was able to sleep immediately after finishing the milk. Think he's dog-tired. So was Mummy!

Playtime before naptime!

Milk Milk time before nap. Zzzz..

Tomorrow is Day 3, and Gerry will have to go through it on his own right after the routine check at the door. I think he will be able to survive it better than his 2 elder siblings. We shall see tomorrow. But for now, Mummy's gonna Zzzz...

Home Intervention Programme 4 - Playdoh

One of the key areas that we are focusing on developing Gerrard is play.

At this age, it is through play that children form friendship with others, improve their communication skills and enhance their creativity.

One of our favourite 'tools' is Playdoh. Of course, we roped in Gerlyn to be Gerrard's playmate. They like it so much that they can spend more than an hour on this on the table and can still go on. As I type this entry, they are playing on their own at the living room.

This reminds me of a conversation that I had with one of the teachers in the childcare centre. The emphasis should not be on handwriting or penmanship for children in preschool. They should be doing more handicrafts. This, I agree. In fact, at home, we refrain from writing or spelling. Though we do let them doodle a lot.

The Gers mainly play, doodle, watch TV (less than 2 h) and read. We have assessment books, which are given by my cousin. But we have not sit down and go through any one of them. With Gerrard's diagnosis, the activities we do tend to be those recommended by the therapists. Everything is back to basics - improving communication, attention span and reading skills. Hence, we can declare that we failed to be the modern Singaporean parents. But I am pretty sure we have provided the Gers with a totally different childhood experience!

惜福！

Brother and sister in action.

Look what I have made!

Gerrard's snowman. Daddy's takking a nap at the background...

National Day 2011

Values and knowledge can be taught from young.

Weeks before the National Day, Gerlyn was caught on camera trying to sing the National Anthem. I will have deducted marks for posture, lyrics and whole lot of other things, but I applaud the teachers' efforts in teaching the kids to sing the Anthem and other national day songs.

As for me, what have I learnt? Invest in a good set of red tee and white pants during Chinese New Year and recycle for National Day! Sounds desperate? No choice, I have evolved into a 'calculative' mum...

Cheese! All 2 dressed for their schs' celebrations...

Of course, Gerrard has a red LFC jersey.

No white bottom. Pink can just do the trick!

Many flaws here. Flaw no. 1: Din stand to attention!!!

Racial Harmony Day 2011

Having fun again this yr.

Initially wanted them to wear Indian ethnic costume. Daddy went Vietnam with his soccer boys during June. Luckily he's clever enough to buy 2 sets for the older Gers. Super clever, cos Daddy bought 2 hats to go along with the clothes. He even bought a set for Mummy too! Unfortunately the side slits are way too high, gotta alter first...

Mr and Ms Vietnam.

And Daddy's Mr Indonesia.

Gerrard's Holiday Programme

This June, Gerrard had attended 3 holiday workshops. Experiencing difficulties while signing him up for external workshops, we leveraged on the sense of familarity and security that Gerrard has with his classmates/schoolmates. So, this year, we were super 'kiasu' and signed him up for all available workshops (last year, we were more selective). And this holidays, I believe he truly enjoyed himself. :)

Photos are taken and given by Centre's teachers and Admin staff. Enjoy the pics!

Gerrard getting onto the pony with some help.

There goes my little prince.

The next Tiger Woods? Don't worry, Gerrard is a faithful puppy.

Or maybe he is a shotput expert?

Where the fish go?

The essence of preschool experience - happiness and joy in learning.

Another Teacher Has Left...

Another good teacher has left the centre.

Gerrard has not been easy to handle. Especially after the change in the childcare centre. It was kind of unfair for him to unlearn something that was good, and to relearn. He protested for a while...

For Gerrard, Ms Camille is a nice teacher to have. She is understanding, and at the same time, able to exercise assertion. This is greatly needed, especially after we know that Gerrard has Asperger's Syndrome.

ForGerlyn, when both her teachers left, she refused to enter the Centre on her own for about one or two weeks. Ms Camille and Ms Seet were the familar faces available to coax and soothe her.

I do not know whether was this Gerrard's way of protesting, but there was a good 30-min standoff with him yesterday. Cried, screamed, pushed his siblings, pinched and spat at me. A bad cocktail of all the bad vices, all in that 30 minutes. The last time something like this happened was more than a yr ago, shortly after he changed centre... :(

Too many good teachers has left. I think the Centre should relook into incentives to keep their resources. I think, for a start, they should revise the teachers' pay...

The magic of photos - keeping happier times.

Attention required

The finished product. Wanted to teach him outline, then thought may be messy...

Mummy's drawing. Not fantastic.


I find his drawing of Gerlyn resembles JoJo (cartoon character in JoJo's Circus).



Gerrard's trying real hard.

Gerrard is supposed to bring a drawing today for his Show-and-Tell. We managed to draw one yesterday afternoon, while all the other babies were asleep.

Mummy's not entirely an artist. I always managed to score in Art mainly because I was meticulous, not artistic.

So the approach was to draw with Gerrard.

Using very basic strokes, we drew together, step-by-step. From the face, hair, shirt, lollipop, school...

Then came colouring.

The most touching thing was that Gerrard was really trying very hard. The intense concentration..

He made a few mistakes and required a few practice of some drawings on the back of mummy's paper. But the proud thing was he finished it.

Realisations from this activity:

1. Gerrard wants to learn.

2. Gerrard wants to do things well.

3. Monkey see, Monkey do. So the Monkey must firstly be a good role model.

Just how many old monkeys understand point number 3?

Xmas Celebrations 2010

Gerrard couldn't attend the Xmas party in Kinderland as he was having stomach flu.

Gerlyn, on the other hand, had separate celebration with her classmates, as someone in the class had HFMD.

Nevertheless, the 2 of them still find their joy and happiness. Thanks to the effort by the teachers.

Really admire one parent who bothered to dress up as Santa. Next year, maybe should get Liat to be the reindeer! Hahaha. BTW, Santa, please use a decent bag than a red plastic bag for the presents. Image cannot match! Hahaha!

We like our presents!

Lovely!

My present!

起丝！

Cheeze! BTW, can I not give you the choz?!

Don't eat my food!

DO NOT DISTURB!

M&Ms! My Favourite!!

Present from Santa!

Yummy!!

Hmm... Put lots of candies...