The Surgery

For a while now, Renee has quite forgotten about this surgery.  I've scheduled it today without knowing her violin master/studio classes and exam dates and luckily, they were all just before its date, phew...

It is obvious that Renee has been feeling nervous about it since last night but she put on a brave front all the way, from home til she was being led to the OT room.  Even the surgeon, whom was most skeptical about her to be operated only on local anaethesia, came out with all praise on her bravery, :).

Few months back, during our consulation/discussion on this mater, the surgeon had initially wanted her to go on GA but being so young, I really wish they would not use that on her('cos no one is sure if that would cause side-effect like 'poor memory' thereafter) and luckily for us, her dental docter highly recommended that local anesthetic should suffice as she felt that Renee's a 'good girl' whom would co-operate.  She also informed us that she'd take this opportunity(where that area is being numbed) to extract her 2 front lower primary teeth(to make room for the fully grown adult ones).

Within just a short period of an hour(the surgery itself took less than that of cos), we were already on our way home and now, it's just recovery time...

Kissing Grandma

On a lighter note, my mom and my sisters were all surprised that Rachel's able to call 'mama, papa, che che' and mutter 'mum mum'(although lately she's stopped calling 'mama' and say 'mum mum' :(

When the rest have gone to buy dinner, I stayed back and whilst my mom was talking to me/playing with Rachel, I carried Rachel standing on my lap and asked her to give me a kiss.  My mom asked "huh, she can do that?" and to answer to that, Rachel leaned forward and gave me a kiss, hahaha.  My mom was very excited and asked her "give ah mah a kiss", and to my surprise, she leaned forward and kiss grandma!  Good job, baby, u've made your granny happy, hahaha

The Exam

Finally, it is her Nafa GYV internal exam today!

Although Renee's afraid that she might not get to continue with the course(in order to make her work harder, we'd told her that if she doesn't get a full As result from this exam, we'll not let her continue with the course), she's still rather slack with her practices.  Although this 'threat' had not exactly yield the result we wanted - she's still lazy, but she's shown that she would really like to continue - the thing that puzzles me is, why then wouldn't she work harder?.....

She's done rather well for her 2nd Masterclass and had played pretty nicely yesterday during her Studio-class.  However, she didn't do as well today.  Why?  Wanting to catch her theory teacher for her exam papers, I'd told Papa that we'd go on time(we'll leave at 1:30pm since the exam starts at 1:45pm) but it was a mistake, 'cos not only didn't I manage to catch the teacher(y/day and today), but being early, she met her friends and her mind was full of 'play'.  What's worse was, standing outside the examination room, she saw 1 of her friends playing with the violin, she attempted to follow suit.  We stopped her on time and told her "No, the exam's inside this room, you will disturb them". Although she did listen initially, but, when the teacher came out, trying to stop the person whom was causing the din, she still tried to 'copy' her friend.  That coursemate of hers was smart enough to hand the violin quickly over to the parent but our silly Renee, had to insist on taking over the violin from her Papa, whom had been holding her violin for her all this while!  Seeing that she was the one holding the violin, her teacher told her not to play it - Such silly misbehaviour of her had caused her to take the blame!  Needless to say, this upset the both of us, so we reprimanded her and not knowing the actual situation(some were not ard us when it happened), many have thought that we're stressing her on the exam and someone had even deliberately commented loudly to his child "nevermind, don't stress, just play/treat it like your normal practice" -  geez, this is what we've always told Renee too, haiz...  We're angry with her 'cos her unacceptable behaviour had gotten her into 'trouble'(it's good to 'teach' her now as she'd be attending pri sch soon and she's bound to meet more of such people).  With us scolding her and feeling unhappy that she's unable to play with her friends, she didn't perform as well.

Actually, we do not really need her to score As 'cos we're already very happy with what her teachers had told us so far, but we needed her to understand the importance of working hard as talent/gift is merely a fraction to the success of mastering the instrument.

Remembering her teacher's reminders, we quickly went and bought tickets to the Nafa YT concert, last minute, after her exam.  Not wanting Rachel to disturb the others(in case she cries), I decided to give it a miss and waited for them at my mom's.  Later, Papa told me that they've met her teacher at the concert hall and was told that she didn't do so well at the exam as compared to yesterday's Studioclass, but ..........  Anyway, it'll be a good 2 weeks til we get her official results and til then, we'll have to decide if she should continue with this learning...

The Approach of the Half Yearly Exam

It's been 2 weeks now, after the 2nd Masterclass and Renee's still not working hard enough for her coming internal exam.  With her violin being out of tune yesterday, she happily took a rest and she's already been 'resting' quite a bit since the MC, haiz...

Shall see how she performs that fateful day...

New School Bag Search

The children these days are carrying big and heavy schoolbags and I've heard that an ergonomic one would do the kid's back good, and I've been on the lookout for such bags whenever we were out.

 

So far, we've only seen 1 shop at Marina Square and another at United Square, selling such bags but none of their designs appealed to me/us.

 

On a recent trip down to U/Sq, I popped into the shop again and was informed about their promotion and I asked papa to go take a look today, but what we wanted do not have the discount we wanted, nor the right colour(we're alr giving up on the design, hahaha) and since they'd be extending the promotional period, we decided to take the opportunity to look at other bags.  Hope we'll find a right one...

Baking Class & a Caricature

Renee's been looking to the muffins decorating class and she's finally attending it today!

After a short rest/wash up back home after the school orientation, papa took us to a quick lunch at Orchard Central(he kept thinking that this is the mall where Renee's supposed to be attending the class, hahaha) before we rushed over to 313@Somerset. Papa left us there to attend to some work but as he couldn't join us immediately after the session, I took them(the 2 kids) back over to Orchard Central for some photo taking, heee. Then we went for a little shopping at Centrepoint where Renee's given a free caricature of herself(she missed the sculpted balloon giveaway today :D).

 

A very busy and extremely tiring day for me but Renee's happy, :)

Primary School Orientation

The Toh family was up at 7am this morning(no diff for me though, hahaha), getting ready for Renee's primary school orientation.

Fortunately, we arrived at the school late, at around 8:20am 'cos then we need not have to wait in the hall for the Principal to begin her speech at around 8:30am(we read the agenda and decided not to leave home too early, as Rachel may not stand the wait for so long and it's gonna be a long day out for her today).

We've no prior experience(with other schools that is) but comparing to what we've encountered at the other school where we were made to ballot for a placing, this school is way more organised.  And, if they could deliver what that's been cited, then this is indeed, as commented by parents in a few forums, a good school, just overshadowed by the more popular ones around the region.  (but then again, we can only tell more after she's started school with them...)

The minute I arrived(papa went to park the vehicle) at the school hall, a teacher approached me immediately and seeing that I'm carrying Rachel, offered to bring Renee to the 'students' section where a different programme has been drawn up for them - with a tour around the school of 'cos.  After our snacks(provided by the school for the children and even the parents), the form and mother tongue teachers(we were led to our kid's respective classroom) briefed us through on what and how they would be educating our children and the types of materials that will be used.  However, I didn't manage to capture all that's been presented as Rachel, being sleepy, had fussed a little and in order not to disturb the others, I had to get up and try to rock her sleep.  But I guess I could still try and read up most part of it since they've given us some print-ups for home reading.

At the start, they've urged parents whom had come in pairs, to try and split ourselves, so that 1 could attend the briefing whilst the other attends to the acquiring of textbooks, school uniforms and the arrangement of school bus services.  Most of us did that but for uniforms, I told papa that it'd be better for Renee to try them out in person.  Unlike our time, we now have to purchase socks with the school's name printed on them, which I find is a very good idea so that there's a complete standard, uniformity in the students' school attire(not sure if this school socks thingy is the same as with other schools) .

As everything's properly organised, we need not have to wait too long or even extend our stay at the school past the scheduled timing stated in the agenda and we managed to head home for a little rest before we head out again.

Renee has already made a few friends(from the same class) today and she said she would like to attend this school, :).  Well, will she say the same should she has a little argument with her friends in the near future? hahaha.  Oh ya, when we got home, she told me that she saw an ex classmate from her Lorna Whiston S & D classes at the school(at a different class though) but that girl didn't recognise her...

Last Day of Preschool

It's the last day of Renee's preschooling.

Usually, she'd be attending school only on Mondays to Thursdays, Fridays being her Berries lessons day but since it's the last week of school and she's already missed 3 days(2 actually, Tues - Teacher & Parent Meeting, which we didn't attend as well), I asked the Principal if they'd mind if Renee goes in on Friday so that she could have a day more of fun with her friends.  The latter readily agreed and it'd be delightful as they'd be hving a funfare that day for the children!

Although this school does not do what most or infact almost all preschools would, which is a graduation concert, but I'm actually more glad with such arrangements, for I really don't see why we are paying such a high fee(~S$1.5k for a term) for them to get our kid(s) to prepare for the concert instead of learning - preparing them for P1?  I remember seeing K2 children practicing their dance/performance during lesson hours when I sent Renee to her previous Kindy and I was like huh, shouldn't these children be in class learning, getting ready for the next level which is most important? (Since Renee was only in lower presch then, it didn't really bother me but later, this was also 1 of the reasons why I pulled Renee out of their system...)

In any case, Renee had fun today, at the school's funfare, prepared by the teachers.  The children were only asked to make little coupons the day earlier(they just simply wrote the value like 'S$1, S$0.50' etc) out of small pieces of paper which the teachers later stapled up as booklets of coupons for them to make pretend purchases of food at the funfare(this also helps in teaching them to buy food at the school canteen next yr).  They even took turns to tend to the stalls, it had sounded fun when Renee described it to me. Unlike her previous Kindy, everything, including the food the kids would 'buy', were prepared by the school/teachers.  The school even gave them a story book each!  Even though Renee's only been with them for a short 2 terms, I can see that this school has a nice, caring and non-calculative Principal/environment.

Finally got the Green Ambassador Certificate and 'Badge'-Gold
(ya, she's got gold for bugging at me to bring my own shopping bag all the time!)

*Am surprised to receive the deposit refund cheque today - thought we'd have to wait for weeks like with other schools...

Back with Breakfast

As requested, Papa came home this morning with Mac's breakfast for us, :)

Being first to wake up(errm should be baby Rachel, hahaha), I had wanted to wake Renee up but was stopped by hubby whom wanted to give the former a surprise.  She was caught indeed, hahaha, she had even thought that she was woken up by papa in her dreams, hahaha.

Papa's got to attend to some work and after he's collected the baby monitor(they were supposed to deliver!), he came home to take us out.  We have to go to the maid agency to re-select another maid(3rd selection already, why they always can't contact their maids!!!) and hopefully, this shall be the last we have to do so...