Music Books

Was told to get more books this week - for theory this time(arrrggghhh) and since we're having dinner at Compass Point this evening, I took Renee over to Yamaha @ SK hub to look for them.

So, these(not including those that she's still using from the previous 'lot) are what she'd doing for the next few months, arrrggghhh...:

A No School Monday

It's the afternoon session's turn to go on the kitchen tour today(which took up 2 sessions' timing), thus there's no need for Renee to attend school this morning. However, despite having gone to bed abit later than usual last night, she still woke up very early today, @ 8am+! Arrrgh... Good thing I've kept my facial appointment(although I've just gone 2 wks ago), so I managed a 10mins nap there, lolz.

Quiet day, nothing much and I regret not taking advantage of the long weekend we have and gone for a short getaway, :(. Hmmm, wondering if we should do so for the coming one but it's gonna be crowded, haiz...

A Gathering

It's been a while since we've been to hubby's sister's home and when she phoned last night, Renee, whom has had little tiffs with her younger cousin during that 1 week at my FIL's wake, was abit reluctant at first but switched very quickly to excitement when she remembered the fun time she used to have at their place, hahaha, kids...

So today, she was very very excited when she came home from her art class and was sooo chatty til we got there(actually, til she fell aslp in the car, :D).

Unlike before, we arrived a little late this evening and most of them were already having their dinner at the table. They all looked kinda surprised to see us, hmmm, probbaly it's becos their gatherings always coincided with my family's and we always missed theirs. And even if we did join them, we'd usually go early and left early to go to my mom's, and so, since it's past 6pm, they must have thought we won't be joining them again, :D. However, the timing was just nice for Renee to join her cousins with her home-cooked dinner But when I went to check on her after mine, she told me that she didn't want to finish her dinner - probably can't wait to go play with her cousins. And boy, did she really enjoy herself tonight - no arguments, no 'fights' amongst the kids and she was all 'smelly' with perspiration by the time we left, lolz.

Dental Follow-up Check

The initial plan was to bring Renee to the NDC for her follow-up check straight from school today but Papa, being him(close links will know wat I mean... :>) changed his mind as usual and said that I should bring her home first. Fine, that resulted in us not being able to go for our lunch as I've 'predicted' and he, on many accounts, had not and I ended up feeling super hungry whilst waiting for our number to appear on the que number screen @ NDC.

Good thing we were the 1st on the senior doctor's afternoon appointment list and we didn't have to wait long. However, in less than 10mins consultation, though alittle more detailed with her, we left after paying a bill of S$94.00. Nothing's done, nothing's prescribed, just merely checking... We were told to return in another 3 months' time and when I went back to the room to ask if it's really that necessary since everything's seemed rather fine now, the doctor though not unfriendly, was stern with her reply. Yeah, this is what you get from a senior doctor in a govt medical centre and u're paying a high private rate for their 'attitude'... Honestly, if not for the 'record', I wouldn't bother to return there... However, she did give me a little advice about the growth of Renee's teeth which I find useful(although I believe any experienced pte practitioner would do the same too). Well, we would perhaps see how things go before deciding if we'd be returning to her in 3 months' time, haiz, we might just do so...

*oh ya, so far, all the dentists whom had seen her had asked if she's off-bottle and when I replied that she is, since a long time ago, they all remarked that it's very good. So I'm glad I've not taken too much heed to the old sayings of 'let them drink from the bottle as long as possible'...

Thereafter, due to hunger, we 'hurried' over to Vivo for a quick lunch and time seemed to be rather 'long' today 'cos it was only 4pm by the time we're done with our 'shopping' around the mall(even walked over to the neighbouring mall out of boredom). We had thought to drag our stay at Vivo so we could drive over to my mom's for dinner since she'd phoned last night, saying that she missed Renee but... she's already kinda prepared her dinner so the idea had to be abandoned and we decided to head home for a rest - well, papa rested whilst mommy went about the chores and showering Renee as usual... Then at night, we went over to Compass Point and Renee was overjoyed to have her 'heaty outside food' again at the Jack's and again, she was so full that she couldn't even finish her ice-cream(but hmmm, she seldom does that anyway, :>).

Home Learning for the 2nd Term

Here's her 'illustrations'...

Oh, the 'actual product' - I've added baked codfish and steamed vege to it and voila, it became her lunch! ;P

I've told her that she could do without the colouring but she's insisted on doing it and completing it on the same day. But we've came home late that evening and since there's no need for her to hand the work up soon, I insisted that she went to bed.

Then, when I asked her to finish up the colouring yesterday so she could hand it up today, she was said she'd hand it up by next Tuesday(which is still before the deadline) instead but I got her to finish it, lolz. She was very excited when it was finally done and urged me to quickly fill up the 'who did what'(as requested) portion which I planned to do only after she's gone to bed and I'm done with the chores. She was really happy when she saw it it in her bag this morning and insisted on holding it all the way to school, lolz.

A Story Telling Teacher

A couple of weeks ago, I brought her to the mall and since she's requested many times to go to the library and we've got some time then, I obliged.

I didn't have the intention to borrow the kiddy books home for her 'cos she'll start to lose interest in them a few days after we bring them home but when she read a page of 1 of the books I've selected for her, I was so 'impressed' that I told her that we could borrow it when she wanted to read the book another time, hahaha. She was very happy and quickly chose another 2 more books to be borrowed and back home, her impersonation began once again....

A book about something she 'likes'(she really enjoys picking up shells with her papa)

she still enjoys flip books, lolz

This is the part which she'd read... She told me that her friends are attending Reading class and she'd like to join them as well, ya, I hope I could confirm on that soon too...

(she didn't read all the words of cos, but just merely these words 'mama, all, three, of, her, into. bed, good night, my little ones, she said, I love you, too, and, in, his' are enough to impress her mommy, lolz)

Grade III Exam Piece I

Today is the 1st time(2nd in total) after Renee's exam that we're having our lesson at Ms Mok's and she was rather 'excited' and told me this : "mommy, so long we didn't go to Ms Mok's place, don't know if the X'mas tree is still there, but now even the CNY is over already, aiyoh", hahaha.

On our way home from school, I'd asked if she's considered my suggestion(asked her last night abt it since she's been skipping her naps these days & she said she'd think abt it...) about having her nap first before the lesson but she's claimed that she doesn't need it and will not throw tanthrums without it. So, I let her be... However, she didn't behave/react accordingly, she began to throw her temper just 20mins after the lesson's started, which was only with her playing the song she's learnt last week, haiz.

After some 'firm' words(from me) and finally abit of soft coaxing(she demanded for a hug, sooo manja), lesson's resumed. Ms Mok's chosen 1 of the grade III's exam pieces to start Renee's lesson with today and I was kinda worried that beginning on the exam pieces so early(we've only started abt 4 mths earlier for the 1st grade) might make her bored with them sooner but she explained that grade III is tougher(probably also becos she's skipping a grade? I hv no clue) and thus it'll be better to be prepared earlier rather than to do it last minute. On 2nd thoughts, if without much missed lessons and she managed to trial-play/learn all the exam pieces in good time, she might even have a chance to make her own selections! and so, the lesson began but as time has been wasted earlier, she only managed to 'learn' the 1st part(to make it easier for ne, e teacher has separated the whole piece into 3 parts) and I supposed I have to do the rest... Arrrghhh, how I wish I'm musically trained, things would be sooo much easier. I'm not sure how much further I can do these 'home coachings' with her as she moves along, especially on the techniques area(which the teacher warned would be loads) which I'd be helpless in directing her in the proper/exact style. I guess I'll just have to try my best...

School's Field Trip - K1

In line with her preschool's 2nd term curriculum theme - 'In the Kitchen', the school has organised a field trip - a kitchen tour @ Pizza Hut this month for the K1s. Thinking that it would be a wonderful experience for Renee to share with the school and friends(esp. when she'd requested to join the sch hol camp earlier), we signed her up this time.

It is her 1st out-of-the school's field trip and she's sure been looking forward to it, :). Actually, when she's 1st learnt about the trip, she had not wanted to participate but upon learning about her friends' participations, she happily agreed to go.

Last night, she even reminded me not to be late for school(as if we'd be, if I take her to sch, we're always early/on time, lolz) so as not to miss the bus, :). Then, when I told her to get changed, she actually chose some nice outing attire 'cos she's misinterpret her host teacher's remarks of "don't try to be funny"(although I dun exactly know what she's trying to tell me with this, hahaha) but after I told her that I remembered reading about the sports attire, then she quickly changed into hers.

Parents were told to pick the children at 2:15pm and this is the 1st time after so long, that I've seen her looking out at the door eagerly for me, :) And yes, she had enjoyed the excursion...

Chin Rest

It's really hard to find spare parts for violin of such small size. The 'connecting/securing' metal of the chin rest had rusted after the long break of use and out of despair, I thought I should perhaps let her try the left position ones at the shop and so after her 'homework''s almost done, we went down to Marina Square where a new branch of Synwin Violin's had set up(hv earlier called Gramercy but this is just nicely located at where we're going).

Expectedly, she felt uncomfortable with the connector being fixed on the left and so we've no choice but to let the rusty one stay put. The staff had suggested a 'better' one(still to be fixed on the side) but seeing that she might need to use one of the next size again, in less than a year's time, they also deemed it to be a waste to do so.

For the assistance they've rendered to us, I felt bad leaving the shop without making any purchase and since I needed to get her grade 3 books, I bought them there. Just 4 books today cost us S$62+(Oops, I kept remembering the teacher told me that it's a total of 4 books, so I've missed out one 1 of them, actually total 5, haiz...).

Family Doctor

Oh no, we've not officially appointed a family doctor but this thought just came up 'cos the Toh family had all gone to the doctor's this evening, heee.

Why? Renee's having cough and runny nose, Papa's having chills, body-aches, headache and Me, a rather bad headache. I had wanted to pinch on papa's headache medication when he's gone to the doc but he suggested that we should all go for the consultation. It was a wise choice 'cos it turned out that the headache I'm having isn't of the norm and might trigger my migraine and my medication's totally different from hubby's. We even casually joked to the doctor about discount since our whole family's there but true to the doc's words "oh, his headache might be worser when he sees the bill later, hahaha", the total damage this evening at the clinic's : S$145! Geez, it's really expensive to be unwell in our country.

School Work

I've never liked the idea whereby schools getting the parents involved in the children's work(especially when they're at such young age). Probably becos I'm one lazy mom, heee, or perhaps I'm simply out of energy, especially after the violin practices and her artwork requests, on top of all the endless daily chores. However, it seems like such teaching style's inevitable in today's education system. Besides, it might also be due to parental pressures, school's changing to catch up Or maybe it's always been like that, just that I haven't noticed(or didn't have the chance to find out til now, :D) til my girl's in K1 now...

Last Friday, she came home with the 1st weekly homework and this week's no exception(we've been informed that it'll be a weekly routine):

This(above) homework, as one can see, is easy and so far, I need not spend too much time guiding her, merely pronouncing the words for each item and she fills in the blank herself. However, I can't say the same for the new 'project' that form part of the Home Learning Link :

I've made my selection - #1('cos I thought it might be fun for her), the minute I read the note but secretly dread the idea of hving to guide her on the 'illustration' part.

We're given 2 weeks to hang this 'project' up but since Papa's home, I thought he might be able to help out on the drawing part whilst I take care of the 'action' area. However, as expected, I was left to tackle all the tasks all by myself and in the end, Renee didn't really get to fully enjoy the complete process(from point to point) 'cos I have to take 'time off' from the cooking, to guide her on the drawing, haiz... Is this effective? I can't say but I believe she'd surely enjoy it more if we're not doing it for a strict purpose(we've done similar stuffs before which involved her participation more...). Actually, we could have done the drawing after the cooking process's completed but we have her violin practice to tackle before we go out, so I have no choice but to adhere to her wanting to complete the drawing concurrently. Anyway, it's almost done, phew...

ABRSM Grade I

We finally resumed Renee's violin lesson today and I quickly reminded Ms Mok to bring the 'result slip'/certificate over(just in case 'cos I don't wish to wait further, heee) - ya, she's offered to come over again as her brother's not free to look after her dog, :).

From her practices, I... in fact, even her teachers, have thought that she'd get the highest marks on the 3rd piece but the results surprised me :

1st piece - 24 /30

2nd piece - 27/30

3rd piece - 25/30

This part of the examiner's markings helped us understand the grading system better(now we know why Ms Tan said that she's very very close to a D) :

"High Merit"

The Certification

Artwork Display

She simply loves to do artwork and this time, she did them by herself 'cos she can't wait for me to be free to do them with her, heee...

A 'New' Buddy

Some of you might remember reading that since Renee's fall, her classmates had been giving her stickers...and in return, she decided to give them hers too.

However, she's brought the whole booklet to school for a few days straight and 1 day, she came back telling that a girl, named 'C' has been taking away her 'nicer' stickers and when she finally told her to choose other stickers instead, the girl wasn't happy and didn't want to befriend her anymore...

End last week, she told me that her friend 'N' didn't want to befriend her as well 'cos of 'C' was kinda like N's close friend in class. Being a soft-hearted girl, she still phoned N up but that girl didn't want to pick up despite her mom telling her who the caller was(Renee heard it over the phone). Renee was upset, naturally and my heart went to her... Yesterday, she approached N again at school but the latter ignored her, awww... In such situation, I have no choice but told her to just let her friends be, besides, she's got another nice friend M whom she's been pretty close to recently.

She gave M our home number but as I've predicted, she doesn't know how to make a phone call and thus, Renee hadn't got a call from her til now, lolz. However, when Renee asked her about it the next day, she said she'll get someone to teach her, :). Today, M gave her a drawing and she was sooo excited that she wanted to embark on a drawing of her own immediately when she got home, to give in return, :).

M's

Renee's, for her friend

Results on Renee's Violin ABRSM Exam

For more than a month now, Renee hasn't had any violin lesson since her grading exam and I hadn't been able to contact her teacher (whom was supposedly to be back from her honeymoon yesterday) today - 'invalid number' indicated, huh?...

During the week whilst we were at my FIL's wake, I still managed to communicate with her via sms-es and she had informed me that although Renee had not got a Distinction as they've expected, she's graded Merit, :).

The week after, since Renee's had the fall and as her wedding's very near, I told her that we might just as well resume the lessons upon her return. She then suggested Tuesday, which is today, but when I reminded her that our lessons are always on Wednesdays, she didn't reply... However, before her suggestion, she'd told me that Renee's got a score of 126(without any further explanation) but when I offered to go pick the certification from her, she said that she'd only be back home late literally every night and offered to pass it to us instead, via our letterbox - which, didn't happen, haiz...

After trying to contact her(phoned even her home, sms-ed) in vain but needing to find out what's happening, I was left with no choice but to contact Ms Tan(the piano accompaniment), to check if Ms Mok has contacted/arranged with her any lessons this week. Sadly, Ms Tan replied that she's only in contact with her during exam period but she asked after Renee. I briefly informed her of Renee's fall + her results and she was sooo nice to help us understand better - here's part of her message : "Merit is the second best level. But she is very very close to a distinction.........". Boy, aren't we supposed to be getting such explanation from her teacher? All the while, I've been wondering what does the score represent? If only I could have got hold of the cert earlier, then we might have known(or even guessed) how her score stands against the total, haiz('cos Ms Mok did mention before, that there will be remarks on the result slip/certifcation).

Anyway, I hope the teacher would at least call me tomorrow about her lesson(s) 'cos now I really wish to get hold of the cert ASAP!

The Face Wash

Hoping to guide Renee on the concept of 'breath holding'/'breathing via the mouth' when swimming(or whenever one's face come into contact with water for the matter), I've been guiding her to wash her face under running water, using the shower head.

She hadn't been receptive to this til recently and today(the 2nd time we've successfully tried this style of face-washing), she told me that she'd like to wash her face herself - I would normally place the shower head onto a holder placed lower for this purpose. She has already been looking rather comical whenever we do the face splashes but this, was a total cheer! lolz. I couldn't help laughing til I was 'sound-less' and the way she asked "what's so funny?" was, hahaha... Classic.

*Wish I could take a video of this but she's much older now, hmmm...

Artwork(Drawing) Display

It hadn't really occurred to me to put these drawings up here til PX made a little 'hooha' about it when she chanced upon this(e 1st pic) and now I'm just wondering if any of you could also see what she saw, heee...

Mei Mei So Cute!

Renee used to prefer older children as they could play with her and the younger ones tend to snatch stuffs from her, :D. But lately, she seemed to have taken a liking to younger kids and I've been 'attacked' by her rather frequent(lesser now, *phew*) requests for a sibling for a couple of years now.

Recently, she's been telling me about how her classmates not 'allowing' her to sayang their younger sister/cousin at school but although this situation had taken a change for the better recently, she still daren't 'do much', lolz.

One example, just today after school, she told me this on our way to the mall, "mommy, I gave 2 stickers to Hamton's meimei today. Her eyes are soooo cute(giggling away herself) and I almost tell Hamgon if I can have her, heee. I want to squeeze her but I dare not, she's sooo cute".

Artwork(Drawing) Display

I like the way she draws the apples, heee. This is her version, I've taught her the common style which we normally would draw, which starts from a 'heart shape'?... But I find this better, :). I asked her what happened to the style I've shown her last time and she said "ok, last one I'll draw heart shape apple", hahaha

Good Friday Long Weekend

I've forgotten about this Good Friday holiday until I tried to book an appointment with the PD's clinic for that day, to remove Renee's stitches. With that day being unavailable, I tried the following day, which was however, not allowed as it's the day after a public holiday, huh, what kinda policy is that?

Friday

Hubby had came home(at 4am!) with a lucky draw(from e dinner) winning of S$600 Takashimaya shopping vouchers and though he'd wanted to share it with the clients whom had invited him to the tournament, they had declined and so, he thought it would be polite to use them to buy them each a golf tee - which I also felt it's right/fair, :). And since he wouldn't need all of the vouchers, he sent us to Orchard road for our little shopping escapade, hahaha but guess where he'd gone to himself? - Back to the Casino! Geez, he had made a little winnings when he was there last week but he'd returned abit back to them yesterday. I've cautioned him about being addictive but he said he's merely going back there today as the entry pass' still valid til 10pm, well... Anyway, when he finally came to meet us at Swensons @Ion Orchard, he claimed to have just break-even(no loss, no wins for the day) which I hope was true, :).

Enjoying her pre-dinner snack, :)

First it's hands shaking, then it's 'candy time'! :D

Met her cousin Yu and managed to take this pic with her :)

Her dinner

Saturday

Although most of us had gone to bed late last night(esp me, at 2:30am), we still woke up early as we'd been told by the PD's clinic that for walk-ins, we'd need to be there before 10am to register. We've reached the clinic at around 9:30am but as we're expected to wait for 5-6 hours, we decided to just proceed to the GP's after we've gone for our breakfast and got our stuffs from Daiso. It's a good thing that our preferred doctor's on duty at that hour.

Renee didn't allow the doctor to remove the stitches but after we've assured her that it would be more ticklish than of pain, she relaxed. It seemed like the wound hadn't heal as fast(the wound bled a little when the doc tried to clean the scap off) and the doc advised us to just put on the plaster when going to school but remove it at all times when at home(we had continued with the plaster when she goes to bed 'cos she feared of touching it by accident whilst sleeping).

*luckily we've gone back to the GP's 'cos then we had the chance to get another copy of the doc's referral letter which the KKH's doc had misplaced - see!

We had quite forgotten about our que at the PD's and they called me when we were picking Renee up from her art class. Geez, if we've not changed our mind, it would have indeed been a 5-6 hours wait! They really should change their inflexible system to allowing people to fix appointment via the telephone(esp. for those whom are already on their records) rather than insisting that we go down to register for nothing and waste everyone's time.

Sunday

Today, after hubby's came back from his golf game and had taken his nap, we headed back to Takashimaya again and finally bought the backpack which Renee had her eye on, on Friday, :). The value of money is really getting smaller and smaller - we've only got hold of a few household items(inexpensive ones) and we've already used up close to half the vouchers...