Least expected..

Thytus and Nixon had to prepare for an elocution activity at school.

I helped them outlined their speech, and edited based on their preference / comfort..

Since we were constrained for time.. having attended two functions in the weekend, the boys were having difficulty trying to remember the lines.. Nevertheless, they practiced hard... and I didn't let them go easily. I pestered them on every available minute to practice their lines... even on our journey for the functions!

The night before, after more practice, they managed..

When they came back from school, Thytus excited told me how his speech went.. He was proud of himself.. I felt happy and proud for him.. and at the same time, I shared his sense of accomplishment - after helping with the speech and practice *wink*

Nixon came up to me a said, "Thank you for the speech, amma." *melt*

I least expected the "thank you" but definitely loved the appreciation! And, this is not the first time he has thanked me for helping him with his school work..

Although they expressed themselves differently, I fondly felt their appreciation for my work in assisting them...

All for gold

During the last school holidays, in a bid to encourage the boys to do some work sheets, apps and I prepared three ‘piston cups’: gold, silver and bronze.

The 2011 BENS trophy

The boys wanted the gold cup each.. but we told them that the person with the most stars will get it. The stars came from completing work sheets, being helpful around the house and just ‘being nice’.

Frankly, they didn’t go all out in getting the stars.. but worked on the work sheets as they wished (couldn’t force them as I was not right beside them). Nevertheless, they earned some stars by sharing with each other, helping me with the house work, etc..

D-day arrived.

At the end of the holidays, we counted the stars.. and guess who got the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place?

Thytus, the champion
(hmmm, as says his blog!)

Nixon and Aaron who got the 2nd and 3rd respectively were not happy.. and didn’t want to accept the silver and bronze ‘piston cup’. On the other hand, since they didn’t want it, Thytus was happy to receive it all!

Cheeky boy bagging all of the cups!

No quite relenting, Nixon still took his silver cup, but Aaron didn’t. Both of them have promised to try for the gold cup the next time.

I’m impressed!

He has followed me to send his brothes to school since he was 1. He did express interest to go to school when he was 3 years old, but since both Thytus and Nixon didn’t stay in school more than two days at the same age, we decided that he should just stay home and enjoy his childhood, and send him when he is 4, just like his brothers.

Today, after waiting for a long long time.. the day has arrived, finally!

Both Thytus and Nixon had either their cousins or each other to accompany them to school, but Aaron is all alone. Despite the fact that he is unaccompanied, he portrays a distinctive sense of independence.

He didn’t need me to walk him to his class.
He didn’t need me to find him a seat.
He didn’t need me to be with him when he played in the playground before the bell rang.
He didn’t need me to stay with him in class (even when ¾ of his friends were wailing!)

What impressed me more is that he was able to get on the van after school, all by himself. I didn’t even show him who is the van driver.. which means he followed the teacher’s instructions and safely returned home without any qualms.

The first thing he asked when he got home is his ‘susu’ :) He usually drinks susu as often as he can think off.. and being in school has forced him to let off his at least 1 or 2 of his ‘susu’ sessions.

I was actually afraid that he might be shaken off being surrounded by wailing children.. but he proved me that he was not disturbed. I am proud of you my baby!

Let's get spooky!

In conjunction with Halloween Day on 31st October 2010, the kindergarten children are encouraged to come dressed in their Halloween costumes or bright coloured clothes on Monday, 1st November 2010.

I asked my son, "What do you want to wear for Halloween?"
"I want to wear the skeleton suit!" he answered.

Hmmm, a skeleton suit? No, no! The other KG kids might run off seeing him in a skeleton suit!

I think I will have to source out for a more suitable Halloween costume for him to wear to school.

I’ll always be there

I casually asked Thytus.. “This Friday is ur sports day. Are parents supposed to come?”

“Parents wanna come also can come.. Parents don’t wanna come also can don’t come” he said.. and continued, “But I want you to come!”

Boys featured in the local papers

Thytus and Nixon, together with their taatha, were featured in the Star last week. It was a write-up on the Turn Off the TV Week campaign at their kindergarten organized by the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations .

A capture of the article from the Star dated May 7, 2010...

Kindy’s no TV week campaign brings positive results

RETIREE Vincent Anthony found it increasingly difficult to lessen the frequency of his grandchildren watching television until their kindergarten embarked on a “no-television week” campaign.

The 62-year-old said his grandchildren Thytus Benjamin, six, and Nixon, five, who lived with him during the week, watched about four hours of television a day.

“After the Turn Off the TV Week campaign from April 21 to 27, I managed to cut the time by an hour. They took it as the rule of law and tried to follow it except for their favourite shows,” he said.

Play more: Retiree Vincent Anthony and his grandsons Thytus Benjamin, 6, and Nixon, 5.

Thytus said he went to the playground a lot and read story books while his brother Nixon added that he did a lot of drawing, colouring and practised playing guitar with his brother.

“I missed watching TV but I enjoyed playing the guitar,” Nixon said.

Read the whole article at The Star : Kindy’s no TV week campaign brings positive results.

Read another article on the campaign in the Malay Mail : FOMCA's 'No TV Week' Campaign gets positive results.

What happened to my baby?!

He was so excited to go to school, but for the past few weeks, he doesn’t want to go to school.

This all started when a boy hit him on the back. He said it was because he wanted to see his pencil and he didn’t let. So they boy hit him on the back. From that day, he was scared to go to school. That I understand.

But, he is still crying even after few weeks. Now when we ask him why he cries, he says..

You leave me, that’s why I cry.

I scared of that boy.

The teacher takes to long to finish the school.

He holds on to me real tight when I am in the school compound and start crying when it is time for me to leave. He grabs on to me even tighter. Recently, the only way out for me is to pull him to his teacher and she will hold on to him so that I can leave. I asked them whether he continues to cry for a long time after that or not, they said no. He is okay after some time.

I just have to give him some time for him to settle down and hope that he will get back to his normal self.

It means so much to him

On one of the first weeks of school, I arrived at his kindy just when the bell rang and I got Thytus to line up. Soon, I called out to him to say goodbye, but he didn’t hear me. I guessed he was listening to his teacher and didn’t hear me call out to him. So, I told SIL and left. Next day, SIL told me that Thytus asked for me and started tearing when she told him that I had to leave. Hmmm...

Then, on another day, I had to rush because my car was blocking another car. Since he was already playing with his cousin in the playground, I thought it was alright for me to leave. Again, when the bell rang, he asked SIL where am I. On knowing that I had left without saying goodbye, tears filled his eyes.

I didn’t know that it meant so much to Thytus for me to say goodbye properly when I leave him at school. Now that I know, I never fail for bid him goodbye with a “kiss” :)

Short term excitement

While I was waiting to fetch Champion after school on the 1st day, I went back to in-laws place to have my breakfast. Guess who was excitedly waiting for me to bring him to school.. lil’ President! All dressed up including his socks and shoes, wheeling his bag around (we had prepared a school bag for him as well, complete with stationeries and some books).

As a consolation, I brought him to fetch his brother. While waiting, he played in the playground in the school grounds. Then he comes to me and says, “I want to write on the table like anna. I want to sit in the class..”

We thought he would forget about it, but we were wrong. The next day, when he got up same time as his brother (about 7 a.m.), he insisted that he wanted to wear only the school uniform. After talking him out of it (took us some time), he wore his long pants (which is his current favourite dress code.. only longs!).

On the second week, when sending Champion, I talked to the principal and she allowed for lil’ President to try out his brother’s class. (This kindy only accepts children 4 years and above). He was so excited when he knew he was going to school, waiting at the gate when I called home to ask him to get ready.

He was still excited on the 2nd day. However, after the one day public holiday, he told us he didn’t want to go to school. Hmm, what happened?!

I guess he just wanted to have a feel of ‘going to school’ and now that he knows what anna does in school, he is satisfied. We also concluded that he didn’t like being confined to the chair for more than a few minutes. It’s just not him! :D

Psst.. he is not telling us, but I think he must have missed his thumb sucking too! ;)

Handling it better this time

Last year, when we tried sending Champion to a kindy, he didn’t want to continue going because he was afraid of the transport lady. As we didn't have much choice for transport and since he was only 3, we didn't force him.

Being a year older now, we hoped that he would handle things better this time. We enrolled him into the same kindy as his 5 year old cousin so that he would be more comfortable in that school. Apart from the little tear and initial look out for me, he adjusted quite well almost immediately. I got him another transport lady whom he is already familiar with (another lady who has sending his other cousins for the part years).

Champion is now excited to go to school. It's such a relieve.. at least there is no headache when it comes to getting him ready for school!

But as he was getting adjusted with his new school life, guess who else was excited to go to school?!