Sports Day

It's Sports Day! 姐姐 is very excited with presenting a bon-bon dance with her classmates. Initially she did not want to join, but teacher encouraged us to coax her to join. She is such a quiet shy girl at school, they think it's good for her to mix around with the other children more. We think so too! Luckily after some persuasion, she agreed to participate. In the morning, she wanted me to tie her hair in plaits, and wear her favorite cupcake socks.

The children marching to their respective rows....

Ok, so here's the pictures taken when she is dancing. She look so serious and in concentration :P We asked her to smile more when she is on stage in the future...

姐姐 dancing!

弟弟 chugging along with his classmates to sing "Goyang-Goyang". He was singing away at home, but on Sports Day he didn't sing or dance :P It's his first time facing so many ppl, so this is a new experience for him. Anyway, we're proud that he was brave and didn't cry :)

姐姐 in action for her class games:

Both children tired out:

First Dental Check

We've started brushing teeth for 姐姐 when she is slightly over 2 years old. 弟弟 started earlier. He wanted to do everything that 姐姐 does including brush his teeth! However, both children have not had their teeth checked by a dentist at all. 姐姐 had repeated refused to visit a dentist with us, even though we specifically explained that doctor will just check. So when the offer of free dental checkup sponsored by Colgate came in the newspaper, we jumped at the chance to introduce the children to seeing dentist :)

We just have to fill in a form with the children's details and queue up. There were a few people in front of us. The children were very curious about what's happening. The dentist was rather surprised to see 弟弟. He said children so young do not really need to see a dentist. We told him it's a good opportunity for the children to learn about visiting dentist. Nevertheless, 弟弟 climbed on the seat and opened his mouth widely to be checked. When it's 姐姐's turn next, she was very co-operative too. Again no problem found luckily. Both children were given a pack of small toothpaste samples each. They were more excited about getting "present" than knowing they have good teeth.

At night, 弟弟 wanted to use the new sample. We tried to tell him it's not really children flavour, but he insisted. So 爸爸 let him smell and he still wanted to try. He was not against the minty feel and went through brushing as usual. We asked him, 还要用这个吗？He said, 不要了！Well, he's still more open to 'spicy' than 姐姐. She wanted her strawberry flavour toothpaste and won't try the new samples. Hahaha....

Coloring at home

Both children like to color and draw. They requested to draw this morning at home. They're munching on buns as they do their artwork. Of course at 弟弟's age, he is just doodling and playing with color, imitating 姐姐.

In Uniforms

This is the first time 弟弟 wears school uniform. We also take his photo at home in order to print for school use. It's easier than going to a studio based on experience with 姐姐for her photo shoot at 3-years-old.

The shorts is too big for 弟弟even at size S. So we had to manually sew up the waist band for him. In this difficult times, it's not practical to get smaller size ones as it is very expensive (RM35 per set). Even 姐姐 will hv to wear hers until finish PS3 :P As we have both children in the same nursery, the principal give a discount for 弟弟. Not much, but it helps!

Celebration of Learning

Today is 姐姐's school mini concert day. She has been reminding us about it as the weekend nears. She says 'Saturday九点半要到学校了! 我要爸爸，妈妈还有弟弟来看我跳舞'. She even showed me the actions she does for the dances yesterday. In the past she would not reveal anything until we see it in the concerts. I think she starts to understand we'd like to hear more details :)

The teachers call it 'Celebration of Learning'. The children will show parents what they have learnt and the learning methods via singing, dancing, recitals, skits etc. 弟弟 waiting for 姐姐's singing to start....

姐姐's class sang 'My friends' and recited Merry Monkey rhyme. Merry Monkey teaches children phonics M. Then the children read aloud in Mandarin from their school book. So cute! I'm glad her school teaching method is interactive and lively.

Then all the children sang Negaraku and the school theme songs.

After that is feasting session! Teachers prepared assorted kuih and snacks for all the children and parents. Both of them enjoyed kuih lapis and pink jelly very much!

弟弟去上学了！

This week 弟弟 starts to go to school with 姐姐. Our initial plan was totally derailed. It is quite a relief that 姐姐's school principal is OK to take him. He'd start full-day on Monday this week, and teacher will monitor how is he progressing. It's good that it's school holiday week, and he will not get too overwhelmed by classes and cope with new enviroment at the same time. Anyway we chose this school for 姐姐 because it is not so stressful and mundane type. They teach children using songs, dances and even multimedia which is quite fun. Throughout the weekend, we tell 姐姐, 你帮我们照顾弟弟，好吗？She say, 好.

On the first morning, both hubby and I send the children to school. He was pretty excited at seeing the playground and slides, and wanted to play. I carried him inside to look around, and 姐姐 already went to her class. I tried to let him see 姐姐 in class. He wanted to go to an empty class room, and looked around. He cried when teacher carried him, and he spent the first day sitting with 姐姐's class. After all it's school holidays and the children are not fully studying.

The little boy has to be there full-day until we pick him up after work. When I peered into the class, I saw him sitting in a circle with the smaller children. As soon as he saw me, he burst into tears... 姐姐 helped to get his school bag and water tumbler, and her own stuff. While on the way home, she keep telling me, 我有照顾弟弟! 我有拿水罐给他，叫他喝水！我有帮他盖被单~

After dinner when we asked 弟弟，明天可以去学校吗？He said, 可以. We ask, 可以不要哭吗? He said, 不可以，我要哭！Then he laughed. **pengsan**

Second day he still cry when see me when I pick them up. As the week goes by, sometimes he will tell us, 我无哭了！Or sometimes he will still say, 我有哭! Both he and 姐姐 became very good friends this week. 姐姐 help to make sure his comfort blanket is brought back home everyday.




Next week, classes will start. Hope he will be able to cope...

Birthday

My family got me a cookies-and-cream ice-cream cake for my birthday this year. Actually I hint and hint to my children I like cookies-and-cream but since no one had any reaction when I do that, thought no celebration since economy is not good. Surprise!





Here are the children looking funny - they purposely stuff their mouths with the cake. And honestly, 弟弟 did smile for the photo, but the camera was too slow in response to capture it, and he didn't collaborate with us for another one.

Close friends also celebrated with me, forgot to take more photos...only hv one photo of a cake which I need to get out of the cellphone. I wish everyone good health and happiness, and pick up some wealth along the year! Haha...stability is good enough - hoh?