Mummy's entry - Rye Li's first school photo and report card

This is Rye Li's first formal school's picture that was taken about a month back. This was before I had her hair cut 3 inches shorter. With her long hair, it has been a tussle every morning before she goes to school for me to tie her hair. In the rush, I would simply tie and it was very obvious. :) ...Prior to this shoot, we were informed that there will a photo session that week and I made extra effort to have her looking neat. As you can tell, it wasn't that neat but her teacher noticed at went "Rye Li, you look so pretty today" and she went on to me "Usually her hair very messy hor?!". LOL!

I'm happy that this girl smiled for the camera as you can tell, many of the other kids didn't, not even the other 3 kids from the same daycare. LOL!

Anyhow, back to her hair, it is still long (for me anyway)! Our friend, did a great job my having her front sides seems longer which is why Rye Li wasn't complaining. She knows that she needs trimming for her hair in order for it to grow longer and wasn't aware that I wanted it 3 inches shorter. :)

Below was her first report card after the first semester. Cannot believe that she is good at math, must be all that counting with her head! :D

Learning how to read

I've been learning phonics at Aunty Ng's and now that I have started school, it comes in real handy. This is what I was being taught at school and I had to bring it home as homework for reading.



[Mummy's note: it has not been easy doing her school's reading at home as it definitely takes a whole lot of patience. we have a tougher time with her bahasa when we need to do her sukukata. i don't remember learning how to read in kindergarten my time other than abc's. i only remember learning how to do the sukukata when i was in standard one. so i do feel sorry when she has a tougher time with her sukukata compared to her english phonics as it is confusing to learn both reading at the same time. when i get impatient with her, i had to remind myself that she's only 4 years old]

Mummy's entry - 1st day at kindy

getting ready for school - ok, was bribed with that gummy worm in her hand

I am pleased to report that there were no dramas from my drama princess this morning. She wasn’t eager to go to school either but at least she was listening to me when I woke her up and got her ready for school [I know I make it sound as if we quarrel a lot, we do actually as she loves defying me and I have turned into a really nagging mom!].

In the middle of the night just some time after midnight, she woke up from her sleep and started coughing and then she vomited twice, all her dinner and milk out. It was strange as she wasn’t coughing badly for over a week now. I was kind of worried especially since she would be starting school in the morning. She wasn’t having any fever and I also wondered whether it was an act of hers (she knows how to pretend to be sick so that she gets away] to probably not go to school but throughout the times we were calming her down and cleaning her up, I refused to mention that I would bring her to the doctors (although in my head I know that if her condition worsens in the morning, I would probably have to). But luckily after that episode, there were no more coughing.

stop taking pictures already, can we go now?!!!!

Anyhow, as I was preparing her this morning, she passed me a crystal bracelet (the cheapo ones you can get for RM5) which she has been wearing for a couple of months now. Over the weekend, I told her that she would not be able to wear it to school and that she would have to keep it at home and probably wear it over weekends. She wasn’t too pleased about it and rejected my suggestion and after explaining to her a little more on why she couldn’t wear it to school, I didn’t pursue it after that even though she still said “I want!”. So when she passed it to me this morning, I was surprised that she gave in to me. This girl really needs a lot of reasoning and she would accept it in the end. Only hubby has the patience (most of the time) for her which was why I didn’t want hubby to take her to school just in case she starts acting up.

on the way to school

being my cheeky self - so happened i look like the tweety bird too

Before we left the house, I told her that I would drop off her mei-mei to Aunty Ng’s first and then I would bring her to school. And she replied “I want me first” and I told her if that’s the case, she will have to wait for me at the school and she seems alright with it. In the end, I had to also drop her off first as we were running late.

I brought her into her class, looking out for the other 3 kids from the daycare that will be in the same class. Found them seated together with their mommies nearby and I brought Rye Li to them. I explained to her clearly again that I am sending her mei-mei off to Aunty Ng’s and that when she finishes class, I’ll be outside waiting for her and she is to listen to her teacher. She was cool about it. Didn’t even show any signs of feeling out of place (and didn’t even react to one of her friends crying – on the way there, I asked if she’s going to cry and she said “Cannot cry, after (wards) teacher will scold!”

When I got back to the kindy after dropping the little one to the daycare, I waited outside the school’s compound and chatted with the moms of the other kids at the same daycare. I couldn’t see Rye Li as her class was upstairs and they have already locked the front door but the other moms told me she was fine after I left.

When school ended, the kids were reunited with their parents/caretakers. Rye Li was happy to see me and she was more interested in playing at the playground at the school’s compound. At first when I asked her if she likes school, she said “don’t like!” but later on she said “I like!”

I am very proud of my baby as I was really expecting her to be a cry baby on the first day of her school. Guess she loves surprising me!

Mummy’s entry – Rye Li’s going to kindy soon

I have to say, my kids being at the daycare sure has made it easier for me in terms of finding a school for them. I didn’t even have to scout for one, I just asked Aunty Ng (the daycare owner) for recommendations which she has mentioned a few and also knowing this mom at the daycare (who happened to be a blogger too), I made up my mind to send Rye Li to the same kindergarten as her kids. I didn’t even know where this kindy is located until a few weeks back. I only know that it’s near the daycare and hence, I don’t have to worry about transporting Rye Li as Aunty Ng can arrange that.

I initially wanted to start Rye Li in kindy this year but Aunty Ng said that it is not necessary since they do teach her the basic stuff at the daycare. In fact, I didn’t realize that Rye Li has homework done at the daycare until towards the end of last year when I was given a thick file of all Rye Li’s work for the year! LOL!

Rye Li learnt her ABCs, 123s, some basic reading through flashcards, writing, maths, drawing, colouring, painting, etc all at the daycare. This mom of hers is plain too lazy to teach her this. Earlier this year, out of the blue, I just tested her with “1+1?” and not expecting much from her, she immediately replied “2”. Surprised, I continued with “1+2?” and she replied “3”….so I thought she remembers them in sequence so I randomly pick any number and went “1+8?” and she replied “9” and so on.

Anyway, Rye Li will be starting kindy next month and she will be at kindy for 2 years before she starts wearing the dark blue pinafore. Since her birthday falls on 31st December, the moment she turns 6 years old, she would start standard 1. And she will definitely be the baby of the class.

And this is also a new chapter for me…can’t believe my baby has grown so big (I don’t even want to think of the day when she leaves my nest for good!) [also, I cannot believe how expensive schooling can be! sigh!]