Bryan – Standard 1

How time flies…My little boy has to register for Standard 1 already. And the registration opens on Monday. For me, choosing the school is very easy.

1. As close as possible to our house. I never had to sit Bas Sekolah when I was in school. My dad always fetch me to & from school. So I want to be able to fetch my kids at least one way, to or from school. Bryan will most probably be attending the before school care, so I will have to arrange transport from the day care to his primary school. But in the evening, we want to send him home ourselves so that he can get home as early as possible, have dinner, do homework and then rest, play, sleep….

2. Location compared to his day care. If the school is too far from the day care, I may not be able to find transport. Besides, Dylan will still be in day care when Bryan starts primary 1. So I have to consider the route for picking & sending both of them.

3. Ultimately, I registered for the school that is less than 10 mins away from our home and 2 mins drive from their day care.

We took a short tour of the school when we registered this morning.

What I like?
1. The school is not directly ON the main road. It is facing the main road, but there is another smaller road separating it from the main road. That small road is closed except during the pick up/ drop off time. So it is safer to drop & pick up the kids.

2. There was a nice security malay lady around when I was there. Coincidentally, the afternoon session kids were starting to arrive when we were there. She supervised the dropping off of the kids to make sure that they go into the school safely. One little girl was crying as she walked in as today is the first day of school after the long weekend. She consoled the little girl and wiped tears from her eyes. How sweet….. OK la.. I know the lady will not be around when my boy join but it is a nice, warm sight for me as a mother.

3. My husband’s colleague has a kid in this school. Upper primary. He said that this school has a lot of extra-curricular activities (martial arts, 24 drum troupe, etc). Good. I would like my kids to participate in extracurricular activities and being close to home means that it would be easier for us to ferry them to & from school for the activities.

4. The colleague also say that the teachers do not pressure the kids. In fact, he said that the teachers are too lenient. Well, I don’t want my kids to be pressured, so this is good to me.

5. There should not be a problem to find bas/ van sekolah back to my house IF we really need them. My neighbor’s sons go to this school and they take the school van. I personally prefer the van to the bus. Less passenger means less travelling time.

What I don’t like?
1. The school grounds is small compared to my primary school. My school used to be the British government’s headquarters during the old colonial days. So we had big rooms, courtyards, plenty of trees, greenfields..BIG everything. During primary school, my friends and I had to make plans on which field/ garden/ spot to meet during recess or it will be almost impossible to find each other during recess. Too bad that it is not possible for him to go to my primary school. Cause my primary school years are filled with lots of pleasant fun memories. I wish theirs will be the same.

2. There are many classes for each standard. I heard that for 2010’s std 1, there are 9 classes. Yeah, not exactly a small school, huh?

3. I heard that there are a lot of homework.
But then, don’t all Chinese school have a lot of homework. I talked to my neighbor’s son who used to study at this school. He is now in secondary school but his 2 younger brothers are still in this school. He thinks that the homework is manageable and both his brothers are coping fine.
*I oredi delegated half the job to my husb, since I am a banana*

Overall I felt good about this school choice. This is not the most preferred school in the district. There are 2 other more “famous” schools and I am staying away from those 2.

Though I do not want my kid to be in the top/ most competitive school, I also don’t want my kid to be in a too laid-back school as their UPSR results will determine the secondary school choices. This school used to be a just a small kampong school not long ago, but it has quickly grown into an established school in our area. I guess that in a way indicates the “competitiveness” of the school management also.

Anyway, it is still 2 years later. And anything can happen within this period….

Dylan: Week 2 at school

I thought that Dylan would give the teachers a hard time at school after being absent for a week.

Fortunately, that did not happen. He was still teary when i dropped him off at school. But he calmed down soon after that. He was happy when I picked him up from school end of the day. Usually, he will still be clinging on to Ms Stella (his teacher) at the end of the day. He clings to Ms Stella all day. And though I had arrived, he would still hang on to her while I chat with his teacher. I take this as a good sign. If he is miserable at school, the first thing that he would do when i arrive is to cling to ME, not his teacher.

In fact, i have already started to get “naughty” reports of him from his teacher. It is about him starting to get bossy around the teachers – commanding them to do things for him or allowing him to do certain things. And if he doesn’t get what he wants, he would shout at the teachers.

On Friday, he achieved a new milestone. For the first time, he did not cling to Ms Stella all day. He joined his friends to play and joined his class activities.

I usually pick him up late ~ 6:30pm and most of the kids are gone by now. His teacher said that previously, he would start to cry when his friends go home. But on Friday, he waved and said “good bye” happily to his friends when they go home.

Let’s hope that things get better this coming week as the following week, he’s gonna ponteng school again….for holiday this time

Sick & sick

After a week of school, the following week.. Dylan MC already.

Actually it was nothing serious. The following week’s Monday was Deepavali holiday, and he developed a mild fever the evening before. The fever quickly subsided when we gave him PCM. We monitored his situation through Monday, and when his fever did not come back, we sent him to school on Tuesday.

However on Tuesday afternoon, he developed fever after he woke up from his afternoon nap.

Then we found that Bryan also have fever. And that night itself, Dylan vomited.

So both of them MC on Wednesday. I was very very busy last week and could not take time off from work. Luckily hubb was able to take time off and took the boys to their PD on Wednesday morning.

At the PD’s clinic (11am), Dylan no longer had fever though his last dose was at 530am. Bryan on the other hand, started to shiver right in front of the PD. When checked, his temperature was 39++. PD immediately gave him Voltaren Suppository. But PD wasn’t really concerned. He said it was normal to shiver during fever. Shiver is the body’s way to protect the internal organs by drawing and concentrating the heat inside. So his limbs will feel cold, and shiver will help to bring the overall temp higher so that heat can be dispersed to outer limbs.

I later Googled and found that shiver is the side effect of the body’s action to fight & kill infection through increase of body temperature.

PD was instead more concerned with Dylan as he is smaller, and he has had fever for a couple of days.

He told hubb to monitor Dylan’s situation and to watch out for dengue signs. He told hubb not to give the PCM unless there is fever. But he found out that Dylan had throat ulcers and prescribed some antibiotics for him.

But the PD did not find anything wrong with Bryan. So we were just asked to give him PCM if there is fever and just monitor his situation. He also prescribed some Voltaren supp just in case PCM did not work.

We had recently changed to a new PD which is much closer to our home. I kinda liked him as he is very calm, attentive, patient and gave detailed explanations to all our questions, and when I am at the clinic..I do have a lot of questions for him. The first time we consulted him, I think we spent 30+ minutes in his clinic. Husb said I very “cheong hei” (long winded) and that’s why I like him…cos he is also equally “cheong hei”!

Anyway, Dylan’s fever never came back but the antibiotics resulted in diarrhea and bloatedness.

Bryan’s fever on the other hand, went on a “roller coaster” ride. His fever came down after the Voltaren supp, but at 3pm++, came back very high again. My mother gave him PCM, but it did not work. So I told mom to gave him Voltaren supp again.

Bryan was shivering and claims that he was very cold. I called my mother constantly to get updates about him. I was very guilty for not being able to go home to him as I was rushing a package for an important teleconference meeting that night. But I know that my mom is taking good care of him.

Anyway, hubb and I discussed that if the Voltaren didn’t work, we would rush him straight to the hospital. Thankfully, it worked after 30 mins, and Bryan fell asleep not long after that.

He got better after the 2nd shivering episode. His fever came under control and by the next day it was gone.

Though both their fever is cleared, we decided to keep both of them at home the rest of the week so that they can get a better rest.

Bryan went back to school on Monday but Dylan only went on Tuesday. We kept him another day as he continued to suffer from gas & mild diarrhea due to the antibiotics.

Finally after a week of absence from school, Dylan goes back to school.

Will update in next post how it went…

Dylan at school – Day 3

He’s smarter already. He knew that I am going to leave him and goes off. So he clung to me and refused to let go. The teacher had to carry him away from me. He did whine but teacher updated me later that he settled down very fast.

Progress of the day

• Drank 6 Oz of milk 2 times *WOW*
• Still eats very well, eats everything the teacher gives him
• Starts to make friends.
• The teacher took short video recordings of him playing at school and sent it to my mailbox. Occasionally I can see a few of the bigger girls running over to him, hug, kisses his cheeks and then run off playing again. ***
• Teacher updated me that he seldom cry now..occasionally may whine when his fav teacher walks away. But no serious crying.
• Again, he seems happy when I picked him up from school. His teacher was carrying him, and he was contented to let his teacher carry him eventhough I had arrive. => a sure sign that he is very comfortable with his teacher.

*** Bryan came home complaining that so & so cannot sayang Dylan. Only him & Wei Xuan can sayang Dylan. Looks like the big bro is being very possessive of Dylan…LOL

However, he was super tired. Bryan has dancing class from 7-8pm and my dear friend helped to send him to class. So we picked Dylan up and proceeded to dinner. I ordered fish porridge for Dylan, and almost for the first time…he actually squealed with delight when the food is served. He clapped his hands and said “YAY!!!”

He was excited to see the food and was anxious to eat it. He finished a small bowl and some fried tofu.

Then we went home. It was about 7pm only and initially we were planning to make a stop at the bakery to pick up some breads. But he started crying and asking for nen-nen. He cried non-stop and was screaming at the top of his voice.

So we drove straight home. I took him straight to his room to give him his bath and prepare him for bed. But he refused to bath and instead run straight to his bed saying, “Suei chiau” (sleep).

My poor baby was so tired. (teacher updated us that he only slept 1 hour + in the afternoon, then he woke his gege up and start playing dee). Hubb “forcefully” gave him his bath…(so sticky from playing at school) while I take a super quick shower.

Then I bf him and he goes straight to bed at 7:30pm!

He has never gone to bed this early. I guess all those playing at school really wears him out.

So I guess, I will have to pick him up as early as possible, feed him and get him to bed early everyday…

Dylan at school – Day 2

We had expected that Dylan will give me trouble sending him to school on Tuesday. Hubb had to leave for work early has left before the kids wake up. So it is just me to settle both kids.

However, both of them woke up happily. Dylan did not want to drink any formula milk, but had some organic brown rice crackers & bread instead. We left the house after Bryan finished his milk.

In the car both kids were very happy to mess up my car. Their latest favourite game…tearing up tissue paper and throwing it everywhere. I have to hide the box of tissues now or else Dylan will ask and ask for tissue papers.

When we arrived, as usual, Bryan will carry his bag and walk into the school alone. I drop Dylan at the gate and ask him to go after gege…and he did. He walked in together with gege…I quickly cabut when he walks in. He did turn back to look at me and his face cringe when he saw that I was leaving. But Ms Stella quickly picked him up and distract him.

Updates by his teachers later on

• He only whined for a while but has quickly settled.
• 10:00am: Ate a slice of bread with butter & jam
• 12:00nn: Finished a bowl of porride
• 1:00pm: Finished 4 Oz of milk – spoon fed by Ms Stella
• 1:30pm: sleep
• 3:30pm:wake up..laze around in bed
• 4:00pm: Finished 6 Oz of milk => 4 Oz by the bottle, remaining 2 Oz mixed with cornflakes & spoon fed.

Progress of the day

• Eats everything the teachers offers him. I have told the teachers that he is a very difficult eater, so they offer him variety of snacks throughout the day. No signs of being a picky eater at school.
• He no longer sticks to his gege. Yesterday, he joined the 4 year old class because he cannot bear to be apart from Gege
• He starts to join his own class activities.
• At home, he finished a big bowl of porridge too…then snacks on dragon fruit & apple slices.

Was very cranky as we were going home in the car. Cried & cried & cried…before he fell asleep. I think he was too tired. My poor baby.

Dylan’s first day at school

• 9:10am: Reached playschool. Dylan was excited to finally be able to go into the school that ge-ge goes to everyday. Dylan played with the slide outside the school as soon as he arrives. However, as it was about to rain, we got him into the school building.

• 9:15am: Dylan proceeded to grab a chair & play with the toys on the table. Hubb & I leave the school as Dylan was not paying any attention to us at all.

• 10:45am: Received call from teacher to update us on Dylan’s progress. He did start to cry when he realized that we were missing, but he calmed down when he sees his gege. He has to sit next to his gege during breakfast break and he ate 3 Marie biscuits + 4 love letters. (which is a lot for him as he normally don’t eat so much food at one go)

• 12:40pm: Received another update call from teacher. Dylan finished his whole bowl of rice without any problems. He ate as much food as his ge-ge. He wants to be with his gege all the time, including in the toilet. LOL. When Bryan went to the toilet, the teacher asked him to wait outside the door…*Cry* Cannot be apart from the gege. Appears sleepy already by this time. So I told the teacher to give him his bath ASAP and let him go to rest.

All the kids will be given milk at 1:30pm but since Dylan ate so much rice at noon, it is ok if he doesn’t want his milk anymore.

• 1:50pm: Dylan is asleep already. He finished 2.5Oz of the 3 Oz milk that I prepared for him before going to sleep. The teachers spoon fed him the first 2 sips, but he finished the rest from the cup by himself. The other 0.5Oz, he spilled it. . Again, insists on sleeping next to his gege with his gege facing him.

• 4:30pm: Receives an update SMS from his teacher. Dylan woke up and finished 3Oz of milk via bottle. The teacher mixed the remaining 1 Oz with some cornflakes and spoonfed him.

So in all..he finished 6.5Oz of milk + healthy serving of rice + snacks at school => which is a lot more that what he normally eat at home.

Teacher warned me that he may still be full when we take him home later.

• 5:00pm: Arrive at school to pick him up. We saw him playing with his friends at the school compound. I thought he’ll cry when he saw us. His face cringe a bit, then he ran inside the school, instead of to us. (????)

Apparently, he had ran inside the school to get his gege, who was practicing his concert song inside the school.

Dylan seems happy to continue playing, and running around with his gege & friends, while I continued to chat with the teachers. He did not even ask me or hubb to carry him.
Seems like he was really ok at school.

I chatted for about 5-10 mins with the teachers, then took the boys back to my parent’s house for dinner.

6:30pm: I was preparing porridge dinner for the boys. Dylan climbed onto his feeding chair with a pen & paper. He starts to scribble on the paper, and I start to feed him. He finished his serving of porridge in no time. As he was eating so happily, I scooped some of Bryan’s porridge into his bowl and continued to feed him. He continued to eat & eat When he finished that too, I scooped more of Bryan’s porridge into his bowl, and fed him some more. He finished that too quickly, without any problems. I would have scooped more porridge for him, but hubb told me to stop. Dylan has already eaten double of what he normally eats, and hubb is afraid that he may overeat.

Both my parents are so happy to see Dylan eating so well at dinner and seem undisturbed by his 1st day experience at school. In fact, he seemed so happy.

When we asked him later, “you want to go to school again.” He said, “Yau, yau, yau…!”

Looks like he is really adapting well to school. And I think it is all thanks to Bryan.

Dylan: Getting ready for school

(Leaving in a jet plane tune)
“All his bags are packed,
He is ready to go,
He’ll be standing soon..outside the door,
I hate to see him go & say goodbye…”

Normally, hubb is the one that pack Bryan’s school bag at night as I will normally tuck the boys to bed.

But since today will be Dylan’s first day at school, i had started to pack his bag on Sunday afternoon – Making sure that he has everything he needs. I tagged all his belonging with his name sticker, and wrote his name on his towel.

He’ll be spending the full day there, so I also prepared the pillow & bolster that he had used at my mother’s place to take to the school. I think it will be much better for him to use familiar stuff than everything at the school.

We dropped him off this morning with Bryan. He was very excited to enter the school and eyes the playground equipment immediately. It was his first time at this school but we can tell that he likes it immediately.

All the kids come out to welcome us….They are usually very excited whenever there are visitors around.

As it was about to rain, the teachers ushered them back into the school. Dylan proceeds to the toys that they have placed on the table. He grabbed a chair and made himself comfortable, not even paying attention to us.

Bryan on the other hand, had gone upstairs to his 4 year old classroom.

Just as the teacher was about to start a new activity with them – flash card story time I think… husb and i leaves the school.

I think we were there for only 5 mins…

I’ll update later

Spelling tests

It’s tough to be a kid nowadays. Bryan is not even 4 yet, and already got tests.

Abt 2 weeks ago, when I picked him up on Friday, his teacher told me that he has a spelling test on Monday and told me to do revision with him. My response was, “Need meh? He still donno meh?” Teacher replied, “If can better la…We already taught him, but donno he remember or not.”

Anyway, I did not do revision with him until Sunday night. As he was scribbling / drawing away on his doodle board, I asked him to spell those words, and he did with ease. So my job is done.

Teacher updated that he got 100% when we picked him up on Monday.

Then last week, he was absent from school for 3 days (Tues – Thurs) due to a mild fever. Then on Thurs night, when hubb was packing Bryan’s school bag, he noticed a note that there is spelling test on Fri (the next day). He told me,…cham liao..never do revision, sommo ponteng school, sure fail.

When Bryan came back from school on Fri, hubb asked him

Hubb: How was your spelling?
Bryan: Don’t ask me.
Hubb: You got how many marks?
Bryan: I said don’t ask me.

So hubb said, he must have failed since he did not want to talk about it.

But when I packed his bag yesterday night, I found his spelling results – 100%. All correct again. Good to know that he did well though we did not do any revision with him. Honestly, Bryan has a “tidak apa” attitude when it comes to school work. Mebbe because he has “tidak apa” parents. But luckily so far, he does pretty well academically, except his coloring skills which until now is still the “see also can vomit” quality.

Both hubb and I do not agree with pressuring Bryan at this age. If it was not because we had Dylan, we will probably not send him to playschool yet. He’ll probably still be spending his days at my parents house watching DVDs from morning till night. He probably still can’t write all the alphabets, let alone spell. All we want for him right now is to have fun. And he does have fun. He thinks that homework, spelling and reading are all FUN… hope it stays fun for a long time..coz he does have many many years of school to go through…