All About Your Child

Today is the last meet-up between Keatkeat’s teachers and us. For some reason, his Chinese teacher chooses to go for her lunch instead of meeting up with us. Maybe there was not much to add on from the previous ‘negative‘ comments from her.

As for Keatkeat’s English teacher….

“Cheng Keat needs much encouragement, in all aspect. He is always in his little own world. Has problem paying attention during lesson time. Attention span is short and would choose to stand up in the middle of the lesson. He needs constant encouragement in order for him to complete his work. Gets distracted too easily and is often more interested in his friends’ work than his.

However, he is a very well-mannered boy, who look out for his friends often. Will initiate to help his friends who are in need. He is creative and always suggesting ideas. I consider him an active boy, who loves to move around, grabbing whatever that is long and start beating around as if they were drum sticks. You may want to consider enrolling him for drum classes or sports.

Yet, it is essential that he needs to put in a lot of ‘heart-work’ academically or he will have a hard time catching up when he goes to Primary School.”

Am I worried?
Not much.

I am so used to hear such comments. I know my child’s ability. Yes, I am prepared that he would fall behind during Primary School, whereby there will be even lesser one-to-one attention. But remember what happened to him when he was under Allan’s teaching? (Read here…)

Do I want history to repeat itself?
No.

I choose to go with Keatkeat’s learning speed. He learns AND remembers better when he is not under pressure.
Tried.
Tested.
Proven.

So what if he comes home with grades like 50/100?

To me, so long as he’s spirit for learning is not crashed, I am fine with it.

So long as he does not feel inferior, (IF) when he compares himself to his peers (which he had NEVER done it till this day), I am fine.

When inferiority complex kicks in, *giggle* the fighting spirit in him will do the work. Till then, I will just do what he can ‘handle‘.

A Child Learns Best when Pressure is Off His Chest.
~ Angeline Foong

Back-dated Post.
Happened on 14th November 2009, Saturday

I was asked to help out in the preparation (make-up, belting the boys…) before the performers head off to the stage.

Feels so good being with children! Its like back to the days when I was teaching in Child Care Centre. So Fun! *Grin*

(Left: Picture of me and the boy ‘B’, whom I fell in love with when I first set my eyes on him 3 years ago, when Keatkeat entered Nursery. *giggle*)

I would say it was less exciting as compared to the Full Dress Rehearsal. ‘Cos we could NOT run up to the stage and take photos or video-ed him like crazy. *giggle*

But all ‘h***’ broke loose at the grand finale. Parents started moving out of their seats. Cameras and flashes were everywhere. “Parents please sit down.” was repeated over the microphone several times. But NO ONE CARED!!! *laugh*

We joined in the rebellious majority and Allan started filming the beautiful finale.

My only regret was not being able to video Keatkeat’s EXCELLENT performance that day. After I told him the mini-changes needed, he danced SO WELL! OMG! After watching so many of his practices, his ACTUAL performance turned out to be THE BEST! Whoo-hoo!

He even WINKED at us (after he spotted us) AS HE DANCED!
Aaaawwww… isn’t he cute or what!!!?

When the whole graduation ceremony was over, he asked, “Mommy, did I do a good job? I hold my hand up until ‘hey hey hey’ then I start to jog. Is that good?”

“Its AWESOME! I am sooooooooooo proud of you!”

When we were on our way home to bathe and dress them for my niece’s birthday party. I held him up. Kissed him countless times. Spun him around. “Mommy is sooooooooooo proud of you!” And did just the same to my little ‘selected’ Nursery Boy (Binbin) too…*wink*

Physical is Memorable.
Praise your Child
not with words alone,
but With Actions too.
~ Angeline Foong

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Yesterday, Binbin‘s classmate’s parents handed these photos to me.

It was such a nice thing to do isn’t it?

Because our sons love each other’s company so much, Y.J.’s Mommy took shots of them together again during the Full Dress Rehearsal on 7th November 2009 (Left: Y.J. Right: Binbin)

Though this is NOT the first time she has taken photos of the two boys together, but this round, she did something which caught me by surprise.

She was so super nice that she even took one shot which did NOT have her own son in it. This photo alone moved me deeply. (Left: Binbin Middle: Y.Z Right: H.S.)

I was busy taking photos and videos of my two boys during the Full Dress Rehearsal, but someone else was (secretly) in love with my son, to the extend of taking photos of him as well….. Aaawww…. my heart!

She did not forget to catch a shot of their teacher too, Miss N. (Left: H.S. Middle: Y.J. Right: Binbin Back: Miss N.)

Me: “Binbin, do you like Y.J.?”

Binbin: “Of cos! He always talk to me nicely. Play with me NICELY. Not like my other friends, play so hard and make me pain.”

Me: “So is Y.J. your Best Friend?”

Binbin: “No.”

Me: *Faint*

Binbin: “Y.J. is my Best Friend AND my Favourite Friend.”

AAaaawwww………

As for Keatkeat, his Best Friend was ‘forced‘ to change every year. Pretty ironical.

First year, Nursery was a boy named R. Unfortunately, his father passed away that year and the whole family had huge adjustments to make. So R. left the school.

Second year, Kindergarten 1 was a Malay boy named A. *Sigh* As if its a curse, his family was struck with a major financial crisis, the parents could not afford to put him in this school anymore. So A. left too.

This year, Kindergarten 2, last year in Preschool is a tall boy named K.Y. Their relationship was so close that K.Y. was extremely pissed with Keatkeat for not telling him that 2nd November was his birthday.

K.Y. came and complained to me when I brought the cake down to the school for mini-birthday-celebration, “Auntie, Cheng Keat didn’t tell me today was his birthday. I am very angry.”

Me: “Aaawwww…. why?…”

K.Y.: “I don’t have time to make a present for him! If I know today is his birthday, I can make him a nice card yesterday and give it to him today.”

Me: “Thank you K.Y.! You can always give it to him tomorrow. Look at J.W. he is making a Birthday Card RIGHT NOW for Cheng Keat. You can make one for him now too, if you want…”

K.Y.: “No I don’t want to make one now. I have nice stickers at home. I don’t have them here. I can’t paste it on the card for Cheng Keat. *Humph*” And the angry boy walked off with folded arms…

AAaaawww…..

Kids are still kids. They fight, they make up. At the Full Dress Rehearsal, they were seen with each other like shadows as if nothing has happened… (Front: K.Y. Back: KeatKeat) *Smile*

We adults should really learn this kind of mindset from them, ya? Let the bad feelings go…

A continuation from the previous post…..

It was super funny!
Because this was the ONLY CHANCE for the parents to take a video or photos of their children (read my previous post to know why), all the parents were right at the stage, kneeling and leaning on the edge of the wooden stage just to get the best shot.

I had to make the best out of this opportunity, so for my boys, we had 3 photographers! *laugh* However because Keatkeat was right at the end, none of the videos turned out Perfect, because he was blocked by others every now and then. *faint*

When everyone thought the rehearsal had ended, the emcee said: “We have a special announcement. Children who are dancing in the following 3 performances would need to ‘stay behind’ for another round of rehearsal. The others are free to leave.” Keatkeat’s group was ONE of the 3, which needed ‘Remedial Lessons‘. *huge laugh*

What seemed like a terrible news turned out to be a Great News! Because of this, Allan got a chance to run up the stage and hid behind a curtain to get a SUPER SHOT at Keatkeat, with NO hindrance or what-so-ever. Awesome!

(The result of this video was STILL WRONG [at first], it was still ‘lying down’, until I found a ‘special’ button in Facebook. One Click and the ‘Sleeping’ Keatkeat ‘Woke Up’ straight away!!! Fantabulastic!! *giggle*)

And Below was Binbin’s Extremely Short Special Performance. He was one of the 6 pupils selected from the Nursery class for this dance at the Graduation Ceremony. (For the benefit of my first time visitors: Binbin is the one on the LEFT of the screen.)

Lots more to write. But I am exhausted now… will continue the rest with another post…. *Yawn*

Allan filmed this when Keatkeat was practising his Graduation Dance last month. (***Allan filmed the wrong way up again. *faint*) When Allan came home and showed me the video, I was surprised to see my ‘short’ boy placed at the back row.

Yesterday, I was lucky to catch him in action and I finally understood WHY.

He was dancing to his own rhythm. He was either too fast or too slow. *faint*

When I looked at him from the front, I could hardly see him, because all his other classmates were ‘half a head‘ taller. So I doubt I would be able to get a good shot at him during tomorrow’s Full Dress Rehearsal. It was the teacher’s wise choice to put my shortie Keatkeat right at the back, so that the group performance would appear more synchronized’.

Oh, anyway, parents were FORBIDDEN to take videos nor photos during the Graduation Ceremony itself! How Stu***!!! They fear that with so many parents standing up or raising their cameras, other audience would be disturbed.

The school even ‘threatened‘ that parents who disobeyed this golden rule may be asked to leave the place! *faint*

Having to pay $12/pax to go for my boys’ rehearsal and the graduation ceremony was already hair-pulling and after I saw the costume which we paid $40 for, I really felt like Sccrrreeeeeaaaammming!!! *AAaarrrggghhhhh*

I could easily find a BETTER piece at a retail price of $18!!! Mind you, I used to sell such costumes!!! *AAaaarrrrggghhhhhh* Touching the material, I can even tell you the COST of it! *AAaaarrrrggghhhhhh* And the school charged us $40 for it!!! *Aaaarrrrrggghhhhh*

*Compose**Compose*

Ok, back to his dancing….. As a dancer myself (in the past) , I would have gone crazy if I had a dance member who could not dance to the beat. But I was not pissed when it came to Keatkeat, because I KNOW my boy.

He is those hip-hop, ‘Yo-Yo’ kind of dancer. He could do Michael Jackson Moonwalk and the ‘Tip-Toe’ Billie Jean very well; even to the song ‘Nobody’ by the famous Korean Group WonderGirls, but he just could not slow down his INTERNAL beat to dance to this Graduation Dance.

Let’s see if he would surprise me tomorrow, my ONLY CHANCE (given by the school) to video my boyS. Yes, its a big ‘S’ behind the word ‘boy’… Binbin was selected to perform too, remember?….. So it would be DOUBLE EXCITEMENT for me tomorrow…. *wink*