All About Your Child

My dear Binbin did not cry again! *Yippee* I didn’t call my MIL today…I just don’t want to make it so obvious that I WANT TO PROVE HER WRONG! *laugh* Thank you Clement for passing me the hammer! *laugh*

Allan and my sister think its hereditary. Nope, not from Allan; ‘cos my MIL said Allan cried for 1 YEAR! (That’s so hard to believe, isn’t it? Oh well, that’s what the lady said) Anyway, they think Binbin has my ‘genes’ ~ the ‘like-to-go-school’ genes… *laugh*

I remember how excited I was when I knew that I’m going to school for the first time. I wanted my boys to have that excitement too. I remember WHY I was so excited and wanted to prepare my boys based on what I’d experienced. But because of my commitment in my retail line, I didn’t prepare my elder one for it, and he cried for the first 3 days.

I must make myself clear: I think its perfectly fine for kids to cry on first few days of school. Its understandable. Yet its preventable when the parents put in some effort BEFORE the child starts school.

I realised it only too late. I couldn’t help my Keatkeat, so I put in my all for Binbin. Guessed it worked… here’s how I did it…

Its a year long preparation. Throughout 2008, I make sure that I brought Binbin along whenever he is woken by his whiny brother in the morning. Binbin saw what it is like to GO to school. What to expect, things like: parents were not allowed to go in with the child; the door will be closed; the windows would be locked. I gave him the MENTAL preparation.

Next, I created chances for him to mix with other children by bringing him to the playground. For those of you who are not aware, Binbin is a ‘people-magnet’! People, be it young or old, black or white, like to approach him, stroke him, chat with him and kids often come forward to ask him to join in their games. (*sad* unlike poor Keatkeat who hardly get such attention) Hence, the SOCIABILITY / ADAPTABILITY preparation.

Finally, whenever Keatkeat brought home an artwork from school or a party-goodies bag because of his classmate’s birthday, Binbin’s eyes were always filled with envy. Or when Keatkeat went for an excursion, Binbin would often say with jealousy, “Aaaawwww…. So Good! And I can’t go!” My response often act as a reminder, “Binbin, when you start school next year, you’ll have all these too and even more. So do you want to go school?” “YES!!!” was always the reply. When a kid is frequently reminded of the ‘goodness‘ of something, their emotion towards it will be positive. And that’s the EMOTIONAL preparation.

To prepare a 2-3 year old kid for something this big needs a much longer time. I would say, I paid extra attention over last year to prepare him for the big day (yesterday)… I’m glad my effort paid off. *hooray*

Today is the 12th day of Christmas eh? So we decided to ‘bring down’ the tree.

Binbin is just as thrilled to keep the tree as putting it up after coming back from his first day at school.

My little Rooster boy DID NOT CRY!!!! *Yippee*

In order for the nursery students to get used to school life, they will only be there for an hour this week.

Thereafter, it will be 3hours every day. Yeah!

I’m not sure if its a Cantonese tradition or its just my MIL. Every child or grandchild of hers will receive these as well wishes when they step into preschool life. Here are the meanings of each individual item:-

“Sung Choi” (Raw Vegetables) — “Sung Sung Mung Mung” (Active)

“Kan Choi” (I don’t know the English Name *slap forehead* Vege on the left) — “Kan Kan Lek Lek” (Hardworking)

“Cong” (Scallion) — “Cong Cong Meng Meng” (Intelligent)

The raw vegetables are placed in the red packet while ANOTHER red packet contains money as a gift to the kid.

So from now onwards, its gonna be these 2 lovables going to school together.

Binbin was super eager to go to school, even though he had to wake up at 7am, 2-3hours earlier than usual.

Keatkeat, as usual, played his ‘dilly-dally‘ games.

When we reached the school, Keatkeat had no problem joining the queue to get his mouth and hands checked. Ever since the Hand Foot Mouth Disease, the school had to take these measures even though there isn’t any HFMD students.

Out of 10+ kids in Binbin’s class, 3 were sobbing quietly and another 2 were yelling at the top of their voices.

I’m soooooooooooooo proud of my boy! He was rather shaken up by the louder 2, but he controlled himself really well.

I went in with him to get him distracted with a toy or two, before I could give him a kiss and say “See You Later”.

First thing we did after the one hour was giving my MIL a call. ‘Cos everyone in the Loh family is expecting him to make a big hoo-haa on the first day, just like every other kid in the family.

Hey Hey, finally there is one who broke the ‘curse‘!

*sigh* But my MIL reply was, “Hey, don’t be too sure! First day didn’t cry, doesn’t mean the next few days will not cry….”

*Urrrrgggghhhhh* Anyone has a hammer to spare?!!! *Eyes rolled*