All About Your Child

I cannot find a word to describe how glad I am that this day is FINALLY OVER!
It was a roller coaster day for me…largely on the emotional side.

1st Roller Coaster

Allan [shaking me]: “Wake Up! Its 6.47am already! How come we didn’t hear the alarm ring?!”
Me: “HUH?!” Sprung Out of Bed like a tightly compressed spring get released suddenly.
Ran to the kids room, shook them and yelled: “Wake Up Children! Wake Up! We are going to be late for school! It already 6.47am!!!”

Every school day, I would need to spend 20-25mins just to wake them up.
So my day usually begins at 6am.
They get into the bathroom at around 6.25am for morning shower, have their cup of milk, sit on the sofa staring into the air and wait for the clock to strike 6.55am; the time when we are supposed to leave the house.

Today, with just 8mins, instead of the usual 45mins of morning routine, I was so fearful that they could not get out of their zombie-self fast enough and both would end up late for school. Remember one of my blogpost in Year 2008 , “It Took 7 Months – The Finale“, whereby I talked about Kitkit needing to bathe every morning because of his sinus? I was thinking: “There is NO TIME for a shower now! How?! He is going to be miserable in school with that sensitive nose, for the entire 6 hours!”

To my surprise, though with lots of murmuring and grumbling, they got out of bed in less than 10 SECONDS!!!!
Me: “Don’t bathe today. There is no time for bath. Just change into the uniform.”
Binbin: “Tsk!” but did as instructed.
Kitkit: “I want to bathe.”
Me: “Can! Unless you are super fast!”
Kitkit: “Ok!”
Seriously, I did not even bother to check if he had washed himself well or not, ‘cos he came out of the bathroom in less than 3 mins!
He usually takes twice that time to bathe!
*jaws dropped*

There was no time for milk either.
So they went to school with an empty stomach today.

The traffic at my place is HORRIBLE after 7.05am
Thus it is a MUST to leave the house latest by 7am to avoid being caught in a jam that hardly moves.
If we leave later than that, the kids will be like walking on tight rope. They will either be on the dot when they reach school, provided they hop out of the car and dash to the attendance-taking-finger-print machine; or they will be late….. DEFINITELY!

We left the house at 7.02am.
*scream*
I am unsure if it happened when I jumped out of bed (Literally) and hurt myself accidentally or was it because of over-stress; I had a terrible nerve-pulling pain on the left side of my neck; starting from the back of my left ear.
When I was in the car, the pain extended to my left back and waist, all the way down to my hips.
*Ouch!*
With a medicated patch stuck onto the left of my neck, it still hurts as I type this down now.

So much tension building up, I needed to relax and was grateful that the Surprisingly good traffic condition actually helped me to ease a little of it.
The kids were NOT late for school!
Yeah!
*clap clap clap*

==========

2nd Roller Coaster

I was too exhausted emotionally after that mad rush in the morning.
With the added physical pain on my left side, that does not seem to fully disappear, I was dead-beat!
Allan: “Go sleep. I will open the door for the contractor later. Go! Go rest!”
Yes, we needed to change the hinge of our toilet door because of corrosion. The contractor suspects that it could have been due to the acid wash too, just like what had happened to my windows. Read this post for details “Progress of New House – Update 7”
The contractor said that he will be at my house between 11am to 1pm.
Since hubby gave me the green light to snooze, I snuggled into Kitkit’s bed and was in dreamland in seconds. I did not want to sleep in my own room because the contractor will be changing the hinge of my room’s toilet door as well; and. it would be very unsightly if I happen to be drooling while snoozing. *laugh*

At around 11.20am:
Allan: “Wake Up! Wake Up! Binbin’s teacher called and said that he is having a fever and need to be brought home.”
Me (still in a daze): “Huuuuhhhh???? Orh. Ok, you go.”
Allan: “So when the contractor comes, you’ll need to open the door for them.”
Me (not out of the daze yet): “Huuuuhhhh??? Ok…..Ok.”

I sat on the sofa, still attempting to call my soul to return from dreamland.
“Why do I have to be woken in such a way TWICE in a day!” I thought to myself.
*sigh*

At the same time, I was worried about Binbin.
He was still fine when we left home in a hurry this morning.
Was it too stressful this morning that it burnt his brain, causing fever?
*shrugged*
I sat and waited patiently…

Allan and Binbin arrived before the contractor.
He was his usual self. Chipping and Chirping away.
In disbelief, I told Binbin to take his temperature again.
It was 36+ degrees celsius!
Normal human temperature!!!

But when his classmate tested for him in school, she said it was 37+ degrees celsius.
HHhhmmmm…..
Anyhow, fever or not, the teacher still insists that Binbin goes home because he was sniffing away and could not concentrate in class.

Oh well!
False alarm!

*eyes rolled*

======

3rd Roller Coaster

Kitkit came home after school with a (in my opinion) RIDICULOUS ENGLISH homework!
He needs to complete 2 different puzzles.
One of them needs to use cut-out-shapes to form a ‘bird’.
The other needs to cut out 30 pieces of jigsaw puzzle and reveal the hidden message.

Hello!!!!!????
How can this be an English Homework???!!
Which part of the paper has an alphabet on it?!
This looked more like a kill-time activity.

Me: “Kit, who gave this work?”
Kitkit: “My English teacher, during English lesson.”

SERIOUSLY?!?!
*eyes rolled*

When Kitkit was young, Allan and I noticed that his motor skills are not on par with his peers. I think I did mention this issue a couple of times in my blog before too. He has coordination issue when he needs to move his fingers, hands and legs. Thus, knowing that this is something that he is born with, and not due to his fault, I agreed to help him cut out the 30 pieces of jigsaw puzzles, while he cut out the shapes to solve the bird puzzle.

Knowing that this will take a long time for him to complete, I volunteered to solve the 30-piece jigsaw puzzle for him too. Seriously, I think its just NOT RIGHT to give such a homework when the next day is not a weekend or school holiday. This will eat up the time he needs for other written homework. In fact, I was a little fuming inside already.

This was his task:~

And this was mine:~

He tried fixing the ‘bird’ a few times and gave up.
Then he saw that I had already formed the frame of the jigsaw puzzle, he got excited, leaned on me and started shaking his body to the humming of his current favourite song “Somebody That I Used To Know“

“Kitkit, go do your task. We agreed that you do that and I’ll do this.”
I said once.
I said Twice.
I said THRICE!

“Enough! You do both ON YOUR OWN! I am not going to help you already! This is YOUR HOMEWORK, I was being nice to agree to help you with one of the task, but you are taking me for granted. Nah! (I stood up) Do it yourself!” I snapped.

Being someone who always like to take the easier way, he began pasting the frame (which I made) onto his workbook without checking the details. But with a push of the workbook, the frame was messed up!
*Super Scream*
My Effort! Totally Wasted!!!!

He remembered that the ‘starfish’ was at the bottom right when I roughly-pieced (NOT stick) the frame together on the table; and he started pasting it on the bottom right corner of the given space in his workbook. He used that corner as a starting point to form the rest of the frame but it was all wrong! It did not fit into the given space in the workbook! Simply because the frame was a rectangle. There are short sides and there are long sides.

Being himself at his best, a NOT meticulous person, he went ahead to paste without paying attention to details! He pasted the short side of the puzzle onto the long side of the given space in the workbook. *slap forehead*

I did not want to keep breathing down his neck with endless scolding, so after telling him where was the mistake, I walked away to get some fresh air and cool myself down.

Piece by piece, he tore it out of the workbook and re-pasted.
This time, he pasted the longer side of the puzzle onto the longer side of the given space in his workbook.
But its still wrong!

MY-OH-MY!!!!

I can feel the HEAT IN ME RISING TO MY EARS!
Me: “KITKIT!!!!! You completed the frame only. But do you know which is the top or the bottom when you do not even have the center part done yet?!?!”
Kitkit: “But just now I saw that your ‘starfish’ was at the right bottom.”
Me: “I fixed the frame first so that it is easier for me to find the center pieces, but I do not know which corner will the ‘starfish’ be in until the picture is fully formed; which is why I pieced them on the table first without sticking them together!”

ONCE AGAIN!
He tore out each piece from the workbook.
This is the 2nd round of pasting and tearing.
When the paper is so thin, you can imagine how fragile they have become after going through such torture.
As a result, some were torn.
*Super eyes rolled*

As if it was not tedious enough for my 9 year old, a strong wind came and blew that frame into a mess again!
He had to RE-FIX the frame one more time!
*Super Faint*

This was how he looked after all that had happened over the past 2 hours:~

Then suddenly, as if an invisible fairy came and waved her wand over his head, he calmed himself, looked up at my red face and apologize: “Mummy, sorry that I make you so pissed.”
The soft-hearted me….melted.

“Ok! Come’On! Buck up, get it over and done with. You had spent almost 3 hours on these two puzzles already and both are not completed yet!” I cheered him on.

So piece by piece, he tried again.
This time, he grew smarter from the mistakes made earlier.
He pieced them on the table.
Sticking only a small spot of each puzzle together, so that even if its wrong, it would be easier to undo.

One at a time, he tried finding the right piece to match another.
Before he stick two pieces together, he will seek confirmation: “Mummy, this piece looks like it goes with this one, right?”

After an excruciating 3 hours, finally ONE out of Two puzzles are done!
I have no idea how did the time fly so fast!
Did I take too long to cut out the 30 pieces?
Or did Kitkit take too long to amend and re-amend his wrong doings?
Or was it the effort for him to brace himself took way too long?
Or MAYBE its just all of the above!
*sigh*

Just like what the puzzle said “HELP ME!”
Yes, I desperately need help!
My emotional roller coaster ride for ONE DAY is too much for me to handle already.
–In Shock (woke up late)
–Pain (left side of neck)
–Relieved (reached school)
–In Shock (Binbin had to come home before school ends)
–Relieved (Binbin does not have fever)
–In Disbelief (2 Puzzles for English Subject)
–At Peace (Agreed to cut the 30 pieces)
–Anger (Kitkit refused to work on HIS task)
–Temper flared (Kitkit made mistakes again and again)
–Heart Melted (Kitkit apologized)
–Relieved (Jigsaw Puzzle done)

Now, there is still the ‘bird’ yet to be formed!
Kitkit tried.
I tried.
Allan tried.
We Googled, but the solution given on the web uses different shapes from what Kitkit had.
WE were TOTALLY LOST!

We left it as incomplete work.
When all these craziness were over, it was already 6.55pm!
I am totally drained!

When my sister called at 7pm.
She thought I was sleeping when I said “Hello?” over the phone.
Yes…..I was EXHAUSTED!
Even my “Hello?” was half-dead.
*breathless*

Yesterday, I wrote a post with the title “What You See may NOT be What Your Child Sees.”
Today, I just want to close my eyes and not “See”.
*giggle*

Roller Coaster Day

“Show and Tell”, a very simple way school uses to train lower Primary School kids on their presentation skills. Kitkit done it twice in Primary One and Primary Two, and fared well. Binbin did it last year too and came back with good reviews.

This year, in Primary two, Binbin was feeling good about his “Show and Tell” , which was scheduled to be on yesterday, 26th February, Tuesday. A very simple topic “My Favourite Toy”.

But the MOST unexpected drama began on 25th February, night….

Just after his last rehearsal at about 9.45pm on 25th February, he was all ready to put his toy into his school bag when suddenly THIS HAPPENED:~

Yes!!!
The ‘star‘ of the “Show and Tell” for the next day ‘COMMITTED SUICIDE’!
*faint*

The shock, disappointment and fear on Binbin’s face almost drove me to tears. I saw how hard he practised and at the last minute, the toy ‘asked him to fly kite’!!!

*sigh*
My heart sank

His silence after a minute or so broke, “Mummy, I’ll just tell teacher that I am not ready yet, so that you can go buy another one in the afternoon and I can do it on Wednesday instead.”

He was more composed than me.
More matured than many kids I had seen of his age.

But Allan and I were not confident that we would be able to find the exact same toy as this was exchanged from the arcade more than 6 months ago.
So we told Binbin to show the teacher the broken toy and asked if the teacher would want Binbin to do the presentation without the toy or if he wants my son to change to another toy.

Binbin could not sleep that night.
He was apprehensive of what his teacher might say.

I could not bear to see him tossing and turning in bed with his eyebrows locked.
Thus, I told him that I will “do the talking” instead, through a letter. Only then, did my 7 year old closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Allan and I were anxious to hear the teacher’s response and when Binbin hopped into the car after school yesterday, we probed.
“Up to me, he said” Binbin said with a little smile on his small face.

“So we are going to the arcade to get my toy today right?” he asked happily.

We waited for another 2 hours before we set off to find, because Kitkit had to be in school for his extra lessons and he would be hopping mad if he knew that his brother went to the arcade without him.

We went to the arcade in Bugis, where we got the toy from.
No Luck!
Gone.
No more…

Then we walked across the busy street of Bugis to the 3 shops that sell party things and party gifts to try our luck.
Hope dashed!
None.

I thought, we should try the arcade at IMM, since they belong to the same company.
But the weather was against us:

Still NO sign of the toy, not even in IMM.

I do not want to waste Binbin’s effort in memorising the long script. So I decided to get the original magic cube puzzle for him. Thus, the only thing that needs to be changed on his script would be the shape and colour. All else on the script can then stay unchanged as his broken toy was very similar to the original magic cube puzzle.

Binbin agreed and we bought it.

However, just before he went to bed last time, he complained about feeling cold and hot at the same time.
Damn!
Fever attacked!

Yes, he fell sick.
I am uncertain if it was due to the bad weather while we were going here and there and everywhere to search for his ‘broken‘ toy replacement or was it anxiety that caused the performance of his immune system to drop.

This morning, he was not fit for school.
He slept until 12.30pm.
After he woke, he vomited.

In the end, two days MC.

*sigh*

A simple “Show and Tell” gone so terribly wrong…
*shake head*

A Dramatic “Show and Tell”