Ian is so loving his school!

It has been 8 weeks and just another 2 weeks to go before Ian goes for his 1st term break! Well time really just went past so fast and it has been encouraging to see how the boy loves his school everyday! It's a gd thing mama could send him to sch every day and being early, we get to chat with the form teacher, Wang Laoshi and she has been giving gd feedback to mama. Guess it's gd to recall this 1st 8 weeks of our experience with the sch!

We could still rem when we met her during the orientation, she seemed abit 'cold' hahaha maybe coz she insisted in having Ian to wear socks and shoes and she told mama it was ok for us to stay in class 1st day of sch coz he is new to school as he has never been to formal sch. But on the 1st day of sch, she looked abit shocked that Ian just bid farewell to us and marched into class without us! And upon release, she gave a thumbs up for Ian's behaviour in class despite never being in school before!

Just barely 2nd week, she commented that Ian's abit shy in class and we were wondering issit coz of the language barrier.....he is not so comfy with mandarin and mama did think that it might be better to have a Eng teacher as his form teacher but oh well he shld be able to pick up.

And think it was the 4th week, Wang Laoshi then told mama Ian has gained much confidence in singing chinese songs in class and was making much improvement in class, just not speaking to her yet hahaha just nodding or shaking of head! By then, Ian was coming back singing all the chinese songs he had learnt in class and mama had to make out of some words he sang but he was in fact getting better by the day, guess that's the power of grp learning!

And just yesterday, we chatted with the Wang Laoshi and this time, she was asking if Ian really did not attend formal school before coz he's doing quite well in his coloring and writing....hhmm we have been getting his work back every week and we will go thru together and mama often commented how he could improve his coloring despite teacher giving him so many stars and in mama's heart was like 'is that really gd??' anw maybe comparatively he's doing quite fine, guess that made our day, not coz Ian was doing fine but more so we had not made a wrong choice in sending him to sch only in Nursery despite all the pple's 'nagging' of not sending him earlier but well we also went pre-sch 2 yrs rite, why now they have to go 4 yrs....anw the 1 yr he spent not going sch was gd coz now he truly yearns to go sch! haahaha and Wang Laoshi said he is talking so much more to classmates and teachers and he's even daring enough to 'perform' in class (guess it shld be just going out to sing the song!) coz he has been singing all the songs he learnt every day till it's like stuck in mama's head as well hahaaa and it's easily 10 chinese songs! only thing is he does not understand some of the meaning (hhmm mama used to be envious of kids who could recite tangshi and all but now thinking abt it, what's the use if the kid doesn't truly understand the meaning! coz my son now can do as well but we dun feel proud at all hhmm!) and coming home, it was a time to explain the phrases to him so they could be sung more meaningfully!

Just in the span of 8 weeks, we are glad we see this remarkable improvement in Ian and definitely he is loving his sch and friends as he comes back saying the happenings in sch and each encounter he has with every classmate. Even on Sat, he is asking to go sch! Guess it's the love for sch that pushes him to wake up every morning as mama's fav phrase is 'You are gonna be late if u dun wake up soon!' and he will soon try hard to pry open his eyes hahhaa and even so he's asking if he could go both morning and afternoon school....hhmm son, u have a long long way ahead, just enjoy ur school!

Yeah we started BSF again on the Valentine's Day!

Yes, we are into our 2nd yr at BSF at IBC and this yr is on the book of Isaiah....this is truly the day Ian has been waiting for as he has been asking when BSF was gonna start and he was most elated when he woke up in the morning asking mama if we were going BSF and he grinned so widely when mama said YES......he was most pleased to see some old friends like Kai-Ann and Sean as he was waving BYE to Kai Ann at the end of the class and this yr he is in the Peace class with his beloved Joy Jie2 again and there was so much fun to share coz after class we went Macs for Happy Meal with the 2 cousins and thereafter Ian went with ah mu back home to nap and had more fun after nap while mama went to bring ah gong for eye checkup

And we had dinner together at ah mu's house to 'celebrate' the love of our lives which are the kids hahaha coz the men were working (KY at Shanghai and KE still stuck at work!) well we had a gd 12 hrs (almost!) spent together and the kids were gd at communicating and playing together, guess they are really growing up huh....what an eventful V day!

Ian's 3 yrs and 11 mths old

1 more mth to the boy's BIG 4 yrs old....din feel it was such a big deal last yr when he was turning 4 but guess he's more aware and vocal now so he has been counting down since dunno how many mths ago and he knows after Jesus bday, its daddy, dayi and Seth gor2 then its HIS!!! Since we celebrated Seth's bday last Sun, he has been asking if his bday was today or tmr sigh....told him next mth but no concept of it yet and still asking but he had so much practice during dayi's bday as dayi was down so we had this walnut cake on chu yi and Ian was the one who sang the bday song, blew the candles and even cut the cake hhmm wonder issit a prelude to his bday already but he was surely VERY pleased to do it but just reminding him its just coz dayi was down else he can't do for anyone else =p

This was actually a bouquet of flowers for dayi from her friend when we went to dine our reunion dinner at Little Bali restaurant (nice ambience place for dinner at Lock Road) and this boy just took the flowers and captured this shot and we thot he looked nice hahhaa can use this pic for matchmaking hehehee guess he's really into mood to take pics these days but it can be swinging moods as we would usually ask him to take pics and he can flatly say NO or will tell u only 1 shot! That's how 'stingy' he is with his cheesy smiles!

This mth, he has learnt more games and we are glad its more interactive games like Uno(with Jiu2 and Aunty Lorr) and Monopoly(at ah maa's house when the kids are not ard) and must say we have a gd time playing with him as there are lessons to learn abt getting the concept of the game so we got Uno card games to play at home and for monopoly, we shld borrow from po2's pl soon else he has been asking for ipad coz that's where he plays with his older cousins and the ipad thingy has been on his mind that he is willing to exchange ipad for his Aust trip sigh....wonder what's the power of ipad, even he's not so keen on iphone these days....guess its a FAD and it shld pass huh, we have a ipad at hand and wonder how to introduce it to him so we are keeping it at bay for time being also

He has been most keen on lion dance coz of CNY and he had this chance on the drums at Roxy Sq hotel last wk and he couldn't wait and pound his hands on the drum and he was pleased to hear the boom sound and then he saw this man ringing bell (asking passengers to catch shuttle to airport) and his 1st instinct was Ice cream man hahaha and that uncle immediately turned to him and said that wasn't for ice-cream (jokingly) and for that daddy and mama wondered where he had this concept of bell for ice cream man coz we had never bought ice cream from ringing bell uncles (tho there are rarely such ice cream man ard now)

We have been pyscho-ing him to get rid of his milk bottle when he turns 4 and he has been bargaining it till he turns 5 hhmm wonder who will win coz the last we did agree upon Seth gor2 throws his, Ian will gonna throw his but he backed out and said he was younger so agreed upon 4yo and if so, another mth of bottle washing sigh

And these 2 weeks we see Ian being more aware of his dreams coz he can relate what he dreamt of (the other day was ah mu and mama arguing over some pram issue, another was seth gor2 taking a stick to poke him) tho the dreams are quite funny but wonder how come its more negative dreams....tho we do hear him laugh and giggle when he sleeps but he doesn't say what the dreams are abt but rather those he's more scared of when he wakes up and will tell us things like 'he's afraid of the things he sees in his eyes' and more assurances need to be given that the dreams are not real and its just some passing dreams he has in his sleep and we do hope they are not affecting his quality of sleep but he's sure a dreamer like mama coz mama also has her own bout of dreams almost every day hehhee issit in the genes??

For the boy who doesn't like to walk, it has been gd exercise for him to walk to and fro from sch and it has become easier for him as we walk daily and he doesn't complain so much abt getting hot and perspire and he doesn't request daddy to fetch him to sch tho there are still days when its so hot he will ask if daddy will swing by....anw we are enjoying the walks to sch as he talks abt what he sees and we could communicate more

Just the other day, Aunty SC came by to meet mama and then she was nice to offer to send us home, she's the 1st person (beside daddy) who came to pick Ian and when Ian peered from the stairs as he was coming down, he could recognise Aunty SC who was beside mama and gave those cheeky yet shy smile....guess he was just shy that someone whom he recognises was coming to pick him as well hhehee and he was so happy on the way home as he waved bye to his classmates, guess that was a treat ride for him =)

This chocolate lover has a soft spot for chocolate sigh.... and this CNY proved even tougher to restrict his intake of the sweet stuff or even all stuff he found this new love for Rocher and he has eaten at least 3 over the CNY period and he used to dislike it coz of the nuts on top but now he even loves nuts and all sorts of nuts, the other day he was so distracted eating peanuts and melon seeds that he gave up playing monopoly with daddy and mama well so glad CNY is ending but sure see this food lover is open to all sorts of food as he pinches on almost everything that is offered to him...sometimes ask him what is the food he dislikes, he can't quite name any except vege (but that is a must for him to take, he knows!)

He has become more choosy over his clothes as well but its easy to persuade him to wear any clothes that we think its nice coz he knows by pple praising him handsome means he looks GD! HAHHAA so he has learnt handsome is for boys (coz gim po kept saying he's handsome) and pretty is for gals hhhmm and he also loves wearing the same as daddy or mama coz chu yi he wore the same shirt as daddy and glad he doesn't complain abt the long sleeve shirt and in fact was still playing as normal with his cousins and he did ask why he doesn't wear the same as mama so on chu san we wore the same polo t-shirt and he was pleased to do that....guess he just loves identity with his parents huh

For the past mth, he had a couple of chances to wear this raincoat and he will be willing to wear them in fear of getting wet but the rain hasn't been too heavy for us to get really wet (or daddy will really swing by to send us to sch) so it was a cool walk to sch or taking bus so we won't get more wet and he's proud of his raincoat anw the rainy season shld be over soon we hope!

Yes, its quite strange for him to like flowers coz it has been some time since he declared that he doesn't like flowers but smelling the frangipani at the hotel the last mth made him change his mind and these days when he enters into lifts or malls where he loves the air freshener smells, he will tell us that he loves the smell hhmm guess he knows the refreshing smell does make him feel more cheery

Well well 1 more mth to his bday and tho we did plan for some surprise, more surprise came upon us and guess we had to do without the chalet surprise for him and he has been asking for hotel stay for his bday but guess that's too pricey for a stay and see what we could make do but till then, he will keep bugging us when his bday will be!

CNY celeb at sch - Ian's 1st celebration!

The memo came a wk ago to say that parents are allowed to join in the celebration and mama thot for a long time whether to go coz was afraid Ian might be clingy to mama but well guess just gotta go and try and to our surprise, alot of parents apparently took lve to join in the celeb and glad mama went coz it was a nice experience as it was like a mini celeb as compared to the pri schs as the kids sung endless CNY songs and the bigger kids ie the K2s danced and performed and the parents could just sit by and capture their kids on camera and video cams.

Here's Ian with his some classmates (which the names are always mentioned when he talks abt sch) the boy in red is Kievran and the one in blue is Eilden

And he is sitting down just watching the 'concert' going on and it was just fun watching them singing and in this pic, Ian is actually taking a cymbal thingy to play along for the lion dance which some of the kids were doing and he was like most pleased to be given a set by the teacher

Then it was makan time and so glad the food served weren't like titbits as cakes, sandwiches, fishballs, fruit were served and everyone was given a plate....it was quite neat to see each class to sit on the bench (this is where they have their daily tea breaks) and at the corner is Ian's friend Isabelle who he often talked abt even to our family members, it was a nice time knowing Ian's friends and knowing what kindof celebration they have in school.....till the next celebration, we will see how Ian will progress with his friends as he now can name almost every one in his class except he has yet to point out who is who for mama =) haahhaaa

Chu san...we were back at Roxy Sq hotel

Ian had his 2nd stay at Grand Mercure Roxy Sq (tho we tried persuading him to go home) anw he was happy to be back at the hotel which we stayed last mth coz he wanted to go collect flowers by the pool.....ya we went the pool twice just coz he's 'flower craze' and he was most pleased to get a whole bundle of them but he was still asking why we din bring home well they dun last so we left at the hotel room (conveniently!) and here we are at the hotel lobby taking the CNY lion dance shot (we took last mth but it wasn't so done up yet!)

Ian had his nice hotel stay with the old folks and dayi again and he loves staying over and this time he woke up later (guess the CNY period has been real tiring!) and he was having fun in the room with all the goodies!

Then Jiu2 and Aunty Lorraine and dayi's fren, Aunty Susan came along for a nice dim sum lunch at the Jia wei restaurant (supp to serve quite gd chinese food) and the lunch was yummy and we had so much fun just catching up with Jiu2 and Aunty Lorraine and Ian enjoying the food and soon we parted as it was time for Ian's nap and we were meeting church friends there afteraft, guess Ian shld b happy with all the hotel stayssss tho he's still asking when we are coming back here and he's asking for his bday hhhmm hotel stays dun come cheap, boy! Well its nice for him to just bunk in hahhaaa

Chu er....

After a tiring chu yi, we wanted to zzz in but Ian woke up real early and we made our way for bf and soon thereafter we headed a pl we wanted to go for some time but it's not open every other day, it's open only on 5 PH and so we headed there for a long walk as its a long walk into the INSTANA....yes, we were there 2 yrs back but that time Ian was walking abit but we pushed him in pram and today we made him walk in and out.....the motivation was the PLAYGROUND

Yes, he was most thrilled to be playing on the swing endlessly and by the many portable playgrounds they had to host the kids and my, there were so many foreigners kids (anw lots of pple who went in were foreigners so was kindof nice for a change)

He went from a slide and another, think he sat almost all the 'playgrounds' there and there were at least 10 of them guess he's the max age to go else will be too BIG for the butt to sit on them hahaa but there were HUGE kids ard too

After his fun, we explored the area which was really huge, we shld hv done a picnic there since the grass looked so nice to sit on (like those overseas hahaha) but well the weather din look too gd for some time and we headed into the main building which is the white building behind and we paid to see the exhibits and the rooms into the building (the place we usually see our President or PM host overseas PMs or presidents) and saw the gifts that were given to our President in the hall

It was a nice morning exploring the place as the weather wasn't too hot and it wasn't raining yet but on our way out, there were more pple streaming in and by the time we got out there the queue went to Plaza Sing there goosh if we had that queue earlier, we wouldnt have made it in coz this boy wouldn't wait so long for his playground in the 'royal' ground hahaha and seeing pple taking pics with the guard, we couldn't miss it coz they couldn't have facial expression so it was convenient to just stand beside them hahaha and Ian was amazed by the gun the guard held anw it was tight security inside and Ian kept asking how come so many police....anw it was a gd time there to teach him abt our country and it was truly an experience to be 'playing' at the grounds!

After a nice lunch at ah maa's pl again, we headed to Roxy Mercure hotel for Ian's round 2 of hotel stay and he was most glad to be back at the pool where we had our staycation last mth coz he wanted to collect the flowers and he managed to get 6 flowers for all his beloved, later on Uncle James and Uncle Daniel came and uncle James entertained Ian with all games and Ian broke the ice with them quite easily (unlike yesterday) and even revealed things abt his sch, well they all had fun and it was a nice time catching up at the hotel room....now Ian's at the hotel stay again with dayi, po2 and ah gong and do hope he can zzz in later and not wake up too early like the last hotel stay!

Gong xi Gong xi....ang bao???

This is the phase that has been on Ian's lips for past mth or wks and he did learn Gong xi in sch or even at home but wonder how thot him the *cheeky* ang bao that comes after but gd that he hasn't said to anyone during CNY and he was most happy during this festive season coz he gets so much fun and goodies to eat and best of all, the many ang baos hahahaaa ya it goes to his saving fund to go Australia again.....this yr so many pple say he has grown SO SO MUCH and he looks big and tall hhhmm wonder issit coz of his gd appetite....anw its the 3 of us wishing u all Happy New yr!

And not forgetting the boy who loves HAPPY new yr and he has been most keen on lion dance...that day we caught sight and sound of it at Clarke Quay and pestered mama to go nearer and we could almost come upclose but he realised it was too loud (else we could take pics with them coz the tourists were doing so!) and then we went Istana and he was in fact asking for lion dance as we did hear their music coming but it disappeared after some time (wonder why??) anw he has grown so much to enjoy this truly fun festive season and with much cheer and cheekiness too hahhaaa Gong Xi Gong Xi, ANG BAO???

Chu yi and dayi's bday!

Early in the morning, we went to Novotel Clarke Quay to pick up Ian as he stayed over with dayi, po2 and ah gong over chu xi and we had to change him to bai nian for the busy day ahead. Despite waking early, he was in gd spirits in wishing all the folks happy new yr and then we headed to Si-Mo's place for bai nian and he was busy there with the toys as well as the goodies and soon we headed to ah maa's place for the longest bai nian as ALOT of relatives slowly turned up at the place and Ian had lots of fun with his cousins and even those he din meet v often ie Junette and Jayla and he had so much fun that he was still smiling away with the funny things they did when we were going home

Then he had a short nap while we made our way to Gim Po and Gu Gong's house and he was totally quiet when we reached there as he was totally intimidated by the many new faces and he was warmed up eventually with the food and later with a lego set brought out and he was praised for being such a gd boy hahhaaa a total disguise huh

Anw thereaft we headed to po2 and ah gong's pl to bai nian as well as steamboat dinner and there Ian had fun with Jiu2 and Aunty Lorraine guess he is more at home with pple he is totally comfy with and the strong bond is just so evident =) guess that is the result of meeting up so so often and we truly treasure family bonds!

Though we had a mini celeb for dayi in the morning with a walnut cake, she was unwell in the morning as Ian did the blowing of candles as well as cutting and it was nice to have another cake in the nite since more were ard and she was better in celebrating this special day and so Ian had the honor to blow and cut the cake as well hahahaa as if it's his bday but he was sure pleased to do the favor as he was saying coz dayi is unwell so he had to do the honour hahhaa....do hope dayi get well soon and sure more blessings coming along for her life!

It was nice seeing Ian in same outfit as his daddy as mama got them both similar shirt for xmas present and they could wear for CNY...dun they really look ALIKE?? hahaha alot pple commented even strangers in the lift hahaha and had to make them both take a pic as we wrapped up the LONG day of chu yi's bai nian and Ian was most happy with his ang baos as well as a gift of lego from Gim Po's place as it was an old set of Uncle James toy when he was much younger and they are still being well kept and it's a pirate ship set....he had so much fun at Gim Po and Gu Gong's place as he was treated to the sweets ie ice cream, chocolate and sweets and he was even given potato chips to bring home as well as biscuits since he couldn't finish them at their place....guess Ian shld be really looking fwd to going their place again huh

Well well a truly busy day of bai nian for us today and hope we could catch some rest over the next couple of days when the schedule is more relaxed hehheee

'zhu4 xing1 nian1'.....

Ya this is the CNY song which Ian has been singing since sometime ago and coz the sch sings it almost every day and he was even surprised the song is also sung on tv and his eyes will be lighted up each time its being played and he even told us this song is both sung at sch and Sun sch hahhaa he din know the song so universal huh....anw guess going to sch such festive season makes more fun to him as he came back last wk with these 2 golden 'coins' from teacher as part of teaching the festive and same as his classmates who kept bugging their mums or grandmas to open them, Ian also kept asking to eat them but he was convinced they r melted so must keep in fridge hhhaaa

This is a 'fu' sign he made 2 sundays ago at craft and the collage looks amazing but doubt he did it by himself hahhaa coz there is this special glue to outline the 'fu' word and looks quite tough to get it real nice, perhaps he tore the small bits of paper to make the word anw he is careful the small bits dun come off and he will ask for glue to stick it back, just coz this is special (lately he has been using this word for anything he wants....coz its SPECIAL urrgghh)

And last Fri he came back with his usual homework file and it came along with such CNY stuff which I gathered he made it class coz 2nd wk of sch he came back with some red paint and he told me he was doing some painting then now we know its for the 'ji' word red plate and also the rabbit stuff anw he learnt quite abit of CNY which he nv quite did learn for past yrs and he has learnt to say 'Gong xi mama and Gong xi papa and to grandma, grandpa, uncle and auntie' hhmm the sch even teaches them to greet during CNY huh but wonder if it's in English as he has cited hahhaa nevertheless, guess with all the dosage from sch and church, he's sure looking fwd to this CNY =) and today is the LAST day of sch yeah! That means mama dun need to keep track of his zzz and waking up time hahaha its HOLIDAY yeah yeah!