Ian's portfolio file for semester 1

The 1st semester has ended for us =) and us, 1st time parents who din know what to expect for the end of sem, we were surprised when handed over the portfolio file as we have been receiving Ian's work on a wkly basis (and we thot that was it!) anw it was quite an impressive folder (impressive in the way the observations were noted and filed for parents to view) As we won't be attending the teacher-parents-conference (yes, we gonna miss this 1st session) so the form teacher made sure we returned the file promptly so mama did capture shots of all the pages of review done on Ian

Besides, the reviews and observations, they managed to capture shots of him doing work in class (hhmm sth mama wanted v much beside his usual playtime) so he was telling mama which corner he sat and the color grp from the pic) so the file was really 'informative' hahhaa

well, generally glad Ian has picked up quite abit of skills from sch be it in socialising, sharing and playing with peers and most impt he has picked up his mandarin bits which he din quite do it when back home so was quite glad when we read that he was able to converse in mandarin and even replying in mandarin hahaha great achievement for our boy who has just gone thru a semester of sch and how he's singing the chinese songs and reading chinese books just made us wonder the power of school! Guess he had an encouraging chinese teacher who is always there telling mama to let Ian progress slowly and he will pick up gradually, guess she's the one who had the transition to going to sch an easy one for our boy coz looking at how our boy is talking abt his Wang Laoshi, guess we have to give all thanks to God who just made things go the way it went and seeing how this boy is loving school, we just wanna thank God for all the blessings! Onward we go for the 2nd semester and this sch doesn't believe in giving grading as they believe in preschool shld be a learning journey so they marked all the achievements as either 'Good' or 'Needs to improve' and guess we just need to work on areas the teacher has pointed as room for improvement and 1 is for Ian to learn his chinese name hahhaaa something we have forgotten abt it till he can't quite recognise his chinese name ooppsss

Did u know??

On such a PH, we did something which we haven't done as a family for sometime - shopping along Orchard Rd hheee n to our shock, there are so many changes to things we were so used to at e usual orchard strip

Besides the springing up of many new malls like Ion, Knightsbridge Hotel, Scape n there were buildings which we dun even know e name eg the building beside Knightsbridge hotel which used to be the hello shop.

Anw we were going Tangs to get shoes for Ian n we realized the whole 4th which used to hv kids' stuff was totally revamped into some new lifestyle stuff so no more kids stuff at Tangs (sigh!)

Then we went Taka hoping to get to Macs for lunch n the outlet with e KFC which we are so used to pass time there is also gone! Hhmm are we mountain tortoise or have we really lost touch with the world eversince we hv kid hhmm

Then mama rem there was a new macs outlet outside heeren (hhmm that memory din fail since we do pass by there quite often) n when we got there, the whole building was diff! What used to occupy e bulk of e building ie HMV was totally gone! Used to go there buy DVDs n now basement is full of eatries compared to the past when it was only on the 5th flr (if dun rem wrongly!) hhmm so much 'findings' on a shopping trip to the Orchard rd. Guess we shld do this once in a while to keep up todate to happenings there hhaaa

Ian is 4 yrs and 2 mths old!

Took some time to get these pics uploaded due to some technical fault.....anw this has been yet another eventful mth....Ian has fallen sick twice, tho we have been prep that he will fall sick upon going sch but these 2 episodes dun seem to get from sch....anw glad what used to be long drawn episode of fever turned out quite short ones this time....for a boy who is hardly down with fever, we had 2 rounds of it this mth well the 1st was really short, just half a day (after a dose of fever med he was up on his feet again) but that day we went for the Wave pool and all at Jurong pool, wonder if the water and pizza lunch caused it....anw the 2nd was almost a week later after a day of swimming in drizzle rain (which was quite chilly) at MBS and he came down with a fever which lasted a day (but he skipped sch for the 1st time coz he was down for 2 days) so we thank God for making these episodes less painful coz the last he was down with fever was a yr ago and it took almost 3 days for him to bounce back....altho this time his appetite was affected and was such a dread to feed him, guess he lost some weight due to low intake of food for a week + but he's still active and this surely made mama thank God for the boy who has never been a fussy eater and it's only this week that caused mama headache how to feed the boy who was recovering and at the same time thanking God for giving such an easy eating boy...but sure glad to send him to the sun to soak up all the energy he lost during the 2 episodes and we truly treasure good health God has granted us

Yeah this mth we brought him along for the detailed scan of baby at TMC, something we dreaded coz we know the wait there can be horrendous and whatmore bringing a toddler there but we had no choice coz our appt was 415pm and since the time daddy picked us for some errands and lunch at 12nn+ he was asking to see the baby and we kept preparing him that it was just a baby on screen coz he might be waiting to see the real one and coz of him we went there almost 45 mins earlier and with the many couples waiting there, we were a little tad too early and had to just WAIT and the boy went endlessly abt why so long...sigh anw he was finally glad to go into the scanning room and next, he kept telling the auntie he wanted a mei2 hahhaa and the lady was nice to keep telling him 'Not u want, then u can get" haahaa anw the scan turned out to be really a mei2 for him and tho he din quite get the news, we are not quite telling him in case it turns out otherwise....well alot of friends have been hoping we get a gal since we got a boy already but mama is feeling somewhat ok with whatever gender coz the prayer was really for a sibling for Ian and the prayer has long been answered with the news of the little one so we will just be contented with whatever gender so not much feelings abt it tho more prep need to be done like getting the girl's clothes and all hehhee but a gal to go shopping when she grows up does kindof make mama excited =)

This mth, we see Ian really picking up on his chinese and even written words....he will just come home and start writing some words and it really surprises us with each word he is writing...hhmm wonder if its the power of sch teaching coz mama has been trying to teach him to write but to no avail and just by observing teacher write in sch, he comes back imitating her and wala, here are the words altho the strokes abit wrong but we are so so glad it just got into him quite naturally and he's speaking more of mandarin on his own as well hhhaaa often he's doing imitating work in front of the white board of what the teacher does coz he can do clipping of books (which he got from sch that he learns to pretend reading coz we know he's just memorising them hehhee) and then calling out classmates names (yes, he rem the whole class chinese names waaaa!!!) so it's quite funny seeing how he role play and guess that's the fav pastime for him now hehhee so the whiteboard is an inspiration corner for him hahaha and whenever we are out, he will try to recognise words that he knows like 'shang, xia, yu, rou' when we get to food centre and the other day he stooped low to point a word to mama which was 'xiao xin' and it was a wet floor sign and he was recognising the word 'xiao' hahhaaa it was quite funny but guess it's time to start him recognising English words....wonder issit coz his form teacher is a chinese teacher so he's more inclined to it hhhmm but he does know his phonics for English letters but it's not kicking in as fast as chinese or maybe coz it's Chinese Kindy he's in so more emphasis with it??? Anw we are glad he's doing fine for Chinese hhhmm

Time flies, he's going for his long June break and that means missing sch for 4 weeks and wonder if he will go endlessly abt when he's going back sch but he's looking fwd to stay at po2's pl but before that we are going for a trip and he's been asking when issit coming coz its been a long awaited Aust trip and we are truly glad we could make it coz we prior booked (before the little one news come and glad it's right in the middle of our 2nd trimester which made it really possible) and this boy is sure looking fwd to more fun with animals and even touring round the place since it was 2 yrs ago since we went there and he's been asking abt taking planes and all so exciting mth ahead for him

Our 1st visit to MBS

On this labour day PH, we had the chance to visit MBS hotel room as ah baa's family has gotten a room there....hhmm the room is super spacious but seems like the place is overcrowded...nice view as we sit by the window...ah maa was so worried for the kids who loved to stand on the panel next to the glass and she was afraid of the heights....we were on 31st floor!

Then of course, what we couldn't miss was the skypark which was so much talked abt.....so here are the kids playing by the pool and it didn't look like it was drizzling with much wind...but they had so much fun we had such tough time asking them to come out of the pool, guess with water fun nothing can lure them out of it!

Daddy was the only adult taking the kids out to the big pool of coz taking turns as the rest of us think that it was too cold to go take a dip so daddy had to be 'sacrificed' hahhaaa anw it was also a fun time for the kids as they could 'hop' onto those sun beds and to enjoy the view.....guess that 1 hr we spent there seemed SO SO long as it was chilly for us adults even to sit by the pool but loads of pple were also wanting to go into the pool so wonder how its like on a sunny morning, hardly any space for one to move I guess....well it's a overly crowded hotel and super gd biz huh with their 3 towers of hotel rooms....well a gd chance for us to check out the place!

1st 'live' soccer match with daddy

Daddy has always been a soccer fan n on such a Sun nite when there is to hv a match between Liverpool n Newcastle, we adjourn for dessert aft ah maa's pl to Robertson Quay where there is large screen viewing of e match. While mama n Ian sat at Cappadocia restaurant chilling off with juice n garlic toast, daddy was watching his live soccer match. Guess Ian is of age to sit quietly while daddy enjoyed e match as we saw some ang moh couples with slings with their babies n having to pace up down to make sure their babies dun make too much noise b4 e match finishes (mama doubts she would do with the little one) but daddy could consider bringing Ian along for future matches as he can be easily entertained with food hhaaa...new idea for daddy!