missing that amazing preschool of Renzo's..

When we noticed that every night as we chat with Renzo about his day in school, he always twitters “goooooooood!” while his voice turns honey sweet at the same time, we know he’s been loving and enjoying his school, very much. 

I know we've prepared him well, he has prepared himself well, but I must say, he really has this amazing preschool that prepared him extremely well! 

I've mentioned previously that he's coping well in school and there was not a single episode of drama happened, such as losing his belongings or getting himself into trouble for any reason. Besides that, academically, he's been loving his teachers and his lessons. He has English spelling and Chinese tingxie tests on every alternate week. And it's a breeze to get him prepared in less than 10 minutes, usually he does not make any mistake on his first attempt since he's learned all those word during class. As of now, the test words are really simple, in fact way easier than those that he has done during preschool.

I have a feeling that he's also missing his preschool life. He attended a childcare friend's birthday party and it's incredible to see how excited the kids are, meeting one another again after their year end school concert since last December. At the same time, he often talks about his preschool teachers with his little brother at home, as they do know all of the teachers despite being in different classes.

And there's one night when Renzo was packing his Chinese word flashcards, I randomly asked him a few words from lesson 4-9, he was on lesson 2 at that time so initially I just wanted to test if he's paying attention during class and knows what was taught by teachers. I realized he could recognize all those words like 喝, 球, 脚踏车, etc.  I asked, "Are you sure your teacher has taught you all these words?". "Yes of course mummy, 杨老师 taught me!" Renzo chirped. And guess what, 杨老师 is his K1 and K2 Chinese teacher during preschool!

A week ago, we brought Renzo back to his childcare for an open house, it's meant for existing students and of course Renzo has the privileged to join in the fun, because his little brother is an existing student. We were rather impressed when we realized Renzo was so well received and warmly welcomed by all his ex-teachers. They showered him with countless hugs and kisses. They even displayed his artwork right outside the door although he's graduated months ago.

Well yes I know I've talked about his preschool again and again but seriously, I am glad that Rynus still has a good 3 years there, otherwise I will be the first one to suffer from withdrawal syndrome, okay I am sure I will when didi graduates in end 2018!

Renzo is 5!!

August 12, 2014, Renzo just turned 5 today...

He had a small celebration with his friends in child care center as usual, then the lovely grandparents brought him to Toy R Us to select his birthday present, and even treated him 2 big scoops of ice creams. It must be the most wonderful day for this little 5 years old kid!!

I didn't prepare anything special for Renzo. My own birthdays were spent just like any other normal day without any present or cake since young. And I believe Renzo has more than enough toys at home so there's no reason why I should buy him more, I know it's his birthday, so?!

But I made sure I was the first to hug and kiss him when he got up from bed at 610am this morning, I wished him "Happy Birthday" and told him how much I love him everyday. Renzo hugged and kissed me in return and said, "I love you Mummy, I want you to know that I love you more and I miss you everyday at child care center. Next time when you die, I'm going to miss you!!"

I looked into his eyes, with tears falling from my eyes, the past one year has been different from the year before. Renzo has grown up far too quickly, to a pretty mature toddler who doesn't have the word "tantrum" in his dictionary any more. Instead he's making conscious efforts to learn and absorb more, in order to be a better boy (that's in his own words). He made me the proudest mother, if not the coolest ever.

 

 

 

 

My wish for his birthday is that he will stay as sweet as he is today, and happy and healthy always.

Happy 5th birthday, my little man, love you more than you’ll ever truly know.

Renzo invented a new way to complete his homework faster

As I have mentioned many times in the past, I am not a fan of enrichment classes so Renzo has been attending one and only one enrichment so far - Piano.

He has a lovely piano teacher who sees him once a week for 45 minutes, he's learning the basics now and he has homework to do after each lesson, usually one page of coloring and a few pages of notes reading. I must say knowing his letters and numbers well before the age of 4 is an added advantage to him, as he could easily cope with his homework independently.

So besides some random, well indeed frequent "complaints" from his childcare teachers, about him being extremely slow in doing his school work, I think he's absorbing well in school. His teachers will update us on his progress, and let us view his school work on a monthly basis. Just some of the examples here:

But, getting him to do his homework at home, is forever a chore, not to forget he has only one type of homework to do at the moment, I can't imagine how to manage when there are more coming in the near future. Spelling being one of the many which his childcare will start in July this year. I am pretty sure many parents experience the same, pulling their hairs out to get their kids study, is nothing unheard of.

We have tried to give him monetary rewards and that's how he managed to get a few new Thomas train toys, but I don't like the moral value behind this, as if he should be rewarded for doing homework but in actual fact, it's his own responsibility and it's for his own good. And Daddy likes to time him, so you often see a digital clock counting down right in front of his face, while he's rushing to finish things up. But usually that leads him to nonstop cries and whines as he feels being pressurized, or even threatened. I personally don't like that idea either as I don't think he can deliver quality work when we set a time limit, though yes he for sure needs to get his work done in due time but that clock, just annoys me at the same time too =(

I truly think that kids are able to do well with things they are interested in, that is why we often promote the idea to foster good learning habit. Just look at the drawings from him recently, you can see he simply enjoys doing it, thus he takes his own initiative, puts in more efforts and does an awesome job!!

So I've found what I claimed the most efficient way to get him work on his homework. One night, I have some urgent things to settle for work so I told him that after shower, he has to sit down and do his piano homework, and I will work on my company laptop right besides him. That worked wonders! He managed to finish 8 pages of notes reading in one shot, whereby usually his best record is 3 pages. He even checked on me a few times and reminded me to "work hard, so I can get a better job with better pay (well nope I am not leaving my wonderful company and my boss)".

Since that night, I formed a habit to sit near him, work on my laptop or read a book while he's doing his homework. I feel that I am setting a good example by studying/working at the same time, rather than sitting down with him and bossing around.

But interestingly, he has slowly found a new and fun way, to make himself even more efficient - MULTITASKING!!

Take a look at this video, by repeating the notes of a song he learned at pianica class in his childcare center, he sets a right tempo and gets his homework done even faster!! As he repeatedly sang the notes, he wrote row by row and moved extremely fast to the end of the page till he couldn't even believe in his speed!!

So 30 pages of notes reading in 2 weeks time, of which, he finished about 6 pages during week 1, and the rest 24 pages were all done in week 2 after we figured out the above 2 ways!! Amazing isn't it??!!

Renzo loves coloring..

I always believe that kids will learn academic knowledge from school without the need of attending any enrichment classes, of course with regular coaching from parents. Other than that, they should go for another type of enrichment classes related to arts, like painting, dancing, piano, etc, or related to sports, such as swimming, taekwondo, soccer, etc, based on their own interest.
For Renzo's case, clearly, piano is not his interest as he's too young to tell us what he likes and what he wants to learn, he did mention a few times that piano is difficult but he never said he doesn't want to learn it. Unlike swimming, he's been telling us ever since he could talk (when he was about 2?), that he's scared of water and he doesn't want to learn swimming.

So, if you were to ask me, what is his true interest then?

Well he's more interested in academic stuff like reading (anything related to letters and words), maths (anything related to numbers), and science (I meant it, word like "carbon dioxide" is not something totally unheard of to him). And at the same time, he might not realize it yet but I do think he's pretty good at painting, or rather say coloring at this age.

The first time I noticed his "talent" in coloring, he was about 3 years old and he brought home a "mother's day present" for me - a basket of flowers he colored in school. His coloring work is neat and meticulous, and I especially love the choices of colors he used, I must say it's really great contrast and combination. He often mumbles "do not color out of the line" to himself, while he's busy with his artwork.

Then there's one day when I sent him to his childcare center in the morning, I noticed the coloring done by his class, his masterpiece was the first one hanging on the wall, and honestly I think he did a pretty good job.

One of his piano homework is always - coloring, and he seems to enjoy it very much as it's always the first thing he does after his class. And it's quite hilarious to notice he even added "toy cars" for his "spotted cat" to play, although he's supposed to color the given objects in the picture only. And it's through his piano homework, I found out that he knows how to use black colored pencil, apply with less strength, use minimum pencil pressure, to achieve the "light grey" shade he needs for his elephant!

And just this morning, I was amazed by his coloring done in school again! As you can see most kids did very well and some even used nicer colors or colored neater than him. But what made my jaw drop, was the colors he used for the "decorations" on the photo frame. The stars/moons on the left and right side of the photo frame, were colored in perfect symmetry. Whereas the colors he used for the circles at the top and the bottom of the photo frame, were in perfect inverse orders!!

So do I want to send him to learn drawing/coloring? Not at the moment!
I am pretty sure mummy and grandma has some sort of "talent" and "potential" to guide him along for the time being, though I do not think he needs much guidance, art is all about creativity!

"王老师scold, 王老师say naughty boy, 王老师say talk to mummy"

These were the exact words (in this post's title) Renzo told me on one of the evenings while we were having casual talk about his day in school. You can imagine how shocked and in a way, disappointed I felt while hearing this from him.

So I asked him, why? There was no answer given.

I roughly figured out that it must be due to his "not up to expectation" behavior in school. So after commenting on his communication book, I rang the school and talked to his form teacher "王老师" for a good 15 minutes over the phone. And there are basically 2 concerns raised by his 王老师.

1. Renzo is not eating well in school, basically he rejects all kinds of vegetables, and he prefers rice over noodles. Actually since last June, he started to be very picky on food and refuse to eat vegetables most of the time. We tried all sorts of methods but the only solution I have so far, is to make dumplings and mix the vegetables with meat together so he could eat without making a fuss.

2. Renzo is not concentrating in class. 王老师 said he's always in his own world while having either Chinese or English lessons. We have no idea why, and in fact last year his form teacher, Teacher Helen even commented that he is the most focused kid in class. I am not sure if it is because he doesn't understand the Chinese lessons well, and has mastered everything taught in English lessons, that's why he chose not to pay attention. But then come to think of it, recently he's been spending quite a lot of time in front of TV, yes he's obsessed with Dora, maybe that affects his attention span?

Anyway being a very (well not very actually) kiasu and kancheong mummy, I reached home after work with a Popular bag, full of new books on good behavior stories, just to realize that my dearest husband brought back a Popular bag too, haha with lots of paints and brushes, Renzo boy was sitting at the corridor with daddy, working together on coloring balloons drawn by Win on a huge workbook. Well daddy did a brilliant job keeping Renzo away from TV for the whole night!!

I texted my mother-in-law after talking to 王老师, and asked her help to discipline Renzo during dinner, guess what? She's straight away on it and even brought Renzo to eat with them at the dining table. Look at the small stool on the chair, what an invention!!

I read 王老师's comments on the communication book, and it seems that she's very concerned about me asking why she "scolded" Renzo for being naughty. I can tell that somehow teachers might feel "scared" and "stressed" when parents question them, even though we are just asking casually in a very positive tone. We better work together at home to correct Renzo's bad habits and not to trouble the teachers too often next time, haha...

Renzo is going to Pre-Nursery 2 next year

It's been almost 9 months since Renzo started going to Childcare on April 01, 2011. It was a fruitful 9 months for this little boy although we do not know much about his life in school, since he is not able to tell us much about what's going on daily at this moment. But we definitely noticed some changes in him, such as being able to feed himself, wear his clothes and shoes, sing a lot more songs in both Chinese and English and talk in full sentences, etc.

A few weeks ago, we had a "meet parents session" with his Teacher Helen from his Pre-Nursery 1 class. It's about 20 minutes talk and at the end of the session, we were given a CD which contains some highlights of Renzo's school life in powerpoint format. Teacher Helen is a super friendly, caring and sweet lady and we could easily tell how much passion and love she has towards the kids in the center, and we are truly grateful to have her as Renzo's first teacher. She gave lots of positive feedback about Renzo, telling us that our little boy is always willing to follow instructions, never bullies other classmates, has a very pleasant personality, loves singing and dancing, sleeps well and eats well, and never throws tantrums in school at all. She also commented that we parents seem to have taught Renzo a lot at home, as he knows his alphabet and numbers well, could recognize a lot of items like shapes and colors while reading his books, and being one of the most talkative kids who's able to converse in full sentence, in both Chinese and English. Well we have to definitely thank Teacher Helen as being Renzo's Chinese teacher, she had definitely motivated and encouraged Renzo to speak more often in Chinese.

Both Win and I were super proud when Teacher Helen mentioned that Renzo is very focused and patient when he is doing something. If he is reading a book, he can really sit down there and read page by page for a long time and not be distracted by other kids who are playing around. If he is playing a puzzle or block game, he always makes sure he completes the last piece of his puzzle or build up something with the blocks, so he could show the end result to the teachers happily.

The only "concern" she has to share with us is that, Renzo is still not feeling comfortable with large group of people. And she said it could be due to the fact that Renzo is the only child, and in the past he was not exposed to many strangers while he was cared by our maid alone.

Time really flies and after Christmas, Renzo will be promoted to the next level - Pre-Nursery 2 class and the good thing is, he will still be able to see his Teacher Helen during breakfast or morning assembly session. We hope maybe some of these lovely kids from Renzo's Pre-Nursery 1 class, could become his life time good friend in the future!!

HaPpY BiRThdAY Renzo Chan ~!

And so in a blink of the eye, our little hero his now 24 months old.

I can only remember so much about my second birthday but I'm pretty sure it was nothing like Renzo's. Back in those days, celebrating the birthday of a two-year-old meant gathering the relatives together, getting a giant cake usually shaped like a number "2" and a short "Happy Birthday" sing-along session. It'll usually end with mummy blowing out the candles in place of birthday kid who is either (a) confused by all the commotion (b) distracted by the sight of a tasty cake. Either way, cake cutting and sharing will start and everyone will have a generous share of a fluffy, creamy cake made deliciously by the local bakery within walking distance. Birthday kid then receives gifts from everyone and busily tears away at the wrappers. What fun it was~

Fast forward to modern day today. The general concept still remains. There is a gathering (but not with relatives), there is a cake (still in a number "2"), there is a confused birthday kid (who does more than just eye on the cake... you'll see that in a moment) and there is that bakery (but we chose Four Leaves Bakery... ^_^ ). Difference now it that instead of receiving, he'll have to give gifts...

Renzo's day started with him all dressed up for his day. During his wait for the bus, he was having a fun time digging out all 11 little gift boxes that we bought from ELM Tree that were very affordable (more on the gifts a few paragraphs later...) and then slowly putting them back into the paper bag.

Before long, the bus was here and we (Aye Aye and myself) were in a mad rush to pack everything back and hastily hopped onto the bus.

As usual, Renzo is pretty well behaved on public transport, occasionally looking out the window and when he sees a bus coming at us from the opposite direction, he'll start saying, "Oh... Double Decker Bus Number XX"... XX being the number of the bus service. Of course he doesn't always get them right (he is just two years of age afterall), but still, credits for the effort for at least recognizing the characters as numbers... ^_^

Upon entering the school compound, our happy little hero skipped to his cousin Cherry, who attends the same school (different class of course as they are grouped by age) and anxiously waiting for her to be the first person to give Renzo his birthday gift (and for records, yes, Cherry beat me to it... Renzo only received his gift after returning home from school... haha).

We went into the classroom and settled him down for his daily breakfast. Normally, all the little kids will be in their school uniform, be it the buttoned white shirt or the more comfortable yellow t-shirt, so of course I was expecting Renzo to be the outstanding one, but much to my surprise, just across him was a pretty little classmate of his who was also in her own attire and had me guessing if she shared the same birthday as Renzo...haha...

After instructing the teacher to pass the gifts (there are 3 different types, Number flashcards, Alphabet flashcards, and Fairies game in a very colorful portable metal box) to those kids who were on half day and unable to attend Renzo's birthday celebration. Fairies game is a card game played like "Snap" where cards are placed out evenly and when 2 of the same is turned over, first player to shout "Snap" wins the cards in the pile, we bought 2 boxes of this for Renzo and Cherry as they both have mastered their Numbers and Alphabets. So Alphabet Flashcards went to Renzo's best friends Haoxiang and Audrey, the rest of the class got Number Flashcards... Then I left and Renzo's adventure continues during the later parts of that afternoon.

Soon afternoon came... The plan was that I'll be the one to collect the cake from Four Leaves and then intercept Mummy Chan at the MRT station and we'll make our way down together, my Dad and Mum will make their way down there themselves via a direct bus. But as Murphy's Law states, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". Mummy Chan couldn't make it in time because work. So I went up to his school with my parents without Mummy Chan.

When I reached the compound, the teacher said that the kids were waiting for the cake and some were already asking where is the cake... haha... these little hungry things... So without further ado, we stepped into class with a not-so-surprise cake in hand. The kids were seated neatly with Renzo and special guest Cherry (special guest because to the other kids, Cherry is the big sister from a senior class) on a separate table.

Before the setting up of the cake was done, Mummy Chan arrived and the celebrations began. Renzo couldn't sit still with the cake just in front of him. At every opportunity, he would reach out and poke at the cream and then stick his little finger into his little mouth to taste the heavenly strawberry shortcake (you'll see it in the video below).

With singing and cake eating. I must say the cake was a nice one a 20cm * 30cm "Duckie Cake" from Four Leaves that proved more than what a class of 10 two-year-olds can finish.



And so we left the school with Renzo, receiving thanks from the cake-stuffed kids and teachers waiting to share their experience with their parents... and waiting for the next birthday celebration in school...=P

1st week of extended Childcare for Renzo

Today marks the 1st week of us putting Renzo into extended childcare. Meaning he wakes up in the morning cranky, gets pacified by nibbling at a slice of bread or playing with his animal blocks, change and set off for the childcare center at about 8am. And from there on, peace and serenity at home until we pick him up again later in the day at about 4pm to 4:30pm or whenever the teachers deem appropriate (e.g crying out loud because it is 'late' and we haven't gone to pick him up). Previously it was only till about 12:00pm when we pick him up... so yeah, that is pretty much the new routine that we are set to have trial running over the next few weeks (months even) to see if Renzo can get used to it.

Anyway, day one was good. According to the teachers, he slept well but when he woke up and didn't see family members around, starting to cry for daddy and mummy. We sent aye aye to pick him up at around 4. Day two was the following Monday, and because it was over the weekends, his routine was pretty much unbroken. So on Monday itself, he instinctively knew that once he slept in the afternoon, he won't wake up to see Daddy or Mummy around him. So he rejected sleep, managing only a mere 30 minutes, resulting in us having to pick him up around 3. But since that Monday, all was well. He seemed to enjoy the routine. Perhaps it was the afternoon shower, perhaps it was the tea-break snacks. But whichever the cause, I love it when he come skipping home to the front door and cheerfully point at me and go "DADDY~". An obvious sign of good mood since the day he learned to walk and talk. There was even that one day when Renzo brought back artworks to us... ^_^

At this rate it goes, probably we will be able to place him in fullday childcare, from 8.30pm to say 5pm (if my parents are able to pick him up) or 7pm (for us to rush from work to his childcare). Poor baby, having to go to childcare for such long hours just because Daddy and Mummy have to work. Gone are the days when single income families can survive the high standard of living in Singapore. My dear Renzo, I certainly hope that this aspect have improved by the time you become a daddy.

I wish he could "love" us a bit more..

Renzo started school on April 01, 2011 and it is a half day childcare at the moment, as we still have our maid Ayeaye with us till Sept, we are not in a rush to leave him there for a full day care, and indeed because he is too young (only less than 20 months when he started), teachers at the childcare center also encourage us to let him try out half day for a few months.

How is he doing at school?
Teacher's feedback: "Pretty good, getting better, on and off cries for his auntie Ayeaye, but plays well with his friends and enjoys music & dance time to the fullest. Learning to eat on his own at the same table with other kids but very quiet and do not speak much."

Auntie Ayeaye's feedback: "Cries badly, hard to leave him there, cries even when being picked up after lunch."

Daddy's feedback: "Renzo has grown up after a few days at childcare, he is able to self-feed and became more talkative at home."

Mummy's feedback: "Super clinging to his auntie Ayeaye!"
Yes that's the only impression I got after he entered school. Indeed he's not the only one having a tough time coping with new changes, me too! Just a month ago, he was longing for my company and even told us "Auntie ayeaye go home (Myanmar) already, no more, byebye". But now, he does not even want to look into my eyes or let me touch him, all he needs and wants is just his Auntie Ayeaye. He must be thinking that mummy is so cruel to send me to school and leave me there alone, only Auntie Ayeaye can save me and bring me home..

Anyway being a very rational person, I allowed myself to feel gloomy and depressed for one day, and I have to get over it and move on with a positive mindset that Renzo will understand eventually that we are already trying out very best. And from now till Ayeaye goes back to Myanmar in Sept, I told Daddy Chan that we have to spend every possible minute of ours with Renzo, establish a healthy attachment with him and become his safe harbor.. Well we definitely thought we are since day one, but apparently Renzo's sees Ayeaye as his safe harbor, at least for now =(