Ethan's PTM

We went to LSK this afternoon for Ethan's parents-teacher-meeting with Mrs Quek and Chai Lou Shi.. Generally the feedback from Mrs Quek wasn't too positive - E was too quiet in class, doesn't like to participate and weak in tracing.. but he takes instructions well, understands his numbers and alphabets and can do the first sounds.. Chai Lou Shi's feedback on the other hand is more encouraging - she mentioned that she saw E's true self as she was in charge of the school bus saying that he's very happy interacting with the children on the bus, and bubbly.. but tends to be quiet in the class as she believes that Ethan is being respectful to teachers but on the shy side. She said that E does his work well this term and enjoys music lessons alot. She also noticed that he also does his work fast so he could go to the books corner and read the story books by himself while waiting for the others to finish the work.

2 variations of how quiet behaviour in school were communicated to us. As a parent myself, obviously the chinese teacher's testimonial give me alot of comfort.

At home, Ethan like to do coloring... today, he took out his McQueen book and started to doodle..

Mummy's birthday

It is one of the rare years that I actually went to work on my birthday.. since I have started out work recently in the new organisation, it wasn't too nice for me to take a full day leave given that it's our closing period. The few days before my birthday in office was really tough, probably because of the fact that I had applied for a half day leave to take a break off from work, so alot of the work were being targeted to finish the night before.

Ah lou took me to watch the Harry Potter finale movie as we had followed through the 6 (or 7) series since it started. I was expecting the finale to be darker and creepier but it turned out to be rather enjoyable and easier to decipher (as compared to the earlier parts).

We went back home to pick up the kids in the evening after the movie and ah lou sent all of us to the airport for dinner..it was a good choice cos the town will remind me of work and the crowds might be too many for us to have a quiet and peaceful meal.

We wanted to have dinner at TCC but found out that Mummy's fav seafood pasta is not available in the menu as this outlet can't do heavy cooking due to the structural constraint in the airport. (so we walked away after taking this picture to Coffee Club)


So we decided to settle in at Coffee Club. Both Caden and Ethan were quickly and comfortably settled and started to flip through the menu and place their orders for the night. It was easy for us, since the boys now have a mind of their own and like to decide what to eat these days.




as usual, Ethan doesn't give a proper smile when it comes to taking a picture with me (or ah lou)



PaPa had his fill when he finished up whatever leftovers Mummy and the kids had graciously offered..


The birthday cake size seems to shrink significant by years as I aged.. we only had a mini-cake cos we were all 90 over percent full and Mummy wanted to save the rest of the space in the tummy to savour their coffee..

Caden was quick enough to possess that chocolate chip that came with the mango cake..


As usual, the boys are treated with some time on iphones as we continue to enjoy the meal with our coffees..


To add icing on the cake, the greatest joy on my birthday was knowing Caden has successfully got enrolled into our school of choice!

Caden's gift

Caden surprised me today when I got back home from work at 9pm. He ran out from his bedroom and passed me a birthday card that was made by him. The drawings were lovely as he drew a family portrait of 4 of us and his handwriting was amazingly neat and beautiful. A priceless birthday gift from my boy..

Enrichment update

After enrolling Caden and Ethan into Berries (finally), we realised that we have officially sank into a stage where we got Caden signed up in practically almost everything (english, maths, chinese and music).. and we were thinking of signing Ethan up on the same programme as the brother (english and maths) by the time he starts K1 next year. I think Caden has reached a stage where he could pick up and learnt new things fairly quickly, not sure which enrichment programme has helped but probably a combination of them stimulates his left/right brain. As we signed more of these classes for Caden, I am also gradually trying to be less stringent in his daily homework routine so he gets some time off in play on weekdays, plus outdoor activity on weekends.

We will drop Caden out from the abacus class by end of this year, so the funds can be channelled to Ethan's enrichment pool when we start him next year.. and depends on his passion for piano, if it dies down by end of the year, we may also stop Caden on music lessons after he sits for his Grade 1 exam..

Berries - Part II

We have decided to sign Ethan up at Berries this week, which obviously require us to coax him throughout the day to prep him up for the lesson in the evening. I have also gotten Caden into a trial class on the same time slot as well but Caden was quite resistant in attending the class. He told us that he may not understand what the teacher will teach, and he will not be able to understand his classmates since the conversation will be in Mandarin. I was alarmed when Caden said that and felt that we should have more urgency to get Caden started on Chinese asap before he start hating it when he goes to Primary 1.

It turned out that Ethan had enjoyed his second class session more, and he didn't cry out during the lesson. After the trial lesson was over, Caden actually came running out of the classroom and asked us to continue him on the lessons! We were quite surprised with his reactions and agreed to continue him on the class along with Ethan.. Although the timing of the lesson will be restrictive to our Saturday plans going forward, but putting both of them in the same centre at the same time can help them to look out for each other better..

And probably, their enthusiastic and motivational teachers played a part in keeping the boys interested. After lesson 2, Ethan can read a few of the chinese words and Caden can recite the hanyu pinyin using a birthday song rythem!