Category Archives: School

Parents-Teacher Meet

Ironically I felt a little anxious on the days leading to Ryan school’s parent-teacher meeting on the 24th April. I even had insomnia the night before; afterall it was my maiden parents-teacher meeting.

The time allocated for us was 9.00am. I brought Ryan along but for obvious reason he did not join the session. Sotong was tasked to entertain him while I was in the room with the teachers. The whole session took about 15 minutes only; partly because I had already been updated on Ryan’s day to day when I pick him up from school everyday. So the teachers and I were spending most of the time chit chatting on the curriculum in general rather than Ryan per se.

Overall the teachers are satisfied with Ryan’s progress in class. Initially I was a little worried Ryan may be disruptive in class knowing how active he can be at home. I was relieved of the teachers’ evaluation of Ryan being very attentive and participative in class. He knows all his colours, shapes and numbers pretty well. Ryan is also noted as a loving boy and mixes around well with all his classmates. Nothing much in particular. I was hoping to find out if Ryan has a ‘best friend’ in class but teachers feedback was he does not show any preference towards anyone in particular.

Big relief.

Ryan’s Mandarin comprehension also markedly improved. Just the other night, he surprised us when he said “???? ne?” (what else – in Mandarin) when mil asked him over skype what else he learned in class. We were stunned when he said those words. All the while he’s only been using 1 – 2 words but never converse in full Mandarin. This is definitely the first!

I signed Ryan up with a Mandarin enrichment class in May. So much has been heard about the school so I decided to give it a shot. It’s only a 1.5 hours programme, once weekly at Berries Language Centre. After 4 lessons, I must say I’m pleased with his progress. Keep it up!


During one of the activities @ Berries

Ryan is 3!

@ 36 months

This is so backdated.

Ryan turned 3 about 3 weeks ago. We organised a simple surprise party for him at the school. No other parents were allowed but my good friend Jean whose daughter is also in the same class, joined the fun. The teachers kept an eye closed. :D

Ryan was not told about the party. I wanted (at least I tried) for it to be a surprise. I guess the plan worked somehow as he was evidently stoned when he walked into the classroom upon seeing the cakes and other goodies. It was funny seeing his reaction. He tilted down his head (the paiseh look), eyes peered to where the cakes were and when he finally recollected himself, he ran straight to me. He actually asked, “mommy, what are you doing here?”. Hahaha.. so gotta.. A SURPRISE, indeed!

@ 34 months

@ 34 months 3 weeks 6 days 

Quick Updates:

- Ryan started Nursery 1 when he was 33 months.

- When I asked Ryan who is his favourite teacher, he would answer Mrs Goh without hesitation. Unfortunately Mrs Goh has moved on and no longer teaching the class. She is replaced by Ms Sng, another likeable teacher. Ryan also like Liang Laotsi but due to communication gap (Liang Laotsi teaches Mandarin in class) inevitably most of the kids are closer with the English teacher. 

- I normally pack some food for Ryan’s snack time considering his fussiness when it comes to his food intake. However, after 3 months in school, we are witnessing a great improvement in Ryan’s appetite. He is definitely more adventurous with food now than he had ever been. He is still picky at times but at least he is willing to try. I’m very pleased.

- Ryan’s concentration also improves. He is now able to do simple tracing exercise. He could use his magic pointer (index finger) to follow the outline of shapes and patterns without assistance. His favourite home activity for now is the maze activity. He could complete the exercise using his magic pointer or a color pen. I like this exercise as it’s very good for his brain training. Makes him think. LOL. There are plenty of sources on NickJunior, Cartoon Network websites.

- Ryan is also improving on his ability to join the dots. He absolutely loves this activity. Normally I would outline the dots and Ryan would complete the exercise by joining the dots I drew. We’re currently doing this on a piece of small white board. So there are a lot of drawing, erasing, drawing, erasing again and again. It’ll definitely be less repitition once I get my hands on a laminator.

- Temperament is still very good. *touch wood*. Generally Ryan’s a happy baby and always put on a smiley face which is very pleasing. ryan loves school. Something which I’m extremely thankful as it makes the whole morning wake-up rituals much more easier. At 7.15am everyday, all I need is to turn on his favourite Backyardigan show on Nickelodeon. He’ll spend the next 15 minutes drinking milk and watching his show while the parents get ready.

All said, Ryan is still very very much a mommy’s boy. Whenever Ryan misbehaves all I have to do is tell him I’m angry and show him my angry face. Most of the time, he will stop his antics. These days, I don’t have to tell him I’m angry. When I call out his name, he could tell from the expression on my face. That is enough to freak Ryan out. he would run to me and start begging for forgiveness. Fierce huh… 

- Despite his occassional misbehaviours, Ryan is always a loving baby with great affections for others. He’s very generous with hugs and kisses. Not sure if it’s a good thing. He would go around hugging and kissing his teachers and classmates. Those who are more reserved are terrified of him (account from the teachers). He’s also quite a charmer (sweet talker) especially to his mommy, that’s me *blushed*. At home, it’s a normal scene for Ryan running after me saying “mommy, I miss you a lot a lot a lot” eventhough I was just gone for a short while to the toilet or when I was lazing around in my own room. During school dismissal, he would run to me, hug me and ask ‘mommy, why you so long. I miss you‘. Ultra sweeeeettttt…. ho lum er…!!

- Ryan is very into cars eversince he watched the Disney/Pixar Cars movie. He’s not only into the Cars characters but also cars in real life. He can now name most of the cars we see on the road by looking at the logo which includes BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Audi. For BMW, he is able tell its brand by looking at the car design alone.

- Ryan is still taking Isomil (mix one scoop of Pediasure). He drinks much less milk now that he goes school in the morning. In a day, he takes about 3 – 4 feeings of 5/6 oz milk.

- He is almost potty trained and diaperless in school and at home except sleep time and during long journey outings.

- He’s no longer a fan of Ultraman. All his 20 odd Ultraman(s) and monsters are now sitting in the corner collecting dust. His current favourite is Toys Story and Disney/Pixar Cars.

All pictures taken on last day of school before term breaks, Friday, 13.03.09 (inconjunction with Mrs Goh’s farewell)


Class photo (another 2 girls were not in picture)

 


It’s obvious who is Ryan’s best friend here

 


Ryan with his arms over Verlynne, always the first person Ryan would ask for the minute we reach the school

 


Ryan and Sarah. Absolutely cute girl and I love love love her hair.

After the incident….

@ 34 months 1 week

I was really upset that day. I do not know I was feeling upset because I was embarassed, shocked, or simply could not accept the reality. It’s a puzzle, still an unsolved one, trying to understand what’s really in this kiddo’s mind.   

I went out to Ngee Ann after tucking Ryan in for his nap. A couple hours of retail therapy works wonder, I felt much better. I came home with more sane and better mood. So I sat Ryan in front of me and started my first ‘counselling’. There were many other sessions like this eversince that day to remind him not to echo his actions.

It was not easy to get a 2 year plus kid to tell you exactly what happened. It requires a lot of unconditional patience, in which, I am shamefully lacking of this positive trait in me. From our conversations (more like Q&A session), Ryan implied he was merely ‘playing‘ with his classmate. Another time he said he was merely trying to ‘sayang‘ his classmate. So I really hope he did not do what he did to hurt his classmates and his actions were simply because he could not control his level of strength well enough thus indirectly hurting them.

I did punish Ryan for what he did. No. I am not a fan of corporal punishment so lucky him, no cane, no smacking ie no pain for this fella. Instead I took away his fav toys, hid them aside and told him I’m giving them away to his friends.  The next day, I made him say sorry. I even made him hand the pressies to his friends. Ryan was visibly anxious, more like worried to me. He kept asking what’s inside the wrapper. (I have bought the toys at Ngee Ann yesterday but I told him it was his toy inside the wrapper). 

Ryan did not resist. I explained he hurt his friends so he must ‘do something‘ to say sorry. He handed the pressies readily. No resistance and to my surprise he even gave a hug to one of the classmates and said sorry, a gesture which I never requested of him. Oh-so-sweet right? But guess what. As much as I was pleased with his gesture, again, this boy of mine hugged his friend so hard causing his classmate to lost his balance and almost fell. Haiz…..

I continue my effort reminding Ryan not to touch his classmates; many many times a day. Be it during meal time, play time, story time, shower, toilet, in the car, in the school compound, I brought in various examples and scenarios to instill the morale of NO TOUCHING. It got up till the extent, I find myself so ‘ngam ngam chum chum-ing’ my boy all day. Like a wicked witch :(

So far he has not done anything as aggresive as what he did that day. I’m very sure he knows he’s not supposed to touch his friends (thanks to my nagging.. I don’t even need to complete my sentence now…. )

Whether it’s intentional or not, the fact is Ryan did hurt his classmates. Kids nowadays are much brighter. Thanks to all the omegas 3, 6, 9, DHA, AHA, what not, I noticed, paying lip service is no longer good enough to deter bad behaviour from reoccuring. So hopefully making him part with his fav toys would make him aware the real price to pay as a consequences of  misbehaviour.   

Ps: It is actually quite hard for me to swallow that Ryan has such aggresive trait in him since he is a kid that goes around telling me ‘he miss me’, ‘he loves me’ even when I was just out of his sight for 15 minutes because I was in the shower. Haiz.. anyway.. I am still keeping the fav toys supposedly given away. LOL.

   
@ Clarke Quay. The shirt Ryan was wearing is his favourite shirt. He wants to wear it everyday!

 
Sand painting at AMK Hub

 

Bullied to Bully

@ 33 months 3 weeks 5 days

For the second time this week (and today is only Wednesday) Ryan’s class teachers told me this boy of mine had been aggresive towards his friends. The first time happened on Monday. Ryan had pushed his friend down because this friend apparently used his hand to deliberately covered Ryan’s eyes repitively during story time. Apparently Ryan tried pushing his friend’s hand away several times and when all his efforts failed, Ryan decided to push his friend causing his friend to fall. Sigh…

Today I went to pick Ryan up as usual during dismissal. The teacher saw me and quickly came over to speak with me. Actually from far I know something must be amiss. I could tell from the teacher’s face. It’s just a matter of what went wrong. 

According to the teacher’s feedback Ryan had grasped his friend’s neck causing the friend to choke a little. I was stunned, flabbergasted, stoned, speechless and seriously, I thought I would faint at that minute. What??????? That’s SERIOUS!!!! The teachers said Ryan was eyeing a trainset Z (the victim) was holding. Since they only have 5 sets, the students were taught to share. When it was finally Ryan’s turn, Z had refused to let go. Some snatching ensued and subsequently one thing led to another. I’m not finding excuse but err.. I can’t stop to wonder how this could happen right under the teacher’s nose? Haiz…

Anyway, back to Ryan. All along Ryan has never demonstrated any of such violent behaviour at home eventhough we have noticed an obvious change in behaviour in him eversince the biting incident last week. Since that unlucky day he has become more short fused and obviously overly protective over his belongings but apart from these we see no other symptoms that alarmed us. I really want to ‘pengsan’ (faint) now.. :( 

Ryan can be quite possesive during play time but generally he’s quite well mannered and a shy boy all along. I’m not sure if the incident has affected him so bad emotionally that he now realised the only way to survive is to protect himself and the only way to protect his interest is to turn bully button on hin him (note: all names incl the word ‘bully’ is just a name given to protect the parties involved. It has no relation to any other incidents or 3rd parties outside this incident).  

In less than a week my boy has turned from being bullied to a bully. He’s now taking his beauty nap. I am so ready with all the bullets for punishment time later! I really want to know why the sudden change of nature in him. Wish me luck.