And She Turns 8...

Ayra's birthday this year was quite different from previous years.  We decided to do away with the party this year and opted for a quiet celebration instead.  We also thought we would be able to save some money as well but we were wrong. In our attempt to compensate her for the absence of a party, we overdid it on gifts and stuff that the amount we spend was equivalent to that of actually having a party (serves us right) but that my friends, is irrelevant.  What matters most is that my girl is happy and knows that March 12 is indeed a special day as that's the anniversary of her entering our lives and giving it so much more meaning and joy.

So was she happy?  Well, she liked the presents and the cake and didn't even mind that the cake didn't come with a candle (it went missing, thanks to me).  She also enjoyed dinner (chicken rice!) and the trip to the Night Safari (Me and Roshan were pretty dissapointed though coz we were expecting more) so I guess our objective was met.

Here are a few videos/ photos to give you an idea of how her birthday went.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/SJ58DBraOYs

http://www.youtube.com/embed/9gzYD5Aq1wM

Here's the adorable little Ryan passing his gifts to his beloved "Kakak".  Such a sweet gesture.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/soiym7-Bu80"

Yup, that pretty much sums up Ayra's birthday.  Next year, we'll have the whole over the top celebrations again. 

And where was our Fuddin amidst all this?

Uhuh.  Busy with his IPad.

He's sick now so he's rather grumpy and not very good company so I'm refraining from taking his photo.  Will post about the litlle munchkin soon.  For now, back to work!

Talking About My Girl

Yes, I have no lessons today.  It's supposed to be every Thursday but there's a timetable swop so this week, today's my free day.  I mean, I'm not really free as there's always tons to do but at least I get to clear some stuff as I have no lessons to go to... and I get to (finally) blog!  Tommorrow is a killer day though but let's not talk about that now, shall we?

Anyway, I went to meet Ayra's teachers on Monday.  As usual, her very sweet and easy going form teacher, Miss Elan, was full of praises for my girl.  She's now a group leader.  On the whole, I am encouraged.  Keep going, Baby. Ibu and Abah are proud of you.

Her language teacher, however, was not as nice.  She was overly stern (with me?!) and gave me a very disapproving look when I told her that we are a mainly English speaking family.  I told her that Ayra does speak Malay with her grandparents and we do make an effort to read Malay books and do assessments exercises.  I mean, the girl is trying her best and she did get highest for her mini Malay test (19/20) so what is the problem here?  I don't want to dwell on this as I don't want to come across as a typical defensive parent but I think I have a point of contention here.

Anyway, here's her Term 1 results.  We are on our way to getting a Band 1 for all her subjects again, no?  Well, I'll do my darnest to make sure of that :)



 Her birthday is coming up on Saturday.  We have everything planned.  We're going to the Night Safari!   I actually feel quite excited about that (yes, pretty pathetic I know).  I can't believe she's already 8 years old.  It only seems like yesterday that she was still an infant, crying her lungs out whenever she was put down and not cuddled to sleep!  Haha.  Those were tiring days.

Now, she's not as spoilt.  She's still very "manja" (affectionate) and demands kisses and hugs ever so often.  She still tries to worm her way into our bed every other night.  She still insists that we "talk talk" for at least 10 minutes before bedtime.  In other words, she's still  very much a baby; our baby and she will always remain so.

She's also slowly but surely becoming a better elder sis. She doesn't scream as much at Fuddin and during her English show and tell, she brought a photo of Fuddin to class and told everyone about how her brother is a special child and that she loves him very much.  There was a time when I thought she would never understand his condition but now, after talking to her about it and getting her to read books on autism, she seems to have accepted the fact that her brother is indeed different but nonetheless just as or even more special than most other children.

Here's a video of her engaging Fuddin in their all time favorite catching game.

"http://www.youtube.com/embed/KnfBEnrV7Rk"

Cute huh?

Anyway, if you are reading this Ayra, Ibu wants to tell you that "I LOVE YOU" and that Ibu owes you a hundred million kisses!  Muacks!  Happy 8th Birthday, Baby!

Busy,Busy,Busy!

Yup, I am pretty BUSY!  There's so many things to do; at home and at work.  Even as I type, I'm feeling guilty as I should be doing my work instead of blogging but hey, I need to stay sane, right?

Oh dear, I think I may not have the time to blog today after all.  I've got to do this another time.  In the meantime, if you're reading this, do visit the blog I set up for the Year 2 students of NUS High.  It's a creative writing blog and their first assignment was to twist a fairy tale!  Well, the kids got right into it and I'm proud to say, the creativity was aplenty!  The blog is on my blog list so do drop by.

Ok, Mdm A has to get back to work as she has to send attend her daughter's meet the parent session later today and what not.  Will be back with a vengeance.

See ya!

My (not so little anymore) Baby Boy

It's really weird.  I still call my 46kg almost 6 yrs old boy "Baby". Yup.  At times, when I need Ayra's help to get me his towel, I will say "Ayra, can you help me get Baby's towel?"  Then, on one occasion, Ayra proceeded to point out to me that he's not a baby anymore.  My instant reply?  "I know that but he'll always be my baby boy; just like you will always be my baby girl."  Hehe.  So politically correct, right?  Well, I figured if grown adults can call each other "Baby", why can't I call my still young child "Baby"?  Furthermore, he still smells like a baby (when he's not sweating like a pig).  He's also really innocent; just like a baby.

Anyway, here are 2 videos of my precious baby in class.  We were invited to observe him in class.  The second we walked in, he sensed that something different was going on and became rather unsettled.  Also, silly me had forgotten to zip my bag up and he saw the I-Pad!!!  He became rather disoriented after that and it came to the point that An and I had to leave the classroom so that he could resume his daily schedule.  Nevertheless, I'm glad I managed to record these 2 videos early on in the visit, when he was not so distracted.

"http://www.youtube.com/embed/9zABDOVKfA0"

 "http://www.youtube.com/embed/L99M02SYegQ"

Also, I'm happy to say that Fuddin has lost weight.  His tummy is not as hard and big as it used to be.  The cutting down of snack has really helped (I can't help it though.  I'm a chochoholic).  I'm thinking that if we stick to the plan, he can lose quite a bit by year end.  Anyway, we're working towards that. 

On a different note, I'm swamped with WORK! School and Housework.  I'm also really tired.  Like really.  Weekends, unbelievably, can even be more hectic than the weekdays for me.  Oh well, Life's Like That.  We mere mortals can and will complain.  We complain aout cleaning our houses when there are people with no houses to clean!  Blah blah blah.

Adios.  Till the next post, think positive.

I know sometimes it's gonna rain./But baby, can we make up now?/Coz I can't sleep through the pain

Fuddin @ the Science Centre

We decided to bring Fuddin to the Science Centre last Sunday.  Ayra was attending Math tuition so she couldn't tag along.  In any case, Fuddin was a happy little trooper and was all smiles; especially when he saw the Macdonalds there.  He proceeded to drag us into Macs.  You see, my baby has been put on a no snack diet eversince the recent visit to the dietician.  Anyway, I'll save that story for another day. 

To make a long story short, after eating his McNuggets, we were ready to go.  I bought the ticket (did they raise the price or something?) but then, Fuddin decided he didn't want to go in so what ensued was of course, the coaxing and what not.  Two minutes later, we were in.  This was his reaction.

"http://www.youtube.com/embed/CLLWTl2enyE

Cute, huh?  He didn't really knew where to go as there were so many things to touch and see!  If you notice us following his every step, well that's normal.  You see, Fuddin, despite his size, is pretty fast and we're terrified of losing sight of him.  We try not to get in his way as we do want to encourage him to explore and be confident about moving around independently (without hand holding) but we're parents after all.  His father says we should ease up more but with Fuddin, we cannot really tell what will happen next or what his reaction will be in any given situation.  Expect the unexpected.  Thus, my reluctance in "letting go".

Anyway, here he is, exploring the "Space" section.  He was pretty excited and touched whatever he could.  We couldn't stop to view or play with the exhibits though as he was always moving!  Haha!  We didn't mind though as it seemed like he was having a pretty good time.

"http://www.youtube.com/embed/c0FlNwEEHzE

About an hour and a half later, we left.  The sun was scorching outside and Fuddin squinted and tried to block the sun out of his eyes all the way to the car.  Trust my Fuddin to be such a "puteri lilin" which is a Malay phrase describing someone who can't stand the heat from the unrelentless sun.

Anyway, An and I have vowed to bring him out to an interesting place at least once a week.  I know how kids like him need exposure to the outside world.  We need to stimulate his senses and get him used to the idea of being out and about.  Only then, will he feel less afraid everytime he steps out of the house and into less familiar territories.

We're going to his school there to observe him in class later this morning.  I wonder if he'll act up or proceed as usual when he sees us.  We've been getting some complaints from Teacher Charlene as to his non compliance when it comes to sitting with the others during CircleTime group Activity and such.  Hmm, we'll see.

Alright, I've got to go.  I have to clear some work and do what I can before I go off at 10am.  After that, I may catch a movie with An :)

"We have to realize that we are as deeply afraid to live and to love as we are to die."

A New Beginning... No?

Yeah.  It feels like it.  It's been such a long time since I last blogged.  My writing skills have gone to waste.  I think Facebook has a lot to do with it.  I've become an expert at coming up with controversial, eye catching one liners; at the expense of really writing.  So, I've done the unexpected.  I'm giving up Facebook for real.  I forsee withdrawal symptom (Uh-huh) but I'm a tough cookie.  I mean, do you REALLY think I have more than 900 real friends?  If you ask me to narrow the list, I think only 50 or so will make the final cut.  So there.  I will close this chapter and embrace the new (or is it old?) me who looks forward to putting my thoughts and opinions down in proper paragraphs!  I will ELABORATE on whatever I want to talk about and I will use GRAMATICALLY CORRECT English, and not acronyms like rofl, lol, wtf :).  I will also not shorten the spelling of my words like I did in Facebook.  I will also not succumb to Singlish.  I will however, not give up on some of my favorite not-so-polite words which I will not elaborate on here.  I mean, yes I'm an English teacher at a prestigious independent school in Singapore but HELL, I'm also human.  It's bad enough I can't be myself in class, I reckon I sure as hell have the right to be so here. 

But wait, then there's my daughter.  Her well-meaning Aunt Caroline gave me the idea that she should start her own blog.  I mean, she's always looking for something to do and periodically will sigh and lament at how bored she is.  While I love Ayra to death, I am not a 7-Eleven.  I can only entertain her for so long (I'm TIRED!) so Aunt Caroline told me that a blog will keep her busy.  Well, so far the idea has taken off.  She's written 2 short posts and I've even taught her how to take photos with my (now hers) digicam and upload them on the computer and later onto her blog.  Next, I'm going to teach her how to embed videos....but I digress.  The point I'm trying to make is that her blog is linked to mine so I feel the need to censor myself.  I mean, I have to set a good example, no?  On the other hand, I also feel a need to be frank.  So I've decided that I will tone down on my "colorful" vocabulary and if I need to do so, I will write so eloquently and include such bombastic vocabulary that the intended subject will miss it? Wink Wink. 

Also, I've decided to blog by topics.  Before, I used to blog on events but I think that won't work now.  I'll end up with a blog without "heart".  I suppose I've progressed beyond the "my kids are so adorable that I want to cover every aspect of their life" phase (which some parents never do).  These parents end up losing their PERSONALITY and become lifelong personal reporters of their kids.  Now, this doesn't mean that I won't feature my heavyweight Fuddin and my frail Ayra. They are and will always be the loves of my life so it's natural for me to want to write about them.  Nevertheless, I refuse to strip myself of my personality.  This is MY blog and it will reflect me; mood swings and all.  Don't be surprised if and when I turn scizophrenic on you.  I mean, like I can be the responsible educator and parent in one post (indeed) and the nastiest B----H (Uh-huh) the next.

So that's it.  I now proclaim to the world (or the few souls who are actually interested to read what I write) that I am committed to making this blog come ALIVE!  I will w-r-r-r-r-i-t-e-e-e-e (said with much exaggeration)!

Reality check.  It's 8 am and my 10 hour workday has just started.  Till we meet again (SOON!), I will bid you a sweet adieu.

"It's great that I can finally rest my head on something real...I like the way it feels..."

This Time it's For Real

Yeah, it's true.  I'm back.  No backing out.  Hello blogger, goodbye facebook.  Stay tuned :)