Happy 4th Birthday, Randall!

We held a small cozy celeb at home 10 days before his actual birthday since his birthday falls on the 3rd day of lunar CNY this year. So on his actual day, we went Vivo City for a casual dinner @ Asian Kitchen, and then bought him a small slice of strawberry cake from Toast Box. Then we bought some swimming floats and goggles in preparation for him to go play water over the weekend. He's a boy who's afraid of water, like his dad. Not sure if he developed the phobia from the last time we brought him to attend Aquaducks class before he turned one. So, we decided that since he started to show interest in the pool again (after seeing children playing in it), we shall start him slow and get him to like going to the pool to begin with.

First Day @ Sch

We did not start Randall off playgroup and Nursery 1 since Daryl & I both agreed that he should truly enjoy his childhood as much as he possibly can. And by that, it means school-free, eat, sleep and hang around. So on 5 Jan 09, he started his first day in Nursery 2 at Gracehouse Church near my MIL's house. Actually, I was more curious to see if he would cry since he has always been very sticky to us. So off we went, 3 adults including my MIL, walking him to school at 8.05am. When we reached, the aisle was filled with parents and kids. We found his classroom, Kindness, and the teacher, Ms Lilian, asked Randall to change his sandals into slippers, then wash his hands before going into the classroom. The assistant teacher, Ms Beng Sim, was there to teach him how to put back his slippers on the shoe rack without using his hands. They were pretty particular on this and would ask the children to wash their hands again if they used their hands to put back the shoes. Then I realised they were to have their breakfast right at the beginning of class. He was quite solemn and sat on the floor reading story books while waiting for the class to start. Daryl & I just watched him from outside the class although parents were allowed to go into the class to accompany their children on the first day. On and off, a couple of kids in the class cried and I was actually worried he would too. Halfway through the class when one of the newbies cried and ran to his mummy, I could see Randall trying hard to fight back his tears. When he saw me standing outside, he too, came running towards me. I carried him and tried to distract him by asking what the teacher taught in class. Fortunately, he got back his calm and went back to join the rest of the class. The class was 2 hours on the first day, and I must say he did better than we expected :) On the whole, it was a smooth ride on his first day at school!

The second day, we took Randall to school and told him we would be waiting downstairs since no parents were allowed. We waited at the ground floor for half an hour, made sure he was alright before we left. When it was time to fetch him, he came down with the rest of his classmates and seemed pretty normal. No red nose or eyes. The teacher just commented that he was very quiet in class. I was just happy he didn't cry for the whole 3 hours in class! The third day, we told him we were going to work and actually spied (unsuccessfully) for him and MIL to walk to school. MIL said he was alright. Went into the class and didn't even bid her goodbye. I guess he was comfortable enough to know that she would go fetch him after class ;)

On the whole, I guess he performed better than I expected since he didn't make much fuss, unlike me, when I was a child.. :P