Happenings in School

Randall is beginning to know names of his classmates, after nearly a month. One fine evening, when asked who his friend was, he said, "Shuyi". Asked him if his friend is boy or gal, he said boy (although it sounds so much like a gal's name). Shuyi is his partner and the first person he claimed as friend. Incidentally when I uploaded my photos the other day, I finally saw this person by the name of Shuyi. So, it's not a made-up person. There REALLY is such a person is his class, only that she's a gal!
Now, with probing, he will share what happens in school. He shared that he painted the worksheet yellow cos the worksheet said "Yellow Lemon". He told me that Ms Lilian (his teacher) asked if they smell with their eyes, ears, nose or mouth, and all the classmates said "nose!". He shared with me what other classmates brought to their weekly show-and-tell session - transformers, power rangers, toy camera. He also said that this boy by the name of "Duke" doesn't talk to teacher. He said that "Duke has mouth but he doesn't talk". Hmm.. Randall also mentioned on two different ocassions that this gal named "Sanitha" (or "Sanathi"?) brought her birthday cake to school to celebrate her birthday but her birthday cake has no picture (oh well, the few celebrations before hers had pictures of transformers etc). He told me that he mentioned to the teacher that he couldn't take chocolate cos he was coughing, so teacher gave him a piece with "a little bit of chocolate". Hmm.. it's always nice to listen to what's going on in school :)

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

Food Addict

Can one be addicted to food just like they are to drugs and alcohol? Yes, it's termed food addict and that's me. I've this compulsive, excessive craving for and consumption of certain food and it comes in waves. When I'm hooked on a food, I'll keep eating and eating and eating... and this can go on til the next food addiction comes along. Once, there was Nutella (and I can just hold the BIG Nutella bottle and a spoon, sit on the sofa watching TV while scooping from the bottle and eating directly from it), then came 7D dried mangoes (which of course, I had no prob finishing the whole big pack in 1 attempt), then came Craisins cranberry (which I'm still hooked on to currently). I MUST have them at home and in the office. I'm eating in lightning speed I MUST stock up every week. And if they run out in the supermarkets, I'll get frenzy! and yogurt! Home-made yogurt! I MUST have my dosage of it every day. I've a big bottle kept in the fridge in office and I MUST eat a bowl every day. Yummy! So every weekend, I'll prepare a big bottle to bring to office at the start of the work week (& best of all, it's pretty easy to make for cooking-idiots like myself):-
1) Sterilize glass bottle and cap, tablespoon and a bowl by pouring boiling water over, then wait for 5 mins, then pour water away
2) Add milk (I use HL / Meiji) to a pot and boil till warm (when you see smoke coming out, before it starts to boil)
3) Add 3 big tablespoons of yogurt set in bowl and add some warm milk to smoothen it out
4) Pour yogurt set into the rest of milk in the pot and stir
5) Pour the pot of milk into glass bottle, cap it up and leave in thermal flask for 12 hours.. and presto! yogurt's ready! :)
(Optional: Pour boiling water surrounding the glass bottle to keep temperature warm)

The Flyers

We had a ride on The Flyers last Saturday evening. It took 1/2 an hour to go 1 round and before entering, they actually took a pic of us superimposed in the capsule. It was pretty much a bird's eyeview and we got to see places like the F1 track, Marina Barrage, Katong etc.. Given a chance, I'll take the night ride again cos I thought the lightings will make the ride pretty romantic. Too bad our special-priced tickets can only allow for 6pm ride latest. I think Randall was slightly uncomfortable of the height though, as he clung onto Daryl and refused to be carried by anybody including my bro or bel, as the capsule rose. Nonetheless, Randall was more excited about the Halloween decorations than the ride itself. And luckily for him, the day we went was the second last day of the Halloween theme so he got to see the humongous "Jaggedy Lantern" (What Pooh Bear calls the carved Halloween pumpkin by), the skulls and bloody hand deco at the bottom of the ride itself.

Hugs, Kisses & Praises

I love it when Randall suddenly comes hugging or kissing me whilst playing by himself. It feels really good and makes my day without fail! A few days ago while he was seated in his car seat, he held my hand and then kissed it. Then, he demanded that I kiss his hand too, which I was more than happy to oblige. :D
Sometimes, he'll start praising us, like, "Dad dad, you're happy and good and I love you!" or "Mummy, you're so good and I love you!" Only then I realise how good it feels to be praised and it reminded me that we should praise him more in return as well :)

Egg & Rice Only

Yes, Randall is in a food jag since a few months ago. He has been eating eggs and rice only (and nothing else!) for his lunches and dinners if he has a choice. Give him any kind of eggs - sunny-side up, hard boiled, half-boiled, and a bowl of pure white rice, and he is in heaven! :) Sometimes, I wonder if it's just a phase he's going through, or he takes after my eating habit. I, for one, can eat alot of certain food I like over and over again, and it can lasts me through a looonnnggg time. I have no problem eating the same thing for breakfasts every morning and I seldom get sick of food cos of a lack of variety. So, I can never understand why Daryl has to squeeze out all his brain juice every morning just to think of what to have for his breakfast. Haha.. Anyway, Randall's food jag makes our dining out pretty easy cos we'll just boil an egg to bring out to restaurants which don't serve eggs. Other times, eggs could be pretty easily available everywhere. Thanks to my mil, he has a wider variety of food in the weekdays. Besides the egg and rice, he is into fried fishes too. And if I cook over the weekend, I will steam some shredded broccoli/ carrots/ cauliflowers together with his rice which he has no complaints so far. So I guess his food intake is still reasonably nutritious.