Happy 4th Birthday to Ee!!

Ee is finally 4! He had his birthday celebration in school yesterday as the school is closed today for their year end graduation concert. We packed his party favor packs rather early 2 weeks ago and ordered his cake last Thursday at Prima Deli. I tried to get him a Ben 10 cake for his celebration in school but there wasn't much choices and those that are available are too expensive. Finally we brought him to Prima Deli and let him browse through the catalog and he finally made up his mind on the Care Bear birthday cake. At least it's something he likes although hubby felt that it was too girlish :P

Being a shy kid who's afraid of the limelight, he was a little apprehensive at first and didn't want his classmates to sing him the birthday song, or to stand in front of the class to receive well wishes from his classmates. So we had Hao with him and he throughly enjoyed himself as compared to last year when he started crying once the singing started. His teachers helped to distribute the cakes to the class with him and also gave out the party favors before class dismissal. Overall, all was happy!

It's Tough being a Parent!

It's really tough being a parent nowadays. There's parent-to-parent competition to compare our kids, what enrichments they attend, which school they go to, even how fast they start to walk, the manners they show and anything that one can compare. There's school-to-parent stress that we have to manage, helping our kids keep up with their school work and revisions, making sure they do not slack in their studies, and giving them tuition and enrichment to make sure that they catch up at the right pace. There's children-to-parent requirements, with our kids asking for entertainment, travel plans, weekend plans etc and if it's not to their preferences, they'll make noise and request for programs catering to their needs instead of ours. Every week, we face the same issues and it's a never ending story.

For the past 1 week, I've spent 2 hours every night brushing up Hao's language skills and making him do assessments after assessments, trying to increase his language vocabulary so that he can confidently take his exams mid october. I am not a KS parent. I do not need my kids to be scoring full marks in their school work, nor need them to be the top ranking student in school. I've never agree with how the education system changed over the years, recognizing marks and students academically more than anything else. However, this year when Hao started formal school, I realise that it's not a choice at all. It's a vicious cycle to us all. He is required to pick up a lot of things in a short time frame and forcing him to absorb a lot of knowledge in a short time. If he doesn't absorb as fast as the others, he will at the losing end. Without a choice, I have to constantly coach him, let he be consistent in his learning and we realised that he doesn't have any more time for play. He complains once in a while but most times, he'll be diligently doing his work in the study room while listening to the laughter from his younger brothers playing with hubby. I know it's hard for him but there's nothing I can do at this time when the exams are only 3 weeks away.

I guess being a kid is also tough nowadays!

It's gonna be a long month ahead!

I've been very lazy in updating my blog since the school holidays. In brief, we (plus members of extended family) went to Langkawi during the school holidays and had days of sun, sea and sand before coming back to welcome Nic home. Nic didn't tell ILs that she'll be back for a week and a half and when we came back from Langkawi, she gave them the big surprise by meeting us at the airport when we touched down. Following that was another one and a half weeks spent with her catching up and chatting. I must say it was the best period of time she spent with the kids as they are growing older and able to communicate and play better with her and she had a lot of time spent over at my place as compared to her last trips where she had to rush to meet friends while she's in town.

Just last Sunday, Ashlynne also had a big party bash to celebrate her full month. It was a grand party, with her parents inviting more than 80 friends and relatives to their humble place and the whole place was jammed with well wishers from noon to late afternoon. There was plenty of people, good food, favors, good conversations and catching up but goody girl Ashlynne was not at all intimidated by the overwhelming party. Even with the noise all around her, she slept like a good baby in her own bassinet and didn't whine or cry a single bit. She's really really a little gem to us.

Starting this week, I have been spending a lot of time with Hao on his school work and revision. It's only a month away from his SA2 and I am hoping to help him catch up on his revision. He's a bright boy, just lazy and very reliant on others to push him in his work. The frustrating part is that during the day time, I have too much on my hands that I am unable to focus on coaching him. So instead of doing that in the day time, I do that at night now, and let him do self revision in the day time on topics that he's more confident in handling himself. Needless say, Chinese is the night subject, while English and Mathematics is his day subject. Am crossing fingers that he'll understand his school work enough to pass his exams. Its not so much of competing for grades but to make sure he'll be able to catch up and build a better foundation for the following years later. I was told by his old chinese teacher in kindy that if he's not able to score in P1 or P2, then the following years will be very tough. Hope he'll be able to make it. It's really not easy to be a parent now, especially when there's so much competition around. We must really remind ourselves not to fall into the spiral and push our kids to compete academically. Nevetheless, it is still necessary for them to try and get good grades to be able to move on further on a better path forward. It's how the education system works here. So sad...

Counting down to Langkawi!

Alas, my baby crazy days are almost over. I am certainly glad that my baby craze is due to my raging hormones during ovulation period LOL Right now I am in the right of mind looking at my 3 boys all growing well and getting more and more independent by the day. I will need to look for a school for Min soon, maybe during the long school holidays, just before Ashlynne comes under my care. Although the boys adore the baby, Min has already started to show sibling rivalry and jealousy whenever I cooed over the baby or when I carry her instead of him. He'll keep asking me put the baby down and carry him instead, or follow me around sis' house and making sure I don't get too close to the baby :P On the other hand, he loves a new companion and is constantly asking Ashlynne to "come, play!" We have to tell him again and again that the baby is too young to come down and play boxing with him!

It's only 2 days away from our Langkawi trip on Sat morning. It's only a 2D2N stay but am glad to be breaking away from chaos of Singapore for a few days. I am both looking forward to the trip but also dreading it since I will be going with my in laws and hubby's elder sis in law with her 2 daughters. Not sure how much trouble we are bringing with us this round but am crossing fingers that this will be a enjoyable trip for us. Am really wondering when me and hubby will be able to enjoy a holiday alone without the kids...just the two of us, doing things we enjoy instead of planning for family trips and going places where the kids can be entertained and interested in....

Next week will be a week school holidays and the kids will all be home wrecking havoc from dawn till dusk *gulp*. As usual, Hao will have holiday homework plus my worksheets to do, while Ee will be watching plenty of TV and playing plenty of games, and lastly Min will be delighted that his brothers need not attend school and will be home playing with him the whole day.