Monday, July 29, 2013

TOMMY'S FIRST DAY AT THE DAYCARE

Finally, after 4 short visits to the daycare to help him become familiar with the staff, teachers and friend during the past 2 weeks, today was the first day that Tommy officially joined the preschool group and also the first time ever that Tommy stayed with "strangers". He did it amazingly!



Mommy took Tommy to the daycare a bit late in the morning when all his friends had just come back from outdoor play session for lunch. Since he had been fed a big bowl of shrimp porridge for breakfast and got a cup of milk for morning snack at home with Daddy (while Mommy was completing her important test), Tommy was not hungry, as usual. He however still sat at the table like other friends and sometimes munched a small bit of dry pepperoni or noodle for fun. He drank a small sip from the glass of milk they gave him and this time he did not pour all the milk onto himself like the last time. As Tommy has not been trained to feed himself at home, we do not expect that he could eat a full-size lunch anytime soon but at least he could learn from his classmates.

After lunch, Tommy made a little mess around the potty because his bums seemed to be a bit bigger than the potty itself, lol! At home, he could take off all of his underwear and pants when doing the potty duty so we could avoid this kind of messy accidents.

Then while he was busy with some toys, Mommy said bye bye to him and promised to come back to pick him up after nap (he has not yet been able to grasp the notion of "coming back", "picking up" or "after nap" though). He also said bye to Mommy (just like the way Mommy and him say to each other whenever Mommy "goes shopping"). Mommy then quickly left the daycare and hoped the teachers would help comfort him. Feeling a bit guilty at not staying around to check on him, Mommy came back home and wondered how Tommy would do at the daycare without the presence of Daddy, Mommy or Mew.

Daddy was also worried so he urged Mommy to pick Tommy up before 3pm. When Mommy came to the daycare, the kids had just finished afternoon snack with spaghetti. The teachers told Mommy that Tommy had a great time with them. In fact, he did not cry at all after Mommy left. He was so immersed in playing with new toys. Then he had a sound nap with other children (such a big surprise!). He only cried for a short time when waking up from the nap understandably in a completely unfamiliar environment but soon calmed down and joined with his classmates for the snack. He even ate some spaghetti with the help from Mme. Jannette. When Mommy entered his group's room, he had just finished his potty turn and was washing his hands. He was glad to see Mommy's arrival and led Mommy to his play area to see his playing. As long as Mommy sat near him and he could sometimes glance at Mommy's presence, he was a happy and busy boy with his new toys.



Later, all the children were taken to the activity centre and Tommy enjoyed the cars, trucks and buses and games there so much that he did not want to come home. When Mommy and Tommy finally left the daycare, he said good bye to everybody happily. He did have a great day there undoubtedly! He was such a brave kid and he really surprised all of us. We had expected to have a lot of tears on his first day at the daycare but he turned out to adapt very well. Great job, Tommy!





Friday, July 12, 2013

PORTRAIT OF BEST FRIEND


Since March, the friendship between Mew and Leen has blossomed. They have become BFF at school. Mew drew a portrait of her best friend and was told that Leen's family appreciated it very much.


Wish you both a true and long-lasting friendship. Remember that "a true friendship is a two-way street. That is both people have to work to make a relationship a success. You listen to your friend when she's having a bad day, and she does the same for you." A true friend means a lot:




"- You can be yourself around her. You don't have to try to impress her, or pretend to be someone who you're not
- She makes you feel good about yourself. She doesn't make fun of you or cut you down, or even follow it up with "just kidding".
- She supports you. She encourages you and wants you to succeed.
- She's considerate of your needs. She listens to your problems and tries to cheer you up when you're blue.
- You like who you are when you're with her. A true friend brings out the best in you - because she brings out the real you!"
(extracted from American Girl Publishing's A smart girl's guide to friendship troubles by Patti Kelley Criswell)


Thursday, July 11, 2013

A HOT-AIR BALLOON ADVENTURE STORY

Here is the writing instructions in a Grade 3 test that we asked Mew to complete yesterday:
"You see a hot-air balloon and you climb aboard. Write an adventure story telling where you go and what you see in the hot-air balloon."

And our young writer created a quite interesting story below (I kept all of her spelling, grammar and vocabulary mistakes as they were).

"The wind blowed me far away from home. I was to scaird to look down. Finally I peeked down. Not bad! It was beautiful! It was a forest with blue lake going by. It was all zigzag. Then a terrible storm sweped me away. I was terrified but told myself not to panick. I crounched down and hold on tight. I don't dare to open my eyes. It was cold and stormy. Oh no! I didn't know how to land this thing! I looked around the tiny hot-air balloon. I found a pink blanked. I wraped it around me and close my eyes and sleep ... Something warm was on me. Morning! The sun shone bright in the sky. The storm was over - and I knew it. I saw a dot - not far away. A beautiful dove!! "No!" I shouted. Too late. The dove popped my hot-air balloon. Then I went flying off the hot-air balloon!! Boom! I was not dead! I land on my trampoline - wait a minute! I land write in front of my house! What a good adventure I had!"



Nice work done, Mew! You are very creative and good at writing. However, remember to double check your work next time to avoid making silly mistakes. And do not forget to look up the dictionary when you are unsure about a word. You also need to improve your spelling skills - the first step should be to read your books aloud. It would help you pronounce words correctly and memorize frequently used words better.