Just a little update on Arissa's academic progress..
I love the fact that she is loving school these days. True she wakes up in the morning usually grumpy, stating matter-of-factly "I dowan to go khool, I tired" but when we get there, she waves me goodbye and rushes off to see her friends.
I think her best friend is an Egyptian girl, part of an identical triplet, named Amira as her name keeps coming up in our conversations. When I ask Arissa how her day went she will reply in part-gibberish, part-broken English, part-Malay about how Amira was naughty today or how Amira was crying today or how Amira and her played "colour colour" today. I do wonder how she manages to pick out Amira from the other two as they all look exactly alike with big solemn eyes and soft wispy light brown curls.
She has learnt to recognise an alphabet. I say AN alphabet as she is still unable to distinguish As from Bs from Cs, in spite of the flashcards (ok, ok I just started them)- but she always always would pick out an X triumphantly and proclaim loudly "Aksh!". I'm spending more time with her at the magnetic board in the hope of moulding a future Little Einstein ("This is big A, this is little a") but all she wants to do is to arrange the alphabets so it looks like a long train "See? Dis Thomas and flens..." she would then proudly say.
The great thing about daycare, I must admit despite my initial reservations about letting her spend so much time away from grandparents in the daytime, is that the kids are so independant at such an early age. I no longer need to feed Arissa, I just give her a spoon and bowl and she feeds herself (up to a point where she gets half-full that is, then I have to continue feeding her). I'm also only needed to put on her diapers, after which she demands I allow her to dress herself. Its a real blessing especially now that my belly is huge, rendering me a tad immobile. The only thing left to do is to fully toilet train her.. but I will leave that to after giving birth. Just the thought of having to mop up those accident spots induces braxton-hicks contractions.
The only annoying thing about school is her adoption of Singlish... phrases like "Finish oleady" or "Mummy aaaah" just annoys me to no end. Izzah says I'm acting all ya-ya papaya as Singlish is after all part of the Singaporean culture as much as NTUC Childcare is.... haiyah I know that la but there's the 'correct' Singlish and then there's simply the pasar-malam annoying version. Sure sure, Hafidz and I are just as guilty for regularly using suffices like 'lah' and 'isit' when we speak to her, or using mixed languages to communicate our point e.g. "Let's mandi".
I love the fact that she is loving school these days. True she wakes up in the morning usually grumpy, stating matter-of-factly "I dowan to go khool, I tired" but when we get there, she waves me goodbye and rushes off to see her friends.
I think her best friend is an Egyptian girl, part of an identical triplet, named Amira as her name keeps coming up in our conversations. When I ask Arissa how her day went she will reply in part-gibberish, part-broken English, part-Malay about how Amira was naughty today or how Amira was crying today or how Amira and her played "colour colour" today. I do wonder how she manages to pick out Amira from the other two as they all look exactly alike with big solemn eyes and soft wispy light brown curls.
She has learnt to recognise an alphabet. I say AN alphabet as she is still unable to distinguish As from Bs from Cs, in spite of the flashcards (ok, ok I just started them)- but she always always would pick out an X triumphantly and proclaim loudly "Aksh!". I'm spending more time with her at the magnetic board in the hope of moulding a future Little Einstein ("This is big A, this is little a") but all she wants to do is to arrange the alphabets so it looks like a long train "See? Dis Thomas and flens..." she would then proudly say.
The great thing about daycare, I must admit despite my initial reservations about letting her spend so much time away from grandparents in the daytime, is that the kids are so independant at such an early age. I no longer need to feed Arissa, I just give her a spoon and bowl and she feeds herself (up to a point where she gets half-full that is, then I have to continue feeding her). I'm also only needed to put on her diapers, after which she demands I allow her to dress herself. Its a real blessing especially now that my belly is huge, rendering me a tad immobile. The only thing left to do is to fully toilet train her.. but I will leave that to after giving birth. Just the thought of having to mop up those accident spots induces braxton-hicks contractions.
The only annoying thing about school is her adoption of Singlish... phrases like "Finish oleady" or "Mummy aaaah" just annoys me to no end. Izzah says I'm acting all ya-ya papaya as Singlish is after all part of the Singaporean culture as much as NTUC Childcare is.... haiyah I know that la but there's the 'correct' Singlish and then there's simply the pasar-malam annoying version. Sure sure, Hafidz and I are just as guilty for regularly using suffices like 'lah' and 'isit' when we speak to her, or using mixed languages to communicate our point e.g. "Let's mandi".
Maybe its better we start minding our language first?
Arissa's first haircut @ the hairdressers with Abam Kiki