Mommy's 3rd letter to Ethan

Dear Ethan,

First major milestone embarked -- you started school on 3rd January 2011. My son, you suffered from separation anxiety when I bid good bye to you & everyday for 2.5 months you cried. During that period I deem myself as a nasty devilish mother who brought so much misery to your life. With the support of close ones around me, I persevered & it paid off.


National Day Celebration

The bright side of attending school is he will amazes us with new bilingual words, songs, actions & skills you learnt in school. You also get to mingle & play with kids from other races & ages. Your always sharing attitude & courteous to the elders amazes me.


Mommy's little helper

We were at Ikea Tampines one evening, you were so excited to join in with the other kids at the playground. We relented & you were bullied by a girl the same age as you are. Came out of the playground with a huge bruise on the forehead & never even cried. You are a brave kid & you showed me how well behaved you are by not even pushing the girl back.


Bullied by a girl @ Tampines Ikea


Colouring


Acting like mommy

The down side is definitely exposing you to more viruses. Till date, you had fallen sick almost every other month or sometimes twice in a month. This is contributed by the always inadequate amount of water drank. The most severe was the Hand Foot Mouth Disease you got from “duno where” one day after your 1st Malacca trip with papa’s family. As such cousin Eu Young also got infected by the virus.

Consecutively 3 days, you refused to eat for fear that swallowing down the food will cause a lot of pain since there are so many ulcers in your mouth. Coaxed you with every means by offering your favorite food – ice cream, cold drinks & even chocolates but got rejected. We were desperate & helpless. Finally on the 3rd day night, you gave in when we offered you Hersley chocolates.


Role Play - - a patient


Reverse role -- a doctor now


With cousins @ Goat's Farm


Class Photo

This year we celebrated your birthday with classmates in school with a basket ball birthday cake & some goodies bags to share with your classmates. Hoped this had brought you tremendous fun & laughter & bridging your “fondness” towards school.





Happy 3rd Birthday to You, Ethan. We are blessed to have you in the family.

宇乐, 妈妈希望你健健康康, 快快乐乐.


With Love
Mommy

School is GOOD !!

5 months of school life, the returns I get is incredible.

From being a “parked-in-front-of- TV”toddler to a chatty & expressive boy. This is something a full time working mother might not be able to achieve. I thank the teachers for the excellent skills imparted to him.

Of course it is not 100% rainbow & sunshine throughout the 5th months. Down with tonsillitis – x2 in February, x 2 in April & x 1 in May. Tonsillitis is an infection which resulted in high fever right from the beginning, high fever as high as 40.1. The fever will only subside with the consumption of antibiotic which is often a nightmare for us. Nothing can convince the little one to eat the medicine. Trust me; we had exhaust all ways & means to coax him to eat the medicine.




School is good. He used to be so attached & clingy to his father. Now every morning, he can bid good bye to his father & rattles on the list people working & attending school.
爸爸, 做工
大伯, 做工
姐姐, 读书
Kor kor, 读书
Ethan , 读书

This list clearly indicates his preferences in sequence. Sorry, mommy not listed.

He comes back with news songs or new words every day. In good mood days, he talks & replies everything in full sentencing like
“Mommy, Ethan love you”
“Ethan dun want to eat rice, I want to eat mee”
“Mommy get tissue kill the ants”

In bad mood days, he replies
“I dun know”
“不要”
“不可以”
“Cannot”



He personalized birthday songs for my mom & 大伯. Depending on whom he spoken to, this is the personalized song for them – birthday @ any point of the year
Happy Birthday to ah ma / 大伯
Happy Birthday to ah ma / 大伯
Happy Birthday Ah Ma / 大伯

I thank the person who comes up with school for young children..............

School Life - Day 43

Day 37 of his school life, it finally stopped "raining" at YWCA - AMK branch. I am glad & blessed to have patient teachers who helped the little one to adapt to school. Finally I can say Ethan has stopped crying. His separation anxiety had stopped. Well done kiddo..


A typical morning

Little one's rountine sets in

8.00am - Wake up

8.15am - Mini "business" on his potty

8.30am - Change into school uniform & grumble "bye bye school"

8.45am - Leave for school

8.50am - Reaches school gate - hug mommy, kiss & say "bye bye mommy see you tonight" Runs off to remove his shoes left it on the designated shoe rack, holds teacher's hand & off to the toilet to wash his hands.

Whenever I asked him :-

Me : how is school today

Ethan : Good

Me : What did you learn in school today? Can you sing me a song

Ethan: Happy Birthday to you......

Me : Whose Birthday

Ethan : Lao Shi's birthday

So basically everyday is "Laoshi's" birthday... ^_^

Ball-a-holic

Ethan likes balls - doesn't matter the size the types. Be it basketball, football, pingpong ball, plastic balls.....

Even at times when he sleep he needs to bring a ball to bed. We have a basketball & football goal post, pingpong racks, kids badminton rackets....




Beware the next potential Singapore Ronaldo..

Oranges

Childcare

"Bye bye school!!" This is the little one's favourite quote for now.



From a weekend BP -AMK child, he had upgraded to being a childcare kid(CCK). Milestone he achieved so far...

Day 1 - Cried till he lost his voice

Day 2 - Refused to sleep with the rest of the kids in the room. Slept outside the common area on the wooden bench.

Day 3 - Cried till he poo on his pants.

Day 19 - Still a crying baby suffering from separation anxiety. I wonder how long this anxiety will persist.



Every morning the moment he opens his eyes, he starts to cry which acts as an added stress on me. All the teachers & even the cleaning lady had recognized me as Ethan's mommy.They had reassured me saying "he is a very well behaved kid when you (as in Me) are not around." I see it as Ethan trying to get my attention. Our daily routine :-

7.00am Mommy wakes up - wash up get ready for work & prepare raw food or soup for dinner

8.00am Ethan wakes up

8.30am - 8.45am Goes to school

5.45pm - Mommy leaves work reaches YWCA between 6.15pm - 6.30pm.

6.30pm - 7pm - Either playground / watching TV. Mommy squeezess sometime in between preparing dinner.

7.30pm - Dinner + washing up

8.30pm - Shower

9.00pm - Playtime / reading /watching TV whilst mommy shower, clean up the kitchen wash & iron clothes

10.00pm - 11.00pm - Bedtime for Ethan

Crazy rush for the family everyday. Reckon that we are just one of the typical Singaporean family.

Cruel Fact

31st December 2010
Will mark the last day both mommy & Ethan weekdays stay at mom’s house. This will also symbolizes the end papa’s “maximum freedom” weekdays life back at our own home.

To my parents & grandma, thank you for having to accommodate 2 extras headcount for the past 21 months. Thank you for putting up all the nonsense Ethan had created.

The seniors had done their utmost best to care for Ethan. Whenever he falls sick, they fret & try to soothe the boy to make him a happy kid. Whenever he rejects his food, they try all means & ways to coax him by coming out with the little one’s favorite food so that he will not go hungry. They feel ecstatic over small reactions like a kiss or even a hug from the boy. They take care of every trivial issues concerning the little one.

Not once have they ever complained that they are tired nor have they rejected me when I asked for time off in the evenings to spend some time with friends. Not a word of complaint & not a penny more richer for taking care of Ethan.

There is nothing in this world one would yearned for, having the best of help rendered in taking care of the little one allowing a full time mommy to work in PEACE. I hoped the seniors will be less stress & happier with a kid lesser to fuss & will lead a healthier lifestyle.




3rd January 2011
Will mark the beginning of Ethan’s school life. Yes little one will be attending full day school at the child care just across our house. Someone once told me I was being cruel to put the little one in school when he is not even 3 years old. Thank you for reminding me that but on a serious note, I am left with no other alternative.

I felt bad! I felt lousy. I wanted the best of both worlds. I wanted my parents to take care of Ethan yet at the same time I wanted him to be disciplined in school. But knowing this arrangement is simply impossible, the feeling is atrocious. I was in dilemma struggling mode for a while…

To simply continue our weekdays stay at bp or to balance out family time. I choose the latter !!!