The Former School versus The Big School

Salam my lovelies,

Many have asked us to compare and/or contrast between the two. This has to be one of the hardest blog post I have to write so far as both has served/is serving us differently at different points of time.

As Helen Prior had put it so aptly, it is about the best fit.

What works for us, may not work for you. 

Please bear in mind we were enrolled from January 2015 to April 2019 (Reception to Second Term of Year 4 for Girl, and Pre-Reception to Second Term of Reception for Bean) in The Former School.

We are enrolled since April 2019 at The Big School. Girl commenced at Term Three of Year 4 and Bean commenced at Term 3 of Year 1. Both have successfully accessed and completed Year 4 and 1 respectively. They are being promoted to Year 5 and 2 this September, alhamdulillah.

Two caveats:

1. I did not write this until I have truly let The Former School stay in our past with complete acceptance and forgiveness. I waited until Deposits for both children have been fully refunded because that was the administrative marker of end of our journey there.

2. I also did not pen this until the honeymood buzz at the The Big School had fizzled out. I let the hard work and amount of dedication required sink in (waking up and smelling the coffee, so to speak).

I will highlight the strengths of each school (limited to our personal experience only) here.

The Former School:

1. Malaysian establishment with strong Malaysian flavour and influence. My children learnt Malaysian national song, "Negaraku" and school song in Bahasa Melayu at commencement of every assembly. Patriotism to Malaysia in an international school. 

2. Performing Arts, almost second to none in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Practice makes perfect. Practice takes time. Dedicated teachers in this department. Sports is a recent revival with appointment of new coach. Most trophies and medals up till present are effort of parents and students outside of school, at private clubs, at own cost.

3. Damansara Heights location and proximity to the city. This point needs no elaboration for city folks.

The Big School:

1. Compliance and Quality Assurance
Member of Council of British International Schools (COBIS).

2. Global school
Educates over 250,000 students from 151 countries and employs 20,000 education professionals, specialists and staff from over 80 countries. Obviously if a group runs 250 schools in multiple jurisdictions, the systems and protocols are well established, since 1959.

3. Teaching
Academic, Sports, Performing Arts, Art, Extra Curricular departments have been most supportive of different learning styles of Girl and Bean. Girl and Bean BOTH had to put in a lot of effort to close the gap. The children have never been happier at school so that is a huge bonus!

4. GL Assessments
Progress Test Series are the norm. Written reports are clear. We do not guess where Girl and Bean are amongst 500,000 other peers. School assessments and teacher observations are stress-free. I know my children have swam during PE, gone for morning break and sat for assessments without any fuss. The is no culture of  "mugging" and "drilling" just before exams. The gaps are for Teachers to advise us on how we can help close those gaps at home. The results are tracked year-on-year.

5. Security
Safe and happy kids are successful learners. The school has good purpose-built traffic flow, designated parking (early years/parents and visitors/teachers and staff), reverse park rule for accident-prevention and better visibility, zebra crossings clearly marked and strongly implemented, security and facility lay out. We each have our access cards, including The Grandparents (at extra cost for their additional two cards). 

6. Health and Cleanliness
Every students is covered with insurance policy at the school at premium of RM25 per student per academic year. The School Nurse is always present and promptly issues Health Notices when there is an inevitable case. Immediate steps are always taken to contain any diseases or illnesses. So far, alhamdulillah, both Girl and Bean have not been ill even once throughout Term 3. They also did not bring home the fever or flu to be passed to us either. There was 1 case of HFMD and 1 case of chicken pox but the School Nurse and Team were commendably expedient in the health and safety steps.

7. Level of Engagement
My two children are excited to go to school to learn. They look forward to every Monday when school will resume. Now they look forward to the new term in September and wish the summer holidays were shorter. 

8. Communication
Official weekly newsletters, Parent Class Representative WhatsApp Group for each class, registered PTA, Special Events Parents Volunteers WhatsApp Group, email with ticket tracking system where the Principal himself has eyes on for dedicated purposes (for e.g.: General Support/IT/Transport/Disciplinary Issues). Every Friday, Senior Leadership Team meets with parents face-to-face over coffee to discuss any issues that may arise. Special topics of interest that affect the school and local community are presented weekly.

9. Inclusiveness
The Big School accepted and supported Bean with his team of therapists and supervisors. Teachers have been present in every fortnightly review meetings. Transition meeting with new Year 2 teacher was successfully held. In that short term, the Principal has allowed EAP Malaysia to work alongside them to present inclusiveness presentation during Kindness Week, held workshops for its teaching faculty, and set-up SENCO office with a qualified person-in-charge to support Bean (and other future students who may need support). There is also a counsellor for students to be able to reach out to for counselling services for mental wellbeing. IN moving forward, clinical psychologist(s) are welcomed for observations and discussions.

10. Optimism
The growth mindset is contagious. Every improvement is possible. Every parent and child is heard. Every concern has a remedy. Bless. 

Hope this helps in your understanding and search.
All the best!

Abbreviations

So this journey of abbreviations of ours started just before the kids broke for Summer 2017 holidays. It is now Autumn 2018 as I compose this.

Sometime in Spring 2018, an acquaintance of mine, a fellow mother at The Big School, posted a video on her Facebook wall about parents who missed the early diagnosis of their children for autism and the video contained this uncanny flapping of the hands (stimming) which is one of the red flags or indicators of children with autism. It goes on to conclude that not all stimming is autism but it is better to screen and introduce early intervention, than not.

Something in me reactivated. 

I was supposed to follow up with Baby & Beyond for a screening appointment for Bean sometime in 2018. I had made that request in Summer 2017. We got on the wait list soon after Bean's class teachers at The Playschool had dropped the bomb on us during our exit meeting after we had served notice of leaving back in 2017 that they suspect he may be autistic. It was the wrong message at the wrong time with the wrong people and deserves its own post. They had him enrolled for 30 months and never once hinted or indicated to us that he may be on the spectrum so to funnel us to another business entity with common directors for occupational therapy sounded really sinister to us.

What happened after that exit meeting was instead of serving out the notice period of one term before Bean joined The Big School, we took him out immediately and had our deposit forfeited for short notice. I can tell you it was worth every cent forfeited.

When he joined The Big School, it was a smaller class with better teacher:student ratio. In fact, he improved so much that I decided it was fine for me to return to workforce.

Boy, was I wrong.

In the 6 months I was a working mum, Bean regressed, symptoms-wise. He started to stutter (something new), slept irregularly (something new), became more rigid (no one else is allowed to press the lift button including strangers), became more fixated (cars, superheroes) and became a picky eater (hard, crunchy food only, often leaving out fruits and vegetables).

I was in a fix. 

Coming back to the point of that random video on Facebook: I contacted the clinic again and was given a slot to bring Bean in and at that point, we had answered a few questionnaires, his primary carer and teacher at The Big School had given her input/observation and I had pretty much decided to quit my comeback career to give him my time and devotion.

The Summer of 2018 was the summer Bean did 3 rounds of assessments (1 for speech, 1 for child wellness and 1 child IQ/Puzzle/Cognitive). I put in hours to answer more questions and online global tests. Finally, all of these assessments were completed and a cohesive report for initial findings was published.

Bean is likely to be on the spectrum. "Mild ASD, HFA likely" may seem like abbreviations to you but oh it has opened up a world of new discoveries for us a family who loves Bean and working on our way to re-engage with him. 

To be honest, our plans and parenting styles had been Girl-centric before this. These abbreviations has been a game-changer as we seek to close the gaps, help Bean form neurons in social and behavioral aspects, seek out better schooling options and other early intervention measures. It has been a journey that brought new routines into our lives that included hippotherapy, social and play therapies and such.

Quite often, I recognize points of what had seemed so difficult in the past when dealing with Bean, now makes sense and I consciously put in more effort and empathy in being a better person to Bean.

I am so thankful for that video because it prompted me to act. 

So it is true, always trust your gut instincts as a mother.

Commencement of Autumn/Winter Term 2018/19

Salam my lovelies,

Girl is going to Year 4, and Bean is moving up to Reception in a couple of days. Bismillah! 

We asked Girl to label her own books but helped to wrap them. We bought the books as soon as they were available but procrastinated labelling and wrapping, oops! I guess we were too busy going to the cinema occasionally, swim at the pool daily, cooking dinners nightly and baking almost every evening before watching a Marvel Studios movie (I can now relate and communicate superhero characters better with Bean, yay!). We even squeezed in one short road trip to Genting Premium Outlet just for the cooler air when it got too hot one afternoon.

Bean will have no books as his Reception programme is Reggio Emilia inspired and hopefully suit his learn-via-play style. We pray his fine motor skills and pencil grip will improve and that he may finally learn to read. He is still blending words (bat, cat, mat, pat) so I have to learn to chill. I admit I am panicking because...I do not want him to left out from the joys of reading? We have been working on some worksheets daily but I did not push his school readiness as much as I did with Girl when she was preparing for Reception.

Sincerely, I pray for them both to enjoy the very best of their stress-free school days and learn the skills to be resilient people with good core values in future. May their hours away from home be filled with safety and goodness. May the best come their way. Aamiin.

Summer of 2018

Salam my lovelies,

The Year End Concert was fabulous. Girl was one of the fairies in Peter Pan and she wholeheartedly channeled her inner Tinkerbelle that end of July morning. One particular Makchic and fellow Belang Mum (you can guess who she is by now?) actually stood with me at the door to the hall, and we were the kiasu first and second sets of parents allowed in.

My, oh, my! The seats were the best I have ever gotten in my life as a parent because when Girl was called to receive her best of Year 3 English prize, I was so close by! Congratulations, Girl. You did well and I am so proud of Ms. Chung and you. As I was away working, this prize has zero contribution from me. In fact, I did not prepare her for any of her exams at all except pray. Alhamdulillah and bravo for her independent effort!

After the Concert, Ms. Chung rang my mobile to ask Girl to collect a private gift. It was a lovely notebook for Girl to compose more stories or keep as a diary. So generously wonderful! 

We left with The Grandparents for Singapore on the first Sunday of the holiday and spent an entire week at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa. Our arrival at the tiny island republic started with check-in to the hotel. They could not offer us connecting rooms so one of our rooms was left vacant for a week. What a waste but...what can we do? I have noticed the reservation details a few months ago and asked my MIL to ask her agent who promised to rectify it but obviously it was not carried through.

After that initial hiccup, we had a late lunch/early dinner before leaving for an evening at the famous Singapore Night Safari. The queue for a ride took us what seemed like forever. Luckily we had some ice kacang before that to cool down from the sweltering heat.

The following night, we obliged my MIL and took the kids to Garden by the Bay. Bean suffered a meltdown and insisted on leaving by Maghrib. The Other Half and I had to carry him to the exit and while the music was playing, Bean adamantly asserted that it was too loud for him. I really did not know what was happening to his senses but I prayed so hard he would be fine. As in, in his life.

While I carried him, he cried and kicked. I scored a few bruises, neck ache, arm pain and a broken heart. The Grandparents witnessed by then how difficult the situation was going to be for me as Bean's mum in this journey of nurturing Bean and we all silently reaffirmed that my decision to leave a fulltime job is probably the best solution. For everyone's sake. No matter how much good it is for my savings account and career, I will regret it if I do not give Bean my all during this testing period.

The following day, we went to Universal Studios Singapore. As well as the day after that. Repeated rides, leisurely walk, long queues, touristy stuff which everyone enjoyed.We even found and returned one iPhone in a feeder bus during one of our rides back to the hotel.

Another notable visit one rainy afternoon was to a Marvel Studios exhibition at ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. Bean truly enjoyed his time there and bought Spider-Man soft toy (which he brings to sleep with every night since and lovingly calls it "Baby Brother"). In order to understand his fascination with Marvel Studios characters, I promised myself to watch all the movies he has watched. Since then, I have better grasp of characters, plots and able to converse with Bean.

I am glad we indulged in some simple pleasures. Perhaps one of the most memorable activity for us was cable car return rides from Siloso Point Station to Merlion Plaza via Imbiah Lookout Station. The kids enjoyed their free play at mosaic water fountains near Merlion Plaza, water-play rock garden at Imbiah and were so happy to experience soaked shorts and feet during our ride back to Siloso Point Station just before sunset. The organic ice-cream at Merlion Plaza, the freshly squeezed orange juice from a vending machine at Imbiah Lookout Station, the ice-creams from bus stop vending machines at Siloso Point Station. Fresh air and sunshine. 

We also visited SEA Aquarium and Maritime Museum but The Kids somehow prefer Aquaria KLCC and the Sydney Maritime Museum. Oh well, destination checklist marked and struck off.

Another highlight of this trip for Girl was a play she was not expecting. We managed to get some really good seats for The Lion King. Magnificent production. Lights. Masks. Songs. Props. Backdrop. Make-up. Costumes. Talents. The works! (We cannot wait for Matilda to arrive so we had better start saving up!)

Bean cried at Intermission and refused to watch the second half as he was really saddened from Mufasa's evil plot. After much failed persuasion, I had to walk him out of the Sands Theater and brought him to the waterlily pond at Marina Bay Sands. He saw a DC Shop at the mall, and got himself a piece of cendol Green Lantern ice-cream cake which he forced me to eat after discovering that the coconut milk was not to his liking He got bored of walking at the mall and finally agreed for me to purchase tickets for him to run at an interactive light play area next to the food court.

Girl and The Other Half came to join us there after The Lion King. They were awed and obviously enjoyed the entire production. That night, we returned to the hotel for our TV/Room Service dinner before packing as we were leaving the following day. I was surprised I did not even make a trip to Orchard Road, or make any purchases for myself.

To be honest, our TV/Room Service/Bath/Story-time nightly routine was what held things together for Bean and us. Warm, secure, familiar family love works best.

Swift, short, sweet Singapore. InshaAllah we will be back. 

End of Spring/Summer Term 2017/18

Salam my lovelies,

Thank you for still sticking around and asking if all is well.

Alhamdulillah, majority of segments in our lives are. We have so much to be thankful for, despite challenges and trials. All Believers are tested, I remind myself.

I returned to workforce last 20 February 2018 and praying hard for things to fall in place. I know for sure now how much I truly enjoy corporate law; and how much I do not appreciate liars who cover their own backs. One thing about corporate law is that compliance and governance both in substance and form reveal those cracks and lies. I have not made up my mind yet if I want to stay or leave. My love for law says "stay" but my heart says "leave". I said I shall offer it up to the Almighty to Reveal to me.

And He did, so swiftly. SubhanAllah.

Bean's undergoing speech therapy and occupational therapy to address some issues and his need for my time and devotion at the moment calls for some difficult decisions. I have one chance with him, but plenty with career. Career is not a ladder, but jungle gym. Mine is quite a jungle gym with many fresh, different and challenging obstacles so far. What does not break me will make me stronger. Yeah, I have been reading Lean In. Sheryl Sandberg has many nuggets of wisdom and some have filled me well.

The answer is clear to me. Alhamdulillah for that too. Whilst my heart breaks to leave my two legal mentees who have been the most cooperative colleagues turned friends, I have no regrets about leaving office for my son. I am glad the two legal mentees are now friends who stay in touch and keep me filled in as to their progress in life.

On the bright side, it is now end of academic year. Bean had his Pre-Reception Year End Concert on 6 July 2018. He played the role of a policeman as the theme is Everyday Heroes. He is my everyday hero indeed. He performed on stage without any tears and remembered all his dance/movement steps. He did not fumble when it was roll call, handshake, prize and photo session.

Girl will have hers, on 27 July 2018 before we break for summer holidays, InshaAllah.

Have a lovely summer, and lots of love from us all. See you again next term!

Incident Reports

The Playschool where Bean is at, gives us an Incident Report whenever there is one.

Girl, when she was enrolled there, had all but 2 pieces of such reports. The first piece was for running into her classmate at the playground and crashing head on; and the second piece was for grazing her shoulder at the corner of the bookshelf at Mandarin class.

Two. Over period of 2.5 years.

Now let's compare this (hahaha, do not go all crazy and lecture me about comparing my kids because this is just about the only entry where I will!).

Bean gets 2 reports per week, on average. He has been there for 2 years now. Can you imagine how thick his file is just on this subject alone?

Reading his Incident Report file will tell you how boisterous, active, reckless and tough he is. I interpret them as how curious, strong, smart and creative he is. He gets into those little mishaps because he wants to achieve more, reach higher, run faster and basically just outdo himself. Like all the time.

I am so proud of Bean for being true to himself. Alhamdulillah no major accidents so far and may there never be.

Carry on, Bean! Be your happy self!!

I know this will not last forever. He is going to join Girl at The Big School come January 2018. He has been doing his weekly visits to The Big School every Friday. His routine is to check his future class by peeping at the door but not enter, then walk to the Link Bridge Cafe or play with his Dr. Panda games on iPad while we wait for Girl to be dismissed from class.

An end to Bean's Playschool era is going to a huge milestone. It is all too soon.

Girl and Bean

I have not been updating about them for a while.

Girl is having her Term 3 final exams for Year 2 and progressing to Year 3 this Autumn. She won a gold medal for sports carnival at school together with her other Harimau House team mates. She even sang in a trio on Appreciation Day on stage. I find this commendable as it was a super short window to rehearse, perform and overcome her stage fright. I had tears in my eyes as I sang along with her from the front row of audience that 16 May 2017. The song is Better Place by Rachel Platten, you can watch it on YouTube. The lyrics get me every single time. I cannot believe she can now play the piano fluently (bravo me for not allowing her to quit!) and sew neatly (bravo her for having such talent and patience!). Alhamdulillah, she is becoming a better version of herself and inshaAllah grow up to be a good Muslimah.

Bean is turning 4 this month and his love for animated movies, Cars, Ninjago, Minions, storybooks and languages amazes me. The sporty, active and often sweaty boy is my Bean alright. His favourite treats during school run at The Big School include chocolate chip cookies, frozen yoghurt and iced Milo. Boo me for giving in to his sweet tooth. He zaps the TouchNGo card as if the balance will never hit zero. Not one to sit still, or keep quiet - as Drama Queen can probably attest by now. I am planning to enrol him into The Big School just to ease the school run schedule so we shall see if he is ready for pre-Reception this Autumn (or if The Big School will accept him since he does not read, write or count independently yet). He sings, sits down for many stories and chats - so I hope those skills are acceptable. Of course, my prayer for his is that he becomes a good Muslim man someday.

They have both been eating well and still fight like cats and dogs over me. Yes, me! Well, also over particular toy they happen to not want to share - just like 1001 other children do. Girl is somewhat more tolerant and gives in a lot but there are just days when you know she guards her territories like a fort. Bean is strong for his age so I am glad they have not really hurt one another.

The days are long; and the years will seem short.

I just pray I can be that healthy and happy mother to see them through these and more, inshaAllah. They have taught me unconditional love and I love them for who they are.

Fire Station Field Visit

The Playschool has been hosting annual visit from the Jelatek fire station by sending us one of their biggest and modern fire engines. Girl used to enjoy climbing up one; and watching the rescue demo. Her personal favourite still is turning on or off the siren!

This year, Bean will be going on a field trip to the fire station as The Playschool is tweking some of the details as we grow. Since Bean is obsessed with all things built with wheels, he is really looking forward to this fun (and educational, but let's not tell him that just yet) visit. A yellow school bus AND a red fire engine. Gosh!

I wish them all a safe and enjoyable trip with no tears when it comes to home time.

How exciting!

Autumn/Winter Term

...is coming to an end and the term exams signifies the checkpoint of what Girl has been up to at The Big School.

I only realised how much she has grown (physically) when her outfit all looked a size too small right after the Mothercare sale had ended. Which means having to pay regular prices less only 10% instead of 40-60% off during the sale! Growth spurts happen overnight when she sleeps, I can vouch that much.

Emotionally, she is going through an insecure phase where she feels I spend too much with with Bean while she is away at The Big School. I reassured her that Bean goes to Playschool too, and that I only spend the "extra hour" with him in the morning before he leaves home. This hour is also compensated during afternoon school run when I fetch Girl and it is our daily 1-1 time. We even extend this to include grocery shopping, bath, homework and dinner preparation time. Bean will then come home from his 1-1 time with The Other Half at about 5.30 pm.

Sometimes, Girl cries before bedtime because she feels like staying up a little longer but knows that if she does not get sufficient sleep, she will also feel tired and cry in the morning. In the wee hours, she had been coming in to sleep at the bottom of my bed. Imagine 4 of us on the king size bed? What a squash and a squeeze!

Kids will be kids. If she is going to feel all insecure and count the minutes and seconds she is spending with me, I better appreciate this and reciprocate with quality  and quantity of time before she outgrows this phase and choose to spend her time with her friends or a special someone in future.

For now, syukur alhamdulillah for our mother-daughter time. I shall try my best not to feel suffocated.

Big Yellow Bus

Bean rode on The Big Yellow Bus for the first time in his life yesterday from The Playschool to a concert hall.

When Girl did the same last time, I was that security/stalker mum but this time, I am that relaxed mum who goes to her appointments knowing that The Playschool will do a safe and fabulous job in caring for the little ones under their charge. 

He had gone to The Playschool in his circus design yellow pajamas (matching set) earlier but in the photo sent by one of the new security/stalker mums on duty, Bean was seen wearing his green London Zoo tee with red shorts.

When he came home, he was wearing the green London Zoo tee with his yellow zoo pajama pants. 

What is with his sense of fashion lately?!

I bet he is going to ask for his shark tee again and calm down once I explain Aunty M can only iron it this Saturday. God bless Aunty M. 

When I asked if he was excited about The Big Yellow bus, he said nothing. Girl was so in love with The Big Yellow Bus back in 2012, 2013 and 2014! 

Let's see if he will notice and report anything after his next ride.

Chinese New Year Open House

We attended our favourite annual CNY Open House this year at The Playschool. As usual, the event is children-friendly; and everyone enjoyed the lion dance performance. 

This year, being our 4th time, we got smart through past experience. We arrived at 10 am in time for some fun activities just at the commencement of children's dance performance. We also stood in the shade instead of sitting in the sun to bake and peel.

The Other Half also has his iPhone camera ready at a spot right in front of the poles of the lion dance performance. By the time the performances started,

I was busy peeling mandarin oranges that the lions have been shoving into our hands *teehee* kids had a good time eating those "gold nuggets".

For what is left of the spring celebrations,

we would like to wish you a blessed and prosperous year, again. Happy Chap Goh Meh!

Bean'sTalk: Must Say Please

Ms. T related to me how she had caught Bean picking up cornflakes from the basin containing food waste at The Playschool last week.

She had caught him just in time, before he did eat anything! Promptly, she gently pulled this young chap aside to have a word with him. 

Ms. T: If you are still hungry, you must ask one of the teachers to give you more food or drink, ok?

Bean: Must say please! 

Ms. T: Yes, must say "please". Good boy.

Bean: More cornflakes, please!

Ms. T: Yes. Good boy.

Bean then continued eating until he was full and finished his portion of water.

Buzz Buzz Busy Bees

So much has happened since my last post and now when I try to post a summary, this comes out...please pardon my strangely unworthy and borderline ungrateful sounding bullet points:

• Packed weekends (it was and will always be awesome!)

• Topical Tests preparations for Girl (which tests my patience, until this week is over)

• Charity Bazaar at The Playschool (which we hope will be fun with a good cause like always)

• Holiday Programme decision to be made (Girl is unsure about spending RM600 for a 5-days programme versus spending it on whatever other activities  she likes, such as Petrosains and Kidzania with her good friend, Stonor Mummy's D)

• Thunderstorms and flash floods at home time with Girl (I need a Range Rover, although a motorboat may be a clever gift too)

• Jalan Tun Razak traffic dispersal system (which results in more congestion for me to sit on)

• ASEAN summit and related summits (which will result in even more road closures and diversions for me to experience)

• Sewing with Brother machine (I hope to learn a new skill every year so this is my 2016 bucket list item, inshaAllah. Paid for the basic beginners class, one stitch at a time, ok?)

• Resume cooking dinner at home (I declared the kitchen shut for dinner for a week during Deepavali, just because I was uninspired and tired)

• Baking (been itching to put together a no-bake strawberry cheesecake, have all necessary ingredients but no discipline to set aside 40 minutes of uninterrupted time to do so. I have unfollowed Tip Hero because the recipes all use too much sugar for my health)

• Juicing (I have been cheating on my juicer by going to juice bars, to save time)

• Running (my knees! I scare myself into thinking that I may have symptoms of osteoporosis, so I load up on my broccoli/celery green juice)

• Marie-France (too expensive at 12k that was quoted to me. Zumba classes are way more reasonable)

• Weaning Bean off the breasts (he wisely detests bottles and formula of any kind and I am hunting for straw cups featuring his favourite Disney characters to entice him to some UHT milk. He is 2 years and 5 months so, tick tock tick tock I have a few more months to work something out for us both, hopefully not traumatic or emotionally detrimental)

• Bean's own room + the new home office cum study + the new laundry room (if you know of a reliable and decently OCD interior designer, please drop me an email/comment. I am having "IKEA hackertitis" and "Pinterest fatigue syndrome". Thank you!)

• LaundryMonster (syukur alhamdulillah we have enough clothes to get by!)

• December get-away, birthdays and visits from overseas relatives (December is coming so soon?!)

Phew! That's a whole load off my chest.

Bean's First Report Card

Bean is 25 months old and has received his first report card from The Playschool today. So cute, at least to me! 

We are so proud of his achievements and milestones, as always. His singing, hearing, tempo, dancing and clapping skills fall within the outstanding band *hurrah* maybe it is the counting of 1,2,3,4 in music that had jumpstarted his numerical skills? 

We gleefully anticipated this because he would sing every last word of nursery rhymes verse. He knows at least 64 different ones (I know it is at least 64 because we have a book-CD sing-along which we have been playing on loop in the car since we had The Little Girl).

Bean loves stories and sits patiently during story time. He especially loves Cars, Cars 2 and Julia Donaldson books. He used to really enjoy Sophie and Goose series, as well as Eric Carle books. During circle time at The Playschool, he is an outstanding story time participant. Able to choose books, sit down, anticipate words and react according to emotions in any story *yay*

Speaking of Eric Carle, Bean has been reciting "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" nightly at bedtime, like his sister used to do. When he fights sleep, he will start the whole 64 nursery rhymes repertoire, which we usually cut short with Gruffalo's Child song because Bean worries about The Big Bad Mouse finding him still awake, way past his bedtime...

His wonderful caregivers also noted his preference for parallel play, while still being able to take turns, demonstrates willingness to follow 2-steps instructions, keen on familiarity with timeline and routine, has healthy appetite, shows fine and gross motor skills development etc. all those little details are so well-encapsulated in a concise progress report.

We are especially proud of his affectionate character and knowing when to stop being cheeky/dangerous. Respect for danger without compromising fun and discovery is important to us all.

May Allah swt Protect and Guide this little boy forevermore. Amin!

Snippets: Telling Time

Our wooden toy clock was one of the toys I had bought for The Little Girl years ago when she first started learning her numbers.

Today, it finally served the purpose it was designed for as a learning kit, but that is highly restrictive and limiting *chuckles*

Oh, the memories we have of the wooden toy clock and its numbered "caroms". They dutifully served as dolls house coffee table, imaginary pouffe, currency for market place/bakery/cafe and just about anything her imagination had taken her.

 

Never underestimate imagination and keep on playing together to maintain fun factor in learning!

 

Our Julia Donaldson Crush

We love books.

We love reading them (over and over, cover to cover) to both our children, especially as a precursor to bedtime.

So, it is natural that we occasionally share our author crush with them. It is also natural that we sometimes hunt down new titles to complete a particular series, the way we did with Eric Carle a couple of years ago.

Last summer in York, we fell in love with Julia Donaldson after reading The Gruffalo. We went on to her many other titles rapidly after that first book. We even have the DVD version of The Graffalo and Room On The Broom, because they are just so wonderful! Waterstones and BHS did an amazing job promoting Julia Donaldson, more thorough than MPH, Borders and Kinokuniya in Malaysia ever did.

Despite my breakneck speed at work and home front this week, I managed to purchase sapu some Julia Donaldson books at an intimate book fair organised by The Playschool. It was held at the large hall. Discounted Julia Donaldson for titles no longer stocked at Kinokuniya KLCC brought The Other Half and I immense joy and satisfaction for finding such gems!

Oh, digressing to the large hall at The Playschool: this cheery and bright hall holds many memories for me personally. The Little Girl had achieved so many firsts, if only these mirrored walls and tall windows can talk. Gym on Mondays, Music on Tuesdays, Ballet on Thursdays, parties, dances, feasts of various festivals, celebrations of many foreign countries...and I have enjoyed being 5 minutes ahead of pick up time, stood outside the sliding door to watch her grow before my very eyes so often in the past.

We are so blessed to have Bean join this little tradition of ours and carry the legacy of his elder sister at The Playschool. Syukur alhamdulillah.

Who is/are your favourite author, my lovelies? Please do share your literary list!

See You Again

One of our close and dear family friends are returning to Tokyo this Sunday. 

I have been, for the want of better emotional expression, sad. 

The Other Half comforted me by saying,"Don't be sad that it is over, be happy that it happened." He knows fully well this friendship is not over, it is just being physically split into 2 capital cities. 

Two years passed us by in a blink.

It had started with a friendly and genuine "Ohaiyo gozaimasu" one November morning in 2013. Distinctively Tokyo accented, very polite and pretty voice from a petite lady.

I turned my head and there she was - a beautiful Japanese lady wearing her baby boy, the handsomest and chubbiest bundle of joy straight out of a Hayao Miyazaki animated film!

Mrs. Yoshizawa thought I were a Japanese lady and was quickly apologetic when I responded with a foreign, inaccurate, clumsy reply of "Ohaiyo. Hi!" 

We exchanged bows that hot and humid morning at The Playschool. It was our year end open day with carnival for our little ones to enjoy.

Her husband had been posted to work in Kuala Lumpur and they had just enrolled An-chan into the same class as The Little Girl. 

We soon discovered that our 2 young ladies were born in the same year and same month, about 2 weeks apart. Our 2 young men were born in the same year about 3 months apart. What a close match!

In Mr. Yoshizawa's apt description of our children, "Same size, same energy level, same age!". He could not have been more precise!

Typical to the nature of Malaysian hospitality, we soon agreed on a play date/tea and an invitation was extended to them to visit us at The Flat as a welcome to Malaysia "party". 

The rest of our 24 months of living within the same community is now a pleasant juxtaposition of swimming lessons for the young ladies, play dates for the children, school run quick hellos and goodbyes, ballet classes, Gymboree classes for the young men and Isetan KLCC chance encounters. Our lives were lived in parallel, almost.

The farewell/birthday party last Sunday was especially extended for us to include a quick dinner at Avenue K. A new Nando's outlet had just opened and our party of 8 had a simple farewell dinner. The young ladies played and ate without their usual drama. The young men gobbled up their platter just like the way they do at The Playschool. It was pleasantly bittersweet. 

By the end of the evening, we had exchanged many sweet memories, laughter, bows and more bows. So many bows everyone else at Nando's thought we were truly Japanese! Photographs soon followed so that we could freeze those parting moments forever.

Dearest Yoshizawas,

Thank you for being such great family friends, Yoshizawas! May our paths cross again someday, in sha Allah! May your family grow and flourish forever more, in love, health, peace and vitality!

With lots of love,

The Hampshire Family 

P/S: God willing, we will come and visit you in Tokyo <3

It's a Wrap!

Lions pranced steadily on stilts.

Masked magician with many tricks up his sleeves and, especially, layered multi-colour masks.

Many mandatory mandarins to cool down.

The annual features included tok-tok candy stall, kuih kapit stall, wishing well, traditional games, arts, crafts, calligraphy and more! You cannot not understand Chinese New Year festivities after such a comprehensive interactive encounter! I am glad the culture and meaning are well-preserved, accurately observed and generously shared. 

That was how we spent our last Saturday morning with our Playschool family where many nations come together in a cocoon of harmony, friendship and love.

What a great way to wrap up Chinese New Year! Goat Xi Fa Cai, my lovelies!

Room With A View

This tree is special.

This tree was just a newly planted sapling when The Little Girl first joined The Playschool at 23 months old. She used to look out of this window forlornly to wave her sad goodbyes at me and watched me leave; and then gleefully anticipated my return at noon to bring her home.

Bean is now 20 months and The Little Girl is 59 months.

He gets a much prettier sight out of the same window, in my opinion. I cannot help but feel the passage of time when I saw this soothing mass of green foliage this morning. Indeed, blessings are not always monetary if we care to ponder.

Oh, how this tree has grown, syukur alhamdulillah. And will continue to grow, in sha Allah.

"While he is in such pursuit, all in the world even fish in the sea or any in the hole seek pardon for him, and when he walks, Angels spread out their wings for him." Hadith from The Holy Prophet Muhammad saw, regarding education.

Digression:

*recalling bittersweet tales from FIL how the kampung folks used to measure their children's age by planting a designated coconut tree upon birth of each child*

**that would mean having two coconut trees in our "imaginary kampong garden", visually estimating leaf scars to guesstimate age of each tree and noting the differing heights, if that were the case - how unscientifically sweet!**

End of digression.

Have a nice day, my lovelies. 

The New Routine

"Education is compulsory both for males and females, and that it should be searched even if it is available in a distant land as China." Hadith from The Holy Prophet Muhammad saw regarding education.

We have a new routine starting today. 

Bean is 20 months 2 weeks. His sister is 59 months. It took us this long to finally have a somewhat sane morning routine. Syukur alhamdulillah for this Ease.

Bean has enrolled at his elder sister's former Playschool (and he is loving it!). 

Syukur alhamdulillah separation anxiety is manageable but we will see how this develops. In sha Allah it will not get too difficult. The Other Half generally manage the kids much better than I do; the kids get slightly over the top with display of their attachment and emotions when it comes to me *I wonder why*

Our new school run routine will see The Other Half getting the honour to drop Bean off in the morning as I am already at The Big School with The Little Girl,

and braving the traffic into the city again with the rest of the workforce. 

The Other Half and I will then reunite, finish some work in the morning, have brunch, run errands and prepare for weekday homecoming of our 2 kids. Solid few productive hours!

It makes more sense for me to stay with Bean at home after he comes home while The Other Half goes to pick The Little Girl up from The Big School daily except Fridays. We will see how Friday goes. Friday is when they both finish at noon and we have to fetch one kid each from separate locations. Wish us luck!

Well. That takes care of school run. 

How was Bean's first day you'd ask? He mostly observed, ate and played. Although he knew most of the hand movement songs and phonics because we do them at home, he observed in awe today how differently it sounded like in the presence of new teachers and peers. Circle time was something new to him because this time it involves real children and not 18 of his soft toys and an elder sister!

A small incident of tripping over a ride did not mar his first day at all. No tears, just ice pack on cheeks and he carried on. Such a trooper! I am of course thankful it wasn't a serious incident.

The teachers were satisfied with his food and drink intake, and he knew to request for second helpings at lunch. He enjoyed his spagetti meatballs, papayas and watermelon. Good on him. By the looks of menu rotation, and comparing it with his sister's, I am going to adjust our family dinner menu rotation to avoid clashing.

The first thing he did as soon as he got home was to nurse to sleep, exhausted from his new stimuli and environment. 

Here's praying and hoping Bean will make the best of his childhood carefree days at Playschool, may Allah swt keep him safe and happy always. Amin!