Jay’s school had a special Family Swaggy Night, and they invited the parents to come down for a night of fun – swaggy style!
The school even prepared some props for us to take some photos! How thoughtful!
Apart from the performances from the kids, the school also did up a showcase of the children’s photography skills. During the June holidays, each kid went for a photography workshop conducted by their teacher!
And his very own masterpieces!
Linking up with…
Saturday was a parenting milestone for us… as we attended the very first production that Jayvon did!
The K1 class of Little Big came up with an original story (that was rib-tickling in its humour and take of the “traditional” fairy-tale!) and for the school’s 2nd Anniversary, the students all put up a stellar performance.
To give the children the chance to experience a production, tickets were even sold, and this program booklet amazingly designed and given out to each attendee.
Gathered at Grid MMS, at *Scape Orchard, the anticipation of the parents, grandparents and siblings was evident as we waited for the kids to enter the hall!
And when the play started, we were all won over… by the sheer adorable-ness and showmanship (or lack thereof) and UN-self-consciousness of our little ones!
And how about Jayvon?
Well, the school has TOTALLY made my boy’s day, by casting him as one of his favourite things in the whole wide world. Meet my little lion!
And in his scene, he did extraordinarily well. Hahaha! (Yes, this is just parental pride speaking… but he was unfazed in his performance even when it seemed to all “crumble” and break out into general pandemonium around)
Check out the video I took of his scene… see if you can spot his ROAR in the beginning (If you know my boy, he has always fancied himself to be a Daddy Lion, so he has been “practising” for this scene for maaaaany, many months!
Gosh, they grow up so fast! In less than 2 years’ time, Xav will be joining his brother in the pre-school, so I am looking forward to more interesting productions, and fun days ahead!
This time, with Jay and his classmates… and it was just Jay and I! No Daddy! (He wasn’t able to get away from work…) Make that just Jay and I… and a busload of his classmates and their parents!
And it was a fun morning literally hanging with the kids!
Meet Noah. Jay’s BFF.
They were inseparable!
Which was good for Noah’s mommy and I. Haha!
Except when Jay decided to play hard to get, and refuse to hold Noah’s hand, making the poor boy get into a fuss.
Most of the time, they held hands. All. The. Way.
Too cute, really!
It was just a few hours spent at the zoo.
And I was totally wasted once I reached home. If Baby X’s delivery’s as smooth as Jay’s was… I have such day trips to thank for getting my prenatal exercise in! Hahaha!
2 October marked Little Big’s first year anniversary, and the staff of LB planned a huge birthday bash that involved loads of balloons, performances by the kiddos and fun!
Daddy was busy with his Centre Opening, and unfortunately had to miss out on Jay’s very first “public performance”. Jay was super pumped though! He woke up in the morning and announced to me that “I’m going on stage today, Mommy.” So in lieu of Daddy, we got Aunty Teresa to accompany us (additional pair of hands needed to make sure Jay doesn’t run wild, see) and we made our way to *Scape at Orchard for the bash.
And here he was, all togged out in his performance attire.
Before the event day, the principal kept reminding the parents to NOT take any photos or videos lest the kids get distracted by the flashes… and I was so obedient! Didn’t take any shot, and enjoyed the various performances thoroughly! The kids all did awesome jobs at entertaining us!
Hahaha! Jay was also given the opportunity to hold the mic and sing 两只老虎, but after two lines, he became shy and put the mic down. Awww… but thumbs up to his maiden effort! I’m waiting for the school to prepare the DVD for us, and will post up his performance then.
But apart from the performances, LB had other things in store… Guess what Jay and the other kids are so engrossed by?
The balloon sculptor! He requested, and got an Orange balloon bear…
But he preferred the little balloon turtles! Haha!
There were also parent-child telematches, but to ask a pregnant woman to piggy-back a 15-kg boy is cruel (and super unglam) to say the least, we had to sit that out, and Jay cheered his schoolmates on the sidelines!
Oh, but cos Jay didn’t manage to sing the chinese song completely, I requested for an encore performance, which he gladly obliged on the way back home…
He now wants to sing on stage again.
The stage at church, I mean. Haha!
Many schools all around Singapore probably had their National Day celebrations this morning, and Little Big was no exception. I went over to the school at about 11 a.m. and managed to catch some of the “festivities”!
Of cos, late last night, I was in a mild state of panic.
Jay got to wear red and white?!?!
Oh gosh!
The only red or white tops I remembered were those I got him during Chinese New Year. A bit too cheena for this season. But you see, that is why online shopping rocks.
Cos I got him this tee-shirt from Asos.
This is my version of Singapore wear.
Don’t judge me, I’m a first-time Mommy! White and red, ya know!
Hahaha…
Well, the kids had loads of fun, watching some past NDP parades on the big screen, and a special treat…
The teachers did a special “Jelly” version of the Singapore flag! You could hardly tear the kids away from this “cake”! Small flags were also given to each kid, and they all took turn to stick them into the Jelly!
I ain’t no photography genius, but these gorgeous looking kiddos sure make my life easier! Check out some of Jay’s friends!
Jay totally enjoyed having me in school today. I could hear him calling “Mommy, come here.” “Mommy, see this.” “Mommy, do this.” And compared to his other classmates, he is so talkative!
Ms Yun: “Children, sit down please.”
Jay: “We are all sitting down… Only Ansel never sit down.”
Ms Yun: “Can you please tell Ansel to sit down?”
Jay: “Ansel sit down on the chair now.”
…
Jelly-time.
Ms Yun asking the class: “What colour jelly do you want? Red or white?”
Jay (the ONLY one who replied her): “Hmmm…. I want RED! I want RED!”
…
In the span of less than five minutes…
Jay: “Mommy, this is Amber. The pink one. This is Nicolas. The yellow one… See? Oscar the grouch, he is inside the dustbin… I want to eat ham. Where’s the ham? I cannot see the ham. I want ham. I like ham.”
…
Oh and he went on and on and on! And I could hardly hear a peep out of his classmates!
My little chatterbox…
It was an excruciating wait.
From the time we received the e-mail from Jay’s teacher, to inform us of the upcoming Parent-Teacher Conference.
One month ago. One month of wondering and pondering. One month of waiting with anticipation and trepidation.
It’s not so much learning how your kid did at school. It’s whether or not we as parents taught him well. Did we do a good job? Have we screwed up too much? Is the damage reversible? Normal questions like that.
I don’t think my parents ever went to any such Parent-Teacher Conference when I was a kid. No one judged them then. Oh, but parents of today… Gosh. It’s like being hauled into the principal’s office about some unacceptable behaviour.
At 8.29 a.m. on last Saturday, Nic & I dutifully entered the gates of Little Big. Left Jayvon at home, just as the teacher had asked (cos it wouldn’t be convenient talking about him in front of him). Or talking bad about our parenting skills in front of the test subject.
Miss Yun tried to make us feel at ease. Served drinks and all. Sat down beside the computer and Miss Yun started talking. Cue the nervousness and shallow breathing. I don’t think I do very well in such situations. It may be initial nerves, but I think after a few more of such PTCs I’d probably be a pro. I think. I hope. Doesn’t bode well for my “super-mom” persona to be perspiring at a PTC, ya know.
Miss Yun obviously took the effort in preparing for this meeting. Photographs of Jay in action, interacting with his friends, and how he was in class. She even brought up the Mother’s Day gift, which he singlehandedly designed, proudly telling the teacher that “Mommy like pink circles” before selecting the circles for my card and decided that the “giant cookie” is for me, and the “small cookies” are for himself.
And how Jay would, in a typical boy fashion, get into scuffles with his two good friends in class, Nicolas and Angelo (resulting in some small scratches and injuries from time to time). Daddy was cool (too cool, if you ask me) about that, and said he’d be more concerned if Jay didn’t get into fights.
The only area Miss Yun pointed out was in his shyness when it came to strangers. He would find it hard to enter into a play situation with kids he is unfamiliar with, and so this is an aspect to work on.
One area of relief… after all my fussing about learning Mandarin, and Jay’s underexposure to this language from young, we were pleasantly surprised (ok, shell-shocked might be the better adjective) when the Chinese teacher told us that Jay has picked up the language fast, and able to say short Chinese phrases like “谢谢老师”(thank you, teacher) and "我还要饼干.” (I’d like to have more biscuits.) Oh. My. Goodness. Nic & I stared at each other incredulously when we heard that. You mean he can?!? Our Jayvon? That is when I know for sure, God is gracious towards us. Haha!
All in all, it was a fun session. Learnt a lot more about Jay, and also allowed the teacher to know a lot more about us and our parenting style (relaxed is still a style, you know…).
We took back some of Jay’s artpieces from school, and he was so thrilled to see them when we got back home!
Each artpiece had a small explanation on what was the lesson being taught, as well as personal anecdotes on the child’s behaviour! It was so fun to read!
I never really had a creative side. Art? Craft? Bleh… I barely suffered through these topics in my school days.
I must admit, I was a bit concerned about Jay, cos I noticed very few photos of him dabbling during his art and craft classes at Little Big. Haha! I’ve always seen photos of his classmates happily doodling away, but seldom of him.
So I was glad to see these new photos over last week!
Even from a very young age, Jayvon has always been taller and bigger than his peers. I mean, he was wearing clothes meants for a 12-month old… at 6-months.
Now, he still looks older than his 25-months, and given his cheeky character, we were never really concerned about him being bullied in school.
If anything, it is the opposite.
Gosh… and take a look at these two photos!
His poor classmates!
Haha… but you gotta admit, these are really funny shots.
Maybe it is a “boy” thing, cos his classmate does the same thing too! Haha!
You know for sure, that water play time is a popular time for the children!!!
P.S. Err… Please don’t ask me why Jay isn’t in his swimwear… I thought waterplay’s only on Monday… isn’t it? Isn’t it? Oops…
To me, bananas are my favourite fruits. I mean, I love durians and mangoes and grapes… But nothing beats bananas!
And I’m so glad Jayvon too loves his yellows! :)
Check out these photos…
Whereas his classmates get distracted look up to see the teacher, his eyes NEVER leave that banana!
Little Big teachers maintain an online photo storage account, and they would upload photos of the kids on a daily basis.
While I cannot be there with Jay, it is so exciting to see the photos of him playing and interacting with his fellow Pre-Nursery friends!
Here’s the shots from Day 1:
Hmm… Ain’t this what is used to steam HongKong dim sums?
Gunny Sack fun!
And see? I do recall Ms. Liyun reminding me to bring Jay’s swimwear. *cough* But I forgot. So he had his water play time… fully clothed.
But then his pants got too cumbersome, so off it went and he sat bare-backside and played with water. Haha!
Learning through play!
As you can see, he loves to splash and play around in the pool! So I think this was a great contributing factor to his “perfect” first day in school.
And more photos from Day 2 (Feb 3, 2010):
I haven’t got any PlayDoh set for Jay at home, so this is his first time playing with this!
Don’t you like how everything looks so nice and cheery?
Hmm… very strange ball.
Ms. Liyun, his Pre-Nursery teacher. And the cutest thing was that all three students wore the same colour polo uniform today!
Little Big has polo tees in about 5 to 6 different bright colours, and each child is given three sets to rotate, and they are allowed to wear their own bottoms to school.
All in all, I am really glad I started preschool at Little Big for Jay. With the lessons and playtime, it stimulates him and engages him, and looking at these photos and the verbal reports given by his teachers, I am also sure he is having a rockin’ time in school!
