I am a proud mummy - once again!

I attended the first parent teacher meeting at ACS last Thursday. I was warned before that primary school teachers are very forthright in their comments, unlike the childcare teachers who to be more "sensitive". I had always get compliments from Tessa's teachers for her behavior in class so I am not expecting any negative surprises for Jacob. Well, it turned out to be an UPSIDE surprise! Here is a summary of the form teacher's comments on Jacob

- Strong in academic results, will likely be one of the top 5 in class.

- Classmates look up to him as he is more mature than the rest. He does not talk nonsense like most of the P1 boys.

- He pays attention in class and sets a good example for his classmates => that was why he was nominated for model student award

- He is willing to help the weaker students with their school work.

- He has very good character and she thinks he is the type that will charm the girls in the future!

- Only reason he is not selected to be a Class Monitor is that he is not fierce enough and may end up getting bullied by the naughtier boys. She is keen to let him try in the second semester.

Even the Chinese teacher, whom Jacob claimed that she has never notice him in class, had good things to say about him. She told me she calls up the parents of all naughty students so if I did not get a call, it means he is good. She remembers him clearly as one of the top in Chinese in class based on the surprise tests they have done so far. She said he is quiet and well behaved in class so there is nothing I need to worry about.

Jacob, I am very very proud of you and if papa was there, he will be beaming from ear to ear!. I hope you will keep it up and continue to do us proud!

A dream come true!

The empty walk-in wardrobe

Now it is full house!

A surprise in Jacob's school bag

I was checking Jacob's bag 2 nights ago and I came across this!

Only one student is picked each month for good behavior in class and he gets to go on stage to receive this from the principal during school assembly. My nonchalant boy did not even breathe a word about this!! He gave me the " what's the big deal" look when I asked him about it. BOYS!!!!! Anyway, I am so proud of you Jacob! Keep it up!

A Bully in MGS

Every year, MGS will celebrate the end of mid year exams by having Zainy Brainy Games - where the teachers will hand over the students to parent volunteers for 1 day for some fun and games while they focus on their marking of papers. I volunteered to be a class chaperon this year and it turn out to be much tougher than expected. I suffered from serious fatigue after running around with the girls for 4 hours and I almost got a sore throat from all the shouting. It was certainly not easy controlling a class of 42 girls and it did not help when there are some challenging characters in class!

One of the girls HA was a total nightmare. She was bossy, rude, arrogant and uncontrollable. I witnessed her throwing a stack of cards at her classmates while everyone was trying to build castles using cards. She also wondered off without alerting me and when I found her and gave her a thrashing, she gave me that look that deserved a BIG slap on her face! At day end, she was caught fighting with another girl from the class by another parent and now I am tasked to write a complain letter to the teacher. I later gathered from some parents and girls that she is a rich brat that stays in a BIG BUNGALOW. Surprisingly, her parents are known to be nice and mild mannered. This girl bullys people in the class, gets scolded by teacher almost daily and writes love notes to herself, pretending that it was from her admirers!! I am surprised Tessa did not complain much about this girl, except for telling me that she is always quarreling with a few other strong headed classmates. Luckily majority of her classmates were well behaved and Tessa definitely belong to the "guai" group. It will be a nightmare if Tessa starts to pick up HA's bad attitude. This young lady needs to be taught a lesson and I will start by preparing an email to the form teacher later! Meanwhile, see if you can spot her if the collage below!

I was wrong about Jacob

While Ian and I were out at Pandan Valley last night, I gave Tessa the task of training Jacob for his " show and tell" performance next week. Either Tessa did a very good job or Jacob was not showing his true potential to me last week, I have to say I was very impressed by his performance when I reached home. He remembered all his lines and spoke clearly and loudly. I did tell him earlier during the day that as a English Representative of the class, he is expected to do well in English Show and Tell. Maybe that subtly added pressure worked on him!! Tessa also gave him a 9/10 and I am now confident he will do well on Monday!

Jacob's first "show and tell" speech

Jacob will be having his first show and tell session next week. While he had a few practices in K2 ( without my help as I was totally not aware of it!), I do not think public speaking is his forte. Tessa, on the other hand, is a naturally confident speaker. My competitive son refused to let Tessa do a demonstration tonight during his practice, knowing fully that he cannot live up to Jie Jie's standards! Here is the simple speech prepared by the 3 of us. Good Luck Jacob!

Good Morning Miss Teoh and friends.

Today I am going to tell you about my two pet terrapins

Their names are Dilly and Dally.

Dilly is the bigger one while Dally looks like his little brother.

They like to eat worms.

We feed them once everyday.

Last year, they both fell sick and we brought them to a veterinarian.

The vet gave them injections and Dilly almost bit her while she was doing that!

They live in a small container for now.

When we move to our new place, they will be living in the pond with other fishes.

This is the end of my presentation. Thank you.

Happy Mother's Day!

While I was out shopping and dining with Frances and Amy on Friday, the kids spent time making Mother's Day cards for me at home. Tessa also used 20% of her daily allowance to buy me a little rose from her bookstore, making Jacob look bad! Papa got me a nice little photo frame for me to display our family picture at my new work place. They were supposed to surprise me on Sunday but as usual, these 2 cannot keep any secrets! I got all my little gifts on Saturday and we had our pre-Mother's day dinner at Seah Street Deli. Thank you babies and papa... I had a wonderful time!

An old drawing

I was trying to "spring-clean" some parts of my house today when I came across this old drawing by Jacob in Kindergarden. Check out the little handbag in Mummy's hand! He definitely pays attention to details!!

A Blissful Day

Today is the first time, since the start of my gardening leave, where I get to wake up late and spend the whole day with my kids. Though most of the time was spend on doing past year papers to prepare for the upcoming exams, it was a great bonding session with both of them and I enjoyed myself thoroughly!

10.30am - Breakfast at KFC

11.15 am - Grocery shopping at Cold Storage

11.30am - Revision time - Tessa did Maths and Jacob did English- Both got Band 1!

1pm - Lunch - Home made Macaroni and Cheese

2pm - Revison Time- Both did Chinese and Both got Band 1

3.30 pm - Tea break and more grocery shopping at United Square. Both kids got a snack and stationery as a reward for their good behavior in the morning. Mummy enjoyed Milo Thick toast and Teh O at Toastbox - Yummy!

4.30pm - Revision Time - Tessa did English and Jacob did Maths - Tessa got a Band 2 while Didi got his hat trick of 3 Band 1s

6pm - Home cooked Dinner by Mummy and Auntie Ini. Mummy went to fetch papa.

7pm - Drama Serial Time for the family - "Your hand in Mine". If Tessa knows her Science as well as she knows the plot of this serial, she will be gifted science student!

8pm - Mummy sends Papa to Acupuncture while Tessa did one more English paper - Not graded yet

9pm - Read 2 stories books on Lions and Bears with Jacob.

10pm - Prayer time with the kids and we ended by singing all our favourite hymns tonight!

10.30pm - Met the gang at Newton Circus for Supper - usual fun and gossip amidst 2 stressful Maths questions!

No "me" time or shopping time today but I think this is one of the best days of my gardening leave so far. Maybe I am not so "hopeless" after all....

Necklaces

I love accessories and my current obsession is chunky necklaces from Marni. Here are my current favourites-

I also discovered French Jewelery designer Servane Gaxotte last week during one of my shopping trips. I bought one of her delicate signature doll pendant. All parts of the doll are movable and each piece is one of a kind. I had fun making her "pose" for my photo shoot below. Hopefully I will get to see more of her collection in Paris!