Pre-School Saga

2 Jan 2011 marks a new beginning for Justyn. It is his first day in school! I was the one that was getting the jitters and was praying very hard that he will enjoy himself in school. I have been pre-advised by most of my mummy friends to just say "bye" and leave the school premise so that Justyn will adjust to "life without mummy".

Thus I was pleasantly surprised when I waved bye-bye, Justyn actually waved bye-bye to me without crying! But I think that was my biggest mistake!

Cos at about 4 plus in the afternoon, I received a call from the principal. Apparently, Justyn was the only child in his class that the teachers had a hard time pacifying! He had actually used a wooden hammer to hit an 18-month girl (later I found out that it was because the girl tried to snatch the hammer from him)! But still, what an eventful first day that was! And because of that, the principle advised me to stay in the class for his 2nd day in school. And I dutifully did that. Thank God that the girl was alright and that her parents were ok too.

The 2nd day went by alright. However, on the 3rd day, when I waved bye-bye to Justyn, he cried for more than an hour. My heart wrenched and I was so tempted to go back into the class and pacify him. However, the same scenerio was repeated throughout the class as all of Justyn's classmates were taking turns to cry, one after the other.

However, the most amazing thing happened! When all the parents eventually left the school premise, all the children stopped crying!!! So this crying-parting scene went on for about close to 2 weeks. And by his 9th day in school, Justyn waved bye-bye to me without crying!

All parents will go through this phase but stay true to what is best for the kid. Assure them of your love, waved bye-bye to them and promised them that you will be back to pick them up and slowly but surely, the child will understand the routine and be well settled in school.

Some thoughts from ARB Leader's Session

Dr. Bernard shared a very good word during our leader's meeting yesterday. Everything that God does is via a pattern based on a principle. Just as a human body is designed to renew itself, healing via nature's course, the same is true for an organisation, an organism aka church.

A church must be structured in a manner that it can renew itself from within. When an entity cannot renew itself from within, it will die. We move from one level to the next level in life's ladder through crisis. To a Christian, a crisis is not necessarily negative. We can be purified by crisis.

5 Elements of Renewal:

1. Personal Renewal

2. Relational Renewal

3. Purpose Renewal

4. Structural Renewal

5. Cultural Renewal

When these 5 elements are present, we know we are in a God-ordained revival!

Justyn: Creature of HABIT

Imagine this:

It is 3 a.m.

Justyn cries ...

Mummy wakes up and makes milk. Justyn drinks and went back to sleep ...

4.15 a.m. .... Justyn cries again! He wakes up, came down from the bed, walks to the TV, points to the TV ...

Mummy: Too late Justyn. Not now.

Justyn walks over to the fan, points to the fan.

Mummy: You want the fan to be switched on? Mummy switches on the fan (Btw, the aircon was already in full blast)

Justyn walks over to his book corner, takes out his books and wants to read them! It is like 4.30 a.m. now ...

First, he starts with Animal Counting Book. Then he reaches out to take his Thomas the Train Book. And finally he took out his "This Old Man" book.

After completing his nightly ritual of book reading, he is finally satisfied and fell asleep on the bed.

It is now close to 5 a.m.

Mummy yawns ... switches off the light and zzzz ....

Kindermuzik

After a 2 week break, I signed Justyn up for another term of Kindermuzik. Today was his first lesson. I think the 2 week break did not do him good cos he went back to his original routine of walking around during lesson time! Even the teacher also commented that he needs time to get used to the lesson routine again. Anyhow, the theme for this term is "Wiggles and Giggles" ... learning about your body parts, singing songs like "If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands", blowing bubbles etc. So I have to get Justyn back to his school routine again ...

Justyn and Jayvon

To break away from the usual Sunday routime, I decided to bring Justyn to visit Jayvon "kor-kor" at his house. It was sure funny to see the 2 interact. I think both are still new to the concept of sharing ... so it was quite comical to see the 2 trying to create their own territory of toys. But of cuz, the bottomline is that they all belong to Jayvon!!! I think deep down Justyn knew that the toys were not his to start with!

But Justyn did enjoy himself at the house. He had fun with the drum set, the "Pooh" airplane. All thanks to Jayvon!

I think this is a good start. I hope to see many more of such interactive playing that Justyn will have with other kids.

Justyn's 2nd Birthday Party

We celebrated Justyn's 2nd birthday at the nursery once again! How time flies. He is now officially 2. No more bassinet seats nor infant price for airfares. He is considered as a child and will qualify for child fare, with a seat to himself on the airplane should we decide to fly in the future!

The birthday party was filled with balloons with a "MICKEY MOUSE" theme. Birthday cake was from Bangawan Solo, "Mickey Mouse" All went well in the beginning. However towards the cake cutting ceremony, Justyn "manifested" with his cries! He was tired and hence cranky! So the birthday song was sung in a hurry and the cake was cut at the speed of light! No photographs were taken as he was bawling away ... kids will always be kids!!!

But the good news is that everyone that came for the party enjoyed the food. All thanks to Chong and his food planning expertise. The food was from Chin Chin. Simple yet yummy-li-cious!

Party packs comprising of either a Mickey/Minnie drawing board or a water bottle and tit bits were given to each child that came. And they all left with some balloons too. Next year, the party will be held in school ... bye bye to the nursery!

Maid Update #2

Our new Indonesian maid is geling well with Justyn. So that is good news ... but I am now thinking if I will want to have a miad when Justyn goes into pre-school next year. For all we know, we really can do without a maid! But that will be another 6 more months of consideration. So till then, we will wait and see.