A Day at School

Paid the kids' school fees yesterday. As expected, the principal has lots to talk about. The first thing the principal said was "The two of them don't like dirt esp Jesslyn." Apparently, they did some outdoor painting and Jesslyn was careful with the paint. Yup! She doesn't like to touch paint with her bare hands.  At home, she only plays finger painting for 5minutes before she says she wants to wash her hands.


Next, the principal commented that Jerilyn has (too) high expectation from herself. The girl wants to be the first in class and cannot accept failure. The principal related one incident where she taught them insects. During the first few lessons, Jerilyn was quiet and didn't answer any questions posted by the teacher until later, when she was more sure, she started answering questions. According to the teacher, other kids gave answers although some were wrong. Her point is that it's alright to make mistakes.
My opinion: What's wrong with having expectations? Yes, Jerilym may be a bit tensed in case she gives the wrong answers but surely you don't want a kid who simply gives answers without thinking.

Thirdly, the principal asked me if I send Jerilyn to any classes because her colouring and painting skills are not good. She explained how Jerilyn used the brushes etc...
My opinion: So what if her painting and colouring skills are not perfect. It's not a matter of life and death. Like my sister asked "Does she want to be an artist?" Jerilyn has always shown more interest in science. I don't expect her to excel in every field although I hope she can be an all-rounder. I appreciate her concern but she doesn't have to make a big deal out of it.

Forth, it's about the girls schoolmates.
1. A boy named J. I mentioned that Jesslyn has been talking about this boy and she immediately said that the boy likes her. He tries to get her attention and always looks at her but my little girl doesn't like him. She avoids him and this frustrates the boy. The boy also told the teacher "... henn mei orrr...." with a love struck expression on his face.
2. A girl named MS. The principal said that her performance has dropped tremendously lately. The girl got '0' for a few spelling tests. She daydreams in class and doesn't do her homework. I was surprised because just 2 months ago, the principal said that this girl was her best student. At home, Jerilyn too told me a bit about the girl but I didn't believe her. I thought Jerilyn was just trying to put down her friend. Anyway, the reason behind the girl's poor performance is because she is addicted to Taiwanese, Korean Idol shows 'til she neglect her studies. She goes to bed late thus she couldn't concentrate in class. What is more surprising is the girl would comment "He is handsome" when she saw a (maybe handsome) Daddy comes to pick up a kid.

Situation 1
She came to me asking me to read her a story while I was already in bed. I said that I didn't have time to entertain her. She demanded "Say Sorry.". I didn't answer her. She firmly said "Mummy, say 'Sorry, I don't have time to entertain you'."

Situation 2
Jerilyn showed me some stickers her friend gave.I wasn't very happy. I told her not to take things from others. Jesslyn said "Mummy, I didnt take anything from my friends. Am I good?"

Situation 3
The girls and I love packing for holidays. This time, we plan to go to KL. Last Saturday, I told Jerilyn that we would pack on Sunday. I don't know how but at 7am the next day, she woke me up so that we could pack. I mean, every morning, we have to call them and shake them up for school and that's after 8. Does she have an alarm clock in her? I told her "Later. We have the whole day. Go back to sleep." She went back to bed only to bug me again after 5 minutes.
So, we have prepared 2 bags. Daddy suggested to use only 1 bag. Jerilyn answered him "It's happier to have 2 bags." (which I agree totally). Jerilyn definitely knows how to have fun more than Daddy.

Situation 4
We were in a car one day and Daddy & I were chatting when Jesslyn wanted us to change the radio to her favourite disc. We were so engrossed into our conversation that we ignored her. Actually, not only that. We hate it when she becomes bossy and doesn't take 'No' for an answer. After a while, she was quiet. When she became quiet... too quiet in fact, it was my turn to talk to her. I called her name. She said angrily "I don't want to talk to you. You two guys make me sad." We looked at each other. We wanted to laugh so much but if we laugh, the more irritated she would become. She would think that we are laughing at her.

Today, I scolded Jerilyn and she was sulking at a corner. Jesslyn joined her after that. When I called them, Jesslyn said "I don't want. You make Jie2 and I sad because you scold us." Sigh......

Situation 5
I was teaching Jesslyn to to fill in the crossword puzzle with colour words. Jerilyn was trying to be helpful by spelling out  'Yellow' for her but she was not very grateful. She asked "Did Mummy ask you to come? No right? Why did you come here? Go back there and do your work." Pity Jerilyn.

Luggage

Luggage.... Have I written about this? It's not exactly 'luggage' but what Jerilyn understands by luggage.


One day a few months back, she told me that her friends bring luggage to school. I didn't understand at first until she said that her friends pull their bags and their bags are pretty big. She added that she didn't want bags as big as that. I had a great laugh.

At the supermarket recently, those pretty pink disney bags attract my girls and they so wanted to bring home one each. They particularly like bags with wheels now especially Jesslyn. I gave excuses so they dont buy. I don't like the idea of them wheeling the bags in my bags and dirty my place. At least, not now.

Til then, they have to use bags without wheels.

Baby

Jesslyn calls this 'Baby'. She loves her (I presume it's a girl) very much, so much so that she has been talking to it since like ..... 2yo. Now, she also teaches the baby to read. Jesslyn would sit on the chair with the Baby on her lap and request me to teach the Baby. Moreover, Jesslyn herself would line-up her dolls in a row while she sits opposite them and asks the dolls to read. Sometimes, she insists that I feed it too while I feed the girls or do other very real stuff with her Baby.

All this is incomprehensible to me. I don't think I did that when I was her age. Neither did my sis. Jerilyn too doesn't talk to her dolls as if they were real. So, seeing Jesslyn treats her dolls like humans is quite 'refreshing.'

* Photo of the baby... later

Short Hair

"What am I combing? You see. So little hair. My hair is so short. I cannot comb my hair. It LOOKS LIKE I AM COMBING MY HEAD! Why am I combing my head?"
 [bang the bed with the comb] She was almost hysterical about the idea of not being able to comb her hair. There was once I threatened to bald her head when she looked so sweaty and untidy. She cried boo-hoo the moment she heard it.

What Jesslyn can do @ 3y4m old

These are what Jesslyn can do now:

1. spell her name as well as her sis's
2. read Peter & Jane up to Book 2. She can read pretty well actually.
3. identify and read all (the common) colours. However, she may get confused between black and brown
4. recite the suku kata without mistakes in 5 seconds eg B-A, B-I, B-O, B-U, B-E in a song like tune. You can give her any consonant and she would read them out like A, B, C. [I didn't know that she can recite the suku kata and suddenly, she is reciting all the suku kata from B to Y. Pretty impressive]

* Jesslyn is 95 cm and Jerilyn 108cm.

For the record, I am drilling Jerilyn with Mandarin. She has another 2 years before she joins Poi Lam where most of the subjects are conducted in Mandarin. I have never been so hardworking with learning Mandarin and I have to learn to like the language too. Sigh!