A relaxing Chinese New Year Eve

Its Chinese New Year Eve and we are at Ye Ye and Nai Nai's home. Having a REAL good time.

A sumptious reunion dinner prepared by Nai Nai, lots of new toys including a remote control helicoptor thanks to Yeye and even a DVD session of My Little Pony!

Here is me having a real good time relaxing on Yeye's seat. Mama is just thankful that its an occassional treat for me to be so throughly spoilt.

Hippo taking a bath

Last Thursday, I was literally dragged from the door to the bathroom before I had even removed my shoes.

妈妈,来来来 (Mama, come come COME!)

Guess what I saw? An unexpected guest lounging in MY bathroom! Gosh, good thing he/she was cute. Take a look!

It was cubbie's handiwork from her Chinese edudrama lesson. She learned about 洗澡 (Shower/bath). How adorable. And here's Miss Picasso herself.

The first gymnastics lesson

The start of every new term brings with it a responsibility for Mama Bear, i.e. scheduling Rebecca's after school activities. I'm still keen on keeping her on a half day schedule as much as I can to allow her more flexibility in her timing and enable her to pursue more interests as well as have fun with her friends in terms of play dates.

One of the new classes we are trying out is gymnastics. Now, this is one of the activities I always wanted to try as a child myself, but never did. In all honesty, Rebecca was the one who asked for this. We were watching the heats during the recent Olympics and caught the US and French teams on TV. She was entralled and asked if she could "be like Jie Jie on the TV". I told her sure.

It was a medium sized hall that we walked into at the Luwan Teenagers Activity Center. We had gotten there early and the 5 and above class was on. Rebecca was immediately taken in by all the activity going on the floor, the uneven bars, the trampoline and the balancing beam. I couldn't get her to change into her leotard as she kept saying "I want to go....I want to do"

It was finally her turn when the clock struck 11:30am. She stood near the coach and I could see a bit of her uncertainty in her eyes. Nonetheless, she followed the coach and started off running 4 rounds around the floor mat, giggling all the way. My little girl can't stop laughing when she runs - its a joy really to watch her react this way.

They then had in total 4 coaches going through various floor excercises including walking like an elephant (she couldn't manage to lift her bum off the floor), walking like a worm (coordination problem!) and even simple rolling across the floor was messed up as she rolled in the wrong direction instead! Through it all, she was really excited and will occassionally wave at me at the sidelines and twice even ran up to me saying "you wait here mama, I finish my gymnastics first ok?"

They then split into 3 groups and she walked on the balancing beam. Considering its the first time and the beam must have been about a meter off the ground, I think she did really well.

What made me most in awe as a first time parent was when she climbed up to a platform about 3-4 meters off the ground and held onto one of the coaches hands swinging for about 3-4 minutes or so before falling into the soft foam below. No cries, no tears, no struggles. Very unlike a not-yet-to-be-three kid.

She then quickly graduated onto the beam itself. I was a bit worried, you know...typical mother...and dear papa Bear assured me that it will be fine. The coach had her grasp the bars directly and put his palms onto hers, pressing hers down to help her hang onto the bars using her own arm strength.

Eeks.

I could barely look. Anxious, amazed and just itty bitty proud of my little cub.

The class ended with the coach telling all parents that we were not going to be allowed in next week. Better for the children, better for the parents.

Rebecca is super excited and already asking when her next gymnastics lesson will be. Praise the Lord for this little girl's enthusiasm.

First day of Nursery II at Chiltern House

We had dinner and prayed for "good weather so we can go to

school tomorrow" and with joy and thanksgiving, we were able to.

"Mama, I want to go to school" Rebecca cried as she snuggled in our bed this morning and with much joy, we made it to the school gates at precisely 8:30am. Her friends and their parents (those would be mama's mates) were all hanging around in the hallway and there was much laughter and hugs (both kids and parents). It was lovely to see all the children again, grown up and tall.

Rebecca shyly approached her besties - Lina and Isabelle and accepted the many compliments that she looked good in her check uniform. Well, she did even though I had gotten her really LARGE and LONG ones to last a long time. She did her health checks without much prompting and merrily took off her shoes all by herself and put them in her cubby hole. I wonder how long this model habit will last.

The tres marias, as Lina, Isabelle and Rebecca are fondly refered to by their ex-teacher, then held hands and made their way up to the "big girl and big boy" classroom on the second floor.

Once at the door, however, she suddenly became very coy. Sleaking off towards a corner. It must have been the new classroom and the new teachers which intimidated her. I reached forward and hugged her and reminded her what we talked about - how that she's now a grown up and will be moved up to a bigger class. She agreed but still remained passive. It was only when she saw her previous class assistant, Xu lao shi, then a smile broke and she became much happier again.

Nanny and I stayed in class for about 20 minutes and I encouraged R to play with the new boy, Sumner. All the other kids were "repeats" from last school year and it was really boistrous to watch everyone catch up - moms and kids alike. There was even a new baby in class, Noah's 2 week old brother, that R was in love with.

The separation was thankfully surprisingly painless. She seriously told me goodbye, gave me a hug and refused to walk with me to speak to her teacher Mr Luke. She then walked to Florian's mother who was with Florian and told her "No mamas in class, and no Ates in class", firmly shaking her hands in disproval.

Ahhh my little one, just cos you are ready to grow up, you want your friends around you to grow up too.

I was there as promised, when its 1-2-0-0. She was so delighted to see me and relieved. Amazingly, there were no tears in the entire class. A small miracle for a class who was on an accompanied program and had lots of separation anxiety issues last year in accompanied pre-nursery program.

Rebecca said that she ate 5 jiaozi - something really hard to believe - and I could see that she was tired out from the excitement of the morning. Lunch was a quick affair as we dug through the meal from home whilst her friends ate a school lunch. We then visited the library, read two Thomas the Train books and went home after dropping me off at work again.

We're so thankful that Rebecca is loving school and looking forward to going back again tomorrow. We're thankful that God is so gracious is providing her good teachers and a good environment to explore the world in. We're thankful that she is settling well. May she continue to find joy in the world around her as she grows each day. Amen.

N2 orientation at Chiltern House

Its finally here. The start of a new school year at Chiltern House. After much anticipation (and grousing) over summer, my little one finally dressed up in her "big girl princess uniform", snapped her velcro shoes and dragged her dora brolly out the door. High on anticipation that she'll be meeting up with her friends again.

Alas, the weather was pretty bad. It was pouring so heavily that we could hardly see the apartment blocks next to ours. The wind was howling and I kept telling Bear that it sounds like a typhoon. After checking the news channels umpteen times and upon receiving no confirmation of school cancellation, we trooped down to the car and set off at 7:50am.

Traffic really crawled as water flooded the streets. Cars were moving at snail slow space and R looked worriedly out the window from the vantage view of her carseat.

"Reach already not" Bear texted me about 40 mins into the car ride
"No, still stuck on tianshan lu" I messaged back. That's less than 2 km from our apartment.
"Better turn back then, many cars stuck"
"See how first" The silk-clad-amazon mother in me needed to prove to myself that I would do ANYTHING (rraaahhh) to get the kid to school. Education, is but of course, about the only legacy I can bestow R.

30 minutes after this, I flew the white flag and told my captain, opps sorry, driver, to turn back. It was already 9:15am and we had moved about...oh...300 meters forward. At this rate, we would have probably reached school at 10:30am or worse.

R was NOT amused. She was angry and grouchy. She wanted to see her friends - desperately.

Look at her dragging her umbrella home in dissappointment. Oh well, we try again tomorrow honey. Sorry.

Its been a long time since the last blog entry cos of access issues.

Rebecca is now 2.5 years old and growing fast and furious. I thank the Lord each day for this little kid as she is able to bring so much joy to my life!

She's thriving at school and has evens started ballet lessons. Well, its really more for the fun for it since her friends are also in it. She enjoys music and loves to run and tumble.

She's a funny kid and never fails to laugh each day.

These days, she plays with imaginary friends and makes up her own songs with funky tunes. She made up a story last night and it went something like this.

"Kaka, Matthew and Ash went walking. Suddenly, the big bad wolf came. He said hmmm I am very hungry (rubs her tummy). I want to eat you...."

I love that she is so creative.

Turned Two

Suddenly got access again. My baby has grown loads - and has officially turned TWO YEARS OLD last week. She's developed quite a good sense of speech and can rationalise quite well. Some samples of conversations go:

Me: Rebecca, can you finish your dinner?
Rebecca: No mama
Me: Why?
Rebecca: I am tired Mama
Me: Do you want to go to bed then?
Reb: Yes Mama

Teacher: Rebecca, why did you snatch Florian's toy?
Reb: Because I want to play with it
Teacher: Can you not just ask for it nicely?
Reb: Yes, Ok
Teacher: Can you go say sorry
Reb: Yes (and goes and gives Florian a hug)

Teacher: Rebecca, why did you bite Florian?
Reb: Because he didn't want to play with me
Teacher: Hmmmm....

So yes, its been getting challenging and so I pray that God will continue to give me the wisdom to teach and guide this girl.