Dreams about school

Intermittently for the past few years and intensifying alot more recently, I've been having scary dreams. Not dreams about death nor dreams about ghosts, but dreams about school!

It's scary because my dreams are filled with issues like me not passing up my A Math homework to Mrs Yeo, or having a Math paper the next day but I've not sorted out my formulae for sine & cosine. I even have dreams about me missing the deadline to sign up for modules and tutorials in for the new Uni semester. I always jolt myself awake panicking for these reasons, only to be filled with relief that alas, all these are just dreams.

A friend whom I was sharing this with, told me that these are fears which I have encountered in my growing up years. Well, to keep the record straight, I've never missed any datelines for any module registration and I've always managed to sort out my Math queries before any major exams. At most, I just skipped a couple of tutorials & lectures here & there and sometimes forgot to hand up my homework. Other than that, I've been perfectly fine with school.

Having said that, I gotta admit that I've been a quite a stressed up student at school. My cousins did darn well and I was expected to perform up to standard too. Whether this was really other people's expectations or whether it was just my own expectations that I was trying to live up to, I've not totally figured out yet.

Perhaps it's because of these dreams that I rather spend my weekend playing with JD, bringing her to malls or to the park than toiling through classes and reciting ABCs with her. I've also made up my mind NOT to put her in Tao Nan. People whom I've shared this with have commented that I'm really silly with almost a free pass in since I'm a Hokkien and my house is within 1km of that school. But no, looking at how elitist our new breed of children are these days, I'm pretty sure I do not want JD to follow in the same footsteps.

Healthy Sunday

We have been procrastinating on this for the longest time. Many Sundays have just come & gone but we have not gone to East Coast for our maiden cycling session with JD.

Lucky yesterday, thanks to Allan & Jie who jioh-ed us at 4pm, we finally made it to the beach at 5pm! This spur of the moment decision meant JD had to sacrifice her afternoon nap. We figured we'll just let her sleep earlier 9pm instead.

After the hour was up, I was so relieved that JD sat quietly behind her daddy, without any whimpers or screams. Each time I cycled past father & daughter team or they cycled past me, JD will wave to me.. she must have been taking in the beauty of nature & enjoying the cool breeze. It was a lovely Sunday evening.

Calling mommy.. Ring Ring

why daddy always trying to make me wear his cap *...* bored *...*

I rather call mommy :)

Must reset phone 1st.. wait ar..

Hope I get the right telephone number..

Hello hello.. may I speak to Moninet Mommy pls..

Hello Mommy! What time are you coming home? Miss you lots!

Okie, Mommy's just 5 minutes away. Puts down phone & goes to the front door..

Jd's walking!

Yay! I guess I can now say that JD officially CAN walk. Not that she's walking or running all over the place yet, crawling is still her main mode of movement. But at least she will get up on her own and walk to the opposite side of the room, but only if she wants to.

Now I've gotta pray that crawling for her will quickly be a thing of the past so that my back will be less taxing during the Langkawi trip in March!

I miss Friends..

A friend recently brought up the topic of her kid lagging behind in his writing skills, compared to his peers his age. This is a concern for me too. JD has not started to really walk yet so I can foresee further lags for her in the areas of motor skills development as she grows. I am worried of course but I've gotta trust in God that He has great plans for her.

As I was speaking with my friend, I started to think back to the days when I was 4 or 5 years old. At that time, terms like gross motor skills, fine motor skills etc were not coined yet. No one knew how many milestones their kids had to achieve by certain age, no one cared. Everyone was happy and eventually we all turned out fine.

I used to have great expectations for my child. Before she was born, I envisioned her to be a genius. As time passed, I realised that my expectations were unrealistic. I'm not a genius, neither is Dw, so how I can ever expect my daughter would be one. If she does indeed become one then it's a bonus. As she grew, it became more obvious that her motor skills development was really slow and whilst I was initially all jumpy over this, I've learnt to accept that she is progressing and progressing at her own pace. A pace which makes her happy and comfortable. That's important. That's what children should be like. Happy, carefree. Their turn for worries and stress will come soon enough. Let us not accelerate it.

It's sad when I sit back & look at how fast society has developed but how pressurized and stressed we are. Gone are the days of good old sitcoms of Friends, Fresh Prince of BelAir, Ellen to name a few. Now, we're faced with TV like CSI, Fringe, Flash Forward and worse, Desperate Housewives. Nerve biting shows that keep you on the edge of your seats, sure.. but alot more morbid, alot more gruesome.

I still have a couple more years to go before JD has to "officially" attend school. Till then, I'm determined for her to have a smashing fun toddler hood filled with screams of joy & laughter.

Talking of which, I really have fond memories of our old playgrounds of sand & cement. Those old Dragon playgrounds where we can climb and walk through the skeletal dragon, Those merry go rounds that we can get on and our parents will turn us round & round, the wooden see saw that brings us Up down, Up down and the ever classic swings with the tyre type material that we always try to turn inside out.

Past days, past weeks..

Christmas & New Year celebrations were pretty scaled down this year. No thanks to a nasty flu bug which hit both father & daughter. Father is still recovering. Daughter has been nursing a yo yo fever for the past 3 weeks. At our most recent visit to the doctor's yesterday, he mentioned that he may want JD to do a blood test.

It's really no joke having to wake up every hour to take her temperature and feed her panadol every 4 hours. I'm so sleep deprived. I dread to think if I had 2 kids, I'll be skin & bones, not necessarily a bad thing since if that really happens, I will be able to fit into my skinny jeans again.

Amidst all these Grinch's grouses, one cause to cheer about is JD finally took her 1st few steps unassisted on Boxing Day. Dw had been praying hard that JD's X'mas pressie for him in 2009 would be to walk. Well, not quite walking yet but nevertheless good enough progression in his view :)