Tara's 2nd Day @ School

I thought with the crying episode on Day 1, Tara will go into a major meltdown in the morning when I got her ready for school. To my surprise, she didn't kick up a fuss and even said school in a happy tone. Oh great, I thought, at least she didn't resist the idea of school.

While I was parking at the school carpark, Tara said "Mummy... 吃饭... 娃娃 (that what she calls herself these days).. 哭..". I was taken aback for a while, she actually remembered she cried when I went for my lunch the day before. I assured her I will be there with her the whole day, that school is nothing to be afraid of, there are so many things to play with, so many new friends, nice teachers and aunties.

Tara walked into the classroom without any resistance and was pretty excited to start the class. She refused to eat the breakfast of oats cooked with milk cos it's too bland for her liking. She happily joined the class for songs and dance but she kept her eye on me the whole time. I cannot go out of sight for even a minute and I can't even leave her side for long. Tara will be happily dancing and singing for one minute, and pulling me out of the chair to join her the next. I can't even go to the toilet.

Communication booklet. We will write any messages we have for the teachers, and vice versa, in this booklet.

There was a music and movement class today. Mats were placed on the floor. The teacher played the piano, called out a student's name and he/she have to take their place on the mats. I enjoyed the class tremendously but I can't say the same for Tara, she preferred running around the big room and I had to chase after her every now and then. Before the class ended, Teacher Red (Her chinese surname is Hong) wanted the kids to lie still on the mat and she will give stickers to those well behaved ones. Tara was still on a high and running around, but when she saw the other kids get their stickers, she quickly lie down on the mat and pretend to sleep. The little girl was so happy to get a sticker and was pasting it everywhere, until it could no longer stick.

Music & Movement class


Tara lying on the mat and waiting for her sticker.

The difficult part came when it was time to shower. Tara got scared and insist that I shower her. I stood at the side, watch her bawl her lungs out and resist from snatching the shower head from Teacher Yiang and showering her myself. It was hard. But I had to stop babying Tara, so I stood and watch and reassure her at the same time. It was only when I towel dry her that she finally stopped crying. I brought her back to the class where Teacher Cai was blow drying the kids' hair, two by two. Tara's hair didn't need any drying actually cos it's so little and so short. It took a mere 10 seconds to dry her hair.

Water play in the toilet. She loves it!

A video of Tara playing with water. She's the one in blue.




Teacher Cai drying Tara's hair.


Snack time! Her favourite fruit, papaya. She had 3 servings!


Lunch was spaghetti and she finished 2 bowls! Great appetite.

She kept asking me to take pictures of her while she was eating and purposely made funny faces when chewing the food. I took a video instead.



I spoke to Teacher Ming Chue about Tara. I told her Tara wasn't like that at home and she wasn't that attached to me. Tara was a pretty independent kid and was able to do quite a bit of things herself. Teacher Ming Chue said she could see traces of that (Tara being independent), commented Tara wasn't feeling secure in a new environment and need more time to get used to it. I said I don't intend to accompany her on Day 3 but the teacher wanted me to give Tara the full 3 days, of me accompanying her, that is. She told me to bring anything that Tara likes to school, for e.g. a toy, a bear etc. The only thing she loves most was holding her hanky and sucking her thumb, I told her. The teacher observed that I’m always trying to slowly distance myself from Tara and she said it’s a good method.


Her favourite place, the dress up corner.

After a story, the little ones queue to go into the Dory room for their afternoon nap. I had to go in with Tara. And during the half hour I "human sarong-ed" Tara to sleep, I was so impressed that the little ones were able to fall asleep without much fuss. I left for my late lunch after Tara fell asleep.

The Dory room. The kids packing up their sleep gear after the nap.

When I came back, Tara was awake and crying for me, again. It took me quite a while to calm her down.


Colouring an apple.

Her favourite time of the day was playing with dough. I made a little pig for her and I got her to make one herself. I pinched and rolled out little bits of dough and tell her to put fix it up herself. She was really cute, she actually picked up the pig body and stuck all 4 feet right underneath the butt area, instead of following the way I place the legs.

This was made by me.


This was made by Tara.

Classes ended at 5pm but I thought I will let Tara play for a while in the indoor playground. After 20 mins, while she was having fun with the kiddy rides and slides, I told her we are going home and she lightly pushed me, and said "No! Mummy 去吃饭! Bye Bye!". She wanted me to leave her!

Tara having fun at the indoor playground.

Oh well, kids.

Name Embroidery

I've decided to write this entry for those who's interested in the name embroidery thingy. The one I went to, it's on level 3 of Golden Mile Food Centre. The place is famous for army supplies.

This shop is called IVAN. Exact unit unknown. The flight of stairs you should take is the one which is just beside the level 2 toilet. When you reach level 3, go straight and you can see the shop on your left. IVAN charged at $3.50 per line of characters for non-towel or easy to sew material and $4.00 per line for towel material. Reason for cost difference, the thread on the towels always jam the machine.

There is also another shop just 2 units away called Stitch and Print, person in charge is Adrian and phone no. is 6293 9552. Adrian charge by per letter and if you kiddo's name is short (less than 6 characters, then it's worth it. For Tara, her full name has 15 characters, so it will cost me $7.50 a piece. That's why I went to IVAN.

I don't have IVAN's contact though. There's a uncle there who refused quite a no. of customers when I was there. Try approaching the young man instead. Don't go after work as the shops there close early.

Oh, by the way, I waited half hour for mine to complete. Hope this helps!

Tara's First Day at Day Care School

We enrolled Tara into a day care school in September last year. And today, she starts her first day of school. The school is Creative O, located at Creative Technology building in International Business Park at Jurong East. It's not very convenient if I have to take a bus, but heck, Bob is in-charge of chauffering the little lady everyday. And on days he's out of town, I get to drive his car so no issues there, besides, there is a straight bus from where I work, so no issues if I do have to pick her up after work.

I've been preparing for her school since a month ago. Buying all the necessities. Blanket, towels, baby pillow, toothbrush, mug, comb etc. I need to get lots of bottoms for her too, as the school's uniform is only a t-shirt. I even sent the blanket and towels to Beach Road to embroider her name onto. I'm told to write with the marker but I decided that sewing her name is much more permanent and definitely looks neater and nicer.

And I also bought a label machine just to print labels for her water bottle and mug. Over the top? Yeah, I know. But I can't help it.

I even made tags for her daily and weekly bag!

Can't see properly? A better view here.


Bob wasn't in town so I had to send Tara to school myself. I almost thought I couldn't make it cos I was running a fever last night. I'm still not fully recovered from food poisoning from my Kelantan trip (I'll update this later) and the symptoms are showing slowly. I popped 2 fever medication and hope that the fever will subside in the morning. And lucky, it did.

This morning, I kept telling Tara not to laze around and that she will be going to school soon. It's only when I put on her t-shirt that she realised she's indeed going to school, cos she looked at me wide-eyed, pointed at her t-shirt and said "读书啊?". The t-shirt is in blue, and I matched it with a blue shorts too. To make her less boyish, I put on a clip for her, but the clip did not managed to stay for more than 15 mins. Picture of Tara in her uniform.

While we were walking to the carpark, Tara refused to walk the usual path that leads to the carpark and instead, kept pointing to the front direction and after a while, I finally understood what she was trying to tell me. She thought that her school was the one 2 blocks away, the one my FIL brought her to every day on her morning walks!

It was a chaotic first day, as most parents of the playgroup kiddos are there. Quite a bit of bawling. Frankly, I can't understand why some parents would leave their kids alone on their first day in a totally unfamiliar environment. One little girl looked pretty scared and was crying quite a bit for quite a while. Tara was shy at first but after some sessions of singing and dancing, she relaxed and little and start mingling with the other kids.

Tara's own cubby hole!

Part of the school

Outside the school. My favourite part of the school.

Tara playing dough

Tara called out to the front during story telling. She's mimicking a dog woofing.

Playing at the make-pretend kitchen.

The little boy standing beside Tara is the son of a local Chinese DJ. The boy wasn't able to stand and walk properly but this Tara kept shoving him aside to play with the basin. I was half expecting the famous Mummy to come confront me.

It's really a PLAYgroup. They were playing most of the time, with dough and then with toys and make-pretend kitchen. There's also one session of story-telling which Tara didn't like. She never likes to sit down and listen to stories. She was roaming around while the other kids sat down quietly. And Tara totally loves the toilet. Because she loves washing her hands. She went to the toilet and the washing area for at least 5 times.

Tara loves to wash her hands

Lunch was rice with tofu, carrot and corn cooked in gravy. But Tara only ate a few spoonsful. Other kids were having 2nd and 3rd servings but Tara refused to finish her food. The school emphasize on training the kids to be independent and they have to clear their bowls and spoons themselves after the meal.

It all went well, even when I had to leave her side for a parents' briefing. She didn't come look for me and even bid me goodbye when I had to go out for my lunch. Everything went better than I thought. While I was having my lunch, I decided to change my plan. Initially, I wanted to go with the school recommendations of letting her stay till lunch for day 1, and for day 2, till nap time and full day for day 3. But since she was coping well, I decided to let her stay full days for all 3 days and I will accompany her full day on day 1, half day for day 2 and leave her there on the 3rd day.

But I didn't have a chance to go with my plan. When I went back to the school, Tara was just stepping out from the toilet after her shower, sobbing hard, calling for me. The teacher told me she was okay during my absence but started looking for me when she was having her shower. Her cries pierced through my heart. It was so heartwrenching. She clinged on to me and asked to go home. I tried talking to her, and hoping she will stay but she walked to the door and asked to leave the place. So I brought her home. In my haste, I forgot to sign her out and even forgot about her water bottle.

It's not a pleasant experience for her, I guess. Cos she kept waking up crying, during naps at my mum's place and even when she slept just now, she whimpered in her sleep. She's sleeping in the hall now and while I was typing this entry, she woke up suddenly and went looking for me, crying. It really breaks my heart.

I spoke to Bob earlier, and said Tara said she didn't want to go to school when I asked her and he said we just have to let go. Yeah, I know. But it's not easy. Especially after school today, she refused to let me out of her sight.

Now I just hope that Tara will be okay with school tomorrow. Crossing my fingers.