Yesterday, I took half day leave to attend another meeting at Tara's school. I'm really glad the school's making the effort at holding these meetings (3rd one so far) so I can know what the little one is doing in school.
The teachers told me more or less the same stuff as previously. She's a little PR, always going around interacting with the other kids. She's cheerful and also quite playful. A fun girl to have around and I can see the way the teachers talk to me, they really like her as well. Tara is very involved in class activities and she get a long with all the other kids except for one boy, whom she don't really like. The teachers noticed she refused to hold his hand, sit beside him etc. Whoa, I wonder what happen to the both of them! Little kids but already at loggerheads with each other!
The English teachers also noticed she's speaking more English in the recent months. When Tara first attended school, she can only understand Mandarin and will give a blank look when the teachers tried to speak to her in English. Tara has only known Mandarin since the day she started speaking her first words. I have also noticed Tara making the same effort at home, she would speak to me in English. She always tried really hard not to inject any Mandarin in her sentences, unless she can't find an English word to use. It's really funny to see sometimes, the look on her face while she think of the right word to use.
And they also noticed, me too, that she can speak longer sentences. Tara's Chinese teacher said she has her own mind already, and is already asking questions that other kids have yet to start asking. The other day, the Chinese teacher sat beside her during lunch. She brought along a banana and a pear and Tara started asking her questions. Is that a pear? You bought it? From market, where is the market? Your mother bought for you? So on and so forth. She said Tara is pretty advanced in her thinking as compared to children her age. Actually, I'm not sure if she's really advanced, as I don't pay much attention to other kids (I don't really like kids, really.. until I had Tara).
One other thing they noticed too, and I totally agree. She's very firm in her stand, sometimes too firm that I find her too rigid. If she wants things done this way, it HAS TO be this way. The teachers said she behaved this way because she has learnt that she is now an individual and thus, have her own preferences. I just hope she will relax a little, as it sometimes get on my nerves, a little too often.
And Tara is a very independent girl, ever since she started attending school. She insisted on feeding herself, going to the toilet on her own, wash herself during shower time. She already learnt how to wear her pants and shorts some time back, but since last week, she insisted on wearing her pyjamas top by herself. I noticed she's getting more and more independent too, although I encouraged that since she was really young, I kind of find it happening a little too fast, I'm not sure I'm ready to let go yet. I'm quite sure by the end of the year, she can shower herself already. Now that she's already brushing her teeth, washing her hair and soaping her body all on her own. My job, during her shower, is to make sure she don't play with water, wash the bits that she missed, and make sure she shower fast.
A few times, Tara would come home and complained about certain kid had scratched her, hit her head etc. I will usually ask her more questions, just to make sure she's not making things up. I've seen so many cases of parents only believing what their kids say and in the process, spoilt them, and I definitely don't want it to happen to Tara. So I will ask her lots of questions when she came home complaining. Most times, I had to believe her because she can still name the incident and the person involved even weeks after the incident. Yesterday, I finally found out the truth.
The teachers said nothing of that sort happened and if we (Bob and I) have noticed Tara tend to fall down or hurt herself, as she was always running around and not watching where she goes. And yup, we noticed that too. The teachers added that no one can bully the little girl at all, and upon that, they started laughing. So I guess, my little one is a pretty mean figure in school. So naturally the next question I ask, does she bully other kids then? Fortunately, she doesn't and she love to play with them actually. I'm really glad to hear that. I don't want my little girl to be bullied, but I don't want her to be a bully either.
Tara has no problem with food and eat literally everything. She enjoy dressing up, playing puzzles and very recently, reading. I guess that reading part comes from me, because I'm rarely without a book and especially recently, when I became a new Harry Potter fan. Even at home, she saw me reading, she would pull her own book, came up beside me and pretend to read too. The teachers definitely encouraged that and I definitely hope Tara will love reading as much as I do.
The teachers told me it's time now to let Tara know that Daddy and Mummy are individuals, and we have our own work and interests, and that we can't always give her full attention at times. Kids at this age see their parents as main caregivers rather than individuals and thus they always demand attention. The teachers said they should learn to "let go" For example, if Mummy is doing her reading, Tara should find her own activities, rather than pestering Mummy to play etc. Oh, this is something I'm definitely hoping will happen. I hadn't been able to do anything much without the little one coming up to me every now and then. I have been hoping for so long that she can sit beside me and do her own stuff while I do mine. I guess it's time to start "training" her that.
The teachers asked if I have any concern about the school and I told them I'm very satisfied. Which is something that surprises me as well, since I'm quite an "imp chim" person. Haha! But really, I'm glad we chose to enrol her in that school. No regrets.
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