JG no more

Yesterday, Kae attended her last lesson at Julia Gabriel Playclub.

We've decided to place her in a full day centre come next year. Erm, but we've not yet found a place for her. Hah. We will decide more in this when we are back from our Perth trip. Yes, we are going to Perth in early December! Woot woot!

Anyhow, I felt quite sad actually after the last class. Having spent 1 and 3/4 terms there, it's inevitable that one feels nothing about leaving; leaving the place where you spent 2 hours of your time twice weekly; where you watch your daughter play and learn; where you get to spend time with other children and mummies. I have no idea if Kae understood me when I told her that we will not be going back to JG come next term. Sigh.

another photo taking week at JG

We were requested to wear any traditional costume on tuesday as there was a Deepavali celebration the previous saturday.

Ah, finally Kae has a chance to wear her cheongsam. This is only her 3rd time in this dress heh. I didn't take much photos though; only had my iPhone with me.


On thursday, we were to take a class photo, which will be placed in the kid's portfolio. So, everyone dressed up nicely. That's why most parents brought their cameras along. Heh. Of course I brought my cranky sony digicam; the canon slr was too bulky. But on hindsight, think the photos would turn out so much nicer. Sigh. Next term!

4 Firsts

I've had 4 firsts today.

Today is the 1st day of school for Kae! Her second term at Julia Gabriel to be exact :)


Today, I had my 1st attempt at eyebrow waxing, at Benefit Brow Bar. Quite good actually!

Today, I cut my hair for the 1st time at Identity Hairworks. And my fringe is super short now! The shortest I've had in my life!

And we bought our 1st digital SLR today. The Canon EOS 500D. Nice pictures to come hopefully!

Daddy's 1st class at JGLC

It is Daddys' week at Julia Gabriel. All dads are encouraged to join in the classes anytime this week. It so happens that dar is on reservist this week, and as luck will have it, had an early day off on Tuesday when Kae is having her class, and managed to join us in class for a short while.

This is only daddy's 2nd time with Kae in ANY class. He sat in with Kae for one of her neuro tree classes. That's it. Even when Kae was at music class in Gymboree, it was all me. And the trial class at Little Gym doesn't count. Haha!

Maybe because of this, Kae doesn't really "behave" when daddy was in the class. She refused to participate in the activities, and kept wanting to sit and jump in daddy's lap. Pengs! I think dar will be using this "fact" to stop going to class with Kae anymore, when he's got the time, which is erm rarely. Hah!

the 8th lesson

Today Kae attended her 8th lesson at Julia Gabriel. For those who are not in the know, each term consists of 10 weeks, and her lessons are twice 2 hourly weekly. We just survived the 4th week which is actually week 7 of the term (we started in week 4 of this term actually).

This is Kae just waiting for the class to start.


And this is her in her new Crayola art apron with her signature "diao" look! Hah!


Oh this is her holding up her "binoculars" :)


Erm, think she was doing her peek a boo face :)


Mummy and Kae!


Kae and her playmate Claire! They were running all over Island Cafe after Claire woke from her 1 hour nap! Haha.

National Day week at Julia Gabriel

It is national day celebration week at Julia Gabriel. Well sorta. The kids and adults have been asked to wear clothes in the red and white family.

Kae wore her Chateau de Sable dress on Tuesday. I was half expecting that some other girl will be wearing the same dress, as I've seen lots of girls wearing it. But lucky lucky, Kae was the only girl in that dress that day. And here is Kae on the slide, as usual.


I took more photos on Thursday. Hah. Kae wore her red polo ralph (again), and white three quarters. Mummy also wore a red top and white bermudas. Hah. Kae, as usual, whined when we reached school. She always need time to warm up to the teachers, and would always whine when they want to help take off her shoes and check her hands and feet for signs of hand foot mouth disease. Sigh. But when the class starts, she is all better. She really is getting better. She would gather round the table with the rest of the class and even tried to wriggle her way in when she's being edged out. She used to want me to carry her! So, this is a big improvement. She really is not as shy as before. I am so proud of her!








And we took our 1st class photo! Heehee. Pity Claire couldn't be here today.

the Beginning of something exciting

Today was Kae's 1st day at her PlayClub programme at Julia Gabriel Learning Centre.

We met up with Joanne and Claire for a quick lunch at Macs before heading for the class. Both Kae and Claire were quite engrossed in their biscuit eating. Heehee.


And so we began. The class started with singing and dancing. Although Kae did not go up to the teacher when she was called, she did put her name tag into the mail box when the teacher came up to her. Hah! Those who attends the class would know what I mean. Then it was activity time. They were taught to create a duck out of paper plates, yellow paint and feathers. But I didn't let Kae attempt this, as it would have been freaking dirty! Haha! Claire did, and poor mummy Jo had to wash the paint off Claire's top! We are so going to bring a huge top for the sweeties to wear in their future classes. Hah! Kae did the 2nd activity, which was to create a coloured quilt blanket with glue, coloured paper and glitter. Tada! Kae's 1st artwork at Julia Gabriel.


After which, there was story telling, then snack time!


Followed by free play at their playground area, and more singing and dancing. I think Kae's favourite was when they were at the playground area; she kept going on the slide!


After the 2 hour class, we all headed down to Mezza9 for drinks. I tried the chocolate martini which was highly recommended by Jo. It is Yummy! Heh. Definitely taste much better than those lychee martinis and cosmopolitans. Kae was super hyper during our whole time at Mezza9; she was walking all over the place and playing hide and seek with Jo and me; Claire was asleep. This is the 2 of them drinking water after Claire woke up. Heh. Cute eh?


Anyhow, we went down to the newly opened Ion Orchard after. Kae took the opportunity to sleep while I was carrying her. She slept for like under an hour, which meant that my arms and feet are aching like hell now. Hah! And oh, Ion is huge! I think it's bigger than Vivocity by all counts. Huge. Another new place to shop and explore, yay!

of Golf and JGCL

We bought Kae her 2nd golf set yesterday.

Her 1st golf set is the K's Kids Golf N Go Starter Golf Set. Erm, I really don't remember when we bought her this set. Maybe late last year early this year? We bought the set for her as she lurves to watch her daddy practice his swing moves at home and lurves to swing swing herself. Hence the golf set. And she really knows how to swing the club. She knows which end of the end she is supposed to hit the ball with. And she lurves to whine at her daddy to play golf with her when he's back from work. Hah, luckily for me!


When shopping at Robinsons last evening, I saw this Little Tikes Drive & Putt Golf Set. It is for 18 months and above. I thought it would be a nice "upgrade" for Kae. Heh. True enough, now she lurves to play with the new clubs. The old ones are actually made of soft material. These new clubs are made of plastic. And the new feature about this new set is the tee! Hah!


Anyhow, there will be more upgrades to come definitely!

Oh, and Kae is finally going to school! Erm, in the end, we've decided instead of the full day school cum child care kind of programme, we enrolled her at Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning (JGCL for short) under the EduPlay programme. For Kae's age group, she will be in PlayClub which fosters self-control and autonomy. PlayClub is a stimulating learning environment with a curriculum structured around letters of the alphabet and key Mandarin words, numbers, shapes and colours – all organised in child-centred themes and translated through activities such as indoor and outdoor play, music, art and craft, hands-on pre-science activities, stories, speech, drama and snack. Hopefully Kae will enjoy herself and be more pro-active in this programme. Then I will be able to stop looking for anymore schools for her and just let her "grow" in the Julia Gabriel and Chiltern House environment. Oh, and Kae will have a friend with her through the PlayClub programme; Claire! Heehee. Maybe Claire can influence Kae to be more outgoing and "make" her talk!

SKool house and SChool house

Yes, the play school hunting is still underway. We went to visit 2 more schools today; Little Skool House and Pat's Schoolhouse.

We went to the Little Skool House at Fidelio Street. The place is damn big. Apparently, they just opened this year in February (same as MindChamps Tampines). The principal attended to us and showed us around and explained what programmes they offer. The whole place feels homely to me. I think the main con for me about this place is the distance. It will take us like 15 minutes by car to get to this place. That is still acceptable. Just that if I were to pick up Kae myself, it's a bit troublesome. As the place is not that accessible by bus or MRT. Sigh.

Pat's Schoolhouse is out for us actually. We went to the one at Meyer Road. We didn't have a chance to look see the place as they were quite insistent that we make an appointment to view the place. More so due to the virus H1N1, they didn't really want to let "outsiders" into the place. Anyhow, this Meyer branch is out for us as we were informed that the 18 months programme is only offered at the Halifax Branch, which is near to KK Hospital! Too far!

Hmm, I guess now we may just be looking at MindChamps Tampines (too ex!) and Little Skool House at Fidelio (too far!). I hate making choices. Why isn't there a clear cut choice for every decision we need to make in life? Hah.

Or maybe I should go take up driving lessons. Then I can just drive and send her to those playschools which offer 2-3 hourly programmes a few times weekly or on a daily basis. Sigh.

M, M, and M!

Finally visited some pre-schools today; Character Montessori at Elias Road, Modern Montessori at Elias Road and Mindchamps at Tampines. Hence the post title. Hah. let's just talk about the things I am not so comfortable with about each school.

The thing I do not like about the 1st is that the teachers are erm filipinos. Not that I am biased against them. Just that it is a tad difficult to understand their english accent. What if Kae grows up to talk like them. And the place looks kinda run down.

The 2nd place is erm more cheena. The english standard of the lady who attended to us was erm not very impressive. Mind you, and we only talked to her for like less than 5 minutes; we were told to go by this saturday to take a tour of the place instead. And the place was not air-conditioned. At least the downstairs area was not. And Kae really does need her cold air.

The 3rd place is freaking expensive! Argh.

Okay, so that is the summary. Hah. Maybe should find out more about their teaching methods instead of focusing on their bad points. Oh, and we saw Mikaela when we went to Mindchamps! Heehee. She is really such a sweetie. How cool will it be if Kae goes to the same school as Miki? Heehee.

of Playschools and Learning

I need recommenations for playschools, anyone? Kae will be turning 18 months old in July 2009. Will start to put her in playschools then. I am now on the lookout for recommended schools, as I have no idea which schools are good, what programmes each school offer, etc. I am at a loss!

Have started to call 3 schools, MindChamps Preschool, Schoolhouse by the Bay and Modern Montessori International PreSchool. Of these 3, the last left the worst impression on me. They just told me that the admission for year 2009 is full, and didn't even offer me more information and if there is a waiting list. Out you go! The 1st offers both full and half day programmes but alas is quite expensive. The 2nd only offers 3 hour programmes for playgroup students. Sigh.

Please let me know if you have any recommendations. It's hunting time!