Somewhere over the rainbow…

Justin: Graduating from Kindergarten

Finally, my boy is graduating from kindergarten!!! He should be in Primary 1 in Janauary, if he’s in M’sia. But over here, school year starts differently under Thai system. Even if his new bilingual school runs 80% in English but it still follows Thai MOE, so he will start Year 1 in May.

So, how has he been doing academic wise? Let’s see…

He passed the pre-primary assessment tests under Sathit Chulalongkorn standard, but needs to brush up his Thai. That one, I don’t care much. It seems like his Maths, English, and IQ test are pretty well, so it’s good enough. I have just found out that he had his final exam 2 days ago, but I didn’t know about it AGAIN. Guilty as a busy mother who never prepares the kids for exams.

I’m more concern about his English and Maths. So for the past few months, he has to do at least 2 papers of Kumon work book on his own, before he can turn on the TV. And he has to read Peter and Jane for a few pages every night. Right now, he’s in book 7a, and each time he finishes a book (twice if he’s not good at most words), he will be rewarded with a book of his choice. As much as I hope that he will pick up a good reading book, he always go for those nonsense Ben 10 and superheroes. *slap head* Oh well, can’t push too much.

For piano, he’s doing the second course now. I can’t remember the exact term though. His teacher said he’s doing very well for a kid who has learned for less than 6 months, but he must be serious and practice at home. I make him practice for like 5 – 10 minutes every day if possible. As much as I would like to be a Tiger Mother who produces child prodigy, but I am not a Tiger Mother my own!!! So, my only hope is, he continues to play the piano for as long as possible. Oh please pick up at least one musical instrument kids!

Physical wise…The lazy mother still hasn’t enroll him for swimming class. He can swim a little but it’s not the right method yet. I must find a class for him this summer holiday.

He has lost his baby tooth, and the new one is growing. Suddenly, he seems more matured to me.

He weighs 21kg and he’s about 115 – 120cm. I haven’t measured him for ages. I only know that he’s over 110cm when he was asked to get his height at a buffet restaurant. LOL! No more paying kiddie price!!!

But as he is growing older, he is not that “obedient” anymore. He won’t response ASAP like he used to when I ask him to do something. He will take his sweet time or give excuses or try to bargain with me. He’s getting more like a pre teen attitude and some times he drives me nuts. Oh boy, ain’t he growing up fast!

He loves having his own room. He even sets some stupid rule of not allowing meimei to enter his room when they fight. LOL! But once in a while, he will walk to our room, especially when he has nose bleed at night. His nose bleeding comes on and off. Sigh…

We will attend his graduation ceremony this Friday. I better get my camera ready!

Justin at 6 years old

I must update the kids’ progress once in a while before my forgetful mind forgets them all.

Justin has been sleeping in his own room for 2 weeks. He helped me to move his stuffs to the playroom and convert it into his bedroom, a few days before CNY. I still haven’t bought him a bed, but it’s not in a hurry. He’s sleeping on double mattresses now. He loves having his own space, putting things the way he wants them to be, and he even set a rule.

No girls are allowed in his room. As for girls, you should know that he means Isabelle. LOL!

So I asked if I’m allowed, he said, “Old woman can.”

Me: *^%**@@##

He bathes himself mostly, except when washing his hair. That I insisted on helping him still. Then one day, he asked me…

Justin: Mommy, you said don’t let anyone touch our bodies right?

Me: Yes. *s** education starts early*

Justin: Then why are you bathing me?

Me: O.o

Ok, that shows that my boy is growing up pretty fast.

I still let him play a lot instead of emphasizing on academic. But once he starts Year 1, I think it’s time to set some time to do more work. I’m glad that he can limit himself to playing ipods, iPad, and iPhone on weekends, by misusing his reward stars. I still reward him with stars with he does extra worksheets, practices the keyboard and etc. But he has to deduct the stars for gadget play time, or use them for buying toys. One star is equivalent to 5 minutes play time or THB10. I let him decide how he wants to use his stars.

He’s old enough to make such decision.

Justin: Going to be 6

Justin weighs 20.5kg now, and hubby thinks he’s too fat. Frankly, he looks fine to me. Blame it on the rainy season and the kids hardly play outside lately. Even if they do, it’s only for a while before the usual evening downpour.

So, he watches more TV in the evening, but it’s still under control. I let him eat at the TV some times and I notice that his appetite has increased too. But until now, I still need to feed him the last few mouths!

He learns piano for 3 months already, and I guess he’s alright with it. Some times I still need to nag at him to practice, but occasionally, he will do on his own. I don’t have to ask him to do his homework because he can take the initiative to do so, but for piano, I still got to nag la.

The main reason why he will practice on his own is he wants to play UNO, snake and ladder, monopoly or Jenga with us at night. If he’s not done his homework, or piano or his extra Kumon work books, I won’t play with him.

I pushed the kids to sleep in their room again, and both of them will use the fan after midnight. It works better for their occasionally coughing. Justin will place all his stuff toys by his side, and he doesn’t allow hubby to sleep on his bed anymore. He feels secure with all his stuff toys, that occupies almost half of his bed. LOL! Nonetheless, Isabelle still needs both of us to tug her in, so we have to be in their room until they knock out. I guess Justin will be able to sleep on his own if he has a room, but for the time being, we only have 3 rooms in this tiny house!!!

And he sleeps through the nights mostly, and hardly wakes up for the loo or has a bad dream. Furthermore, he wakes up easily in the morning, which is great!

He begins to show interests in Chinese, but still hardly speaks. His Chinese teachers said he’s doing fine, and he can write some simple characters. He still has 4 more levels to go in his Chinese tuition, then I’m thinking of transferring him to primary level, separating him from Isabelle. The teacher said Isabelle is slower, and she might be dragging Justin.

Thai wise, he’s doing great. I can’t even understand his Thai now when he speaks with his friends. It’s WAYYYY tooo good!!! He speaks like any other Thai kid now. The mommy really needs to blush up FAST!

Things are getting easier with him going to be 6 in 4 months. As long as he’s not fighting with meimei, he’s a very good boy.

Justin’s Progress Lately…

Most people will tell me that Justin is a very good boy, except when he is playful. He can be a sweet little koh koh to Isabelle, and he can also be that little monster that disturbs his sister to the max until she cries. But overall, I think he’s OK and very independent.

He likes reading a lot, and we still have to read to his selection of books. Actually, he can sit by himself, browsing through the pictures and reciting the contents that he’s familiar with already, but he likes us to read out loud to him. He likes books about animals, dinosaurs, transportation, and he is getting interested in recognizing the different countries in the world. He knows where Ipoh, Penang (Malaysia in general), Bangkok (Thailand la…), Japan, Africa, Australia and etc are by pointing to the atlas. He likes to talk about some of the trips we had like seeing the sleeping volcano in Bali, most of the zoo and farm visits, and a few beach vacations we went together. I guess he knows more about general knowledge instead of academic learning these days.

Yesterday, it was his turn to raise the Thailand national flag, and I managed to snap a photo before they sang the national anthem. Hubby and I joked that Justin has never raised our national flag before but already did so for Thailand flag. LOL! I guess my kids might grow up confusing about their nationality, unless we tell them more about Malaysia…

Justin was going to raise the flag at school.

He likes school a lot, and he said he doesn’t want to go back and study in Ipoh anymore. I think it’s due to the learning methods practiced at his current preschool, which is more interesting to young children. We were surprised to see the school teachers dressing up like soldier, singer, nurse, policewoman and etc when they were teaching about occupations, or bringing the children to see the trees and plants in the garden when they were learning about plants, and today, Justin has another excursion to the Bangkok Aquarium to visit the aquatic animals (they supposed to go to Dusit Zoo, but it’s situated near the Parliament House, which is the hot spot of riot these days). I can’t read their weekly theme because it’s in Thai, so I guess they are learning about animals this week. I think he will enjoy this trip and talk about his trip later when we pick him up from school.

 Hubby let Justin join the taekwondo class and he likes it. He “practices” with hubby almost everyday, before dinner, and I’m amused to see the two “boys” acting like kungfu pandas. LOL! Little Isabelle cannot join the class as hubby doesn’t want her to be boyish.

Justin will be 4 years old next month, and we still haven’t thought of how to celebrate his birthday. There will be a cake for him to school and he wants Power Ranger! He is over with Barney now because he said “I grow up already mah, only baby likes Barney.”:)