Leaving the kids now is more manageable. It helps that I like my main job (which is to teach).
(Repeat. I only like the main part. I still hate it how our focus can get drawn away from the main part because there are so many other things we are supposed to look at and give attention to. That's why I'm beginning to think that I'm better off as a relief teacher.)
(Sidetrack: I'll always remember this story that my favouritest supervisor in the whole wide world (I'm into drama and theatrics at time, just like my girls) told the school one day. It was about the difference between being a teacher and being a relief teacher. Being a teacher involves climbing mountains of paperwork and swimming through red tapes of bureaucracy. But if you want to teach, you have to apply to be a relief teacher.
Wait wait. Did I get the story right?)
Aaaaaanyway. For now, I'm coping well. Alhamdulillah. I just hope I won't be burdened by too many things in future.
3. The Girls
The younger girl is *really really* behaving like a true blue 2-year-old. She bites, she pushes her sister off the stroller (after first saying that she does not want to be in it), she pinches, she shouts, she wants her own way and nothing but her way, refuses her vegetables and wants to survive only on keropok, M&Ms and her 2 Dora t-shirts.
What do I do?
Exercise lots of patience and hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. (Besides scolding her jialat jialat and giving empty threats occasionally.)
I use Supernanny's Naughty Corner and it is effective in curbing bad behaviour. Whenever she shouts, I give her a warning (which normally goes unheeded). A few milliseconds later, she'll shout again. Off to the Naughty Corner she goes. But I only use it for shouting offences. Normally, after a trip to the Naughty Corner, she will be well-behaved for the next 1-2 hours.
But, kids this age have the attention span of a goldfish. So, I can't expect her to remember how unattractive punishment is for too long.
Talking about goldfish's attention - she has this rather annoying habit of not remembering where she puts her things and she expects me to go hunting for her missing item. Yesterday, she couldn't find her wallet (one of at least 3000 wallets/purses that she has at home - all of which contain various bits and bobs of this and that) . Now, this wallet was lying on the floor, less than 1 metre away from her so I refused to provide any help. She whined incessantly about the whereabouts of her wallet and when she finally laid eyes on it, she nonchalantly picked it up and moved on to the next activity. Which was to put this wallet in a bigger purse she saw in the toy box. A few seconds later, with the purse in her hand, she started whining AGAIN about her missing wallet! It was no longer in her hand. Grrrrrr. I refused to help her and she eventually found the wallet beside the toy box. She put it there so she could free both hands to pull the purse out of the box. Gaaaaaah! Situations like this happen on a daily basis and I think I gotta start feeding her gingko biloba or something.
And then, there's the Dora fixation. These days, she MUST wear her Dora t-shirt and her Dora panties to my mother's house. The panties, however, cannot be inside her pants/shorts. It must be on the outermost layer so that she can see the Dora picture on the panties. This is fine when we go to my mother's house early in the morning. We set off at 6.20am; it's still dark and no one can see her. It is NOT fine when we are going anywhere else!! The howls of protest we have to bear as we pry the panties off her...
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The older girl is behaving like a fine young lady most days. Occasionally when she's tired, the cranky monster will get the better of her and she'll throw a mighty fit. These days, thankfully, are few and far between.
She's still the same shy girl when it comes to people she's less familiar with. A neighbour even asked if she could talk. Oh boy. If they only knew. TheHusband and I had to scold her just now because she was chattering non-stop when she was supposed to be sleeping.
She had her IQ test last month. She did okay. But her shyness really shows. When asked to describe the word shoes in as many words as possible. She just held up her leg and pointed to her shoes. When asked to describe a tree, she pointed at the trees outside the window. Aiyoooh. I was in the same room with her and I had to bite my lips to stop myself from interfering with the test.
For now, my main worry about her is the school she's going to in 2013. The school of choice is the same school that her cousins are in. It'll be administratively convenient for her to go to the same school as my sister's kids. (It helps that the school has a good Science programme - an area I so very very need remediation in.) Since last year, there's been no balloting for Phase 2C. I'm praying really hard that the parents in the area will still go the for other schools. The most annoying thing is that if I were to live in the block just next to mine, I'll be considered as being within 1km of the school. But as luck would have it, my block is considered as being within 1-2km of the school. Urgh. I must pray and pray and pray real hard that a) there'll be no balloting for the school again next year; b) they will consider my block as within 1km of the school; c) even if there's balloting, H's name will be picked. If she does not get a place there, the next choice will be a school within walking distance of our place. But, hmmmm. It's not really my first choice.
Nervous sigh.
It's still one year away. (Just calculated the exact distance on Google Maps. IF we manage to secure our Dream Home, it'll be just under 1km! We must, we must, we must get that flat. Salah. Checked http://www.onemap.sg/index.html just to be sure. Our Dream Home is not considered within 1km. Like this, might as well listen to the MND minister and put off getting a new flat by another 2-3 years.)
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Ooooookay. All this premature research work (which may be completely obsolete this time next year) is taking too much of my time. I told myself I must be disciplined and finish all my schoolwork on Saturday night so that I can breathe a little easier on Sunday night. But, it's now 10.40pm and 38 pieces of composition to read and grade doesn't excite me much.
Have a peaceful and blessed Ramadan, everyone! And in case there are no further updates, have a merry hari raya too!
(Psst. The date says 22 July but I just posted this a few moments ago on July 30. Started writing the first paragraph on 22 July but never got round to the next paragraph til today.)
5 comments:
Nad, high 5! I have bunion on my right big toe. My foot is slightly deformed cuz the width from the first toe to the last is wider than the left one. Because of the bunion thingy, i have painful corn (hard skin) at the ball of foot which needs to be cut out frequently. I cannot wear those pretty cover shoes. I'm considering to go under the knives but don't know when. Scared lah!
About the p1 registration, kanchiong jugak kau eh...hehehe...Insha Allah, bila huda masuk takde balloting punya lah. What school is that? WRPS eh? Hehehe...
Farah punya lah cute. She wanna be super man punya girlfriend lah. So cute!
So huda chooses who she wants to talk to? Is that why you got her tested? But I envy the part that she behaves like a fine lady. Hmmm...Sarah is another story.
The bunions are getting very annoying! Recently you put up a picture of Sarah's feet on facebook. The one in which she's wearing a pair of sandals? How I envy the straightness of her feet!! As for me, other parts very straight. But at the one wrong area, I have curves. Boo.
WRPS? Hur hur. Takdelah aku nak sampai kat sana. Sekolah yang aku idam-idamkan sekolah yang dulu kongsi tempat dengan WRPS sebelum sekolahnya siap dibina.
Pasal seluardalam Dora tu - it is SOOOOOOOOOOOO menaikkan darah when she chooses to dress like that when we are headed elsewhere on a bright sunny day. Aiyoooh. I can tolerate it if she wants to wear clothes which are not matching but to put on panties over her pants???!
Fine young lady only happens AT TIMES. this morning, different story. pergi kedai, semua nak beli. she even fought with farah at the bus stop! she had to have herself tested because she's a preemie and all preemies have to go for regular check-ups. she had an IQ test at 2, 5 and will have another one when she turns 8 (i think). i'm quite sure she's not a case of selective mutism but yes, she chooses whom she speaks to. in school, she's fine. in her madrasah, she doesnt talk much as she only sees her classmates once a week. with people she's familiar with, she's okay also. but 2 nights ago, she was sitting beside kailing who kept on plying her bowl with food. she only nodded or shook her head to state what she wanted. she refused to open her mouth, NOT EVEN to say thank you! despite me prodding her a million times. then again, maybe it's because i was prodding her a million times. :p sigh. i have to remind myself that this girl is a work in progress. i just have to continue praying hard that both of them (and sarah & adam too) will turn out well. amin.
FArah is like Hazim!! Hazim is forever asking me to look for his missing toy even if it's like 10cm away!! i refused to look for him and will give him the directions to look for it instead. itupun boleh tak nampak GRRR! farah sounds very like errm..me wen i was a little girl, a terror to my shy, quiet elder sis. and then i became a terror elder sister myself. Wen i grow up, i become such a quiet person. haha! farah will be fine too.
wah huda still chooses who to talk to eh. usually a quiet and shy child will turn out to be sociable later on. 1 of my cousins is like tt. :)
i m also kancheong abt pri sch. our choice of sch shd be a no-brainer la - yg kat sebelah rumah, 5 mins walk, turun rumah my in-laws jer it's there, like super convenient. If it's about logistics, then our choice is definitely tt sch and no other. but i'm thinking of another sch which is way beyond 1-2km. and i heard parents of 2007 babies are already doing PV too. *gulp*
another thing, u did relief teaching b4? as in uve tried relief teaching b4 too rite? my cousin did and tt time she said it's not just abt teaching, admin comes in too. i guess depends on the sch tt u get?
yati - what is it with these kids and their inability to find things which are right under their noses? *shakes head*
and i know - her garangness reminds me of you. hur hur. hopefully she'll become milder in future. i can only pray for that to happen. amin!
relief teaching - aiyahh.. that relief teaching experience doesnt really count. i was a budak hingusan, still very very wet behind the ears at that time. but as a relief teacher then (and still is now), the admin work is not that unbearable. can take it lah. but once you join m#o#e full-time, the admin bit and all sorts of 'others' can really suffocate a teacher who's not sufficiently prepared.
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