She ain't a baby no more

Where are you going, my little one, little one
Petals and petticoats, where did they go?
Turn around, and then you're two,
Turn around and then you're four
Turn around when ou're a young girl
Going out of the door.

creativity

my little storyteller is in her most creative phase at the moment,
telling me a new story almost daily. they usually star some girl (most
of the time, her) taking part in a whole myriad of activities, such as
going to the moon on a balloon, cooking up a huge meal for the queen
etc. Her story last night though, took a dark turn. Here goes (i'm quoting verbatim, so pardon the grammar):

"Once
upon a time, there was a ballerina. She loved to dance so much. One
day, she fell down when she danced. And died. The soldiers came and
hang her on the cross.Theytock her hands and tock tock her feet. It was VERY painful!And then a rainbow lorikeet
fly in the sky and sees her. he said, 'oh my goodness!' and fly again.
he didn't rescue her. Then i came and rescued her. I am the goodSamaritan."

Hmmm....yes,
that was my response. I didn't quite know HOW to respond to that and
wondered if it was time to explain the concept of death,cruxifixion.I guess i DO need to broach the topic, albeit somewhat cautiously. I'm waiting for easter and good friday to come and hopefully the toddler class teachers will teach it. hee! hee!

hubby

I take lots for granted. Way too much. It always takes an absence to remind me of that. So while hubby is gone, yet again, to a distant land, his presence is always present. Thank you for
1. Pumping the petrol so that I can drive with a full tank and not worry about pumping
2. Checking my wallet now and again to ensure I've got sufficient cash, and topping it up when it is empty
3. Doing all the bill payments and funds transfers so I don't have to even think about it
4. Making sure there's enough money in the cash card so I don't panic
5. Emptying all the smelly bins because you know I hate that job
6. packing all our ministry stuff into one bag so I don't fret and try to locate all the bits and pieces everytime
7. Rushing home to us even though you've got so much work on your plate, and waking up at 4am so you can complete that work while we sleep.

For all this and so much more, thank you.

school

We've been dithering about sending the little one to school. I really love having her at home and i enjoy the process of teaching her in various ways. In fact, my home looks like a school with charts galore, every piece of furniture labeled, little drawers and containers to put various toys...I guess when it comes down to it, i really like playing school with her. While neither of us cares two hoots about whether she knows her ABCs or how well she counts, we DO care about her social development and while giving her plenty of opportunities to interact with children in church and at playdates help to some degree, it is never quite the same when such interactions are supervised.

In other words, we need her to learn to survive in the playground jungle: how to take turns at the slide, tell a bully off, get reckoned with if SHE is the bully, how to initiate friendship and back off when not wanted...these lessons are hard to learn when she is the only child. So much as i would love to homeschool, we feel it necessary to send her off to kindy.So off to kindy she'll go in 2 weeks and although for a mere 3 hours, I'll miss her. hopelessly. She's already told me she doesn't need me in school with her, but I am to wait at the door of her classroom. I am also allowed to peek in occasionally, but i cannot disrupt her class.Baby Rachel (her doll) and a chubba-chub will accompany her in her standard-issue school bag so she's got all the comfort she needs.

So now I'm taking all the chance to do the stuff I won't be able to with her once she starts school, like going to the beach on a weekday morning, playing with the water fountain at Vivo, taking the MRT willy-nilly, losing ourselves in the library at Pasir Ris. I've also bought her white school shoes and pretty white socks, blue ribbons for her hair and a whole host of little treats she'll discover in her school bag. I'm also going to find ways to customise her school bag and uniform. the non-conformist in me cannot stand the concept of uniformity!