Miley goes to School

Miley's uniform with her name and initial hand sewn by Mummy

Today marks the beginning of an exciting chapter..... Miley goes to school! We actually signed up for this Playgroup meant for 18th months old when she was only 6 months old. Not because we were kiasu parents but because we heard many horrid stories of long queue numbers where one had to queue for years! We ended up being the first to sign up for her batch, nonetheless, one item off the checklist.

Daddy and Mummy deliberately took leave to witness her big day! We woke up at 730am to get ourselves ready and to pack her barang barang. Daddy laid everything out on the floor for inspection!  ALL CHECKED!

From top left to bottom right: Spare home clothes / Towel and hanky / Water bottle, milk bottles and milk powder / Extra set of uniform / Toothbrush, cup and comb / Pouch with hair clips and hair rubber bands / Plastic bags for dirty clothes / Diapers.

We have been preping her for this day from the last couple of days. Been telling her that she's going to school and that she will be making lots of new friends and will be having so much fun. Mummy also asked her to be a good girl but if any kid bullies her she must tell the teacher.... Hahha. All in the hope that she will adapt well.

Miley woke up at 815am. Had a quick wash up, change of clothes and a bottle of milk for breakfast. And of cos photo taking session in her uniform before leaving the house! She looks like a big girl now!

Looking bright and cheery!

Not forgetting the back of her uniform!

We picked Cherie Hearts @ NorthStar simply because it is only 5 minutes drive from home. 奶奶 drove us there this morning and will be fetching her to school every morning from now on. Curriculum starts at 7am but we wanted to take it easy and let her start only at 9am when learning "officially" starts.  We didn't want to rush anyone in the family either.

Arrived just before 9am and we were soon introduced to her Form teacher and her Chinese teacher. The teacher student ration seems to be 1:5. There are only two Playgroups in the center and each group consists of 10 students. The teachers were very friendly and we settled in very quickly. 

The center occupied 3 units on the ground floor

Immediately felt so welcomed when we saw Miley's name in the shoe rack!

The interior with a rather large playground with lots of natural light

Miley's clean and neat classroom

The center made an exception on the first day for both parents to accompany. Usually only one parent is allowed on the first three days. Nevertheless, I let Mummy accompany her most of the time while I stayed behind the scene to take photos. Miley acted a little shy at first but quickly warmed up to the new environment, especially the play ground!

Curious kids from the kindergarden class came over to "see" the new student

What better way to warm up then BUBBLES!

Cho-cho train back to the class!

Drink water time!

Notice Mummy is missing from the scene? We try to move away whenever she's occupied. She tend to forget when she's enjoying herself.

Hiding and observing her from behind the low wall

We sneaked out at about 1030am for food and returned at about 12noon to check on her. Teacher says that she did well and only cried for a while during bath time. She also had some porridge and snacks. Happy to see us, she pulled Mummy to play with her.

Saying 'Hi' to Daddy from her favorite playhouse with Mummy

Fun with hats!

Reading time before nap

That's when she started fighting sleep. All the kids fell asleep after milk at about 1pm but she didn't. She just wanted to play, probably cos we were around. With soothing music playing in the air and the unoccupied comfy mattress, how we wished that we could take her place to catch some sleep! She finally fell asleep at about 220pm. That's when we left for home to rest.

Went to picked her up at about 5pm with 爷爷 and saw her crying when we entered. She must have really missed us. Teacher says that she did well in the afternoon too. Woke up at 315pm, had a bun for snack and played "Parashute". Cried a little but was fine after a while. We are so proud of her!! :D

Rewarded her with raisins for a good first day in school!

Now that her first day is out of the way, I feel relieved that everything went well. Fingers crossed that the next few days will be as smooth and Mummy will be accompanying her. Seeing her in uniform makes me realize that she has grown up so much. Now that she has moved on to the next chapter, we will soon miss her toddler days. She will soon start to speak and talk back at us! Oh no... am I thinking too much?

Bilingual packing list on our fridge. It's a big family affair!

The world's cheapest digital camera

This picture of Miley posted two weeks ago on Instagram with the caption of "Putting myself in daddy's shoes..." has won us a camera on “IKEA Snap & Win” Instagram photo contest! We are so lucky to be one of the 35 winners out of almost 2000 entries! And I only tagged one photo! *proud* :)

Out of curiosity, I did a quick search and apparently the camera was billed as “the world's cheapest digital camera". It wasn't meant for sale but as giveaways with the aim that shoppers will use it to share images of the furniture range in their own homes. It can only hold 40 x 2.3 megapixel images with no advance function. Back to basic! Also found this video on YouTube explaining how to to use the "zoom function"and "image stabilization". Super funny... Watch it!