Graduation from Kindergarten

17 Nov 2023

Brayden 6Y8M24D

Bevlynn 2Y5M17D

Brayden had his graduation from K2 childcare Bukit Batok Presbyterian Christian Childcare. He did a performance in a large stage catering to almost 600 audiences (consisting of parents of children from 22 other childcares, grandparents). 

He'd dance on stage in pink bow tie.

It was a big performance. And I was very proud and again very emotional - teared up the moment he is on stage. My big baby has now stepped into the next milestone. I can still remember the first day he was at childcare, there is another child named Mikha who was sick and napping. Brayden on the other hand was very clingy and crying like a baby. 

He no longer cried when going to school (ok, not really true! still cry once a long while). But he had grown to like his friends (like Shou Zheng, Ming Shuen, Mikha, Charmaine, Avery, Avelyn, Eason, Ethan, Joshua, Joseph, Petervi, Kim). Mommy will missed those days when I was peeking through the window to secretly see how he is playing in class. He was shy when Mommy and Daddy shouted "I love you" loudly across the classroom. After the classes, we would head to the nearest playground and there he'd find all his friends playing - and Mommy / Daddy catching up with other Mommies and Daddies. 

His last teachers were Ms Azizah and Huang Laoshi.

HAPPY GRADUATION!

Starting tomorrow - Off we go for a holiday in PERTH and PENANG. 

Brayden will stay with grandparents in Penang for a month until end December 2023.

Then we will meet in Genting and KL to bring Brayden home to Singapore. 

This will be the last long holiday before starting Primary.

Values | Magical Moments

Brayden 6Y8M20D

Bevlynn 2Y5M13D

At work, I had attended a leadership training and in it, they have highlighted know our values. My top 5 were : FAMILY, MEANING, GROWTH, KNOWLEDGE/WISDOM, INFLUENCE

Family means the world to me. They are my everything. In good and bad times, I can go home and still pull through with every last ounce of me left to give my best to them. They are my safety net and I wish to be their safety net too. 

Meaning means I look for meaning / purpose in everything. I love meaningful movies, books, stories, songs, having meaningful connections & relationships. Everything comes with meaning. 

Growth means it motivates me to wake up reflecting what I can do better for that day. Small growth, even 1% means it is already a small little success in life. To fall behind on growth or to have no growth at all, there would mean no aim or objective in life. 

Knowledge / Wisdom means to discover more in life. Life is full of knowledge waiting to be discovered or explored. There is just so much we can learn through life. I am like a child (a white cloth) to be painted with beautiful colours. There is limitless knowledge available in this world. 

Influence means to be able to do something and give a ripple effect to someone's life. I would like to be able to give help to others when it means the most to them to be out of their worst circumstances. I would like to motive or to inspire through giving motivational talks to share my knowledge so they can have a better living. To me, these are part of influence and giving back to society. 

We were at a magic show on Sunday. It comes with stories, life has to have meaning, hope and happiness. It started with a dance into Alice in wonderland. It then stops to reflect on the life. You have to look from within to be able to live a meaningful and purposeful life. I realised through this magic show, I looked at my children and watched how they were in awe believing the magic. As we grow old and rationalized, we stop believing and looking for magic. 

My life with my family is magic. We can continue to bring magic into life and believe in its existence. We will need to be more child-like and have more hope and in turn create more magical happy moments.

First piano recital by Brayden

Brayden 6Y8M12D

Bevlynn 2Y5M5D

He had his first public piano performance yesterday. He was nervous and asked for "squishy" - means for hugs. He played his song well 'Twelve day of chrismas'. He could play it without looking at the book. That is amazing for a 6 year old. 

Bev is also speaking lots of words now. She was setting up the bed the other day and said "this pillow Daddy, okay?" "This pillow gor gor, okay?". "Let's go playground, mommy. No more hot, no rain." "This is library". "Thank you Mommy, I love you." With her sweetest voice. 

It was Brayden's P1 orientation. I was all teared up at the end of the orientation speech by the headmaster and teacher. It just suddenly hit me, my boy is already 7 years old. He is going to start another milestone of his life. How many more milestones do I have with him before he leaves home, he leaves me? I am on one hand very proud of him, another had really fighting this emotional step forward. He still hugs me like a bear at night and the conversations we have at night. 

Even writing this made me teared up. I am not sad; this is just a tough moment - tougher than working with high expectations at work. 

I find it hard to talk to my hubs about these emotions. Sometimes I felt he's absent emotionally and sometimes does not have the same level of understanding on the children's upbringing. However, he's been giving me more authority in the decision making for the children; which I appreciate. But it will be nice to have him on board as a team.  

Waking up in different cities every 1-2 weeks

Brayden 6Y8M6D

Bevlynn 2Y4M30D

It had been a crazy hectic travelling months for me. 

Between End August - December 2023; I had to travel the following: 
Thailand(5), JB(1), KL(3), Germany(10), KL(2), Thailand(3), Australia(9), Penang(9), Genting(3)
It was for work, for purchase of a 3rd home, and for personal trips. 

I am waking up in different cities every 1-2 weeks.

It isn't fun at all, especially for someone who hates taking flights. I was in a plane and thinking; even after taking more than 100 flights in my life, I still have motion sickness - break into cold sweat - goosebumps - feeling like vomiting each time. They just do not get any better but I could manage it. 

Everyone who had not traveled for work; had mentioned to me how fun my work is to be able to travel so much. I believed I love the opportunity to travel for work, but the preparation, expectations, and also countless meetings makes the travels less of a joy. 

Bevlynn now knows I am on a plane for work. She misses me and cried, same with Brayden. This boy is still very much emotional and attached to me. 

Brayden is going to P1 soon, so there is graduation in his kindergarten and and also orientation for his school. 

With all that is going on, I had to live day-by-day. With a checklist in hand so that I won't forget any details. 
Brayden and his swimming classes, piano, speech classes. 
Brayden and Bevlynn have more bring home tasks from school too. 

Thank goodness, Hubs helped me through it all. 

There is really a point, when I had pent up stress that I could not sleep at all, lost my voice, coughing none stop and had backache from strained veins due to carrying heavy loads.

Now, I am half-way through. I am glad, the end of the year is almost here and we'll get to celebrate a good year! 

4 years are short

Brayden 6Y7M15D

Bevlynn 2Y4M9D

I was watching Brayden's and Bevlynn's videos when they were about 2 years old. I cannot believe it was less than 4 years ago, Brayden was the size of Bevlynn. It was such several short years and I have a big strong boy with me. He had asked me about other nice stories to tell him before bedtime. I told him about the stories I wrote in this blog. It is a story about my children... 

I hope when he's grown and he has a family of his own, he'd tell his children the story about Grandma and Grandpa who were amazing and who were so proud of him. He is so special and no matter how hard the situation is for him, he'd cry a little and move on stronger. Eg. This week, he needs to have 1.5 hr long continuous swimming training because as a replacement for upcoming holiday in December. He'd complain about how tough it is, muscle-aching and still persevere - at 6-yr he did not GIVE UP. 

I am flying off to Germany tonight, away for 2 weeks. Toughest moment is missing them.