Tag Archives: anya

Getting Ready for Primary 1

2 Replies

Anya’s going for her Primary One orientation next week. Can’t believe she’s only got a few days of school left in kindergarten and will be headed to Primary school in less than 2 months! The other day, I was telling her to cherish the time she had left with her classmates and she was also shocked to realise that she had so little time left with them and was quite upset and couldn’t sleep. Poor kid.

We headed to Smiggle to get her a new school bag and she chose one in blue because that’s her favourite colour. Some people say that Smiggle bags don’t last that long but I also hear that ergonomic bags are terribly heavy even without anything inside so I think this will work for now until we figure out something better. After all, it’s cute and quite affordable.

We also dropped by Bibi & Baba to get her school uniforms. She looks so different and so grown up in her new uniform. Where has my baby gone? She said the uniform is too loose but I think she just needs to get used to it. Pretty sure I’ll be in tears on the first day of school!

her school bag for next year

looking at all the blue stuff

not in the mood for photos

hand me those uniforms!

Now that Anya’s heading to Primary school and going to turn 7, I’ll probably not blog about her so much and I will also have fewer photos of her on the blog. Don’t think she’ll appreciate having all the details of her life on the blog for her new friends and their parents to stumble upon!

Anya’s Graduation Concert

Leave a reply

I was a lot less emotional during Anya’s graduation concert than I thought I would be. It feels like such a short while ago that I blogged about her concert last year and now she has graduated! I cannot believe how fast she’s growing up.

Adrian dropped us at UCC really early on the day of the concert so he could go and get the rest of my family. Anya was literally the first kid to get there and we got her make-up done and managed to get some shots without random people in the background photobombing us.

at UCC

before the show

We had pretty lousy seats near the back and I’m so thankful for my friends who helped to take photos of Anya. One friend was seated right in the first row and during Anya’s performance, I popped over and sat in her kid’s seat while he squeezed in with her for a bit. Really nice of her to do that. She knew how bummed I was about getting such terrible seats!

The concert was called ‘The Little Red Dots’ in line with SG50. Some of the children performed dances from the different ethnic groups and there was also a dance tribute to LKY. Anya’s class danced to ‘Home’ but her favourite was the ‘Ah Boys to Men’ dance where the kids wore cute little camouflage costumes.

Little Red Dots

graduation ceremony

getting her scroll

her dance item

this is Home, truly…

where I know I must be…

where that river always flows…

awesome performance!

finale

I thought I would sob like a baby during her graduation ceremony and performance but was rather calm through it all. I’m so proud of her and it’s been marvellous watching her bloom in her 4 years in this kindergarten and I know there’s so much in store for her when she starts Primary school. Adam will be in K1 next year and it will be his turn to perform in the annual concert!

family photo

with some of her friends

and the mums

Primary 1 Registration for Anya

1 Reply

Phase 2A1

I can’t believe I have a kid going into Primary 1 next year! I know it’s a bit of a cliche to say this, but where did the time go? One moment she’s a squishy, fat baby, and the next moment I have a little girl who reads and writes and makes all sorts of smart ass sarcastic remarks. It truly takes my breath away.

I must admit I was a bit of a slacker about the whole registration process. I put together her birth certificate, our identity cards, her immunisation certificate and my alumni letter, but forgot to make photocopies of the documents. I also thought the alumni letter would be good enough and didn’t know that I might have to produce my report books and/ or PSLE certificate so I turned the house upside down the night before registration to look for those items.

I couldn’t sleep well the night before and even woke the husband up at 2 am (by tickling his feet) thinking that it was already 7 am! Then I woke up a few more times before it was actually time to get up. The husband dropped me at my beloved alma mater then took the kids to school before coming back again to join me. I got to the registration counter before 8 am and was 7th in line for Phase 2A1. While I was filling in the form, I started feeling so emotional thinking about how my daughter’s going to be wearing the same uniform I wore for 10 years, studying in the same campus.. *sniff!*

The lady at the counter was kind and friendly and we bantered for a bit while waiting for my documents to be photocopied. I told her I was surprised by the higher than usual number of spaces taken up at Phase 1 and she agreed that it was definitely more than what the school usually gets at that stage. The whole process went quite smoothly and, since I was so early, I was done very fast.

After the registration, we went to the canteen to eat. I will never cease to be amazed by the fact that I can buy noodles from the same auntie that I bought noodles from on my first day of school in Primary 1. So many warm fuzzy feelings in one morning!

Initially, I wasn’t nervous at all about Primary 1 registration. But when I saw the unusually high numbers for Phase 1 and read about another girls’ school that was likely to have to ballot at Phase 2A1, I starting worrying in earnest. I was on tenterhooks the rest of the day and only felt slightly better when Adrian texted me at 4pm to say that his friend’s wife’s friend was at the school and was number 59 and there was no one else in line. I did not breathe easy until 8 pm that night when the results for 2A1 were announced and we were safe.

To be honest, I would be devastated if my daughter could not attend the same school that her mother/ aunts/ grandaunts/ great-grandmother attended. Thank God her place is confirmed!

Anya’s Concert

Leave a reply

A few weeks ago, we watched Anya’s kindergarten concert at the University Cultural Centre (UCC). It was all a bit surreal because we used to have so many performances at UCC when we were still in NUS more than 10 years ago and now I’m watching my kid perform on stage!

Anya was really excited about the performance and had been singing the songs in the car and practising the dance moves at home for the longest time. She was also very pleased with her costume and kept telling us how nice it was.

Anya was very particular about her make-up, emphasising that she was supposed to have silver eyeshadow, pink blusher and red lipstick. I’m very clueless about make-up since I hardly wear any but Aunty Debs came to the rescue and gave us tons of make-up for Anya’s performance.

doing her make-up before the show

Adam wondering what the fuss is all about

all ready to perform

being matchy-matchy in my Lark & Peony cheongsam

a quick family photo (without the baby)

the kids being herded backstage

We were seated pretty far back because the better seats were reserved for the families of the K2 graduating children so I’m very thankful that David of Life’s Tiny Miracles (who was seated much further in front with his very good camera and superb photography skills) took some beautiful close-up shots of Anya’s performance for me!

Anya’s dance was one of the first items and it was clear to to see that the kids and the teachers had put in so much effort into the dance. The same goes for every other item that followed. It takes a lot of dedication to put together a performance involving so many different groups of young children!

The Power of One

Anya in action (photo credit: David)

so happy to be performing (photo credit: David)

Lasso the Moon

the finale

It wasn’t even her graduation and I was already bursting with pride and close to tears! I think I’m going to be a slobbering mess when I see her in her little graduation gown. How did my baby grow into a little lady so quickly??

with the baby after the performance

well done, Anya!

Anya’s Artwork

Leave a reply

Anya artspiration

Signed Anya up for a 3-day holiday art enrichment class and she came back with this. A little bit messy here and there but generally looks pretty good! Can you tell that her favourite colours are pink and purple? She was quite worried about her painting the first two days and didn’t think it was good enough even though I told her not to worry and just to give it her best shot. I think she did really well and the painting is now prominently displayed in our home.

Anya in her Tennis Class

Leave a reply

Since Adam has taken up tennis, Anya decided that she wants to play too! So we signed her up for a 4-6 years old class at The Tennis Club. There are more kids in her class but they have 2 instructors and the instructors are more strict with the group than the one for the 2-4 years old. I think she really likes her white tennis dress and having her own little racquet.

warm-ups

trying to hit some balls

picking balls

getting a sticker

posing in her dress

Anya’s 5th Birthday: A Swinging Good Time at LilliPutt

Leave a reply

We had a birthday celebration for Anya at LilliPutt this year and invited her friends from school and her cousins. The place is a bit run-down but the kids had fun the last time we were there so we thought her friends would like it too. Anya wanted to wear her Cinderella gown and since it was her birthday party, we let her and even encouraged the other little girls to wear princess gowns if they wanted to. So we had Cinderella, Aurora, Elsa and Sofia the first!

It was a fun party and relatively stress-free for us (except that Adam was being angsty and kept clinging to me and wanted to be carried, etc). We didn’t really bother with a theme or with decorations because the place was already done up in a colourful and festive manner. The staff at LilliPutt were very helpful and organised, and ensured that everything ran smoothly. We really appreciated their help. It’s a great place for a party and would be better if the seating area for the grown-ups was right beside the party area instead of further away.

Anya was on her best behaviour that day and didn’t sulk or throw any tantrums. I know she doesn’t need a big party every year but I do enjoy the parties as much as she does and the birthday celebrations are probably going to get a lot simpler when she’s in primary school. I can’t believe I’m a mother to a 5-year-old! I also can’t believe I have 3 kids 5 years and below, but that’s another story altogether.