First Day

Cayden started his first day of school in Singapore. No, this is not a permanent situation. We have been here in Singapore for the past month, to escape the harsh Mongolian winter. While we are here, I thought its a good idea to let Cayden join a playgroup that allows him to interact with other children. We couldn't get a place in the school with the regular program, as the class is full, so I have registered him for the holiday program instead! Its a 4 week program that is on from Monday to Thursday every week, 2 hours a session.

Today is his first day. When we arrived in school, some children were there already and 2 of the girls were already wailing away. I have to say it disrupted the class quite a bit. I mean, seriously, the girls were crying for a full 2 hours! The parents/guardian of the girls just left them in the class and went away. Cayden was somewhat affected by the crying and he started to fuss too. He became super-sticky to me and wanted me to go everywhere in the classroom with him. He also became quite sensitive - when a boy, Jonas, pushed him away from the alphabet board, he started wailing, which is a really unusual thing for him to do.

The teachers were telling me that Cayden did pretty well, taking into consideration that it was his first day in an unfamiliar enviroment and all.

One of Cayden's classmates was brought to school by his grandparents. This boy is new to the school, as he is regularly attending another pre-school but that school does not have any holiday programs, so the boy's parents enrolled him at Learning Horizon for this holiday program. The grandmother stayed in class with the boy, but after a while, she started showing everyone (including me and the teachers) a video clip on her mobile phone. It was a video of her grandson performing in his school concert. He was holding pom-poms and dancing. Nothing spectacular. She said that this current class is not advanced enough for her grandson. He is already doing to things that other children here cannot do, so the grandson is bored. I was amused and thought that she was quite a show-off. I wonder if she will withdraw the boy from this program?

This reminds me of a conversation that my friend Shareen & I had earlier. We said that parents are normally more humble when talking about their children, but grandparents are more vocal & proud. They often singing praises for their own grandkids, not shy at all.

To sum it all, Cayden wasn't terribly happy in school. Fingers crossed, he will enjoy school better.

Below are some photos I took in school:

Taken right before we left for school...

Strutting confidently to the car


During the crafts session of the class


Teacher Anna helping Cayden




Aha! I caught the ball!


Daddy & Cayden having a word...