April

1st: Easter party organised by dance teacher. She didn't dare to eat too much pizza, afraid I will scold her. Wanted to get mixed berries juice for me and got upset with her friend when it was being taken away. I told her is alright, but I am glad that she still would listen to me not to eat too much heaty food and no juice allowed.

2nd: When I think she is behaving well in school, she told me the incident that she took her friend's pencil to look at it and return thereafter during Chinese class and she was reprimanded by Mdm Woo not to do that. I am getting worried as this was the second incident. She got into trouble last week too with Mdm Woo for talking to her friend in class, although she said she got distracted by the friend. I ended up telling and explaining to her repeatedly why she should not do that.

After her trial lesson at Sunflower Piano, we decided to sign up with Aureus Academy for Tuesday class with Teacher Sime-E (turns out to be a wrong choice - updates below).

The first week went by with repeatedly telling her to remember what her teachers told her. Clarisse said she smile widely to Faith when she was punished by CCE teacher but it was deemed as laughing at her friend. She turned to look at her friend and was told to eat her snacks instead. She drew on her whiteboard during a Maths game and the vice principal saw it. Miss Lim asked her if she was the one and told her she had missed a few questions.

It makes me feel jittery to fetch her from school daily; am afraid she would get into trouble with teachers. It's really daunting to hear from her that Miss Lim asked her to stop talking 5 times on the 11th. Regardless of the countless reminders, it still happened. I even apologized to Miss Lim on 9th that she understands not to talk in class and also about her friend who approached her for help at times.

It's such a difficult task to teach my own child, especially Maths word problems. After a few times of losing my patience, I am trying to take it easy. And she finally can do a two step problem on her own on 17th. I also exposed and taught her a few other kinds of word problems. Hopefully through more practice almost daily, the understanding and technique can set in. I have taught her about revision routine and with Wednesday and Thursday being free up, I will let her do assessment books and school test papers. I believe bite sized revision will serve as a good reinforcement on topics learned and for me to work on her mistakes.

She had her first graded show and tell about her favourite toy on 16th. She said she was upset when she got back her results for the first graded English listening comprehension. She had two mistakes while Faith had one and Esther got full marks. I begin to feel she is now able to compare with her friends and I told her it is okay as long as she knows the mistake and try not to do it again.

She also got her class photo taken on the 16th. Hope it turns out good.

For her dance, she had started to learn new steps and stretching is hard. I have been eagerly waiting for her exam results and teacher said it would be released on 24th. Keeping fingers crossed!

She still loves homecooked food and I am thankful. She loves 番茄炒蛋 and broccoli with capsicum very much. She also started to like stir fried vegetables again after I made a sauce made of abalone, light soya, sesame oil and pepper and added shallots. She dislikes the garlic only taste with abalone sauce. Her other favourites are pumpkin rice, fried rice, all kinds of noodles and thick bee hoon. I let her eat cintan noodles, a better kind of instant noodles which is non fried.

One of the nights while preparing her for bed, my foot ached. She quickly told me to sit on her bed and she wore her pants on her own. And wanted to hold me while we walked down the stairs. Sometimes she can be sweet like that.

Her friend, Anisa kept wanting to buy stationery for her and she went to the bookshop with Anisa. I need to keep telling that is not a correct behaviour.

19th: Probably the worst day of the month. The piano teacher of Aureus did not want to teach Clarisse anymore. Her reason is her teaching method is perhaps not suitable for Clarisse. What a lousy excuse and irresponsible music teacher! It's like a hit on my face and I had to settle it with their front desk on the available teachers.

This month is problematic. She seems to be easily distracted in her enrichment classes too. Teacher Bernard wants to separate her and Janice in the mpm class. And I have requested for her and Nicole to sit away from each other in ICR. In school, Miss Lim has asked her not to talk on several occasions. I mentioned the seriousness to her and even exaggerated to her that she might be sent to the principal's office and eventually cannot study at Jiemin anymore. She is afraid but a child being a child and with her chatty character, it still happens. On 23rd, she was even asked by the level head to sit straight during the gathering after recess and humiliated in a way when it was mentioned "There is a girl in 1 Grace who talks and she should know the rules since Term 1". It is really shocking for me.

The only consolation was perhaps the following from Miss Lim on the 9th when I messaged her:

"I think she is a very nice girl who doesn't know how to reject others when they initiate a conversation or when they asked for help. So sometimes it puts her in a situation whereby it seems like she is at fault. I will take note of her surroundings from now on. :)"

As her tooth is wobbly, it keeps bleeding in the school. She fell down in the classroom while walking to let teacher know about the bleeding during the third week. She had a bruise on her knee and pain in her left shoulder. Luckily she got well very soon.

The only happy thing for the mommy this month was that she was chosen by teacher for a group dance competition on 8 July, together with the older girls. Clarisse wanted to participate as is not a solo. But that would mean extra practice on Sundays before the actual class. I hope she will be alright with the new routine.

Daddy was away from 21st night to Shanghai. Clarisse said it was harder than she thought. Haha! She didn't think she will miss Daddy but she actually did. She counted the days and said there will be 3 of us again. I enjoy sending her to school for 3 days although is tiring and tad stressful on being on time. I love the morning short walk home.

She got scolded by Miss Lim on 26th for not listening to her instructions to keep her pencil box below the desk to get ready for MLEA. 🙁

Then on 27th, Mdm Woo told her she should not talk when her friends are speaking in front of the class and Mdm Woo even asked her why she won't talk during class in Term 1 and now she does it in Term 2. How sad to hear this...

Received her pre modern jazz results finally on 29th. I was surprised that she had passed with a highly commendable grade which is in the range of 80-84 marks. The examiner commented that she is a good girl and had tried her best and had a nice smile in the finishing pose. But she needs to listen to the music more and stretch her feet in her skips. The comments are definitely encouraging and boost her confidence.

Teacher has started to teach them new movements for junior jazz. She tried her best to stretch and was praised by teacher. She wanted to do her best to avoid points deducted in order to get a prize from teacher.

The trial class with Teacher Mervin went well. He introduced the essential skill of knowing a song before playing on piano. Clarisse was shown the MTVs of the Disney songs 'Reflection' and 'You'll be in my heart and Teacher played the latter in his melodica when Clarisse chose the piece. Hope that things will go well when her actual class starts.

Looking forward to a smoother May...😎