Boys Should Be Boys, Girls Should Be Girls

          Brilliant article!  I laughed so hard I almost peed in my pants.


http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/162174

Sophie in School!

            This is a milestone in Sophie’s life, and mine too.  It came a bit earlier than expected, as we had originally planned to send her to school only in September after her 3^rd birthday in August.  But as it turned out, Sophie and Arshan together are the perfect recipe for headache, stress and high blood pressure in the adults around them, and we figured that a few hours every morning in school is just the thing to work off some of their (especially Sophie’s) boundless energy.  It will also give the adults a few hours of peace and quiet and the opportunity to get some errands done.

            Who is Arshan?  Well, I’ll get to him in a bit.  Let me just finish up with Sophie’s first day of school.  Anyway, my little baby, who is not so little anymore, toddled off to school about five weeks ago.  I know I should’ve written about it earlier, but with four kids under four under one roof, who has the time??  I barely had time to answer nature’s calls, let alone sit down at the computer and organize my thoughts into coherent sentences.

             Sophie’s first day of school was a Tuesday, as the Monday before the whole family had to go for a medical check up at Prince Court Medical Center.  Monday night saw me packing her school bag and laying out her dress.  In the morning, as we were getting her ready, we kept telling her that she was going to school, and that she’d have to listen to her teachers and she’d meet lots of new friends etc etc.  She didn’t really understand what was going on, she was just happy that she was wearing kai kai (going out) dress.

            The husband, Light of My Life, had playfully predicted that I will shed some tears, but I had vehemently and confidently announced that I would not.  Well… me being me, shed quarts of tears!  Not once, but twice!!  The first time was when she was climbing into her car seat.  The second time was when her daddy came home from the kindy and showed me photos of her going in.  He was kind enough not to make silly remarks, but instead very graciously offered his opened arms and shoulder and soothing words, all of which I gratefully accepted.  Sniff sniff…

            A call to the kindy’s owner (who incidentally happens to be grandma and grandpa’s friend) an hour later revealed that Sophie was just fine there.  She did ask for Daddy a few times, but was quickly distracted by the teachers.  No tears, no tantrums, nothing.  Attagirl!

All dressed up

Ready to go

One tiny step for Sophie (or rather Sophie's teacher), one giant leap for Mummy

Over the threshold, and she leaves her babyhood behind forever

           And now to Arshan.  He is one of the four kids aforementioned, the other three being Sophie, Arman and Aryanna.  Arshan and Arman are mine and Light of My Life’s nephews who were in KL for a month-long holiday.  Arshan is 3 ½ years old, Sophie is 2 ½ years old, Arman just turned one and Aryanna is now almost 3 months old.  With the exception of Aryanna who was and still is a perfect little angel, the kids were all very happy and excited to be in each other’s company.  The adults were very happy and excited for them.  For a few days.  After a few days we discovered that on their own, the kids were active and boisterous but still manageable.  But together, their activeness and boisterousness (are there such words??) grew exponentially and they were not so manageable anymore.  What one didn’t think of doing, the other two would.  Soooo, off to school the older two went, and peace and quiet reigned for a few precious hours J 

            I admit that it started out with quite a selfish reason.  With Light of My Life and Kung Kung (voices of Authority) at work the whole day, the womenfolk left at home with the energizer-bunnies-high-on-caffeine just couldn’t hold the fort.  Well, we are after all the weaker and the fairer sex :P But going to school at this age has done Sophie some good, the most obvious is that she gets to mix and play with other kids her age.  Of course inevitably she picks up some undesirable behaviour, but she also learns vital social skills which she otherwise would not have.  Also, it gives me precious one-on-one time with my angel Aryanna.  My little baby.  My beautiful, good, undemanding baby.  I’m enjoying her while it lasts.  All too soon, she too will grow up and go to school and then to college, then she’ll get married and leave me.  Excuse me while I go and bawl my eyes out.