Upgraded to a school going mum

Yes, my status has been upgraded since Tuesday, 21 Dec, 2010!

Harvynna attended her Primary One Orientation at her big school in her new uniform. Initially, I was quite afraid as everything will be in BM and I dont know how she will be able to adapt to the switch. But, I dont think it will be a problem after I saw how she blended in during the orientation.

About a week before, she was already getting excited and asked me, 'Do i have to speak in Malay? Will everyone be speaking in Malay?' I told her that the teachers will probably speak in Malay but I am sure all the kids will be speaking in English as most of the children from that school come from English speaking homes.

When we reached the school, many parents and students were already there, some in the canteen, some in the Primary One classrooms. We went to the row of classes and saw that she had been placed in 1 Dinamik. We were also glad to see that another boy from her kindergarten was also placed there. That made her really happy too as they were chummy since kindergarten.

Once we were in the hall, the Principal requested that all the children be sent to the classrooms as they had to sit for a test!! I was a bit annoyed that we were not informed of the test. But, I knew Harvynna was quite well prepared for PRimary One.

From 2011 onwards, all students entering PRimary One will be following the KSSR syllabus. There have been some changes to the curriculum where a more holistic approach will be adopted. At stage One, there will be less emphasis on exams. Students will also be graded based on their involvement in co-curricular activities. So far so good........

Students will stay back once a week to do either CHinese, Arabic or Tamil.

Core subjects are English, Malay, Maths, music, Seni Visual. I did not see any Science but books on Science and Technology were included in the booklist.  The subjects will be taught in a thematic method. They claim that the teaching and learning methodologies will be more interactive and interesting. We will have to wait and see!

Since this school works very closely with the PIBG, the PIBG also arranges various other activities (at a cost, of course) to provide a more well rounded education.  The Principal mentioned that this school scored the second highest best results in the recent UPSR exam in klang Valley and many students have represented the country in various arenas. As one of the 'Sekolah Berprestasi Tinggi', the school has the autonomy to do additional programmes, if necesssary.
So , I hope everything works out well for her as we moved house just to be near this school.

The test was a Ujian Linus to test children's basic skills in literacy and numeracy. 2 papers were tested - Bahasa Malaysia and Mathematics. Harvynna and her friend found the paper easy peasy. (It was kindergarten level) The test is to identify these students and place them in a Linus class. The Linus class will help these students achieve the basic skills before they move on. This system would be very good in the rural schools, I guess. The other students will be placed in the normal stream class and there will be no streaming throughout. Students will be placed based on gender and race.(to have a good balance)

This weekend, my task is to wrap all her books (yawn!!) and get her ready for her big day.

Concert & Graduation 2010

                        Harvynna's graduation ceremony

                            Rowena's monkey dance

                          Harvynna's Tiki Tiki Dance

                            With my celebrities

Moving on....

Can't believe that my little girl has 'graduated' from preschool and is now moving on to Primary school. This is a big step for all of us as it affects our whole routine. Waking up at six to ensure she gets to school on time. Its different with kindergarten where everyone is late.

Harvynna will be attending her Primary school orientation on Dec 21, where she gets to wear her new uniform. She is very excited. My journey has only just begun.

Dug up some old pics of Harvynna at kindergarten.

                               5 year old

                               6 year old

                                      Now a senior at school - introducing Rowena to everyone

                        Last day of preschool with her dearest principal - all grown up, confident and ready to    
                       take on Primary school (November 30th, 2010)

Year End 2010

Its been a while. Making it a point to put something down as it is almost the end of the year and Harvynna starts a brand new era next year. What has been happenning since the last post?

 - family holiday to Cherating. We went on a short getaway to Cherating during the long Merdeka break. It was the first holiday in 2010. Pathetic, but somehow we managed to do it. The girls had a whale of a time swimming, lazing, eating and just spending time with us. Rowena was quite sick before we went. But once we reached Cherating, she immediately got well. The last day of our trip was cut short, as Rowena was summoned back to KL for a TVC shoot.

School Year End Concert & Graduation

The girl's had their annual concert at the end of October. The theme for this year was 'The Jungle Comes Alive'. Rowena's class performed a Monkey Coconut Dance and Harvynna's class performed the 'Tiki Tiki Dance'. Harvynna performed really well and was very confident. Guess her musical Theatre classes paid off. Rowena on the other hand, looked a little lost and looked like she was waiting for her performance to be over. It's her first performance on stage in front of a big audience. It was also Harvynna's graduation. This is her last year at her school and next year she will be moving to Primary One. My little girl is growing up too fast. I must say, her kindergarten has done well for her and she will definitely miss the school.

We moved....

We moved to our new place, finally. We moved because we wanted a bigger place, plus I wanted to live nearer to Harvynna's school. We now live 5 minutes away from her school and 15 minutes away from my work, which would save a lot of time next year. I can only imagine next year would be 100 times more hectic than this year with Harvynna in Primary school. I must say I am definitely a Supermum managing a full time job, 2 hyper active and demanding kids with NO maid.

Rowena's debut on tv!

Rowena's appearance in the Fernleaf ad recently.

Whats been happenning?

I hardly ever update this blog now that I can see cobwebs beginning to appear. Think am losing my mojo for updating the blog since the girls are much bigger now and I am so busy trying to keep up with life's routines!

What's been happenning so far with the girls?

1. Rowena started ballet lessons at school and she totally loves it. She actually talks about it all the time so I can tell that she really enjoys it. I made her pay for her own costume (terrible mummy). She used the money she earned from her shoot for that! My reason, is I had my doubts that she would pursue it further but she insisted that she would!!
2. Harvynna started musical theatre lessons. The teacher is good, but she was kind of put-off as the first song she learnt was 'Hello Dolly' and not some latest Jason Bieber or Kelly Clarkson hit. Lets see how that goes. She actually signed up as she aspires to be like Rachel from "Glee'. Next on the list, is vocal lessons which is due to start in August.
3. The girls did another small shoot for Colgate. Well, actually Rowena was selected, but Harvynna managed to slot herself somewhere at the back!
4. Harvynna's other front tooth is shaking - which means she would be able to sing 'All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth' pretty soon. Poor gal - she had to forgo a few casting offers due to that!
5. Both girls are sleeping in their own room now
6. Rowena is able to read and write a few words now. Quite average for her age group, nevertheless I am still very proud of her
7. FIFA World Cup - Rowena was a SPAIN supporter while Harvynna was an Argentina supporter, then Germany, then Netherlands, then Spain supporter. Basically, she does not stick to one team - she changes as the teams progress and looks most likely to win!!!

2nd Parent Teacher Meeting

The girls gave me the notice from the school that the Mid Year PTM was on. I felt like I had just attended the last one and here it is again. This year has just swooshed by - 7 more months and Harvynna starts Primary school and I havent even decided where to send her. We have done all the necessary registrations, but there are lots of things to consider. From Primary 1, 2011, all schools will have to revert to teaching Maths & Science in BM. Initially, I thought Harvynna would be safe as they were supposed to start it only in 2012, but alas, they now have decided for 2011.

Back to the PTM, it was a real long wait. I thought I will beat the queue by going there early, but there were many other earlier birds.Plus, i have to see 2 class teachers this time, so that would take even longer. I started with the BM teacher (who by the way, is an excellent BM teacher)

Well, as expected, she mentioned that Harvynna is a very good girl and catches up very fast. (yawn...)
She is advanced in her reading and writing and takes the iniative to do things and also speaks to her in BM. She has no issues with her and in fact she encouraged me to start giving her simple essays to write in BM. Looks like i will have to practice my BM too.

Then, the teacher says, 'Do you mind if we discuss Rowena no?' Then she starts off with 'Rowena is totally different from Harvynna. All the teachers here say the same thing.' Then I knew where she was heading!!
She says Rowena has a mind of her own but is very entertaining. She talks to everyone and is very friendly. Her attention span for her work is quite short so she gets bored fast. She does not seem to like BM much' - so she keeps volunteering to send things to the office so she can miss the class.
But I told her that its ok since Rowena is only 4. Then again, she says 'but when Harvynna was 4, dia sangat cepat dan verrrry interested in her work'.

Then when I went to see Harvynna's class teacher, it was the same story - Harvynna is doing very well and is a very helpful girl. I did ask her about 2 girls, that Harvynna really dislikes and the teacher said that those girls are very loud and quite rebellious - so harvynna finds them annoying. The girls are also quite intelligent so she probably feels the competition. So young - and so competitive.

Then I went to see Rowena's class teacher - she started with Rowena being very friendly and kind. She is loved by all the teachers and students and is everyone's friend.And she related a few stories about Rowena, which was quite funny yet sweet. And that was it. i looked at her and asked 'What about her work?' Then she paused for few seconds and said, that her work has improved a lot from when she first came and showed me her work - looked ok. How much can you expect from a 4 year old?. She mentioned that Rowena loves to sing and dance like she did at the last school assembly.And that was it???

These teachers must have been trained to focus only on the positive things!

It's hard to imagine how different these 2 girls are. But I would rather have them this way, then to have 2 exact characters - definitely spices up everyone's life!!

The 2 divas

Sometime in April, both Harvynna and Rowena were selected to appear in a TVC for the Middle East and India market. Although, the amount paid was quite small, i thought why not since they get to go together and with 2 of them, the amount does not seem so bad!

The shoot was at Putrajaya and they were shooting many scenes with the adults at vaious locations - we followed them everywhere, and by the time it was 7pm (we were there since 12.00pm), they told us that they cant shoot the girls and they had to come back the next day!!!!???P#@@@ Anyway, since, they would pay us for both days, and since we waited the WHOLE day, we said ok.

So, we were there bright and early the next day, and the girls were excited and looking forward to the shoot. Harvynna loves dressing up and getting her hair done, and Rowena was just happy to be there. Finally, their turn came, and they shoot was under the blazing hot sun in Putrajaya. HArvynna did not care - she happily went under the sun and did what she was told. As for Rowena.........

the moment it was her turn, she looked at everyone and said.....'NO - I dont want. Its too hot'. She just refused to go under the sun. The director and the rest of the crew told her to go and she said,'Too hot'. In the end, the director requested for umbrellas. So while she was under the sun, she had 2 guys holding umbrellas over her head. Once the camera was rolling, the guys ran off. In between each take, the guys came back with the umbrellas!!!

At the end of the day, I told them, see acting is such hard work, you spend so much time waiting and waiting, you have to go under the sun - do u want to do it again?
Rowena said 'NO' but Harvynna said 'YES. i love it'!!!!

Last week, my cousin asked Harvynna to go for a casting, but in the end they chose Rowena!! So of course, Harvynna was quite annoyed and disappointed and felt like the whole world was against her!!

The shoot was done last Thursday, and I (and everybody else) was ready to strangle Rowena.

First of all, she refused to have her make up and hair done. All she said, was 'DONT WANT' and kept hiding behind me. They bribed her with all kinds of things and threatened to tell her uncle (my cousin) but she was not bothered. In the end, they told her that they will replace her with Harvynna and that did it. She said 'NOOOOOOOO!!!!!' No Harvynna'.

She finally warmed up and did not stop singing the song she was supposed to sing. She was finally in the mood!

 When it was finally her turn, she bullied everyone around her, demanding for sweets, water, and having her face wiped. She made the others sing for her and God knows what. After many takes, she said' I am not doing any more, you keep asking me to do. No more ok'. We persuaded her to do one final round but it must be done perfectly,which she replied 'dont tell me what to do. I know what to do' and she did it.

Gosh, I was so embarassed. I can clearly see that Rowena just does not like being told what to do. She has her own mind, and if something is not to her convenience, she just wont do it!!!

Rowena's 4th birthday party

We celebrated Rowena's birthday in Melaka at my parent's place. Again, she did not mind any cake and was willing to settle for the same cake she had last year or the previous year!! So we chose the Strawberry Shortcake Cake to match her school bag. It was a delicious sugee cake, which is quite hard to find nowadays.

Harvynna, being my dad's pet, had a cake for her as well - so all in all Harvynna got to cut 3 cakes this year. My cousin organised the games with the kids - who were quite unsporting!! I guess the older kids are already at the age where they dont want to perform in front of everyone.


It was a small, but meaningful party as Rowena was surrounded by family and close friends.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY CUTIE ROWENA (belated entry)

My little princess turned 4 on April 25th. She was really excited about celebrating her birthday at school since it would be the first time, plus Harvynna had celebrated her bday in school 2 weeks earlier. Since my school was closed for a week due to the H1N1, I grabbed the opportunity to celebrate her birthday on the Friday before (23rd) - did not have to take any leave.

I ordered an identical cake (like Harvynna's). it was lilac to match her dress. Rowena is not very fussy, she really did not mind any cake, as long as there was a cake. She is very easy to please when it comes to things like this - unlike Harvynna, who wants everything to be perfect.

Her class party was a sweet affair - all the 4 year olds were so cute. They each, gave her a hug when she gave them their party pack. They even performed a dance for me!!

Despite Rowena's extreme naughtiness, she is a very loving lil girl. Despite the fact that Harvynna did not allow her anywhere near her class during her birthday party, Rowena went upstairs to specially give Harvynna a piece of cake. I could see that Rowena was really happy for me to be there, as it is a rare occasion that I visit her during school hours.

It was a weekend of birthday celebrations for her as we had a small party in Melaka the next day with close family and friends.(next post)

Harvynna's 6th birthday Spa-rty

Ever since, I started working in this job in 2008, April is a crazy month ......with 3 birthdays and 1 Open Day to manage, you can imagine the stress.

So this year, Harvynna wanted to have a small party with her close friends besides the cake cutting at school. So I told her, since she is 6, she can invite 6 friends - but they must be independant to stay without their parents, as the place mentioned that they cannot really accomodate parents and kids due the the limited space.

So she made the list, I approved and added one or 2 of my good friends children of the same age. Everything was done really at the last minute!

We had the party at Feffy's Kids Spa in Mont Kiara. They had a 2 hour package, where the girls get a spa pedicure, make up and hair done, while they run around and go crazy with the array for costumes and wigs.

Harvynna prepared the sandwiches, helped me fry the nuggets and do the party packs which was a set of fairy wings and a wand. Basically, I made her do everything as I was too zonked out from the Open Day.

A fun day out for the girls, overall!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARVYNNA - 12 April 2010

Harvynna turned 6 on April 12th. Cant believe she has grown and is so matured now. Next year, she will be in Primary One and she is really excited to start a new Chapter in her life. She keeps telling Rowena that she wont be there to look after her as she will be going to a Big school.

She celebrated her birthday in school on the 12th with all her friends. It was an extremely exhausting day for her as she had a TVC shoot over the weekend in the hot sun - which made her quite moody. (will blog about that later)

Poor gal. Anyway, we are having a party for her this weekend at the SPA with only her closest friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS - YOU HAVE ALWAYS MADE US PROUD!!!!

Parent teacher meet

Last Thursday, was the girl's parent teacher meet at their kindergarten. Since it was the first meeting, it was more to discuss the child's adjustment to the new level and what to discuss if the expectations of parents are met.

I was very confident of Harvynna's report as she usually gets loads of praises, but I was quite interested to see what the teachers would say about Rowena.

So for Harvynna - it was all good. The same report about her excelling academically and being the top of her class. She now shares the position with another boy who joined the school this year.She was quite upset to hear that!! But, the teacher mentioned that she is quite reserved. She has her own group of friends and does not really mix with the rest. She focuses on her work most of the time.

Harvynna has grown to be exactly like ME! She is really my mini.The teacher would like her to be more vocal. Dont know if that is a good thing but I supposed in today's world, it is. The funny thing was Harvynna's teacher immediately made the comparison to Rowena, saying she is very friendly and vocal and is friends with everyone and went on and on about Rowena's colourfulness!! I was like' eh, i thought we were discussing Harvynna here'!

Apparently, Rowena has made a name for herself at school - not academically but by just being herself. She is friends with the kids in all the other classes and loves entertaining the teachers. Her class teacher was actually describing incidents of Rowena and other teachers as the other teachers had told her about them!! Funny ones!

Work wise, she just does it for the sake of doing it, then she does other things like clean the tables after meal time, send the register to the office. Well, Rowena did say that she wants to be a 'kakak' when she grows up.

The teacher did say that she is very brave and participates in all the activities e.g. singing, dancing, speaking. Although, her motor skills are good, she still needs a lot of practice writing. Again, Rowena's class teacher said that Rowena is the total opposite of Harvynna, who has always put her academic work as priority. For Rowena, its all about having fun.

Next Malaysian Idol?

Here's a video of Rowena in action. She wanted me to take a video of her and offered to sing for me. It's free entertainment. How can I complain?

BTW- she has removed her cast and is back to being Rowena.

Rowena's fractured arm

Poor Rowena Fractured her left hand (radius bone) yesterday. After lunch, the girls were playing in the room and as per Harvynna's report, Rowena said, 'you want me to show you how to climb without holding?" and that's what she did but felt down immediately. She must have tried to use her hand to soften her fall, and that would have caused the fracture.

She came out crying but I thought it was one of her usual falls. However, she was quite clingy and kept on clinging to me, and every few seconds, told me it was painful.Then she said, she wanted to sleep and I took her to my room to sleep. She was really holding on like a koala bear. She woke up after an hour and kept calling for me and complaining of the pain. So I knew something was definitely wrong, as she normally does not cry for long if she falls. So we thought its best to bring her to a hospital. Harvynna was being very sweet, and brought her pants for her as she was quite concerned for her sister.

In the hospital, she was really so tired and in pain, and looked so weak - so unlike the Rowena we all know. The doctor on call sent her for an x-ray and she yelled in pain during the x-ray. Harvnna and I waited outside and we could hear her screaming asking to go home. She could not place her hand flat as instructed due to the fracture.

Then we went back to the paed on call and he said that he could see a slight fracture on her radius and he called for the orthopaedic dr who had a look and immediately confirmed the fracture. He put a cast for her, but he said as she is very young, it should heal very fast. Rowena was quite traumatised after the xray, and was not keen to see another doctor. She was sniffling during the visit and kept requesting to go home. Somehow, after the cast, she felt a bit better but the pain comes back every now and then. Since she came home, she has been a real baby asking for sweets, drinks and me to be by her side all the time. She keeps asking me to remove the cast.

Poor gal, she is off school, but may send her back on Thursday, if she is better. Of course, Harvynna cant wait to tell everyone at school what happenned to her sister.

True colours Revealed

Just as I guessed, Rowena is now pretty comfortable in school and her true colours are slowly but surely, being revealed!!

Was talking to her principal this morning, and the moment she saw Rowena, she started laughing and told me this is what happenned .

All students were given the insurance forms to bring back for parents to fill. Harvynna brought hers back, but I noticed that Rowena did not have hers. So I asked Rowena, where hers was and she replied ' Dont knowla that Teacher Shanti - she did not give me'. I told her to request for a new one (coz I knew she had lost hers)

Then yesterday, she asked the office administrator for a new one. And when they asked her where her form was, and this was how the conversation went:

Rowena: 'I was playing with it, and I dont know where it went'

Administrator: 'I will give you a new one but will you pass it to your mummy?'

Rowena:'No, I will play with it and throw it in the dustbin'

Administrator: 'In that case, I will pass it to Harvynna then'

Rowena: 'Ok, Fine. Do whatever you want"

???????? Now, that is the Rowena we all know - not the sweet, cute, smiley faced, tongue tied image she tried to potray earlier at school.

And apparently, after I leave every morning, she is very chatty to everyone. She is really one motor mouth.

Just last night, I told her to pack an extra set of clothes in her school bag and she replied: 'Wait, cant you see I am doing something. Are you blind? Huh?'

The other day, when we were back in Melaka and there was no place for her to sit, she asked us ' Where do you expect me to sit? On the roof?"

It may sound funny but when we are caught in the daily stresses, it comes to a point that far surpasses annoyance, like the other day, on the way home, she was messing with my CDs that was in the back pocket of the front seat. So of course, she got a good yelling to which she calmly answered ' the CDs are at my side, so I can do whatever I want' only to receive more yelling from me.

So she got fed up and told me' Ok. Fine- I am not going to tell you what I did in school because you are very rude!!!!!'

Aargh, I am sure she is going have lots of meeting with the Principal and discipline teachers once she goes to Primary school. Luckily, she still has 3 years more to change!!

When did this sweet lil girl turn into .......

this little monster?

After one week......

...........of school, the girls have adapted themselves very well. The school already started 'lessons' last week, but will start the actual schedules this week. All the outsourced teachers will also start this week.

Am pleased to note that Rowena's teacher mentioned that Rowena picks up things very fast and is quite attentive in class and also follows instructions well. I am relieved coz, unlike Harvynna, who started kindy knowing how to read and write, Rowena went in - zero and untamed!! As she was not interested, I did not push her and let her be as I knew eventually she would be interested. I did notice that when it is someone else giving her instructions, she would follow happily - just like her Musikgarten classes. The only thing is she cannot wait for her turn. I know what it is like - if she wants something, she can not wait and screams and whines till she gets it.

Speaking of Musikgarten, will probably stop those classes in April (once she turns 4) as she already does music in school and I could do with the break!!

Harvynna goes down to check on her sister - most of the time, if she sees Rowena busy with her work, she would leave and go back to her class. Now, its quite funny to hear them comparing what they learnt in school. Rowena gets really irritated when Harvynna sings the songs Rowena learnt.

Its quite funny to see Rowena transform into an angel once she reaches school. She will be the typical monster at home and in the car, but the moment we reach school, she becomes so innocent and sweet.haha

Her new best friend is a girl called Kyra. She does not like the boys and does not mix with them!!

The other thing is the moment she started school, she is totally off diapers. She was diaper free in the day but wears them at night to sleep. Somehow, she decided to grow up when she started school and does not wear diapers at all now. Yay to her. She sleeps in her own room the whole night, unlike Harvynna who still ends up in our room.

New year, new routine

The school holidays flew by so quickly and its back to a new school year. This time, Rowena starts kindy as well and she was so excited as she gets to don a new uniform like her sister and act all grown up. The good thing is that Harvynna goes to the school, so I dont really have to worry about Rowena feeling lost. She looked really cute in her oversized uniform (am hoping she can wear them for the next 3 years!!) and her 2 ponytails.

When I woke them up this morning, they immediately jumped out of bed in excitement, despite the rain.

I had brought them to school on Saturday, to pay their fees (left a big hole in our pockets) and for Rowena to familiarise herself with the teachers and school. The good thing about their kindy is it is very warm and everyone knows everyone. So even, all the other teachers teachers gave Rowena a warm welcome as they had all known that Harvynna's lil sister would be joining the school.

When I dropped them off this morning, Rowena immediately went to her class, put her bag in the allocated shelve and sat down with her teacher quietly. I waved goodbye to her and she waved back smiling. No tears, no wailing....she just sat down. I went upstairs to check on Harvynna, and of course the school being HER territory, she was very comfortable and had reserved seats for her friends from the previous class. Harvynna got her wish as the teacher she got was the one she requested for and Rowena got the strict teacher!!

I just called the school to check if Rowena was ok, and they said that she was fine and did not cry one bit. Well done, Rowena. I am so proud of you. I actually felt a bit bad as all the other parents stayed back with their child, while I went in, saw that they were ok, and left immediately, but at the same time, I felt proud that I have 2 independant kids.

Cant wait to hear her version of what happenned in school.

With Rowena in school, my mornings are going to be more hectic, having to get them both ready, prepare their breakfast, get myself ready and send them to school, and head off to work. Harvynna was more independant and used to shower and dress herself for school. Now, she ensures Rowena has her breakfast while I shower. Its helps that they do everything together.