Rae said…..

Rae: No one believed me when I told them the butterfly on the wall was a butterfly, because the wings are up. They didn’t believe me when I told them that the wings of a moth is spread open when its not flying.

Hubba: It’s ok, that’s their loss. At least you know and can tell the difference.

Rae: Only Sayuri believed me.

Me: Really? That’s so sweet of her.

Rae: Yeah, and she said “See, we know the difference so we will be the monitress and we can rule the class!”

Me: hhahhahaahahaha

On our way home the other day,

Rae: I told Sayuri that I was afraid of doing the backward roll (at gym class), so she came up with a plan. She said that she will purposely do all the actions wrong so the instructors will have to concentrate on her, wasting all the time, then perhaps there will be not enough time to do the backward roll. And she succeeded it!! We didn’t have to do the roll!

Hubba: wow this Sayuri is a trickster!

Mid-year progress report (sans academic)

Rae’s mid-year report sans academic as P1s are exempted from exams for the first year. She was also awarded a “I am responsible” badge (only 1 other girl got it in her class).

I am a proud mum!

Breakfast & playdate

One for the camera!

She forged my signature!

She did that because she thought I had forgotten to sign (I signed on the contents page which was also fine by the school). When I told her she has to go tell her Lao shi about this and apologise, she replied “She already know.I told her. ” quite nonchalantly. She does not understand the real meaning of a signature and honestly, she has no reasons to forge my signature as she always scores full marks for all her spelling and ting xies (by her own merit, we’ve never had to drill her and seriously, there were many occasions where we forgot she had the tests!)

Hubba and I were quite impressed though, as one could hardly tell the difference from the signatures. Can you?

She Ta-bao-ed for us!

Last Thursday, Hubba took Rae for her violin class in the afternoon and was pleasantly surprise when Rae presented him with three slices of waffles that she ta-baoed for him from the school canteen. she used the money that she had earned the night before for massaging Hubba and me, forty cents for fifteen minutes of massage.

I am touched.

About R

Motherhood is a journey that should have come with a Owner’s Manuel. Went through a rough patch with Rae and finally saw the light yesterday. The light (aka possible cause of patch) came after a painful encounter.

Anyhow, I just want to log down some things about Rae, so I am reminded that my daughter is not yet a teenager nor adult…….

She is only 6 years old as of now.

Rae unpack her student care bag and packs them independently, daily, without any promptings from us.

Rae packs her school bag according to the timetable, and any additional books/items her teachers requests. Again, independently and no promptings from us.

Rae baths all by herself since she turned 4, this includes soaping her body, shampooing and using the hair conditioner, washes her face with the face soap. Towel dry and change in clean clothes.

Rae changes her hand towel (and guest’s hand tower) weekly. By her own initiatives.

Rae changes into her uniform, brush her teeth, wash and apply sun block on her face, comb and use a hair band on her hair, puts on her socks and waits for us to leave the house to take her to school. 

Whenever I am busy in the kitchen or house chores, Rae would keep herself occupied by either reading a book, making a card, drawing or just playing in her room.

Rae never fussed if I take too long to prepare dinner and she has much lesser time to play at the playground or cycle/scooting around the estate. She is just happy that she gets to go down to play.

Rae never complains that her breakfast is always bread spread either with Nutella or PB or just butter.

Rae is sensitive towards people. I was upset recently over a car park incident and was quite shaken, didn’t think she would be affected. But she asked if I needed a hug when we got home….and told me that it was okay.

Rae would just keep quiet when I lose control and yell at her, sometimes for no good reasons. She would even go out of her ways to try to please me in that situation.

Rae is always forgiving and never keep scores.

Rae is kind and has a sweet personality. The other night, she saw that grandma was having difficulty trying to open a soya sauce container; Rae who was sitting on the opposite side of the table asked “ah chor, shall I help you?” 

Rae always comes home with some money from her pocket money, and separates what’s left into savings (piggy bank) and another pile goes into a little coin pouch for tithe on Sunday. No reminders needed.

Sometimes, I forget she is only a child. Sometimes, I placed too high an expectation on her and when she displays the ability of a 6-year-old, I feel ‘disappointed’. And that, is not fair for her.

Sometimes, I need a reminder that my little daughter still needs me to comb her hair, braid it into cutesy plaits and that she is not supposed to be so efficient, she is suppose to still be dependent on me to be mummy.

Sometimes….I need to remember that I only have a small window of time to be needed by my daughter. And that time is now.

Sometimes…..we don’t have all that much time. The time is now.