Yiu Yiu attended
Standard 3 this year and as per previous years, she does ok in her studies, except
for Bahasa Malaysia, which never fails to pull her average down. Much as we tried to resist, we will have to
enroll her for BM tuition next year. She
participated in class performance for the school CNY celebration, Chinese story telling and singing competition, school sports day, and won an award for
her entry for her school’s comic drawing competition. She stopped attending gymrama classes as she
was losing interest but made some progress on the musical front by passing her
Grade 1 violin exam in May with Merit.
She surprised me by falling short of a Distinction by a mere three points. She is now preparing for Grade 3 exam for
violin and Grade 2 exam for piano. She
also appeared in a print ad for the MDEC, and caught the Rainbow Loom craze. She attended the Money Tree Holiday Camp but
we didn’t enroll her into the program as there were some changes in the
management of the centre so we decided to wait a bit. Just two weeks ago, she attended the Starters Camp at Radiant Retreats.
As for Yan Yan, she
seems to be falling behind in her languages.
She’s doing rather poorly both in her Bahasa Malaysia and English,
getting sukukata and phonics all mixed up, and can hardly read yet. I am seriously torn between being concerned
for her lack of progress, or taking a more chillax stance as some educational
approaches advocate play, play and more play (instead of “academic”
achievements) for children as young as her.
Nonetheless, we consulted an occupational therapist for an assessment
and bottom line is that I have to spend time reading with her. So that would be my 2015 resolution. That aside, I also need to work on her
self-confidence as her teacher has consistently commented on her lack of self confidence and fear of making mistakes in class, though I don’t really see
this in her at home. Happier times for
Yan Yan this year would be her first field trip to Aquaria KLCC, attending her kindy mid-year party, celebrating her 5th birthday with her classmates and dancing in the awesome kindy concert. Like last year, she missed her year-end party
as we were in Korea for our year end holiday (which I haven’t got the chance to
blog about). Unfortunately, she had to undergo
the ordeal of fixing her dental problems under general anaesthesia.
A glimpse of our Korea trip which I haven't blogged about
On the personal front, work wise, it had been a fantastic year with incredible achievements for my team, and I’m hopeful this will translate into a good increment and performance bonus J Hubby also gave me a (not so) surprise birthday celebration at the Majestic Hotel, complete with dinner and spa. I didn’t travel much for work, except for Taipei, which I took the opportunity to take mum along and had a short holiday in Tainan with some colleagues. I also attended a conference in San Francisco in June. As part of my 2014 resolution, I’ve also started exercising regularly and juicing, besides going on two rounds of juice fast this year. I’ve lost 3kg so far, and have a more toned physique.
Biking in San Francisco
Yiu Yiu helping with the weekly juicing routine
Other things we did this year include hunting down the street art in Ipoh, watched an awesome musical (Ombak) and took a short holiday in Phuket and the year end holiday in Korea. The girls also participated in an art exhibition and had their first professional manicure.
Looking back at my year end post last year, and the resolutions I made for 2014, there were some hits and misses:
- start exercising again and lose some weight (check)- spend less time at work and come home earlier every day (somewhat check)
- have more patience with the girls (fail)
- go for facial, massage and pedi regularly (fail)
- enroll Yan Yan into a ballet school, as she’s been asking for it for a long time now so I should seriously start looking for a class for her (fail, and she has stopped asking over the last couple of months J)
- enroll Yiu Yiu into a Money Tree program, and Beginner’s Camp at Radiant Retreats (check)
- encourage Yiu Yiu to read more, as she hardly reads (fail)
- teach the girls to cycle (check – Yiu Yiu can now cycle on her own, while Yan Yan is still on her four wheelers)
So for 2015, here’s what I look forward to doing:
Continue- exercising and choosing healthier food options
- spend less time at work and come home earlier every day
Start
- have more patience with the girls
- spend more time reading with Yan Yan and helping her overcome her challenges
- encourage Yiu Yiu to read more
Wishing everyone a blessed 2015 ahead.
