I Try To Convince Jaslyn NOT To Go To School Again

Jaslyn recovered from her fever last Friday, but it came back yesterday. I told her this morning that she could skip school if she wanted to. She insisted that she wanted to go to school, and nothing would change her mind. Think this is the only stage of a child's life where the parent and her could have this conversation:

Parent: "Why don’t you stay at home and sleep? If you do that, I will buy you a present."

Child: "No, I want to go to school!"

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Jason started being able to hold his head up when you put him on his tummy about a week back. He would then drool happily and leave puddles of saliva on the bed/couch.

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Been feeling a bit blue lately... Think it's all the stress from work, the mundane routine of everyday and the lack of focus/purpose in life. Perhaps it's very early mid-life crisis: when you are in your thirties and it hits you that your career is going nowhere, you have mortgage loans to pay-off and 2 children to care for. Guess it's time to seriously think about what I want to do in life...

I Try To Convince Jaslyn NOT To Go To School

Jaslyn came down with a fever on Monday evening. Other than waking up more often at night and having less of an appetite, she does not seem too affected by it; she is still her usual chirpy self. Thought of letting her stay at home today instead of going to school, so when she woke up at my in-law's place (about 6.30am), I told her she could skip school and just sleep. Jaslyn started protesting and said that she wanted to go to school.

So I woke her up at 7.50am and told her that she could continue sleeping if she wanted to. Jaslyn started sobbing and insisted that she wanted to go to school. She even rejected my offers to bring her to Tiong Bahru Plaza to buy pao or a present in the evening if she would stay at home.

Mini Updates

Jaslyn has been a bit difficult of late. I think it's because she is starting to feel a slight bit resentful of the attention we are giving to Jason. This is of course perfectly understandable – she used to be the centre of our Universe, but with Jason around, our attention is now divided.

Also, she is actually rather fond of her little brother; she always tries to hug him or holds his hands. Sometimes, she will pry his hands open to help him hold on to a shaker or tambourine. However, she might exert too much force (completely unintentional of course) and we would tell her not to do it. There have also been a few times when we ask her to not disturb the baby when he is sleeping, but she will inadvertently do something that will startle him. And after telling her a few times to be mindful of Jason, our patience tends to run out and we will start admonishing her.

It's been rather stressful. As Jaslyn becomes more difficult, the need to give her more attention (so that she will not become more jealous of her brother) increases, which results in less time for Jason. Guess we will just have to pray for more wisdom and patience in raising the kids.

Jaslyn Contemplates Marriage

Was reading the story of Moses (from the Children’s Bible) to Jaslyn yesterday night and told her about the 10 Commandments. Number 6 was "Husbands and wives must not commit adultery".

Jaslyn asked what 'husbands and wives' meant, so I explained that when 2 people get married, the man will be known as the husband, and the woman will be called wife. For instance, daddy (me) is the husband, and mummy is the wife. When she grows up, she will also marry a man, and he will be her husband, and she will be his wife.

Jaslyn frowned and asked, "Who will I marry?"

I told her she can choose any man she wants, the sole criteria being that he should be a good Christian man.

She frowned, then asked, "Daddy, can you choose for me?"

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Jason is a joy. He always responds with a big grin when you say hello to him and would kick his legs excitedly. Have not been able to spend as much time as I like with him due to my being at work during the day and him spending most of the time nursing in the evenings.

Sigh.

Jaslyn Attends Nursery

Jaslyn started attending her new school on Tuesday (Monday being Children's Day holiday). Liyun and I took the school bus with her on Tuesday. Have mixed feelings about this; she's only 3 and rather small to already be taking a school bus. Going up the bus by herself is a problem as the first step of the bus is beyond her reach (fortunately, there is a lady on the bus who would help the children up). And I find myself worrying a lot – whether she will be able to adapt quickly, whether she will be able to get along with her new friends, if her teachers will like her, etc. It's just that I feel she is still too young to have to start dealing with all these things.

For instance, my wife told me yesterday that Jaslyn wet her shorts while going to the school toilet. I began worrying if the school expects her to go to the toilet by herself, which would be a problem as most sitting toilets (even those for kids) are too high for her, and since we always pull up her shorts for her afterwards, she has not been in the habit of doing so by herself. So I brought her to school today to observe how she goes to the toilet, and noticed that the toilet seat was indeed too high for her and she had problems pulling up her shorts as her skirt keeps getting in the way.

The teacher assured me that they always supervise the child when they go to the toilet, but I find myself worrying anyway.

On the other hand, maybe it's just me; Jaslyn seems to be adapting fine – she does not seem too bothered by all these trivialities and is always in high spirits. She has also been telling us about the friends she made in class and singing songs that the teachers taught.