Some time during the March term break, C took her SwimSafer Silver examination.

Today, she received her certificate together with the badge and pin. They were ready last Friday but because C was unwell, she had to missed lesson and hence was only able to collect them this week. Needless to say, she was very pleased with herself. 

In the past, the 1.5 hours she spent at the pool for each lesson would have her practising all the swimming strokes. But we noticed that since a month ago, the last 30 minutes of class would be reserved for SwimSafer activities. She and her swim mates would be exposed to life-saving skills and they would be practising these skills. We reckoned that this was a better arrangement as the children got to practise these important skills more regularly. 

Though this wasn't the first time she had been on stage performing, this was definitely the most nerve-wreaking experience. Her previous piano recital experiences were on a much smaller scale compared to this recital at Braddell Community Centre and of course, the pieces she played were also not as complicated (according to her).

Moments before the concert started. C posed for pictures and to kind of calm her nerves.

With her friend, Jodie. :)

Our Precious, on stage and playing her pieces.

She was extremely nervous and even told us that the piano is "different" from the one we have at home and the one in school. Well, to be playing to a crowd of close to 100 people would definitely be a quite an experience.

All the children had flowers and their certificates presented to them. 

Precious with her teacher, Ms Sophia. Teacher Sophia is truly a patient lady. She has been teaching C for 3 years now. :)

I woke up at 5.20 am. This is the time I usually wake up for work. Got myself ready and prepared breakfast for Precious then at 5.45 am, gently woke Precious up. Her eye lids fluttered a little and she broke out in a wide grin and a "Good Morning, Mummy." - Feels so good to be able to hear her at the beginning of the day.

(picture credit: http://www.spraygraphic.com/ViewProject/10214/normal.html)

5.45 am - Precious went to the toilet to wash up.
5.50 am - Precious' breakfast time - Bread and Milo.
6.00 am - Daddy woke up (this is 10 minutes earlier than his usual waking time)
              - Precious took her shower.
6.10 am - Precious changed into her school uniform.
              - Daddy's breakfast time
6.15 am - Precious' hair tying
6.25 am - All ready!
6.30 am - 3 of us headed out.
6.40 am - Daddy dropped me off at work and headed off for Precious' school.
7.05 am - Precious arrived at PLMGS.

Daddy commented that there were no buses when he arrived at the school. I supposed the buses were still on the roads. However, Daddy noted that there were many cars as there were numerous parents who also drove their daughters to school.

7.20 am - Daddy arrived at work.

Daddy reached his office an hour and a half earlier than usual. We were saying that this brought back memories of the time where Daddy drove me across the island to work and he would reach his office just before 8 am. Looks like this would be the arrangement come next year.

C attends the afternoon session now. Come next year, she will be in a single-session and each day will begin at 7.20am. Tomorrow, which is the last day of Semester 1 for her, will be kind of like a "try-out" for what being in a morning session will be like.

The renovation works in her school is just about done and the new wing is in its final stages. There was a memo from School informing us that all pupils will be in school from 7.20 to 11.30am. C was excited about being able to wake up early. :)

Then we found out that her school bus will be arriving at 5.40am. 5.40am! That is VERY early.

The skies would probably look like this and the roads, empty.  

(photo credit: http://www.mintalo.com/2007_11_01_archive.html)

It would be like this next year if she were to take the school bus in the morning. Daddy and I talked about this and we concluded that the best way for her would be that Daddy drove her. So tomorrow morning, C would wake up at 5.45am and get ready so that we could leave at 6.30am. Daddy would drive me to work first and then send her to school. 

She would be back by 1 pm and if she was tired, could still take a nap in the afternoon. :)

I had this ominous feeling last Wednesday evening. Wasn't able to sleep too as I was waking up ever so often to check on Cheryl: either a touch on her forehead or to pull her blanket up to cover her. Thursday morning, Daddy text to say that C was running a fever but she had insisted that she would be fine after taking some medication.

At 4 that afternoon, I received a call from her and she was burning up. Hence I rushed down to pick her from school and we headed off to the doctor's immediately. It was a long wait. We started off by waiting indoors but the air conditioning proved too much for C whose fever did not subside at all. We eventually moved outdoor to wait for our turn.

A clinic assistant came out, not long after, armed with a thermometer. "39.5. You will go in next." She commanded. It wasn't our turn yet but I was thankful. Inside, C told the doc how she was feeling and he prescribed some medication for her cough and runny nose.

15 minutes later, we received the meds and went back home. C went to bed immediately after dinner and medication but 3 hours later, a check on the thermometer revealed this:

Our poor Precious... I gave her another round of meds and very thankfully her fever came down soon after. She was able to sleep better that night. Precious missed much of her weekend because her fever did not go away entirely. She was looking forward to the Cold Storage Kids' Run but had to stay in because the fever.

Just before Precious went to school on Monday, she called and said that she was running a temperature again so she stayed away from school yet another day. I took off at the earliest possible time and got back to take C to the doc again. 

He prescribed her an entire new batch of medication and gave her 2 days off from school.

Last evening, Precious complained of an upset tummy and she said she visited the loo many times in the day. I am going to monitor her further and see if she needs to visit the doc again today.  

It was lunch and I was with my kakis, Val and Justina. I can't recall what we were talking about but some how our conversation drifted to some of the books we read when we were kids. 

Val and I got really excited ... because of a series of books that we had when we were kids: Charlie Brown's 'Cyclopedia. It had 15 volumes in the series and each volume dealt with a different theme, from the Human Body, to Energy, to Stars and Planets. Oh, we have such fond memories of these books. 

That afternoon, I sat myself down to search for these books. It was quite a task because these books are out of print and it was quite impossible to get brand new ones. I managed to find a seller in the U.S.A who was selling her books at a pretty reasonable rate.

C was really excited when she saw a huge box and in it, all 15 volumes. That every evening, she started on volume 1 and didn't stop until I reminded her that it was late. The next morning, she brought another volume down to the car as she decided that she would occupy her time wisely while Daddy drove her to Art class. :)

I feel so blessed. 

Firstly, I thank God that Mummy is healthy and still with us, that we are able to spend every weekend together. I am thankful for my sisters who are mummies themselves and the devotion they have to their families and children. Then there is my dear husband and our Precious who really are the centre of my life, making motherhood come a complete cycle.

My surprise started on Friday when C came out from school with a cake. It was a conspiracy between father and daughter. Apparently the school had given the pupils an order form for cake for Mother's Day and they placed an order without letting me know. 

Then on Saturday, C showed me her art work which she had worked on for me. 

The teacher explained that she had done it with a classmate: a boy in class did the green painting with sponge while C did the purple and silver texture piece with a comb. They then cut up their pieces to share with each other. C did the rest. 

And finally, from Sunday School. 

Thank you, Precious. :)

Cheryl's homework this evening, a worksheet on "My River".

She learned about animals and we also did a little extra work by doing a simple research on some of the animals. We used the Internet to find out some facts on the salamander and muskrat too. The favourite part of the worksheet must be the last segment where C had to work on a word puzzle. :) 

Cheryl comes back regularly with assignments, and completed worksheets. This evening, she returned with her Math Check-point. This is the 5th test that C has sat for Mathematics.

Daddy and I were so proud of her and she was all smiles too when she showed us her work. We are glad that she is managing well in school and is able to follow the topics and concepts taught. She has another Check-point on Length and it is coming up next week.

C has outgrown all her sneakers. All except her school shoes. Since Precious has a day off from school today, we decided to shop for new shoes.

It didn't take her long to decide on the pair she wanted and she went prancing around the store. :) These shoes are actually meant for her run with Cold Storage Kids' Run that is happening later this month. Daddy commented that they were nice and she confirmed that they were comfortable.

Aunt Di suggested dim sum and I said yes! :)

We used to go for dim sum in the past but it has been a while since we went and since we wanted to take Mummy there, Aunt Di thought this would be a fantastic place to have our lunch.

Very delicious food indeed! We loved the Peking Duck and C couldn't get enough of the duck.

More than the food, it was also because of our family and my absolutely loving Mummy Dearest. 

(picture credits: Aunt Di)