Kuantan 4 - 6 Nov

We went apprehensively but came back a few kilos heavier and collected some beautiful memories.

Departed the house as early as 6am and another 6 hours later, we arrived at Swiss Garden Resort.

We were mildly impressed... ...

The resort was spacious and the rooms were clean - that was enough to make our stay pleasant. Most hotel photos always turned out differently from the actual thing so we learnt that lowering our expectations when travelling would make your trip a better one.

Photos... ...

We had the entire beach to ourselves on Day 1

The entire trip consisted a myriad of good food, sand and water play and the unforgettable company from the Lims. I've never seen Jayden had more fun from the past trips than he had clowning around with Chloe.

And who can forget how we managed to stuff 2 25" huge-ass luggages, 2 car sets, 2 strollers, 5 adults and 3 children in ONE car. I could almost hear the car suspension whining in pain. Hur hur.

Thanks for the great trip Lims! Certainly more to come!

Moving on

Today marks the end of Jayden's pre-nursery class at Thomson Baptist Kindergarden (TRBK). Ironically, today is also 1 month passed his 3rd birthday.

It never dawned upon me until today that my son will be moving on to another environment. When I dropped him at school this morning, bringing cupcakes for the party and small gifts for his teachers, I then realized that today is the last day my boy will see his teachers, a place he has grown accustomed to for the past 9 months, sharing happy memories with his friends and teachers.

I suddenly felt lost.

Will he like his new school? How long will it take for him to get used to the new environment? Will we need to change to another school because of external factors - distance, teachers, curriculum, environment, etc?

I hated that feeling.

"You'll never know until you've tried" - Everyone would say. So I guess that's really nothing I can do except hope that J gets adjusted as quickly and smoothly as possible. That his immunity system is strong enough to fight away the many diseases at the daycare centre.

I have been preparing alot of things to make the boy feel comfortable with the transition - new bag, lunchbox, beddings, sweater, things that would make him feel familiar and not cry himself to sleep at a foreign place. Telling him on a daily basis that come X'mas he will have to go to a new school and meet new friends.

I really hate this feeling.

On another note, have received Jayden's year-end review at school. Comparing from mid-year performance, it appears that he has improved although I suspect it's just a tactic to make the parents feel better. Till date, the son can only read numbers from 1 - 10, shapes and colors but has no idea on alphabets. That worries me. I need to buck up pronto!

Road trip

In less than 12 hours, the Yip family will be out on the road on their way to East Coast of Malaysia - Kuantan with the Lim family. I have no inkling idea what is there but I do know there is a beach. And that itself could be enough to survive on a 3D2N with a very hyperactive child.

This will also be our first virgin road trip as a family and also our car first long haul drive. I hope he serve us well after the previous tyre scare.

It will be a long and arduous 6 hour drive. Please let there be good weather!!!

Preschool graduation ceremony

Up till today, then I realized how much my boy has grown. I must say I am very impressed with how the teachers handled the kids, coaching them to dance to a song, stand on the stage without running around and most important of all, having lots of fun in the midst of all these preparations.

I was surprised at myself when I got a little emotional looking at the K2 graduates donning their graduation gown and going onstage to get their certificates. I could imagine myself tearing when it would be Jayden's turn as he proceeds to elementary school.

Jayden used to be very clingy to us whenever there's a crowd. Hence, I was also a little apprehensive on how the boy would react seeing such a big audience on stage. But once the music came on, he was dancing confidently and flashing his biggest smile. So amazing! I would have froze on the spot!

His pre-N class danced to the tune "Round the clock" by Bill Haley.

If you noticed, the poor fella was the shortest in the class. *gua gua gua* So determined to get the boy to play basketball when he grows up!

And now a video of his performance. Times like these, I wished I had a super zoom anti-shake camera.

Sleep training

The things we do to encourage the boy to sleep on his own.

We trained Jayden to sleep in his room since he was 8 months old. Until when he turned 2 and found out that sleeping on his own isn't all that comfy as squeezing in a queen size bed with us.

And there comes the many other conniving excuses as well - "Mummy, I'm scared of the pig above my room. There's a Z monster under the bed. I can't sleep in my room it's too hot." So we left him in the comfort zone of our room for about a year, sleeping on a thin mattress on the floor.

One day, I told Liv "It's time he needs a proper bed." That was it. And so it began the search for a decent bed to convince the son that sleeping on it was way more fun than squeezing with us.

I have always wanted to get the Thomas train bed but the size was way too small for a growing kid. Besides, it was only available in the States and hand-carrying the item seemed impossible although I know C's BIL made it back.

Then I recalled the time we visited a local furniture shop selling kids furniture. I was also dreadfully reminded how the son bawled when we tried to pull him away from the double decker bus bed and said it was too big for the room.

One year later, we brought him back to the shop to re-select his bed. And courtesy of his godma, he is now a proud owner of a red fire truck bed.

Well, is Jayden comfortably sleeping on his own now? He still requests for us to accompany him during bedtime. But at least he wakes up on his own now and proclaimed that he had a good sleep. Oh, and he's fully night diaper free too! :D