Off to 'school'

Renee officially started school on Sept 1st. Of course, she's only just turned 2, so 'school' here actually means daycare.

They feed her, bathe her, change her and even put her down for her nap. They also have 'lessons' like maths, languages, arts & crafts and music & songs.

Most importantly, when Renee is there, she gets to interact with other kids her age, and to me, that's very important.

Because I want her to learn to share and communicate with other kids. Just being alone with me for the pass 2 years, she has had all the attention to herself, all the toys to herself and had nobody else to talk to except me and sk.




And i've seen kids who grew up alone without being around other kids. They are loners and selfish and always keep to themselves as they are not used to being around others.

I do not want Renee to grow up to become like that.

Even though it was, and still is, hard to let her go, it also helps that I get some 'me' time to myself when Renee is away at school, and I've come to realise that it actually plays a very important role.

I'm less mang chang and more patient and I do not take out my frustrations on Renee and SK as much as i used to.




The first 3 days, I cried as much as Renee did, perhaps even more, but as the days wore on, I've learnt to actually enjoy this new found freedom. The freedom of not having to worry about feeding Renee, or watching her while I try to do my things, or whether or not she's watching too much or too little tv.

Of course, it also helps alot to know that Renee is settling down in school as well, and does not cry for as long as she did the first few times.

But the pass 2 days marked a GREAT improvement because the teacher successfully managed to put Renee down for her naps!

Even SK has problems putting her down to sleep because Renee is so used to having me put her to sleep (not to mention her need to suckle me to sleep), that he sometimes had to purposely take her for a drive just so that she will fall asleep!




So I was quite worried about that. And it really didn't help with the fact that for the first few days of starting school, Renee fought to stay awake pass her nap time to wait for me to pick her up only to fall asleep upon reaching home. And that would usually already be about 6.30 pm 7pm, and she won't wake till about 8.30pm 9pm, only to fall back asleep at 2am.

So you can imagine just how it screwed up her timing.

And I wasn't sure how long this would last for and it worried me beyond words because I definitely did not want her sleeping at 2am everyday.

So when the teacher called me up 2 days ago to inform me that she has finally managed to put Renee down for her nap (and she slept for 1.5hrs at that!), I was overjoyed!

It also comforted me in a way that Renee actually trusted her teacher enough to allow her to put her to sleep because to me, that meant that the teacher was treating her well and not abusing her - and kids don't lie about these things.




Overall, Project Daycare went better than I expected and I'm really glad to have found a place that both Renee and I are so comfortable with.

I only pray that I don't cry on the day when she can say "Bye mummy" and walk in on her own without a backward glance at me.