First school oral

I logged in today with the intention of giving a follow up report on Yusuf, but decided instead that this post about Bilaal and his first school oral is long overdue. A few weeks back, Bilaal came home with a homework task of preparing a 2 minute oral called 'My Family'. Bilaal is very confident about speaking in front of the class, in fact in his first week of grade 1 he actually asked the teacher's permission to stand up in front of the class to tell jokes! Never mind that the jokes were not very funny (no hopes of him being the next Joey Rasdien I'm afraid!), but he did it and it was no big deal. I thought maybe he would be a little bit nervous seeing that this was an official school assessment...but he wasn't...not in the least!

So I asked him to think about what he wanted to say about his family, I would write it down for him and then he could sit with the paper and memorize it. This is what he came up with:

My Family

My daddy's name is Yaasier, he is very handsome.
I like to give him hugs and kisses.
I like to play cricket with him.
My mommy's name is Tasneem
She is very pretty.
She takes good care of us.
My sister's name is Sumayah.
She is 2 years old
My baby brother's name is Yusuf.
He is 2 months old.
I love my family very much.

Sweet and short :)

School update

After monday's traumatic school-going events (more traumatic for me than Sumayah) the week seems to have improved day by day. There has been no tears all week, in fact yesterday morning when we walked into the class, Sumayah actually shrieked with excitement at the sight of her classmates and teacher. There's nothing that puts a mum more at ease than knowing that your child loves her school. Last night she even asked me if she can go to school again with her school bag. I'm also loving that they have started potty training with her at school. When I fetch her she is usually not wearing a nappy and had been dry all morning. So this weekend we're going to get her some pretty big girl pants and officially start potty training.

Bilaal is also really enjoying school. He's only complaint is that break is shorter so there isn't alot of time to play. He's day is also alot longer now with extra-murals usually only ending at 2.30, but he's been coping really well with all the changes. He's also been surprisingly diligent with the care of his belongings when they have to change for sport etc, let's hope it lasts! This morning is the interhouse gala. It's a normal school day with the gala in the morning, but parents are welcome to attend if they wish. Last year we attended because it was his very first school sporting event he was participating in so both Yaasier and I were there to suport him. But his year I didn't feel it was neccessary to specially take off work. So this morning he actually asked me if we were coming and was quite disappointed when I said both dad and I have to work. I explained to him that it wasn't a family event otherwise they would make it on a weekend, and that his dad and I would always try our best to be there to support him at important events. I guess I underestimated the importance kids place on having parents share in their experiences. Fortunately I start work quite late and his school is on my route, so I promised him I would be there as long as I could stay, but that I would have to leave at a certain time even if he hadn't swam yet. He understood and accepted this, so now I just hope I at least get to see him swim before I have to dash off to work. Just 3 more weeks for more before I officially start the waiting game for baby to arrive!

Movie Clip Monday 14

Bilaal is really growing at lightning speed, not only in height (and shoe size!) but in terms of his maturity and acquisition of skills. In this last 6 months he has learned to read completely on his own, do simple arithmetic, tell time and ride his 'big boy bike'. In the beginning of the year his teacher was concerned about his ability to listen and follow instructions, but recently she told me that he has really improved tremendously and this was reflected in his June report. It was a really funny feeling bursting with such pride reading a Grade 0 report! This clip is of him riding his bike. It only took him 2 lessons with his dad to be fully confident to ride on his own. Yaasier says needs to get running shoes to keep up with him when he takes Bilaal out on the roads because he goes so fast now lol! Bilaal always laughs at me when I tell him that I can't ride a bike... no i am not joking, I really can't ride a bike! Well to be fair I can ride in a straight line, but just don't expect me to change direction.

Schools out

When children start school they are exposed to a whole new world. School is not only a place where academic learning takes place, it is also a place where a child is introduced to the wider world, free from 'parental guidance'. I have been reminded of this more and more as Bilaal gets older, especially now that he is at 'big' school. It is amazing how much he has matured this past 6 months since he's been in grade R. But the funny questions and insights keep on coming.

The other day Bilaal wagged his middle finger the way you would gesture someone to come toward you with your index finger, and asked me, ''mommy, why is this a rude sign? What does it mean?'' I was a bit stumped by the question because I didn't particularly want to tell him what it means. I ended up telling him that all he needed to know was that its a rude sign that he shouldn't use and theres no reason its rude, it just is!

Then the other day he told me that one of the boys in his class kissed a girl in his class on the cheek. I asked him why and he said that the girl told him to or she would tell on him to the teacher. Apparently another classmate saw and told everyone and thats how they all knew.

There are many other tidbits that evades my memory now, but hopefully I will get back to regular blogging so that I don't lose any more of those precious gems.

movie clip monday 4

As I suspected when I introduced the idea of movie clip monday, It would not be easy to keep it up. Nevertheless here is a video of Bilaal in his school play. As you can imagine, I was very proud?

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