15 April 2009

Ash draws herself

Recently she's been starting to draw people. Here's her self portrait.

13 Apr 2009


Swimming Lesson !

Today was Ash's first swimming lesson at the Arena Country Club. According to the principal, this location is a temporary one and they should be having their lessons at the NTU Alumni Club over BuonaVista soon. Being kiasu parents, Viv and I agreed that we had to check out how the lessons were being conducted and if there was enough supervision to monitor that many toddlers. Toddlers and pools can be quite a dangerous combination.
I got there slightly earlier than the kids and I wasn't really suprised that I wasn't the only concerned parent there. Even overheard some of them had taken half-day off just to see how things were. A funny thing that Ms S told me, as they were leaving for Arena, the kids saw dark clouds forming and kept saying it was going to rain, so Ms S told them to pray that the rain will go away. So they started out with "Rain please go away" which eventually became the full blown, top of the lungs singing of "Rain, Rain go away, come again another day, rain, rain go away, little children want to play !" What a sight and din it must've been !
The lessons were conducted by a swim school, Sports Lifestyle Initiatives. There was a whole team of coaches, minders and care-givers to ensure that the kids were safe. The care-givers will help with showering and changing of the kids. There were also about 4 teachers from Pat's accompanying the kids.
The lessons started with the warm-exercises by the coaches. It was funny watching the kids participating in the exercises and hearing their shouts of 1,2,3,4.

After the warm-up, they were led, single-file, hands on shoulders by the coaches to the pool. Each group consisted on 5 kids to 1 coach.
The initial lesson was more for the kids to trust the coaches and gain confidence of water on their faces. They were encouraged to put their faces in the water, albeit for a split second ! They were also encouraged to kick.


I wasn't sure how long it was, but soon the signal was given from the head coach that lessons were over. They were led by the teachers and care-givers for their showers. After showering, they were led to the lobby where they were given light snacks while waiting for the bus.
And finally up the bus and back to Pat's !

11 Apr 2009

Goggles

Bought a pair of goggles for Ash from Kiddy Palace in preparation for her swimming lesson next Monday. This is part of the extended program that Pat's started offering to kids at full-day care. Ash was pretty excited about the swimming lessons and couldn't wait to try on her new pair of goggles.