Brought little bun for his little playgroup on Saturday. As he will be going off to school next year, we have decided to stop his Saturday classes after this term ends. At least he will have 'off days' on the weekends. My poor kid... I didn't start school until I was 5, and my poor boy is starting it at 2 years and 3 months (ok, 3 years old by calendar year).
The process of trying to enroll him into a childcare of our choice was no easy feat (like I was trying to gain entry to some top-notch university instead of a childcare!!) and I think it was mainly cos I was way too laid back by local standards and didn't start looking around until a year before he was due to start. One whole year should be ample time to get my child into somewhere right? Wrong!! I was told that some parents register their kids and put them on the waiting list immediately after the child is born or once the birth certificate is ready. (WTF??!) Singapore is such a pressure cooker and it is ridiculous what parents do to get their kids into the childcare/kindergartens which are perceived as 'creme de la creme'. (Not to mention that they charge an arm and a leg!!!!)
I was and still very much am against this mentality/ behavior, but one gets sucked into this nonsense regardless of whether you like it or not cos it has become a norm. If you don't jump into the bandwagon, you are royally screwed (as I have since discovered).
Anyway, by some stroke of luck, we managed to get little bun into a childcare that was my first choice due to its proximity to my parent's home (3 min walk), and also because it has a large outdoor play area and an established reputation (read: expensive). I had originally given up all hope of getting him in there since he was like number 28 on the waiting list and they only have 1 class with about 14 kids to cater for his age group. Obviously the class was already full. I was resigned to sending him to another one which was much further away (20 min drive) and only had late morning classes available. Even for this 'back up' option, Mark had to stand in the queue for 4.5 hours (I couldn't join him as I was almost due to give birth to Ayden then) from 7am! He told me the queue was very long and only the first few people in line managed to confirm a spot! My 'issue' with this other option is with transport as my parents don't drive, but the upside is that it costs a third of what my preferred choice charges.
Then out of the blue, the principal at the school that was my preferred choice called me in early October and told me that they are opening up another new playgroup class in 2014 and invited Mark and I to pop over to check it out. They are looking at taking in another 10 kids and availability will be on a first come, first served basis. By another stroke of luck, we managed to book one of the first appointments available (the admin lady made a mistake initially and gave me a slot a week later without realizing it fell on a public holiday.. when she realized the mistake, the other slot which I wanted was already taken. Somehow she managed to squeeze out a slot the following day at lunchtime and this is how I was moved up the waiting line!).
We went, met the principal, toured the school, liked what we saw and paid for it pronto. Whooohooo... We can drop him off on our way to work in the morning and my mom can pick him up after class! At least my logistical nightmare has been solved..
While we were waiting for classes to start, father and son ended up playing some silly game on the phone!
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