Great Milestone For My Little Man!

Ivan starts pre-school today! With effect from 1 August 2010, The Swedish government is lowering the age for public pre-school to 3 years old. This means that all kids from 3 years old to 5 years old are entitled to attend public pre-school for 3 hours (0800hrs to 1100hrs) everyday, Monday to Friday and it's free.

I was a little overwhelmed by the fact that he's attending SCHOOL, that I had problem sleeping last night! ^.^ The first 2 weeks are "orientation" period, the number of hours that the kids will attend is flexible during this time, it could be 1 hour per day and slowly increasing it over the 2 weeks to 3 hours, or 1 hour first 2 days and 2 hours next 2 days.... you get what I mean. So for today, we'll be there with Ivan in school from 10am to 11am.

So we woke up early this morning, I brushed his teeth, put on some decent clothes (ie. those with no visible stains of ketchup or strawberry jams!), and sat him by the table to have his breakfast. But as always, he couldn't sit still for 2 minutes....

Daddy had to sit him down very sternly and managed to get him to finish half of his bread and a glass of milk. Mommy is totally useless, it doesn't matter which tone I use... *shake head*

Then we were off to school! Walking hand in hand...

which only lasted 1 minute and then, he wanted to be carried...

We reached school 15 minutes earlier and was welcome warmly by the teachers in school. The teacher in charge was Maria and Ivan had no problem following her around while she showed him all the different areas to play, wash, play, hang up his jacket, play, toilet, paint, draw and oh, did I mention play? ^.^

While Ivan was occupied with exploring and trying all the toys, hubby and I spent some time talking to Maria to find out more about the group, the teachers in charge and filled up some administrative documents.

After awhile, it was time to go home, Ivan said goodbye to Maria and promised her that he'll be back tomorrow to continue playing with the trucks and bicycles outside in the school yard. ^.^

When we reached home I turn on the computer immediately to watch the Singapore's National Day Parade live on webcast. Yes, today is the 45th birthday of Singapore! We are a young country and a highly-capable one! *proud* It is amazing how much Singapore has grown within 45 years, from a small fishing island to the cosmopolitan country today. I'm proud to be a Singaporean! *thumbs up*

I celebrated my homeland's birthday by asking hubby to help me put up the Singapore flag on our balcony.

See my small flag hanging proud!

I also baked a cake and asked Jovan and Angel to turn it into a Singapore flag. It wasn't easy...

Jovan tried for awhile but gave up and left Angel to finish the work.

And she did a great job!

She also decorated the sides of the cake with hearts, the Swedish Dalarna horse (that's what you get from a Singapore-born but growing up in Sweden decorator!) and a double-heart.

I was talking to Ivan about his first day in school and when I asked him if he would like to go to school tomorrow, he smiled and nodded his head. ^.^

I know he's gonna like going to school - stuff to do and toys to play. Hopefully he'll make new friends very soon!