It's 2013 already?? The 1st week of school update.

Hi all!

And assalamua'laikum to all Muslim readers.

Man, the first week of school term was hectic with a capital H!

We had to rush around buying more school supplies as the week progressed as we figured out what it takes to send 2 kids to school. Well, technically, only Shahrin has to attend the public primary school since Nazrin is only 4 years old but Nazrin has been so excited about going to school (like his older brother), so we decided to send him to Shahrin's old private kindergarten/preschool.   

We thought that we were well prepared for the start of the new year & new chapter in Shahrin's life. But, even with only 3 school days left since Monday & Tuesday were still holidays, I felt like I needed more than a 24 hours day. I spent Tuesday night sewing Shahrin's school badge on his uniform till 4am! My sewing skills leaves much to be desired, heh. Then, on the 1st day of school itself, I woke up 10 minutes before Shahrin's 1st day of school is supposed to start!!!! 

Can you imagine how we scrambled around that morning? Plus, I forgot to iron his uniform the night before & had to make Shahrin wear his still-hot-freshly-ironed uniform. My poor son. Heh. Luckily, I had prepared his bag, shoes & lunchbox the night before, so, Ahmad later told me that the drop-off went well. A teacher was there to greet the newcomers, so the Standard 1 students were well looked after. Ahmad told me that the next 2 weeks will only be sort of an orientation period where the teachers will show these kids around the school, take them to the canteen & supervise them on how to purchase their meals, show them where the toilets are and etc. 

I couldn't go with them that 1st day because I had to get Nazrin ready for his 1st day at kindergarten. He was WAY better at getting ready for school compared to when I only had to deal with Shahrin. He did cry a little for having to wake up earlier than his usual time but after I told him that he should get ready to go to Abang Long's school, he became quite excited. Too excited, in fact, that the moment we got to his kindergarten & he was safely inside, he didn't even look back at me or wave me goodbye. Bwahahahahaha...      

Then, later that 1st day, Ahmad said we need to buy Shahrin more uniforms for his religious classes [KAFA or PAFA] (in the evening at another school) so we rushed out that evening to find white Baju Melayu and green songket. This part was rushed because we weren't aware that PAFA classes starts at the same time the public school starts & that registration was open since December the 24th, 2012. Luckily, Ahmad's friends who have kids already attending school told him about it. I'm not quite sure how this religious school works since Shahrin already has religious class during school hours but Ahmad said that it is sort of compulsory for kids to attend this school. So, Shahrin's schedule were packed on Thursday and Friday; 7.30am - 1.20pm at public school and 3.00pm - 6.00pm at the religious school. 

So, this week was very challenging for us, what's with getting things ready for the boys; iron school uniforms that are way to big for them, even the S sized ones, that I had to sew up the arms and pants to fit them, wrapping Shahrin's textbooks, buy more school items for them..etc. etc. Ahmad was in charge of sending & picking Shahrin up from the public school as well as sending & picking him up from religious school. As for me, I only have to send Nazrin to kindy but Ahmad would pick him up & bring him home. 

Ahmad is so into the whole 'going to school' thing which is so 180 degrees from how he acted when Shahrin only attended preschool/kindy. Back then, I was the only parent actively involved with Shahrin's school days; get him ready, send him to preschool, pick him up (although Ahmad did this more than I did but still..), prepare his uniform/bag/pencils/colour pencils..you know..school stuff. This year, he registered Shahrin for the public school and the religious school. He sent & picked Shahrin up from both schools and he asked Shahrin about his days. Plus, we initially bought each brother new school bags with Transformer pictures on them which the boys chose themselves. Then, after the 1st day was over, Ahmad told me that we needed to buy another bag for Shahrin, this time it has to have wheels because he said he couldn't stand seeing Shahrin dragging his 1st bag which was heavy with his textbooks & exercise books. This is quite the opposite to Shahrin only having 2 bags (one was a hands-me-down & the other was bought 2nd-hand) during his 3 years in kindy/preschool. Nazrin is the lucky one, he has a new bag, new pencil box (Shahrin never has one), new uniform. Hehe..

Apart from the hectic preparations, Ahmad is also busy making things. His welding business has taken over his time this past month and it looks like more orders are coming in, alhamdulillah. In fact, Shahrin's and Nazrin's new school items were bought using the money Ahmad received for making the parking-tent thing while I was waiting for my translation payment to come through. Which it has. As for me, I barely made it through the week trying to juggle between altering the boys' uniforms and proofreading for my loyal client but I managed to get my boys to school and finished my project, albeit 1 day later than the dateline, ahem. 

p/s: I LOVE!!!!! school term. Love it! Love, love, love it! hahahhahah..The past 3 days were heavenly, the TV got its well deserved rest, no one screaming or crying or demanding drinks. The house stayed neat the entire morning. Can't wait for the new week to start. Hahahahahahahah. <---crazy :p=":p" laugh.="laugh." nbsp="nbsp" p="p">