PC2 Chinese Enrichment Classes

Ian's new friend

Having break @school canteen

Ian has started attending the Chinese Enrichment classes organized by the PTA of the primary school he goes to next year. The programme is for a duration of 15 days, Mondays to Saturdays from 9am to12noon and it is catered to students from non Mandarin speaking family and its objective is to brush up and to familiarize them with the language before they start Primary one officially in January next year.

I was there to peep on him the first few days when the classes commenced. He adapted well in the class and made a few friends on the first day. LoL. He has been a sociable kid since he was born and has had no problems blending in with strangers. When it comes to making friends, he would take the lead and ask his “targets” if they wanted to be his friends, he does get negative answer at times, “No, I don't want to be your friend!” And he would come to me with an upset face and ask why that they had refused his kind offer and I would explain to him that he had tried his best to be friendly but if they chose not to accepting his offer, it would definitely be a matter of their choice and absolutely NOT his problem and that he has to respect their choice and encouraged him to move on and make friends with those who favoured his “offer”.

I let him have RM2 as pocket money to buy food from the school canteen everyday and keep drumming into his head that he gets to keep the unspent money in his piggy back every day and still get RM2 the next day and that the savings can be spent on things he wants to buy later, of course with my approval. The strategy seemed to work on him as on the 2nd day he was undecided over a slice of french toast which costs 50 cents and a pc of hash brown of RM1. He ended up buying a slice of french toast so that he got to save 50 cents more for his piggy bank. O.O. Hubby has been teasing me that Ian is on the way of being shapen into a stingy being instead of a thrifty one. Hopefully not.

We paid RM80 for the enrichment classes and I felt it was money well spent although it was more to revision as most of the syllabus had already been covered by Ian's kindie. What matters most that Ian gets to keep up with the routine of finishing his homework daily until the school reopens having halted my plan of educating him at home during this school holidays.

Photos With Ben 10 Alien Force

We went shopping at 1 Utama last Friday to get Ian his long sleeved white shirt for his coming graduation night this Sunday. While on our way to Jusco, we saw a Ben 10 merchandise booth set up at the entrance of Jusco.

Ian got so excited seeing all his hero's stuff being displayed on the shelves and there was a life size statue of Ben 10 Alien Force on display and of course, being a Ben 10 die hard fan that Ian was, he requested that I took pictures of him with Ben 10. Look at his overjoyed expression, Lol...

I also ended up buying him a Ben 10 trolley school bag, not cheap eventhough after a 15% discount. By the way, Jusco is having their Members' Privilege Shopping Day till 22 November, 15% off for items other than supermarkets' and 5% off for supermarket items.

Instilling Reading Habit

He likes reading Toys'R'Us catalogues too!!

I know I want Ian to love reading because reading is such an important part of education, and more importantly, learning. I am a book lover myself and I still have the habit of reading every night for half an hour before turning off the light. When Ian was still a toddler, he liked to mimic my way of doing things.

During bedtime, he would take a book and lie down beside me and insisted I read at least two pages for him before giving me a good night hug and kiss and retiring to bed. That went on until he was 5 when he started to read with minimal guidance. Being labelled as an overactive child since young, his class teacher was also pleasantly surprised that he could actually sit down and read a book seriously.

Streamyx Free PC Promotion

I visited TM Point in DU again few days ago after dropping off Ian at the kindy and managed to redeem my cordless phone this time but again, they had problems releasing the wifi modem I am entitled to. I saw a promotion banner at their outlet entrance about the Free PC promotion while waiting to be attended by the customer service personnel.

When I was attended by the customer service personnel, I asked if it was possible to change the previously subscribed combo 1mbps plan to their Free PC plan as I was interested to get Ian a desktop for some children educational programs. It seemed like my earlier application for the combo free wifi plan had not been updated into their computer system. According to the lady attended to me, TM had problems releasing the wifi modem to their customers at this point in time eventhough the stock was available due to reasons only known by themselves.

The process of my change of plan from free wifi to Free PC was a breeze with only a form to be filled up.

With this promotion, I am expected to pay additional RM336 over a period of 24 months compared to Combo 1mbph. Not bad eh.. additional RM336 for a new set of desktop and it comes with a 15" LCD monitor.

The specifications are as below:

Compaq Presario CQ2035d Desktop PC
Intel® ATOM™ 330 Processor(1.60 GHz, 512 KB L2 Cache, 533 MHz FSB)
Genuine Window Vista® Home Basic
1GB DDR2 SDRAM; 160GB Hard Disk
DVD+/- RW Drive with LightScibe Technology
Compaq 15” Wide LCD Monitor

(Upgrade to HP w18.5" Wide LCD Monitor for only RM6/month)

The desktop runs on atom processor and performance wise it can't do much than web browsing and emailing but it just fit the bill for my purpose.

You will have to be a selective credit card holder to be qualified for this offer and payment will be charged to your credit card monthly over a 24-months period.

A Dip In The Pool

I just came up from a dip in the pool with Ian. I have not done so for like ages and that explains why till today I am still hopeless in learning to swim. :(

Ian is getting more confident now and even made several jumping attempts into the pool, well, though fully equipped with all the swimming gears he can get his hands on, a kickboard, goggles, a swimming trainer around the chest and a pair of arm float, I still think that this is indeed an achievement for him, at least he has overcome his fear of water.

I intend to accompany him to the pool every evening or at least thrice a week to get him familiarized with water before he starts his swimming lessons soon. I had lived in landed houses all my life but I am beginning to enjoy living in a condo environment where we get to enjoy facilities such as sauna, gym, squash, badminton, tennis, swimming, basket ball and cycling, yes, cycling.. I can see from our condo unit that on most evenings, some Japanese residents are seen cycling around with their families in the gated compound.

We have yet to utilise all facilities other than the swimming pool and would like to explore one by one when time allows.

TTDI Community Library

I had promised to take Ian to the community library in TTDI right after his exam was over. We went there a couple of times before moving here but never got around to joining the membership. Last Friday, right after picking him up from the kindy, we went straight to the library and both of us applied for membership.

Registration:
Children (4 to 12 yrs old) RM6
Adults (13 and above) RM6
Sr Citizens (55 and above) RM6
Life Member No Charge RM150

Annual Fees:

Children (4 to 12 yrs old) No Charge

Adults (13 and above) RM10

Sr Citizens (55 and above) RM5

Life Member RM150

All members are allowed to borrow 3 books and 1 CD at any one time and shall be returned in 3 weeks and renewal of books can be done at no charge by calling them as long as the original returning dates have not lapsed.

The library building and its compound not only house a library but a community hall, a tennis court and a cafeteria. The overall design of the main entrance of the building with exposure of enlarged glass windows and doors allows natural sunlight to array inside and the reading areas are adequately lit up. Perhaps it was a weekday, it's really quiet with virtually no disturbance. The kids' library is situated at the ground floor, with a no shoe allowed hall filled with kids' books and miniature chairs and tables for the comfort of kids. Parents can also accompany the kids in there to read together. What a quality and fruitful time to spend together!! I did not explore the main library on 1st floor as after Ian had finally made up his mind the 3 books that he wanted to bring home, after one long hour at the kids' library, we headed home for lunch.

The ground floor also houses a newspaper section filled with major daily papers like The Star, NST, Utusan Malaysia and Nanyang. A few round tables with chairs are provided for the public to read newspapers.

The library's opening hours are:

Tuesdays to Fridays 9am to 6.45pm
Saturdays & Sundays 11am to 4.45pm
Close on Mondays/1st week of Sats & Suns/ Public Holidays

Please Note: The new opening hours effective 02 Jan 2010:

Mondays 2pm to 6.45pm
Tuesdays to Fridays 10am to 6.45pm
Saturdays & Sundays 10am to 5pm
Close on 1st Week of Saturdays & Sundays / Public Holidays

In conjunction with the Ramadhan month, the adjusted opening hours from 11 Aug 2010 to 09 Sept 2010 will be as follows:

Mondays: 1pm to 5pm
Tuesdays to Fridays: 8.30am to 5pm
Saturdays & Sundays: 10am to 5pm
Close on 1st Week of Saturdays & Sundays / Public Holidays

Address:
Perpustakaan Kuala Lumpur
Cawangan Taman Tun Dr. Ismail
Lot 31204 Jalan Athinahapan
Taman Tun Dr. Ismail
60000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03- 7726 6310 / 7728 9244 / 7726 0624
Fax: 03- 7726 7629

Free Kumon Maths Classes

I am still undecided if I should let Ian to go for Kumon or Mental Arithmetic classes. Kumon is offering two weeks free Maths classes from 17 to 30 November. The free classes offer four study sessions.

There is one Kumon centre just across the street from our condo and a lot of transport time will be saved if I go for Kumon. But then, I heard that Kumon method doesn't involve much teaching, only typical drilling and repetitive worksheets and parents pay RM120 per month to receive homework twice a week, 1/2 hour each time.

Swimming Lessons for Ian

I have always eager to enrol Ian for swimming lessons but coming to think of having to chauffeur him around apart from his music and art classes, I hesitated.

We moved into our condo two weeks ago and have been on the lookout for a swimming instructor who conducts lessons in our condo's pool for Ian. I saw a notice recruiting students for swimming lessons on the notice board of our condo's management office this afternoon. The swimming instructor charges RM450 (10% discount for kids) for 12 lessons of basic course with a guarantee that the student would be able to swim upon completion of the course. I am inclined to enrol him to the course once his exam is over this week.

I have always wanted Ian to learn this survival skills as I am totally hopeless in this area. Since young, my little boy would only "dip" in a shallow pool with water depth max to his thigh and would never dare to go beyond that. Now that we live in a condo, I trust my boy should have no problem overcoming his fear of water. I will keep my fingers crossed.

My Streamyx is Up and Running Again!!

With us having finally moved and settled into our new place, we breathed a sigh of relief. I lived without broadband at our new home for two weeks, one week was spent to think and rethink through if I should cut my streamyx line and sign up for Wimax/Celcom/Maxis Broadband instead. We finally decided to fall back on streamyx considering a fixed line was necessary. As expected, the nightmare began for yet another week having to make numerous blood boiling calls and visits to TM Point before I finally got my streamyx account activated.

I have yet to get my free wifi modem and they had promised to call when the new stock came last Saturday but never did. Sigh.. sigh... sigh. Looks like I would have to pay yet another visit to the TM Point in Damansara Utama to claim the wifi modem as well as the free cordless phone for subscribing to their unlimited nationwide calls to any TM Fixed Line numbers for an additional RM10 per month.