it came to me out of the blue (like all solutions do) while i was in the shower – care arrangements for the lil ones when i *finally* return to the grinding mill in a month’s time.
aniq’s been going to a nearby private playgroup for the past sixteen months, where for three hours a day, he goes to “sing” or “draw” or “dance” or “play” with his friends. (of course, more often than not, when i ask him what he did in school, his answer would be “i dunno” – selective amnesia, a useful life-skill to have, if any.)
there’s a certain childcare centre right across the road from our house which i’ve always meant to check out but never gotten around to, and with one more month left to get my act together, i thought, now’s a good time as any. and check it out i did.
i wouldn’t say it’s my first choice of preschool, i mean, it’s no, erm, ju/lia gab/riel or e/ton/house, but it is, let’s say, rather popular with the heartlanders. *chuckles*
but while factors like environment and programme do matter, my main criteria at this point is proximity and convenience, heartlander or not. (if there was a madrasah near enough, i’d send him in a heartbeat, but the one adam goes to at the mosque isn’t close enough for anyone to send aniq to daily once i go back to work.)
the one across the road from our house is definitely convenient enough to drop the boy off in the morning, and definitely close enough for mum or helper to fetch him later in the day or should any cases of emergency occur. just cross the road, no buses or meandering routes, easy-peasy.
and the other important factor is the child/care subsidy, which cuts the cost of fees i’ve been forking out by quite a bit.
anyway, i brought the boy with me and now he’s all excited to go to the “big school”, as he calls it. all the toys and children have got him in a tizzy. he’ll be in the playgroup class till january when he’ll ‘upgrade’ to nursery.
there’s also infant care in the centre but… nahh. i’m hoping that mum can give the baby one-to-one attention, especially with her brother out of the way. (adam and aidin are with their other grandma, and since i’ve been home with my kids for the past five months, mum has been pretty much tai-tai-ing. naik lemak eh, mum? hah! nanti lah you…)
i’m starting him on a trial period next week, and it occurred to me too late on friday that it was the boy’s last day of school at his usual playgroup. he’d brought back a photo they took recently on children’s day, and i didn’t realise till then that he actually knew the names of his friends and teachers (he only ever talks about his girlfriend naima, after all, ha ha) and could point them out to me in the photo.
somehow, although they were his friends and teachers, and he had no idea he wasn’t going to meet most of them again, i ended up feeling a little sad to leave them, on his behalf. like, so sayang to leave when he’d grown attached to them enough to learn their names, and possibly some of their quirks, and they, his.
is that weird? am i being too emo or overdramatic?
guess which one’s his girlfriend? 
in any case, he has certainly picked up some good things and skills at the “small school” (among them, unfortunately, nose-picking, as you can see from his friend, lol! which i have managed to rectify though, so don’t worry…), and i hope to sustain his interest in ‘school’ for a looooooong time to come.
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