Year of Beginnings

As is expected, once the holidays ended and the new school year started, life for our family experienced more adjustments. Thanks to the school holidays, we have a lot of time to settle into our new home. In fact, we didn't do much during this school holiday except 'house stuff'. We did not take any overseas or interstate travel, not even local ones. The only 'holidayee' stuff we did was to take the kids to Philip Island to watch the penguin parade one night. I think the kids were pretty bored having to stay at home so much, worst when our TV chose to break down and they had to abstain from their favourite in-house past time - TV games. 


Once Chinese New Year and the holiday festivities ended, it was back to school time. This year is a big year of BEGINNINGS for XX. He started training in Tae Kwon Do, started formal schooling in Prep and he started Chinese school too. I was pretty worried how he would cope with so many introductions of new things. Surprisingly, he was really cool and handled these changes in his life with maturity and enthusiasm. 


He was the only new kid at TKD so he got a one-on-one personal training from his instructor, a black belt 2nd dan. He did really well, taking instructions and following the moves. His instructor said he's showing good potential but I was really more worried if he could last the whole hour, especially after a long day in school. His energy was totally sapped up though. For that Tues and Thurs after training, he fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept through till the next morning. I'm glad I stopped XX's swimming program for this year.

Now every morning, XX joins his elder brother to school. I have been waking up early to make their lunch boxes and get them ready, driving them to school when hubby can't. For the first week, I felt a bit lost after I dropped them off. I used to always have XX by my side, suddenly I have so much freedom on my own I felt a bit lonely and disorganised. 

With the changes to XX's routine, I realised my routine has to adapt too. I started going to the gym in the mornings instead of in the evenings since I have time and this way, I don't need to rush during dinner time. Luckily I managed to find some classes that I liked to replace those that I was doing at night. I think I should also start to explore the option of doing some part-time work but right now, I'm quite enjoying the luxury of a quiet lunch in front of the TV, watching Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott fight it out in parliamentary debates.



XX is enjoying his new 'big boy' lifestyle, doing almost everything that his older brother is doing. With the second one, it is much easier to introduce the concept of school. He kind of know what to expect and what to do. KK has been a good brother too, giving him tips on the first day (say 'please', 'thank you'...) and going to his classroom after school to fetch him. Knowing that he has an older brother there with him, there is no separation anxiety, no tears and no worries. I don't even have to convince XX to go the Chinese school on Saturdays. He stayed alone from the second week (didn't need me to sit beside him) during chinese class and he handled his homework without any fuss. Cool as a cucumber. I'm so proud of you, XX!!