Primary School + Bento #1, 2, 3

My baby is all grown up. Sob sob. She started her formal primary education on 2 Jan 2009. I can't for the life of me figure out why the Ministry has to begin a new school year on a Friday.

She got up at 9am on Friday and wanted immediately to put on her uniform. I'm told she wasn't the only one... seems it was a problem with the P1s in the afternoon session. Hehe!

I now have more hours to myself in the afternoon, but haven't had a real break yet. I think that will have to wait till next week when I have more time on my hands. This week has been filled with doctor visits, sending her to school, my own doc's appt etc. But I do feel I'm not so rushed for time and have more hours to play with. I have even started cooking dinner everyday, on top of preparing her bentos.

On the first day of school, they started classes at 2.30pm. That was a really nice gesture on the part of the school. It was only 4hrs, and princess felt it was too short. She couldn't wait to go the full 5-1/2hrs on Monday. That was a good start. A pity we weren't allowed near the classrooms or even in the hall to take photos. They must know what an exciting time it is for parents with kids going to primary school for the first time, so why deny us that joy.

When Monday rolled by, she asked me if I was happy that she was going to be away for so many hours during the day. I told her that I was going to miss her, and she said she would too. I told her she could call me up at recess. And she said she'd do that after having her snack. The first few days, they had their snacks just outside the classroom, but have since moved to the tuckshop as of yesterday. The tuckshop stalls aren't open in the afternoon so the kids either have to cater food from the school-appointed vendor, or else bring snacks from home. I chose the latter of course. Unfortunately, after the 3rd day, my girl requested that she be put on the catering programme in the 2nd semester. %l Oh well, guess she wants to belong to the majority. She says their food look really yummy. There goes mummy's creative bentos. :P

She has yet to call me during recess, and I don't expect her to. I am indeed happy that she has settled in so well, and thanks to KY & A, got to meet a friend from school at J's bbq. They see each other every day now, as little M will drop by to chat with princess and her classmate, J, who so happens to be M's best friend. Unfortunately they are not in the same class.

Here are some bentos that I have prepared for her thus far...

On the 3rd day of school, I fried some udon with ham, corn kernels, onion, and omelette, which I cut into strips, and topped it off with fishcakes her godma bought her. Aren't they very pretty? I always include fruits in all her bento boxes each day, and because Korean strawberries are plentiful now, she has them almost every day.

Hair is a total headache of mine, because it's short but yet not that short that she doesn't have to tie it up, so am really hoping her hair grows faster.

One of the hairstyles that I did. Need to document them so I can refer here for ideas. :)

Wednesday was a busy day for us as she had ballet class in the morning, which left me with little time to prepare anything for her. I bought some ready sushi and packed them in with some grapes. It was also kind of a late lunch for her as she had to rush through her lunch after coming back from class, so didn't eat a lot of it.

For today, I made her some chapati rolls with cheese sausages, and included some pineapple tarts (her favourite CNY cookie). Also some skewered fruits, as well as a snowman marshmallow and some sweeties she wanted to share with her friends.

As they have a photo session today for their Smart card (I'm not sure what that is, but I assume it's the bus passes), I had to tie her hair up neatly, and decided to braid them and put little ribbons at the end. Unfortunately the wind was very strong this afternoon, so hopefully it's not messed up too much.