Little Ballerina

I have decided to send Valerie to ballet class after she has pestered me a few times. She must have picked this up from her many Barbie cartoons. Do you notice all the Barbie cartoons only dances to Ballet?

I've brought her to a trial class last Friday and she totally loves it! I noticed how the teacher taught them to sit with correct posture, to stand up straight with no 'donald duck' butt and how to jump high up. There were also some hands movement and dancing to a short piece of music.

I've met a mommy there and apparently she told me this place teaches classical ballet, while another centre teaches modern ballet. Okie, I don't really know the difference but I suppose anything classical is probably better in terms of training the kids to have the correct fundamentals.

I've also asked the centre if they normally organise concerts to showcase what the kids have learned, but she said the last time they had one was few years ago. It would be nice if the parents could see some 'results' of sending their kids to learn something. I've also asked about ballet certifications, and only children age 7 and above go for exams.

Anyway, a few days later, we have her registered and she's given her own ballet uniform. I could see her eyes glow with delight when she was trying on her pink leotard and ballet shoes. Look how happy this little ballerina is. She loves the ballet costume so much that she refused to take it off after she reached home, even wanted to wear it to sleep!

I hope she can keep this excitement up and show me some ballet moves later.

All Boosted Up for School

Sigh... My blissful December month is over. For the last one year, it has been a total nightmare with Valerie falling sick every 2 weeks after starting school. Yes, every 2 weeks!! It would only be few days where she was not drugged to stop her flu or cough or fever. And the worse was she spreading it to her baby sister. Because Vivienne was so young, once she gets flu, it lasts for a month! Whatever viruses Valerie contracted, they were all pretty nasty.

The last big one she had was her last day of school. She has just recovered from another flu/cough and we thought it would be nice to let her attend the Year End School Party. Gosh, were we wrong! She came home with a sudden high fever and later, bouts of stomach pain. Because she didn't have diarrhea, the doctor couldn't diagnose her of food poisoning. It was horrible, every time she was having very high fever and severe stomach pain we rushed her to the hospital, only to be sent back home with Colimix. We hardly slept for that few days. That was like a finale to her last day of school. Really no thanks..

Anyway, last December was the best month of the year. No school, means no sickness. No hearing the baby snorting loudly at night because of blocked nose. No need to try to keep the sisters apart so they don't spread the flu/cough to each other... It was just great...

But now it's January. School is starting. Just the thought of them falling sick again makes me shiver. So as a precaution I've done quite a number of things to help them stay healthy:

1. Flu shots - recommended by paeditrician as highly effective to ward off common flu. I've brought Valerie for a shot but doctor recommended Vivienne only takes this after she finishes her 1st year immunisation.

2. Millenium E. Excel - recommended by some mommies to boost immunity. Millennium is a beverage containing a delicious blend of cactus, royal jelly and honey to form an excellent source of phytochemicals and antioxidants. So far, both my kids love them. Whenever they see me holding this, they will fight to have a spoon. I got it for RM500 after discount.

3. Bactore sachet - recommended to wear around her neck while at school. Directly imported from Japan, Bactore is composed of safe chemicals to ward off bacteria and viruses. A mommy recommended this and told me her son only fall sick every 6 months after using this. For more info, please check out http://www.bactore.com/

4. Personal Hygiene - we keep reminding Valerie not to put her hands into her mouth, not to pick up food or object from the floor and eat. Sometimes we catch her doing it and remind her and then she just smile and put away her hands.. Sigh.. kids...

There we have it. We have done everything we could, now just pray that Valerie will not fall sick so often this year. Fingers crossed...