Two.Weeks.

Scary. It has been 2 weeks since school reopens for the new year.

We have settled into the familiar routine again: the boys at school till 1:30pm on most days, longer when supplementary classes and CCAs start next week.

Ethan is P5 this year. He has been made a prefect. His form teacher who taught him the second half of last year, will be his form teacher for the next 2 years as well. She took the initiative to meet up with me when she knew i was in school during the CCA Fair. She gave very positive feedback on Ethan, some of the things which i'm surprised to hear.

i am very aware that Ethan is growing up and asserting himself very strongly in some areas. Sometimes we have very unpleasant exchanges. So much so that i resorted to borrowing books in the library lately on parenting tweens or preteens like him. Just yesterday, i read about the value of writing notes to affirm or acknowledge their abilities. So i text him when he stayed back in school for the first prefect meeting to tell him that i'm proud of him. He called me to say thank you and then asked me if he could go to his friend's place after the meeting. i gave him the permission after his assurance that the whole bunch of them will do their homework first before playing and that he will return home by 6pm. He really did do his homework and came home by 6 and he thanked me for letting him join his friends. i thought wow, i'd welcome this kind of interaction with Ethan any time, compared to those vomit blood occasions.

This past 2 weeks saw one vomit blood event: my broadband and phone was down. i was so frustrated when the telco's operator told me that she will send a technician, the earliest possible appointment being 2 days later!! Tell me who can live without internet that long!!!!!! LOL. Actually i have lived without it much longer (10 days i think), but this time was different cos:

1) i knew what was the problem, despite being assured repeatedly that THAT should not be the problem. (Long story short, i saw some workers installing the fibre optics cables outside my flat)

2) i had a deadline to meet.

Finally, they said they would try to come by the next day. The technician spent more than 2 hrs to rectify the problem. (AND I WAS RIGHT. IT HAD ALL TO DO WITH THAT CABLE INSTALLATION). Then the phone line was down again 2 days later and it was another round of talking to operators and convincing them i am a victim, lol.

On a happier note, i have started training for the 16km run. So far i've done 12 km and hey, it really isn't so hard. The toughest part for me is when boredom sets in. i've been running different routes to counter this problem. The track below my flat is the worst - 400m one round, imagine when i did 8 km, it was 20 rounds round and round :( i also ran at my favourite park. The jogging trail there is 1.6km which i thought is just nice for my training: if i manage 10 rounds, it would be 16km mah. But by the 5th round, i'm bored already. So yesterday morning, i went to another park and tried a different route. i hope to run 16km at least once before the actual race.

That was my 2 weeks. How was yours?

:)