August 2018 – Page 2 – William Quý Bùi

William’s First Swim Lesson At Australian Swim School

Posted on August 18, 2018August 24, 2018 by MICHELLE N

Saturday 10:30 AM. William liked his swim lessons at the daycare so much that I decided to sign him up for swim lessons. After searching and asking around, I signed up at Australian Swim School in Santa Ana, which is 15 minutes driving from our house. It’s 30 minutes per session for every Saturday; the tuition fee is $86/month.

He didn’t want to enter the door so we had to carry him; and when it’s time to get to the pool he kept saying “No, no!”. Anthony, the instructor said he would not mind if William cries, just take him to the pool and hand William to him so I did. William kept saying “I want to to home!” and eventually cried toward the end of the session so we took him out of the pool 10 minutes early. To reward him we took him to Mc. Donald for some chicken nuggets and fries.

Waiting to register at Australian Swim School

Mc Donald chicken nuggets and fries for lunch

Third Day of Kindergarten

Posted on August 15, 2018August 16, 2018 by MICHELLE N

Wednesday 7:50 AM. It’s 3rd day; he seems to do fine in class, his daily report says so. But seems like he doesn’t drink/eat much because he’d finish 2 bags of Capri Sun apple juice and still asks for more when I picked him up. I learned that Wednesday is a Modified Day; which means the class time is shorter. Usually the class is over at 2:00 pm but on Wednesday it’s over at 1:00 PM. That’s for other grades; for William he always gets off at 1:00 PM; but the teacher brought that to my attention so that I’d come a bit earlier to find a parking spot because it’d be crowded.

Regular and Modified Schedule (Wednesdays)

Homework binder, homework due every Friday!

The teachers would write about William’s day in this book; and requires the parent to sign once read it DAILY.

Second Day at School

Posted on August 14, 2018August 16, 2018 by MICHELLE N

Tuesday 7:50 AM. He sat on the stroller voluntarily and said “Stroller”, meaning we will take the stroller, no car. And he didn’t cry at all. I took a few pictures of him wearing sunglasses in front of our house before going to school. He put on the sunglasses himself, not sure why! I took him to the classroom and took few more pictures of him and the colorful wall right next to his classroom. We were early!

On the way out, I took few pictures of the school. I think most students are Mexican; the fact is I have not seen any Asian students. In his class, William is the only Vietnamese. It’s just my observation, nothing else.

Ready to go to school, no crying today. He takes the playing cards with him everywhere.

Parents looking thru the fence watching their children after dropping them off. The doors are locked inside and outside; you need to have a key to get in or out.

Transition Kindergarten – First Day 2018

Posted on August 13, 2018June 27, 2019 by MICHELLE N

Mon 8/13/2018 8:00 AM

William was born in Nov so he’s not ready to go to Kindergarten yet; they send him to TK instead; and today was his first day at the Lincoln Elementary School. He started to cry when I pushed the stroller pass my car. He pointed his hand toward the car signaling that he wanted to take the car. I told him “The new school is near so we can just walk”. He cried all the way from home to the class room. It was so crowded with students. We stopped by the office first to find out his room number: 54 with Ms. Newman Heather.

It was a surprised to see Ms. Birdie in the classroom too. William stopped crying once we got inside the room but refused to get off his stroller. After a while, he came sit next to me at the breakfast table. Ms. Newman brought in breakfast: juice and mini-donuts and asked if he wanted donuts; he kept saying No but I took one chocolate donut anyway because i know he loves it. After a few times saying No, he reached to the donut and had 1 bite. Then eventually he finished it! I encouraged him to go play, and he ran over to the Legos.

His class is from 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Breakfast is served around 8:00 AM in the classroom (he doesn’t need to go get it like at the Martin school); and lunch is served around 11:30 AM.

He was sent home with homework on the first day of school! (it’s 4 pages of learning about letter A).

Eventually he finished the donut, and drank juice that we brought from home. He didn’t want to try to juice in the carton that Ms. Newman gave him.

With classmates, some are in 1st and 2nd grades.

Ms. Newman (black and white stripes blouse) Ms. Sandy (black & white flowers blouse) in the background talking to parents.

After breakfast, he went under a table to get to this play mat and legos.

Breakfast: Orange juice in carton box, Chocolate milk in plastic bag and mini-donut

His classmates already finished their breakfast; William still taking his time…

Frustration Every Morning!

Posted on August 7, 2018August 9, 2018 by MICHELLE N

I set alarm to wake up 7:00 AM every weekday morning. After brushing teeth and washing my face I’d go to kitchen and prepare lunch bags for William and me. For him I’d pack 1 small bag of gummy bears and cookie with a bottle of orange juice. Then 1 small bottle of milk, 1 small cup of orange juice and some chocolate cereal: the bottle of milk I give him around 8:00 AM while he’s still in bed; the orange juice and cereal is for him to eat/drink while I’m driving him to the daycare.

My frustration comes when asking him to go pee and brush his teeth. It takes him a while to leave the bed to go to the restroom; but the hardest part is to make him brush his teeth: he’d just run back to bed, whine or cry and doesn’t want to go back to the bathroom to brush teeth; so I have to persuade him “Do you want to go to they daycare? yes, then you need to brush your teeth.” Next in his morning routine is eye drop for his dry eyes (he’d constantly scratch his eyes); he’d roll around on bed trying to avoid taking eye drops.

After that things get easier: put on diaper, pant, sock and ready to go. Oh wait, his toy box: his favorite now is the playing cards, he put all his cards in a carton box and bring it with him every where. At nite when it’s time to go to bed, he’d pour all the cards on the bed and lie on them! He’d cry if he wakes up and doesn’t see the cards! So every morning I’d need to put the cards back into his box so that he can take it to the day care.

Every morning we spent so much time just to do simple routine. I’m getting tired and tired each day. Not sure what can I do to improve the situation?