2025 was a year of growth and challenge for me, especially related to Nadine . Nadine is a quiet and shy girl who needs familiar and steady environment. For the first 4 years of her life, she got a routine to go to daily to a daycare called Kindercare , so her friends were pretty much kids that she already knew since she was a baby. Unfortunately things went downhill with the daycare so we had to move her mid-year during Pre-K class to St. Agnes School . Since Nadine was in St. Agnes, I started to observed a pattern of high anxiety. The trend continued when she transitioned to Starkweather Elementary for Kindergarten . Kindergarten transition was rough to say the least. Every now and then I got concerned calls and emails from teachers because she often shutdown and refused to participate in the class activities. Outside classroom, meltdowns happened frequently, when she was introduced to a new unfamiliar activities or people. We enrolled her to a few activities, started with C...
What a crazy ride we have been riding in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has pretty much put our life on hold, if not going on a slower pace. I feel that we are running a marathon, and it's not over yet. The emotional toll that we have been experiencing since March is real. Everything that we used to take for granted, like meeting up with friends, birthday parties, kids activities, traveling, the convenience of doing grocery shopping anytime we want, a lot of them have been taken away from us, from my family. No more parties, no more lunch or dinner with friends, no more invitation for birthday parties, no more traveling. Perhaps my life had become too easy before the pandemic. We had to switch Nathaniel from a brick and mortar school to a cyber school. I tried to plan my grocery trips ahead of time to avoid crowds. We had to wear masks everywhere. But at least we are healthy. At least I am facing this together with my husband and kids as a family. At least I am at home that is fu...