What if I ain't no violinist?

127. Twoset Pre-school

A/N: This is a sequel to the "Twoset Daycare" series.

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"So Mrs Chen, is Eddy bilingual? Often bilingual children take a bit more time to develop their speech because they need to input twice as much linguistic information. That may explain the slight speech delay."

"Well.. he is definitely bicultural. I suppose he could be called semi-bilingual at best..he hasn't developed in either language to the expected age 4 level."

"Does he go to speech therapy?"

"We're wait-listed at the moment but I've decided to start private appointments. We are starting next week."

"Great. Please let us know if we can do any exercises with him at the pre-school so that we can work with you. I saw his speech assessment reports; his initial assessment at age 2 and his more recent one when he was 3 and a half. He's actually coming along quite nicely. I think he's just a bit shy."

"Yes he is very shy. And I suppose it doesn't help that he has a very intuitive older sister that has been doing a lot of talking for him. I'm hoping that coming to pre-school will encourage him to use his own words."

"Well, we have 3 staff per room of 15 children, we'll make sure he's encouraged to talk. I promise we'll keep it fun though. We will also encourage him to try lots of new things and find out what he likes... he will be more likely to want to talk about things he enjoys."

"Sounds great. Thank you."

Four year old Eddy woke up.

He slid out of his bed and headed out of his bedroom, into the kitchen where his mother was preparing breakfast. He had a bird nest of a hairdo and he had brought along his teddy bear with him.

"Mama..."

His mother turned around and smiled.

"Oh good morning sweetie, did you have a good sleep?"

Eddy rubbed his eyes as he held his teddy bear in the crook of his elbow. He stretched out his free arm towards his mother and got up on his toes as he mumbled.

"Cuddle..."

His mother smiled again.

After a visit to the bathroom and scoffing down a small bowl of cereal, followed by a little battle of brushing his teeth, his mother dressed Eddy in a brand new polo shirt and some comfortable cotton shorts.

"This is your new pre-school uniform, Eddy."

"Uniform ?"

"Yes, just the polo shirt. Oh you also have a new hat."

"Hat?"

"Yes, it's a nice sun-smart hat."

His mother placed the wide brim hat on her son's head. It pushed down all the bits of hair that was sticking up in all directions since he woke up. She wondered why her son's hair seemed to acquire a life of its own every morning. Wearing a hat to pre-school seemed like a great idea to "set" his hair to something a bit more presentable. She smiled.

"Yes. You're starting a new pre-school now. It's a place that's a bit like daycare?"

"D...daycare?"

Eddy shook his head as tears started to well up in his eyes.

He had some bad memories about daycare. Thank goodness his mum pulled him out and he didn't have to go there again. Or was his mother making him go back to that place!?

"Ooooh, Eddy sweetheart, it's okay.. it's not the same place. This is a different place, a new place."

"New place?"

"Yes. And your friend Brett will be there with you."

Eddy's face broke into a huge smile.

"Brett???"

Eddy did have some nice memories about daycare, too. Brett was one of them. Well, actually, in Eddy's mind, Brett was the ONLY good thing that came out of going to daycare.

The new pre-school Eddy and Brett's mothers enrolled them in had a very good reputation. When Eddy's mother went to an enrollment appointment and got to speak to the principal one-on-one, she was very pleased with the pre-school's willingness to cater for Eddy's special needs despite the lack of funding. Eddy's speech delay assessment didn't quite qualify him for government subsidies for the in-house speech therapy sessions that were held at the pre-school, but the principal assured Eddy's mother that he will be well looked after by the attentive staff so that he will feel safe to practice talking. His mother also liked the fact that all the teachers were musically trained. Her daughter Belle played the piano and Eddy showed some interest in music as well so she thought it might be a nice thing to explore.

"Brett!!"

Upon arrival at the new pre-school, Eddy was perfectly happy to let go of his mother's hand and waddle over to Brett and give him a hug. His mother was astonished as he was normally frightened of new places and very clingy. Brett, the recipient of Eddy's hug, giggled happily.

"Hi Eddy!!"

Brett gave Eddy a pat on his head.

Brett was 5 years old and looked so much more grown-up than 4 year old Eddy. He was taller and more solidly built than Eddy who was still pudgy and tiny. Brett was due to start "big-school" next year and had much more advanced dexterity and very sophisticated speech compared to Eddy. They met a few months ago when Eddy was enrolled in the daycare centre where Brett was and they immediately became best friends.

Shortly after, the children were called into their respective classrooms and Brett and Eddy were delighted to learn that they were in the same class! They entered a large classroom and were guided to sit on the floor with the rest of their classmates where colourful xylophones were placed for each child.  The xylophones had a mallet each paced on top and the children were encouraged to have a play with it.  This was the type of activity that Brett used to dislike back in daycare as the sounds the children made were so random and chaotic but unlike triangles and castanets, the xylophone sounded a bit nicer.  The room was larger and there were less children which also helped him not feel drowned in too much noise.  He struck a few notes out of his xylophone, then looked around to see how his best friend Eddy was going.

To be continued...