Saturday, January 29, 2011

more lomo

Once upon a time in a faraway land, there lives

a stinky lassie


the wise border collie


the overindulged Prince


and the sybaritical Queen




Now, where is the King of kings!






Trying out LomoLomo

Trying out the photography on my new phone.

First thing in the mornings, coming into our room to terrorise his sleepy parents.
"Rise & shine!"

I love you baby! :)
Mommy.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Surprise present

Playdate with Adam's baby friend Morgan at the Twiss' home was arranged by Paul and my beloved Hubby.



Can you spot the Little Men's shoes at the corner?







Breathtaking pool view.




We then had dinner at nearby mall and after that, Adam pestered me to let him go on rides again.





I easily spent $20 on rides in 2 days. What happened to those 20-cent rides during our childhood? Now every ride is $1 or $2.
Time to teach our future generation a new word called "Inflation" I guess.



But really, the real purpose of today's playdate was because Hubby had purchased my surprise Birthday present and together with Paul, the guys arranged for the gift to be delivered to Paul's home so that I wouldnt suspect a thing.

Ta dah...


The ubiquitous phone. My husband wants me to snap out of my kuku-ness and join the 99% iPhone-crazed population.
Hubby thinks it's high time to replace my trashed up Nokia E71 which is falling apart at the "seams" because of over-throwing by a certain baby culprit *cough*, though I must clarify, I've never been one to be crazy over gadgets because of my technophobic nature.
As a matter of fact, I'm pretty contented with my trashed up phone (I drive to work and back so whats the use of a touch-screen phone as long as I have a phone which I can SMS and answer/make calls when needed right?) until my sis Charmaine commanded me to quickly get one. "Go and get an iPhone so we can gossip on Watsapp!" she ordered.
Ok, point taken.

Planning and ganging up with the Twiss to plant me a suprise birthday present 1 mth in advance is a very sweet move.
It doesn't matter what he gives me for my Birthday because I have everything a girl could possibly ask for - a doting husband, a happy baby, a complete family with loving parents and in-laws, friends who love me and whom I love just as much, food on my table, clothes on my back, and a nice car for my Push present as the icing on my already huge cake.
And new friends who go through the trouble to gang up with my husband on a weekday even though they don't know me well and didn't have to go through the hassle just to make my day.

Thank you Hubby. You're the best!
I'm a lucky girl :)

Sisters/Aunties/Mommies meetup

Life can be pretty hectic with work and mothering duties so I'm glad we finally found time apart from our crazy schedules to meetup for lunch and talk-cock session - the four of us.

We did a gift-exchange, my presents which I bought some 2 months ago from Bali for Xmas and NY but we just never found the time!




















Little Noah is like a bear, so cuddly and chubby! I totally miss the infancy days, where Kai was totally portable. Now, all he wants to do is run around and explore, and give me headaches!


The yummy mommies! (Charm mommy to 5 furry babies)


Well thanks Charm for my presents and hope you girls like what I picked for you too :)
We'll meet up again for our CNY reunion dinner. I'm so looking forward!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Dinner with the Tan Grandfolks












Little riot!


Giant garoupa!






This place is at Punggol Marina. The thing I like about this place is the quiet, unpopulated ambience. There is also an arcade with kids rides which Kai went crazy over.

Kai is currently past the age of stroller toys. He wants to go on rides all the time!
From one to another, and then back to the previous one. Repeat and repeat. Can die lah!
Nowadays when we bring him out, we need to plan places which can keep him contained yet entertained at the same time.

A sign that the Terrible Twos are fast approaching!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Alice is here for a visit.

Alice is here to board with us for a week while Alan and his wife are out of town.
This beautiful Saturday morning after sending my Baby Mobile to the garage, I got home and let the kids out for some fun in the sun!

Going for walkies with the doggies :)


Qn: Where is Maverick?
Ans: He decides we are all too slow for him and gone off w/o us. Afterall, time waits for no man dog!




Kai is very happy to have Alice over. He kept telling me "Alice, Alice!" and he generously donates his food to the 2 greedy dogs begging from under his high chair at mealtimes.

Life is good :)

my German bf got his rear assed



Yesterday, I reared Baby Mobile into a pillar with a LOUD BANG.
I was terrified and for a second I closed my eyes and my heart stopped beating, wondering what the hell I have done to my poor car this time.

But luckily, the extent of damage was not as terrible as I imagined, maybe because he is German. 1.5cm hairline dent, 1cm hairline dent, and a chip off the paint.
Anyway, Andy's reaction when I told him I gotta spend $ and time on repairs was "No need to repair lah since you always banging the car" ZZzzzzzZzzz .... Thanks for rubbing more salt in my wound, Hubby.
He said he should've bought me a Kangoo or Korean/Chinese car instead then I can go bang all I want and not feel the pinch -__-

The only reason why I rammed the car was because the pillar was white and as I was reversing, I couldnt see the pillar in my reverse camera due to the glare of the sun and the fact that the pillar was white.
Okay, no excuses for being careless. But an accident is an accident is an accident. Who wanted/expected it to happen? So anyway, I'm sending him to my mechanic early today morning first slot.

Lesson learnt: Lady drivers always get away with anything (at the mechanic's at least).
And: My hubby learnt not to buy me an expensive car.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Tulle for the mom




Met up with an old time long-lost friend yesterday, an ex-classmate turned fellow Mommy friend.
I splurged on a new dress for myself to go with my pearls. Not entirely sure which would complement which, though. Pearls to complement new dress or dress to complement pearls.

Anyway, I also found a versatile dress-down look for the pearls. Ashlee Simpson is wearing her strand with leggings and a Marc Jacobs bag.

photo from Google images

Back to my long-lost friend. Can't believe it's been 3 years since we talked. Three friggin' years.
My son is already coming to 2 now, and her son 1. So much has changed between us, yet when we met up it felt as though little has changed. We simply carried on from where we left off.

Life is too short, it is sometimes good to let go off the unpleasant and negative stuff in our lives.
Sometimes, I just take a step back and fathom about God's and Life's uncanniness with a smile, because most of the time, I don't even have time to think. Simply too caught up with the hustle and bustle of daily mundaneness.

Like today.

My day started at 8am when I sent Kai off to school; Alice is coming back for a week to board with me while Alan and his wife goes on a tour; and I'm going to spend the whole day with my Mum today, running CNY errands buying cartons of drinks & goodies.
The plan is I'll fetch Kai from school and set off to drop off Kai's walker for Meena's trying-to-walk-but-cant-walk-yet Vetrin, then to my Mum's to pick her up, Aunty LY will be taking care of Kai while we go CNY shopping.

Okay going to catch a power nap now. Ciao!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Dexterity of a 20-month-old



Kai was leafing through my magazine and saw a picture of this little boy writing in a book, and next thing I know, he used the crayon he was holding and colored on the picture of the boy holding the pen.
The lines were also neatly confined within the circle.
Now that's what I call Analytical thinking!


This week's theme in school is My school/ My friend. So I sat down with Adam and guided him to cut and paste "himself" and his "friend".
The following Maped child-safe scissors can be bought from Popular at $1.65.

Websites for your IT-savvy tyke




Here are some websites which you and your child might find useful in his learning:

http://www.starfall.com/
This website teaches children how to read. Has online reading games and prinatable activity pages for children to practice.


http://www.historyforkids.org/
An online encyclopedia for kids, Kidipede is an excellent source of information and great for children who have outgrown see-saws and slides. Information on this website is split into 2 categories: History and Science. Intended for slightly older children but is a good base of information for parental reading too.


http://www.kids.nationalgeographic.com/
What is a zombie snail? How do bears hunt? This website allows your child to learn about animals and watch animal videos just a click away. It is filled with many answers to the many "whys" that your child asks.


www.first-school.ws/
This website is a treasure chest of educational early childhood activities for kids aged 2 to 6.
The neat organisation of "The Alphabet", "Colours", and "Shapes" makes it very user-friendly.
Includes free lesson plans which you can use at home or if you're thinking of throwing a play-date with other Mommies, along with the list of materials needed and step-by-step instructions to craft ideas, printable activities, worksheets and coloring pages.


www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize
Here's a fun way to introduce primary school subjects to your tyke. There are 3 categories - English, Math and Science - each of which houses a broad range of activities accompanied with graphics and animation.
This website is good for preschool teachers, or if you're like me, a very hands-on Mom who reinforces learning at home. It presents tons of flashcards for printing, categorised under occupations, food, animals, body parts and more. A great resource for parents indeed.


Abstracted from Young Parents magazine to keep an online bookmark in case I lose the mag, as well as to share with like-minded Mommies.

Monday, January 17, 2011

SCHOOL: Weekly Report

Today, Teacher Joyce gave me a written report of Adam's progress in class last week.
The theme was "Myself" so he made a hand mirror, pasted hair/eyes/nose/mouth on a round vanguard "face" and learnt about things pertaining to the theme. He was able to follow actions made by teachers, and learned sharing of toys and equipment with other classmates.

I am honestly very impressed with the way the school's curriculum is run, if you ask me.
To be frank, I didn't have much expectations from them at first, being PCF-run and all, also because their fees are very cheap affordable!
But everytime I go to fetch Adam, the teacher will give me a low-down of what he ate/did that day and his general well-being.
This enables me to reinforce his learning at home.
They also keep all his art & craft and will give it to me at end of the term.

A little more about Sparkle Tots: The principal of the centre has a Degree in ECT, the staff are qualified with either CPT or DPT (cert/dip in Preschool teaching).
Also, at Kai's centre, the staff have been working there for years. The low staff turnover is important because children get attached to a caregiver and you wouldn't want your child to be in a school with high staff absenteeism and resignations.
So parents, if you are considering PAP/PCF childcare centres, you won't be making the wrong choice.

As a matter of fact, my good husband was the one who researched about Sparkle Tots and told me about it. I was initially looking at all other privately-run centres around our home and when we visited those bungalow ccc, the "teachers" spoke in broken English and most were foreigners from China or Philippines. No doubt these centres always do up fancy websites stating their mission, how they know every child is special, aim to develop an all-rounded person and all the fluff, but would you buy those stories and entrust your child to them?
I know I wouldn't.



The only downside about PCF is that the one near us is run as a ccc, so if you want purely nursery or kindy classes few hours per day (Kai is starting school proper next year in a church kindy), then some PCFs wont work for you because the kids there mostly go for Full day classes and their lessons continue after nap-time so if you kid goes for only half-day, he will be missing out the later parts of the lessons.
And me, not being a fan of too much classroom teaching, believe that children learn the most and best from home. Also influenced by my Psychologist brother, I do not want my child(ren) to be "institutionalised".
I let Kai attend classes, but I reinforce his learning at home according to what Teacher Joyce has taught by repetition, flash cards, asking him questions to test his awareness etc.

Anyway, back to the topic. Next week's theme is My School/ My friend :)

I leave you with some tips on preparing your preschooler for preschool:
- Bring your child to the class as often as you can before start of the school term. Let him/her mingle with the existing children and get used to the environment

- Talk to him often about his new school, teachers, friends. Get him mentally prepared, even if you think he doesn't understand.

- Take leave for the first few days to one week of school (if you are working). Accompany him at first, help him to settle in, then gradually over the week decrease your help and existance by leaving class earlier than you did the previous day. Gradually fade your existance from being with him/her, to just sitting in a corner of the room.

- When dropping him/her off at the gate, always say Good-bye and tell him/her what time you are coming to fetch him/her. This gives your child some closure and something to look forward to at the end of the school-day. It's better than sneaking away for fear of crying because it is worse if your child looks around and suddenly, you've disappeared and wonders where you have vanished to. It makes them feel abandoned and fearful of leaving your sight.

- That said, kids will be kids. Children cry - that's the universal law. It's OK to let your child cry initially when he/she is still not used to the new environment. As long as his/her behaviour has not changed drastically to be withdrawn, quieter than usual, not interested in learning, or throwing tantrums for attention, anything apart from the norm, then crying is quite normal.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Tea break






Went shopping at Paragon today, my boys needed new clothes for CNY, and I needed to stock up on groceries.
Kai absolutely loves the Marks & Spencer blackcurrent jam and belgian waffles, he ate them all up, leaving hungry Mavy to pick up the crumbs.
Washed everything down with his Milo. Burp~!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

To the zoo zoo zoo!

It's been raining cats & dogs all week, but luckily for us, we were blessed with terrific weather today.
You see, we had a playdate: baby Adam and his baby friend Morgan are going to the zoo zoo zoo!

Adam is all excited and singing in the car :D


Check out his fly-away hair accompanied by his look of exhilaration!


The Twiss and Tan family




























The giraffe kissed my baby!


Morgan and Adam, aged 18mths and 19 mths respectively.









It is Adam's and Morgan's first time to the zoo, and as expected, we spent lots of time at the Rainforest Kids World, watching the dog show, and running around.
What great fun we had today, and we're planning a trip to Universal Studios and Underwater World with the kids next :)