Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Bye Singapore, see you in Perth!

Andy & I are bringing Adam to Perth. He has been to Melbourne already and we thought it would be fun doing farm-stays and road-trips along Margaret River with the kids (we are going with Paul, A and Morgan).

Things to pack for me:
- Jeans x 2
- Cardigan
- Tops x few
- Scarves x 2
- Toiletries

Things to pack for Adam:
- T-shirts
- Backup T-shirts in case of throw-ups / spillage / dung from farm-stay
- Long sleeve shirts
- Jackets
- Bermudas
- Jeans
- Backup jackets in case of throw-ups / spillage / dirt
- Night diapers
- Diapers, in case he wants to pee when we are on the plane / in the middle of the ocean whale-watching
- Milk powder
- Bottles (this is embarrassing but he won't wean from the bottle)
- Socks
- Leggings
- Pyjamas
- Extra shoes, in case they get stolen by kangeroos or eaten by whales.

Clearly, my son needs 200% more luggage space than me.
I'm having mixed feelings about this trip. Actually, I can't bear to leave my Ashton behind but if we bring him, it will be too much work.
That's why I have concluded that our next vacation will be when both kids are big, which by then I will be almost 100 years old and they won't want me vacationing with them.
That's the whole point.

Ok. Hope you have a great long weekend and see you in Perth!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Learning with my Pre-schooler

Adam is about the least scholarly Pre-schooler I know. Instead of filling his weekends with Enrichment classes - Music, phonics, math genius, science club etc - we bring him out and about, exploring new places, revisiting old ones, or simply going to my parents'.

If I had all the time in the world, I would even want to homeschool him. But of course that is not possible otherwise we would live like church mice.
So the next best thing to do is to spend as much free time I can with him.
I try to spend my evenings alone with him, giving him one-to-one attention. It's still do-able now that Ashton spends most his time sleeping and feeding and my helper is very good with him.

Remember I made some color magnets here to teach Adam colors?
Well, he has mastered the basic colors of the Color Wheel now and I've upped the stakes by making Color Boxes, filling plastic containers with different objects found around the house, to let him explore his sensory and motor skills.
The boxes come in a variety of sizes and cost $2 for 3 at Daiso.
The items to fill up the boxes cost practically nothing because I find whatever I can use in the house.
I only made these today. I will get down to making more Color Boxes over the next few days depending on what I can find.

School after school - I poured out the objects from the boxes and got Adam to sort them according to color into their respective boxes.

The red dots on the floor are actually stickers which we use to teach Math and counting by pasting them on unwanted cardboard from previous toy purchases. For a start, we did 1-4.
It is tempting to slide into my lazy mode and just put on the iPad so I can get on the internet or iPhone so I need ALOT of discipline and patience when doing these stuff with Adam.
Endure Veron, you can do it!

I'm not sure at 3.5 years old how "advanced" should a pre-schooler be but I've realized I googled the topic on Child developmental milestones and every child develop at different paces so I shall refrain from being a kiasu parent (easier said than done!).

Obviously I'm not a trained early childhood teacher so if anyone has any great ideas how to "homeschool" your children do share with me! Much appreciated! :)

Monday, October 22, 2012

Meena's Mustache party!

My babes & I organised a mustache birthday party for Meena.
I made the props while Clare bought Meena's present and Charmaine ordered the cake.
We even got her a Mustache tee and made her wear it. Steady or not?!
Adam was not very cooperative tonight. Don't ask me why.




Vetrin is such a CUTE boy!


Happy Birthday Meena!






PS. For the record, her birthday falls on 21st October, no excuses to forget in future!

PPS. My unkempt Aunty-hair is driving me nuts! I was trying to outgrow my bob, but now the not-long-not-short length is getting on my nerves. Need a haircut. Stat.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Went prawning

We left the kids with my MIL and helper last night and went out with Hubby's friends to do something which I haven't done in YEARS - Prawning!
It feels great to get the kids out of my hair once in a while and just go out with the husband.

at Angler's Paradise, Punggol.
 

Garrett and his wife Thuy got the 1st catch!

I got a big one Ok.. Don't play play.


Jason looking miserable sitting on a ring float because he had surgery to remove haemerrhoids. LOL!

At the end of the night, here are our catches. Poor business cos we not pro like the other uncles and aunties. But we had fun!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Changi Fire Station open house

Adam is crazy about fire-fighters and fire engines. He has books about fire-fighters which he reads over and over and plays pretend all the time.
As his crazy mother, I thought it would be so kick-ass to actually bring him to a real fire station!
As luck would have it, I did a google search online and found out that every Saturday is SCDF Open house (except for Jurong Island station).

So today, I woke up bright and early and dragged my sleep-deprived (lazy) husband out of bed to go with us to the Fire station nearest our home - Changi Fire Station.
We were there with another family but the tour of the station was conducted by individual staff per group.
Why his poses all like that?!

Riding on the Rhino

Fireman Adam is driving a REAL fire engine! *Huge grin*



Bear Hug pose

Singapore pose

New recruit!


Adam is into making silly faces for photos, it's driving me nuts.


Every kid gets a free Fire-fighter hat and uniform. Total kick-ass!


Thank you SCDF for the friendly and hands-on educational tour! We were attended to by Staff Sulaiman who very patiently explained the functions of every vehicle and equipment to us.
It made a little boy's dreams come true :)


For parents with boys like myself, you can now add Fire Station tour as one of your weekend activities.
Educational tours are conducted every Saturday, 9:00am - 11:00am, at all fire stations in Singapore except Jurong Island.
Admission is FREE but bring along your IC to register at the entrance in exchange for a Visitor pass.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Leapfrog Tag reading system

I chanced upon Leapfrog reading system when I was browsing toys with Adam at Kiddy Palace.
Not sure why I didn't even come across this sort of gadget before, I went home to do some research before deciding to buy Adam a set.
During the 90s, I grew up with sets of encyclopedias which my parents spent a fortune on.
Now, reading systems come in an array of colorful picture books and electronic "magic" pens which read word-by-word out loud to teach Phonics, Vocabulary, Math and Science!
$59.90 for the Tag reader pen only. Comes in Green or Purple.
I chose Purple because the color looks nicer. I'm superficial like that!

Left of the picture shows the Green pen, together with some books.
Each hard cover book costs $18.00.



There are so manny books to choose from - these boxes are Book Sets which cost $32 per set of 6 or 7 books.

I chose these 2 books for a start.

At home and finished downloading the Leapfrog App.

 

Pros of Leapfrog Tag reading system:
- Works like magic, reading word by word or by the entire page. Some book series even read each individual letter.
- Available also in Games, puzzles and stories.
- The book apps can be downloaded into the Tag pen by plugging into a PC with Internet connection and the provided cable.
- Unlike the Vtech Bugsby reading system which loads catridges for every book, no worry about catridge getting misplaced.
- Many books to choose from.
- Tag can be used to read Tag Junior books but not vice versa.
- You can track your child's progress by logging on to the Leapfrog App on your PC.
- Suitable for 4-8 years old

Cons:
- The tip of the pen is quite small and sharp so for younger or destructive children, the pen tip may get destroyed easily.
- Needs 2 AAA batteries, which I personally think is a hassle to keep on buying and replacing.
- Limited memory space. Can only download max 5 books. As you add on to your child's book collection, you need to delete the previously downloaded books from your pen.
- For those parents / Grandparents who are not tech-savvy, downloading the App and the books to the pen may be a problem.

More selection of books: http://www.leapfrog.com/en_gb/families/tag.books.html#0:1:0

Hope you find this review useful if you're intending to purchase a reading system for your child!

The ultimate birth control

My 3yr old is the ultimate birth control. Here's how.

It was a typical Sunday dinner with my in-laws. When the dishes started arriving at the table,
Adam: Mummy I want milk.
Me: The food is here baby. We're having dinner.
Adam: (whines) But I want milk.... I want nan nan!!
Me: I didn't bring your nan nan out. You can drink when we get home after we finish dinner Ok?? (I start dishing up food for him into his bowl)
Adam: (face crumbles and starts wailing) I WANT NAN NAN! WAHHHHHH!!!!! I WANT TO DRINK NAN NAN! WAHHHHHH!!!!

At this critical point, the baby starts wailing in the pram as well, demanding a milk feed.
We were The Family with 2 Wailing Kids.

On a separate time, as we were preparing to go to my Mum's one day, I told Adam he could pick out a toy to bring there.
He stood in his Play room for a grand total of 15 minutes and could not decide which would be the lucky toy. Everyone was waiting for him at the door - the helper carrying bags, Andy carrying Ashton. I was getting impatient.
Me: Adam hurry up, just pick a toy.
Adam: I dont know which one.
Me: Ok let me help you. How about your aeroplane?
Adam: Nooooo...... Put it backkkkk......
Me: Ok then you can bring the helicopter (takes helicopter).
Adam: Noooooo I don't want helicopter.......
Me: so what do you want?? Your Tonka trucks?
Adam: Don't wannnnnnn...... (starts stamping feet).
Me: Ok then we don't have to bring any toy there if you dont want to. Come let's go.
Adam: Uhhhhhhh I WANT to bringggggg.....
Me: (raises my voice) Then just pick a toy! Hurry up Adam. We need to go. Or you can jolly well stay home with Aunty Dwi and we are leaving without you.

By the time I finished my sentence, Adam collapsed to the floor bawling, although I should be the one collapsing to the ground in exasperation instead.

Seriously, my child is the ultimate birth control.
Just looking at him is enough to make any man shrivel up.
There could be a correlation why our direct neighbors are childless, or why my good brother, who offers to babysit him when we are at my Mum's, disappears quietly to his own room after 10 minutes.
For all you know, he could even be one of the contributing factors to our nation's declining birth rate.

If you are considering whether or not to have children, I highly recommend you to spend some time with mine.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

We brought both kids for a little adventure today.

Where: Jacob Ballas Children's Garden (near Botanic Gardens).
Fees: Entrance is free for everyone of all ages.
Parking: Gantry EPS parking with ample lots.





At the Treetop slides


At the water playground


Hubby told me to capture the Butt cleavage!




 
Sleepy baby, without a care in the world. 

I was quite disappointed with the Water playground which is nothing compared to Changi City Point's, but hey, kids are rather imaginative and Adam had fun pretending to put out fires and battle monsters.
Two hours later, the skies were overcast so we adjourned to the cafe for a late lunch.
They serve pretty decent food here. Fast and doesn't taste too bad for the price.




Mummy's little date insists that we sit at the kiddy table & chair.

Right after Andy took this photo, Adam turned to me and scolded "Mummy, you didn't open your mouth!" I swear my son has got my insane genes. Sorry Adam, I spoilt your photo!






It started raining by the time we finished lunch, so it was time to go home for our much-needed naps.
Good bye and see you next time!