Tobogganing

Multi coloured kids tobogganing?

Nicole commented that a colourful face was much more fun to paint than a white or brown face :) :)

Disney time piece

My parents are in town and they surely brought many surprises for Nicole. Amongst all, the cute Disney watch is Nicole's favourite. She just couldn't wait to show it off to her friends. Guess what? The Disney watch seemed to be the "in-fashion" for the kids. 2 other friends also brought the same watch to school! They had a good time comparing the time pieces.

One 5 year old girl innocently remarked " Teacher, we all have different princess on our watch but the time is the same"........:)

Disney Princesses

Nicole was all excited the night before we went to watch the Disney Classical Fairy Tale Performance. The disney excursion was organised by her school and I thought I wanted to go along too, just to feel young again :)

The entire chartered bus was packed with kids and teachers and a handful of parents. Laughter and loud kiddy conversations filled the bus throughout as everyone just couldn't wait to get to the destination:)

Our seats were pretty good as they were right in the middle with a direct superb view of the stage. Nicole enjoyed every single bit of the performance as she already knew the fairy tales inside out after reading the books for over 100 times collectively.

The Disney merchandise was a killer. A tiny box of popcorn fetched $6 which would probably have cost me $2 at any cinema. Well, I guess it was money well spent after hearing what Nicole had to say when she made her request.

Nic " Mom, can you please buy some cotton candy floss please?"

Me " I would rather you eat your strawberries. The cotton candy floss is too sugary"

Nic " How about some popcorn please? Just once in a blue moon??"
Me " Huh? a blue moon? where?"

Nic" I mean just once. Once in a blue moon"

Me " All right sweetie. Just once in a blue moon! I am so proud of you!"

Disney Fairy Tale

In line with Nicole' s school holiday program - Disney camp, I decided to get the girls to make a short story by giving them 5 key words. I wrote these words on my board -

Cinderella, Beautiful, Sad, Royal Ball.

The girls could verbally form the sentences. They needed some assistance to spell the following words " but, because, she, can". They both completed their little story with pride!

Then, we revised the poem we read last week. We only spent 5 minutes revising it and the girls went straight to the new toy which we bought over the weekend. They played for a good 1 full hour, much longer than their lesson time!

Eating and Shopping (2)

Then, we walked about the mall and spent a good 1 hour getting the kids some new stationeries, new school bags, water bottles, lunch boxes, sandals and toys. Nicole was lugging the big shopping bag containing the toyset all the way till we got to our car. She just wouldn't take her afternoon nap when we got home because she wanted to play with her new toy set immediately.

Guess what? Just after a day, the once "beloved" toyset is now sitting behind the sofaset gathering dust :(

Eating and Shopping (1)

It was another Sunday just for the 4 of us. We took the kids to Takashimaya and we lunched there. We had Fusion food - Japanese baby scallop creamy pasta with Nori for Nicole, Cod fish pasta for me, and Crayfish spicy pasta for Lawrence while Chubby was snoring away in his stroller. He surely missed all the yummy pastas, in various cooking styles!. Nicole picked her lunch set solely because it was sprinkled with Nori, her favourite. Remember how she ate her sushi? She striped them naked and left the rice to me :(

Then we adjourned for dessert. I brought Nicole to the dessert bar to make her own selection. She walked up and down and finally pointed at the biggest slice of Chocolate mudcake.

Nic "Mom, I want this piece "
Me " No sweetie, this is way too big and I am not going to take a single bit from you cos I am having a cough. You will not be able to finish it all by yourself. Shall we have this cute little prune brownie instead?"
Nic " well, ok. This is only $3.00. The mudcake is $4.80"

Wow, I didnt anticipate that she would look at the price tag and comment on it as well:)

Nicole playing the piano

Nicole at work!

She is now much more willing to practise the pieces. I could see that she actually enjoyed the music as she played. I hope she would keep up the interest and not lose it with time :)

Ethan's first bus ride!

As Lawrence was away for business trip, so I took Nicole for her piano lesson by bus. We could have walked there (only 2 bus stops away) but I thought I would take Chubby along for his first bus ride ever!

He was so excited boarding the bus. He kept turning his head to look out of the window and he shouted "car car, taxi, taxi" as the vehicles overtook our bus. The passenger next to me just couldn't help smiling at Chubby and commenting how cute he was!

Nicole's lunch menu

I have withdrawn Nicole from her childcare center and put her at an enrichment centre instead. Many reasons to it, standard of food quality is deteriorating, constant change of teachers, teachers don't speak proper English etc.

Now I have to prepare her lunch because enrichment centres do not provide lunches. They only provide snacks. I find it a joy planning her daily lunch menu though it means half hour less of my already deprived sleep.

Rose would do the cooking and I will do the packing making it appetising for her to eat at her school :)


Nicole had soup pasta (ABC soup base - double boiled chicken soup with tomatoes, carrots and big onions), strawberries, grapes and honey water to finish her lunch with. She licked it sparkling clean! I was very pleased knowing that she had taken in all the good nutrients :)

"I am only 4 vs I am already 4"!

Nicole is good with her words, no questions about it!

Me " Nicole, you are a big girl now, you should pack up after you are done with your toys. "
Nic " No mom, I am ONLY 4. I need help. Auntie Rose can help me"

Me " Well said. Since you are ONLY 4, then I suppose you will not be able to consume such a big cup of ice cream meant for a big girl. Auntie Rose can help you with the ice cream"
Nic " Hmm... no, I can finish it. I can! I am ALREADY 4. I am not a toddler anymore!"

Get my point? :(

"Where is my cheese?"

Though a little man of few words, Ethan's comprehension ability is no weaker than Nicole's. When asked to pick out the numbers, he is able to recognise all 1 to 10. Similarly, he is able to recognise a majority of the alphabets though he can just vocalise a handful distinctively.

Ethan certainly ranks food as his number 1 priority. Whenever he has a craving for cheese, he would come close to me, putting his face right infront of mine, leaving me with little breathing space.

Ethan " Mama, ji-ji" (meaning cheese, in his own language)
Me " Where?"

Then, he would pull me off the floor and lead me to the kitchen and point to the fridge where the cheese is kept. As soon as the fridge door is open, he would get all excited and start to dance about. His contentment is vividly displayed on his face when he gets hold of his little cheeese cube or cheese stick :)

Jingle Bells!

Santa is here, a messy Santa though :)

Another masterpiece of Nicole.

Multiplications!

Nicole's memory is pretty good, no question about it and thank god for the blessing! She is able to recite her timestables from 1 to 6 now.

Gradually, I introduced the concept of multiplication to her. She is now able to apply the timestables to solve some basic math problems. She knows that multiplication is somewhat an easier way to add when it comes to groups of the same number. I should think she has a fair idea of what it means when she sees e.g. 5 x 3

Nicole makes me a proud mummy indeed. The only area which still worries me a little is her tantrum. I hope she will outgrow it sooner than later :)

Ethan's routine sight seeing trips!

Chubby is always on the "go".


As soon as he is done with his lunch, he would head straight to the door while mumbling "go, go, go". He is just so eager to go for his routine walk. He tries to fit his feet into his shoes and it is an interesting sight watching him fiddle with his shoes.

He likes walking about near the guardhouse where he can see many passing vehicles. He would name the vehicles as they pass "Car, taxi, and ...sssa" (He has yet to be able to vocalise "bus". :)

Old Lady's necklace

We were window shopping and we walked past a costume jewellery counter. Nicole wanted me to get her a jade necklace.

Nic " Mom, can you buy this for me please? It is so pretty"
Me " No, Nicole. This is for an old lady"
Nic " Oh, Auntie Rose, this is for you"

We all broke into laughter almost simultaneously :)!

My "multi-colour" sofa set!

Chubby's first attempt in coloring! He is trying to catch up with "jie-jie" by practising "hard". He even doodles on my beige sofa set with a bright red crayon :(

... "fainted".....

Note: I coloured the yellow circle for him :)

Poem is back!

Finally we read a Chinese poem after a break of 3 weeks. The girls have gotten more comfortable with reading Chinese characters. They were able to articulate them much more accurately though they still could not recognise many of the characters (as much as 60% of it) but I was happy that they made the effort to repeat after me :)

Then, it was English reading again. The only words which they could not pronounce were " bawled, sulked, continued". It was indeed a great achievement for the girls!

I introduced subtraction to Shanon but Nicole refused to co-operate as she had learnt it quite a few months ago. As I was coaching Shanon, Nicole busied herself by drawing her "Greenie" :(

Finally, it was playtime again. Shanon pretended to be the doctor and Nicole was her patient! It was an interesting sight watching them role play :)

"My starfish float"

Ethan in his favourite starfish float! I gave him a cup and a spoon to play with and he literally scooped and drank water from the cup!

Scott's 1st birthday!

It has been a long time since we last met up with Diane and boys. Scott celebrated his first birthday last Saturday and it was a great opportunity to catch up with Diane.

The kids enjoyed every bit of the magic show. Their eyes were just fixated on the magician. After the show was over, they queued for balloons of all shapes. As I was going through the photos, I realised that Nicole was the only girl at the party. Wasn't it such a privilege??

Look at that grand 1 y.o. birthday cake! Kids are just so pampered these days, aren't they? :)

My smelly bed!

There goes my Sealy mattress!

Nicole urinated on my bed! She refused to empty her bladder after taking 1 bottle of milk and 1 bottle of Ribena (all in 500ml of fluid) and went straight for her afternoon nap and this was the end result!

My effort is bearing fruits now!

Nicole came back from school, chirping away merrily. As soon as she removed her shoes, she came running to me showing me a lovely heart shaped balloon. She said her teacher gave it to her but she didn't tell me the reason for it. I just thought it was another piece of her art and craft work and so I didn't pursue further.

Then, I checked her communication book and I found out the reason for the lovely balloon. Teacher Claire rewarded her for being able to read a new book titled " Spot" independently, all on her own, without any help! Indeed, my bundle of pride and joy! My effort in coaching her is bearing fruits now! Thank God for this wonderful blessing!

Going to old folks' home?

Lawrence finally realised that he needed to "redeem" himself for his evil actions on the kids (after damaging Nicole's artwork a few days ago). He volunteered to fetch Nicole from school which he would normally delegate to Rose eventhough he was working from home.

Lawr " I am going to fetch Nicole"
Me " huh? what a surprise!"
Lawr " I don't want to go to old folks' home next time"
Me "oh...good that you realise it now, keep it up!" (hahaha)

Ethan's play kingdom

Ethan simply enjoys playing with bottles, cans, jars and what not. This saves me heaps :)

He loves putting small objects into a bottle and taking them out again. He would have the entire "masak-masak" set to himself in the morning while Nicole is in school. He can play on his own for a good half an hour before he gets bored and starts looking for fresh entertainment.

Nicholas' birthday party

Nicole was invited to Nicholas' 4. y.o. BBQ birthday party.

As usual, the kids were having so much fun together. The kids simply adored the birthday cake which was personally decorated by Nicholas's mummy. Nicole had one big slice of cake and she still wanted to have a second helping!

The highlight of the BBQ were the crab claws. They were truely lovely! I am still salivating over it, though I am not exactly a crab person, yum yum :)

Good sisterhood :)

The lesson was simply short and sweet.

As the girls were not in the mood to read a poem, so we skipped it all together and went straight to reading an English story book. They did reasonably well. They could pretty much read independently apart from some new vocabularies, e.g. blowing and perfect.

Then it was Maths' time and their favourite too! We did some simple mental additions. The girls were able to complete the additions in less than 2 minutes after learning the trick.

Last but not least, it was time for play! They dismissed themselves just after 20minutes of learning :(. They pretended they were being chased after by some gangsters and Shanon, being the big sister, was there to protect Nicole by patrolling around their "house" in the scooter. Aren't they just so cute and imaginative? :)

Promotion to next grade!

Despite being a super tough nut when it comes to piano practice, Nicole surprised me when her teacher informed me that she would be promoted to the next grade in December 2008. That was an absolutely magnificent piece of news to my ears given that Nicole has only played for 4 months and she only practises twice a week for 15minutes each!

I must say I did put in a lot of " hard work" in nurturing her interest to practise. At one point, I really found it dreadful having to coach and guide her in her practice. It was indeed a "life-shortening"experience :( Nicole simply hated to practise though she has always enjoyed the lessons. Her fingers used be flat and "sleepy" when playing the keys but not anymore! She is now able to curl her little fingers nicely when she plays. It is indeed the most pleasing sight to my eyes!

Chicky

Nicole always looks forward to her Monday Art class. She enjoys drawing and painting very much. She is so attentive that she could spend a long time perfecting her work when other kids are already done with their masterpiece :)

Shifu's big purple ears!

Lawrence just loves to irritate the kids, both Nicole and Ethan.

Nicole was trying to draw a beautiful princess and Lawrence came by her desk and conveniently added 2 big purple ears on her beautiful princess. Nicole was so very annoyed that she crushed the art paper and threw it into the bin. Papa still had the cheek to defend his mischief, commenting that it looked like "shifu's" big ears, as in Kongfu Panda ! :(

Cinderalla

We were doing our routine reading together. As usual, Nicole asked a question which was not expected of her.\ :)

Me "..... Soon, four of the mice, including Gus and Jaq were turned into proud horses"

Nic " No, mama, how can it be? The 4 mice are still sitting here. The fairy god mother has turned Cinderella's birdie friend into a horse, not the mice"

Me" oh ya,,,you are right. I didnt even notice the 4 mice sitting here. Good job Nicole!"

Well, I guess the publisher gotta pay more attention to the drawings too :) It was indeed misleading.

Nicole's 3rd school concert

Time flies.

Nicole had her 3rd annual school concert this morning. Nicole did well on stage and I overheard some parents showering her with praises. The teachers commented that it was a blessing having Nicole in the dances which they directed as many of the kids could not coordinate their movement in accordance with the music. They had to put Nicole right in front so that other kids could follow. It was indeed very comforting to learn that Nicole was able to lead in this area :) Nicole was beaming with pride when I collected her from the stage.

While Nicole was performing, Ethan had a good time walking about in the classroom, checking things out as though he was aware that he would be joining Nicole in school pretty shortly!