Talkative Girl

Nicole's partially completed National Day artwork!

Contributing factor : talked too much in class :(

Witty Nicole

Papa took Nicole out for ice cream. They agreed to take walk there instead of driving but Nicole changed her mind last minute and so papa drove. They circled the ice cream parlour for 3 rounds and still no parking lot was spotted. Papa got impatient.

Papa " Nicole, I told you to walk and look! We have circled for 3 rounds and we are still stuck in the car."

Nic " Look papa, that car is leaving. You can park there"

Papa " Finally! Lucky you!"

Nic " ya. I prayed to God!"

Papa " what? what did you pray about?"
Nic " I told God to give us a parking lot"

Papa " hahaha. at which point in time did you ask God for a parking lot?"
Nic " When you made the 2nd round"

Isnt Nicole just so witty? She just knows how to make papa laugh! Equally, she does make papa mad :( when she refuses to practise her piano.

Lipstick

This is one of Ethan's favourite books. I requested him to read to me and he was more than happy to do so.

He read " Mama shuo, Qing Qing, zhe bu shi la bi, zhe shi LIPSTICK! " (mummy says " qingqing, this is not a crayon, this is a lipstick")

Isn't Ethan just so cute? He knows how to substitute one word for another in the right context! It is such a privilege listening to his reading (or rather regurgitation from memory)!

Fun time for the kids

We met up with Su Mei and Kai Pin for lunch. The lunch venue was superb as it was a kids friendly restaurant. The kids helped themselves to the age approriate entertainment! Liz and Nicole at the playground and Vic and Ethan at the indoor playarea :).

The arrangement was perfect as it provided for ample time for the adults to catch up. We had a good 2.5 hours at the restaurant while the kids were being fulled occupied by the house activities - balloon sculpturing and face paintings.

Food was of secondary importance to the kids as they were so busy running about. They barely had a few mouthful of spagetti and pizzas and some ribena and fresh orange juice. I ended up eating the left over, which is a usual practice in this household :(

Early birthday celebration

Nicole's early birthday celebration in Church.

It is the practice of the Church to celebrate each child's birthday with a symbolic plastic cake. So, I thought of giving Nicole an extra present by getting her a real princess cake instead, (just the way she likes it to be), way in advance of her actual birthday.

While all the kids were enjoying the cake at the table, the birthday girl sat quietly at one corner, lapping up every bit of the cake, leaving behind a sparkling clean plate :)

Nicole and I

I think being the younger one of the family has its privileges. We or at least I, would set a lower bar for Ethan. In my eyes it is fair due to his tender age. E.g. When Nicole spills drinks on the sofa, I would be cross with her but if little Chub does it, I wouldnt show as much displeasure though the magnitude of damage to the sofa could be more significant.

Big Cutie Pie sees it all and she would occasionally make some sweeping remarks " Mummy, I think you are nicer to the younger one. I wish I could be a baby still "

Though half jokingly she made such statement, I know I need to constantly remind myself to shower Big Cutie Pie with more praises, just the way she likes it. To counter her statement, I added " That is not true. Sweetheart. I am equally nice to you in other ways. You get to eat a full serving of ice cream while Chubby only gets a spoonful. We go for movies but Chubby doesnt get to join us. You just had one big piece of chocolate cake and Chubby only had one tiny slice. Do you still want to be a baby? "

That took care of her emotional needs momentarily :)

No need to work!

At about 10pm, after shower, Lawrence was about to charge upstairs to complete his email. Nicole on the other hand, was trying to keep papa in the bedroom for a while longer so that she could play with him.

Law “ Ok, I gotta go upstairs to work now “
Nic “ No, papa, you don’t need to work. It is already 10 o’clock”
Law “ Yes I do. I need to pay for your piano, you know?” (trying to find an excuse)
Nic “ No, you don’t need to pay for the piano. It’s already paid for when we were at the shop”
Law “ Err….ya,,,you are right, I did. But, I still need to pay for your chinese lesson”
Nic “ No, you don’t need to pay for my chinese lesson cos I don’t even want to go for it. So, now you can play with me”

Nicole, Nicole, you are just so full of ideas!

Creative Play

Ethan was so engrossed in getting the right vehicles into his “garage”. He has practically dismantled Jie Jie’s dolly playhouse. He removed the entire supporting panel from the back and turned it into a garage for his cars instead. Thankfully, Jie jie doesn’t mind it as it is one of her many toys lying around.

Overtime, his collection of vehicles has just multiplied many folds and he has his favourite of the day. Some days, he would play with just the fire engine while on others, he would be so captivated by the over sized school bus. His all time favourite is still this giant rotatable transformer which he can maneuver using a remote control :)

Baby pianist in the making

Chub is one cute little toddler who can be wilful when it comes to getting his way. He was attempting to climb onto the piano stool on all four but thankfully Rose was quick to get him down. Otherwise, the next to happen would have been a knock on the floor. While being lifted down from the seat, he yelled " I want to practise piano...i want to practise piano...thunder storm! thunder storm!"

By the way, his definition of thunder storm is by banging his two hands onto the keys and making a loud and unbearable noise. At the rate he is going, we will soon need to re-tune our piano!

Smartie

Knowing how much effort Nicole puts in when it comes to practising her new pieces, I thought I wouldn’t inform her that her piano lesson was cancelled last week just so that she would continue practising as usual. I left the house at about 6pm and reminded Nicole to practise as I would fetch her for her lesson at 730pm. I rang her at 730pm.

Me “ Nicole, Ms X called me just now. She has to look after her daughter and therefore, today’s lesson is cancelled. Anyway, did you practise?”

Nic “ Oh good! Well, I did practise just a little”

Me “ What do you mean by “just a little” ?”

Nic “ Ms X told me that I would have no more lesson in July and she would see me in August, during my lesson last week. And I just checked the calandar, it is still July so I don’t have to practise yet!”

*faint*….Nicole, Nicole, you really have your way around things… :(

Area of improvement for Nicole

I had a quick chat with Nicole's piano teacher with regards to her peformance. Ms X recognises Nicole's ability to pick up new techniques quickly and she is probably one of her "best" students within the same age group, in this area.

However, Ms X and I also share the same view that Nicole has not been putting in enough hours to achieve a certain level of "smoothness" in some difficult pieces. This is simply due to the fact that she only practises a day before her lesson in most instances.

She could get by and still get 3 stars each (ie. excellent work) for her past pieces but with her promotion to level 3 (begining of Grade 1) since 1st June, I can foresee trouble ahead. Ms X is planning to put her up for Grade 1 exam next year and I really dont know how Nicole is going to cope at the rate she is going now. :( I hope Nicole would just do a little bit more so that I won't get a heart attack everytime I send her for her lesson :(

Ethan and his "blead"

Ethan was cranky and was mumbling.

Ethan " Mummy, I want to eat blead"
Me " What? Could you say it again please?"
Ethan " I want to eat blead"
Me " Sorry Ethan but I dont quite get it. Could you say it once more please?"
Ethan " Wo yao chi mian bao" ( I want to eat bread in Mandarin!)

Me " Oh I see! Clever boy. I am so proud of you"

Ethan's remark made my day! I am immensely proud of his ability to relay his message by a perfect translation :). I have no problem understanding his version of "bread" in other occasions but somehow I could't get it this round and I guess it sort of irrirated him a little too :)

Saliva Queen

Nicole was drooling heavily the night before, so much so that her saliva wet my bedsheet to the extent of being drenched. The saliva mark was easily the size of a personal pizza.

Me " Oh my god, Nicole, you wet my bed!"

Nicole half awake at 83oam, upon hearing my remark, instintively touched her own buttock to feel if it was wet. (haha)

Me "Hi sweet heart, I didnt say you urinated on my bed haha! But your saliva did wet my bed though"

Feeling rather embarassed, she turned away and hid her face under the pillow. :_)

2 Naughty Monkeys

Nicole wanted to pour all the toys out from the laundry basket but I declined her request because she wanted to play with the basket instead of the toys. She wasn’t quite happy with my decision but still obliged. Next came Ethan. He happily flipped the basket over and out poured all the toys.

Nic “ Yeh yeh! The basket is empty now. I didn’t do it, Ethan did!”

See what she did with the basket? A real size drum! Ethan innocently joined in the fun leaving a big mess on the floor!