Liz's 6th birthday

Another fabulous creation of Elizabeth's dear grandma!

Captain Dazzle was surrounded by the kids and truly, his balloon creation was absolutely superb!

Nice airport

A bright and colourful airport :)

Bronze Award

After swimming for approximately 16 months (there were breaks in between), Nicole made it to the Bronze award!

There were quite a number of criteria:

1. Straddle or tuck jump entry from the side of the pool, and swim 50m

2. Demonstrate ability to "drown proof" for 1 minute

3. Tread water for 3 minutes

4. Undress in water and demonstrate ability to make float from attire

5. Swim 400m using any stroke

6. One surface dive must be executed and swim submerged for at least 5m

7. Climb out from the deep end of the pool without the use of steps or assistance

As the candidates gathered around the tester, he shouted “ There are 19 of you. The short short one come to the front. I can not see you. You, you and you! “ (N was of the “short short one” being only 5.5 years old)

Purely judging from their physical size and maturity, N was probably the youngest amongst all.

When they were undergoing the test to demonstrate the ability to make a float from their pyjamas, my heartbeat almost stopped momentarily because on 2 occasions, N was pushed down by other older kids, as all were competing/struggling to tie the knots on the pyjamas. Eventually, she came up with the float after suffering much “unintentional bullying”. You have no idea how relieved I was upon seeing her complete her tasks.

The final test was the 400m swim (8 laps). She completed it with little effort as her strokes were neat and smooth.

Well done, my little angel fish! You are my pride and joy!

School concert

N getting ready for her school performance.

I always tease her re her fringe. She likes to part them in the centre. I call it "open sesame "

Express Learning!

We were in the car, just barely 30 seconds away from our destination. Out of a sudden, Nicole started to ransack her school bag, frantically looking for something.

Me “ What are you looking for?”
N “ My spelling book”
Me “ What? You didn’t learn them last night?”
N “ I am going to learn now”

The words were “ Noodle, Tooth, Proof, Goose, Balloon, Cocoon”

My eyes were rolling already!

As we walked into school, I tested her and to my surprise, she got them all correct in 30 seconds! She was mindful that other kids or teachers would see her learning the spellings so last minute. Hence, she insisted that her spelling book be kept in her bag before we got to her class. One prideful little girl!

Nicole! Nicole! If only you could be a little more diligent!

Li-Jun

We had a casual dinner at ShangPalace with some friends and acquaintances from the Chinese Embassy. Nicole was all excited at the mention of dinning in a hotel. She exclaimed " oh! that is great. Can I order room service?"

Then, we visited the loo half way through dinner. On the way back to the restaurant, deliberately I asked Nic " Where is the restaurant? I think we are lost"

N " Over there!"

Me " Are you sure? What is the name of the restaurant?"

N " its Shang Palace"

Me " What is it in Chinese?"

N " Err...err....i think it is "Li-Jun"

Me " oh my god. It is far from it! How did Xiang Gong turn out to be Li Jun? is Li Jun your friend? "

We both had a good laugh over it! I must say that the standard at Shang Palace has deteriorated significantly, be it service or quality. It was quite a disappointment :(

Birthday cake again

On the actual day, we bought another birthday cake for E. All in all, he had 3 birthday cakes! See the saliva dripping off his chin?.......Both attacked the cake like there was no tomorrow :)

Just me

L has been complaining that we have not had a "real" holiday without the kids since ages ago.

It is me who can't bear to leave the kids for even a day, if I can help it. The kids and I have built such wonderful bonds during my full time homeminister days then :). I recall Mum telling me that N cried herself to sleep when I was away for a business trip last year. I had to go on that trip to meet up with some external consultants and to understand the business better, being new on the job. Otherwise, I am thankful for the discretion to delegate the business travelling to my colleagues at work.

Well, I promise I will make an effort to go for a short trip with L this coming June. Hopefully, it will be something memorable :)

Diarrhea

E has real good EQ. I tried to convince him to take the yukky diarrhea medicine but he refused initially.

E" No, I am not hungry"
Me " this is not to fill your stomach. This is to get your diarrhea under control"
E " No I dont want. I am not thirsty! "

Me " Fine. I am angry with you now. You are not listening"

I walked away. Within seconds, he came running to me.

E " I think I want to try the medicine. Are you happy with me now?"

And he finished it all despite having to bear with the yukky taste. My little Cutie Pie! I love you heaps for being such an angel :)

E's 3rd birthday

E celebrated his 3rd birthday for the second time. Remember the birthday cake he insisted on buying a couple of weeks ago?

We had a cosy home celebration for him. We bought him an excavator, big enough for him to leg paddle it around. He was absolutely thrilled at the sight of his favourite excavator. He has many of such toys, in a wide range of sizes. Everyday, he would spend hours with them, moving from one to another, as though he is trying to divide his time as equally as possible amongst his "babies".

He displayed much joy and a megawatt smile upon seeing his photo cake. He exclaimed " That's me! It is my birthday! "

Uncle Michael bought him a big Thomas train set and he spent hours putting them together for E. Still, something was missing. The engines couldn't function. Eventually, Uncle Eddie gave it a magic touch and it sprang into action! It took 2 big uncles to figure out a toy set meant for a 3 y.o.. :( )

Happy birthday, baby!

E's favourite

Ethan's favourite "amnesty phrases" :

" I am sorry, Mummy"
" I love you, Mummy"
" Dont be angry Mummy"
" I want you to be happy, Mummy"

"Jie jie doesnt love you, I love you"
"Jie jie is naughty but I am a good boy"

The last 2 can really drive N up the wall!

Pure vanity

Nicole needed 2 photos of hers to be brought to school for a project. - a baby photo and a present photo. I randomly chose 2 for her and they were furiously rejected :(

N " No, I dont like this baby photo. This one is so ugly, no hair. I want to choose myself " ( I got her one with her head freshly shaved after 1st month heehee)

N " this one. This one! I like this one. " ( pointing to one with hair and in a pink pretty dress)

N " I want this photo taken in Australia." (swinging in a pair of shades which she deemed as stylo milo :)

Counter attack

Ethan is really one sweet cutie pie.

N hopped over to my bed and “occupied” E’s usual spot. N simply refused to sleep on her own bed. E knew that he was no match to his jie jie physically. So, instead of picking a physical fight with her, he decided to downplay N’s action by pretending to sob and sulk softly at one corner.

E “ hmm,,hmm…hmm….I have no place to sleep”

E “ hmm….hmm.. hmm…I am crying…I am still crying…”

E “ Jie jie took my place…hmm…hmmm….I am crying….”

After a good 5 minutes, I went to check on him. My poor baby, his eyes were already closed as it was way past 1030pm but he was still murmuring. I lifted him up dearly into my arms and put him back on his bed J. How could I not shower him with more attention :)

Mutual benefits!

We bought some wafer cones for home consumption. I scooped a tiny scoop of ice cream into the cones for E and N. N was chirpily chewing off her cone and enjoying her ice cream while E simply held on to the cone and admired the melting ice cream. His tongue tried hard to reach the bottom of the cone for the ice cream but with little success.

Me “ Ethan, eat your ice cream, it is melting”

E “ Jie jie, you want my ice cream? It is yummy you know?” (we were very surprised by the generous offer)

N “ Sure!” ( happily chewing off the cones)
E “ Jie Jie, somemore?”
N “ Oh yum! ” (accidently bit into ethan’s finger with a deep tooth mark)

E “ Ouuch! Jie jie bit my finger but I didn’t cry” (oh, my poor boy! For once, he was being such a gentleman)

E “ Jie jie, somemore here?”

N “ Ok” (chewing off the last bit of the cone wall, leaving the base only)

As N was going to gulp down the base, E retracted his hand and screamed!

E” No jie jie. This is mine” ( stuffing the remaining into his mouth with all the melted icre cream sitting on it)

Ah..ah,….so his scheme was exposed! He made use of N to chew off the cone which he apparently didn’t like, as it was literally tasteless! Thereafter, he treated himself to the real cool stuff at the bottom of the cone!

Honest comment

Young kids are the most truthful lot.

E " Yi-po, your hair is so messy. It is in a mess"

Yi-po " Heh, is my hair really so messy?" (my aunt targetting the question at me)

Me " Haha! you chose to believe a 2 y.o.! ...well, there are some elements of truth"

Sailing boat

What an artistic expression!