Sean's gal

Yesterday, Sean told me he wants to marry Xiaoya. Cute huh? Remember the other day Sean told me he wants to ‘find’ his own girlfriend. He actually did and is really ‘in love’ with this girl, Hwang XiaoYa . She is one of our tenants niece who is visiting from China, Harpin. XiaoYa will be studying in Singapore P1 next year. But she will not be staying at our place as her mom’s work place is in Sembawang.

These few days she is always at our house. My mom adores her too. Yesterday, she taught Sean Chinese spelling. Wow, her Chinese Language and her reading skill is extremely good….easily at P3 standard. We brought her to Parkway Parade after that. I bought her a bunch of clothes from Fox. My SIL commented: “Sean only mentioned that he likes her and you already bought her so many things. In future, you will definitely dote on your daughter-in-laws.” I suppose so too.

Xiaoya is really adorable, independent and mature. She likes our craft room and library. I enjoy our craft sessions and conversations together while Sean does his homework. Lil’ girls are so different from boys, they tend to talk and communicate more. We will be bringing her out these few days. She will be going back early next week and will be back again in Aug 09.


We had Kaya toast. She told Sean she wants "Ke Le" ie coke. Sean asks me what is 'Ke le".



6 years old and weighs 30kg.... big girl... same size as Sean huh?

Have a great weekend ......

At last....

.... completed this quilt for Sara. I started to work on this more than a year ago. Suppose to be her one year old gift. I am always on a dozen projects at the same time, so glad that I finally managed to complete this. I will make one for Sean and Shayne too....

She loves it... and keeps repeating.... "mei mei blanket"

She likes this Barney book - Barney is so big. She is showing me how the crab - nib nib.


This is Sara's corner in our room. We left this portion of the room empty for her to dance. She enjoy watching herself in the mirror.

Sara dancing....

On another pilot project - will be making Sara a skirt with these materials. I'll post it when it is completed.

Sara loves to draw

Due to my work nature, I normally carry a pencil case with colour pencils and markers in my bag. Hubby and I always talk about our work and inevitably we communicate by drawing… a picture tells a thousand words. As such, the kiddos know that mommy always brings colour pencils and markers everywhere she goes. These photos were taken last weekend in Burger King.



While waiting for our burgers and chips, Sara said: “draw draw please”. She loves to draw and doodle. After adding blue colour to the paper, she turned to Shayne and ask: “ Gou gou, exchange please?” See her delighted facial expression when Shayne change his colour pencil with her. Sara always ends her sentences with ‘please’. I suppose she learnt that from Barney.

.
...see that happy facial expression.....



"arghh..."that's imitating Elmo.

She is very talkative......

Yesterday, Amelia of My Gym said that her afternoon playgroup may stop due to insufficient student. She suggested placing her in the morning sessions. Timing wise may not be ideal for her… cos’ she sleeps till 10am everyday. We may have to stop her class. I have to source for another playgroup soon. .

Childcare Center

Yesterday, I mentioned to my mom that Gwen is changing school as according to Lynn, the welfare and environment of LF is really unsuitable for Gwen. Mom told me immediately that the teachers commented that Shayne’s eyes were swollen the other day because of the heat…ie the school is too hot. I reckoned this should come as no surprise as mom does not have a very good opinion of LF anyway. She complained and highlighted to me the so-called many ‘problems” about the school. When I’m indifferent to her comments, I sensed her disappointment…. The kiddos have the best grandma in the world…she is very protective of them. She has the blessing of patience. No joke, her patience with them is beyond description.

After spending some time with Gwen in the school field trip, I realized that Gwen does perspire a lot. It must be very uncomfortable for her to stay in LF all these while due to our humid weather. So, how about Shayne? I bet he must be hot and sticky most of the time in school…same goes to Sean too.. I must be the worst mom around as I view school curriculum more important than their welfare….

Before bedtime last night, Sara told her daddy that she ran and fell in Mac Donald’s playground. She demonstrated how she fell and where it hurts. This is the 1st time she told us about her day…..I commented that she is mature enough to go to childcare as she is able to communicate with us. I simply commented: “Will Sara finds LF too hot for her?” Daddy immediately replied: “Go Kids n Tots.”…He cannot understand why I like LF so much and always complains about the small school compound too... haha… same wavelength as grandma now. So that is 2 votes against 1.

These are some notes to self - for me to ponder…well – I suppose just ponder, no actions required......yet….

Field Trip to the Park

The N1 and N2 children stayed in the school for games and fun. They were asked to bring a fruit each. That is for the float and sink experiment. Shayne brought a coconut to school.... took it from my cousin Nikko's house. (Nikko - thanks for the coconut.)

The K1 and K2 walked to a nearby park....No parents allowed.... ..I invited myself to Sean's school field trip. We stopped along the way for games and food.... they enjoyed this outing. I got to know a few students, especially Gwen and Zhi Qi, whom I'm in-charge. Great teachers and company.


1st stop - T Millie with her big "fan".


Games. T Mabel explained the rules of the games.


It's a rather humid day....children loves the fun time together.

Water time.....

They ate a lot of sandwiches...... I suppose...... 3 sandwiches each.

Got a candid shot of them trying to fold the canvas. They struggled.... but managed to.

Walked a long way, about 15 minutes, before they reached this playground.

Have a great week ahead.

20.5.09

Wed…20.5.09 ..Spent almost half a day in the hospital for lung function test, allergy test, doctors’ appointment….. all for the prevention and management of asthma.

Rushed back from the hospital, brought the boys to their Kumon lessons. After their lessons, I requested Sean’s teacher to explain to me the so call “Math Strategy”. She updated on the boys’ progress. We reached home at 9.30pm. I told Sean that his chocolate chunk cookies baking has to be postponed to Thurs night. After his storybook session together, he suggested we visit Night Safari instead of baking on Thurs. I shall see if my work schedule permits. Lately, I am very busy with my work.

Some thoughts hit me hard while I was hospitalised last weekend…ie. I really need to spend time with the kiddos. Be it quality time or not…. Just spend a lot of time with them. To be honest, we never spend as much time as we should with the kids. We left them very much to our helpers… I’m only very involved in the academic aspect of their development… not that I want to… it’s cos’ the helpers cannot manage. I suppose if they can, I would have left it to them huh??? Every lunch sessions with Surfin and Claire, they always commented how BUSY they are with just one kid. They always ask….."How you manage THREE” …. See buddies – now you know – this is how I managed. OK…changing now.... Will update all on how we spend our quality time with the kiddos in the future posts.

Note to self:-
- to be a better mother everyday.
- to spend sometime enjoying nature everyday.
- learn to let go and spend less time on my job everyday. Do not bring back work from the office.

Some sneak… finally completed Owen’s colouring wallet. I drew 4 pieces of birds drawings for Owen too....they are in the pocket. Claire –come meet me for dinner on Fri and I’ll pass it to you.



Share a photo with all of you.... see how our lil' man is concentrating in his homework. He told daddy to leave the study room, let him be - and he'll complete his homework by HIMSELF. Daddy took this photo of Shayne from the doorway.

Cookies Baking

Sean said he needs a break from his Beast Quest book on Monday night. He went to the library, searched thru’ the entire range of books available. Guess what book interest him…. Children baking book. He took a book, flipped thru’ and said that he wants to bake some cookies for his classmates. Oats meal mixed nut cookies on Tue and Chocolate Chunks cookies on Wed. I promised him on the spot and he went to bed a happy lil’ man with sweet cookies dreamzzzzzz.

While they were in art class yesterday, I managed to get the ingredients for 3 types of cookies from the children baking book. Huh, talking about art class, Shayne misbehaved in class again… arrgh… With his Jeckle and Hyde personality, while I went shopping for ingredients, he turned into his Master Hyde character. I will stop his art class temporary, I reckoned I must coach him myself. When he is more ready to join a class setting, I’ll re-enroll him again.

Back to baking…..


Ingedients... butter, soft brown sugar, porridge oats , honey and many types of nuts and seeds.

I taught them the different types of nuts …..cashew nuts, almond, peanut, walnut, pine nut, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and raisins. Sean got it immediately cos’ he is older. Shayne cannot grasp it initially. Sean said: “Let gou gou (brother) teach you…” He taught Shayne in his own way…the patience, the primitive methods adopted…. they were just right for him…..and Shayne got it finally. It is very interesting to see a 6 years old teaches a 4 years old when an adult patience is wearing thin. Sean taught Shayne his Kumon homework too. Cos’ I’m not in the class, I do not know their teaching method. Sean came back the other day with his Math Strategy…. He gave me a stack of “Strategy”… I cannot understand it too. I keep side tracking, hey…..back to baking.



Sara joined in the fun too. She likes the different texture of the ingredients placed on the table, especially the oats… powdery oats.


Folding and mixing.... preparation in the baking tin....

After 15 minutes in the oven.... tada...... Mixed nuts oats cookies.....




Smell great. Lynn ordered today chocolate chunks cookies.... Lynn - will tapao some for you before Sean brings them to school tomorrow.

Sara's 1st Play-Doh Set

The boys have a few sets of play-doh..gave away all except one- this set.. as daddy is kind of a male chauvanist. He does not like boys to play with kitchen set or play-doh. He relates that to "girls' toy". So I kept the Play-Doh set for a year.

After my morning meeting today, I had lunch with Surfin and Claire , great Subway lunch. I suppose great, but it's a little too much mayo. I decided to play Play-Doh with Sara, so I cancelled an afternoon meeting. Also, I'm taking this afternoon to complete Owen's colouring wallet. Ya, Sara enjoyed this play session.

I am going to get the Little Tikes Cook n Clean kitchen set for her soon. And.....Sara needs her Barbie dolls as nowadays she brings Power Ranger figurines out instead of doll! She does not like dolls. She likes cars and trains.....


Opening.... let's see what's in there....



cleaning the plate to place her 'gingerbread man, bananas and noodle'


A happy girl who loves Play-Doh.

Yes, by the way, thank you all for the well wishes and concern after the acute asthma attack episode.

My lil' brother wedding

We tailored the boys' outfit and prepared them for this wedding. It's my lil' brother wedding.

There is a small hiccup......I felt disappointed that I cannot attend the morning tea ceremony as I was admitted to the hospital on Friday for severe acute excerberation of asthma. As I was gasping for air, dad called the ambulance, it arrived on time. I was unconcious the minute the ambulance arrived and woke up 2 hours later in A&E. There was too much carbon dioxide in my blood. The doctor said that I have to stay in the hospital for serveral days, just in case of another asthma attack. I told the doctor I need to be discharged on Saturday as I have an important event to attend on Saturday. To cut the long story short.....with 6 days of MC and loads of medicine I was discharged on Saturday afternoon.

Now, back to the wedding.

The boys are excited to attend the wedding. Catching up with cousins that we met almost once a year. Great food and great company.

My SIL and her nieces and nephews. Welcome to the family Qiao Lin.

The Cheai and Chng kiddos.........

The kids enjoying the "Yum Seng" session.

Nicole was invited too.... know why???

cos' Shayne said that he wants to marry her...haha....

As for Sean, I asked him who he wants to marry..... I suggested.....Gwen, Nicole.... before I finish my statement, he told me : " Mommy, tell you something. ...I want to choose my own girlfriend....not Gwen or Nicole..." I was like... huh... a big boy already.

After seeing my lil' brother awesome wedding shots.... we are going to have our family photo shoot schedule in due course.

More photos of the wedding can be seen in my fotopic. Just click the photo of me and the boys on the left hand column to view the photos.

Have a great week ahead.

Sara@18 months

Sara @ 18 months old.

She is one and a half years old already.

Weight:- 12.7kg
Height:- 83cm


- wears 2T -3T clothings. Her fave cloths are from Osh Kosh and Fox, or rather mommy’s fave brand. Gap is also very nice, but there is no Gap outlet in Parkway Parade. We normally shop in PP….

- very demanding and fierce. Always picking fight with Shayne.

- Still likes her Barney and talking Elmo. Whenever she spotted an Elmo in the mall, she pressed the nose, leg or back to see if there is any reaction. When there is no reaction from that Elmo, she’ll pressed Elmo nose again and said; “ Ha, ha, ha.”

- Enjoys her My Gym playgroup.

- Communicates with single word. At times, she forms her own sentences to get her message across when her single word is not effective in getting things done.

- The other day, I overheard her telling her brother, Sean,: “ Kou Kou, NO TOUCHING!”. Yes, by the way, she is very stern. I am teaching her to share. Her dictionary does not has the word "Share" yet.

- Incidentally, she likes Bakugan too…influence from her brothers….. she walks around and say ‘brawl’ .

- Likes her porridge and fish. She takes bite size chicken as side dish with her porridge. And she loves to eat, especially chocolate….assuming that M&Ms is the generic name for chocolate.

- Whenever she sees Nicole photo…. I had one scrapbook layout on my craft room ledge… she’ll say “cole” . She likes Nicole.

- Still grandma’s fave. The helpers always get scolding from her grandma because of her or issues regarding her welfare….. *sigh* Sara is very spoilt. I will send her to school once she turns two.

- Loves the evening stroll, enjoys watching the world go by in the bus-stop shelter. Enjoys birds singing, dogs barking and cats napping.

- Very dramatic. Loves to act and dance. Especially following Mickey clubhouse dance.

- Likes to go to the 4th storey Library. She can actually spend hours in that room flipping through books, playing with her magnetic alphabets and jumping on the trampoline.

These are some of the random facts of her at 18 months.



Our lil' charmer. She really resembles her daddy huh?

She ran away with a balloon from Eric's (Growing Paints) shop. She loves balloons.....

Well-behaved

Just dropped in again to tell you guys that I have updated my fotopic.

I had wanted to pull Shayne out of the art class as he cannot sit still and tend to mis-behave in class. This in turn disturbs others. Yesterday, I told him that if he mis-behaved again, that will be the last class he will be attending.

For the first time, he behaved well in class. That is very rare......

Teacher Monica stand in for Eric as he has something urgent to attend to. They loves the story-telling time. Click on to this link to view the photo http://ros.fotopic.net/c1696653.html

Have a great day.......

Science Center

No Sunday school…. We adjourned to the Science Center instead. Had MacDonald's breakfast. Shayne managed to finish half a muffin. Yes Half... that is a lot cos' eating is a chore to him. Nowadays, he eats more 'normally', ie. he is more ready to taste different type of food other than porridge. It may be a small and simple task for most kids... but to him - as a very fussy eater - every meal time is an uphill task for us. Hope he will be able to eat well so that we can bring them for tours.


That special 'half a muffin" that he enjoys.


At the entrance, they saw a big T-Rex. They were scared by the sheer size of the moving T- Rex. Sean actually asked the security guard if the T-Rex is real….???


Can you figure out the picture in between the columns?


This is what you call 'science" . Sean asks what Science is........


He likes outer space , planets, milky way, astronauts.....


Boys having fun......


Learning......

We watched Space Station on Omni-theater. The construction of the space station was very amazing. Sean concentrated for a good 30 minutes whereas for Shayne, his concentration level is lower…he watched the show for about 15 mins before fidgeting around.

Next outing venue: To the Zoo

"Papa, star!"

Sara spotted a star and said : "Papa , Star.... eyes mouth." That's her first sentence that caught us by surprise.

She converses in two to three words sentences now. While we were in the Playground yesterday evening, she turned to her daddy and said: "Papa, star... eyes mouth." She is a very sweet girl with a ready smile and grin for everyone.... and even a star.

From that sentence, papa asked her to point to her own nose, eyes, tummy, toes..... all the body parts. She knew the different parts of a human anatomy..... thanks to Barney. She picked that up from Barney.


where is your mouth?



where is your ears?


Since she is in My Gym playgroup every Wed and Fri, we will not renew her My Gym lessons on Saturday. Instead we will enrol her to speech and drama in Act 3. She loves to dance and act. Act 3 should be fun.

How much is too much?

I had a talk with Lynn in our Growing Paints session with regard to kids enrichment and misc classes. She said that I sent the kids to too many enrichment classes….. should review … Come to think of it, the kiddos have loads of enrichment to attend…..is it too much for them??? How much is too much???

On top of their 9am to 5.30pm school, they are attending the following enrichment and sports programme……

Sean
Mon and Wed: Kumom Math and English
Tue:-Art Class
Fri:- Tennis
Sat:-Montessori Twinkle star English and Math Enrichment
Sun: Sunday school ( good to build some religion, moral, social values in them when they are young.)

Art class:- will stop after 20 lessons... cos' I will try teach them myself. I studied three years of Fine Arts in the uni. Should be able to teach them some basic. Hope I have the discipline to.......Maybe daddy should teach them cos' he is really good in Art.

Shayne
Mon and Wed: Kumom Math and English
Tue:-Art Class
Sat:- My Gym and Montessori Twinkle star English Enrichment
Sun: Sunday school

Sara
For her, just My Gym playgroup on Wed and Friday and My Gym lessons on Sat.

Sean will be having swimming class with Faith from June onwards, lessons will be on Sat. He has been asking to go for Taekwondo classes. See that, he actually asked to go to for Tennis…Kumon… Taekwondo…. I assumed that must be peer pressure. Apparently, most of his K2 classmates are attending Taekwondo lessons. I had previously registered for his Taekwondo class and it is suppose to start this month. ???

Talking about Kumon, it was intended for Shayne only…. Cos’ to instill the “study” discipline in him. Sean does not really need that. But Sean said he wants to attend too. So - we thought, since we have to bring Shayne, it is ok to sign Sean up for the class too. And my mom has been nagging me for quite some time to sign both boys to Kumon.

Knew it… Kumon teachers told me that Sean is ok with his work but very slow. In class, he occupied three-quarter of the table that was meant for 4 students…. As for Shayne, teacher said that he is very enthusiastic in his work and kept going to the clocking machine to clock the time when he completed a page….the teachers commented that he cannot read and write. Shayne is able to write numbers 1-10 and his name only. The teacher got him a text book with CDs for me to teach him to read and write….

The other day, my dad waited for me…..late at night. He told me very seriously; that, in his opinion, I have to drop all of Sean’s enrichment and sports when he is in P1. Cos’ I am giving Sean too much stress. Then… hear this… a few days back, my mom came to the study room while I was coaching Sean in his spelling. She told me that she knew of an ex-school teacher turned Chinese tutor. TUTOR…. OH NO….Mom told me that she’ll get this tutor contact…. cos’ Sean requires tuition lessons soon. See, two different schools of thoughts in raising kids.

Since young, my dad does not involve much in our studies. But he makes sure we do not come home with failing grades. He is very strict, he will not sign his signature on red marks report card. So who sign… I forged his signature…..My dad does not want us to have any enrichment lessons cos they will sidetrack us from our mainstream studies. Whereas for my mom, it is tuition lessons almost everyday of the week! You will not believe the amount of assessments workbook we have gone thru’... But to think about it, we are glad she did put in effort in our studies.

It must be tough being my kids huh? But on the bright note, despite these hectic schedule for the kiddos, Sean and Shayne has a lot of time for games arcade, TV and computer games too….I can sense the wonder and question marks in some of you…. But it’s true…

See what are the boys up to these days…. Beast Quest books. Sean loves these titles…


Sean wanted this horse-man story. Shayne is finding the words he knew. ... unlikely to find many cos' he knew only a few words. He always find interest in his brother's book. Nowadays, whenever he spotted any words he knew in the shopping mall, he turns to me... " mommy I know this word..." he then pronouced the word loud and clear. Very interesting....



Sean is reading to Shayne. See how attentive Shayne is.....


While having lunch with Surfin and Claire yesterday, we mentioned about our kids. Our kids form a very major part of our conversations .... always centered around Owen, Nicole, Sean, Shayne, Sara..... Yesterday we talked about kids weight. Went home and took Shayne weight, he is 16.9 kg now. Since when he put on weight. I always thought that he is only 14.5kg. Ya, our lil' man is growing up real fast.

weekend in pictures

The kiddos enjoyed their weekend with their gugus and pakpak. Sara is able to address all the gugus and especially pakpak Weng and Bren gugu with very clear diction. Sean and Shayne enjoyed the outings with them….gallivanting, eating and playing throughout the entire weekend. When his gugus and pakpak are back home, Sean normally will be anticipating their next trip here. Perhaps our next trip to KL will be in Aug, the kiddos can go Genting and me… to the shopping malls.


We celebrated Mother's Day.... thank you all.


Ra gugu and Sean. See some physical similarities in them????


Sara with her Pakpak Weng. Finally a pic with her.


Sara was running around the entire mall, Yong gugu caught hold of her. Look at Sara's unhappiness when being "caught".

San gugu with Sean. Wow, he adores her.

Sean ....reading his Pokemon book in OG while gugus and pakpak shopped. He loves Pokemon so much that he actually remember a lot of Pokemons' traits and characteristics in his Pokedex books. He has two Pokedex. Pokedex is Pokemon dictionary. +Sigh+ I'll be so glad .... if only he is so good in his studies.......

Shayne... rare moments .... he sat still with a magazine for half an hour. Shayne loves anything Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.... This is his fave magazine.

Brothers...waiting for their food.....their fave place is Vivo Tung Luk...

Sara looking cute...... she is very dramatic and entertained all with her funny actions. Must sign her up for speech and drama classes soon.

These are written by Sean....by the way, he is reading and following Lynn's and Claire's blog too.

Dearest gugus and pakpak,

Thank you for the wonderful time spent with us.

Love, Sean, Shayne and Sara.