Outings

29th December
I was in Telok Blangah for Jayden's full month celebration alone. Great to be alone without the kids while hubby and KZ battle with the kids. But then.... I tell you Athena behave better when I'm not around. I don't know if I owe her something is it, she must taunt me; test my patience. So what battle??

Hubby came by to pick me up and we went to Vivocity. And we were only there 2 days ago. Everything is still fresh in their memory. Aricia upon seeing the water was so happy, when we left the place; she kept turning her head back to see - not that it'll change our decision to let them play in water (since we didn't bring any towel or change of clothes)

In the end, I allowed Athena to dip her legs. Aricia looked on...(quite poor thing)

Umm... water.

Nobody's looking at me, I'll walk over now
Hee hee... nobody's stopping me. I'm so close to the water now

yay! victo....(about to dip feet in) eeeee.......
CRY!

Athena kept talking about the cable car and the "Mount Flavour" she went up to. Okay, I get the hint. I'll bring her there

I went to PageOne to see if they carry what I found in Taiwan. Sigh.... no. So it means I'll still have to ask hubby to help me buy in TPE when he's there.

Ps: Must remember to send NEW YEAR sms greetings. I didn't know that my Xmas one didn't go through until today as I was clearing my Messages. Some friends send me before I sent out mine, they must have thought I'm rude not to reply back greetings. Some friends send to me after "I've sent out" and I didn't reply thinking they're replying back greetings. Oh my!

31st December
Stayed at home the whole day, busy with the two noisy & playful kids.

Come evening we went for seafood in East Coast. I don't know if there's telepathy between hubby and me... I was just craving for chilli crabs 2 days ago.

After dinner, we set of some sparklers (needed to use them). Athena, as usual, act brave "yes, I want" then in the end, you see her running away. That sparklers attracted children no doubt, they asked to play.

Hubby was asking "where to go??" Dunno.... was he contemplating on the idea of staying up late? In the end, we went back home. I guess there comes a time when all the staying up past midnight to usher in the new year makes no sense to us anymore. We'd rather settle the kids in to sleep; we stay in the nice cooling bedroom (no smelly perspiration to smell)

Photos :

The waiting game : waiting for family

The grandfather with his 3 grandchildren

Funny Iggy, squinting his eyes when you tell him to smile
The elder - dai gah che
Sparklers

Not forgetting, Public Service Announcement

Looking back : 2007

The year is coming to an end. 2008 will be in a few hours time.

So, how have my year been?

Generally, I think this is a good year for me. The early part of the year sees me trying to find out and learn more about my new growing baby - Aricia. And then I picked myself up from my 'remorseful for not going thru BF with the bleeding from surgery'. I looked forward in a more optimistic manner and yes! my girl is very happy now, very giggly, very adorable. BF doesn't count in this areas, right?
And then as I thought the year would end nicely, my paternal grandma left us in August.
My lil' Aricia started to have fits. She was competing with me who would threw up the most fits at home. I won! But it's not the fits that I want to see my child going through. I've learnt to be stronger (yah lah... I say only. when the time comes I cry again)
2007 sees a year where I get to know more people through blogosphere. And they were so willing to help me (then a complete stranger who barge into their lives suddenly) when I enquired about their beautiful websites.
I got to know Jasmine - Shannon's mummy, Ros - Louisa and Lavigne's mummy, Jencelynn - Jeannieve's mummy
This year too, we were 'tickled' with the idea of relocating. Which obviously didn't materialise and thank God. Somehow we've learnt that home is still sweeter


Here looking and surging ahead in 2008.
I look forward to :
for others
a) being a better mom - try to curb my temper. Should try a different parenting style on Athena. If it doesn't work, then I can just give up on this girl; knowing that I can't rely on her in the future.
b) being a better wife - have been too busy with the children. Perhaps should find couple-timeout this year and get to know my husband better
c) being a better daughter - err... bring my mother out more often?? Hee!

for myself
a) lose some weight
b) better time-planning (ahem.. no sleep). I don't want to get too caught up in making flashcards that I'm losing time spent with my children
c) learn baking / decorating cakes.

You think I'm prepared to usher in the new year? Err... not yet! Coz' by the time you read this, I'll be in 2008. Haha!

My 2 smart children

I have two "smart" children!

Aricia was playing with the shape sorters when she decided that everything should just fit in the same shape and threw it in. Everytime she realised that shape can be dropped inside, she says "ay"
Why smart ? She saved the hassle of flipping the box around to find the correct shapes

And then they say that usually the younger one is smarter than the older one is not true...not in the case of this shape sorting toy.
Athena found the hassle in dropping the shapes into the correct shape. She opened up the lid; threw everything in; close back. And that's the end of the shape sorting game. Isn't she smart??

Flashcards Ideas

I was supervising Athena in the Shichida worksheets today - mind you she was doing the 4 year old sets. We backtracked a little since I got those stacks quite late from Angeline.

Then came to this part about the 4 seasons. I know in my KIV topics for flashcard making is on "Seasons" But you know what they drew on the worksheets??
Have illustrations of flowers and asked them to choose which season they belong to. ?!?!?
OMG! How would I know? Athena looked at me for answers... all i know is sunflower - summer. poinsetts - winter and ..... the rests of the flowers are based on what i've seen when I was flying but I don't even know the names of the flowers.

If that is not difficult enough, they even have illustrations on the Japan festivities (one illustration shows what looks to me an altar with the tablet) and ask the children to choose which season does it fall under. Huh? I'm not a genius leh! even if I try to make my children a genius, they wouldn't know all these information right?

Will search on the above 2 things. Or maybe can ask Kayoko about it.

Meanwhile, check this out. It does give me an idea on how to expand on my flashcards words to put in each seasons. Yay! Salute to search engine!

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/primary/students/seasons.html

http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/weather/seasons/grownups.weml

http://www.sara-jordan.com/product-118.shtml

Shichida

It's been a while since I've written about what she's been doing and how she is peforming in class. She loves to do the energy ball thing at home. But..... she'll jump straight to the second portion (the eating part) - I'm sorry I can't explain how it's done but Shichida parents should know what I'm talking about.

I don't know how long I am going to put her in the superbly expensive class, although I do do home sessions with her; they seem to have prepared alot of DIY stuffs and that keeps Aricia interested and curious. I can't keep up in making things for her, been re-using them (and I think she's bored with them). As it is, I'm really rushed in making flashcards for her. And I still haven't complete in doing another song flashcard for her. Sigh....
And those mothers who keep insisting that they do everything for their child, I wonder if they're bull-shitting. Here I am battling for extra time; going to bed at 3am; trying my best to do what I can before my eyelids close on me; before my brain auto shutdown for me.

As she and the other 2 boys are a little older now, they added another thing in their ESP to choose from. Eg. it used to be a choice of "is it behind this red house or blue house." Now it has become "is it behind this red house, blue house or green house."

They have also added sequencing in their class. And oh my! I've only learn about "what is sequencing" last year from Ms Chan.
Actually they said sequencing / patterning helps in Maths, which I still don't understand how it works on something arithmetic. Anyone can enlighten me on this?
And you know what? Never under-estimate babies at this age. My girl can do it! Although she is restless and playful (can't sit down still) in class, she will tell you the answer.
The week before the term break, we were pasting the coloured stickers on the reindeer noses in AB pattern. She could take the sticker strip to me to show me which colour to paste next.

Restless :
I think both my children have this problem. They can't sit still for long, maybe abit like me. Or maybe they have mild ADHD?? Though I'm assured they are perfectly normal active children. That means I'm a more aggitated/irritated parent.
Aricia is the only student who will always come down from her chair; climb down from my legs and go to the mattress behind the class. Make her sit on the table when showing flashcards or playing music to keep her down. I mean.... how long can I go on making / doing all these unconformed things in a class? Though sensei don't say anything, I feel so paiseh.
After some time too, she'll need some coaxing to do activities or I have to think of ways to get her attention. The other 2 boys will be sitting down quietly. Sigh...

Suggestions from sinseh :
1) bring her into the class much earlier to settle her in, make her play and tire out so she'll sit down quietly when class starts (Aricia though tired will 'dong' all the way and worst still even more restless and will move non-stop)
2) she noticed that sometimes I have food and feed her before the class starts ( I don't have a choice. Her class starts at 12.15pm and ends at 1.30pm. It's already considered late to feed her close to 2pm.) and suggests that I don't feed her coz' food gives her more energy = then active. In my opinion = to more tantrums from her
3) 5 minutes suggestion (yes, I think I should do it sometime again. But I'm having problem.. you see KZ is the one who puts her to sleep. Although I've been telling her upteem times to put her back in her cot; Aricia has been co-sleeping in the same mattress. Why? her excuse was "I put her to sleep and I also fall asleep until next morning" So, how am I suppose to "talk" to Aricia with KZ sleeping next to her?? And also I'll be in the room - coz that's the only time I can find - which is why I'm working late into 3+am everyday coaxing nagging at Athena to sleep and stop playing. Yes... instead of putting her into bed in her room, I don't want to waste time idling in her bed not doing anything so I've resorted to asking her to sleep on our bed first then we'll (me) carry her back)

I think I should do the 5 minutes suggestion. That is if KZ co-operates with me!

**************************************************************

Her term break report :
Areas of good potential
Aricia has shown improvements this term. She is getting better at ESP games and takes good pictures during photo memory games. She is able to listen to a short story or book with good concentration. She can also understand simple concepts introduced in class. Aricia loves to sing and dances to the songs played in class. Fantastic job, Aricia!

Suggestions for improvements
Mummy can continue trying the 5 minutes suggestion method to improce her concentration span. Also, before home practice, get her to do energy balls and blowing exercises to help her feel relaxed first. Try to input more on basic concepts such as colours, sizes, shapes, letters, numbers, quantity, sequence, comparison, time etc..

Parental strength
Mummy has been patient with Aricia in class. You present the materials well too! You have also been consistent in home practice. I'm sure Aricia appreciates all that mummy has done for her too!

Jayden's 1 month!

Finally I got the chance to meet Baby Jayden

Baby Jayden is such a darling. It's a nice feeling carrying a baby (not that I'm considering...No.3)
It's really funny to hear how Alyse relate to us how long it takes him to burp "I can do a madras turnaround; colombo turnaround; hong kong turnaround and he still haven't burp."

And you know what?? His cousin, Megan (my girlfriend's elder sister) and him share the same birthday. Girlfriend is one month early in delivering; her sister EDD's on that day - 30th Nov. Isn't it all fated to be?

Ignatius's 1st Bear from me

We passed by Build-A-Bear in HarbourFront Centre and showed brother the place. I wanted to give Ignatius something so asked them to choose. They initially wanted the cow for him, but the SA was saying that those are not asthma-free. Only one bear is, in the end brother chose for Ignatius the bear.

Yah... he thought that was it, until I told him he can choose the sound thing before the SA sew the bear up. I sounded abit suaku, still asked "you mean you sew the bear??How come my girl's bear has a long string??" Until I remembered hubby didn't want them to sew it up coz' he bought the personalized message thing, and he obviously needed my "beautiful" voice in it.So.. we still never sew it up just incase we need to change the thing. Which the SA said "you don't have to do it on your own, you can bring down and we can do it. *sounding even more suaku* "ohh..is it??"
Actually.... Andrea is made in Parramatta, Sydney. In her certificate, it's stated as Bear Factory. We remember we first saw it in Zurich and Athena wanted one bear, but shops were opened much later and we had to rush to the airport that day. But I remember that Bear Factory has alot of stuff toys, much more than Build-A-Bear. So when hubby made Andrea, he chose everything himself and my duty is to dress Andrea up. Anyway, there is no way for us to bring to any shops in Singapore to unsew the bear if we had sewed it up in the first place.. coz' no Bear Factory here and I doubt BABW will help us. Now, as I google search, it seems like there's so many Bear Factory so I don't know which one it was or has it been merged and renamed.

I've never spent so long dressing up in a shop before..and Ian made me tire out just by dressing him. Ai yoh........it's so easy dressing Andrea but boys hor..... so many layers.

IAN - yes, that's the bear's name. Why Ian? SIL liked the name also, she had wanted to have Ian in Ignatius's name... so anyway we had no idea what to name the bear until I suggested it. Hee!



Videos :

See Ignatius's blur face..

Umm.. this is so fun. I have excuse to buy Ian clothings next time.

Playdate

It was supposed to be a playdate made up of 6 children. We ended up with 2 - Alexandra and Athena.
- Nathan didn't come coz' his sister was not feeling well, so Moo Han had to stay @ home to take care of ShyAnne.
- Jachelle's mummy forgot all about it, and I just sms-ed her about 2 days ago?? When she realised it, she had already sent Jachelle to school.
- Elizabeth & Victoria didn't come coz mummy busy.
So all the time spent on arranging the playdate, was only left with us 2. It's back to square 1!

And I had to lug all the pressies back with me!!!! Argh!

Anyway, perhaps it's really a good idea to have just them both. They were playing with one another. Going to toilet together with me bringing them; and they both locked me out of the cubicle!! "mummy / aunty you stay outside." Wah!!! Heart pain leh... to hear this sentence from my own daughter.

We met at Carl's Jnr. Brother, mom and Iggy joined us last minute coz' they brought Athena back home in the morning (she stayed @ their place last night).
After lunch, we adjorned to the roof top skypark. Infact... the children were little wet from playing in the open-air playground so we adjorned sooner just incase they catch a cold.

Photos of the children.
* sigh..... I think my photography skills sucks! I can't seem to get nice photos of the children

Aricia enjoyed herself so much that she refused to come out.
Ohh....not that we're paid to do advertisement....>> We forgot to remove her diaper and brought her in. Some time later...... KZ felt she was walking slower and slower. Brought her out and see how absorbent Drypers is !?!? Haha!

Ignatius joined in too. But I haven't got any photos of him in my camera, I took alot in brother's camera though..so will have to wait for him to pass the photos to me.
Lil' Aleciabeth didn't have to be in the water to be happy. She was smiling all the time. Such a charming lil' girl.
The videos :





The blur me can sms-ed everyone to bring extra clothings. But guess what! I brought her extra clothings but forgot about her panty. Sigh......

We went to Pet Safari after that. The 2 children were happy to see the pets inside. Alexandra was excited when she saw this pug, which she said it's a bulldog. I squimmed my eyes trying to make crinkles on my face and asked her if I looked like that dog. "No! You look like a fat pig."
!?!?!?! A child never lies...........I'M FAT!!!
The kids went to ToysRUs and Alexandra asked me to buy her something which I promised her.... but when her mummy came later spoke to her nicely explaining blah blah.. she listened to her mummy. I really envy her, Athena cannot be spoken to in that calm manner. It's just the child's personality - afterall Master Tan did say it's difficult to bring up Athena (can't use the soft approach and can't use the hard approach). I bought Athena the Barbie Island Princess Playset - goash! I spoil my kid!
I don't know how many times I've promised her "I'm not buying you anymore toys.." in the end..... okay even my helper don't believe my words anymore.

Anyway, I've promised Alexandra I'll get her the toy once she moves to her new place.

When we came out of Toys R Us, the 2 of them were so tired to sit in the stroller. And so Angeline and myself ended the playdate about 4hrs+ later.

The 2 Godmas

26th December :
Met up with my 2 children's Godma after Ari's vaccination to do some Christmas delivery - late delivery this year. What to do? We came back from Taipei and a week later was Christmas. I still have the children to give later and Godma Wilma. And my place will be neat again.

Fairy Godma Angeline (Aricia's 2nd Godma)
Went to her workplace to pass her her Christmas present.
Aricia messed up her place, kept pushing the things behind. I felt so paiseh..

Fairy Godma Ling Li (Athena's Godma)
Since LL stays closeby where I went, I made arrangements to meet her. Thank goodness, she is in Singapore and it was really a last minute arrangement to meet her.
Oh my! You know I haven't met this woman since Athena's 4th birthday party!!! Both of us are busy with our own things. Well... she has no excuse the following year. I told her she can have Athena over at her house when she starts Primary 1, coz' her school will be nearby.

We met in CoffeeBean for a chat. My little girl as usual is aggitated for sitting down too long ( in her too long is only barely 20 mins) and wants to be out of the highchair. Well....just nice she walked on her own, showing off her skills. Fly-kissing everyone; walking to and fro like Miss Universe with her cute actions.

Photos :

Aricia progression

Aricia started walking on her own on Saturday.

On Sunday, she was walking to and fro, which really made me so giddy. But I must really say Aricia is very determined. She falls down and she'll pick herself up very fast.

Video of her on Sunday : 23rd December


Video of her taken yesterday 26th at Parkway Parade. I have problem uploading a bigger file, I'll try with Youtube when I have the time. In that video she was charming everyone with her generous fly kisses.
Anyone would have known she started walking not long coz' she was still so wobbly.

MMR Vaccination

They must have called Boxing Day for a reason coz this morning I really felt like BOXING someone!! I can't believe it! I made appointment at 10am for Ari's vaccination and 12 pm I am in the consultation room. I waited for 2 hours, so I wonder what's the use of making appointments!!!

Dr Tan asked if everything is alright with Aricia. So I filled her in with the 2 febrile fits incidents. (which comes to remind me, hubby did ask me to bring Ari to the PD when she had fever the second incident. But I told him "no way I'm going to wait for 2-3 hours to see a doctor)

I think there's something wrong with the height thing they use. They make Ari stand and they simply pull down the thing and that's it! She shrunk?!

Anyway, that's beside the point. So Dr Tan if I wanted her to refer us to an Endrocrinologist - wow! very chim word. But anyway it's from the word Endocrine, so it's some kind of hormonal doctor. Umm... maybe can fix this crazy mother who lost her hormones!!
Checked on hereditary grounds. I said yes, my hubby and his siblings were small but they all grew up tall and alright.
She did say that there are 3 types of growth and Aricia might fall into what they call the Constituitional Growth.
What the endrocrinologist will do is to observe her growth and then if there's a need give her hormonal injections. Hey! Am I qualified to do this. But then there's some arguments that this doesn't work much. So.....

Anyway, something to fill you in :

Growth Delay or Disorder
What is normal growth?
Growth patterns in children vary. For example, baby boys grow faster than girls until about 7 months. After that, girls grow faster until about age 4. The growth rate then becomes the same for both until puberty.
A child's size depends a great deal on their parents. Large parents usually have large children. Small parents, as a rule, have small children. A short child, who has short parents, does not necessarily have a growth problem. While these children will have growth spurts and enter puberty at normal ages, they will usually only reach a height similar to that of their parents.
Nutrition, genetics, and hormones can all affect growth patterns. When a child's growth seems to be lagging behind, the cause may be a natural growth delay or be caused by a growth disorder. A child with a growth delay may still go through all other development stages normally.

What is the cause?
There are several possible causes for growth problems.
Normal delayed growth: If your child is growing at a normal rate, yet is small for his or her age, it is called a constitutional growth delay. Your child may have a delayed bone age, which means your child's bones are a younger age than your child's age in years. Puberty may be delayed until bone growth catches up. Often one or both parents or a relative has experienced a similar late-bloomer type of growth pattern.

Failure to thrive: When children younger than age 3 show slower than expected weight gain and growth, it may be a condition known as failure to thrive. It is usually caused by a feeding problem or inadequate nutrition. Malnutrition is the most common cause of growth failure around the world. Failure to grow may also be a symptom of another problem, such as an infection, a digestive condition, or even child neglect or abuse.

Hormone problem: A condition that causes too much or too little of one or more hormones can cause growth problems during childhood and teen years. A failure of the thyroid gland to make enough thyroid hormone, which is essential for normal bone growth, is called hypothyroidism. If the pituitary gland is damaged or malfunctioning, it may not be able to produce enough hormones for normal growth.

Chronic illness: Chronic illnesses are another common cause of delayed or slower growth. Growth can be slowed by illnesses like asthma, congenital heart disorders, chronic kidney failure, and poorly controlled diabetes. Children with neuromuscular diseases, cleft palate, or some psychosocial problems may not get enough to eat. Some diseases such as diabetes, cystic fibrosis, heart failure, and HIV interfere with the body's use of nutrients.

Other problems: Other disorders that may cause slow growth include genetic disorders (for example, Turner Syndrome), infections during pregnancy, and use of certain medicines, alcohol or cigarettes during pregnancy.

How is it diagnosed?
Parents who suspect that their child has a growth problem should take their child to a health care provider for an exam. Regular recordings of the child's height and weight are used to check the child's growth rate.
Your child may have blood test to check the functioning of many organs. Special tests may be ordered to check hormone levels. Your child may also need to have an x-ray of his or her wrist to measure bone growth and age. Occupational therapists may also watch your child's feeding behavior.

How is it treated?
Treatment for growth delay depends on the cause. Malnourished children may need high calorie supplements. Shots or pills of the hormone may help a hormone shortage. Children often compare themselves to their friends. This comparison can be a source of much distress to a child and his or her parents. It is important that a child's concern not be dismissed as unimportant.

Read more about Constituitional Growth Delay (CGD) here

Oh, I just found out what squint means. All the while I was surprised when doctors don't raise alarm when they tick "NO" in the assesment charts. So I asked Dr Tan. "Shouldn't she be squinting and looking for the light when you turn off the light??" Squint in their medical terms means 'crossed eye' or not

Gentle reminder

Announcement : This is a reminder that Athena is still a child She was heard saying all these funny sentences.

1) Trying to be a mini-mummy scolding Aricia.
" Aricia, stop behaving like a baby!!" (she was mimicking me)
Me : But she's a baby...

2) She was running and jumping around when she suddenly stopped, put her hand on her chest.
"Mummy, my heart is beating."
Me : Your heart is beating all the time. You mean you're heart is beating fast.

3) Overheard this in Taipei, she was mumbling and thought I didn't hear it.
"I eat more Japanese food , so I will look like Japanese."
Me : Then marry a Japanese man. Confirm you'll stay in Japan!

The children

Sometimes nice to see the 2 girls getting along well... and wrestling?! Actually not wrestling lah! But both my children like rough play.

Some videos I took of them in Taipei.
WWF1


WWF2

Christmas Lunch

Lunch was to start at 1pm but was told catering will be there at 12.30pm. Anyway, wanted to leave the house early but with kids ah.... there's no such thing as planning ahead coz' the whole timing simply runs amok when you have children! Picked up the cake and went over to mom's place. Click here for story of log cake Brother's godma and godsister was there already. And a little tiger greeted us at the front door. Roar!

I didn't bring the gingerbread house along with me, coz' I have no idea what else to put besides sweets and biscuits. And so.... it's left idled and I think it will expire sometime in July or August 2008??
You should check this out! Brother DIY-ed a fireplace which is so beautiful. Of course nothing is impossible for my artistic brother. I bought some things for the kids. Brother was saying the fireplace is too fragile and I didn't want to bring down the whole fireplace so instead of stuffing the stockings for the 3 kids and hanging them up,I bought them this Santa bag and put in some things. Ai yah... bluff kids one lah! (next year can recycle the Santa bag) The 3 kiddos. Very difficult to get all 3 looking at you. I really salute those photographers who can handle kids
In gatherings, the adult mingle. Well... the children mingles amongst themselves too. This was taken barely 15 mins of stepping into the house.
The 3 of them having a conference

And then Aricia shared her pacifier with Iggy. YuCkS!(See how she turns the pacifier over facing Iggy)

I've always liked their fibre optic tree Of course not forgetting how SIL will do up the table properly too! With well-co-ordinated table cloth; skirting + christmas garland etc..I wouldn't have bothered so much with this.(more food was added on after I took these photos) The invited guests :
- Family (including us)
- Brother's Godma & Godsister
- Yishun ma-ma (SIL's mother)
- Ah gou (my father's sister and husband)
- Aunty Pat and family

Oh! How can I forget that I improvised this red dress with a black DIY belt to make Aricia pose as a Santarina. Would have looked more convincing if I did the white furry things. But I didn't think about it until yesterday. She refuse to wear the hat, if not.. ai yah! anyway her pacifier already spoil the picture!!
(they were saying that the dress is too big for her. Of course what! It was present from Athena's Godma, Ling Li to Athena when she was 2 or 3? And how can you compare that pui pui girl and this little girl?! And it's also Ignatius's 1st Christmas! Lucky boy! He don't have to be 1 year old to receive so many presents this year. It's the advantage of being an early year child. Athena was only 1 month old & Aricia was 2+ months old.

It's nice that Aunty Pat and family accepted our invitation, meeting the family after such a long long time.
Umm.. wonder if wedding bells are ringing soon for Brendan and Nalie??

In this photo : Brendan - older son with Nalie. Uncle Yeap and Aunty Pat

Kevin - younger son

Mom, Aunty Pat (who likes to suddenly speak in Cantonese & I'm lost!!) and the fatty me

The children then opened their pressies starting with Ignatius, the youngest baby

I like the top left pic, which had the 3 of them opening up the box and trying to help Ignatius.

Athena's present from Dua-gu & Dua-kim

Present from Yishun mama

Both kiddos also received a Kiddy Palace voucher from mom

Aricia looking on at her presents from dua gu and Yishun mama

Athena, Santa's helper, gave out some chocolates.


We left for home about 5hrs + later. The children are tired, especially Athena who hadn't had any nap yet. We had a jolly good time today.

Okay, I gorged alot...today. Anyway I claimed that my New Year Resolution is to lose weight so I've only got 7 more days to eat as much as I want. LOL

The days leading to Christmas

All my postings seem to be very backdated, and I haven't updated the childrens' blogs.

Saturday
Went to watch Alvin And The Chipmunk. The children enjoyed the show, especially Aricia was fixated to the big screen in the beginning part where the music played. And anytime when there's music after that. She was rather well-behaved inside. There was this big wallpaper of the chipmunks outside but the staff stopped me from taking photos. I really wonder why... Athena was rather sad. Promised her we'll find some place for her to take photo. Walked over to Carrefour. I was trying to find my Opera cake but I think they don't sell it anymore..

Sunday
Blur me.. turn off the alarm clock and went back to sleep. By the time I woke up one hour later, I realised we'll not make it in time for her Art class. + Athena was still in bed. And so...we didn't go. I cannot make it lah! Can't arrange to have her classes at 9am. At least give me some time to sleep in a little longer. So I'm glad she's finishing it off this month. Called the school to enquire about the make up lesson coz' Mr Lim was on MC for 2 lessons, so they allowed me to go in for 2 classes in January.
Funny KZ! She saw something in NTUC and asked me "mom, this one cardigan?" Guess what she was referring to?? The Christmas tree base cloth. OMG! I replied her "Aunty! This is for Christmas tree, not cardigan! You want this cardigan or not? I buy this for you??

Monday
Brought her to school, not knowing that it's half day today and next Monday - New Year's Eve. I don't know too if they're having any Christmas party in school so brought along her dress. Turned out it was done last Friday.
Was abit sad that she missed it coz' she'd love it, but what can I do? Her violin concert coincided with it.

Brought KZ for her examination and also called MOM, turned out I didn't have to get the insurance for my helper. *phew*
Passed by her school when we got back from the clinic. They were only playing. Decided to bring her out from school early so that I can bring her up for her follow up with the sinseh instead of doing it in the evening. Glad I did that, coz' I brought her shopping with me after seeing the sinseh. Hubby met us at Tampines for Christmas dinner. We weren't the type to make bookings for Christmas or New Year dinners in fanciful places - not when we have 2 noisy kids to spoil the nice ambience - so we settled for Billy Bombers.

Top L to R : Beef Rib Triple Combo, America Hum Dinger
Bottom L to R : Kids Meal - Walnut Fish & Wedges, Fudge cake

Went home at 8+ 9 pm. Old already... no need to usher Christmas or the New Year. Our rest is more important.

Checked with Ms Clanna what they're doing on Wednesday, if not I might as well pull her out from school. They're cleaning the school and the children are asked to bring a small pail and rag to clean their own cubby hole. Oh good! This mother thinks her daughter needs to do some housework. But.... then aha! the school will realise that children will end up playing with water = more mess in school = messy children = they will not do it next year. *evil laughter* Okay, I will definitely bring her into the school by hook & by crook. Would love to video her doing the work but then.... nobody's free to do it + I'll have to bring Ari for her MMR + the school will think this mother is really crazy.

In the night psycho-ed Athena on Santa Claus (again) Haha! It's really sweet that she obliged in writing a note to Santa. And we didn't have any cookies (ahem.. actually we have but I worry about ants in her room incase I forgot to remove it. And I have to eat them - I don't mind if it's chocolate but they're not so I won't eat it) so we put a packet of Milo and Cornflakes. Cornflakes?? Really funny! Somehow she suggested in drawing a picture of Santa- which don't look at all like him . And she wrote "I love you Santa" and drew so many 'hearts' - that's very cute & sweet. I'm wondering if she really knew Santa don't exist and fortunately this year I didn't have to think of ridiculous answers to her question of "how is Santa coming by?" While she slept, I quickly wrote the notes to the 2 kiddos, not like Aricia will understand it but must bluff all the way right? Put the bubble thing I bought for them + take sweets from fridge to put inside. I play cheat.
Tuesday

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

I heard Athena saying something about Santa give her some thing and mei-mei. Then when I asked her if anyone came by. She said "Santa came but mummy Santa didn't take the letter with him" *looked sad* "Did he take the letter last year?" "Yes" *forgetful me!* Didn't do much in the morning. The children (ahem...Athena) opened their pressies.

This is from Jachelle. I thought what she wrote "I love you and i" cute!!

Then went over to mom's place for Christmas lunch.

The pressies on our console is an eyesore. I really need to give out the pressies soon to clear the space - all will be done this week.