Shichida

Do you know what mei-mei is doing in her worksheets now? Almost K2 syllables. Gasp! Makes me feel like I have two P1 children at home.

And amazing thing is (feedback from KZ who usually help me with the worksheets and homeworks) is that she understands the concepts after explaining to her. But certain things she don't need explanation she's able to do it. She loves to do homeworks (such a darling - but of course sometimes she wouldn't do it. At least both my children are a little disciplined to do their work. Good training!)

I read in the newspaper advert the other day about a boy who had been in Shichida for 7 years is in GEP. His other coursemates are also in GEP. Is it true? Will that make my mei-mei in the GEP next time? Hmm......I don't know. Of course this mummy would want my children to be in GEP but if they don't qualify there's nothing I can do about it. Of course being in GEP doesn't mean the person will earn big bucks in the future.

Today, she surprised me with her colouring. She can't be compared to one of her Shichida classmate who can write his name neatly; can colour like a 5 year old but by her standard - she was giving me rubbish colouring a week ago and this time round she did so well.
KZ gave her some worksheets (given by me) to do and she did the patterning and sorting all by herself. Oh! She loves to use the scissors (though must say the way she holds her scissors is like trying to cut herself) and glue (big blop). She said loudly "I want to show mummy..." and ran to show it to me. She then waited for daddy to come home while in her cot & holding on to the papers. When she heard him opening the gate quite late, she shouted "show daddy work!" she allowed me to safekeep the papers for her after that.

KZ taught her subtraction too! And she related to me how the subtraction session became a fighting session.
Eg. 7 - 2 = 5. Gave her 7 bear counters, KZ showed her by taking away 2; mei-mei snatched back and fought with her. This went on for a few equations. Haha!

She can do her addition. So proud!

Argh!

So many things to do, one pair of hands, so little time.

haven't had time to prepare flashcards but I still need to complete one set of flashcards info @ the back (for general knowledge/input to the children)
Then I have to laminate some stuffs
Scan and throw away the papers to clear up space
Print out flashcards things in the lappie to clear space
Transfer photos into hard disk (can you believe it?! I haven't had the time to do it yet?)
My NZ photos!!!! Goash! I can't believe myself for procrastinating for so long

Can't seem to leave the children to wreck havoc in the house while I lock myself in in the afternoons and work like shit! Che-che's Oral coming up. I gotta try to guide her. Make it worse, I already have problem speaking Chinese and I am trying to help her?! Crazy right? Hubby can't help, he's studying too! I'll be so dead ........

Tired!

Was blogging 1/4 of the birthday pre-preps... didn't complete and think I'm going to forget about blogging it. I'm so tired!

I have been trying to clear some things - the childrens' things.

I do feel sad when I have to junk mei-mei's works so fast, no chance for her to see it next time when she's older. I managed to keep che-che's works in LCCC for 5 years before I decided to take photos/scan and junk the papers. Think it was easy coz' I only have one child, now with 2 children it's double the mess.
Amongst the things I have to scan in are her Shichida worksheets. And how I wish my scanner comes with the feeder so that I don't have to flip open the cover all the time. I can't seem to do much daily - can only do it in the night.

Yawns! I'm tired too! Been trying to sleep early.

Oh no! The childrens' blogs are not updated!!

Goodnight everyone.

Aricia Birthday Celebration - @ home

It's good to keep it a family affair this time round coz' you can really chat with the families since everyone is always so busy with their own families daily and we only get to meet once or twice a year if we're lucky.

In the morning, was doing some finishing touches to the cake. The words! Argh! I miscalculated the letter 'R'. Checked through my icing cookies and no R, checked through my plain cookies also no R. I wonder why I did so many As. Argh!!! In the end, I decided to fill her name is more important than the BIRTHDAY word. What's placed on her cakeboard? It's HAPPY DAY. Heehee!

After the kids had their lunch, I brought them to PP to inflate the balloons. Pinata? There's a lion pinata, those that require you to whack. Actually I do have a new pull-string pinata in my storeroom. Decided no pinata this year coz' no thrill lah! - 3 kids?
Bought Aricia her birthday dress and a birthday present for her. She was so happy with her present.
Reached home and birthday girl napped for a short while, che-che was too excited over the party she couldn't sleep.

Food came and family came at the same time. Set the table; quick snapshots of the food :

Food we ordered this time (for memory sake) : Neo Garden Mini Buffet Set C for 15 pax (and we had so much leftovers!)
1) Sin Chow Bee Hoon
2) Mixed Cabbage
3) Sweet & Sour Fish
4) Curry Chicken
5) Steam Siew Mai
6) Sotong Yu Tiao
7) Seacoconut Cocktail
8) Sze Chuan Prawn
9) Seacucumber Duck

Added on eclairs (didn't have time to make + no more space in fridge to store) and Chocolate cream puffs. No chocolate fountain too coz' too much sweets already + in-laws aren't chocolate fans so will have wastage.

During the party, Aricia kept coming to me and told me "Mummy sing happy birthday song to Aricia." And when I needed to open the fridge door, she'd run to me and ask me "sing now?" Why is she so impatient?

I had a small game for the --- ahem 3 kids? Got the 2 older cousins to join in as well. Che-che was so proud that she was so close to the 'nose' - of course she was the winner. She was so happy that she had a small gift. The other kids received a Kinder Surprise chocolate, unfortunately I accidently squeezed one as I took out from the fridge and gave that to mei-mei. She let out a comment "ay........spoil." Wah! So vocal now?!

Then it was cake-cutting time. Hmm... I had asked KZ to help me clear the table and set the table up for the cake while I'm doing the game. And guess what? By the time I finished the game it was still not done?! She was scooping up and trying to wash up? Huh? I needed time to cool down the cake - pound cake. And not that long that my chocolate pictures melt too... so by preparing the table while we're playing game will be good enough. So worried that my cake will be a little too hard.

Mei-mei was nonetheless excited coz' she had been waiting for this TIME! Iggy was so afraid to go close to her coz' she had a balloon on her wrist. And he's suddenly afraid of balloons. She blew out the candles on cue.

Comments on the cake - nice but too sweet (and I've already cut down on the sugar). And I must always add "don't eat the buttercream..I can't cut down sugar on that", sister commented "why do you always tell people not to eat that? Want to eat, eat lor....." heehee! I'm mothering my kids........
Mei-mei had 2 servings of the jelly. She really loves jellies. See her kneeling behind the coffee table and eat quietly without protests/covering her mouth/covering her eyes so that she won't see food. Hmmm

We opened her presents, she received alot of clothes and angpows - practical presents. Thanks to J's mummy too who passed her her present after their Shichida class.

Party's over! Kids are happy. One down and another one........?? Wah.....think of it in 2 months time also tired liao!
Photos :

Birthday celebration in school

Reached school at 10.55am, Teacher thought it was tomorrow... huh? I've informed the previous teacher in the communication book, she noted it but probably forgot to hand over the information to the new teacher.

While waiting for the older N1 children to finish their class, I brought mei-mei over to K2 to pass the bags to R and her lil' sister K.

The children were served their lunch. And then it was celebration time!!

OMG! Mummy had been too busy and forgot to buy her a new birthday dress. We picked che-che's white dress (worn at bro's church wedding). With a little tiara, she was transformed into a Princess.

The children kept looking at the cake. Which child wouldn't anyway? Aricia was grinning all the time, she loved her cake coz' it was a lion.

While the teacher was cutting the cake, I gave instructions to the teachers to try to sweep the buttercream away - sweet - they didn't and the children cleaned up their plate!!

I distributed the agar agars to the children, never gave them any choice until I came to my girl. Hee! Favourtism. After first round is distributed, I did the second round and asked for their preference. "I want yellow," "I want monkey" etc..

My girl ate 5 agar agars!!!!!! (Both girls are like their daddy - love jellies.) Coincidently her music teacher came by the school passed her class, I took a photo of them and offered a slice of cake - but she rejected. She's smart!

I was served a big piece of cake which I couldn't finish. It's moist and soft and I really like the filling.

You know what? I brought some animal crackers and didn't get to distribute to the children coz' I was worried about overloading them with too much sweet and heaty stuffs. The kids loved their serviettes and didn't use it. They brought it home with them. Haha!

Then she distributed the goody bags, starting with the older N1 children. Just the other day while I was packing the bags, she surprised me by reading her friends' names. And so, I let her read out her friends' name and give the bag to that child. Hugged a few kids.

Then it was dismissal time for most kids.

Fast and easy celebration. Phew!

Photos :

Touch ups

Target time to leave the house : 10.15am

At 9.30am, took out the cake and stick the cookie words with icing to the board. At the same time tried to pipe the designs on the cookie cone hat. Argh! That's the thing I hate to work with royal icing, it gets harden so fast and it got stuck in my piping tip. If I try to put more water, it's too watery to work. If I spoon asap after mixing the colours - how fast can I be? Too hot I can't hold the piping bag, cool down - it hardens. Argh!
In the end, I gave up the idea and left it plain.

KZ and myself left the house 10 mins late. Not a problem at all since I always like to have ample time in my already-ample-timed schedule.

4 portions of cake batter. It's really heavy!!

And off we go!

Mei-mei is having a celebration!!!

So excited! Can't wait to celebrate my lil' girl birthday in school tomorrow.

I managed to finish baking and did the decorations on the same day, so that I have time to go through some work with the children. I ended up neglecting mei-mei again coz' by the time she woke up from her nap I was already so sleepy.

Funny

Marking her Stimulus Graphic comprehension.

Advertorial says, " The first 100 early birds gets a surprise gift."
Question reads : Who gets a surprise gift?

Her answer in her MCQ, she smartly put - THE BIRDS.

LOL

Concert

I was so excited over her concert this year and going to buy alot of tickets to force my family members to see her perform. Since we made a big fuss over the older one with the most number of supporters every year (and my mother had to cheer when che-che's name was called ?? - so embarrassing dunno where to hide my face), we should be fair to fuss on lil' one too right? Be it whether she makes a boo boo on stage; performs well; fell etc... I wanna see her performing.

Then ... I realised that we were going to fly off the day before the performance. Argh! There's no way to change the date coz' the whole families (with the in-laws) are going.

A quick check with the school, I will buy the DVD provided the filming is on the rehearsal and not actual day. Most likely it's the actual day coz' usually the rehearsal day is very messy. One teacher was so kind to offer to help me take pictures coz' I requested to be present for the rehearsal but they say I can't. (I was practically pleading them ..........heck care if my hubby dowan to go. The mummy wants to be there to see her lil' girl dancing on stage.)
I was so lor-soh, checked with the supervisor to get a nod from her. If it's okay, I'll pass my camera and video camera to help me take pic/video her. I get an okay from her. Hmm.... think the school will hate me but if you're a parent and so kan-cheong over your kids, I'm sure you'll as desperate as I was.

TCM

I finally took my kids to the Chinese physician where alot of mummies bring their children to. Since this clinic is so close to their school I don't have anymore excuse this year.

The kids were told that they are going to see a doctor. Mei-mei kept saying "I go and see Dokter Lee." "No mei-mei we're not going to see Dr Lee today. Mummy bring you to see another doctor okay?" "No, I want to see Dokter Lee. Che-che was excited over the possibility of going gai-gai and not doing any work at home.

I was told that the children are rather sensitive. They need to avoid egg whites, prawns, crabs, birdnest. Ai yah! They don't eat any seafood except fish. Che-che loves birdnest with pao-shen. But egg white? That's what they both love and not forgetting I'm probably the culprit for making them worse/triggering their sensitivity with all my bakes. Shucks!

My lil' girl weighs only 10kg. ??Don't seem to put on weight though she grew a little taller. I know, I know she's perfectly normal and very cheerful and I shouldn't worry... but I dowan her to be so small size. MOH will definitely insist I bring her to the specialist for checks if she remains this small size in Primary School.

After the consultation, the children were given VVIP Spa treatment - tuina. Che-che was so happy kept telling me she wanted to go massage when we were waiting for our turn; in consultation room and I had no idea if all children will go through tuina.
They were directed to opposite sides of the room, I asked che-che to be alone while I stayed with mei-mei.
Mei-mei looked at the lady with suspicious eyes as she held her hand; she pull back; tell her to give aunty her hand; she gave and frowned at her (hee!); she massaged; she look at her own hand; look at aunty; look at hand; tried to move hand away. When she had to lie on her back, she did it on her own but was slanting so I tried to move her straight, she thought she didn't have to lie down and sat up. Asked her to lie down again, she did and she was smiling when the lady put ru-yi oil on her tummy. She loves that! Then she laid on her front, I was trying to push her down coz' she had her elbows on the bed in kneeling position and jutting out her lil' backside. Haha! Then mei-mei started asking for a sweet. Lady promised she'll give it to her after the massage. Lil' girl kept asking and asking, lady said she's very lor-soh. Hahaha! That's my girl.
As for che-che, she was enjoying herself leh! That girl knows how to enjoy life. Was reading a book when the lady massaged her. On the whole, my children did well. Well done!

It's a good thing we didn't have to wait as the medicines are ready for collection the moment you finish the tuina. Mei-mei as usual is so chatty and friendly, saying hello to everyone there. One lady commented "she must be very happy with the treatment that she's so happy now." "Well, she's happy all the time. She's one happy kid!" Then when it's time to go, she bade goodbye to everyone. Yup! That's my Miss Universe practicing her wave.

As we left the place, che-che told me she wants to go back there again. Honestly I don't mind provided I bring them there straight after school. Also, I prefer TCM as opposed to western GPs. No more ventolins! No more antibiotics!

Thinking, perhaps I should try to sign up for a tuina class - can do that with my kids everyday.

Mis-plo- nown (mispronounce)

Lil' one mispronounces her words.

Forget - fay got
Eleven - air leh ven
Lion- nai neng

Angry!

Had the most exhausting and stressful weekend.

The kids were misbehaving coz' it was 'no government', they literally turned the whole place upside down - with che-che as the leader and doing all the ridiculous things and getting the most scolding. And this was the time when che-che defied my words asking her to do her work coz' she knows the mother can't leave the table and too busy to bother them. Which I did coz' I was red in anger. Needless to say, they will have this freedom for this week only & after that I'm going to drill them.

Friday
I took 5 and brought the kids out for G-Force. I had asked che-che to pick the movie she wanted to watch and booked the tickets the night before. When we were there to collect the tickets, she told me "I want to watch 'Up' ". Explained to her I've already booked the tickets for G-Force since she specifically told me she wanted to watch that, she threw tantrum.
It wasn't exactly a good day for me, I went out in a happy mood and came back in a foul mood. Just because some girl had to be so argumentative and was so rude to me. Che-che! I couldn't tolerate her bloody nonsense - honest! People see her as a shy quiet girl, that's what she portrays when she's outside. But when she's with the family, all the negative aspects comes up. So nobody believes me when I say I am really fed-up or furious with that girl. I do not want to go about what happened but even KZ couldn't tolerate her nonsense/her behaviour. Saying her behaviour is getting from bad to worse. And ..... I see the similar behaviour in S. Shucks! That girl is influenced by that naughty girl. KZ told her off straight in the face.

She didn't even apologize to me knowing that she's at fault. Very stubborn!

Saturday
Complained to mom about her. Girl picked up the phone and didn't want to apologize to me. Mom had to threaten with "I'm not going to stay overnight in your house, and you're not to stay overnight in my house if you don't apologize to your mummy. How can you be rude to her?" In the end, she had to kneel infront of me as what mom instructed her to do so to ask for my forgiveness and accept her apologies. Why? Why does she have to do that? It would have been better if she had avoided this altogether to spare me from being so gek-sim.

Really wonder what's the problem with that girl? She's doing it deliberately to make me angry or she really have a BIG PROBLEM!!! Send her to the Girl's Home and spare me from her nonsense and then hopefully she learns her lesson and know that home is still the best place to live in.

Spent the time preparing all the nitty gritty stuffs to the cake decorations, and that girl was misbehaving. Feel like slapping her face to wake that girl up. Argh! Writing about her only make me more mad.

Sunday
I'm beginning to feel even more frustrated with that girl. Throwing the sofa cushion on the floor; bringing her pillow and bolster out to the living room floor to step on it. You say fed up or not? You say she's too much or not? Told her to put back the things & she still continued. Until I had to threaten to use the cane on her. Why? Why do I have to resort to this?
By the time hubby finishes his course 1 year later, I would have already committed suicide. I can't take that girl's nonsense.
Worst still, she likes to cry when she don't get things her way. Which made everyone in the family angry with her for acting so childish. Hubby usually don't discipline the children also get fed up with her - not to mention someone like me who have to see, listen to that girl 24/7. I think there's a real big problem with her. She's either crazy or she's really imitating that S - who have severe mood swings.

I get so frustrated with her behaviour that I gave her a warning not to mix with S. I know you will say I'm teaching her the wrong thing, I didn't want to teach her this either but ... I do not want my girl to be the next child to be sent to the Principal's office or have her infamous name in the Prefects' notebooks. She may not listen to me and mix with her ; afterall I'm not there to spot check on her.

That girl thinks she is going to get her birthday party this year. I'm so pissed with her behaviour that I don't feel I want to do it for her anymore. Bad mummy you might say but imagine if you had put your heart and soul into something for your child. You don't expect a reward back but you wouldn't expect the child whom you've doted so much to snap back at you; and not showing you any respect.

Another day of rotating things one after another. Chocolate picture ; chill chocolates; do jelly; chocolate picture; chill; bake cookies;store chocolate picture; do another set of chocolate picture; take out cookies; chill; cut more cookies; etc...........it was non stop work. And the kids were driving me crazy with their games - mei-mei fell and had a bruise on her forehead just becoz' the 2 of them didn't listen to me and took out the cushion and pillows again. Mei-mei stepped on the cushion and fell!

The Ang-moh kia

Mei-mei is a real ang-moh kia.

Last Thursday, she surprised me and another teacher by calling him correctly. (She calls all teachers she sees as Yu-lao-shi not knowing that Yu is the surname. Not surprising though she calls him Yu-lao-shi only to have him repeating "wo shi Hong-lao-shi". After so many months, it finally sank into her lil' brain and she called him as he walked past.

Then she showed off her fishball to him and said "yu wan". He asked her in chinese if she could share with him, she stood there staring at him. Then he asked in english, immediately that girl turned her back to him and hid her fishball.
He later asked in chinese again her name. She 不明白 and again was dumb-founded. Asked in english, she told him her name. He asked her chinese name in chinese again, don't understand. Asked her in english and she pronounces her chinese name really well.

Ang-moh kia huh?

Buttercream

Exhausted! Time wasted! I junked the whole lot in frustration in the afternoon. Freezed the night's 'watercream'

In the night, undeterred, I did my buttercream again. Again the same problem!! Hey hey.... I begin to suspect if it's the butter. I did notice it took a longer time for my bowl to be 'cool to the touch'. Overwhipped? Can't be coz' I'm dealing with egg whites and lots of air pockets - sufficient for a child to have colic for 365 days. Needless to say I'm even more frustrated with 2 failed attempts! Baking is science, you just need to follow the recipe to a tee and you shouldn't fail. But I failed miserably twice. sob sob.......I need a pat on my back.
I'm trying to think if unsalted butter should be used, as I always do. We know that salt is used to lower down temperature.. so could the salted butter have lowered the nicely white fluffy meringue temperature and *pomf* volume decreased drastically to liquidy form? I really have no answer coz' I'm not an expert.

SMSed A, the expert, to ask her this morning at 6+, she might still be asleep. Heehee! It was a real SOS SMS.

But I suppose some people do use salted butter on buttercream. Coz' not everyone will insist on unsalted butter. Plus, if recipe calls for 'salt', they can cut down one step.
But Golden Churn should be good right? Mei-mei's darling Aunty Ros talks about her Golden Churn in tin (which is expensive. And I thought mine was, still better than some other butters though) so I thought I should try this block butter. There were some promotions with a few brand of butters but I choose this. Price = quality mah! Hate to think that $6.45 for 2 blocks can't compare to my usual $5.60 for 1 block butter. Sorry I don't mean to be hao lian, but if it's for family bakes I can go for quality stuffs. But if I'm selling cakes, I'll go bankrupt.

A replied back, said it should curdle. So nice of her to make a call to me. She could only deduce either I add in when meringue is still hot thus melting the butters or I worried too soon. But I did explain to her that I've made this so many times and never failed on me until this 2 times. And it didn't look curdled, it became liquid. She did tell me that I should try to whip the rests, as I didn't finish all the butter and it should be okay. Of course I had to explain to her that I had to stop before wasting more butters + sugars + eggs.

Oh! Speaking of eggs. KZ will eat the egg yolks of all my bakes. Then when I told her my failure," I've got good news and bad news for you. Bad news first, the cream is spoilt. Good news is... you get to eat more egg yolks."

Well, will try that later. If not, it's NTUC here I come again. Buy sufficient Lurpak for buttercream and use the remaining GC butters for my bakes, which may yield different results. Taking the risk again.
Poor cows, kena milked until their neh-neh pain and I had to waste the butters.

And then I clarified with her the difference between the 2 GC (tinned and block), she explained that the tinned ones have higher fat content which is really fattening. Yup! Fattening stuffs really taste good. And yes, then I remember Aunty Ros did mention about very fattening etc..Well, I'm going to try that one day.

The School Hols week

Half the week have passed and I have been really lazy to update my blog. Sorry!

This time round, I still bring mei-mei to school daily. Can't expect her to skip school... the school fees too ex! Can't bear to waste the $.

Monday
Che-che had been asking me to let her stay in mom's place. So I make her promise me she'll do her work finish in the morning while I am out; do her e-homework when I'm back; practise piano. And as her bonus she can stay 2 nights. If not, she'll only go over on Tuesday and stay one night.
She woke up early and didn't eat her breakfast and started doing her work. Woah! If only she do this all the time.
Felt bad if I didn't bring her over, though she cheated by playing only 2 songs for me.

Did major stockup on dairy products in the morning without the children. I've 'milked' many cows.
The stocks : -
x12 butters (that was going on a promo. Golden Churn $6.45 for 2. Normally I use Lurpak but thought since I'll be using lots of butters, cut down cost)
x7 Phil cream cheese
x7 Bulla Heavy Cream
My fridge's packed!!

With her over at mom's place, mei-mei gets a chance to sleep with us. She loves it but she started asking for her sister; her target!

Managed to spend quite alot of time with her alone. Since usually I outsource her homework to KZ, I took the opportunity to do some home work; played and really more things I did with her on a 1-1 basis. Comes to a point that I kindda miss the 'only one child' parenting time. Not so stressed up like now, screaming at the kids to stop them from fighting.

Tuesday
Had to send hubby's car for servicing. This' the first time that I really sat inside the lounge waiting. Some brought their lappie to do work; read newspapers; slept. Me? Cutting my laminated sheets. Hahaha! Weird...

Mei-mei has her music lesson today, she's so proud to be in music class. Proclaim to everyone at home that she goes for music class; insists on carrying her music folder bag; tells neighbours in the lift - "I go moosik lesson" *heehee*
Did some more work with mei-mei. She was so proud of it she said she wanted to show it off to her teacher the next day.
Mei-mei kept asking for her che-che, "mummy fetck (fetch) che-che. Mummy I miss che-che." Aw....so sweet. But wait till she fights with her che-che over everything.

Wednesday
She didn't protest in the car that she didn't have to go to school. She went into the school without looking back. Why? She was going to be busy showing off her work to all the teachers.
And I heard she did!!

Reached home 12+, quickly prepared one batch of buttercream. Shucks! Something's wrong. My buttercream became watery. I've made this so many times and usually no problem. Did I put in butters at the wrong time? Twice it failed on me. Read more here.

Thursday
Suppose to send my car for servicing. Mei-mei's temperature read 37.2, sent her back to bed. Heehee.......actually mother is making excuse to laze. Will send the following week.
Shichida + Berries. Chiong ah....................

Tomorrow
Intend to bring the children out. Che-che says I never bring her to Bird Park, actually was considering that until I think about the humid weather. Hmm... maybe bring them for a movie and walk in airconditioned mall.

Time being, try to resuscitate my buttercream. The children are making noise outside, laughing loudly. Mei-mei seem okay now. No fever obviously. I told her "okay, let's go to school now." Her answer "mummy, it school holiday..." "Not your school holiday, it's che-che's". Stump for words she insisted "Thursday no school, got Shichida."

S

S, che-che's best friend (as what she claims), have invited che-che over to her house twice this week. Rather persistent girl I should say.

The first time was on Wednesday. Girl came into the car and told me about it. I explained to her that we had to decline her kind offer but she can't go over as she has her music lesson later in the evening. "How about Friday?" Che-che seems excited about going over to her friend's house, I don't feel excited. Well, for the fact that I haven't heard anything from her mummy and had a hunch that it was an invitation from HER!! With that in mind and explaining to che-che that S's mummy must be aware of it + she completes her work before I can agree. Her reply was "her mother say can", still I dunno if I can trust her. (ehh.... so bad of me to judge her right?)

And ................. the call went unanswered?!?!?!? She forgot about it? Prior to making the phonecall to her home, we dialled one number which leads us to her grandmother. (she gave us her grandmother's number when she's not even staying there?) Grandma startled me by asking me one question, (it did seem rude at first until she explains herself) "Is your girl the hardworking kind?" Sound very 看不起人 kind? "The reason why I asked you is because I notice my S is too playful not taking her work seriously. So if your girl is the hardworking kind she can influence my grandchild." Eh? I should be worrying if she'll influence my girl the wrong way!! The girl has been sent to Principal's office + detention (and she's only P1)
From what I learn from grandma is that she writes in streaks and she doesn't pay attention to her schoolwork. Only recently grandma bought her some assessment books. Abit too late already right?

I worry my girl will turn bad... but really S is a smart girl (from the way she talks), very confident girl too! I can't be telling my girl not to mix with her coz' it will give her the wrong message. So I am caught in between.. the values I instill in her and the risk of her turning bad. Argh! I never knew I had to face this sooner - when my girl is only in P1. But girl declare "she's my best friend".

Thursday, che-che told me she was helping S with her Math work. "I teach S Maths because she dunno her work and she asked me for my help." Of course I'm pleased that my girl is so helpful, then I questioned her. "You taught S Maths or you answered the questions for her? Please don't do work for your friends coz' they may bite you back instead. And if you do it once, she'll ask you to do another time" " I teach her." Ehh............ P1 can teach another P1 meh? I think it was more like she did the work for her. Then I began to worry, since that S is so smart she might be making use of my girl. And since that girl has mood swings, I wouldn't be surprised if she'll friend my girl one day and don't friend the next day. Or when S ignores her after realising that she can't make use of che-che... I dunno if che-che will feel sad and hurt. I'm too protective over my girl hor?
Then she asked if she can go over tomorrow. S invited two more girls from her Chinese class, (Che-che is in a different Chinese class from them) one of whom is their classmate. "Can mummy... can I go?" Very apprehensive and I don't seem to trust that girl's words now. Her mother may not even know about the invite. And call me old-fashion, I still need the invite from the mummy (not that I'm a VIP). Then somehow she blurt it out "S cannot sew, she asked me over to her house to help her." You see my point?!?! I explained that I needed clarification from the other girl's mummy about the invite. That mummy said it was a handwritten note in her girl's bag. And she's surprised that her girl's been invited coz' S had been hitting her in class. She didn't seem to trust that girl's words too. I didn't call S's mummy to clarify with her coz my hunch told me 99.9% it's an invite known to her only. Perhaps you might be wondering why I'm too cautious, coz' I don't like to stand infront of someone's doorstep without a proper invitation. Also, it reminded me of what K (a parent volunteer) told me about a girl who's always lying in her daughter's P3 class.

Friday - long day in school today. Che-che called me at 1.50pm and asked if she can go over to S's place. I could hear S in the background prompting her. Persistent! Too lonely!
When I picked her up che-che didn't seem sad as I lied to her that I needed to call S's mummy and there's no way I could reach her since I didn't have her number. "How about Saturday?" Oi! Ah girl ah..............can't you tell your mother is trying to avoid all these??
Then I sat down and spoke to her, if she needs to go over to S's place; I will go over. She went "huh..." " what do you mean by huh? What if no one supervises you when both of you are at play? And you know she's been asking you to go to her pool,what happens if out of mischief she pushes you into the pool? If you want to go, I'll be there too! If not, don't go." I can't really trust that my girl is in safe's hands until I see it for myself.Who takes care? Mother? Aunty (as in relative "aunty" or helper)?

Perhaps can plan something this school hols? Bring them out together to see how she behaves. I dunno if I'm prepared for her sudden mood swings lest I get a heart attack outside trying to control her or trying to tone down my girl. Or a playdate in my place?? I can't seem to slot in anytime in the week + already trying to prepare birthday stuffs day by day - having a playdate now will make myself extra busy.

Children

I have two weird children with weird sleeping habits.
Che-che used to stuff all her toys under her shirt and curl up to sleep. Then when I need to move her, I see those stuff toys inside (feels fat). Now, she began curling up more like a millipede - not stuffing anymore toys. But she has her Barbie doll, her smelly bear sleeping next to her - she places them nicely.

Mei-mei on the other hand don't really hugs her toys to sleep - ever since she was young. Sometimes she'd want to carry one toy with her but she won't hug it. Then she found a way to sleep, she holds her prized biscuit or candy to sleep. KZ would remove the snack and totally forget about it until the next morning the girl wakes up and cry for it.
This rebellious girl sometimes refuses to sleep, she sits cross-legged! And then she slumps forward with her legs still cross-legged.

Been there, done that!

The thing about me going to make the children cry, or maybe I cry. And what my gf warn everyone on FB - the parents to watch out for anxiety signs in their children.

I should say I was waiting in great anticipation for this event. I was nervous too coz' I'm not too sure if I could handle them.

I was assigned a P1 class together with another mummy, whom I got to know at the training. I mean.......so many mummies there and I only managed to speak to a few -she was one of them. I thought great! I have an experienced mummy partnering me (but she was the one who warned about the children challenging you etc..) so I won't pee in my pants.

The children, 7 yrs old, should be easy to handle - much easier than upper primary children. I thought maybe I have a child this age, I should be able to handle them. Yes? NO!! I only handle 2 kids at home, in that class of 30 or rather 15 (coz' we spilt the class into 2) was a real shock for me. Don't be mistaken, they're cute innocent children but I just couldn't handle 30 children who were yakking at the same time as I did. In the end, I had to raise my voice really loud to the whole class. Shouted "children!...." no response. In the end, had to shout the class "__1!" Ah ha! That got their attention since they knew I was talking to them.
Err........imagine me shouting 3 times to the class during that 2 hours. Goash! Twice I had to do that coz' my partner didn't speak loud enough to quieten them down. Thanks to training in SQ where we have to shout commands to make sure the whole aircraft can hear your voice and jump off the plane. The class, smaller in size is easy peesy, but I felt bad coz' it was rather intimidating with my voice (plus it didn't match my looks). And I wanted to be seen as a nice aunty.

If I thought that my 2 children were tattling about each other too much. Wait till you see the whole class of 30 children coming to you to tell you "Mrs Ting/Aunty/Teacher she did this to me. Mrs Ting/Aunty/Teacher she throw my things." Wah...................... With my kids I can try to solve their problem and tell them not to tell tales about one another. How to tell 30 kids?? By then, it's already school dismissal time!! And moreover, we don't have eyes 360 deg to know what's happening behind us while we're busy with one table. When one child comes to complain to you, we don't even know the head and tails of what had happened.
But one girl really impressed me, she was trying to solve the problem for her friends. As for me, it's sad to see one kid almost in tears. I mean, you have one child who's about to cry while you're in charge?! But then it's not my bloody fault, know what I mean? All I told them was "be more tolerant with one another."

That mummy told me, we should put our stand the moment we step in. Without putting a front, she already looks fierce while I had that angelic look. Maybe I was also wrong in my 'looks' which resulted in so many children complaining to me about their friends.

What we did with the class was to make a towel rabbit craft. Seems easy but I know it's not (I know coz' even my kid whom I do craft with usually have trouble and I need to help out a lot) for a 7 yr-old. Easy to handle 1 child's craft. How to handle 15 kids?

Giving out the towels. We gave the children in that same table the same colour. I anticipated some children will ask for certain colours so decided to take charge by giving the same colour towel. True enough the kids started echoing "I want this colour; that colour." My reply was "I'm not giving you the colours you want because if everyone asks me for it, I won't have enough to change. Some of you will be sad too." I didn't want to suggests to them that they can do a mutual exchange with friends just incase things turn bad between them. And worst still when we're already pressed for time we have to take time to handle the stupid nitty gritty stuffs like pacifying kids when we could have avoided it in the first place. (keeping them quiet already took time) Bad? Another mummy who took charge of che-che's class told me she told them they can do it and they did - with no trouble. But she mentioned that che-che's class was really good. Hmmm...............maybe my class wasn't that united? I could see a few outcasted children.

The craft was done in this sequence
1) fold the towel
2) tie rubber band
3) tie ribbon to cover rubber band
4) stick eyes and nose
5) tie a smaller ribbon to stick to the rabbit's ears
In these 5 steps (at first I suggested to the mummy if we run out of time, we forgo the small ribbon and ask them to do at home. In the end, we did have time)

1) folding towels, I gave instructions to the 3 tables of 5 children. Some could do it, some couldn't. I told them I'd come to them table by table. In the end some kids ended up running to the table where I was standing and very impatiently tell me "I cannot........I cannot do it." Some of them can proudly hold up their 'i dunno what it is' towel and ask loudly "correct?" Heehee! that's the fun part of handling kids. Going round their table, oh boy! let me tell you I'm always so confused who's sitting in that table coz' the kids are all over the place. Keep asking "where are the children in this table?" to make sure that I've finished the particular sequence with the children in that table. And then some children are standing around and it looks like a market, I have to ask the kids to go back to their table. "I'm sitting in this table!!" *paiseh*
2) After folding for the kids, I told them to tie the rubber bands around. And tie a ribbon around to cover the rubber bands. While going around the next table to do the previous sequence. Came back to Table 1, you see funny looking rabbit with rubber bands tied wrongly or dunno how to tie. While standing at each table, I asked whoever is able to help her friends do certain tasks to help out. Like a preacher nagger who can't stop her bad habit told the kids that as classmates they're suppose to help out one another. Ha! Maybe some kids won't like me for acting like their mummy.
4) Sticking eyes and nose the easiest part. Still, I get funny remarks from the children "I can't find my nose! I can't find my eyes!" I pointed to their face, "your eyes'/nose/ is here!"
5) Lastly the small ribbons.. I tied the ribbons for them and asked them to stick it for them.

Honestly speaking, with 15 kids and more (coz' the other kids from other tables came to me) crafts to handle. I can forget about my "better do nicely" motto.
And I was more fussy than the mother, made sure after every table I finish the craft. Ask them to throw the rubbish on their table, pick up litters on the floor. Some kids pick up the broom and fight. Sigh......... "I hold first, I sweep first, just now you sweep; now I sweep...."
*slap head*
That mummy was still busy with her group of childrens' crafts so I made sure that her group of childrens' table and area are cleaned too. Needless to say, some of them heck care and didn't bother.
So, I whipped out my handy dandy (not the cane) - a bunch of pencils. "Who wants this?"
"Me!!!!" the class echoed.
"Okay, but first I need you to check that your table and floor area is clean first." Woah! Kids sprung up into action. "I will only give it to you once I make a spot check in each table." Heehee! Call me evil, call me resourceful but I finally got some kids in action and to make the second and last check around their class - so that we can hand over the class in clean order to their FT.

I dunno if I've done my job well. Well for one thing, we're suppose to teach them craft and I've already done that. But the manner it was done, did the children feel intimated when I shouted for them to keep quiet? Did I act like a nanny? Did they complain to their mummies after that?

I know for sure that it's not an easy task to handle a class of 30/40 kids and kudos to the teachers. Two professions in this world (I feel) that I really salute to - teachers and nurses - coz' I feel for these two professions, you need to have that drive and 'thing' in you to be one and not everyone can be one. Obviously I don't have the drive and thing, but I do have the X-factor to be in SQ. Perhaps I feel my judgement is justified with this experience but perhaps I am also wrong coz' I was only there for few hours and I don't really know every kid. Teachers do understand their children with their daily contact not us! I think I'll prefer to handle preschoolers.

As what the Vice Chairperson of CPC said during our training, "maybe you aspire to be a teacher when you were younger? Now is your chance." I didn't aspire to be a teacher coz' I know I 'cannot make it' but I did aspire to be a TAI-TAI and I'm still not one!! What a failure!

Will I do this again next year and the years to come? Probably yes, one experience is not enough. It's actually quite fun just that as amateurs we're not trained.

During the break, the Principal gave each of us a bottle of Sparkling juice as a token of appreciation. We stared and laugh at the bottle waiting to go ahead for PART 2. We sounded more like soldiers chiong-ing for war. End of the day, when we brought the bottle home. I remarked "it's for us to drown our sorrows" to the laughter of the ladies sitting in my table. We all had a great day and I'm sure it's not really for sorrows, it's for celebration that we finally did it.

Mark my calendar for next year. And must make sure my helper (dunno if KZ wants to continue) helps me with mei-mei

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

We chatted while waiting for our children and talked about the events that had happened in the morning. Somehow we all felt that the mummies assigned in a particular class to be briefed about special children or special medication (for that matter) in her class.

During the morning exercise in the school hall. One mummy came to ask me if I knew who was in charge of that class - where a kid was crawling on the floor. I looked at that child and recognised it was S and directed her to the mummy who's taking charge of che-che's class. (coincidently I also spoke to her during the training). I forewarned that mummy about S so she knows what to do.
After some time a kid in my class came up to me and sounded nervous "where's my maid? Where's my maid?" I didn't know what was wrong until M, a mummy, handled her for me and brought her out. When she came back in less than 5 mins she explained to me that that girl has anxiety, her maid or grandpa is always in school. I was puzzled and then she continued "my daughter's in her class and she told me about her". Ohh! No wonder. It's a good thing that we had mummies around the school.
Still, we felt that we should be informed of special cases so that we're able to handle them.

Gifts for the teachers

The gifts were prepared as early as June this year. Mmmm... I'm only referring to the two cards below which were given to Athena's school teachers.


I didn't want to buy anything this year coz' teachers are always given purchased common stuffs (mainly parents buy from Popular bookstore). It's a total change from last year's gifts which were mugs from Precious Moments. In the end, chose a craft which she might find it easier to do. She needs mummy's help too. The PVC glue didn't seem to adhere well so I used my hot glue gun - which also means more restrictions on what she can do. While handling the small eyes, I burnt my fingers. sob sob.................


For che-che's 2 teachers in school

The rests of the teachers who teach my 2 children. Apparently mei-mei has to spoil the bag for her Shichida's sensei. Last minute I couldn't buy another bag to replace. And....... the next day (on Friday) she had to spoil another bag - also for her sensei in her previous class. Well... for that I had sufficient time to buy another bag.

Running out of "eyes" and not in the way to Spotlight to purchase more, decided to really "buy the common stuffs from Popular bookstore". Total contrast! Running out of my white bags too, so everything's purchased except for the 'print, colour and paste' cards.
All these were given to LCCC teachers

Didn't prepare anything for the teachers for Teacher Appreciation Lunch in che-che's school. Weeks later, am a little recharged to make eclairs for mei-mei's MMI teachers

Happy Teacher's Day!

幸せな教師の日

A little on history...........

Hubby bought this DVD from China recently and we've began watching - with me interrupting his show most of the time "what are they talking about?" I question him until he gets fed up with me. Hee!

Still I didn't understand which emperor he was talking about. All I remember was he mentioned he is the one who build something in China. Like chicken and duck talking, I asked him if it is Forbidden City. He said no, it's __- gave me a chinese name. Duh!

Not satisfied, I went on to check on further.
Ming Dynasty
Zheng He