Abuse of fare concessions / fare evasions

She claws driver till he BLEEDS
# Petite passenger gets mad after SBS driver confiscates her expired concession card
# She shouts vulgarities, rips hole in his pants
By Hedy Khoo

STANDING at 1.86m and with a muscular physique honed in the gym, Mr William Su cuts an intimidating figure.
Click to see larger image
The assault left Mr William Su with four puncture marks on his left forearm and a torn trouser pocket. Picture: HEDY KHOO

But inside his bus cabin, the 33-year-old driver was helpless against the rage of a woman who measured only 1.6m tall.

The petite 20-year-old was so vicious that she drew blood as she lashed out at him, leaving four bloody puncture marks on his left forearm. She also tore his right trouser pocket.

The reason for her rage: Mr Su had confiscated her expired concession card.

The woman had boarded SBS service 55 with a male companion around 6.10pm at Hougang Ave 3 last Tuesday.

The bus was heading for Bishan Bus Interchange from Marine Parade.

She had tapped her wallet against the card reader, which emitted five continuous beeps.

Mr Su checked his fare console and saw that it registered an expired concession card. He asked to look at it.

She showed him an adult ez-link card, but he insisted on seeing the expired concession card.

She handed it to him, and he explained that he had to follow company procedure to retain expired concession cards.

She replied that he had no right to keep the card, which she claimed she used as an identity card.

As he had to issue two test tickets as part of the procedure for retaining cards, the bus captain left his cabin to use the ticket collection machine behind his seat.

But the woman stood beside the door of his cabin and refused to budge.

When he tried to unlatch the door, she pushed the door shut with force.

Said the soft-spoken bus driver in Mandarin: 'I was shocked at her sudden show of violence.

'Then her male friend came up and said threateningly: 'You better know what to do and return her the card',' said Mr Su.

Meanwhile, she continued shouting at him, insisting on the return of her card.

Mr Su immediately contacted the Operations Control Centre to ask for help.

He was told a mobile traffic inspector had been despatched and he was to proceed on his route in the meantime.

A few stops later, as passengers were boarding, the woman, who was still standing beside his cabin, suddenly reached for his left breast pocket in which he had placed an envelope containing her confiscated card.

Mr Su blocked her with his left arm. Thwarted, she insulted and cursed him.

'She kept saying that she hoped I would get into an accident,' he said.

Then she suddenly grabbed hold of his left arm and refused to let go.

The quick-thinking Mr Su used his right hand to transfer the envelope to his right trouser pocket.

At the same time, he asked a passenger near the front to be a witness to the incident.

He asked the woman to let go, but she flew into an uncontrollable rage, flinging herself across his body and grabbing wildly for his right trouser pocket.

She kept clawing at him in a bid to reach the envelope in the pocket.

'I couldn't stop her, all I could do was to remain calm and tell her that I had to retain her card,' said Mr Su.

'Suddenly I heard a loud rip, and knew my trousers had been torn. I also realised my left arm was bleeding.'

ASKED HER TO STOP

He pointed out his bleeding arm to her and again asked her to stop. Only then did she reluctantly let go.

The girl then phoned her sister and Mr Su heard her saying that he had confiscated her card and beaten her.

Mr Su quickly reminded the witness to take note of the actual events.

The witness, Mr Dennis Yap, 30, a sales executive, said he was shocked by the violent attack.

'She is only 1.6m tall and of average build, but she was so aggressive. She even hurled Hokkien vulgarities at the bus driver,' he said.

Mr Su said the insults and attack upset him, but he told himself to remain calm and not retaliate, as he had been trained to do.

Mr Yap agreed that Mr Su had handled the situation well.

'She kept disturbing him and even grabbed him while he was trying to drive. She could have caused an accident. It was peak hour and the bus was almost full,' he said.

'She had no consideration for the safety of all on board. Luckily, the driver kept calm throughout. Not once did he lose his temper or raise his voice.

'He remained polite and explained nicely to her that he was following company procedure even after she got so violent.'

Following instructions from the Operations Control Centre, Mr Su stopped the bus along Ang Mo Kio Ave 3, and allowed the other passengers to transfer to another bus.

Even then, the girl blocked his way and refused to let him leave his cabin to help the passengers.

Finally, she relented and left the bus with her male companion, lighting up a cigarette outside.

Her brother-in-law and the police arrived around 7.20pm.

APOLOGY

Said Mr Su: 'Her brother-in-law kept apologising to me and asked me to drop the matter. But the woman and her friend showed no remorse. They never even offered an apology. Her friend kept insisting I was wrong to retain the card.'

SBS Transit's director for corporate communications, Ms Tammy Tan, said concession cards are issued by TransitLink only to individuals eligible for concessionary travel privileges on public transport.

They are non-transferable and are coded with information on their validity to avoid any misuse.

She said the woman had presented an expired concession card and wanted to enjoy concessionary travel.

'In line with company procedures, this is not allowed and bus captains are authorised to retain concession cards or any ez-link cards for investigation,' said Ms Tan.

'We are viewing this matter seriously and are working with the police.'

The police said they are investigating the incident.

**************************************************************************
Hate these people, they wanna cheat and when confronted, get abusive.

In my year stint with this company, I do get stupid calls from people. They complaint that their cards are confiscated, and that bus captain was rude. It could be them making story up for all we know but you know.... gotta kowtow to customer.
I had a complaint by a customer for being stopped by NEL staffs for insisting that his child has to pay $$ and of course claimed "he's so rude. my child is only 5, he's not even 90cm why should he pay? Finding excuses but in my mind I was thinking "his son 5 and so short? My girl not even 3 already over 90cm liao!"

My baby2 is 10 mths old!

Woah! It's so fast, 4 weeks have passed by and this time we've celebrated Aricia turning 10 months old.

Let's see what's her accomplishments so far :
- making funny faces
- throwing the phone down from the cradle
- refuse to walk with the Pooh walker (could be phobia after the last incident)
- crawling a little faster
- babbles more. And conversing with us in her babbly language and looking at us waiting for an answer
- now prefers to do fly-kiss. When she does the proper goodbye, she hardly mouths the word "bah bah" anymore
- naughtier but sometimes she seems more mature.. never cry when we're not around, she'll play on her own
- likes to point with her pointer fingers
- she seems to like the number 8 - not that she knows that's a number but I guess she likes the shape from the floor playmat. She'll take that out, mouth it (looks like teething ring) and then hit the floor window with it

- she like Noisy Nick - Letterland character so much. Yah... she's just like him - so noisy! - still enjoys her "little tunnel"

- still wearing her 0-3mths clothes. Oh boy! that girl can help us save $$$
- drinking more water now. She normally finishes 125ml in the first half of the day. Good! Both my children love water. - she can drink from straw now. Normally stealing sips from our packet drinks or che-che's home water bottle
- she claps her hands in joy when music is played (whether we're at home or outside). She claps too when her Baby Einstein starts - the part where they play the Walt Disney introductory & when the words D-V-D comes out. Hilarious!
- Baby Signing : her two fingers for aeroplane has now been reduced to one finger. She signs her apple in a funny manner. Can't say much for the rests, she either refuse to do or we hardly come across the words.. or maybe she's not paying attention to it.

Enough of rubbish, here are the photos!




Dunno if she'll walk by her first birthday, like her che-che. Oh well, guess she'll do so when she's ready

Found!

Been listening to this German songs CD when I play for the children and I kindda like alot of songs in the CD.

Finally found the title of this one song on the web which I have been humming the tune : Grün sind alle meine Kleider
(So lucky to find the translation too. I must admit I can't do without the internet!)

Grün, grün, grün sind alle
meine Kleider,
Grün, grün, grün ist alles, was ich hab.
Darum lieb ich alles was so grün ist,
Weil mein Schatz ein Jäger, Jäger ist.

Blau, blau, blau sind alle
meine Kleider,
Blau, blau, blau ist alles, was ich hab.
Darum lieb ich alles, was so blau ist,
Weil mein Schatz ein Seemann,
Seemann ist.

Weiß, weiß, weiß sind alle
meine Kleider,
Weiß, weiß, weiß ist alles was ich hab.
Darum lieb ich alles, was so weiß ist,
Weil mein Schatz ein Bäcker,
Bäcker ist.

Schwarz, schwarz, schwarz sind alle
meine Kleider,
Schwarz, schwarz, schwarz ist alles,
was ich hab.
Darum lieb ich alles, was so
schwarz ist,
Weil mein Schatz ein
Schornsteinfeger ist.

Bunt, bunt, bunt sind alle
meine Kleider,
Bunt, bunt, bunt ist alles, was ich hab.
Darum lieb ich alles, was so bunt ist,
Weil mein Schatz ein Maler, Maler ist.

Translation :
Green, green, green are all
my clothes
Green, green, green is all that I have
So I love anything that's green
because my love is a hunter, a hunter.

Blue, blue, blue are all
my clothes
Blue, blue, blue is all that I have
So I love anything that's blue
because my love is a sailor,
a sailor.

White, white, white are all
my clothes
White, white, white is all that I have
So I love anything that's white
because my love is a baker,
a baker.

Black, black, black are all
my clothes
Black, black, black is all
that I have
So I love anything
that's black
because my love is a
chimney sweep.

Colorful... are all
my clothes
Colorful is all that I have
So I love anything that's colorful
because my love is a painter, a painter.
**********************************************************************
Do you remember Chage & Aska?? They were quite popular in our young teenage days - they wrote a song for one drama -something Proposal (I think). And I was so crazy to buy their CDs.. eh no that time was cassette tapes. Well, it helps that I was learning Japanese at that time, so I thought the best would be to learn from lyrics.
Ehh........can sing the whole Say Yes but you know when I gotta flip the stupid dictionary to do translation and write down in my little notebook, I got so impatient and gave up. (So, I can't blame Athena for giving up things halfway can I? She's got that genes running in her)

You'd be able to listen to the song by clicking this

Lyrics :
余計な物など　無いよね
すべてが君と僕との　愛の構えさ
少しくらいの嘘やワガママも
まるで僕 を試すような
恋人 の フレイズになる
このままふたりで 夢をそろえて
何げなく暮らさないか


愛には愛で感じ合おうよ
硝子ケースに並ばないように
何度も言うよ　残さず言うよ
君があふれてる

言葉は心を越えない
とても伝えたがるけど　心に勝てない
君に逢いたくて　逢えなくて　寂しい夜
星の屋根に守られて　
恋人の切なさ知った
このままふたりで　朝を迎えて
いつまでも暮らさないか

愛には愛で感じ合おうよ
恋の手触り消えないように
何度も言うよ 君は確かに
僕を愛してる

迷わずに SAY YES 迷わずに
愛には愛で感じ合おうよ
恋の手触り消えないように
何度も言うよ 君は確かに
僕を愛してる

So where am I nearer to now??

I thought I'd be nearer to heaven - since I promise I'll be an angel mummy.

But no.............. I did try (not that I didn't) and then she starts whining "mummy, I cannot do it. Mummy I cannot play the notes, it's too fast. The music is too fast." I started preaching and my temper got worst. So now, I'm still stuck in the same position but oh no.... I feel a little hotter on my feet.

After her music revision, she walked out of the room (my helper told me later coz' I didn't hear it) "who say I cannot do it? Last time I cannot play Cuckoo, now I also can play already." I told helper "of course lah! how many times I screamed at her; how many times I have the cane next to me?? How can she not improve??"

I thought it's really not easy for Athena to catch up the fast speed in stringing her violin, and she does well in class. I checked with Ms Low on the CD that she's playing for the kids during their violin lessons, apparently she can adjust the speed of the song. But alas! she got hers in a Suzuki conference and she directed me to Music Essentials in Le Meridien where she was told one of her student's mum bought something like that. I went by today after gym, they have it. But it's in MIDI and I ask you which computer nowadays still have that floppy disk thing?? I got 3 computers at home and all dun have!!
Was hoping I can get her that so that she can slowly pick up her speed and not just jump into the speed immediately, at least this is one way where it can boost up her lack of confidence.

Work of art

When we got back from her class on Saturday, I told her to show her daddy her drawing. And then he said (out of her hearing boundary) "more surprises?!"

Yes, I must admit my dear little girl's drawing is always giving us surprises - surprises that we can't guess what she's drawing.
This time round, I saw another girl's drawing before she did her painting so kindda knew it was "Keep Singapore Clean." One guess on the purple colour thing would be a dustbin, so I praised her on her drawing.

Though her drawing is beyond recognition, let's give her some credits lah! Slight improvement.. I keep her drawings & put them on the fridge - and thank goodness took snapshots of them. So that just incase years down the road, we decided to throw it away, we still have the snapshots for keepsake. Now... I can't seem to find two drawings, I dunno if my hubby had thrown them away. Very sad leh!

She's got one more

Aricia is growing one more upper incisor. Strange? I thought it's suppose to come out together?? Eee.........so ugly with only one tooth on the top.

It's on the right side of this photo, already growing out a little. No sign of the other side!!

Meanwhile, her bottom teeth are still growing slowly

PEC

PEC suppose to start at 7pm but alot of people came late, taking their time to stream into the hall. I dunno what's the thing about Singaporeans coming in late for events eg. for wedding dinners. Bet for freebies, they'd be there first and already queuing up!!

Started at 7.25pm and ended late at 10.45pm. Athena deliberately stayed up to wait for me, called to talk to me but I didn't pick up the phone at that time.

Some interesting things that I'd like to share :
1) Windows of opportunities as a child's brain matures (thanks to Singapore Preschool Zone where I managed to get this image from)

2) Something which I read from somewhere else is mentioned again in the PEC. This time the age is given. I've done it up in a chart to show you.

3) Shichida says "love creates the mind"

Extracted from their Japan website :

Children have hidden wonderful potentials. What draws them out are the parents’ love and trust towards their children. The parents’ love will draw out the children’s heart and the parents trust will cultivate their heart. However, if you raise your children with the wrong kind of love by spoiling, their hearts will be distorted and desirable growth cannot be expected. It is necessary to be strict enough to correct children’s actions when they do something wrong. The gentleness and the strictness of love are necessary as children grow up.


It's said "once parents change their mindset to a positive one, children will relax and start opening up their heart. As long as the parents have negative thoughts about their children, the children's heart will easily resonate with their parents' negative thinking and they will be stressed out. They handle such situations with their left brain, a stress-responding brain. This is why their learning capability is reduced."
Then now it's time to reflect on my parenting style?? Maybe I should try to curb down my temper (but then again, sometimes it's really difficult especially when I gotta handle 2 kids on my own. And the older one always like to waste time.) Let's just see.. how long I can hold on to this.

4) Jocelyn talked about mind-body unity. Somehow she mentioned this example : a child can't sit still coz' brain can't be still. Child sit still coz brain not stimulated.
I hope my 2 childrens "can't sit still" means their brain is working the right way. But then again, I've noticed Eliz who's gone through Shichida for quite a long time can sit still - maybe it's her behaviour. But I tell you that girl is smart, one year younger than Athena (technically 2 months only) but she's already in K1 this year)

2nd Shichida lesson

Aricia went for her second Shichida lesson today, and I must admit I'm pretty impressed by that girl's slight improvement.

Before session starts, I had a glance (today's view of the babies from where I'm sitting is better) and it looks so cute with those babies all so ka-tek (short), sitting on a chair with table infront of them. She was the most eager of the lot, hitting the table with her hands "piak piak piak'; shaking her legs. I wonder if she's really looking forward to the session or the....

She did well for the ESP - guessing who's behind the door, and where is the train. I was getting quite doubtful wondering if there's such thing called ESP but perhaps it did clear my doubts that she probably did have ESP.
Pretend play was a trip to the "museum" where we saw painting s by Van Gogh and Piccaso. You know Piccaso's style of drawing right?? That ugly and funny looking way of drawing people. We were at the second last piece of "art". I was telling her about the pictures and then she pointed at the picture and said "dada" Haha! I told her daddy isn't that ugly.

On the whole she was getting the hang of it - err........I was talking about getting the hang of quickly mouthing everything in her mouth. Now she knows she wants to mouth the items, she has to do it fast before we change games. Ask her to do something, she mouths it. Ask her to place down a card, she mouths it. Until I kindda wanna change that frustration into her benefit (actually cannot say frustrated. Shichida method believes in positive positive attitude). For one play, where we had to put the number of "eggs" in a frying pan according to the number. I did that and did additional by asking her to wait for it to cook and then pop into her mouth - pretending to eat and count how many eggs she had. Wow! For that pretend play, she sat down quietly for me. Sigh.......
Actually she is quite alright, just that she's really too active in class. The other children can sit down but she has to stand up with palms on the table and lean forward to see. Then she got distracted at one time with the Observation Books infront of her and kept crawling on the table to touch them.

Maybe still need more time to get herself know that it's going to be her routine every Friday. Maybe it's the wrong timing?? I dunno, she did manage to nap today before the class (but it's really very rushing for me); managed to have her lunch before the class. She's generally alright the first half of the session, second part she gets even more active and sometimes wants to be cuddled as we do the game. But... but that girl gets so excited when it comes to music and when sensei played the sounds of transportation modes. She'll smile; sit up straight and clap her hands. During the music playing, I quickly take that as a break from carrying her and put her down on the chair or table, and she'll move in rhythm and clap her hands. So happy that girl! I've got more to learn.

Umm.... was suppose to borrow more materials from Angeline next week, but she called to inform that she probably had to go through c-section today. Well, it's okay most important is still baby & mummy. I can't wait to see her!!

Updates

10th July (Tuesday)
Baby Aricia
Aricia kept us busy, busy, busy. I can hear KZ and me buzzing around the house. As usual, she'd sleep for a short while, then cry and crawl out from the mattress to the living area, looking for someone. I often hear the "piak piak piak" from her slow crawl.
She has this really bad habit, when she drops her pacifier she cries out loud for it. Sometimes when you walk to her, she's already out of the room. Then all we do is to carry her back to the mattress, pop the pacifier in her mouth, tap her and she's back to dreamland.
(just if you're wondering what the heck she's sleeping on the mattress. KZ helps to make her sleep. It is difficult to put her in the cot coz' we can't bring down the rail, so if she's moved too much - obviously difficult to put her in bending our body in an awkward position. But once she's deep deep in her dreamland, she'll be put back in her cot.)

In the daytime today, she decided to be a good girl and play alone in the cot. She was playing with the toys inside and throwing each stuff toy from one side to the other. And everytime before she throws one, she makes noise.
Then she started to sit near the railing, and stick her legs out. She was making too much noise



Kicking in cot


Violin lesson
Noelle has stopped her lessons, which explains her long absence. So now, it's left with 4 students but Meiyi is still in Beijing so it's 3. I wonder if Meiyi will be joining back the class, coz' everyone has progressed on very far already. As it is, she don't even do properly when she's in class.

The kids have now progressed to Variation D of Twinkle. Duh! I'm already seeing twinkles twinkles everywhere.. I need new song! Prior to that, they were doing the fast pace of Variation A. And the 3 of them sounded alright with the A & E string, when it comes to the E1, A3, A2, A1 they all went squeaky. The 3 mothers looked at one another and giggled. I had it recorded down on my mobile, which I renamed it as "Twinkle In A Chaos" but dunno how to upload it in.

After the lesson, Athena asked to play in the playground. Only this once I allowed her coz' told KZ no need to cook for me this whole week - make it easier for her.
I was surprised too that Hiroe (Yuyi & Miko's mummy) came to the playground. Normally the 2 of us are always in a hurry to rush back home. And then we started talking..until we realised that we both are ex-crew. No wonder Grace (Peizhen's mummy) made this funny comment to teacher Peggy that all SIA people will only send their children to Yamaha.
Infact, I dunno why.. beginning of the class I had a hunch that she could be an ex-crew. But of course I told myself "not everyone you see is an ex-crew" so this thought was all forgotten until today! She joined in the same year as me but in September. Her husband is a pilot, to which I got a question from her "is your husband a pilot??" Ahh.........okay, I will write about this in another entry

11th July (Wednesday)
YJC
She's making far too much noise in class, I used to smile and find it amusing ... but now I find it irritating.

Aricia
That girl did a "fly kiss" today. I'm so impressed!

If I had.....

I guess it's perfectly normal in every workplace, 2 person are attracted to each other coz' of the time spent together in an office. So many people always asks me if my husband is flying, is a pilot. Whatever makes them think that an ugly me can attract a pilot?

In both workplace I didn't end up nuturing feelings with my colleague. In the bank, there were alot of lao-charboh. Oh.. there is the Assistant Mgr whom my now deceased shifu tried to pull us together. But please lah! He's so much older than I am. I'd rather see which customer has alot of $ in their account and try to gao-shua them. Afterall, I'm known to be the Counter 2 girl (sound so crude) where all customer say I'm the most presentable staff there. It was at this bank, I got to know CCE John Chua, a few flight crew (one of whom I flew with him when I was an LSS and he's still an LS. He can't remember me..*sad*)
Since I go through data, the richest man's son is attached, cannot gao-shua the second rich boss's son, I thought I better leave the bank and try on higher grounds. On higher grounds - yes indeed - 40,000ft to be precise & sometimes slightly more.. It's a joke okay!

Once bitten, twice shy. Should have learnt my lesson right?! Dunno the kebaya too tight, make me cannot breathe; no blood going to brain; cannot think.. until now I....(sentence to be completed at end of blog entry)
Mother knows best; mother is doing everything she can to give me a good life - tell me to open my eyes big big when I'm inside ( I think she was joking right??) to fish for a big fish. Kena a shark how? I mati right? I tell mother "big fish in First Class, I don't have chance. I can only fish for farmer who sits in cattle class."
I did say before that I don't trust passengers and crew. Perhaps I was too negative in my thoughts. When I do PR with passengers, I could have been more acceptive. I usually stop when the passengers get too close (not physically but asks too much about me)
When working in UD, checking on the cockpit crew.. I could have tried to gao-shua the First Officers. Probably cannot gao-shua Captains coz' should be married already. And I do not want to be accused of being "the other woman" - in crude terms : a bitch, home-wrecker.

Infact I do have this true story to share :
I was still a newbie and then I flew with my buddy, Juliet. On a Kathmandu flight, 3 FSS and 1 FS were mixing with the Captain and First Officer. Let's just say that they took care of us, paid for our sightseeing. We weren't seeking for freebies but we went in a group; they brought us around. Day time - sightsee. Night time - we go to the captain's room to play games. And then there was the station manager and someone else who would join us. It was honest, pure fun. Day in/out we played until we were losing track of days. Captain would go "what day is it today? Tell me if anyone of you see an incoming yellow bird plane."
During the trip, the Captain took care of me really well. He was like my daddy and giving me lessons on being a good person.
And so the story ends when the trip is over right?
No............. months later (close to a year), I happened to do a flight with him again. And he called me into the cockpit to tell me something. He said "Lily, do you know that someone had been spreading horrible rumours after the KTM flight? I don't know if the person was jealous of you or what, but rumours has it that I was seeing a stewardess and we were so close. Somehow my wife got wind of it and started to question me. How the hell she get to know it, I don't know. And she wanted to know who was this stewardess."
Oh my! I can't believe it?! I couldn't really concentrate in my work after that, not that I was guilty of being a home-wrecker. But it's the fact that I've been accused of things that I did not do. (up till this day, I'm still thankful for the advices that he gave me) I didn't want any of this to happen again, as it is I really enjoyed flying and I didn't want to be forced to resign should anything happen. So that's why I kindda avoided the opportunities of romancing with a cockpit crew.

As for passengers, I always thought that many of them like to have a pretty vase next to them, to be looked upon to by their friends for being able to get a SQ girl. (well.... maybe for other girls - yes. For the ugly me, not worth it) So I never want to get involved in a passenger.


I look at Hiroe, Angela, Grace and many more...(from the mothers group that I did join the rare times with Angela.) And thought I could have opened up my mind. I may or may not end up marrying a cockpit crew or passenger.
If I was easily swayed by the gao-shua words of the First Officers by trying to impress me with the stars and astrology, perhaps now I am living in a (at least) condo or better still- landed property. Not working, mixing with the group of mummies.
Other possible things could have happened too :-
1) I wouldn't have met June who introduced me to blogging, and you won't be reading this!
2) I wouldn't have joined Cali Fitness to exercise (thanks to June). Probably in the slimming centres, lying down to sleep while they got things sticking on me.
3) I wouldn't have 2 beautiful girls. Though I will still call my daughter Athena

So now I am resigned to be an ah-soh!

Mini me

I kept thinking about the praises teacher Clanna sang for Athena.

I suspect I have a mini me.

1st evidence :
Both of us wanted to get married at 10 years old.
- We were just moving into the current place and we were talking about the rooms, they said I get to sleep in the storeroom. And then I asked "how about my husband." I really mean it........but I dunno why I blurted that out.
- When we asked Athena at what age she'll get married. Her answer was "10 years old." And then she raved about "mummy next time when I get married at 10 years old, I...." So I deduce that I didn't have to waste that much time teaching Athena since she'll be married off in 5 years time.

2nd evidence :
She helped to tidy classroom while the rest of the classmates don't.
- she's definitely got good housekeeping skills. Ahem... from the mummy lor! But I think it's a little strange, sometimes she's quite messy at home.
- when I was in primary school, mom would usually come to pick me up from school. And I'd always rush to her and tell her to wait for me coz I have to throw the rubbish. Then I usually sweep the classroom floor... Mom asked "how come everytime you're rostered for it." I guess I was the sucker then, my classmates were smart to run away. I was stupid and sense of responsibility's very good.

The schools :
St Nics - 210 avail
IJ Katong - 240 avail
RGPS - 300 avail

Phase 1 :
St Nics - 73 taken (35%), 137 avail for Phase 2A1
IJ Katong - 45 taken (19%), 195 avail for Phase 2A1
RGPS - 103 taken (34%), 197 avail for Phase 2A1

Phase 2A1 :
St Nics - 36 registered, 101 avail for Phase 2A2 (26% taken)
IJ Katong - 0 registered, 195 avail for Phase 2A2 (o% taken)
RGPS - 16 registered, 181 avail for Phase 2A2 (8.1% taken)

The children

I have two weird children.

One, the older one, is very whiny. Burst out in tears (purposely) when she don't get things her way. Then it frustrates me and I'll start scolding her after the warnings I give her after the first outburst. It frustrates me so much to the extent that I'll even whack her, just to shut her up.
Hubby don't seem to bloody care, whether he's in Singapore or not, my fiery temper usually ignite fast.
But on rare occasions, she'll be such a darling.
As much as I would like to be a loving, smiley acting more ladylike in public - I can't. She has me shouting at her in public, losing all the ladylike appearance. (tigress on the loose) Sigh....


The younger one, is oblivious to what's happening around her. When she hears my tone of voice change, she looks on. Sometimes she'll add on more noise for me.
When her che-che cries or whines, she makes noise.
She is the only one who makes me laugh alot now, but also burn out my energy faster. I dunno how that girl can endure it, she can only sleep for less than an hour each time.. and she plays so much.

Sometime this week, I caught her doing the "play dead" act again. This time she kept smiling as she lay herself flat on the living room floor. She knows I'm looking at her, and she's enjoying herself putting the show for me.

The next funny thing she did was.. to sit down and turn and turn around. Watch the video -->

She has this habit.. must beat di-di (Ignatius) one! She can crawl past Iggy while he's lying there and then she must stop, try to scratch him or touch him (which becomes beat - coz' she dunno how to control strength) It's funny to see how these 2 babies behave. Iggy kicks her and since she's so light, she almost fell backwards. And then she will hit back. Honestly speaking, I'm happy that at least this girl knows how to fight back and protect herself... but surely I don't expect her to beat up her cousin!!

Iggy
Oh.. how I wish I can spend more time with him but I usually need to rush off. Or if I need to stay awhile to use brother's computer (coz' his server is faster) I don't have time to play with him long. Usually for a short period..

And when I did, I like to bully him. Haha! Thank goodness my brother and SIL dunno. Heehee!

Actually, what I did isn't that bad... you should see what mom did to him when the helper was tying Athena's hair and her headband dropped out of the box. Okay, here are some really nice shots of him. He's quite a smiley baby too!

San zhi jing

You might remember some time last year I blogged about Athena reciting the poem. I realised that they have recited far more verses..infact I didn't even know she was reciting from this poem until I asked her to repeat it for me.
For those who are like me, don't understand the meaning. This is the best thing that can help a dummy me!... and you too!!

Was that ESP?

I'm curious, really very curious about ESP. Have even asked sensei how are we to train the ESP, when she did the ESP thing with the babies most of them got it correct.. except for Aricia and another baby who simply took one nearer to them.

We were waiting for hubby to fetch us from Yamaha when she suddenly stopped our conversation and told me "mummy, papa coming soon" I asked "how soon" and her reply was "very soon" True enough he came about less than a minute later.

Recalling back again, was it ESP that made her say "mummy daddy have di-di mei-mei today." And you know what? That was the day I was ovulating. She was indeed trying to tell me something.

She also out of the blue told me "mummy, where's baby baby?" while we were playing. It didn't strike me until I decided to run a pregnancy test. I was already few weeks pregnant and didn't know.

Parent-Teacher Meeting

PTM's today, since last night Athena had been telling me "mummy, tomorrow you must go to my school to see my work." This morning she told me I had to go to her school first thing in the morning.
She was that excited?! And the most funny thing was......she said she had to "dress nice nice" and kept insisting on wearing the white dress (for violin concert) to school. Had to coax her to wear casual clothes first as I had to bring her for her lessons first, but still she made sure I brought the dress down to the car. And my dear girl had to choose her high heel shoes to match. Sigh....

When we reached her school, she was walking "klick klack klick klack" like dainty girl. When she saw her classmates playing in the playground, she was so happy that she didn't want to eat her lunch and kept staring at her friends.. I asked if she wanted to play, she said yes. My condition was she had to change out from her pretty dress. She agreed and she "klick klack klick klack" back to the car. Funny! She wasn't a demure girl anymore after that......screaming; laughing loud; running; climbing.

PTM
Qiu lao-shi, her chinese teacher, first met us.
Things that she said about her in brief :
- she's attentive in class
- however at times Ms Clanna and herself finds that she's too 'kaki' with Jachelle, Qiu lao-shi did ask if they are in the same music class coz' they keep saying it. I told her the problem not only lies in school, their music teacher also had to ask them to stop talking in class. In Qiu lao-shi's class, she has to make them sit on each end and she can't have them doing work together.
- she's seen improvement in her writing. But still the spatial is not there.. the top strokes are larger and then suddenly she realises no space to write the bottom part, so it becomes small. Or her strokes gets too long. I did tell her I realise she has this problem too, and it goes the same for her drawing. Can't follow drawing well. However she did explain that year end kids writing aint as good as those born in the first part of the year, but at a certain age they'll catch up very fast.
- her recognition of words is good

Ms Clanna
- her writing has improved tremendously since March this year. She's now able to space out her words and write in one line instead of writing her letters all over the place
- she is very helpful and will keep the place tidy while her classmates likes to throw things about in class. I forgot to tell her... "yah, she goes to Ikea playground to help pick up balls" She did mention that she's always so helpful and will offer to help her carry books for her when she saw her struggling with the books. Made me happy to hear her say that.. but I recall back in my primary schooldays, I also like to help teacher carry books (sa-kah teacher) and *gasp* sweep floor and help throw rubbish. Haha! Mebbe she's following in my footsteps??
- she asked if Athena likes to read books at home coz' she always love to go to reading/writing corner. She'd pick up a book and read the book herself.
- she can recognise words. One of the better students in class. *dances around*
- asks if she watches violent cartoons at home coz' the boys in her class are always jumping and misbehaving. I said no, I control what she watches..but I did emphasis that she's easily influenced by her peers so I won't be surprised that she might end up jumping around the class one day. Then she brought up that she notices Athena has been biting her nails in class, I explained she does the same at home and we do tell her off. Then... the next shocking words from her were "and she also lifted her feet up to bite her toenails." Hubby & me opened our eyes bewildered. Oh my! is she going through some distress mentally to be doing this??

First Shichida lesson

So excited today, finally the day for Aricia's Shichida is here! Heard so much ever since Athena's time but never really went for it.
Dunno whether it'll work for Aricia since she can't output for me now. But have heard so much positive remarks about it. I'd like to hear from Mel what she has to say.

Mom & dad were laughing when I made the remark "Aricia 去读书." They said "so small,读什么书." Dad offered to do it for me and I can pay him the $700++, I say he's mad. He'd only teach Aricia wrong words and drink kopi.

Lesson is at 1230 in Springleaf Tower, Sensei Sheryl is young. Suppose to have six babies (inc Aricia) but one didn't turn up. Apparently Aricia is the only princess there, the babies were touching and I'm glad Aricia didn't wail out loud when I left her on the mattress with strangers. And she didn't seem to care about me either, was smiling at everyone & touching babies. They were all curious about one another, so it's really cute to see them having a "tea party"

Lesson started with a song, and I tell you.......... all the mummies knows the song - so it's not their first child in the school liao. I was struggling with the song but it'll take some practice. Aricia sat up with her two palms on the table looking at the screen.

Then sensei started by telling the day "today is 6th July 2007 (pointing to white board) and how is the weather today?" All the mummies chorused,"it's a sunny day.." All the babies were busy looking here and there. I was laughing to myself, who's attending class huh?

Lesson plan :
1. Blowing a boat.. dunno for what? Maybe sensei did say but I was too busy trying to catch hold of my girl who keeps wanting to touch the card and mouth it. Ended up mummy blowing the boat, while she was smart enough to use her hand to push it to the other hand- which is faster and less tiring. Yay! My girl's smart!!
2. Sensei took a monkey with a bell tied to it and dangled in all directions. Wow! That got her attention coz' she stood up on the chair.
3. Then we went shopping for fish, she had to put the 4 different fishes into the plastic bag. Which she wasn't interested, took the fish and then mouthed it, while I was explaining it to her and reading the Japanese words on it to tell her. Ahh.... she was so slow in each corner that we were the last one to return to our seats.
Then she had 6 mini sushis - pretend play lah! Wah..my girl damn serious leh! Open her mouth so big and I push away the plate from her coz she was stretching out to take it, she got frustrated began making noise.
She's the only girl there but the most active one! The mummy spent most of the time catching hold of her; carrying her; trying to tell her things only to have her mouthing them. Sigh.. I see the rests quite okay, we drop the cards quite often coz' she kept wanting to touch them (infact one big mistake, I do let her touch the flashcards at home when I'm not doing her lessons - of course she can't mess them up. Now, gotta make sure by hook or by crook, it's going to be OFB for her!)
4. wah....a long list and I can't remember much liao. Oh no! Okay... (consolation) only first lesson and I dunno what's happening so forgiven and they happen quite fast. Flashcards (Aricia's favourite) was fast until I also dunno what she was saying. Did sound like mumbling to me.
Aricia kept looking at me and I had to carry her close to me when sensei is flashing the cards. I think Aricia's confuse "how come another lady is flashing cards??" coz Aricia kept looking at me giving me the blur look.

I guess Athena's more receptive to some games I'm using on her. Dunno lah! Guess I can't expect much from a baby now, but you know it does gets on my nerves to have her mouthing the things all the time, standing up on the chair - the only one who can't sit still (I suspect those parents actually used the same method at home on their babies so they were more attentive they also remained so positive - while I was quite suspecting if Aricia is paying attention or trying to "paktor" with the boy next to her (he kept touching her).

When lesson ended, had to bring Aricia for her lunch. It's late lunch, well no choice she refused to nap at 10am though she was up since 7am. I had to put her back in the carseat and drive the car out much earlier. She fell asleep even before I hit the ECP, drove into the carpark near East Coast - she napped, I was measuring the bags for Aricia & Iggy. Glad that she napped otherwise she'd be cranky during lesson.. but just no time to eat.
She was so hungry that she gulped everything down in less than 20mins.
Umm.... I need better planning from next week onwards.

Verdict : mom's all shagged out!

Primary 1 admission for 2008

It's that the year again, where parents' heart beat faster; palms sweat etc..over whether their children get into the school they registered. For those who volunteer their service, they swear that it was all in vain. For those lucky ones, they say "heng ah.."

Next year will be my turn, ... already made up my mind to put her back in IJ(Katong). I'm very pessimistic about not getting in after volunteering to clean up the school, wash the toilet [okay, joking on this part] Oh goash! must call the school to write a letter that I'm a student blah blah right?

I decided to keep track this year.. so as to reassure myself that I've not made a wrong choice in not volunteering my service. (anyway it's too late liao).

The schools :
St Nics - 210 avail
IJ Katong - 240 avail
RGPS - 300 avail

Phase 1 :
St Nics - 73 taken (35%), 137 avail for Phase 2A1
IJ Katong - 45 taken (19%), 195 avail for Phase 2A1
RGPS - 103 taken (34%), 197 avail for Phase 2A1


Phase 2A(1) : 6 Jul Announcement of result :9 Jul
Phase 2A(2) : 11 Jul & 12 Jul Announcement: 17 Jul
Phase 2B : 19Jul & 20Jul Announcement : 25 Jul
Phase 2C :31 Jul, 1 Aug & 2 Aug Announcement : 13 Aug
Phase 2C(supp) : 20 Aug Announcement 23Aug

Too kapo? Too over-protective?

I dunno... maybe I'm too motherly or too involved since I'm a mummy now.

Eliz took the pencil from her mummy, and was about to run with it. I stopped her and told her to give the mummy back the pencil. I kindda of tell her my reasons.. I dunno if Jenny felt shy that she had to call Eliz back (coz' my reasons was she might trip and hurt herself); or she simple didn't realise the danger to tell Eliz in the first place. You know sometimes someone spots something dangerous and you don't??
Whatever it is, sometimes I feel like kicking myself for being too kapo. I mean, it's their child.... would they feel that I'm the authority over their child? Or would they feel thankful? Err.....infact I'm not asking for credit I only hope they don't blame me for telling their children off (of course I don't scold them lah! I tell them nicely.. must act like angel infront of them mah?! I lose my head when it's Athena.)

When I met Angeline last week, she was walking ahead of me pushing the stroller, while I walked behind pushing Aricia. She left Alexandra to cross the small road herself, while instinctively I stopped and stretched out my hand to Alex. Angeline told me "it's ok, she can do it." Umm.... I wouldn't have done that with Athena. I have this habit of stopping, holding Athena's hand and I am always on the side that the car is travellin on (eg. stand on her right first; then middle of the road, do a transition 'dance' by going to her left side.
Was I too over-protective?? Whatever I'm doing with Athena can also harm her..

Kindergarten choice just as important - extracted from New Paper

This article came just in time, just as I was thinking to myself about the choice of kindergartens.

It all started earlier on before Athena's music lesson when Elizabeth took out the homework she's supposed to do :农民, few lessons ago she did 老师. Mind you, she's 1 yr younger than Athena (technically only 2 months) but she's in K1 - coz' she's quite advanced for her age (prob due to Shichida). And I'm shocked that's what MMI give their children. Not that I'm complaining, I'm a crazy mother, remember? I'm a sucker for assessment books, writing etc..for my children. Eliz's school has done far more what I & Athena's school has done.
I checked with her what are the English words she'e learning now, she mentioned that "I, am, a, is, me" is done long long time ago "now they're doing words like "fling, bling.." OMG! Athena's school too slow or MMI too fast.

To some they feel that there's no need to choose a good kindergarten. Personally I'd prefer to go for a good one but it also boils down to how receptive my child is. Perhaps we can try MMI for Aricia since one just opened nearby? Or go to PCF. But ultimately I guess it's the costs that we have to bear in mind.

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MANY parents will be going all out to get the best schools for their 6-year-olds in the Primary 1 registration process which begins today.

But when it came to picking kindergartens, some of these same parents may not have been so choosy.

Does it make a difference to a child entering Primary 1?

Yes, say the experts.

The New Paper spoke to childcare experts from the Regional Training and Resource Centre in Early Childhood Care and Education for Asia (RTRC Asia). It trains early childhood professionals at its centre at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Its diplomas are given in conjunction with the polytechnic.

It also runs The Caterpillar's Cove Child Development and Study Centre, set up at a cost of $1 million. The centre, located in the polytechnic, started operations earlier this year, taking care of 64 children aged 18 months to 6 years.

One crucial aspect of early childhood education, the experts say, is building character rather than academics.

A child should be learning how to relate to both adults and peers, develop skills of cooperation and negotiation, nurture a sense of curiosity and the confidence to voice it, and build a disposition that will help him through his school years.

Mrs Koh-Kok Siat Yeow, assistant director for professional development and continuing education, calls it 'emotional preparedness'.

'This is where a child feels secure and confident, is a risk-taker, and knows how to make friends and negotiate with those friends,' she said.

Examples of negotiation include deciding how to share toys or taking turns to use a swing.

Children should also learn how to deal with a crisis, which in their case might be a missing sock.

She added: 'Some schools over-prepare children for primary school. This results in them being disruptive and inattentive. A child must learn how to focus.

'Academics is important but it is not the most important thing. Do they have the confidence to speak up? Can they ask their teacher to explain something again?'

Mrs Geraldine Zuzarte, centre director for Caterpillar's Cove and a training specialist with 15 years' experience in the industry, makes sure that her 60 charges spend as much time outside as possible, armed with sun hats and sunblock.

She said: 'Children need to be immersed in nature. It's amazing how they can just quietly watch a butterfly in flight, then ask, 'Why does a butterfly flap its wings?' They'll then find out the answer together with their teachers.'

COMFORTABLE ENVIRONMENT

When parents shop for childcare centres or kindergartens, they should also observe the environment created by the staff.

Said Mrs Zuzarte: 'When they walk in, they should see different spaces where a child can read, play, draw or enquire. It shouldn't be just a classroom setting with tables and chairs... children should have choices.'

Added Ms Lynn Heng, a senior training specialist: 'Parents should see a child-oriented place with the children's work displayed prominently. It should feel comfortable, not stressful.'

Parents should not be shy to ask about the teachers' qualifications, and a good school should invite parents to observe its teachers interacting with children, the experts said.