Sophie's Play

Every night, Sophie has to finally some homework from the school. Tonight, I let her off after she has completed her Chinese writing. She still have some English creative writing to do but I thought we could do it tomorrow. I think it's time to get her a proper writing desk. She would be doing a lot more written work so a proper desk can help her stay focused and organised. I also need to keep reminding Alfee to respect his Jie Jie's work. Just yesterday, he drew on her workbook. Today, I made sure he was just playing along side Sophie as she worked.

I bought a 'Penguins On Ice Math Activity Set' for Sophie last year, thinking that she would be find it useful when she learns addition and subtraction this year. We finally opened the sealed box and the kids loved the little penguins. Despite all good intentions, addition and subtraction were probably the last thing in their little minds. 

They started off with marching the little rubber penguins, then Sophie created a performance stage and did a little dance performance with the penguins. Alfee watched with glee and clapped occasionally. I filmed the whole process. It's a long, unedited video on how my wonderful kids play with each other. Sophie still has to practise turns taking and ease off on her competitiveness but she's so loving towards her brother. I hope the two of them will love each other forever.

Alfee's In Nursery One

I couldn't sleep on Sunday night as thousand and one possibilities invaded my mind... I was worried sick about Alfee's first day in Nursery. Despite all the prep work we have done and the reassurance given by his school, I was still a nervous wreck.

It's pure coincidental for Alfee to start Nursery on the day he turns 2.5 yrs old. Frankly, I planned for Term 2 earliest. Yet, I am glad he's finally in Nursery this week. So far, he has been wonderful in school. He feels comfortable with the teachers and environment. He did hit his forehead once but I guess that's inevitable for an active boy like him.

The plan was for him to do short days this week and full day next week, but he's going to do full day tomorrow. We think he's ok and we should just go ahead. That's good news! I was worried that he would have problem adjusting since Sophie was no longer there to watch over him. Apparently, he is independent like Sophie.

I think both adjusted very well in their kindergarten because of Cherrytots. They went through half a year of the parent accompanied programme before moving on to the preschool programme. Thus, the teachers and the school itself seem familiar.

I have also been told that kids are usually more adaptable if their mum is the primary caregiver. This is something I consistently observed from my kids. They are very comfortable to 'abandon' me and explore a new environment. Perhaps they are sick of me hovering around above them always.

Well, it's time to let go of the two little birdies so they can fly higher and further. Ms Stephanie once told me that children need to to away from their parents to be themselves, to develop their own identity and basically grow. On their own, they will strive towards their potential and mature.

听写

Sophie's first 听写and I'm more anxious than she is. She came home with 10 Chinese characters to write and learn for 听写 on Monday. Although the words aren't tough, it's hard for her. Yet I could see the determination in her eyes as she completes her work and practise for it. Her little hand must have hurt from the writing since she has poor pencil grip. Her fine motor skills are not her strength since she's technically only 5 years old. Yet, her mental capability is far greater than what we could imagine. Sophie amazes me sometimes.

Little Man

Oh my little man is growing up way too fast! Next Monday, he will be starting Nursery 1. I just bought him his school uniform and he looks so big suddenly.  Unlike Sophie, he's still very babyish at this age. Somehow, we were a lot more confident of Sophie then. 

With Alfee, I am worried. Academically, he's not as advanced as Sophie at that age. However, Alfee has better social skills and gross motor skills. Alfee's principal said he's ready even though we might not be. Letting him go is tough but necessary for his development. I can't wait to see what kind of things he will soon learn and tell me when I pick him up daily.

3rd Day Of CNY - S.E.A. Aquarium, RWS Marine Life Park

The kids were very fixated with rearing fish so Papa took us to a place where they could see many many fish and other marine life - S.E.A. Aquarium at RWS, Marine Life Park. Frankly, we had no idea where or what exactly it is. In fact, I had to call them to ask for directions. It was really exasperating to talk to local customer service officers sometimes. Not only was he totally unable to direct me (he didn't even remember my location after I told him thrice!), he tried to sell me the restaurant instead.  

We managed to find the place after we consulted the hotel concierge. The entrance area was huge and all of us have to walk through an exhibition on Zheng He and his journey with his fleet. It felt like a Social Studies tour, but I suppose it's really educational if there wasn't so many people. There were just too many people walking around taking photos. We felt pressurised to move on quickly.

It cost us $78 (Alfee's free) to enter as a family. I was expecting to be wowed since it claims to be the world's largest aquarium. I agree that there are many sections and exhibits, but the room for visitors is limited. In fact, we couldn't really see everything because there were simply too many visitors. Unfortunately, it didn't impress me much.

I like the open ocean though. The window was so huge that we felt like we were really in the ocean. The kids loved everything naturally, they enjoyed watching those lovely creatures almost as much as the divers at work. There was also a small station where kids could learn to make ang pao fish. But again, there were too many visitors so it didn't seem very effective at all.

Would we go there again...? Well, I agree that it is huge and very educational. If we had more time and space to move around, we would have stayed longer and really look at all the marine life in detail. However, it's too hard. Honestly, I won't go back unless it's cheaper.

We left the aquarium around noon and headed for lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. We hardly eat at Hard Rock Cafe because we don't really fancy western food with the kids around. But it's relatively empty at lunch time so we jumped at it. As it turned out, the food was good and the kids love the fries (of course). 

We did a bit of shopping for the kids at Marina Square after they had taken their nap in the car. Papa watched them at the playground while I grabbed a few sets of PJs for the kids. They have outgrown their clothes so quickly.

Sometimes I watched the kids interact with other kids and I really admire them. They befriend so easily and they can play with almost anyone. At one point, some kid was pushing Alfee and Sophie quickly stepped in to protect her little brother. She told the other kids off, according to Papa. I kind of like that. Jie Jie protecting Di Di.

2nd Day Of CNY - Kids Kampong... Eventually

It's the 2nd day of CNY and we didn't know what to do in the morning. So, I took out a DVD I bought for Papa and made the kids watch it with him. 

There are 3 animations but I could find only 2 of them on YouTube. The 3rd one is an animation based on the picture book 'Tuesday'. The kids and Papa were lukewarm so I was little disappointed. As usual, I try to expose the kids to different productions in hope to widen their horizon and spark their imagination.

Then Papa took the kids to the playground for some physical activities. I stayed at home and had a little 'me' time. They found their regular playground 'karkee' there so they were happy. They are somehow very sociable and they crave for interaction with other people.

After their nap, Papa suggested taking them to a park or at least outdoor (despite the dark clouds). We drove all the way to Pasir Ris Park but soon we had to run back to the car because it started to drizzle. Although we couldn't help it, we felt a little sorry that the kids had to cut short their play. 

So, we drove around and found a place open - Kid's Kampong.The kids were very happy to feel the fish, rabbits, ducks and chicken. Sophie was particularly fond of the rabbits. She didn't even complain when one mistook her fingers as food and bit her.

Alfee likes the fish instead. he enjoys watching them but not necessary feeding them. The fish were huge and scary. They almost jumped out of the pond at the sight of food. In fact, some were moving on top of others above water.

There is also a pond for fishing. The kids went wild. They were determined to catch as many fish as they could. And soon, we caught their enthusiasm and started 'fishing' as well. It was tougher than I thought. The fish were smart and they swam away really fast.

We were given ice-cream and water at the end of the session. Although it wasn't a big place and the activity was simple, the kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly. They were especially happy when Papa bought them fish tanks to house their catch.

Back home, the kids couldn't leave the fish alone. They perched their little faces close to the fish tanks and watched their prize lovingly. Too bad, the fish all died the moment the kids went to bed. Some bellied up while others jumped out of the water. It was much later that we realised the chlorine in the tap water killed them.