Daily Conversations

Me: Will u take care of me when I'm old?
Alfee: (nodded and grinned) Yes! 
Me: (Hengz ar... my son not bad...)
Alfee: (interrupted my thots) I'll put u on wheelchair, ok?!

Daily Conversations

Alfee's so loving that it's creepy...

Alfee: Mummy. .. are u going to live for a long long time?
Me: ... no...
Alfee: ... then I cannot die with u...
Me: ... hopefully not.
Alfee: Then I'm going to keep u aft u die...
Me: ... keep me? How?
Alfee: ... I'll put in in my room, kiss u and hug u....
Me : (psycho music playing in my ears, images of my skeleton and grey hair popping out in blaring red background lights) ... er... baby... er... I'll rot.
Alfee: ... huh, wats rot?
Me:... er.. like apples left out for weeks and weeks?... turn black, soggy and smelly. . Worms, flies and maggots will come n eat.
Alfee: .. oh... (looking horrified, tearing) u made me cry...
Me:...

Daily Conversations

In response to my disapproval for using mechanical pencils in school...

Sophie: ... Mummy, Mrs L said I write neater now that I use mechanical pencil...
Me: ... (disapprovingly) Mrs L talks a lot in class...
Sophie: ... that's becos she's a teacher. Teachers are suppose to teach pple and give compliments ... even if it's a waste of time. 
Me: ... (又无言了)

Trying to play counsellor to Sophie's relationship issues in school...

Sophie: ... (showing me her handwriting) Mummy, ZY writes like this... so small...
Me: She's your friend again? Didn't she unfriend you?
Sophie: ... yah, she's my friend now...
Me: ... What happened?
Sophie: ... I asked her why she din wan to b my friend ...
Me: ... oh... (u actually did wat I suggested)
Sophie: ... and she said she thot I'm always with G and din wan to b her friend... so she din wan to b my fren...
Me: ... huh? Then?
Sophie: ... I told her I'm still her fren.. I'm both her fren n G ' s fren... so we r frens again!
Me: ... oh wow... good... (that easy huh? U shld hve done so earlier... save u a few days of tears)

Daily Conversations

In response to Alfee's overwhelming love and over reliance on Sophie... I had a talk with him...

Me: ... u know we all hve 'alone' and 'together' things to do...
Alfee: ... but I dun wan to do 'alone' things... I want Jie Jie to play with me...
Me: ... Sophie wants to read by herself... She wants to do 'alone' things now... wat u can do is to play quietly beside her while she reads... so tt u can b together, doing 'alone' things together. 
Alfee: ... (sulking but went ahead and sat by himself to play with his toys)

So happy n proud I had resolved the problem... but moments later. ..

Me:... okay, come... let's eat breakfast... let's do 'together' things...
Sophie:... (no response)
Alfee: ... (continued playing) I want to my own 'alone' things...
Papa: ... (reading newspaper)
Me: ... (KNN) U all r using my words agst me... 

What a beautiful start to my day!

New Study Table

New Year Resolution For Myself

Usually I delay listing new year resolutions because they tend to be more realistic and achievable that way... publicly declaring them helps to strengthen my commitment. Here goes...
1. Do something (however small or insignificant) nice for myself everyday. 
2. Embrace life's challenges (consciously reframe negativity into positivity when necessary)
3. And let go of the past... good or bad, it's over.

Enjoyable Learning

What lovely weather to start the new school year! 

Ck and I were flipping channels last night...

Me: ... Oh! That's a good programme... must get Sophie to watch... (blah blah blah) ... Nowadays PSLE questions. .. (blah blah blah)
CK: ... must watch becos it's interesting... and enjoyable... not for exams or studies... y do u think she ran away to watch her cartoon?
Me: ... 

This year, we'll learn what's interesting and enjoyable... after she finishes her school work.

First Day of School 2015

School starts later this year at 7.30am so Sophie has 5 mins more for her breakfast. It might not seem a lot, but everyone feels less stressed once we aren't rushing for time. Miraculously, Alfee woke up at 7 am this morning. For the past week, he's been waking up around 8 am. Maybe the overall school atmosphere has an impact on his biological clock as well.

Although I had hoped that the kids would go back to school soon, I still find myself feeling a little lost without the little missy around the house, doing the usual stuff she does that I can never figure out what.    Anyhow, I thought I could have a bit of rest once she was on her way to school so I made myself coffee and sat in front of my computer. Then little man decided that this was one of those rare moments we were alone, without Sophie.

Basically, he took out a book that Sophie has been showing him. It's a book on amateur sewing projects   that I bought for Sophie last year. Sophie wasn't too keen on the Sewing School then, but now, she seems to be quite attracted by the idea of making her own stuff toys. Suddenly she could make all the characters she wants for her pretend play, I guess. 

Back to Alfee… he has been pestering Sophie to make some stuff toys from the book for him. Sophie probably didn't mind if she actually knew how to do it. I have seen them arguing about it and how exasperated she became when Alfee refused to let her off. With Sophie away in school, Alfee decided to pester me instead. I told him we haven't got the materials and he suggested we buy NOW. I said it would take too long to make and he assured me he could wait. I warned him it's hard work and he offered to help. Now, how could I say 'no' anymore? So I gathered whatever scraps I could find in my craft drawers and attempted to make the simplest project possible - the mouse.

For someone who has never taken any Home Economics or sewing lessons before, I dare say I did a good job on the mouse. The only shortcoming is that it looks a little like a banana with ears and eyes. But that isn't my fault. Alfee picked the colour and he didn't cut properly so the felt was much smaller than it ought to be. All the same, it has been completed and the only thing left - basking in its glory for the little guy. And yes, after some severe rough handling… RIP Mouse.

Right after Alfee had his lunch, I took out a box of premix brownie and baked (or cooked using my rice cooker) a cake. It's my approach to systematically build up my confidence to bake and cook. I know it's time I dismiss my helper because the kids are getting old enough to help out around the house and be independent. My contract with her will end next April or so. I need to be self sufficient by then. 

On a lighter note, the kids seemed to have enjoyed the cake although it was a little too rich for me (quite possibly them too). I put whipped cream on it so that it's less overwhelming. Okay, we'll do other flavours next time.

Piece Of Cake

I don't have much talent in baking or cooking in general, but I do like to experiment sometimes. I found this gluten free chestnut cake mix and thought it might be worth a shot. Also I am lazy so I used the rice cooker to make the cake.

Fortunately my kids are not too fussy with homemade cake. Maybe they know that my standard is like that and they shouldn't complain or I might force them to eat all.

Happy New Year!

We had a late start to the new year this morning. Everyone refused to get out of bed, which is extremely rare except for all the inappropriate times, and we didn't really have any plans for today apparently. It was like we were all trying to reserve energy for the coming challenging of the new year. And yes, we definitely see a busy and difficult year ahead. And no, I'm not being pessimistic.

When we finally got ourselves out of the house, we had lunch at The Asian Kitchen (Raffles City). Our first instinct was to eat at Ding Tai Fung but hey, it's the new year… new choices… new habits… maybe we'll have new experiences and surprises too. As it turned out, the food was decent and affordable. No regrets. Thats great for our first lunch of 2015. 

After that, we headed to Suntec to buy Sophie her study desk. We have been looking around for an appropriate and affordable ergonomic study desk for her since she's likely to be doing more and more independent desk work at home. We settled for one model from Kettler. With my neck and upper back issues still pending, I'm hoping to save the kids from the pain… literally. Along the way, we saw a trampoline on sale at a roadshow. I was super tempted. It's sturdy and small enough to be put away. It would be a great vestibular and proprioceptive sensory integration activity for Alfee. However, it's over $460. Honestly, I was upset. I'll keep searching for a good trampoline for him or maybe I'll just go ahead and buy it.

The kids slept on the way home so CK dropped me off at Thomson Plaza to get some school supplies. The crowd at Popular was overwhelming so my shopping experience was ruined. I was surprised that some parents were buying school textbooks on the first day of the new year! I just grabbed a couple of assessment books and queued at the cashier very reluctantly. While waiting, I overheard (not bu choice because they were talking so loudly) a young adult complaining to her friend about her computer. As she grew more and more emotional and agitated as she went into the details of her problems. Soon, all the vulgarities started spilling out of her mouth. I wasn't offended but I remembered how CK always frown at youngsters who curse and swear loud enough for others to hear. He thinks these people are attention seekers and such behaviours aren't very good for their image. 

Suddenly, a fatherly looking man turned round and told her in a very low voice to stop. I couldn't hear what he said but I managed to catch 'there're children here'. He wasn't angry or out to embarrass the young girl. And to my pleasant surprise, this young lady also took it very well. She apologised and lowered her voice. I didn't hear any foul language after that. I love what I witnessed. A concerned and polite dad educating other youngsters to be more socially responsible and an educated and humble young lady who accepted criticisms and moved on graciously. It must be my lucky day… maybe 2015 would be a good year after all!

In the evening, CK took Alfee to his room for some reading practice while Sophie sat down and did some reflection and quiet work before sleep. I know it's the first day of 2015 and we really should be doing new year resolutions instead of 2014 reviews, but I thought it's a nice simple task to kickstart the year. In fact, I'm leaving the resolutions for tomorrow. I once read that we tend to list a whole bunch of unrealistic new year resolutions if we do it before the end of the year. After all the excitement and celebrations, we will somehow be more realistic and list down more achievable resolutions. Since Sophie is pretty unlikely to think very hard about her review or goals, I searched the web for readymade templates. In the end, I downloaded the template from Skip To My Lou, mainly because it looks fun to do and not at all intimidating.