Sunday ECP and Home Activities

Sophie's keyboard teacher is a NS man so quite often he would have to postpone her lesson on Sundays. When that happens, Alfee's drums lesson will also be postponed. Today was such an occasion so we took the kids out cycling at ECP. 

Sophie needed a bit of a push to regain her confidence with her 2-wheel cycling but when she got it, she was quite unstoppable. She can be quite a thrill seeker at times. Meanwhile, Alfee still needs to work on his endurance. He gives up too easily. 

I'm not sure why the kids love the fitness centre but they do and they kept lingering there every time we were at ECP. Slowly but gradually, we need to hover less and less around Alfee. He's able to look after himself although we still worry like hell for him.

We had lunch and CK decided to buy each of them a Christmas present. I was surprise because this gesture is rare… until he said the budget was $20 each. I was a little worried that they might throw tantrum when they realise most of the toys they want is more than $20. Fortunately, they didn't. They did try their luck to raise the budget but we didn't give in. In the end, Sophie picked a craft kit ($16.90) and Alfee 2 Hot Wheels cars ($3.90 each). 

Once we reached home, I put Alfee in bed for his nap and came out of the living room thinking I could take a break. Sophie hijacked me to help her with the craft. I was so tired but she was equally determined. So I tried my best to help. Fortunately, she just needed a bit of instructions and organising tips. And ta-da! Four plates of jelly!

I also found her Dino size observation sheet completed. I have forgotten about it and she faithfully recorded 4 days. She was disappointed that it didn't stay big though. I explained what has happened but I wondered if she heard me. Haiz.. 

After Alfee woke up we played Tumbling Monkeys. We find it so hard to play with the kids. Sophie would get all worked up for losing and Alfee would have his own agenda. Basically it wasn't very fun for us. I think we should play more together.

Aikido Grading

Aikido grading today and it wasn't a good. The kids were not prepared and they were fooling around in class. There were many times when both of us wanted to enter the arena and grab them by their collar out. I could see the disapproval from the instructors and parents, which made me feel really embarrassed. I really wish they would mature a little soon and develop more self discipline. Frustration… 

Science Experiments In A Tube (Cont'd)

Second day and the 'crystals' look like they are done absorbing all the coloured water. Unfortunately, they still look like jelly instead of rock hard crystals. CK took a look and shook his head in disbelief that I had made buy and bring this all the way from the States. 

The Dino is also quite a disappointment, considering that it was suppose to 'grow' significantly. The kids were not very thrilled to see a deformed pink… T-Rex? I'm not too sure either. But it did expand enough to be recorded. So now it has been removed from the water so it should start shrinking.

After the observations, the kids had a little snack. They are really inseparable at home. They both need company and they love to play together. I hope their relationship will only grow stronger.

The Grateful Dads

I was out at All About Eve tonight to support the public performance of The Grateful Dads. Their band performs for Alfee's Kindergarten yearly and most of the members are daddies of the children there. 

Although they are all busy professionals in their own field, they gather and practice hard whenever they can so that they can put up a great show for their kids. It's quite amazing. In fact, they sound pretty good, considering their lack of stage experience and limited practice time.

Its a pity that the kids can't watch their dads in action due to the pub setting. It feels different from the performance they put up during the year end concert. Their next performance will be on end of the month. I hope I'll get to watch it.

Science Experiments In A Tube

When CK was away in the US for training recently, I made him pack a box of Amazon stuff back. Although he couldn't bring back too much due the airport regulation (as he claimed), it was great to see him oblige once in a while and shop for kiddish stuff that he usually wouldn't buy.

He bought them a set of Be Amazing Lab-in-a-bag Test Tube Wonders. It consists of 5 test tubes with mini experiments in each one. We took out the Superabsorbent Crystals with colouring tablets and Growing Dino today. 

The crystals are actually gel that looks like crystals. The coloured water is absorbed slowly until it looks like a cluster of crystals. The kids were very excited and tried to keep watching it for some changes to be seen.

The Growing Dino absorbs water and grows bigger so Sophie will track its size over 3-4 days after we soak it in water for 24 hours. In theory it should grow bigger and bigger while it is in water and shrink back once out of the water. Thus, both experiments take time to work. And I have to leave it at the counter.

Swimming

December isn't the best month for swimming and the kids have missed quite a few since November. They took a month to recover from their flu and cough. So I guess I have wait a while more before Sophie is ready for her Gold Award. So far, she hasn't got the butterfly stroke right and she's not particularly eager to learn either. As for Alfee, he's still struggling to swim with floats. He lacks confidence and honestly, I don't feel very safe to let him swim without floats. He's still like a baby. That's about all on swimming. The kids have a long way to go… still.

Gardens By The Bay / Home

We usually go to the Gardens By The Bay as a family. Today, I took the kids there on my own to meet Jessy and her girls for a playdate. At their age, I'm not sure it's still called 'playdate' but we did arrange to play there today. We took the cab so we arrived slightest earlier. There was a bad traffic jam on CTE due to some vehicle breakdown. Again, I usually don't take pictures when I'm out with the kids without CK. Today, I thought I didn't feel too stressed out… yet.

The kids were somehow always drawn to any opportunity to penning down their thoughts or making their marks. I was quite glad to see that Alfee's handwriting has improved a lot. And he enjoys drawing monsters, which is fine as long as they look like monsters.

The kids wanted to go to the water play straight away but I told them to play at the playground first. My strategy is always to do water play last so that they can wash off any sand or dirt. Sorry, I hate sand in the house, especially in the bathroom. It takes forever to get rid of sand. 

The kids soon found this spinning red seater and got hooked on it. On one hand, they enjoyed the spin and begged for more. On the other hand, the spin was frightening and they couldn't hold on for more than a few seconds. At this point, I started to melt under the heat so I retreated to a shady spot and sat there.

The kids never cease to amaze me with their creativity in free play. They found a hole on the red seater for draining off the sand. And suddenly, the spinning seater became a cement mixer and the hole became a cement dispenser. 

Finally, the kids had company. Sophie was as happy as a lark to see Xiao Ci and Yun Er. She was literally jumping around in excitement. It was then I remembered I didn't tell them the girls were going. My bad. They played together at the sandy area a while more before heading off to the water play.  

It was quite fun to watch them play. When they were tired, they just sat down and rested. Of course, Alfee was simply thrilled to run amok and do cartwheels. 

I had imagined great pains in cleaning and washing them up when the whole thing was over. Surprisingly, it was alright. They were washed and changed very quickly and we all went to Bakerzin for lunch. It's nice to feel relatively stressless at lunch now that the kids are older and more independent.

The kids slept in the cab on the way home. I carried Alfee back and he continued to nap but Sophie was up and about. She finished her Christmas tree picture while waiting for Alfee to play with her.

After Alfee woke up, the kids decided to play cafe with their toys. I was so tickled that Alfee put the little lion on a booster seat. He can be such a sweetie pie, all thoughtful and loving, yet he has such a challenging time regulating himself sometimes. 

As I see it, it's been a good day today. I was tired but that didn't stop me from going out with the kids. I did think about cancelling the playdate because I didn't want to be all stressed out and zapped though. Fortunately, I didn't. Maybe it won't be that tough anymore.

Revival

I haven't logged in my blogger account for a long time. Call it a writer's block or a break, I just couldn't write much for almost 2 years. I'm still apprehensive about blogging but I'm keen to give it a shot. After all, I no longer feel any pressure about writing fun and interesting stuff. I'll take it slow and see where I can go from here.

Just before the kids went to bed this evening, I let them start doing some Christmas craft. The pieces are just part of the actual crafts and have to be dried. I'm quite happy that the kids are now older and more independent. Although their art works aren't perfect, they are authentic and done by the kids themselves.