Vic's Kindy Sports Day

Oh, you know how I "love" sports days, right?  Hahaha, at one stage of my early teenagehood I was rather athletic, representing the school in solo races and relay races, and then I stopped.  I so loathe sports days as it's always hot, sweaty and sticky.

After more than a decade of not being part of one, this is my first, and I must give credit to the kindergarten staff for a superbly organized event, complete with tents, sufficient chairs, fans, and catered food for 4 pax per child.

Saturday, 25th July 2011, 0730- 1100

Admittedly, it was hard to wake up at 630am, waking hubby up too and getting Vic ready. I stole another 15minutes of sleep before I finally but reluctantly extended one arm to pat Victoria up, and another arm to nudge the sleeping spouse.

We left the house at 0715, in time to reach kindy at 0735, whereupon hubby drop me and Vic off first, before heading off to buy light breakfast for Vic, and William continued his snooze in the car. Vic had only half a cup of milk before leaving the house (not with empty tummy, ok!) but at registration, her class teacher said I won't have any opportunity to pass her breakfast, but she will offer Vic some sausages and Milo.

Before the event started

I managed to sneak into the classroom where the children were waiting.

The welcome by the master of ceremony started a little after 8am, followed by a procession of the children, according to their classes, beginning from the 6yos to the cute little 3yos. Vic's class walked out first, and thanks to my buddy who arrived earlier, we had good seats right in front of the procession and speeches.

During the national anthem.  Note the colorful balloons hanging there, William helped himself to the black one and pretended it was the black angry bird that bombs up!

After the national anthem was sung and two speeches by the school principal and Senior Pastor of the church, we were entertained by a "surprise" (as Vic did not mention this at all, nor dropped any hints) dance presentation by all the 6yos.

There are altogether 7 games, each game participated by 2 classes of the same age group as well as divided into 4 teams. Vic was in the Yellow Team, and from where we were seated, we had a good view of her, as well as the medals and hampers, and the score chart!

Vic's class participated in the Finding Nemo game, where the each kid would put in a ball in a gunnysack, then hopped in the gunnysack to the other end, take the ball out to place in a container, then run back holding the gunnysack to pass to the next kid.

Somehow, Vic was in the same team as her good friend from last year, Abigail. : )

During the game, watching their other friends' turn

Vic's Yellow Team came in FIRST PLACE for the game, and oh, how I missed the part where she screamed in joy with her team members the moment the teacher pronounced them winners.  The crowd continued to cheer on the remaining teams.

The weather was kind, and we thank God, otherwise we'd have melted there.  I brought my SPF50 just in case but never needed to use it.  William got a little laugai towards the end, when the sun came out at 10am and he probably got restless.  Mommy and Daddy participated in a parents game, where the mother had to tie 12 rubberbands on the father's head afterwhich the father had to finish drinking a bottle of juice.  My hubby's hair was so micro short, and I was worried about the rubberbands fallling off.

Look at my work of art on hubby's head : )

And finally... Victoria's gold medal

Understanding Victoria

I have been neglecting my blog for more than a week, and I'm guilty of no other reason than simply too busy with work.

Eversince we got back from our small holiday spurts in Kuantan, Ipoh and Singapore, Vic has been catching up on her homework (too much until she informed me that she does not want to go on a holiday anymore if she has to skip school).


Little Miss Vain Pot

 Lately I have noticed my 6yo has been rather vain. I mean, she used to be a little vain up till now, but not the kind who would dress up in pretty pink dresses, mary janes, or make belief princess-stuff. She says she likes pink and princess, but she's really, deep down, a Ben-10, jeans and tee kinda gal. She keeps insisting that she will only wear a dress if I do, but honestly folks, I have put away most of my dresses except for very formal event, or the occassional concert. It's easier to open up the drawer and do a eenie meenie miny moe on which jeans to wear!

Once she came downstairs with her head full of clips (she does this quite often until I have to tell her not to look like a hair accessory shop), a sleeveless pink top, a short pink skirt from her toddler days (and maybe a pink panty to match if off?) Because this is such a rare occassion, I just had to snap some pictures.

Many other times, Vic would spend time after bath in front of the mirror, combing, tying, knoting, clipping her hair and could easier take up to 30minutes if not for her screaming mother. ; ) At other times, especially in the mornings when we are rushing to work, she'd come up with weird hairstyle request for me and I'd have to say no, because we don't have that kinda time to experiment.

Pleasing Mommy

I know many kids want to please their parents. I think Vic does this more apparent now, or maybe she's getting very sensitive with words, so better be careful on what we say. I've had futile efforts to get her to wear a dress, and she'd resist my attempts to buy her new dresses or skirts.

During an outing with Daddy last week, she happily went shopping for a dress and matching shoes. Poor hubs, said he almost got conned into paying RM180 for a "globe" puzzle that she wants, if not for the fact that I intercepted him and explained that the one she wanted cost only RM6.90 before discount.

When she bought the pink-brown dress, she told Daddy that it was because Mummy wanted her to wear a dress. When she came home, she surprised me in the dress. But sadly, a couple of days later I asked her to wear the blue embroidery skirt I bought her months back that she hardly wore, she wasn't keen. Aaahh... two of us are already logging heads at her fashion sense, I can't imagine years down the road!

Curious

Vic can understand all languages that we speak, and one that we don't ie Mandarin. She understands Cantonese too, eventhough she don't talk it. So there's no more secret language for us, unlike those days. When we adults talk, she listens and sometimes jabs in her comments and questions.

This girl asks questions like at what age Daddy started working, when can she drive, when will she get her handphone (this question has been bombarded many many times) and why can't she apply lipstick. Oh, and I promised her that for her Sweet 16 birthday, I will give her her first lipstick (funny how mummy started wearing lipstick at 15, but Vic has to wait an extra year). Last night she asked me why baby Jesus was born in a manger, not a palace.


Sibling jealousy?

The two kids don't always get along. It's not uncommon that Vic gets into the car after school and brushes her brother off, or grumbles on why William get to sit in front all the time. It's not uncommon that two of them argue over the same thing like what DVD to watch and who gets to sit in the middle of Daddy's car.

Vic has asked why we scold her more than William (obviously because she's older and can understand, and repetitive offence require reprimanding), why William get to sleep late but she has to sleep early (because she has morning school the next day, and William doesn't, moreover William took his afternoon nap while she didn't).

Vic has this wishful thinking that she wants a sister. She's also wished that she wasn't 6, but younger so she didn't have to go to school. She's also taken a dislike for homework maybe because she's been getting too much.

And like the English weather, Vic's mood changes quickly and erratically. She needs plenty of assurance, and easily gets insecure. When faced with any disagreement or opposition, she'd normally back off with a glum face and uncontented heart.

So there you go, my Vic is growing fast. Sometimes I feel I don't understand her, sometimes I feel there is a communication gap, sometimes I feel it's so hard to crack her and dig into her thoughts.

Titbits about William

The other day after an incident where William pushed his sister, I told him to apologize. He being in the wrong, he went to apologize. And as usual, they are required to hug and "make up"... but Victoria was obviously still quite sore and didn't want to hug his brother. I kept telling her to wrap her arms around him and finally she did, and then William said this, "It's OK jie jie, next time don't do this again"

????

Last I checked, he was in the wrong, NOT Vic! How quickly and conveniently he turned the tables around.

*****

He proudly tells everyone - eversince he turned 3 - that "I'm already 3 years old" even without being asked, or sometimes when he mistakenly hears "How are you?" as "How old are you?"

Or at random moments he will tell me "Mummy I'm already three years old... "


*****

I noticed lately that he likes to pick dull colors like black, white and gray when he colors. He's still not very good in holding pencils and doesn't enjoy coloring or writing as much as he does reading. I say he's more of a "practical" guy than a "theory" fler, but what to do, he still gotta learn to write and draw and color, right?

Since he's not attending school yet, I don't want him to "lose out" and what better way to spend time at home than to learn his numbers, additions (yes, he can recite to you 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 1+3=4, and then he skips to 3+4=7 without understanding the quantity or concepts), alphabets and ryhmes.

William can spell his name. But not his chinese names.


*****

Last week during one of our breakfasts together, I asked him how was his sleep, and if he had any dreams. Quite silly, the last question because how would a toddler of 3 understand or remotely know what IS a dream, right? Maybe I'm wrong, but well, I was running out of topics to chat with my little breakfast kaki.

He answered me, "Yes" so the natural next question was to ask him about his dream.

He paused, then he said, "Errmm... I dream about you."

*Heart melting* but wanting to perasan a little longer, I asked him, "You dreamt about me? Oohh, how sweet! Why did you dream about me?"

"Errmm... because I love you."

*****

And somehow he has learnt how to "talk back" obviously from eavesdropping on conversations between Vic and Daddy.

Overheard when he was rebutting his sister when Vic told him to keep quiet, he said, "I have a mouth. I can talk anything I want."


*****

Just a while back when he was drinking his milk (still from a bottle) and I was lying beside him, I cheekily told him that he was my little prince.

No response. Guess his milk more important kua.

Then I added, just for effect, that I'm his princess la, like what he used to tell me that I'm Cinderella and he's the Prince Charming.

Finally he replied, "No!"

"Then who am I?" I pretended to be hurt.

He stared up at me, with bottle still in mouth, and very matter of factly replied, "You're Mummy lor!"

Sigh. Looks like the Cinderella-Prince Charming days are over. And he's not even 4 yet.

*****

Loves puzzles. Only frustrating part is, this boy can do the same puzzle over and over again, just like how he loves certain DVD shows and can watch them a zillion times, WITHOUT getting bored. Oh my, but how I endureth!

This he does "all by himself"... and more

I guess kids are like this, and one day they will outgrow. I'm not wishing that yet, but loving every bit of Vic and Will's moments. Maybe consider a third one? Oh, but when we probe William's opinions on a younger sibling, he nonchalantly answered, "No, I don't want a mei mei or a titi because the baby don't know how to talk, don't know how to ask me (permission) and take my toys."

So, don't get your hopes high yet... hehehe... he's not into sharing his baby cot or giving up his special place on our bed just yet.


*****

I didn't suffer from any Terrible Twos, now that the year is over, and he's turned 3. But lately he's shown some rebellious part of him, defying some of the Queen Mother's orders, even being dilly dally and played rough by hitting and pushing his sister!

Oh, the times he got reprimanded, but he's quick to show remorse and seemingly repentance, and even if he gets mad at the reprimander aka ME - he'd sulked by himself then waits to be "pujuk-ed" back, and forgives fast.

He's NOT afraid of Mr R O Tan, and think it's a whacking toy. Maybe I should get TWO Mr R O Tans. Hhhmm??

Whines when he doesn't get what he wants, which kinda irritates me coz he's a boy and boys shouldn't whine, they should ask professionally, nicely, gently, convincingly.

Lazy during meal times at home, after a few spoons, he rather I feed him. If Kakak feed, food don't taste so nice.

Not such an angel afterall!

*****

Still likes to hold and play with Mummy's hair - whether drinking milk and about to sleep, or when wants comfort and crying, or playful in the car while I'm driving.

Losing someone, and gaining him back

I could have been left a widow, but God gave him back to me.

5 years after "that" incident, I can still remember everything fresh... that morning, our text messages, where was I when he was admitted to hospital, the phone calls, the train ride and the lonely walk up the hill to the hospital. Finding myself in the ICU, beside this sleeping man whom I have only married slightly over a year, and the nurse walks up to me with papers to sign and a solemn message that the doctor wants to speak to me.

I love you dearly, my sweetheart. Looking back, I don't know how I actually got through the motions and emotions. Looking back, it was not me who was the strongest - Vic only 3 days away from turning 3 months. It was not you who was the strongest, but it was God who was merciful.

Everything happen for a reason, and it was not coincidence that you were there.

I lost you for that 10 seconds that your heartbeat stopped. Every year I'm reminded on this day how God has been so gracious and kind to me, because if I'd have lost you, I'd have lost myself too.

7th July - I celebrate life.

Singapore Day 3

Sunday, 3rd July 2011

Today is the last day of our short holiday in Singapore.  We were supposed to explore the Underwater World and sit on the cable car today at Sentosa but we scrapped that plan due to time limitation.  It would not have been worth the money if we only get to see half or less than half the place.  The cable car itself would have set us back easily close to SGD70 return trip.  Will keep this to-do for next time.

So, we decided to take the tram ride into Sentosa anyway, just so the kids can have the thrill of sitting in a "train." SGD3 per person for return trip, and there are altogether 4 stops.

The Merlion in Sentosa Island.

We had more time to eat a hearty breakfast, our last in The Fullerton, and then enjoyed the view a while outside the dining area.

After late check out at 2pm, we walked over to One Fullerton again to snap some pictures of the Merlion and have lunch there.

I picked Palm Beach, facing the Singapore River, that serves Chinese cuisine so easy to find allergy-free for the kids.  Although this place is famous for seafood, we didn't order their signature dishes - just customed fried rice and gravy hor fun.   

Waiting for lunch.  Vic played with my camera and asked me to posed for her. One of the better pictures taken by Vic - properly framed and sharp.

Gravy hor fun with fish fillet.  Very nice.

Sunny day.

Marina Bay Sands in mid day. 

A cake for Mummy.  Vic picked this cake for me when she went out for a walk around the hotel with Daddy, eventhough she was hungry and couldn't eat. 

William fell into the small Merlion pool. The best part is minutes before that I told him and Vic NOT to stand on the divider and there is a reason why the authorities put the railings around the Merlion statue.

As I was snapping pictures away, this little fler defied what I just said, and suddenly a loud splash!! He lost balance and fell backwards, backside all dipped in the water. Some ladies gasped, and I let him sit there a little bit longer to let the magnitude of his offence sink in. Then I pulled him up and point blankedly told him that he deserved it.

You could say I was mean, but well, lesson is next time listen to what your parents say! William just sulked, and for awhile he stood far away from us. Finally I called him, and he and I walked back to the car. Daddy and Vic quickly walked first, hubs didn't say a thing about this to him. Maybe best to let Mummy to discipline him. This boy, one thing I noticed is when done wrong, get scolded, will be repentful and quiet, but before that he'd try to put up a brave, rebellious front by mumbling something like, "I don't give you stickers, Mummy..."

We left Singapore after changing him into dry clothes.

Singapore Day 2

Saturday, 2nd July 2011

After breakfast, we headed to Singapore Zoo and arrived there around 1030am. I anticipated that we can cover the place in 3.5 hours max, inclusive of lunchtime, but we took 5 hours and left the place after three quarter coverage at 4pm.

We bought entrance tickets that included unlimited tram rides (hint: this is a total waste, don't bother as they don't check your tickets when you board the tram. Moreover there are only 4 tram stops and none in between leaving most visitors forced to walk) and unlimited boat rides (another waste of money as we had no time to sit more than one round).

More than half the tourists are foreigners, from my observation, and many are Koreans or Japanese and Filipinos. We ate at Ah Meng Restaurant - the kids had Hainanese Chicken Rice, hubs and I shared the BBQ Chicken Leg and Nasi Briyani (actually he hardly ate, I ate most - famished from all the walking!)

Another thing I want to add is that I have never been very fond of visiting zoos, even when young. The only thing I remembered was how pathetic the animals looked, inactive and almost malnourished, the lions did not roar and only lay around lazily posing for pictures, and how the zoo is forever hot - and me always sweating, sticky and involunteerily feeding the resident mosquitoes.

In my last visit to the zoo in Taiping a couple of years back (also only because of the kids), I remembered how hot and sticky I felt although we went early in the morning, and within the hour, we were all feeding the mosquitoes there! We left in less than 3 hours.

Oh, but Singapore Zoo IS DIFFERENT. The were plenty of plants, trees and the walkways, railings, trams and eateries were clean - typical Singapore, you can say. I didn't check out the toilets though but I won't be surprise if they are equally clean. None of us had a single mosquito bite on us, and the visit was pleasant, the staff working at the shows and feeding the animals were professional, informed and polite.

And me, the scardy mommy who dare not take up my 6yo's daughter challenge / invitation to get on any roller coaster with her, for the FIRST TIME in my life, fed a rhinoceros. *pat myself on the back*

Less said, here are many many pictures taken.  Enjoy!

Interesting tickets that we can keep as souvenirs.  Brilliant idea!

Monkeys everywhere... so many different types. 

The seal show was quite good, but lasted only 15 minutes.  We rushed there the moment we got our tickets.

She didn't want to take a pic with the giraffe, but mummy "asked" her to.  Just look at the majestic, tall animal. 

Another mode of transportation - on daddy's strong shoulders.  Best of all, free of charge.  : )

Elephant show.  Was quite entertaining. 

Ele

Vic says these are parrots.  William says they are "Angry Birds"... lol!  See what commercialism has done to the kids?  Oh, and did you know that parrots can outlive the majority of us, up to 120years... nobody would keep them as pets because you will have to leave them in your will.

One of the record.  The photographer and her two monkeys adorable kids.  : )

Since cannot sit on the real tortoises, they kids "giddy-up-ed" on this. 

Finally... the one that the kids can pestering us every 3 minute... "Daddy I want to see the crocodile"... "Daddy, where are the crocodiles?"... "Daddy, are we near the crocodiles yet?"  Urrghh, that really got on our nerves... come to zoo to see animals, and all they are excited over are the crocodiles... might as well go to crocodile farm, right?  Oh well...

As expected, both kids conked out in the car on the way back to the hotel.  We wanted to have dinner at the Ion shopping mall, because I simply love the price and variety of the food at the Food Hall, but the GPS brought us round quite a bit in the jam, so we ended up eating at the Food Hall in Takashimaya.  The food there - not good - the variety nothing to shout about and even worse - the price.  Screamingly expensive, don't convert else you rather go on a diet.

Most important the kids ate full, hubs and I decided to go for local hawker supper later, which was what we did.... we tapaued Singapore Hokkien Prawn Mee and Prawn Lobak at Newton Food Court.  While in Takashimaya, we bought some organic, allergy-free snacks for the kids in case they get hungry in the car the next day.

Singapore Day 1

Friday, July 1st 2011

Arrived Singapore around 3pm, no queue at both Immigrations at the Tuas Checkpoint. But the PIE and CTE highways in Singapore was rather jammed with cars, normally I'm so used to the almost-empty roads during Chinese New Year. We took more than half an hour to go to Bedok where Taipo lives (to drop Mama off) and then headed to our "home" for the next 3 days, The Fullerton Hotel.

(Just a side note that we only booked the hotel that same morning we left, having discovered the hotel had a totally irresistable weekend deal)

We checked into our Courtyard room, the view was nothing much since it faces the Courtyard and other rooms but what the heck, we really don't care about the view when we have so much activity lined up, and most importantly, we had complimentary breakfast and complimentary usage of the broadband. Having learnt our lesson of all four of us crammed into one king sized bed in Kuantan Hyatt, we asked for a baby cot this time.

William's cot (actually it's a playpen) came with complimentary set of Kodomo toiletries as well. Before checking into this posh 5 star hotel, I reminded the kids to behave themselves while Daddy did the check in. The kids did quite well, surprising they both took a liking to the oil painting art works on display near the reception.

Honestly, I was surprised this little boy knew how to posed like this without any prompting!  Jie jie checking out the oil paintings in the background

Parking, thank God was also complimentary but it was quite a walk all the way to One Fullerton, having to take two lifts, two escalators and one travelator. Each time we got on the travelator, William exclaimed, "Mummy we are going into the aeroplane!" because the airports had these. Aahh, yes, boy boy... how we all miss getting onto an aeroplane, right? Hehehehe...

Part of the bathroom.  It came with private WC room where you can do your business in private, glassed-up shower area and a very nice bathtub.  Oh, and also audio system piped into the bathroom so you don't miss out on what's happening on TV albeit no screen lar

Working area

The bed.

OK, back to Singapore. I tipped the porter who delivered our luggages to the room. Vic caught sight, and asked me after the porter left, "Mummy why do we have to pay the Uncle when he already has salary?"

Good question, babe. Well, errm... because he's expecting to be tipped? Because if we don't, he will silently curse at us behind the door? Because he's underpaid? Because it's the norm to tip in a hotel? Honestly, I can't remember what answer I mumbled to Vic, but will get around to this next time.

Four other guests came along. Three here on the bed, the fourth is a blue donkey borrowed from Mama Yeh Yeh's house to accompany the boy on the journey down (which he pretended was Bullseye from TOY STORY character).

Since they both slept in the car, we scrapped the afternoon nap in the hotel room. As it was nearing 5pm, we definitely did not have enough time for the places we planned to visit, so to the pool we headed! Oh but wait, Mummy forgotten to pack the SPF50, yikes... so we may just end up with two very dark-skinned kids!

The view from the pool was lovely, overlooking the Singapore River and high rise buildings.

Look at the camera, William... stop checking out the babes in bikinis!

After the tanning session in the pool, we bath the kids in the room and walked out for dinner - crossing over to One Fullerton, then to the Marina Square and the Esplanade. My camera battery conked out, thus no beautiful pictures. : (

The kids were mesmerized by the Merlion - simply because of the water spitting out from its mouth, I think. Our walk out and back reminded me somewhat of our time in London last year where we had to carry William in his stroller up and down stairs and kids taking turn to rest in the stroller.

We had dinner at Harry's @ the Esplanade. We sat in the non smoking air conditioned corner, and ordered Braised Lamb Shank for the kids, replaced the mashed potato with rice. For myself, I ordered their Harry's Jazz Burger, and hubby had the Big Breakfast (always thinking of kids first - just in case they want to eat his food). The ambience was nice, the service and food commendable, the best is the 20% discount that came with our SCB credit card : )

After dinner, we walked around at the Marina Square then headed back to the hotel by 930pm. By this time, our legs were all gonna give up on us. Wish I could sit on the stroller too.

Next day's itinerary... "Daddy's gonna bring us to the zoo tomorrow... zoo tomorrow... zoo tomorrow..."