my do-re-mi

Took this on the way out to lunch yesterday... This is Jen's favourite position at the moment, saves him the agony of trying to catch up with us with his short, fudgy legs and at the same time, having a bird's eye view of everything that's around him!

Jill's dropped her 1st tooth! - 28 Oct 2013

It was an exciting morning for Jill! She woke up & as usual played with her loose bottom tooth. The next thing she knew it was hanging at the tip!

DW was not at home & I definitely didn't dare to yank it out. But poor girl, she was probably excited, anxious and scared all at the same time. Highly confused. I brushed her teeth as per our usual morning routine, just alot gentler and told her to be extra careful before I left for work.

On the way to work, she called me, happily annoucing that our helper had helped her yank her tooth off and it didn't hurt at all and that she would keep her tooth nicely wrapped up & place it under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

At night, once she fell asleep, DW swopped her tooth with a $2 note. It never fails to make me smile at innocent children believing in the existence of fairies, it just makes the world a much better place to live in.

This morning, she woke up and the 1st thing she told me was "the tooth fairy took my tooth away!! and she gave me $2!"... it was just a super "awwww I love you so much my (toothless) princess" moment and I just hugged her so tight for a full minute.

A Sunday with Julia

By DW

We usually spend our Sunday afternoons lazing at home or sometimes window shopping with the kids. This weekend was slightly different as we spent the afternoon at Julia Gabriel (Forum) with none other than Julia Gabriel herself. The topic was “Empowering Your Child with Speech and Language”, a topic that was of interest as we have 2 little ones.

Not knowing what to expect for activities for the kids, except that there was going to be story telling, we brought Jill and left Jen at home. Little did we know, that they had toys and art & craft activities (& not forgetting FOOD!!) all laid out for the young ones, poor didi got left out of the fun again. But Jill sure had a fun time. Thanks to Fiona & her team of enthusiastic teachers!

Ms Fiona Walker, Principal Director at Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning, working with Jill on her story of how the caterpillar grows into a butterfly.

Making her caterpillar, based on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar

all time kids' favourite - story telling session!

 After settling all the kids down, the session started. A lot of the information was shared but a main point which we learnt was that it was imperative for us to create that environment for our children as they learn best if we immerse them in it. English wise, I don’t think it will be too much of an issue; Mandarin on the other hand is something that I am a little more concerned as Mandarin is not exactly my strong point.

We were also told that associations worked well too, an eg would be to have a situation where one parent speaks to the child in English and one parent in Mandarin or perhaps have designated "Mandarin speaking days". We did consider that but knowing that our Mandarin is what would be deemed as "pasar Mandarin", we have decided that it was best we outsourced this. However, we do have DVDs with Mandarin Songs which we play. Music never fails to ignite the life in children and it's one of the best ways to let them enjoy the language. Nevertheless Jill is starting to love Mandarin and if at any point she does initiate a conversation with us in Mandarin, we always very gladly reply to her in Mandarin as well.

A way to encourage our children to use it more, is to use cards that are labelled appropriately in Mandarin for Television, Bed, Cupboard, Refrigerator etc and use these cards to play games with them by labelling the item with the correct card, we can take it even further by doing it in both languages. Julia has very kindly offered to help us to get the right terminology in Mandarin for each object.

Us with Julia (right) & Fiona!

We would definitely need to make a greater effort to start learning with our children, also a suggestion that was made during the session. By doing that, I myself can refresh what I have learnt previously and at the same time encourage the kids to learn as well. Who knows that they may even start teaching us or better yet, we can even get Jill to teach Jen!

The group of parents (& kids) who participated in this session. Thanks to all for sharing your tips & ideas!

happening w my colleagues

am flying off to taipei for my company's D&D tomorrow morning! it's the 1st time i'm travelling with my colleagues as i had skipped the one in shanghai previously.. am so looking forward to the feasting, shopping & clubbing sessions with them! & i will be back in time for didi's birthday!

am soooo looking forward to the next few days of fun &... yes, no pv either! YESH!

note: dw, don't forget to cover my duty on monday morning, will be thinking of you & missing you loads!

Happy birthday kiddos!

Girl turned 5 & boy will be 2 in a couple of weeks. We had a small joint party for both of them at home, with the minions as party's theme. Both totally dig the bi do bi do creatures! 

Jill has been an extremely caring girl, always concerned for mommy, daddy & grandparents & not forgetting her baby brother. She's always looking out  for Jen, wanting to hold his hand when walking & showering him with hugs & kisses. She is a conscientious child in school who enjoys reading & watching movies. She tells me she wants to be a doctor so she can cure sick people. She tells me she wants to buy a long car so she can ferry her patients. Sometimes she tells me she wants to be a vet, so she can take care of sick animals. Every night, we will have pretend play with her doctor set and we will end the night with story telling sessions.

Jen is everybody's darling at home. Whilst we constantly "scold" him for his mischievous ways, deep inside, we love him very much & never fail to be amused by his antics. He's so cheeky and seems to always have some tricks up his sleeves. Being the 2nd child, he has grown to be independent, finding ways to entertain himself, such as running round his pirate toy ship for 5 mins continuously and trying to cycle backwards. He is talking quite abit now and we are starting to have conversations with him since he is generally able to communicate his needs & wants.

 Happy birthday my lovelies! Both of you are as different as chalk & cheese and it's precisely because of this that makes both of you so special & so dear in our hearts. You both are growing well and I pray that both of you will continue to progress as loving siblings, with God's guidance & love.

Family of 5?

This is how it will look like if we have an addition to our family...

I just love the smell of newborns when I carry them & gush over how cute they are, how innocent they are when they stare at you with their eyes or how peaceful they are when they are sleeping. But as tempting as it may be, I'm pretty much contented with where I am today. Jill was a blessing, Jenson was a bonus. Anything more, I'm not sure how to handle.

Aside from that, let's welcome Mo's newborn son! We're really excited he has arrived safely and Jill now has a god-brother!

My Superhero!

It was MY superhero's birthday and he truly deserves a superhero cake for being the super husband and the super dad!

Thanks for being SUPER in all that you have done and will continue doing for the kids and me!