Christmas fun

This has been the most stressful Christmas for me! Because of the unusually heavy workload (for this time of the year), I wasn't able to take leave on some days that I was supposed to be on leave and as a result had less time to do my Christmas shopping. And of course I just had to volunteer to bring a pinata to the Christmas party and so I spent Christmas Eve working on a pinata with the girls while KK wrapped the presents.

I am most pleased with my pinata making skills. We managed to make something that looked like a Christmas tree. But unfortunately, when it was whacked by the kids, it tore at the top end instead of the mid section or bottom end. But I'll work on that...

Anyway, yesterday's Christmas party with the usual gang was fun. The kids whacked at the pinata, played Twister (see picture of Tai Pi and the boys all twisted) and unwrapped their presents. Tai Pi was a little disappointed that she got clothes and more clothes. And poor Pumpkin developed fever during the party and missed out on the pinata fun as she was taking a nap. She asked about the pinata after she woke up and I had to break the news to her that she missed it. Poor thing.

And see Pumpkin's new hairdo. She wanted to have her hair short and so we had it cut on Christmas Eve. I was afraid she wouldn't look good with short hair but she still looks as adorable as ever!

Tai Pi learns a lesson or two

Lesson #1
The Saturday after Tai Pi made her first $10, she went to work again, eager to make another $10. When we went to pick her up in the evening, she appeared gloomy and we found out from the Lau Ban Niang that Tai Pi and her friends (Lau Ban's children) were at one part of the afternoon, playing more than they were working. And so they got a scolding from the Lau Ban Niang and Tai Pi was paid only $8 for her day's labour. She's lucky to get $8; the Lau Ban's children got zilch. Let's hope Tai Pi learns from this experience that if you are going to monkey around, you'll be paid peanuts....

Lesson #2
Last Wednesday, Tai Pi committed the cardinal sin of writing on my luxury Italian designer sofa with a marker... and this was not the first time. I couldn't be more mad and was screaming my head off at her. Why did she do that? As she said, she "wasn't thinking". To give her a taste of her own medicine, I forced her to write her name (that's what she wrote on the sofa) on her favourite stuff toy - a most adorable little green thing with an oversized head and a little leaf coming out of its head. She cried her heart out as she wrote her name on the toy. I was upset too as I also love that cute little thing. But sometimes, the only way to teach someone a lesson is to do it the hard way. I asked Tai Pi how it felt to have her favourite possession dirtied like that and she said she felt sad and I explained to her that that's how I feel when she dirties my sofa. Fortunately the marker was not a strong one and we were able to wash off the markings from the sofa and the stuff toy. Only time will tell if Tai Pi remembers this lesson.

Tai Pi goes to work

We always felt that the girls could do with a better sense of the value of money. So when the chance for Tai Pi to work at a friend's office presented itself, we asked her to go for it. She didn't need much persuading; the $10 a day pay was enough to entice her. So last Thursday, she spent the day sticking on barcodes and attaching hair elastic to cardboard pieces. But it was not all work. She and her fellow worker (Boss' son) had lunch at McDonald's and also played hide and seek at the office. At the end of the day, she was rewarded with her first pay. See picture of Tai Pi with her hard earned money.

Tai Pi was eager to make some more money and so this morning we sent her to work again. When I spoke to her on the phone this afternoon, she was complaining that her fellow workers (Boss' sons) were teasing her. Well, when she grows up, she'll probably encounter difficult colleagues so might as well learn to deal with it now....

All together now - Heeyah!

Yesterday, after a week of psycho-ing, Punpkin was eager to give Tae Kwon Do a try. She enjoyed it very much and now the 2 girls together with their friends will spend their Sunday mornings kicking and punching and shouting "heeyah!'. Pumpkin needs to work on her high kicks (she fell on her bum while trying to execute a kick) but her "heeyah" is easily the loudest in the class.

The girls and I have started playing a new game - a frog hunt, where I hide 12 little frogs and they have to go look for them using a list of clues. Tai Pi enjoys it very much and makes us play over and over again.

And a new game I've been playing which gave the girls the creeps at first is this online game where you are trapped in a room and you try to get out with the help of a series of clues. I still have not figured it out. Give it a go and if you do manage to crack it, drop me a hint. Try the game "Crimson Room" at http://www.fasco-csc.com/index_e.html

Tai Pi signs up for Tae Kwon Do

This morning, we went for a trial Tae Kwon Do session at a Tae Kwon Do school located in town. Tai Pi enjoyed herself so much, we couldn't not sign her up and so we did. And she was really thrilled with the uniform too. See how smart she and her friends look! Pumpkin was supposed to give it a go too but didn't feel up to it, maybe because of her neck strain; she hurt her neck maybe from watching too much TV while lying in bed - there's tennis elbow but this is the first time I've come across couch potato neck!

The verdict is out

Last Wednesday, Tai Pi brought home her report book. She scored 87% for English and Chinese and 77% for math. There was no indication of class or cohort ranking so it's hard to say where she stands relative to the rest but I suppose it is average which is good enough. She got an "excellent" for her conduct and "A" for non-examinable subjects such as PE, art, etc, except for a "B" in music. Tai Pi is very pleased with her results and so am I!

Pumpkin in concert

One week after Tai Pi's concert, it was Pumpkin's turn. Unfortunately, I was not there as I had a course to attend. But KK taped it down for my viewing pleasure.

Pumpkin put on a fantastic performance and looked like she was thoroughly enjoying herslf. And even when she slipped and almost fell at one point, she was totally unfazed and continued like a pro!

Tai Pi was busy serving refreshments to the guests. See pic of her with her good friend and two big piles of curry puffs.

Our first post-exam weekend

Oh it feels great not having to do any revision, any coaching! Last Saturday, we made our second pinata - a colourful bird. We'll have a whack at it once we get the goodies to fill it up with.

And yesterday, Tai Pi and I attended a jewellery making class at the clubhouse. I made a ring and a pair of earrings while Tai Pi made herself a ring. Tai Pi wants to be a jewellery designer when she grows up. Two of her close girlfriends have already said they would help out in her store.

We also visited a children's fair at the Singapore Expo yesterday. Popular Bookstore was there but I was able to steer myself away from their assessment books and moved over to the more interesting booths. We signed up Tai Pi and Pumpkin for a trial Tae Kwon Do session this coming Sunday. The girls also tried their hand at archery. To think that in the old days, the kind of sports we indulged in was table tennis on a coffee table with cassette tape boxes for a net!

Speech & Drama Concert

Yesterday we attended the much awaited Speech & Drama Concert put up by the Primary 1 children at Tai Pi's school. Tai Pi was in this number about animals in the zoo. She was placed in the front centre because, as she says, she could sing loudly and clearly. And really, even with some 60 kids on stage, I could hear her voice.

The performances were pretty good and of course the audience, comprising the parents, were supportive, but the funny thing was, you couldn't hear very much applause. Why? Because all the doting parents had their hands occupied with various recording equipment - still cameras, video cameras, handphone cameras!

Just 2 more days to go

Tai Pi has an English paper tomorrow and a Maths paper day after and then her exams are over!

Anyway I have not subjected her to the same intensity of revision work the past couple of weeks because I can't keep up with it myself. It is not something I enjoy at all and I guess it's hard to keep at something you don't find any pleasure in. I'm also more relaxed now as Tai Pi has shown improvement. Just last Friday, her BASC teacher said that her math is now the best among the kids! Not bad considering she was the worst at one time. I am so pleased with myself! hee hee... This reminds me of when I gave tuition during my undergrad days. I taught this primary school kid and she won the award for greatest improvement. When I quit, her mom begged me to continue!


This morning, after Tai Pi did a math revision paper (she scored 96% for it), we had a treasure hunt where the girls searched for a series of clues, one leading to the next till they finally get to the treasure (M&Ms in the letterbox). They had so much fun with it, I promised I would have a treasure hunt for them another day. After that, we went for another one of our walks or "running away from home" as we like to call it (inspired by the children's story "A Baby Sister For Frances").
As usual, we went to the Reading Room at the clubhouse (see pics above) and also made a trip to the provision shop where the girls get to buy some snacks for a picnic at a nearby void deck (see bottom pic). At this age, it is very easy and very cheap to keep them amused.

Then again maybe not...

Last week, Tai Pi didn't do well in a maths paper from her BASC teacher. She said to me "I have bad news. I scored 67 upon 100. Are you angry with me?". Oh dear, seems she expects me to go ballistic whenever she doesn't do well. I have to get her to understand that I'm happy so long as she tries her best. But how could she have been trying her best and only scoring 67?! I hope it was only because she made careless mistakes. Let's hope that she is careful on the day of her maths exam.

And I think I confused her over the "more than", "less than" business. I had her do an assessment book last weekend and the "more than" "less than" statements were written in several different ways e.g. "____ less than 19 is 11" "15 is ___ less than 20". So the method I taught her earlier doesn't quite work in every case. So Pa was right. It really is a matter of understanding the English...

By George I think she's got it!

This evening, Tai Pi was in very high spirits. Her teacher at BASC (Before And After School Care) gave the kids a math test paper in the morning and another one in the afternoon (PSLE marking week so no school). She scored 90% in one and 91% in the other! She was so very pleased with herself. So my efforts have not gone to waste!

But still, I resolve not to raise my voice at her and I will remember to look at the big picture and not get hung up over tests and exams. Tai Pi's Kong Kong is right - the important thing is that she understands the concepts; it's too much to expect her not to make any careless mistakes. And I am not kiasu lah! It's just that I realised I had been too uninvolved. I used to not even bother to look at her schoolwork or textbooks. I guess I was trying to make up for lost time with this intensive coaching.

Whether Tai Pi does well or not, I believe the most important thing is for her to understand that she must not judge herself or others using academic performance. So she shouldn't feel inferior if she doesn't do well and likewise, she shouldn't feel superior if she does.

Sai Pi's Day Out

I was off work today so I thought I'd spend the day with the youngest one, let's call her Sai Pi. Poor Sai Pi mostly gets just snatches of time with me and her Daddy and with Tai Pi's schoolwork taking up so much of my time, I feel bad about spending so little time with Sai Pi and the middle one, let's call her Pumpkin.


I brought Sai Pi out, starting our excursion with a bus ride to the mall, then lunch at Genki Sushi (the girls love Japanese food) and then it was off to Toys R Us to play with toys for free...hee hee. We took the train after that but by then Sai Pi was so tired she was asleep from the time we got on the train till after we got off so she didn't know that she took the train.


We brought the girls home early so there was time for Tai Pi to do some math exercises before dinner. She did the "more than" "less than" exercises and once again made careless mistakes due to her lack of concentration. I told her I can only teach her how to do math but I can't teach her how to concentrate, she has to do that herself. I hate to think that all this effort we are making will go to waste if she doesn't concentrate during the exams and loses marks because of carelessness. What is a mother to do?

Educating Tai Pi....

A couple of months back, it suddenly dawned on me that my oldest daughter, let's call her Tai Pi, could do with some help with her schoolwork. Before that, I had been very relaxed. I mean how difficult can primary 1 work be? Then I found out that her math scores were much worse than her friends' and I also found out that her friends did math exercises everyday either with their mothers or their tutors. It caused me quite a panic. Since then I have bought maybe 5 math assessment books and also English and Chinese assessment books - quite therapeutic actually, buying assessment books; it makes me feel I'm doing something to help Tai Pi make the grade. Now I make her do math exercises almost everyday and weekends are quite traumatic - I turn into a crazed, table-banging, screaming banshee when Tai Pi makes careless mistakes or forgets what I just taught her the weekend before. I know I really shouldn't lose my head but it is just so frustrating, and I would much rather be doing something else, like make a pinata, which was what we did today (after she finished her math exercises of course) - we made a pinata out of a paper bag and decorated it with colourful strips cut out of plastic bags and then filled the bag with near-expired sweets and chocolate, then we invited our friends over and the kids had a great time whacking the pinata while I got to get rid of the damn sweets and chocolate that were sitting forever in the fridge. See picture of the kids scrambling for the goodies.

So anyway, I'm starting this blog to chronicle the treacherous road to PSLE that Tai Pi and I are treading. Will Tai Pi do well in her first exam? Will she end up in the worst class in primary 2? Will I end up in a mental institution? Tune in to find out.