Versatile fashion

I am very pleased with a couple of skirts we bought for Tai Pi and Pumpkin for the Chinese New Year. The girls love long skirts that they can twirl about in so we got them these long flared skirts from Zara. Later I realised that the skirts could also be worn as dresses which is great because each skirt cost more than $60 so I want to get as much mileage out of them as possible. And they come with elasticised waists and are so long the girls have to wear them above the waist which means they will be able to wear them for some years.... that is if they don't fall apart by then; already one half of the drawstring on one of the skirts came off and the elastic on the other is coming loose at some parts. Pity about the quality.

A different Chinese New Year's Day

Over the years, we seem to have fewer and fewer people to visit during Chinese New Year. It was like that yesterday, so we had time to do something we had mentioned before to the girls. We finally went on a cable car ride! Auntie V from France was here for a visit so it was just the right time to be doing something touristy.

I can't remember when I last stepped foot on Mt Faber but the place has undergone an amazing transformation. The souvenir shop sells beautiful stuff instead of your standard cheesy Merlion knick knacks (see pic of Pumpkin at the shop) and the washrooms are so stunning, there were tourists taking pictures there.

Being the typical Singaporeans, we didn't spend any money at the souvenir shop, only on the main event - the cable car ride. KK and I have a fear of heights so when the cable car left the tower, we were feeling pretty nervous; I didn't dare look around or even move an inch at the start; fortunately we did not get one of those transparent floor type of cars. But the girls were totally fearless and were thrilled with the ride from start to finish. You could say we started the new year on a high note!

Hairy hair accessories

The parcel arrived one morning and the girls tore at it and finally got it opened. They stared at the contents... what in the world...? Now the girls are very familiar with hair accessories - clips, clasps, pins, bands, you name it. But these... they had never seen anything like these! I guess the best way to describe them is that they are a hybrid of hair elastic and hair extension. They are made in Thailand but clearly for the Singapore market, because they are kiasu hair accessories - elastic band with furry bits and feathers and bead-decorated long braided hair attached. Once the girls figured out what Kong Kong and Mama no.2 had sent them, they had a blast with the hairy hair accessories. Don't they look smashing?

Little Miss Entrepreneur

I used to get them for free but now I have to buy them. While she was staying home with chicken pox, Tai Pi's thoughts somehow turned to making money and she rang me up at the office and told me she wanted to sell her drawings "downstairs" which means the condo grounds. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the people here wouldn't want to buy her drawings so I told her that maybe she should first sell them to Mummy and Daddy. When we got home, there it was - her gallery, with her drawings nicely laid out and their prices, 50 cents, 80 cents, $1 and even $5, clearly written. KK and I bought some of the cheaper drawings (there was no correlation between the aesthetic value and price of the drawings) and Tai Pi happily put her earnings away in her piggy bank. She even sold a drawing to the next door neighbour for $1. Here is what a typical Tai Pi art piece looks like. This one is a drawing of grandma cooking in the kitchen. This morning, the girls did some painting. Here are a couple of Sai Pi's paintings. I think they are pretty good for a two-year-old...might be able to sell for a dollar or two...

Our favourite stories

A few weeks ago, I found this book at Borders which I read when I was a child - The Five Chinese Brothers. It is exactly the same as I remember it. I loved this book and now the girls can enjoy it too. It is based on the classic Chinese tale of the, I think it is 10 brothers but here it is just 5. I love the illustration, especially the part where the first brother holds the sea in his mouth while desperately trying to get the naughty boy to come back to shore. It is hilarious!

When I buy books for the girls, I like to get them funny stories. We have a good laugh and I think these funny stories are somehow more imaginative. Some of our favourite funny stories are "Not Now, Bernard" and "The Hill and The Rock" both by David McKee, Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola, and there's "Bad Bad Barney Bear" by Tony Ross which is the funniest children's story I've ever read. I like to think that these stories help the girls develop a good sense of humour.


Talk about imaginative tales, nothing beats Hayao Miyazaki's films. He is one of greatest animators and film directors ever. His stories and characters are very compelling and full of imagination. He is a true genius. We have a whole collection of his films which we have not finished watching. My favourite is My Neighbour Totoro which does have much of a plot but is very captivating and we have the Mandarin version to give the girls more exposure to Mandarin. The girls' current fave Miyazaki film is The Castle of Cagliostro. I've not watched it yet so I think we'll put it on this afternoon... another wet day with nothing much to do....

Not so good first week

Our new year could have had a better start. First I came down with flu after we got back from KL and then towards the end of the week, so did Sai Pi (and she only just started Nursery this week). But worst of all, Tai Pi has Chicken Pox! We quickly got Pumpkin vaccinated against Chicken Pox but it might be too late, we can't tell yet. Sai Pi could not have the vaccination as she was running a temperature. So now we can only wait and see if Pumpkin and Sai Pi will develop Chicken Pox. Tai Pi is coping well. I hope it runs its course quickly. Already, she will miss her first Tae Kwon Do grading which is scheduled for tomorrow. Now she'll have to wait till April for the next grading exercise.

KL Trip

We got back from our KL trip day before yesterday. It was a kids' holiday and an adults' holiday - the kids had fun with their friends while the adults had their own fun (well at least the women did, with all that shopping!).

We stayed at Berjaya Times Square Hotel which is part of this huge development with a big shopping mall (a lot of vacant shops and low traffic - not a very successful mall) and a theme park. The theme park is what makes KL a good family holiday destination, nothing else really. The theme park is very well maintained and has a section for younger children. And it is an indoor park which is good because there is no worry about rain or hot weather; why don't we have an indoor theme park in Singapre? The kids especially love the bumper cars and went on them over and over again. After they have their fun, we leave them in the hotel room with the maids to have a take-away dinner (burgers, pizza, etc) and to watch VCDs. See pic of them glued to the TV.

While the kids are kept amused in the hotel room, the adults go out for a sumptuous meal. We also went for a foot massage and tried ear candling. See pic of me with a burning candle stuck into my ear. There is this street which is just packed with foot massage centers that stay open till way past midnight; I suppose to cater to tourists. We should have establishments that open this late in Singapore; shops in Singapore close too early, so boring. On New Year's Eve, we left the kids in the room with lots of junk food and balloons and they had their own "children's party". They've been to so many parties, they were able to organise their own party games. I'm glad the kids are so independent; it makes life that much easier for us. See pic of the kids with the balloons we bought from a roadside vendor at the New Year's Eve price of RM35 for 9 balloons.