My Specialty

After Tai Pi was born, my mother-in-law moved in with us and I have not cooked much since then; not that I cooked very much before that either. So it is nice to see that my culinary skills are not lost and that someone appreciates my specialty - instant noodles! Tai Pi says I cook better instant noodles than her grandma, tastier she says. Take a look at the birthday card that Tai Pi made for her grandma:

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Dear Mama,
I love you alot! You are the best grandma ever! You cook the food very nice ecept intase noodles. Mummy can teach you how to cook it.
Love Tai Pi.

Hello Auntie

A few days back, Pumpkin told me that her girlfriends at school were exchanging their Mummies' handphone numbers but she wasn't able to give them my number because she didn't know it. So the next day, I wrote my number on some scraps of paper for her to give to her friends. That evening, one of her friends, Zee, promptly called me.

Zee: Hello. Can I speak to Pumpkin?

Me: She's not with me. I'm still at the office. I think she's at home. Who's that on the line?

Zee: I'm Zee. My birthday is 1st Dec. This Saturday and after that another Saturday and then it's my birthday. I'm having a BBQ on my birthday. Pumpkin said that she will have a BBQ at her place on my birthday.

Me: Er.. it's your birthday, don't you think you should have a BBQ at YOUR place?

Zee: Pumpkin said that there is a table downstairs.

Me: Actually, we'll be moving house soon so we will be very busy; I don't think we can have a BBQ. And our new place has no BBQ pit.

Zee: Which floor are you on? I can drive to your place.

At that point, the conversation was getting too bizarre so I gave Zee our home number and asked her to call Pumpkin at that number. I don't know what possessed me to give my handphone number to a bunch of six-year-olds but I must remember never to do that again!

Tai Pi ends the school year on a high note

Yesterday was the last day of school for Tai Pi. She rang me while I was at a function, to tell me that she had exciting news. She was named "Pupil of the Month" for October! Every month, one student in the class gets named "Pupil of the Month" (I think it might have something to do with good behaviour) and receives a laminated "Pupil of the Month" certificate. Tai Pi was absolutely thrilled! The next piece of exciting news - she is being put into the "sports class" next year! At Tai Pi's school, children identified to have sporting talent are put in the same class. I remember the School Principal mentioning this before but I'm not sure how it works. Tai Pi says that the class gets to play different sports and they get to have PE everyday. I think Tai Pi will have a lot of fun and more importantly, this as well as being named "Pupil of the Month" makes Tai Pi feel really special and can only be good for her self-esteem.

Oh and her exam results are out - Band 2 for English, Band 3 for Chinese and Math. We'll just have to try harder next year.

Five minutes' peace

As any mother knows, it is a luxury to be left alone by the kids even for a few minutes. I can't read the papers, blog, take a shower or even use the toilet without the girls yelling for me or coming to talk to me. So when I saw this book, Five Minutes' Peace, which tells of a Mummy Elephant whose three little ones would not give her even five minutes' peace, I knew I had to get the book. I wanted the girls to understand how it feels for me to be constantly hounded by them and how much I, like the Mummy Elephant, would appreciate just five minutes' peace.

Last evening, I read the book to Pumpkin and Sai Pi (Tai Pi had read it by herself earlier), and as I read the story, I could see that Pumpkin recognised herself in the book and there was a look of guilt on her face. Sai Pi just thought it was a funny book. This morning, as the girls went Mummy this and Mummy that, I reminded them of the story and asked them if they would ever give me five minutes' peace.

Tai Pi had this to say:
"We'll give you two minutes' peace. Do you know why we don't give you five minutes' peace? Because we like you so much [Tai Pi hugs me at this point] and we want to spend a lot of time with you."
Aww... now how am I to argue against this?

Pumpkin graduates

I remember when Tai Pi graduated from kindergarten, KK and I were feeling a little teary-eyed at her graduation as it seemed the end of the most carefree years of her childhood. We were not quite looking forward to the next phase of her life where she would be faced with homework, exams and big class sizes where she would not get the kind of care and attention from the teachers as she did in pre-school. But it hasn't turned out to be as bad as I imagined - Tai Pi doesn't get much homework and her school doesn't give the children much pressure or make them feel their self-worth is tied to their academic performance, so she's still the happy child that she was in pre-school which is a relief to me.

And now it is Pumpkin's turn to graduate from kindergarten. Although I still feel a tinge of sadness, I have much less anxiety about her entering primary school. Last Sunday, we watched with pride as she walked up the stage in her graduation gown. Some 500 graduating children from the various branches of the school performed at the concert. Pumpkin was a coconut dancer performing in an item based on a traditional Thai folklore. She looked so cute in the costume and danced really well.

So now it's two down and one more to go. I think I will feel more than a little sad when it is Sai Pi's turn to graduate from pre-school; they are growing up so quickly.....

Tai Pi the street hawker

A week ago, Tai Pi announced to me that she was going to sell origami creations "downstairs" i.e. our condo grounds. In the past, she had sold her drawings to me and KK and to the next door neighbour, and she had also sold hair accessories to her friends, so this show of entrepreneurship from Tai Pi was not new.... but origami, er... When she presented me with her idea, she had already prepared a display table, which was a big box she covered with colour paper, on top of which sat a few pieces of origami. She had to explain her creations as otherwise it would have been quite impossible for anyone to figure it out. She had priced her wares at "1 for $1, 3 for $5". Clearly Tai Pi is not numerically inclined but math aside, I didn't think anyone "downstairs" or anywhere else would be interested in her origami creations. I didn't know how to tell her this without hurting her feelings....so I roped in Pumpkin.

I asked Pumpkin, "Would you buy this for a dollar?"
Pumpkin who either does not know the value of a dollar, or really likes origami creations very much, or both, says "Yes."

OK, let's move on to Plan B. I suggest to Tai Pi that if she wants to sell something, why not sell some old toys they don't play with anymore. We would be moving soon so it would be the perfect time to get rid of those.

We didn't discuss it any further and as the days passed, I thought Tai Pi had forgotten about the whole thing. Then nearing the weekend, she said to me, "I'm opening my shop on Saturday." I didn't take her seriously as I thought she would get distracted by TV and computer games come the weekend and forget about her origami venture.

But I was wrong. Yesterday, she presented me with her display table now covered with origami creations. Incidentally, all this took place during exam week so now I know what she was busy with while kids everywhere else in Singapore were studying hard for their exams. Now I had to be blunt and I told her I really don't think anyone "downstairs" would buy origami, not even at 10 cents (she had lowered her price). And I quickly picked some stuffed toys they didn't play with anymore and placed them in a tub for her to sell "downstairs" and instructed her to sell them at 1 for $1, 3 for $2.

The girls and I then went down and while Sai Pi and I sat at a bench and played with bubbles, Tai Pi and Pumpkin whom she had recruited as her sales assistant went about to peddle their goods. Tai Pi was a bit shy but did approach a couple of people but they weren't interested ("I have no children," said one of them). They then stationed themselves at the drop-off point near the entrance of the estate. They took the toys out of the tub and displayed them on a bench. Tai Pi instructed her assistant to play with a toy monkey, swinging its arms and legs about wildly to attract attention and create a buzz. It seemed to work as it caught the attention of a group of children who called out to their parents that someone was selling toys, but nothing came of that.

Tai Pi became discouraged and we went home soon after as it was getting dark. I told Tai Pi it didn't matter that she didn't sell a single toy. The important thing was that she didn't give up so easily; "that's perseverence and it's a good thing," I said to her.


Origami anyone?