Road to PSLE

Of pets and property prices

2011-04-06T20:25:00.002+08:00

A conversation in my bedroom in our apartment today.

Tai Pi / Pumpkin: Please can we keep the kittens?

Me: I promise you can have hamsters if we move to a big house.

Pumpkin: We're never going to move! We can't afford to buy a house! We will live here forever!

Me: I heard that in a few years time prices will fall.

Sai Pi: Prices are going higher and higher!

Tai Pi: More and more people are coming [referring to the influx of foreigners into Singapore], prices will never come down! Unless there's a big disease that kills many people.

Pumpkin: The Black Plague

Tai Pi: We are not as stupid as we look. Just because we don't like Singapore doesn't mean that we don't know things that are happening.

Childhood then and now

2011-01-25T10:53:00.001+08:00

It is only January and already I'm feeling tired. Well actually I'm the one who has the most relaxed schedule (other than my mother-in-law who can barely fill her day); I mean I feel tired thinking about the girls' schedules. As if the hours they spend in school is not enough, Tai Pi has supplementary classes on two weekdays, Sai Pi has remedial classes on two weekdays (she has remedial for all her subjects *sigh*) and Pumpkin has remedial once a week. On top of that, Sai Pi stays behind in school for ballet twice a week, so she has lunch at home on only one weekday.

When did childhood become so filled with schoolwork and enrichment activities? I remember when I was growing up, we had plenty of time to play, to read, to stare out of the window and day dream.

We had so much fun, bro, sis and me. Bro operated a fast food eatery out of our bedroom, with a plank placed on stools as a table where we would sit and enjoy hamburgers he prepared. I liked his arcade better though. The faithful plank formed a platform on which a toy car moved from one point to another trying not to hit the obstacles placed here and there. You "move" the toy car by turning a wheel (some round object, don't remember what it was now) and Bro, holding on to the toy car with his fingers, would turn the car left or right accordingly. Bro also had his own music charts radio show with only two ardent listeners - sis and me. He would play the week's top ten songs plus a new song and sis and I had to fill in contest forms guessing the top ten songs for the following week in the correct order. It was very hard to win the contest so I was outraged when sis finally won and all she got was a slightly used Erasermate (easerable pen from Papermate which was quite the rage then).

Sis and I also had endless fun with our stuff toys, each with a different personality and voice (all provided by yours truly). We loved boardgames too. At one time we played Monopoly every single day. Our other favourites were Pay Day, Cluedo and Risk.

We also used to play all kinds of sports indoors - table tennis on our coffee table with a row of cassette tapes for a net, basketball with the vents just above the bedroom doors as the "net", softball and football (only penalties).

We even had time to keep pets although I must admit that I got quite sick of cleaning the fish tank and fantasized about "accidentally" flushing the fishes down the toilet. And on hindsight, we might have been guilty of abusing our terrapins. We would make homes out of drawing block paper which we decorated and then push the terrapins into the homes. Later, distracted by TV, I would completely forget about my terrapin and find it missing. Well it wouldn't really be missing because I knew where it was - it somehow always ended up under the piano and I would get a long ruler and whack it out. *Ouch*

Even in school we had time to play. My best friends and I played table tennis everyday before and after class at the back end of the canteen where there were a few table tennis tables. We would play during recess too except that we had prefect duty. When we weren't playing table tennis or Yeh Yeh aka Zero Point, we would be at the playground opposite the school. Nearby, from the backdoor of her ground floor flat, a lady sold homemade ice lolly tubes for ten cents each. We were so busy having fun everyday after school that we would get home only at 4pm.

It's really amazing how much free time we had then. There wasn't much homework and whatever homework there was, I completed them in class during the time one teacher left the classroom till the next teacher arrived. I had no ECA (but I did have weekly piano lessons) and I did not even study for the PSLE. And tuition and assessment books were unheard of (ok, my parents are guilty of being the pioneers of assessment books but they didn't make us work on the assessment books they wrote).

Fast forward thirty years and look at the kind of childhood the girls are having now. Remedial class, supplementary lessons, CCA, tuition, homework, enrichment classes... *sigh*. Children are being robbed of their childhood, or at least the kind of childhood I knew.

It is frustrating for me to force my children into a routine that meets the demands of the local education system and I believe this is the cause of my lack of patience with my children. Every time I help them with their schoolwork, I end up berating them - "How is it that you don't know this?? Weren't you paying attention in class?? Can you do your work a little faster??" I just want their schoolwork to be done with so they can have time to be children. If the girls were academically inclined or intellectually gifted, it would be less of a struggle, but alas their talents and interests lie elsewhere.

If this is what life is like for parents and children today, imagine how much worse it will be for the next generation. I've come to the point where I'm alright with the idea of not having any grandchildren. I don't want to see my children struggle with parenthood and my grandchildren deprived of their childhood. I've had enough of this rat race; all I ask is to have peace of mind in my golden years.

Closing a chapter

2011-01-18T10:54:00.000+08:00

"When are you quitting Taekwondo?" the boys would ask them. Tai Pi and Pumpkin took up Taekwondo together with their friends back in late 2005. One by one their friends dropped out of Taekwondo after earning their Black Belts but the girls stayed on and even joined the competition team.

Taking part in competitive sparring has been a great character-building experience for the girls. It has tested their nerves, their ability to think on their feet, their fighting spirit, and taught them to win with humility and lose with grace. Wasn't easy on me either, watching them fight. Once I was shaking so badly I almost dropped the video camera during Tai Pi's sudden death fight.

But now the girls have come to the hard decision of giving up Taekwondo. Pumpkin went for her last class two Sundays ago while Tai Pi plans to continue till she gets her 2nd Dan which would be sometime this year.

When I told Pumpkin that I had informed the school of her decision to quit, she broke into tears. Although it was her decision, she must have felt sad to bring to an end something which she had been doing half her life. Oh well, she may have changed her Sunday routine but she will always be a Taekwondo Black Belt.

Pumpkin with her silver medal and her team mates

at last year's National Taekwondo Championships

Tuition vs free time

2011-01-17T10:53:00.006+08:00

I've been having trouble sleeping again. As much as I tell myself not to worry, that things will work out one way or another, I am plagued by worries of Tai Pi not qualifying for the Express Stream again. There's nothing wrong with taking the Normal Stream route I've told the girls, but they want to avoid it knowing that it entails sitting for two major exams - the "N" levels and the "O" levels. It doesn't help that all three of them want a place at SOTA which takes in only Express Stream students.

Seeing that Science was Tai Pi's worst subject last year, I have been thinking of getting her a Science tutor. But her schedule this year is really packed, as is the case for all P6 kids. How other children find time to have tuition on top of all the supplementary classes is beyond me.

I place a lot of value on unstructured free time for my children so the thought of tuition encroaching on what little is left of their free time is unsettling for me. I worry about increasing their stress levels with more academic work and I worry about what they stand to lose when they have less unstructured free time. At the same time I worry that they will fall behind in class if we don't keep up with the rat race.

The following article, which is a synopsis of a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, tells of the importance of free unstructured play for children; I don't think many parents in Singapore will be heeding their advice any time soon though...

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Free Unstructured Play Is Essential For Children

In order to develop socially, emotionally and cognitively, children need plenty of free, unstructured play - in other words, lots of old-fashioned free playtime, says a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, called "The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds."

The American Academy of Pediatrics believes pediatricians should check children's levels of stress, to make sure they are not being overloaded with activities and tasks that are designed to do them good, but could end up having the opposite effect.

Too many children in the USA have to give up free play time because their parents, in a bid to help them do well, send them to classes and encourage them to take part in "development activities". Several pediatricians, says the report, are finding that some children are becoming stressed - they are not getting enough 'downtime'.

The report says that not only does unstructured play give children time to adjust to a new school setting, but it also allows them to use their creativity, find out what they really like, acquire and practise their social skills, and solve problems. Children who can take part in unstructured free play tend to become more resilient.

The report urges parents to be guided by what their child is like, rather than how well other kids down the road are doing.

The report lists many factors which could contribute towards childhood stress:
-- changes in family structure
-- competitive college admissions process
-- federal education policies
-- fear a child may fall behind academically
-- less physical activity
-- a hurried lifestyle

If a child has to live a hurried lifestyle, while at the same time he/she has less free time, he/she can become more stressed and anxious. The report states that some children could even become depressed. Although excelling academically has its benefits, the reports stresses that parental love, role modeling and guidance are what really matter for success in life.

Better late than never

2011-01-13T11:47:00.005+08:00

2010 was quite a year. I (and KK) turned 40, Tai Pi sat for the PSLE, Sai Pi started primary school and Pumpkin went back to school after two years of homeschool. But what makes 2010 so special to me is that I finally learnt to cook and drive!!!

Yes I did take Home Economics back in secondary school and yes I did use to cook when I was in University (not because I was studying overseas but because my parents used to go on month long holidays leaving us to fend for ourselves), but I never really understood how to cook; cooking seemed such a mystery and I absolutely had to stick strictly to the recipe.

Well I decided at the beginning of 2010 that I'd better learn to cook, and fast, because my mother-in-law was slowing with age, taking some 3 hours to prepare a meal and also showing poor judgement possibly due to her Alzheimer's Disease condition.

It turned out to be much easier than I thought and I am happy to say that I am now quite a competent cook. Even good enough to teach Tai Pi how to cook! After lessons every morning (we had lessons from 9am-noon), if she was done with her work, Tai Pi would help me in the kitchen. Here she is preparing fried rice.

Driving was the other important lifeskill that I learnt in 2010. I started lessons in July, took the test in November and became a car owner in December!!! No more trudging under than hot sun, no more lugging heavy bags around. Woohoo!!! I love my Toyota Sienta and so do the girls. It's a small MPV with seats that can be folded and tucked away which is kinda fun. So from being the only adult I know without a driver's license, I'm now zipping about everyday in my cute car.

So it's never too late to pick up some lifeskills. What I learnt in 2010 certainly has changed my life!

Me in my Toyota Sienta waiting by the roadside while KK picked up dinner from a coffeeshop

"Good outcomes can come out of bad outcomes"

2011-01-13T10:19:00.007+08:00

When we received Tai Pi's PSLE results two months back and were informed that she did not meet MOE's benchmark for homeschoolers and hence would have to re-take the PSLE, we were given two options - have her sit for the PSLE as a homeschooler again the following year or enrol her in a mainstream school as a P6 student. Apparently the benchmark for homeschoolers taking the PSLE for the 2nd time is lower - having only to qualify for the Normal Academic Stream (I didn't bother to ask the MOE why the difference in benchmark for 1st and 2nd timers and for that matter why the difference between mainstream students and homeschoolers because I don't expect any logical explanation); something Tai Pi can easily manage. However we decided to send her back to school where she could have new experiences so that 2011 would not seem a repeat of 2010.

Not just any school though. Pumpkin, who went back to school after two years of homeschooling, and Sai Pi, have been attending a nearby convent school since last year and have been pretty happy there. Tai Pi had been to the school on a number of occasions, met her sisters' classmates and even accompanied me in helping out with the P1 concert last year. She had developed a fondness for the school and wished that I had enrolled her there in P1 instead of another school also in the Katong area where she spent her first three years of primary school.

I staked out the Principal's office, waiting to catch her. She had a very busy schedule so that when I finally did get to see her, I was told I had just 5 minutes. But that was all the time it took anyway for her to agree to accept Tai Pi and so it was that Tai Pi got her wish (so it is true what they say - "be careful what you wish for"!).

"Good outcomes can come out of bad outcomes", Tai Pi declared. Yes indeed.

The three sisters, on their way to school on the first day of school in Mummy's new car (note the "P" plate on the back windscreen).

A setback or an opportunity

2011-01-12T10:59:00.023+08:00

Where I left off at my last post, we had almost reached the finishing line. And we did reach the finishing line except that we now have to run the race all over again.

She trained hard, completed 13 assessment books for Math alone, auditioned successfully for a place in SOTA along the way, suffered from anxiety and increasing nightmares as the exams approached only to find herself in the bottom one third of the PSLE cohort. Not good enough for MOE. Go back to the starting line and try again.

There we were, in a solemn meeting room at MOE with a solemn-looking officer from the Compulsory Education Unit who solemnly informed Tai Pi and I that having not met the MOE's benchmark set for homeschoolers (score higher than one third of the cohort, or in other words qualify for the Express Stream), Tai Pi would have to re-sit the PSLE the following year. I felt faint; this couldn't be happening. Tai Pi broke into uninhibited sobs, her forehead pressed against the edge of the table.

Seven points. A mere seven points put a halt to Tai Pi's dream of studying visual arts at SOTA.

How is one to feel about such a setback? I grieved her loss (yes it really felt like someone died) for weeks after that. My first thoughts everyday when I woke up were those miserable seven points and the dread of another year of PSLE preparation.

Tai Pi's mourning period was much shorter though. She was back to her usual fun-loving self within days. I felt then that she didn't appreciate the seriousness of the situation as much as her father and I did, but I must concede now that Tai Pi, and perhaps all children in general, is simply more resilient, whereas I had chosen to let my thoughts dwell on what could have been.

It is surely not an easy thing to have to tell all your friends that you would be repeating P6, to see your friends move on to secondary school while you repeat P6, to lose your place in your dream school, to face the PSLE again.

But Tai Pi is a brave and resilient child and I know this setback will only make her stronger. I now even think of it as a kind of privilege - how many people can say that they re-took their PSLE? Of course we would never wish it upon our children, but when it happens, it is a valuable character-building opportunity that can make them more resilient and less afraid of failure. It is even kinda cool. I imagine Tai Pi, years from now, telling people that she took the PSLE twice; wouldn't that raise some eyebrows!

I wanted to be sure that Tai Pi appreciated the value of her setback so I shared with her these wise words from Henry Ford - "Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching forward."

However this year ends, whatever score Tai Pi gets for the PSLE this time round, I'm glad she had this life experience and I'm proud of her for having the strength to pick herself up and move on.

Journey's end

2010-10-08T09:29:00.011+08:00

"Before you know it, they will be sitting for the PSLE". I remember those exact words. It was close to the end of kindergarten for Tai Pi. I can still see it - Tai Pi and her classmate Zac playing in the field at the childcare centre without a care in the world. I watched them wistfully, knowing that Tai Pi would soon enter primary school and face the stress that comes with it.

Well Zac's mother was right. In the blink of an eye, Tai Pi is sitting for her PSLE and I am sitting on a bench at Wheelock Place waiting to pick her up when she's done.

After today she will have only the Science paper left and then the PSLE is over. We've come to the end of the "road to PSLE" which began with a struggle with "more than" and "less than" and will hopefully end with confirmation of a place at the School of the Arts.

Sitting on a bench at Wheelock Place and blogging on my iPad.

I love having time to myself.

Raise a wild child

2010-08-28T16:25:00.011+08:00

This afternoon Tai Pi was like a participant in her favourite reality show, Project Runway, where promising fashion designers design and sew outfits in 24 hours.

Gathering the fabric she bought from a textile shop at Arab Street and with her limited sewing skills, she managed to put together a blouse and skirt for Sai Pi. In the course of it, the model was pricked several times by the needle - a bit hard to avoid given that she was wearing the blouse while it was being sewn, and the aspiring designer was almost defeated by the complexity of creating an elasticized waistline. After some blood (Sai Pi's) and much sweat (Tai Pi's), the outfit was ready and happily paraded by the lovely model in a fashion show held in the living room.

Watching Tai Pi enthusiastically toiling away reminded me of an article I read some 2 years back - "Raising Children with a Wild Streak" by Mark Pruett. I'm re-producing the article here for posterity. Girls, if you are reading this, I hope you will give your children lots of free time and space to do as they wish and maybe they too will discover their passions and develop a "wild streak".

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Raise Children With a Wild Streak

by Mark Pruett

A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics stresses the importance of childhood playtime. It reinforces my own belief that many young adults have been cheated by years of excessive schoolwork and teamwork, too many extracurricular activities, and a straitjacketed "just say no to anything risky" upbringing. I am convinced that modern childhood generally does not build enough independence and thirst for knowledge.

For the past few years I helped interview high school seniors seeking scholarships to come to Appalachian State University. These applicants come from all over the state. They play instruments and sports, participate in church and charity, and work in diverse jobs.

They also display remarkably similar accomplishments. They are at the top of their high school classes and possess generically good manners. They lead teams, groups and clubs. They are smart, solid and hardworking.

They might be surprised to learn that I, like many college professors, yearn for rarer traits -- curiosity, passion, a wild streak. Yes, teamwork and leadership skills will help your child to implement someone else's ideas, and extensive extracurricular activities will foster responsibility. What your child really needs, though, is an inventive, self-reliant, restless spirit.

The key questions

For me, the heart-wrenching interview moment is when we ask these teenagers what they would choose to do on a day spent alone. Many say they never have the chance. Worse still, some have no answer at all. This should disturb and sadden any parent. In the end, my scholarship votes ride on two questions: Is this someone that I'd be excited to have in my class? And is he or she open to being changed by my class? Class rank and extracurricular activities are less important than genuine individuality or enthusiasm. It matters not whether someone is bold or shy, worldly or naïve. Is there a flash of determination, a streak of independence, a creative passion, an excited curiosity?

We need more students like the ones who leave after graduation to work as missionaries or in the Peace Corps. More like the ones who start successful businesses while in school. More like the ones who find the courage to go overseas for a summer or a semester because they know their own worlds are far too small.

Some students are team players and high achievers, but I'd trade them for stubbornly creative iconoclasts. Some students as children were taught to color inside the lines, watch Barney the purple dinosaur, and always ask permission. We need students who found out what Crayons tasted like, loved reading "The Cat in the Hat" and paid little attention to rules -- students whose parents encouraged their children's curiosity.

Something's missing

The irony is that many students begin to perceive late in college that they've missed something along the way. They regret not taking risks with difficult professors, unusual courses or semesters abroad. They berate themselves by equating self-worth with grades, and they are saddened by the realization that they have only glimpsed the breadth of the university. They begin to grasp that their uncomfortable sense of passivity has its roots in the highly controlled existence foisted on them.

Parents: love, guide and support your children, but don't insulate them, control them or let them be too busy. Independence, confidence and creativity come from freedom, risk and a good measure of unstructured solitude.

Encourage studying but make them play hooky, too -- partly to learn what it feels like to be unprepared and partly to foster spontaneity, irreverence and joy. Study chemistry together, then blow up a television in the backyard.

Foster camaraderie and connectedness through group activities (especially family ones), but be unyielding in your commitment to teaching them to love doing things entirely on their own. Make each child plan and cook the family's dinner on his or her own once a week.

Surround them with books, not video games. Raise a garden or build a deck together. Send them on solo trips.

However you choose to do it, give your children, their teachers and society one of the greatest gifts of all: Help your kids become creative, independent, curious, interesting people.

About the author...

Mark Pruett is an assistant professor in the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University.

The role of TV in career planning

2010-08-22T00:22:00.007+08:00

Couple of days back, I was walking Sai Pi to school for ballet class and we were having a conversation about TV programmes. She said she thought Dora the Explorer was a good programme for very young children because they could learn something from it, but it was too childish for "older" children aged 5-7 like herself. So I asked her what TV programme she considered appropriate for children aged 5-7.

Sai Pi: "Totally Spies is good for children 5 to 7 years old because they don't have a dream so when they watch Totally Spies maybe they will think they want to be a spy. If not they will become nuns and nuns are not very interesting because they don't really have anything to do." LOL

oooh spies are so totally cool!!!

"Oh I'm so bored. I don't really have anything to do."

Millionaires' Club

2010-08-21T23:10:00.005+08:00

A few days back, we were dropping Tai Pi off at the exam centre where she was to take her PSLE Oral Exam, but we were early so we went for a drive around a posh neighbourhood close by. As we drove past the big bungalows with their collection of luxury cars, we told Tai Pi this is where the super rich people live. She asked us innocently, "Is this where the PAP people live since they earn millions?" I burst out laughing while KK accused me of planting subversive ideas into our children's heads. All I did was tell the girls how well paid our leaders are, how many times more they are earning compared to US President Obama; it's not my fault if even children can see the absurdity of it.

Moment of truth

2010-08-06T16:13:00.011+08:00

"I got the letter! I got the letter!" Tai Pi screamed from the carpark. We had been waiting anxiously for the letter from the School of the Arts (SOTA) and it was finally here, the moment of truth was upon us.

Tai Pi was too nervous to open the letter so I did it. She had wanted to attend SOTA since she first heard about it some years back, and to think that we would finally know if she could or could not, does she or does she not have the talent..... it was too much; I felt faint. I slowly turned over the folded letter.... "CONFIRMED OFFER....". YES!!!!!! She made it!!!!!! Tai Pi and her sisters screamed with joy.

I can't remember the last time I felt such relief. All these years of worry, all these years of wondering if she has what it takes to get into SOTA. I knew she had the passion; that was obvious from a young age, but I couldn't judge if she had the talent. I did think she could draw very well, but so could many kids her age.

So now I can finally put my mind at ease. Tai Pi does have talent and I'm sure it will serve her well now and always.

Now to clear the next hurdle - PSLE here we come!

Tai Pi with the letter of acceptance from SOTA and part of the portfolio that earned her a place in the school. The canvas painting is her first attempt at painting on canvas. She made those clothes on the Barbie dolls. The toilet tube dolls at the bottom left were a hit with the panellists. The scrapbook at the bottom right shows a sample of Tai Pi's fashion drawings. The bangle she's wearing features a leaf-inspired motif designed by her.

Let the countdown begin

2010-07-10T20:45:00.006+08:00

I started this blog to let off steam 5 years ago when Tai Pi was in P1. Coaching her in math and in particular dealing with the "more than", "less than" questions was driving me up the wall. This blog was meant to record our journey towards the PSLE but has assumed a much greater purpose since then. I realised along the way that a blog like this would tell our story to future generations - not just within the family but to others as well. Having always enjoyed my father's stories of the old days and not having as good a memory as he did, putting down my thoughts like this as I go along is really the best way for me to preserve the memories.

But I digress. What I meant to talk about is the PSLE; yes it's finally just around the corner! The much dreaded first major exam taken by kids in Singapore, the cause of much stress for kids and their parents alike, and the inspiration for this blog, is but 3 months away. I feel as if we are headed towards a waterfall and there's little we can do but drift towards it and hope we survive the fall.

I actually feel both happy and anxious about this. No doubt it's causing us some stress but I'm also thinking the fact that it will be upon us soon also means that it will soon be over. And boy will we be relieved when it's done with!

But what would bring us the greatest relief is if Tai Pi gets accepted into the School of the Arts (SOTA) which she so badly wants to join. She went for an audition there a few weeks back and will know the results in early August. Not sure about this year but there were more than 1000 applicants vying for 200 places last year. Tai Pi said that many of the applicants were for Visual Arts which is the area that she applied for. If she receives a positive answer from SOTA in early August, she will only have to obtain a good enough PSLE score that qualifies her for the Express Stream (that means doing better than one third of PSLE candidates which is anyway the benchmark set for homeschoolers for a PSLE pass) and then we won't have to worry so much about the PSLE and which school she would end up in. This is especially important for Tai Pi as the MOE only processes homeschoolers' secondary school applications after they are done with the posting for mainstreamers which means that homeschoolers get posted to whichever school still has vacancies regardless of how well they may have scored in the PSLE. Unfair I know but that's the MOE for you.

So from now till early August, I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed and hoping that Tai Pi's talent and passion for art is sufficient to earn her a place in her dream school.

Taking the Wheel

2010-07-09T13:52:00.007+08:00

I know I haven't blogged in ages. I keep telling myself I have to keep it going as this blog serves as a sort of personal history record for the girls and future generations. I'll get round to filling in the huge gaps but in the meantime here's the latest news - I'm finally taking driving lessons!

I'm the only adult I know who doesn't have a driver's license. The girls are so used to this that they can't imagine me driving. But dragging 3 kids and their stuff around especially in the hot sun got me thinking that perhaps I should get a car. We are tired too of our bad luck with taxis - whenever we need one, there's none in sight, but when we don't need one, they are everywhere!

So three days ago, I sat for the Basic Theory Test, passed it (49 out of 50 questions right) and had my first driving lesson. After the lesson, the girls first question to me was, "Did you crash into another car?" Hmmm such faith they have in their mother...

Our little part in local history

2010-02-09T11:37:00.007+08:00

We are used to seeing "Uncle Pat" in the news. But this time it's our turn in the limelight! We appeared in Straits Times Life! and on the front page of LianHe ZaoBao (联合早报), all thanks to the little documentary on the Gemmill Fountain we made last year in April.

We were interviewed by the press a few days before as well as at the media event on Friday that the museum invited us to. The conservators were there to explain the restoration works done to the 146-year-old drinking fountain and we also enjoyed a personal guided tour of the "Quest for Immortality - The World of Ancient Egypt" exhibition.

Just making the documentary was great fun, but to have it end this way makes it all the more unforgettable. The Gemmill Fountain will always have a special place in our hearts!

Straits Times Life! Monday 8th February 2010

Front page news in LianHe ZaoBao!

LianHe ZaoBao, Monday 8th February 2010

There's Pat, with Sai Pi partially hidden, and I'm the one with the umbrella.

Intelligence or Courage?

2010-01-13T23:04:00.004+08:00

Starting this new school year, we have "Philosophy" on our timetable; a little something I included to make sure that I don't neglect to nurture the girls' creative and critical thinking. It's really interesting to listen to their views on various issues and offers an insight into their values and mindset.

This afternoon, I posed the question of Intelligence or Courage to the girls - which would they choose to have?

Tai Pi: "I choose courage because if say I had to save someone from a dragon, I need courage for that. If I didn't know how to do it, I could learn what to do from someone else."

Sai Pi: "I choose intelligence because if I was smart I can come up with a plan and I will look for someone who is brave to do it."

Hmm good thinking!

A few days ago, we were watching the 9pm Chinese serial which had one of the male leads getting shot while trying to save a friend who had gotten herself into trouble despite having been earlier warned by her well-meaning friends. KK asked the girls if the male lead should have gone to his friend's aid now that they could see that he would be shot. The girls' immediate answer was a resounding "Yes" and Pumpkin explained that "we should care for others." Now isn't that sweet?

Home Sweet Old Home

2009-09-16T11:07:00.006+08:00

I was logged into our desktop computer (because I left my laptop charger at my friend's office yesterday, argh!!!) and was surfing about some websites that were bookmarked on the computer. There was this one which brought a smile to my face.

We were looking for a buyer for our home 3 years back and I created this blog for interested parties to find out more about the property. Our old home really sounds like paradise from what I wrote in the blog!!! Haha!!! I'm quite the saleswoman!!! or maybe just a good copywriter. Notice too that the mess is nowhere to be seen, having been temporarily banished into the cupboards, storeroom, anywhere that it could be stuffed into.

I also created an online ad that would appear along the side when someone searched for Premiere@Tampines, a DBSS project that was launched around that time and was proving to be quite popular. I didn't think it made sense to pay so much for a HDB flat when you could get a condo in the same vicinity for about the same price. So the GoogleAd was meant to direct people to a better buy, heh heh.

Eventually the apartment was sold to a couple who lived in the same condo, in the block just opposite ours. So they know full well how the afternoon sun blasts mercilessly into the living and dining rooms (hence the Luxaflex blinds) and one of the bedrooms and heats up the wall of the master bedroom, turning our sanctuary into an oven. Yes I neglected to mention this little detail, but that's advertising for you!!!

Civic District / Singapore River Heritage Tour

2009-09-11T16:59:00.036+08:00

I had planned this field trip months back and it had taken me a whole day to work out the route we would take and also read up on the points of interest. Finally this morning, we were off on our Civic District / Singapore River Heritage Tour!

We started off at the Civilian War Memorial, dedicated to the civilians who died during the Japanese Occupation. We'd passed by this monument countless times but this was the first time we actually went right up to it. Ah, so this is what it looks like within the 4 pillars.

Civilian War Memorial with its 4 pillars, one each for the Chinese, Malays, Indians and Eurasians killed during the Japanese Occupation

Then it was off to the Esplanade Park. First stop: Tan Kim Seng Fountain erected in 1882 by the Municipal Council in recognition of Tan Kim Seng's $13,000 donation to the Singapore Water Works. I wanted to kick myself when I got home and was uploading the photos. I had forgotten to take a picture of the beautiful Victorian fountain. Arghhh!!! So instead, here is a very very old photo of the fountain in its original location at Fullerton Square (see bottom left corner of photo). The fountain shifted to its present location in 1925.

Looking at the photo, it would seem the fountain, nicely shaded by some trees, was a popular place to sit and watch the world go by, or you could imagine people saying, "let's meet at the fountain". In its present location, it stands away from the hustle and bustle of the city, as if the excitement were all too much for the grand dame.

"Meet you at the Tan Kim Seng Fountain after work!"

The next monument along the Esplanade Park has a special place in my heart because it was the site of one of my favourite childhood photos. Here is the shot taken at the Cenotaph more than 30 years ago:

And here's a remake of the shot. I'm not sitting half as elegantly as Mummy and the girls are much bigger than the original three munchkins but it's a good attempt at repeating history. And notice that the steps are so much dirtier now... eeeww!!!

The next point of interest is a very well known one, if not by sight then by name - the Lim Bo Seng Memorial. I imagine there can be no student in Singapore not already familiar with the the name of this WWII hero. While not taking away any of his deserved glory, I like to remind the girls that Lim Bo Seng was but one of many people who sacrificed their lives for their country.

The other war hero often cited by the powers that be is Lt Adnan Saidi of the Malay Regiment who fought valiantly at Bukit Chandu. Notice that we have one Chinese war hero and one Malay war hero? *wink* *wink* My theory on this focus on particular individuals is that it gives school children specific individuals to look up to and emulate, something less easily accomplished where the subject is a group of people. They think of everything don't they!

Lim Bo Seng Memorial. If you have not heard of Lim Bo Seng, you either are not a student in a Singapore school or you absolutely do not pay attention in class.

After walking through a tunnel under Fullerton Road, we arrived at the Dalhousie Obelisk. I feel sorry for the merchants who contributed money to erect this monument in honour of Lord Dalhousie's visit in 1850. They had hoped that the Governor-General of India's visit would lead to dramatic improvements to public works, amenities and administration of the settlements. But the VIP came and left and the flattery did not result in much progress so I think the obelisk was a bit of a waste of money. They say that the monument also acts as a reminder of the benefits of free trade. Yeah whatever...

The Dalhousie Obelisk. What's the point?

A short walk away we come to someone who really did make a difference in our history. Standing in front of the Victoria Theatre and Victoria Memorial Hall is the bronze statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. It was unveiled at the Padang facing the sea in 1887 and shifted to its present site in 1919 during Singapore's centenary celebrations.

Here's the statue in its original location in the middle of the Padang with St Andrew's Cathedral in the background. After suffering hits from soccer balls and being used as a seat by spectators, the statue was moved to a safer site where it could better maintain its dignity.

"Ouch! Damn soccer balls!"

We went round the back of Victoria Theatre and found ourselves at Old Parliament House. "Old" because it is no longer used as a parliament house. Neither was it originally meant to be used as such. Constructed in 1826, the building was designed by George Coleman as a residence for Scottish merchant John Argyle Maxwell who leased it out to the government to use as a Court House. It is the oldest surviving structure in Singapore but has been modified so much over the years that little remains of Coleman's original design.

Old Parliament House with the Elephant Statue, a gift from King Chulalongkorn, in commemoration of his visit to Singapore in 1871, the first visit to a foreign land by a Thai monarch.

Maxwell's House designed by George Coleman

Heading towards the river, we arrived at the Raffles Landing Site, supposedly where the founder of Singapore set foot on this island. The white polymarble statue of Raffles found here was cast from the original 1887 bronze statue.

Ok enough walking. After cooling down with some ice cream and green tea, we were ready for part 2 of the tour - a ride up and down the Singapore River on a bumboat!

The cruise was much more pleasant that I had anticipated. I didn't realise till now that the bumboats ran on electricity, so it was nice and quiet (save for the commentary which fortunately was not annoying). The gentle breeze made the ride all the more enjoyable such that I quite regretted not taking the longer route that runs all the way to Robertson Quay. If we had gone that way, I could have pointed out to the girls where Pulau Saigon used to be. Not many people know that there used to be islets along the river, one of them being Pulau Saigon. The condominium River Place and part of Clemenceau Avenue are situated where the islet used to be.

The boat made a U-turn at Clarke Quay and headed back towards the mouth of the river and we got off at Merlion Park. I asked the girls what two animals is the Merlion a composite of and they replied "mermaid and lion". The correct answer is fish and lion. Apparently, the lion head symbolises the legend of the rediscovery of Singapura by Sang Nila Utama and the fish tail alludes to our humble beginnings as a fishing village. Hmm, good job by the souvenir committee of the Singapore Tourism Board.

With that we came to the end of our heritage tour and we started on our way to Raffles City for lunch. We took the opportunity to walk across Anderson Bridge. This bridge was constructed in 1910 to cope with the increasing traffic which was putting a strain on neighbouring Cavenagh Bridge. Following the opening of Anderson Bridge, Cavenagh Bridge was converted into a pedestrian bridge.

To get to Raffles City, we had to pass through Esplanade Park again. We walked along the side of the park and were excited to find a Cannonball Tree. We picked up a cannonball fruit from the ground and from its size and weight, it was easy to see why the tree was named such. Closer to Raffles City, near the underpass exit at the end of Esplanade Drive, we found another Cannonball Tree, this one heavily overladen with fruit; it was quite a sight! Arghh I should have taken a photo of that one too!

Finally we made it to the air-conditioned comfort of Raffles City. Tai Pi and Pumpkin had fun with the Japanese toilet seat with integrated bidet which seems unique to this mall. We had lunch at Shodoku Japanese Food Bazaar, a favourite with the girls and a satisfying end to our excursion.

The girls' favourite corner at Shodoku

Old photo sources:

* Photographic Views of Singapore, G.R. Lambert

* Singapore Then & Now, Ray Tyers

Dream of Amsterdam

2009-08-29T16:42:00.007+08:00

Our geography lessons have taken us to Europe this time, after we completed Asia and the Americas. We started off in northern Europe and had fun learning some Norwegian words. Now as we moved a little south, the girls have become fascinated with.... Amsterdam! We watched a travel show (Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown, borrowed from the library) and the girls were awed by the beauty of the Amsterdam canals. Tai Pi insists that we move to Amsterdam ("It's so beautiful, not like Singapore!").

So beautiful!

The girls know exactly what they want to do there - live in one of the houseboats moored along the canal, visit Anne Frank's Secret Annex and of course the museum dedicated to their most favourite artist Vincent Van Gogh.

This morning they watched the travel show for the 3rd time and continue with their demands to go to Amsterdam. Sigh... I would love to visit Amsterdam too, or anywhere in Europe for that matter, having never set foot in that continent except for that little bit of Istanbul that sits in Europe but that doesn't count. Hopefully someday soon, someday soon.

One of Tai Pi's favourite Van Gogh paintings -

Wheat Field with Reaper at Sunrise

One of Pumpkin's favourite Van Gogh paintings -

Portrait of Dr Gachet

Sai Pi's favourite Van Gogh painting - Sunflowers

Our old yellowed copy of The Diary of Anne Frank

which Tai Pi is now reading

How to end a war

2009-08-29T15:36:00.004+08:00

Couple of days ago, we were having an NE (National Education) lesson and were discussing the topic of WWII and the Japanese Occupation. We got to the part where the Japanese were defeated and the girls learnt that what brought the Japanese to their knees were the atomic bombs dropped onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I asked them what they thought about how the Japanese were defeated.

Tai Pi: It's not right. We are doing to them what they did to us [referring to the Japanese bombing of Singapore].

Me: What would you have done then to end the war?

Pumpkin: Talk it out?

Tai Pi: Use sexy women as bait and trap the enemy then threaten to shoot them unless they surrender!

Sai Pi: Make them something they like, like pie and if they want the pie they must surrender.

So you see, there really are less destructive ways to end a war if you put three little girls in command.

Green Art

2009-08-18T12:12:00.007+08:00

I would like to think I do what I can to help save the environment although I know there's more I could do.

Let's see how we're doing:

REDUCE

The stallholders at the wet market are familiar with KK and I by now - the couple with the Tupperware and their own plastic bags.

RECYCLE

Now and then we make a trip to the recycling bins at Marine Parade to dump our recyclable waste. The bins are always full; I wish they would clear them more frequently.

REUSE

This one is fun! Here's what we did with egg cartons, cereal boxes and soft drinks boxes this past couple of weeks:

Made from egg cartons - colourful caterpillar and a scene from The Story of Redhill (notice the boy lying at the top of the hill which is red with his blood)

Play slippers made using cereal boxes and soft drinks carton boxes. The pair at the bottom right also makes use of the mesh covering used to protect some fruits.

Sai Pi wearing her home-made play slippers

Waking up to a nightmare

2009-07-20T18:34:00.019+08:00

On 6th October 30 years ago, I awoke early in the morning to news that would change my life forever. Mummy had been rushed to hospital the night before and had passed on without even saying good bye. She was 34 years old. I remembered thinking that it couldn't be, and for many nights after that, I would tell myself that it was all a nightmare and that when I woke up, Mummy would be there and everything would be back to what it was before.

Now 30 years later, on the morning of 27th May, I again awoke to devastating news. Pa was operated on the night before in what was supposedly minor surgery carried out under local anaesthetic to have blood drained out from his head. When the neurosurgeon, who happened to be one of Pa's golfing buddies, was down to the last 3 stitches, Pa had a seizure and subsequently fell into a coma.

This was his second head surgery, the first being in March to have a blood clot removed, and that time he had recovered well and was scheduled to fly to Singapore on 3rd June.

I rushed to Khon Kaen Thailand the next day with Sui Kou and her husband. When I saw Pa at the ICU ward at Khonkaen-Ram Hospital, I was beside myself with anguish. Listening to the neurosurgeon's narration of what happened brought more tears. I cried so much that day my eyes were swollen and I felt nauseous.

Once again, like 30 years before, it seemed I was in a nightmare that I could not wake up from. It felt so surreal. While my life was changing in a fundamental way, it was business as usual in Restaurant City. The cooks were busy at the stoves, food was being served, dishes cleared, ingredients traded. While in Khon Kaen, I found escape in Restaurant City before and after the daily hospital visits.

Also giving me solace was the care and support I received from friends and family. A primary school classmate, now an anaethestist, offered advice and helped put me in touch with a neurologist at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Friends I happened to catch on MSN or Facebook (thank god for Internet) were a great comfort with their offers of help and prayers. And throughout the ordeal in Khon Kaen, Sui Kou was my pillar of strength; I don't know what I would have done without her.

At first I was hopeful that Pa would suddenly awake from his coma the way it happens on TV. But a week after surgery, a CT scan showed that he had suffered bilateral strokes possibly a day or two after falling into the coma. This was really bad news and the doctor said that we should prepare ourselves to accept that he might never recover.

Sui Kou told me that Pa related to her a nightmare he once had where he is trapped in a dark place and hears Mummy calling him. Could this be his nightmare? Is he trapped, suspended in a barren zone between life and death?

Meanwhile, everywhere we were in Khon Kaen - Big C, Tesco-Lotus, Pa's home, reminded me of happier times we spent on holiday there. Just last November I had gone on an eye-opening trip there with the girls where we got to visit a village school, harvest rice, learn about sericulture and agriculture. And just a month before, I had gone up to visit a week after Pa was discharged from the hospital after the first surgery, bringing Sai Pi along as a surprise.

Thinking about the April trip I made with Sai Pi was especially painful. Pa was making such good recovery and Sai Pi got to spend time with her Kong Kong without having to share him with her sisters. Here on the front porch, we had breakfast together just the month before. And here in the living room Sai Pi had an indoor picnic with Kong Kong. And we sat somewhere around here when we had lunch at the foodcourt at Tesco-Lotus and over at the corner is the indoor playground where Sai Pi was playing happily not so long ago. Sigh... so little time has passed, yet so much has been taken away from us.

Pa was still in a largely vegetative state when I left Khon Kaen. As he was running a fever, the cause of which the doctor was not able to ascertain, the medical evacuation team could not fly him back to Singapore till weeks later.

Pa was wide-eyed and looked almost bewildered when I met him at the A&E entrance at Tan Tock Seng Hospital the night of his arrival from Thailand on 1st July. It was great to see him looking more conscious and such a relief to have him back in Singapore.

Since then I have settled into a routine of homeschooling the girls in the morning followed by visits to Tan Tock Seng Hospital in the afternoon or evenings. Tai Pi shows a lot of concern for her Kong Kong and asks how he's doing everytime I get back from the visits, although my answer to her is always the same - Kong Kong is awake but not speaking or moving but maybe given more time he will recover, and that's what we look forward to.

Sai Pi having an indoor picnic with Kong Kong at his home in Khon Kaen

in April a week after his discharge following the first surgery

Harvesting rice with Kong Kong during our Khon Kaen village holiday last November

The girls with Kong Kong and No.2 Mama at a rice field in Khon Kaen Thailand

Our latest craze

2009-05-26T11:15:00.012+08:00

What have I gotten myself into?? I just wanted to see what this game Restaurant City was about, a game in Facebook that Tai Pi's friend wanted her to play. I went in yesterday afternoon and before I knew it, I got hooked. The girls are just as mesmerized and we spent much of yesterday staring at the computer screen cheering on my restaurant workers and visiting friends' restaurants.

I had wanted to let the girls play Restaurant City and other computer games, using it as a carrot to get them to do all their duties and bathe by 7pm and tidy up the place, so I wouldn't have to keep nagging them. So Tai Pi and Pumpkin finally have their own Facebook accounts, but unfortunately they somehow have not able to access Restaurant City. We'll keep trying.

In the meantime, I've reached Level 6 and have 4 workers, some nice wallpaper and floor tiles and a couple of awards. I've named my restaurant "Ku Cafe" which would have been the name of the cafe that my friends and I almost opened in Siglap many years ago; so I do finally operate an eatery, even if it's only a virtual one.

My restaurant is the plain one on the left

next door to a fancier one on the right

The pleasant cheerful interior of my restaurant

Here I am in jeans and a cool t-shirt and

hair tied back into a ponytail. Cute eh?

The sand, the sea, and a little green cup

2009-05-19T21:55:00.011+08:00

The girls had their last paper of the mid-year exams this morning so in the afternoon we took off for the beach to celebrate the end of exams (certainly not to celebrate their exam results because as far as those are concerned, we should really be in mourning).

Here we are at our usual spot close to Marine Cove with our goodies from the nearby 7-Eleven store - Cheezels and Corntos and some drinks. I like lugging our stuff to the beach using this plastic laundry basket (which actually does function as the girls' laundry basket when it isn't having a day off at the beach) as the sand washes off easily with just a bit of hosing down.

The girls and I LOVE the beach, even the non-idyllic ones we have in Singapore. There's something about the sound of waves lapping against the shore and the gentle sea breeze that makes me feel like I'm on vacation. I glance at my handphone and notice that the network has switched from Starhub to INDOSAT so now I could even imagine I'm on holiday on some Indonesian island!

The girls were having fun along the seashore as the tide came in and then tragedy struck! An innocent little green cup, one of a set of cups of different colours that nest inside one another, got mercilessly dragged out to sea by the tide. This set of cups has been with us for years; I believe it was one of Tai Pi's toys from her infanthood.

The green cup bobbed up and down, all the while crying out for help - "Save me! Save me!" (cup's voice courtesy of yours truly to add to the melodrama). The girls could only watch helplessly as it drifted further and further away from shore.

The unsuspecting green cup in happier times

(bottom right corner of above picture)

The girls watching helplessly as the green cup floated away

To bring some closure, Tai Pi created an obituary on the sand - "Green Bucket R.I.P."

When I put Sai Pi to bed, she said to me that the best part of the day was building the sand faces (see below) and the not so good part was "the green cup got washed away by the sea. I feel very sad because we will never ever see it again." Well, you never know; maybe someday we just might come across a little green cup washed ashore on the beach, waiting to be reunited with its family and the three little girls who loved it so.

Sand face by Sai Pi.

Happy childhood memories are made of these.

Black Belt at last!

2009-05-18T14:46:00.007+08:00

May 3rd 2009 was a proud day for Tai Pi and Pumpkin. On that day, they received their black belts in Taekwondo three and a half years after they started out. There was a ceremony where Master Santos Rivas, the principal of J H Kim Taekwondo presented them with their black belts which have their names embroidered on one end and the name of the school in Korean on the other end.

I'm especially proud of Pumpkin for having persevered when there were times when it seemed she would never go beyond the higher grades. She had wanted to quit soon after getting the black belt but now she has said that she wants to go for first dan. Way to go Pumpkin!

More on the girls' journey to black belt here, here, here, here and here.

Tai Pi receives her black belt from Master Santos Rivas

Pumpkin receives her black belt from Master Santos Rivas

The girls and Shiggsel with Master Santos Rivas

The girls in their new black belt uniforms

And God Created Appendix

2009-05-14T20:48:00.007+08:00

"Why did God make appendix for?! Want to kill us ah?!" screamed Pumpkin. I was telling her not to do cartwheels immediately after dinner or she might get appendicitis. This leads her to ask me about god as she is apt to do now and then.

Pumpkin: "Is there a god or people made it up?"

Me: "Some people believe that there really is a god and they don't think they are making it up. And then there are other people who do not believe that there is a god so they think that god is made up by man. What do you think? Do you think there is a god?"

Pumpkin: "No I think people made it up."

"God is real!" Sai Pi protests. "My teacher said if you don't believe in Jesus Christ you will go to the Devil." I see that church kindergarten of hers has been planting ideas in her head.

Ok back to Pumpkin.

Me: "Why do you think people make up god for?"

Pumpkin: "To scare people."

Me: "And why would they want to scare people?"

Pumpkin: "I don't know."

Tai Pi joins in with her two cents worth: "People made up god because long ago there was no science. Now there is science and science explains everything." Ah, spoken like a true atheist.

Mummy's little helper

2009-05-09T12:38:00.007+08:00

I swear the best sales promoters in Singapore are found at Waterloo Street. I'm talking about those promoters with microphones strapped on who tirelessly market anything from graters to miracle tonics. I fell victim to these smooth operators and made a couple of purchases recently - a handheld sewing machine which I'm sure I will find handy some day, and a Shimono vacuum cleaner.

The latter is proving to be an excellent buy. We have been using it everyday and sometimes even several times a day because it is so compact I keep it in a little box at one corner of the living room so it's really convenient to just whip it out whenever I feel the floor's getting too dusty. And it comes with a strap so the vacuum cleaner can be carried about easily - genius! Now even Sai Pi can help with cleaning the floor. Best $70 I spent!

The day Mas Selamat forgot his funky wig

2009-05-09T12:09:00.009+08:00

The authorities were closing in on him. They had narrowed it down to just two places - he was either in Singapore or outside Singapore. And now 13 months after escaping from the Whitley Detention Centre, terrorist Mas Selamat has finally been captured.

I showed Sai Pi the good news first thing in the morning yesterday. Her reaction? "Aw now I can't see him with his funky hair!" referring to one of the possible disguises Mas Selamat might have used.

Maybe Mas Selamat should have tried the funky afro hair disguise. Certainly would have fooled me!

The Phua Chu Kang disguise is my favourite

CATS...now and forever!

2009-05-02T20:01:00.010+08:00

"How's it going?" I SMS-ed my brother who was over at the AWARE EOGM as an associate member. "I'm sure this is more entertaining than CATS! This is worth the $40 I paid to be a member, " came the reply.

While the cat fight (apologies for using this sexist term) was going on at the AWARE EOGM at Suntec City this afternoon, KK and the girls and I were enjoying a catty entertainment of a different sort. Finally, the girls get to watch CATS live after watching it on DVD a million times. I had caught it the last time it was in Singapore almost 20 years ago and enjoyed it tremendously.

Because the girls were already big fans, we were buying CATS merchandise at the stand even before the show - a t-shirt for Tai Pi which she wore during the show, key chains for Pumpkin and Sai Pi, a CD featuring the original London cast, and the programme.

The girls watched the show with great anticipation as they were by now so familiar with all the songs and dance moves. Tai Pi kept turning to me to point out the differences between the stage performance and the DVD version. I must say that the DVD cast is certainly way better than the stage cast but understandably so as the DVD is a permanent record and the producers would have made sure that only the very best would be cast in each role and of course re-takes are possible in the filming. But as I keep saying to the girls, watching a live performance has its own enjoyment and excitement that you don't get from watching a DVD.

I do hope that CATS goes on playing forever so that the girls might one day get to bring their own children to catch this most fantastical musical.

All ready for the show

Posing with Rum Tum Tugger

Rabid fans with their CATS merchandise

How to catch Singapore TV while overseas

2009-04-23T22:27:00.004+08:00

We discovered a new use for Skype today. We were Skyping in the evening when the girls ran off to watch Ninja Warrior (weekday TV is banned except for shows that Mummy and Daddy want to watch). I decided to join them. As we let out a collective cry whenever a contestant faltered, it really felt like I was home and sitting with KK and the girls in front the the TV.

Will he make it?

Tok Tok Noodle Girl

2009-04-23T09:45:00.005+08:00

It's the last place I would expect to find a bit of Singapore history but there he was, hawking his noodles just outside Kong Kong's house in Khon Kaen Thailand. Sai Pi did the tok-toking while the Tok Tok Noodle Man busied himself whipping up our lunch. He claims to have picked up his noodle skills in Singapore but his noodles tasted pretty Thai to me (and more importantly very yummy!).

Long Distance Nagging

2009-04-23T08:53:00.003+08:00

"It doesn't look like you are visiting Kong Kong; it looks like you're on vacation without us!" cried Pumpkin over Skype.

Can't it be both things? Yes I came up to Thailand together with Sai Pi primarily to visit Kong Kong who had an operation recently but it was also a nice break from our school routine. But one thing I didn't take a break from.... nagging!

"Did you do any reading today? Chinese book also ah! Don't forget to do all those things you are supposed to do. Take this opportunity to show me that you can take care of yourself, that you don't need me there to tell you what to do [although that's exactly what I'm doing now]. Have you finished your Chinese work? Make sure you study, your exams are coming. Go ride your bicycle; you have not used your bicycle much since buying it. Tai Pi you should skip 200 times to grow taller......"

As the Diana Ross song goes:

Ain’t no mountain high enough

Ain’t no valley low enough

Ain’t no river wild enough

To keep me from NAGGING you

Long distance nagging courtesy of Skype

Our first short film!

2009-04-21T11:29:00.008+08:00

The girls were watching iCarly on Nickelodeon and kept asking me if it was real i.e. is there really a web show called iCarly where you can submit your own videos to. I explained to them that iCarly is really just a regular TV show (about some friends who have their own web show) but that they get their viewers involved by inviting them to submit videos which they feature at the end of the show.

The girls seemed interested in having their own show so I said we could actually do it if we could decide on the subject matter. At the same time, I had seen a series of Heritage TV videos at yesterday.sg which is the National Heritage Board's website and thought it might be interesting to do something along those lines.

And then it all came together the Sunday before last, when we were at the National Museum for the Christian Lacroix exhibition. While we were having lunch at a cafe there, I remembered that I had read somewhere that Singapore's first public drinking fountain could be found on the grounds of the museum. I half suspected that the fountain was removed during the recent major renovation. I asked a couple of museum staff but they had never heard of the Gemmill Fountain. Even a friend of mine who was involved in the renovation of the museum was not aware of it. Nevertheless we went around the museum on a futile search for the 145-year-old drinking fountain and I recorded it using the video function of my still camera.

I was intrigued by the idea of this forgotten fountain so I did some research at the library and showed the girls the old newspaper articles I found on the Gemmill Fountain, the earliest dating 1939. We then did some more filming for our documentary. The girls were very game and improvised on the lines I gave them. Then Tai Pi wrote to the director of the museum to ask about the fountain and got a reply the next day although she didn't see the email till a couple of days later.

After we got the reply from the museum, we completed the remaining voice-overs and filming and viola, we have our first documentary! It certainly isn't my first home-made video as I have edited many a holiday video and growing-up videos, that's one of my hobbies, but this one was different from my usual and we had fun putting it together.

And now to broadcast our show. I uploaded it onto YouTube and created a blog to link the video to and also sent it to yesterday.sg which is featuring the video as today's entry. The guys at yesterday.sg said they were impressed with the work that went into the video (actually it's probably not as much work as they thought!) and want to give us a present... ooh I wonder what it could be.

Designer Handbags

2009-04-13T17:30:00.006+08:00

Sai Pi and I attended a workshop for young children yesterday at the National Museum called "I can be a fashion designer", held in conjunction with the Christian Lacroix exhibition. Two guys from Toy Box Edu-tainment conducted the workshop and later brought us for a short tour of the exhibition. They were really excellent; I have never seen better children entertainers (in an interactive "show") than these two guys.In the workshop, the children were exposed to "boring" designs and "exciting" designs and later given a chance to design their own handbag by drawing on and sticking scrap materials onto a cardboard "bag".

When the children were done, they showed their creations to one of the guys from Toy Box Edu-tainment who proceeded to give each one a glowing critique.

The workshop was followed by a short tour of the Christian Lacroix exhibition after which we were to collect the handbags from outside the art lab. Unfortunately forgetful me left with Sai Pi without the handbag. Sigh.

So I promised Sai Pi that we would make our own designer handbags and here they are - made from paper plates with cords from paper bags for handles and decorated with scraps and stickers:

Earth Hour

2009-03-28T21:44:00.007+08:00

"You have 5 minutes to pack your bags!" It was 8:25pm and I was rushing the girls to pack their taekwondo bags before the start of Earth Hour.

At 8:30pm we turned off all lights and the fan. The girls spent a few minutes in the car park outside reading their magazines by the light of the lamp posts before I decided we should walk over to the supermarket and get the free pack of Sunshine buns we could exchange for with three Sunshine White Bread wrappers.

So we ended up at the mall where the girls ran about at the atrium and we did some grocery shopping, all in lighted, air-con comfort.

We got home with ten minutes to go before the end of Earth Hour. Tai Pi and Sai Pi sat at the doorstep reading by the light outside while Pumpkin rode around the car park on a skate scooter.

Somehow I feel we cheated this time round, seeking refuge at the mall, but it's a good start anyhow.

Reading in the car park

At the mall. What Earth Hour?

7:59 AM

2009-03-25T12:10:00.010+08:00

The Straits Times has a weekly article called "7:59 AM" which features a photograph showing a scene in Singapore at precisely 7:59 AM. Here is our own 7:59 AM moment taken this morning. We had just reached the park and were putting on our rollerblading gear. It would have been earlier than 7:59 AM if I hadn't left behind a couple of pairs of skates causing us to have to go back home to get them. Fortunately we live near the park.

7:59 AM

After rollerblading, we had breakfast at Old Town White Coffee, an eatery done up in modern traditional coffee shop style. An elderly waitress served us and seeing the girls, asked, "Don't you have school?" I mumbled, "No school." She continued, "School holidays are over right? They don't have school?" "No. No school today," I insisted. Tai Pi said to me after the lady left, "Why didn't you tell her we were homeschooling?" "She probably doesn't know what homeschooling is," I explained and I wasn't in the mood to introduce the concept of homeschooling to anyone just then.

So did we not have school today? The girls would have loved to have a whole day of fun but yes we did have school (except for Sai Pi who skipped kindergarten this morning), just that we started in the late morning instead of the usual 9am. That's one of the best things about homeschooling; it allows us to schedule our time in a way that works best for us, so if early morning is the only time Daddy has to spare, then lessons can wait till later because family comes first.

Breakfast at Old Town White Coffee

Arty silhouette shot

Private Bowling Alley

2009-03-24T16:30:00.012+08:00

We don't live in a condo so it's nice having family and friends who do, so we get to enjoy a swim or a tennis game when we visit.

Last Saturday, we visited a friend's new condo. This one's really different because it came with its own bowling alley! Shoes and balls were provided and there was someone stationed there during the game to work the system. It was the smallest bowling alley I had ever seen - just 2 lanes but who's complaining.

Playground in a pool!

Bowling alley all to ourselves

What's the score?

Non-bowlers operating a hair salon

Who made me?

2009-03-22T21:02:00.007+08:00

I am well prepared to answer questions on the birds and the bees. After all, I had bought and read to the girls "Where Did I Come From", a best seller by Peter Mayle. My mum bought this same book when I was seven and it taught me everything a little girl needed to know about sex.

Then 10 minutes ago, Sai Pi asked me, "Who made me?"

I replied, "Mummy and Daddy."

Sai Pi: "No I mean who made me?"

Me: "Mummy and Daddy. Mummy's egg and Daddy's sperm come together and..."

Sai Pi: "No, I mean who made ALL of us? Is it Jesus Christ?" I see the church kindergarten she attends is having a bit of influence on her.

This is a difficult question for me to answer as I'm a free thinker although I started life as a Catholic.

Just then Tai Pi chips in with her answer - "God" and then proceeds to stuff her teddy bear under her dress and go into labour, wailing as she "pushed" the bear out. That amuses and distracts Sai Pi enough for her to forget her question... for now.

Sai Pi's First Song!

2009-03-22T20:46:00.008+08:00

I was taking a shower about half an hour back and as usual I had company. Sai Pi came into the bathroom as I was drying off and announced that she wanted to be a singer. She then proceeded to sing a tune hesitantly and I later found out that it was a song she made up herself as she went along. I told her to sing it again and she launched into a different song and this time I listened closely so I could write the lyrics out exactly. Here's the song she wrote:

Song title: I Love You

I love you when you are anywhere

I love you when you go away

I love you when you're on tip toe

I love you when you are on the toilet bowl

I love you when you are a soap

Looks like we have a singer-songwriter in the making!

Baba House

2009-03-19T18:46:00.008+08:00

We had a very interesting little excursion this morning to Baba House located at 157 Neil Road. The house is believed to have been built in the 1860s and is one of the few intact Peranakan homes to have remained in the hands of its original owners, in this case the Wee family. The house was purchased by NUS Museum with a generous donation from Agnes Tan, the last surviving child of Malayan political leader Tan Cheng Lock. She had specifically requested for the money to be used to purchase the Wee family home and for it to be restored and used to educate the public about Peranakan culture.

It is because of the generosity of Agnes Tan that we had the pleasure of visiting a traditional Baba home today. We learnt that the two lanterns hanging at the front of the house are surname lanterns (hurry get yours done in Malacca where there is only one known surviving maker of such lanterns!) and got up close and personal with lovely ornate Peranakan furniture and the girls' favourite feature of the house - the peephole in the second floor bedroom which allows you to spy on the person at the front door!

All the three girls now want to own shophouses. Not cheap I tell them. Tai Pi says one way is to gamble to raise funds but she decides that it is not a good idea. The other way according to Tai Pi is to take on many jobs - this is the possible career path she is considering: Taekwondo instructor cum fashion designer cum calligrapher cum restaurateur cum property agent cum bakery owner cum geriatric nurse cum horticulturist. Whew!

The Baba House at 157 Neil Road

Ornate pintu pagar indicating the wealth of the family residing in the house

Singapore City Gallery & Chinatown Heritage Centre

2009-03-17T18:03:00.023+08:00

It's school holidays for Sai Pi this week so it's a good time to go on excursions. We set off this morning for the Singapore City Gallery which is run by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Outside the Singapore City Gallery (URA Centre)

with Liu Jilin's "Samsui Women"

The first thing we did when we got there was to take part in a quiz hosted by Gurmit Singh which tests you on your knowledge of Singapore. We took our places behind individual stands with A B C buttons, ready to pick our answers as the video played on the big screen. We learnt some interesting facts from the quiz. Did you know that Toa Payoh and Paya Lebar mean the same thing? Toa Payoh is "big swamp" in Hokkien and Paya Lebar means "wide swamp" in Malay so they both refer to those areas being big swamp lands. And now we know that the three tallest buildings in Singapore are Republic Plaza, UOB Plaza and OUB Centre. All three are 280m tall, 66 storeys high. In accordance with aviation regulations, no structure in Singapore can be more than 280m high. You will find skyscrapers only in downtown Singapore because that is the only place far enough from any airport to allow buildings of that height. Ahso!

Then it was on to the galleries each focusing on a different theme relating to Singapore's urban development. I was interested in exploring the history and conservation galleries but the girls were more excited about the architectural models. There were two - one 3D model of the whole of Singapore featuring all the buildings on the island (we believe we found our block), and the other one of the city centre.

3D model of the whole of Singapore with all buildings represented

We love shophouses!

I was amused by this quote from Lee Kuan Yew where he admitted that it was a mistake to have demolished many of the old and quaint buildings in Singapore as they were a valuable part of our cultural heritage (yup, agree) and they were what tourists found attractive and unique about us - alamak, who cares about the tourists?! Yet another indication that economic considerations dictate policy making in Singapore. No wonder the old National Library along Stamford Road was demolished; wouldn't earn us much tourism dollars.

When we were done at Singapore City Gallery, we crossed the road to have lunch at Maxwell Road Food Centre which started life in the 1950s as a wet market for the Chinatown area. It was hard getting a seat as it was lunch hour and there were umbrellas and various items used to "chope" seats. Poor office workers. Tai Pi declared that when she grows up and works here, she would bring her own lunch instead of waiting around for a table.

After lunch, we headed off for the Chinatown Heritage Centre located at Pagoda Street. Along the way, we popped into the Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore's first Hindu temple. It was built in 1823 by Naraina Pallai who arrived in Singapore together with Sir Stamford Raffles.

As we made our way along Pagoda Street, the girls were engrossed with the souvenir stalls while I lamented to myself the sad state of touristy Chinatown; that's progress for you. Then we found ourselves at the Chinatown Heritage Centre which was haplessly lost among the shops selling silk robes, Merlion keychains, CDs and T-shirts.

It was certainly worth wading through the tacky souvenir shops to get to the Chinatown Heritage Centre because it gives an excellent glimpse into the lives of the early Chinese immigrants - the coolies, Samsui women, tailors, etc who made Chinatown their home. The most interesting part of the museum was the Cubicle Living section which stretches over 2 levels and recreates the living quarters of the families who lived in such a shophouse, divided into little "cubicles". There was Ah Ngoh Chieh, a shoe seller who lived alone in a tiny cubicle crammed with sacks of shoes and barely space for sleeping, and the painter with 5 daughters and 3 sons whose wife and daughters occupied a cubicle the size of my storeroom. It was truly fascinating although Pumpkin was a little spooked by the dark interior.

Cubicle occupied by the painter's wife and 5 daughters.

The painter and his 3 sons occupied a separate cubicle.

As we were leaving the Chinatown Heritage Centre, a group of school children were just being ushered in by their teacher. Whew, we made it just in time to avoid the maddening crowd.

After that, we walked over to Eu Tong Sen Street to catch a cab home and along the way, took a picture with The Majestic and Yue Hwa Building. The former was originally a cinema while the latter was The Great Southern Hotel (aka Nam Tin) until 1994. The hotel opened in 1936, catering mainly to Chinese travellers and was the first Chinese hotel in Singapore with a lift. The building now houses Yue Hwa department store, a far cry from its glamorous past.

Majestic Theatre and The Great Southern Hotel in the 1950s

Peranakan Dollhouse

2009-03-16T19:21:00.003+08:00

Last Sunday, while we were at the Singapore Art Museum, Sai Pi and I popped by the Museum Shop where Sai Pi picked up a Peranakan shophouse postcard for $2. The girls and I have always loved Peranakan shophouses but I don't think we would ever have the means to live in one. But a $2 postcard, that I can afford. And not just any postcard but one that has since defied its destiny, risen above its humble stationery background to become part of a dollhouse with just a few cuts made with a pen knife to open up the door and windows. Like a conservation house where only the facade remains true to the original, our Peranakan dollhouse has an authentic frontage and a modern interior. So we do finally own a Peranakan shophouse even if we can't live in it.

Toilet Tube Dolls

2009-03-16T19:13:00.004+08:00

Say hello to the Toilet Tube Dolls! Toilet tubes all dressed up and ready to partee!

Sai Pi's arty afternoon

2009-03-15T18:09:00.007+08:00

Every Sunday, Sai Pi and I have time to kill in the afternoon while Tai Pi and Pumpkin are at taekwondo class. Fortunately the taekwondo school is located close to the National Library, museums and shopping malls so looking for a place to hang out is never a problem.

Our choice for today were a couple of art venues. First a visit to Sculpture Square where there was a little outdoor bazaar going on which didn't interest us very much. Indoor there was a sculptural installation called "Let the Rivers Clap Their Hands" by Sunsook Roh. The artwork was a depiction of the movement of water. When I told Sai Pi the title of the artwork, she walked about to view the various parts of the installation and gave me her commentary on the piece - "This is a seashell. This is a wave. This is the beach and this part is the water because it is wavy."

Seashell according to Sai Pi

Waves of water

After that we made our way to the Singapore Art Museum where there was an exhibition of Korean contemporary art. Sai Pi's favourite art piece at the exhibition was "Floor" by Suh Do Ho. At first look, I thought the installation was made up of lots of little pieces of crooked sticks but those "sticks" were actually little figurines holding up the glass panels so that when you view the artwork from the top, you see lots of little palms pushing against the glass. Intriguing.

Sai Pi's favourite exhibit - "Floor" by Suh Do Ho

Another one that caught Sai Pi's fancy - Yim Tae Kyu's "Fly Away Home"

There was one art piece that we had fun with. It was a huge installation measuring perhaps 5 metres high and 3 metres wide. It comprised individual square tiles about 6x6cm many with objects stuck onto to them; random objects such as a rubber duck, a calculator, a stapler, a Spiderman figurine, etc. I'm not sure what message the artist meant to convey and I forgot to take note of the name of the installation but it was just perfect for playing I Spy which was exactly what we did, what fun!

I spy a toy stove (just above Sai Pi's neck)

As we were making our way out, I snapped this photo of Sai Pi, capturing the lovely tiled floor of the museum. I think the boys who studied at St Joseph's Institution when it occupied this building were really lucky to have had such a cultured environment for a school, so different from the characterless school buildings we have these days.

Hmmm, might look nice in my kitchen

The Screaming Banshee strikes again... and again

2009-03-14T16:20:00.006+08:00

Twice it happened this week. Not once but twice.

First time I was in the study or what we call the classroom going through with Tai Pi the mistakes she made in a math practice paper. I lost my patience and screamed at her like a banshee. The air-con servicing man was in my bedroom and came over to close the door of the study, muttering “很吵”. He meant the noise from his servicing of the air-con but my immediate interpretation of it was that I was making too much noise and from the sheepish look on his face I believe I was right.

And then today, Pumpkin, instead of getting on with her Chinese homework, chose to spend her time whining and whining about it and that earned her an earful from me. My yelling reached the kitchen (actually not just there but possibly the whole neighbourhood reverberated with my screams) where our guest, KK's uncle was chatting with my mother-in-law. As he closed the kitchen door, he kindly explained that their chatting might be too loud but really it was obvious where the real racket was coming from.

So note to myself: stop raising your voice and remember that children learn from the example their parents set.

NEWater Excursion

2009-03-14T11:30:00.009+08:00

Since we started homeschooling, I've been to places with the girls that I otherwise would not have visited. This morning we went to the NEWater Visitor Centre. Tai Pi was studying about water as part of the Science syllabus so I thought a fieldtrip to learn about our water resources would be good.

We had a nice breakfast with KK before he dropped us off at the Centre. When we got there I felt a little bad at first when I found that we were the only ones there for the 9am tour because it seemed such a waste of electricity and the guide's time for just 4 persons but then again it was great to have the whole place and the guide all to ourselves :) - our reward for waking up early.

At the end of the hour-long tour, we hopped on to the centre's shuttle bus that took us out to a bus stop where we could take a bus home. Again we were the only ones; our very own private bus :)

Walking on NEWater

Water for recreation - navigating a raft

Listening closely to the guide

Bottles of thirst-quenching NEWater!

When life gets too boring...

2009-02-21T09:15:00.006+08:00

Fine if your life is a little boring, or somewhat boring, or very boring. But when you feel you've had enough, you can make your way to Marine Parade Community Club where "life is never too boring".

Would you PUT your parents in a nursing home in JB?

2009-02-11T20:54:00.009+08:00

Straits Times, Feb 10:
SINGAPOREANS could consider living in nursing homes in neighbouring Johor Baru, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan suggested yesterday....
Mr Khaw added: ‘Of course many visit daily, but quite a significant number visit only during the weekends, so what is the difference in putting them in Johor Baru?’

Dear Mr Khaw Boon Wan,

How could you suggest to us to PUT our parents in a nursing home in JB? I know it is very tempting because it would cost so much less across the causeway, just like seafood and DVDs but it would be very unfilial to do that, don't you think? You know how it is with old people; they don't like to live in unfamiliar surroundings. I know you are ex-Malaysian but many of us are not and we prefer to die here in our homeland. If you have no qualms "putting" your parents into a nursing home in JB, that's fine with me but please don't drag the rest of us to hell with you. It cannot be that we can afford to have so many golf courses but cannot afford to care for our elders. So please go gather your well-paid scholar civil servants and come up with a better proposal that doesn't land us in hell.

Punishment for being unfilial. Eeks I don't want to be ground to a pulp!!!

Fort Canning Park

2009-02-11T17:56:00.019+08:00

We started lessons on Singapore history this year and my plan is to have lots of field trips to bring the subject to life. Well, of course we are not very good at hanging on to our heritage, seeing how even the National Library at Stamford Road was demolished despite much protest from the public, but what remains is still worth a visit.

Our first field trip for Singapore history was to Fort Canning Park last week. Originally known as Bukit Larangan (Forbidden Hill in Malay), it is believed to have been the site of an ancient palace. Sir Stamford Raffles built his home here and also used the site to experiment with crops. In 1859 the site was handed over to the military. The governor's residence was then demolished and a fort built on the hill which led to the name Fort Canning Hill.

Our first stop - Spice Garden. I doubt the botanic gardens that Raffles established on the site was anything like this. I suppose the Spice Garden is just a reminder of the work he did on the hill experimenting with crops. Here and there were little bowls containing spices you could touch and smell. I thought that was a nice touch although later at home I realised I have a whole lot of different spices stashed away, still in their packaging, which I had bought last year during a short period of time when I was determined to learn to cook.

Brewing Chinese herbs

Sniffing pepper

Here we are at the Gothic Gates. The letters IHS above the gates stand for Iota Heta Sigm, the first three letters of the Greek word for Jesus.

A Christian cemetery once stood on the hill. It was cleared and some of the tombstones were set into the wall surrounding the open field. We walked along the wall and read the tombstones. Many of the dead were infants and young children with very few aged above 50.

Tombstone of W.H.Stephenson, Captain of Ship Santiago,

died Oct 31 1850 aged 41

And for one James Brooke Napier, a mere tombstone wouldn't do. His father, William Napier, had a memorial built for his infant son.

James Brooke Napier Memorial

A stone's throw away stands The Cupolas designed by architect George Coleman (I think his tombstone is also somewhere on the wall), the first Superintendent of Public Works, whose projects included Armenian Church and Parliament House.

The Cupolas by George Coleman

After all that walking, we stopped for a rest at Fort Canning Centre where there were excavated artefacts on display.

Then it was on to the highlight of Fort Canning Park - the Fort Gate and Wall. I told the girls Mummy and Daddy had some wedding pictures taken here at the gate. The girls were a little freaked by the dark passageway at first but once they got over it, they had fun going up to the roof of the gate and down.

Close to the Fort Gate and Wall is the OMSQ - Old Married Soldiers Quarters which I suppose was the residence of married soldiers and their wives. Next to it was a swing, old but still fun to sit on. As we sat on the swing enjoying the breeze and the beautiful surroundings, I thought what a nice place to live, but then again it probably gets really creepy at night.

After that, we went searching for the sally port. A sally port is a hidden door that leads in and out of a fort. There is only one sally port remaining at Fort Canning and I took quite a while to find it despite having a map in my hand (did I mention that I have a very poor sense of direction).

While looking for the sally port, we came across a Cannonball Tree. This is a South American tree introduced into Singapore some 70 years ago. It has big attractive flowers and fruits that looks like little cannonballs. It is not a common tree here so I was thrilled to find it.

Entering the sally port

"Hidden" door of the sally port

Cannonball Tree. Note the fruit in the centre of the photo.

Flowers of the Cannonball Tree

Near the sally port stands The Battle Box where General Percival made the decision to surrender to the Japanese.

The Battle Box

Then we made our way to where Raffles' house once stood. Along the way, we met a couple of 9 pound cannons and got bitten by more mosquitos (argh, forgot the insect repellent!). When we got there, we had a quick look at the lighthouse and the flagstaff. I wasn't very keen on these because they were just replicas and not the real thing. I thought the most interesting thing there was a tree with huge leaves.

One of a pair of cannons that was meant to shoot

9-pound cannon balls. Playing a decorative role rather

than a defensive one, the cannon was fired three times

a day at 5am, 1pm, and 9pm to announce the hour.

It was also fired as a salute and warning of town fires.

Replica of the original lighthouse

A couple of days before, I received our Family Season Pass to the museums so we visited a couple of museums that were in the same vicinity as Fort Canning Park - The Peranakan Museum before we went up the hill and Singapore Philatelic Museum after we came down. The girls especially love the Peranakan Museum because they give out this "Family Treasures" activity sheet which you bring around and get it embossed with Peranakan symbols and at the back page there is a illustration of a kamcheng that you can colour in yourself. What fun!

We had a great time that afternoon but I must be growing old because my legs were aching soooo bad that night. Nevertheless I'm looking forward to more of our heritage excursions.

Babies Credit Scheme

2009-02-05T09:44:00.011+08:00

The Jobs Credit scheme thought up by the Ministry of Finance to help save jobs has been debated in Parliament for the past 2 days. It appears this scheme is quite a good one because I read in the newspapers that most MPs are in favor of it and the Labour chief Lim Swee Say dares to put his full weight behind it so must be good lah.

How I wish the brilliant team that came up with this scheme were given the task of coming up with ideas for increasing the birth rate. The fellows who came up with the Baby Bonus scheme are not as clever and are very stingy. The scheme targets mainly would-be parents rather than those who already have children. I have three children but only got the baby bonus for the youngest one as the older two were born before the implementation of the scheme. They say that the scheme is meant to encourage couples to have babies, not to reward parents for having children so you don't get the bonus for children you already chose to have before the scheme started. Aiyah, why do they have to be so careful about giving out money? They should learn from the very generous MOF.

I think Lim Swee Say should be the Minister of Community Development. If he were calling the shots, he would extend the Baby Bonus scheme to cover all children, even those born before implementation of the scheme, and he would not limit it to the first 4 children born to a couple. Look at how all-encompassing the Jobs Credit scheme is. It is given to ALL companies, whether they have any intention of retrenching or not, whether profitable or not, whether local or multinational.

See what he says about the Jobs Credit scheme:

"Are we better off seeing more profitable companies turn unprofitable? If we want to truly succeed in saving jobs, we need the support and participation of all companies..."

"Companies that are profitable decided to make use of Jobs Credit to strengthen their bottom line. Some will expand to create more jobs."

Like that, then how about extending the Baby Bonus scheme to all children, even those born earlier and to all married couples regardless of whether they eventually have more children or not. Then I can strengthen my "bottom line" and maybe I will consider having more children. "Consider" only hor, no guarantee that I will have more children. After all, the companies are getting these credits even if they choose to go ahead to retrench staff; they are not held accountable. Similarly I should get the Baby Bonus even if I choose not to have any more children and I should be free to do as I please. Maybe instead of having more children, I could use the money to increase my children's allowances or send them for even more tuition classes or take the whole family on holiday.

There should also be no questions asked about how effective such a Baby Bonus scheme is. No need to monitor if the birth rate improves. MOF's Mr Poon Hong Yuen said, "If just because of this they rethink (retrenchments), then I think it’s already quite an achievement.” Let me apply this thinking to the proposed improved Baby Bonus scheme - if just because of this couples think of having more children, then I think it's already quite an achievement.

Lim Swee Say was happy to hear from NMP Cham Hui Fong that some companies, presumably the profitable ones who have no need and no intention of retrenching workers, are even planning to use the job credits to give their staff a wage increase. You see, good or not? Not only will some people not lose their jobs, they even get pay raise ah! So the scheme actually over-delivers even!

So I don't know why WP MP Low Thia Khiang, NMP Siew Kum Hong and even retired MOF Perm Sec Ngiam Tong Dow are calling the scheme flawed. Now I hope the MCYS will take a leaf from MOF and make the Baby Bonus scheme an all-encompassing one. At most just get couples to sign an undertaking that they will spend the money in Singapore rather than stimulate the French economy by taking cooking classes at Le Cordon Bleu.

What say you, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan?

Best Mummy

2009-01-30T13:18:00.006+08:00

A friend once told me about a friend of hers who, realizing that she wasn't doing great either at her career or as a mother, decided to prioritize and left her job to focus on the family. I could empathize with that because I too had that uncomfortable feeling that I wasn't doing myself justice. Now that I'm a SAHM, I am more at peace but at the same I feel I don't have any more excuses - my kids are supposed to be better behaved, display good manners, be able to cope with academics, if not hey what has their stay-at-home mother been doing?? This is my full-time job now and I need to do it well because as I like to say to the girls - anything that is worth doing is worth doing your best.

So I was very pleased to receive a pat on my back from Sai Pi last week.

Sai Pi: "You are the best mummy I ever had in my life!"

Wah, another satisfied customer! Of course I'm the only mummy she ever had but still I must be doing something right!

Happy 1st Anniversary

2009-01-21T17:46:00.011+08:00

Happy 1st anniversary to me. Actually I'm two days late so it's a belated anniversary. It's been one year and two days since I left my job to be a homeschooling mother. When I decided on this path, I was a little scared as I had been working full-time all these years and to suddenly stay home and what more, bear the responsibility for my children's education, seemed kinda crazy.

When I look back at my first year as a SAHM/homeschooling mother, I would say it is one of the best decisions I ever made in my life, choosing to spend this much time with the kids. No longer do I struggle with the work-family balancing act and I have gotten to know my children a lot better this past year. It's good to know that whatever problems there might be at home, you at least can devote the time and energies to resolve them instead of also having to worry about stuff at the office.

The fact that Tai Pi and Pumpkin are no longer in school has also made a whole lot of difference to family life. It's really a great change when you think about it. No work for me, no going to school for the girls. Now our lives really revolve around the family, and that's the way we like it!

"Meal" that Pumpkin prepared for me

in celebration of my 1st SAHM anniversary. Yum!

Big sister

2009-01-16T23:14:00.009+08:00

When Pumpkin was born, Tai Pi was barely 2 years old but already Mummy's little helper, making sure that there was always disposable diapers in the cot pockets, pointing out the spots we missed when bathing the baby, and running to tell us that baby's crying (although the cries could be heard throughout the house and beyond).

It seems Tai Pi has quite a maternal streak and enjoys taking care of her sisters. Pumpkin is not so little now (in fact, she is now physically bigger than Tai Pi!) so Tai Pi's mostly busy with Sai Pi. Whenever Sai Pi falls asleep on the bus (which is everytime!), Tai Pi is there to wake her up and to carry her home.

Piggy-back (I think the haversack acts as a kind of counterweight)

Yesterday Sai Pi wanted to learn to rollerblade so who better to teach her than Tai Pi who could skate the first time she put on rollerblades. Under Big Sister's guidance, Sai Pi was able to move a little distance and should be blading in no time. Well done Sai Pi and thank you Big Sister!

Come to Big Sister

You're doing great

Whoa!

Safe in the arms of Big Sister

Flower girls

2009-01-15T00:26:00.006+08:00

This is becoming a bit of tradition in our family, buying flowers for Chinese New Year. We didn't use to do this because there wasn't space at our old place for plants. But now we have a patio and there is also the common area outside which we conveniently claim as our own.

We've been doing this since last year, visiting a nursery to pick out a nice auspicious-looking plant of substantial size and having the girls pick out their own little plants to care for (easier to care for than a pet dog or hamster and no guilt if the plant dies on you!).

We picked out our plants a little early this year. Look at the girls' choices for the Year of the Ox:

Growing roots

2009-01-10T13:46:00.024+08:00

It's a pity that we tend to realise the importance of our roots only when we are older. Here I am, a jiak kantang Chinese with very little knowledge of my cultural heritage, trying to prevent my children from facing a similar fate. Sigh...

I like sharing with the girls my childhood stories and fortunately some of that includes certain cultural practices, such as the celebration of Dong Zhi. I told the girls how I used to make tang yuan when I was little, rolling the dough into marble-sized balls of white and pink, sometimes making a little snowman by joining two balls together. The girls were intrigued and wanted to make tang yuan too.

As with any dish that I prepare, I absolutely have to refer to a recipe. The Husband cried, "You need a recipe for tang yuan?! It's flour and water!" Ok ok.... as I was saying, the recipe, it called for glutinous rice flour, food colouring, and water. We got flour from the mini mart and I almost bought food flavouring instead of colouring but that was not my fault because they pack these things into the same type of little glass bottles, and then we were all ready for tang yuan making!

The girls had fun rolling the dough into balls and cooking them, and unknown to them getting in touch with their roots.

And then there is the other half of my roots - the Peranakan half. That is even more alien to me because I lost my mother when I was young. All I remember is eating spicy food and simple words like "manja", "tidor", "sakit", "kacau", "skali". I never wore Nonya attire and even my mum rarely did. When I first visited the Peranakan Museum shortly after it opened last year, I felt a wistful longing for my Peranakan roots.

This feeling was amplified when my whole family became avid followers of the popular Chinese serial Little Nonya, the most watched show in the past 15 years. I explained to the girls that Mummy is half Peranakan which makes them one quarter Peranakan (a little math lesson thrown in there) and they were very pleased about that. Now they want to dress like Nonyas and learn beading. But I have nothing from my Peranakan past to share with them. So sad.

We did the next best thing and visited the Peranakan Museum last evening. We enjoyed ourselves there ("I want to be a Nonya!" the girls cried) but at the same time, I was filled with a great sense of loss and regret. Sad, so sad...

My great grandma

I am, I can, I ought, I will

2009-01-09T14:22:00.009+08:00

The name of our homeschool may be frivolous but the same cannot be said of the school motto:

I am, I can, I ought, I will

It was educator Charlotte Mason who came up with that motto. Since I subscribe to her education philosophy, it was quite natural for us to adopt it for our homeschool.

I am an important and unique human being. I have the powers of doing, thinking and loving.
I can use these powers and do what is required of me.
I ought to do what is right because I owe it to myself and to my parents.
I will choose to do what is right even if it’s not what I want.

Quite good eh?

Mamegoma Homeschool

2009-01-09T13:49:00.010+08:00

You know how educational institutions generally have pretty serious names - they get named after some important historical figure or a saint or a road, etc. Our homeschool is different. Well just the idea of homeschooling is considered to be radical, so it is not surprising that we did not bother with convention when it came to naming our homeschool.

But why Mamegoma? What is Mamegoma? Mamegoma is a character created by San-X which is a Sanrio type of company. They are adorable baby seals which the girls and I absolutely love so we decided to name our homeschool after them. The classes are named after their favourite species of Mamegomas - Tai Pi is in Pandagoma class, Pumpkin is in Shimagoma class and Sai Pi (who attends Kindergarten in the morning and is a "part-time" student with Mamegoma Homeschool) is in Sakuragoma class.

So that's the origin of our homeschool name. No fancy history or meaning; just based on something we love.

Aren't they adorable?

Zzzz

2009-01-09T12:19:00.010+08:00

There was an article in today's Straits Times "Start school later, sleep in more" where the journalist advocates a later starting time for schools to allow children to have sufficient sleep which is said to impact on one's learning and development.

Here at Mamegoma Homeschool (that's the name of our homeschool; more about that later) we don't have a problem of students having insufficient rest. Lessons start at 9am, or later if the students wake up late (mainly Pumpkin whom I keep nagging to be punctual for lessons). And if students are in a hurry to turn up for class, they sometimes come in their pyjamas (yes the nightmare that the rest of us sometimes have of turning up in school in pyjamas is a reality for the girls!).

Here's Tai Pi in science class still in her PJs, busy labeling the parts of a flower.

No Pool? No Problem

2009-01-08T23:15:00.003+08:00

Boring. That's how some of my friends' children describe my home. No pool, no tennis court, no playground, no Xbox, no Playstation, no Wii. The only saving grace is that we have a computer hooked up to a 42" TV so a whole group of children could amuse themselves watching YouTube or playing online games. But really, the only time we do that is when we have guests. The girls do just fine without computer games; all they need is a bit of imagination and a lot of space.

So exactly what do they do here in this place that has nothing but a car park? Rollerblade, skate-scoot, skip, play catching, water guns, water bombs, etc.

I especially like the camping pretend-play they engage in, complete with "food" such as seaweed on a stick (leaves wrapped around a twig) and orange shish kebab (pieces of lime skewered with a twig).

There was also the time when the kids in the neighbourhood adopted a stray kitten, taking turns to play host (that meant keeping the kitten in a box outside the front door). But that little adventure ended when the estate caretaker took the kitten away amidst outcry from the children.

Today was pretty interesting too. A neighbour got some coconuts down from one of the trees in the estate so we had a little coconut party at the carpark. The milk mostly didn't taste very good but the kids enjoyed scrapping out and savoring the flesh.

After that, the girls and their cousins gathered little stones and pounded them to powder which they collected into little jars. I don't know what the idea is behind it and it looked to me kinda like the hard labour that slaves or prisoners are made to do, but it kept the kids amused till dinner time.

So no, it appears this place is not boring after all. As the girls have shown, it's not where you are but what you choose to do with yourself that makes the difference.

Excuse me are you a model?

2007-11-26T13:33:00.001+08:00

There was a feature in the weekend papers that piqued my interest and I'm sure that of many parents. It was an article about child models and how they can make up to $3000 per assignment. Even average-looking kids can be models, it said. Wah, $3000 per assignment... [drool drool]... Actually such articles have appeared in the papers and magazines in the past and each time I would consider getting the girls to model and earn some money. But I never got round to sending their pictures in and also I would be thinking what are their chances?

I asked the girls if they would be interested to model and earn some dough. Tai Pi was not keen but Pumpkin and Sai Pi on the other hand started strutting their stuff. Awkward poses and exaggerated facial expressions aside, maybe they stand a chance, especially Pumpkin with her father's strong cheekbones. See these recent pictures taken with my MacBook.

Sai Pi at the dentist

2007-11-26T13:04:00.001+08:00

It happened so fast. Her teeth were fine and then suddenly there was decay on her front teeth, forming a noticeable black dot where the two teeth met. I chided myself for not taking better care of her teeth. The decay was pretty obvious and Sai Pi was sometimes quite self-conscious about it. Well I finally brought her to the dentist to see what could be done about it. I thought she might freak out at the clinic but she took to it very well, smiling and laughing as she made herself comfortable on the chair. And at the end of it, the "black black thing" as she used to call it, was gone, with nothing now to tarnish her pretty smile. Say "Cheese" Sai Pi!

At least the expats have a choice...

2007-11-17T14:21:00.001+08:00

In TODAY's weekend edition, there is an article written by an expat mum who placed her kids in a local school only to pull them out and enrol them in an international school a few years later. See below. The article raised the question, "What kind of educational system best prepares children for today's challenges?" I don't have an answer to that but what I feel is important for my kids is to develop creative thinking and good communication skills. I'm not sure the local education system with the high student teacher ratio and emphasis on academics provides the right environment for students to cultivate the habit of speaking up nor develop an opinion about specific topics. And if the classroom provides for effective learning, why is it so many kids of normal intelligence are having private tution? If a child fails to understand a lesson or does not have a love for learning, is it a problem with the child or a problem with the system?

Like the writer, I was hopeful about changes to the local education system but I realise now that MOE's ambitions are one thing and implementation is quite another. Whether the local education system would ever sort itself out is anybody's guess. As for me and my girls, we are not sticking around to find out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SCHOOL EXPERIMENT THAT FAILED

Weekend November 17, 2007

How will their kids fare in a local school? One expat mum finds out
Noelle de Jesus

THOSE who had watched the international schools defeat some of the best local schools in televised debates earlier this year found much to discuss across their dinner tables and at cocktail parties.

The key question: What kind of educational system best prepares children for today's challenges?

For my husband and I, these discussions took place much earlier. When we moved here eight years ago, our major concern was how best to educate our daughter and son - Filipinos carrying United States passports, now permanent residents of Singapore.

We wanted strong academics, of course, but we also wanted them to be life-long learners with confidence, creativity, responsibility, self-respect and awareness of the world. Neither did we want them to be set apart from the youth of the country which we had chosen to make our home.

Seeing groups of expat teenagers skateboarding in the youth park off Orchard Road, I sensed alienation and a lack of belonging. Somehow they seemed cut off from society. We did not want this for our children.

So we sent them to local schools. We were aware of the strengths of the school system - the solid foundation in science and mathematics and the remarkable self-discipline that would be so efficiently instilled.

We had read of a few foreign students who had emerged triumphant from local academic rigours, securing admission into fine universities abroad.

But we also understood potential pitfalls - the largely authoritarian system, the single-minded rote approach to learning and the high student-teacher ratios.

Many raised eyebrows at our choice. A colleague at work said: "You have a choice, why put them through that?" She spoke of the way the system can kill the joy of learning, the ability to think "out of the box".

But we had taken to heart the news that the Ministry of Education (MOE) was slowly but surely changing the system. It was allowing the teaching of simplified Chinese, establishing support for more creative as well as more critical thinking, and promoting the arts and sports. Anything else our children needed, we figured we would be able to provide at home. We were hopeful.

After sending them to a local Montessori pre-school, we found ourselves living 1km away from two of the best primary schools, one for girls and one for boys. That single kilometre was critical. Our son went through the ballot, but they both made it.

Our first frustration was foreign language learning. Anxious that they learn Mandarin, we (and they) quickly found it was next to impossible in the local system, due to the pace and depth of the classes - classes that proved too difficult even for Singaporean students.

I soon discovered that all the students in my daughter's class were taking extra Chinese lessons. As one tutor said: "Children don't learn mother tongue at school; they learn it from their tuition."

With no Mandarin background, my children tuned the classes out; the rote system of learning did not work.

"Why can't they take Mandarin as a foreign language?" I asked an MOE administrator. There was no ready answer. Instead, my children were invited to take French, German or Japanese.

When my daughter told me she had to prepare for her science exam, I told her to study her textbook. She replied: "There's nothing in the book."

The girls were told to "read on their own"; what to read was not specified. Later, I found out parents bought old science exam papers for their daughters to study from.

I also found the rather quantitative methods used in my kids' English classes highly suspect. If my daughter tried her hand at a complex sentence with modifying phrases and she made a mistake, the entire sentence was marked incorrect and points were taken off. This made her decide to stick with easy noun-verb sentences.

As for my son's compositions, they were edited subjectively. His quirky, still grammatical sentences were red-penned and in many cases, falsely labelled incorrect.

But the high teacher-student ratio - 1 teacher to 40 students - proved to be our utmost concern. It rendered the simplest dynamics of question-and-answer explanation difficult to say the least. In the boys' school especially, teachers struggled to maintain order, let alone teach.

My son, a square peg in a round hole, was labelled a trouble-maker for inquisitiveness. The reputation followed him from Primary 1 to Primary 2.

One day, his teacher called me to report him as "the mastermind" of some class bullying, saying his own friends had fingered him as the culprit.

When I spoke to my son, he denied he was solely responsible, saying: "What's the point of saying I'm not; they'll all say it's me, anyway. So I just took the punishment."

When we heard this, all our doubts crystallised in one decision. Despite all our hopes, this wasn't working for him. Creativity, language, even writing - we could teach ourselves. But we felt unequal to the task of constantly undoing daily institutional damage to his self-esteem. And we had no desire to fight the system.

We withdrew both children from their schools and placed them in an international school.

There, they could at least learn Mandarin as a foreign language. They would be able to have a real relationship with their teachers, enjoy inquiry-based learning and be encouraged to express themselves. They would each be in a class with no more than 25 students and that ratio would only make things better all around.

It is by no means perfect. No education system is. And we were disappointed that our experiment failed.

Cost, of course, is one issue. To pay the price equivalent to that of a small diamond, when once we paid the price of an apple for a year's schooling, will not be easy.

We also continue to seek opportunities for our children to interact with other Singaporean children, grateful they have maintained some of the friendships they forged at their old schools.

But on his first day at the new school, my son told me he had the best day of his life. My daughter came to me and thanked me for moving her. "Here," she confided, "I feel like I am learning something every day." How can you argue with that?

At the end of the day, the root problem of the local school system is the high teacher-student ratio which demands more control from the teacher and gives the students less opportunities for variation.

Many foreign families make it by dint of playing the game we did not play: Filling the children's time with extra classes, buying old exam papers and willingly allowing their children's uniqueness to be efficiently rubbed off so that they could fit themselves neatly into the system's uniformly round holes. We did the only thing we could do.

At least, you can't say we didn't try. And it was a learning experience.

Ultimately that's what education should be about.

Noelle de Jesus is a freelance editor and writer who believes parents
should be responsible co-educators of their children.

What a girl wants

2007-11-13T23:19:00.001+08:00

The girls brought home their report books today. Needless to say, they were not a pretty sight. I looked at Pumpkin's report card and tried to focus on the good points. "Oh look. You have so many As - A for Music, Art & Craft, Social Studies, Moral Education...." Nevermind the band 3 for English and Math and band 2 for Chinese.

Tai Pi's grades were no better and as I searched for some bright spots, I found this comment written by her teacher - "...keen learner who knows what she wants." My Tai Pi knows what she wants?!

I turned to Tai Pi : Your teacher says you know what you want. Really? So what do you want?

Tai Pi : Yes, I know what I want. I want a Gameboy, a X-Box 360, a Wii......

Like No Other

2007-10-24T21:33:00.001+08:00

Recently, LKY was asked by a Western reporter if he felt that the Singapore education system tended to produce conformists. LKY answered that our education system is rated one of the top in the world and produces clever people, etc, etc. Not sure how that answers the question but anyway, talking about non-conformists,Tai Pi is showing signs of being her own person and a cheeky one at that...

Yesterday, we were having pizza for dinner and Tai Pi ate two slices leaving the crust behind. KK told her to eat up the crust.
KK: "See, your sister ate the whole pizza. All of us ate the crusts. You are the only one not eating the crust."
Tai Pi: "I am not you, you are not me. You have detached ear(lobes), I have attached ear(lobes)."
But KK didn't buy her argument and everyone, attached and detached earlobes alike, had to eat up the crusts.

A while back, I was commenting to Tai Pi that if she continues to have such a slim (can't use the word "skinny"; it gets her all upset) waist, it would soon be impossible for her and Pumpkin to share clothes (which they do now despite the 2 year age gap) and so could she maybe fatten herself up a little.
She retorted, "I like myself the way that I am. I like the height that I am, I like the weight that I am."
Here is a 9-year-old reminding me that we should all be comfortable in our own skin.
And Tai Pi, Mummy likes you just the way you are too.

"Daddy"

2007-09-01T22:31:00.001+08:00

I am of the view that being a good communicator is one of the key success factors in life. While it is possible to be eloquent without being particularly good in any language, it certainly helps to have a strong grasp of at least one language. So I am quite bothered that the girls speak quite a bit of Singlish, but now and then Tai Pi would surprise me as she did yesterday when she displayed an appreciation of some subtle nuances of the English language.

The girls were watching High School Musical (showing for the upteenth time on Disney Channel) and one of the characters called his father "Dad".

Tai Pi: "He called his father "Dad". I prefer to call Daddy "Daddy". It makes me feel like a little girl. Saying "Dad" makes me feel old and I don't want to be old and die".

Me: "When you grow up, are you still going to call Daddy "Daddy"?"

Tai Pi: "Yes." Turns to KK, "Hello Daddy!"

Tooth Fairy

2007-09-01T00:26:00.001+08:00

Last year, Pumpkin told me that the mother of one of her friends, Kris, was the Tooth Fairy. Her friend had caught her mother taking her tooth from under the pillow and putting a coin in its place. Since then, everytime the girls drop a tooth, I would joke with them that Kris' mother would be coming by that night since she was the Tooth Fairy. Pumpkin would then explain to me "No, she is only Kris' Tooth Fairy. You are our Tooth Fairy," and I would feign ignorance and say "But you said that Kris' mother is the Tooth Fairy".

Well, I don't think I make a very good Tooth Fairy because I keep forgetting my Tooth Fairy duty till the next morning when I wake the girls up for school and get a disappointed "the Tooth Fairy didn't come last night". Then I would grab a dollar from my wallet and try to sneak it under the pillow. Better late than never.

Pumpkin kept the Tooth Fairy busy recently when her front teeth dropped off, one just before her birthday and one just after. She's looking so cute now with the missing front teeth.

2-Day Birthday

2007-09-01T00:04:00.001+08:00

I remember at Pumpkin's first birthday, she fell asleep just when everyone was singing happy birthday and Tai Pi ended up with the privilege of blowing out the candles for her. Now 6 years later, she again went to sleep during her birthday party. But you could hardly blame her. The adults had left the kids with a couple of pizzas while we went off for a nice Japanese dinner. By the time we got back, Pumpkin had gone to bed. So we had to have a part 2 to Pumpkin's birthday celebration. After Taekwondo class the next day, the kids came by for pinata and cake, with Pumpkin wide awake this time. Here's a nice picture of the girls and their friends. Happy birthday Pumpkin!

The Spelling Necklace

2007-05-25T22:03:00.002+08:00

When Tai Pi entered primary school two years ago, Pumpkin was eager to join her and often asked when it would be her turn. So when she finally started primary school this year, she was a happy little bird and everything seemed fine and well. But just a few weeks into the school term, I received a call from her teacher, telling me that Pumpkin was moody and had dozed off in class at times, and was writing bizarre words in her compositions. At the same time, I heard from Tai Pi as well as the teacher at the After School Care Centre that Pumpkin had been throwing tantrums when asked to learn spelling and she was also taking a much longer time to learn to spell a word compared to the other kids. I hadn't been checking Pumpkin's schoolwork so all this came as a surprise to me. What was most disturbing was the news about her temperament and behaviour; it seemed so out of character for Pumpkin.

Around that time, she also started showing signs of intermittent depression. Every morning when we dropped her off at school, she would be sulky and looking like she was headed for the slaughter house. It really broke my heart to see her sad little face. Everyday, she would say that she did not want to go to school, that the work at school was too hard for her, and like working adults with the Monday blues before the start of the work week, she would feel moody on Sunday evenings. It seemed the source of her unhappiness was mainly spelling. She had a fear of spelling that seemed almost irrational and I found it really odd that she did not seem as anxious about other tests and subjects even though she wasn't doing well in those either.

It was then that KK and I started helping Pumpkin to learn her weekly spelling words. The first time I sat down with her, I was in for a shock. It took like half an hour for her to learn to spell a short word and even then, it didn't seem to stick in her mind. It was then that I put all the pieces together and realised that Pumpkin could be dyslexic. Not that I knew much about dyslexia but I did know that dyslexics have a problem with reading and writing, and Pumpkin could not read and she was definitely having problems writing. She had also shown signs of mirror writing in the past but I had chosen to ignore it; perhaps I was in denial. I surfed the net for information on dyslexia and based on what I found out, I was pretty sure that Pumpkin was dyslexic. I felt distressed at first but that quickly gave way to relief because now we knew the root of the problem and could do something about it.

Having read that dyslexics learn better through a multi-sensory approach, I bought pipe cleaners with the intention of bending them to form letters to string into words to help Pumpkin with spelling. It was quite time consuming working with the pipe cleaners so I used a combination of letters made from the pipe cleaners, and magnetic letters, the 3D sort that toddlers stick onto the fridge. What I got Pumpkin to do was to arrange the letters to form words and run her finger on the letters so that she not only sees the words but "feels" them as well.

But the pipe cleaners would help Pumpkin in another most unexpected way....

Tai Pi, the aspiring jewelry designer, created a necklace with the pipe-cleaners and presented it to Pumpkin, declaring it to be a "spelling necklace", a kind of charm that would help Pumpkin with spelling. Pumpkin put it on and it seemed to work (or was it the multi-sensory method I was trying out). "Thank you Jie Jie for the necklace. It's making me better," Pumpkin said to Tai Pi.

The next day, the most dreaded day of the week for Pumpkin because of the weekly spelling tests, Pumpkin tried to put on her Spelling Necklace and hide it under her blouse but upon Tai Pi's advice attached it to her schoolbag instead where she could see it and it would work its magic. I don't remember if she did alright for that particular spelling test but I'm sure the necklace at least gave her some comfort.

These days, Pumpkin no longer dreads school because she has since made some good friends after the teacher switched her sitting position in class. Although she still says that she doesn't want to go to school and that she hates spelling, at least this only happens occasionally now. And the Spelling Necklace now lies somewhere on Pumpkin's bed together with her treasured stuff toys.

Just recently, we finally had her assessed by a psychologist at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore after a long wait for an appointment and confirmed that she has dyslexia. We will have to send her for therapy so she can learn to cope with the condition. I'm sure Pumpkin will be fine - she has the benefit of early intervention, the love and support of her family... and a magic Spelling Necklace.

Money money money

2007-05-01T17:00:00.001+08:00

There were two articles in last Sunday's papers that caught my attention. The first was a feature on successful hawkers who run famous stalls. The article was written in the light of recent news that the tax man had come after some hawkers who evaded tax, one of whom earned $4 million in 6 years but declared only half the earnings.

The journalists staked out the stalls and did a plate count and going by the count, woohoo, some of these hawkers pulled in more than $100,000 a month!!! Not bad, not bad at all!!!! But it's so hard being a successful hawker you know, not easy you know.... Just listen to what these hawkers had to say - "I don't even have time for my meals", "As a hawker, no day off, no weekends and you have to stand in front of the hot wok the whole time. You tell me, is that easy?" BUT YOU ARE YOUR OWN BOSS RIGHT?!!! YOU MEAN YOU CAN"T CLOSE YOUR STALL AND GO ON HOLIDAY MEH?!!! IT"S YOUR CHOICE TO WORK THESE MANY HOURS AND EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR, SO WHO"S THE SLAVE DRIVER HERE?!!! Pity the less succcessful hawkers. They are the ones who have to work long hours and every single day to make a decent living and feed their families. And lest you think the grass is greener on the other side, instead of standing in front of a wok all day, try sitting for hours in front of a computer, dealing with crazy deadlines and endless problems.

The second article was about puting aside funds for your child's university education. It said that in 15 years' time, the cost of a local university education would be $81,000 and the cost of getting a degree in Australia, including living expenses, would be $341,000. No problem here for some hawkers, but for the rest of us, it's going to take some serious financial planning. I can't imagine how I would be able to fork out that much money and times three. When I pointed out the article to KK, he had the perfect solution - the girls can just be hawkers lah!!!!

Sai Pi at the Salon

2007-03-18T14:56:00.001+08:00

Of all the 3 girls, Sai Pi has the least hair.. very thin and fine and taking forever to grow to a decent length. I've been reluctant to cut her hair, but now that her hair is past shoulder length, I thought it would be good to give it a proper trim. I had wanted to cut it to chin length but at the last minute, decided on a wishy-washy, neither-here-not-there shoulder length. Given that Sai Pi has so little hair, I probably could have cut it myself but instead I brought her to the salon where Tai Pi and Pumpkin have their haircuts. Her sisters have experienced salon treatment and now it is Sai Pi's turn. She looked so full of bliss when having her hair washed, you'd think she was at the spa.

Ah, shiok...

Snip, snip...

So pretty...

Kids at Work

2007-03-18T14:11:00.001+08:00

As any working mother can testify, it is not easy balancing work and kids. It gets worse when the kids learn to use the telephone and call you ever so often at the office. The calls get heavier in the evening on days when I work late and do not stop even when I'm on my way home.

The calls typically go like this:
Pumpkin: "Where are you?! When are you coming home?!"
Me: "Daddy just picked me up. We're on the way home but we'll take some time because Mummy's office is far from home."
Pumpkin: "OK, bye."
One minute later...
Pumpkin: "Where are you?! How come you're not home yet?!"

So when the office organised a bring-your-kids-to-work day, I jumped at the chance to show the girls what it means when Mummy is at work. They were brought around the office and introduced to various office equipment, went on a plant tour where they saw chocolate milk being manufactured, and Tai Pi also sent an email to Kong Kong from my laptop. In between, they had ice cream, did some drawing in the meeting room and played hide-and-seek among the cubicles.

I have not asked the girls what they learnt about Mummy's work (maybe nothing at all) but at the very least, Pumpkin now knows how far from home my office is and why it takes Mummy so long to get home. And I learnt there's one thing more distracting than having your kids call you every 5 minutes... having them right there in the office with you!!!

Look, Mummy's office is so fun.... there's ice cream to eat and white board to draw on... wah, work is so fun!!

Big girl now

2007-02-27T20:43:00.001+08:00

“I’m a big girl now.” That’s one of Sai Pi’s favourite lines of late. She thinks that being in the second year of Nursery and having her classroom on the second floor makes her a big girl. And now that she has turned four, she’s feeling all the more grown up. Happy Birthday Sai Pi!

Birthday card from big sister:

Happy New Year of the Pig!!!

2007-02-22T22:10:00.001+08:00

Each Chinese New Year, we have fewer and fewer people to visit and this year, we hit a record low of only one visit on the first day of Chinese New Year, leaving us with plenty of time on our hands. So we went to the Asian Civilisation Museum. Unfortunately the girls didn't appreciate the museum very much, which was not surprising since it was not quite child-oriented so we didn't stay as long as I would have liked. The best part of the museum visit for the girls was sitting on the entrance steps of the museum and enjoying $1 ice cream bought from the street hawker - very good value I think, only $1 and they enjoy it maybe as much as those premium ice cream we treat ourselves to at the malls.

And earlier in the day, we enjoyed a ride in Uncle P's new Opel Combo. Such a very cute vehicle!!! Here's a photo of the girls in the comfortable sofa backseat. Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!!!

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." - Picasso

2007-02-18T10:13:00.001+08:00

"I already know how to draw" was Tai Pi's answer to me when I asked if she would like to go for art lessons. Pumpkin, who aspires to be an artist, had asked to be enrolled for art classes and I thought it would be a good idea for all three girls to go since they all love to draw and paint.

With art school on my mind, I walked about a neighbourhood mall which has many enrichment centres for kids, and I came across a new art studio "where children's voice find a place in art", a studio that respects children's unique ways of looking at things. The studio is run by a lady who believes that every child is an artist but that children often have their in-born artistic talent killed by art teachers who dictate what a beautiful piece of art should look like. I hadn't thought about this before but it made a lot of sense to me. Would Salvador Dali have produced the sort of surrealistic art he did if his art teacher told him it looked odd and wasn't beautiful? Each great artist has his own style and that's what I feel is important - for the girls to develop their own unique artistic style and produce art pieces that are truly original.

And now I realise why the art pieces you see at children's art competitions are always so alike. But of course... those kids go to art school where they are taught - here's how you draw a girl, here's how you draw a horse, etc. Take a look at these two drawings of an ox by two different kids attending the same art school. Don't they look suspiciously similar? I suppose that's what teacher says an ox looks like and should be drawn. I must say the drawings are competent in the sense of being aesthetically pleasing but they are not original and are not a true expression of the children's perception of the world.

The girls have gone for three lessons so far, where they are taught techniques and introduced to different media but are not told what to draw or how they should draw or what media they should use. I'm really glad to have found this art studio that nurtures the artist in the child. And yes Tai Pi, you are right - you do already know how to draw!

Goodbye 2006 Hello 2007

2007-01-06T13:00:00.001+08:00

It's been quite a while since my last post. We have been busy with what must be the event of the year for us - the big move to our new home! We've been living here for a few weeks now and we absolutely love it - no more taking the elevator, yummy food at our doorstep, schools and shops nearby. I just have to keep my fingers crossed that this place doesn't fall victim to the enbloc craze.

Other recent happenings:

Tai Pi took part in her first Taekwondo tournament. She didn't win a single match but got a silver anyway. She had a walkover in the first round and with that she made it to the finals where she was up against a girl three years older and one head taller. Now she was supposed to compete against other 7-8 year old green/blue belts (Tai Pi is actually a green tip but entered the tournament as a green belt) but somehow ended up facing an 11 year old. Despite that, Tai Pi was full of courage and stood her ground and tried her best to execute some kicks. But because of the big height (and leg length) difference, her opponent easily kicked her over and over and with such force that Tai Pi literally flew up with each kick. Still, Tai Pi managed to maintain her balance and didn't fall to the ground nor did she retreat. Half a minute into the match, Tai Pi's coach stopped the match to keep Tai Pi from being kicked to a pulp. After that, Tai Pi cried in pain for about 10 minutes. I thought she was just psychologically traumatised but she was in real physical pain having had the wind knocked out of her. But she was fine after a while and was very pleased to receive the silver trophy which I think she fully deserved for her bravery. In fact. the overaged girl should have been disqualified and the gold given to Tai Pi!!!

We hosted our first sleepover. We had the usual gang over for Christmas and the kids stayed the night and walked to Taekwondo class the next morning. The girls received all the Christmas gifts they wanted and the fun continued till New Year's Day when they went bowling with their friends. I think it is really clever how bowling alleys now have bumpers so that when kids (or adults!) bowl, the ball doesn't go into the gutter. But even that doesn't always help. Watch the video of Pumpkin and see how she doesn't let the bumpers get in her way.

After the year end festivities, it was back to school for the girls. While some other kids might have been dreading it, Tai Pi and Pumpkin were really excited. For Pumpkin, this was especially so since she was entering primary one. I think I'm the one dreading the new school term, what with having to keep an eye on their school work, and now not just one but two of them! argh!!! Other than that, I think it's going to be a very good 2007 as we settle into our new home and enjoy this lovely neighbourhood. Happy New Year 2007 everybody!!!

My Specialty

2006-11-25T07:49:00.000+08:00

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:

********

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

2006-11-16T21:46:00.001+08:00

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

2006-11-16T20:30:00.001+08:00

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

2006-11-16T19:52:00.001+08:00

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

2006-11-16T19:19:00.002+08:00

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

2006-11-06T22:07:00.001+08:00

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?

What have we been up to?

2006-10-01T20:42:00.001+08:00

A friend of mine learnt from a child psychologist that it is not a good idea to leave a child studying in the room while the rest of the family does something more fun, like watch TV. It seems obvious but yet I realise that this is exactly what we have been subjecting Tai Pi to - telling her to do her work while her sisters play computer games or watch cartoon. So it appears that not only does misery love company, it NEEDS company. And now as Tai Pi's final exams loom near, I will have to see that she prepares for them, and I have to somehow get the other two to engage in activities where they do not look like they are having too much fun. We'll see how that turns out.

I've told Tai Pi that she is to revise her work for the exams starting tomorrow so today was her last study-free day. After Taekwondo, we went to view The Art of Cartier exhibition at the museum. Cartier classics such as the Panther Brooch and Tutti Frutti Necklace were on display. They were really breath-taking and the girls went "wow" at all the pieces. I told Tai Pi, the aspiring jewelry designer, that she should create exquisite and expensive jewelry instead of the cheap mass market types. She doesn't seem to get it, still prefering to create items that are affordable; it may be that I have turned the word "expensive" into something bad - "Mummy, can you buy that for me?" "It's too expensive!" "Mummy, I got this for $1." "So expensive!".

The weekends before this, the girls have been having enough fun I believe to last them till Tai Pi's exams are over. Just last week, to celebrate Ron's birthday, the kids went to Snow City. They had wanted to go to Snow City for the longest time. I was curious about the place too, imagining a winter wonderland. But it turned out to be just an oversized freezer compartment with a faulty defrost function. And just getting ready was so draining - getting the girls (and myself) into the jackets, boots, gloves, arrgh!!! But it was pretty fun I must say, sliding down the slope although we got our butts wet and Pumpkin got so cold towards the end that she declared that she would not come to Snow City again. After Snow City, we went to Palawan Beach at Sentosa. As much as I dislike the artificiality of Sentosa, I do like it that I feel like a tourist whenever I go there.

Last Friday was Tai Pi's Sports Day which for the lower primary levels is more of a telematch. Tai Pi took part in two events with some classmates and won a bronze in one of the events. She was so happy, she has been sleeping with her trophy since. Great job Tai Pi!

Fear Factor Birthday Party

2006-09-04T23:06:00.002+08:00

After weeks of planning, the big day was finally here - Tai Pi's Fear Factor Birthday Party! Tai Pi has always been quite adventurous and game for most things, and she likes watching Fear Factor, so I thought it would be fun for her to have a Fear Factor party for her 8th birthday. I didn't want to make the games too scary as most of the kids were pre-schoolers. Ok, so the Fear Factor Happy Meal was a bit too much for some of the kids to stomach. One of the little girls gagged on the hamster brain and spat it out but the older ones happily lapped up the eyeballs (lychee stuffed with chocolate buttons), the dog poo (marshmellow coated with chocolate), hamster brains (marshmellow coated with cordial), dirty worms (gummy worms covered in crushed Oreos) and drank up the pig's blood (cordial).

The other games were not so gross. There was pin-the-spider-on-the-web where they had to pin a spider as close to the centre of the web as possible (Pumpkin hit the bull's eye!). There was burst-the-balloons and a game involving sticking their arms into icy cold water to scoop out marbles from the bottom of a container.

But the best game of all was the final challenge, also the scariest, or so I thought. The kids had to stick their hands into a tank to retrieve some rubber frogs. The catch was that there were some thirty crickets crawling about in the tank. There was much apprehension and for a while I thought no one would take on the dare till finally Brain, in a grand show of courage, stuck his hand into the tank and pulled out nine rubber frogs in the given time. After that, more and more of the kids found the courage to do the same. Tai Pi cried at first but I said to her "it's all in your mind" and she overcame her fear and pulled out ten frogs and emerged the winner of the game. Before long, even the little ones like Sai Pi were reaching into the cricket tank. If nothing else, the party will be remembered for taking away any cricket phobia the kids had!

Later, the kids had a whack at a monster pinata and cake after that. It was definitely the best birthday party ever for Tai Pi and I had fun putting it together too. Happy Birthday Tai Pi!!!

Why you should never leave a shaver in the shower

2006-08-03T21:52:00.002+08:00

You would think that as an experienced mother of three, I'd know better than to leave a shaver in the shower. Well, technically speaking, it was not ME who left it there. KK has a habit of shaving in the shower so he leaves his shaver there and that has never been a problem until yesterday.

I was having dinner with the girls when suddenly I noticed that Pumpkin's right eyebrow looked odd. At first I thought it was just the light bouncing off her brow bone but when I had a closer look, OMG her eyebrow was gone!!! There was still some part of it left, but quite a chunk of it was missing. When I told her that her eyebrow was gone, she started crying and pulling at her fringe to cover her brows. I tried to find out how she lost her brow but she refused to tell me. I suspected that she shaved it while she was showering just before dinnertime but she would not admit it, claiming that her brow dropped off by itself.

Later that night, I interrogated her again.

Me: What happened to your eyebrow? Can you tell me the truth?

Pumpkin: I haven't decided whether I want to tell you the truth. When will my eyebrow grow back?

Me: When you tell the truth!!!

Today in school, her teacher noticed her missing brow and asked her about it but she simply changed the subject. We did finally have our suspicion confirmed in the evening when she decided to come clean and admitted that she played with KK's shaver, using it to brush her face and shaved off her eyebrow without realising it.

So if you're wondering where to leave your shaver, whatever you do, don't leave it alone in the shower with a six-year-old!!!

We are Pretty Cure!

2006-07-29T16:46:00.001+08:00

We are having Pretty Cure live performances in our home earlier than expected because KK said to me that it holding back Tai Pi's birthday present may not be such a good idea. Afterall, we expect her to take good care of her school socks and shoes not just till her birthday but after that as well so why keep the girls waiting for Tai Pi's Cure White costume. So I got Tai Pi the costume and a Card Commune (now I realise the handphone thing is known as a Card Commune) thinking that the girls could share Tai Pi's Card Commune and Pumpkin's Rainbow Bracelet. But Pumpkin now whines incessantly about not having her own Card Commune, apparently the accessory they need to unleash their power (why didn't you say so earlier Pumpkin?!!). So I've told her to get herself a Card Commune with her own savings. And now she wants the Card Commune holder as well. This Pretty Cure craze is going to bleed us dry!!!

Don't mess with Sai Pi

2006-07-28T21:10:00.001+08:00

I remember when Tai Pi was in kindergarten, she got into a catfight with a classmate over a sweet and ended up with a long scratch on her face. Pumpkin, on the other hand, has survived more than 3 years of pre-school without injury and is not known to have caused bodily harm to any of her classmates. And then there is Sai Pi....

Two days back, I was on my way to a company function in the evening when I got a call from KK telling me that Sai Pi had punched one of her classmates earlier in the day. The boy ended up with a swollen eye that had to be treated with ice. Apparently the boy tried to snatch a block from Sai Pi and she gave him the block....in the eye. When I got home, I spoke to Sai Pi and tried to find out if she really did hit her classmate.

Me: Did you hit Justin with a block?

Sai Pi: No.

Me: [whew]

Sai Pi: I use my hand [demonstrates a punching action].

Well, he did try to snatch the block from her....

Black thunder!!!

2006-07-24T20:58:00.001+08:00

Every generation of kids has its own favourite superheros, some with more staying power than others. The only kids' targeted superhero I remember from my time is Ultraman. Strangely, there were more superhero shows targeted at adults at that time, such as Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman and Green Hornet. Over time, there has gotten to be more and more TV programmes for children and with that, more and more character merchandise. I've told Tai Pi that this is all a ploy that manufacturers use to make money from consumers, creating cartoon characters in order to sell merchandise. And now I am a victim myself.

After weeks of eyeing the Pretty Cure merchandise at the store, Pumpkin has now got an early birthday present from me - a Pretty Cure costume and a Pretty Cure Rainbow Bracelet. Pumpkin is Cure Black, one half of Pretty Cure, who yells "Black thunder" when she unleashes her power. The other member of Pretty Cure is Cure White who yells "White thunder" (what else?) and is played by Tai Pi (at least in our home).

The merchandise is not cheap. Those two items cost me $100. And there's lots more Pretty Cure accessories they "need" - handphone, handphone pouch, card commune, etc. I'll be another $100 poorer next month when I get Tai Pi her Cure White costume and Rainbow Bracelet for her birthday. But this is only if she doesn't lose any more of her school socks and shoes. She had to dig into her savings to buy some school socks and shoes a while back to replace the ones she lost. I've warned her that if she loses any more of them, I'm getting her socks and shoes for her birthday. She's worried and so is Pumpkin. If Tai Pi doesn't get the Cure White costume, Cure Black will be without her partner. Pumpkin reminds Tai Pi everyday to take care of her socks and shoes. Will Cure White join Cure Black in the fight against the evil forces? Stay tuned to find out.

Dear Mummy

2006-07-21T21:36:00.001+08:00

I like you very much. You always read us stories and draw for us. I also like your drawing. Your voise is sweet and woderful. But daddy is not sweet because he always funt and burb. And he doen'st say "excuse me" But he is nice because he likes kissing us.

Yous truely
Tai Pi

2nd Grading

2006-07-17T20:43:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, Tai Pi and Pumpkin took the grading test to obtain the Yellow Belt. As is becoming the routine, they had a sleepover the night before, kindly hosted once again by Auntie D who was ambitious enough to even prepare a BBQ. I was in KL for work but came back in time to savour Auntie D's fabulous kebabs and to see Shing get a scolding for yelling at Pumpkin who had accidentally knocked his drink down, the boys being made to dive into the pool to retrieve pebbles they had thrown into the pool, and the (accidental) smashing of one of Auntie D's potted plants. Gee, I can't wait for my turn to host a sleepover....

Paint the town brown

2006-07-11T22:25:00.000+08:00

I mentioned in my previous post that there was a gathering of a group of people dressed in brown in support of Mr Brown, the humour columnist who had his column suspended because the Gahmen took offense with his article "Singaporeans are fed up with progress". Well, over lunch today, some colleagues and I decided we too would wear brown in a show of support for Mr Brown.

Then just this evening, I read in Singabloodypore about the Brown Freedom Movement which involves wearing brown and looking out for others similarly dressed and calling out some kind of code. The movement will go on till National Day. So I'm getting out all my brown clothes and fortunately I do like to wear brown so I have quite a number of brown pieces, and I'll be trying my best to go brown between now till National Day. If you believe in the cause, join the movement too and let's paint the town brown!!!

Last week's news

2006-07-10T20:26:00.001+08:00

Before I get caught up with the happenings this week, I thought I would reflect on some news from last week that caught my attention. No sorry, not the World Cup. Didn't quite follow the World Cup this time. Congratulations to the Italians though.

Newsy news #1:

You know how I detest lavish show-off weddings. Well, this one takes the (wedding) cake!!! A $10m Indian wedding in Singapore between the only son of a Calcutta millionaire and the eldest daughter of a couple that runs a worldwide steel supply chain. The wedding took place at the Ritz Carlton where the groom arrived on a white horse and 300 guests were flown in from India and stayed at the hotel courtesy of the bride's family. The bride's mother said that she had been setting aside money for the past 10 years for the wedding so that they would not end up having to pull together the money at the last minute. I hope she also saved enough to pay for the wedding of her other daughter.

So anyway, I was reading about this wedding and wondering how on earth it was possible to spend $10m on a wedding. And of course I was thinking what a waste of money it was... oh how sinful... blah blah. And then I realised that hey these are the people that stimulate our economy!!! Because they spend, people have jobs, incomes, money to spend.... yes I almost forgot - money makes the world go round. We should be thankful for these rich people and their free-spending ways. In fact I think it is their social responsibility to spend money and not hoard it. This is what you call redistribution of wealth.

Newsy news #2:

This 2nd piece of news also involves money. Two months' earnings to be precise, that a fresh graduate of the Singapore Management University, Darren Lim is giving away to a scholarship named after his parents. This nice boy just started work and wanted to give his parents something special and also wanted to thank his university and hence the scholarship worth $4,500 which is about two months of his salary. And he will be supporting the scholarship every year for an indefinite period of time. I imagine that most fresh graduates would be happily spending their first pay check on themselves thinking they deserved it having studied so hard all those years and here you have this nice boy who gives his first pay check to a good cause and in his parents' name. His parents must be so proud of him!!!

Also in the news:

This last piece of news I found most troubling. The fact that it didn't feature very much in the news made it doubly so. A Today columnist who goes by the moniker Mr Brown had his column suspended by Today editors. The editors didn't want to comment on their action but it was in relation to an article that Mr Brown (his real name is Lee Kin Mun) had written about Singaporeans being "fed up with progress". The article was written in his typical satirical style. Unfortunately, the Gahmen did not take too kindly to it and got one of their guys to write a letter to the newspaper's Forum page chastising Mr Brown and boy they really didn't mince their words. And we are not talking about a trouble-maker here. Mr Brown's column is meant to be a humorous and light-hearted take on Singapore life. His other pet topic is his family, particularly his autistic eldest daughter. If this is the Gahmen's attitude towards a humour columnist, imagine what they would do to more serious writers.

So of course the Gahmen linked newspaper I suppose had no choice but to show their support for the Gahmen and perhaps it was also their way of apologising for allowing the article to be published in the first place. While there has been a strong show of support for Mr Brown online, there's hardly anything about it in the papers and no letters from readers. No prizes for guessing why this is so. But at least they did report in today's papers that a group of people gathered outside City Hall MRT wearing brown T-shirts to show their support for Mr Brown. They were just gathered there, no chanting, not carrying any placards or anything, and yet the police said "they are looking into it". Crime rate in Singapore too low izzit?!! Nothing better to do than to investigate a bunch of people dressed in brown!!! It really is a wonder how Singapore could be a first world country and yet still be in the dark ages as far as some basic freedoms are concerned. When will our people be truly free?

Phuket....again

2006-07-05T20:46:00.001+08:00

This is long overdue but better late than never.

We got back from a short holiday in Phuket a few weeks back. It was the girls' second trip to Phuket in as many years. This time we went in a bigger group - 4 couples, 2 maids and 11 kids. We stayed at Holiday Inn where we had the Family Suite which is a standard room with an adjoining kid's room. The girls were absolutely thrilled with their room (and I was too) - it was a Treasure Island room with pirate ship beds, X-Box, DVDs.... and even the peep hole was child height. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the room in the daytime so I only have lousy dark photos of it.

The hotel was near the girls' favourite beach - Patong which I don't think is great as the water is not clear but they just enjoy playing in the sand and having the waves crash on them. We did our nails on the beach and the girls also had their hair braided; it seems de rigueur for little girls to return from a holiday in Phuket with beads in their hair.

Unfortunately we didn't go jet skiing this time round. On our last trip, I brought Tai Pi out on a jet ski and she loved it. Pumpkin didn't want to try it as she was afraid she would fall off the jet ski "and the sharks will get me". She decided to give it a go this time but we didn't get round to it.

All too soon our holiday was over and I didn't even get a decent massage (the pathetic nudging and squeezing I got from the massage lady on Patong Beach doesn't count).

To anyone planning a Phuket trip, don't go to Khai Island and don't dine at Sabai Sabai Restaurant!!!
Khai Island is heavily promoted by tour agents in Phuket but I thought the place was quite pathetic - just a litttle stump of land, very hot because there are no trees lining the beach, lots of rocks along the shore, dead coral. We didn't go to any other islands so I can't say if there is some place better than Khai Island but I don't imagine they could be worse.
As for Sabai Sabai Restaurant, the lady there was grumbling and giving us such dirty looks when she saw that we had so many kids with us, we walked out of there.

I think I'm going to give Phuket a rest for now and consider Bali for our next beach holiday. In the meantime, here are some pics of our trip.

News in Brief

2006-06-20T21:43:00.002+08:00

Just got back from our holiday in Phuket. More on the trip when I have time to upload the photos into the computer. In the meantime, here's some news in brief:

Finally did the unthinkable and got a tutor to help Tai Pi with Chinese. What's good is that I don't have to worry so much about her Chinese anymore and no more feeling guilty about doing nothing. It's always the easiest way out - just pay for someone else to do the job for you.

Less than one week left of the school holidays and Tai Pi has not finished her homework, and not like she has much homework to begin with.

Oh and happy birthday to Kong Kong and Mama no.2!!!

Little Miss Fairy Tale

2006-06-04T21:58:00.001+08:00

"It's the happiest day of my life!" declared Tai Pi today. She and Pumpkin have performed many times before at various school concerts but this was the first time in their lives they were giving individual performances. Taking part in the Little Miss Fairy Tale at the club's annual carnival, Tai Pi sang Trouble Sleeping by Corinne Bailey Rae - a very adult song and not quite the typical karaoke tune but she likes it and she does sing it pretty well. Pumpkin did a dance which she performed with her friends at her last school concert. They won consolation prizes for their effort and were very happy with their presents. Well done Tai Pi and Pumpkin!

Name game

2006-05-29T21:39:00.001+08:00

You know how some housing estates get named after the road or area where they are located or they get named for their views. The condo where we live is named after a tree, pinetrees to be specific, and indeed you will find pinetrees on the estate grounds. Yesterday as we were driving off to Taekwondo class, I asked the girls how they think our estate got its name.

Tai Pi: Because there are many pinetrees. They didn't notice at first. Then when they were building the houses, they saw the pinetrees so they decided to name the place after the trees.

Me: You think the pinetrees were here first?

Pumpkin: They built the houses first and then they dig a hole and plant a little pine seed and put a bit of water and then grow grow grow into pinetrees. They look at the pinetrees and they said I think I will name this place Pinesville [that's not the name of our estate but Pumpkin keeps confusing it with Townsville where the PowerPuff Girls live].

Tai Pi is adamant that she is right, and well, it does make sense to name a place after the trees you see in the area. But Pines are not native to Singapore so most likely Pumpkin is right in saying that the trees were not already here. I guess we can't always name housing estates after what we see there before the place is built. If not, we would have condos like Swamp Gardens, Muddy Mansions, Kampong Tower and Mosquito Lodge. Don't think those would sell very well.

Time to panic?

2006-05-24T20:30:00.001+08:00

Thank goodness I'm a bochap parent. Because if I were a kiasu parent, I surely would have suffered a heart attack today when Tai Pi showed me her mid year results. Just 6 months ago, she was graded Band 1 for English and Chinese, and Band 2 for Math. And now? Band 2 for English and Math, and Band 4 for Chinese!!! Band 4!!! I think that means she flunked Chinese. And she didn't do so well in English either, although she's actually pretty strong in English.

Me: Do you know Malay or Indian?

Tai Pi: No.

Me: Well, you're no good in Chinese and your English is also not so good now. So you know some other language or what?!!

Sigh... I'm not surprised really. Her results are very much reflective of the amount of effort we have put in. I guess you reap what you sow. What Tai Pi lacks is discipline and what's worse is that I'm also lacking in discipline!!! Although she has a home timetable, she doesn't follow it and I don't bother to enforce it. Nearing the exams, KK and I did get her to do some Math practice papers, but I dreaded it because once she was done, I had to mark them and then she had to do the corrections and then I had to check her corrections and then she had to do corrections on the corrections and then I had to.....what a pain.

I did try something easier, something requiring less effort on my part. I resorted to threats.

Me: If you do badly in Math, I'm going to have to get you a tutor and I can't afford to get a tutor so I'm going to have to cancel your Taekwondo class and use the money for a Math tutor and you will be a yellow tip belt forever.

Tai Pi: Nooooooo.......

It didn't help that we only had some idea of how badly she was doing in Chinese just a couple of weeks before the exams. Great. Now I have to worry about her Math AND Chinese. We knew her Chinese was rotten but she somehow still managed a Band 1 last year so how bad could it get, we thought. Then just before the exams, we were told by her teacher that she had to attend a weekly remedial class for Chinese. The others at the class have a good excuse for their poor standard of Chinese - one is European, another is a girl with an Indian name who claims to be Taiwanese, couple of Indonesians, etc. You know it's bad news when you get grouped with this bunch for Chinese remedial.

So now I'm thinking I really really have to instill some discipline into Tai Pi and myself or face the prospect of all her grades sliding to Band 4 by year's end. We'll start tomorrow. Or maybe day after.... or day after.....