(2008/07) July 2008

LOL to blowing bubblegum! Dana is a lovely name!
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Was she still in the waterbag when she came out?
 


youpi,
No, she wasn't in the waterbag when she came out. Doc burst the waterbag. It would have been a lovely experience to have her come out in the waterbag ya? Wonder about the need to burst the waterbag since she was already on the way out. Should have asked, but then again, I wasn't in the right frame of mind to ask. My only thoughts were: Get Her Out Already!!
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bbp
wow u r amazing! u did it without epi twice! and your birth was pretty fast! haha can have one more kid liao. :p

she is a good weight! jx was only 2.8kg when born.
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she looks really cute from the pics u posted. very pretty!

is declan taking well to his little sis?

PB
congrats!!!will go and vote!
 
PB,
Congrats! I wanted to vote, then realised I must sign up. Grrr. I'll try it again in a little while.

SY,
Close shop already!!! Mr bbp keep asking me, "So how? 3rd one ok?" I just either ignore him or stare daggers at him.
Thank you thank you, but you know the thing about FB is, we always only upload the cutest pics. Lol.
Declan is taking it very well. He wants to carry her, pats her and generally likes to be near her. And I guess it's impossible to ask him to pipe down the volume when he's sleeping so she just has to get used to it. After all, there is the renovation noise that she has to get used to as well.
 
Thanks PB... Now I have another task to help pass time when my little one comes up to the bar for a drink!

BBP: ironic that I have a baby who's a very light sleeper, a dog who must have the loudest say (woof!), construction all around us and yes, a boy who bounces off the walls at home and has no idea what SOFT VOICE means... Even his footsteps sound 100x louder then ours! So welcome to the club... Hope Dana is not a light sleeper too
 
Thanks ladies! I'm very excited :D

Calla is a light sleeper too. Poppy on the other hand, can sleep through construction, doors and drawers opening and closing etc. -_- and of course, we have been telling poppy to speak into soft voices in small spaces but does she get it? Hey, it's poppy. Poppy dont do soft

Bbp!
"Eh can let my wound heal first or not?" Is what I would say!
 
Mr DD knows someone has to come up with some fancy science to enable men to have babies cos there ain't no baby comin' outa me no more! LOL

BTW... Does anyone know where I can get a Spider-Man cake that's not 3D nor fondant? Goodness knows why my dear little one wants one when I barely see him play or talk about Spider-Man! 2nd alternative equally tough: teenage mutant ninja turtles!
 
dd,
So far, Dana has proved to be able to sleep through noisy reno and noisy brother. I hope it continues.
What is not 3D nor fondant? Cake toppers on normal cakes then?

PB,
No... that woud mean there's a chance for a 3rd. I'm very certain that I've closed shop.
 
Yah cake toppers! Cheaper too! Just get plain cake and then the toppers on them :D

So think year we are going to montreal in June instead of December. Which means I will have to plan Poppy's party which will be in sg, while not in sg. No stress, no stress at all. Nope. Not a bit. Zero. No problem.

Argh!!!
 
Pb, come on. Any party you plan will be awesome. Even a chill hangout session. Cos kids just need other kids to create havoc with and that's considered fun to them!
 
RARR!

I realised that when I wake up to get the boy ready for school, the father becomes even slower (and I didn't think that was physically possible).

I mean, how long does it take for a kid to wear his school uniform, and this is with adult supervision! Oh, ok, maybe I overstretched the adult part because I forgot I left the father up there to supervise.

So incredibly pissed that I still have a whole load of angst to vent and scold... but there's nobody at home. DAMMIT!
 
hello!!! *big wave*

hey, is anyone interested in a logico primo set for their little ones? probably more suitable for the younger siblings now, not so much for our K1 kids.

http://www.grolier-asia.com/products/logico/features/

i've got the logico primo, it's brand new, we opened up and took a look mb 2 or 3 times. then i moved and i forgot about it in the box :p

if any of you want it, pm me asap k. else i will offer it out on the WTG thread.

oh congrats bbp! and DD! anyone else had babies and i missed it? :D
 
oh gosh i wanna outsource mandarin education too!!!!

parents teacher meeting in school , chinese teacher said to me in chinese, " i have nothing to say to you about your child. she doesn't speak chinese and doesn't always understand what i'm saying."

-_- how depressing is that.
 
Cellow,
Thanks!
Yeah, so I continued the rant via whatsapp and told him that he needs to buck up in the morning and not be so slow. So today, he was at Level 1 a lot earlier but I had to chase him out of the house becos he was still chatting with his dad when everyone was already in the car!?!

dustee,
Hello hello! Thanks for the congrats!
And the chinese teacher... not a very nice teacher right? I mean, she could have said stuff like she doesn't speak chinese and you need to enourage her maybe by doing this and that.
Berries? It's apparently the go-to for chinese help.
 
dustee, hello!
do you speak mandarin to pomfret at all? does anyone speak mandarin to pomfret..... berries K1 level is way beyond anything i rem doing in kindy, K1 or K2. C1 is going to Berries now. but what helps the most is the new school's Chinese teacher recognising that he lives in an english-speaking home in a predominantly english-speaking environment, then tailoring his education appropriately.

C1 comes back and draws (he says draw, really means write) chinese characters for me.... a vast improvement from last year!!
 
cellow
no. i am guilty of not speaking chinese to her. and mr dustee cannot make it. he didn't even understand what the chinese teacher was saying -_-

i do think berries is too advanced for her! yikes.
 
dustee
*waves* long time no see! it's not too late. just keep trying to speak to her in mandarin. i'm sure you will manage to find a suitable class for her in berries. they cater to all kinds of standards, no? eek, the teacher really needs to work on her EQ!

bbp
ha. tell me about it.
 
dustee,
yeah, i was under the impression that they have classes that cater to all levels. pomfret definitely cant make it for the k1 level... how about the nursery levels?
 
Dustee,
Hello! Gosh that teacher believes in tough love huh? Berries is less 'xiong' and more fun than the other Chinese enrichment places like Tian Hsia, Eduplus etc. So it's a good place to start. Pomfret can join the nursery class if K1 is too advanced. Or you could try those that also cater to the expat market, like Little Mandarins, Bibinogs, Chengzhu and Hanyu Kids - I think. But best to speak in Mandarin to her lah. It gets easier as the days go by, xi guan cheng zi ran
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Youpi
You know, I was so impressed that you spoke 100% to L in mandarin that I vowed to do it with Calla. Guess what? I think I do it about 70%, and she's responding! Her first word was beng4! (Jump) and when I ask her things in mandarin she responses too. Yippee! Xie xie ni de zhu yi!
 
bbp
it is super possible for the husbands to be slower than the kid. mine is always slower than 3 of us combined!!!! and he still doesn't realise it after so many years!!

Dana is a good gal! sleeping thru all the noise. jx used to be a light sleeper but now is cmopletely opposite. cannot wake her up at times haha

cellow
hee u r happy with GB right? i told my sis and she said she going to send her boy there next time.
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i feel that jh has a much easier time cos he went to GB. jx not so fortunate but lucky she sees the brother doing hw and will volunteer to do.

jh did pretty well for his semester 1. of cos i think most ppl will expect them to do well still in p1 haha. my hb asked him why no full marks! i told him cannot expect that nowadays as education is different and assessment is holistic. jh got full marks for chinese which we all are surprised. so lots of credit to GB!
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re chinese
must really speak and read to them in chinese. it helps a lot. and use word cards too. it helps in word recognition. once u start talking to them in chinese, u will notice improvement. sing songs also. it helps them to practice the tongue movements as well. jx's chinese is pretty good cos she has the interest (thankfully) and she will ask to speak in chinese and read chinese books. in fact i told jh if his chinese ever falls behind jx he is going to get it from me haha. cos he resists reading chinese.

so far sch has been quite relaxed for him. few tests and little hw...haha....keeping fingers crossed that it stays that way for rest of the year!
 
sy,
yep i m VERY happy with GB. their teaching methods dovetail nicely with the internal drive theory of motivation.... that the children need to be motivated to learn for THEMSELVES. learning is for them, not mama, not papa, not teacher, no one else but themselves. i see that C1's interest in learning has been ignited bcz hey competence builds confidence, and confidence means more motivation to expand the learning boundaries, which build more competence. a virtuous cycle.

chinese
i wanted to blog abt this but no time, so just pen some initial thoughts here. no matter how anglicised we think we are, pple of another skin colour still view us as asian. i have had the privilege of being in chinese-speaking schools from p school to JC.... chinese was forced onto me to a certain extent. yep, chinese pop from HK helped too
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bilingualism opens another world of thinking, of being to me. if i m to learn another language besides English (nec for work), it might as well be the language of my ancestors.

pb,
i was inspired by youpi too, and spoke mostly to C2 in mandarin for his first year. then work caught up with me - personally i find it easier to talk in english - and the chinese speaking faded away. C2 understands a lot more mandarin than C1 does (but he will reply to me in English now - sigh).
 
Chinese learning
These days, L wants to speak in English so we are more bilingual than 100% Mandarin. I think he has internalised Mandarin and is trying to catch up on English now. His standard of Mandarin is not a strong as I'd like it to be, but can't blame him lah, since he had to learn from me and mine is the pits. However, I believe the early start has helped him to become very familiar and comfortable with the language. No regrets turning myself into a cheena mama!
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Wow! you guys are very dedicated in drilling in the Chinese! I am ashamed! I only revise berries with them once or twice a week and that is already draining me.. But Wuffy can understand and read better now.. I saw him teaching his little sister Chinese too!

Dustee, you can send promfet to the N1 classes of BErries.. Wuffy is repeating his N1 as he cannot make it to K2 with his poor foundation. This year can see a marked improvement in his Chinese recognition skills...

Now I have to teach him to read his ENGLISH! I was so fixated on his Maths and Chinese that I forgot to teach him English.... cham...FTWM, at night so limited time.....
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bbp, Dana is such a sweet name! Uncomplicated and simple! Congrats once again!
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So we're in Montreal now, right? And poppy was playing 'go fish' with her grandma and guess what? She tried to teach her French speaking grandma Chinese by asking for cards in mandarin! Then she revised with the grandma 1-10 haha. So funny.
 
Chinese:
As much as I sometimes dislike/hate staying with my inlaws (especially with the addition of the new baby and my mil loves to call her in a high pitched voice like 20 times a day which irritates the hell out of me), I recognise how much they have done for declan and his standard of Chinese.

Batgirl,
You're also super hardworking! Going through English and maths works already! I'm just occasionally just asking Dec random questions and now with Dana's appearance, questions get even lesser. :-(

Pb,
Will her French speaking grandma get offended?

OK. Time for breakfast! Adios!
 
bbp,

K1 has homework, enrichment class has homework, so bo bian, have to coach...else i get hauled up to meet the teachers. nowadays.......hiaz......
 
bbp
why offended? i think it's quite funny. she thought so too

your inlaws indeed are very ON with declan! and i agree with you, ever since calla,s arrival, my learning efforts with poppy have dropped too! i'm always playing catch up!
 
batgirl,
pat pat. i forgot to teach C1 english too. now he is reading chinese books (simple ones) but still.... WHOA, what a great achievement.
... but he is not reading English books. wanna faint. he is still in the process of blending words. if i spell c-a-k-e (i spelled it out to tell Mr C there is cake in the fridge so that the boys wont hear), he is able to process the separate sounds and blend them into a word.
in this case, no, C1 din get any cake.

haze
oh gosh! the haze. both boys are coughing. still quite mild thank God.
 
Cellow
What is the name of the childcare that C1 goes to now? The same one that SY's Jh used to go to, the Montessori one. Could you email/text/PM me the name please? My friend is looking for a reputable one in the East and I'd like to recommend this place. Thank you!
 
Batgirl,
Wah! So much hw! Up to date, we only got 4 pages of Chinese writing to do.

Pb,
Nothing lar. It's just the side effects of living in a big group. I become a lot more wary about the things I say and do.

Cellow,
I used to spell too but now we talk in dialect cos declan can guess the word using the content of the conversation. Which is good for me cos it makes practice my dialect.
 
re hw
ever since jx switched to this current childcare, she has no hw!!! it is great man haha..

youpi,
that one is a pre-sch. not childcare, is your fren ok with that? or is she looking for childcare specifically?

bbp
i do agree that with grandparents the kids speak chinese much much better! my kids switch to chinese automatically with the grandparents!

share something funny

jx's birthday is next week and she has been making grand plans! planned for cake, goodie bags and even right down to what she is going to wear! my little gal is growing up!!
 
SY
Oh, thanks for the clarification. My friend is looking for childcare. Which would you recommend in the East Coast area?

Little ones growing up
Girls do mature earlier than boys, don't they? Mine is still like a baby. I am just enjoying it now 'cos I don't think it will last very much longer.

Haze
Is it affecting you all? I lost my voice!
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Youpi,
I was just thinking the same; that girls mature faster than boys. All the parties that dec has attended are for the girls and he seems to be oblivious to preparing for birthdays and such; which I'm extremely grateful for!
But he seems to have matured overnight with the addition of the new baby. Mr bbp and I look at him and wonder how he suddenly grew so big.
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Haze:
It's making me really thirsty but voice is still manageable so far. I've also been hiding in the aircon room due to the feeding of the messy baby.
 
youpi,
C1 used to be at LSH Mountbatten Square. Tis definitely affordable but tis no Montessori ie group learning, classroom style.
He learnt his self-care skills there though, and toilet training too. If your fren wants a CC with acad focus... then LSH is only ok. We can talk more via Whatsapp / SMS if you want.

Birthdays
C1 wants a Mickey Mouse cake. He has ok-ed my choice of toothpaste for gifts to his classmates. He also wants a pinata - one for sweets and one for the toothpaste. I said yes to the first 2, and no way to the pinata
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....
How does he know what a pinata is? Well, one of his classmates' mommy spoil mkt by bringing one in for the bday. That was 2 months ago. C1 is still talking abt it. The whacking of the pinata and having all the sweets spilling out must have left a deep impression........

Haze
Eyes are teary. Voice is croaky. Well, I console myself that SG has only a few days / weeks / months of haze whereas China has it 365 days a year. Where do the Chinese children go and play outdoors?
 
Latest psi reading at 290!! The smell is giving me headaches and I feel like I'm in jail, cos we lock ourselves in the bedroom with the air conditioning and purifier on whole day
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Yayy... You got air cond allowance now daph... Anything goes after confinement is over ah? Messy baby?
 
Birthdays
Last year S wanted a BIG party. He wanted to invite all his classmates to a playgym, like the Safra one. This is out of the question as it's too expensive for us. I told him that we could do this party only if we did not go on holiday. It was one or the other, we did not have the budget to do both. He chose to go on holiday, haha. But we still had the family celebrations for him lah.

Cellow
Thanks! Dunno what friend wants yet. The kid is only two.
 
youpi
what is the budget that your fren has? i think there are good ones but depends on budget.

re haze
i have been coughing n having runny nose! partly due to HK.....

daph
yah i find gals more mature! jx really knows her limits. like when she is coughing she knows she shd not take things like chocolate cake, biscuits, cold drinks etc and she will auto not take those even if in front of her. much much easier to manage. and she knows during shopping what she cannot buy. and she is contented with little things. unlike jh who wants to pick the biggest lego box all the time! but of cos as she grows older she knows how to compare. like why jh gets to buy 2 boxes of lego and she only bought 1 and actually hers is really tiny! but she din really fuss too much.
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Birthdays:
I love it that Dec can go attend other parties with fancy stuff and everything, but doesn't come back and ask for stuff. Well, maybe eventually he will, but I'm enjoying it as long as it lasts. Oh, but he does ask for holidays like when are we going HK Disneyland again and when we are going Perth again, so maybe it's just a matter of priorities. Haha.

dd,
Messy baby? Well cos she unlatches when the flow gets too much for her and milk just sprays all over la. Or when she's tired and not so much hungry, she will sometimes suckle but not swallow, so the milk just gets redistributed to her cheeks and neck and our clothes lor. Messy enough?

Talking about Kindy, I'm so tempted to sign Dana up for St James, just to see what the waitlist is like (already). And to see the curriculum, just to see what the fuss is all about. :p

SY,
It's good that JX doesn't ask for things. It makes shopping (or at least window shopping) so much easier. Talking about shopping, I used to be able to window shop for ladies clothes. Now he just zooms past those and heads straight for the kids clothes section
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Oh, there was this time where he asked for Cars shoes which cost like 40+ dollars. I took 1 look at the price and said, "What?! I'm not going to pay 40+ dollars for a pair of shoes just because it has cartoon characters on it!" And that was the end of the conversation. Haha.

Happy Birthday to all our kiddos! Who's next?
 
priorities
C1 just asks for fans and more fans.
I found an equally weird kid who collects fans too. "thomas fan collection" on youtube. eventually I would be able to upload a youtube video called C1's fan collection. haha.

yoohooo! no haze this week. I m glad to see the blue skies.
 
Priorities
LOL! The one thing that has been repeatedly requested is *drumroll* a kitten! Yes, they value this over holidays and birthday celebrations. When I asked who would look after the kitten if we go on holiday? The reply was: "I will stay at home and look after the kitten, you all go on holiday."
 
BBP: ahh... How could I forget the mess when both Gwen and I are perpetually wearing milk scented clothes haha.. But lately its more drool than milk... Don't recall kor kor drooling that much and at this age too!

Cellow: you must show us c1's fan stash!

Youpi: so will you get them a little kitten?
 
Youpi
A kitten?! Wow. So unexpected. Particularly of boys!

BBp/dd
I remember thinking wah how come there is such a strong milk smell? Turns out what I was smelling was my own tee shirt.

Birthdays
This year was the first ever party that I deliberately planned for a one based one! So didn't need to worry about haze la, rain la... And of course, zero budget as always so everything was DIY

Yay glad that were back to clear skies!
 



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