(2008/07) July 2008


No idea. His school told us must wear leh.. Too lazy to go to queensway so we settled for a slightly big Adidas for $39.90 from sports link. Youpi..those at sports link look much better than the bata ones.. N if u plan to get two pairs, can save a bit too
 
what? bata shoes are so ex?! i remember them being like $10+ and the more atas ones like US master and converse slightly more! oh i remember those little mary janes we used to wear in pri school. so cute right?

seriously girls, with the sun setting at 430pm, can anyone blame me for feeling slightly depressed?
 
Youpi & DD
yup, the shop opened in Plaza Sing quite sometime ago..
its from Australia..
so signature me..
just that its not cheap..

bbp
i went shopping for xmas and totally wasted 2hrs walking around buyin nothin..
no idea..

Chugginton
ok, gonna take leave and bring kayden..
can kasper go on it too?
 
Smiggle
It's one ticket per child so you'd probably have to buy one for Kasper too. But you can go on it (and hold on to him over the belt straps) FOC.

Hyper kids
We went for a birthday celebration yesterday afternoon and the boys gorged on so much junk that they were super hyper, waking up multiple times at night. GUess who is panda-eyed today?
 
PB

really? that's the first time i saw that!
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we chose Talia because it's hebrew and it means "dew of heaven" and in the bible, dew of heaven is actually the grace of God. and Ann means grace as well, so her name means double portion of grace! heh!

Christmas pressie

got a big sylvanian house with some furnitures for Talia for her birthday so her Christmas pressies are all additional furnitures!

Thad's one not settled yet though. no ideas for mr D as well! :S
 
cellow
i think we pick our battles, some can give in, some cannot....

PB
actually i dun plan any xmas pressies for the kids too! and this year i also try to have some charity related work to it. me and a few close colleagues donated to WWF and got each other the animals we are adopting.

JH i m getting something extra to motivate him for swimming. i dun get toys or books. i have so much already! i m getting him an underwater camera!
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SY
that's so cool! good on you for doing some charity work for christmas. when the kids are older, maybe we can all join forces and go carolling together at childrens homes?

wow underwater camera! is it very ex?

hehe we visited a friend's house today and got some cool ideas re presents for poppy! MIL is going to babysit one day while BB and i go shopping!

PS (*&*"?%#*&%) it is 3,30am and i am still not awake. i go to bed, and sometimes, if i'm lucky, sleep for 2-3 hours, then wake up and toss and turn till 5am, then fall asleep :S help!!!
 
today on leave! C1's school had a holiday so I took the day off and headed to Orchard Road in the morning w him to run errands. wow he is heavy...

pb,
*gives you hammer to knock yourself out, but since you are preggers, tis only a sponge hammer* :p
what abt a christmas in July (since that coincides w our kiddo's birthdays) carolling? Children's homes at this time of the year seem to have far too many requests than they can handle.

sy,
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challenging

chugginton
C1 surprised me by referring to it by name and quite accurate pronunciation when he saw an ad in the newspapers last sat. hmm. classmates' influence, i reckon, since no one at home has introduced it to him.
 
DD
12 year old toys - Hmm I just based it for Ashley (she's 11). Depending on your budget:
1. Lego (those advanced ones with electronics) or Nanoblocks (like lego but very small. quite challenging to make) - I just bought one for Ashley at Robinsons. http://www.mynanoblock.com/site/
Here's another site which specialises in building blocks: http://www.toybrickstation.com/prodselect/index.php?index&sid=7b92e2be7522aa387242f65162313498
2. Tamiya modeling cars (the kinds of vehicles/race cars that they build and paint themselves)
3. Advanced 800-1000 pieces puzzles
4. Gundam modeling kits (similiar to Tamiya, but its a robot)
5. Remote helicopter/car toys(not those super expensive ones). This one even my hb plays!
6. Science kits (avail in Toys R Us)
7. Board games like Scrabble/Monopoly/Bananagrams?
8. Books
9. Seamonster kit? (my girl has been begging me for it) or Magic rock kit
10. Magnetic building blocks like Macformers (this one a bit hard to find); or Geomag
11. Angry bird game? This one retails at $39.90
 
PB
yeah it would be good to let the kids know how fortunate they are!!!

there was a groupon offer. i paid 98 for the camera i think....

DD
i also think lego should be good....or something science related....
 
Thanks SD, great ideas!! I got him this toy where he gets to assemble a toy robot who can even move when he connects the wires and puts batteries in... Hope he enjoys fixing it up

And thanks for the link too Youpi! Must share with friends
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mummies
sigh...good maids and me don't last long. current maid got problems at home and may need to go back. praying hard she can convince her bro to let her stay. if not our maid search starts again!!!!

any of your your kids sch has stomach flu cases? mine has and i m so tempted to pull them out cos we are going away this weekend. these parents are so inconsiderate!! i kept my kids at home on mon to make sure they are fully well but principal just informed that a few of the kids in school are not well yet. sigh....and 3 of them are in jx's class
 
*pat SY*

great link, youpi!

sd, i got the geomag for C1... it was on sale in robinsons event hall level 3 centrepoint. hmmm for 11-12 yos??... see how he takes to it then.
 
C1 changed class to N2 ystday. 30 students to 2 teachers!!!! which is strictly within the MCYS max of 1:15. i see how C1 is doing with such scant attention first..... hmm hmm hmmm.
 
i am back! and finally got time and energy to post! Work is killing me as well. hahaha

missysz, HK's weather now is perfect. Aircon condition, lowest abt 19 degC when i went. But really depends on the cold front. The previous week, the weather fell to 9 deg C. I went to Disneyland an Ocean Park. The renovated Ocean Park is very nice. The panda enclosures is now nearer and we had a good view of the pandas. So now I need not scramble to see the pandas at the Singapore Zoo!
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Other than these 2 places, I wanted to go to Lantau Island, but unfortunately, it is a bit too far for us, we stayed in HK Island Causeway Bay. it would take us abt an hour to reach there. So we just decided to nua in the hotel room. hehe

Chinese Kindergartens,

Anybody know of any chinese kindergarten? Last time we used to have PAP where we will be sent for chinese exposure. ANymore of these around huh? My son is turning into a pure breed potato!!!
 
Berries or tien hsia to the rescue? Had good fun?
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heard latest craze is Noah's ark but from the site, didn't look like what I'd expected

Geomag is that toy with magnetic bits and ball bearings? G has too but he creates things I can't make out head or tail of haha

Oh no..hope your good maid will be able to sort things out and stay on, SY

Glad that rain is ceasing.. Christmas is just around the corner! Can't help feeling cheery and happy!
 
SY,
I would say, keep them at home. Stomach flu is scary. Even scarier than the usual flu/fever/cough. Declan had it once, and I now break into cold sweat whenever I think back of that episode.
Good luck to your maid!
Side note: I sent a big bunch of iherb stuff to your email. Can help me check how much they cost after your discount? Am thinking whether I should just utilize the first-timer $5 thingy. Thanks a million!

batgirl,
PB just swopped kindergartens for Poppy. Sounds good! Berries is very popular among parents especially for my friends with slightly older kids. But apparently some outlets are better than others, and some have waiting list as long as... well, I think you get the picture la.
 
cellow, DD
i also bought geomag!! but it's kind of ex...

bbp
i am letting them go sch still but telling them to stay away from the sick kids!!!

okie will check for u on the iherb.
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re maid
i think she needs to go back. her mother is old and bro getting married so no one to help the mother...sigh...she shd have told us right from the start instead of workign for a few months then give this problem.

re hol
shucks ...me and hb both nursing a cold and we are leaving for taiwan this sat!! and the weather is getting really cold....

batgirl
there are some chinese kindy ard btu are u looking for a pure chinese envt? actually i also find that jx not learning enough chinese in sch so we try to do more with her at home. we listen to chinese nursery songs in the car so she can sing a lot of songs and i read chinese books and do chinese cards with her at home. maybe u can try speaking more to him in chinese first? they pick up really really fast. every week i do 6 phrases with jx and she will learn them within a week.
 
Cellow
I got geomag for Ashley last time. Emma played with it but couldn't really make a structure. She just connects them. So I think it is suitable for older kids. of coz for older kids we need more pieces to build a structure. Expensive hor.

SY
Just tell your kids to always wash their hands. Emma got Stomach flu 3 times in the last few months. I tell you it is scary. The first 2 was ok but the third one was so serious she was hospitalised.

Batgirl
Glad you enjoyed your HK trip!

I wanna try berries but the queue was so long!
 
Batgirl
Welcome home.. seems like everyone is goin hongkong
KAyden is attending CHinese Kindergarten at outram, abit far for u though..

SY
im gettin one from cebu by ourselves.. im not sure abt the paperwork.. its so messy... but we save alot of money..
 
bbp
din receive any mail from u. can send again?

SD
yeah the kids just had an episode recently. my car got puke all over, my hb's one as well. the car stank so badly i brought to those professional cleaning....
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smiggle
how u get by yourself? how u shortlist?
 
HK was fun (for the kids), we the adults just enjoyed the bonding with the kids. haha. But when we came back, realised that there was bird flu there. hubby got quarantined as a result. :p But we shd be ok, there are no cases of human transmission yet.

Berries,

Wuffy is attending the one at bukit batok (just at the foot of my block). But I think he is not getting enough exposure. SY, I think you are right, we should spend more time in chinese exposure with him, but problem is I have difficulty getting him to sit down. In the end, I will be scolding him. So I wanted him to be in an all Chinese environment for abt 2-3 hrs per day, where he has no choice but to converse in Mandarin. My parents cannot speak Mandarin, so most of the time he is speaking English. His English Vocab is great but Chinese... only words he uses is "bu yao" (don't want). hiaz.

SmiggleP,

Yes I saw the Kindgergarten. Is the curriculum conducted all in Chinese? It is near my workplace though.
 
batgirl,
i think children at this age naturally flex their language to the adult's language. C1 used to talk only in english, then over MIL's Oct/Nov trip, he was able to speak in fluent Mandarin to her.... i was pleasantly surprised!
 
smiggle
wow isn't that a lot of trouble....sigh maids...always a lot of problems.

batgirl
no need to spend a long time teaching them. i just need that 5 min with jx to go through her cards. rest of the time is talk or sing. i think it is natural that they wan to speak english cos it's so much easier for them as they spend more time in that envt. but once we start, they pick up really really fast!

anyway i think we need to pay more attention to their chinese nowadays so that the gap btwn pri 1 chinese and pre-sch chinese won't be too big! jh can read but lazy so really need to force him to do his chinese books. i get those assessment books and do a little with him everyday.

does wuffy like listening to stories? make it a rule that he must always read one english and one chinese. maybe do the chinese one first followed by one of his english story books. make it a routine. once the routine is established, it becomes very easy to fit in chinese daily. jx has her fav chinese story books so we read those quite often.
 
batgirl,
thanks for sharing! how was shopping?
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sy,
hope u can find a good maid soon! my gf changed two maids in 3 months...all indon..worked for 1 month plus and said miss home, children etc and wanted to go back.

xmas mood
me too..no mood to work..office is v quiet coz all the big bosses are out of town and many colleagues clearing leave.
 
Batgirl
only 1 hr of chinese..
Kayden also a potato.. he will only sing in chinese.. that is how he is being taught.. they sing in class.. i have a hard time rem all the "tong yao"...
the name is misleading i guess..

erm kayden watches hk drama with me.. he only loves to sing the drama songs.. His idol is raymond lam.. He can spell LAM FUNG but not his own name! maybe i can be a "Xing" Ma??
 
Urgent! Need mothercare membership!

Any kind soul a member, pls SMS/pm me your nric?? Thanks!!

Last minute shopping for my niece to be born on Christmas!!!!
 
I recall Emma's episodes poor her..g got it once only but I recalled the projectile puke man! And in big quantities too!

Girlfriend in Taiwan now telling us it's cold and raining!

We almost shut down Liao too so it's lots of long lunches and desk cleaning and partying :D
 
Chinese:
What my MIL does is, she speaks to Declan solely in Chinese. And initially, when Declan answered her in English, she would tell him that she doesn't understand and ask him to speak to her in Chinese. In the beginning, he didn't really speak a lot to her because his vocal was limited. But now, he does it automatically where he can hold a conversation among the 3 of us and he switches languages based on who he is talking to. Sometimes he even translates for me :S

So batgirl, if you want, you can be the sole Chinese speaker at home. Try it out for maybe a week and see if it improves. I think it should
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howdy everyone! seem like i will be spending a cold christmas without snow!

poppy is happier to sing chinese songs now (one day she just started singing what she learnt from school; some songs i don't understand at all). and i have been semi hardworking when it comes to reading to her in chinese (thank you hanyu pinyin!) and she's resisting it less and less.

batgirl
berries seems to be a very popular option. doesn't wuffy's school have a chinese class?

bbp
i try that with poppy but you know la, my chinese is a big fat F9. so it's tought for me too. but sometimes when i talk to her in mandarin she will say 'mama, speak in english please!' alamak. then i will continue in mandarin and she'll ask again. and we'll have a chicken-duck conversation
 
bbp
your mil not bad leh. can teach declan chinese. a lot of grandparents rather speak to them in broken english than teach them chinese when they can!

mummies
if anyone keen to get more chinese books or cards let me know. i have a lot at home....or i can help u to bring them in. no shipping charge one cos i get my mum to carry back..haha

got one thing that is quite effective. replace their dosage of english cartoons with chinese ones...haha it will get them more interestd in chinese!
 
batgirl,
Haha. Yah, it's tough. I try to do it occasionally too and it sounds really weird and fake to my own ears. But occasional is better than nothing right?

PB,
Just persevere! In the beginning, when I didn't speak so much Mandarin at first, Declan also asked, "Mama, why you talk Chinese? You know Chinese?" Wah seh, I felt like I just kena suan by a 2.5 year old child!

SY,
Declan's grandparents are pro-Chinese one. They are those that have Chinese paintings in the house, practice calligraphy and talk about Chinese history at gatherings.
 
Haha dec is genuinely surprised that mama can speak mandarin? For me, even with hanyu pinyin it likes like tongue twisters..but casual chatting is ok so that's what I'll do
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Feliz navidad!
 
anyone like me?
I have NOT done any XMAS shopping and left with only tmr...
oh crap... im so look forward to the jostling and carryin all the heavy stuff in the rain by myself tmr...
 
smiggle,
Oh man! You're in trouble. You can try Vivocity, I feel it's not so crowded. Maybe because the place is bigger so it doesn't feel so packed. Orchard is disgustingly crowded. I'm going to avoid that area until after CNY.
 
smiggle,
i heard the jam at orchard is very bad now. better avoid if u can but u stay near tiong bahru right? hehe..maybe shop at heartland mall will be less crowded.

bbp,
haha! declan doubted u..cute
 


Smiggle
It's crowded everywhere! You should have read this 2 weeks ago!
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http://singaporemotherhood.com/articles/2011/12/last-minute-online-christmas-gift-guide/

Super last-minute online ideas:
1. Adopt an animal from WWF in the recepient's name. I've done this too, hehe. They'll send the adoption certificate and plush toy etc to the person whom you are adopting it for, and send an email to inform the person about it on a date of your choice. The polar bears and baby penguin plushes are very cute
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http://www.worldwildlife.org/gift-center/gifts/Species-Adoptions/Polar-Bear.aspx?gid=27&sc=AWY0900WC000

2. Gift a year-long magazine subscription
http://circulation.sph.com.sg/worldatyourdoorstep/magazines.asp
http://magazine.mediacorp.sg/
 

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