Happy 3rd Birthday Celebration on 27 Jan

Admist the festivity of CNY, there lies a very important date - Rynae's 3rd Birthday. Her actual hatch date, 29 Jan fell on a weekday hence we've choosen a Sun to celebrate for her instead. Mummy and Daddy have decided to do away with a big bang birthday party for the golden girl this year. Celebration for her was kept small but meaningful. Daddy bought her a Prima Deli Cake and thank god we're all fine after eating it!

First Handicraft on 25 Jan

Rynae brought home her first handicraft today - a handprint 'puppet'. Not too sure how much was done by her though. Hee... Anyway, she was so proud of it that she couldn't wait to show it to me, the moment the school door swing open for release. Her enthusiasm lasted the whole journey home and right after her grandparents praise her for the work well done, the poor 'puppert' was cast aside, forgotten amongst her neglected toys... never to be mentioned by her again...

CNY Prelude

Mummy and Daddy are into CNY mood. Before the festive pasar malam starts, we already whisked downtown to check out what's painting the street red. Mickey and gang's character are everywhere! I bet Watt Di$ney's $miling cheek to cheek to the bank this year!

Stages of Creative Development

Rynae loves scribbling and I noticed recently that her drawings are more than just scribblings of circles and wavy lines. They are representative and more deliberate. The setting in her writing board captured herein, is in the playground with people holding balloons.

According to therapists, Rynae should be at the pre-schematic, or pre-symbolic, stage which begins around age four; however, it may start earlier or later, depending on the child's cultural and artistic experience:

"In this stage, the amoeba (a circle with arms and legs, and sometimes eyes) or tadpole people may have faces, hands, and even toes, but no bodies. These figures face front and often have big smiles. Omission of body details is not a sign that something is developmentally wrong. It just means that other things in the drawing of the person are more important. For example, heads are the first objects drawn and may continue to be bigger than other parts of the body. This is usually done because the child sees the head as being very important. The child eats, speaks, sees, and hears with parts of the head. The child's self-portrait appears as an amoeba person, but it will usually be the biggest figure, appearing in the center of the page. The child may test different ways to draw a self-portrait before settling on one for a period of time. In this instance, art helps define a child's self image."

1st Day of Pre Nursery

Today is the start of a new chapter in Rynae's life - Schooling. She has been looking forward to the arrival of this day since being told that she will be going to school soon. She woke up by herself at 7.10am and was very co-opertative in allowing me to brush her teeth and wash her up for school. A seldom occured phenomenon indeed. As I was dressing her, I couldn't help but have this nostalgia of recalling those good old days when my mum prepared me and my sisters for morning session school. And here I am, 20 odd years later, doing to same thing for my daughter.

As this is a new beginning for these toddlers, school for the entire week will be only 1 hour and parents may stay for 30 to 45 min if they so wish. Rynae was a little insecure at first but proceeded on to play with toys soon after. Children this age are solos who do not interact hence nobody bothered to self introduce themselves to one another or to make the initiative to make friends. Haha.. All parents, maid and ah mas are being shown the door at 8.45am to allow the children 15min of independent school life. All were fine except a boy who let loose after realising that his ah ma is not around.

At 9am sharp, the door opened and Rynae stood in line, ready for release. Everyone bid farewell to their teacher and dispersed. When I asked Rynae what did her teacher teach her, she replied, 'My teacher teach me how to play toys'. Well done! Go to school to PLAY TOYS! Enjoy your childhood dear... older kids wish they never would have to grow up..

Post Christmas Gifts from Bangkok

These gifts are from Ah Ma, Da Yi and San Yi who just came back from Bangkok on 31 Dec. Mummy like the simple designed navy blue pajamas because the fabric is soft and cottony. Below is the conversation between Mummy and Rynae when Mummy laid out the clothes on the sofa for photo taking:

Rynae: Mummy, who buy these one?

Mummy: Its Wai Po.

Rynae: Where Wai Po buy one?

Mummy: She boought from Bangkok.

Rynae: No... she bought from Yishun!

Mummy: No... she bought from Bangkok!

Rynae: No... she bought from Yishun!

Mummy:

Last Day of Year 2007

Joe suggested a ridiculous activity for our last day of year 2007 - countdown in Esplanade and was jolly gun down FLAT! For obvious reason, we would need to bring Rynae who not only will knock out before 12am but also for safety reason of not wanting to be sand pit on. Since the weather was fine and sunny, we decided to hit the pool instead. Woodlands swimming pool reopened in early Nov after few months of renovation and we were curious to find out the extent of the facelift, hoping that there would be toddler friendly slides and water features. Though there weren't slides like Chua Chu Kang SC, there was a playground built within the children's pool. A pity kitty cat Rynae daren't play with it because she doesn't like water running over her head. She super under utilised the facilities!

Raffles and Suntec City Shopping Trip on 30 Dec

After having spent our whole Sat at home, we decided to head down town this Sun. Raffles City SC had a makeover, doing away with the humungous empty space on level 1 to increase its floor area for several levels of extra tenant$. A crowd of children caught our attention when we were in the basement and we went closer to check them out. As expected, Rynae joined in the crowd who were jumping, kicking and cheering along with moving digital images on the floor. This, is called Reactrix, an interactive outdoor media owned by SPH MediaBoxOffice that can respond to people who walk by or move over the display area. Nobody seem to know or care how exactly to play with it and that includes Rynae who simply just want to... well.. step on anything.