Children's Day in School

Banzai! Rynae's school is having a Children's Day celebration today and kids are encouraged to wear party or ethnic clothes. Mummy borrowed a Yukata from Da Yi so as to dress Rynae up as a (counterfeit) Nihonjin. Isn't she cute? Our party-goer came back with 2 bags of goodies - 1 with lots of tidbits and the other with gifts. There were gifts from Teacher Meena, Teacher Dila, a cup from Vitagen, a book of stickers and a souvenir mug with tooth brush and towel from the school! What a happy, fruitful day.

Going Organic

Recently, grandma's been supplying me with organic spinach bought from Yong Xu Organic Enterprise in Chong Pang market. I found out that this stall's actually pretty famous amongst north-landers! Several of the people I spoke to has or is still buying from this stall. Few days back, on my way to a hair salon, I passed by an organic shop in Yishun central. It is actually the main retail shop of the mentioned organic enterprise! Who would expect an organic shop in a neighbourhood? Of course I set my foot inside.

I looked around the shop particularly for suitable (and less dear) food and tidbits for Rynae. Many were expensive and I felt the pinch. Organic food, though safer and better for health, are also known for its cut throat prices. Unless one has deep pockets, one cannot afford to go full organic. There were 2 items that I went home with and I'm definitely going back to replenish. They're the brown rice cheese rings ($2) and the chocolate soymilk ($1.50) that tasted just like chocolate milk. Both were yummilicious and our friend love them!

In case you're interested, here's its addresses. No worries. I aren't gonna get paid commission for introducing you there.

Main:
Blk 921 Yishun Central 1 #01-257 S760921
6481 5508

Branch (close on Mon):
Blk 104 Yishun Ring Road #01-29 S760104
67574578

First Play Doh

Our friend has been requesting me to buy Play-Doh for her for the longest time but I wasn't too keen to get her one. Honestly, I don't really like playing with Play-Doh as it has a pungent smell, can be messy and it also irks me to see the nice colours get mixed together. Not only that. The dohs get stuck in my nails and it's as uncomfortable as... as G-string in the butt-crack! All said, I did eventually get her one during recent Metro's 20% storewide sales. It wasn't so smelly as what I remembered it to be. Its texture was also much smoother and nicer to the touch now. The set came with 2 doh colours - blue and yellow. It was another educational activity for Rynae to learn colour mixing as she got green (accidentally) from mixing the 2 colours!

Looks like who?

The most common thing that people comment about a child is his or her resemblance - looks more like mummy or more like daddy. I've hence heard countless remarks but have no consensus todate. Some said Rynae looks like daddy, some said like me and others said she has her own look. I came to know of MyHeritage Look-alike Meter that claims to use state-of-the-art face recognition technology to determine the resemblance of a child. Out of curiosity, I gave the 'test' a shot. Waiting for the result was like waiting for quick pick - kinda hopeful and anxious. The first outcome announced that she looks more like me by 22%! Unbelieving its technolody, I ran it twice. This time using a different set of pictures. Still, it claimed that she looks like me by 10%. Somehow true I agree because I do see some resemblance of me and her. She's lucky to inherit some of my beauty! Wahahaha...

Got Melamine?

The dust hardly settled after appalling the world with its shoddy tyres and lead-contaminated toys and now China has got into another tainted milk scandal. Like many others, Mummy combed the fridge and cupboard, study all labels and threw away suspicious food products made from China that has milk as an ingredient. Not many luckily. Well, they might not be dairy products but I'm not taking any chances! Rynae loves Vitasoy and she'll have to live without it for a while... all thanks to Sanlu! God bless the sick children speedy recovery.

DIY Pencil Holder

Using toilet rolls to make pencil holder is not a novelty and you could have done it in your younger days too. It is almost inevitable to produce one when your child starts owning stationeries. So, we make ours this afternoon - just a simple structure that serves its purpose of keeping her writing materials in place.

Starting on Tangram

I went back to Kiddy Palace to grab a box of tangram (SP $4.90) after thinking about it for several days. I have no intention to purchase it at first because I reckon Rynae would be able to form many figures creatively at this age. Furthermore, the suitability of this game, as written on the box is for ages 5 and up!

After mooting about the usability of it, I decided to give the game rule a twist by copying some easy figures onto pieces of paper and ask Rynae to try to solve the puzzles with the tangrams instead. That'll bring the difficulty level down yet serving its brain drilling purpose. She requested for help to complete some parts of the figures but also did manage to fit some herself.

Demise Of Print Media?

It was a lamentable week with news of Lehman Brothers' closure, the shakening of AIG and adding to these miffs, the anouncement by Mediacorp to cease publication of its 4 titles, which includes one of my favourate read - Vanilla, a women's lifestyle magazine that focuses on an enriching and inspired living.

Vanilla was launched from the ashes of six year old parenting title Family and editorial has also freshen up to include latest in food, fashion and lifestyle, family tips, social trends, technology and wellness updates. Inspiring and capable but underexposed women graced their covers and women they interviewed are always great role models, trend setters and opinion leaders that one couldn't help looking upon and working towards becoming one.

Being a mother in this new era does not mean a woman that lives in an auntieville anymore. Our roles as mothers have evolved over the years and we go beyond taking care of our children's needs. We're not only mothers, we're individuals with multi-faceted life who wants to balance parenting with career and personal time for leisure and hobby. Vanilla is, I could say akin to chicken soup for the mother's soul. It nourishes our souls and gives us satisfaction as individuals.

News has it that Mediacorp has decided to call it a day for Vanilla because of the evolving media habits of consumers and changing advertising trends. It is a downright cruel decision. Everything is about money sense.

Billy Goat Gruff

Every 3 weeks, Rynae's school will select a story theme and base most of its activities on it. I found out from her that her teacher has read 3 billy goats gruff to the class for this term. Coincidentally while web surfing one day, I slipped into The Toy Maker, a wonderful website with lots of FREE paper crafts and found some paper models on this fairy tale.

Believing that parents should support teachings and supplement enrichment, I printed the 3 goats and troll for her to enact the story. The goats' legs were a bit wobbly so I glued chopsticks to make them more sturdy. By inviting children to observe, study, experiment and eventually explore the characters in a story, we are helping to enhance their natural curiosities and eagerness to learn. It was a simple story so she finished 'telling' it in a flash. At least I can be assured that she pays attention in class! Haha.

When telling the story becomes run of the mill, she gave the goats new identity - Rynae, Mummy and Daddy and began her wild expedition along the sofa. I did try to tell her that those are BILLY goats meaning they are boys thus cannot be Rynae or Mummy but she was oblivious to their gender. It doesn't really matter actually.

Teaching of Tradition: A Headache!

For the past few weeks, Mummy has been reading up on Mid-Autumn Festival Folklore. There were a dime a dozen websites about the myth of Chang Er and Hou Yi and the uprising against the Mongols in China, in the 14th century. The more I read, the more baffled and confused I became. There were so many versions of the Chang Er and Hou Yi myth!

Some stories said the duo were both immortals, some said one was and one was not while some said both were ordinary beings! A few versions narrated that the Jade Emperor praised Hou Yi for shooting down the 9 suns while conflicting stories wrote that the Jade Emperor wasn't the least pleased. Most of the folk tales didn't really put the couple in a good light. Chang Er seemed like a scheming woman who stole her husband's pill of immortality while Hou Yi seemed to be an unforgiving and selfish husband who wanted to shoot Chang Er down upon knowing that she had flown off to the moon with the pill!

I borrowed 1 English, 1 bi-lingual, 1 Chinese and 2 VCDs that are Mid-Autumn Fest related from NLB to read and play to Rynae but these weren't what I am looking for actually. They were either too wordy, too out-of-context or too boring.
Nonetheless, customs or myths may vary but sense of unity and harmony that this tradition brings will always be the same. After these days of 'research', I did learn more about the Mid-Autumn Festival, the second most important Chinese festival after CNY. Mummy simplified the story to Rynae as Chang Er and Hou Yi who were husband and wife, gets to meet on the moon every year during the mid-autumn festival....

Futile Harvest

Remember the chillis and onions that Rynae and Mummy planted? After 2 weeks of futile wait, there are still no signs of life for the onions and the miserably few chilli seedlings are wilting one after the other. I told you I haven't any green fingers lor. I'm a green horn! So.. the saying of you reap what you sow is not entirely true huh? One might not reap anything sometimes. Hee..

I decided to pull the plug on this first attempt of gardening and dug out the 2 foul-smelling, rotten onions. I ploughed the soil in both pots and goodness me! The soil beneath was hell muddy! We have drowned the plants! I re-sowed some new chilli seeds, this time making sure I didn't plant them too deep down. The other pot of vacated soil was left to dry. Tommorrow I'll buy some onions and restart all over again. Cross my fingers this time.

Mid Autumn Eve Festival Celebration

Mid-Autumn eve was an eventful day. Not only is Covenant Church having its offical open house, Admiralty GRC is also organising an annual Mid-Autumn Festival celebration for its residents. I told Rynae about the line-up for the day and she was so excited that she woke up after just an hour's nap!

She had lots of fun at the church open house. There were FREE pop corns, FREE drinks and FREE umbrella souvenir. She tried her hand at some games and were so proud of her wins.

After a quick dinner, we hopped to the park to take part in the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration. Mummy makes it a point to attend the traditional celebration every year so that Rynae would not lose touch with her roots. It is also a time to break ice and mingle with neighbours! Rynae played with some candles and got her fingers burnt hence she stayed clear of fire all night. The highlight of the night was the lion and dragon dance and these performances are Rynae's all-time favourite. While watching the dragon dance, she made a comment that the dragon wanted to eat the lollipop. She was actually refering to the fire ball! This cracked us up. It sure looks like a greedy dragon!

Colours of my Life

Children are always mesmerised by colours thus usage of colours as a teaching approach is always well-received. Rynae loves painting hence to give it an educational slant, Mummy decided to teach her the wonders of colour mixing. I've just replenished some poster colours and I've got 2 choices: Gooey paints vs runny colour water. I choose the latter because results are more instantaneous and less prone to abuse by my notorious gal. To cut a deeper impression in her, I did up a record sheet for her to jot down her findings. It was fun but I doubt she'll remember all the results. Gota reinforce through repetitions and revisions.

Sewing Cards

I came across some sewing cards and decided to DIY them as a fine motor skill activity for Rynae. Instead of the usual white papers that I use, I decided to print the cards on different colours of construction papers and laminated them for durability thereafter. As I had guessed, Rynae picked the green truck to tread first. Why? Because that is her favourate colour!

Chalk Scribblings

Mummy let Rynae play an old school game today - chalk scribblings. I still remember the days when chalks were such must-haves. It was not only used as a teaching tool but I could also whiten my dirty school shoes and draw hop scotches with it!

Rynae didn't know what to draw when I first handed her the chalk. I guided her along by tracing her slippers and she filled in the patterns. I drew a house and she drew the clouds and sun. I also played imaginatively with her by drawing a bridge with crocodile under it. I drew our toilet bowl and she added in a sensor flush! I wish we had one.

She volunteered to clean up the drawings on the floor so I passed her a broom and she did a thorough job in cleaning up!

Parenting Workshop Afterthought

I attended another FREE parenting workshop, titled Peak Performance through Brain Training held by Singapore Brain Development Centre at Singapore Management University today. It was spear-headed by the enrichment centre hence no goody bag was given this time (Urgh!). Nonetheless, it was a constructive 2hr and I picked up new parenting knowledge on how to stimulate, motivate and drive young minds.

Contrary to what many people thought, IQs are not fixed and our brain can actually be trained. Though 'smartness' can be passed down genetically, however it only accounts for 20% of the brain. In another word, 20% is from nature and 80% is from nurture. At birth, a baby's brain weighs just 500g but by age 6, it can grow to 1500g. Hence, the 1st 6 years of a child's life are very important because processing speed, logic and reasoning and long term memory decreases as age pass. That is why I am always giving excuses that I am old when I forgot something!

The flow of learning is as such:
Input ----> Processing ----> Output

A brain will grow only when the child starts to think. To help them to tink, we have to play with them symbolically and imaginatively and put them in a problem solving environment. Parents must be childlike so that we can enter their world. This is how to communicate and stimulate them.

There are 6 main brain areas for training:

1. Processing speed
2. Visual Processing
3. Working Memory
4. Logic and Reasoning
5. Auditory Analysis (Listening)
6. Word Attack (Reading)

Parents need to give love: soft love, regular love and tough love. A child must feel loved and happy in order to learn. Every child must have a dream so that they will try their best to achieve it.

Anchorvale Swimming Pool

We heard that there's a new swimming pool, 4th week into its opening in Sengkang so we went with Rynae's Aunt and cousins to check it out. There weren't much search results about this place hence I shall provide you with more details on behalf of SSC.

We could see several slides even before stepping into the compound and this excited the little ones. However, children below the age of 5, as well as those with necklaces are not allowed to play on it. The irony is, those with goggles strapped around their neck are allowed! Someone please enlighten me on this. I didn't play on the slides and stayed in the children's pool with Rynae most of the time.

I also tried out the bubbles pool and it worked just like Uzap! 5 minutes on the bubbles and it made my butt and tummy itch like hell! This sounded an alarm - it's time to hit the gym! There was a 0.9m jacuzzi pool and the water in it felt slightly warmer. Amongst all features, I personally tink that the indoor olympic pool is cool! It suits me best because I love to swim but hate the sun! I'm gonna do laps next time I step my foot in here!

Address:
Sengkang Sports and Recreation Centre
57 Anchorvale Rd
Singapore 544964
Tel: 6315 3576

How to get there:
1) Take LRT from Sengkang Station and alight at Farmway station.
2) Take bus 372 and alight at anchorvale link.
The sports complex is located beside Anchorvale CC and within walking distance from Farmway LRT station.

Close Shave Gifts from Bangkok

Amidst international media attention on Thailand's political unrest caused by protesters to pressure the resignation of Samak Sundaravej, Grandma went ahead with her Bangkok trip. She got back yesterday midnight with repeated assurance that life in Bangkok is functioning as per normal. Riots in Bangkok are apparently kept in control and only in designated fenced-up ground; not as tense as what the media has portrayed. See how our perceptions and thoughts are shaped by powerful mass media? Anyway, she brought back some clothes for Rynae and some chewies for Mummy! I like the Billabong top and skirt but it is a little oversized. Maybe next Summer Rynae will be able to fit in.

Raising Transport Height Limit

I read with interest, a Monday article in The Straits Times about an article titled 'Fare or not? Height of contention'. In gist, it's contention from some parents about the free travel height limit of 0.9m that transport operators have set. Currently, toddlers or children above 0.9m but who are still below the age of seven have to pay child concessionary rate, which ranges from 40 to 50 cts. Some parents are trying to agitate for the height limit of 0.9m to be raised, citing reasons that the height limit is unrealistic because children are growing taller these days.

I started charting Rynae's height only recently but I remembered that when she was 30 months, she was already past 90cm! She is now pushing 99cm but I have not paid a single cent for her transportation. I too, felt that the height limit should be raised just like Beijing, which raised its height limit for free travel from 1.1m to 1.2m.

Our gah men is encouraging people to take public transport and urging families to have more babies right? Besides giving a bigger baby bonus, 1 more month of paid maternity leave and more childcare leave, it would be absolutely fabulous if children free transport be looked into too.

To what I understand, some children are already 90cm by their 2nd birthday. Why should transport operators be profiteering from defenseless toddlers? I am looking forward to the day where more hypes will be stirred on this issue and make rules change, just like the successful petition to bring forward the effective date of the baby benefit schemes.

Preparation for Lantern Festival

Homemade is always best in my book as it is always more gratifying and without a doubt, more memorable. We've resorted to commercially-made lanterns in the past 3 years and this year, Mum has decided to make one out of recycled materials. I'm trying to reduce my carbon footprint remember? So I've to talk the talk and walk the walk!

Materials for my lantern are simple:

• 1 plastic folder (preferably with prints)
• Scissors
• Super Glue
• String
• 1 empty drink carton
• 2 ice cream sticks
• 1 circular plate
• Marker/pen

Here are the steps IF you're interested to make one for yourself or your kid too!

• Place the plate over the plastic folder and trace circular shapes on both sides and cut out both circles.
• Hold the 2 circles together and punch holes on the top of them.
• Cut out the bottom of the empty drink carton and glue it the lower end of a circle. The other circle follows thereafter.
• Measure the ice cream sticks against the width of the cut-out empty carton, make a marking and bend along the markings on 2 ends. It will look like a bench if properly bended.
• Glue the ice cream sticks onto the 2 circles. This is to make the lantern more steady.
• Thread the string through the punched holes and tie a dead knot.

Tadah! All done. Simple isn't it? That's not all. I also made some paper lanterns, a craft that I remembered from my primary school days, to be used as decorations in the house! Now.. gota also educate Rynae on the meaning behind all these..

Green Day

It doesn't need to be Earth Day to do gardening. On a fine afternoon, I decided to kick start an agricultural course for Rynae to let her understand how to do planting and how plants grow. Mum's not a person with green fingers but growing onions and chillis shouldn't be too difficult I guess? Rynae wanted to drop the whole chilli fruits as seeds after seeing me bury the 2 onions. Of course she soon learned that we have to cut the chillis and sow their seeds into the soil instead. I had choosen small chilli padi because of its cute miniature size but both of us suffered from finger chilli burns thereafter. Ouch!

I was stunned when Rynae poured an enormous amount of water into the soil when she tried to water the plants. I explained to her that too much water will drown them and she replied, 'because I want my plants to grow bigger'. Oh.. children...

If these 2 plants are a success, I might consider growing more! Like tomatoes and lady's fingers. Wish us luck and I'll keep you posted on their growth!