Celebrating Dong Zhi

We don't particularly celebrate Dong Zhi but as it falls on Sunday this year, all of us congregate at Grandma's place for a scrumptious meal of duck, chicken, pork, noodle, curry and Tang Yuan. Mummy wanna let Rynae experience the process of making this traditional dish so I fetched her to grandma's place early in the morning (well, you can see that she's still clad in her pyjamas in the pix). Expectedly... she was more of a hindrance than a help. Most of her Tang Yuan are not yuan and grandma had to re-knead them... She got the 'worst helper of the year' award.

Sweet Orchard Xmas Lighting

Rynae has seen much of daytime Orchard but it's her first visit to a Christmasy and shimmering night Orchard. She was so full of awe when she saw the lollies and sweets hanging down the trees and from the lamp posts. The shopping belt has been coated with much sweetness that it has attracted so many 'ants', especially along Orchard Walkway (fronting Wisma Atria), Paragon and Tangs Building. The crowd was worrisome and photography sessions were a headache.

We travelled on foot from Plaza Sing, where The Christmas Village is, and all the way down to Ngee Ann City. Lightings and performances were concentrated in these 2 areas as the rest of Orchard is still undergoing a major facelift. Our little friend requested for an ice-cream break and she had her wish fulfilled. We sat her on a parapet with a good spot along Orchard Walkway. Daddy and Mummy had our breaks then too. From our privileged spot, we can see the stretch bursting with good news of Christmas in song, dance and drama. Buskers performed for their tips too.

Orchard is indeed the right place to go if you wanna soak in the spirit of Christmas.

Back to Kampong Days

Our friend, chilling out on Ah Gong's bridge that is leading out to the sea.

It was a torturous 1 week 'cold turkey' break from technology. There were no internet access, no phone calls and no messaging. Even watching television programmes was a luxury as there were periods when there weren't any electricity supply. Mummy kinda felt being cut off from the rest of the world. So where on earth have I landed? A rural island in Indonesia.

Our Bong family had gone back to Indo during this school holiday to attend Rynae's cousin wedding as well as to visit family members. Rynae loves going back to Ah Gong's house as she gets to pillion on motorbikes, eat coconuts, play with sand, throw stones into the sea and roam about freely on the vast, unconfined home compound. Actually, it felt good loosing ourselves into laid-back kampong lives to relax and recharge, once in a while. There're no stress, no heavy traffic and no human crowd. Then again, there were a lot of mosquitoes though...

Christmas Tree Decoration

Have you heard of the carol that rumoured Santa Claus is not coming to town this year? It is true that this and the next few years are going to be tough hence we've gota watch where we throw our moolah! Rynae is now at an age where she understands meaning of festivals and celebrations so I really wanna create a joyful christmasy mood for her this year by decorating our house with Christmas ornaments. I aimed to get a Christmas tree, a not too expensive one.

I came across an advertisement that Carrefour is selling their Christmas tree for only $9.90. This is unbelievable! Thankfully it is not a sales gimmick. Their 150cm tree is genuinely being sold for less than 10 bucks! Whee! I managed to get a decent-looking lighted Christmas tree for less than $25! Here's my breakdown:

Christmas Tree: $9.90

100 Xmas Lights: $7.90

Xmas Balls: $3.90

Gold Garlands: ($0.90 x 2) $1.80

Other Decorations: DIY

Tree Topper: Free

Gold Drap: Free

Total: $23.50

It felt good owning a pretty Christmas tree without the guilt of being a spendthrift. Rynae loves the Christmas tree and has been boasting about it to her cousins!

A bottie tree deco I made with Japanese soft clay.

Rynae's masterpiece. A leaf. You can tell ya? Hee..

Zoo Trip

Everyone's talking about the new Rainforest Kidzworld in Singapore Zoo. Well, now that the attraction is finally completed, we have a valid reason to renew our Friends of the Zoo membership which entitles us to unlimited visits to the zoo for a year. We got it free last year but this year, we had to fork out $180 (used to be $150) for it. Ouch! We felt the pinch.

Oistein Kristiansen was at the Zoo yesterday for an hour-long interactive workshop but we couldn't make it down because of Rynae's Orientation class. Maybe we'll catch him, Dora, Diego or Spongebob Sqaurepants some other days. We went for a new Rainforest Fights Back animal show at 10.30am but it was like watching a lengthy drama. The script was long with breaks of expected animals sneaking out for a short presentation. If you're a frequent visitor of the 3 parks under Wildlife Reserves, you would agree with me that the shows are similar. I bet it must be directed by the same director.

With the new Rainforest Kidzworld, animals are no longer the purpose and highlight of a zoo visit. In fact, the motive of ours (and many others) is to check out the widely publicised attraction! So, right after the show, we took a short cut, neglected the animals and headed straight for it. It's a kids' heaven alright! The wet playground has not only expanded so many times its orginal but its features are also boosted! Our friend spent a good 1 hour in the wet land and had it not been for the drizzle, she would not have left it.

The bulk of our time was thrown into the Kidzworld. It was a self-sustaining attraction on its own. Rynae ate her lunch, played in the playground, rode a pony, stole the pony's hay to feed the goats and abused the bunnies. She was so reluctant to move on but we abducted her to the new fragile forest (I suppose it is new 'cos I haven't been to it). I applaud the gardeners for the effort they took to revive the crops in the Tropical Crops Plantation. We really do see fruits this time!

Orientation for 2009

Rynae's school organised an orientation for Pre-Nursery and Nursery 2009 classes this Saturday and though not compulsory, we brought her there just to catch up with some teachers and her classmates. After the MP's speech, children are allowed to play in the 5 activity corners that the teachers had came up with. There were books to read, toys to play and crafts to do. After she tried her hand at sewing (something similar to the sewing cards I made for her), the teacher in charge of the activity commented that Rynae has good fine motor skills and asked me to challenge her to more difficult tasks like making her do cross stitches, cutting the holes smaller and closer etc. Alrite.. points taken...

Botanic Garden Outing

Daddy was off today. What better way to spend the day other than to go for a family outing? I've been dying to bring Rynae to Jacob Ballas Children's Garden that was opened about a year ago in the Singapore Botanic Gardens and my wish was finally fulfilled. We had wanted to reach the Children's Garden in the early morning but after factoring time for preparation, breakfast and transportation, we eventually reached 11-ish. I never like outdoor activities at noon because of the scorching sun but the weather that day was exceptionally kind to us. Most sun rays were blocked by the grey clouds and we were able to walk about without feeling much heat!

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden is a learning garden that encourages exploration and creativity and children may see, touch and smell plants to develop a sense of wonder and excitement about nature and the environment. Honestly, Rynae couldn't care much about the plants. Her focus was on the tree house playground and the waterplay area where she spent a considerable amount of time each. A short-coming I must say, is that there wasn't bathroom facility at all! Daddy had to collect a bottle of cold water from the water cooler to clean our friend. And you guessed it! She screamed and cursed when the water was poured down her body.

Exit to Cluny Road was at the other end of Botanic Gardens so we cut across from one end to the other, which requires 45 minutes of walk without rest. We took our time strolling across the gardens. Along the way, we fed the swans in the eco lake and the turtles in the swan lake. It was such a slow-paced, relaxing afternoon!

As much walking were on foot, we were all dead tired when we reached the exit. Who would have expected the Botanic Garden to be this huge! We couldn't squeeze anymore energy out for shopping so we decided to call it a day. Rynae's battery went flat and knocked out on the way home...

Daddy said that this is the $5 tree. What he meant is that this is the actual tree behind your $5 note! Believe it or not? You better!

Celery Porridge

There were some celery and a piece of bean curd in the refrigerator so I decided to utilise it to cook a celery porridge for Rynae. It was such a nostalgia because it tastes exactly the same as what my Mum used to cook for us! There are still 10 over types of porridge recipes that she knows and I hope I could master all some day. These porridges are must-learns because they're so easy to cook, gentle on the stomach, tasty and economical!

Making Japanese Jelly

So! School's out and trouble's in. What shall I keep the little monster entertained with for the rest of the holiday weeks? okto's holiday programmes are terrible hence I'd rather Rynae spends her time playing her toys or do other more meaningful activities. Today, Mummy decided to prepare Black Sesame jelly (before it expires) that was bought from Daiso. I involved Rynae in the preparation process but she contributed little. She did however, helped to serve the jelly (as though it was cooked by her). I had used Marigold HL milk and it tastes so rich with fragrance of the milk. Its texture was more akin to mousse cake than jelly or agar agar. Delicious!

Jurong IMM Again!

The last time we went to Jurong IMM's children's outdoor playground and pool, Rynae fell sick the day after. We didn't know where to go this weekend and decided to bring her there again but this time allowing her to play only at 6pm. The management had upgraded the children's playground and made it more challenging by replacing half of the playground into climbing tunnels leading to a high platform that is connected to a slide and a descending rock climbing wall. My nerves frayed whenever Rynae went up to the platform. There is such a very high tendancy to fall if overcrowded with agog children! Our friend proceeded to the pool after the green light is given. As you're aware, she's awfully frightened of water getting onto her face so she stayed grounded in a safe corner of the pool. She was happy and contented playing with water that shoots out from the ground like geysers.

Sandwich Making

Rynae's school requested for the children to bring 2 slices of bread to school today to make 'rainbow fish' sandwich. It was so coincident that the theme this term is the same book that I had read with Rynae! I was full of anticipation and was expecting to see a fish-shaped sandwich with interesting scales decoration but it turned out to be just normal tuna sandwich. 1/4 of the bread was missing and I suspected the teacher had abandoned the rainbow fish sandwich idea due to shortages of bread as some children forgot to bring theirs. Well, sharing is a good civic and moral education anyway.

Year 2008 school term will be over in a weeks' time. Time really flies. My gal has attended 1 year of pre-nursery! I shiver at the thought of the stress to help her excel academically as she moves up to kindergarten and thereafter forward to primary school life. I have no idea how we'll cope but I hope school life then will not be all about just chasing the As. I felt that a child needs to be nurtured wholesomely too, in terms of creativity, confidence, ability to talk, think and respond, self-esteem, setting a correct world-view and so much more.. Oh... It is so tough being a parent!

Star Cruise Trip

Gosh! I have lost count of time and didn't realise that I've not updated my blog for such a long while! Our Bong family had just came back from a Star Cruise holiday thus let me share some pictures with you. The package was bought during August Natas Fair hence we should think it's a good deal - $970 for 3 pax for 2N. The day we set sail coincides with Deepavali so we boarded the ship with many Indians. So many that we thought we were in Little India for a second!

On a budget, we booked an inside stateroom (those cabins without windows meant for the poor lah!) which is just a cell for accomodation. But surprisingly, when we opened the cabin door, we saw a decent-sized room with ample walking space! We couldn't believe it and the first thing I did was to verify with Daddy if we were given the correct room key! A check on the floor plan revealed that there were only 2 such rooms on our floor! This is awesome!

After a buffet supper, we explored around the ship and.. well embarrassing enough, got lost. We couldn't find our way back to our cabin cuz there were 3 lifts in different wings and only 1 served our floor! The whole trip on board was relaxing but kinda boring. Actually, it was more of an eat-a-thon trip. There were 6 meals provided on board - breakfast, late breakfast, lunch, high tea, dinner and supper and we gorged so much that we felt so bloated with indigestion!

Mummy and Rynae went swimming in the children's pool once (only). The pool was miserably small with gushing, splashing and squirting water every left, right and centre. Our friend didn't like these water features a single bit as she doesn't like water in her face. She was rather turned off and complained that she only wants to swim in 'Singapore's swimming pool'. Besides swimming, there really weren't much free children's activities planned in the daily schedule. Most, if not all activites were pay-per-play planned by the child care centre onboard. We did attend 1 make-a-spider workshop that was conducted in a small room but it was totally disorganised and uninteresting. Rynae didn't even stay put for 5 min!

Does anyone I know ever been on Star Cruise and had an enjoyable, fulfilling and fun-packed trip? Maybe we should have disembarked at Port Klang and make a day trip to KL city. Anyway, it was a good life-on-board experience and a photo collection trip for us. Enjoy the photos!


Create Your Own

Box House

It was an unexpected windfall. Ah Ma's washing machine broke down and Ah Gong bought a new one for her on the day of our visit! Mummy's been wanting to make a playhouse for Rynae for the longest time but couldn't find any clean, nice, big box. I'd never spend my money on Little Tykes or Brushh playhouse that are both expensive and bulky. What am I suppose to do with it after Rynae gets sick of it? I just want something for a moment of fun so I begged for the cardboard and brought it home, almost mistaken as a rag and bone man.

Rynae pestered for the house to be built so within minutes, I fulfilled her wish, transforming the box into a house with a door and 2 windows. It may not be as chic as commercially produced playhouses but she's contented. I felt that this provides a valuable lesson to the child about recycling, creativity and concept of saving. We sponge-bath the exterior of the house with poster colours the next day. Look! Does it look like a barrack? Haha. I wonder what's the shelf life of this dwelling before it hits the trash bin.

Rainbow (What The) Fish

Whenever Mummy's web surfing, I'll try to read up on some parenting and eduational tips. From my 'research', I learned about an award winning book - Rainbow Fish which is about a beautiful fish who finds happiness when he learns to share. The book is best known for its morals about the value of being an individual. U know what? It is so popular that it is turned into a 26-episode animated television series, adapted into a musical production, has various sequels and available in software too! There were also tonnes of educational activites and craft ideas on the web to accompany this title! I have to have a read! Where else but to get it from NLB. Gaga.

Rynae loves the story and I also highlighted to her the undesirable result of selfishness and vanity on friendship and taught her about the virtue of sharing. We made paper plate Rainbow Fish too! She did one and I did one. Initially, she wanna give up after pasting a few scales, citing reason that she is tired (well, more to lazy actually) but I urged her on by telling her that the fish will feel cold if there aren't enough scales to keep it warm! She persisted and finally finish the fish decently. We enacted out the story with the fish after that.

Study Corner

This is a study corner that I set up for Rynae. Just a simple corner beside my washing machine in the kitchen. With some magnets, this is the perfect spot where she kills time while clearing her bowel and bladder. This is also the most productive place where she learns to read days of the week, months of the year and the ability to read and constuct simple sentences. It goes to show that learning can take place anytime and anywhere as long as a child is interested and attentive. Mummy has learning traps everywhere! Wohoho..

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I got to know from Rynae that the story of this term is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. This is the second time that her school has read stories by this author. Gheez... his books must be very educational, I thought. So, I googled about him and the story. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is reported to have reached millions of children all over the world and has been translated into more than 47 languages and sold over 29 million copies! It is so popular that even Act 3 has adapted 3 of his stories into theatre plays! I was lucky to find a copy of said title in Times Bookshop and I had a read. Interesting. It teaches days of the week, life cycle of a butterfly and nutrition.

A caterpillar made from egg carton that my girl brought home today

Riding on the theme, I printed some story sequencing cards, butterfly colouring pages, borrowed a book on butterfly and rewatched Little Einsteins Our Huge Adventure. Butterflies overwhelming? Not really. These activites were spread over 1 week. The last I want is for Rynae to have butterflies in her stomach! Hee hee..

There is another interesting feature about this colourful insect that I want Rynae to learn and which none of the materials above taught about, is that butterfly wings are symmetrical, meaning that the colours on a wing are reflected onto the other, like in a mirror. She digested this information well and I'm so glad when she showed her understanding in the butterfly colouring pages that I printed.

Sex Education

ST's Mind Your Body recently recommended a sex education book for ages 3 to 6 years old and I managed to loan a copy from NLB. Amazing You! is a guide to body awareness catered for preschoolers. It presents clear and age-appropriate information about reproduction, birth and the difference between girls' and boys' bodies without explicit and vulgar vocabulary or illustrations. However, there were some biological terms like labia, urethra and scrotum which perhaps the older children might understand, not for Rynae now though.

My girl wasn't too attracted to the contents and reviewed that she actually dislikes it! She was in full denial when I told her that her body will change as she grows and as she enters adolescence. Before I could finish the book, she already freak out and ran away!

Fridge Magnets

Out of impulse, I bought a pack of clay while browsing in a bookstore one day. I really wanna make something durable out of it. But what? It took me several days to make up my mind. Ok set! Fridge magnets it shall be!

Rynae has never toyed with clay before and her first comments about the craft material was that it is heavy and cold. Excellent! Now she knows the difference in texture between home-made doh, commercial doh and japanese soft clay. Maybe I'll let her try plasticine next. The magnets are actually quite easy to make and here's how we did it:

1. Mould clays with a fruit-shape ice maker
   
2. Trim off the extra clays from the edges and leave to dry for a few days
   
3. Colour with acrylic paint and leave to dry
   
4. Glue magnets to the back of each fruit shape clay


5. Lastly, take lots of photos!

Rynae couldn't mould any decent looking fruit-shape clay and I did most of the job then. Good effort there though. Her contribution came when it was time to coat the clays. Being an impatient and non-meticulous person as she always is, she brushed each piece with 1 homogeneous colour and to her, her job is done as long as the clay pieces get a decent amount of paint on them. No thought of esthetics here. Of course Mummy has to do the touch up because there were white patches everywhere!

Besides being Rynae's first clay encounter, it is also Mummy's first attempt in using acrylic paint. I wanted to use this paint because it is fast drying and I need not have to give the clays another varnishing top coat. If you're aware, acrylic paints can be quite costly and this is also one of the reasons why my completion date was pushed back because I do not have the time for purchasing at Bras Basah's ArtFriend. I call myself lucky when I found a box of 6 acrylic colours in Daiso. S$2 only! With these colours, I can concoct more crafts to paint now. And I know what I'm gonna do next.

PEBBLES PAINTING!

cool...

Poster Girl

Did you catch Rynae in the news recently? She's been talent spotted and is now a renowned poster girl! Her photos are everywhere!

Well, I'm just pulling your leg. I came across an interesting website that can digitally image faces onto pre-shot pictures. It's really fun! Wanna check it out too? Alrite... I'll share.

Go to Photofunia and try it out yourself. Go on. You'll find yourself ironically on a model's outfit, on Vogue's cover page and on Angelina Jolie's t-shirt!

Explorers In the East

After sending Asher to his first Shichida Method enrichment class, San Yi and us drove to E!Hub at Downtown East. The entertainment centre has been opened for months but none of us has visited it! On approaching the venue, we were awed by its Cadbury branded Ferris Wheel near its main entrance. This place sure looks fun! We hurried in to check out its ticket price. Our jaws dropped when we heard its charges. $6.50 for 4 min ride! That means it costs $1.625 per min. God! Even more expensive than Singapore Flyer which costs only $0.983 per min! I'd rather splurge the money on the observation wheel which offers more aerial and breathtaking views. I wanted to send Rynae to Explorer Kids but was also turned off by its steep ticket pricing. $22/child/entry/hour and each adult has to pay $1.50 to get in. I refuse to succumb to this extortion. We didn't stay long there as there simply wasn't much to entertain us. How could such a place sustain if there isn't interest and human crowd? I'll bet with my last dollar that the tenants' accounts will be seeing red soon.

We thought of settling dinner at the nearby Fisherman's Village. As it was still early, we allowed Rynae to play in the sandy children's playground and also had a short walk on the beach. Our growling stomach hurried us to fill it up hence we began our search for the Fisherman's Village, which all of us haven't gone for years. After half an hour of futile search, we still couldn't locate it. Six sense told us that it has been demolished. Indeed it is! We finally found a location map which has the spot 'Fisherman's Village' blanco off. When did this happen and where was the publicity? None of us had a clue. All of us were famished then and we make do with a seaside restuarant, Summer Breeze. Their food's not too bad. The whole day out has tired Rynae, who fell asleep in the car... all the way to the next morning, without a bath. *Yucks*

Children Day Celebration

Children's Day this year is eventful. It not only coincides with Hari Raya, it is also the day to burn bigger holes in our pockets as SBS increased their fares by 4 cts, SPH increased their prices for some of its newspaper and electricity tariffs increased by 22%. Yes! All on 1st October! What fortuitous timing huh!

To 'celebrate' this all-in-one day, we brought our star-of-the-day to Vivo City for some outdoor fun at the children's playground and pool at the sky garden. The weather was wonderful! It was windy and cloudy but the sky's not the least gloomy.

Next pit stop was the Merlion. It was the first time Rynae got introduced to this national icon and from then on, she never stop talking about it. Our friend even spat the water forcefully when she brushed her teeth, mimicking the Merlion!

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!