International Week

Its was 'International Week" in Ning's school (Schoolhouse by the Bay) over the week. And during the entire week, they learned to make sushi (Japan), tasted roti prata (India), know about Kiwi the fruit and animal (New Zealand) etc.

And to mark the end of this fun week, on the last day which is Friday, all the children will dressed up in clothes that depicts the different cultures and taste all kinds of cultural food (contributed and prepared by parents) in the international fair.

So I dressed her up in a Japanese costume which we got it from Japan when we went for hols in 2007. It was way too big for her when I got the smallest size avalaible at that time. Now 2 years later, it fit her perfectly for this event. And to add jest, I tied a ribbon and drew a red dot to add more Japanese flavour (in case some people cannot identify what nationality is she depicting). End up, some staff called her 'Japanese fighter girl'.

She told me she enjoyed the fair and food. And keep hounding me that she wants to make sushi again. So its not surprise her birthday party will be a 'Princess in Japan' theme...

Opera in the Park

Last Saturday, the Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO) held a performance at the Botanic Gardens. Like the SSO performance we went the previous month, it too was a crowded sight.

We didn't have any plans for the evening, so we decided to brave the cloudy skies and foreseeable full carpark to watch the performance. Somehow the kids love going there, lazing on the grass and running about.



After the performance, we actually played a game of hide-and-see, hiding behind the trees and bushes. Zhi tried to join in as well and we thought he looked really funny covering his eyes and counting. I wonder if he really understands what we were playing.

Aviva Open Singapore 2009

This week is the Aviva Open 2009. And like the past few years, we got the seasoned tickets the watch the matches. All the more so for this year because we can just walked over to the Indoor Stadium. This time, we got a bit adventurous by bringing the kids too. Children under the age of 12 enjoy free admission except on Semi-finals and Finals days.

Too bad, we over-estimate our kids. They weren't interested at all and frankly, I think they're too young to understand. So end up, I didn't get to see much.

Anyway, those hot favourites (Lee Chong Wei & Peter Gade) were ousted early in the quarter finals by some underdogs from Vietnam and India. And our local player Susilo didn't even join in this competition, likewise for Indonesian player Taufik and Chinese Lin Dan.

Hopefully next year, I get to watch without the kids disturbing me and those top seeded players will joined in this open too. Its been two consecutive years that Taufik and Lin Dan didn't come.

Here's a pic of the match between Chinese player Bao Chun Lai & the vietnam shuttler:

The Hidden Scar

Remember Zhi had a fall on Good Friday evening (April) and we had to rush him to A&E?

Well, now that the wound had healed, this fall had left him two tiny-teeny scars in his eyebrow. Its not so obvious from far, but if you look closer, you'll see two pinkish lines and bald patches.

He looked really funny in this picture. A bit crossed eyed, but not really that crossed. Nevertheless, you'll noticed a bald patch in his right eyebrow (towards the centre of the face) and that would be where the wound was.



Well, he doesn't seemed to mind at the moment. And we're just glad that he didn't hurt his eye that fateful night. Just a centimetre closer and it would've been damaging.

The Expansion of Thomas & Friends

A lot of friends know about Zhi's craze for Thomas and Friends related stuff and had been very nice to update me about the Marina Square's Thomas show and fair there.

Zhi got this Thomas Bucket Set for his birthday in March which includes a Thomas train (with his two coaches, Annie & Clarabel) and a simple track. Now, three months later, this circular track had expanded to a multi-way tracks with points changes, bridges and tunnels. In addition, little cheeky Thomas is not longer alone and has new friends to race like Bertie the Bus, Douglas, Rosie etc.

From this:


to this:


From left to right: Thomas, Toby, Rosie, Douglas & Bertie


I really don't know what is so special about all these trains that makes my son so nuts about them. But I know these stuff aren't cheap and that is why Papa had put a stop and telling all of us (grandparents and mummy) that we're not going to buy anymore Thomas for him until Christmas. Not even the 20% discount this GSS is offering on Thomas toys can make him change his mind...

About Ning

I don't why, but she's getting quite vain and pose-y lately.

First, she cried a few times telling us not to cut her hair short anymore. And insisted she wants to keep her hair long. Too bad, WF is all against her keeping her hair long because of the weather and sweatiness. And we got her hair snipped really short this time.

Then she became a really vain pot by insisting she wear her necklace and bracelet to school everyday. For the record, she insisted on wearing her tiara to school today!!! I couldn't talk her out of this crazy idea.

The ultimate came when she got my mum to buy THREE rings for at the pasar malam. As if that isn't enough, she told grandma she aims to have every ring on each of her fingers by her birthday in July!!!!!!

And the extreme came when she told me she wants to have a swimsuit that has got diamonds on it. I flipped and WF rolled his eyes in disbelief. I know diamonds are a girl's best friends, but I swear I never taught her anything near that!!!!!

Here's one posing with her brother.

The Little Big Club Concert

Last Saturday we brought the kids to the Expo to watch the Little Big Club Concert. There were a total of 10 characters in this concert and the two famous ones are Bob the Builder and Barney. As for the rest, its kind of foreign to them like Fireman Sam, Ballerina Angelina, Pingu etc.

So unfortunately and like the rest of the kids there, they only got excited towards the end of the show when Barney and gang came out. For the first half, it was pretty boring because they weren't very familiar with the characters. Even WF almost fell asleep.

Nevertheless, it was quite a joy to see them so happily singing and dancing when Barney and gang came out.

Fyi, Hi-5 is coming to town with a totally revamped casts. So do remember to get your tickets early. Sadly, we are not going to this one because of the new casts. None of the Hi-5 members were the familiar faces we used to see on the videos.

Storytelling at The Little Arts Academy

If I am not wrong, every last Saturday of the month, there will be a free admission to an hour of storytelling session at the Little Arts Academy. The academy is located at PoMo Centre, formerly known as Paradiz Centre.

Of course, for that one hour (with a break in between), the kids will listen to the storyteller narrating the selected stories. And when we went there, only Ning had the patience to sit down whereas Zhi was crawling all over the place. In the end, WF had to bring him out and keep him occupied.


I thought the academy was rather nicely done up. And some of their programmes are catered to Ning's age. Too bad, the location and timing for the class were a bit way off. So we didn't sign her up for any eventually.

About Zhi

He's got this liking for orange. I cannot remember when did he start to like this colour and fruit. But he can really sit at one corner and enjoy a slice of it until it hardly has any pulp left.






Also, we've been trying to potty train him for the last three months now. But to no success. Not that we were very insistence. We leave it to him to initiate since potty train is something that you don't really force the kid into. But everytime he tell us he wants to pee or poo, he merely sits there and less than 5 seconds later, leap from the potty. We even got Ning to help and encourage him. It didn't work. Anyway, let's hope this training will come to past.