All About My Two Prince

Chess Marathon

2011-11-21T09:11:00.001+08:00

The 3 chess kids went for their chess school's "Fun Chess Marathon". It's a full day event with lots of different type of chess games....all done in a very fun way.

They get to play "blindfold"; "bullet"; "rotation"; "Random Chess"...Nicholas being in the last board for his team need not play those tough "games" like Rotation and Random. He played mainly the normal games.

Initially I was worried for Nicholas that he may tired out midway through (since there's no time to nap) but the coach said he did very very well and he certainly did not look a least bit tired when I return to pick them up.

His teammates also praises him as he won quite a fair bit of games for the team. So in the end, his team came in first! He was very happy to receive the "golden cup", his first trophy! A Golden Trophy!

His team came in FIRST!

Little one so happy with his golden cup!

All 3 kids each got something.. Rachel's team came in second while Charmaine's team came in third.

Their trophy...

Random Pictures

2011-11-20T16:27:00.001+08:00

See how strong their bonds are! They even hugged each other in their sleep!

Universal Studios Singapore...again!

2011-11-18T16:28:00.002+08:00

Hubby brought the 3 kids to Universal Studio today...he been nagging at me for not giving him a chance to spend some time with the kids..hahahaha... and so his wish was finally granted today! He seized the opportunity to bring them to USS and freed me to do my shopping and some Me-Time.

He took these pictures of the girls doing rock climbing...

That's Rachel reaching the top and below was Charmaine trying to catch up with her sister.

and this outside Jurassic Park... They had a great day out with fantastic cooling weather and no crowd.

My Cheeky Little Mickey

2011-11-17T16:25:00.002+08:00

Brought him along to do some last minute shopping for his uncle's wedding. He walked around with his cute little index finger tapping on his head (thinking) as he browsed around the area..so cute! Rachel spotted this Mickey ''glasses'' and put it on for him and we got this CUTE ''mouse''!

Ryan @ 31 months

2011-11-09T16:25:00.002+08:00

With him speaking more and ability to express more of his thoughts, he got more and more cheeky.

He loves acting out the character from the stories we told him. He can be the billy goat; the ugly troll; Bubbles (the monkey); Baby Panda; Owl babies; Winnie the Pooh.... He loves best to be the youngest baby owl and Baby Panda.

He likes to mimic how animals behave too. When he sees snakes on NGO wild, he goes sliding on the ground with his tongue sticking in and out.

A video of him as a snake..watch his tongue...

He goes sliding in a "S" shape too when he wants to be a crocodile. The difference between a crocodile and snake is that when he is a crocodile, he will place his hands in front, opening and closing it, as if it is the jaws.

He is also super super clingy now!!! Especially at night, he goes crying if he doesn't sees me. He tells everybody "I don't want you!! I want pommy!" Pommy!" and goes screaming and running round the place looking for me. Even if I was in the toilet, he will insist on waiting outside and refuses everyone. Its a sweet feeling to be so WANTED but I do hope he get out of this soon.

SCF Children's Day Chess Challenge 2011

2011-11-05T21:30:00.002+08:00

This will be his 3rd competition and mummy is still as kancheong and nervous as it was his first!

As usual, along with others his age, they played in the U-8 category. There were 100 kids playing in this category....tough one. And to make things worst (more kancheong), he was paired with previous year Under-6 4th placing boy for the first round! *faint*

Knowing the chance of winning is near 0%, I still gave out the instructions... ''be careful, think before you move ... ''

He lost the first round but won the 2nd, 4th & 7th(last round) and drawing the 5th round. His final score was 3.5 points. His starting rank was 85 and he ends the competition with the final ranking at 58. His chance of winning a medal was slimmed...a lot have to depends on the rest of the under 6 players played (although the under 6 were playing in the under 8 category, they have separate prizes for the Under 6 players.) Anyway, as usual, we stayed on to watch the prize presentation, a way to motivate the kids.

Little did we expect that his name will be the FIRST to be called when they were giving out the medal for Under 6 boys. Being first to be called up stage means he was the 10th placing! We were so excited but my blur boy have no idea his name was being called and still busy munching his packet of crisps. We shoo-ed him up the stage with him not having any idea what was going on! hahaha... He shook hands with the SCF President, Mr Ignatius Leong and took his medal with a stunned face!

After receiving the medal, he stayed on stage while waiting for the rest to receive theirs...

Together with all the top 10 players for the under-6 boys... Well done all of you!!

A group photo with their chess school's friends and coaches after the event...

The girls did very well too with Charmaine coming in 2nd and Rachel 4th for the Girls Under 10 category! A fruitful day for all 3 babies!!

A photo of him and his medal!

Well done, all of you!! Your hard work and intense training paid off!

My Little elephant

2011-11-03T15:31:00.003+08:00

My little cutie pretending to be an elephant...he even include sound effect with it!

MGS Funfair 2011

2011-10-29T16:22:00.003+08:00

At the MGS Funfair...

This year, the girls' school held a Mega funfair to raise funds. Usually, its only for the girls and during school hours but this year, its open to public and a near full day event. The girls invited friends and relatives over and they remarked that its a very beautiful school...big, spacious, clean and nice... I raised both hands and legs in complete agreement!

The event took us months to plan and organize. I was in-charge of the Tattoo station and only managed to sneak out to accompany the kids for a while. The girls didn't need me to be with them...they had their own coupons (bought with their own pocket money). Hubby took care of the 2 boys and they love the train and the F1 most.

Marina Bay Sands...Here we come!!

2011-10-16T14:42:00.002+08:00

16th - 18th October 2011

Exams finally OVER!!! Hubby got a room at Marina Bay Sands for 2 nights and the kids were all so excited to go. The kids couldn't wait to check out the Sky Pool and when they did, they went "wow"!

For the next 2 days, we swam there and check out Marina Square (hadn't been there for a long long time). Even went for a bowling session...in summary, we all had a good break after the exam battle.

Nice view from up here...

Little one here just recovered from flu, so he only gets to play for a while...

The 3 babies with the sunset as a backdrop...

Playing with the camera mode... (Expressive mode)

A family photo...

Nicholas at the "baby" pool...behind was for the adults...

Ryan enjoying himself at the "baby" pool...

On the last day, Charmaine had to go back to school in the morning. Hubby brought the rest for a last dip in the pool before we check out.

Animals

2011-10-14T13:59:00.003+08:00

He likes fixing puzzles, so we repeated the names of the animal as we fixed and he was able to say it after 1 week of "intense" training! Indeed, its easier to teach when they kids are interested in the "subject"

Ryan @ 30months

2011-10-09T07:40:00.003+08:00

His Speech

More recognisible words are coming out from his little mouth and forming short sentences like..."mummy, wait for me"; "Not yet, wait a while"; "how about that?"

But the most commonly heard sentence now is "Don't care about you!" . Whenever he is angry, he goes "don't care about you!"..even in his dream. This is the first time he said the sentence and everyone was surprise and amused.

When it's his tv time, he knows how to request for his channel. He will asked whoever was there "tv, 311" (playhouse Disney channel). Once I on 322 instead and he knew its not his channel and ask me to change to his.

Children's Day Chess Competition - Eastern Knight Chess Club

2011-10-02T10:25:00.000+08:00

This is Nicholas' 2nd Chess Competition. Its small scale compared to the one that he had for his first. This competition is something special to the 3 kids as their 2 cousins and 2 good friends will be playing too. I must say they all played very well with Nicholas winning 3 games and drawing 1. He had played with this boy in the previous competition which he lost, so when he drew this time round, it was a big step forward for him!

As for his 2 sisters, they were paired with very strong opponents and their games were definitely much tougher. There was 2 games when Rachel put up a super good fight till the end. She was actually winning but due to lack of experience, she made a mistake and that's becomes the turning point.

Charmaine had one game unfairly ruled against her and she was so upset that she cried. She was supposed to win that game but the opponent played foul (a long story) and the arbiter gave him the benefit of doubt.

Though the girls were not in the top 5, they enjoyed themselves nonetheless...a break from books!

Nicholas got a special seat! hee..I though he would be too short so brought this blue cushion along to give him a boost!

Round 1, the girls were seated side-by-side.

Nicholas found a comfortable position to sit while waiting for Round 1 to start.

The game officially started with a hand shake. I loves this moment.

Its his first time doing recording of his game. I told him to record only the first 10 moves.

Round 2, Rachel was paired with this boy. Very strong but Rachel did well and gave him headache. She could have won but she was too nervous to realise her winning position and make a mistake, which became the turning point of the game. Lots of people gather to watch this game as it was really well played.

In deep thoughts...

thinking....

Nicholas was very focus in this competition. He just needs more exposure.

Writing his moves slow his reflex which is good in a sense. This way, he will not moves carelessly.

My cheeky boy was paired with his cousin on the 6th round.

My tomboyish girl...what a way to sit..like "ah lian"

The kids were excited to see the trophies and medals. Nicholas kept asking if he had win enough to win something. (I didn't tell the kids that everyone will get a medal/trophy) So when his name was being called, he was so excited!

A photo with all the U-8 kids.

The girls missed the top 5 but they still get a merit trophy each (for top 10)... hahahaha...they are lucky cos there were only 9 under 10 girls took part in this competition. Anyway, Rachel was 6th and Charmaine was 7th.

A photo with their medal/trophy.

and their cousins...

and the girls' good friend, L.

A good game played by all...so now its back to books again! hahahaha...exam in a week's time!

Cake in a Cone

2011-09-29T11:46:00.002+08:00

Make these for my 2 girls to cheer them up during this exam period. They loves it!

Messy Art Play

2011-09-20T13:46:00.004+08:00

Ryan was down with fever, flu and cough for the last few days. Today feeling better, we took out some poster colours and papers. At first, we were just doing some painting with the paintbrush...then he started using it to paint his hands and feet! and we have little foot and hand prints everywhere...so glad I have helper to clear up the mess!

Birthday Celebration with Chessmates

2011-09-18T16:00:00.001+08:00

Charmaine's birthday fell on the same day as the competition date and after getting her consent, we decided to celebrate her birthday with all her chess friends instead of her classmates. Her classmates were disappointed as they look forward to her party every year. One came up to me even asking if she could come for Charmaine's party!

Since we are celebrating her birthday with the chess friends, I seek her approval to add Nicholas in too which she happily agreed. So this is the $200+ cake that she chose! The hottest bird in town now....ANGRY BIRD!

Back view..

Nicholas finishes his game first so I got him to take a picture.

The 2 birthday kids...

The cake is such a hit that when I took it out, all the kids and adults went "WOW!!!" and all the kids forgot about their analysis and came rushing over to "chop" the birds that they wants. They pestered Nicholas and Charmaine to reserve the "birds"!

A group photos before the birthday song.

And the cake cutting. The kids got to go for their final round so they only got to eat it when they return. I was glad that all of them are able to regain focus and not think about the cake when they were playing or I'll be the culprit...*phew*

Happy Birthday Nicholas & Charmaine!

His First Chess Competition

2011-09-18T09:52:00.007+08:00

Patrick Tay Chess Challenge 2011 is his first competition after 9 months of lessons. He was a little disappointed that he did not win any medal but he shown great determination to do better the next time. He told me he wants to win a medal like his sisters who has a whole shelf filled with trophies and medals. All I can say to him was "work harder and be careful the next time."

Through this competition, Nicholas had again proven to me that he is no longer a little scaredy boy but a big brave boy...

First
Being one of the youngest player there, it means that all his opponents will be older than him. He played with a few kids twice his age and he shown no fear.

Second

He shown that he is not easily intimated by his opponent. There was one 7 yrs old girl who he played with. Throughout the game, I can see her waving her hands around him and telling him off.

Third

He shown courage to speak up for his rights. When his opponent makes illegal moves, he is able to explain to the arbiter the situation.

Fourth

He had shown determination to win and put in his best though he run out of steam after lunch. There was one game which he was losing but he put on his thinking cap and his effort paid off.

The best and funniest moment was when he won his first round. He raised his hands and shouted "Mummy, I win! I win!" and every one turned to look at him. But who can blamed him?! Its his first win!

Although he only scored 2 out of 7 rounds but both the coaches and I were very proud of him. Not forgetting that he is the youngest player in this tournament where many great seasoned players are playing.

Good job Nicholas!

Here are some shot of him in action...

First chess competition together with his sisters

Showing a little tense while waiting for Round 1 to start

Building castle in the sky while waiting for all to be seated...

See him? He in the center of the picture.

This is a tough game for him. He lost his queen but managed to fight back and win.

See how excited he was! He couldn't contained his excitement and knelt on his chair to play.

Birthday and mooncake celebration

2011-09-11T19:41:00.003+08:00

No fanciful cake...No celebration in school...just a small cake which I grabbed from Breadtalk after Church for my little darling 5 yrs old birthday. He didn't mind at all (probably he still too young) and was happy to see his uncles joining us for steamboat dinner too. They were here for the "mooncake reunion dinner" and so its "one stone kills two birds"

Since Charmaine and Nicholas actual birth date was 3 days apart, we celebrated for her as well.

Nicholas wanted to give Charmaine a birthday kiss but Charmaine was too shy to receive it from him.

Ryan couldn't wait any longer for a taste of the yummy cake...

Our 4 babies...

For the mooncake celebration part, hubby got a complimentary box of delicious and creatively wrapped mooncake Marina Bay Sands - Casino. No lah..he is not a gambler but he brings his clients there for entertainment. The mooncake not only comes in a very creative box, but it tastes very good too. Even for a person like me that doesn't fancy mooncake ate half a piece of it..which is a lot for one sitting!

Anyway...

Happy Birthday to both my darlings!!!

Ryan @ 29 mths

2011-09-09T20:04:00.004+08:00

HIS SPEECH....

I'm very happy with his speech development though he is definitely much slower than his peers.

His speech had now progressed to more than words per sentence and able to use words that made up of 2 syllabus like:

Ma Mee (mummy)
Play ground (playground)
Dad dee (daddy)
Read book
Right leg
Ep leg (left leg)

He is also able to recognise some alphabets like A; B; C; O and T but he can only pronounce A & O. He equates everything circle to the letter "O" even the bottom circle of the letter "g". See what I mean? The bottom of the "g" is a full circle, so he think that is "o" too.

We like the way he speaks when he "complain". He sounds so poor thing that there's no way anyone not feel for him. Sometimes when we spotted a scratch mark or abrasion on his hands or legs and asked him what happened, he will narrate the incident to us in his most pathetic voice with action included - "run...fall down....play ground...pain". Its the same old reason for a few weeks but just this week, he had made some modification and gave us a new version.... "bees...here...bees....there...bees bite me...pain"

HIS TEMPER...
There is still room for improvement for his temper. He has super quick temper. Whenever things are not to his liking or someone took his things without asking, he will be angry and cry. Sometimes, he even stomp his feet and fold his arm and turned his face away from the person he is angry with. Let's pray and hope he will mellow down once he is able to communicate well.

Brotherly Love

2011-08-31T10:15:00.000+08:00

Hari Raya Puasa Carnival

2011-08-30T10:29:00.001+08:00

My sis invited us to her church carnival. Its my first time stepping into her church and gosh! Its huge! The funfair was held at their "ballroom" and I must say this is one of the most beautifully decorated/designed funfair I ever went. They have lots of creative ideas and games and all designed and done up by themselves (shall come to that later).

We first looked for my sis's stall and the kids were excited to see their aunt and cousins. They were each given some coupons (FOC) to go around. They tried their hands on decorating their own cookies and cupcake. See, even Nicholas is giving a try with the decoration.

Rachel tried on the chef's hat...

Nicholas and his ...erhm...decorated shark.

Rachel and her LOVEly cupcake...

This 2 belongs to Charmaine. She just loves doing it. I like her tortoise..so sweet.

While Charmaine was busy decorating her cookies, Rachel and the 2 boys went on the bouncy castle. See how motherly she is. She was protecting her little brother the whole time up there. Thanks sweet heart!

now shall introduce all the creative ideas I see there... The name of this is "Save Baby Moses!" They used the eggs tray and painted them. Green for grassland; blue for river; brown for desert. The kids were given balls to throw and only those landed on the blue coloured scored points. The highest scorer for that hour will win a big prize.

Then, the kids give a try on the mini golf but only Charmaine managed to score.

Nicholas and daddy team

The name for this game is "Sin No More!" and there were 7 bottles with the "sins" written on each one. The kids were supposed to thrown ball and knocked them down.

This "Hunny Pot Challenge" was easy game for them. All they need to do was to throw the ball into the pot and they allow little ones like Nicholas & Ryan to go right next to it. I think their objective was to gives away as many honey stick as possible! hahaha...What I want to bring to attention was that the entire board was own made..meaning they drew, cut and paste everything themselves! Amazing artist.

But the most creative and HOT one must be this...Angry Bird.

They uses thick stick to make the slingshot and the kids will fire the mini Angry Birds toy at the evil green pigs. Its tough but still kids were queuing to play. They have a simpler version for the young ones. All the young ones need to do is to throw the Angry Birds toy at the pig but still, my darling Nicholas had difficulty knocking down even one.

Consolation prize for the girls - Angry Bird badge. They are really crazy over this Angry Birds thingy...*faint*

Fisher of Men was actually "fishing" out the sweets with a tiny net. Look deceived. Its not easy at all but they were very sweet not to disappoint the kids by hand placing some into the net just before the time was up.

They have testimonials in between. A good way to share with non-believers in non-invasive manners. Besides games, of course there were food and drinks stall which goes out pretty fast.

Verdict : 8.5/10 The kids enjoyed very much and went home with bagfuls of sweets!

His playing with words

2011-08-17T19:45:00.002+08:00

Had this little conversation with my cheeky boy when we were on the way to his chess lesson. No discrimination here....just pure kid's innocent talk.

Nicholas: Why GM E speaks in a funny way?

Me: because he is from Russia. He is a Russian.

Nicholas (laughing cheekily): What!? You mean the people there always "rush" here and there?!! Hahahaha!!!

Singapore Museum - Art Garden

2011-08-17T10:27:00.002+08:00

Visited the Art Garden today with the preschool. Ryan totally enjoyed every single seconds of it there! They were greeted by 2 baby elephants and the kids were given cute flower stickers to decorate it. Next to it was a big wall decorated with solar power mechanical flowers, clovers and bunnies that rock gently. Its very soothing to look at.

Next we went to the "Mummy Dearest" room which had a wardrobe of clothes, shoes and a big 3 tier cake for the kids to decorate and play dress up with. Next room was a creativity room where the kids uses their creativity and skill to form pictures using large coloured chips. Its not easy and definitely not for the kindies and below. But nonetheless, the kids enjoyed dropping the coloured chips into the columns.

Ryan enjoyed being in the "Paramodelic-Graffiti" room, a room which was filled with modular toy train, tracks, crane and animals. I must say its really a very interesting room.

Took a break in the reading library and Ryan spotted a book about elephants. Its his favorite animal for now and he enjoyed looking at the pictures and showing me how it spray water and how it walk (stomping from left to right in slow motion). He even chose a elephant picture to colour.

Rating for this trip: 8/10

Ryan @ 28 mths old

2011-08-09T16:51:00.008+08:00

He now mimic whatever Nicholas did. Whenever Nicholas tells me about story about his eventful day, with his hands joining in the narrating, Ryan will stand next to him and tries to do the same and repeat the last word of Nicholas' sentence. Think its a good start to his speech. At least now he tries to "speak".

This month, we went to watch a play (his second play) - "Rocky, The Baby Panda" . This time he is more at ease and knows the rules. He sat still when the play begun and stood up to dance when they were told to do so. He even did the counting with the squirrels. He enjoys the play much better than the first and we even bought the book which is now his favorite book.

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Whenever I read books to him and when we comes to the words "baby", he will tilt his body and lean on my hand in a cradle position. I think he is trying to telling me he is just like the "baby" in the story.

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After showering him one day, I decided asked the little one which coloured towel belongs to him. Nicholas and him each have their own coloured towel. I didn't expect him to give the correct answer and so when he answered "white!" I was surprised! So to test and see if it's by luck, I insisted that the blue towel is his. Without thinking, he shook his head and said "blue...tor tor (nicholas)"

Both the school and us had started to train him to put on his own shoes. It took a long long time before he could put it on but still a good try. But whenever I'm around, he will insist that I put it on for him.

KFC's National Day Outing

2011-08-07T22:14:00.000+08:00

Our church organized an excursion for the Primary school kids to the Central Fire Station and I tag along with my 2 boys too. The kids were fascinated by all the olden days fire engines and wasn't interested with the briefing by the station master. They can't wait to explore around. So when the talk finally ended, the kids were like bees dashing around, going in and out of the fire trucks and trying out everything that is touchable.

Charmaine trying on a kid's size fire fighter jacket and pretended to be a fire "woman". After touring around and trying every thing, everyone gathers back at the main entrance to collect their balloons. They were suppose to write a prayer for Singapore on it but most cheeky ones wrote their personal wishes instead!

Rachel wrote a prayer that she can score all As in her exam so she can get a PSP ....

while Charmaine was more simple..she only asked to score well in her SA2 (no rewards indicated)

The 2 boys each got a balloon too though they are not required to write anything.

Once the organiser got the clearance from the relevant department to release the balloons up into the air, the kids took turns to go out to the open space to release their balloons. They had actually planned to release all together but since it was drizzling, they have to take turns to release in batches.

No Longer A Scaredy Cat

2011-08-07T22:12:00.002+08:00

See my dear Nicholas up there! He finally summoned up his courage and climb all the way up there! Yeah!! He finally shed his scaredy cat image! Bravo!!!

DUCK

2011-07-29T08:25:00.004+08:00

Nicholas started to use phonic to spell simple words and so far, he is doing quite good.

But sometimes he can be cheeky in his spelling too. Like what happen this morning...

Me: Nicholas, can you spell "duck" for me?

Nicholas (thinking and trying to sound the word): D...U....k

Me: nope. It's D U C K.

Immediately he replied with a cheeky smile : you mean "did you see K" ? O...hahaha...I can see it!

My Little Green Bean Plant

2011-07-23T22:11:00.001+08:00

Charmaine requested for some green beans for her Science experiment and when Nicholas heard, he wanted some too. He took responsibility to water his beans every morning when he wakes up and he checked on them the first thing when he returned from school. His effort paid off when it grew from a tiny bean to a plant, bearing flowers and fruits.

Bottle Tree Park

2011-07-15T10:35:00.000+08:00

Read some much about this place from all the blogging mummies but never took the effort to bring the kids there. So today, finally gathered all my determination to drive the 2 boys there to check it out. Being a weekday, the place is very quite and we got almost the whole to place to ourselves. Nicholas laughed at the funny looking trees and came up with lots of his creative explanation why it looks that way.

It was bright and sunny one minute....

....and heavy downpour the next. We took shelter under the hut and was glad the rain stop pretty fast.

Back to explore more..took a picture the pack of mega bones! Nicholas said it look like the bones in the Elephant grave in his Lion King's book. Both had reservation going through it but after assurance, Ryan took the lead to walk though the "tunnel" and both started running in and out of the "tunnel"!

Walking up the slope to check out the pin-ball shooting. My dear Nicholas holding his little brother's hand, pulling him up the steep slope.

Boys! Boys! Boys! They stop chattering when they saw the army guys shooting and shouting out command. They just glued their eyes at the scene in front of them.

A Walk On The KTM Railway Track

2011-07-15T10:33:00.003+08:00

We lived so, so near and passed by it every day and yet never once did we ever take a serious look at the KTM railway track...The only time we took notice of it is when there's train passing on the bridge over the busy Bukit Timah Road.....

So with its closure, decided to bring the kids down for a walk and explored around. The girls, being girl, were less excited about it. To them, its just a walk, and a very bumpy one. But the boys enjoyed looking at the track and stuffs, especially Nicholas, picturing how it look when it was in operation.

The girls were briefed on the history of the railway and the reason for its closure while the boys busied themselves with the stones and doing balancing act on the tracks.

We found a way to get Ryan posed. All we need to do is to ask him to show us his 2 fingers and we got a "V" sign!

Our four beautiful kids....

Family photo...

The 2 girls wanted to take picture with him but little rascal pushed Charmaine away and only wanted to take with Rachel.

Big brother here had gone into his own "train" world...

Tired after the long walk but my 2 sweeties pie still able to give me their sweetest smile...

*yawn*...little rascal getting restless....

I brought the boy there again a few days later...less people and the boys get to enjoy more.

Music Time In School

2011-07-11T11:30:00.001+08:00

Spot him?! He enjoys music time and will even tries to "sing" along too.

Ryan @ 27 mths

2011-07-09T12:56:00.003+08:00

Development
He now able to use 2 to 3 words to form sentence like :
Go up
Sit down
Ball...bounce...down
Big house
Big bus

A new vocab he uses this month is "where". When I ask him to throw the litter into the bin, he look around for a bin before turning to ask "where?" as there's not one in sight.

His mathematics is getting along very well. Whenever we have the chance, will ask him "how many....?" and he is able to count (if more than 3) and give the correct answer.

He is doing very well in his sorting skill too, both shapes and colours.

Definitely very, very cute and cheeky now. This is the best age!!! How I wish he is Peter Pan, forever the same age....

Temperament

One bad area which he had developed is hitting and spitting when he is angry. When he was irritated or angry, he will start spitting saliva and even flinging his saliva at people. He will dig into his mouth and took the saliva with his fingers and throw at the person that he is angry with. I really had no idea where he learn this from. No one, not even his siblings, did that! HELP! HELP! HELP!!!

Durian Swiss Roll

2011-07-02T17:05:00.000+08:00

My fridge is packed with durian flesh and so I thought of using some for Swiss roll. I did it once long long ago...hmm..think it was 9 years ago! That's really long ago!

Very simple ingredients and very easy to make. Took me less than 40mins including getting the durian flesh out and meshing it.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/2 cup of castor sugar (I use slightly less than 1/2)
3/4 cup of self raising flour (sifted)
Durian flesh meshed with fork for easy spreading

Preheat oven @ 180 degree.

Step 1: beat eggs with electric beater till its pale and thick.

Step 2: gradually adding the sugar in and continue to beat till pale and glossy. This is really long. About 5mins

Step 3: add in the sifted flour and gently fold with well combined. Be gentle and so as to not burst the air bubbles.

Step 4: pour into a Swiss roll baking pan (lined with grease paper) and baked for 10 minutes or till golden. It should be springy when touch.

Step 5: remove from oven immediately once done and turn it onto a clean sheet of grease paper. Remove the top grease paper (the one that was lined on the tin). Spread the durian purée evenly and roll it up, like how one would roll a sushi roll.

I find it nicer to eat when it's chilled.

School Update - Nicholas

2011-06-30T12:13:00.003+08:00

For the month of June, the K1's children were introduced to the animals' kingdom. They spent the 4 weeks discussing about the following topic.

"The Giant Jellyfish invasion" ;

Can animals be nice? (animal's behavious)" ;

"Extinct Animals";

Spiders at risk in human-altered world. They may be creepy-crawly but spiders are a bellwether for a healthy environment.

They did their part in saving Gaia too. They each were given a pot and to plant their seeds. They took responsibility to water it every day and observe the growth of the seedlings to a young plant. A topic they touched on too for their Science lesson...Life Cycle of Plant.

School Update - Ryan

2011-06-30T12:12:00.005+08:00

Been a while I update on the boys' school learning....here is a brief one...

For the first half of the year, they learn counting in both language the number 1 to 5. They learn about colours too...Red; Yellow; Green; Blue; White; Black. They did many sorting skill too.

Here the little boy sort the blocks according to their colours...easy job for him.

Then they learned about transportation: Air, Sea and Land transport. Here, Ryan was given picture cards of some transportation vehicles and he is able to sort them according to Land, Sea and Air.

His cutie face when he tried the lemon juice...The teacher were introducing them the different type of fruits according to their colours. This week, they learn about the yellow colour fruits and they were shown lemon. They got to smell it, feel it, and taste it.

Outdoor playtime with Nicholas.

Making a photo frame for daddy - Father's Day present.

The end product...

Counting More Confidently

2011-06-20T10:16:00.001+08:00

He is more confident in his counting with both languages. Now he speaks loud and definitely much clearer.

A Milder Tantrum....

2011-06-10T10:12:00.001+08:00

If he wasn't too upset, his tantrum is much milder and can be very CUTE!
Loves his mouth when he says "no".

26 months update

2011-06-09T22:28:00.004+08:00

Little chap now not only able to count but knows the meaning /concept of it too. He counts almost everything that he sees, especially those with only 2 numbers. He specially loves to count buses and cars. When he sees 2 buses, he will shout with an excited tone "2...bus!" if more than 2, he will goes "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" the maximum he can go and the rest, mummy will have to count for him.

Did further test on his mathematics skill by asking how many ears/ eyes/ nose/ mouth he has and he is able to show me his fingers and said the correct answer!

He enjoys songs with action too and sometimes will request for song even! He will show us the action of the song and asked us to sing for him. He will try to sing along and do the action with me too!

His favourite songs are:
1. The Wheels On The Bus
2. Skinny Marinky Dinky Dink
3. The Eensy, Weensy Spider
4. Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
5. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
and many more....

So much for now on his good development and now update his "bad" areas. He started to hit people when he got upset. At times, he hits his brother so hard that even Nicholas felt the pain and cry. But once Ryan apologize (give a hug), the doting brother's heart will melt and hugs him back.

We assumed this behaviour is due to his speech development (mummy finding excuses for him). He still cannot fully expressed his unhappiness and thus hitting seems the fastest and easier way to express his unhappiness.

I do not condone such behaviour and so whenever I caught him hitting, I will tell him it's wrong to hit and get him to hug the other party. The school did the same too. But sometimes when he thinks he is not in the wrong because the other party had deliberately irritates him, he will refuse to hug that party. That's just how stubborn he is!

Ryan Starts Counting!!!

2011-05-31T10:07:00.005+08:00

The school had been "teaching" them numbers 1 to 5 in both Mandarin and English and we revised with him at home too. The video was taken on the day he was able to count and link the number to the number of fingers shown. Apologised for the soft volume as he was still not very confident in speaking out loud.

This one in Mandarin!!! YIPPEE!!!

What is Nicholas doing at Chess Competition?!

2011-05-29T10:43:00.006+08:00

Chess tournament?? Nope! He is still not ready yet but I brought him along when the 2 girls had their competition. Oh..did I mentioned that he is learning chess too? Its been quite a while..he started in December last year.

Its his first time staying throughout the entire day (he came along previously but only for a short while). When the girls played, he played too with his One and Only opponent... ME.

And once he completed the game, he got to play on the ipad. One K2 boy was attracted to his ipad too and wanted to play with him. They decided to have a game of chess..

More boys crowded around when he played other games on the ipad...

So what about Ryan? Hubby brought him to the Zoo and they had a wonderful bonding time there too!

Bird chase

2011-05-17T12:00:00.004+08:00

Ryan gets real excited when he sees a bird or cat/dog. It amused us watching going after the birds, just like dog going after one in a playful way. Ryan went round the tree and under the table and bench just to go near it. Don't know what to say of that..to say he is cute and try to be funny or to say he is silly and straight...he could have just go round the obstacle instead of going under them.

We didn't allow him to touch the bird though as one never know what will be passed to him.

Got to put up 2 video clip here as I had no idea how to join 2 videos (taken from iphone) into 1.

Boys' Swimming Video

2011-05-17T09:50:00.001+08:00

Video taken on our "Sports' Day"

Nicholas is more confident now with swimming without float though he prefer not to go without one.

"Sports" Day for the kids

2011-05-17T08:12:00.005+08:00

Vesak Day....brought the entire family (including Parents-in-law and SIL) out to East Coast for 2 hours of cycling in the morning. The girls had mastered the skill of a 2 wheeler and was exploring the path with their aunt. Nicholas cycled with us on his trainer bike. The most relaxed person was Ryan. He had the "baby" seat and was enjoying the breeze while I cycled.

After lunch, went home for a nap/rest before going for a swim. Nicholas was able to swim without float for a good distant though he definitely needs to work on his stroke. Ryan was well "inflated" and he enjoys himself in the pool. He even tried to blow bubbles and putting his head into the water!

His First Horse Ride

2011-05-14T10:37:00.004+08:00

The girls went for their classes and hubby brought the boys to the Singapore Zoo so that mummy dearest can have some "ME-Time". Been really tough coaching the 2 girls for their SA1 and now finally a break that I really look forward to.

Hubby had been very involved with the kids lately. In fact, every Saturday, he will take the boys either to the Zoo or for a swim. In the evening, he will bring the kids out for movie if there's any nice one...all this without me tagging along!

Photos taken by hubby while at the Zoo. Its the boys first horse ride and Ryan was either brave or ignorant. He just sat on t he horse without crying or struggling while Nicholas tried to find ways "escape" the ride.

Then later on, he went on the horse carriage thinking that hubby and Ryan will be coming along too but he was nervous when they didn't get on when the horse move. And after the ride, he tried to act brave too but hubby could see his nervous face.

2-In-1 Celebrations

2011-05-11T10:27:00.004+08:00

Celebrated Mother's Day celebration + FIL's birthday today at Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant @ Turf City. The girls enjoys themselves with karaoke while the adults chatted. They had their last paper today and was happy to bid their school books goodbye for now.