20120102 mommy's thoughts

Mommy's thoughts to wrap up the year 2011....

.... went for McDonald's open house since it is her favourite fast food.  During the short tour, daddy keep saying 'then why is it called junk food?' when the 'tour guide' talked about the healthy and hygiene standards used in McDonald's.

.... Kathleen tried her first half boiled egg and loved it (eating 2 at one go!)

.... Went for a children's play with some forum friends.....

Also started her 3 more enrichment classes - phonics (home based, just not my home! :P), swimming (nearby pool), and Chinese (at community centre).

enjoying herself before class starts

Of course, also organised a chalet and went on a trip to Hong Kong, and brought her to some free art performances (ok, 1 performance and 1 exhibition).

Managed to sign her up for berries starting 2012, so we will see how it turns out. Hopefully it will give her a good foundation to enable her to develop a like (love is abit extreme) for the language and to self read.  But there goes my social life as both Saturday and Sunday will be busy.

The little girl promises the following for 2012 :
- no more carrying
- no more stroller (already asking for it)
- self feeding (already ask me to feed her)
- self bathing
- self wiping after pee and poo
- sleep in her own bedroom (never happen cos she still has a fear of fire)
For mommy, 2011 is abit too eventful.  Something happened in the family, and we tried to rally around abit, and I wonder if K will get the same support from her friends (since she does not have siblings) or cousins if she encounter problems in her life next time.  My health is not exactly good, some still unresolved.  My netbook had a near-death experience (no thanks Samsung Kies!).  Still have to juggle work, parent volunteer, and taking care of the little girl.

Might be restricting access to her blog after she goes to primary school.  Am quite comfortable with the security level at her child care (there is usually an adult near to the main gate, and they had recently installed another gate inside to prevent adults from going in after this year's HFMD scare) but there is no guarantee of the security in primary schools since the compound is much larger, or in the student care if the arrangement comes to that.  Or maybe might even stopped blogging and switch to facebook or other medium since I find it harder and harder to find time for anything.  Even falling sick is a luxury (think many mommies agreed with this) that I can hardly afford.

Hopefully I can complete the parent volunteer soon (though balloting is almost guarantee), and clear up my health issues soon.  And hope for less work! :)

20121225 Christmas

Blink of an eye, and Christmas was here again.

This year, mommy is so busy that she did not bring Kathleen to the yearly Orchard Road Christmas lights viewing.

Kathleen had also asked for a Christmas tree, but mommy refuse to budge as she did not want to maintain another Christmas tree after throwing away the last one that was shedding so much leave it is a prime candidate for 'hair' transplant.

And as usual, mommy took shortcuts for the Christmas present exchanges (asked the kids what they want instead of racking her limited brain cells).

As mommy had told Kathleen that it will be a busy day, the girl actually woke up extra early that morning so that she could play with her own toys.

And mommy brought out the Christmas presents when she went into one of the bedrooms..

2!

Kathleen unwrapped the first present from Auntie Long-legs.  It was a Mother Garden picnic set! :) She liked it so much she totally forgot about the 2nd present that was from mommy and daddy (kick scooter that she had asked for). Hahahha...

The girl even wanted to bring the Mother Garden set to 四姨姨's place.

Thank you Auntie long-legs!

After that, we went to 四姨姨's place for lunch and a game of Xbox Kinect.  The kids and adults all have a great time, but one thing about Kinect is that it cannot really detect short people (aka children) well enough.

K trying to bowl....

its a STRIKE!

After that, everyone went to po po's place for dinner and the Christmas presents.

Posing before ripping off the wrappers

Let the ripping begins!

As usual, mommy will try to take pictures of the individual kids and their Christmas presents.  When she was asking Nicole to pose, her sister Julia who was seated next to her throw some wrappers into the air to try to block the photo shoot.  Her aiming was so good that it was just in front of Nicole's face when the shutter was pressed!  So mommy got that hilarious shot below.

Got to take another picture.

2 nici pencil cases, story books and hairband and some other stuff

toys toys toys

books! Julia is a book lover

toys toys toys

toys, books, clothes, a bandbag with Scrabble Dash inside

toys, books and accessories.  The Sylvanian toys are at her request as her daddy Uncle Levin had bought her  a Sylvanian house for her birthday

Everyone then got involved in setting up the Sylvanian ice cream store which has many parts and lots of stickers (= lots of fun, for kids their age)

K enjoying her kick scooter 2 days later

So that brings the end of another merry christmas! :)

20111224 East Coast Park

On Christmas Eve, daddy indulged mommy's whims and the whole family (ok, 3 person only lah) went to East Coast Park for a cycling trip despite the gloomy monsoon weather.

Mommy is always thinking of getting a bicycle with a seat for Kathleen so that she can cycle her to nearby place, but before she put the money down for another bicycle (yes, there is one at home, a impulse buying which was unused because it is too high for mommy and her terrible cycling skills), she needs to know that she can balance with a kid in tow.

Daddy parked the car far away, and it was raining before we walked to the nearest bicycle kisok.

Its been a long time since mommy had been to the beach, and saw that nowadays, the bicycle kisok also rent out 4 wheels 'bicycles' that allows for 2 adults and 2 children, or 4 adults and 2 children.  They move really slowly but its a good way for family to cycle together especially for people who cannot balance! :P

Seek shelter and waited for the rain to stop before we rented 2 bicycles, one with a child seat at the front, and one without.  Mommy tried to cycle with Kathleen in the child seat, but cannot, so daddy took over.  We took a break after 15minutes, and Kathleen just cannot wait to get back onto the bicycle again (despite her earlier reservations as her last experience on an adult bicycle was more than 3 years ago)!

trying to get back onto the bicycle while mommy still want to catch her breath

Mommy then took over, and cycle halfway from Area C to the hawker centre before Kathleen asked for a change of rider because mommy is 'too slow'.

Had lunch at the hawker centre before cycling back to Area C when it rained heavily again and we had to stop at the same shelter as before.

At the hawker centre, mommy showed Kathleen her shaking hands as she had not cycled for a long time, and Kathleen laughed and keep imitating mommy's shaking hands.

The rain stopped about 20minutes before the end of the 2 hour rental, and daddy went to exchange the bicycle with the child seat in front to one with the child seat.

K insisting on climbing onto the adult seat for a photoshoot

This time round, mommy found it easier to cycle, maybe because now her kneecaps are not pointing outwards (as her knees are blocked by the child seat if it is placed in front).  So maybe a child seat at the back will be a better choice even though having a child seat in front is safer?  Too bad they didn't have those bicycles with a normal black bicycle seat in front for younger children else mommy can try that out too!

All in all, think we cycled for 45 min to 1 hour during the 2 hour rental, the rest of the time being taken by lunch and all the resting due to the heavier rain (we cycled when its just drizzling).

After that, we let K went to the beach for some sand play.  And she spent most of her time walking to the sea to get water into her pail, bringing it back to mat area, and then pouring it into the sand.

We also saw a man walking out to sea casting a net to catch fishes (we peeked into his pail, and yes, he got quite a few fishes inside) and a family of older children using a opened inverted umbrella to scoop sea water (errrrrr.....).

pouring sea water into the sea

Many ships at the horizon

Mommy got 'chicken wings syndrome (三姨姨's terms for muscle cramp at the armpit/upper arm area after gripping the bicycle's handle too hard)' on the left arm that day :P

20111218 Dreams and Reality

National Museum recently had a exhibit Dreams and Reality, which features paintings, drawings and photography from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

And mommy brought Kathleen along when she found out that Passioncard holders are entitled to free entry during a particular 2 week period.

Here are some pictures especially for those who missed it (hardly any publicity or am I really out of touch with this country's happenings?).

Will try to label them correctly but pardon me if they are wrong as most of the photos that I have taken of the description turned out blur due to my lousy hp camera and the dimly lit venue (for ambience, I suppose).

This gorgeous huge picture was one of the first to greet us upon entry.

Young woman on the beach/Jetty - Philip Wilson Steer (1860 - 1942)

Spring - Jean-Francois Millet (1814 - 1875)

Needs no introduction. Starry Night - Vincent Van Gogh

Summer Night - Winslow Homer

The Young Girl and Death - Marianne Stokes

Some other exhibits in the National Museum.

I enjoyed that silent hour or so inside the exhibit, and the booklet that the museum printed with simple explanation on impressionism does help for a newbie for me.  There is even simple questions inside for older children, and an area at the end of the exhibition for children to doodle (with colour pencil and paper provide) and books provided for the visitors to read more about the artists.

While Kathleen did not run around screaming (she does talk too loudly once in a while), she was pretty bored and pretend to read 'The 3 little pigs' from the exhibit booklet. :P  Her favourite?  The Knight of the flowers, by Georges Rochegrosse, I think mainly because it is one of the most colourful painting in the whole exhibition.

20111223 Year End Concert

Its year end again, and time for Kathleen's chid care's year end concert.

This time round, they change the venue from a primary school to Yishun Safra.

There are two K1 classes in her child care, and this year, both classes combined together to put together 2 performance - one in Chinese and one in English.

As usual, videos always take eternity to upload into youtube using my home's broadband, so here are some pictures instead.

 They first perform the dance to a Chinese old song (a popular song from the early 80s).  The girl and her friends all went to the wrong side of the stage (see picture below) and wander around for some time before they realise its the wrong side and move back to the correct side.

Dance to a Chinese OLD song

 Their 2nd performance was to a English pop song from 2011 (hahahaha).  The shirt says 'I Hip Hop'.

Posing for a picture with daddy after the show.

A funny thing happened after the performance.  Mommy dumped her clothes into the washing machine, and when done, was surprised to find a new-looking white singlet inside the laundry.  Then after taking out all the laundry, she found the cut-outs below (see below picture).  Seems that their unique 'I Hip Hop' T shirt is actually a normal white singlet with the words (cut from felt fabric) glued onto it, and one wash is all it takes for the words to come out :P

20111117 Hong Kong Day 5 - Disneyland & home

Next morning, we had breakfast at the Enchanted Garden where some of the Disney characters will turned up for photoshoots with the guests.  There are 2 timings - 7.30am - 9am , and 9.30am - 11am.  Mommy choose the first slot as she wanted to go Disneyland again.

Breakfast coupon

First character to pose with us is Daisy Duck already in Christmas wear

mickey mouse waffle

mickey mouse mini pancake

After waiting for a long time, we pose with our next character which is Goofy.

Add caption

Then, Mickey Mouse... no Minnie though..

Finally, Pluto....

Goofy acting cute in front of mommy's camera :P

After breakfast, we walked around the place and took photos of the outdoor and indoor pools.

We also visited the gift shop and one of the staff there gave Kathleen 3 stickers - for the 3 of us.

Check out of the hotel, left our luggage there, and went back to Disneyland again.

We saw the long queue to take pictures with Mickey and Minnie.  Thinking that the queue will shorten after a while, we went on and queued to take pictures with Chip and Dale instead.  However, after that, the queue for Mickey and Minnie did not seem to shorten, and we join the queue.

Queuing to take pictures with Chip and Dale...

Bored K while waiting for her turn to take pictures with Mickey and Minnie

After queueing for more than 1 hour, its finally our turn!!!!!

We then went to Fantasy Land and saw Aurora and Belle, but the Disneyland staff told us we cannot queue for photos anymore, so mommy asked K to stand far away to at least take a shot of 2 princesses.  The staff told us Aurora will be back at 12.30pm but we did not find her when we went back to the same spot at 12.30pm. :(

Finally went for the Stitch Encounter.  In Chinese though (they have shows in Cantonese, Chinese and English at different slots)

Taking a ride at the Autopia which we did not take yesterday as the waiting time then was 20minutes.  It was just a boring ride which lets you control the speed by stepping on an 'accelerator'.

Then went to watch another show - the Golden Mickeys, which is like a musical drama for awards.

After that, we went to this far corner in Fantasy Land and saw 3 characters for photo taking - Minnie, Pooh and Donald.  Quickly queued for Pooh. 

Minnie back from her toilet break

Pooh back from his toilet break

Finally took pictures with Pooh.

And Donald....

After that, it started raining and we seek shelter at the photo place or the princess, near to the castle.

It was Cinderalla and Aurora's turn to appear, and we took pictures with Aurora.  Never caught Belle and Snow White.. :(

Next, merry go round...

Even daddy took a ride!

The rain got heavier and heavier, and Kathleen put on her raincoat for the Dumbo ride.

After that, we caught abit of the Parade.  It was the rainy day version,which has the characters in raincoats in the rainy day express.  Did not take photo as Kathleen wanted to be carried again.

Went to one of the cafes for tea break.  Mommy then do some shopping before we went back to the hotel to retrieve our luggage (and mommy did some more shopping and bought this very cute Minnie Mouse swimming robe with hood from the hotel gift shop).

Minnie Mouse robe (have Pooh and Stitch design too but K preferred this)

Leaving Disneyland hotel....

We then took the hotel shuttle back to Disneyland, took the MTR from Disneyland station to Sunny Bay, switch to Tsing Yi, then to the hotel.

Posing with the Disneyland MTR train

Our plane was supposed to leave at 8pm, but at 7.30pm, when its boarding/last call time, they suddenly announced that the plane will be delayed for 1 hour 45 minutes!  That for a flight that is less than 4 hours.  They offered a HKD75 credit for each passenger with a boarding pass, and as it is dinner time, alot of passengers are very hungry and wanted to redeem the credit.  However, the restaurants are not notified until an hour later which is bad customer service.

Board the plane finally at 9.45pm.

K seriously reading the instructions provided in the seat pocket and following them diligently

This time we found a channel that show live footage from a camera installed at the bottom of the craft.  Very interesting as you can see the exact moment when the wheels lifted off from the tarmac.  But as it is a night flight, most of the time we can only see darkness in the grainy footage.

Hot food was served, but before it can cooled enough for Kathleen, at around 11.15pm, she suddenly declared that she wanted to sleep, then turned to her side and closed her eyes.  Then opened her eyes, asked mommy to switch off the video (which was showing Cars 2), then continue to sleep.  She slept all the way and did not awake even when the plane landed in Changi Airport (quite a smooth landing, compared to the drop-from-the-sky feeling we get on the plane that landed in Hong Kong 5 days earlier) at 1am +.

Mommy then carried her (which she looked up, and assured that she was still with her parents, feel asleep again), went through the customs with her asleep (thank you singapore customs for not asking me to wake her up in a bid to check if she is a child trafficking victim), took a cab (she looked up again when we got into the cab), then slept all the way through the night (yes, still no dinner) until the next morning 8am+ when she shook lazy mommy awake and told mommy that she wanted to go to school. :)

K asleep with her food untouched

At the airport while waiting for the delayed flight, Kathleen told mommy that she wanted to go back to Hong Kong on a Saturday in November i 2016, then changed her mind to 2013 cos mommy told her that 2016 will mean that she is 10 years old.  But sweetheart, think mommy will wait till she is fully assured that Kathleen is willing to walk on her own before going on the next trip.