Colours Of Nature Part 1

Last Saturday morning, Little Bee and I were at home working on some craft for our current homelearning theme, whilst Big Bee and hubby were out for her enrichment classes. It was a great time spent solo with Little Bee, as we could focus on so many wonderful activities as well as bonded so marvelously together. I can never underestimate how important it is to have private, one-on-one time with each child so that they feel that extra tinge of being a special individual.

Little Bee and I traipsed about in our estate's garden under the warm fuzzy sunlight, diligently picking leaves for our craft. All kinds of leaves in brilliant hues. We took turns cutting out leaves in resplendent shades of colours, with Little Bee identifying and selecting those leaves in tints of red, maroon and pink - bright, rich and happy colours. 

Back home, she helped me to cut out the leaves from their stalks and then we immersed all the leaves in a tantalizing dance of water ballet to bathe them, as they swirled about gracefully, in a bewitching masquerade of dazzling fall colours. It was amazing - there is no autumn in Singapore, yet, we have an entire pail of leaves in enthralling tones of fall.

 

Little Bee was mesmerized by the leaves whirling, twirling and swirling in the bucket, and could not keep her hands away from the pail, swishing them in a magical, enchanting circle of spellbinding luminosity. 

After ample time in the bucket, we fished out the leaves, spotless, glistening and shimmering - and laid them all out to dry under the sparkling, scintillating sunshine. 

Enjoy the colours of nature. Look around us and overwhelm our senses with the psychedelic colours that are such a fundamental part of the planet we should feel so very proud to call home. And teach our children to appreciate, nurture and treasure this miracle that is our home. 

Learning Through Games

Big Bee is now addicted to word games like Boggle and Scrabble, much to my elation. So, idyllic weekend afternoons and lazy weekday nights are now spent with the family cuddled on our bed, four heads huddled over a small set of Boggle or a slightly more extensive Scrabble. 

Big Bee is getting better at these games the more she plays, and I thought it is an excellent way of enhancing her vocabulary outside of her reading. Whenever we use new words that she had never seen before, we took the opportunity to explain these words to her. Despite the competitive nature of these games, I will always assure her that we are not gearing to win, but rather, treating this as a family games session. This reassurance never fails to soothe Big Bee's somewhat competitive streak, and enhances her interest in these games despite her difficulty to pit her skills against Papa and Mummy! (But I must say she is becoming a formidable competitor!)

Boggle is also a fantastic game for Little Bee to identify and write down alphabets and short words like "No", "Cat" or "Egg" that she is now beginning to learn to spell. Whenever we play Boggle, Little Bee will join in, and I will pretend to include her in the game. It is very amusing to see her frantically scribbling alphabets and little short words or imaginary words within the limited game time, and I will also attempt to go through her word list, giving her game points so she does not feel left out. 

Family games like these are wonderfully multi-functional - allowing us to bond over board games and strengthening the Bees' English prowess! Perfect! 

Let The Parties Begin!

Little Bee received her first party invitation from her classmate last month, which got me thinking, "Oh wow - the whole cycle of being part of ceaseless parties begins!" I am now so used to just dropping Big Bee off at parties that I need to start getting used to participating as a parent in Little Bee's parties, and networking with a new set of parents again. 

Nonetheless, I am looking forward to these parties, seeing Little Bee have fun with her friends and peeking into her little life outside of our home. 

So, 2 Saturdays ago, Little Bee and I turned up at Ashley's party and immersed ourselves in lots of fun! It was such a coincidence that Big Bee also attended her friend's 4th birthday party in the same place, and that friend was also named Ashley! 

With her 2 best friends - Natalie and Alecia

Little Bee glowed like a little firefly with her best friends as well as other friends of hers. I was able to just sit aside and admire her independence. She would put up her hand boldly and informed the party hosts in a loud and lucid voice if she had not taken her turn at a game station. She was also able to chit chat effortlessly with her little cute friends, always sporting her signature grin on her face. 

Fun galore with friends! 

But what was so heartwarming was that she would never fail to beam at me whenever she ran past me, and then hugging and calling me "Mummyyyyy" endearingly. She would also introduced me to her friends, and vice versa, so I am now fully acquainted with all her friends. 

I am certain she will form solid and enduring friendships with her preschool friends, thriving in this environment of positivity and love that creates friends for life :) 

Have fun, Little Bee! 

Ebullient Eight

Dear Big Bee, 

In the blink of an eye, you are fast approaching your tweens. I cannot even begin to utter my incredulous disbelief that you are fast approaching a double digit age group. For Mummy will always regard you as my first baby girl forever. 

I will always remember that night in 2001, seemingly not that long ago in my mind's eye, when I held up the omniscient pregnancy indicator - with positive results. I remembered delaying the test, just so I could be living in a willing state of illusion. I remembered almost crying when I saw the positive results because Papa and I had only been married for barely 9 months, because I was barely 28 years old, because...because I just wanted to enjoy life as it is - liberated, unshackled and carefree. 

Truthfully, I must admit, I was not ready for motherhood when you decided to reside as a little foetus in my stomach. And despite the positive test, I lived in denial for the first trimester. 

Until I felt those tiny, ethereal butterfly flutterings deep within the recesses of my womb during the 2nd trimester. Until I felt those apologetic, finespun taps from within my stomach - no kicks from you, my dear, never huge motions when you were warmly ensconced in my tummy. As if you knew better than to jolt me abruptly into the reality of your presence. 

And I began to feel a powerful, wonderful, exquisite connection with you. An indelible bonding that propagates stronger and stronger, growing rapidly into an omnipotent nexus that we share between ourselves now. 

And when I first saw you emerging from my womb finally, your little body still speckled with bloodstains, eyes closed, mouth agape with soft, bewildered infant wailings, my heart swelled, my throat constricted with a lump so gigantic I could hardly breathe nor swallow, and my eyes welled up with overwhelmed tears. 

And I knew then - you and me - we will be together for eternity, sharing a bond so deep, so boundless that nothing can tear us apart. 

That was my initiation into motherhood - an overpowering experience that you blessed me with in an understated mien. 

And that was how you are throughout your 8 years of life - intuitive, sensitive, sensible, practical, responsible and mature. Right from those inconspicuous, unobtrusive movements - never kicks, I must stress again - within my womb. 

You are not one who relish too much attention on you, yet your traits have compelled you to be at the forefront of things. You are a perfectionist, eager to excel in everything you lay your hands on, meticulous and conscientious. You will ensure that you do everything well - from academic performance, to sports, to music, to dance, to art. A perfect daughter and ideal student who brings very little trouble and much joy to your parents and teachers. 

But I feel I must reassure you that perpetual success is not always essential, that sometimes, it is perfectly fine to show your weaknesses to others, that it is not always important to show others only your strong facade. 

You said something that lifted my heart last week - that you treat Mummy as your best friend. And I will always want to be your best friend, your staunch companion, your girly gossip partner in whichever stage of life you are at - supporting you, standing behind you always. So that you will know unto infinity that there is always someone for you to seek solace with. 

You are not highly expressive with your affections, but your little actions show how much you love us. You never forget a single birthday of ours. You always make beautiful little gifts that touch our hearts on our special days. And last night, I discovered that you cut out some silly doodle and comment that Mummy made on your spelling book, and you wrote "From Mummy" on the cut-out, hiding this little scrap in your drawer. Then I realise how important my actions and expressions are to you. 

You never asked for too much - always understanding, always sensitive. I will always remember how you reassured me that you do not need any pocket money for school because you do not wish to squander the money buying senseless paraphernalia from the bookshop. You will always remind me to save up all your angpow money in your bank, but with no demands on how you will use these funds. 

You are extremely loyal and popular with your friends. And it is inevitable that you must have showcased some subtle form of leadership amongst your friends because you are constantly surrounded by friends who crave for your attention. You are always thrust into the limelight of public speaking and lead roles in performances because teachers perpetually tell me they love having you as a student. Yet you do not revel in such recognition, preferring to be low profile, ideally hiding in the shadows, but that never happens to you in reality. 

You, my dear darling Big Bee, is an absolute gift who literally transforms my life forever. 

Happy 8th birthday, young lady - may we be best friends forever. 

In Full Bloom

Imagine a party with 13 vociferous kids, all creating a rambunctious cacophony of ear-splitting yells, boisterous shoves and exuberant glee. You will probably end up being tone-deaf for half a day or losing your voice trying to shout warnings of caution above the loud din. 

This was how Big Bee celebrated her 8th birthday last Sunday afternoon - with her closest friends and their familiar siblings from her kindergarten days, and with immense exhilaration and verve. 

We had been planning this party for the past month - or rather, I was merely the logistics planner, and she was the honcho in charge of the entire guest list, party items and games. She wanted only her closest friends from kindergarten with her, complete with a large bouncy castle to accommodate her entire gang, party games and a pinata full of goodies to help dissipate their boundless energies. 

Party elements: the ubiquitous cake, goodie bags, food, pinata and a bouncy castle! 

Her best friends, Rachael and Lizzie, arrived bright and early ahead of all the other guests, and they had a fantastic time fooling around and giggling about boys. So they were especially excited when Kai arrived, and he was aptly shy as well. These are the woes of children from single-gender schools! 

Surrounded by her closest pals who had known her since she was 4 years old

All the kids loved the gigantic bouncy castle and the roughest play imaginable happened on the castle. Shoving, yanking, pulling, pushing, kicking. It was akin to perpetual wrestling matches! Somehow, the younger kids like Little Bee with older siblings are battle-hardened from the constant fights at home, and learned how to tackle rough big kids very well. I was elated to see Little Bee blending in perfectly with jie-jie's friends at the party.

Utter mayhem at the bouncy castle! 

I hired party hosts to concoct fun party games and to host the pinata session so that I have time to network with the parents. The kids loved the young and vibrant party hosts who organised the games with gusto and gave out prizes to all the kids. Wonderful! 

Pinata galore! 

It was a great party, and it was really gratifying to see Big Bee's blissful expressions. 

Snapshots of convivial expressions throughout the party 

She loved the fact that all her best pals were with her to celebrate her special day and relished the attention showered on her as the birthday girl. 

With all her friends...

It was particularly sweet to see how her friends started making cards and writing little notes to her as their birthday wishes - I can sense a strong bond of camaraderie and friendship forming.

 

The aftermath: a clean, freshly showered Big Bee, all ready to open up her presents! 

I guess this will be the start of many parties that she would direct in future - all I ask for is her complete happiness and the knowledge that we are always behind her, supporting her and loving her. Happy birthday, Big Bee. You're a young lady now at 8 :) 

Her Caricatures

I keep finding scraps of scribblings or drawings from Little Bee in school. Her teacher told me that Little Bee is very fond of drawing and painting, always wanting to be the first whenever there is painting in class (her bossy, competitive self at work!). Sometimes, she will quietly sit aside and draw whatever comes to her fancy during breaks in class. 

One day late last month, I discovered this picture in her bag (see below), with a note from her teacher stating that Little Bee told her she drew a birdhouse. I was pleasantly surprised. When I enquired Little Bee about this, she was able to talk about the picture in more detail, proclaiming that the bird is in its house, with the sun shining on it, and stairs leading from the bird's house to the grass below. It was really interesting to hear her perspective and see how her drawings reflect her perception of the world she lives in. I find children express themselves distinctly through their drawings. 

Last week, she scribbled a self portrait of herself holding a "castle balloon" and tried writing her name on the balloon (she can spell and write random parts of her name without prompting, but will always miss out on some letters! So she will usually spell "Aette" or "Anntte" as seen in her double attempts below!). Was she indirectly telling me to dash out and buy a big special balloon for her? :) 

The Macrocosm Of Nature

With Eugene and Claire...and a whole lot of giant bubbles, amidst a gorgeous verdant setting. 

It was a moist cool Sunday afternoon - widespread gloomy grey clouds obliterated the sky with intermittent drizzles interrupting an otherwise idyllic setting. A pair of black swans were gliding ever so gracefully on the halcyon lake, just like beautiful lithe ballerinas performing a rapturous dance on stage, leaving enthralling rippling patterns in the watery trail as they drifted around languorously. Flocks of plump pigeons hovered boldly around the humans, drawn magnetically to baits of breadcrumbs, fluttering their quivering wings in pure delight. Lush verdurous trees bloomed ubiquitously, with soft emerald grass resting on gentle undulating slopes. 

Perched on one of these freshly rainwashed slopes sat 2 families, PF's and mine, reposing on picnic mats, relaxing and idly chatting, while our children cackled with raucous laughter and rambunctious yells of playful gleefulness. The Bees, with Eugene and Claire, indulged in incessant activities of bubble play, sword fighting and general exploration of the wonderful outdoors. 

It was a joy to bring our children to sprawling parks like the Botanic Gardens. They get so close to nature and conjure up imaginative and creative games, rather than confined to a Wii station at home, which does most of the thinking for our children. In such a bucolic setting, it is indeed rare for our children to get upclose and personal with the tame swans, observing where they nestled for the night, discerning the nimble movements of swans and pigeons and scrutinizing little bugs and insects crawling all around us. 

We should be back very soon, I gather :) 

The Tempest

Sorcery. Spirituality. Isolation. Ostracism. Love. Forgiveness. All coalesced in a play that is 400 years old. Written by none other than the magnificent Shakespeare. And performed splendidly with a somewhat disquieting modern twist by such awe-inspiring actors. 

The Tempest was one of the more fantastical and bizarre plays that was written by Shakespeare, in my opinion. One can only imagine how audiences 400 years ago would anticipate this particular play of his - very much like an epic "Clash Of The Titans" on stage with significant comedic elements mingled with its whimsical yet aberrant plot for its time. 

400 years later, in modern Singapore, the audience was enraptured in laughter, awe and excitement - hypnotised by the enchanting iambic pentameter of Shakespeare's blank verse, spellbound by the raw passion and remarkable performances by the excellent actors who immersed themselves completely in their characters. 

Oh, how wonderful to be doing what you love exclusively! To follow one's heart and pursue what your heart whispers to you. I must remind myself to extol this to my Bees always - in whatever you do in life, let your passion, your interests lead you. So that you can live life to the fullest, to be absolutely alive, gloriously happy and be perpetually imbued with zeal. 

My good friend BI and I, great fans of Shakespeare, emerged from a darkened theatre into the dazzling sunlight of hot Singapore, abruptly transported back to the fractiousness of daily life after 2.5 hours of brilliant escapism. We watched The Winter's Tale last year at this time. It was amazing how time passes. And our next Shakespearean indulgence: 3 witches, a tortured General and his unscrupulous wife. A tragedy of murder, betrayal and indelible guilt. We can't wait :)  

Of Magical Woods and Trees

This is the book that fired my imagination at the age of 9. That transported me like a magic bullet train into another reality, a world of pure creativity. That made me realise that mere words on a paper can be transformed into huge galaxies of existence that are pure fantasies in our minds. That was the start of a perpetual chain reaction of reliance on the written word for pure escapism. 

This book is the catalyst that fuelled the homage my mind pays to many different whistle stops to a plethora of worlds from infinite books that can only exist uniquely in my imagination. 

And I am elated that Big Bee is allowing herself to bravely step into this universe that only her mind alone can witness and experience. A pure fantastical cognizance that existed differently in each of our minds. Using only our individual instruments of reading and imagination. 

We bought the 3 books of Enid Blyton's acclaimed Faraway Tree series as Christmas presents for her last year. She completed all 3 of them in less than a fortnight. And she is now rereading the entire series again. This series was Hubby's and my favourite childhood books, and we spoke fondly of the characters and lands in the books with her. I am elated that she is as mesmerised by fairies and magical forests as I was (and am!). And I hope Little Bee would be equally enchanted in time to come. 

I am hoping Big Bee can harness all these reading into creative writing, and I am trying all means to help her express herself through writing. For a start, here was something she wrote last September before her aquaintance with the enthralling creatures of the Faraway Tree. Which was uncanny as she wrote about the tallest tree in the woods, very much like the Enchanted Wood. Enjoy this unedited version (and hence, pardon any grammatical mistakes)! 

Cover - very reasonably priced ;) 

"There was one very tall tree in the woods. It was the tallest! The birds always build their nest in that tree. It was so tall that even a giraffe could not eat the leaves of the tree. The other giraffe always laugh at the giraffe who could not eat the leaves of the tallest tree. If birds are too tired, they cannot fly up to the tallest tree. Not even a man can chop down that tree or even ten. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10."

"If they really wanted to chop down that tree it could take them four years. But nobody will waste their time doing that. One day, the newspaper wanted people to chop down that tree. It reads... (see picture above). (note from Mummy: I think I need to teach her more about the environment and sustainability!!)

Everybody wanted to chop down the tallest tree. Nobody could do it. Even animals wanted to chop down that tree. All the animals tried but they could not chop it down."

(...to be continued...)

She continued the story after I took the photos of her book last September, but I could not find the book to type out the completed story now, apologies! She had not written another story book since then, which was slightly worrying for me, although there were many journal entries and other written notices.

In this age of multimedia and multifarious distractions, I think it is highly challenging for us parents to channel our children's creativity into focused activities that will be constructive and beneficial for them, rather than allowing their minds to fall into a semi-comatose state with unhelpful TV shows, iPhone, Wii and computer games that even I am guilty of indulging the children with!

Disney Magic

We brought the Bees to the entertaining Disney On Ice show the weekend after the March holidays, and were immersed in the breathtaking magic of Disney again. 

Once again, the Bees dictated on their wardrobe selection - especially Little Bee, who is fast developing a penchant as an avid personal shopper, constantly selecting her choices of wardrobe, always opting for sassy short skirts and pretty pink tops or feminine frilly dresses! She would always chant impatiently when we questioned her choices, "I want to be 'sexy' girl!" Please don't ask me who taught her the words "sexy"!!

The girls had keenly identified themselves as alternate egos of the Disney princesses after the Hong Kong trip last December. Big Bee feels a close kinship with Aurora from Sleeping Beauty whereas Little Bee thinks she is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. It is not surprising that they chose to dress up as their alter-egos during their much anticipated Disney On Ice show. 

We managed to get a glimpse of LP and her boys from across the crowded hall during the show, and the Bees waved like eager beauty queens at WW and WD. The show was not as appealing to them as last year's Disney Princesses On Ice show, and I thought the skaters' techiques were not as adroit. However, as loyal fans of Disney, the Bees still highly approved of the performances, dreading the end of the show, watching with gaping mouths and enchanted eyes, and we were still bewitched by the rousing music and familiar characters. 

Chilling out during the intermission inside the performance hall

We are now looking forward to another total immersion into the world of Disney fantasy and pure imagination in June!