Sporty Sunday

Weekend breakfasts are highly anticipated and enjoyed by Hubby and I. However, ever since Big Bee and Little Bee took up classes on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, weekend breakfasts are things of the past :'( Hubby and I are still trying to find ways to drop one class permanently so that we can still enjoy at least one weekend breakfast together.

Last Sunday, we cancelled one session of Big Bee's horse-riding class for a tennis gathering at PF's house. The husbands are playing tennis doubles, so it was a good sporty start on a cheery Sunday morning!

The 3 musketeers again - Big Bee, Claire and Eugene

The kids were elated that they can assemble together once again for some crazy fun, right after their wild Saturday night ;) It was rare that Big Bee would sacrifice her beloved riding lessons for anything! We packed MacDonald's breakfast for the kids, and had great fun eating together, chilling out and played sweatily under the blazing sun in the playground, while the husbands were trying to be Andre Agassi out in the tennis court.

Little Bee chomping on yummy hotcakes with her new friend Enya

Moonlit Magic

Happy lantern-holding kids: Eugene, Big Bee, Gabby, Claire and Little Bee (who abandoned her cellophane Goldfish lantern just seconds before this shot!)

There is something ever so enchanting about colourful, glowing lanterns swaying in the dark. And that's what make Mid-Autumn Festival so charming - swinging luminous lanterns under the brilliant round moon, eating sweet mooncakes, burning plenteous candles, making the world awash with incandescent radiance.

This Mid-Autumn Festival, our estate organised a party for all the neighbourhood's rowdy kids. Dinner was included, with plenty of kids' games, goodie bags, mooncake tasting - with so many over-excited kids, it was a scene of wild pandemonium!

Big Bee had her good friends with her - Gabby, our neighbour who is also Big Bee's boisterous playmate in the estate, as well as her weekend buddies, Eugene and Claire. She was ecstatic, whereas Little Bee was highly rapturous, having so many jie-jies and one kor-kor to play with. She loves Eugene, always calling him "kor-kor, kor-kor" in her cute, throaty voice.

We adults brought them on a dim, dark lantern walk around the estate, them carrying the cheery paper lanterns and us carrying the challenging old-fashioned type of cellophane paper lanterns (the one that Claire is holding in the photo above) where the candle kept getting extinguished by the overly-eager wind. It really tested our patience, which should be a virtue kids this age should learn! Those wild kids of ours were charging all around the place!

Mid-Autumn Festival is now a lot more joyful with the kids celebrating together with us!

Mooncakes Scuffle!

Big Bee and Little Bee love to eat mooncakes. So much so that they had been getting into mini brawls just to grab that bigger bite of the mooncakes! Tsk tsk. These wrestling girls are like tomboys!

Big Bee's favourite type of mooncake is snow-skinned and ideally pink. Often, she will take the whole mooncake and hog it, eating slice after slice in alarming rapidity. Little Bee will then be invariably drawn to Big Bee, climbing up to her jie-jie with dogged determination, thrusting her little face right into jie-jie's bowl of delicious mooncake, biting off a large chunk boldly. This often led to a brief struggle of wills (and yells from both sisters), but when it comes to food, you will be amazed at how indomitable Little Bee can be. Kind Big Bee - although pouting and grumbling away - will always give in to Little Bee's greedy demands, sharing with her. Amazingly, Big Bee can finish ONE WHOLE mooncake by herself in one fell swoop!

Yikes! It must be the utter sweetness that is luring my two Bees to these sinful delights.

Socially Responsible

Every day I look at Big Bee, she is blossoming into such a big girl right before my eyes. Whenever Little Bee wears jie-jie's hand-me-downs, I would groan in my heart and remembered the times that Big Bee was wearing the exact same clothes when she was Little Bee's age. Time passes swiftly and mercilessly. We are seriously unable to catch up with it, so we must truly live in the present, appreciating every moment. Just this evening, PF and I were watching our trip to Bintan in 2006, and we were simply amazed at how young and cherubic our 3 kids looked way back then! Now, they are all lanky big kids, playing "grown-up" games.

As Big Bee grows up, she has transformed into a real socially responsible girl. Just the other day, after she ate a grape jelly, she told me "Mummy Mummy, I need to recycle this container! Don't waste it!" So, she went to wash it painstakingly herself and placed it gently on her study desk in her room to air it dry.

And whenever I wash my hands and use too much water or soap, she will grumble at me "Mummy!! You're wasting water (or soap)!" Then she would forcefully turn off the tap for me, making me guilty (and pleased!) that I did not try to be more cautious with my usage.

I am happy to see this responsible side of her. For that's my Big Bee. Responsible, sensible, accountable, amongst her other traits of being diplomatic, pleasant, sensitive, a little stubborn, a little pampered (only with Mummy and Papa around), bold, does not enjoy competition yet she really is quite competitive, gregarious in that she has so many friends who claim that she is their best friend.

Little girls grow up amazingly fast to be little women. I wish I can etch all the growing phases of my little girls in my mind indelibly, forever...

Do Not Disturb!

Little Bee is now a wonderful toddler fully aware of her surroundings and sensitive to the feelings of others. When I pretended to sleep in front of her and if Hubby or Big Bee is around, she would put her finger to her lips, pursed them up into a loud and smiley "Shhhh!" and would flash her trademark grin at Hubby and Big Bee, making a snoring sound to indicate that Mummy's sleeping, do not disturb her!

However, if no one is around, and if I sometimes just close my eyes to get a mini break when Little Bee is alone with me, her signature Terrible Twos temper would flare up, and she would gabble "Ek up, ek up!". She would then tap her small hand firmly on my shoulder, shake me a little, and gabble louder right into my ears. And if I still pretend to have my eyes closed, she would use her little finger to pry open my eyelids (ouch!), and I can see her literally twisting her little head to look right into my forced-open eye...her mouth forming the words "Ek up, ek up" (which incidentally means "Wake up, wake up").

How hilarious!

Mauritius

The happy holiday gang all ready for an alfresco lunch at Port Louis, capital of Mauritius

We went for a holiday with PF and family to Mauritius on Dec 14 last year - just for a short 5 days. Little Bee did not join us, but Big Bee had the time of her life with her good pals Eugene and Claire!

Here are some (very long overdued) photos, and the things I truly loved about Mauritius.

1) Gorgeous landscapes, breathtaking sunsets, bluest of blue skies, big fluffy cumulus clouds and crystal clear waters.

Crystal clear waters with blue skies

Magnificent sunsets that resonate in your mind forever

Omnipresent oceans with far-reaching horizons

We discovered a picturesque lighthouse off the beaten track

2) Ubiquitous rainbows draped all over the awesome vistas.

Big Bee and Claire could not believe their eyes when they see the rainbow popping out of the horizon!

3) Dolphin chasing on a small tipsy boat, with the cool seabreeze caressing our faces. We spotted dozens of friendly and beautiful slick grey dolphins!

These dolphins are so friendly that some tourists even swim alongside them!

Big Bee and Eugene in deep discussion about marine matters...

Papa and Big Bee trying their hand at deep sea fishing!!

4) Visiting a sugar mill and indulging in colonial times.

Starring Eugene, Claire and Big Bee as the 3 hardworking oxen!

5) Zipping around the island that is 3 times the size of Singapore in a Mini Cooper convertible!

6) Just chilling out in general, relaxing and relishing in doing absolutely nothing!

Big Bee, with Pinky the bear, was gleeful that we had the time to enjoy little details like a long drawn sunset with her

Big Bee entranced by a galloping horse on the beach, her dream came true!

7) Seeing the kids fooling around and enjoying themselves.

Eugene, Claire and Big Bee looking glum on their last day together at the majestic Grand Baie

Travel Memoirs: Where Time Stood Still

I was in Yangon, Myanmar (aka the old Burma) for the past 3 days for work. It is one of my favourite countries, despite the political turmoil that had been brewing in this rich country for years.

Time seemed to stand still in this resource-rich country - although I note with regret the increasing numbers of cars and taller, newer malls this trip.

As the plane descended into Myanmar, I was struck once again by the rich, fertile green lands that spread in total flatness, with not a single hill or mountain in sight, a luxuriant land speckled with meandering streams, and from the plane, I can literally observe how the majestic Irrawaddy River dissects the country, flowing from North to South. Try as I might, I could not detect the damage done by Cyclone Nargis because all I could see was dense green landscapes and sprawling emerald rice fields, as abundant and verdant as the famed jade that Myanmar is known for. But when speaking with the Myanmar people during the trip, I learned that the damage of Cyclone Nargis was widespread and severe - and totally under-emphasised by their callous government. Travel by foreigners to the Irrawaddy Delta is now restricted.

It is a land of highly religious people and it shows in the ready smiles and warm hospitality of every Myanmar person you meet. A land where on the roads, you see groups of monks from little boys to older men and graceful nuns decked out in pink flowing robes. I love their night market where the hawkers sell their wares of live chicken and vegetables in stark candlelight, as power outages are so common here. Where you can still get into a taxi with a hole on the car's floorboard. And where 20 to 30 men squashed themselves into a small lorry, some standing outside the lorry, just beside the wheels.

These are mere facades to deeper troubles in the country - where the rich and the poor are universes apart. Where government doctors earn only US$70 a month and salaries of US$300 a month for a private practice doctor is considered wealthy. It is saddening that this is a land of immense natural resources - full of jade as well as precious stones and gems of all kinds, not to mention their very fertile land - and yet, with a greedy government that usurps all these resources to benefit their own kind. Where all the citizens shun clear of talking about their government with the many plainclothes spies around, and where they speak of the government to foreigners like me in hushed tones, in a resigned manner. The common saying of "One cannot choose one's parents" can be applied here, where these souls are born into different destinies in a government system forced onto their wills. Yet, their resilience and cheeriness touched me.

The media and communications blackout shrouded the country like a black cloud - no mobile connection for non-Myanmar telephone numbers, where it costs US$2,000 to own a cell phone for the Myanmar people and where all the major news websites and web emails are banned through the Internet.

Still, for a foreigner like me so used to information explosion everywhere, this communications blackout is a halcyon reprieve for me. Sometimes I wonder, will we be more happy without being exposed so much to global information? Are we all over-exposed to too much information?

Anyway, the most enjoyable part of my trip is coming home to see Little Bee sleeping fitfully with her chubby cheeks and her sweeping lashes. I am now looking forward to fetching Big Bee from school, eager to see her expression of surprise as she hopped down her school bus :)

Portraits To Remember

It is a very long weekend for me :) I took leave on Thursday afternoon for a family photoshoot on Friday. The studio was somewhere near Chinatown, so we got to mingle with the charming chaos that is synonymous with Chinatown. I love the little heritage districts in Singapore - Chinatown, Little India, Arab Street, even Clarke Quay! Many friends gave me dirty looks whenever I suggest going there for a jaunt. Yes, these places may be touristy, but well, they give us a potent insight into the roots of our country. Better than us going overseas to visit other touristy areas!

Anyway, today, I was so contented to be immersed in the colourful sights of Chinatown, sniffing in the plethora of aromas, listening to the different dialects of tourists and locals, and seeing those little quaint touristy stuff that I never see for Singapore!

OK, back to the photoshoot. Big Bee was wonderfully behaved and followed all the photographer's instructions, being her sweet responsible self. Well, Little Bee, let's just say she was a challenge to coax. Those smiles in the photos below were sieved out through much hard work. And she was a real handful, tottling about everywhere but in front of the camera! Here are some exclusive photos - in low res ;)

Cousins Confluence

Val, Chloe and Little Bee overwhelmed by toys

A few nights ago, baby Chloe and baby Val came by to my place to chill out with Big Bee and Little Bee. Along came my cousin Irene, her mum and my 3rd aunt. My mother was a jolly one, with such close relations as good evening companions.

Little Bee was elated with cousins her own age to play with. It was Chloe's 1st birthday on that day, and Val's 1st birthday is also approaching. They are both very active crawlers now, and highly curious about their surroundings. Little Bee loves them - she kept whooping away with joy, sat by their sides to play with them and even crawling around to be like them (talk about peer assimilation!).

Baby Val loves the ball house!

Poor Big Bee felt a bit left out, I guess. She was highly amused by these 3 busy babies (or toddlers), but could not really relate to them, although on normal days, she does play very well with Little Bee. Funny thing is, she scribbled on her doodle board and displayed in the living room "3 babies in the house", and kept saying she was so bored. I guess she will be a lot busier next time once they grow a bit older!

Big Bee screaming "I am bored!!!"

It is funny to reminisce how the whole gang of maternal cousins of Irene, Fiona and I (plus Ian and Kelvin) used to play so often together as kids. And now, our kids are playing with one another :)

Big Bee with birthday girl Chloe

Chloe and Val can really crawl very fast!

A Wretched Mother

This was what I read with disenchantment in the news today. That a single Japanese mother left her twin toddlers in the care of her 6-year-old son, while she went gallivanting for 11 days with her boyfriend. Her elder son called her mobile for several dozen times a day but his calls were largely ignored. All she did was to place hamburgers, bread, cookies and other food at the entrance of the house once or twice a day. 9 days later, the 6-year-old called her to say his brother would not wake up. She returned to the house but did not have the courage to enter it. Instead, she went to a pub and got drunk. The next day, her son called her again, saying: 'He still won't wake up.' 2 days later, she finally returned home and found the two-year-old boy dead in a crib covered in garbage and faeces. She slapped the older boy's face and said: 'You are disqualified as my child. Though I'm responsible, you are also responsible. You must have eaten all the food by yourself.' According to the report, the toddler starved to death. The other twin toddler suffered from severe dehydration. She was sentenced to a mere 6 years in prison for this. But I am sure she will live a lifetime of guilt and despair. What's most saddening is that the 6-year-old told prosecutors: 'Mum told me I was fired because I didn't take care of the twins. It's all my fault.'

I cannot imagine this abominable act of neglect by a mother to her own flesh and blood. The physical destruction to her toddlers. The indelible psychological blemish to her 6-year-old child, at an age that is still too young to look after himself, much less a pair of toddlers, without a loving mother's protection.

Reading this story brought tears to my eyes, and I gazed at my 2 angels, vowing to protect them even fiercer for the rest of my life.

Sandy Foray

Last Sunday, the Bees descended unto the East Coast beach. The breeze was warm and gentle, caressing our faces, teasing our hair with a tinge of sharpness so typical of salty sea breezes. The 11am sun emanated its rays with a growing intensity, giving hint to the blistering heat it can potentially give out at high noon. I love the rhythmic sound of the waves, in and out, in and out.
Charlie's Angels?

We set up our little sanctuary beside the waves - a little mat for good ol' Mummy and loads of sand toys for some serious construction of sandcastles with Papa. This was Little Bee's second initiation to the sand. Like all little princesses, she was a wee bit disturbed by the grainy feel of coarse sand at first. But after seeing how her sister was enjoying herself, digging her feet into the sand, immersing her hands into the muddied sand bucket, she eased herself into earnest sandbuilding, never touching the sand with her bare hands, but always using a spade.

Hubby and I had loved the beach and the vast gulf of sea since our dating days. Big Bee had embraced our same love after our numerous beach resorts jaunts. And now, we are hoping Little Bee will share this same ardour as well.

The Debutante

I decided to bring Big Bee for my company's dinner and dance, much to her delight. It was a debutante ball of sorts for her. She was decked up in a beautiful yet romantic white long dress with layers of organza, pearls, satin, lace and tulle, and I thought she looked nothing short of stunning :)

She had been anticipating this dinner for weeks, and promised to be on her best behaviour. I am proud to say that she had far exceeded my expectations, charming my colleagues and bosses immensely, being her vivacious and confident self, putting on a sunny and cheery front despite the dinner ending an hour beyond her bedtime. She was such an enjoyable dinner companion that my hubby worries that she will take over his place very soon!

I am also very heartened to say that she told me she enjoyed the dinner immensely, listening aptly to the silly jokes of the host, observing the guests all dressed elaborately, participating in the table's conversation. I am so pleased to see her evolving to a highly sociable personality indeed.

Eleven Little Toddlers

This afternoon, I brought Little Bee for a gathering with the December 2006 mummies from the forum. The last time I met up with the babies was last October, and boy, had all the toddlers grown up! Total toddler turn-out: 11! We drew a fair bit of amused glances from the diners at Globetrotters!

There was minimal shyness amongst all the cute 11 toddlers. They were all very well behaved initially, sitting nicely in their nice chairs, all chomping one unified food - CHEERIOS! They all love it! Towards the last 30 minutes, we put them down on the floor and there was just a slight mayhem. It was really delightful to see them interacting with each other - waving, blowing kisses, shaking hands, giggling, squealing, patting. All their manners were very impressive!

Little Bee was amazed by the number of balloons in Globetrotter's, especially the adjacent party room. So, she used her charms, smiled and pointed at one blue balloon so pitifully that she beguiled one kind lady to bring out one balloon for her! That was rather hilarious to me!

Most of all, it was wonderful to see how these babies who used to be tiny bundles in our arms, nursing our bosoms non-stop, developing into sociable, curious and adorable toddlers approaching their 2 years in this world!

Here are some photos:

Beaming with Jovey behind her

Choosing between 2 handsome boys - Tim and Pin Heng
Happily standing by Pin Heng

Trying to be friendly with pretty Regina

Travel Memoirs: Train Travel

The romance of train travel had always been written and filmed by intrepid travellers, and I couldn't agree more.

This morning, I was on a train from Hangzhou to Shanghai for a work trip, coming back home. I spent a good portion of the 1.5 hour trip entranced by the scenary outside. We passed by lots of emerald-green farms with hardworking farmers bent double over their crops, pretty pine trees, meandering streams, duck farms with numerous white ducks spilling from their land abode to the river, ubiquitous lilies growing gorgeously in still ponds. Living off the produce of nature is simply wonderful. I felt refreshed and revitalised.

Still, it is even more marvelous to be back home with my family tonight.

Escape!

We decided to take a little break and escaped to Bintan with Big Bee. Poor Little Bee cannot go because she does not have a passport yet, and this trip was planned like a day in advance.

When I told Big Bee we are bringing her to Bintan, she could not believe her ears and kept asking.."is it true?" umpteenth times. She whooped with joy and skipped around with non-stop utterings of "I am going for holiday" in a sing-song rhythm whole day long!

It was glorious reprieve in Bintan. I love the wide expanse of ocean with the infinite horizon of nothingness, the dramatically sweeping curve of the bay that we chilled out at, the wild blossom of verdant forest at the end of the bay.

Big Bee in her full holiday garb!

Big Bee revelled throughout these 2 days, snacking on her favourite ice-creams and brownies, trying all sorts of new activities with us, grinning and beaming whole day long, waking us up real early to enjoy the crisp morning air. Some of the things I relish about this little getaway of ours:

1) Big Bee bouncing about the relaxation area in our hotel room, pretending to be a singer, performing gaily for the 2 laughing parents.

2) Jolting on an all-terrain four-wheeled motorbike through the forests of Bintan, with Big Bee and Hubby in a dune buggy behind me. It was a truly bumpy and muddy ride, zipping through dirt trails and muddy potholes filled with rainwater. We ended our little adventure with a finale, being caught in a heavy downpour for the last 10 minutes of our ride! I love the closeness to nature, but my maternal instincts ached for my poor darling Big Bee who was drenched to the core. Surprisingly, she simply loved this ride, and even grumbled I drove too slowly in front of her. I am so happy at this little adventurous streak of hers. I can see us trekking and climbing up mountains already...

3) Seeing the frown of utter focus and concentration on Big Bee's face as she tried her very best to beat her Papa at billiard (which she finally did in the end!) Though I wonder if her Papa lost on purpose. Still, she was an elated little girl hopping around at the end of the game.

4) Exploring the beautiful soft white sands of Bintan at evening's low tide, hand in hand with Big Bee and Hubby, traipsing on the seabed with the tide receding, and the sky slowly turning into resplendent lavender. The world just looks so expansive and free!

Big Bee chasing Papa around the whole expanse of beach at very low tide

5) Enjoying a succulent dinner of wonderful grilled fish and steak, and seeing Big Bee enjoying her food is ever so satisfying.

Eating her favourite brownie with strawberry ice-cream. Yum!

6) Building sandcastles - a grand medieval castle with a little township, really - in the sharp cool morning air, and observing oppressively large and ominously grey cumulus nimbus clouds approaching the sun in the rising wind, obliterating the cheery sunlight. Showing Big Bee the wonders of nature, the omniscient hand that pervades our entire existence.

A short, nearby getaway like this can be so very enjoyable simply because we can chill out with our family. It just doesn't matter where we are, so long as our closest ones are with us. I wish Little Bee is enjoying with us, but I am sure there will be plenty of occasions in future :)

Date Night

Every Monday night is our date for hubby and me. I thank my lucky stars that I have a supportive and capable mum who helps me so much with the kids that I can spare one night a week to spend quiet, quality and sometimes romantic time with hubby.

Last Monday, hubby brought me to a gorgeous marina for dinner. We reached there at 6.30pm, amidst ubiquitous yachts glowing in the golden rays of a departing sun. The golden orange sheen on the sparkling harbour casted a spell of enchantment over the whole establishment. There were prosperous yacht owners sauntering to their boats to retire for the evening and random groups of passers-by ambling around, admiring the majestic and peaceful yachts.

One of my favourite parts of the day approached slowly - the darkening twilight, brightened by the gradual twinkling of lights sparking up condominiums just across the bay. Soon, the world was awashed in fairy twinkly lights - magical, bewitching, wonderful.

We strolled around the bay after dinner, immersed in this little enclave of Singapore with no remnants of the typical ratrace.

Her First Day

Little Bee went to school for the first time today. She is merely attending Saturday morning classes but I thought it will be a good induction for her going into nursery one next year. I find Little Bee's initiation into preschool a challenge as she is a year-end baby, and true enough, she seemed like a baby compared to the strapping 2 year old toddlers in her class!

I am proud of her. Albeit scared and unsure on the first day, she merely had on her familiar pinched and worried expression and clung a bit tighter to me. But she did not cry. Oh, save for a 2-second melodiously loud wail when the teachers switched off the lights for a rendition of "Twinkle Little Star". Her bawl subsided with immediate effect once I picked her up for a snuggle.

She started warming up after an hour, which coincided with the Mandarin section of class (or maybe it could be that she has more affinity to Mandarin, as evident from the fact that she is starting to say 1-2-3 and many other phases in Chinese first rather than English, much thanks to my Mum!) She smiled shyly at the Mandarin story-telling and was contented to stroll around by herself. She was really excited when it came to singing "Row Row Row The Boat" because it meant that she can do her very favourite rowing action, but she was perturbed by the very different and unfamiliar lyrics in Chinese.

Her favourite activity was snack time (need I say more for my little foodie?) but she also enjoyed her playground time tremendously, squirrelling in those large toy houses and slide stations. She truly warmed up during the mass singing session at the end, and danced a fair bit with me.

I kind of learned from Big Bee's experience some years back to truly take cues from the kid's actions and preferences, and not force them into activities they do not want to do. Hence, I do think Little Bee kind of settled down nicely today. It is also tremendously nice for me to spend some private time with Little Bee as I almost never have enough opportunities to spend time alone with her. It's great bonding, I must say!

Close To Nature

Last Saturday morning, we went to Labrador Park for a jaunt. The view of the sea just beside the long walkway of Labrador Park was breathtaking. The sun was out cheerily - the weather was balmy with swaying, happy trees. The stinging smell of sea salt was invigorating, although it did make me and Big Bee sneeze a couple of times. Perfect.

We sauntered under the hot noon sun to the long lingering jetty, enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on our faces, waving to the abundant shoals of small fishes in the emerald waters. We even saw a pair of barracudas! Well, I am no fish expert, but at least they look like barracudas!

Big Bee was skipping all around, tiring herself out, sweating profusely. She enjoyed looking at the fishes a lot. Little Bee was trotting along beside us, stopping every 5 metres to oooh and aaah at any tiny crawling insect or leaf or anything she found interesting. She was very attached to her pink hat, kept adjusting it herself, trying to look pretty for the camera.

We decided to walk up the boardwalk into the shady cool of the forest. Respite from the heat of the sun! Hubby had to carry Little Bee, and Big Bee kept telling us how lucky Little Bee was. Well, there is absolutely no way any one of us can carry 24 kg Big Bee up the boardwalk steps!! So, walk she must.

The almost virgin forest is a gorgeous canvas for all the things we cannot find in our daily city life. Long trails of ants marching along an elongated branch, to Big Bee's fascination. Funny creepy crawlies never seen before. Fluttering butterflies with gorgeous patterns on their wings. We pointed all these natural miracles for the Bees to understand and appreciate Mother Nature.

And as Labrador Park used to be a fort during the World War 2, the forest was dotted with gun embankments (or whatever the term is). We even stopped by an old fort gun, climbing up the gun, pretending to blast at the dreaded Japanese enemy, much to Big Bee's excitement. She was climbing up and down the gun station, turning wheels here and there. Little Bee, however, was terrified of the gun, strangely. The moment we chanced upon the gun, her expression changed to one of worry and fear, her body turned rigid, her legs hugging my waist tightly, and her hands patted her chest fretfully.

We also had a little refreshment break at the resident restaurant, which is a nice breezy alfresco cafe perched beside the famed Labrador tunnels. The coke, which Big Bee and me devoured, never tasted more invigorating!

Animals In The Dark

We brought the brood to Night Safari 2 Saturdays ago, and it was an eye-opener for them. The whole place was dim, with only burning torches and dim spotlights as random references of illumination. The animal show was rather hilarious, and I was delighted to see Big Bee being very enthralled by such shows, laughing aptly at their jokes and scouring around in the dark during moments of put-up suspense. Little Bee was distracted after a while, and started smiling and playing with spectators who hailed from India sitting just beside us. Her little antics brought smiles and chuckles to them, and I had to literally drag her from them to prevent her from distracting them!

My favourite part is the tram ride, and I love that certain parts of the ride were immersed in total darkness, allowing the passengers to relish the cool serenity of a rainforest in nocturnal repose. Big Bee was a brave girl, sitting nearest to the side of the tram, peering at all sorts of nocturnal creatures around us. Little Bee was more timid than I thought, she had on a worried frown throughout the whole ride, clinging on to me or hubby for dear life, before slipping into a deep slumber at the darkest part of the forest - I think it's a form of escapism for her, so funny!

We finally got home - all hot and tired - by 10.30pm. But it was a good brush with the great wilderness for the 2 Bees.

Celebration

Big Bee and Little Bee celebrated National Day in school together! Big Bee was having a special performance for her kindergarten's National Day party in school, and for the first time, I brought Little Bee along! Mum and Hubby were there as well.

When the performance started, it dawned on me that Big Bee had grown so much since her very first teeny weeny performance in N1! The K2 class was simply amazing - they sang a total of 3 Chinese songs, 2 English songs and 1 Malay song (Rasa Sayang!), as well as performed a short skit. All the kids' voices rang loud, clear and melodic. Impressive! Credit goes to their K2 form teacher who is such a sprightly and bubbly woman!

As they sang, my eyes (and video camera!) zoomed into Big Bee, who was dancing very vigorously, with her singing loudly, highly focused and very motivated. As she sang songs of patriotism to celebrate her country's birthday and executed such intricate dance moves with profound lyrics, a lump ascended up my throat, pride scratching at my chest. For my little girl had truly grown up.

Little Bee was somewhat overwhelmed by everything going on around her. When she first arrived at the school, she was very shy...which was surprising, given her gregarious nature. Whenever people tried chatting with her, she will put her head on my shoulder, how sweet! During the performance, she was either staring fixatedly at the animated performers, or she will point excitedly at Big Bee, chattering "Jie jie! Jie jie!".

She warmed up to the environment by the time the assembly was over. Hubby brought her into their classroom, and she was toddling around like a cute little penguin, being fussed over by Big Bee's friends, and I glimpsed a look of soft pride on Big Bee's face.

What a lovely afternoon!

After school, we went to Turf City for a scrumptious dinner at Manis Manis, a yummy Indonesian restaurant. A perfectly palatable ending to a perfect day!

Tens and Ones

Big Bee is now advancing on her Mathematical concepts...learning about tens and ones. Everyday, I will try to alternate between teaching her English grammar, Mathematical concepts or hanyu pinyin. This is the rigorous primary school education that she has to be used to, sigh. So far, she had been enjoying doing her assessments with me, although I find it difficult to explain the mathematical concepts to her. It is truly challenging verbalising maths concepts, I find! Looks like maths tuition will be a regular thing of the future.

Last night, Little Bee doodled "1" and "0" when I asked her to write "one" and "O" (she refers to circles as "O", circle or "round and round"). I was so proud of her and got her to write these 2 characters many times over. She will grin and clap her hands whenever she completed, giving herself such a satisfied and cute little proud look. She is also recognising numbers and alphabets, saying "air" whenever she sees "A" and "theeeee" in her sweet little high-pitched voice whenever she sees "3".

Life Is Beautiful

We had finally gotten a place into the primary school for Big Bee (and Little Bee too!) :) The feeling is exhilarating, jubilant, intoxicating and unbelievable. Years of painful planning had come into fruition. Months of fretful anxiety evaporate into joy. Weeks of stressful worry emerge into colourful splashes of happiness!

As we only registered in phase 2C, vacancies - especially for a much sought-after primary school - are few and far between. By our turn, we were only left with a meagre 37 spaces! Hubby and I did our sums and decided to forge ahead and registered Big Bee on 29 July. We were the 23rd applicant living within 1km as at 10am then. Stress. Anxiety.

The next 2 days consisted of vigilant monitoring and hawk-eyed tracking of the registration numbers. Last evening, the number climbed up to 34 applicants (within 1km). Skepticism. Worry. Albeit tinged with slight relief that the magical number of 37 is not reached yet.

This morning, the registration number inched up to 35. Hubby and I were half elated, half hesitant. Should we speculate? Or celebrate?

Hubby urged me to call the primary school at 3.45pm, 45 minutes before the closure of the 2C phase. 35 still!

We encouraged and updated each other via sms the whole afternoon, counting down to the magic hour of 4.30pm. 15 minutes to go. 5 minutes to go. 4.30pm! Hubby's turn to call! Alas, he called me back, frustrated, highlighting that they needed some time to tabulate the numbers.

My turn now. My fingers tapped my mobile fretfully. A crisp female voice answered almost immediately. I asked about the outcome of the registration. The first thing she asked me was "Do you live within 1km?" I breathed out yes! Her voice softened considerably when she said "Then you are successful. All those within 1km need not ballot. There are 37 applicants within 1km!"

I had not smiled so widely, nor felt my heart so radiant in a long long time....