"I Want EAT!!!"

The Bees with Jiu Jiu and Jiu Mu...what a lovely portrait :)

Last Saturday evening, my family went to Club Chinois for my brother's wedding food tasting session. It was a wonderful time to bond with the brother, his wife and my parents. My brother invited his friend along, together with his wife and 2 year old son, Oliver.

Oliver and Little Bee - they do look somewhat alike, right?

The 3 kids went quite wild, running around, yakking so loudly and creating a general commotion. Thank goodness we were ensconced in a cosy room!

However, once the dishes were served, Little Bee immediately stopped all fun and laughter and asked to sit in her "bebe chair". Once tucked into her chair, she devoted her entire attention to the sumptuous spread of food in front of her! And she already finished her dinner at home actually.

Poor little Oliver kept trying to attract Little Bee's attention by asking her to play. She ignored him, preferring to focus full attention on the yummy sea bass, crunchy crackers, springy spinach, amongst others.

I asked her, "Do you want to eat or play?" She gave me an indignant look as if reproaching me for even asking that sort of question, averted her eyes back to the plate full of food scraps in front of her, and exclaimed loudly and impatiently, "EAAAAATTTTT! I want EAT!!!" Thereafter totally ignoring me again.

Looking blissful facing a whole table of food. As always, she must have BOTH hands full with food.

It was only after the scrumptious 8-course dinner (she stayed happily in her seat until dessert was served) that she contentedly came down and play with Big Bee and Oliver!

Here are some photos with Jiu Jiu and my family during a Christmas high tea gathering where Little Bee sat throughout the 3-hour buffet, chomping up all the food.

With Po Po, Gong Gong and Jiu Jiu - but note where Little Bee was looking...

The Girls Are Dating...

...Papa!

Hubby received a family newsletter over Valentine's Day, highlighting social research which had indicated all future romantic relationships in a girl's life are influenced by the way she interacts with her father. If he treats her like she is valuable to him, she will likely see herself that way and may even refuse attention from a guy who doesn't treat her right. Read more about it here.

So, these days, special efforts had been made by Hubby to bring each of the girls out for short jaunts. Sometimes, he would bring one of them for single dates. Sometimes for double dates. They always came back happy and rejuvenated, having spent enough quality and private time together.

Last weekend, when I was working, Hubby brought the 2 Bees to Sentosa's Coaste restaurant on Siloso Beach for a mighty fine breakfast and a major frolic with the sun and sand.

The girls in the cool shade of a big umbrella that clever Papa got the waiter to rig up for their sandplay. So, Papa can feast in peace!

One of their rare displays of cordial teamwork...

Ta-da! A Hello Kitty castle (super girly!)

The girls are beach babies and were ecstatically playing under the sun for 2 hours followed by an hour of water immersion at the nearby fountain. They were both drenched, but loved Papa to bits after that!

Cooling off with an hour of waterplay!

All changed and clean...ready to head for home!

Papa's dates always seemed to revolve around sand, water and food! On previous occasions, these were some of the treats from Papa without Mummy around :)

Breakfast by the beach...

More construction work by the beach, this time at East Coast

Waterplay at home, in the shaded haven of our balcony

Warmest Of Welcomes

I had to work the entire weekend and Hubby was in charge of looking after the Bees. My mum helped out on Saturday, but yesterday, he was left to his own devices.

As I trudged home, fatigued and tired at 8pm last night, Hubby called my mobile phone and declared, "Hey, Big Bee just said she misses you very much, and asks you to come home immediately!" I told him I was already near the front door, and guess what? As I was walking towards our house, I saw a lean, lanky girl running towards me in the darkness....Big Bee! Apparently, she rushed out of the house to give me a warm welcome, a loud uttering of "MUMMYYYY!!!" and a big hug!

As we walked arm in arm towards our door, I saw one beaming, grinning face with a smile threatening to split her face in two...Little Bee! She screamed, squealed and jumped excitedly when she saw me...."MAMA!!! MAMA!!!" and gave me an equally big hug.

Thereafter, the girls both hovered around me, fussing over me as I was eating my dinner, with Big Bee showing me the photos of what the happy trio had done the entire day, and Little Bee running to and fro, making lots of noise, showing off little trinkets after trinkets. Hubby rolled his eyes, shook his head and lamented that they must be very bored with him! Aw, poor hubby :) I am sure they enjoyed his company, but probably looking for Mummy to put them to bed at this hour.

Still, this was a dazzling welcome from a whole tiring day at work. Simple pleasures like this really do light up our lives!

Midnight Supper

Last night, after we put the Bees to bed, Hubby and I went out to do some urgent grocery shopping - thank goodness for Cold Storage Holland Village which opens 24 hours! It was peaceful and therapeutic to be able to shop in the empty aisles, chatting quietly and ruminating over the products without any flustered crowds around. After shopping, we ambled towards Crystal Jade for a midnight supper, feasting on porridge and sweet desserts. Holland Village is amazing - it never sleeps!

With the packed weekday schedule these days, I count my lucky stars that Hubby and I can still have some couple time together, no matter how brief it is. I still find that it is fundamentally important to sneak in some solitary time between spouses, so that we can reconnect to ourselves without the boisterous kids around us.

And credit goes to my beloved Mum who stays with us 3 nights a week, so that we can leave the sleeping kids in her good hands.

A-Hunting We Will Go...

We went on a morning trek in the MacRitchie Trails last Sunday, and had a fantastic time hiking through the nature reserve's picturesque trails. There were peaceful segments of the trails where Big Bee commented "There's no one around but us!" where we feel at one with nature, listening to the calls of cicadas, the shrill chirpings of myriad birds and the gentle rustling of leaves and bushes around us.

Big Bee loved to stop beside little streams, pointing out tiny fishes darting about in the murky waters, purposely highlighting brown speckled butterflies to me (because Mummy has this ridiculous phobia of butterflies!) and wondering with curiosity at what lies beyond our well-trodden trail, amidst the thick dense forest. "There are no lions or tigers living inside, right?" she asked.

Little Bee was a little timid initially, but halfway through our verdant odyssey, she clambered down from our arms, grabbed a random short branch from the soiled ground and trundled alongside us slowly but steadily, using the branch as a hiking stick! But her pace was so slow on her short little legs that we had to carry her intermittently, much to her indignance.


Happily walking through the sun-dappled trail


Emerging from the dim recesses of the forest

We walked past a slim, long tree snake at close proximity, and watched with bated breath as the snake slithered from a dilapidated fence into the overhanging leaves of a gargantuan tree. The girls watched with fascinated curiosity, with Big Bee venturing too close to the dextorous snake at times.


We also chanced upon a group of monkeys having a family lunch on the branches of a magnificant bamboo thicket.

Spot the monkey?

What a wonderful way to showcase the miniscule remains of the wild in Singapore to the kids!

The merry rangers

Consternation Part 2

As I was giving Big Bee her nightly massage tonight, she suddenly asked me, "Mummy, the night before my injection day, if I have consternation, can you read me a book?"

I thought I heard wrongly, so I asked her to repeat the sentence, which she did. Then I smiled and asked her, "Did you learn 'consternation' from our blog?"

Big Bee smiled bashfully and nodded. She is regular reader (and strong critic!) of our blog, and was very enthralled by the Consternation entry.

Talk about picking up words from parents!

Toddlers' Lunch Date

From left: Mandy, Natalie, Regina and Little Bee. Natalie and Little Bee were using the backdrop to "teach" each other alphabets!

Last Friday, I brought Little Bee to a lunch date at New York, New York with 3 little girls, 1 little boy and 1 baby boy! Yes, it was with some of the forum mummies as one of them came back from Panama for a little while, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Check out the variety of hand-holding permutations!

As the toddlers are now all-knowing little adults, they were interacting and chatting in ways that were so cute and charming:

1) Like how Little Bee and Mandy chatted "without talking" in Kei's words - nodding at each other knowingly, like they were sharing some deep secrets.

2) And how Regina, Natalie and Little Bee started the peer pressure rolling by grabbing the adults' cameras and shooting all the adults, with Regina taking the lead.

3) Like how Little Bee tried holding Ewan's hand, but he was too shy to hold her hand, which ended up with Little Bee in a rueful, broken-hearted expression.

4) Or how Mandy proudly showed off her cute baby brother Barry to Little Bee who stared with fascination at him in the pram.

'Twas a good afternoon break and we mummies do enjoy having another set of echo-ing yakking tods alongside our own chats!

Little Bee loved her friends, proudly boasted about "mei mei's fwens" to Big Bee after the playdate!

Lipstick Jungle

I just spent the last 2 nights watching the entire first season of Lipstick Jungle, after the Bees slept. Though it was not as thrilling nor as exhilarating as Sex And The City when it first launched, it was as entertaining and engaged me all the same.

The show highlights the perennial problems of 3 powerful women juggling between work, family and personal lives in the harsh, still-sexist domain of the capitalist society which we women are all too familiar with. That we tried to live up and be better than our male counterparts at work, trying so hard to dispel the age-old myth that men are more superior in intelligence than women, that we try even harder at home to provide the very best for our children to make up for that lost time at work, and yet, that we still try (sometimes unsuccessfully!) to still retain some private, me-time in our social lives.

It is amazing at how the so-called "weaker sex" had made strides to being the "stronger gender's" equals. From women who are uneducated and hundred-percent dependent on their spouses just a few decades ago to equals sitting aside and even leading men in the corporate world. Yet, we are blessed with deep-seated instincts to care wholly for our children. Cheers to us indeed.

Sadly, in some parts of society, women remained incarcerated in the deep recesses of history's cruel sexist fists, unable to escape the clutches of the gender power game.

Beach Babes

The Bees are very fond of the beach. They love to romp around on the sand and can spend hours crouching, squatting and digging the sand into cute little sandcastles. Whenever I asked Little Bee, "Do you want to go to the beach or zoo?" She will always say "YAY" real loudly and uttered "Beeeaaccccchhhh!" Big Bee is smarter - she will say zoo, because she knows we usually spend a longer time in the zoo!

2 Sundays ago, we brought them to Sentosa's Siloso Beach in the morning. The sunrays were warm and inviting on our faces, the palm trees whispered with a soft breeze through their fronds and the sea was calm like a brilliant azure sheet. The girls had a fantastic time splashing in the sea, getting their feet wet and sticky and frolicking in the sand, digging holes, creating hill mounds.

Sun, sand & surf!

I wish everyday is a Sunday :)

Random Chitter Chatter

Here are some excerpts of conversations with the Bees that were indelible in my mind which always make me smile...

Big Bee: Mummy, can you and Papa don't stay and look at me during assembly? Not even a peep!

Me (in mock dismay): Why?

Big Bee: Because I feel like crying when I see both of you walking away.

Me: Why do you feel like crying?

Big Bee: Because I am sad to see you leave me...(awwww....sob!)

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Me: Little Bee, who do you like more? Shey or Ni Lao Shi? (her teachers from her weekend playschool)

Little Bee (after a long pause and much considering, with a bashful smile): Ni Lao Shi

Me: Then who do you love more? Mummy or Papa?

Little Bee (without hesitation): PAPA!!!!

*Groan* Toddlers are such honest angels - to the brink of brutal honesty! She is truly a Daddy's girl indeed...

Striding Towards Independence...

Speeding on her favourite scooter

We had settled down into a comfortable and contented school routine with Big Bee. A couple of evenings in the first week of school, I remember asking Big Bee "How's your school?" the moment I stepped through the door. One night, she snapped at me grouchily and said "Why must you know everything about my school?" and refused to tell me what went on in school that day.

My heart was pierced with inexplicable hurt. Is my little girl shutting me out so soon in her life? Am I becoming an obsolete, typical mother whom she cannot relate to? My heart was clutched in the throes of dejected agony the whole night until my Mum gave me the best advice that only a mother can give: "Give her some space."

I was tremendously grateful for Mum's words. That was how she brought both my brother and I up - by giving us immense love and lots of space...whenever we asked for either.

So, at bedtime, I chatted with Big Bee and she bared her feelings. She felt utterly sorry for hurting Mummy, but requested: "Can you not ask me about school the moment you are home?" The exact reflections of my Mum! She is the wisest of mothers indeed!

A month down the road, and here we are - cheery, happy, with Big Bee sharing everything about her school with me everyday. Her friends. The funny incidents she encountered in school. The conflicts. Her deepest worries. We laughed, we gossiped, we brainstormed on tactics to ward off girls who are naughty to her. More importantly, I listen and empathise...without criticism, without judgement, without too much "I know it all" attitude.

It works well. Every night these days, at 8.30pm, she will drag me to her bed and giggled:"Mummy, let's have our chit-chat time now!" And she will tell me all her little secrets.

Motherhood is a learning odyssey indeed.

My poor attempts at bento breakfasts for Big Bee. I usually pack shaped bread with butter for her, who is a fussy eater. The marshmellows are mainly for her friends, who always fight to grab a piece!

Delightful Mornings

Waking up before the first light of morning is wondrous indeed. I used to languish on bed in the mornings, hating to wake up and go to work. These days, I prance eagerly out of bed at 6am everyday, looking forward to that 10-minute walk with Big Bee to school, followed by the brief bonding session with Little Bee before I head off to work! Makes the whole morning so fruitful.

The most gratifying thing is to be able to take a leisurely morning stroll with Hubby after we drop Big Bee in school, amidst the morning traffic bustle...and head towards a scrumptious breakfast, spending some refreshing couple time at daybreak. This morning, we took a 25-minute walk to eat our favourite local noodles before hopping on a bus back home to find Little Bee awake and waiting for us to play, and then heading to work!

Sure makes my day :)

Yoga Nights

The Bees were kind of addicted to yoga these days. I bought 2 kids yoga DVDs last year, and started re-introducing to them last week after some violent bouts of sibling conflicts, hoping to quell their anger. And I think it kind of worked, especially for Big Bee!

For almost every night last week, Big Bee would ask me "Can we do yoga tonight?". And Little Bee would overhear and echo "Yoga! YOGAAAA!"

Big Bee would then be diligently doing every pose of the 30-minute videos, whereas Little Bee would follow whatever her sister was doing for a few poses, then wandered away, and sauntered back in for some of the cuter poses.

One evening, my parents happened to be at my place and they even chipped in to do some poses with the Bees! It was really hilarious.

Big Bee diligently performing the one-legged dog pose

Little Bee loves the easy cobra pose

I find the yoga routine to be pretty calming and soothing for my active Bees. They usually do it right before their bedtime, and I find that it is a wonderful shutdown routine for them, winding them down, getting them ready for bed. And they always slept much faster after these sessions, which was a huge bonus for me!

Chitter Chatter

Beaming with joy over 3 french fries at Claire's birthday party last month

I realised very little had been written about Little Bee's progress, so here goes. Little Bee is now communicating with us effortlessly, though my Mum told me only Big Bee or me could understand her gabblings! She is still not very articulate, but her cheery, ubiquitous yaks filled the house incessantly. She mixes English with Mandarin, so it takes a sharp ear to decipher what she says!

This morning, as she was drinking milk on her bed, I went in to say bye before I went to work. She clambered up, stretched out her arms and uttered "hug hug!" My heart melted and I went to hug her with the fullest of hearts.

On Monday morning, after I came back from walking Big Bee to school, she woke up and told me "Little Bee (sic) wake up. School bell." I asked her "Oh, you mean the school bell woke you up?" She then did her signature grin and nodded while uttering her trademark "uhhh".

She likes to refer to small things as "Baby...", eg "Baby ball" for a small ball or "Baby am" for a small ant (yes, that's how she pronounce "ant" now!). A few months back, she used to refer to bigger things as "Papa...", eg "Papa ball" or "Papa am", thanks to Hubby's teaching. Now, she refers to them as "Big big ball". And she usually uses this term when bargaining for bigger morsels of food, eg "I want big bread!" or "I want big apple!"

Her favourite fruit is dragonfruit. She adores chewing thoughtfully on the seeds. At dinnertime just now, I asked her "Do you want to eat apple?". She shook her head forcefully. Then I asked "Do you want dragonfruit?" A flash of her wide toothy grin and she started chasing me through the whole house asking for "dragfruit! dragfruiiiiiitttt! Peaaasee!!"

This week, her favourite terms are "Go away!" and "Throw away!" Hmph, sounds pretty rude!

Sharing a private joke with her teacher in school!

And she never understands why we can leave food on the table without wanting to eat them. So, her favourite activity every mealtime is to usher us in urgent tones to quickly sit down and eat. Like she will urge her Papa impatiently "PAPA!!! EAAATTTT! COME!" Then she will run to him and fuss around him like a little mother, gesturing non-stop towards the dining table, saying "Sit! COME! EAAATTTT!"

She has a teasing sense of humour since young. When she was 18 months old, when we asked her where's Papa, she will point to the big elephant motif beside her bed, grinning cheekily at us, knowing we will exclaim that Papa is definitely not an elephant. And she will point at Papa after we exclaimed in mock exasperation.

Every night when I hand her the milk bottle, I will ask her "What must you say?" And once she accidentally uttered, in her eagerness to consume her milk, "(Th)Ank you, milk milk". I expressed mock horror at what she said, after which she grinned and said "(Th)Ank you, Mama". So these days, she will pretend to say "(Th)Ank you, milk milk" after she thanked me -just to gauge my shock.

And whenever she hurts Big Bee, I will angrily tell her "What must you say to Jie Jie?" She will utter "Hoary (Sorry), Jie Jie" in a real remorseful but adorable tone with an equally forlorn expression.

That's my chatty and bubbly Little Bee.

Picnic Perfect

Best friends forever, always together: Best pal Claire (in white) and buddy Elsie

Last Saturday, Big Bee's primary school organised a picnic for all the primary one parents. We had a wonderful time getting to know other parents and meeting Big Bee's new pals too! The Bees enjoyed themselves thoroughly. We also sat through a fairly stressful briefing by the principal on the rigours of primary one academic life - the exams she will have to undergo, the assessments she will have to take! Brr...

Anyway, instead of me writing about the picnic, I decided to steal a couple of pages from her diary where she wrote about the picnic. Saves me some writing! It is unedited, so pardon the grammar and syntax mistakes.

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From Big Bee's Diary (she wrote it on Sunday)

Yesterday was my primary 1 picnic. It is at the bamboo courtyard. We played pass the animals and feed the lion games. Our class won 1st prize. Our points for feed the lion was 305 and our points for pass the animals was 20. Pass the animals was quite hard to play.

A bunch of jubilant and victorious little girls!

After that we had the picnic. We were sitting next to my best friends, Claire Khoo and Elsie. Our prize was a small teddy bear for girls in my class. I gave out gingerbread man to all my friends. Secondary school girls gave out stickers to paste on our boats. Elsie and Claire Khoo shared food with me. I also shared food with them. I shared animal biscuits. Then, we went home. My primary 1 picnic was very fun.

Little Bee familiarising herself with her future school...4 years later!

With Claire, Teri and the 2 secondary school jie-jies who were their teamleaders during the picnic

New Addition To The Family

This morning, my Mum spotted a ball of grey fur in our balcony. Upon closer examination, we realised that a hamster, or some rodent-looking animal, had encroached into our balcony! Poor little animal was shivering, and it wasn't walking properly. I suspect it had somewhat injured its 2 hind legs.

Fearing that the owner might be looking for it, my helper brought hammie out to a safe yet conspicuous corner near the lifts. We also sprinkled some hamster food, courtesy of our hamster Galaxy, near this grey rodent. It devoured the food immediately. It must be ravenous, poor little soul! Little Bee was exclaiming non-stop at this cute little furball, but she was too young to understand much.

I went to work, fast forgetting this little episode amidst the flurry of work. After work, I realised that Big Bee, upon hearing news that there was a lost hamster outside her house after school, insisted on keeping this little rodent! And she was yelping angrily at my Mum whenever she prodded at the hamster to see if it was still alive. Guess her protective instincts were pretty strong for hapless little creatures!

So, here we are...with another new hamster...a stray hamster! It is uncanny how I ended up picking up strays. I used to own 2 stray dogs who were real beauties - Vicki, a Shih-Tzu/terrier cross and Boy-Boy, a Pom. They both lived to a ripe old age.

We kept little greyster in a separate cage from Galaxy, the reigning Hamster Empress, whom we suspected killed our previous hamster, her housemate. Big Bee was so excited, telling me the news the moment I stepped into the house. Little Bee just followed whatever her jie jie was doing, prancing around the hamster cage chirpily when I examined the still-quivering creature.

I asked Big Bee what she will name this hamster. She said Pebbles, after our previous dead hamster. What a sweet gesture indeed.

And Here Cometh The Ox...

The Bees' favourite: LO HEI!

The Ox trampled into the new lunar year yesterday amidst much fanfare and customs - resonant with traditions well-loved by millions of Chinese across the world. Traditions of family togetherness and bonding.

In a small corner of Singapore, we celebrated Chinese New Year in a rather big way. Visiting 7 families in 2 days. Plus juggling 2 very active girls with a strong penchant for heaty and junk-food tidbits. At the end of each day, Hubby and I were drenched in fatigue.

Yet, it was lovely meeting up great-grandparents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, some of whom we sometimes only meet once a year. Catching up eagerly with them, feeling the invisible yet stalwart strength of our family ties that lasted through many generations before us, bonded by a similar surname and common ancestors. And anticipating the following year when the same gathering will occur in the same mien. This annual ritual is so comforting, heartwarming and reassuring in its enduring predictability.

The Bees enjoyed themselves tremendously, munching non-stop on the goodies to my dismay, and charming all the older relatives. I hope they will grow to love Chinese New Year as much as Hubby and I do.

'Twas The Night Before The Ox Year

Chinese New Year's Eve is rife with centuries-old rituals, traditional merry-making and convivial family bonding. On the morning of the Eve, we decided to embark into Chinatown to immerse in the boisterous festivities and soak in the mood yet avoiding the overpowering night crowds.

The Bees were excitedly looking through pasar malam clothes and trinkets, and Hubby bought his favourite bak-kwa, all ready for feasting throughout the 15 days of Lunar New Year! I love the narrow, hot, quaint pasar malam stalls, although Big Bee was not too thrilled by the heat. Little Bee was smart - incessantly extending her arms out and calling out to me to "bao bao" her, so Hubby and I had quite a load to carry!

As the Eve fell on a Sunday, I could adjourn to my Mum's place for a reunion lunch. It was heartwarming to see Mum's dining table laid out with a cheery tablecloth and an impressive New Year's feast. It was one of those rare Kodak moments, and I so enjoyed spending time with my family, which brought a whiff of nostalgia back to my childhood.

The reunion dinner was spent with Hubby's family in a simple, fuss-free steamboat style. Lo-hei followed shortly after, and it never failed to bring megawatt smiles to all our faces. Big Bee and Little Bee were also excitedly tossing the lo-hei goodies. Big Bee was yelling out wishes cheerfully, though they were ostensibly different from the usual adults' wishes of prosperity and health. Hers revolved around the present moment like "I wish the lo-hei will not fall to my hands!". I need to educate her next year on what to say during these sessions.

Little Bee was just delighted she could hold on to a pair of chopsticks and tossing FOOD. Her favourite moment came after the session, when we sat down and she could feast on the lo-hei goodies. She was the last to leave the table, no doubt. She also tried lugging a big box of bak-kwa from the in-laws' place when we were leaving, much to my embarrassment!

We went back home in high spirits, filled with the usual jubilation that imbue us every Chinese New Year's Eve. The most sentimental ritual for the night was really the packing of ang-pows, ready for full blown festivities the following day.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Back To School!

Life has settled into a comfortable and familiar routine as January blew its blustery and swift winds in.

Little Bee's weekend playgroup has started after a long hiatus since November, and Hubby and I took turns to accompany her. Last Saturday was my turn. It was such a joy spending time with her alone, one of those very rare moments as she is the second child.

She has settled very well into her playgroup this term, prompting comments from the teachers that range from "She's so expressive this term!" to "She has transformed so much! Compared to last term when she was so clingy!"

Playground time, YAY!!

Her favourite activities in school are the mass singing session, playground and snack time....in ascending order ;) She is more of a foodie than ever, demonstrating her bottomless pit ability to highest capacity. When the teacher asked her cheekily to share her food, she kept shaking her head, guarded her bowl of food protectively and then pointed to another girl, asking the teacher to take food from others instead! I sure hope she will not develop fat genes now!

Singing is one of her greatest pleasures. She sings all day long. When she is playing. When she is bathing. When she is sauntering about the house. Although the words are incoherent (as she cannot really articulate well yet), the melodies that she belts out are clear and mellifluous! Her favourite songs these days are "Old MacDonald" (favourite animal sounds would be "neigh neigh" and "oink oink" and nothing else!), "Twinkle Little Star", "Happy Birthday", "Row row row the boat", "Mr Sun", "Let's Say Hello" song from her school, and most recently "I Love You" from Barney. It is a comical sight when she sings, her brows furrowing, her lips pouting, her arms gesticulating.

In the playgroup's library after school. I disguised Big Bee's bob into a ballerina bun for her ballet class, much to her delight ;)

I am glad Little Bee is enjoying school, and I hope she is equally confident when she starts her daily school in time to come this year!

Little Bee's latest creation - Mr Jolly Roly Poly

Regal Royal Majesties

We are staying at home more often in the evenings as we have to turn in early to rise and shine equally early. So, the Bees made use of the leisurely, idyllic time at night for plenty of imaginative and creative fooling around.

Last Monday, they decided to be queens from another world. My mum tied blankets to act as majestic cloaks around the girls' shoulders, and I decked their heads with different crowns of sorts. They were thrilled, especially Little Bee, who dashed about the whole house, alternating in her imagination between being a superhero and queen! Big Bee could not stop twirling around with her fanciful ballerina pirouettes.

The results....voila! Presenting the Monarch of Pink Fairies and the Queen of Reindeers!

Speaking of reindeers, Little Bee always associates them with flying Santa's helpers! Every time we read a book with reindeers, she will point at them excitedly and said "fly fly fly!", flapping her arms in a flying motion, and uttering "Ho ho ho" for Santa Claus. Guess she had never quite gotten over the Christmas mood yet!

A New Daily Grind

They have catfights everyday, yet they can't live without each other :)

Drowsy. Vivified. Frazzled. Elated. Diligent. Contented.

These are the usual 6 emotions running through me in a typical weekday now. They corresponded with the different segments of the day below:

Drowsy: Waking up with difficulty at 6am daily in the cool, crisp air, just before the sky starts blushing its rosy dawn cheeks. Vivified: Walking with Big Bee to school, hand in hand, giggling and chatting in the awakening morning sky, our souls permeated with the rejuvenating breath of the fresh morning air. Then coming home to spend some rare solo bonding time with cheeky Little Bee. Frazzled: Spending a day in the office, underneath a mountain load of work. Elated: Exhilaration and eager anticipation on the way home, to be greeted by 2 sweetest girls in the world, oft with squealing hugs and blithe grins. Diligent: Hard at work with Big Bee, doing her homework and revising the basic foundation of academic knowledge, while reading cheerfully with Little Bee. Contented: Sinking into bed at 9.15pm, taking turns with Mum between giving Big Bee a full body massage, her typical nightly routine, or patting Little Bee to sleep, with Papa whispering sweet goodnights to the girls...ensconced in a dark room filled with love and joy. And finally, plenty of me-time until 1am!

Our family had developed a brand new routine in these infant days of the new year. With Big Bee embarking into primary one, many of our old habits had to be smothered or altered. Though tiring, I am enjoying this daily cycle that is becoming more and more familiar and endearing to us.

Walking back from school on the 2nd day

Metamorphosis

Little Bee...from then till now...

Children grow up too fast. Especially in the first 5 years of their lives. As parents, we all witness their transformation from a helpless infant highly dependent on you for just food and milk to a gregarious and curious toddler who is always mimicking us and learning about social norms, then to a sensible and responsible big kid in school who is a little adult yet still want us to smother them with baby love at home.

I look at Little Bee and remember that it seemed like just yesterday when she was active in my stomach, giving me contractions and suckling for milk the whole night long. Now, her own personality is shining through her toddler inquisitiveness, creating her own territories by marking everything with a petulant "MINE!" and a forceful snatch, laughing along with us when we share a joke, squealing alongside us when we all got excited, teasing us with her playful big grins and generous hugs/kisses.

Her favourite term now is "I want! I want!" and she loves food more than ever, willingly dropping everything (including her favourite toys) just so she can munch on some delectable delicacies in her mouth. She is a bottomless pit, always asking for food 24/7, irregardless of whether she had just finished her meals.

She enjoys reading now, especially those pop-up and flap books. She recently became fascinated with anemones after seeing a pop-up anemone in one book. She will then flip through the whole book searching for anemones, exclaiming in her breathy sweet voice "Ay-neh-monn-neee!" Big Bee and I were really tickled by her.

She can recognize and utter about 3/4 of alphabets, but tend to be stubborn at times, insisting that W is M, and pronouncing S as "ssssss". She can also recognize and count from 1 to 10, and sometimes, it warms my heart to see Big Bee teaching Little Bee in such an animated and enthusiastic mien, with both sisters chatting excitedly. Big Bee claims that I am a boring teacher compared to her, and it is true indeed that Little Bee very much prefers her jie-jie to teach, compared to her boring old Mummy.

Everyday I treasure spending wondrous moments with them, cherishing every precious time together before they grow up.

Primary School Debut

The BIG DAY had arrived. Day one in primary school! I woke up excitedly at 7am and prepared Big Bee's uniforms, bags, watch (yes! she will need a watch to check the time now!) and the pocket money for her brand new wallet. The school advised that we should only give $2 per day to the little kids, which is good advice to prevent flaunting and wasteful spending of pocket money.

Big Bee dawdled a little when I woke her up at 7.30am, having slept so late the night before. But she was obedient and well behaved when preparing herself for school, wearing her uniform for the first time excitedly, putting on her school socks pro-actively and delighted when she took her matching "My Little Pony" wallet, pencil case and water bottle cover! Style, indeed, in a little girly way.

Her "Powerful Puff Girls" trolley school bag was a recycled item from her travel luggage, as I did not buy her a new school bag, thinking it was big enough to contain her many books. It was really heavy though!

So, there we were, at 8am, literally on the threshold of our living room door, and figuratively on the brink of a new phase in her life. Papa hoisted a sleeping Little Bee from her bed, and we prammed her together with her sister, wanting to share this special morning together as a whole family. The walk to school took about 12 minutes, with me perspiring loads due to the heavy school bag!

The parents were allowed into the classroom this morning as the form teacher explained the procedures of primary school. This time, I found Mrs Tay, her form teacher, very nice yet firm, highly experienced (she had more than 25 years of teaching!) yet caring and empathetic towards the kids. Wonderful combination.

Mrs Tay advised us on all sorts of primary school issues - from number of CCAs to take, to recommended sleeping time (she highlighted that the kids should be sleeping at 8pm to 8.30pm! I don't think I can accomplish that for Big Bee at all!), to the types of foods to avoid during the first year at recess (no boiling bowls of noodles for the little ones, please, as they can hardly carry hot bowls of soup and jostle with crowds at the same time!). Very sound advice in all.

We watched how she interacted with the kids, which was very understanding and personal, and as they gathered together to sing songs, I saw the class slowly warming up to her. Big Bee was quickly making friends, giggling and whispering with her new queue partner already!

Each primary one girl was allocated a primary five buddy for 2 weeks, who will bring them around the school, acquainting them with the ways of primary school. Big Bee's buddy is Melissa, a studious-looking yet chatty eleven-year-old girl. She brought her down to the canteen during recess, and as Big Bee munched on a Hello Kitty moulded sandwich that I prepared at home, Melissa chomped down a big plate of creamy pasta! The canteen was like a battlefield of hungry kids, with long queues at the stalls, yakking girls and minimal space at the benches and tables. Big Bee shared with me that she preferred to pack food from home, I guess most of the primary one kids are certainly overwhelmed by the long queues and the fact that they have to scramble and find their own food from now on, rather than being served on a platter!

We left Big Bee with Melissa to explore the school grounds while we spend some time with Little Bee, who, not surprisingly, kept pointing at the canteen stalls, telling us "I want, I want!" So, we bought her a tuna and egg sandwich, which she wolfed down happily!

At 10am, after the half-hour recess, we watched as Big Bee settled into her class, and we waved goodbye to her. She seemed comfortable and confident, unlike her clingy and teary pre-school days. I am relieved that she had transformed into this mature, adaptable, sociable girl.

At home, for the first time in a long while, I can spend a couple of quality hours with Little Bee, playing solo games with her, chatting quietly with her and bonding loads together.

At 12pm, I set off to fetch Big Bee from school. Parents were not allowed into the classrooms anymore. We can only fetch the kids at a gathering point on the ground level. As I watched my little girl walk down the stairs cheerfully, my heart expanded with the hopes that the start of her academic journey in life may be smooth, momentous and transformative after all. My heart aches to see my little girl growing up independently of us, having a life of her own, secrets of her own, yet my head simmers with pride to see her handling the vicissitudes of life so well thus far. Good luck, Big Bee!

Consternation

I just put Big Bee to bed - at a grand time of 11.45pm, despite the fact that tomorrow will be her first day in primary one (although thank goodness the school hours for the P1 kids in the first 3 days will be 8.30am to 12.30pm, just for adjustment's sake, whew!).

I prepared the 2 Bees to sleep at 9.30pm, one of the earliest in a long long time. Little Bee slept almost immediately, probably because she skipped her afternoon nap. Big Bee tossed and turned in bed, until I was quite mad at her, and went out of her bedroom for a cool-my-temper-down shower! She was very affected by this, and I felt pretty bad after my shower.

So, I plucked her out from her bedroom, sat her in the living room sofa, offered her a glass of warm water and a spoonful of rich, soothing, mellow honey, then proceeded to ask her why she could not sleep. (Normally, Big Bee will knock out to sleepy paradise less than 5 minutes after her head touches the pillow, so this is way malfunctional indeed!)

It seemed like this question from me was a mere catalyst for a floodgate of tears and frankness to flow out. With big drops of crystalline saltiness emanating from her eyes, she told me truthfully that she was very excited about tomorrow's first day in a primary school. She emptied her heart to me and shared her 3 biggest worries about tomorrow:
1) She is frightened of the form teacher whom we heard is rather fierce
- I assured her that form teachers, like her Selena in K2, are all firm and strict, but I heard from my friend who had been taught by the same teacher that she cares a lot for her students and is very good. She seemed comforted by this remark.

2) What if her P5 buddy is fierce?
- I giggled and made light of this worry, highlighting to her that her P5 buddy in another primary school during a K2 field trip was so super nice to her. I also related some stories from other girls who had been through P1 in the same school that the P5 buddy will be really nice and helpful. I asked her if she will be fierce to her P1 ward next time in P5...and she seemed tickled by this reversal of roles.

3) What if she has no friends?
- This is a very universal and understandable worry, something that Mummy always worried about when I was young too! How Big Bee resembles me! So, I told her that she usually had no problems socialising with new friends...assuring her that she already has a lot of friends, proof that she had been well-liked by peers usually.

Sigh. It pains my heart that my little girl had this whole burden on her shoulder as she steps across the threshold to a new chapter in her life. But I am confident that she is highly resilient and adaptable, and will be able to hold her head high amongst her peers and teachers.

I just hope she will not be too sleepy in school tomorrow!

Splashing In The New Year

We ushered in the new year of 2009 with a pool and BBQ party at PF's. The Bees arrived early in the gorgeous golden lights of early evening for some splashing fun with Eugene and Claire. Big Bee had immense fun fooling around with them as usual, whereas Little Bee was paddling on the sidelines near me. 

Big Bee will be embarking on swimming lessons next month so that she can be more adroit in the water, and can have more pool parties in future! 

We then started preparing the BBQ food around 7pm, with the guys starting a merry BBQ fire and fanning some really delicious food! Our old JC classmate, Tracy and her family, joined us for the food party and we all had a wonderful time catching up on old times. How time flies, and I am constantly amazed by this understatement every New Year's Eve! 

The kids having a splashing good time! 

With the adults enjoying good food, rich wine and merry company, the kids turned all sweaty and sticky with their own version of New Year's Eve fun and games! I am glad to see Little Bee interacting a lot more freely with them now that she is older. 

Sweaty kids and yummy food! 

We ended the party around 10pm, and put the Bees to bed before Hubby and I caught up with the countdown parties on TV. We cannot wait to countdown future new years with the Bees when they are older to stay up the night! 

Happy New Year, everyone :)