So Far So Good

A couple of Saturdays ago, we went to Big Bee's school for a Parent-Teacher Meeting. This meeting was so unlike all the private ones that we attended in her kindergarten. We entered into the primary hall and was greeted by an entire gargantuan hall filled to the brim with rows and rows of teachers with parents. It was a sight akin to an examination hall! There was a waiting area where we waited for our turn while we observed how other parents discussed with fervour about their child's progress with the form teacher. It was all very serious, it seemed!

When it was our turn, I took a back seat and just wanted to hear what her form teacher had to say. The moment she saw us, she declared immediately that Big Bee is "very good". Her work is excellent and her teacher highlighted that Big Bee can read and speak very well. She went on to inform me that Big Bee will be the star performer in the upcoming Speech and Drama concert and that she was impressed that Big Bee can perform so well. As a parent, of course I was delighted to hear such wonderful things from my daughter's teacher.

However, she continued by saying that Big Bee can be a little chatty, chatting at times in class when she should not. I guess this was a practice she acquired in her kindergarten where being articulate at all times was highly approved and encouraged. Sadly, in primary school, she had to follow the teachers' instructions to the dot. Luckily, I felt that Big Bee's form teacher allowed eloquence to a higher tolerance compared to other classes' form teachers. Big Bee was just telling me that a friend of hers was scolded for saying hi to her during assembly. Such is the beginning of a culture of conformity and uniformity.

After the meeting, we strolled around the school campus, with Big Bee proudly showing off her classroom and where she sat to us. It was very encouraging to see her confident, very happy and independent in school. There was a bustling and festive carnival going on in school simultaneously and we had a really fantastic time immersing in the strong school culture with the older school girls enthusiastically marketing their wares. School life is really fun!


The Bees sharing a cup of yogurt in the school canteen. Big Bee is at this awkward age, like most of her friends, where her 2 front teeth had dropped!!


I sneaked to her school and captured a photo of her prize-giving ceremony for being the top 6th in the Primary 1 hula hoop competition. She did not want me to be present at the ceremony for fear of teachers scolding her so I had to hide behind a pillar with Little Bee!

Arty Crafty

The Bees are very into craftwork these days. Big Bee's favourite mantra during the weekends will be "Art & Craft! I want to do Art & Craft now!" She would choose to stay indoors and create some crafts rather than a jaunt in the park, which may not necessarily be a good thing.

Little Bee will take out her toddler craft book and browsed through the pages, furrowing her brows, deep in concentration on selecting what to do...pointing at this page "I want PIG!" to that page "I want BOAT!", never making up her mind with the plethora of selection.

I had since stopped buying toys as they seem to enjoy creating things so much more. Doing craftwork together also helps them work in harmony and fosters teamwork, which is something I am desperate to build up, given the constant battles at home these days! It is also good to initiate Little Bee, who is still not attending school, to some semblance of "schoolwork" and learning.

Hardworking Bees working in full cooperation together...although they do fight over the scissors and glue!

Recently, the Bees created a very simple jellyfish (their unanimous choice!) from everyday materials like paper plates, coloured and crepe paper. After completing their creations, they were happily playing with the respective jellyfishes, bobbing them around and blowing their paper tentacles against the fan for almost an hour!

We also took this opportunity to talk to Big Bee more about jellyfishes (not that I know much about them!) and to teach Little Bee about the letter "J" and its phonic sound.

Happy jellyfishes: The left one is Big Bee's, the right one is Little Bee's. She originally stuck a downturn mouth onto the jellyfish!

And last Sunday, Big Bee and I experimented in making this magic card...where you can pull out this black and white picture drawn by Big Bee, and voila! The pull-out card is in full glorious colour ;) Big Bee was so pleased with herself for creating this, although I had to help her a fair bit as it was our first time creating it. And Little Bee was amazed at the magic that jie-jie had created!

A black and white underwater scene...

Pull the picture out and voila! It is now a colourful undersea scene!

Jane Austen

Jane Austen is one of my favourite writers, and I had read and re-read many of her classics umpteen times over the years. Which was why I watched Becoming Jane for the second time in 72 hours last night, and was imbued with fascination and approbation for Jane Austen. For a lady to yearn for financial self-sufficiency and independence in that conservative era was almost unheard of, yet she forged ahead to create 6 of the greatest novels of our time, breaking conventions, defying traditions. She died unmarried, in her 40s.

I love her novels, not just for the happy endings, but really for the timeless themes that resonate in our minds and hearts. The pure romances between her multi-faceted protagonists, devoid of instantaneous gratification in the form of hasty sex that are so redolent in novels today, present a deep yet relevant emblem of what love really should be, despite the social norms of that era.

Lastly, with the exception of Hugh Grant in Sense and Sensibility, I am now developing a school-girl crush over the male personifications in Jane Austen's life and novels - James McAvoy, who played Tom Lefroy, supposedly a friend of Jane Austen, and Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice! I am sure many women will agree with me that they are charming beyond words ;)

Sketches Of A Little One

As the second child, Little Bee is usually easily distracted whenever I tried teaching her at home because of one older jie-jie around. Hence, I find it harder to teach her, compared to Big Bee at the same age when she had all the solo time in the world to learn.

But despite her short attention span, I find that she enjoys doodling and sketching in her quieter, more focused moods, especially faces. Which was why I was pleasantly surprised a few nights back when she suddenly deviated from her usual facial drawings and drew a rainbow with a grand flourish on the whiteboard that Papa bought for the girls last week.

She then picked up the whiteboard, grinned widely and uttered "Rainbow!" After she received all the praises from us, she proceeded to draw not one, but two suns on the board, proclaiming happily, "Two suns!" I had a hard time trying to explain to her that there is only one sun in our universe, not two!

Here's another sketch she did on the doodling board. When I asked her what that thing with the big eyes was, she beamed and said, "Aw-boory"...which incidentally means "strawberry". I think it was a rather cynical looking strawberry indeed! And she claimed that the strange-looking thing beside the strawberry is a "o-ta-o"..."potato"!

The Bees doodling peacefully together...one of those very rare moments of sibling non-rivalry...

Coming Of Age

It is common hearsay that your kids are independent once they start venturing out with friends on their own, without needing your company anymore. During the Friday of the March holidays, Big Bee was invited to Elizabeth's (her K2 good buddy) house...and the invitation specifically highlighted that only Big Bee was invited. Hmph.

It was a gathering with 4 of her best buddies in K2, and a reunion of sorts, as most of them went to different primary schools. As this was her first escapade out alone, she was filled with slight trepidation and asked that my helper accompany her (since parents were not welcomed!).

Hence, my helper became the official photographer for the gathering and told me the girls had fantastic fun, switching from royal games of princesses role-playing to hopscotch to play dough and board games the entire afternoon from 2 to 5pm. I must thank Lizzie's Mum for keeping an eye on the girls, though she said they were adept at entertaining themselves.


Casting a magical spell over Lizzie (in red dress) with Mithalina giggling at the background.


The ring of fairy queens: (from left) Lizzie, Mithalina, Big Bee, Nicolle Tan and Nicole Teo

This party of hers gave me a peaceful reprieve at home. For the first time in years, I could finally take an afternoon nap and enjoyed some tranquillity at home whilst Little Bee napped!

Big Bee enjoyed herself tremendously. When we picked her up at 5pm, all the girls were so reluctant to leave each other. I am very happy to see her forming strong and, hopefully, lasting friendships with these kindergarten pals of hers.

The Winter's Tale

Yesterday afternoon, 2 of my girlfriends and I took the afternoon off and watched Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale at the Esplanade, directed by American Beauty's Sam Mendes and performed by a resplendent cast of highly talented actors.

I had always loved Shakespeare's works, having studied many plays over secondary school and junior college, though I always find The Winter's Tale, which I studied for my A-levels, a tad too heavy and tempestuous.

However, yesterday afternoon, I watched with wide-eyed wonder and besotted rapture, as Shakespeare's intense words leapt out of old, archaic scripts right into the impassioned lips of these magnificent actors through raw, unbridled emotions that brought the play to true life and self-effacing tears to our eyes.

It is amazing how Shakespeare's centuries-old themes can transcend through the ages, elevating us into another world, another time, infusing us with pure emotions so raw you almost can identify with these tortured souls and delightful characters.

Injection Day

Here's a blog entry written by Big Bee about her injection day in school last Tuesday! She was very nervous about it but emerged strong and courageous :)

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It was my injection day. I nearly had consternation the night before. We went down to the Art and Craft room to get our injection. Two of my friends cried but I did not cry.

Bubble Bath

Last week, Hubby took 2 days to look after the Bees as my mom's leg was not well. Here was his idea of a usual bath time for them. He puffed up an inflatable pool raft, fluffed it up with lots of bubble foam and immersed the 2 girls with lots of bath toys inside for an hour-and-a-half long bubble bath!

Having a whale of a time!

Swim Party

Charlie's Angels (from left): Big Bee, Val & Little Bee. Chloe was changing into her swimsuit in the bathroom!

Last Friday, my cousins and I organised a swim party for our kids, also fellow cousins, together with our Mums, who had lots of fun catching up on gossip over good food.


The 3 happy grannies with Little Bee

Poor Little Bee had a runny nose so was prevented from going into the pool. Big Bee had lots of solo practice swimming in the pool with Chloe watching her every move and attempting to swim about, making poor Irene so tired, clutching onto her in the water! Fio was busy trying to encourage Val to get into the pool, but little Val was more interested to sit by the pool, looking pretty in her gorgeous swimsuit!


Paddling and splashing!

Chloe and Big Bee are swim pals!

After lunch, the kids meddled with toys and indulged in a group craft activity, doodling and drawing harmoniously together. It was amazing how all 4 of them can play so peacefully and amicably together! We plan to let them hang out together more often, just like how our moms used to let us cousins play together ever so often years back.

Group tuition, anyone?

Busy busy...

Homemade Toys

Last week, Hubby and me took turns and stayed home to look after the Bees because my mum was on "medical leave" as she had hurt her leg.

As it was also the March holidays, I decided to channel the restless energies of the girls to something constructive. So, I laid out some craft materials and we created homemade soft toy snakes out of my old socks, newspapers (as stuffing), stickers and construction paper!

The Bees busy stuffing their snakes up with newspaper!

It was really fun to create something out of nothing and the Bees, especially Big Bee, was thrilled. She did everything on her own, applying creativity to her snake by proactively making a forked tongue on her own initiative. Little Bee was distracted at times, and needed my help, especially in drawing the snake's eyes, but she enjoyed sticking the stickers on the snake and even created a bandage patch on her snake, after which she told me the snake was "pain pain"!

Little Bee's red snake called "Nake" with its pink bandage and Big Bee's sandy coloured snake with its forked tongue called "Sparkly"

The sense of achievement experienced by the Bees after completion was a sight to behold. Throughout the entire day, they were holding on to their new soft toys, bringing them out, hugging the little snakes on bed. Big Bee named her snake "Sparkly" and Little Bee just called hers "Nake" (she could not pronounce the "s" yet!).

Holding on to their new soft toys with glee and delight!

Inspired by us, Hubby set forth to create another set of homemade toys the following day! When they met me after work, I was greeted by each of them holding a pair of musical rice maracas made from plastic cups, rice, scotchtape and stickers! They were happily shaking these maracas and creating the most mellifluous samba beat ever!

One set of maracas

Quality Time

My little one was down with a nasty flu over the weekend, so I stayed home with her while Hubby and Big Bee went out for all her enrichment classes and grandparents' home.

This was a wonderful opportunity for me to spend solo quality time with Little Bee, who was so deprived of it, compared to Big Bee. It was akin to those idyllic days of quiet, private time with Big Bee before Little Bee's arrival. One-to-one playing, uninterrupted learning, intimate chatting, no fighting, no arguments, no distractions! Fabulous.

With 2 kids, it is so difficult to spend lengthy moments alone with one child. So I count my blessings to be able to indulge in some personal time with Little Bee. I am sure Hubby is grateful for the private time spent with Big Bee too. This is one of the guidelines I read in a parenting book: to ensure that each kid gets to spend quality solo time with each parent regularly.

Just to relate a random conversation at the doctor's:

Doctor: Here's a sweet for you, Little Bee.

Mummy: What must you say, Little Bee?

Little Bee (smiling): Thank you ... (long pause, serious pondering expression, staring at the doctor)....MAN!

Mummy (embarrassed): You can say "Thank you, doctor" too!

Little Bee (revelation on her face, smiled again): Thank you, ah-tor!

She had also started learning from Big Bee colloquial expressions like "Oh, man!!!" whenever she could not get her way.

And sometimes, when I see the little one chitter chatting with the talkative big one, a warmth just emanates in my heart, marvelling at how dependent they are on each other's daily company :)

Of Zoos And Plays

I had never felt so excited about the brief March holidays since my JC days. The one-week break descended upon us with a much anticipated downpour of torrential activities after a long drought of weekday routines. Which was why last weekend, which was the start of this wonderful reprieve, was such a whirlwind of hectic activities.

Saturday
1) We started off Saturday morning with a trip to the zoo after a long 3-year hiatus since I was pregnant with Little Bee. Which means that this was Little Bee's first visit to the zoo. She was amazed by the plethora of animals, uttering the names of the animals after us, and Big Bee melted into the zoo's arms like a long-awaited homecoming.


Lovin' the boat ride!


Big Bee loved the horses in Kid's World, and Little Bee looked so at home on the pony!

They loved the new boat ride across the reservoir and spent too much time in Kid's World. We had a long lunch in their very crowded Ah Meng's Restaurant, and went home, tired, perspiring and with a pair of sleepy and grumpy kids.


Check out their sleepy eyes!

2) After a short afternoon nap for Little Bee, we set forth excitedly (more like me being the most enthusiastic of all!) to the Disney Princesses On Ice show.


The girls chose their own costumes, amidst a mind-boggling number of girls dolled up in different princess costumes!

We were entertained from 7 to 9pm, mouths gaping, spirits soaring and hearts stirring at the amazing skills of the ice skaters, who had to grapple with difficult manoeuvres and gorgeous expressions of Disney characters. All the fairy tales which we were so familiar with leapt out of the pages of well-thumbed Disney books.


Oblivious to everything but the stage...

By the second last act, Big Bee asked me worriedly: "Mummy, is the show ending soon?" I affirmed her sinking suspicion and she let out an audibly disappointed sigh. Little Bee was so fascinated that she sat mostly on her own seat for the whole 2 hours, eyes and mouth wide open! It must have been a remarkable spectacle for her little mind. We went home, fatigued but contented, right to the warm embraces of our welcoming beds.

Sunday
1) We started off Sunday morning with a wonderful breakfast in a French cafe that Hubby brought us as a surprise. To see rows upon rows of ambrosial confectionery was akin to stepping into breakfast heaven. To be immersed in a heavy cloak of mouthwatering smells of baking bread was pure divinity. We had a most wonderful breakfast in the quiet but cosy cafe, with the Bees chomping delightedly on doughnuts and croissants.


They sure made pastries look delectable!

2) We then proceeded to one of our country's oldest heirloom - Singapore River. We took a wonderful walk along the riverside, soaking in the relaxed Sunday atmosphere. The Bees were carefree and cheerful. After a short jaunt along the river bank, we stepped into Victoria Theatre to watch a play by a Canadian company - Alice In Wonderland.


Big Bee was rightfully skeptical of the play from the start whereas Little Bee was checking out what she would be in for.

It was rather disappointing and not very engaging, utilising multimedia and music to depict the bizarre adventures of Alice in Lewis Carroll's well-known book. As the book was an emblem of literary nonsense throughout history, the play somewhat reflected that too, to Big Bee's befuddled bewilderment. At the end of the play, she huffed and puffed and said: "I want to throw rotten tomatoes at them!" Harsh critic indeed. Little Bee, who sat quietly throughout the play, nodded happily when I asked her if she liked the play. She is definitely not as cynical as jie-jie yet!

What a fabulous start to the fantastic March holidays!

Hula Hoop Competition

Big Bee's school has all sorts of cute school-wide competitions. One of them was a hula hoop competition last Wednesday which she was placed at top 6 in the whole standard.

This is a page I stole from her diary (on days that I am lazy to blog!). She wrote it last Wednesday, right after the competition, hence the entry started with "today".

Enjoy reading :)

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Today was my Hula Hoop Competition. It was called Hulathon. I was very excited the past few days. There are four houses in my school - Olson, Jackson, Blackmore and Lee. There were many people in my class joining the Hulathon. We need to go down to the quadrangle five minutes earlier before recess. We were the first class to go to the quadrangle. My best friend Claire Khoo is a reserve so she is not joining. When the Hulathon started, all my friends were very excited! Many people were watching us. I was the top 6 of the game. When I did one hula hoop, I was very good. Some people in my class dropped their hoops when we were doing one hoop.

"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!