Of Good Food And Better Company

Christmas Day was overflowing with splendiferous food, fantastic company and remarkable gifts. We are thankful for our friends who organised the wonderful parties with an overwhelming selection of delightful Christmas foods so that we could just sit back and enjoy chatting with other friends, leaving our kids in the marvelous company of other children.

We were out of the house by 9.30am on Christmas morning, with the Bees chosen their Christmas dresses (these days, they dictate their wardrobe selections!) and we headed for LP’s house for a gathering with their family and PF’s. We were greeted with a mind-boggling selection of toys from her 2 boys, Weiwen and Weidong. The Bees, with Eugene and Claire, went quite rampant with all the toys but eventually settling for the very reliable Playstation again - with the exception of Little Bee and Weidong, who felt more at home with soft toys and Playdoh. Even Hubby was ambling around their house, peering and fiddling with interest at some of their toys!

The adults indulged in some really scrumptious food – a lavish fusion of East and West! Dimsum delights coupled with juicy turkey, ham and sausages! Good food always tastes better with excellent conversation, and 6 of us adults had the pure indulgence of sitting civilly around the dining table, munching on all the goodies while the kids entertained themselves. As our children grow older, this is one of the luxuries that we parents get – to watch them build up social networks from afar, while maintaining a thin, invisible line to them, casting our watchful eyes once in a while, but knowing that they will be fine.

We adjourned to Jasper’s house for a second session of luxuriant Christmas feasting with a stunning array of incredibly rich foods – succulent turkey,luscious beef, delectable sausages and plenty of heady wine and sweet desserts! We were absolutely stuffed by mid afternoon! The kids had a hey day playing with Amanda’s toys and ravishing an endless supply of party food and snacks, much to the Bees’ delight! (I usually deprive them of junk food). Once again, the mothers had a great time exchanging notes on parenting, which was such a far cry from our conversations of yore when we used to gossip about clubbing and the latest fashions!

We came back in high spirits, replete with abundant food in our stomachs and mirthful memories in our minds. The Bees spent an exciting evening opening up lots of presents under the Christmas tree.

Silent Night

The best time of the year is here again. Glitzy Christmas decorations this year (of which I am no fan of). Magical triangular emblems of Christmas trees. Frantic yet cheery Christmas shopping. All the uplifting Christmas carols that pervaded our senses with exhilaration and joy. And more importantly, the sense that the year end is nigh, and it is time to wrap up and take stock of the year in retrospection.

Our little family had always been spending Christmas Eve in its true spirit - with warmth, intimacy, tranquillity and quiescent peace - and always with a simple yet hearty meal. 

This year, Hubby laid out the table in a cheerful, delightful setting and we set up the table with a modest meal of pasta, mushroom soup and a sparkling grape juice that Big Bee enjoyed tremendously (we told her she was drinking some sort of wine!). 

We had a wonderful time over dinner and looked forward to more Christmases to come.  

Random Craft: Santa Candy Jar

With December being a holiday month, I decided not to have any structured home learning, so that the kids (and me!!) could take a break. 

However, I still let them do some fun crafts, especially since I am on leave. This month's crafts revolve around the theme of Christmas and winter, which was a loose continuation from last month's weather theme. 

On Dec 11, when Big Bee was in class, I taught Little Bee to make a simple Santa craft with some assistance from me. When Big Bee came home, she presented this homemade craft as an early Christmas present to her jie-jie, much to Big Bee's surprise and happiness. 

This is a truly easy craft to make, with minimal materials and easy steps for little kids under 4. It took us only about 25 minutes to complete, and Little Bee was thrilled at her creation! 

Step 1:

Using red construction paper, create a conical hat (adults need to assist here), add glue to the relevant sections, and get the little kid to stick on cotton wool to resemble Santa's hat!

Step 2: 

Attach and stick the hat to a small empty jar. I prefer to leave the lid on, so that this craft can double as a cookie/candy jar for a more attractive Christmas present! 

Step 3: 

Apply glue in a U-shape to the perimeter of the jar so that the kid can stick on any amount of cotton wool, explaining to them that this is for Santa's beard. Little Bee put in lots of effort to make Santa's beard look full and robust! 

Step 4: 

Tada! Stick on Santa eyes (the eyeballs were drawn by Little Bee, hence the slightly dazed look on Santa!), nose and mouth - and voila! You have a neat little homemade present from a little kid!

Little Bee ho-ho-ho-ing away, pretending she is Santa! 

The Joy Of Staying Home

I had been on leave since Dec 10 as my mother went on holiday, followed by our own holiday. Only one word can describe being with my girls the whole day long - heavenly. 

Days are long and utopian, and filled with such luxuriant richness and beautiful lavishness to be able to witness for myself those little idiosyncracies of my Bees for 24 hours. Having no work stress also means I am a more tolerant mother, being able to endure their frequent rivalry and catfights a bit better, injecting more patience into parenting them - although I still feel like tearing my hair out when faced with a whole morning of complaints and petty quarrels! 

Fatigue will definitely exist when I have to pander to their multifarious needs constantly, but if fatigue is blended with happiness to be doing the things that matter most, our bodies become a lot more resilient and receptive. I hope my children grow old to understand that working is merely a means to an end for me, and that I really revel in the joys of parenting them! 

Dec 10 and 11 were also fun days for my cousins and me. Since Fio's mum and mine were out exploring the world, we decided to hang out together with Irene who happened to be on leave too! What fantastic timing! 

Val and Little Bee spent an idyllic morning on Dec 10 at my house while Big Bee was out for holiday classes, focusing their attention on pretend play. This time, they were owners of a restaurant, and were busy cooking and serving us! I hope they grow up to cook delicious dishes for us :) 

We then picked Big Bee up before adjourning to West Mall for a sinful but scrumptious lunch of KFC, with the kids gobbling down whipped potato and chicken pieces! Big Bee had regained her appetite, now that school was out - wolfing down 2 big chicken pieces and 2 bowls of whipped potato! I am very pleased to see her being so happy and carefree again. 

Val and Little Bee all ready to fetch Big Bee, who incidentally, is Val's idol for now :) 

The Bees continued to indulge in their favourite painting after Val had gone home...followed by an afternoon of relaxed play at Gong Gong's house. 

On Dec 11, we had a delightful dinner at my house, with homecooked beehoon and curry chicken, as well as yummy stingray, satays and satay beehoon that Eric so kindly bought. As the kids played, us 3 cousins sat around the table munching and gorging on the food, idly chatting away. Life felt great! 

Bubble play before dinner. The Bees went berserk when I gave them permission to dabble with bubbles, much to the shock of sensible Chloe and Val! 

Without planning, Chloe and Little Bee had the same colour combination! Together with similar hairstyles, don't you think they look like twin sisters?!

The Bees' bedroom was tranformed into a playroom! 

We cousins had a marvelous time, and I am sure the little ones enjoyed their bonding sessions with their cousins as well. In this era of small nuclear families, cousins are close family members akin to siblings, and I am really happy to see the Bees having an entire brood of extended cousins they can call family! 

冬至

My family has always been deeply traditional when coming to Chinese cultural rituals. My mother would painstakingly tell us the meaning behind different Chinese traditions and rituals, imbuing in me a deep respect for and strong affiliation with being a Chinese living in Singapore.

Yesterday, we celebrated a ritual that we had been commemorating since the roots of my memory - 冬至 (Dong Zhi).

Since time immemorial, I remember always looking forward to this day every year because I love eating Tangyuan, the traditional gourmet delight for many Chinese fromsouthern China. My mother would always remind my brother and I that we would be one year older and wiser after eating these Tangyuan, and we would devour bowls of these sweet orange-coloured delectation. This was also traditionally a time for families to get together, so I try not to miss any 冬至 with my family even after I was married.

Because of all these warm and fuzzy childhood memories, I am also trying to create similar mental frameworks for my children so that they have this memory structure of family life and Chinese culture. 

Big Bee now looks forward annually to this special day because, like me, she loves to eat Tangyuan. She also loves to make those delightful balls of glutinous rice, and we had been creating different shapes since she was 4. However, I chastised myself for notexplaining the meaning of this yearly ritual to her adequately. I shall do so today!

Getting their hands dirty and sticky when making the dough!

Little Bee is still increasing her awareness of the world around her, and this year, she was involved with her jie jie, Gong Gong, Popo and me in creating the Tangyuan dough as well as the different shapes, so she was chuckling in excitement all throughout. She also loves the sweetness of it, relishing each Tangyuan ball and slurping up the soup.

Some of the different shapes that we created

All ready to sink into a boiling pot of sweet soup with sugar and pandan leaves...

I hope to imbue them with the same fondness for family and cultural rituals, and we had an amazing time yesterday!

The final product :) 

Back From An Action-Packed Week!

The time they enjoyed most: Hong Kong Disneyland and having breakfast with Mickey!

We just arrived back home from our Hong Kong holiday - just Hubby, me and the Bees. It was Little Bee's first trip on an airplane, and this vivacious girl demonstrated strong signs of a potential jetsetter in future, feeling totally at home fiddling with the entertainment system onboard and claiming she did not feel any ear pressure with the ascent and descent of the aircraft. She did not particularly like holiday food though, so we ended up looking for her favourite chicken rice in Hong Kong a few times! 

Big Bee was at her very best behaviour, devouring the delicious Hong Kong food with zealous gusto. She was able to hold intelligent and mature conversations with Hubby and myself, and could help out with Little Bee at times, despite the frequent outbursts of fights that would make me feel like tearing my hair out! Most of all, her keen observations of a foreign land made us see things from her idealistic and fresh perspective, putting a revitalising and refreshing angle to our jaded viewpoints. She is truly enjoying to travel with us. 

It was extremely tiring with 2 hyperactive kids in crowded and dense Hong Kong, but Hubby and I revelled in spending uninterrupted and perpetual quality time with them! 

I will update with a more detailed holiday post soon. 

The Kiterunners

I love the marvelous year-end weather in Singapore this year. Everyday is dazzling with clear blue skies, blustery winds and happy sunshine, which was a wonderful juxtaposition to the typical stormy December weather of yesteryears. 

2 weeks ago, we went kite-flying in Marina Barrage. It was a picturesque morning - the wind was whistling amidst gusty puffs of its cooling year-end breath. The trees were dancing merrily with the leaves singing joyously, and the clouds were somersaulting cheekily in the dazzling cerulean skies. Simply heavenly. 

The girls were thrilled when they found themselves at the peak of Marina Barrage, to be greeted by sweeping cityscapes of stunning Singapore and a whole plethora of mirthful, frolicking kites. 

With Papa's tremendous help, their kites - both the Dora and My Little Pony ones - set sail high in the sky, holding their own against the other kites, eventually becoming the final 2 kites in the sky. That was probably because the creeping mid day sun was beating its insidious red-hot rays onto all of us, turning us from fair to brown! We thought we were like Amir and Hassan in The Kiterunner - hanging on to the kites for dear life!

The Bees holding onto the strings of the kites and (trying to) manipulate the kites against the strong winds

The Bees' kites cavorting high in the sky - the higher kite was Big Bee's My Little Pony kite, and the other one was Little's Bee Dora kite. 

It was a truly enjoyable morning - simple fun with lots of fresh air and warm sunshine. The best way to live in a tropical land! 

Missing Links

The one singular thing I hate most about being away for work is the missing links in the Bees' lives. There will be gaps in their lives that I would not be part of, and they will forever be hollow chasms in my memories.

During my recent work trip, the Bees had lots of fun with Hubby and my mum:

1) They splashed and swished with water play in our balcony one hot sunny Saturday afternoon

2) They did yoga on bed with Papa

3) They all trooped out to buy male fishes to fertilize the barren eggs of the female fishes in our aquarium! 

4) The Bees had a great time chilling out for a day in my parents' home and another day in Hubby's parents' home. 

5) Big Bee went for a few holiday programmes with Mum and Little Bee in tow (which I will blog about in another post)

6) Papa registered Big Bee for piano lessons without any objections from her. Well done, Papa! 

Lots of activities, and I am very thankful that the Bees have plenty of love and support from our 4 grandparents! And of course, blessed to have such a fun-loving Hubby who is a wonderful Papa to our children. 

The reason why I am so in tuned with their activities is because of Big Bee! I created an email account for her, and we started our very first email communications in this trip. It was such a breath of revitalising air to receive emails from your very own daughter. Like being in love again! Waiting with bated breath and anticipating a new email in the inbox. Reading the words on screen and sporting a silly grin on my face. Feeling that rush of adrenaline when I clicked "reply" and then "send", followed by the entire cycle of waiting again! It makes such a difference to be able to email our children and communicate with them through the miles.

Her first email to me on 28 November 2009 was resplendent with colourful words and icons: 

Hello Mummy,

Today, I went shopping with Papa and (Little Bee) :) 

Papa bought me four fishes to lay the fish eggs. I hope they are all males. (She actually meant the males will fertilise the existing eggs in the aquarium!)

The Uncle Man said that it was hard to tell whether they are males or females. 

Love,

(Big Bee)

I also asked her to update her daily activities in a diary, so I am in touch with small little details from a child's perspective. She diligently wrote daily entries with such sweet details that I could not resist smiling like a Cheshire cat as I was reading her neat writing. 

Her diary on 28 November 2009: 

On Saturday, I went to ballet. After my ballet lesson, Papa signed me up for music lesson. It will start at (sic) January. Papa will be with me for three months in my music lesson(sic). In the afternoon, we ate lunch at home. I sent my first email on the computer to Mummy. After lunch, Papa set out (sic) a swimming pool at our balcony. It was very fun. At night, Popo came to our house. 

Playing gleefully in the indoor pool!

It is so important to communicate to our children as peers and not to enforce any judgement on them...although it is really easier said than done for me. But I thank technology for narrowing the distance between us. And I am beginning to think I am finally on the glorious rewarding end of the carrot stick when parenthood is beginning to reap such celebrated merits.

I feel even more blessed as I received a call from Big Bee on my taxi journey home, who excitedly informed me that she created a welcome home card for me. My entire being was infused with exuberant felicity all the way home. Thank you, Big Bee, for opening up your infinite imagination into my little adult world. You can never imagine the bliss you brought to me.

  

And I can't wait for Little Bee's turn to transform language into a powerful instrument of communication :)  

Celebrating 3 Years of Vivacity!

We celebrated Little Bee's birthday with our closest families because that was what she really wanted - to have all who mattered in her life to be singing her a birthday song, cutting her cake and giving her birthday presents. 

Big Bee bought her a present long ago in November, and it is heartening to see how Big Bee was so concerned about making Little Bee's special day so beautiful. She bought a furry little kitty soft toy for her, and excitedly asked me to wrap up her present first thing on Sunday morning. When Little Bee opened the present late at night, she was so touched that Jie Jie bought her a present:

Little Bee (busy unwrapping Jie Jie's present): Wahhhh! For me? Present for (Little Bee)? 

Big Bee: Yes yes yes - look at it! A kitty! Do you like it?

Little Bee (looking down with wonder at the kitten): YES! I like it! My present? Who buy it? 

Mummy: Jie jie bought it for you! 

Little Bee (gazed at Jie jie with love and delight): Oh! 

Jie Jie then opened her arms wide and inched towards Little Bee, who hugged her back and kissed her. Such sweetness indeed! 

The Bees in full cooperation when unwrapping presents! 

Our parents and Hubby's sister came by before dinner for a little cake-cutting ceremony that thrilled Little Bee to no end. She looked ecstatic when we sang the birthday song, surrounded by the most important people in her life. She blew out the candles in an instant amid joyous claps, celebrating her 3rd happy year in this wonderful world. 

With the Bees' closest and dearest

We went for a simple dinner at Hanabi thereafter, and I truly enjoyed the relaxed bantering and chatting between both sides of the family. Perhaps it is time to plan for another trip with our closest families! 

 

Our 2 mothers posing prettily together! 

Terrific Three

Dear Little Bee,

3 years ago, my water bag burst early in the morning, 2 weeks ahead of your expected delivery date. Papa and I were caught off guard and had to scramble to pack my hospital bag before dashing off to the hospital in the rush hour jam. And that is how you live your life henceforth: spontaneous, extemporaneous, carefree and irresistibly ad libitum.

You are a burst of vibrant, brilliant sunshine - perpetually smiling and grinning, with happiness radiating from your big bright eyes. You sought to seek our love and attention always, saying sweet things to us and being so nice to others.

You are a strong conversationalist now, engaging in alluring chit-chat sessions with us. You have a loud, clear voice that resonate right from the bottom of your belly, which is such a comical juxtaposition to your petite frame. Your expressions never fail to border on the thin line between adorable and comical, and you are constantly packed with captivating and ready laughter for every situation. 

You love to be the centre of attention, which made Papa and me suspect that you are poised for showbusiness! You dance at the tiniest sound of music and love to sing along to all the familiar tunes you hear in our car. You love beautiful things and are a wee bit narcissistic - preferring to gaze at yourself with a comb brushing your hair in the mirror, yet hating anything that dresses up your hair. You are so girlish - loving everything pink, fairies, princesses and Barbie dolls! 

You sometimes do not like reading and your attention span is a tad short, getting distracted from books and learning at the slightest diversion. Instead, you prefer to paint and indulge in art and crafts, which makes me think hard of visual activities to engage your active little brain. You can now write your name in caps and recognise all our names in the family. You are also familiar with all upper case alphabets but still need some practice in recognising all the lower case  alphabets, but I am sure we are heading in the right direction. 

You have a powerful stubborn streak. When you said no, it is relentless. You will never back off nor back down. You can turn from pleasant to unpleasant in a nano-second, and reverting back to your smiley self in the twinkle of an eye. You have quite a temper if provoked, oh yes, you do. And you will never let anyone bully you, so I can really count on you to stand up for yourself. 

Dear Little Bee, you had emerged from the dark terrible twos into the brilliant sunshine of terrific threes. We are really enjoying your companionship and your chatty self, making life so much noisier and colourful for us. 

Happy 3rd birthday, my little big girl :) 

Rainbow Connection

Last month's homelearning theme centred on weather, given the volatile weather conditions in November. We decided on this theme after some rainbow crafts that the Bees created a while back. Rainbow crafts are wonderful to teach colours and the simple beauty of nature to the kids, and the Bees love everything about rainbows!

Rainbow mosaic...for teaching colours and sorting. Bigger and easier mosaic pieces for Little Bee, and smaller, denser pieces for Big Bee. 

Rainbow painting by Big Bee. She was able to portray the scientific creation of a rainbow here - a magical combination of water vapour, raindrops and sunlight! 

Psychedelic rainbow by Little Bee. I taught her "R" for "rainbow" and I think she was trying to paint "R", but it evolved to "B", haha. Check out her oval-shaped sun which looked like a beetle! 

Whither November?

December descended swiftly on us this year. The whole month of November zoomed past, overflowing with fantastically fun activities right after Big Bee's exams.

With the Bees growing older so quickly, I can now scour for more holiday activities that they can both attend together. I wanted drama to be a fundamental part of their lives as it is a wonderful way to foster confidence and empathy in children. So, we bought tickets for a musical and a play in November - Duck and Dive by iTheatre, and The Jungle Book by SRT.

The girls liked the 2-hour musical Duck and Dive, dazzling them with lovely showtunes and beautiful costumes. But they loved The Jungle Book, which cleverly ended in just one hour, so that the Bees were still entranced when the play ended. They were enthralled by the catchy tunes and hilarious acting, and were fascinated by the array of different jungle animals and their costumes. Back home, they continued acting out scenes from the play late into bedtime, indicating how impressed their little minds were.

With the cast of Duck and Dive. Big Bee was thrilled to be standing so close to the characters, and Little Bee could not draw a line between reality and play. She was hiding in my shoulders because she was terrified of the witch character (first character from left)! 

We also immersed ourselves in the magically clad streets of Orchard Road that are now resplendent with brilliant Christmas lights and glorious symbols of the season. This year, I find the decorations too bright and colourful for my liking but we are still touched by the Christmas ambience, loving the sights and sounds of splendid Christmas trees, nostalgic Christmas carols, twinkling fairy lights and gorgeous seasonal gifts all around us. We also bought a karaoke disc of Christmas carols, and the Bees are singing to these tunes frequently! 

In mid November, we put up our Christmas tree - and the Bees decorated the entire tree themselves! It was so heartwarming to sit back with Hubby and just gaze at the busy bees, fussing over which shiny decorations to hang over which branches. They completed the task within half an hour, gleefully rejoicing over their beautiful creation.

More activities are lined up in whirlwind December. With the Christmas mood lightening up the air, I am certainly looking forward to a month of love, splendour and fun!

Busy Bees at work - the theme of this year's Christmas tree is still "Baubles and Bells" like last year's!

The completed tree, minus the ribbons and lights which Papa will put up soon! 

Travel Memoirs: Enchanting Edinburgh

This is my 6th day in the beautiful city of Edinburgh, Scotland. I arrived here on Saturday night for work, greeted by chilly Arctic winds and wet misty drizzles. The air is fresh and crisp, cleansed by the constant gentle rain, and the sun is perpetually shy, emerging occasionally from thin clouds only for 7 hours daily. By 3.45pm everyday, the alluring winter city is plunged into darkness. What a stark juxtaposition to the brilliant dusk at 11.30pm in summer!



I love the quaint, romantic alleys with ancient cobblestoned pavements, quirky shops and pretty restaurants. I love all the antiquated buildings and lovely spires that dominated the landscape. I love the vibrancy of Princes Street with an abundance of Christmas shopping and twinkly fairy lights. Most of all, I love how the majestic Edinburgh Castle loomed out of nowhere in the middle of a shopping street, catching my breath and captivating my heart.

I will be back with Hubby and the Bees one day, I am certain.