Sylvanian Delights

We were ambling a lot around town last week, as Hubby and I were both on leave, and happened to chance upon the huge Sylvanian Families toy display section, complete with a huge house, in Raffles City. 

Just as we were ooohing and aaaahing over all the cute little animals and accessories, Little Bee almost choked on her next words and kept pointing behind us, being able to only utter "LOOK BEHIND YOU!" 

And what do you know...we had one colossal Sylvanian rabbit walking towards us, waving her hands, much to the thrill for all of us. 

The Warmth Of Christmas

Christmas came a little early for us last weekend with a couple of celebrations and gatherings. On Friday, we attended our estate's annual Christmas party, and the Bees were excitedly wondering if Santa Claus would think they are good little girls and give them presents. Of course, Big Bee is a cynical girl by now, and kept insisting we parents gave the "fake" Santa Claus our presents, but we kept telling her we did not interfere with Santa's choice, preferring to keep the fairy tale alive :) 

It was a fun party from 6.30pm to 9plus pm, complete with a nice dinner and lots of games and shows. I kind of like such camaraderie between neighbours and this was a good way to infuse the elusive holiday mood into everyone. 

And most importantly, the Bees had proven that they were good girls this year, and got their presents from Santa! 

On Sunday, our group of secondary school good friends gathered for yet another annual Christmas lunch, this time at LP's house. We feasted on mouth-watering pizzas and ambrosial nasi lemak. More importantly, we had plenty of chances to catch up and yak with each other! Given everyone's busy schedules during the rest of the year, the year end holiday season is a beautiful period for all of us to slow our paces, take a look around us and appreciate the myriad bonding with family and friends.  

The kids were playing with each other, and we had a simple gift exchange for them, much to their happiness. It was amazing to see how fast kids transform year after year...soon they will all tower over us! 

We are definitely looking forward to more festivities in these last 2 weeks of a very eventful 2011! 

Blue Christmas

I wanted to do some easy Christmas crafts to get the Bees into the mood of feliz navidad, and chanced upon this intriguing art piece after some googling. According to conscientious Big Bee, this was the hardest piece of art and craft she had done, which I wonder why! Little Bee just went with the flow in her usual free-spirited way. 

Hubby loves it, and declared that we should frame these up. I thought we might improve further with subsequent attempts, but I was heartened that this was so easy and fun!

Step 1: Draw and cut out 3 Christmas trees from construction paper. Ideally thick construction paper. I used normal paper and the effect was not good in the end - as you can see why below. Arrange the trees around a piece of art paper to resemble a fir tree forest. 

Big Bee's cut-outs

Little Bee's cut-outs

Step 2: Use white chalk and trace the trees as well as the forest floor, which could be hilly or flat. Good to use thick crayons for a more striking effect. Draw in dots for snowflakes and a nice round or crescent moon hanging in the sky. It can be challenging to use white crayon to draw on white paper, but this is part of the fun! 

Step 3: This is the fun part! Take out the construction paper of the 2 trees at the sides, leaving the construction paper for the little tree in the centre. The Bees then painted a layer of light blue watercolour painting over the whole paper, except for the ground and the moon. They were awe-struck by the fact that their paint glided smoothly over their crayon outlines of their earlier sketches. It was brilliant seeing them swish their watercolour brushes over the snowflakes and giggling that their sketches came to life with a light blue background! It is essential to use watercolour for its translucent and layering effect. 

Big Bee's crayon outlines!

Little Bee's crayon outlines! 

Step 4: Put back the construction paper of the 2 trees by the sides if you wish. Otherwise, use darker blue paint and paint the sky, avoiding painting into the trees. The Bees put the thin pieces of paper back and made the mistakes of painting over the thin paper, so the paint seeped through the paper, hence losing a significant portion of the final effect. 

Step 5: Take out the paper for the little Christmas tree (and all the rest of the construction paper) and tadah - we have a nice, chilly-looking winter scene, set in the thick of twilight! 

Big Bee's blue fir tree forest :) 

Little Bee's blue fir tree forest :) 

Once again, this was done in under an hour - and the Bees really loved this, especially how the white crayon outline "shone through" the blue paint! 

Merry Christmas, everyone!  

Nutcracking Fun

We always try to watch a full-length ballet performance towards the end of every year, usually by Singapore Dance Theatre. Last year, we treated ourselves to a 3-hour performance of Sleeping Beauty, where the Bees were entranced by the familiar storyline and beautiful costumes. I remember Little Bee was dancing and pirouetting to the music in the dark, emulating the sinewy ballerinas! 

2 years ago, Big Bee and I were fascinated by the popular Christmas ballet of the Nutcracker. And this year, the entire family of 4 trooped out early on Sunday morning to watch this year's version of The Nutcracker again. As always, the haunting and mesmerising Tchaikovsky music captivated us and immersed us in a spellbinding cocoon of rapture. 

However, I was a wee bit disappointed by this year's adaptation - which was not as elaborate as the version 2 years ago, with the storyline a little thin. The techniques were not particularly striking as well, and the leads were relative unknowns in Singapore. 

But still, the Bees were enchanted and this annual ritual gave them some fodder of inspiration for their ballet journeys. I am also thankful for Hubby who is usually more than happy to join us. 

After the performance, we had the wonderful opportunity to stroll around Esplanade, admiring the beautiful skyline and revelling in the cool, year-end weather. 

The Bees in pure glee on the rooftop of Esplanade

We also made our wishes at the wishing spheres of Singapore, with the Bees writing down their wishes for the imminent new year with excited alacrity. 

Big Bee's nice simple wish

Little Bee thought that these spheres are presents to the fishes in the Singapore River, so wrote something for them! It was hilarious to me. 

We showed them where their spheres will be, and we all looked forward to the countdown to the new year! 

Time passes so fast every year - it is definitely good to take stock of the year and look forward to another brand new year, while learning to wind down towards the end of the year :) 

Fan-Spotting

Thanks to Hubby, he dragged us out of the house on Saturday morning to queue up and watch one of Little Bee's favourite bands - Hi5! Big Bee used to be a fan when she was young as well, and I remembered bringing her to the old Hi5 concert. Now, this is a new Hi5 with brand new band members, and Little Bee is now their little fan! 

We reached Millenia Walk at 11.30am (for a 1pm show!), and saw a little queue forming beside the stage. Apparently, the first 60 kids on the queue can have a meet-and-greet photo session with all 5 members of Hi5. I had never queued up for any band tickets before, much less queue up to do celebrity spotting - so can you imagine the things we parents are willing to do for our kids!? 

I am normally an impatient person and would avoid long waiting times and meandering queues at all costs. However, strangely, I find queueing up on Saturday morning rather therapeutic! I was sitting on the floor, while Hubby brought the girls around, and I enjoyed observing the people around, analysing who they were. I guess time slows down when we are caught in the web of a waiting game - hence allowing us to fully live in the present and observe the world. 

Hubby and I also took turns having lunch with the Bees, so I brought Little Bee to MOS Burger for some yummy Tsukune Rice Burger. She loved it! It was really enjoyable spending solo time with Little Bee over lunch, and I am sure Hubby had a similar pleasant experience with Big Bee too!

Soon enough, we were being ushered into the sitting area around the stage, and needless to say, Little Bee had a first-class seat at the front row nearest to the stage! She patiently sat and waited for her favourite bandmates to come strutting out onto the stage, and boy, was it a happening and super boisterous party when Hi5 pounced around on stage, singing the favourite songs of the kids! 

Check out the look of glee on her face! 

I must say their songs are very catchy and danceable, so it was no surprise that all the kids around me were screaming away excitedly just like fans in some adult rock concert, and many - including Little Bee - were at the frontline, bopping and jiggling away! 

She was one bold kid as usual, dancing right beside the stage and incessantly waving at the various Hi5 team members vigorously until she got a couple of Hi5s and smiles from some of the band members. 

Serious dancing in action

It was really amusing watching her dance and gyrate to the tunes. And the fact that she tried several times to attempt climbing up the stage plus her persistent waves at the singers was testament to the knowledge that she is one gregarious kid alright! 

During the meet-and-greet after the concert, she was smiling broadly at them, hi5-ing away with them and daringly sitting on one of their laps for a photoshoot. She did not display any signs of shyness at all, and I worry she will become an uncontrollable party animal when she grows up!

In the meantime, we were just content to sit back and let her revel in the physical closeness of her favourite characters - for now :)  

On Their Own

Being a working mum means that I have absolutely no control over what the Bees are doing at home in the daytime. I do not have the luxury of time to be by their sides all day long, guiding them on homelearning. I could not savour the sweetness of them by my side the entire day. 

And they had gotten used to me dashing off to work every morning, although Little Bee had been whining and crying every Monday morning, lamenting the fact that I work. Well, I try to be back during lunchtime at least once or twice a week to spend time with them - and more frequently during the holidays! So, it had indeed been tiring in terms of schedule while juggling between work and family. 

What I would do every morning is to let them know briefly some suggested tasks that I would like to see them complete. And I am heartened by the fact that the Bees generally accomplished these tasks independently, especially Big Bee, being such a big girl. Little Bee still needs some reminding and guiding by my good mother. 

I was very tickled one night when I came home and saw this piece of ragged paper lying around on the sofa - a story written by Little Bee all by herself! I believe she asked her jie jie for spelling help but no one assisted her in sentence structure (which was pretty obvious!) 

The story goes: 

One day a cat and a dog are have a car and they are very happy so they want to have to drive!!

Other pieces of independent work involved journal writing with Big Bee helping and encouraging Little Bee, like the journal entry below where Little Bee wrote about her school carnival. It was really fun to read what she wrote without any influence from me. 

Sometimes, Big Bee would work on her own homelearning after observing what I had done with Little Bee (see the Solar System minibook below). 

There were also lots of sketches and doodles by the 2 girls. 

What was really heartwarming was this collage created by both of them, with each of them drawing different pictures and combining these into a quilt of sorts! I love observing these little tell-tale signs of teamwork and camaraderie between the sisters in the day (as they tend to fight for my attention in the evenings, sadly!)

I seriously cannot decipher which Bee drew which picture!

It was really amusing for me to come back home every evening and try to spot what they were up to.  

The Moongazers

The second lunar eclipse of the year happened at a very appropriate time when the Bees were still awake and could gaze at the moon with Hubby and I. After viewing the first lunar eclipse of 2011 in awe and fascination, we naturally wanted the Bees to observe the second celestial phenomenon with us. 

So, at 9.45pm on 10 December, I peeped out of our balcony, saw the full moon eclipse commencing, whooped in excitement - much to the surprise of the rest of the family, and proceeded to get Hubby and the kids out to view the lunar eclipse. 

We spent a good 45 minutes observing the devouring of the moon by earth's shadow. The kids were a little spooked at first, seeing the moon disappear little by little. Hubby and I took the opportunity to explain the science behind this rare event, and emphasized that there will not be another lunar eclipse until 2014! 

We gazed at the clear, aphotic sky and admired the ponderous but steady progress of the eclipse. We could even detect glimmers of dim constellations just beside the moon at that hour - I believe it was the Big Dipper, I am not certain! We pointed out the differences between stars and planets, as gazed upon by the naked eye, and this was certainly a great continuation of our previous homelearning theme of Solar System! 

By 10.30pm, Little Bee was almost nodding off, plus the full moon was in a state of total eclipse. We scrutinized the exceptional rusty-red glow of the full moon in total eclipse, and we explained the reasons behind this amazing occurrence to the Bees. Thereafter, we called it a night and headed back to our home. 

We were definitely blessed by clear skies and the optimal position of the moon that lovely night! 

Ladybug Lifecycle Wheel

Val popped by our house with my aunt 2 Thursdays ago, and I came home early from work to do a little craft work with the 3 girls. I simply love working on crafts with a group of kids, as it enabled me to observe the diverse team play and peer observations between a bigger group of kids. Am waiting for Chloe to come by together and form a bigger group soon! :) 

We worked on a ladybug lifecycle wheel, and the girls loved the final output, which was entirely their own work. All I had to do was a little guidance and a whole lot of encouragement. 

The craft was really simple, and we finished everything in under an hour! 

Main materials: 

2 small paper plates

1 fastener

1 black construction paper, cut into an oval shape for the ladybug's head

Glitter glue

Red poster paint

Black marker pen

1) First, the girls painted the outer shell of the ladybug with one paper plate, and whilst the paint was drying, we took up the second paper plate to illustrate the 4 stages of the ladybug's lifecycle. 

I explained the 4 stages briefly to the 3 girls before they started drawing and writing out the stages. Once again, as with the apple tree lifecycle craft, a paper plate would be perfect to demonstrate the cyclical nature of lifecycles. 

As Val is younger, I printed out the 4 stages for her to stick on the plate and she was able to articulate to me the 4 stages in chronological order immediately. She was also able to write down the names of the 4 stages as well. Well done, Val! 

Meanwhile, the Bees were busy drawing out the various stages and writing each stage down. This took around 20 minutes.

Big Bee's 4 stages

Little Bee's 4 stages. Oops, she got the spelling of "larva" wrong ;)

2) Upon completing the 4 stages, I assisted all of them, using a fastener, to attach the 2 paper plates together - and we had a wheel! 

3) I used a stapler to help them attach the ladybug's head which is just an oval-shaped black sheet of paper. It will be more aesthetic to glue the head on instead, but stapling was much faster and more fuss-free!

4) I got the kids to draw and colour black spots around the ladybug, and for the Bees, I got them to write down "Lifecycle of a Ladybug" on the plate. It was tricky to write on an uneven plate, especially for Little Bee. This took another 15 minutes. 

5) Then, we used silver glitter glue to draw the ladybug's face. I had to assist Val and Little Bee with this because it was really tough to squeeze out my silver glitter glue - so both their ladybugs' faces look similar! 

Voila! We had a brightly-coloured ladybug lifecycle wheel in less than 60 minutes! It was really fun and entertaining, and the Bees told me they love this craft! Try it! 

Big Bee's ladybug

Little Bee's ladybug

Val's ladybug

Where Magnificence Meets The Horizon

Our family loves the sea. And we love this beautiful restaurant just by the sea somewhere along the eastern coast of Singapore. Back in the days before the renovation of this restaurant (into something glitzier, which I truly lament), we used to burrow our feet into the sandy ground whilst chomping on our breakfast. Hubby and I had a celebratory ROM dinner here, way back in 1999 - together with all our family and friends. Thereafter, we had regular family meals with our parents here. And we would always cherish the looks of awe from Big Bee and then eventually Little Bee when we had meals with them just beside the sea. 

Can you believe this is Singapore? 

Which is why this restaurant is so special to us. 

We went back after a long hiatus of almost a year, after they revamped themselves, and was a wee bit disappointed by the sophisticated upgrade. Gone is the rustic pavilion that we would make a beeline for in the past. Gone is the wonderfully friendly staff whom we had known for more than a decade. 

Yet, we understand their need for change. And we still love the stunning ambience and unblemished atmosphere while dining under the stars. In addition, we love observing the flight patterns of our colossal jumbo jets that land and take off nearby. 

We had the good opportunity of dining on scrumptious Indonesian food under a dazzling evening sky of multi-hued clouds and malleable colours of dusk. As we ate, the resplendent skies turned from orange to a kaleidoscope of deep reds and purples, and eventually darkened into a rich lavender and eventually darkness. 

As darkness descends, the distant twinkling of the city lights were like gems beckoning seductively to us, but we revelled in the knowledge that there is still this little paradise from the daily urban rush, this tranquil enclave of serenity where time stood still. 

A little slice of heaven on earth

Exquisite indeed. 

What's For Breakfast?

Hubby bought a waffle-maker, and created waffles for breakfast :) Nothing is more delicious than a waffle made by a loved one, complemented by a wonderful frothy cup of cappuccino to start the day. 

The Bees loved the waffles and gobbled down quite a fair bit! Thanks, Hubby! 

Fiesta!

End October and November were school carnival months for me. I always love to participate in school funfairs because they enabled the Bees to witness another side of their usually academic schools, to see their teachers in another light, and to view their schools from another more holistic perspective. 

Big Bee's School Carnival

I had been helping out as a parent volunteer in Big Bee's school funfair since she was in primary one, and on 29 October this year, I was once again in a sweltering hot stall in the school canteen, selling giant fishballs and fried beehoon to throngs of happy students and perspiring parents! 

This year's primary school carnival was much bigger and better. There was a huge new section with large-scale amusement rides that got all the students really excited. Lots of screams and squeals emanated from thrilling rides like mini pirate ships a la Viking, colossal swift spinning wheels, gigantic slides etc etc. I strolled around the thrill rides with Big Bee and her best friend, and they were truly energised by these rides!

I also got Big Bee to help out at the stall so that she knew the "pleasures" of hawkering food - and she took a whole big tray of fishballs to sell around the school! We managed to sell more fishballs this way :) 

As big girls, Big Bee and her best friends dashed around the school all by themselves, exploring different facets of the carnival, leaving Little Bee, Hubby and I to our own devices. We eventually left the carnival much earlier without her, and picking her up only after the carnival ended its run at 3pm. 

You can read more about the carnival (with more photos!) in Big Bee's blog entry here. 

Little Bee's School Carnival

On 18 November, the Bees and I descended upon the East Coast for Little Bee's school carnival. Contrary to Big Bee's carnival where big kids ambled around with friends, Little Bee's carnival was full of parents accompanying little kids. It was noisy with happening music and a DJ (who is a teacher!). It was really delightful seeing all these little kids enjoying themselves with a huge plethora of activities from beauty stations to bouncy castles to fun fair game stalls, AND the weather was surprisingly cool, thanks to a cloudy, overcast sky. It was truly enjoyable. 

A rainbow on her arm! 

Vain Little Bee getting pink hairspray! 

I met my cousin Fio with little Val, and the Bees scampered around the whole carnival with Val as well as a friend of Big Bee's. Fio and I can just sit and chill - how marvellous! I also bumped into a few friends like LP and Viv, and was happy we could all chat a little. 

Little Bee with her teachers, sister, friends, classmates and cousin! 

Because of the weather, this was one of the rare years that I stayed till the carnival ended, and I brought them for a much desired (by them!) KFC lunch in a nearby restaurant. They were munching on chicken pieces, giggling and chatting away, and behaving so amiably and loving together that I could sit back and observe them with a little secret smile in my heart, rejoicing that they are finally independent - yet regretting the passing of a wonderful baby phase. 

Parenthood is indeed bittersweet...

Sweet Repose

Friday evenings are usually the most relaxing and restful for us. It signifies the end of yet another typical crazy and hectic week, not just for us working adults and parents, but increasingly for the Bees as well, especially during term time. 

I usually take the opportunity to play board games with the Bees on Friday nights, so I have this penchant to name Friday evenings as "Friday Game Nights". Board games are excellent homelearning activities! We would indulge in anything from Monopoly Junior to Blokus to UNO to Guess Who? to Game Of Life, etc etc. I am a board game junkie, and had accumulated more than 20 to 30 board games at home, so we are usually spoilt for choice on these languid nights. 

This evening, we played charades and had the most hilarious time laughing at each other's silly antics. The Bees seemed to read each other's minds well, so I ended up being the last in the game, hmph! 

After charades, I decided to wind down and chill out by listening to some of our favourite songs, and turned on Youtube for some karaoke versions of Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia (the Bees love Mamma Mia the movie! I can just imagine their awe if they ever watch Mamma Mia the musical!). 

From 10pm (yes, they had become late sleepers during the holidays, which had reduced my me-time substantially!), we were belting out favourites from ABBA, especially Dancing Queen - which we sang several times! 

It was just lovely - me in the middle, my arms wrapped around the Bees, all of us singing to the lyrics at the top of our voices while swaying to the beat of the music. It is great reading exercise for Little Bee too, who loves the song Dancing Queen to bits :) 

We finally decided to call it a night by 11pm, after an hour of crooning. 

Love such warm, energetic yet lackadaisical evenings like this! 

Merriment In The East

On Nov 19, the cousins got together for some family bonding, together with the grandparents - all thanks to Irene who invited us to her chalet at Downtown East! 

She booked a cosy and spacious corner room, and from the moment the little cousins met, it was non-stop, intensive playtime!

Travelling all the way to Downtown East imbued us with that sense of adventure, as we rarely venture into this part of Singapore. The resort feel of Costa Sands lulled us into the mood for holidaying and vacationing, and it is wonderful that we could indulge in such retreats without needing to travel overseas! 

We had a simple yet scrumptious lunch, comprising of delectable local delights like Penang char kway teow, curry fish head, nasi lemak and many more that we could not resist! 

It was serious soiree for the little cousins after lunch, with 5 recharged and boisterous girls indulging in some gleeful fun. Val brought along her little friend, Isabella, who was alone with us the whole day! 

I bought a packet of "blowing balloons" that journeyed straight out of our childhood days. Remember those tubes of gels where we use little straws to blow into really malleable yet fragile balloons?? Well, the kids went crazy over this when Irene, Fio and I blew these balloons for them. Big Bee was really good at blowing tremendously large balloons - even better than the adults! 

But the other little cousins who are much younger tend to deflate the balloons inadvertently rather quickly. We finished the entire packet of almost 15 tubes in a jiffy - with very tired mouths from blowing too many balloons! 

It was swimming time after we had usurped all the tubes of balloon gel, and we were truly thankful that the weather was wonderfully balmy yet not too sunny for a great swim! The girls were squealing and chuckling in delight, and had a truly fun time splashing around in the pool.

 

Dark ominous clouds loomed over us, and eventually large angry drops of rain pelted down on us in the typical late afternoon shower that was so ubiquitous this month. 

Back in the chalet, we squeezed all 4 little girls into the shower cubicle while Big Bee watched us bathe them in delight. It was like a factory production line - Irene would spray water on them, followed by me shampooing all their hair, then Irene would soap their bodies and we took turns to shower them clean. Then Fiona was in charge of towelling all of them dry. What hilarious fun! It was truly a sight seeing 4 little girls of similar height, stark naked and giggling, in a little shower cubicle. 

It was tea time once we got the girls nice and squeaky clean. Thanks to Irene's mum, all of us could indulge in some nice warm homemade green bean soup and fragrant pandan cake, as well as homemade agar agar from my mum! Slurp! The rain was pouring intensely outside but it was truly heartwarming and cosy within the chalet. 

All fun things must come to an end, and as the rain trickled to a halt, we bade farewell to each other but I am certain we would be seeing a lot more of each other during the December holidays!  

Birthday Chronicle

As Little Bee's 5th birthday approaches next month, she has beautiful memories of her birthday party with her best friends and has stopped asking me what else I have planned for her 5th birthday. 

A couple of days after her birthday party, she wrote a sweet-sounding journal entry in her diary, and I thought it encapsulated all that she felt, minus all those bombastic vocabulary words that adults use - which makes her little entry all the more endearing. 

In case the image is not clear, here was what she had written, with spelling help from me. 

"Today, I had my 5th birthday party. All my friends from my class came. My favourite part is putting make-up on my face. I am very happy because I have lots of presents."

She experimented with using some squiggly decorative fonts and cursive handwriting, hence some parts may be illegible. She drew the large, twirling and twinkling disco ball, the long catwalk runway, her birthday cake and her friends in her diary.  

As she approaches her 5th year in life, I could also sense her gradual maturity and cynicism, much like Big Bee now. This is evident in a conversation with Little Bee today: 

Little Bee: Mummy, who gives us all those presents under the Christmas tree? (she refers to all the anonymous presents under the tree that I always claimed were from Santa Claus, haha)

Me (looks at her with big, quizzical eyes): You should know the answer to that, right?

Little Bee: Is it Santa Claus?

Me: (nodded hesitantly, wondering if I should tell her the truth right now!)

Little Bee: (looking cynically at me) But, Mummy, there is no Santa Claus, right? Is he real?

Me: (dumbfounded and still undecided if I should tell her the truth, so decided to throw the question back to her!) What do you think?

Little Bee: NOOooooo....he is not real, he is just a fantasy! 

Me: (decided not to pull her leg anymore) Yes...you are right, Santa Claus is a fantasy figure!

I do miss my sweet, little innocent and naive babes :( 

However, that being said, the girls (even Big Bee!) still enjoy the thrill of receiving presents from "Santa Claus" - they will usually each receive a couple of mysteriously wrapped presents with unfamiliar handwriting of their names on the presents, and the sign-off of "S" - hmmm, I wonder who that would be? ;) 

The GEP Conundrum

* long post warning! *

I hesitated about writing this, as Big Bee reads my blog and she had always warned me not to write much about her! 

But being in primary 3 this year would mean one key thing to many parents: the GEP screening test. 

In recent years, I had seen many tuition and enrichment centres proclaiming their GEP preparation programmes are the best in town. I was aghast when I saw these advertisements. I always believe that being gifted intellectually cannot be artificially augmented - well, in some ways, as parents, we could help to nurture that love for learning, that ability to absorb information and knowledge in our kids. But I always believe that giftedness in academic ability is a trait that cannot and shouldn't be boosted by external means like tuition. 

Which was why I remained cool as a cucumber when Big Bee told me she sat for her GEP screening test a few months back. When she received a letter inviting her to the second round of GEP testing, together with about 30 or so kids from her school, I was pleasantly surprised but specifically emphasised to Big Bee that she should not practise or revise anything, as these would be totally irrelevant to the tests. 

In the first place, I am also not a strong advocate that giftedness should be tested through a series of pen and paper tests. I thought consistent school assessments as well as leadership qualities in class and school are far more accurate instruments of analysis. 

But still, when things like being shortlisted to the second round happened, there would always be well-concealed hopes and expectations - not just in me, but also very apparent in Miss Perfectionist. She was the one packing her pencil case on the days of testing, and she was the one who kept reminding blur Mummy about the dates of testing. 

Sometimes, I hate to see such expectations arising from my child, just in case they are sorely disappointed. But I guess these are life lessons for them. 

And true enough - she did not make it to the top 1% of the supposedly elite group. There were only 10 kids from her school who were selected into the GEP programme, and 7 of them were from her class. One of her best friends, A, was selected and would be transferring to a school with GEP programme. 

I could tell that Big Bee was a little disappointed, although she tried to hide it underneath her steely facade of bravado. But I had always been reassuring her that academic excellence is but a tiny part of life - a mere step in the long spiralling staircase of life. There are many more traits that make up a successful person. 

She got over this disappointment very quickly (I think). 

Her primary school also has this exclusive gifted class that I had always been eyeing out of the corner of my consciousness with curiosity - but never hope. The kids from this class would comprise of the selected GEP students (if they remain in the same school) as well as the other students who fared well in the GEP second round, but perhaps not good enough to be selected by our all-important MOE. 

The curriculum of this gifted class is similar to the other MOE-appointed GEP programmes, and was crafted in consultation with an American expert on gifted education. More importantly (for me), I was impressed by this class because the curriculum goes beyond the routine and unthinking school curriculum. On the contrary, their pedagogy teaches them to learn, nurtures them to think critically, encourages them to philosophize and embolden them with the ability to speak out and discuss issues in class. 

I was impressed. Because I had been disillusioned by Singapore's primary, secondary and even pre-university education system where academic success means exams success and little or no discussions in class. This was in stark contrast to the Bees' preschool where speaking out and expressing themselves are second nature to the kids. 

I could tell Big Bee harbours deep-seated hopes of entering this revered class. Yet I did not want to mention anything to her because I don't want her to be disappointed a second time round. 

2 nights ago, we went to collect our letters, and we saw a letter with her school logo on it. She looked at me with big round eyes and I could just feel her bated breath! 

I opened the letter swiftly, away from her, with the main objective of shielding any vile information that might strike more daggers into her little disappointed heart. 

To my great surprise and joy, she was selected into this gifted class! She was ecstatic and elated. Almost delirious with joy. There is an option to opt out - and I asked her to decide for herself without any pressure from me or Hubby. She wanted in. 

For me, I was excited because I love their enriching curriculum and pedagogy. I hope these will propel her to be a participative learner in school next year. 

More importantly - I am just grateful that her dreams had come true and that she is happy :)