Her First Camp!

Big Bee went for her first 1-night school camp over the March holidays, and this Mummy here had problems adjusting to an empty bed without her in the bedroom! We missed her greatly in the evening, where her absence seemed like a huge chasm in our usual family routine at night. Little Bee missed her the most, as her jie-jie is always her constant companion and playmate, even when they are squabbling!

Still, it was good quality time spent with Little Bee that night, and we tried snuggling more with her to quell her loneliness without Big Bee!

Packed and ready to spend a night away from home!

Big Bee's camp was a leadership training camp for class and CCA leaders, and it spanned 3 days, out of which one night is for the camp. The students had a series of classroom-based leadership training which she didn't enjoy (how can you teach leadership theories to a group of young, active students sitting down in the classroom?), but she liked the applied, out-of-the-classroom experiences a lot more.

I shan't elaborate more as Big Bee had already blogged about her camp in her blog. Check out her 3-part series by clicking the days below!

1st day
2nd day
3rd day

The Felicity Of Ballet

Little Bee went for her first ballet exam on 17 March, and she handled the examination anxiety calmly and coolly, not showing any signs of nervousness. Unfortunately, I had to work that weekend, leaving Hubby and Big Bee to accompany her - I felt so sad to miss her first ballet exam!

We attended her ballet open house 3 weeks ago, and were delighted to see her brilliant smile and sunny demeanour while she performed a little solo dance all by herself. She was ever the ernest ballerina in group dances as well, stretching her limbs and flexing her feet diligently.

A cheery Little Bee post-exams

On the day of the exam, she was excited for her hair to be twisted and coiled into a professional little ballerina's sophisticated bun. And after the exam, she confided in her jie-jie that she made 3 mistakes. Still, it was a great try by Little Bee, who is well into her journey of becoming an adroit ballerina, just like her big sister!

Our New Baby

Introducing Aidan, our newest addition to the family. Born on 6 December 2011, which makes him 3.5 months old as of now!

Little Aidan, our Yorkie!

Infectiously adorable. Yet highly mischievous and playful. Dashing about the house in breakneck speed in one second, deep in sleep the next second. Chewing and biting everything inedible (including our toes to our sofa to our clothes hanging on the door), yet loves being carried and molly-coddled, smothered in our all-encompassing embraces. Pooping and peeing all over the place, yet knowing exactly where his soft, cushiony bed is when he needs his beauty sleep.  

Training potential: Zilch at this moment. So we are letting him enjoy his babyhood just for a little while more before tough training comes on board!

Hubby fulfilled Big Bee's life-long wish for a doggy when I was working this past weekend. In fact, he had always been over-indulging the kids every time I worked on weekends! Once, in January, it was 5 hamsters. Faint. Then, the weekend before, it was a big lego set with a pony and a pink farm house. And the ultimate was a little doggy last weekend. Still, it was refreshing and rejuvenating to play with little Aidan after 3 straight weeks of non-stop working. And it was glorious to see those beams of elation on the Bees' faces. 

Hubby and I used to have a grand total of 3 dogs when we got married. 2 of them (Boy Boy and Vicki) were strays that we picked up - beautiful strays, really. Hubbies' 2 dogs stayed with us, and once in a while, my family's dog, Vicki, would pop by our matrimonial home to enjoy a staycation with her 2 other pals too. By the time Big Bee was almost 3, two of them had passed on and one of them (Angel) was adopted by my mother-in-law's friend - a decision which I sort of regretted agreeing to. 

Angel, our Shettie, was adopted by a family friend with a big garden for her to run about. Boy Boy, our black Pom which was picked up by Hubby and I as a stray, passed on due to old age and organ failure in 2004. 

Vicki, my gorgeous cross-breed stray that my Dad picked up, was with us from 1992 until 6 Feb 2005, when she passed on due to old age. My Mum was her faithful caregiver when she was old, blind and frail without the ability to walk - feeding her with her bare hands everyday. Thank you, Mum!

Having a dog is a lifelong journey. And counting by the number of typical years that a dog may live (16 years), the Bees will be 26 and 22 respectively by the time Aidan reaches old age. That thought somehow made me misty-eyed and melancholic with a little lump in my throat all of a sudden...

In the meantime, puppy toilet training is underway...!

Colours Of Nature Part 3: Escapism In Hindhede

Our little family had been traversing lush, verdant nature parks the past few weeks. One of the more memorable moments was when we parked at the roadside near Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and munched on takeaway MacDonald's breakfast. 

The surrounding environs was full of the ubiquitous macaque monkeys that populated the nature reserves here. As we were chomping away cheerily, all 4 of us chuckled with mirth when we saw how a few adolescent monkeys playfully slid down the windscreen of the car behind us, almost as if it was a playground slide! Hilarious indeed.

The chuckles transformed into piercing shrieks of alarm as the few monkeys scampered quickly to our car, probably attracted by the sight of 4 humans munching on yummy food! One monkey perched on the left rear-view mirror just beside the passenger seat where I was, observing my hotcakes. 2 to 3 other monkeys scurried by the back of the car where Big Bee was, peeping at her Egg McMuffin. It was a sight to behold. We drove off in laughter and excitement shortly after, so that we could finish our breakfast in peace, away from the prying eyes of these monkeys!

After breakfast, we strolled amidst the luxuriant virgin forest and wandered into the Hindhede Nature Park. Under the lavish canopy of the antiquated giant trees, we experienced sweet, cool relief under an otherwise blazing sun. Such is the tender comforts of Mother Nature. 

We ambled off the beaten path and we felt like we were in another age, in another place - far far away from aloof, urban Singapore. We felt at one with nature, we felt at home amidst an intimate land of green. 

We meandered along the dirt path and stumbled into a playground purposely built to fit the loving embraces of Mother Earth. The girls had great fun sliding down the long slithering slide, clambering across a little suspension bridge and swaying on the tyre swings. We also stumbled up steep dirt slopes, balanced on thick fallen tree trunks, and observed pretty butterflies and shy spiders. 

At the end of an hour's walk, we chanced upon a small display of the endangered wildlife species in Singapore, especially in the nature reserves. It was very sad to reflect on the fact that Singapore used to harbour so much diversity of wild animals and insects, which had now dwindled to nothingness due to vile urbanisation. 

The Bees emerged from this journey, revived and rejuvenated, after a morning with the trees. And hopefully, with a stronger understanding of how important nature is to all of us on earth. 

Learning Chinese the Flashcards Way

Little Bee had always been a very kinesthetic learner, which is why it is almost impossible to sit her down and get her to read long passages, especially in Chinese, a language she is still not that comfortable with.

Which is why I think the word cards in 四五快读 had been very suitable for her learning style, because she relished in taking these out and playing with them. I noticed she also learns best if fun-loving her thinks she is involved in play or games. The below pictures are some examples of how she utilised her 四五快读 word cards.

简单的造句

Sentence formation using available words above

词句重组

We use word cards to let her remember high-frequency words like the above. 

She would pour out the copious cards and played all sorts of games with them - 词句重组，sorting, sentence creation. She learns a lot easier and faster this way, and before long, could read longer Chinese passages at the end of last year, like the one below. 

If your child is a kinesthetic learner, flashcards or word cards would be an excellent and fun platform for them to learn!

Of Sandcastles and Sandballs

On an idyllic weekend afternoon
Under a blazing, glowering morning sun
In a little corner of the Siloso beach in Sentosa...

2 avid little girls
Wriggling their toes and fingers
In coarse, taupe-coloured sand
Building sandcastles
Making sandballs

2 lackadaisical adults
Relaxing under the shade of a swaying tree
Languid bodies on a picnic mat
Feeling lucky
Expressing gratitude

For being parents to
2 of the most wonderful and beautiful children
In the world :)

Learning At Home: Lifecycles

It had been eons since I collated our homelearning activities into a "Learning At Home" entry. I got lazy after doing a colossal collection of activities in my favourite themes "The Solar System" and "Earth". But I thought it might be easier for me now to share our previous homelearning theme of "Lifecycles" because all we did was a lapbook! As the girls grow older, they prefer writing and lapbooking activities rather than fun craft stuff. But I am still constantly on the lookout for crafts that they don't consider childish.

We had a great time learning about lifecycles of humans, mammals, insects, amphibians, reptiles, etc. As I had planned for this to be a lapbook homelearning theme, we just read lots of lifecycles books (until the girls were tired of them!) and compiled all their attained knowledge into a lapbook. We also did some very simple drawings and crafts which I also stuck onto their lapbooks. The covers of the lapbooks were designed entirely by them, and it was really fun to see how they conceptualised the covers.

We completed this in December last year.

Big Bee's "Lifecycles" Lapbook

We had a blast after reading about the human lifecycle in a book (and how babies are created!), and this is a accordion book detailing the human lifecyle. 

We created a flapbook of adult animals, flipped over the flap, and the babies' animal names were written.

The "lifecycle" of a tree through the seasons :) Or should it be the lifecycle of seasons?

Little Bee's "Lifecycles" Lapbook

She wrote down all the names of the animals featured in her lapbook

Oops, realised the first page of her lapbook looks a wee bit empty!

Baby animals and their mummies. She wrote down the names of baby animals from memory, after we ran through a list of baby animals and their mummies. 

3 stages of a snake's lifecycle

Turn the flap over to match the correct Chinese words to the right stage!

Fun human lifecycle accordion book. Little Bee loves the wedding segment of the cycle..!

Lifecycle of a dragonfly (top) and lifecycle of a butterfly using pasta bits (bottom)

Another lifecycle of a butterfly and lifecycle of a shark! 

Lifecycle of an apple tree

Crazy Snapshots!

I was looking through my photos in the MacBook, and suddenly chanced upon 373 crazy photos taken by the Bees in the MacBook's fun Photo Booth from 2009 till now. Hours of fun and I remembered intense stomach crunching and rolling tears from too much laughter while creating the weirdest and craziest snapshots on Photo Booth. It definitely is a perfect nanny ;) And allows the children to be creative too!

Here are some shots taken over the years that make me laugh so hard!

Letters From Across Thousands Of Miles

Has any one of you grown up with lots of penpals? Well, I had. And it was the most enriching experience I ever had, especially in an era where there were no emails, no Facebook, no Whatsapp, no text messages, no mobile phones! (And now everyone knows just how ancient I am!)

I used to spend my days writing to my penpals from all over the world. There were Catherine from London, Ly from San Diego, Merey and Cindi from Singapore, and a whole lot of others from Argentina, Italy, etc. Till this day, I am still in touch with Merey, one of my first Singaporean penpals - albeit via Facebook!

In a realm where there was no internet, entire vistas and worlds opened up to me via letters from these distant shores. Different voices. Different cultures. Different personalities. All with one common love - writing.

So, when Big Bee started corresponding with her very first penpal from the United States, I was elated. Thanks to my dear friend, Jeanne, who made the initial introduction between the daughter of her very close penpal and Big Bee.

The journey had begun. The pathways had opened. They had exchanged 2 letters thus far, and Big Bee is now intrigued by another little girl in a faraway land, learning about different yet similar lifestyles, writing about her daily experiences with fresh perspectives.

For me, I am a mere bystander, observing with silent contentment that spark of expectation in Big Bee's eyes when I went to collect the mail, that sprightly spring in her gait as she jaunted up to receive that attractive letter in my hand, that glimmer in her eyes and that flash of brilliance in her smile as she opened up the envelope to read her letter. Oh, how well I remember that anticipation, that expectation! Snail mail is much more thrilling and scintillating than emails anytime!

And I hope this will be a lifelong voyage for her.

South Korea From The Eyes Of A Little Girl

It is ironical how the Bees are now much faster than me in completing their travel journals. I need to buck up!

This is a little account about our South Korean winter holiday in December last year - from Little Bee's perspective. She constructed all the sentences herself (which was why there was a strange little sentence about how her Mummy and Papa were shocked, hmm). You can also sense her typical exuberant, expressive self in her writing. She seemed to mention that every place is her favourite or the best place ever!

Of course, I helped with the spelling of almost all the words, except for some simple words like "is", "my", "to", "the", "and", etc. I also helped her out with the tenses, as I wanted her to get her grammar right from a young age.

Enjoy! (Big Bee will be posting her version on her own blog very soon too)

*********************************************

12/2/2012 (date of writing)

I went to South Korea from 22 to 29 December 2011. South Korea is my favourite place because it was so fun! I saw snow and my mummy and papa were shocked. Then we were so happy!!

Little Bee with a big snowball that she created!

I went to Everland. It was the funnest place I ever went because there were some super nice games! And I am super duper happy to go there!

I went to a ski resort. It was the best place I ever went. I did snow sledding. It was really fun!

 This was the best holiday I ever went!

A Servant Leader

Big Bee was chosen by her ballet teachers in school to be the leader of her ballet CCA group. Her school practises this interesting concept of "Servant Leadership" where student leaders are supposed to serve their community humbly, taking care of everyone's needs, listening and supporting their fellow schoolmates.

There is also an interesting hierarchy of student leadership, as seen below:

I could tell she was secretly pleased, especially with her love for ballet. Yet, I am happy that level-headed Big Bee took everything in her own stride, claiming that some of her best friends in school were also nominated as fellow student leaders, so she is not all that unique. 

But still, I am proud of her and I made known that this is an achievement of sorts - to be nominated by the teacher to serve her fellow CCA mates. 

Big Bee was a little skeptical about overseeing some of the older P5 and P6 students in her ballet group though, but I reassured her that leadership is not about age, rather, it is about connecting with people, irregardless of age. 

As a ballet CCA leader, she has to assist the teachers in scheduling, attendance and student matters. She is also now put in charge of creating an attractive notice board for the ballet CCA. She has to motivate and encourage her peers in the CCA group and ensure they come for practice, and be the main bridge between the ballet teachers and the students.  

As part of the orientation, she attended a half-day leadership training workshop, and part of the training involved organising a party for her entire class - all by herself, from invites to collecting rsvps to organising party venue, games and food. And she is definitely looking forward to it! Looks like I will not have to plan most of the Bees' parties from now on ;) 

A Garden Wedding

*Back-dated post

The first day of 2012 was spent amidst much love, joy and happiness - with the Bees being flower girls for one of Hubby's cousins.

It was a beautifully romantic wedding, held in a magnificently pristine glass pavilion on Sentosa, surrounded by lush, verdant foliage. The Bees were part of a lovely wedding party comprising of 6 bridesmaids decked out in vibrant yellow and one little page boy who was Little Bee's age. Big Bee was the flower girl in charge of sprinkling velvety rose petals down the aisle, ambling primly behind Little Bee who was shyly (and embarrassingly!) leading the whole entourage, whilst holding the hand of the little page boy! Oh, the blushes and flustered expressions from Little Bee were a sight to behold!

The glass pavilion for the wedding ceremony, set amidst lush greenery!

The embarrassed couple!

The cheery flower girl with her basket of rose petals

In the evening, only Little Bee and the page boy were required to walk down the aisle as harbingers of the bride and groom. Little Bee was grinning all throughout the rehearsal, fooling around with all of us. However, during the actual walk-in, she looked cheekily uncomfortable and shy!

Hubby said he finally understood how it felt like to see a daughter walking down the aisle, haha.

The bride and groom were rather innovative in preparing snippets of entertainment for the guests, and one of the Bees' favourites was a dress-up photoshoot where the girls could don on crazy wigs, glasses and props, take photos and then getting the photos laminated and delivered to them halfway during the dinner! Check out some of their guises that night:

What a beautiful day - heartwarming and touching, filled with so much love and felicity!