~ * of sugar and spice and everything nice* ~

I have read and perhaps understood what the Bible said in Luke 18:17. yes, thats to enter the Kingdom of God as a little child or we will never get into it. Why Children? coz they are innocent and pure in their thinking and mind.

Thats what I think has been my understanding. Up until V started Sunday school and somehow out conversations made me realise why we have to be "child-like".

V:whats this song?
daddy: i think its from the cartoon Hercules
V: Who is Hercules?
mummy: ah.. he is a very, very strong man
Vsomewhat confused)are you talking about God? Who is Hercules?

To V, God is the very very strong person! How can anyone be very very strong?!? She was truly confused. Thinking why I was talking about God when she was asking about Hercules. She has reminded me that no one is above Him. He is above all.

V: I want to read a story
grabbing her bible, she started from page 1
I read Adam and Eve and told her it was time to bed.
She crossed her arms and said, its not the end yet! The story book has not ended. Flipping the pages, she said "see,so much more!"

Many times, I am so guilty of "compartmentalising " the Bible. I tend to forget that the Bible is ONE truly amazing story with a great beginning and a wonderful ending! I should never just turn to a chapter and just read what I want to read.

V has never doubted and trust wholeheratedly in the Lord. Be it a small cut or a painful tummyache. She believes, God will heal her.

I truly believe that I should learn from V,to trust in the Lord and never doubt Him. In difficult situations, I find myself trying to fix the problem and not quietly pray for His guidance. Taking matters into my own hands and not leaving them by His feet.

I thank V for the lessons she has taught me. I thank her for reminding me on weekdays that God is not just a Sunday topic.
When I see her pretend play on week days and ask me to " put a coin in the offertry", I gladly oblige her and say a quiet prayer thanking God for teaching me, teaching V and I really pray that even when she grows up, she will continue to love and trust God like a child.

Golly! its been so long since I last touched this blog!!

So much has happened I awould need to organise some thoughts!

For starters,

Vivien's very good friend from Eton house left for good. Amanya and Vivien became fast friends when school started and its a real shame that the girls could not have spent more years growing up! The farewell at the airport was a teary event for me. haha! Coz the kids were running back and forth to see each other, separated by the glass door at the immigration area.

Then of course there is the 2 weddings my dear daughter attended. one as the flower girl and the other just as a guest. She wore her princess costumes and was so cute!

And then there was Chinese new year, Kota Konabalu trip, photo shoot at impact models and our stays at the local hotels!

I think i have to be a bit less lazy and start this blog rolling again for 2009!

Daddy decided to take V to Clarke Quay. We heard about the Selangor Pewter Museum (what's this facination with museums recently???) and the School of Hard Knocks so we thought we come by and have a look....

V enjoyed the session but it got a bit tiring for her... Its free to visit their gallery/museum but it will cost you $30 to attend the school of hard knocks. Its not the number of people in the room, just the number of bowls you knock. We took back the personalised bowl which we made, the apron, a certificate stating our name and that we completed the bowl and a piece of the money tree coin! we were also served some soft drinks in pewter cups after all the hard knocking!

V had a really enjoyable time with Uncle Thomas in HK. He is my primary school classmate and we were amazed at how fond she was of him! Naturally, when he took a short trip back recently, he had to try to spend some time with V!

Sticking stickers together

Another reason why Thomas was back... Hmm... black pepper crabs.....

Looking through the HK photo album and narrating to him what she did in Disneyland... she still has fond and vivid memories of that magical
place!

Till the next time you are back, Uncle Thomas!

V's first time celebrating National Day in school.

The kids had to wear red and white

Think the only highlight for her on National Day was the fun time swimming with her favourite cousin,Hilary. Unfortunately, mummy forgot to take the camera along... missed out on so many picture-worthy shots!

Tired of hanging out at the shopping centres and not willing to sweat it out at the park/playground, I decided to take V on a cultural trip one day.

After telling her excitedly that we were going somewhere special and we would need to bathe and dress well, V was at one of her best behaviour!

>

We arrived shortly at the Museum and to prepare her, for the largest statue she would be seeing at the Rotunda of the Museum, I began our tour of the museum buildings being older than mummy and even grandma and grandpa. She was visibly shocked.

She got a fright when she spied the statute of David from afar but I quickly told her that he was not alive. Then came the torrent of questions! We spent a good half an hour talking about Michaelangelo's David and why Titarubi(the artist who replicated David) wanted to have him painted pink with flower brocades. of course some concepts (She was tickled by the fact that David was not dressed)were too difficult for V to understand but she was not daunted but continue to ask more questions. I am not well versed about David as well so I told her I would take her to the library to find out more about David.

swinging chandeliers artwork.. told V it might fall on us as it kept swaying... she laughed.. knowing I was kidding her.

As it was late, the Historic galleries were closed but the 4 Living galleries were open. We only managed to catch Food, Film and Wayang and Fashion. They were very brief tours and I think we would like to come by again.

David's last day at the Musuem would be 11 August and V had requested that she would like to go to the Musuem again and this time, we would like to stay a bit longer.

Monday. what to do on a Monday evening when a toddler is raring to go do something?
V is not one to just sit and laze around and when the usual monday activity was called off, I spent the whole lunch time digging into the far trenches of my brain for something to do.
Of course we could go wander in the shopping centres or walk to the park but I thought of leaving that for a thursday.(don't ask me why I cant be flexible...)

Thus I checked out the following websites:-

http://www.millysmix.blogspot.com
http://www.uniquelysingapore.com

The idea then struck me!

DUCKTOUR!!!

A quick call to them resulted in a tentative booking of 2 adult tickets and 1 toddler ticket.
!
V's so happy to be going on a ducktour! She's posing with the ticket!

Indeed it was a great decision to have made that trip!

The best bonus was having 40% knocked off the adult tickets!FOR BEING SINGAPOREAN! Foreigners pay $32 each.
How cool is that? Save the ticket stub and within the week, take the DHL Balloon for a flat rate of 15 dollars!

In case you have written off the DUCKTOUR as "pian tourist" activity, well, my question to you is, how well do you know Singapore?
Okay, Maybe its just me being ignorant. Maybe you all know it from the papers or books that you have read.

QUIZ TIME!
1) How many Merlions are there in Singapore?
2) The height of the Singapore Flyer.
3) Other than the so called durians, what is the Esplanade suppose to resemble?
4) The war memorial at City Hall has 4 pillars. What is it suppose to represent?
5) Other than the construction of the Integrated resorts, there are 2 more constructions going on around the river. what are they?
6) What are the dates which the integrated resorts are due to officially open?
7) What is the new supreme court made of? why?
8) What is the old supreme court and city hall going to be?
9) Which hotel has the higher room rate, swissotel or fairmont? why?

Of course Cindy, our duck guide revealed many more facts and information. Making this 1 hour trip not just a boring tour. Oh! there was even a Q and A session! Which had us walking away with a duck whistle!(otherwise its gonna cost you $3.50 at the counter)

V was a tad restless after a while but really perked up when she got the duck whistle. Thanks to mummy!

There were some changes in school when the term started. A new food menu and one of the teachers was away on examination leave. I think we neglected V's feelings. We did not "inform" her... the teachers thought that like the rest of the kids, the form teacher was around so at least it was not a total change. There were times when the teachers took leave and relief teachers came in but V was not that affected. Indeed my little baby has grown up... developing complex feelings and all....

I took hold of a teachable moment one night and explained to her that sometimes some changes can be informed but some changes are unexpected.
There are also some changes that no matter how much you dislike, these changes has to be done. Like going onto an "older" class with different teachers and friends and of course a different classroom. There is also uniforms that has to be worn regardless of the fact that the dress is not pink.

I seem to be having to keep track of chances where I could impart some values or some points which I seem to have difficulty getting through to my soon to-be three year old on normal days...

To date, I have caught hold of teacherble moments and explained to her the following:-

having siblings
not always having to wear pink, or not having the item in pink
making a choice and sticking to it

I have also slowly tried to get V to help out while grocery shopping. She now helps me weigh vegtables, pick sauces and carry the shopping basket. When we reach home, she sorts out the groceries and separates out the dirty clothes for washing.

I have been quite proud of V recently. Her teacher in school told me that she willingly shared her crayons with a classmate without the prompting of a teacher!
This concept of sharing can be taught and reinforced in play dates. I really thank Charlotte for being the weekly date!

P/s V is finally fully toilet trained! She goes to school sans pull ups now!

One of those rare days, where daddy decided he wanted to take a rest from golf and spend some good quality time with V.

We set off to the beach at east coast after a noodle breakfast and had a short but memorable time at the beach!

Helping or playing with the beach mat?

V drew a family portrait in school the other day.... I thought it was a picture of mummy!

She explained where daddy and V was.... I am touched... I occupy such a huge space in her heart despite me constantly reprimanding her....

Explanation of her drawing:-
The huge grey thing in the centre is me. The faint grey half circle at the top left hand corner is daddy and the grey spot on the right is V.

okay, daddy was a tad jealous after seeing this pic... maybe things might change after he takes her to the beach and thereafter for kite flying?

Though it gets easier to handle when kids fall ill, it never fails to still worry me. This time V had it bad. Coupled with a phelgmy cough, runny nose and a high fever only at night, I had to constantly wake up to check on her. Sometimes I fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion but I will always get promptly awoken by V whenever her fever soars!

She will ask for a cuddle and a cool towel to sponge her forehead. Oh! not forgetting one for the little toy hamster called Gin too!

It was with much deliberation that we decided on a trip to Hong Kong. After hearing numerous stories on the 100 minute queues, waiting for buses, language barrier... we decided that Tokyo Disneyland was definitely not the place for us!(Thanks to Marie, Joyce and Serene for all your first hand experiences)

Checking the internet daily to ensure that the period we were going had good weather, I thus proceeded to book our flights with Cathay Pacific! Thank God for this blessed holiday!

Why Hong Kong was DA BEST! ( ok, so what if its small and compared to the rest, low in standard???)

1) Food is never an issue! wanton noodles, soya chicken rice, fries burgers... Food is aplenty!

2) The rides are child friendly almost all are suitable for kids of V's age and size! No height restrictions!

3) No roller coasters, tower of terror to make mummy jump! Never the fan of such rides I really appreciated the cute dumbo rides, the harmless carousel and the super slow pooh rides.

4) NO 100 minute queues! At the most we queued for 15 minutes.

5) Many photo opportunities... thanks to daddy, who queued 45 minutes in the sun for a priceless pic for V with the two mice. V was easily entertained meanwhile in the nearby retail shop.

6) Whats Hong Kong without shopping????? Compared to Tokyo, I need not disappoint V when she picks out something. Everything was of Singapore's pricing! Best of all, we picked our goods and they get them all delivered to our Hotel, coutesy of UPS!

7) For the price I would have to pay for a bus ride to my hotel in Japan, I got a private car to take us from airport to hotel and back to airport again!At half the price!!!

8) MOST IMPORTANTLY, Hong Kong is a mere 3 plus hours plane ride away from home!

Would I be back?, Definitely! However, we dont want to spoil V too much and told her we would consider only if she has been a good and well behaved girl. Teachers, you got to input me on that then!

p/s if you do meet up with me, ask me to show you the scrap book we put together from this trip...

This morning, I was awakened by a meek voice over the phone "Yee Yee, you wake up already? Can you come pick me now?"

Awwww... Only V could pull such a feat on me. I had to jump right out of bed, change into my clothes and slap on my make up in the fastest speed possible.

And so, Yee Yee followed V to school today.

Realising that V (or rather, V's mummy) hasn't really written much about her school in her blog, I think I shall do it in this entry!

It was the last day of book week and the school organised "Dress Up Day" for the children where they could come dressed in their favourite book characters! (of course forgetful grandma forgot about it, so V went to school as Vivien, herself and not DORA, the explorer)

V was shocked when she entered her school. The 2 administrative staff were all dressed as pigs (part of the little pigs trio). For a moment, V was extremely quiet.... she must have felt that something was brewing....

V's principal's favourite book was "The Three Little Pigs" and so, the principal dressed up as a pretty pink pig!

Book Week was a week where each class would do loads of activities based on their class's favourite book, together with their teachers. V's class, The N1 Goldfish did "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.

At the end of the week, parents were asked to come by to see their child's work and I was amazed at the heaps of activities their class did! And of course so proud of V's work.

Firstly, it was the cutting up of shapes of fruits to wear around the children's faces and V cut out an Orange mask!

V also had a photo of herself pretending to be an Apple, ready to be eaten by The Very Hungry Caterpillar V had several pieces of artwork including a cute caterpillar made out of paper egg trays! Great way of teaching the kids to recycle.

The children were allowed to let their creativity run wild, painting from their imagination and V diligently painted a picture of a crocodile, with her hands!

Maybe I've lost touch of things, but I really do not remember my pre-school days being somewhat similar. It seems so fun now! I only remember that I used to dislike school

Daddy decided to take a break from golf and take V out. After much pondering, we decided to have breakfast at the new Jacob Ballas Children's Garden. Unfortunately, as it was a rushed decision, I did not do my homework and so we ended up at the wrong entrance, which means, we would have to walk a LOOONNGGG way to get there! *bummer*

Daddy told me to make myself useful by taking some daddy-daughter worthy shots.

Some swans glided by and attracted V's attention.

I packed breakfast ofham, sausages, crossaints cheese, cool drinks and some crackers hoping to enjoy the greenery and morning sunshine with V and WM. Unfortunately, we were told, that eating is not allowed in the garden!!!! So, we ended up on a bench at the information counter, which was at the entrance of the garden... *another bummer*

After chomping down the breakfast, we proceeded into the garden. By then, we were hot, sweaty and I was a tad grumpy... The water area was swamped with so many kids!So, we trodded on....

The hanging bridge was fun! We had loads on fun on it. Daddy made himself useful this time and took some mummu-daughter worthy shots!

Then WM gallantly took V across the tree trunk bridge.

By then it was swealtering HOT! We took cover in one of those cute huts. and the most amazing thing happened. V started to tell me the story of the 3 little pigs and then went on to say that this is one of the little pig's house. She said it was the house of straw but i told her that it might be the house of sticks.

After swinging under the canopy of tree branches, we started on our journey to get back to our car. We were tired, sticky and V was VERY GRUMPY!

Most importantly though. we really enjoyed ourselves!

We promised V that we would be going to Disneyland... since the plan was thwarted, a quick purchase of tickets to Disney on ice, and off we went to see Mickey!
Not sure if V bought the story that they stayed at the indoor stadium, but she was so fixated on all of them, she did not look at the camera for any photos!

V loves birthdays! It was to her excitement that it was my birthday. Ana, who comes by and "entertains" V once a week decided to bake some cupcakes for me.

Some stiring, some wisking, ok V got a little bored. She was only interested in putting the chocolate rice into the mixture.

ok, putting the cake casings on to the baking tray was only able to grab back her attention span of 30 secs

then she was gone! oh well... maybe next year.

For dinner, instead of mummy's favourite restaurant, we ended up at V's favourite restaurant - Globetrotters

Actually, Globetrotters is indeed a family restaurant! Their food even had my dad's approval! We polished everything off the plate!

V polished off the cocolate milk shake too

Then it was cake cutting time! Not my favourite strawberry shortcake cake from Rive Gauche... but a pink Hello kitty cake!

but like all mummies will say, if the kids had fun, so did all the adults!

V was never a fan of reading and writing. Getting her aquainted with alphabets and words are liken to having her give up her security cat.AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK.
It was only after doing a quick survey in this month's Young Parents that I realised that V belonged to the active physical learning group. Which means that children in this category learn in a different manner. They learn through active play and not just sit down and absorb. I just hope that as she grows older, she will start to learn the conventional way... coz this way of learning makes mummy more TIRED!!!!!

-Adapted from the Ester Egg Hunt-

First mummy has to cut recycled cardboard, write the words on the cardboard and print from the web pictures to match the word... eg, cat, mat, circle

Then while V is busy brushing her teeth in the bathroom, I scatter either the words or the pictures around the room. On some days I use white tac to tac the pictures on the wall, on some days I tag the words...

Then I open my eyes as wide as I can and with my most enthusiastic voice
I declare that tonight, we are going on a word hunt.

Some nights, i throw in other words to make it slightly more challenging...

After a week of nightly word hunts, V can now recognise the word cat, hat, bed, vivien, circle and mat. Mummy on the other hand, is dead tired!

Of course, some may argue that by pure memorising this would not be the way to learn how to read.

Being V's first easter egg hunt, she was initially clueless about it, but soon, she got the hang of it!
24 hours after the Easter egg hunt, she is still carrying and sleeping with the bucket of eggs and all her prized possessions!

Thanks to the Morels for having us over at their place for the Easter egg hunt.

As I turn 31 tomorrow, I reflect on how I have been... as a daughter, a sister, a mother, a wife and a friend. (ok, and maybe as a cousin, an aunt, as a dil...)

okay, so I have not been that great... guilty as charged. But for these past few days, I realised that it has been incredibly difficult being a mother.
As what a church friend mentioned yesterday, I may have been too impatient with V... "cut her some slack. She's only 2 1/2!!!" That set me thinking.. have I not been doing things right? A quick advice session with the cousin cleared all doubts for me. " We are all still learning.. There's no perfect parenting method." Thanks, Joyce!

Today, I start a different way of parenting V.

Like V, I am also learning.

After 2 1/2 years, I finally decided to go public!
I tried to edit all the entries to public and to my horror, over the years, I have accumulated 79 entries!!!! Thank you all for sticking by me and reading my blog.

I have only edited the last 20 entries to public and the rest would just have to be left as "for friends" only.

So, for now, if you would like to know when this blog is updated, you can subscribe to it on the right hand corner.