a Tribute to Sisterhood

We have never been close till recently and it's such a blessing. Strange how we tend to take our closest ones for granted, yet when the need arises, or just because.... it's so nice to have each other to have and hold.

Journalling reads: "Linked by blood but leading separate lives, it is only through recent adversities and distance that we've grown close and i'm not letting this slip away again..."

thanks for looking :)

Dance on little girl

Selected to dance in Nov for the upcoming orientation concert for the parents of new P1s next year, my R came home beaming. She proudly announced she had "bad news" in that 7 year old, know-it-all tone and slapped her head in dramatic fashion. A handful of kids from each P1 class had been chosen and she was one of them

I was happy for her until i saw the practice and rehearsal schedule ! GOSH ! Just for a simple one item, there was at least 10 practices - staying back after school, practicing during extended recess on Wed, and going back to school during those PSLE marking days ! Umm... guess who's got to do all the ferrying.

AND to add on to her schedule, Missy is preparing for dance exams for Ballet, Tap and Jazz end of Nov, so practice sessions there too, in addition to regular dance classes !

She comes back aching and asking to be massaged. Thank goodness my ever trusty helper is quite a good masseuse (her grandma was apparently the village masseuse whom everyone came to for postnatal massages and such, so she had picked up some good technique) cos i can't do it to save my life !!

AND exams are near :P AND i'm not yet stressed ... oh my, is that bad ?!

But i am happy cos' R's happy despite being so stretched. Immediately after her massage, she asks "do i have dance tomorrow ?". I smile. And strangely knowing that she has lots on her plate, she has been doing her homework (and some extra - which is a huge huge surprise to me) entirely on her own without me having to start the nag. I feel reassured that this little perfectionist has her heart in the right place and is enjoying every aspect of her growing up years. I smile again :)

Simple Comforts

I soo sooo love these pictures. I don't know who these kids are, but the glee on their faces and the purity of it all, is just mesmerizing.

These pictures were taken by my sister G when she was in Zhangjiachun, China doing some social work. It was during the run-up to the Beijing Games, and on behalf of her company, G went and distributed some stationery packs and sports equipment like basketballs, badminton rackets and table tennis bats to a village school. THIS was the reception..

I did this layout as a reminder to my girls of how fortunate they are, and to never take simple comforts for granted.

Journaling reads:

"My dear girls, look at how happy these children are !! We may not know them but I always want you to remember how privileged you are and the simple comforts of life. These children had just received a stationery pack each and some sports equipment for their school and they were so happy."

Sent from Heaven

Finally, i managed to squeeze some time to scrap and this was the result :P

Journalling reads:

"Sent from heaven...
...the dress,
... the man in my arms...
In the splendour of the Istana, I'm so proud of you, baby.
Thank you for taking me on this journey with you.
I'm in for the long haul !
Lotsa love, L"

Enroute to Kindergarten

Today was the K1 information session at C's school. It basically informed parents of what their kids would be learning and equipped with in the year ahead, appropriately starting with the qualification that it was a big leap from nursery to kindergarten, but came the swift reassurance that our kids would manage fine.

All this while, i was getting sweaty palms and rolling my eyes, as slide after slide, the teachers went through how C was going to be taught how to count, add, subtract and introduced to concept of groups (precursor to multiplication and division), write, spell phonetically and read.

I was totally flummoxed !!!! How can C achieve all that from where she is at the moment !! I could not imagine. In my eyes, she was still my little one. I guess i better start snapping out of it soon or i'm just gonna 'do her in'. Achievement is all about setting the standards and motivating one to get there on their own, isn't it ? AND Mandarin - 1st week alone, they would be taught to recognise words like sun, moon, join up pictures to the mandarin characters, and attempt writing them... Oh my, stressed...

To Chiltern House's credit, they were very professional about it all, and made me feel at least curriculum wise, they certainly knew what they were doing. I just hope in execution and delivery, they can fulfil their expectations of what their own curriculum sets out to achieve. Of course, nurturing a kid is never the sole responsibility of the teachers/ school. At least i believe that. So herein comes the inevitable guilt. Sigh... i am just not devoting enough one-on-one time with C, playing with her - and just exploring the world of learning. AND just celebrating the things she can and have mastered like these....

C and friends - drawn on white board.
She dug out magnets from her magnet box randomly
and decorated the pic of her pals --- too sweet

this one is hilarious !!
Check-out the hair-dos !!!
Names written totally do not correspond with the figures
as interpreted by C :)

They just make me smile............ how can i ask for any more ? i must remember to treasure each step as they come... i must...

Comment settings

Oh my, just realised that my default comment settings were only for registered users !!
So sorry for those of you who had tried to comment but got put-off by the need to be registered ! Haha I would be too ! Have fixed it now so you can comment away :)

Highlights

It's been an extremely eventful week and a very good bonding one with hubby - No less due to the 2 events we had to attend - a formal one at the Istana, and another at Thumper. Gosh ! It's been too long since i last stepped into a club :)


On the home front - the girls were a racket ! We took them to the beach on Thurs and R had such fun on the Kangoo - it's great apparently as it releases tension on the knees and you can walk, run, jump and do all sorts with it. Go check it out ! It's $8 per half hour at the Kangoo Jump store at Big Splash. Clarisse on her little pink trek was of course a pretty sight. And they've just been so hilarious with their quips and squabbles, keeping us in stitches. C particularly, is just tooo cute these days with the things she says (too many to recall at the moment - sigh... i must so scrap all her wisecrack remarks).

And..... a new phone for me !!! Finally !!!! As i began my new fangled acquaintance with the concept of bluetooth - i know i'm so terribly behind :P


All in all - it's been a great week. Hope all of you had lots of fun too !

A good read

Pickle Chiffon Pie by Jolly Roger Bradfield.

This is such an excellent book ! P passed it to me and the girls are now hooked ! Everynight, for nearly the whole of last week - it has been just this story over and over. It's such a gem and tells of how a king wants to find a suitable prince for the lovely princess and how the princes rival to find the most impressive gift to win the princess' hand. Ultimately, it is the prince who came back empty handed as he was too compassionate and kind to capture any creature to impress the King, that won the princess' heart. Totally engaging and imaginative, this will be a sure hit for boys and girls alike.
Angie, if you are reading this - i want one for my home library too !

A little Lady

Cure to strain ? Scrap ! So love the papers from Webster's Pages, and played with my new brilliance inks here too... I personally really like this layout of C - very soft and romantic don't you think ?
Journaling reads:
""I look. I see. A lil' lady smiling back at me. Why was there no warning ? Where did my munchkin go ? But boy am I glad to see who's greeting me ! Love you, mommy."

Now am all set to be happy, patient mommy again :)

Thanks for looking !

Drama

We had drama in the house tonight ... yup the chair throwing, yelling, kick dustbin type.... no kidding.

The protagonists - me, papa and R.

The issue - a fat little lie. From R.

The issue (really..) - me getting too emotional about the lie.

The reflections... ok, here we go...

It's getting harder and harder to discipline kids these days. You would think when you confront them over a fault (in this case - THE lie), you would get the eyes lowered, a sheepish, frightened look, head bent cowered in fear. But nooooo..... you get the talk back, the 'but thens' and the 'what ifs' !!!

And all this from one not yet even 7.

Sigh... but here's the clincher.... and who's the bigger culprit of the moment - yup, the mother. For getting all emotional and yelling all sorts of (from the husband's point of view) non-constructive gibberish like 'how can you do this"... "i am so disappointed".... "i'm not going to care anymore ..." But get this, who's the one who did the chair throwing and the dustbin kicking ?? Not me.

Naturally, the discussion gravitated away from the content of the moment (the LIE), to the larger issue of how i actually deal with and handle our elder child. The emotional outbursts from R are admittedly likely provoked by mine - but then again i was brought up in a house where only adults are allowed these outbursts, not kids. Yet, we can't quite bring up kids in the same fashion it seems, likely because we consciously give them tools, encourage and motivate their critical ability. So everytime an 'issue' ignites, it seldom becomes one of complete silence with the authoritarian reigning supreme, but a shared power struggle that mostly (because we 2 girls are so inept at making sense when we get all flustered and angry) degrades into an emotional bloodbath that becomes totally blown out of proportion.

Nonetheless, R has graciously accepted her punishment - 2 days of zero allowance and no computer games for the week, and duly warned that a cane would be bought promptly tomorrow (to which she answers her dad "but you have to work tomorrow what ..."), where she would get the taste of 2 smacks for the next time, if ever, and 5 for the subsequent time (yup, she has never been caned before in her life...).

Guess what was more disturbing was why she needed to lie to me in the first place. While i try not to over-read the situation, it does leave me pondering on the gaps in a seemingly fragile mother-daughter relationship, that has to be constantly nurtured. Sigh... what a way to end a relatively nice week together... But guess that's what makes parenthood challenging ya ? sigh....

Beautiful Inside Out

Yeah... i did a page... i'm happy :)

The inspiration for this Layout came from an incident where i witnessed my 6 year old daughter's unthinking actions - helping a friend who has a physical difficulty...

The journaling reads:
"While I helped to carry your heavy school bag, you, without a moment's hesitation, carried Emily's bag and helped her down the stairs. That touched me so much baby, and i'm proud and happy, you are simply so beautiful inside and out !"

Thanks for looking ...

Hol 'fun'

It's been only midway through the school hols and i'm already exhausted ! With both girls home there seems not a spate of breather, yet admittedly i'm enjoying the extra moments with them... well mostly... :P

It has been revision week for R and mornings have been set aside for that purpose. Given that i haven't been very consistent all year through in making her do the academics, i figured i better make up for it now. In truth, guess i've secretly (R must not know this !) always felt guilty for making my daughter (in P1) do 'work', and hence, i've always adopted a minimalist approach. But seriously, how much must one really 'work' them ?

As it is, kids in Singapore study too much ! I was just having a conversation with B from Australia who commented that while Singapore kids seem to fare much better compared to Aussie kids in primary through secondary school - yet somewhere along the way, B's observation was by university, everything equals out, and in fact, Aussie graduates come out far stronger and do way better in their careers. He noted how his peers in Singapore were some 3-4yrs behind him in terms of career advancement.

Yet, it takes a lot of courage to be up against the tide where you know for certain all households with school going kids are prepping theirs optimally to be way ahead of the curve. So am i 'doing her in' if i choose to be oblivious to the 'right' way of prepping her with the assessments, model compositions and examination papers ?

I remain torn, as my heart can't bear to drown her in these... after all she is but 7....
yet, am i strong enough to take the consequences and be 'ok' with whatever results she delivers? umm... my own jury is still out... what do you think ?

A farewell gift for Joelle

A gift commissioned to capture all the wonderful memories in Singapore for this lovely lady Joelle who's leaving to go back home... You can view the detailed pages here

All the best Joelle !! And come back to visit soon !