You have grown another year older

Dearest Little One,

Another year had gone by. You have grown another year older. You are growing taller and taller. Your little hands are getting less and less babyish. Your face is still quite chubby although less chubby than when you were younger. I really like the way you are now. 

You are getting more and more active. You love climbing the gates of the door, the way I used to do as a child with Ah Yi. You are progressing with your little swim, better than Mommy, I would say because Mommy does not know how to swim with the float on.

You are slowly gaining your independence. You are finally sleeping alone without Mommy by your side. You are also purchasing your first food by yourself which made us very proud. You are willing to help out in the kitchen to my great gratification. You have a passion for cooking and I hope I would not dampen your spirit for it because you make a mess out of the kitchen.

Last of all, Happy Birthday! Live well, stay safe, happy and healthy always!

 

This is the last post of the year. Sweet Day and family , hereby, wishes all readers a Happy and a Joyous New Year 2015!

School holiday Week #7

It's the last week of holiday! Woohoo!!! With this post, I shall end my 7 weeks of blogging of what we do during the wet holiday of Singapore.

Getting ready

This week, I am busy getting Little One ready to start school.

Below is the check list:

1. Cutting her hair
2. Getting the stationery ready.
3. Getting the bag washed and dried.
4. Getting her uniform done
5. Making her sleep early. 
6. Getting a new bottle
7. Getting new shoes.

Today is the last day of 2014 and yet I have not complete item 7 and 5. Sigh... Getting Little One to sleep earlier had been a problem. My mom said that I used to sleep as early as 8pm when I was Little One's age. *uumppphhh* Couldn't believe my ears. Little One is interested to watch "The Journey: Tumultuous Times" (a drama feature Singapore's 20 years of nation building during tumultuous times) This show is on air at 9pm and ends at 10pm each weekday's night. Getting her to sleep earlier seemed impossible for now. I do not want to stop her from watching as I would like her to understand some of Singapore's history.

Gatherings

Our week started with feasting during Christmas at Brother-in-law's flat. It is nice to gather with family. Both sides of my brother-in-law's family came together for a wonderful gathering. The kids were running wild while the adults had a good time getting together. The girls loved Frozen so much that they started to sing "Let it Go" for the adults to hear while the boys were having gun fights.

We had a gathering with a long lost neighbour W and her child. It has been a year since we last met. We hope to meet up more often. 

We attended another wedding and had took lots of instant photocards. Too bad we forgot to download the actual photos from the the photographer's site but we were glad to have the photocards for safekeeping.

We went for a swim together with Little One's  cousins. They had a fun time swimming and playing together. Even hubby had a chance to swim some laps. Usually, he does not get the chance when he is teaching Little One to swim.

More Fun

We took advantage of the discount given by Underwater World and paid $7.50 each to visit. All you need is to flash this advertisement  http://www.underwaterworld.com.sg/ and your local ID. Promotion period is 08 Nov 14 - 01 Jan 15. Little One is once again fascinated by the performance of the sea lions and the dolphins. She also likes the indoor experience. She loves to watch the sea angels and the jelly fishes bobbing around in the water. She loves to watch the fishes from the tank but yet not fascinated by the tunnel. She wanted to touch the sea stars but yet afraid to do so.

We are reading...

Timmy Discovers The Truth About Cavities (Volume 10 of Healthy Smile Series)

By Dr Lim Swee Teck

This book is good for children to learn about what caused cavities. However, I find it not simple enough for pre-schoolers to understand. Hence, I have to summarise in my own words to make Little One understand the truth. It is complicated because Little One always thought that germs are bad and she is not aware that there are good germs that protect us from the bad ones. This theory, I have a hard time conveying the message to her. I would recommend this book for upper primary children . However, lower primary children could start to learn the different parts of the tooth and learn good habits to protect your teeth from cavities.

Kampong Lorong Buangkok revisited- a different feel

Little One had not been to a Kampung except that in Palau Ubin. She did not know that on Singapore mainland, there is still an existing kampung. This is my second trip but her first.

It was not exactly a good day to hang out at the kampung since the weather forecast said it may rain in the afternoon. We went ahead nevertheless since we would be travelling to Seng Kang and had some time to spare prior to the appointment.

We have to cross the bridge to the kampung

This is the first time we see a bicycle stairway

Thus stretch of canal is part of Punggol Park Connector. Little One wanted to take photo with Xinya 

Maybe because it was a weekday and I was bringing Little One along, or maybe it was the weather, the place looked different. There were more vehicles in the kampung, but not much people were in sight. We only saw 2 person. We did not see any animals except the one below but we did hear a rooster crow and some cats meowing from one of the houses. Luckily, we did not see any dogs. I still remember the one who tried to scare my sister and I during my previous visit by barking loudly then. 

Fungus beetle spotted on some logs left exposed under the sun.

Spot the difference between the below 2 photos?

2014

2011

The below 2 pictures looked like the same house but I cannot be sure because there are several houses which looked almost the same. It has the same windows and door, even the part above the door is the same. Missing is the antennae. The fence looked different too.

A lot of different fences- abandoned

Fruits!

I am not sure but this place seemed to be fenced up more than the past

Didn't notice these coloured poles during my first visit

Birds on electric cables definitely a rare sight in Singapore

I think this is probably Little One's first walk on a muddy road, something which was rather common in the kampung in the past

Look at the below 2 pictures and spot the difference again.

By bringing Little One to the kampung, I hope to let her know that people in the past are living in conditions such as here. I hope she would know it is not easy life then. Of course, with just looking at buildings such as these would not instill much into the child. Needless to say, she is not fond of the place. Suddenly, I wish if only Little One has the opportunity to live in such places , probably she would learn to love the beauty of it.

If you are wondering how to get to the kampung. Here's the direction. You can seek street directory for help.

Direction: Travel to Seng Kang and switched to LRT to Layar station. When you are at the station exit, walk towards the right side of the station to the bus stop. Then board the bus 50 and drop near Vincent De Paul Church.

Tips :
1) Get ready insect repellent.
2) Wear comfortably
3) Do not take photos of the people. Respect their privacy.


Kampong Buangkok posts on this blog:
Blast from the Past:- The last Kampong
Lorong Buangkok Revisited 2014

Linking with :-

  

School holiday Week #6

Week 6 is a whirlwind!

We attending a wedding and met Santa. Ohhh!!! He's asleep!

I have to take over most of housework since hubby would be pretty busy this week. Hence, it is pretty difficult to conduct art or craft lessons. Having able to go to playground for a bubble time is pretty rare.

The only kitchen time this week was making dumplings (tang yuan) for Winter solstice. She made the white ones while I made the sour pink purplish ones. The colour comes from raspberries.

Yet, I find time doing these.

We did a silk screen painting at the library and did some window shopping at a mall before rushing back to prepare dinner.

I had time for a gathering with friends that I known for at least 15 years on Christmas eve. It was a wonderful time catching up with everyone!

Christmas presents were wrapped by this time. I hope to see their face when the kids open them.

With all buzz going around, we hardly had time for new book but I can't wait to read the new magazine I borrowed for Little One. 

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas decorations at the libraries

For those who had been reading my blog, knows I love to library hop.  For the past one month, I have been to several libraries. (note: not all the libraries in Singapore) These are the libraries which I think have put in quite some efforts to decorate.

Jurong Regional Library:- Love that slightly over dressed Xmas tree and the fireplace. Even the snowman is cute. If you notice the Xinya located at the entrance (not in this picture) is also dressed with a santa hat

Seng Kang Library's wooden hut is pretty cool. The Xmas tree is full of Xmas wishes!

I can't remember whether there is a Xmas tree in this library but these figurines are sure to catch my attention. @ Choa Chu Kang library

Actually Toa Payoh library only has an Xmas tree for decoration. I love the stars on the tree and the newly paint wall mural of the dragon playground which is an icon in Toa Payoh

Book binding which I had created in a library workshop.

This I created using lino reduction in Typography workshop

Linking with :-

School holiday Week #5

Last week, we were pretty overwhelmed with activities. This week, we slow things down a little. We travel lesser this month partly because I was suffering from a backache. Our Christmas shopping are all done.

Home Activity 

#1 Cooking pasta

Little One had to cook on my behalf  because my hands were covered with medicated oil. We use  3 ingredients to make one pot pasta. I supervised her washing the tomatoes and mushrooms. She cut the mushrooms with a knife we got from IKEA. I help to slice the tomatoes into half and she tried to cut into smaller bits using the knife. After the water boiled, she threw in the pasta, tomatoes and mushroom.

#2 Sand Art

We made sand art this week.

#3 Learning to sing 12 days of Christmas

She learnt to sing the 12 days of Christmas. I taught her a new verse every day. It is not a difficult song to learn because it is a repetitive song but definitely a lot of memorising work involved which I think will be good for learning dictation. Haha... Do they still have that in Primary School? 

Other activities

Visited Kampong Lorong Buangkok 

This is Little One first visit and my second. We walked through the kampong. Somehow, the kampong seemed different from my last visit 3 years ago.

Visited Philatelic Museum

This is the second museum we visited this month. There wasn't any new exhibition except these mailboxes.

The current exhibitions are "Seeing is Believing: Unusual Stamps exhibition" and "Spice is nice". Little One has come especially to see "Ah Boy". However, it is under maintenance. Culinary Secrets, which was another interactive media in "Spice is Nice exhibition" was not working well either. I thought Little One may be upset about the situation but to my surprise, she was fine with it.

Saying Goodbye to Former Queenstown Driving Test Center

This centre, together with a portion of Dundee Road, will be demolish to make way for condominium. This building was the Queeenstown Neighbourhood Police Centre, and then private schools after the Driving Test Centre stops its operation.

Visited Compass Point

We love the look of Compass Point. The entrance of the mall is a mosaic of world map. I love, too, the wall mosaic featured in this picture. What I like best is they made a Christmas tree out of Eiffel Towel!

Eiffel Tower@Compass Point

Visited Holland Village

It had been a while we visited Holland Village. The mosque near to this was demolished! No building is permanent in Singapore unless it is gazetted as a monument.

Visited a bank

I opened an account for Little One. This is part of the plan to teach her to save money.

Ballet

She loves ballet so I sent her to free lesson in the library again.

Swimming

We try to make swimming a weekly affair. 

Tissue Paper Mosaic Magnet

Little One and I did this at Lot 1 shopping mall. It is a tissue paper mosaic with a good use. It has a magnet at the back. 

We are reading...

one more Baby Bug magazine and this book

You Can't Take a Balloon Into The Museum of Fine Arts

By Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Preiss Glasser

We love this book. It is wordless but yet the pictures speaks volume. Little One is able to flip through the pages and understand the story without asking for help. 

This is one of the books from the "You can't take a Balloon" series, the other 2 books are "You Can't Take A Balloon Into The Metropolitan Museum" and "You Can't Take A Balloon Into The National Gallery", However, the library only has this title " You can't take a Balloon into The Mesuem of Fine Arts"  It is only available in Clementi Public Library and Choa Chu Kang Public Library. It is a fun, art adventure. 

As the grandchildren could not take the balloon into the musuem, Grandma offered to look after it. However, the balloon got loose and flew away. Grandma had to chase after it and the adventure around Boston begins. It is fun to see whatever Grandma's experience during the chase coincides with the artefacts the grandchildren were looking at.  

Tip for nurturing good readers

I used to think wordless books are not good for children to read simply because they are wordless. However,  I was told by a librarian that wordless books are good for children because it encourage children to look through the pictures and narrates based on their understanding. Reminds you of  Oral Test or Picture Composition? Yeah... that is how wordless books are supposed to work. I would listen to Little One's narration and correct her when she phrases her sentences wrongly.