Little development (Jul to Sep)

This quarter is not a good quarter for us. Little One and I had been sick every month. Probably it is due to the weather. It was rather hot these few months and it has been hazy occasionally. We didn't have plenty to highlight this quarter.

1. Exposure to Arts
She did more crafts in the library, exposed to new medium such as Chinese ink finger painting and glass painting, even acrylic painting. Also, she attended her first ballet at the library too!

Acrylic painting by the 2 of us

Chinese painting by both of us. Which are  done by me and which are by her? Clue: I think pretty easy enough. I only did 2 and a half paintings

Chinese finger painting

Glass Painting ( I only help with the outline
with rather shaking hands) 

2. Gearing up on her multiplication skills
She has started on her 2 , 5 and 10 times table. This I think would be useful for telling time and counting money!

3. Growth rate
Her growth rate indeed slowed down! I had switched back to formula and still it had not boost her height. Nevertheless, I shall give full cream milk and occasionally, formula milk if I could afford the money.

4. Went exploration in various new places
We went to Fort Canning, Victoria Memorial Hall, Art House, Balestier, Pulau Ubin and Kusu Island.

Kusu Island

Pulau Ubin

5. Finally no bed wetting!
After her high fever in July, she wet the bed almost half the time, it was almost as if she totally lost control of her bladder. Fortunately, the frequency of bed wetting came to a stop towards end August! I am glad and proud to say she had not been wetting the bed since then!

6. Good things aside. She is getting argumentative!

It is normal children at her age to behave that way. Hence, we have set a couple of house rules to cope with it. However, some times, she argues for the sack of arguing especially when she is tired.

That is a very tiring process for me. So sometimes, I just ignore her. 

If you have similar issues as I do, how do you cope with your argumentative kids?

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Anna's Neighbourhood -Introducing Ice Kachang to Little One

We read up the book, Anna's Neighbourhood (one of the book in the EFI early readers series). We decided to explore our own neighbourhood and learn a bit more about ice kachang, the dessert that was mentioned in the book.

We are reading this set of books! It comes with an activity book and a parents' guide

There is a short paragraph in the book describing ice kachang as colourful snow mountain with red beans, yellow sweet corns, soft green jellies and sweet sticky seeds (presume it's attap chee/ seeds of nipa palm). We have in fact eaten this dessert 3 times at different locations ever since we have read the book. Reason being: I can't find soft green jellies in any of these. Do you know of any places that sells ice kachang with all the ingredients as mentioned in the book?

Our last location was at Golden Swallow Desserts in Ghim Moh market. This market will be close end of this month and relocate to the temporarily market across the road.

Little One loves eating ice kachang after being introduced to the dessert. However, due to the huge amount of ice, I have to share with her. Otherwise, she would develop a cough. The ice kachang featured in this picture is bought from, Golden Swallow Desserts, located in Ghim Moh Market, a place which I am familiar with. It has been around for as long as I remember. Coming back to this market always brings back fond memories. I love their Bo Bo Cha Cha and Chendol. The market would be closed by this month's end for renovation. I am not sure whether the owners would move to the temporarily market which is located opposite the current location. Even if they are, I am not sure whether pricing would be the same. If you are around the region (15 min walk from Buona Vista MRT) this weekend, do drop by to the market before it is closed for renovation!

Happiness is :-Hidden in Plain Sight

When you see the title of the post, are you thinking that I am going to blog about happiness that is hidden in plain sight? No! Not exactly! I found happiness in reading books I enjoy and this " Hidden in Plain Sight" is one of them!

Do you like puzzles, mysteries and adventure? If you do, this book is something you should read!

Hidden in Plain Sight by Su-Lin Ang

Sypnosis:
The Lee cousins love Kong Kong's (Grandfather's) story of the family treasure but none of them (except the youngest two) think it is a true story, until they accidentally dislodge a chinese puzzle hidden in an heirloom (an old chinese sofa). The cousins suddenly finds themselves in an exciting treasure hunt trying to break down codes and ciphers to solve the mystery of the puzzle which may lead to the treasure.

My review
Set in Malaysia and Singapore of the 1960s, this book is addictive! As a child I love solving puzzles and reading storybooks about mysteries and adventures such as Nancy Drew! This book is the right mix of all these.
The book  also touched on cousin bonding, Hence, there was a couple of nights, I dreamt about my own cousins of whom we have gradually lost touch since we grew up.
Recently, I have also developed a love of local historic places. What I like best is the book is being set in Singapore, so a lot of landmarks, language and games mentioned in the book are familiar even though it is a pre-independence period.
This book is the second runner up in Scholastic Asian Book Award in 2012. This award is a search for new Asian children stories that is written in English. Although it is an award started in 2011, I find the works of these authors rather substantial. I have read three books who were shortlisted for the award so far and this being my favorite due to the fact that I love puzzles and this story developed is set in Singapore. I wish there would be part 2.

Activity: Landmark hunt
This book is suitable for upper primary students. Before reading the book, bring them to the Singapore River near Victoria Memorial Hall to do a mini landmark hunt. The following clues was being given in the book. Tell them to find the place that has a bridge, a lantern, a circle within a circle and a big X going through both of them, a lion and 3 crescent, a river, a cow with a cross over it and a horse with a cross over it.

The answer to the above question is :