New dishwasher

A few weeks ago, Nadine decided to join us for dinner (the kids normally eat their dinner earlier). And after dinner, she volunteered to wash the dishes! And it wasn't just her own dishes, but that of the whole family!

It probably was water play for her. But it sure was good that she starts helping with some housework. I believe it's important for the kids to be independent and to help with household chores - the most basic of basics in caring for self and others!

Nadine's K1 Term 3 report

Nadine's generally doing quite well in school, and even for Chinese, she's making baby progress. She has progressed from thinking that she's not Chinese and therefore not wanting to learn Chinese, to asking me to read Chinese books to her. That, to me, is a huge step forward. I don't want to pressurise her any more. But I was surprised when MaMa told me about a conversation she had with Nadine last week.

MaMa: 你是不是在學芭蕾舞？

Nadine (thought for a while): 星期四

MaMa (pleased that Nadine tried to answer in Mandarin): 那游泳呢

Nadine (counting): 星期六

MaMa: 音樂呢

Nadine (counting):  星期二

So pleased with her! Yes, Berries can wait!

Sprouting ancient English at 3!

The kids have been watching Mr Peabody & Sherman. It's a great movie - very entertaining, wonderful values, and lots of snippets of history, making it educational as well. And Aaron picked up some ancient English too!

Yesterday, Bibi called for Aaron from the kitchen.

Bibi: Aaron ..... Aaron ...

Aaron: Yes Bibi .... what news do you bring?

Bibi and I burst out laughing.

2 little gym rats

Nadine and Aaron are both quite athletic. They love to run, jump, climb, kick, slide .... and now that they're older, they're also able to use the exercise equipment at our "outdoor gym".

Smart alec Aaron

Aaron's a 3-year-old who speaks like someone way older, and we're always so tickled by what he says. And he's certainly out-talking his sister!

Daddy: Who wants to watch Garfield?
Aaron: Me!
Nadine: No! I wanna watch Disney Junior!
Aaron: Then maybe you don't join us


Changing the cover of his lego car, he said, "this car needs a new coat of paint."

So proud of my little boy!

Sengkang Fire Station

On National Day morning, we went to Sengkang Fire Station. We've heard a lot about fire station visits. Now that Aaron is older, and super crazy about fire engines and firemen, we thought it'll be fun for him to visit the fire station.

And it was fun. The kids sat on all the parked vehicles ...

and learnt about the truckload of equipment that each fire engine carries ...

and got to play with the va-va-voom fire hose.

A fun and educational 1-hour tour. Great for boys and girls who are into fire engines!

Ballet ... and enrichment classes

Since the beginning of this year, Nadine has been saying that she wants to learn ballet next year. And in the last few months, she dropped the "next year", and kept bugging me for ballet classes, especially when we see little girls in tutus going for classes at Crestar, next to the Yamaha where she takes her music classes.

So I finally relented, and signed her up. She was ecstatic. On the day of her first lesson, she ate her dinner really fast, and was all dressed up and ready to go 45min before class.

Same for 2nd class, which was yesterday. Ate her dinner really quickly, and dressed herself up. Hope this enthusiasm continues!

So far, Nadine's been taking only "fun" enrichment classes - swimming, music, art and ballet. No Berries for Chinese, I Can Read for English, nor Kumon for Math.

Every now and then, I wonder if she should go for any of those classes, especially when other mums tell me about how the kids need some prep before primary school. 

But so far, Nadine has helped me to not be so gan-cheong. Her phonics is pretty good. She could even tell me that M is for 蜜蜂! 

She's starting to do simple addition, and is no longer resistant to Chinese. That's enough for me, for now. She has a whole lifetime to catch up with studies and go for tuition, if she ever needs to! I must keep reminding myself to chill!

Frozen

Like most little girls, Nadine is currently crazy over Frozen. Aside from constantly singing "Let It Go" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman", she also wants to dress up like Elsa, and if she could have her way, buy up all the Frozen merchandise.

I bought her this dress to humour her, and she promptly insisted on wearing it to church and Rafael's birthday party the next day.

And last week, when Yi-Ma and Jie Jie Joelle brought her and Aaron to I12, she persuaded Yi-Ma to buy this dress for her. I had a tough time convincing her not to wear it to church, but compromised by allowing her to wear it to Ethan's birthday party.

I wonder when this Frozen craze will freeze over!

Aaron at play II

Aaron very often amaze us with his imagination and impromptu games.

Tonight, he took Daddy's belt, sat on our bed, and said he's "fishing"!

His language ability also continues to amaze us ... actually only his English. His Chinese is also quite non-existent, like his sister.

Here are a few conversations we'd had recently:

Me: Did you bring your show and tell bag home?
A: Ya, it should be in my bag somewhere

Me: Come on Aaron, you cannot break your promise.
A: I break my promise already ...
Me: Why?
A: Because my promise is made of glass, and today my shop is closed, so I cannot make any more promise.

Trick Eye Museum

Last Friday, we went to the Trick Eye Museum with Jie Jie Joelle.

The kids had enjoyed the same experience at the Trick Eye Museum in Seoul, so we were hoping for a similar fun experience in the Museum at Resort World Singapore.

We started with lunch at Slappy Cakes, where we could make our own pancakes. Nadine had more fun making the pancakes and soaking them in maple syrup than eating them, although she did eat quite a bit. Here's her making her caterpillar pancake.

The Trick Eye Museum in Singapore is way smaller than the one in Seoul, and a lot more cramped. It was almost impossible to take any photos without blocking someone or standing in the way of other artworks. Nonetheless, we took lots of photos.

Overall, it was still quite fun. But for the price ($25/adult, $20/kid), the distance and the crampedness, we probably won't return unless we happen to be on Sentosa!