My son says the darnest things

2 nights ago, Aaron asked me to help him bring down some toys from the top cabinet. Some of the things were stacked so precariously.

Me: I dunno if I can get the box out. I don't want to topple the other things.
Aaron: Try .... you won't know if you don't try.

!!!!!

My 5-year-old sounds so adult!

Mother's Day prezzie

Nadine bought me an early Mother's Day present last week - a stalk of fake rose, a scented rose pen and a card - from her school bookshop. The school book shop really knows how to capitalise on commercial events to make little kids' money!

Happened that she had gym trial that day, so I gave her an additional $2, on top of her $1.50 recess money (cut down from $2 as punishment for buying sweet drinks and useless things from the book shop too often). Instead of buying food with that money, she spent it all buying the gifts for me, and ate the London Roll and pineapple tarts that I packed for her snack time during recess and snack, and didn't have lunch before her gym trial!

I was touched!

Aaron's girlfriend

Aaron and his "girlfriend" Cherish.

Last year, he suddenly told me one day that he's married Cherish. When I told Cherish's mum, she said Cherish told her the same thing!

Last week, when I made fun of him and Cherish, he told me that she's just his girlfriend. They are kids, cannot get married!

So funny these kids!

Bike with extra seat

One of Aaron's latest creation - a bike that has a flap behind ....

that can carry an additional person!

This little boy is an engineer!

Recycling in LSK

I love the recycling program in LSK. 

The kids are encouraged to bring things that can be recycled to school, and every morning, during assembly, there is a segment when the kids will take their empty plastic containers, tin cans, paper cartons, etc, and throw them into the recycling bins, according to the correct categories.

This recycling program is a simple way to teach kids that they can play their part in saving the earth. And I recently learnt, it teaches them compassion as well.

Aaron has been bugging me for more drink cans to recycle. But we don't usually buy canned drinks for our home, so we have very few drink cans. He told me a couple of months ago that he wanted more drink cans because the kindy give these drink cans to an old lady who goes round the neighbourhood to collect drink cans and sell them for a living.

Last week, he looked into his recycling bag and asked me how many drink cans he had that day. I said only 1. His reply was really touching,

"Then I hope the other children have a lot of tin cans, so that the old lady will not have to spend a lot of time walking around to find tin cans."

So sweet and compassionate at such a young age! Thank you LSK for teaching the children such a wonderful value of caring for the less privileged!

Nadine's story

Daddy's fuming, Mummy's beaming.

Aaron starts music class

Aaron started his first Yamaha music class last week, and he loved it.

He has a way way better teacher than Nadine did. Someone who is like a Sunday school teacher and who knows how to engage the kids and control them.

But, just like his sister, Aaron couldn't sit still. But at least he likes the class and still wants to go back.

Nadine's 1st date

Daddy has been telling Nadine that he wants to bring her out for a date. She wanted to go for a ballet concert but there isn't one coming up with a suitable timing. And Daddy fretted over how to plan a perfect date. 

But 2 Saturdays ago, while Aaron was sick and had to miss art class, Daddy decided to take Nadine out on an impromptu date after picking her from Art class.

He brought her for ice cream and Smiggles shopping.

Both father and daughter were happy like birds.

Good Friday at USS

We spent Good Friday at Universal Studios Singapore, as requested by Nadine.

It was such a hot day, and USS was so super crowded, we really didn't enjoy the outing.

We started off ok, with Nadine volunteering to be the navigator. 

She was so eager to move around, she wouldn't even take a photo at the big US globe Easter egg with us.

And we took very very few photos coz everywhere's crowded. This is one of the few family photos we managed to take.

We spent most of our time hunting for the Easter eggs, part of this Easter bundle we bought. Nadine was quite good at hunting down those elusive eggs.

We only managed to take 2 rides - King Julien's Beach Party-Go-Round and the Magic Potion Spin.

Nadine and I queued for half an hour for the Enchanted Airways ride, and just as we were nearing the end of the queue, she decided she didn't want to ride!!!

The part that the kids enjoyed most was definitely the parade. We managed to chope a nice row seat early, and so were able to catch the parade up close.

Just as we were leaving at about 4, the weather became so much cooler. And we realised that a lot of people were also leaving at that time. Perhaps the next time we should try coming at 4! Maybe won't even have long queues at the rides!

天下

Nadine has been complaining that she didn't understand anything in Chinese class, that Chinese is tough, and she didn't like Chinese. Getting her to learn her 听写 is a pain, but surprisingly, she has been doing well for her 听写.

But, a month ago, her Chinese teacher wrote a note in her journal, in English, saying that Nadine didn't seem to understand anything in class, and didn't even respond to her Chinese name. Teacher suggested that we could try and help her by speaking Mandarin to her at home.

So I tried, but the stubborn girl wouldn't respond to any of my Chinese, and was even angry with me. Didn't talk to me for a whole night. Next evening, I explained to her that she really needed to improve her Chinese, and it's either I speak Mandarin to her at home, or she goes for enrichment class. She chose enrichment class.

So since then, she's been going to 天下, the closest school to our home that has a suitable time for us.

She came out of the first class saying that she enjoyed herself. And after a few lessons, she brought back a pretty good assessment report.

However, as warned by friends, 天下's syllabus is tough. Their 听写 includes short sentences!

Yesterday, she refused to learn her 听写 and refused to go for class. Wailed and kicked up a fuss. After 20 min of scolding, nagging and coaxing, we finally struck a deal - she would finish the term, try to improve her Chinese, and then we're done with 天下. It was that, or quit immediately, but no tv, music in the car (she loves playing dj in the car) and playing downstairs for 2 months.

Well, she does seem to want to keep her end of the deal. This morning, the moment she woke up, she took out her Chinese vocab file and started reading! I sure hope she keeps up with that!