Developmental Skills..

Rachel seems to be learning alot in school. She comes home every evening & tells me what she had learned - songs, poems, ryhmes, vocabs, etc...

As compared to Lionel when he was abt the same age as Rachel, he was nt so "as vocabalised" - when asked to sing, either he doesnt want to or he doesnt know hw to, when asked to read, he shook his head, when askd to recite, he kept quiet.

Rachel has this habit of reading when she comes back home. She will grab a book & pulls me into the room with her. Then we will go thru the book (the same book every evening) over & over again. After reading, its usually a singing session. Either she teaches me a new nursery song she learns in sch or she will ask me to sing some other songs which she have heard before ( songs i hv sang to her before)

Whenever she sees fruits, she will automatically recites a chinese poem abt them. I will try to capture them on video the next time she recites & upload here.

Rachel has a very good memory & she can tell me all her friends' name in class. Chantel, Yati, Winfred, Alex, Yi Xiang, Yi Ting. These are some names she wld very often mentioned. I asked her if these are the friends she wld always played with, she said yes. At times, she can tell me who & who did nt come to class today or who & who cried.

I asked " hw abt Alexis?" Do u play with her?" She said Alexis wld nt join them & usually sits alone. True or nt, i do nt know but i know my gal is enjoying herself very much. I am also very glad that she is able to use names as examples in the games she played, like she wld spread all her books on the bed & asked:" Mama, which book do u want to buy?" When i point to a certain one, she wld said:" This book is for my friend, Chantel or Alex already bought this book". Then i wld picked another one.

When we come across pictures like the koala bear or the kangaroo, i wld asked where she has seen them before & her immediate answer:" Australia". Then she wld also tell me Winfred has also sat on an aeroplane before. She can relate very well.

I am very focus or rather, hoping to be focus, on 1 important task right now. That is to teach Rachel how to write ABCs. One friend told me nt to worry. Leave the task to the sch. They will teach your kids how to write. But i feel that parents shd also play a part. The resposibility is there, its to be "carried" or "shouldered" by the parents.

Call me lazy, i'm still asking to be free from this task... :P

Train Delay...

Mummy: This morning, there was a train delay on the NEL ( North East Line). This was what happened.

I board the train from Yishun towards Orchard, supposedly to alight at Dodby Ghaut & interchange to the NEL, towards Harbour Front. ( my workplace is at Chinatown area)

However, the train i was on was so crowded & cramped that i begun to feel stuffy. So i decided to alight at Bishan instead & interchange to the NEL from there. ( Bishan - Serangoon).

I was making my way towards the platform at Serangoon when i heard the annoucement that there wld be a train delay towards Harbour Front & for those passengers who are heading towards the city, to please connect via the Circle Line to Dodby Ghaut or via Bishan.

No way! I js came from Bishan....

I decided to wait for a little while , just to see if the train service wld resume. However, luck was nt on my side. After abt 15 mins of waiting game, there was still no train in sight & the annoucement repeats again & again...

Those security officers, or rather those cisco officers ( those that patrol the stations & trains) came & shoo us off, as if they were chasing after wild geese... geez!

I went across to the Circle Line platform & took the train from there. Onboard the train, i was asking myself where to alight to reach Chinatown faster. From Serangoon, it bypass stations like Tai Seng, Mountbatten, Esplanade, Bras Basah, etc... before arriving at Dodby Ghaut.

I didnt want to go back to DG so i alighted at Bras Basah. I gt lost; didnt know which exit to go thru. I ended up out , diagonally opposite CHIJMES. I walked towards it & board bus # 147 from there & alighted outside Chinatown Point.

I reached my office at 10.45am. Not only me though. All those staying along the NEL all gt affected. What a morning!

The morale of the story is: Being clever is enough. Dun count on being more than that!
Kiang Jiu Hor. Mai Gei Kiang!

Lionel is 5 years old ( 60 mths)

03 April 2010 - Sat.

Today we celebrated Lionel's 5th bday. There were no special celebration at watever chalets, kids party corner, etc. Instead, its js a mini celebration with close family members & relatives.

The evening before, Daddy & i went down to Crystal Jade Bakery @ Takashimaya to choose a cake for Lionel. Rachel specifically requested Strawberry though its nt her bday. Haha..

We decided on vanilla sponge cake covered with heaps of fresh fruits, such as, strawberries, peaches, kiwi & loquats.

Lionel went ard the kampong & invited all to attend his bday party at ah ma's place.

Lionel, all ready for the party. Actually he's wearing 2 pieces. The inside one is a yellow & black stripe shirt ( which reminds me of the bumble bee) & the one outside is a shirt given to him from xiao gu. He insisted on wearing 2 pieces. His reason: If i dirty the one outside, i still hv an extra shirt inside **faint**

Rachel, not specially dressed up for the occasion. Normal home clothes will do.

After the singing session, cake cutting ceremony.

Some of the kampong family members. :P

Video of Lionel's 5 years old bday song singing session.

Fever

Yes again! The only word in my dictionary...

Rachel came down with a fever on Thursday (01 April) evening. Ah ma already suspected something was wrong on the morning itself. Rachel refused to drink her milk. Immediately after sch, she was taken to the doctor cos she was raging hot at 39 degrees. The doc gave her a suppository to bring down her temperature. That evening & the next day, Friday, Rachel was restless as usual & her temperature was like the waves, low on one min, high the next.

Saturday. Rachel's fever finally subsided. We have been telling her from the beginning that its Lionel's bday on Sat & if she doesnt get well soon, then she will nt be able to eat the cake. Haha! I belived she's secretly fighting against her own battle with the fever bug.

Can someone tell me hw to erase the word FEVER from my dictionary?

Mathematics

Lionel has started on addition & subtraction the starting of K1 (2010). Below are examples of his maths homework which he brought back to do.

Term 2 already....mummy is so backdated. :P

The class were asked to write their own date at the top of each worksheet. Example: Tuesday, 23 March 2010. I'm wondering hw they grasped the concept of addition. Did they learn like hw we learned,using our fingers & till the need to borrow our toes as well.

Looking at the pics, i assume that they filled in the blanks by counting the # of objects in one part & then write the correct no. in the other box so that the total adds up.

Look at the example given. 9 = 2 + ?. So 2 chickens are circled. That leaves the remaining chickens for the child to count & write the correct figure in the box provided. So the child wld do the same for the rest of the sums.

Will there be a problem when it comes to problem sums? Wld the child be required to draw the neccessary pics to help them to count? I remembered when i was a child, i always hv headaches when it comes to problem sums, cos i can nvr know when to add or subtract, multiply or divide. Especially, i remembered, when the sentence goes like this: "How many more apples has mary than peter?" It took me awhile to realise its supposed to be subtraction. I always thought its addition cos of the word MORE. Haha...

And i also remembered that i hate fractions in primary school. Needless to say, i hated algebra in sec sch too. I am not good at maths, neither am i interested in that subject. But i do hope both kids will take a liking in all they learn. :)