Wednesday, April 28, 2010

313 with Aslene

Out for lunch today with Aslene at 313. Finally! I'm such a suaku these days. Usually I'd be at any new mall within the 1st week. Now, if I'm able to visit a new mall maybe a month later, I'd call myself lucky. Hur hur. 

So yes, after driving round and round up to level 6, I found a lot pretty easily (if not I'd really be irritated even further), we took the lift to level 5 to switch to another lift that will take us to the mall floors. We were greeted at level 5 with the all-too-familiar air-conditioned food court smell. I wished the lift here quickly and met Aslene on the 1st level. 

We simply sauntered into the nearest restaurant, a Thai one. I got to admit, I was already a little stuffed from brunch, so, I ordered mainly to feed Seo Yeon. At the end of the lunch, the beef noodle soup was barely touched, but the hot weather made the Thai Iced Tea deliciously yum yum!

So, a quick tour of 313 before I had to rush off to fetch En Bi at 3pm. Seo Yeon had time to try quite a few pairs of shades while Aslene was picking out a pair for her momma. After that, we had a look at Uniqlo and that was about it?!

Poor Aslene had to wait for us for half an hour and was left haunting the mall for the rest of the afternoon till her next appointment at 6pm!  Oops! I will be on time next round ok?

Monday, April 19, 2010

To School, To Praise, Here we come!

A string of events and we've come to Seo Yeon's 1st day at school! 



On this first day, we made logistics arrangements so that I would be spending my time at Praise Kids just to be on 'standby' mode while Seo Yeon gets her first day of being in a Playgroup.

Dressed up in her all-too-huge (even though it's a size 'S') white polo t-shirt and  lime green skort, she looked oh-so-adorable. I really couldn't bear to put my little cupcake in school. But hey, we gotta share the goodies eh? So, I decided I'd just let others see how cute a cupcake she is and let her teachers and newfound friends spend some time with her.

Her first day started off with teachers slathering on anti-mosquito repellant and then scooting her out with her friends to the outdoor playground. I stayed inside the classroom to observe her and boy was she lucky, there was her favourite outdoor playground toy, the HOUSE! And not 1, but 2 of them! She spent most of her time opening and closing the windows, walking in and out of the houses, and not forgetting to 'check on Mommy' every 2 minutes. 

Before the playground session ended, I decided to make my way out of the class and observe from outside. She only had 1 incident of howling, which was to demand to be let into the outdoor playground again. Well, at least it wasn't howling to see Mommy.

12.15pm came quickly, I even had time to squeeze in a coffee break with Cat, and then back to KPC Praise Kids again to pick SY up and whisk her away for lunch with PapaKim. 

Oh boy did she give me the biggest hug in the world! She squeezed me when I swept her up in my arms like there was no tomorrow. Dear, dear, that's how much you miss Mommy? She gave me her usual toothy, cheeky smile which made me think momentarily, "Should I just let her skip school?". But of course, that thought was brushed out of the way pretty quickly and I replaced them quickly with positive thoughts like how well she did for her 1st day at school.

Her favourite Jajangmyeon (Black bean sauce noodles) for lunch at a nearby Korean-Chinese restaurant. It all ended nicely with a nap in the car on the way back home.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

"Don't like..."

She said "싫어요!" today when Papakim asked her whether she wanted her eggs scrambled, not knowing that she actually loves her eggs hard-boiled. In any case, Papakim was surprised that En Bi was able to say that (we hardly get any response from her in Korean) and was secretly pleased, though the answer wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear. (That phrase actually means "I don't like!".) Of course, he had to show some displeasure and said, "Of all things to learn in school..."

Later on in the day, while I was filing up the weekly education plan, newsletter, and updates from the Korean Church Kindergarten, I glanced quickly at what they had taught for the past week and saw '싫어요/좋아요' (pronounced: 'shilohyo' / 'chohayo') under the row. AHA! Now we know where Miss En Bi learnt that from. Not from her little Korean friends, like what I was thinking, but rather from what was actually being taught in class. Cool....


Since we're at this, I thought that I would share what is being taught at the Korean kindy. Like I mentioned to many mommies, no English and Mandarin taught in school. All conversations in Korean. No Maths! Not even Korean alphabet?! Nevertheless, I'm pretty much happy about the things that are taught there. Look below for an example of the plan for April Week of 12 - 16 (click to view bigger image).

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Parents Have To Sit In

One of the reasons why I chose Mandeville Music School over Seimpi for En Bi was because it gave parents a choice to sit in or not with their children in class. Of course, if Seo Yeon could be cared by her father on every time En Bi went for this class, it would be a no-brainer to sit in with her. Then again, we know that this is not possible because PapaKim has business trips eating into the weekends ever so often. So, instead of confusing the child with me sometimes being present and sometimes not, I decided to let her attend the class alone to 'train' her to attend the class with my accompaniment. 

Last week, the school announced that students now have to be accompanied by their parents. (During the class, we found out the reason behind that sudden change in rule.) Without a doubt, there would be many counters from parents with regards to this change, especially those who had a situation similar to mine. The school had already prepared a form to officially relieve them from any responsibility if the student should, in whatever manner, be harmed before and after class timings. I am going to submit that form to the school, and just make sure that I will be there early to pick En Bi up from class.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching En Bi in class today.

Tapping Sticks


One of Enbi's favourite segment at her weekly music class. Tapping sticks. I'm glad she doesn't do it with chopsticks, yet, because I don't want the other diners to give me icy stares.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

T O Y S

A short walk after breakfast at United Square always damages the pocket. While Seo Yeon goes around admiring the 2D animals, I wander near ELC again. Hmm... Window display "3 for $55" was quite attractive because I liked one of the toys (originally priced $29). Ok, I walk in. Got to buy some toys to cheer myself up, you know.

Pink binoculars for En Bi's upcoming school picnic at the Botanic Gardens? Another handheld bubble gun so that the girls won't have to fight to hold that 1 bubble gun we have at home? In the end, I decided to buy this toy 'who knows whose nose'. This toy should help the girls, especially Seo Yeon, to get to know the animals even better and encourage sensory training at the same time.


Guess what? Ended up buying another toy because I 'save $9' if I buy another toy together with this one. I ignored  that toy in the first place because I thought that it didn't have much educational value to it but as usual, got swayed by the salesperson who actually made me think that it would be great fun. 

Verdict: The girls enjoyed the toys for an hour. Absolutely grrrrreat!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Howling After the 'Swimming'

Today was 'swimming' day at JG Mandarin Playclub. Basically, they fill up a plastic tub with water and throw in all the plastic toys for the kids to stand in the water and play with. I don't see anyone literally swimming. In any case, I finally found out what's the difference between 'water play' and 'swimming' at JG. You get to dunk the whole kid in the plastic tub for 'swimming' day. 

Revolutionary discovery for the day: Swim diapers don't hold pee. Hmmm... You mean I haven't learnt that over the past 39 months (from the day I had En Bi)? Amazing, you might say... And yes, to myself, 'June! It's a revelation!'. Geez.


So yes, back to the title. Miss Seo Yeon decided that she wanted to sit in the tub of water the WHOLE day because when I took her out of it, she howled the house down. We're lucky we were only in a 1-storey house and not a high-rise building. Well, it took about 10 minutes and a bottle of milk to settle her again.

Decisions, Mecisions

After Nanny Siew Lian (Cat, I know what you're going to say. Even the name befits her 'role', rite?) suddenly got into a coughing fit for almost a week and the subsequent xrays showed white spots on the lungs, it was a mutual understanding that she would have to stop caring for Seo Yeon. 

Sigh. It had been a pretty comfortable arrangement for me with Nanny SL looking after Seo Yeon on a part-time basis so far. I could at least give myself some free time to run errands that had to be done without a child hanging at the hip. Especially those indulgent ones like manicures/pedicures, facials... And of course for times when En Bi had to be accompanied into class.


So from last week, I was suddenly thrown into the world that a few mommies I know have already been living in, i.e. the world of 'looking after the child by yourself only'. When Friday neared, it occurred to me that I had no backup to look after Seo Yeon while I bring En Bi for her Shichida lessons. I had no choice but to ask Uncle Tee for help because I knew that he was on leave that day to bring my cousin and her family around. At least I knew that they would all be able to help me with her for that 2.5hours. Their babysitting turned out to be relatively effortless because they brought her to the fish farm where she enjoyed herself tremendously feeding the fishes.


Prior to handing Seo Yeon over to Uncle Tee, I had decided to go along with Catherine for her appointments at Pibo and  Odyssey since I had some spare time, thinking that it would be good to look at some pre-schools in Bukit Timah area. It would logistically be quite reasonable to have Seo Yeon there since En Bi's school is in the vicinity . But the former was definitely out, while the latter was out-of-reach. Lucky Bernice is going there though!


After mulling the problem over the weekend and discussing the situation with Cat, I went down to S.E.E.D.S at both Tembeling and Katong Presbyterian Church today. Both principals were very professional and polite. Both centres had their pros and cons. Seo Yeon seemed very comfortable at both centres.... At Tembeling, Mrs. Yong led her to the PG area without me and she followed and even stayed there for a wee bit, playing with a toy before decided that she wanted to look for me. At KPC, she was wandering around and exploring the PG and Nursery area on her own while Vicki and I stood near her discussing.  I was still undecided.


We headed to Parkway Parade for lunch. Settled for Toby's because I wanted to try something new and didn't want to walk too far. The only satisfying thing about lunch was that I had come to a conclusion about where I will want to send Seo Yeon. I'll send her to Praise (exactly same curriculum as SEEDS) at KPC. We'll start our new adventure next week!




2 Hours Later and Still Wide-Eyed

Another night that the girls decided to drive me crazy. I had to seek solace with a warm cup of Milo and some chocolate in between putting them to bed. Yes! It took me 2 hours to get them to sleep! Oh gosh... save me....

Monday, April 12, 2010

She loves 'Tau Sar Piah'!

She loves her 'Tau Sar Piah' (which will henceforth be referred to as 'tsp')! I can't imagine a child having her Grandfather's taste for food. My father, i.e. Seo Yeon's grandfather, loves tsp. So we decided to let her try tsp one day many weeks ago and voila! There you go! We have a toddler in the house who loves tsp. 

Today is an extreme case. If you will see the food intake list for the day, you'll understand why I said that.

- 3 miniscule pieces of boiled sausages in the morning;
- 1 tsp
- half a 'yu gwa' (유과: traditional Korean oil-and-honey pastry);
- 1 tsp;  
- a serving of fries;
- half a cup of iced milo (her favourite drink);
- 2 small spoonfuls of rice;
- 1 tsp;

Not to mention 180ml of formula in the morning and before she sleeps.

The picture below shows the infamous tsp and yu gwa. Seo Yeon's 2 favourite foods. En Bi likes neither. 



So, altogether, we see this toddler eating 3 tsp in a day! Record-breaking. I look in dismal at her food intake in terms of quality as well as quantity. I start to hope that tsp contains something good so that she didn't take 3 in for nothing today.

May tomorrow be a better day for Seo Yeon's diet! 

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Farewell Lana! Till we meet again!

Today marked the end of the 5-day trip of the Nguyens in Singapore. Oh! It was a short trip... Juanita, my cousin, usually stays in Singapore for at least 2 weeks each visit. Well, this time the visit was cut short because they spent the other half of their holiday in Bangkok. Just as well, I guess. Got to have some variety in the holiday destinations eh?

What's so special about this trip? We got to see lovely Lana! Such a cute little thing. The last time we saw her was when she was only a 6-month-old chubby baby. Now, this 2.5 year-old girl is running around, climbing up and down, with no care in the world.

I love it when she gives me countless kisses on my cheek without me even asking for it. I feel her sadness when it comes to farewells because she doesn't want to say 'goodbye' to us. Such a gentle bub.

I am really glad that I have more time to spend with the Nguyens this time. Previously, I was still working and hardly had any time to spend with time, short of taking a day off to bring them around. Even then, it's very different this time as I had the time to bring them around and also because we had the girls with us.

En Bi and Seo Yeon simply loved having Lana around. It was as if they had been playing together ever since. En Bi and Lana are just 8 months apart while Seo Yeon is a year younger than Lana. And Juanita is expecting another addition to the family soon. The timing is impeccable, one after the other! If only we stayed in the same country, they would be inseparable playmates! Just like Juanita and I, we're more than cousins, we're like sisters. 

So we sent them off to the airport this morning. Really glad that there technology has improved so rapidly, what with all the airplanes, mobile phones, internet, etc. It felt like they were going home in another town just nearby and not another country. No boohoo farewells where the separation at the gates only brought sadness, but happy goodbyes knowing that this was a good trip and we will see each other soon.

Goodbye Nguyens and see you soon!