2013 Christmas Getaway

Ryan @ 7 years 8 months
Lil B @ 3 years 11 months

During the school holiday, we brought the kids to Singapore. This time round, we decided to drive since we anticipated a bit of shopping for books and kids’ stuff. Therefor it only make sense to have a car handy since getting a cab in Singapore is really not as convenient as having your own wheels.

We booked a room for 4d/3n at Mandarin Orchard. The hotel is not cheap but due to its location, it is worth every sen.

We left home in KL at 10am on 15th Dec 2013. The traffic was smooth until we reached the custom at Tuas. We spent easily 45mins to 1 hour to get through the custom, including the time spent to sort out the Auto Pass card. By the time we reach the hotel it was already 3.30pm. We were dead tired.

We were upgraded to the Club room, minus the club facilities. I’m not exactly convinced that was an upgrade since we actually booked the premium room which is a newly refurbished room at a higher price than normal room. Anyway, my body tells us to go ahead with whatever room so the kids could rest a bit before we head out later.

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After freshen up, we drove to Toa Payoh hub because I wanted to get some books. On our way there, we detoured to Trellis Tower, the place we used to live when we were in Singapore. We also stopped by Cairnhill Tower, the place where we had a short stay before we moved in to Trellis back then. To our surprise, Cairnhill is no longer around. The whole building had been demolished to make way for new condominium project.  How fragile (building) is. Haha…

Ryan had a brief dejavu of the place. We came here pretty often for groceries last time. The place hasn’t changed much. My favourite Kiddy Palace and Popular Bookstore are still there.

After stocking up some books, it started to pour out really heavily. Our initial plan to eat at Forture Restaurant (my favourite restaurant) was dampened by the heavy downpour so  we decided to stay indoor and just eat at the Kofu foodcourt. It’s the first time kids had their meal in a foodcourt. Naturally we ordered food that’s so universal and common and foolproof any tom dick harry will eat. The chicken rice. Yea, how adventurous. All four of us had chicken rice on our first day in Singapore.

After our quick dinner, we drove down to Night Safari. It was still drizzling a bit so we figured it’s a good time to visit to beat the crowd. How wrong we were. The place (as usual ) was packed to the brim. Luckily the queue for the train was not long. We had a good few hours in the night zoo. We even stayed back to watch the show, something we never did the many times we were there previously. It proved to be worthwhile. The show was good and the kids had a good time being entertained by the otters, snake, what not.

… tbc

Punishment

Lil B @ 3 years 10 months

Lil B was punished, badly,  today.

He has been really cranky over the last couple days back. It’s just burning larva in volcano waiting for eruption.. and it just did.

It started during dinner. Instead of his normal seat, he insisted to take my seat. Fine! Couple minutes later, he declared he’s not eating his food. He only wanted soup. I was already boiling mad but fine. My in laws were still eating so I bit my lips and tried to reason with this 3 year old but was that appreciated? You guessed it right. He continued to make a scene refusing to drink his soup and wanted mine instead. I finally lost my cool and scolded him. Instead of feeling apologetic this little monster turned around and hit me on my hand. By then I was fuming mad I swear I can kill a tiger.

I scooped the fella up and went up the stairs. (I later found out he even pulled my hair along the way to my room). I confined both of us in my room. I reprimanded him, smacked his palm (until I bruised my own finger. I seriously don’t know how it happened as I don’t think I hit him that hard.  Mmm..), scolded him but he shed no tears. Only screams came out from his mouth. Yes. He is that stubborn. I’m amazed.

I almost cried myself so I left the room leaving him in the room to ‘fan seng‘. All the while, I stood outside the room holding on to the door knob as I know he’s gonna use every ounce of his strength to open the door. Only then I hear his cries and of course more screaming and kicking and pounding too, what’s new.

10 minutes later. I was getting tired. He was still full of energy. His screams were still loud and clear. Goodness. But I wanted to end this drama do I told him if he want the doot opened, he needs to say sorry and go up on the bed (he was stomping like a mad baby all the while next to the door). He replied amidst all the crying a big “NO, I WON’T” Really jialat.

Another 20 minutes went pass and I was about to pull the stool over to sit down. Old lady cannot stand for too long k. I asked him one last time “Are you on the bed now?”. Finally, a yes.

Gosh. I am tired.

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That was not the end. I made him say sorry (eventhough I doubt he was genuinely remorseful) 20 times while kneeling down. Yes, I was that pissed.

At night just before sleep, we had a heart to heart talk. I can see tears rolled up in his eyes. However, as stubborn as he is, he would not let tears flow down his cheeks. Well, I hope he learned his lesson.

Nose Bleed

Darren @ 3 years 10 months

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My household had been free from kid screaming nose bleed for awhile. Unfortunately not anymore.

Lil B started having nose bleed since couple months back. It’s not something that happens regularly on him but when it does,  it bothers him, quite badly.

When Ryan was younger, he too had the same issue. Doctor said it could be due to sensitive blood vessel and it was common in children. After years of experience in managing Ryan’s nose bleed episodes, I can confidently self proclaimed myself an expert in handling and stopping nose bleed. Well, not until I met this fussy toddler who freaks out at the sight of blood.

Long story short,  Ryan was always calm when it happened. He followed through my instructions and never once threw a fuss. Perhaps he was too scared to budge but somehow I remembered him being much easy to handle than his lil brother.

So unlike kor kor, this lil cheeky monster is very difficult to manage.

An hour ago at about 7pm, we ran into the same drama. He was on his ipad when he suddenly screamed (on top of his lungs) nose bleed!!. I turned around and sure enough there was really quite a lot of bright red blood oozing out from his right nostril. I summoned Ryan to get me the ice pack while I attempt to stop the bleeding on the screaming baby’s tiny nostril. While I was busying myself with pinching his nostril and cleaning him up, he on the other hand was very uncooperative. Instead of staying calm and still, he kept himself busy, busy by ensuring his brain cells will continue to send messages to each of his body parts to continue challenging his mommy throughout the ordeal. Thankfully it didn’t take long to stop. After a few mins of pinching his nose,  the bleeding stopped. Lil B was soon back to his old self, tapping on his beloved idiot pad.

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Scaring the lil monster with his own blood.

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See the muka. Geram or not? Lol..

Getting ready for pre-school

Lil B @ 3 year 11 months

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When I went to Singapore back in September, I bought Ryan’s first pair of school shoes.  He needs two pairs to exchange. Recently I went to scout around for his second pair. For some reason I only had Ryan’s requirement at the back of my mind. How about lil b, my hubby asked.  It was only then I realised I’ve not done anything for him. Somehow it just didn’t crossed my mind he needs new shoes, school bag, water bottle etc. It’s funny. Perhaps subconciously I was just not prepared for this milestone. I mean, it’s like, really? My second baby is going to school so soon? Haha…  Anyways, he is. My lil b will be starting his first year at kindy in about a month plus in 2014. Finger crossed for a good start ahead.

Graduating from Standard 1

Ryan @ 7 years 6 months

Time flies. In a blink of an eye Ryan has completed 11 gruelling months in Sri Cempaka.

Why I said gruelling? Gruelling because it was indeed a challenging year.

Ryan came from a non academic kindergarten that focussed on character building. The kids were not taught to write until 5 in the kindergarten. They were only exposed to phonics and maths at 5 going 6. Ryan was not able to read independently upon graduation from Soka. Instead they were taught on respect, honesty, independance just like their motto- Strong, Righteous and Lively.

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So do I have regrets? No. Well, no regrets. Ryan excelled and grow at different aspects of life. Academic is important but life values are no less significant too so I am glad he spent 3 good years with the kindy of course having said so I wouldn’t mind the school do a little more to prep the kids for challenging years ahead.

Anyways, despite the poor foundation, Ryan did fairly well in class this year.

You see, Cempaka is a weird school. Weird in the sense, partially, they follow Singapore system because Mathematics and Science are taught in English. All the two subject textbooks and workbooks are based on Singapore MOE approved syllabus. I even had to stock up on his Standard 2 workbooks during my last trip to Singapore.

Maths and Science aside, their English subject is also an adaption from the Singapore syllabus but since I could get pretty good source of English workbooks here, that’s not an issue. Afterall, English is his mother tongue so I’m not too overly concerned.

Now here comes the biggest challenge. His Bahasa.

At 7 years old, albeit only in Standard 1, students in Cempaka are taught KSSR Standard 2 syllabus. 40 words of Ejaan and half a page of Rencana is something the 7 yo are expected to get used to. By end of year, the same 7 yo are expected to write a 3 paragraphs karangan on topics like Aku Sehelai Sapu Tangan or cover a story on Kemalangan Jalan Raya. Gosh.. sometimes I wonder how did Ryan survive.

During the mid term parents and teacher meet, we were told to buck him up on Bahasa. He was weak in the subject but still a B nevertheless so I wasn’t too worried.

The following few months Ryan’s Bahasa improved leaps and bounds. His marks were in the 90s range (Sistem Bahasa) for all his Topical tests. *Mommy’s hardwork. So don’t think SAHMs are really stay at home mom with nothing on her plate. We play important roles, too!* Oh, did I not mention there are 7 exams in a year – 2 major and 5 topicals throughout the year. *stress*

During the recent parents teacher meet in October, we were told Ryan came out Top 5 in class of 21 students and he needs to brush up on his Bahasa and cut down careless mistakes. When I heard that, i was in a state of shock. Ryan’s results though not excellent was actually not bad. He got above 90 for almost all his subjects and that rendered him Top 5? It sure was a very competitive class wasn’t it. Anyway, I’m glad he did his best. Overall, the session was okay. I was expecting his personal tutor to share more on his day to day in class. Well, nevermind.

So here we are. Survived Standard 1 and looking forward to another good year next.

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Ryan made a few good friends. They are Iskandar (His neighbor in class whom Ryan described as the crying baby because the latter will cry for the most trivial matter like losing an eraser), Isaac and Weng Kiat both his partners in crime, Jasper and Clarkson. Hope the boys will be streamed into the same class next year and may their friendship prevails.