The minds of a 3 yr old versus a 5 yr old

A picture tells a thousand words. I think the drawings by the girls give an insight on their different characters too. ;)

Bold, messy, not into details. 粗枝大叶、性情豪迈。

Detailed, Colourful, but complicated. 心思细腻，敏感脆弱。

First spelling & 听写

RaeAnne had her first 听写 on Thursday and spelling on Friday. Blur mummy did not check the communication book so I did not even know spelling n 听写 are starting this week. Neither RA nor I saw the 听写单 n spelling list. I only found out because Teacher Samantha told me on Thurs evening when we picked up the gals that English spelling was postponed to Friday. I thought RA failed 听写 for sure. But luckily, the first 听写 was quite easy. Just 一,二,三,四,五. So she got full marks though she did not study at all.

English spelling was challenging though. There were only 4 words: man, moon, mouse, mother. She knows how to spell man and moon without coaching. But mouse and mother were beyond her. I let her copy each word 5 times. Then I did a mock test. But she cannot spell mouse and mother. Teach her the catchy M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E jingle from my time. Then ask her to do correction for mouse and mother 3 times. Then do another test. She still doesn't know how to spell mother. So ironical that it is the word that is most difficult for her. After correction, I ask her how to spell Mother. But she is still stuck after M-O-.... Grr...

Finally, I asked her why after so many times, she still cannot spell mother but she knows M-O and she said teacher never taught 't' yet. Duh. So I went to check her phonics book. True enough, they stopped at letter 'L' for June. So 'M' is probably just learnt last week. Asked my mummy friends with kids in zoophonics and they said it should 'Mmm - oorh - Th - R. I have never learnt phonics so I don't know how to teach her to blend.

Decided to ask Teacher Sam in the morning. When I asked her, she told me 'th' sound will only be taught in K2. huh? Then why test this word? No wonder she never got beyond M-O... Teacher Sam said they have taught the 'M' words including Mother. But I told tcr Sam that it will be difficult for them to try and spell Mother phonetically if they have not even learnt the 'Th' sound yet and she got my point and said she will revise with them before giving the spelling. Teacher Laila has taken over English lessons wef 1 July so Tcr Sam is not very sure what was taught in class.

One of my teacher mummy friends subsequently told me that actually 'mother' is a sight word. That means children should learn how to spell it with constant exposure. No need to use phonics, just need to read more. Hmm, hardly see the word 'mother' in P&J nor scholastic reader books. In fact, if the word is Mummy, I am sure RA will have no problem because she is drawing and writing cards to me and hubby.

Anyway, with Teacher Sam and my drilling, she finally learnt to spell Mother. Conclusion, I think her Chinese std is ok so I really need to help her with English. My mummy friends gave me tips. Some showed me what English reader books to borrow. I need to be consistent to point out word by word as I read to her. Then give her chance to read to me too. Her son who is born in Dec 07 can read JS books by himself. RA cannot even read JP books. :P

It is so difficult to juggle studying and playing. Since the gals have 8 hrs of school everyday, when they came home, I usually leave them be and let them play whatever they want or bring them to the playground after dinner. But now, looks like I got to allocate more time for academics. :(

New study desk for Raelynn

I have been shopping at Qoo10 quite frequently since I was introduced by my friends in end April. So much that I qualified to be their VIP member recently in fact. Most of the time, I buy home organisation stuff but yesterday early morning, I ordered a study desk for Raelynn. It was just delivered at 830pm. Talk about fast service.

We have bought assessment books for the gals during Popular book fairs. But we have not been giving them seat work to do. The books are there on their kiddy bookshelf and they can take and do it if they feel like it. Recently, RaeAnne has been more diligent to do work and then mark on her own. RA will also ask Raelynn to do her assessment books then she will mark. Maybe she aspires to be a teacher.

RaeAnne has a study desk which we bought for her early this year. But we often find Raelynn lying on her tummy on the bumper mat doing her 'homework'. Posture is bad and lighting is poor in the dining area. She has been asking for a table for some months because I told her I will buy her a table when she needs to do work like Cheh Cheh. But I cannot get her the similar table from Casa Kidi because her room is cluttered because she still insists on sleeping on her baby cot and the ikea baby changing table is still in the room, on top of a wardrobe, a single bed, and a foldable sleeping mat.

So when I saw this ergonomic table and chair set from Qoo10 at $157. I was tempted cos the height of the table and chair can be adjusted and the angle of the table can be adjusted for reading, or drawing. Raelynn is only 95cm tall so the table and chair are still set at lowest height. But we can adjust it slowly as she grows up.

It is not a big table, just 45cm by 65cm. Similar to a normal classroom table in fact. Though you cannot put a lot of things on the table, I think it is good cos it forces the kid to organise. Things that are not needed should go into the drawer below or into the school bag. There is even a hook at the side of the table just for hanging the school bag to keep it off the floor. This is great for people like me. I hate to see bags on floor because I will always end up tripping over them at night after 'lights out' for the gals.

I wasn't sure if Raelynn will like this table because it was so different from RA's. Much smaller and there is no cartoon or castle design. But my worries were unfounded. She likes it and quickly protested when Cheh Cheh tried to share the chair. I guess as long as it is in pink, we are quite safe. Haha.

First homework for RA

RaeAnne finally has homework from school last Friday. There were 1 pg of chinese, 1 pg of english n 1 pg of maths homework. Some of my friends' kids started having homework since they were 4 years old especially those studying at more academic focused schools eg. Zoophonics. It's no big deal.

But RA is at full day childcare so all along they have been doing their work in school so no need to bring work home. RA's chinese teacher saw my jaw drop when I opened the homework bag and took the chance to remind me that they will be starting spelling n 听写 soon too. Haha. She knows Mummy is lazy to coach homework.

On Saturday I had to nag RA to do her homework cos she did not do it though I reminded her on fr night. Her chinese and maths homework was still ok but she stumbled on her English homework. Only found 1 word when she is supposed to find 6 words. I had to guide her to use a ruler row by row to find the alphabets and words.

Sheesh, looks like my many years of nagging and coaching homework have finally started. I better add a new 'Academics' posts' label too. Haha.

Ballet open house - Video clips

The gals are moving onto their next level for ballet lessons this week. So last Fri, Crestar had an open house so parents were invited to watch what they have been learning so far.

We are not hoping that the gals will become professional ballerinas. It is ok for me if they don't want to learn this for long. From what we can see, they are having fun. As long as they are enjoying ballet lessons, it's enough for us. Once RA enters P1 in another 1.5 years, I will be cutting down on her enrichment programmes because I know she won't have time. School and homework will take up the bulk of her time. So I am hoping that she can choose one that she enjoys best, whether it is piano, ballet or art, that she can enjoy throughout her primary school years.

We took many videos during the two 45 mins lessons but I only posted two on youtube (links below) cos it will be too long to upload everything. haha.

RaeLynn's Bebe ballet class


RaeAnne's Pre Primary Foundation class

Kiddy Sushi Bento workshop

Went for parent-child Kiddy sushi bento workshop by Umisushi at Changi City Point. It was a 2 hr workshop from 3-5pm and we were making ladybird sushi bento. I was hoping to learn how to make sushi rice but white and orange coloured sushi rice was already prepared for us. I guess the difficulty level was not high since the kids have to do most of the work while parents help out. At least they did give us a recipe for cooking Jap sushi rice.

RL was too young to join the workshop as a participant as the minimum age was 5. But the organisers were very sweet and allowed her to look on by the side and help out. Spreading and shaping the sushi rice was tough for RA cos there were no kiddy gloves provided (size s glove for adults is still too big for kids) so the rice were stuck to her fingers.

After the sushi is rolled and cut, the gals, it was time to decorate the bento box. RA had no problem cutting out the cheese, carrots etc. Same for RL. But most of the time, RA n RL were busy eating the tori karaage and cut sausages cos it was 4pm by then and they were hungry. Lol.

Reg was $60 but I was pleasantly surprised that their goody bags had a tissue box cover, a bento box, 1 pack of kiddy soy milk, 1 pack of ribena, 1 adult bento, 1 kiddy bento, 1 cup of ice lemon tea and even soft serve ice cream.

Smoke gets in the eyes

Eye mo is now my best friend. The haze hits Singapore suddenly when we were still at Sentosa on Tues. It wasn't that bad then. But things quickly got worse on Wed early morning until it hit a hazardous 401 on Friday. My eyes sting and my throat is scratchy when psi was 200+.

Inside an air conditioned room, the air was quite ok but I did not want to switch on air con for the kids every night especially because RL already started a runny nose after just 1 night of air con. So I had no choice but to be a bit kiasu. Although I did not join the mad rush to stockpile N95 masks, I did grab 2 air purifiers. I say grab cos it was chaotic with air purifiers oos since Wed. Everyone at Best Denki was looking for air purifiers but all were oos. Even display units were gone for the popular Sharp plasmacluster models followed by Novita then Honeywell.

I grabbed 1 display unit of Sharp plasmacluster from the friendly Uncle William on Thurs. It was a basic model without hepa filter and only good for a small room upt to 15 sq metres. The next day, I grabbed another one after I spotted a salesman who was carrying the box with the same model number and there was no hovering customer by this elblow yet. One for the kids room and one for my mum's house. The model I bought were only good enough for small rooms but I really didn't want a big model that will take up floor space after the haze situation is gone.

I was hoping that with an air purifier, I can use it in the gals' bedroom with the windows closed but without air con. The verdict is that I still need to switch on the air con cos it is too stuffy plus the smoky smell still permeates the room. So in the end, I used the purifier, my novita aroma diffuser and switched on the air con. I am definitely expecting an very high electricity bill this month. haha.

Let's hope the haze clears up soon for everyone's sake.

Holiday Canvas Painting workshop

I signed RaeAnne up for a 4 session Canvas Painting workshop at Brillionaire Kids, Serangoon Nex. It was the same place where she has a baking class package but they have special holiday programmes and camps during school holidays. Although she is having art lessons at globalart but they only use crayons for foundation classes so I thought it will be fun to expose RaeAnne to painting since it is a medium that she is not used to. Each session is 1.5 hrs and 4 sessions costs $180. Not really cheap considering it is $45 for 1.5 hrs.

Due to the haze, quite a few kids who signed up did not turn up. So, RA and another gal had most of the teacher's attention. There were 4 themes in total: Mushroom House, Bird Nest, Lotus Flower and her last session is tomorrow. So far, she enjoyed it. And I liked her paintings too especially today's Lotus Flower. :)

10 years on...

18 June 2003, we first held hands after watching 'Finding Nemo' together. On that night, I didn't even know how long our relationship will last, let alone get married. 10 years have passed. So glad to have my soulmate. Happy 10th anniversary!

Staycation at Hard Rock Hotel & Adventure Cove

I wanted to surprise hubby with a staycation on Father's day but RaeAnne let the cat out of the bag. Since hubby had tuition on sunday morning, I took both gals with me planning to go to SEA Aquarium first before he joins us. When we reached at 11am, I was shocked. There was a super duper long queue snaking from the entrance for at least 30 metres. The queue post said the queue was 30-45 mins long. I seriously doubted it. So I told RA we should come back on Monday since we are staying at the hotel tonight. But she whined and refused. She wanted to queue. I asked about the priority queue but the bouncers said I need to buy separate priority tickets.

It was a super frustrating long queue. 2.5 hrs later, after queuing upstairs and downstairs, we finally entered to see the fishes. Our main aim were the dolphins which we missed on the last visit and RL's favourite sharks. 2.5 hrs wait for 45 mins visit cos hubby has already arrived and waited for us. What a waste of time. Worse! I found that that RWS invites card members had priority entrance but the bouncers did not know. Super poor communication on the ground. Duh...

We checked into Hard Rock Hotel only at 430pm after our high tea buffet at Starz restaurant. I reviewed the hotel at Tripadvisor. First day, we went to the hotel pool during evening time. Hard rock pool as usual is good with sand play and water play. RL doesn't enjoy the sand though. haha.

On the second day, we went to Adventure cove around 12noon after a late brunch at Toast box. We didn't have much time so the gals ony tried the meandering river and the wave pool. No time for Ray bay and Coral reef. Actually I find that Adventure Cove is more for older kids. For RL, there are only 3 rides that she can do - meandering river, wave pool and treehouse water play area. For RA, she gets 2 more rides Ray Bay and Coral Reef but she must be accompanied by an adult. All other rides needs a height limit of 122cm which both my gals don't meet.

All in all, it was a good stay minus the long queue. But next time, I will choose Festive hotel cos of the bath tub and for its family friendly touches. :)