Sharing A Jubilee Story With The Queen

May29

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations will be held this weekend on the banks of the River Thames in London. My boy is honoured to have the chance to be part of this special event. He was invited by his school to share a moving moment from the past 60 years with the Jubilee Time Capsule, a Royal Commonwealth Society project.

The Jubilee Time Capsule http://www.jubileetimecapsule.org/ is an online time capsule that gives people across the globe the chance to create a digital Diamond Jubilee gift for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Jubilee Time Capsule will become a permanent digital archive for people to learn about life in The Commonwealth and it will be buried in a physical form.

So, what is exactly the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II? It is the international celebration throughout 2012 marking the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries upon the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. She is today queen regnant of 16 sovereign states, 12 of which were British colonies or Dominions at the start of her reign.

My boy was asked earlier to write a story about life in a Commonwealth country, or events that have impacted the Commonwealth. After much deliberation, he wrote a story about a sporting event which is important to him. A few days ago, he was overjoyed to receive an overseas email informing him that his entry entitled “A Sporting Event” has been added to the Jubilee Time Capsule. The story is on 9 Nov 2011 under the Jubilee Time Capsule Timeline section. Anyway, I have extracted his story and posted it in my blog for my readers’ pleasure reading please. His story is only one among the 65,000 stories already submitted from all generations around the Commonwealth, including entries from celebrities such as HRH Prince Harry!

A Sporting Event

During my growing up days, I have tried many sports such as swimming, cycling, skate-skooting, playing soccer, badminton and fencing. I like fencing most because I have a chance to hold a real weapon which is called a foil. I think it is very cool!

I joined fencing when I was in Primary Three. When I first started fencing, I was in the Novice Group, learning the basics of handwork and footwork and rules of fencing. After one year of intensive training, I passed the grading test with flying colours, and I advanced to Z2 grade.

I have participated in several fencing competitions. The most memorable sporting event is the Z Grand Gala 2011 at the Singapore Sports School. The event was held during the December holiday last year. My parents took leave from work to accompany me to the competition. It was my third competition and I was extremely anxious. I had a queasy feeling in my stomach during the car journey to the Singapore Sports School.

Upon arrival, we proceeded to the sports hall which was on the second level. There was a huge crowd of people comprising of fencers, parents, referees and event helpers. On the enormous stage was a table lined with trophies. There were many rows of red-carpeted fencing strips and many fencers were already dueling with one another. I heard a few referees giving commands to the fencers in French such as ‘En Garde’ , which means ‘Get Ready’. Some coaches were lending their support to their students. The sound of clashing blades made me nervous. My parents calmed me down and told me to do my very best.

I quickly changed into my fencing suit which was four layers thick. They are the T-shirt, body guard, plastron, jacket and lame. I also have to wear breeches, glove and helmet to complete the fencing attire.

When it was my turn for the first round of competition, I told myself that I had to score more points than my opponent within the three-minute duel. My opponent was very good in his fencing skills, but I put up a tough fight against him. Our scores were very close at the beginning. In the end, the electronic score board showed a five-three score. I emerged as the winner for this round. I had to wait patiently for my other rounds. I was lucky and I did pretty well for the other rounds.

After a long tiring day, I was very surprised to learn that I had come in fifth in position in the Zketeer Foil Novices (10 years) Boys category. My coach and parents were very proud of me. I was also exhilarated by my win. My coach congratulated me and recommended me to join the ‘Elite’ class so that I have a chance to go overseas for training and competitions. However, I did not want to take up the offer then because I wanted to concentrate on my studies.

Before the prize award ceremony, I was among many Zketeers Novices to be knighted by my fencing maestro. While on stage, it dawned on me that fencing is my passion because it is a unique sport which equips me with survival skills. Fencing teaches me to be quick-witted and agile. It gives me a chance to duel with my opponents. Fencing also lets me meet new friends and win awards in competitions. My coach also teaches my classmates and me the core fencing values – Chivalry, Grace and Honour. I am proud to be a fencer and I aspire to be a good fencer. I look forward to more fencing competitions. All for One and One for Z!!!

Singular and Plural

May22

My boy complained some weeks ago while revising for his English examination that there are far too many rules in the English language.  He is quite right.  There is a whole set of English rules – grammar rules, spelling rules, pronunciation rules, punctuation rules and others.  He was frustrated as his school seems to like to set trick test questions that fall within the grey area.

I was explaining to him the other day that some collective nouns can be either singular or plural.  Collective nouns name a group of people, animals or things.  I personally prefer to use the singular verb agreement with collective nouns like ‘family’, ‘crowd’, ‘group’ and ‘committee’.  However, the rule depicted in his school text book says that singular verb agreement can be used only with collective nouns when the meaning is neutral or emphasizes unity and not multiplicity.

If the members of a group are acting in the same way together, we refer to the group as a whole and the collective noun is singular. We must use singular verbs and pronouns with it.

Each class takes turns to be in charge of the library notice board.  It decides how to decorate the notice board.

If the members of a group are acting as individuals, we refer to the group as being made up of many parts and the collective noun is plural.  We must use plural verbs and pronouns with it.

The class are all excited about going to the library.  They are talking about the books they wish to borrow.

I did some further reading on the internet, and here are some examples of collective nouns that can either be singular or plural:

Talking about the group as a whole (singular collective noun):

The team practises with its coach every Sunday.

The committee agrees to hold a fun fair to raise funds.  It plans to hold the fun fair next month.

The crowd was in total chaos.  It was angry with the referee’s decision.

My squad is in the badminton finals.  However, her squad was disqualified.

Talking about the group as being made up of many parts (plural collective noun):

After every practice, the team shower and return to their homes.

The committee disagree about holding a fun fair.  They plan to discuss the matter again tomorrow.

The crowd were waving their poms poms and banners.

The squad want to make sure they each get a good rest before the match.

Learning to write and speak good English is a challenging task, but certainly not an impossible one.  I had lots of fun learning the English language during my school days.  I am still enjoying the process of learning the language today.  I strive to assist my boy to enjoy his English lessons too, because I believe that when children enjoy the lessons, they learn more, much more!

 

A Little Gift

May14

A few days ago, my older boy made my heart skipped a few beats.  He had been having a chronic ‘barking’ cough for almost a week.  That day, he braved a low-grade fever, stuffy nose and nagging cough to sit for his Chinese paper 1 examination.  Two visits to a general practitioner (GP) and a visit to a respiratory specialist earlier had diagnosed him as having laryngitis, swelling and inflammation of the voice box (larynx) that narrowed his airways.  We were told by both doctors that it would take another week for him to get well.

I was waiting for him to finish school in my car.  He would usually be punctual and would be seen running speedily to my car, with his super heavy black Samsonite back pack.  The minutes ticked off and as all the school buses left the school compound and my car was the only one left waiting by the road side outside his school, I got really anxious when I saw no sign of him.  He also did not answer my numerous phone calls either.  I called the school’s General Office to check if he was held back by last minute ad hoc lessons.  The lady made me feel worse when she told me that his class had been dismissed quite some time ago.  My heart pounded madly and I started to have ridiculous ideas – that he might be suffering from an asthma flare-up which gave him chest tightness, wheezing and trouble breathing, or he might be hiding and sulking somewhere in school for not doing his Chinese examination well.  I got very ill with worry so I called his form teacher on his hand phone.  His form teacher suggested that my boy could have stayed behind in class after his last lesson on art and craft.  He assured me that he would check on him and get him to pack up quickly and reach me in less than ten minutes time.

I waited and waited.  After what seemed like an eternity, I saw my boy racing out of the school gate towards my car.  No words could express my huge relief.  He hopped into the car, panting and coughing, and greeted me with his usual ‘Hello, Mommy!’  What he did next surprised me – he put something delicate into my left hand.  It was a little blue and white paper flower!!!  He explained to me that he had pleaded with his art and craft teacher to teach him how to make a paper flower for me.  Despite being unwell, he had not left school promptly but stayed behind in class to complete the paper flower.

I chided him for acting silly and making me worried sick.  He replied ‘But I really have to complete the paper flower.  It is meant for you.  I wanted to give it to you on Mother’s Day.  I do not want to waste money to buy a present for you, so I thought of making one flower by myself for you….’  His words warmed my heart instantly and made it skip a few beats.  His appreciation and love for his mother, and most important of all, his sensible behavior, meant a lot to me.  In fact, the little paper flower is a great gift for me which I would cherish for the rest of my years.  As I drove home, I remembered an Albert Einstein’s quote:

Not everything that counts can be measured.

Not everything that can be measured counts.

Lie and Lay

May9

My boy had his English First Semester Examination (SA1) this morning. I had earlier given him a quick brush-up and refreshed key learning points on the language to help him prepare for his examination. Let me share with you what I taught my boy on verbs – words that do things.

  • Verbs describe a person’s or things’ actions. E.g. ‘The fish swims.’
  • Verbs describe what is done. E.g. ‘The fish is swimming.’
  • Verbs tell us something about the subject. ‘The fish is scared and swims away.’
  • Verbs could consist of more than one word. ‘The fish has been swimming for an hour.’

Regular verbs are easy to learn. Adding ‘-ing’ to the Present Tense gives us the Present Participle. Adding ‘-d’ or ‘-ed’ to the Present Tense usually gives us the Past Tense and Past Participle forms.

Present Tense Present Participle Past Tense Past Participle
Kick Kicking Kicked Kicked
Lift Lifting Lifted Lifted

Irregular verbs are however troublesome to learn. Irregular verbs create Present Participle, Past Tense and Past Participle forms by altering the Present Tense in unpredictable ways.

Present Tense Present Participle Past Tense Past Participle
Swim Swimming Swam Swum
Take Taking Took Taken

I found it tough to choose the correct forms of ‘lie’ and ‘lay’ during my younger school days. I think these two words seem to give people more difficulty than other irregular verbs. Therefore, I took an extra effort to explain the proper use of ‘lay’ and ‘lie’ to my boy.

  • Lie means to recline. E.g. ‘Let me lie down on the bed for a while.’
  • Lie also means to give an inaccurate or false statement. E.g. He is an honest boy who never lies.’
  • Lay means to place or put something down. E.g. ‘Please lay the cutlery on the dining table.’

Here is an easy way to get the below forms of ‘lie’ and ‘lay’ right. I got my boy to remember and write them on the paper. So far, he has gotten it right in exercises (and life).

Present Tense Present Participle Past Tense Past Participle
Lie (recline) Lying Lay Lain
Lie (deceive) Lying Lied Lied
Lay (place or put something down) Laying Laid Laid

Go on and give it a try!

Thinking Out Of The Box

Apr22

A week ago, I promise to provide the answer to a Primary Five Mathematical Olympiad quiz. The question is: Use only 3 triangles and overlap these triangles to get as many spaces as possible. (The answer is 20 spaces). [No matter how hard I tried, I could only get 19 spaces. So, here is the answer.]

The 19 spaces are within the 3 triangles and the last space is outside the triangles!

This is a good example to illustrate the concept of ‘thinking out of the box”. We have always been told to “think out of the box”. It means approaching problems in new, innovative ways; conceptualizing problems differently; and understanding our position in relation to any particular situation in a way we have never thought of before.

While attempting such interesting quizzes, I realized the importance to beef up our out-of-the-box thinking skills, and make an effort to push our thinking up to and beyond its limit every now and again. The talents we develop may come in handy the next time we face a situation that “everybody knows” how to solve.

As I study with my son, I will be sharing more interesting Mathematics or Science quizzes that I come across. :-)

Fairness

Apr16

When I learnt that I was conceiving a second boy, I set a wonderful goal to handle my two boys in a fair and equitable fashion.  Fairness means each boy gets the same.  Fairness also means each boy gets what he needs.

I want to be a fair parent, but I would not knock myself out trying too hard to be fair to each boy.  I would not strive to be fair on an hour-to-hour basis, or on a day-to-day basis.  Instead, I would do my best to be fair to both boys in the long run.  I always remind myself that it is extremely important that I model fairness to my boys by being as open, honest and objective in my decision-making as possible.  As they grow up, I would also make it clear to them that fairness is a two-way street – that I expect fairness from them as much as they want fairness from me.

There is growing evidence about how critical the early years are to a child’s development.  Most people would call me stubborn, but I never regretted putting my career on hold to spend quality time with my older boy during his first few years of life.  I am doing the same for my younger boy.  I have been home with him since his birth till now.

I try to provide my boys equal learning exposure and quality development opportunities.  For instance, ten years ago, my older boy took part in a Healthy Baby Contest when he was an 8-month-old baby.  Yesterday, my 13-month-old boy participated in the Healthy Baby Contest at Baby Singapore 2012@Zhenghua.  On both occasions, the boys had their grandparents to cheer them on.  I was really very happy when both boys bagged their very first awards at a tender age! Coincidentally, their awards corresponded to their birth order. :-)

It is a hard fact that life can be unfair.  However, I think that the safety and security of our family is the best place for my boys to learn about fairness or unfairness, as the case can be.  Therefore, when the boys come up to me and complain ‘This is not fair!’  I would likely say, ‘Yes, it is not exactly fair.’ Then I would try to communicate with them that while not exactly ‘fair’ that there is some level of balance I am trying to achieve.  Some such efforts are better than none.

Power Up The Mind

Apr14

I have studied for almost 20 years of my life, and I do not want to stay home and get dull while managing the children and family, even if it is only for a transitional period. That is a BIG NO for me.

I strive to maintain a healthy mind and preserve intellectual sharpness by exercising my mental ability in domains such as logic, problems solving, mental orientation and corrective thought process.

I like to hone my test taking skills with fun and educational ability and aptitude tests that assess my logical reasoning or thinking performance. I enjoy working on either speed tests where the questions are relatively straightforward and the test is concerned with how many questions I can answer correctly in the allotted time, or power tests where a smaller number of more complex questions are presented. A sharp mind allows me to improve my rationality and I can figure situations out more effectively and make wiser decisions.

Apart from solving my older boy’s very tough PSLE Math and Science problems and Mathematical Olympiad questions, I like to play Sudoku and take free, private and fun online IQ tests to power up my mind to learn faster and work smarter. Below are two examples of the free online IQ tests I have tried:

- 123test at http://www.123test.com/iq-test/

- IQ test labs at http://www.intelligencetest.com/test/signupuser.php

Let me leave you with a simple yet challenging Primary Five Mathematical Olympiad quiz to work on:

Use only 3 triangles and overlap these triangles to get as many spaces as possible.

The answer is 20 spaces. I will provide the answer later in my blog. Have fun taking this quiz!

Flying Machines

Apr10

“Free the child’s potential, and you will transform him into the world.”

Dr. Maria Montessori

Italian educator Dr. Maria Montessori discovered about the child’s absorbent mind and sensitive periods from 0 to 6 years old.  The child uses his five senses – touch, taste, feel, sight, and hearing to understand and absorb information about his environment, just like a sponge.  During the transitory sensitive periods, the child experiences an irresistible impulse and a burning intellectual love toward a well-defined activity.

According to Dr. Montessori, if the impulse and intellectual love experienced by the child are allowed to establish deeply within the child, and functioned at a heightened level during the sensitive periods, they will last the child’s lifetime.  And for each sensitive period missed, an opportunity to perfect him in some particular way is lost.  It is like a dropped stitch; the child will still grow into an adult, but will not be as strong and perfect an individual as he could have been.

I recalled that my older boy was fascinated with dinosaurs, robots and construction vehicles when he was a toddler.  We took every opportunity to expose him to dinosaurs, robots and construction vehicles, such as bringing him to exhibitions, letting him watch shows and buying him books and toys on them.  After so many years had passed, he still treasures the toys and tucks them neatly away in his toy boxes.  He had told me that he wants to build a robot when he grows up.  On the other hand, my younger boy has a soft spot for stuffed toys especially teddy bear.  Lately, I found out that he is enthralled by flying machines – airplanes and helicopters!  Whenever he hears an airplane or helicopter, he will gesticulate and rush us to carry him to the window or outdoor to see the flying machine.  Though he is too young to speak, he has learnt to make airplane or helicopter sounds with his mouth and hands.  Hmm… maybe he will fly an airplane someday!

To fuel the younger boy’s love for flying machines, we brought the two boys to the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Museum at Paya Lebar last Sunday.  They were exhilarated by the up close and personal experiences with the magnificent airplanes and helicopters.  We spent a good hour viewing the display of exhibits with integrated use of information technology.

At the outdoor gallery, the boys saw many inventories of the RSAF’s glorious past including missiles and aircraft engines, with some airplanes and helicopters on the ground and others suspended from the high roof.  We went to the viewing deck on the second level to have a panoramic view of these exhibits.  We briefly toured the eight indoor galleries on the second level, where the boys learnt a bit about the RSAF heritage and aviation history from the timeline showcase displaying miniature models that reflect past and present aircraft, weapon systems and radar inventory, as well as the RSAF operations like the rescue operation during the cable car crisis.  The short visit has enhanced their interests in flying machines and given them an understanding that the RSAF is able to defend its nation.

The RSAF Museum was pretty quiet on a Sunday morning and the theatrette was closed.  Apart from our family, there was only another family touring the museum.  Admission and parking are free.  Visitors will have to register as guests at the reception office at the concourse.  A round and metallic badge was given to my older boy as a memorabilia.  Other visiting information is as follows:

Location: RSAF Museum, 400 Airport Road, Singapore 534234
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 8.30am to 5.00pm (Closed on Monday & Public Holidays)

Couple Time

Apr3

My husband and I have been married for (almost) fourteen years. We have been together for seventeen. We love each other even after all this time.

Our marriage relationship is not always a bed of roses. Children, family commitment and work have vied for our couple time. After our second child was born, life became increasingly hectic. We were lost in our own little worlds. He was busy with his work, while I was busy with the two children and family. We have a demanding life as parents to a child who is preparing for his PSLE next year and to a toddler with boundless energy, as well as children to our frail elderly parents. We were both tired and sometimes we just did not have time and energy to talk.

Psychologists have said that a healthy marriage is the foundation of a healthy family, and children learn by parental mentoring what a healthy marriage is all about. We do our best not to lose sight of the priority of maintaining a healthy marriage relationship, and we stay aware of the need to communicate, connect and nurture one another. Maintaining time for ‘us’ is a constant struggle but we make an effort to keep a finger on the marriage pulse.

We spend a few minutes each day filling in on what has happened during the day and I hear about his day. We get caught up. Though date nights are a challenge (we spend most nights solving and discussing the older boy’s Primary 5 difficult Mathematics questions), we synchronize our busy schedules to spend some couple time together. It could be just having breakfast together. It is not really what we do. It is just having that time together.

Last Saturday, we left the two boys and the domestic helper at home to attend the Marriage Convention 2012 at the Resorts World Convention Centre. We were looking to hearing marriage experts’ fresh insights into carving out a lifelong, rewarding and loving marriage and keeping the sparks in the marriage aflame. We had three good hours listening to marriage experts speaking on love language, communicating as a couple and celebrating a couple’s differences and discussing intimacy. We laughed over the illustrations of a mature couple having marriage conflicts which we found to be familiar with. We have an enjoyable and relaxing couple time without the children.

In the wee hours of the next morning, my husband and I left home with the children still in bed to go tomb-sweeping and pay respect to our late grandmother. Tomb-sweeping day is more known as Qing Ming Festival (清明) which falls on 4 April 2012. While being stuck in a massive traffic jam for almost 2 hours, we talked about our family, shared our feelings and emotions. At the tomb site, we offered our prayers, presented flowers, washed the area around the tomb, cleared the weeds and burnt paper money to show our care for our late grandmother. Tomb-sweeping was hard work especially for me who loathed the hot and scorching sun. My husband had bloodshot eyes as they were irritated by the smoke of burning paper money and incense, while I got a minor sunburn, an aching back, a few black and blue marks and bruises on my arms and legs. Although this form of couple time is not really fun, we cherish our time together in doing something meaningful.

Fun Packed School Holiday

Mar24

The March school holiday had kept me really busy. With a school-age boy and a toddler with boundless energy at home the whole week, I was stuck in a whirlwind of never-ending requests, demands and responsibilities of motherhood. I was also busy planning, scheduling and executing activities to keep them happy over the school holiday, and make their holiday experiences a positive and memorable one. I think I could have overscheduled my time for the boys and overwhelmed myself with all that hustle and bustle, as it took me many days after the start of school term to calm down, stay relaxed and go back on a healthy sleep schedule. I find myself finally having some free time to write.

I am an advocate of experiential learning and ‘family time’ during the school holiday. Apart from daily routines comprising my boy’s homework assignments and enrichment programmes, I would schedule outings, create new learning opportunities, and organise physical or outdoor activities for all in the family.

I also encourage my boy to stay in touch with his peers via phone call, SMS or Facebook. School holidays are times when he can connect with his friends without the pressure of school and getting to bed early. I will always allow him to invite his friends over to our home on a day. When kids spend time with their friends away from school, it enhances their psychological development and strengthens their friendship. It is also a good opportunity for my husband and me to network with the other kids’ parents.

Let me share with you some fun-filled and exciting activities we have engaged over the school holiday:

West Coast Park

We made a trip to West Coast Park with the theme ‘Play Centre in the West’ on an early morning for some physical and free play. We went to the Adventure Play Area at Area 3 which offers various play zones which cater to people of different interests and age groups, from toddlers to adults. Some play features include bouncy riders, flying fox, wobbly bridges, space net, jungle gym, sit and spin, see-saws etc. There is plenty of sand for safe play and benches for adults to rest. There is also a large field for picnics, ball games and kite flying. We headed to the 24-hour McDonalds with an open-air section for an early brunch after all the challenging play. At Area 2, my older boy went pedal go-karting at the bicycle obstacle course while the younger boy rode on his push tricycle on the tracks. The boys went home with happy smiles and healthy tans.

Changi City Point

We explored for the first time a new mall located in the heart of Changi Business Park, directly opposite the Singapore Expo MRT. It is described as the ‘Garden City in the East’ because of its many flora, fauna and water features, a refreshingly landscaped rooftop garden and lots of natural sky lights.

My boys were excited about the 3 House Playground (just outside Koufu at L2) which was separated into the dry adventures play and wet water play zones, the tree-house trail and “The Arena @ L3” – an outdoor amphitheatre. My toddler was very thrilled with the occasional sighting of multi-coloured low flying aeroplanes.

There are the Petite Park – a children’s indoor play space and party facility for children under 7 years old or less than 130 cm in height (we would have let my toddler tried the active and pretend play if we were not in a hurry), two food courts, many restaurants and what seems to me a mall to have the most number of factory outlet stores like Esprit, Adidas, NIKE, Timberland, Lacoste, Coldwear, Samsonite, FOX Kids & Baby, Crocs, Skechers etc. which got me really excited. I was very taken in by the wider than normal pathways, the feeling of space, the simple to navigate design, plenty places to rest our feet and good dining options. Carpark space seems to be limited though (only 1 level at the basement).

Transformer Cybertron Convention 2012

We celebrated our love for Transformers and relived our childhood memories at the Southeast Asia’s first ever Transformers Cybertron Convention at Resorts World Sentosa. We spent a good half day viewing the extensive exhibition of Transformer toys ranging from the earliest to the latest generations of series, and watching the Transformers Movie Trilogy and Transformer animation series at the Cybertronian Room and HASBRO 3D Mini Theatre respectively. The biggest attraction at the exhibition was the impressive 22-foot tall Optimus Prime character statue. My boy was very busy taking photographs of almost all the Transformers toys exhibits. We ended the eventful day with a sumptuous family dinner at Hard Rock Café – a first time experience for my boy, and he loved his American classic Fish and Chips!

Sunday Flea Market

My boy and his two friends were Kidpreneurs and had their first ever taste of entrepreneurship at our condominium’s Flea Market on a Sunday. They jointly set up a stall to trade, swap or sell their toys which they have outgrown and their pre-loved games, books and accessories.

I grabbed the opportunity to rent a Flea Market stall so that I could stoke my boy’s curiosity in entrepreneurship early in a simple, engaging and creative way. I wanted to introduce to him basic business principles and strategies, financial management, concept of effort and reward, and instill positive traits like confidence, enthusiasm, perseverance, passion etc. I believe that when kids are exposed to money management at an early age, they will probably be better equipped to take on the challenges of budgeting and finance as an adult. The lessons kids learnt through such entrepreneurial activities can also help them throughout their lives. After a long day of hard work, my boy’s gross earnings for the day amounted to $98.50 (not bad for his first attempt at entrepreneurship). He had lots of fun as he learnt, and he said he looked forward to setting up the next Flea Market stall!

POPULAR Expo Sale and SmartKids Asia 2012

We were early birds at the POPULAR Expo Sale at the Singapore Expo and we managed to grab many children books with hefty discounts, like toddler’s board books and children’s hard cover books ranging from $1 to $3. We also hopped into next door’s SmartKids Asia 2012, the world’s largest educational kid’s fair, which we found to be disappointing due to lack of trade options and exhibitors for baby/children products and services.

Orchid Bowl

My boy had a rolling good time at the Orchid Bowl at The Chevrons (L4). Although each time he tried rolling a bowling ball down the wooden floor to knock over as many of the ten pins as possible, it would end up in the gutters. He was not put off by his fair bowling skills and told me he still enjoyed his bowling session.

The MRT Ride

We brought the boys on a MRT ride from the Singapore Expo to the Changi Airport. We wanted to give clear instructions to my older boy on how to take the MRT. He had been ‘chauffeured’ around by my husband and me most part of his life, and we also wanted to give a first-hand experience for my toddler and domestic helper as they had never taken the MRT before. As drivers for decades , my husband and I were impressed with the enhancements to improve the overall accessibility of the public transport system.

It was a hectic but fun packed and family-oriented school holiday. Call me Kiasu or not, I am starting to make plans for the upcoming June school holiday. Cheers!