Leap Frog for Raeyen?

Raeyen's 3rd Birthday (Invitation)

Ka-chow....

Wo Shi Hong Qi Yang

That's Hanyu Pinyin for "I am Foong Kieran".

The kiasu me managed to convince hubby that it is TIME to put Kieran in Hanyu Pinyin class (after I've heard horror stories from friends about how tough it was for their kids at P1). And so, together with the hyper Raeyen, we went to Beijing Language School to enrol him for the new term starting Sunday 29 June at 4.30pm till 6pm.

Kieran's extra-curriculum classes as follows:

Saturday 1200-1300 Gymnastic
Sunday 1400-1500 Swimming
Sunday 1630-1800 Hanyu Pinyin

I still remember I learned Hanyu Pinyin at P3 (psst, and I loved it, unbelievable right?). However, I don't think I would have the patience to teach my offspring.

A Birthday Party @ My Gym

The kids had a great time on Sunday at My Gym where Ethan's 5th birthday was held.

They started with free play where the kids tried all the stuff in the gym from rolling in a barrel, doing back flips to jumping on the trampoline. Raeyen surprised us with his energy and the spirit of good fun. He might be the second youngest of the lot (Jayden, who's Ethan's 14-month old little gorgeous brother with big sparkling eyes), he joined in every activity he could possibly handle (except for swinging on the monkey bars).

The gym facilitators kept the kids busy with exciting activities and obstacle courses for about 45 minutes before they hit for dinner and cake. We were amazed by the amount of energy all the kids had! It was a great party and our boys enjoyed tremendously.





Kieran and Raeyen must have been so exhausted after the party that they slept mid-way to home...zzz...

Panda-mania

Last weekend, we watched Kung Fu Panda with May & Megan.

It was so so so funny. Jack Black portrayed Po the Panda (aka the Dragon Warrior) very well. We had so much fun watching the movie, albeit Raeyen's constant mischief.

Raeyen is usually very excited when we were about to catch a movie and he would say, "Raeyen's going to watch movie and eat pop-corns." BUT when we are in the cinema, he just can't sit still throughout the movie. So naughty.

Parent-Teacher Meeting, School, etc

Teacher-Parent Meetings are quite nerve-wrecking sometimes.

Attended one yesterday with Kieran's childcare centre. The English teacher said he's an average student and while he had no problem at "Show & Tell", he couldn't tell a story from pictures. I find this a little contradicting.

The Chinese teacher said he has improved tremendously as he could converse in Mandarin well unlike in the past where he peppered some English.

With the encouragement of some friends, we plan to enrol him into a Hanyu Pinyin class soon as we heard starting P1, Hanyu Pinyin is highly emphasized. Sigh... he's not even good at phonics and now he has to learn something completely new. I remember I first learned Hanyu Pinyin at P3 (I must confessed I liked it) but am utterly surprised that kids at a tender age of 6 has to learn the whole works!

He may not be academically inclined at this moment, but he is great at sports. His gymnastic lessons went very well but due to his young age, he couldn't progress to intermediate level (minimum age is around 8). His swimming is taking off very well and he now looks forward to the lessons.

In the afternoon, we took him to the Science Centre to participate in a Kids Lab program organised by BASF - The Chemical Company (psst, not the tape company anymore, mind you). He did 3 experiments on slime, toothpaste and blue pigment.

I want this Diamond

Diamond is indeed a girl's bestfriend.

I am drooling over HTC's latest gadget that is touted to give Apple's iPhone a run for its money. This diamond is sleek, black and doesn't burn a hole in my pocket. It's not only a beauty but functional!

The HTC Touch Diamond

!-scream

This is about "melting" services rendered by two premium icre-cream retailers we encountered recently.

Häagen-Dazs @ Tampines Mall

Bought a scoop of lemon sorbet for Kieran as requested by him. After it was scooped into a cup, Kieran said, "Mommy, why is it so small?". I agreed it was really tiny and he explained the scoop was smaller than what he had previously at Junction 8. So I asked the server if that's the standard size, who said "yes". Unsatisfied, I asked the manager on duty, he said, "Yes M'am, because it is a sorbet, it melts faster thus looks smaller." I told him it was ridiculously small but he didn't say nor do anything.

Ben & Jerry @ Sentosa Siloso

We ordered 4 cups of ice-cream and none was vanilla flavour. The server asked if the vanilla flavour ice-cream he just scooped was ours and I replied no. He looked puzzled and told his colleague to discard it.

Lessons to be learned:
1) Little gestures go a long way to delight a customer
2) Häagen-Dazs could have made up by adding a little more to the miserably small dollup of lemon sorbet to brighten a kid's day
3) Ben & Jerry need not throw away a good ice-cream but to ask if the customer wants it as a compliment

My Indulgences

A nice colleague of mine went to the US, so what did I commission him (via my dear Ivy) to do?


He managed to get the Coach Tattersall wristlet that I've been eyeing at a steal. It's rather small that contains a transitlink card, keys and tissue pack in a M)phosis tissue holder.

And if that isn't enough, I got hold of a pretty bimbo-istic mules from Guess at 30% discount (a pre-GSS casualty).


Hmm.... did I mention the cute Swarovski crystal rings that were designed for the promotion of Sex and the City movie? There are 4 gorgeous bling designs and cost S$430 each. I wouldn't buy as it will chip if knocked. But it's a nice to have.

Seriously, my shopping hasn't ended. I need a waterproof (preferably hobo) bag and at the right size to be placed under the passenger in front of me while in a plane.

Fun in the Sun

Together with May & Megan, we had a fun day at Sentosa, Siloso Beach this morning!

We were there since 10.30am, got a good shady spot and hit straight to the beach with their buckets, spades and what have you. I scurried after them applying sun block lotion on them like most mothers would. Megan was very cute and dainty in her red hot bikini, and is chubbier now!

While the kids played, May and I sat on the sand chatting while keeping a watchful eye on our brood. Kieran and Megan really had a blast on their own while my "koala" Raeyen has been clinging onto me. He said "wave" as "whale" and kept saying, "I don't want whale".

Then we rented a large paddle boat where May and I paddled the 3 kids while hubby hung at the rear, helping us to steer and swam at the same time. Though the rental of S$21 for 30 minutes was steep, we had a splashing good time albeit the scorching sun when steering back to shore.

After spending about 3 hours at the beach, we returned to shore, had sandwiches, fruits, juice and snacks. Showered and ended the day with scoops of Ben & Jerry ice-cream!

We will certainly come back to Sentosa soon!

By the way, Kieran had his first swimming lesson yesterday with his cousin Rachel. I forgot to bring the camera and will do so next week to capture some shots to post here.

Just Raeyen & Me

My Mother's Day

We had a simple celebration at Swensen's, Thomson Plaza this afternoon, together with May & Megan. I wore my Gap strapless empire dress while the boys in H&M and Fox.

The boys made some handicrafts at school for this special day.

Kieran made a bucket with the written words "I Love U, Mom & Dad" while Raeyen made a heart-shaped bookmark.

I still can't believe I am a mother of two beautiful boys! I'm glad I'm theirs.

Raeyen's brushing teeth demo

Took this clip in Hua Hin on 5 May 2008:



PS: Happy Mother's Day to all the beautiful mothers out there, you know who you are! I love you girls!

Our holiday in Hua Hin

Photos here.

1 May 08
The Tiger Airways plane was delayed for almost 30 minutes. Such delays seem to be a norm for budget airline and we hoped it will not happen on our return flight. The journey took 2 hours to reach Bangkok. We took a taxi and headed to Pathumwan Princess Hotel for a night stay. While Raeyen was recovering from fever, Kieran was still feverish.

2 May 08
Had breakfast at the hotel, checked out MBK shopping mall, bought some stuff before taking our transport (a mini van) to Hua Hin. The journey took 3 hours while Raeyen napped. Paid Baht 2,500 per way for the transfer, which is considered reasonable. The Sheraton Hua Hin Resort & Spa looked spectacular as we arrived. We checked into our room, which was just as impressive. We had a relaxing dinner by the pool that evening (albeit some mozzie bites).

3 May 08
We went to the beach and then the sprawling pool (1.2m surrounding the resort), basked under the sun, had drinks and snacks by the pool. The kids were enjoying themselves! We went to the downtown shopping mall to buy some stuff, hubby bought 3 Adidas tees and he was very pleased with the cheap genuine purchase.

4 May 08
Another relaxing day as we put the boys at the Star Club (kids club) while we went for an hour spa in the hotel. Hubby had a full body aromatherapy massage and I had a green tea full body scrub. It was exhilarating! After the spa, we had a chocolate fudge cake and a cuppa at the cafe next to the spa before picking the boys. What a life! At night, we took the hotel shuttle to the night market. Binged on local food (very cheap) and bought some clothes and music CDs.

5 May 08
Dipped into the pool again before we checked out. Had the same transfer back to Bangkok International Airport. After the 3 hour journey, we were quite hungry, had sandwiches and ice-cream at the cafe bar in the airport before going to the departure gate. Alas! The tiger was delayed again by another 30 minutes. Raeyen began to show signs of restlessness. When we got to our seats... there was a pool of vomit where Raeyen is supposed to sit! It was a very unpleasant experience and we decided not to take budget airline again.

All of us enjoyed the holiday, Kieran loved the pool and the place very much. However, I would like to revisit the Le Meridien at Khao Lak again.

1st Sports Day

The kindy held its inaugural Sports Day (photos) on 1 May and both our boys participated. We were so afraid that they couldn't make it as they had high fever days before. We even took Kieran to KKH on Sunday where his fever reached 40.2 degrees Celcius!

It was a hot sunny day at the sports stadium. The boys put on their PE tees and took part in telematches for their respective levels. The kids marched out in contingencies representing their classes, so cute.

When Kieran's K2 level was up for a race, I was screaming my lungs out lending suppot to Kieran as I shouted "Go, Kieran, Go... Go, Lavender, Go" (Lavender is his class name). Lavender came in second but it was fun to watch them compete.

See Kieran's clip:



When the pre-nursery level came in, all the parents went ga-ga over their little tots. I armed myself with camera and green-bean shaker to cheer for Raeyen. As his classmates were crawling through the hula-hoops, I could see that he was anxiously waiting for his go. He crawled fast and raced through to meet his classmates, they carried a box (teamwork) across the finish line and emerged first. I was beaming and very proud of my little boy.

It was an exhausting but enjoyable day. We were all drenched in sweat, got home, bathed and the boys snoozed a little while we packed our luggage for our trip to Bangkok-HuaHin in the very evening.