40 Hours!

After our desperate attempts to volunteer for whatever PV duties that the school has put up, we have finally crossed the 40 hours mark today! To make sure that we have buffer, we still have 7 gate duties (which is 3.5 hrs in total) and 1 reading session (2 hrs) to go. 

Through these activities, I come to realise that WG is likely not any superior than the other schools in the neighborhood. But since we have completed our 40 hours, we will probably just stick to it. Well, at least their uniform looks decent enough. Lol. Now, we just have to wait for the admission exercise and also visit the few after-school student care centers (with Lil Shauna) in the vicinity. I am quite firm about sending Lil Shauna to a student care when she enters Primary One. Though I heard horrible stories about such student care, it still beats her wasting her time watching TV at home after school. 

Today’s PV duty was a breeze. We accompanied the students for their swimming lessons and there isn’t much for us to do. The PV ended early and I still have time for my morning coffee at MacDonalds and then shopping at JP before I head back to office. Happy.

Mummy Lim

  

Be Careful of What One Says

Lil Isaac mimicked Daddy Lim and he said,
"Don't be a pain in the butt"!!!

Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

Ah Yee's New Adventure

Time really flies. About 4 months back, ah yee packed her bag, flew to France and started her new adventure, sequent 1. She got married and changed her last name in this short span of time. I was sad when she left but happy at the same time that she had found her better half. I was also looking forward to her return 3 months from her 1st departure, upon the expiry of her social visit pass. She would then be back in Singapore to apply for her spouse visa and she mentioned that the spouse visa may take up to 6 months to approve. There were even plans for Uncle C to join her in Singapore for a family dinner aka wedding dinner when her visa is finally approved many moons later and then they will fly back together. That sounded pretty romantic. So I thought that we would have time to do things together when she is back.

She came back about a month ago. Then, she was busy catching up with friends, she had a couple of dinners with our family and we spent almost a week in HKG. She said that she will apply for visa when we returned from HKG as the embassy would need to keep her passport for 3 days. For some reasons, she was now told that the visa could take anything from 2 weeks to 2 months to be approved. Ok, 2 months sounded a lot shorter, but we still have time.

In less than a week that we returned from HKG, she told us that her visa was approved! What!? But I haven’t had my private date with her! Not fair! But that is the fact of life. Much as I would like her to stay in Singapore so that we can spend more time together, she said that her husband was waiting for her to go “home” and she too was eager to go “home”. It sounded so strange that now her “home” is not here but many kms away, separated by the oceans. My little sister is really a married woman now.

She quickly got her air ticket and arranged for the earliest possible date to fly home, to start her new adventure – sequent 2. We didn't have much time with her, we had a couple more family dinners and it was suddenly time for her to fly. I couldn't even manage to squeeze in a private date with her. 

The days before she was due to fly, I was actually upset and depressed. We all know that she will start her new life in France (I am truly happy for that) and will be there for many months before we get to see her again. Each time that we see her will be mere days before she jets off again. But I supposed we will get used to it after a while. I am also thankful for technology that keeps us connected but nothing beats a good meal/ coffee. It is also difficult to vent to her when popo gets on my nerve. Lol.

Then I thought about Popo. As typical Asian, she didn't expressed much when ah yee was back or even when she was leaving. She did appear to enjoy ah yee’s companion when she was back for that short 3 weeks. If I was feeling this upset, I bet she was feeling worse – her little girl is really literally leaving home. But I know that she is gladder that ah yee has finally settled down and nothing is more important than her finding happiness, even though she is 13 hours by plane away.

I may have the opportunity to visit Geneva again in September this year. Last year, we contemplated bringing the kids along but decided not to kill ourselves eventually. We had that same suicidal thought again this year. If that happens, ah yee can help Daddy Lim to babysit the kids while I am in the meetings. Thereafter, we can visit the other parts of Europe. Now, we only have to overcome the nightmarish thought of surviving the 13 hours flight. Let’s pray that Lil Isaac will grow up quickly in the next few months.

As for ah yee, she will be blessed and be in happiness always. 

Mummy Lim

Almost Lost One Child

Of course you can guess which one that we almost lost - haiz.

We were getting out of the indoor playground at Polliwogs and had both kids with us. I was holding on and leading Lil Shauna and had assumed that Daddy Lim would take the boy, who was behind us. The playground was located on the second floor.  

The next moment, we saw that Lil Isaac was missing, the corridor was empty and he wasn't in the playground lobby too. Popo and I were running frantically and I was wondering if I should go back to the playground to see if he had sneaked back in. The next moment, Popo spotted a little person in blue walking aimlessly on the first floor, looking for his family. Haiz.

We didn't know for sure how did he end up there. He probably took the other stairscase down. He didn't look like he was scare and he didn't panic as we did. We tried to impress upon him what he did could have grave consequences. He looked as if none of those got into his head. Aiyo. 

We wondered if it is a matter of time that we would lose him again. If we had lost him yday, I wonder how we would be able to find him back. It was basically an open public area. I shivered at the thought. 

Mummy Lim

The Dreadful "b, d, p, q"

Just when I blogged this morning about how easy spelling now is for Lil Shauna and how dreadful "b, d, p and q" are, Lil Shauna came back with an big "egg" for last week's spelling.

If you look carefully, she actually knows how to spell all the words, except that she mixed up for "b" and "d". Bleh..

Mummy Lim

Easy Breezy

I am now convinced that spelling comes with age.

When Lil Shauna was promoted in her LC and was 1st introduced to spelling, she wasn't even 5. For almost an entire year, we struggled with spelling and there were moments that I felt like crying and I also made her cried over spelling. Despite numerous practices, her spelling results were pathetic as compared to Felicia's almost full marks every time. It had came to a point that I had to recognise her efforts more than results. There were times that I felt at banging wall when looking at her spelling book but tried to assure her that it was alright since she had tried her best (and so had I).

Spelling somehow became easier towards the end of her K1 year. Something suddenly clicked and I think that has to do with age. We spent lesser time learning spelling and she came back with better scores.

This year is even better. Spelling is such a breeze now and she remembers what she learnt such that we need not pained ourselves having to revise and revise and revise... This is even when there are also spelling and 听写 in school and she's worried when we are not in time to learn, which was so different from the whinny girl whenever we had to learn spelling a year back. I am a happy mummy.

I wonder if I will have the same worry for Lil Isaac. For one, he is definitely not going to progress as quickly as jiejie in his phonics class. By the time he gets to learn spelling, he would probably be in K2 and spelling should be OK for him then. By the way, we have completed all upper case alphabets and I I am so glad that most lower case alphabets look similar to the upper case ones. We just have an issue with "b, d, p, q". Oh well, which kid doesn't.

Jia you!

Mummy Lim

Clocking our Precious 2 Hours

Daddy Lim and I have snatched up as many PV duties as possible so that we can meet our 40 hours requirement. We are nearing our 30 hours mark and have 10 more to go.

I am now in front of one of the school gates clocking my precious 2 hours from 12 noon to 2pm. I have escaped from office and would need to rush back right after the duty.

Today is the school's non-teaching staff day, whatever that is supposed to mean. So the non-teaching staff, which include the security guards, would be celebrating at the school hall and they would need somebody to guard the gates, right? Thus, here I am, taking over the security guards, looking after one of the gates.

Actually, it is not that bad. It is definitely much better than the last Newater Plant trip. At least I have peace and time to blog. And I get to sit down. But the weather is so freaking warm, I should have brought a book and an ice cold coke. Lol.

I have 1 hour and 15 mins more to go. Yawn. I wonder if I can sleep with my eyes open. Haha.

Mummy Lim

HKG Day 5

By the time we were in HKG, we haven’t decided on what to do on our last day. Originally, we had thought of visiting the Big Buddha. I have been to HKG several times but have never visited the Big Buddha and there were much rave about it on the internet. However, ah yee said that we would likely end up with bored and cranky kids and that puts us off. We needed a convenient place to visit, taking into account that we must be at the airport by 6pm.

Thank goodness for free wifi at the hotel. We eventually settled for Noah Ark’s, one of the attractions that we had considered earlier. It is near to the airport and they have luggage storage facilities.  

We woke up and took our time to do last minute packing before a leisure breakfast and then checked out. Then, we hopped onto the MTR to Tsing Yi. The train was fairly packed and we survived with Popo and ah yee’s extra hands. We would probably opt for something less adventurous if we had been on our own. It was impossible to handle 2 kids, 1 stroller and 2 luggages on our own via public transport to the airport.

Upon alighting at Tsing Yi, we had to take another public bus. By then, I think we were really tourist experts of the public transport system by then. Then there was more walking and climbing up and down the stairs before we finally reach Noah’s Ark. Noah Ark is located right next to a beach and the kids seemed more excited to play on the beach than Noah Ark.

Noak Ark is more than just about the biblical story. There were some creepy animals that the children can look at and plenty of green information to read up on.

One of the segments is rooms filled with children activities and they were crowded with HKGers. The kids don costume and pretended to be the circus master.

There were also activities to encourage visitors to embrace life and happiness. We go into this cubicle and chose one of the 4 strings to pull, signifying the choices that we get to make in life. Then different things will drop on our head. We were taught to embrace the different challenges in life. Lil Shauna and I had balls rained down our heads. Seeing balls, Lil Isaac wanted to try to but had water instead and ended up crying so pitifully. Lol.

We found lunch in Noah Ark and were surprised at how cheap the food were, like HKD 24 (S$4), only to amusing realize how small the portions were.

We were all attacking the small waffles/ pie/ pastsa and had to supplement with desserts. Lol.

We left Noah Ark at 4.30pm and took the airport express bus to the airport, which wasn't a long ride. Lil Isaac took his nap.

Time passed easily and soon it was time to board the plane.

Lil Isaac was very much awake this time, having awaken from his nap not too long ago. He waited impatiently for the plane to take off so that he could watch “TV”. Unfortunately Frozen was off the screen and Lil Isaac caught Tazan instead while having his kid’s meal onboard. 

I still prefer night flight where the kids just sleep. There were no other shows for him after Tazan ended and he was very noisy and cranky until the time that he fell asleep. Phew. Lil Shauna fell asleep too and we had to wake her up to make her walk off the plane. Lil Isaac had the privilege to be carried off the plane but he is seriously growing. My poor arms!

The taxi home was alright with the kids getting quieter along the way. Hehe.
We enjoyed our HKG trips, like all the rest of the holidays. I love holidays and I think Daddy Lim has caught my virus too. Right after the HKG holiday, he was asking me where we would go next. Hahaha. This will also be a holiday with ah yee and popo for a long time to come. The last trip with popo was a long time ago to Korea. She usually preferred not to tag along now that our trips are very kids-centric. She probably wouldn't come along this time too if it is not for ah yee who brought her to do sightseeing and even the Macau casino. As for ah yee, she had to put up with popo's grumbling a lot this trip but would definitely appreciate the time spent with popo in view of her impending return to France. So mission accomplished for everybody. Hehe.

Mummy Lim

HKG Day 4

We had breakfast at the usual 茶餐厅 near to the hotel. The food is really delicious and for a decent price. We took the MTR to Admiralty and then bus to Ocean Park. We took so much public transport this trip that I think we had become an expert. Lol.

Ocean Park was very crowded and it was full of PRCS. I regretted chosing to go to Ocean Park on a Saturday. Maybe it would have been better if we had visited the Park on a weekday. Ocean Park was  also less fun than what I remembered it should be. There aren't that many rides that are suitable for the kids.

When we arrived at the Park, a Photographer enthusiastically offered to take our pictures. I ended up buying very expensive pictures and felt very much like a tourist. Lol. But at least we had a decent family picture taken.

The photographer also kindly suggested a route to take to visit the park. We took a monorail to go up the mountain. Ocean Park is stretched over a mountain. The ride was nice, we had the visual effects that we were in a submarine, taking to break free from a giant octopus.

The view at the top was fantastic.

The Ocean Park Tower was one of the few friendly for all ride and with a short q when we were there. But Lil Isaac insisted that it was too scary for him and refused to board. I had to watch Daddy Lim and Lil Shauna take the ride. Bleh.

Then, we caught a seal and dolphin show that wasn't that fantastic. The one that we caught in Sea World, Gold Coast was much better. There were plenty of thrilling rides but Lil Shauna not tall enough plus there were long queues everywhere.

Lil Shauna was very upset after being told many times that she isn't tall enough. She commented that she doesn't want to ride baby rides but it too short for the adult rides. We did manage to ride on one of the friendlier roller coaster but the q was very long and she was in the q with Daddy Lim for almost 1 hour while Lil Isaac and I waited and visited smelly penguins. Lil Isaac actually made the height requirement for the roller coaster rides and had taken many other roller coaster rides. However, he insisted that it was too scary for him.

We visited the famous jellyfishes as well. That place always remain me of alien invasion. Lol.

We then took the cable car to where we started. The view was fantastic.

And we made silly faces.

We had lunch in Ocean Park and lunch was just as expensive as Disney land. Though the portion was decent, which I supposed they had to - a S$20 chicken rice. Then, we headed for the kiddy rides, which were crowded with many, many other kids. We only took the frog ride, which Lil Isaac really likes and he went on it like 5 times. Lil Shauna self entertained at the playground until she was so bored and we had to stop Lil Isaac from going for more.

Soon, it was time to go home and the kids were reluctant to go despite not having many rides to go on as they know that we would be heading back to Singapore the next day. Unfortunately, we didnt have a choice. Lil Isaac napped on the way back and we had a peaceful ride back to the hotel, where we met Popo and Ah yee, whom had returned from Macau, for dinner. Ah yee treated us to roasted meat dinner with the $$ that she made at the Macau casino.

We attempted more shopping after dinner but was tough with the weekend crowd at the night market. We did get some last minute shopping down and returned to the hotel room for packing and resting.

Mummy Lim

Survived in Daddy Lim's Absence

Daddy Lim was sent for an overseas inspection that took place at the port of Bing Bong, Darwin. What an appealing name for a port! He flew on Wednesday night and was home on Saturday morning. We survived very well in his absence. I think the 2 months of night shift had trained me well. Then again, I don't think I had done much in his absence.

On Wednesday, he sent us home before he headed for the airport.  The kids didn't seem to miss him much. They were more concerned about him remembering to buy presents back! I didn't do much with the kids on Wednesday night. Lil Isaac and I were nursing a flu and we knocked out early. I vaguely remembered Lil Shauna self entertained in my half awake state. 

On Thursday night,  I had a mega stomach cramp and was so thankful that the kids had fun playing with some toys that ah Yee gave.

On Friday, we played a little and the kids had iPad time (yes, bad mummy). Then we turned in. The next waking moment, Daddy Lim was back home! Muahahaha. 

And as expected, I didn't drive to work om Thursday nor Friday.  The thought to drive didn't even remotely cross my mind. Lol. my life is meant to be chauffeured around. Hohoho.  Hmm.. the new year resolution to be able to drive confidently seemed to just moved one step away.

Mummy Lim