Black Tip!

Last Sunday was the belt presentation ceremony for kids who had passed their grading test. Unfortunately I was flying to Philippines and couldn't attend. I asked Daddy Lim to WhatsApp me the outcome and to send my pictures. 

I am usually confident of Zaky passing his grading test but not this one. This was so much tougher than the rest afterall; he was tested 2 out of the 4 patterns that he memorised. Then, he had a mega tantrum before the test and refused to practice. In addition to the saga, we were told that the tester was extra strict plus Zaky came out from the testing centre and told us that he made 2 mistakes. Win already. 

Good news awaits me when I touched down in Philippines and connected to the airport free WiFi. 

Woohoo!

Daddy Lil said that the boy must be lucky bcos one of the masters told him that many kids failed this time. I was mega proud. 

We got him new uniform too. His old one was since he started TKD and that was when he was 4.5 years old. It had gotten very small and very uncomfortable. He was constantly tugging and pulling after every movement. He would again be changing new uniform if he managed to pass his next Junior Black belt grading test. We contemplated squeezing him in his uniform until the next grading test but at the rate that he is growing, the thought was nearly impossible. He had grown so much (fatter) in the last 1 year. Fb reminded me how he was 1 year back. 

See, so skinny! I always thought that he was kit kat turned kit kat chunky. Haha. 

Next grading test in 6 months time.

Mummy Lim

Business Trip to Philippines

It is another business trip and this time to the Philippines. This is the 1st time that I have set foot in Philippines. I would have considered turning it into a holiday if it is not bcos of Daddy Lim's limited annual leave quota.

I was hoping to fly SQ but it is way too pricy. I ended up with PAL even after exploring many alternatives. My maiden trip with PAL. I didn't have a good impression having heard how many Filipino colleagues commented "Philippine's Always Late". I also read reviews about how their entertainment system sucks. Oh well, I don't have an alternative anyway.

The flight was on Sunday afternoon at about 3pm. I arrived at the check-in counter only to realise that I had totally forgotten about online check-in and the check-in q was very long. The bag drop q was so much shorter. While in the check-in q, I was able to do an online check-in and happily skipped to the much shorter q only to realise that a huge group had came in and was stuck at the bag drop counter. Dispute the short q, it was simply NOT moving. Arrrggghhhh. I couldn't understand why printing boarding passes and dropping bags would take that long.

I was in the NOT moving q for at least 20 to 30 mins. All the time, I was resisting the urge to jump back to the slow moving check-in q. I felt like I could scream at somebody and had a hard time holding that urge before the q finally slowly moved. I hate inefficencies.

Bcos I was stuck so long in the q, there wasn't much time for shopping. I grabbed a purchase for Auntie SR and was off for the gate. By the time I cleared the security, I headed straight to the gate for boarding.

The moment I boarded the plane, I was taken aback by how small the plane was. I felt like I was on a budget airline and there was NO in-flight entertainment system! I thought it was just poor, I didn't expect to have no entertainment system at all! Sob.

The leg space was miserable. I saw some "big" people getting quite squashed up.

I was seated among very friendly Filipinos. The late next to me started a friendly chat, telling me about her company. The aircraft was noisy and I couldn't really hear her. I ended up constantly giving fake friendly smiles and nodded in agreement, hoping that she wouldn't ask me questions bcos I don't know how to answer her.

The take off was about 40 mins delay bcos there was some document that needed to be submitted and then the lanes were busy. Anyway, we made it into the air eventually.

I dozed a little and read a lot bcos there was nothing else to do. Thank God that I brought my Harry Potter book along! I was even more thankful that meals were served. I was hungry and had initially worried that it was really a no frill flight.

There was no choice by the time the food trolley reached me; I was seated right behind probably bcos of the last min check-in. I didn't care bcos I was hungry and eating helps to burn some time.

I was so glad to finally touch down. The friendly Filipinos were making small talks again towards the end of the flight and I was in my introvert self; I don't want to talk. She is indeed very nice. She gave me her namecard and checked that I have transportation when she met me again at the baggage collection and reminded me to call her if I met any problems. Awwwww...

The hotel arranged transfer was already waiting and my room was ready for check-in. Yeah! The best part? The hotel is right next to a huge shopping mall. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 104: Level Up Pain

The past few ice skating sessions had been very unsatisfactory. Just when I thought things would go uphill now that we solved the blister issue, Lil Shauna is testing me with all sorts of other complaints. Arrggghhhhh.

On Friday evening, she came home after shopping with the Fs and complained about this insect bite on her foot that was super itchy. She scratched it so much that the skin was broken.

On Saturday morning, we had a hearty Mac bfast at JP before heading for class. I was amazed at her appetite and thought that she must be undergoing a growth spurt. She was so chirpy until we reached JE. It was like the place was jinxed; she complained about a headache the moment we stepped foot on JE MRT. What the...

Fortunately, the headache didn't trouble her much bcos the drama lead this week was the insect bitten foot.... I have to say that it was a nasty bite. Not only the skin was broken but the surrounding area was red and swollen. We had a plaster on but she was still whinning so much when I put on her skate. I smell trouble.

Within 5 mins, she insisted that it was way too painful. We topped up with the gel pads in addition to the plaster.

She was still complaining how painful it was whenever she had the chance. I had to play deaf.

Class was painful to watch. J & R were early for practice; they are usually in the ice on Saturday afternoon. Seeing how hard they practiced on their own and how Lil Shauna was half dead looking during class, my heart ached. After class, the girl limped out of the rink. I think she deserved an acting award.

She refused to go back to the rink for more practice and started to take out her skates, the tape and everything. I was getting upset. She had an earful from me that afternoon. Arrggghhh.

I think she is taking my patience for granted and the scolding was a good wake up call. She said that she would work hard on her own the next time we come back to the ice. I shall see. Vomit blood.

Mummy Lim

I Found "Gold"

I was in a seminar a few days ago. Some parts of the seminar were interesting and enriching. However, my greatest haul was learning about this Screen Time Parental Control app. Lol.

What happened was, I had hidden the gadgets the night before. Now that school is out, without control, the kids could stare into the gadgets the ENTIRE day. Popo wouldn't control, she couldn't be more glad when they turned into screen zombies and make no noise at all. I don't blame her; it is no joke staying home with 2 noisy kids.

My plan was to call them during lunch to tell them the hiding spot so that they could retrieve the gadgets. When I finally remembered, it was 2ish in the afternoon and nobody had called, which only meant 1 thing – I had a lousy hiding spot and the kids had found the gadgets much earlier in the day.

I was so right. I saw Lil Shauna online on whatsapp. She quickly pushed the blame to Zaky and how he found the gadgets EARLY in the morning. This also meant that they had already turned into screen zombies a long time back. I lamented loudly and one of the participants at my table who is also a mummy of 2 quickly introduced the app to me.

This is a chargeable app and it comes with the 14 days’ trial. Briefly, I am able to limit the amount of screen time per day and able to cut off access immediately. The latter means that there will not be “5 more minutes” scenario during bedtime. I was so excited and downloaded the app immediately.

To instill control over the kids’ gadget, the app has to be downloaded in their gadget as well. I did this immediately the same night. The app works wonderfully on Lil Shauna’s android phone. Other than the mentioned features, I am able to set gadget-free night time period as well as school time blockages. I could select the apps that will be blocked out when these limits kick in and grant additional screen time when needed. The app comes with an activity log to track Lil Shauna’s screen activity. Woohoo! When the limits are activated, Lil Shauna will see a message to inform her that the selected apps are blocked. She could still use the other apps and functions that are not blocked by the limits. How cool, right?

It was trickier with the iPad. We had to 1st upgrade the software that took a long time. Unlike the android phone, the app is only able to track the total screen time that Zaky had used. When the limit is up, all the apps (except for the basic ones) DISAPPEARED from the screen. Magic…

We tried the app yday and I had Zaky calling me anxiously at 8.58am on why the apps weren’t back. Well, he was 2 minutes too early. They must have been gadget deprived bcos I could see that they used their gadget straight for almost 3 hours once the limits were removed. Lol. I tried to grant additional screen time in the night. It worked easily on Lil Shauna’s phone but we had some trouble with the iPad. We had to turn on and off the wifi and the iPad a couple of times before it finally worked. When the 30 mins extra screen time was up, the limits automatically kicked in and the kids automatically put down their gadget and headed to the bedroom. See, this is GOLD!

While the app isnt the smoothest and there were some lags, it is definitely better than trying to hide and pray that the kids wouldn't find their gadgets. I was worried that Zaky will have issues with his iPad this morning and he did but got the apps back after activating the Screen Time app. I then read and found that the app cannot be turned off on the iPad or the screen time control will kick in. We have no such issue with the android phone. I also found that the kids can “earn” extra screen time if they do certain tasks/ chores but of course subject to mummy’s approval and manual activation. Anyway, I think I am going to have so much fun with this app. Muahahahaha. I will decide in 2 weeks’ time if I should pay for the app. I think I would. I like torturing the kids. Hahaha.

Mummy Lim

1st Family Night Cycling

Zaky went for trail with Daddy Lil again on Saturday morning. He loves the pump track very much and also the snack after the trail. Haha.

Lil Shauna is missing out on all the cycling fun and is starting to feel it. She didn't bug but Daddy Lim had wanted to get her a new bicycle for Christmas so that we can all go cycling together. She had been using the yellow foldable bike that I passed down to her. That bike is good for leisure riding but a pain for distance. The longest that I did was about 10km on that bike and was panting and huffing thereafter. Lil Shauna had covered 8 to 10km on that bike too on several occasions but we had to go pretty slowly on those trips, also to cater to Zaky on his old kiddy bike.

We bought Lil Shauna's new ride from Decathlone. It was much cheaper that Zaky's, which explained why it was so much heavier. We didn't foresee her going for trails and thought that this is good enough for distance.

Immediately after the purchase, we brought it for test - our 1st night ride!

Both Daddy Lim and I didn't record the ride but we went all the way to the circular bridge that flies above AYE after Jurong Town Hall. It was probably about 20km.

The last morning ride with Zaky, we didn't go 20km and was much slower and he was full of complaints and whines. This time, peer pressure works wonder and we went much faster and he tolerated the 20km well.

Lil Shauna dispute not showing as much enthusiasm for cycling as compared to Zaky, is a stronger and steadier cyclist than Zaky. She had plenty of fun and couldn't agree more how her new ride is so much more nicer and easier than the yellow bike.

So what happened to the yellow bike and also Zaky's old bike? They found new home for them with 2 of the Fs. I was worried that we have to dispose them; they are afterall in good conditions, just that we needed more powerful bikes now. We had also intentionally gotten the biggest possible bikes for the kids, hoping that it would last them for the next few years to come.

Suddenly, it seems like we had a lot to hand down. The kids must be growing up too quickly. Yday, we found these in the toys cupboard.

Lil Shauna had been asking for sunglasses to wear in the car. I was actually quite pleased to dig these up so that we didn't have to spend $$ only to realise that Lil Shauna's head had grown so much bigger and the glasses can no longer fit her. Haha. We are going to pass these to Lollipop, QQ and MM. The kids are growing up!

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 103: Pain... All Sorts

We have finally conquered the blisters. I am not sure if it is the ezeefit booties + micropore tape credits or the fact that she has finally ran in her skates. It had afterall been 3 long months of battle with the blisters. Either way, I am loving the non blisters sessions.

While I thought that she could start flying in her new skates once the blister issue is resolved, Lil Shauna is testing my patience by throwing me another lemon - sore muscles.

Last Saturday we had no lesson but were in the rink for practice. In less than 10 mins, she complained of sore thighs, then sore calves, then sore whatever.. I had to push her so hard and she lasted only 1 hour in the rink. Yday, even before we started, she said that she had a headache. Win already. Then the sore muscles came back 10 mins after on the ice. Zzzzzz.

I told her to tell Coach Raymond that she wanted to do jumps for lessons bcos of the headache. They did jumps and I thought it was really bcos she told Coach Raymond so. Apparently, it was a coincident. Chey! Through the lessons, she looked half dead. Coach Raymond worked on her loop and flip jumps. Towards the end, I though she did her waltz and loop jump combi alright and she gave me a loop and loop jump combi as a bonus.

Coach Raymond remarked that she is still lazy to push at the end of the session. After Caoch Raymond left, Lil Shauna whispered to me that it wasn't her being lazy but her legs got no strength. Ok lor, win already. To help her train her "muscles", I made her go back to the ice after resurfacing to simply stroke. Hahaha.

We were back on ice this afternoon after church. After much pushing, Lil Shauna actually did alright. She gave me some nice scratch spins and a few nice jumps. How I wish she is motivated to do these herself without having me to do much! Ice skating is hard work.

Mummy Lim

School's Out

Woohoo! School's out! The kids are super excited. To prevent them from staring at the gadgets the whole day, I have asked them to draw up a time table and promised to reward them if they are disciplined enough to follow through.

Only Lil Shauna did hers; Zaky excused himself and said that he wanted to do it with me. Actually, he spent all his time watching the iPad. Zzzzz. Then he insisted that he could just follow jiejie's.

I am just as excited bcos I can finally throw away all their activity books and worksheets! They were cluttering the shelf so much when the teachers started to return them for revision. This is only one of the piles and the smaller ones. I had to walk a couple of trips to the recycled bin to dispose all the papers and books. Finally! Our shelf is clean and clear.

On a side note, the stack of papers reminded me of the books that I have finished and stacked up in the office.

I have just completed my 6th book for the year. Yeah, I can check off that resolution. Hehehe.

Mummy Lim

Happy 61st Birthday Popo

Popo turned 61 last Sunday. I suggested "pick and choose" bcos that is what the kids all enjoyed. My SIL found a nice deal online and we went for high tea at Orchard Hotel.

The selection wasn't fantastic and there wasn't much seafood but the price was reasonable after the discount.

Happy birthday Popo!

After high tea, we went for a movie, all 10 of us. We chose Ah Boys to Men 4 so that Popo can join us for the show. I have never caught the 1st 3 movies and didn't have high hopes for this one after I saw the preview.

The movie is HORRIBLE. The jokes are crude and the show is sexist. I cringed at times. There were so many product endorsement in the show and I felt like I was watching a 2-hour long commercial. It was so painful; I felt like I wasted 2 hours of my life. Sob. I was so glad when the show finally ended.

Well, I will just take it that I was spending time with the family.
Happy birthday Popo! Good health!

Mummy Lim

Worse Ever Grading Test

It is pretty obvious that Zaky has lost interest in TKD. He still enjoys class but isn't as enthusiastic as months back. He is now a red belt and had been going for his grading test faithfully once every 3 months since he started his TKD classes. To qualify for the black tip, he needed at least 20 lessons, which also meant 6 months' preparation period.

We had been having talks about stopping his TKD. At times, he wanted to stop immediately and at times, he wanted to try to attain his junior black belt. His last thoughts were attaining his junior black belt and thus we just paid the next 3 months' fees.

After working hard for 6 months, he is finally ready for his black tip grading test. It was the usual affair, the only difference is that he would be tested 2 out of the 4 patterns; 1 newly learned and 3 from the previously belts. I had been trying to get him to practice at home but it was so hard to get the lazy bugger to do so - another sign of his diminishing interest.

We arrived earlier than usual at the testing centre bcos the Masters would practice with the kids before the grading test. I think the extra practices will do him good. We were half an hour early and the testing was running late when they are usually very efficient and on time. This meant that the kids had a lot of time to practice and were made to practice the 4 patterns over and over and over again.

The lazy boy was enthusiastic initially.

However, after the nth time, he refused to practice, claiming that he was tired. We didn't do anything in the morning and I am not sure what he was tired about. It was a double whammy bcos the Master will let the kids Q for their grading test when they think that they had got the steps. By refusing to practice, the Master cannot tell if Zaky is ready and he had to wait.

For a good part of the practice time, he was hiding his face in my tummy and towards the end, he started sobbing. Zzzzz. I have no idea what the crying was for. He ended up as the last red belt student to q for the grading test and I had to coax him so much to go into the waiting area. If he skips the grading test, he would need to wait for another 3 months for the next one.

He did calm down at the waiting area and the Master made the kids practice a little bit more before they entered the testing centre. He made some mistakes here and there during the practices; I am not sure if he would pass this grading test.

After he entered the testing centre, it was another long wait bcos 5 kids were tested at 1 time and there was a long q in the centre.

When he finally exited from the testing centre, he was all smiles. He said that he was tested on pattern 6 and 7; he said that he ONLY made 2 mistakes. I am not sure what is the tolerance.

Anyway, the test was late by over 2 hours. We had originally booked the trampoline park for the kids at 1pm and had to postpone that. The kids settled for a mini trampoline but were similarly overjoyed.

I asked Zaky if he would stop his TKD if he fails the grading test. He thought about it and said that he would give it a final try before giving up. I hope he would pass or at least doesn't change his mind.

Mummy Lim

Workout Weekend

Daddy Lim had wanted to bring Zaky to the trail and finally it was a dry Saturday morning. I have no interest in trail but woke up bcos the boys were so noisy. Lol. Zaky jumped off the bed when Daddy Lim asked him to bcos he was excited about the trail.

After the boys left, I contemplated going for a solo ride but a solo ride sounded too sad. I took my time and lazed around until the last minute to go for a treadmill run. I had my fair share of workout too.

I heard that they had great fun. Daddy Lim said that Zaky loves the pump track.

They tried the tenderfoot trail and some other slightly harder trail.

It wasn't easy for the boy though it was an easy trail. Daddy Lim said that Zaky spent a lot of time pushing his bicycle more than actual cycling. Not only was climbing up the slope tough, going down was equally daunting and the boy chose to push the bike along than cycling. Nevertheless, from the way the boy related his 1st trail experience later in the day, you can tell that he absolutely enjoyed it.

While the family huffs and puffs on the Saturday morning, the sleeping beauty was enjoying her slumber. She didn't have ice skating lesson but we headed for the ice for some ice time. Did I tell you that her Zuca and ezeefit booties have arrived safely all the way from the US? Woohoo!

It didn't seem to fully protect the usual blister spot but I hope it would help. This blister war had been utterly irritating.

Of course, her Christmas present - the Zuca bag from Amazon.

We got it slightly cheaper by buying it from Amazon instead of from the skate shop in Singapore. The girl was thrilled but definitely needed more safety training to lug it carefully and not injured her dear mother.

The ice time wasn't anything to shout about. In the span of 1 hour, she made me take out her skates 3 times. There was no blister but it was sore here and pins and needles there plus plenty of other complaints. Arrrrggghhhh. I can't tell if the lack of blister was bcos of the bootie or that she didn't wear her skates long enough.

She almost got her waltz and loop jump combi though but refused to go back for extra practice after an hour. Chey.

The trail definitely left Zaky very tired. He was grouchy when he came out of his maths class and couldn't walk to the car.

He even snoozed on the way to Auntie H's house. Trail is hard business.

After a workout Saturday, that is not all. This morning, Daddy Lim and I went for our usual PCN ride. We worked harder than usual bcos Daddy Lim said that he barely worked out on the trail with Zaky. Hahaha.

Mummy Lim

Admiralty Park

Have you heard about the Admiralty Park? If you have a fb account, I am sure that you have read about it. So did I. The park is free and boast 26 fun slides! It already sounded like a kids heaven to me.

Last Sunday evening, we dated my brother's family to the park before dinner. I thought it would be great for the kids to run around before dinner.

We arrived at the road leading to the park and were shocked to see the row of cars that were parked illegally alongside the road. When we went past the park, we saw how crowded the park was. Daddy Lim attempted to find a legal parking lot and it was far away from the park. There was a long q to the tiny miserable car park beside the Park. Eventually, he dropped us and drove off to a nearby carpark and coffee shop for a coffee.

I felt like I was in USS waiting for fireworks just that it was bright daylight. Seriously, it was that crowded. We didn't have a clue where to start bcos the crowd blocked out majority of the playground.

My brother heard how crowded the park was and decided to give it a miss. We went ahead; we were afterall at the park.

The kids tried the above structure together with 200 other kids. The climb ended with a mini slide. Next we headed to the roller slide. There was a Q for the slide! While the kids Q for the gentler roller slide, I queue for the more popular and steeper one on behalf. I am definitely not the only parent who did so. I tried the steeper one with the kids and it was actually quite fun. My only worry was having my shorts caught in the roller and ripping my shorts. Luckily, no such misfortunate happened.

We saw the the super steep silver slides. The below picture was taken from the internet and I wished it was this empty.

It actual fact, the queue was super long. The kids climbed up to the top while I waited at the bottom. I told the kids to stick together.

After waiting for like forever, Lil Shauna came running to me and said that she lost Zaky. Zzzzz. She said that the queue for the slide was super long and they decided to abandon the queue after a short wait. They started making the descend and the next moment, Zaky was missing.

Looking at the crowd, I had no idea where to start looking. I asked Lil Shauna to wait at the bottom in case Zaky came looking for me while I went up to look for him. It was basically impossible; there were kids everywhere. I got Popo and wanted her to wait together with Lil Shauna. When we headed to where she was waiting, Zaky was with her. Phew! Apparently she saw him climbing around somewhere near. He was obviously not worried about being "lost".

I had 2 very upset kids - Zaky didn't have enough fun while Lil Shauna was upset about having to stick to a non-coperative Zaky who was running amok. We decided to leave the park but after the last roller slide. Daddy Lim was activated from wherever he was to come pick us.

Overall, the visit was a disappointment bcos it was so crowded. I cant even tell or see where are the rest of the slides. I have seen fb friends who posted videos of their kids playing in the empty park. Obviously, weekend evening is a horrible time to visit the park. I would love to go back on another better timing to enjoy the park. I am sure it would be a much better experience then.

Mummy Lim