Hi!
It's been a while since I last posted and today I'd like to document my crazy big search for a good preschool for my dear son, which started 2 years ago and only ended yesterday :P
Let's see, let me start with my criteria for a good preschool:
(a) It has to be a school that is either within walking distance, or has a school bus that serves my area, and the journey should not be too long
(b) The teachers should be warm and engaging, and speak properly
(c) Curriculum should have a balance of academics (teaching them to read and write and speak) and moral values
(d) Good reviews online
Let's see, the first preschool I visited was Bedok Methodist Kindergarten, because that's where my husband went to when he was a kid, and it's also near his parents. I was nonchalant when I visited, and I remember nothing really impressed me about that school. The teachers were warm, the kids looked engaged, but the distance was a bit troubling. It was a bit far from where we were staying, and if we sent our kid there, he would spend half the day at my in-laws', and I can imagine him watching Chinese TV dramas and cooking shows while playing with trains the whole afternoon, until we picked him up. My in-laws are not very talkative people and they believe in leaving the kids to themselves, while the adults went on with their work/chores. So I can imagine a very non-stimulating environment for my son, and that was a no-no.
The second school we visited was Pat's Schoolhouse at Siglap. It was a premium full-day childcare and I had high hopes as I visited it. However, two things put me off: the premises looked very cramped, the staircase high and winding, and when one set of kids came out of the classroom, clutching some craft they had just made, to go to their next programme, I couldn't help thinking they looked a bit listless, and one boy definitely looked a bit cross-eyed as he looked at me. And the overwhelming feeling I got (together with their very impressive curriculum) was that, they totally overwhelm the kids with learning and activities, so that they have no time to think or process or just play around and be kids. The kids looked quite washed out. So I decided against them. I later visited another Pat's Schoolhouse branch at Buckley road, but that is for another blog post.
Then was a whole slew of preschools, which we struck out because they were either
(a) Showing cartoons to the kids during school-time (Just Kids)
(b) Telling off a boy for almost 20 minutes in a very naggy, bad-tempered way when the teacher was supposed to be teaching some words to a group of eager student (PCF near my place)
(c) Leaving kids alone to run amock while a lone teacher mopped up urine grumbling the whole time (same PCF)
(d) Did not seem to have an English teacher who pronounced properly (Creative Twinkles), and who also seemed to be generally lacking in energy and slow in movement (she took 10-15 minutes just to set up a projector and computer the whole time I was there), although she was very friendly
(d) Having a mix of teachers who ranged from very experienced to very inexperienced, and but knowing the inexperienced young teacher would be the one who would be taking the youngest class (Carpe Diem)
(e) Having a very weak academic curriculum (Kiddiwinkie near my workplace, and Hope Community Kindergarten)
(f) Being crazily expensive but having teachers who seemed just like myself - young and no commanding presence or great speaking voice to make them stand out as teachers (Odyssey) - yes maybe I am benchmarking against Julie Andrews a bit in Sound of Music, but for the highest childcare fees in Singapore, surely the teachers should be a cut above the rest?
(g) Having a great curriculum and teachers (except for a stern-looking Chinese PRC teacher who looked totally humourless and unhappy to be with kids all day) but was in a location where my husband would have to pick him up at 7pm sharp every day, which is stressful.
By this time, I had this weary feeling like this item "Find preschool" would be a task item that could never get crossed off my list, and time was ticking away.
Then one day, as I was in cell group, we were doing a topic on Insecurities, and one of the homework was to do research on the verses in the Bible that addressed our insecurities. No surprises, one of my greatest insecurities is not bringing up my kids in the best way possible, and somehow limiting their full potential later in life. When I did a cursory internet search on verses on bringing up children, however, I was shocked to find out - not only does the Bible not talk about the importance of sending your kid to a good school, of excelling in academics, and not being tall enough or focused or well-behaved, it only talks about the importance of three things -- sharing with them about God's Word, teaching them to love God, and disciplining them when we need to, and not exasperating them. I then added one more thing to my search criteria - the preschool should be in a church, which preferably will impart Christian values to my son too. This was also bolstered (divine coincidence) by several recent testimonies of friends/colleagues who sent their kids to church kindergartens, Christians and non-Christians alike, and were all very happy with them.
So, I did a google search on church kindergartens in the east, and found a couple of them. Then I checked the reviews, and struck out a couple, and called the rest. One of them was already full, so that was out. Another was very near but not yet built, so we can only decide in November (again, more on that later). Another apparently had run-down facilities and no other online reviews. So I put it a bit lower on my list. Another looked extremely promising (St Hilda's Kindergarten) but I found out to my horror later that it was actually very far from my place, and my son would have to be on the bus more than 2 hours a day, and skip lunch every day. I did identify one promising church kindergarten, which was in Pasir Ris - Pentecostal Methodist Church Kindergarten (PMCK) with good reviews and the bus uncle promised he could fetch kids living in my area, so my hubby and I went down yesterday to visit it.
To our surprise, the church was quite bright and well-maintained, even new-looking, and I saw the word "missions" on one of the banners, which gave me a good feeling. When I peeped into a few classrooms, the kids all were gathered around the teacher in a tight knot and being alert and raising hands (unlike many preschools where the kids were dispersed all around the class doing their own thing, and only a select group was with the teacher), and later when some classes filed out to go to assembly, I was pleasantly surprised that they were all very alert-looking and very pleasant in demeanour and well-behaved. They didn't look listless nor were they overly boisterous, just very happy, well-behaved kids. And when I saw a teacher teaching them some PE movement, the kids quickly followed suit. I think if I send my kid here, he may not become the most independent and original thinker in town, nor score marks for inquisitiveness, but he will learn to follow teacher's instructions and maybe a bit of self-control. That is important when he goes into our education system later on - I often worry that my son will not be able to sit still in class, or concentrate enough at home to finish his homework. Their curriculum seemed the same as many other curriculums we saw, thematic and all that, and they followed Jolly Phonics (so at least they do follow a system, unlike in some schools when the teacher could not even articulate that), and the admin lady who was bringing us around stressed that they do teach values through their 15 min assembly every morning and big assembly time on Fris, so the only down side was that we did not get to observe the teachers actually teaching in class and pronouncing, and we also saw a Filipino teacher who was teaching the class my son would be in next year. We then find out, to our surprise, that the admin lady also attended the same church as me! There were also vacancies left (not many) for the morning session, so even after he attends enrichment, he will still be back in good time for lunch.
Anyway, after a short discussion with my hubby, and since their fees were not steep, we decided to put down a deposit to guarantee a place for our son next year, all the while stressing that I would hope my son would NOT get the class with the Filipino teacher to the admin lady (and she kept saying no promises, but I think she will take note).
And the even funnier thing is, I find out later that night at cell group that the church - Pentecostal Methodist Church - is actually the church attended by one of my cell members (yes there are 3 who do not attend my church in my cell)! What a small world! She was not there though, so I could not squeal over this coincidence with her. But I will next week :)
I have been praying for a long time to make a wise decision on preschool for my sons and I considered this an answered prayer - for then.
After my boy started attending, we felt the preschool was fine, no complaints about the teachers (the Filipino teacher ended up being the super caring one) and my kid did find another naughty (oops, I meant active) boy and a few others to be his close friends, but we decided to pull my kid out because I was unexpectedly expecting a number 3 (planned by God!) and after running through the different care-taking arrangements and scenarios decided that it would be best if we sent both boys to full day childcare instead of half-day preschool, so my mum and maid can focus on taking care of the baby in the daytime.
So, we started hunting for a Christian full-day childcare near my place. I recalled the ECDA website had mentioned there would be a new childcare very near my place called Bethlehem Educare and checked the website and the tel no for any updates. To cut a long story short, it eventually opened, is within walking distance of my place, and the student-to-teacher ratio is very desirable - my eldest boy's class only has 4 students (with 2 teachers) and my younger boy's class has about 6 - 8 kids. The teachers are dedicated and passionate about the kids, giving me very detailed feedback about both my kids during the parent teacher conference, my eldest boy found another naughty little boy to be good friends with (see the pattern?), and my gentle younger one has become inseparable with a little girl (gasp!). So, this ends my preschool search phase 2. I hope there won't be a phase 3!!!
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
A Few Lessons From God
Hello hello,
I guess sometimes insomnia is a good friend of bloggers! I have been lamenting to myself and my friends about the lack of time to write this year, and since I find myself wide awake for no particular reason at 2am tonight, and happened to be online as I was shutting down my computer, I decided why not write about some things I believe God is teaching me these few weeks.
I guess many times, God speaks to me through repetition, or coincidence, or "divine resonance" of events, which is a cheem way of saying, how unrelated things over a period of time (maybe a month) seem to have the same theme or touch on the same topic. This is the case these past few weeks.
Let's see. It started with Sister Cynthia who visited my cell group as a guest speaker, to share about how she saw her role in the body of Christ. She was a soft-spoken, genteel lady but when she spoke on this topic, you could sense the fire in her soft, velvet-like voice. She spoke about how she felt, through verses that jumped out at her when she read the Bible, inner passions that never go away and through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, that she was to be a sort of "watchman" for this generation, to awaken more people of God to know their calling in God, or the role God wants them to play in His kingdom, and to fulfil it, and to raise up more workers for God in the harvest field. I wondered of course, what was my role in the kingdom of God, and was reminded once again of how I felt convicted to write my thoughts, reflections and learning points when I was penning down my reflections busily and happily in Starbucks in Dec 2013 (hmm...). I can certainly identify with the "inner passions that never go away" part. I have always wondered if God wants me to be a writer. He hasn't made that crystal clear to me yet, or given me a confirmation I cannot second-guess . But I recall what my ex-pastor and spiritual mentor said that even if I write it for me, to clarify my own thoughts on an issue, that would be valuable in itself. So I am heeding his advice, and starting small and humbly. Publishing a bestseller and achieving worldwide fame and glory can be something God decides to bestow on me later, or not! Haha!
So, the second thing that happened was when my husband shared about his conversation with a missionary friend. This guy told my husband about an intriguing concept - that there are three levels of giving we can achieve:
(i) Basic tithing - Where we give 10% to God, as mentioned in the Bible, or as another friend put it, we give 100% to God (since it all belongs to Him anyway) and He graciously gives us 90% to spend
(ii) We give beyond 10%, according to the faith He has given us, and we receive blessings manifold, sometimes even a hundredfold. He told us the parable of the soil, about when you sow on good soil, you can reap a harvest that is thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what you sowed
(iii) We reach a state whereby the giving and receiving are happening simultaneously and seamlessly and endlessly, where we are giving to God as fast as we can but He is giving back even faster - proving the point that you cannot outgive God. I smiled when I heard that - what a blessed state to be in!
I was challenged when I heard that about my personal life - the missionary said that this applies not just to money, but also our time, our energy, our talents. How little of everything do I give to God! And the missionary also said that there is a principle of the firstfruits - basically when you give the first and best portion of anything you have, you sanctify the rest of it. So for example, if you give God your first paycheck, you sanctify the rest of your paychecks, or God will protect and bless it. If you give God the first and best part of the day, you sanctify the rest of it. And so on. The example was how when Moses sacrificed Isaac, he sanctified the rest of the Jews. When God sacrificed His firstborn Son, He sanctified the rest of mankind who believe in Jesus. It is an interesting principle, and one which I cannot wait to test out! This is also in line with what I know of God's character - that He is looking at our heart - are we fully surrendered to Him, are we willing to give Him everything. And as a proxy of "everything", cos God isn't a sadist, He just knows what will give us maximum fulfillment in life, and that is not getting too attached to His gifts but He Himself, giving Him the first and best part of what we have is a good indication, or proof of our surrenderedness. We could go a step further and give Him more than the first part, and I guess that is where the second and third states of giving kick in - you just simply cannot outgive God. What a wonderful testimony such a life would be! I must say it seems unwise to make this a formula to get rich, the intent seems to go against the fundamental objective of God, which is to wean us away from "the deceitfulness of wealth", but I do believe God can use and honour whatever baby steps we can take, simply because He knows we are dust and so fallible.
The last one was when I simply ran out of fiction books to read (I hadn't had time to browse for new books for myself from the library, and my library card is maxed out with books for my children), and so I went to my bookshelf and picked out this book called "Been There Done That", which is an exciting book about a local guy who became an OM missionary and travelled the world. Several things stood out from the book:
At one point, he talked about how he was very shaken by two deaths he witnessed on the road as a missionary. Being a young Christian, he was troubled about where he would go if he died that night, and God showed him Galations 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me". The verse struck him like a tornado and he realised that his life was no longer his. It belonged and still belongs to Jesus. This resonated deep within me and struck me hard as well, I suppose because of its totality, its uncompromising nature. It talks about the ownership of our life. Who is the real owner of us? Who calls the shots? Who determines what we do with our time, our money, ourselves? The world will say, well, it's us of course! In fact, the whole self-help thing is about the self. Advertising is all about pampering the self. But here, God is saying, after believing in God, we no longer own ourselves. We are His. We are, in a way, dead to the world, as we are crucified with Christ. These are deep concepts, which I shall need to mull over to fully digest what it means. Clearly I am not dead. I still feel hunger, thirst, needs, wants. I still procrastinate and want to take the easy way out (e.g. entertain myself rather than write!). And I do not think God expects us not to take care of ourselves or enjoy ourselves. He is not a killjoy. In fact, God is probably the best party-goer in the world, and the one who most fully enjoys life. He knows how to have a good time. The Bible says He holds "eternal pleasures" in His right hand. But somehow, that is entwined with giving up. It is a paradox and a mystery. Perhaps it can only be experienced, not reasoned.
I guess sometimes insomnia is a good friend of bloggers! I have been lamenting to myself and my friends about the lack of time to write this year, and since I find myself wide awake for no particular reason at 2am tonight, and happened to be online as I was shutting down my computer, I decided why not write about some things I believe God is teaching me these few weeks.
I guess many times, God speaks to me through repetition, or coincidence, or "divine resonance" of events, which is a cheem way of saying, how unrelated things over a period of time (maybe a month) seem to have the same theme or touch on the same topic. This is the case these past few weeks.
Let's see. It started with Sister Cynthia who visited my cell group as a guest speaker, to share about how she saw her role in the body of Christ. She was a soft-spoken, genteel lady but when she spoke on this topic, you could sense the fire in her soft, velvet-like voice. She spoke about how she felt, through verses that jumped out at her when she read the Bible, inner passions that never go away and through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, that she was to be a sort of "watchman" for this generation, to awaken more people of God to know their calling in God, or the role God wants them to play in His kingdom, and to fulfil it, and to raise up more workers for God in the harvest field. I wondered of course, what was my role in the kingdom of God, and was reminded once again of how I felt convicted to write my thoughts, reflections and learning points when I was penning down my reflections busily and happily in Starbucks in Dec 2013 (hmm...). I can certainly identify with the "inner passions that never go away" part. I have always wondered if God wants me to be a writer. He hasn't made that crystal clear to me yet, or given me a confirmation I cannot second-guess . But I recall what my ex-pastor and spiritual mentor said that even if I write it for me, to clarify my own thoughts on an issue, that would be valuable in itself. So I am heeding his advice, and starting small and humbly. Publishing a bestseller and achieving worldwide fame and glory can be something God decides to bestow on me later, or not! Haha!
So, the second thing that happened was when my husband shared about his conversation with a missionary friend. This guy told my husband about an intriguing concept - that there are three levels of giving we can achieve:
(i) Basic tithing - Where we give 10% to God, as mentioned in the Bible, or as another friend put it, we give 100% to God (since it all belongs to Him anyway) and He graciously gives us 90% to spend
(ii) We give beyond 10%, according to the faith He has given us, and we receive blessings manifold, sometimes even a hundredfold. He told us the parable of the soil, about when you sow on good soil, you can reap a harvest that is thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what you sowed
(iii) We reach a state whereby the giving and receiving are happening simultaneously and seamlessly and endlessly, where we are giving to God as fast as we can but He is giving back even faster - proving the point that you cannot outgive God. I smiled when I heard that - what a blessed state to be in!
I was challenged when I heard that about my personal life - the missionary said that this applies not just to money, but also our time, our energy, our talents. How little of everything do I give to God! And the missionary also said that there is a principle of the firstfruits - basically when you give the first and best portion of anything you have, you sanctify the rest of it. So for example, if you give God your first paycheck, you sanctify the rest of your paychecks, or God will protect and bless it. If you give God the first and best part of the day, you sanctify the rest of it. And so on. The example was how when Moses sacrificed Isaac, he sanctified the rest of the Jews. When God sacrificed His firstborn Son, He sanctified the rest of mankind who believe in Jesus. It is an interesting principle, and one which I cannot wait to test out! This is also in line with what I know of God's character - that He is looking at our heart - are we fully surrendered to Him, are we willing to give Him everything. And as a proxy of "everything", cos God isn't a sadist, He just knows what will give us maximum fulfillment in life, and that is not getting too attached to His gifts but He Himself, giving Him the first and best part of what we have is a good indication, or proof of our surrenderedness. We could go a step further and give Him more than the first part, and I guess that is where the second and third states of giving kick in - you just simply cannot outgive God. What a wonderful testimony such a life would be! I must say it seems unwise to make this a formula to get rich, the intent seems to go against the fundamental objective of God, which is to wean us away from "the deceitfulness of wealth", but I do believe God can use and honour whatever baby steps we can take, simply because He knows we are dust and so fallible.
The last one was when I simply ran out of fiction books to read (I hadn't had time to browse for new books for myself from the library, and my library card is maxed out with books for my children), and so I went to my bookshelf and picked out this book called "Been There Done That", which is an exciting book about a local guy who became an OM missionary and travelled the world. Several things stood out from the book:
At one point, he talked about how he was very shaken by two deaths he witnessed on the road as a missionary. Being a young Christian, he was troubled about where he would go if he died that night, and God showed him Galations 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me". The verse struck him like a tornado and he realised that his life was no longer his. It belonged and still belongs to Jesus. This resonated deep within me and struck me hard as well, I suppose because of its totality, its uncompromising nature. It talks about the ownership of our life. Who is the real owner of us? Who calls the shots? Who determines what we do with our time, our money, ourselves? The world will say, well, it's us of course! In fact, the whole self-help thing is about the self. Advertising is all about pampering the self. But here, God is saying, after believing in God, we no longer own ourselves. We are His. We are, in a way, dead to the world, as we are crucified with Christ. These are deep concepts, which I shall need to mull over to fully digest what it means. Clearly I am not dead. I still feel hunger, thirst, needs, wants. I still procrastinate and want to take the easy way out (e.g. entertain myself rather than write!). And I do not think God expects us not to take care of ourselves or enjoy ourselves. He is not a killjoy. In fact, God is probably the best party-goer in the world, and the one who most fully enjoys life. He knows how to have a good time. The Bible says He holds "eternal pleasures" in His right hand. But somehow, that is entwined with giving up. It is a paradox and a mystery. Perhaps it can only be experienced, not reasoned.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Busy and Wonderful Holiday
Dear all,
Wow, I've been away really long. In the meantime, I have done many things, of which I list a hodge-podge of things below:
- Travelled to Bali with hubby and his sister and her enthusiastic, youthful gang of 3 other friends (really enjoyed the whitewater rafting and wading in the clear blue, warm and shallow sea, with lapping waves that create waist high waves that make it quite fun and exciting! So unlike the really calm and gentle sea of Singapore. Besides that, many of the things I felt could be done in Singapore, e.g. spa massage, nice meals, even doing some sea sports like jet-skiing and flying fish - why don't we have it in Singapore? We have the sea space for it)
- Went with inlaws and family to Botanic Gardens again, and even though this time we didn't see the awesome band again, we did see large turtles swimming in a large pond, several black and white birds with really long thin legs and gigantic feet, and smelled some really awesome earl grey loose leaf tea in a tin, in the orchid garden shop; also I just really enjoyed the negative ions in that garden. I always feel so refreshed after walking through it
- Went to Starbucks twice on my own with my laptop to blog and journal and pray and read the Bible (what a luxury for a working mom with 2 young kids!), and in my alone time, I reflected on what I really wanted to do next year and resolved to write a book or at least, a series of articles addressing the most commonly asked but tricky questions and issues faced by Singaporeans today! They range from issues arising from relationships (or lack of them), to work to family to personal life. And I'm tentatively going to name it "80 Seconds", and aim for each chapter to finish reading within 80 seconds! So yes, the general gist of the book is to provide quick, snappy, and easy-to-read answers backed by quantitative statistics and sound reasoning wherever possible (I realised reading some websites debating some of these issues, the writers tend to make generalist or sweeping statements without any proof, and anyone who knows statistics knows that you can twist a statistic to support your argument, so even more so when you don't even quote statistics, it just makes the debate really hard to follow, or for people to know who's right). However, I do realise that in today's day and age, the number of people who read hardcopy books is rapidly dwindling (just take a look around the train), and since my primary aim in writing is to share my ideas, I may also publish these articles online too - watch this blog for posts of my articles!
- We went cycling with the kids (yes, my 15-month old Caleb and 2 year 9 month Jack) in Pulau Ubin, with my hubby's friends. It was surprisingly enjoyable, and a refreshing change from the usual mall-hopping and playground-visiting that we do. It costs $12 per bike if you want a child seat, and you get to use the bike the whole day! During the trip, we also had the chance to spot a really large spider and its intricate web, and as there were about ten kids there (my hubby's friends all brought their kids), we wanted them to see the spider. But the spider was just sitting in the middle of its web not doing anything, and Caleb had trouble seeing what the big fuss was about. So to catch his attention and show him where the spider was, I picked up a small stick and threw it at the impressive web. Sure enough, it caught and caused a stir in the web, which allowed Caleb to spot it, and also the spider immediately ran to check out the stick! But after feeling it around for quite a while, it realised it was not food, but then it started to twist the stick around and around, and slowly, slowly, eased the stick out of the web so it dropped to the floor! And then, it didn't stop there, it went on to repair the web so it was back to its pristine condition, ripe for catching mosquitoes and flies! Great spider! God really made the spider with amazing abilities.
- Went to two Christmas parties, of which one (organised by my cell) had the interesting game of "Sadistic Santa". It really had us in stitches at points, as the sadistic and selfish side of people came out! Leave a comment if you want to know how the game is played! Other games we played included two truths and a lie, and guess the baby photo :)
- Reconnected with my childhood favourite author, Christopher Pike, as in, I was wandering in Popular bookshop when I saw a brand new series of books written by him, when I thought he had stopped writing for a really long time. I quickly researched, and realised he had written a fair number of new books, and repackaged many of his old ones (good for him!) and even has 2 of his books being made into movies! Unbelieveable! I really enjoy his fast-paced, action-packed novels that usually contain mind-blowing ideas, premises and plot twists, but I find his forays into vampires and eastern religion a little less appealing than his other books
- Brought Jack to his playgroup for the first time today! Thankfully he didn't cry, although he did ask to leave quite a few times. We shall see how he behaves over the next few days, if he can really assimilate into his class.
- Borrowed and read endless books to both boys. I am constantly surprised at Jack's amazing memory, and Caleb is now babbling and speaking new words at an amazing rate. Sometimes he just mutters strings of words he knows one after another in quick succession, even if they are not making a sentence. Like "Keke, jie jie, papa" and "dog dog, sheep baaa, mae, ow ow". Caleb's personality is now coming through - he passionately likes animals, food, drawing and going out or "gai gai". Hmm... sounds a little like mommy... Jack likes playing with the tablet, going outdoors to run around and kick a ball around, and music. He really really loves music, almost to the point of going into a trance-like state and chortling with glee to himself when he is listening to a really nice track. His favourites include the soundtrack of Superman, Star Wars, Jurassic Park (from my hubby's sci-fi movie soundtrack CD) and now, an instrumental medley of Christian carols sent to us by a friend
- Read a lot of nice books, including Hunger Games (I reread the whole trilogy), Game of Thrones (I read all the books over 2 years! Now waiting for the sixth!), and some of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels.
It's been a busy two weeks of holidays indeed. Am going back to work tomorrow! Can't wait!
-
Wow, I've been away really long. In the meantime, I have done many things, of which I list a hodge-podge of things below:
- Travelled to Bali with hubby and his sister and her enthusiastic, youthful gang of 3 other friends (really enjoyed the whitewater rafting and wading in the clear blue, warm and shallow sea, with lapping waves that create waist high waves that make it quite fun and exciting! So unlike the really calm and gentle sea of Singapore. Besides that, many of the things I felt could be done in Singapore, e.g. spa massage, nice meals, even doing some sea sports like jet-skiing and flying fish - why don't we have it in Singapore? We have the sea space for it)
- Went with inlaws and family to Botanic Gardens again, and even though this time we didn't see the awesome band again, we did see large turtles swimming in a large pond, several black and white birds with really long thin legs and gigantic feet, and smelled some really awesome earl grey loose leaf tea in a tin, in the orchid garden shop; also I just really enjoyed the negative ions in that garden. I always feel so refreshed after walking through it
- Went to Starbucks twice on my own with my laptop to blog and journal and pray and read the Bible (what a luxury for a working mom with 2 young kids!), and in my alone time, I reflected on what I really wanted to do next year and resolved to write a book or at least, a series of articles addressing the most commonly asked but tricky questions and issues faced by Singaporeans today! They range from issues arising from relationships (or lack of them), to work to family to personal life. And I'm tentatively going to name it "80 Seconds", and aim for each chapter to finish reading within 80 seconds! So yes, the general gist of the book is to provide quick, snappy, and easy-to-read answers backed by quantitative statistics and sound reasoning wherever possible (I realised reading some websites debating some of these issues, the writers tend to make generalist or sweeping statements without any proof, and anyone who knows statistics knows that you can twist a statistic to support your argument, so even more so when you don't even quote statistics, it just makes the debate really hard to follow, or for people to know who's right). However, I do realise that in today's day and age, the number of people who read hardcopy books is rapidly dwindling (just take a look around the train), and since my primary aim in writing is to share my ideas, I may also publish these articles online too - watch this blog for posts of my articles!
- We went cycling with the kids (yes, my 15-month old Caleb and 2 year 9 month Jack) in Pulau Ubin, with my hubby's friends. It was surprisingly enjoyable, and a refreshing change from the usual mall-hopping and playground-visiting that we do. It costs $12 per bike if you want a child seat, and you get to use the bike the whole day! During the trip, we also had the chance to spot a really large spider and its intricate web, and as there were about ten kids there (my hubby's friends all brought their kids), we wanted them to see the spider. But the spider was just sitting in the middle of its web not doing anything, and Caleb had trouble seeing what the big fuss was about. So to catch his attention and show him where the spider was, I picked up a small stick and threw it at the impressive web. Sure enough, it caught and caused a stir in the web, which allowed Caleb to spot it, and also the spider immediately ran to check out the stick! But after feeling it around for quite a while, it realised it was not food, but then it started to twist the stick around and around, and slowly, slowly, eased the stick out of the web so it dropped to the floor! And then, it didn't stop there, it went on to repair the web so it was back to its pristine condition, ripe for catching mosquitoes and flies! Great spider! God really made the spider with amazing abilities.
- Went to two Christmas parties, of which one (organised by my cell) had the interesting game of "Sadistic Santa". It really had us in stitches at points, as the sadistic and selfish side of people came out! Leave a comment if you want to know how the game is played! Other games we played included two truths and a lie, and guess the baby photo :)
- Reconnected with my childhood favourite author, Christopher Pike, as in, I was wandering in Popular bookshop when I saw a brand new series of books written by him, when I thought he had stopped writing for a really long time. I quickly researched, and realised he had written a fair number of new books, and repackaged many of his old ones (good for him!) and even has 2 of his books being made into movies! Unbelieveable! I really enjoy his fast-paced, action-packed novels that usually contain mind-blowing ideas, premises and plot twists, but I find his forays into vampires and eastern religion a little less appealing than his other books
- Brought Jack to his playgroup for the first time today! Thankfully he didn't cry, although he did ask to leave quite a few times. We shall see how he behaves over the next few days, if he can really assimilate into his class.
- Borrowed and read endless books to both boys. I am constantly surprised at Jack's amazing memory, and Caleb is now babbling and speaking new words at an amazing rate. Sometimes he just mutters strings of words he knows one after another in quick succession, even if they are not making a sentence. Like "Keke, jie jie, papa" and "dog dog, sheep baaa, mae, ow ow". Caleb's personality is now coming through - he passionately likes animals, food, drawing and going out or "gai gai". Hmm... sounds a little like mommy... Jack likes playing with the tablet, going outdoors to run around and kick a ball around, and music. He really really loves music, almost to the point of going into a trance-like state and chortling with glee to himself when he is listening to a really nice track. His favourites include the soundtrack of Superman, Star Wars, Jurassic Park (from my hubby's sci-fi movie soundtrack CD) and now, an instrumental medley of Christian carols sent to us by a friend
- Read a lot of nice books, including Hunger Games (I reread the whole trilogy), Game of Thrones (I read all the books over 2 years! Now waiting for the sixth!), and some of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels.
It's been a busy two weeks of holidays indeed. Am going back to work tomorrow! Can't wait!
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