Space is Good For Kids

Before havings kids, I prefer to have a smaller house, as small as possibe.

However, after Ethyl, and when Brayden arrived, I realised something missing from our house - SPACE.

The lack of space for the little one torun around and have fun! Not to mentioned,there is also little space to hide.

At our new place, they have they own play area, can run here and there, hide upstairs and downstairs. Though tiring looking after them with the additonal space now, I am counting my blessing.

Here I have a pair of cheerful kids.




At the balcony area, their dining cum play corner *smiles*

Show and Tell - My House

Ethyl's school has a show and tell segment every end of the term. I helped her to take some pictures and put them together.


The gal and boy were distracted by the iPhone


Ethyl starts writing about what she wants her friends to know about her house.


seriousy working on it...


Completed and ready to bring to school :)

Bento #05

Supposed to be my rest day from making bento, however little girl has been telling me to cook her pasta and she really hopes to have it tomorrow, I have no other choice, but to give in to her request.

Hubby softly blasted my ears for no keeping to my promise to rest well for a day. I am rebellious ya? *smiles*

Nevertheless, I still woke up earlier than usual as I will have more to prepare today.

I though the breakfast would be too heavy for her, but she told me, "Mommy, I will finish, if I can't finish all in the morning, I will eat them in the afternoon too!" Sweetie pie she is! However, I told her, if she can;t finish, just leave it as it will be too cold by noon to consume.

I hope she will enjoy her breakfast.



Here's Hubby's bento :)

On the Kids

I have updated a lot about the bento boxes I made for them for the past few days. Something has been lacking, and it is none other that the updates of the little ones.

Ethylyn

Her progress in school has been good and I am pleased with her performance thus far. Though there were times she refused to learn her spelling properly and kept making mistakes, I accepted this is part and parcel of the learning process, so long she still enjoys what she does, I will take things a step at a time.

Personal development is not something I want to neglect. Table etiquette, mannerism and self presentation is something I am working on with her right now. I don't understand why, but she tends to speak really loud. Not shouting, just loud and it does affect me sometimes. Too loud for my own comfort.

There were times she refuses to greet people, no matter how hard I try, she simply refused. Well, it is not that I never try, I did and warned her before we pop over relative/friend's place (especially my MIL), she simply refused to talk or greet certain people. What else can I do??

Brayden

A bundle of joy and fun. This boy has his charm. The way he smiles, laughs and mimic adults simply makes people around laugh.

He is able to sing about 45% of a few familiar songs taught to him repeatedly, this includes those CNY songs that Ethyl has been singing and dancing along with for the festive period. He begins to recognize more alphabets with Ethyl's help in coaching him during play time. As usual, he enjoys playing those peg puzzles to match alphabets, shapes and colors.

Something that is very pleasing to note, he enjoys his lessons in school. He is also getting more independent. He started to self-feed, wants to do many things himself and very expressive (in terms of expressions).

Love being with them both as they never fail to make my days brighter and more meaningful! Love you children!

Bento #04

homemade bread, egg and cheery tomatoes

Last day of my first week's attempt.

I made sandwich loaf myself last night, and made them these sandwiches with my very first try on making bread.

Texture of the bread is not ideal as it is a little too dense and lacks fluffiness. Taste wise is still acceptable.

Still thinking if I should wake up and make something for them tomorrow. Shall see how. Hubby says I look pale due to lack of quality rest. Maybe should just rest for a day.

Bento #03

As I was running late today, I didn't make the sushi rolls as I had planned. So the little boy had this car-shaped sandwich spread with Smuckers and some strawberries. Hubby had the same thing too!

No bento for my darling girl as she has fever and I told her to rest at home today.

It feels really good to spend some time preparing something for them. Nothing fanciful here, but it's something I made just for them!

Bento #02

My loved ones all love pancakes. Thus I made some for them today.



The pancakes were cut out with a bear shaped mold. Had wanted to put some chocolate sauce to make the eyes, nose and ears, but decided not to as it'll smudge and it will be "face-off" by the time the kids eat them in school.



The jelly is homemade. Brayden gets a crescent moon and a star whilst Ethylyn gets a jellied-pig.



In order to promote healthier eating, I baked the smiley potato faces and added to their bentos.

My First (proper) Attempt - Bento

My official attempt on bento making starts today. I have been preparing breakfast for them (and Hubby helped many times too), but those are just putting the bread, food in the lunch boxes and much to rave about.

This time, I bought many new bento tools to help me come up with some nice and lovely looking food for the kids.

It ain’t really easy when it comes to bento planning for Brayden. I will share why.

Planning for Ethyl’s been pretty easy as she is able to feed herself and has been very independent.



Today’s breakfast, bread rolls with sausage and cheese, strawberries, and gummies.

Brayden is still not very good in terms of self feeding. He can do it, but there will be accidental spills once in a while. Not too bad, but I do not wish to add on more chores for the teachers in school, thus I prepared something simple for him. Oh, did I ever share that Brayden is a “bread-boy”? He loves bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner and supper??
He likes bread without spread or fillings; he loves fresh, plain bread.


Brayden’s bento contains molded bread and gummies


They are packed and ready to go!


Hubby's bento contains wholemeal bread with tuna mayo, strawberries and sausages

Her First Math Lesson

Ethylyn started her lesson with Tuition Guru yesterday. Before she went for the class, she feel uncertain if she will enjoy, will teacher be nice, will she be tasked to do very difficult sums etc. All her concerns were redundant!

We were late for our first lesson as we were caught in the jam (due to the rain!). Nonetheless, we were greeted by a pretty and kind teacher when Ethyl went to her class. Her eyes sparkled when she saw her peers were doing some art work and asked softly, “Mommy, is this art class?” I replied, “No” and she was warmly ushered into the class by Teacher Natasha.

This 90 minutes wait for us ain’t too long. Hubby, Brayden and I were shopping around United Square while Ethyl had her lesson. When it’s time for us to go back, I can see from Ethyl’s expression that she totally enjoyed her lesson.

The art work I saw them doing was to cut out various parts of the bee and recite a poem, coupled with counting and spelling of the numbers. This approach I believe is to be creative at introducing them to the numbers and Ethyl’s much dreaded dry spelling drills that she gets from me at home (most times).

Little girl is definitely enjoying her lesson! She told me she hopes there is another class as she totally enjoyed herself and feedback that Teacher Natasha is a very kind and nice teacher. She presented her bee to me proudly and started reciting the poem on our way back home.

Ethylyn joins Tuition Guru to Learn Math

There has been some concern that I have when faced with coaching Ethylyn in her math. To me, it is fundamental to build a sound foundation on this subject that I really dreaded as I didn’t have a solid foundation and had a hard time struggling with this subject back then.

Math is essential, it is part of our daily lives, BUT…how to teach and coach the little girl without losing the meaning of learning? I was pretty lost and a little depressed that both of us got upset over the drilling of worksheets she has as homework from school. We all hated it, but that is her homework, she has to do it.

I once asked Janice if she has any programs for K2-goers as a preparatory course as it is much easier for our kids to be taught by others instead of ourselves as emotion may rule our head more than anything else and makes learning lose its fun.

Her only session for that age group is full and on a weekday which I can’t really send her there. However, Janice came up with another class with and I am glad she kept me in mind and put me in the loop for the new class. As an educator, I am sure Janice and her teacher will know what is better for the kids and how to make learning more fun.

Both Janice and her teacher came up with an integrated program for the kids in order to prepare them for the assessments in school.
I will update the lessons as we move on. The first lesson is starting in term 2 and Ethylyn is already looking forward to the lessons! Oh, did I mention Janice’s centre is called Tuition Guru?

Ma-Yee?

This is how little boy is calling me right now and we all think this is really cute.

He knows we find the way he says it amusing and has been saying it on purpose. Well, I do like to hear him call me "Mommy" or "Ma-yee" *beams*