Food Chain

A chain effect!
I feed Phoebe, Phoebe feeds Reuben :)

Our Independent Days

Aunty Nia has gone back to Indonesia, Semarang, for her 15-day vacation. Actually, her 2-year contract will only end in April 2010 but it will be inconvenient for her to go back in April because I will still be working. So I thought that I will let her go back earlier. Actually, she has been in Singapore for about 27 months already. We were the third family she has worked for. The first 2 rejected her and returned her to the agency (for whatever the reason, we do not know). Hence, when we chose her, she was a transfered maid and we were actually taking a huge gamble to employ her. We chose her because we saw her in real person. We interviewed her and she could speak English pretty well, having being stayed in Singapore for almost seven months. She does has her share of nonsense (which I don't wish to mention because anyone would have sent her back if they had known about her nonsense) but the most important thing is that, she loves my 2 children and she's pretty good in housework and she's teachable and has a good learning attitude.

She sms-ed me to ask about us and the kids. I felt touched that she does remember the kids although she is back home. Phoebe kept asking me about her Aunty Nia. She doesn't understand that Indonesia is very far away. She asked me, "Mommy, why Aunty Nia go back so long and haven't come back yet?" I've to explained to her that Aunty Nia's home is very far away and she cannot come back so quickly. When Phoebe sees me folding or hanging the clothes, again, she will ask me why Aunty Nia didn't come back to fold/hang the clothes. I asked her if she liked Aunty Nia. She gave me a shy smile and said yes. I asked her if Aunty Nia has ever scold or beat her or Didi Reuben before. She smiled and said no. I am glad that Aunty Nia has been kind to the children. Whenever the children are naughty and did not want to bathe, she would try to lure them into the bathroom. When we go to the supermarket, she would take her initiative and bring jackets for the children, in case they feel cold. She has cooked porridge for the children for 20 months and never once, have we found any fish bone in it. She has the patience to spoon-feed Reuben his milk every night and Reuben is a naughty-eater. Reuben addressed her as "Na" and Phoebe said affectionately that Aunty Nia is very brown.

I've asked Aunty Nia if she wants to come back after her trip home. She told me yes, but I didn't want to take her word for it, knowing that many maids have promised to be back home and yet did not fulfill their promises. Anyway, I have bought a return air ticket for her. I've told her that to be fair to me, she has to let me know earlier if she has no intention of coming back, so that I can have ample time to look for another helper. Anyway, if she does come back, I'm glad. If she doesn't, I would think that it's very foolish of her because we have been good to her. Well, unless she has other difficulties. Anyway, She is suppose to be back on the 11 December. Let's see if she'll be back :)

When Aunty Nia is not around, Phoebe volunteered to feed her Di-di Reuben. I thought she has done a great job!



I'm glad that Phoebe has matured quite a bit these few days. She would volunteer to put the clothes pegs for me when I am hanging the laundry. She would remove Reuben's shoes when we come back from outing. She would also watch out for his brother and alert me when Reuben wandered off. She would say, "Mommy, di-di has walked away already. Quick mommy. Hurry up catch di-di. Later di-di gets lost!" She would also let her brother have a go if he wants to play with her toys. (^_^)

What about papa? Papa has been most helpful during this period. He is very patient with the children, feeding Reuben porridge and spoon-feeding him his milk every night! When I shower the children, he would volunteer to moisturise and dress them. He will even wash the utensils when I'm busy tending to the children and make my Anlene milk for me every morning :) Three cheers for Papa!

So, can we do without a maid ? Technically, we can. But when we go back to work, my parents probably cannot because they are growing old and my mom needs more rest. We do feel tired fussing over the two little children. My parents will feel even more exhausted watching them for the whole day. As parents, our children will listen to us when we speak with authority over them, but with grandparents, I very much doubt that they will be just as obedient towards them.

Anyway, I'm enjoying my days with the two children. Till Aunty Nia comes back, we just have to work a little harder in taking care of our own children :)

Another Head Gear

Phoebe received another customised sweet hair band from Yi-yi (my sister) for her birthday. Last year, she received her first customised tiara from her too. Lovely presents :) Phoebe loves it much! :)

This year's hair band Vs last year's tiara :)

What's Our Height?

We used the measuring scale found in every MRT station to gauge the children's height. Phoebe is about 103 cm tall and Reuben is almost 80 cm. If he grows 10 cm taller, he'll need to get his own personal Ezlink card :) Phoebe has already started using her own Ezlink card since she was about 3 years old. We don't mind getting them their own Ezlink cards because it is rather cheap to travel using MRT in Singapore. For children, it's only 50 cent per trip, regardless of the distance travelled and the children enjoy tapping their cards to be scanned at the gantry. :)

Reuben's Giggling Laughter

We brought Phoebe and Reuben to Xiao Ci's birthday party. It is one of the best parties I've attended. There were face painting, magic show and yummy food for the children. My two children enjoy themselves very much. The magic show was very entertaining, even Reuben kept giggling himself silly :) Phoebe has a beautiful princess and butterfly picture drawn on her hand. Too bad, silly mommy forgot to bring her camera along, couldn't take pics of the nice drawings and we did not even take a picture with the birthday girl and her pretty pink cake. The adults felt very much at ease too, eating and drinking and chit-chatting. A very fun and comfortable birthday celebration! :) Thank you Auntie Jessy! :)

I Walk By Faith

This is Phoebe's concert performance with her class : Joy 1. The title of their performance was "I Walk By Faith".

Phoebe's SKMCC Concert

Phoebe had her school graduation concert on 7 November, Saturday. The concert started at 10 a.m. but the children had to reach school by 9.30 a.m. for make-up. It was an excellent concert and we could not help but teared when we see all the little children marching in. My throat was tight and I had to fight to swallow my tears in. It was a very touching moment. We grinned from ear to ear. Phoebe and her classmates performed an item entitled "I walked by Faith". In the grand finale, the children sang "Follow Jesus Christ". The school has an excellent instructional programme and every achievement of the children are celebrated. The teachers and principal are very kind and loving.

We're very proud of Phoebe and is very glad that she is growing well academically and spiritually in such a loving and kind environment! :)

Do you remember Dr. Moo from NIE (the lady in pants on the right)? She was my lecturer for one of the teaching subjects. Apparently, she is one of the school advisors in SKMCC committee.


Phoebe's Chinese teacher, Zou lao shi and her Form teacher, Ms Hoe.


Her little friends, Ezann, Mae, Phoebe, Alycia and Hui Sze. One of her art work done in school.

Bedtime Stories

Usually before bedtime, the Phoebe will get to listen to two to three stories while Reuben latched on to sleep. But recently, Reuben has developed an interest in reading bedtime stories too. He will take a book and pretend to read by babbling. Sometimes, Phoebe gets annoyed because she thought that di-di is disturning her, especially that he 'reads' very loudly. But other nights, Phoebe will play along and guide his brother to pretend to read by helping him to flip the pages. :) Reuben is reading Auntie KF's HOP on POP book. He likes that book very much. :)

What's Reuben Saying Now?

At 20 months, how is Reuben's verbalization of words ? :)

papa, mommy, jiejie, didi (himself), Ana (Auntie Nia), mama (grandma), gonggong (grandpa), yiyi (my sister), milk, car, nana (banana), apple, eddie (elephant), ostrich, orange, bish (fish), oosh (shoes), dog, baabaa, meow, ball, no, mum mum (eat), open, roar, two, dirty, there, lah lah (spicy), babbit (rabbit), Ah-ppo (hippo), dada (busuk senja da - poo poo), but but (butterfly), bird, woo-woo (monkey), moon, star, go, open door, eye, nose, mouth and Oh no!

43 words and still counting :)

His three popular words are papa, open and eddie. He loves to greet his papa voluntarily, which always brings about smiles and praises from his papa. Even if his papa is on the verge of falling asleep, he would sit up to entertain his favourite son :)

The two of them like to play the "Call Papa" game. What's that ? Watch this :)

Curly and The Log

Usually, the school will do activities related to the readers. Actually, it is very much similar to what we're doing in Primary school's STELLAR programme except that in primary schools, there are many more worksheets to be done. In fact, I think the primary school curriculum is following what the Pre-schools are doing. Sometimes, I wish that I'm more passionate about what I'm delivering, just like Phoebe's pre-school teachers. I also wish for more time for the primary school children to play and explore.

Anyway, for "Curly and the Log", the children made Curly the worm out of egg trays. Phoebe brought her Curly home and I love it! She's very proud of her work :) Me too! :)

Smooth Operator

Caught Reuben in action, playing with the telephone in my mom's place. Reuben thought that I would scold him, so he pretended to blink his eyes and unleash his innocent charm. It worked! Haha :)

Then, seeing that I didn't reprimand him for playing with the telephone, he got bolder and pretended to be on business, talking to his imaginary client online. Haha :)