Parents and Babes Look Alike

I still feel that both Reuben and Phoebe looks like me, rather than their papa, except that they both have much nicer eyes than me. They have inherited their papa's eyes which are good because they're big, round and strong, and no squint! I'm born with an Exotropia squint (one eyeball turned outwards), which I've inherited from my dad (aka gong-gong) but his is not obvious. Mine was very obvious, anyone who has seen me could not tell if I was looking at him/her or the person beside him/her. So when I was about 23 years old, I decided to go through an operation to tightened the muscle on my right eye so that my eyeballs can be aligned. So eversince I was pregnant, I would pray very hard, every night, that my children will not get a squint from me. God is faithful and He has answered my prayers, haven't He? See it for yourself :)

Mommies Power

We were supposed to go to Aunty Jessie's new place in AMK but at a twist of fate, we ended up having the gathering in our place. We had delicious sugar pizza and yoghurt pizza from Sarpino's. Aunty Linah also joined us in the gathering after Sophie had finished her dancing class in Thomson Plaza. It was a good time having adult talk. The girls played and I was busy chit-chatting and smelling Alfee that I forgot to take pictures of Sophie and Alfee. It was a meaningful afternoon spent!

Chalk Playing

I grew up in the era where chalk was the weapon of the teacher. No teacher was not equipped with a stick of chalk. I have even heard of flying chalks thrown by teachers to awake the daydreamers in the classrooms though none of it have happened to me in my convent school. But children these days have not heard of chalk. Teachers use whiteboard markers and IT peripheral to excite and engage the pupils.

When Phoebe and Reuben first saw the chalk in my friend's kiddy birthday party, they were intrigue by it. They drew pictures on the cemented ground. That was their first encouter of chalk. When I went to Ikea, I saw boxes of chalk being sold there, not expensive, about $1.50 for a box of 12 sticks. Surely I will not deprive my children of my childhood experience. I bought a box and they played with them on one of the saturday mornings, doodling on the common corridor. They had fun and Phoebe was surprised at how fast a stick of chalk got worn off. Actually, me too. I didn't know that chalk can get worn off so quickly. Of course, how would I know, right? When I started teaching, I was already using whiteboard markers and when I was a pupil myself, we wouldn't dare to touch the teachers' weapon. They were sacredly placed on the blackboard, not allowed to be touched unless the teacher enthroned it to you to inscribe your answers on the blackboard.

Anyway, back to now, after about half an hour of doodling, the children were dusty and perspiring. Off they went to have their shower while Mommy Me washed away the chalk traces with a bucket of water and a brush. Have fun - checked! :)

Goofing Around

Goofing around, pretending to be cats... Meow...

**Ooops! Phoebe saw this blog entry and told me that they were pretending to be poodle dogs, not cats! Haha :)

Pinnochio

We took Phoebe and Reuben to watch the musical Pinnochio on 10 December 2010. We bought the family package which consist of 4 tickets. Phoebe has watch many musical performances before but it was Reuben's first musical. The performance has about an hour plus with an interval. It was recommended for 4 year olds and above but Reuben was able to sit through the whole musical without any fidgeting. When the performance started, I could see that he was totally immersed in the show. I too felt that the performance was very captivating. A few days before the performance, we borrowed story books on Pinnochio and read the story to the children first. Hence, both Phoebe and Reuben could comprehend the show. They had enjoyed the show and they were able to give us a brief account of the content later on. Reuben couldn't pronounce the long name, Pinnochio, and changed him into a Japanese instead by calling him "Kinioto". Haha. Alright, from now on, Reuben can also join us in catching nice children musical too!! :)

Phoebe giving a brief summary of Pinnochio


Reuben had changed Pinnochio into a Japanese by calling him "Kinioto". Haha :)

Team Work

I had to be in school one of the school holidays and my parents had just flown to China for their tour. I had no choice but to leave the two kids with the maid, Aunty Nia, at home for a few hours. When I was back, the two kids were having their nap and I saw this stuck to the door of my bedroom. It's a little handbag with pictures of Prince Reuben and Princess Phoebe. It instantly melted my heart and I went over to kiss the faces of my sleeping children. Apparently, Phoebe drew the pictures and star, Aunty Nia drew the flowers, cut the pictures and made the handle of the handbag and Phoebe stuck the scotchtapes and Aunty Nia stuck it on the door. Teamwork = Funwork. Glad that they had fun, doing something meaningful together.

H for Helicopter Hat

Children is one of the best gift that God has given us. Sometimes, I just can't help but laugh at their goofiness. Every of their action is innocently cute to me. Why? Because I simply love them, much much and MUCH. When I go shopping, I no longer look at my own things. The first department is always the Children's Department. Even when sometimes I know that buying a particular item for them is a definite waste of money, I still cannot help but indulge in them. Whilst spending money on them is a pure joy, I was stingy to myself. Before I decided to make a purchase for myself, I often contemplate for quite a while, mentally debating if I really need that item and I sometimes find myself putting back the item onto the shelf.

Take a look at the Ikea helicopter hat. Reuben liked it very much the minute he placed it onto his head. It was not an expensive item, probably about $4.90(?) But does he need it? No! He has many of such hats - Chicken hat, Ladybird hat, Cowboy hat, Fireman hat... He definitely doesn't need a helicopter hat. But did I buy it for him? Yes. Why? Because he likes it, he looks cute in it and he is HAPPY. I could have gently tell him to put it back onto the shelf and I'm quite certain that he will not protest violently. Like he always does, he'll probably wave and say,

"Bye bye helicopter hat. See you next time."

Reuben can be such a sweet-natured boy sometimes. And at the end of the Ikea trip, I bought the helicopter hat for him because I love him!Loving my two children is the best gift I can give them and the best way to thank God for them :)

Loving them is the best gift I can give my two children...

Ice Ice Babies

I have not had the time to blog. Holidays are very busy, I'm with the children all the time. We took them out for various activities and ice-skating was one of them. The rink was in Velocity Mall. A child (below 1.4m) can get to ice-skate for 30 minutes when he/she produces a receipt of $60 in Velocity. So in order for Phoebe and Reuben to ice-skate each time, we need to spend $120. The two of them had ice-skate together for 4 times, so you can imagine how much money we had spent - $480. What did we spend the $480 on? Choice Vouchers. We bought the Choice vouchers from Cold Storage. These Choice vouchers can be used in Giant supermarket, Cold Storage, Shop N Save, Guardian etc. That's how far we were go for the sake of our precious babes. Haha. But the most important thing is that, they both enjoyed themselves very much and they were very excited about it. Velocity holds this event yearly. Next year, we'll surely them if they have this event again! :)

Go steady, my ice babies...