Inspired by Reuben Morgan

I named my son Reuben because I was greatly inspired by the gospel song writer cum worship pastor, Reuben Morgan. I pray that my son, Reuben Ong, will worship God all the days of his life and that God will bless Reuben with a talent that will be used to bring forth His Love to all mankind. Amen!

I just want to bless all my readers with this worship song written by Reuben Morgan. God Bless you!

Passport Renewal

Phoebe's passport is due for renewal. I can still remember that I made passport for her when she was about 15 months because we were taking her to Hong Kong for holiday. She did not have much hair even when she was about 2 years old. It was only until about 2 that her hair started to sprout from her scalp. It was difficult to take a passport photo for her at that age. I put a piece of white nappy on the bed and get Phoebe to lie down on the nappy to take this picture. She was weary of what I was doing, you can see it in her face. Today, I took another passport photo for her. It was so much easier and she was very cooperative. She looks really different now, for one, she has much more hair now! haha :)

Then and now...

Appreciating Our Village - A Great Man

"It takes a village to raise a child..."

I truly believe in this statement. Raising children is not easy, what more, with working mothers and fathers. Nurturing the children is the responsibility of the parents and I thank God that my children have a loving papa who is always cracking his brains on how to enrich the children in their experiential learning. But it takes more than just the father and mother to help in raising the children, what happens to my children when the papa and mommy are at work? The other members of our 'village' take over the role. That's why I am always very appreciative to the people who are involved directly in the raising of my two precious children. In this blog entry, I am going to talk about the children's loving gong-gong.

Gong gong is the firm but loving disciplinarian. Whenever Phoebe has enrichment classes in the evening, gong gong will sacrifice his afternoon walks to make sure that Phoebe takes her nap in the afternoon. Everyday, I will give Phoebe a piece of homework to be done after school and gong gong will make sure that Phoebe completes her work in the afternoon.

He is also a loving grandfather. When Phoebe was a baby, he will not hesitate to feed her porridge, change her soiled diapers or carry her to sleep. Sometimes when Phoebe was cranky and did not want to nap, he would put her on her stroller and take her for a stroll in the nearby park, watching people playing basketball or badminton. Phoebe loved that and sometimes would fall asleep after a while. The two of them would spend their quiet moments together - one old, one young. It was really a very sweet sight.

When Phoebe and Reuben started school in Little Learners, gong gong will be the one walking the children home from their school, in rain or shine. His legs are not very good, with painful knees due to the almost worn off cartilage and he does not drive but he would walk the children to their schools. Sometimes, when I had to be in school early, he would walk all the way to my place to fetch the children to his place. When Phoebe goes to SKMCC, gong gong will make sure that he will be in time to fetch her from her school bus drop-off point. Sometimes, he has to go to the market or the polyclinic for check-up but he always tries his best to come back on time to fetch his dearest grand daughter.

Gong gong also buys "siew mai" for Phoebe when he knows that Phoebe loves eating it. When he knows that Reuben has constipation problem, he will make sure that he stocks up his fridge with peach flavoured vitagen because Reuben only likes peach flavoured vitagen and vitagen helps in digestion. He buys Grip Water from the chinese medical hall for Reuben and makes sure that he takes his grip water to aid in his digestion

I am really thankful for this old man, the loving gong gong and I know that my children love him too. Phoebe will not hesitate to hug his big tummy and Reuben will always call out for his gong gong to watch the 7 pm Taiwanese drama "Ai". Reuben will even lay the cushions properly on the sofa so that his gong-gong will be able to sit comfortable to watch his favourite Taiwanese drama.

Gong gong is really a great parent and grandparent. As a parent, he was very frugal. He is very stingy to himself but he provides abundantly for his family. When we were young, my dad used to walk to work (to and fro), so that he could save the little bit of bus fare. We were not rich but we had enough. Even till today, he will not hesitate to switch on the air-con for his grandchildren to nap in comfort but he will eat the leftovers from the previous night's dinner just to be thrifty.

In him, I've also witnessed kindness. He treats every human being, lowly or almighty, with respect. Many people would just give their maids bread, instant noodles or leftovers to briefly dismiss their meals. But gong gong is different. He makes sure that my maid will get a freshly-bought packet of economical rice for lunch everyday. He always says that we need to feed the maid properly because she needs to work for us. Without proper food, she will not be able to perform her tasks well. My maid has been with us for almost 3 years and she has not eaten instant noodles in my parents' place for more than 3 times! Gong gong always tell us that it is already very pitiful for the maids to leave their homes and young children to work, we should treat them with respect and care. Through him, I have learnt to treat others with kindness and care. Gong gong is indeed a man of great stature.

He does not need to be a wealthy man or a CEO, but in our sight, he is a great great man ; self-sacrificing, loving and yet, firm. I praise God for giving me and my children such a wonderful (grand)parent and I thank God that He has allowed my children to be raised by gong gong and to grow strongly in their bond. I pray that my children will never forget their grandfather and will always be grateful to their loving gong gong.

I always give them a year end treat to show my appreciation to them. We had Tim Sum in Crystal Jade (Plaza Singapura) in December 2010.

Phoebe Rapunzal

In the December school holidays in 2010, we took Phoebe to watch Rapunzal. Prior to that, I tried to find storybooks on Rapunzal. I was hoping to find the original version for her to read but in vain. All the versions were from Disney. I remember that I used to have a Ladybird story book on Rapunzal but of course, after so many years, the book has either been misplaced or given away by my mother. So I briefly told Phoebe the story to the best my memory can recall before letting her catch the movie in the cinema. This will give her a prior knowledge so that I can save some saliva explaining during the show. She loved the movie very much. After the show, she went home to draw a picture of Rapunzal with loooong hair. She said she wants to keep her hair as long as Rapunzal's! We bought her the Rapunzal storybook to read to her. When she went to grandma's place, my mum gave her a few scarves and she tied it on her head and joined the scarves to form a looong trail. She said she was Rapunzal, with the loooong "hair" and she told us to call her Rapunzal instead of Phoebe. Well, we all played along with her. It good to play dress-up! And we all enjoyed it :)

Christmas Dinner with Gramps & Yiyi

Christmas should be spent with people whom you love. Hence, for 2010's Christmas, we decided to invite gramps and Yiyi to our house for a Christmas dinner. Too bad, papa had to attend a colleague's wedding banquet dinner, so he was unable to join us. Nevertheless, we had a fun time together. I cooked western food to blend with the occasion. It was simple food but cooked with love. Yiyi bought nice Christmas presents for the children - Musical Percy train for Reuben and Princess accessories set for Phoebe. The children enjoyed having their loving gramps and Yiyi around. It was an enjoyable and meaningful evening.

Proverbs 17:6
Children’s children are a crown to the aged,and parents are the pride of their children.

The children love their Yiyi - She is strict with the children but doting 0n them too!

Children Can't Sit - The Evidence

When I am in class, I often have to tell the Primary 1 and 2 children to sit on their chairs. I will ask them,

"I didn't punish you, why are you standing?" or
"Do you have a porcupine on your chair? Why can't you sit?"

Then when I am back home, I see my two children not sitting too. When I revise some work with Phoebe at the dining table, she will sit on the edge of the chair for a minute and then for the next minute, she will be standing. Haha. Why can't children sit ? I guess it's either

1) They are always on the move, or

2) The height of the chair and table is not in proportion to their body size.

I just think it's a combination of both reasons! Verdict : The Bouncy Butts Can't Sit! Haha! :)

Each one one computer, no fighting, no issues... :)

Little Knitter

Aunty Ann has given Phoebe a very special present for Christmas in 2010. She brought the present all the way from Taman Jurong to the Pasir Ris chalet. It was a present well thought of and Phoebe enjoyed the process of knitting. It was her first time knitting and she needs some help from me. I can still remember myself learning to knit when I was in primary school. It was my "gu-ma" (my dad's elder sister) who taught me how to do it. I could only knit simple scarf and I have knitted two scarves before. It was a skill passed down to me. When Phoebe is older, I will also teach her how to knit a scarf for herself. But right now, I think she is just very contented to be able to knit scarves for her stuffed toys :)

It Doesn't Matter Where

Last December, we did not know where to go but were longing for a holiday that was no expensive and yet enjoyable for all of us, not just the children. We did not want to go to far away places such as Hong Kong or Australia yet as we thought that the children may not understand where they were and it would be a hassle to bring along Reuben's diapers. And with the higher cost, we may not be able to bring Aunty Nia along too. So after much consideration, we decided to book a chalet in Downtown East again. Our last trip to Downtown East chalet was very pleasant and the children remembered that place very well. We asked our family friends to come along too and they also got a chalet unit next to ours. To our pleasant surprise, this time round, the rooms were even better than our last trip. They were newly furnished and we did not have any noisy neighbours as the rooms next to us were used as storage.

The children truely enjoyed themselves and since that trip, Reuben kept saying,"I want to go holiday again!" He has fond memories and could even tell us what he did there. I realised that, to the children, it doesn't really matter where they go, whether is it expensive holidays or nearby places. Most importantly, they are with their parents, doing something together as a family. That's what they want most!

Prata Eating Monkey Viewing

Sometimes, we like to go to the Causarina Prata Place to have our pratas. Reuben and Phoebe has learnt to eat prata recently. We always order cheese prata for Phoebe and egg prata for Reuben. They will eat it plain because I do not like the idea of adding sugar to the already existing fats. After our prata meal, we will proceed to the Pierce Reservoir to look at the wild monkeys. The children enjoy it a lot. We will just observe them from the car because we are afraid that they may be dangerous. Usually, they are very bold and will come close to our car to see if we have food for them. But being law-abidding citizens, we will not feed the monkeys. We also teach the children how to read the sign for "No feeding monkeys". The children are obedient and will not pester us to feed the monkeys even though they do ask us what the monkeys eat.

First Entry for 2011

Oh dear, I just realised that I've not blog for almost a month! My first blog of the year 2011 will be an entry of apology to my loyal readers. Sorry for "starving"you guys out there for the past one month. With no blogging, it doesn't mean that nothing is going in my or my children's life. In fact, I've much to blog about, but with no time or rather, discipline.

With me getting an iPhone, I am dealing with Facebook and 'Whatsapp' more these days. It's indeed a very convenient gadget but I often wonder if, 30 years down the line, when I'm in my 60s, will I get radiation-related medical problems on my fingers or hands, due to the excessive contact with electronic devices such as handphones and laptops. Our parents will not experience such problems now because they do not have these gadgets when they were young. Maybe in the near future, we may have new medical conditions called e-rheumatism? The e-elbow condition? The stiff e-neck? The e-rthritis (instead of arthritis)? e-myopia? I don't know. As it is not, I'm already experiencing a pain on my right elbow, which has been in existence since 3-4 months ago. Could it be due to the use of PC and the clicking of mouse? I've went to the Chinese Physician once, but the pain is still there so I gave up. Anyway, it's getting better and hopefully, maybe with the invention of the iPad, there could be a follow-up invention of iPC where the mouse will be obsolete for ever. We just need to type on the good old keyboard and use our fingers to touch on the screen, a bit like the AXS machine! :)

Anyway, it's time for school soon. And I'll be taking Reuben and Nia to grandma's house before taking him to "Sha-La-La" later. Phoebe is already in school at this hour and she's in K2 now! How time flies! Will blog more soon, I promise, my loyal readers!

Ciao for now!! :)