Lantern Festival 2013

A festival that we hardly pay any attention to ever since the days our childhood is over. The best memory I had of lantern festival was when I was a young child, say like 7 years old, carrying my lantern which I can't even recall what shape and pattern it is, following the RC organized event of merely walking around the estate with all the children. I guess the lantern is most probably the shape of an animal made from mainly red cellophane paper with a little holder made from wire for the candle. Well, in those days we hardly had fanciful battery operated lantern which light up at the touch of a button and sing a certain song loudly. Not that I am complaining but I would prefer the simplified cellophane lanterns anytime though the tricky part is trying to balance the candle and prevent the lantern going up in flame. Appear to be so boring right looking back but frankly at that moment it was so much fun, no wonder they called it the simple joy of children. Next will be trying to peel the pomelo with the skin still intact in one whole piece and tada, a homemade lantern after putting in a candle.

 

Now it set me thinking on what kind of activity I would like to expose the children to in view of the festival. Being the lazy mama as always, the past few years we have practically done nothing, at least not that I am able to recall of. Yes it is that bad. Looked like I need to buck up with more meaningful activities for the children, guilty as charged! Having said that, we did nothing again this year! LOL

The lanterns which are a gift was destroyed by the 2 destroyers way before the festival day itself. Due to miscommunication, I was not aware that the children have no lanterns totally for the day! Well I got to know of it only on the evening of the very day. So after dinner, armed with only Zethan's lantern he made in school, we set off looking around for more lanterns. To our surprise, we could not spot any children with lanterns in the estate totally?!! Geez, what is happening to the children in this estate, no fun and simply no life?!

As we crossed over to central, we could only spot 3 miserable set of child / children showing off their lanterns proudly. The next shock came when no other retailers even those in Junction 8 sell lanterns except for NTUC and trust me the lanterns they sell is just so unattractive. Since there are no other options available, just have to make do with them. No candle lest accident happen, the little man was just as excited carrying the unlit lantern on the walk home. So there you are, the Lantern Festival celebration we have, Zelyn's first!

Anniversary

Our simple dinner out with the whole family to celebrate the day!

Enjoy the photos! One of the very rare family photo where all are looking at the camera smiling ^_^

10 years

What's up with me and counting the days or rather years?! It just dawn on me that my previous post is along the line to xx years too! Probably a strong signal that I am getting on in age, Hee.

 

Today marked the decade of our 'toilet paper' aka marriage certificate, 10 years since we commit ourselves to each other, penning on the dotted line giving away our freedom and change of status.

 

10 years later, we are complete as a family, a small family of 4. Yes you read it right, we are confirmed, chopped, signed stopping at 2 so factory going to declare shutting down.

 

We have been through our fair shares of ups and downs, goods and bads. It was not a smooth sailing journey for the past 10 years but we survived through it. Sometimes I am appreciative that we are of extreme character which have probably attribute to how we have managed to come this far. Of course there are times when I would rather to resolve the issue there and then rather than keep it suspended and hanging in the air. In many instances I had to keep reminding myself to tame down and quit being too strong headed.

 

No I am not going to get all touchy feely in the post but it is freaking scary to start counting the numbers every time there is an occasion. Time did not slowed down after certain age but apparently went past much faster than it could be. A good tell-tale sign would definitely be the children! Alright looking forward to many more years to come and counting, no major celebration, no renewal of vows, no new engagement ring but just a simple affair of dinner with the whole family!  

2 years

September 11 marked the 2nd year in our current home, our 2nd nest together. It will still be at least for another 3 years before we meet the minimum occupancy period (MOP) to be eligible to sell again. Thinking about the hassle of buying, selling, packing, unpacking definitely put us off, reconsidering the decision to move or stay put.

 

It's a love and hate relationship with our current home. We love the spaciousness of the unit, the location and accessibility. The cosiness of our home and of course the home where Zelyn arrived in.

 

On the downside, being on the low floor, tons of mozzies and the surrounding neighbours definitely put us off big time. The immediate next door neighbour stick out like a sore thumb to start it off. Occupying the common walkway with too many laundry racks for comfort, more racks in the lift lobby, abandoned tiles which risked passer-by (mainly us) being cut by the sharp chipped corner! There were numerous occasions when Zethan walked too close to the side and was nearly cut the tiles! The smell of the laundry irk us big time and not to mention the bags of trash frequently left out in the common walkway which stink and attract pests! To the other end of the walkway, an inconsiderate neighbour with a huge mongrel who love to bark when the lift open. Her barks made both my children jumped when we stepped out of the lift. Next would be the opposite block neighbour whose mongrel barked like non stop in the day and night, sticking out her silly head of the window grilles to bark at the people passing by or cars parking in the car lots. To top it off, teenagers making a din at our void deck skateboarding, leaving a trail of trash (leftover food) on the stone table or blown all over the place by the wind and yes we ever spotted big rats! Okay enough of irritating specimen.

 

It would be a really difficult decision to make in time to come simply because Zethan will be due for registration to primary school before we meet the MOP so the question of primary school will then play a major role in the decision making process. High chance, we would only be able to relocate in the same neighbourhood again as the primary school will probably be Zelyn's school as well. Counting the figures can be real scary which might means at least another 12 years in the current unit or in the vicinity till 2025! Ideally we would need to upgrade to a bigger size unit to cater to the growing children but the escalating and uncertainty of houses prices make planning a tall challenge!

 

Well, evaluate again in September 11, 2016....

12th

Every 12th of the month sent a reminder that my little guy is growing fast and furious. 4 more months to his big 5. It is simply unbelievable how time flies as it still feel like yesterday discovering the pregnancy, riding through the ups and downs of pregnancy, the difficult infancy he subject us to, the first day in school and the list continues....

 

He really enjoyed school a lot and I must say there is vast improvement in his speech ability especially that of Chinese, speaking and singing Chinese songs much more frequently now. Having said that we would have to start spending some time into research on what enrichment programs we have to put ourselves on wait list or start registration for. The only extras he is attending now would be Beary Gym and Ednoland computer lessons incorporated in school curriculum which are optional by the way.

 

We have kind of reached an agreement that we will not subject him to enrichment programs or what some others might read as stressful classes till he is in Kindergarten 1. My intention last year was to toy with the idea of sending him to programs that enforced on brain development say Shichida? How the idea came about was because from my observation, apparently he had really good memory of places and road that he have been or travelled even though it's just that once. For example, he could identify that if we were to travel down this road, we would be able to reach XX building or XX places. However Shichida is not for me as a parent since  I could not see myself being committed and devoted to the practises and homework that required parental participation. Yes I am simple plain lazy in this aspect. That aside I have not explore the other programs till this point of time.

 

Nearly started swimming classes few months back since he is very interested in swimming but due to unforeseen circumstances, plans fell through. As for music lesson, he did not seem to express any interest in it so that's out though I would love to see him on the piano. Coming to academic aspect, very high chance I would signed him up for Berries as well as I Can Read. I am hoping that the new branch near our place for Berries would have a vacancy though I doubt so. As for I can read, yet to look into where are the centres located and which is the nearest for us. Preferences would definitely be attending weekdays night classes so we could free up weekends for family time which is so precious since both of us might be working on different Saturdays sometimes.

SSO

We are going to SSO Babies Prom 2013!!

 

 

The annual event is happening on 12 & 13 Dec 2013. Please go grab your tickets real fast like now if there's intention to go as the box office is open to public today at 9am after 2 days of offering to Friends of SSO.

 

We have only attended once when Zethan is below 2 years old and somehow he did not really enjoy it or rather he have no idea what is going on thus merely sitting on the daddy's lap with pretty minimum participation. I saw how the older children enjoyed themselves through the show thus decide to bring him again the following year.  Somehow I could not recall how many years did we missed in total due to whatever so the reason is.

 

The only impression I had was 2012. Perhaps due to the fact that it is the 10th Anniversary or something of that nature, tickets was literally being almost sold out during the members' release. We tried to get help to buy the tickets but unfortunately no luck shining on us. By then when it was open to public, the tickets are in miserable number and they are scattered all over the place so it was impossible to even get 3 seats in a row so we decide to give up the idea, another year of disappointment. 

 

Thanks to Godma Sue Lin who Watsapp me this morning about the tickets. Immediately went to Sistic website and was really surprised that there are very good seats available. I was about to select the seats when Godma Ophe called and she was really kind to offer booked the tickets. Went to take a look at 12 Dec and realised that the seats available are much better and offered better views. Not wanting to waste time and lose the good seats, went into action to book! Damn Sistic, due to technical glitch, the payment was not processed successfully not once but thrice. Because of that, I lose the seats in row C thus have to settle for row D instead. Had to logout and login again and yet it still indicated unsuccessful transaction. Only when I looked into past transaction to realise that the payment went through. Good thing I checked otherwise will have made double purchase!

 

Of course this year we will be bringing Zelyn along and I am quite certain that she will enjoyed it better as compared to Zethan then. So exciting....can't wait for Dec!! ^__^ 

Imaginative

Zethan is currently very much into army related stuff, soldiers, guns (even though it is prohibited in the household). He enjoyed television program featuring army theme, he try to get us to buy him camouflage army designs pants and the list go on.

 

He was all so excited over National Day Parade because of the presence of army, airforce, navy, police etc. So you might have guessed it, he was only glued to the TV for the first part of the show and he exit at the same time as the parade marched out of the parade square.

 

So having the no guns policy at home, he is always trying to come up with ways and means to improvise his own "guns". It can range from anything to everything from his fingers to toys.

 

Here he goes, imitating what he saw at NDP repeat telecast very seriously:

I had to try very hard to stop giggling behind him because if he hears me laughing at him, he would feel embarrassed and immediately stopped whatever he is doing. Couldn't helped it to capture the pictures of him. Creative and imaginative play at work so I am not going to stop him and spoiled the fun.

 

By the way, his "gun" belong to part of Zelyn's playgym!

 

House Arrest

Counting down real excitedly to the end of our house arrest, night house arrest that is for the past 1 month!

 

Many people are really curious as to why we are being subjected to night house arrest, voluntarily or involuntarily depends on how you looked at it. I have always not been a superstitious person thus would rather not subject the children to them as well. Frankly speaking however there are things which you would rather believed it.

 

The main reason as to why we are under house arrest is because of the lunar 7th month. The Chinese do believe that it is wise to refrain from a number of things such as younger children not to be out at night / till late at night, no swimming, no laundry out of the house at night etc. The extreme ones go to the extreme of no travelling, no eating of food that was not subjected to cooking again before serving e.g. chicken rice, duck rice, char siew rice etc (food are hung on display and served immediately).

 

Much as I refused to succumb to superstitious beliefs, Zelyn started crying in the middle of the night on day 1 of 7th mth repeatedly, not once but few times. This continue for a few nights in a row so we de-list the possibility of her cries e.g. teething, fever, wet diapers, temperature etc. So we had to resort to bathing her with pomegranate leaves, placement of leaves in her pillow, praying in the temple etc. Pretty unbelievable as it may appear to be, she stopped the fussing and crying shortly after.

 

So just to be safe than sorry (okay not as serious as it sound but merely figure of speech), we decided to stay at home at night for the whole month. Most of the times if we did go out with Zelyn, we would make it a point to rush home before 7pm. I am pretty amazed myself that I could stand firm and survive the ordeal especially having to be home over the weekend.

 

So yes I can't wait for Thursday; 5th September to arrive!! Time to start planning for weekend activities, no more restrictions and no more rushing home!