Baby1 is Going Primary School Soon! (in 4.5 years’ time…) 9 May, 2012
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2.add a comment
Baby1 is going to Primary School, and mummy is suddenly panicky about what to do!
Baby1 is 2 year 3 months old now, and in another 4.5 years, she’s going to Primary School. Let’s ignore the N1, N2, K1 and K2 for the time being – these are not compulsory so I should be able to get a place easily, (I hope!).
Dear1 and Dear2 are not concerned if Baby1 does not enroll into a prestigious Primary School like what most parents are concerned about. Afterall, the both of us came from a humble neighbourhood Primary School just next to our houses. Dear2 proudly recalls herself being the top second student in the school for PSLE result. And both of us eventually graduate from NUS too, Singapore’s top university. So any school for Baby1 which is within walking distance is ok.
But but, with us looking to move house now, the new house’s location is VERY important! Is there any Primary School in the vicinity? It will be nice if the school is a good one, better if it’s prestigious.
And and, what about care of Baby1 after school hours? Will Granny continue to look after her? But Granny is surely not able to coach Baby1 in her homework. Parents and non-parents alike all over are constantly lamenting about how difficult Primary School syllabus has become. Will we be able to provide an answer when Baby1 seeks help from us on her school work, or we will have to resort to googling or desperately asking our friends for help on Facebook? I shudder to think about this.
What about enrichment classes? My little nieces of 4 and 5 years old are already sitting for exams for their dancing class. I’m sure they are attending music and swimming and art and what-have-you classes on Saturdays and Sundays too. But what about us? Mummy and Daddy has been lazy, so it’s either laze in bed on weekends to replenish our much needed rest, or drag ourselves out to somewhere just so Baby1 gets to leave the boring house. Is she missing out on something for her weekends!?
We tell ourselves that we do not want to be mainstream parents – parents who do volunteer work in Schools so that their child gets a higher priority, or parents who spend the whole of their weekends sending their kids to enrichment classes. We want to let Baby1 grow and learn at her own pace, and we want to be able to coach her in her school work rather than let her spend hours in English, Chinese, Maths and Science tuition classes. But when you see all your parent-peers doing exactly what every other parent is doing, you wonder if you are missing out on anything? I keep wondering, and it’s a very scary thought.
Four and a half more years to go. Looks like a long time, but why do I feel so worried about it now….
- Dear2
<Pillow Talk> – Conditional Love 7 May, 2012
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, For Him For Her, Moving Pictures, Slice of Life.add a comment
Kudos to the recently concluded <<Pillow Talk>>, it’s surprising to hear so many of our friends, from young married couples to singles, tuning in to the TV at 9pm sharp every day last month!
Indeed, the plot and phrases of this drama are indeed catchy and close to heart. Dear1 has a newly-married couple who can totally relate to the Pierre Png and Joanne Peh’s story while Dear1 himself seems to find many similarities for us in the Thomas Ong and Michelle Chia’s story. Hmm… I very much would like to beg to differ, but have to admit that there’s really some familarities there…
Today, I want to talk about this phrase that struck me the most from this show – Conditional Love.
While organizing a party for a fellow friend and her husband who is wheelchair-bound, this friend expressed how she stands by her husband all these years despite his handicap. “Why is it that our love for our children is unconditional, yet our love for our spouse is conditional?”
How apt! My love for Baby1 is unconditional – I love her and I will continue to love her regardless. Even if she is naughty when she grows up next time, I think my love for her will never change. After all, I gave birth to her and she’s the most lovely thing for me. But what about my love for Dear1?
Xiang Yun and Zhu Hou Ren used to be very much in love when they were young, but over the years, they have grown to detest certain aspects of the other party – Xiang Yun resents Zhu’s candidness while Zhu dislikes her snubs. In other words, they only like certain aspects of their better half. But for their friend, she loves her handicapped husband despite his immobility and all that sacrifices that she has to make. She loves him all the same, for who he really is.
My love for Dear1 has not dwindled to the depths of Xiang Yun and Zhu Hou Ren, but it is indeed becomingly more like Thomas Ong and Michelle Chia’s family. I spend more time and energy on Baby1 than on Dear1, and I sometimes resent Dear1 for the never-ending housework to do. Where got the time and energy to take a one-minute look at Dear1, much least a 5-minute chat!?
When we signed on the dotted line and when we said “I do”, we really mean for both of us to be together always and to weather all good and bads together. This love cannot be conditional on “when we have the time” or “in calm times only”.
Let’s make it a point to remove these conditions and love each other more!
I love you, Dear1.
- Dear2
The Lure of $2 30 October, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Around the House, Dear2, Reno & Furnishing, Shop till you drop.add a comment
- Square porcelain plates
- Round Japanese bowls
- Dustbin for kitchen and bed room
- Tub for sink
- Baskets for laundry pegs
- Baskets for putting make up and stuff
- Wall suckers for bathroom and kitchen
- Horizontal rod for hanging kitchen tools
- Potato masher
- Kitchen gloves
- Big paper boxes for storing small items
- Food containers
- Small handheld broom and dustpan
- Big plastic bowls for baking
When we first moved into our house, equipping everything from scratch often leads us to buying these household essentials from Daiso. At that time, money was scarce for us, so with each item at just $2 per piece, these were very affordable for us yet stylish. Many a times, there were even cents to dollars of savings as compared to buying the same item elsewhere, or simply as a cheaper alternative.
Over time, we would often frequent Daiso whenever we need to get more household essentials:
- Laundry bags (I think we have about at least 8 now)
- Large zip lock bags for overseas purposes
- Containers for storing Dear1′s meeples and tokens (I think he has bought at least about 7 to 8 boxes in all)
- Apron (my second piece already, just because the first one was not pretty)
- Food grater for Baby1 (used maybe 3 times?)
- At least 3 sets of small containers (for storing Baby1′s pureed foods that time; now all neatly stacked up in the cupboard)
- Cookie cutters (2 new sets, washed but not used yet)
- Cute food picks (still in the plastic bag. Extremely cute!!! But haven’t got the chance to making bento for Dear1 yet. Oh yes, there’s still the ‘fake’ seaweed for sushi decoration which we have not tried yet too.)
- Laundry hangers (we have 2 sets of 8 pegs each, and 3 sets of 18 pegs each)
- Tie Hanger (hmm… cannot remember why I bought this at that time)
- Clothes hanger over door (ermm… we realised that the door cannot be closed with this one on, so………..)
- Flower pots (bought 3, but only used 2)
- Various hanging baskets in various sizes (usage varied, depending on where needs what to be hung)
- Shower caps (I have 4 now – blue, yellow, white and pink. ;p)
- Gloves for Baby1 that time when we went Korea (ermm.. we didn’t even take this out to use, just for ‘in case’ situations)
- Round stools for sitting or just putting the feet up (ermm… we have 2 grey, 1 brown, 1 yellow, 1 pink and 1 blue now. Why do we need so many stools in our little 3 room flat!?)
- Bottle brush (when we already have 1 Pigeon one for Baby1′s bottle)
- Racks (total count reveals 5 in the kitchen. Didn’t know that I have bought so many!)
- and the list goes on and on
Things are so cheap at Daiso! I mean, everything is fixed price at $2, so I just have to count the number of items in my basket and it’s easy to know the total price. But many a times, total damage usually exceeds imagination. We would walk into Daiso wanting to get a container for storing some of Dear1′s cards (again), but end up having 1 Christmas tree, 1 more basket for the living room, 1 toothbrush set for Baby1, 1 fork and spoon set for her, a super cute food container for her too, (resist to buy the matching pink bowl, and oh, there’s a plate version too!), (prohibited to get another Christmas decoration because Dear1 refuses to choose one for me), and 1 packet of the caramel corn at check out. Nowadays, I even have to give myself a budget, say $20 if I want to go in to get a $2 item!!!
The lure of Daiso is indeed very big. Things are so pretty in there, and most of them are really useful. But we do have experiences when the quality is poor, like that hamburger food timer which we didn’t manage to get it to work properly ever, and that stainless steel egg mold which got rusty though we only used it once. But even if the item is no good, it’s at most a $2 write off, very cheap indeed ya. ;p
- Dear2
Where is the “Me” 22 October, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Slice of Life.add a comment
Nowadays, I can hardly tell which nickname is which of my friend on Facebook and on MSN, cos’ their pictures are usually a baby’s face, or of a toddler or 2.
As me and my peers age, we add new members to our family, and our focus all tune to our darling little ones. Status update on Facebook becomes status updates of the happenings and progress of our little ones, and they no longer are “my” updates anymore. Long lists of friends’ comments becomes all talk about ‘”she’s so cute” or “my little one is doing exactly that too!”. I even have a friend who resisted Facebook for many years, only to open an account when his baby boy is recently born so that he can join the Daddies and Mummies community online.
Dear1 and Dear2 also recently each borrowed a couple book from the library recently. Each one of us should have our personal space to prevent burn outs. Need to spend quality time as a family and as a couple to foster strong relationships. With only 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, how to manage the “Me”, “Wife” and “Mummy” at the same time, not to mention “Daughter, Sister, Daughter-in-law, Sister-in-law”, and even ”Friend”!?
Enough is enough. 2 weeks of staying at home and doing the things that I like, I found “Me”, a me that has been put off for some time because of all these daily demands. Without a “Me”, I can hardly fulfill any of the other roles at all, don’t you agree!?
For 2 weeks, I did extensive cleaning of the house, cross stitch, watch tv and video, read, do hula hoop etc. 2 weeks passed in a flash and there’s many more things that I haven’t got the time to complete, but don’t worry, reading about property, reading about photography, washing the fans and more cleaning again, cross stitching, I’ll slot these in among my daily routine life when I get back to work again.
Life is exciting, and should be exciting, for it is a blessing for us to be able to be healthy and well to be able to do all the things that make us happy. And when we are happy, we will be able to pass this happiness on to our love ones around us.
Stay positive!
- Dear2
Making Rice Balls 5 October, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Food & Beverages, Travel & Discovery.add a comment
When Dear1 and Dear2 went on our Japan trip in 2008, we had triangular-shaped rice balls for breakfast in the business hotel on our first morning there. They came in various colors – green, red, purple, how weird. Wrapped with pickles within, or diced pickles all around, top with a steaming bowl of miso soup in the early morning, it was a fascinating morning meal for us both.
When we went to Taiwan earlier this year, while waiting for our pancake to be ready fresh, there were 2 other office ladies ordering rice balls on the other half of the road side stall. Hmm… We wondered what was it, so we ordered 1 ball to go as well. Hot and steaming, wrapped with some crunchy crackers and floss and a whole load other stuff in that gigantic rice ball, it was a surprisingly yummy breakfast for us.
One fine day, Dear1 had an idea to make rice balls for our own breakfast as well. A trip to NTUC and it seems that the short grain Japanese rice only comes in 2.5kg bag. No choice, I’ll just have to make lots of rice balls to eat. Buy some frozen fish finger fillet, 200g of pork floss from Bee Cheng Hiang, the medium hard type ones cos there were the soft fluffy ones, the very crispy ones, and the medium hard ones that was a nice in between. With 1 big pack of bite-sized seaweed left over from our Korea trip, we are ready to make rice balls!
First, oh, we gotto soak the washed rice for 30min before cooking. After cooking, we gotto leave it for a further 15min, hmm… Oven bake the fish fingers, prepare a piece of cling wrap over a rice bowl, lay some rice on it, top with the fish fingers and GENEROUS servings of the pork floss, cover with more rice, wrap the whole cling tightly, compact it nicely into a ball shape first, then shape it into a triangular one, finally remove from cling wrap and lay it on a piece of seaweed. Tata, we have a nice rice ball (or triangle)!
Ta-ta. A triangle riceball.
First attempt at making rice balls and I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Baby1 took a few bites too, and she seems to like it too. Some refinements needed though. Firstly, the rice has to be laid real thin without exposing the inner ingredients. Too much rice to ingredients ratio makes the ball a tad too plain for savours. Then, the pork floss has to be real generous. Again, the ball won’t taste nice if there’s too little ingredients within. Next, don’t make the ball too big. Too big means not easy to handle with all the stuff spilling out from within. Finally, remember to compact the rice real tight, otherwise the triangle won’t be able to stand up nice and proud.
Happy making rice balls, yum yum!
- Dear2
Fun @ Polliwogs 4 October, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2, Leisure & Games.2 comments
Following our extravaganza at three indoor playgrounds recently, our family decided to head down to Polliwogs at East Coast Park for an experience too. We managed to chance upon an empty lot at the free carpark, so it was savings-savings for us, heehee…
At registration, the rates had revised from the earlier $6 for 90mins on weekends to $8 for 2 hours. Extension is $5 for every 30 mins, and the attendant made sure that we understood it was still $5 even if we over stayed for a mere 15 mins.
Into Polliwogs, it’s quite impressive. A big lounge area, a small counter that serves foods and drinks (you can collect your free cup of coffee/ tea here too, not bad for $8!) a big area for infants with a slide and a separate ball area. And we have not even went into the big playground yet!!
We let Baby1 play at the infant area for a while first. After a few attempts in various balls area, she is more confident waddling among the balls now. Walk here walk there, climb here climb there, and it’s off to the big kids’ area.
Here, it’s pretty huge with at least 2 slopes to climb up and 2 slides down. We cajoled Baby1 up the big playground, and got her to slide down the slide herself. Woosh!! At 19 months, she’s still a little too young to control her descend lest her small bottom hits the ground with a thud. The acceleration’s too fast for her too, but we are sure that she’ll love the slides when she gets a bit older.
By 1.5 hours, Baby1 was already tired and restless. We quickly have a tour of the outdoor playground which comprises of 1 large inflatable air structure. This is sort of an obstacle course where the older kids climb up the slope, and go through various obstacles, all wobbly filled with air of course.
Paid the $8, put on our shoes, and we were off enjoying the evening breeze at the beach before heading home for dinner and showers.
Polliwogs is fun! It’s big enough to accommodate rowdy toddlers when they are released from whatever birthday parties they were attending in the various functions rooms. 1 child admits 2 adults FOC, so it was a nice family outing for us threesome. Similar to the other indoor playground which we have visited, there seems to be quite a handful of Caucasian kids there too. I like the glass walls of the place which make it bright, though a bit hot too. Finally, free parking (provided you go at the right time)!
Next up, we want to try pitching our tent and our picnic chair. But first, the tent probably needs some cleaning first since it has been ages since we last put it up (hmm… actually just once, LOL).
- Dear2
Fun @ Indoor Playground 11 September, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2, Learning Training, Sports & Health.1 comment so far
Indoor playgrounds are great places for our little ones. Apart from having a safe (aka soft) avenue for them to learn motor skills through play, climb, run arounds, they are also a great place to learn the first socialisation skills through interaction with other kids. Mummy loves to bring Baby1 to indoor playgrounds!
So far, we’ve only been to three of such. KidsAmaze at Jurong Safra seems to be the largest with the tallest playground with multiple storeys (really!!), but for our 19-month old, this seem to be kinda advance for her yet. We’ve heard of SingKids at Vivocity and T3, but at $18/hr per adult on weekends, it seems a bit extravagant…. There’s also one at (Orchid?) Country Club, but the pictures I’ve seen doesn’t seem very impressive with just 1 tiny ball area.
Let’s talk about those 3 that we’ve been to.
First, parking is free, so plus plus plus points. It’s free entry for kids under 1 year old, and $8 whole day for our 19-month old. Adults go in free, yeah. Among the 3 that we have visited, Fidgets is the largest, with 3/ 4 separate areas including 1 small corner for babies under 12 month. The play area for the older kids is very large, ample space for kids except when the kids are ‘released’ from whatever birthday party they were attending in the function rooms. During this time, you’ve better stay away from the play area until these rowdy bigger children return to their parties.
Go Go Bambini @ Dempsey
Again, parking is free at Dempsey, so horray. $6 for our little ones, and free for us parents. The interior however was very disappointing. First, the staff did not even ask if we want to sanitize our hands. No sanitization for us means none for other parents and kids there too. Hmm… This scores minus points at first impression. Then upon passing the gate, we were unsure if we need to change into socks already.. There were visible shoe prints on the floor, but the play area is just next to it!! Eeks, I don’t want to talk about how someone can walk (shoe or sock, I don’t know) into the toilet which is just round the corner, then go back into the play area.
On the play area, it’s really kinda small and low, and it gets even worse when the kids are released from their party. For a while, we were happily enjoying the exclusiveness to us (it was just us one family there on that Saturday late afternoon), but we had to scramble down to safety when the tods come scrambling up. It was a nightmare to even recall it.
Peekaboo @ Kallang Leisure Park
No free parking at the stadium area, so we put coupons every hourly because we don’t know how long Baby1 will enjoy the place. At $10 per entry, it seems expensive for a play area slightly bigger than that at Go Go Bambini. But despite it’s squeeze, the main playground is fun! Ample of balls in the balls area – that’s what I will really call a Balls Area. There’s even lots of rockers, and a mini slide and a mini swing, a tod-size sink/oven area, and a mini house, all so suitable for our little one. Yeah, truly, until Baby1 reaches 2 when she’s more mobile and confident in running around on her own, big playgrounds and slides don’t attract her as much as these little ones.
Next up, I’ll want to bring Baby1 to Polliwogs at East Coast Park. The parking at ECP is usually horrible at the most popular area where the playground is located, so we’ll see how it goes when we are there.
Have fun!
- Dear2
Pasta @ Olivevine, Suntec 10 September, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Food & Beverages.add a comment
Dear1 and Dear2 had pasta at OliveVine – Pasta Fusion at Suntec over the Comex weekend, and in my humble opinion, the pasta is nice!!
We ordered a grilled fish with cream pasta at $8.90, and a chicken cutlet in spicy spaghetti, topped up $4 to add a large glass of iced lemon tea, a soup and a dessert of the day (which turns out to be warm carrot cake). Both the pasta were fantastic!!
On the cream pasta first. Lots of cream sauce, and 3 slices of grilled fish. A very hearty presentation all for just $8.90, not a bad deal at all.
The second dish was even more awesome. The fried chicken cutlet was of a decent big size, served with a generous serving of the spaghetti. What I loved most about the pasta was it’s spicy taste and the spaghetti strands cooked just to the right softness, exactly how I like my pasta, yummy!
No GST or service charge (though you have to place your orders at the counter yourself), located at the Roof Garden on level 3, I will definitely come back for seconds if not for the expensive parking at Suntec. Not to mention the crowds here too, what a pity.
- Dear2
