His First Theatre Experience

Two weekends ago, the entire family went to the well-loved production The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favourites by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, featuring 3 of the author's books. This being Nigel's very first theatre experience, he enjoyed himself tremendously. Perched on this booster seat, he sat through the entire production quietly with his eyes fixed intently on the puppets. I simply loved productions which are targeted at children as their main audience. No one will raise their brows should the children get noisy. And boy, it did get really noisy when the children all shouted the names of the various animals during the The Mixed-Up Chameleon segment. I loved the Q&A session at the end where it was explained to us how the play was produced. It was really interesting especially the part where they explained how they created the effect of the chameleon shooting out its long sticky tongue to catch the fly. This is Sarah's second time watching this. Her first being 3 years ago. Unfortunately she has forgotten about this play, and I can see that she enjoyed herself this time round.

The following weekend, we were at the Esplanade for another play, Rocky The Baby Panda by PlayTime! This is one part of a series of plays by PlayTime! It was highly reviewed in the newspaper some time ago, which was why I bought the tickets. Well, I guess I had gotten my expectations too high, as although it was quite an enjoyable production, I felt somewhat disappointed. These series are targeted at the 2 to 4 age group, so it was understandable when Sarah proclaimed it was too childish for him. The little boy enjoyed the play, although he was quite reserved and did not participate in the audience activities.

When was Sarah was younger, she was quite the frequent theatre-goer, be it ballet performances or dramas and plays. Now that I know that the little boy is able to sit through an entire production, we will definitely be back at the theatres more often.

Recycled art

It is great to have a Grandma who is fun and creative. Over the past weeks, my mom has done some crafts with the kids using recycled boxes. My mom is great in this aspect. She once did a gigantic club house with Sarah. Many a time, I wish that I had inherited her creative genes.

Here is what they have done over the weeks.

With Nigel so into trains, they made a train using shoeboxes, paper rolls and tissue boxes. They covered the boxes with colored paper and Sarah decorated the train with stickers.

This flower arrangement was made using branches from wilted fresh flowers and paper roll.My mom had some fresh flowers which has wilted so she removed the flowers and washed and dried the branches. Next, they cut out flowers and leaves from colored paper and glued them on the branches, and this was put in a vase made out of paper roll, and tada, you have a nice flower arrangement. What I like about this is that we can always change the patterns and color of the flowers to create a different look. I am thinking of using crepe paper to make some tissue flowers to replace these.

I must say I was very surprised when I saw what my mom made out of a remote control car toybox. An apartment! She left the toy box intact and used the loose parts to segregate the box into 3 storeys. The box was covered with colored paper and the windows cut. Sarah wanted an attic, so they made one out of a cereal box. The kids loved this one!

It is so wonderful to see 3 of them working together, creating art out of recycled materials. The children enjoyed the end products very much. For their next project, I will probably get the children to be more hands-on with it, like getting them to paint over the boxes instead of just covering with colored paper. Let's see what the next project will be.

Singapore Garden Festival 2010

A long-awaited event for me. My mom first brought Sarah to the SGF back in 2008. I was having my confinement then so I did not go, but they had great fun. So when the biennial SGF is back this year, I told hubby we must go.

This year, the organizer had gone to great lengths to create a total experience for the visitor, right from the moment we stepped out of the car to the lift lobby. The lobby floor was lined with green carpet grass, the lifts were lined with beautiful pictures of flowers and insects with piped music. As you stepped out of the lifts on the exhibition floors, you are greeted with beautiful flowers and giant garden insects. There were 2 levels of exhibition this year, level 4 - the market place where there are stalls parading all sorts of gardening paraphernalia you need and level 6 where all the garden displays were.

We started off on level 4 as I had signed up for an educational tour for Sarah. The tour introduced the young children to the various foods we eat and explained how they are grown. It was quite enjoyable and even I learned from it.


Beautiful foyer outside exhibition hall


Educational tour


Tall papaya tree






Carnivorous pitcher plant


Worksheets to reinforce learning,


Chiku. Used to have a huge chiku tree in our backyard when I was a little girl

We adjourned for an early lunch to avoid the crowd before continuing with level 6. I was most impressed by all the garden displays. Amazing how simple flowers and plants can be turned into wonderful creations.







Sarah with Sara The Dinosaur


Dainty porcelain




Inspiration for a wedding dress??

Needless to say, I was mildly inspired to start my own garden. But sadly, I have brown fingers. Never been successful in growing anything. But I did buy 4 little pots of pandan leaves and lemongrass for $2 only. I gave 2 pots to my mom, in case my brown fingers kill them all.

All in all it was a good event. But I hated the crowd that inevitably comes with such events. It was so packed with humans that we did not even want to try to wait for a table at the foodcourt, instead went for teochew porridge buffet at the ground floor of the convention centre. The food was not bad, but I still felt it was over-priced for the kind of fare offered.

Will I go for SGF 2012? Will see....

Sweet Fellowship

It has been a long time since I met up with Jean, so since 5 July was a school holiday, we arranged a date with Jean and her 2 blessings. Indeed, it had been quite a while. Both Grace and Job had grown a fair bit. Sarah was happy to meet up with Grace, and I think Nigel was happy to be out and about with friends to play with. The weather was good, Jean and I had a great time catching up, and the children had fun with a small ball and the great outdoors.

Funny siblings

2 boys playing with ball


I like this pic - the 2 jiejies rushing to Job when he cried for help

Now that Sarah is schooling, we are seldom able to meet up with our old friends. So it was really great to be able to catch up with Jean this time. We will meet again soon, God willing.

Some pics, car seat and a lesson learnt

We were at Mothercare at Harbourfront some weekends ago to get an infant car seat. Took some pictures of father and daughter enjoying their dessert while having lunch at Spizza.

Speaking of carseats, my intention was to get one that can be used from 4 months to 4 years old. So we went the much talked about Baby Hypermart to have a look. They carry only Maxi Cosi brand and do have what I wanted, but hubby was not too keen to get the 4 months to 4 years old kind. He felt that we should get an infant carseat for use from birth up to about 1 year old, and then switch to the current one Sarah is using. In my heart, I knew I should follow his leading, but I was still undecided so we spent quite some time there. It so happened we met hubby's ex-colleague who had a 9 mo daughter. She told us that its better to get an infant seat which can allow the baby to recline more as this is better for their small bodies. So with this, I conceded and agreed to get an infant seat. But hubby was not keen on Maxi Cosi, as he has seen the Britax one at Mothercare and felt that was better. So off we went to Mothercare to get the Britax Rock-a-Tot Plus Si.

Amidst all this carseat buying, I have been once again reminded of an important lesson by the Lord. I know that God has placed the man as the head of the family, and as a wife, I should submit and following his leading. But there are many times when I tend to insist on my way. I thank God for this lesson where I learnt that I should trust my husband and following his leading. Afterall, he is the one whom God has mandated to be my husband.

Children's Season @ The National Museum

Backdated: 27 May 2008

Daddy was on leave this week, so we planned some activities for the little girl. One of the activities was to bring Sarah to The National Museum for the Children's Season. This was our first time at the museum, and I must say that the newly renovated museum is very nicely done up.

Our first stop was the story-telling session by Monsters Under The Bed. They are a professional language and story-telling school. They are very good in getting the children to use their creativity and the story-telling involved participation from the kids too. I think Sarah enjoyed the session, though she was quite sticky to us and refused to sit on the floor by herself.

Getting the kids to use their creativity

Story-telling in progress

Next, we went to the The Murmurs Playground. This was where Sarah had the most fun and where we spent the most time. In fact, we spent so much time here that we did not manage to view the other exhibitions/workshops.

At the Musical Chef where kids use different kitchen utensils to make music

Drawing with cousin Daniel

Sarah's fav: The ball pit where she kept jumping in and out of it

It was a day well-spent at the museum. A pity we had to rush off and could not visit the Mozart: A Child Prodigy exhibition.

Box Fun

Earlier this week, hubby bought the latest 24" imac which was delivered in a gigantic box. The moment I saw the box, I knew Sarah will have great fun with it. So when Grandma came to visit, we decided to make a house together. Sarah decided to call it her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, after the show of the same name.

On Thursday, we cut out the doors and windows and put on the roof. Sarah used color markers to decorate the house. This was not enough for her. She kept asking to paint her house. So on Friday, we painted the house. Can see her putting in the effort to paint, though she got tired after painting the doors, windows and walls, and Grandma helped with the roof and the finishing touches.



Decorating the clubhouse with color markers


She likes to hide herself in the house



Painting the house

Later that evening, Sarah was playing with my shawl, and the ever playful Grandma decided to wrap it around her like a sari. I think she looked really cute.



Its amazing a simple thing like a box provided much fun for this little girl