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Chess Play

Chess Play

Ever since we introduced Uno to 宝贝 during the Gold Coast Trip, she’s been playing it regularly. We started playing it with her so that she could learn colour and number matching. However, she’s far exceeded our expectations by trouncing us regularly with her draw 2, reverse, skip, draw 4 cards. Believe me, when she dealt the special cards, she actually did it with a relish and evil laugh.

I decided to introduce her to the world of chess. I wanted to start off with checkers, but I wasn’t unable to dig it out of our disorganized boxes (many were unpacked since we moved in…. 1.5 years back…).

While browsing in a bookshop, I came across a set of animal chess, which cost a very affordable $3.90. Huh?! Now still have such cheap games arh! Mai tu Liao! Buy lor!!

She was on her best behavior that day. So I rewarded her with a present – the animal chess set.

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It was easy enough to match the pieces to the pictures on the mat. What wasn’t so simple was to explain the rules to a 3 year old!

1. The ranking of the animals by size. The bigger one can “eat” the ones that are smaller than it. The only exception is the mouse – it can kill the mighty elephant (by climbing into its truck n tickle it to death :p).

2. The pieces can only move one step at a time, to the adjacent square.

3. The Mouse is the only piece that has the ability to move into the water areas.

4. The Lion and Tiger pieces can leap across the banks of the river, unless the Mouse is in the river, in the line of the leap.

5. If a piece ends up in the opponent’s trap, no matter how large it is, even the smallest piece can gobble it up.

6. The game ends when you move your piece into the opponent’s den.

6 simple rules. But oh so difficult to get it across to her. I decided to just play and teach along the way. I ate up so many of her pieces that she started looking like this.

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So I sacrificed some pieces to retain her interest in the game. She won in the end. Although she wasn’t able to remember all the rules, but at least she’s remembered the ranking of the animals and she was very tickled that the mouse could eat up the huge elephant. She liked having her mouse swim in the river too.

Not too bad for the 1st time. There’s still a chance that she may turn out to become an expert animal chess player. We fell off our seats when she defeated us in UNO, even when we didn’t intentionally lose to her.

But for now, she remains as an animal chess noob. I must eat up her pieces while I still can. :p

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears

Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) has been a personal favourite theatrical group of mine. I’ve watched quite a few of the plays put up or brought in by them. Their children’s plays are particularly enjoyable and of pretty high standard. Although I like the ones brought in by Act 3 and Alliance Français but the inaccessibility of the car parks deters me from attending their plays.

During this term, 宝贝’s school did fairy tales with them. Goldilocks and the 3 bears was one of them. How timely! I bought the tickets way before I knew the theme for this semester. The price of the tickets was reasonable. I’m a pretty cheapskate mom. I wouldn’t pay too much for children’s plays. There were some that I was interested in, during the ACE festival. Alas… The pricey tickets. So, no go lor.

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The set was beautifully done with movable wooden tree frames and pull out beds and all. In the cozy, colourful country style that I like! And of course, the actors and actresses were first rate.

Throughout the whole show, 宝贝 was upset that the bears were going for a walk and Goldilocks would come and eat up baby bear’s porridge. Not to have breakfast is like the end of the world for her. And when Goldilocks’ father couldn’t find her in the woods, her lower lip was quivering when she said in a shaky voice, “Why hasn’t her papa found her?” I was quite amused by her. Bad mama! Laughing at her daughter’s misery. She was genuinely distressed though. Maybe she was putting herself in the shoes of Baby Bear (to have to go without breakfast) and Goldilocks (getting lost in the woods).

The only grouse I had was that SRT blocked out the entire middle section of the stall seats for school groups. Only the first 3 rows and last 3 rows were opened to the public for booking. And yet, there were plenty of empty seats. Best seats! What a horrid waste!!

Anyway, I would highly recommend Goldilocks and the 3 Bears if you have children. Even as an adult, I found it pretty enjoyable.

Hungry Babies

Hungry Babies

She brought a whole armload of her bears downstairs.

“Ooh! My babies are hungry!!!” She pulled up her pink little t-shirt, exposing her chest and charming little chubby tummy, while her mommy looked at her, agog. She grabbed the first bear and pushed its furry face over her chest. Shouldn’t she be bottle feeding the bears, just like all the other little girls???

“Erm…. Are you feeding your babies??”

Her mommy almost fell over, laughing. But she just had to keep a straight face because the little mommy looked so serious.

“Yes. They are hungry. They were crying!! Didn’t you hear them?”

Hmmm… Her mommy must get her hearing checked for she heard nothing.

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The pensive mommy feeding her baby.

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The mommy scratching her back while feeding.

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The mommy posing for her breast feeding glamour shot.

She gently set the bear down and repeated it with the next one, and the one after and finally all of them.

“Wow! Your babies drink really fast. Are they full?” Observed her mommy.

“Yes. All full. They are fast, not like your baby. So slow!”

She gave me a proud-mommy look because her babies were fast drinkers.

=.=”

Morning Exercise

Morning Exercise

She woke up, feeling under the weather. I kept her home although she preferred to go to school. It’s all play now at school so she looks forward to attending it every day. Hope she still feels the same way a few years later.

Kind of perky for a “sick” child?! Her 70s dance moves crack me up. No… I didn’t teach her that. All my friends know that I score at the bottom on the dancing scale. Can’t be too perfect, you know…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtoh5bqlzyg&w=560&h=315]

宝贝’s Family Portrait

宝贝’s Family Portrait

宝贝 brought her Chinese workbook back from school today as this is the last week of the school term. I’ve met up with her Chinese teacher last week so I already had a preview of her work.

The session didn’t yield any surprise since I pretty much know what she can do. Wang Laoshi said she’s very into Chinese (she likes what she’s good at. Considering the amount of time my mom spends on her, honing her language. She’s already able to read sentences. Sadly that’s not the case for English. I’m the English oic and I’ve been derelict in my job. Oops!)

I deviate.

Back to her workbook. There’s a missing piece. 全家福. Family Portrait. She didn’t do that piece of work as she was absent from school that week. It must have been the gastric flu week right after Chinese New Year.

So after her English practice (an ad hoc effort of mine, trying to make up for lost time), I handed her her sketchbook (a book we bought in Australia, to keep her occupied.), which was filled with abstract colourful market doodles, sat her down to complete her family portrait.

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The little artist and her art piece.

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The close up. From left to right – herself, 小小宝贝, mama, papa. We look like a family of “No Face”, straight out of Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. :p

Notice the little squiggles at the bottom of the stick legs. Those are shoes… The first one she drew with more care because it’s herself mah. Poor papa had the worst end of the stick. He’s the last to be drawn and she’s already lost her patience for it. She didn’t even give him legs.

My Little Van Gogh

My Little Van Gogh

Simple Joys in Life

“Mom! I drew this in class for you! I love you!”

“Teacher Allen outlined the red flower for me but I coloured it. I did the rest myself!” She confessed.

The rest of the lines looked shaky enough to be drawn by her.

“BUT I chose all the colours myself!” She declared proudly.

It’s definitely not a Van Gogh. But it’s not every day that a 3 year old draws something specially for me and presents it with a declaration of love. I’m the luckiest mom on Earth! *beams*

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I’m Only 3 Years Old!

I’m Only 3 Years Old!

Me : Do you know why you are sick?
宝贝 : yes. Because I played with Amanda (her BFF) in school and she threw up.
Me : Next time if you see your friend throw up, should you play with her?
宝贝 :I didn’t know she’s sick.
Me : Well, now you know! So what happens if you play with a sick friend?
宝贝 : I get sick and I throw up. But I didn’t know! I’m only 3 years old and I’m in n2! Next time when I’m in k1 and k2 I’ll know!! Ok!!
Me : Yes! But you are no longer 2 years old and you are a Jie Jie!
宝贝 : ok ok!!

Waaa. She knows how to use the “I’m only 3 years old!” on me. I must prepare more “ammunition” for rebuttal in future. I must get my last say!!!

宝贝 Loves to Bead

宝贝 Loves to Bead

宝贝 has been wearing the bracelet, which she beaded herself at the Chiltern Charity Carnival.

Since she liked beading so much, it seemed to be a good idea to start her off on it. I combed the shelves of spotlight for beading material. Just for the threading material alone, there were thin wires, thick wires, leather, plastic thread etc. That’s not even taking into consideration the various kinds of beads, pendants, crystals and even pearls!! Then the cutters, wire twisters and all!! Oh my… Making my head swim. I’m not exactly a very handicraft person and all those material were too sophisticated and small for a toddler to handle. I left, empty handed.

Hmmm.. Maybe I should try qoo10 (gmarket) since it has almost everything. Lo and behold, I found an online store that sells all kinds of beads and even big ones, suitable for children. Similarly, the variety was mind boggling. I read the profile of the owner, and discovered that she has 2 very young children. So I emailed her for advice.

She was really prompt in replying and mentioned that her 3 year old had problems sitting still for beading sessions. But I thought I’d try it on 宝贝 anyway. She recommended the elastic cotton thread that’s easier to handle for little hands and allowed room for alterations. For the beads, her advice was to go for the ones with at least 2mm big holes. The great thing about her website was that the sizes of the beads and the holes were all clearly listed.

The name of her shop on qoo is Creating Footprints Together. Here’s the link to her website.

After placing an order on qoo, the package came really fast!!

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She started by creating a necklace for one of her teachers. We wanted to buy gifts for N1 teachers to thank them for all the love and attention they have showered upon her in the whole year. She decided that she should make the gifts for them herself.

She picked out the letters of their names. This is good training for alphabet recognition. Then she decided upon the colours of the beads for one side of the necklace. For the other side I gave her 2 choices, whether to haphazardly thread them without any colour order or to thread them in a symmetrical fashion. She chose the latter. This trained her to recognize patterns and symmetry.

Then she sat there and threaded the beads painstakingly, one by one. It really took her a super long time.

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She made the last one for herself because she needed a little reward at the end of the session. Since she was already able to spell her own name, she picked out the letters without any prompting.

All in all, she took 1.5 hours to complete 2 necklaces and 1 bracelet. Quite an astounding feat for a 3 year old to remain seated and in full concentration for that long. Their span of concentration usually lasts about 30 mins. She must really love beading. Hehe.

The completed works.

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Her celebratory portrait!!

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She’s put on the one she’s made for herself and held the 2 she’s made for her teachers.

The final gift product.

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Beading trains : patience, concentration, fine motor skills, letter recognition, sorting, pattern recognition, symmetry.

Chiltern House Charity Carnival 2012

Chiltern House Charity Carnival 2012

It was a super super hot morning. I almost had a sunstroke that day. It’s the morning of the Chiltern House Charity Carnival 2012. It was a grand event, held at the East Coast Park, with marquees, game stalls, food stalls, bouncy castles and all.

The food was donated by parents and the teachers spent a lot of effort and time preparing for the games. All the proceeds went to set up an English programme for a rural Thai village. Volunteers (parents and teachers) signed up for the trip to help out with this programme.

We will probably sign up for the one in the following year when 弟弟 turns one. It will be a good chance to expose 宝贝 to volunteer work and I’m sure she can do her little bit to help out.

We were given some a goodie bag with some game tickets. We bought more. The money was for a good cause anyway.

After giving her teachers welcoming hugs, she made her way to the bouncy castle where some of her friends were. Check out my little jumping bean in white and blue, jumping her heart out!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=briCJl1jAEQ&w=560&h=315]

After 10 mins of jumping in the sun, that meant I was baking for the same amount of time too!! I banned her from further activities in it!!! It was me lar. I couldn’t stand the sun. I dragged her to the game stalls where her favourite teacher was. Her rings missed everything. But she was given a little toy as a consolation. I figured that she’d do better at the handicraft stalls. :)

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Her intense look of concentration, with her usual “tongue sticking” habit as she worked on her apple Chinese painting.

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One apple done. Adding leaves to the apple. Starting on apple no 2.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ES6xNtjr8&w=560&h=315]

Completing apple no 2.

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Finishing touches. The little artist signing off with a flourish.

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGpZHe7XvxE&w=560&h=315]

Next, it’s heading exercise! We chose to bead a bracelet. (It’d have taken forever to bead a necklace. I didn’t think I had the patience to wait it out in the sauna.)

Same intense look of concentration.

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She was extremely proud of her bracelet. It was sheer hard work of patience. I also admired the patience of the queue behind her. =.=”

It was time to go. I could no longer stand the heat wave. Where’s the cool rain when you needed it?? We spent the rest of the tickets on games and bought lunch back.

I messaged the hub, next year he’d better take leave as it’s meant to be a family event. Or else she would start addressing him as uncle, instead of daddy, soon. I look forward to resting in the tree shade next year!!

Tummy Talk at Bedtime

Tummy Talk at Bedtime

It’s that time of the day again. Trying to get her to sleep. She’s unusually chatty because she’s trying not to sleep although I could tell that she was really bushed.

宝贝:Mama you have *didi in your tummy.
Me : Yes. That’s right.
宝贝:You were in *popo’s tummy.
Me : Yes. You remembered!
宝贝:But I’ve nothing in my tummy!! (she looked quite upset and her mouth became a huge inverted U.)
Me : Erm.. Well.. You have food in your tummy!! Your dinner!! (I said brightly. To avoid it turning into a tantrum that would disrupt the sleep pattern.)
宝贝:I don’t want food!! I want somebody in my tummy! Like you!
Me : You are still young. Next time when you grow up and become a mommy, you will have someone in your tummy.
宝贝:I don’t want! I want somebody to be in my tummy NOW!
Me : O.o

It escalated into a wail with her chanting “I have nobody in my tummy. I want somebody in my tummy now.” So much for prevention. She eventually fell asleep in the midst of it. Phew.

I knew that I had to explain about the birds and bees one day. But never would I imagine that I have to do it when she’s 3?!

———————–

I told the hub about it when he came home.

Hub : aiya you should have explained to her about the reproductive system and she does have eggs in her. It’s just that they haven’t turned into babies.
Me : At bedtime when she’s about to sleep?! Such a *chim topic!! You must be kidding!! Since your bio is so good, why don’t you go through with her over breakfast tomorrow?!

Duh! Men!!

*didi = little brother
*popo = grandmother
Chim = profound

More of 宝贝’s bedtime stories.