Incy Wincy loves Halloween

Yesterday 哥哥 was surfing Starfall and I realized they have changed their site to welcome Halloween. It looks cute with cobwebs and spiders all over. So, today I thought why not we make a spider shaker.

Materials needed:

• 2 paper plates
• Black paint
• 8 pipe cleaners for the legs
• 1 pipe cleaner for the mouth
• Some paper for eyes
• Some rice (you can use all kind of beans too)
• Glue

How to do it:

1. Paint the 2 paper plates black.
2. Wait for it to dry.
3. Put glue around the inside edge of 1 paper plate
4. Lay 4 pipe cleaners on each side of the plate.
5. Pour some rice in the middle of the plate, avoiding the glue.
6. On the other plate, stick the ‘eyes’ and the ‘mouth’. Let your child decide on the expression of the ‘face’. Warren wants a happy spider!
7. Stick the 2 paper plates together and wait for it to dry.

Now, your child has a spider shaker to celebrate Halloween with!

Have fun!

SNAB - Sensitive New Age Boy

I don’t know what got into 哥哥 yesterday to make him finish folding all the clothes!!! Actually, only his and 妹妹’s clothes but still it was a great effort.

I had just finished clearing the adult’s clothes and had left the remaining 2 baskets of the kid’s clothes aside to make dinner. 哥哥 woke up, came to me and asked me, “You folding clothes? I help you with the handkerchiefs okay?” I said okay and he left me.

After some time, he came back into the kitchen and told me he had finish folding all the clothes and he was going to put them in the cardboards. HUH? What finished folding the clothes? I followed him out and true enough all his and 妹妹’s clothes were all folded and according to my way of folding; a top with a matching bottom! Hahaha! I told him not to keep 妹妹’s clothes because she was still sleeping and we don’t want to wake her up. So he went ahead to keep his own clothes. After that, he continued to make his bed, packed the playroom and sweep the floor! Wow!

I asked him why did he help me do so much things and he said, “ I love you mah. I help you do things so you can rest lor. I want to be a good boy mah.” Wah … how sweet! *tears in the corner of my eyes*

Toothy Issues

妹妹 has taken up a new habit … brushing her teeth. Each time we are near the washbasin, she will take her toothbrush to brush her teeth. And her has never taken the wrong one before. It’s a good habit as her 4th upper Incisor is coming out. That makes a total of 8 teeth she has. But this morning, I actually saw the tip of an upper Molar. It’s already out? Gosh! But the Canine is not even out yet! Shouldn’t it grow in sequence? I checked her health book and realized the growth of Canine is really after the 1st Molar. Oh … I didn’t know that.

Clicky Frog

We finally have to chance to do a ‘Clicky Frog’ on Saturday, after I finally got hold of 2 bottle caps.

Materials needed:

• 1 Paper Plate
• Small Strip of Cardboard
• Some Elastic Bands
• 2 Bottle Caps
• Scotch Tape
• Glue
• Colouring Medium (We used crayon)
  

How to do it:

Colour the paper plate (bottom part) and the cardboard.

Adult help to cut the cardboard to shape.

Fold the paper plate to half.

Child to hold the paper plate.

Adult to measure the width of the child’s hand and poke holes to tie elastic bands.

Stick the ‘eyes’ to the paper plate .

Stick the bottle caps to the inside edge of the paper plate .

It’s all done and your child can click the frog away!!

Twinkley Star

When I was pregnant with 妹妹, 哥哥 used to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars to my belly button every night. I told him 妹妹 loved to hear him sing. The funny thing was each time he sang, the then fetus, 妹妹, would stop kicking and moving, as if she quiet down to listen to 哥哥 sing. When 妹妹 was borned, 哥哥 would still sing the song when she cried and she would really stop crying to listen. Till this day, Warren will still sing the same old song every time 妹妹made noise. Now 妹妹 no longer stop to listen but 哥哥 still continue singing to her. My dear dear 哥哥!

This is the complete lyrics to the song:

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Jane Taylor wrote the lyrics in 1806
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,How I wonder what you are.Up above the world so high,Like a diamond in the sky.Twinkle, twinkle, little star,How I wonder what you are!
When the blazing sun is gone,When he nothing shines upon,Then you show your little light,Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.Twinkle, twinkle, little star,How I wonder what you are!
Then the traveler in the darkThanks you for your tiny spark;He could not see which way to go,If you did not twinkle so.Twinkle, twinkle, little star,How I wonder what you are!
In the dark blue sky you keep,While you thro' my window peep,And you never shut your eye,Till the sun is in the sky,Twinkle, twinkle, little star,How I wonder what you are!

Flowerfly Cards

We did these to thank 哥哥's teachers for helping him and his classmates put up the nice dance for the parents.

Materials needed:

• Paper (we used A4 size)
• Crepe paper
• Glue

How to do it:

1. Design the picture for your card.
2. Squeeze pieces of crepe paper into a ball shape.
3. Put glue on the paper.
4. Stick the crepe ball on the paper.

The outcome was quite nice and it's simple to do.

FlowerFly Cards

Yesterday, I told 哥哥 he must remember to thank his teachers on Monday for helping them put up the nice dance. 哥哥 suggested that we do some thank you cards. I told him he would have to do the writing on his own. I know he hates writing. He reluctantly agreed to do it. Gosh! His writing is horrible and it got worst for the second card due to boredom.

Anyways, I came up with the designs, help him do the cutting and some squeezing of the papers and he did the rest. He was quite fast. I didn’t expect him to complete both cards today, as he usually gets bored doing repetitive things.

The outcome was quite nice and he wanted to do another one for 爸爸 but dropped the idea. Why? Boredom again. I just knew it. So poor 爸爸’s card would have to wait for another day.

Grand Finale

We attended 哥哥’s Graduation cum Concert today. It was fantastic! His class performance was the 5th item. The girls were better and obviously the teacher noticed it because they were all placed right in front. The boys weren’t that bad either. Maybe, the teacher's expectation was too high?

I think I heard too many complaints from the teacher about 哥哥 so I expected him to either play a fool while dancing or stay still and not dancing but he was better than what I expected. He wasn’t that bad. Not bad at all. Shyless, self-praising mum!

Anyway, we can’t expect the children to perfect every single move and co-ordinate with one another. They are just a bunch of 4 years old. At least, they were able to complete the whole dance sequence. It was commendable! I think the children had fun and the parents really enjoy it too. At least I was smiling from cheek to cheek.

We didn’t see all the dances as half the time 妹妹 was cranky and couldn’t sit still. Hmm. We shall have to wait for the DVD that we have ordered on the Concert to enjoy it all over again.

Good work children and thanks for the effort Teachers!

Dancing Fever

It’s going to be over! Finally, tomorrow is the day the parents will get to see the hard work of what the teachers and the children put in for the past one and the half months. And I’m so glad today is the last day I hear ‘complaints’ about 哥哥 being ‘wild’. That’s the exact word his teacher used. Hmmm. I just hope the kids had fun and not pressure preparing and performing the show.

Part-time helper

My 哥哥 can be quite a handful at time especially when we have visitors. He simply just turned into Super Ultra Active Uncontrollable I-Just-Want-To-Have-Fun Boy. Sigh! He is just a boy after all. Other than that, he is quite the Normal Active Controllable I-Want-To-Help-Mama Boy.

Everytime I do my laundry, I would ask him to help hang small items. He also helps me remove his and 妹妹’s clothes from hangers (I dry my clothes on hangers) then sort them in 2 different baskets so I can fold them later. He can also remove his own bedsheet, pillowcase and fold his own blanket and clothes. Although, he didn’t do it well, at least he is trying and I really pleased. He even told me he would teach 妹妹 how to do when she is older. Meanwhile, he will help her. He enjoys doing it and I’m glad too. His future wife will have to thank me for this.

I remembered how my mother would actually pay us to do housework. I could still remember the exact words … I will pay $10 to whoever is going to help me wash the bathroom. It’s always my brother who always gets the job. I’m just glad I didn’t have to go to that extend. Good practice starts from young.

Disturbing Behaviour

When I went I pick 哥哥 from school today, his teacher told me he has been misbehaving and was not cooperative when they were practicing for their concert dance. She told me he kept playing with one of his classmates. Apparently, he was doing very well for the past few days when this classmate was absent.

I later told 哥哥 that if he continues with this behaviour, I would have no choice but to withdraw him from the dance because he will disturb his classmates and the dance will not be able to go on. Then all the 爸爸, 妈妈 and his classmates will be very disappointed. And I told him to try staying away from that particular classmate, at least for the time being. I know I shouldn’t have said all this but … sigh!

I have seen how the boy behaved out of school and I certainly wouldn’t want 哥哥 to be like him. 哥哥 is already so ‘out of control’ but at least he tries to listen.

There was this incident last week, where this boy keep walking in muddy puddles and splashing in them. I told him it was very dirty and told him not to do it. He did not listen and even kept pulling poor 哥哥 to the mud. He is so skinny and couldn’t break free from his grip. In the end, 哥哥’s white shoes and socks were all muddy. The next day, 哥哥 was so afraid of him that he told me to take another route to avoid him. He told me he didn’t want to walk with that boy because he kept pulling him to the muddy puddles. He doesn’t want to end-up having to go to school bare-footed!

Who-wah Pie?

Last night, while waiting for 哥哥 to finish his dinner, I played with 妹妹. I think she was trying to count the holes in 哥哥’s wooden toy. I counted with her. After I counted to four, she said ‘pie’. I did a few times and each time she said ‘pie’. So ‘pie’ is five …. Hahaha!

Then 哥哥 started singing 'If you are happy and you know it'. When he reach the part … if you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it… he couldn't remember the words and just make up some words to sing it through. 妹妹’s reaction to 哥哥’s singing was a boring ‘who-wah’ while playing with her stuff. It was so funny! Simply just entertaining her brother. Poor 哥哥! He didn’t even notice it.

Ups and Downs

We have to take a flight of stairs to go to 哥哥’s school, which is in a Church. Usually every morning I would carry 妹妹 up and down the stairs before letting her down. Today, I thought I would let her try climbing up with me only holding one of her hands. She could do it quite well and was quite steady. She wasn’t as good when she climbed down. Maybe, the steps are a bit too high for her. She had to bend her knee so much just make sure that her other foot was flat on the lower step. And I could see that she is slightly scared and wanted to hold both my hands. Nevertheless, I think she has done very well and I proud of her!