'New' Evening Routine

Last week, Mother steamed orh-kueh (yam kueh) and kim-guay kueh (pumpkin kueh). Both were so delicious that WY kept eating them during dinner and I had to stop him from over-eating! Even WF (who is usually quite picky with his food) asked to try these kuehs when he saw how WY was enthusiastically gobbling them up! Afterwards, WF gave them his "thumbs-up", too!

CP, on knowing that Mother had steamed these orh-kueh and kim-guay kueh (according to Mother, she had steamed the kuehs at CP's suggestion), also made an unscheduled trip back home to Mother's place for dinner after work that day.

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Since about a month ago, Mother has been helping to bring dinner in a tingkat to our place. I had requested this special arrangement because it makes logistics easier on our part.

Previously, we had to make a dash to Mother's place after picking WY & WF up from CH School, lugging everything with us, rush to scoop & get the food ready on the table while Mother got WY to shower and then showered WF. Then we had to clear the dishes & wash up (the washing was sometimes done by Mother) before we would have to rush back upstairs with everybody & everything again. It was super exhausting.

(rights of owner acknowledged)

It was also totally frustrating because after shower and dinner, WY & WF would tend to ask for some play time/tv time at Mother's place and refuse to 'get moving'. WF, especially, would hog the tv and keep asking Mother for biscuits + milo + yakult etc.

Now, Mother would usually bring the food up for us by about 7pm and so we get to go upstairs directly from the car. WY would help me to unpack the stuff to be washed (eg the school uniforms, water bottles, lunch boxes etc) and then go for his shower. At the same time, we would get WF's bath ready while WF 'chooses' the toy cars he wants to 'wash' for the day. Then between R and me, one (usually R) would bathe WF while the other (usually me) would wash the stuff and get the food ready.

So we can now, on average, have our dinner by about 7:45pm and finish and be ready to wash up by about 8:30pm. Review of WY's work will usually start about 30-45 minutes later. During this period, WY and WF will have their play time whilst R and I handle the dishwashing & laundry as fast we can. Sometimes, we manage to squeeze in our showers too.

When play time is up, WY and WF will be reminded to keep the mess of toys. Very often, we have to rely on the Brand's timer to 'buzz' them into action. On 'good days', they get moving quite quickly. On 'bad days', they would do so only when I start to raise my voice.

These days, we have started to assign 'work' to WF to do during the time WY reviews his homework with me. Sometimes, the 'work' is written work such as Maths or English or 写字练习 or colouring work. At other times, it is practising the Yamaha songs on the keyboard or completing the Yamaha homework or practising the 文化艺术团 work.

Our aims are two-fold: to get WF into the habit of doing some work (instead of spending his evening time only playing with toys or glued to the tv), and to appear to be 'fair' to both WY and WF (both have to do work - these days, WY tends to be ultra-concerned about 'fairness').

Sometimes R would accompany WF to do his work. If R does his own things, then WF would keep running to me in WY's room and ask for company.

It was very tough to totally ignore WF - it's not good to keep 'shooing' him away from WY's room. But it is almost impossible to deal with WY's work while also handling WF simlutaneously because WY would end up so distracted and the entire session would just go beyond our targeted end-time of 10:30pm.

Getting the boys to bed is no easier task. Both of these night-owls love to be in my room as they get changed and stay there till WY is finally 'shooed' to his own room at about 11pm.

WF usually asks to be read to after he has changed into his pyjamas and after he has downed his cup of milk. So once WY goes off to his own room, WF would move swiftly to our Library to pick out a short-story book for me to read to him. On most nights, I would oblige.

Recently, I have started to get him to read alternate pages of the chosen storybook. "Ok, we will take turns," WF would say. He can read quite well now although I still have to constantly remind him about clear diction and every now and then, correct his pronunciation. According to WF's CH School teacher, he can read quite well during class - the teacher gets the children to read their assigned readers to one another aloud.

When the reading is done and the story book kept, it will finally be lights off for WF and me. On 'easy days', this is about 11:30pm.

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For dinner, Mother usually needs to be reminded not to overcook (in terms of quantity) for us. On the day we had the yam kueh and the pumpkin kueh, the quantity was ok.

Just to complete the picture, these were what we had that day:

Mozzy or Mozzies

Last night, some time after dinner, I was getting WY to go start taking out his homework for me to view/check when I spotted a mosquito on his back below his right shoulder. Without hesitation, I slammed onto that mosquito with my hand!

"Ouch! What was that for?!" WY cried out. Without saying anything (I was still busy 'scanning around'), I showed him my palm. On it were one mosquito leg and a little blood.

Instantaneously, WY realised why I had given him such a big 'slap' on his back. Then we both cast our eyes onto the floor and we saw, to our amazement, the crippled mosquito wriggling and writhing in a circle on the floor!

I quickly grabbed a piece of tissue paper to pick up that damned bug and have it squashed beyond recognition. "Damn you! How dare you bite WY right under my eyes (literally)!!" I muttered under my breath as I tossed whatever pulp left of that mozzy in the crumpled tissue, into the waste-paper basket.

Then, I quickly 'inspected' WY and saw, to my dismay, 4 big mosquito bites on his right thigh & above his right shin! By then, each bite was already about the size of a 5-cent coin. But WY said that he didn't know that he had been bitten by any mosquito because there had been no itch at all (until later).

So whilst putting on some cream on the red bulgy patches, I explained that before the mosquitoes bite us, they would 1st cleverly inject some liquid to numb our skin so that we would not feel its bite immediately. This is why usually by the time we realise that we have been bitten by the mosquito, the mosquito would have been done with its blood-sucking romp. WY gave his trademark "ooh's" and "ahh's" on hearing my explanation and said, "No wonder I didn't know that I have been bitten!"

R and I couldn't find any other mosquito last night. But based on the little amount of blood smashed out of the one which was successfully sent to its maker last night, I am quite certain there is at least another one hiding somewhere around.

Tonight, we will hunt it down.

KidsDash(es)

The 1st time we took part in the children's "marathon" organised by Standard Chartered Bank called KidsDash was in 2004. It was held the same morning the 'real' marathon was run by the thousands of men and women. I remember that the KidsDash that year was sponsored by the Southeast CDC, so it was coyly termed the Southeast Dash. It was flagged off by our then-newly appointed Southeast CDC Mayor.

That year, we had registered only WY for the event. We knew WF would refuse to run (much less 'dash') with so big a crowd of children, so we didn't register him. R had a tough time carrying WF all the way from the flag-off point to the finish line, first on his arms, then on his shoulders and then on his arms again etc. Many other fathers had their toddlers sit on their shoulders, too, but I remember noting that somehow, the ang-mo ones looked much more relaxed than R and others. Hahaha, lack of training, lah.....

WY was such a darling. He tried his best and completed the 750m dash although there hadn't been any prior training. I remember that I had to keep looking out for him as I struggled to keep pace, pausing so very often by the roadside to catch my breath. Woah, it was probably tougher than a 'real' marathon, I thought. The only reason I hadn't simply walked off the course was that WY kept looking back to check that I was still within his sight. (So, I die die also must continue, lah!)

It was more a sense of relief (than achievement!) for me when WY collected his 1st KidsDash medal and certificate just next to the drinks station.

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Then, the following year, both WY and WF were registered for the KidsDash. The sponsor that year was 7-Eleven. So, the participants' t-shirt was almost like one which 7-Eleven staff would wear: with 7-Eleven logos front, back and even on the sleeves! Hahaha....

WY, having gone through the 1st KidsDash and so knows what to expect, became more confident and eagerly sped off the moment the horn was sounded. As was the arrangement the year before, R was in charge of taking care of WF. I cannot remember clearly now whether WF ran at all.

Armed with the camera and all the children's barangs (eg change of clothes) stuffed in the grey carry-all bag which in those days I always had to lug around, I had stood metres ahead from the starting point. The moment the horn was sounded (this time, by the CEO of 7-Eleven), all the children just darted forward! Other parents and I also sprang into action and started to snap away busily!

I tried very hard to see if I could spot WY amongst that sea of racing children (and adults). It was really crazy, I remember, trying to take pictures whilst being on the move myself! I felt like a siao-lao-bu ('crazy mother') through and through, man! I gave up the photo-taking after a while because I saw WY speeding away and out of my sight. Hahhaa....

It worried me a bit when I couldn't catch up with WY. What if he had reached the finish line but saw neither R/WF nor me? Wouldn't he start to panic, too?! So I pressed on, panting and sweating like anything.

At last, as I turned into St Andrew's Road after the Cricket Club, I saw WY waiting by the roadside. From afar, I could see that the moment he spotted me, he turned to race on and headed for the City Hall where the finish line was. It was another 2-3 minutes or so before I joined him there.

R and WF came in later, by which time, WY was already enjoying his well-deserved cold 100-plus. WF was thrilled that he could have his fill of the icy-cold drink and was not at all bothered by WY's "protests" that WF had not run the entire route!

Both WY and WF collected their medals at the Collection Booth as we walked towards the other side of the Padang. (The certificates were sent by the organisers by post later that year.)

Later that evening, WF showed off his medal to Father, Mother, CP, YP and BK (who ran the marathon that same morning) at dinner that evening. I remember this was at a restaurant. WS and WP were curious how WF got the medal and finally agreed to join us at the following year's event.

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Last year, WS and WP joined in the KidsDash, making it a very much more exciting event for WY and WF.

The sponsor was, once again, 7-Eleven and so all the boys donned the white-and-orange t-shirt. Only WY had to use the previous year's t-shirt because R had mistakenly ordered the XS of the children's sizes for WY and only WF could fit in that size. (For the year before, only adult sizes had been available and so only WY could fit the XS then.)

WS and WP had stayed over at our place the night before, so we all went for a light breakfast at Funan McDonald's early morning before strolling to the starting point outside Esplanade Theatres. We had some difficulty getting across because most parts of the roads had been blocked and eventually, we had to cross some underpasses in a hurry after making some detours here and there.

BK was waiting for the boys at the starting point. He had completed his race, and was there to give support to the boys. WF 'promised' to run on his own like the older boys, so we all tried to find a 'comfortable' spot to wait for the flag-off.

Having learnt my lesson about photo-taking, I decided to take only some posed photos before the horn was sounded. After about 2-3 shots, the boys got a little irritated because the sun was getting a little 'scorchy' and too glaring for comfort.

It was quite a relief when the race finally started. As was agreed in the previous events, R was to take charge of WF. I went off to the mid-point of the race route by walking through the underpass etc once again. This was much easier than trying to run alongside the running children. Heeheeee....

WS, WP and WY were very soon out of sight because they had gone way ahead. I didn't see them even as I reached the mid-point outside the Victoria Concert Hall. But I was less anxious than previously because this time, we had agreed with the boys that we would all meet at the drinks station located after the finish line after the race.

As I waited briefly at the VCH, I saw WF came in on R's shoulders! Ha?! Then, I proceeded to move on and when he saw me, he started to run on his own to 'catch up'. Before long, he was perstering R to once again carry him. BK, who was strolling with R then, kept encouraging WF to run on.

I cannot remember how much more WF ran after that or if R carried him most of the way after that. I was busy trying to get myself to the finish line so that I could meet up with the boys. But alas, as I reached St Andrew's Road just outside the City Hall, I found myself being joined by the deejay. That crazy man kept pace with my jogging (I was really quite worn out by then), 'suan-ing' me all the way till I crossed that finish line! Woah lao, man! Siao DJ!!

When I finally crossed the finish-line, I saw only WS and WP. WY was nowhere in sight! I got a little worried especially when WS said he hadn't seen WY since finishing the race. WP said that he had seen WY around but he had no idea where WY went after finishing the race.

After we were joined by R, WF and BK, we walked towards the Collection Booth. Then, it dawned upon me why I couldn't see WY - there was no drinks station anywhere near to the finish line!! Later, we found out that the drinks station had been relocated to some other spot further away!

So, as BK and R went looking for WY, I ushered the boys to collect their medals and then have their drinks. Unlike previous years, there were many more barriers and we ended up at a 'holding area' for several minutes.

BK returned to say that he couldn't see WY anywhere at all. Then, WP spotted WY walking towards us. WY explained that when he did not see us at the finish line, he thought he would go and get his drink first, and so he had moved on to the drinks station to wait for us - that was our agreed place to meet, afterall, mah.

Sigh, anyway, I was so relieved. We all strolled back to the car after a while and headed home as it started to drizzle.

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I have already registered WY and WF for this year's KidsDash. It will be held on 2 December. I hope all will turn out fine again.

The day I successfully registered online, i smsed YP to remind her to register early if WS and WP intend to run again this time. Then, to my shock, she replied my sms to say that WS may have tuition that day! Ha?! So I cheekily smsed her again to ask: 2 Dec 2007 leh! Tuition for Sec 1, ah?! YP didn't respond to that, lah, in case anyone is wondering.

Last Saturday, I asked WS and WP if they would be keen to join in the Dash again. WP said he was ok to run again, but 'see if GorGor wants to run or not, lor'. So I asked WS. WS was nonchalant about it, concluding with a 'maybe not' in the end.

Perhaps I will try asking them again in 1 or 2 weeks' time. Afterall, KidsDash is for children below the age of 13 years and it won't be long before the oldest of these boys of ours cross over that age and become a teenager - a major milestone, no doubt.

Now - The Difficult Part...

Yesterday, I signed up for WY and myself a Basic Classical Guitar course at a music school. Lessons will commence in August.

Initially, I had intended to sign up for WY on an 'individual student' basis - and that would mean a half-hour lesson each Sunday afternoon. Then, on the spur of the moment, I thought to myself, why not let WY have some company for the guitar lessons? It would be fun to have a buddy, wouldn't it?!

So, I called R on the hp and asked if he would be interested to be WY's buddy. He said no. So, eventually I offered myself, lor. Our 'group' lesson will now be a 45-minute session each Sunday afternoon.

The school is located in Toa Payoh, close to where 文化艺术团 is. So I guess from next month, we will expect to spend a total of another 2 more hours or so in Toa Payoh, eating (lunch after 文化艺术团 lessons) and strumming & plucking away! :)

Now that lessons have been scheduled, the difficult part which is left to be settled is buying the instrument. I say 'difficult' because unlike 2+ decades ago when buying musical instruments = automatically heading for 'yamaha', now we are faced with more choices. And I find it tough deciding which guitar to get. Plus, I really am out of touch with guitars.

We need to get only one guitar for the time being because the music school has agreed to lend me one for lessons. I think that offer of loan of instrument is very helpful, espcially since I am not sure yet whether this buddy-lesson is a sustainable arrangement.

I will have to choose very soon, one guitar amongst these choices I am considering:

from Yamaha (yah lah, cannot leave out this 'established' brand):

C40 at $124 (gloss finish) or C40 at $148 less 15% (matt finish);
C70 at $180 less 15% (gloss finish);

from Suzuki (heard of this brand before but not sure if it is as popular as the retailer claims it to be):

SCG-10 at $119 (on offer, UP is $169);

from Maestro (seems an 'exotic' brand which is also 'renowned' for acoustic/electric guitars, with established servicing network):

E-1 at $149.

Really N.G.U.M!

About a fortnight ago, a colleague emailed me a link to Mr Brown's new production called N.G.U.M - National Go Up Month. As are Mr Brown's other productions, this was very funny. Check it out in mrbrownshow.com!

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Last week, R, WY, WF and I decided to stop by McDonald's for an ice-cream cone each. As we took our seats, I handed WY a $2 note.

WY proceeded to place his order for the 4 cones. Moments later, he turned to signal to me that the $2 was not enough! Ha?? I was puzzled, too, until the counter staff 'part-shouted-part-gestured' to me that another 40 cents would be needed!

She 'explained' that because of the increase in the GST rate, each cone now costs $0.60 instead of $0.50! Wow! That's a hefty 20% increase, leh!!

This was ridiculous, I thought! McDonald's is a gigantic entity, so why squeeze an additional 10 cents for the smallest item on its menu?!

Then I suddenly remember that this is N.G.U.M. and so, I instinctively took a quick glance at the prices of the McDonald's value meals and ala carte items. Oooh, everything now costs more! *tsk* *tsk* *tsk*......

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On Tuesday, I went to a popular stall at the food centre next to my office during lunch hour to buy a few 菠萝包 for R and WY's breakfast the following day. There was no other customer at the stall. So I told the lady worker there that I wanted 3 菠萝包 packed. To my surprise, the usually jovial and chatty lady hesitated.

Worker: 呃，现在一个是 $1.40，你知道, hor？不再是$1.00了。

I: 什么？！现在一个菠萝包是 $1.40？！为什么涨价涨得这么高？！

Worker: 老板娘吩咐的。我们已经跟老板娘反应了，可是她还是说我们要卖一个$1.40。我们打工的，也没办法咯。我见你是熟客，先跟你解释，要不然怕你误会，那就不好意思了。

I: 一个菠萝包$1.40，那我不要了。(I pointed to the plain steamed buns at the display counter.) 那个鸡蛋糕有涨价吗？



Worker: 鸡蛋糕没有涨。可是大包、小包、韭菜角和其他的点心，每个都涨价$0.10。海鲜角现在一个是$0.90，不再是$0.80了！



I: 哈？！那今天我只要鸡蛋糕好了。

When I returned to office after buying my lunch too, I told my colleague what I had been told.

My colleague confirmed that she has had to pay more for almost every breakfast since the GST has headed north. She usually buys different food for breakfast each day, so she knows.

She says that the hawkers now charge $0.10 more for coffee, $0.10 more for each 笋糕, $0.10 for 猪场粉, $0.10 more for 芋头糕, $0.20 more for mee siam, $0.20 chwee kueh, $0.30 more for congee, $0.50 for 炒菜头糕 etc etc. The popular 炒米粉、炒面 which many office workers like to eat/buy for breakfast now costs a minimum of $0.80 and no longer $0.70 as was previously.



She even commented that for those food items whose prices have not yet been increased, the portion served has been reduced.

I didn't believe this last point at first, but when I opened my $3.00 bowl of 鱼片汤 lunch and looked at it, I knew she was right. The 鱼片汤 used to come with about 5-6 relatively thick slices of fish. Now, only 3-4 ultra-thin slices float amidst the chopped parsley and deep-fried shallots on top of the clear steaming-hot soup.



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Sigh, Mr Brown couldn't have been more right to call July 2007 the N.G.U.M........

NDP

When I first started work at my current office, there was this little part of my portfolio which was regarded as 'public service' and because of it, I used to be 'automatically' offered a GrandStand seat for each year's NDP Preview. (That part of my portfolio has become obsolete now, so there is no longer such a privilege as far as NDP tickets are concerned.)

Back then, I didn't really appreciate the offer, and for several years, I would simply give the ticket away to colleagues who asked for it. Some years, there would be one single ticket; other years, it would be a pair of tickets.

Then, one year, Mother suddenly became interested in the NDP and asked if I had tickets for it. I hadn't the faintest idea that she would be interested in being part of that giant NDP crowd and so, by the time she asked, I had already given away my tickets. Mother scolded me quite harshly for it (weird, hor?), saying that I should have offered them to her 1st before I released them to colleagues! Sigh.

Then, as WY became older, we thought it would be a good idea to let him experience what watching the NDP 'live' at the stadium involved and how it felt. So, we started to get YP to use her lobangs to try to get tickets to the NDP Previews or Rehearsals.

Thanks to YP who successfully got us tickets for several years, WY was able to join that giant NDP crowd at the stadium/Padang for the parades. The year before last year, YP managed to get enough tickets for herself + BK + WS + WP as well as for R + WY + WF + me! Father, Mother and CP were not keen to go.

Last year, WS watched the NDP rehearsal called the NE Show which is open to all P5 students. And because YP herself, BK & WP were not so keen to go to the stadium again (because they didn't want to be showered again with all those fireworks dust which was what happened to them in the preceding year because they had sat close to the spot where the fireworks were shot from), YP passed all her tickets to us.

In the end, we even had 2 spare tickets which we then offered to the Director of WY and WF's CH school plus her daughter. They were both so grateful for the 'treat'. WY and WF also had great fun at the stadium watching the NDP 'live'.

This year, with the passing of the Kallang Stadium, the NDP has been moved to Marina Bay. According to media and feedback from colleagues who have been to the rehearsals a fortnight ago, it is going to be an NDP worth going to.

YP's lobangs didn't yield any tickets this year. So I submitted all our names and NRIC numbers for the national ballot for the much sought-after NDP tickets. By a stroke of luck, we managed to successfully ballot for 2 tickets for the actual-day event. Actually, it was Mother' NRIC number which was drawn for the tickets, but Mother said she would prefer to watch this year's parade from the comfort of her sofa.

So it has already been decided by now: R will bring WY to the NDP at Marina Bay whilst all the rest of us will watch the broadcast from home. Going by the traffic advisories, I think they probably should take the public transport.

“说说演演”又来了！

前天，学校发了一张通告：

这个学期，学生们将会被分组，以演艺的方式来进行“说说演演”。每一组会有四个或者五个组员，他们要互相配合，把老师所指定的故事“表演”好，让老师评分。所得的分数，就会当成这个学期的“说说演演”的得分了。

哎，真伤脑筋！

我把 WY 带回来的剧本看过了一遍。剧本并不难，是关于四个动物的角色如何领悟到“动物对人类的贡献”的小故事。以WY 在文化艺术团的经验，要把他被分配到的“小青蛙”的角色表演好，应该是撮撮有余。

问题是，通告说评分的准则，除了学生个人的表情、声调和台风等等之外，还有“组员们的默契与合作”、“道具和服装”等等！

啊？！ 怎么确保组员们有默契啊？如果有组员没合作精神，怎么办呢？还要道具？头痛啊！

Volcano & Mr Long

On Monday evening, whilst giving WY his Spelling & Dication test, I went through his school-assigned homework. There was only a CL assignment in the 作业本子.

When I flipped to the assignment, I got a nasty shock! Parts of it were not completed and the entire 理解问答 had been left undone! And the assignment has already been marked by the teacher!!

Of course, there were multiple red-ink question marks on the uncompleted pages, and all these culminated with this remark: 没有完成作业！！

So I asked WY why this happened. He claimed that the assignment was done as an impromptu assignment in class and the students had to complete it during lesson time and there & then hand up to the teacher. He explained that he missed out the 理解问答 because he had 'forgotten' about it.

So, I asked further - if it were really as he had described, then wouldn't he have finished all the other parts well ahead of his classmates? And if so, how was it possible that he had 'forgotten' the 理解问答 completely?

He could not explain. Then he merely took a pen from the pen-stand and shoved it to me, saying that the teacher's instruction to him was that I must sign against the 没有完成作业！！ remark.

I sensed that something was not quite right. So I pressed on with my questions. Finally, he confessed that the assignment was supposed to have been done at home (and not during lesson time as he 1st claimed just moments ago) some time last week.

Now, my agreement with WY has always been that he is to note in his handbook all the homework which the school teachers assign each day, so that I know what homework I need to go through after dinner and so that I can remind him to do them if he has forgotten about them. And if he fails to note his homework in the handbook, he will be punished.

WY is well aware of his responsibility to note his homework. He has had privileges such as GB time and computer time withdrawn several times previously because he had failed to note his homework in his handbook.

So when WY finally confessed that he had not noted this CL assignment in his handbook, I was beginning to feel very upset. Blood already started to boil....

Then, I asked him quite sternly, "On which day was this supposed to have been done?" "I don't know," came his hesitant reply.

After some more probing, he eventually said, "I think it was some time last week, but I don't remember."

At this point, I could not contain my anger anymore. Why is he always telling me that he cannot remember this or that?!?!?!!!!!! Is it really so difficult to just jot down in the handbook when the work is assigned by the teacher???!!?



And so, I grabbed Mr Long and have him stand in front of the piano with his arms raised and *WHACK* went Mr Long landing on his buttocks! Of course that sent WY wincing in pain.

A total of 3 strokes were given - one for not completing his work, one for not remembering to note the homework and one for not even remembering when it had been assigned.

Needless to say, tears began to flow when Mr Long was dropped. The crying was muffled as he tried to rub off the pain on his buttocks with his palm.

Then, I also broke down myself because I really felt so frustrated and let down. Whatever happened to his promises to improve himself and to make sure he will do a better job especially for CL?! Just what is wrong with WY?! What is wrong?!?????

It has been barely a week since the CL teacher called to discuss how WY must buck up on his CL. It has also been barely a week since WY had had to write that additional 周记 (as 'punishment' meted out by the CL teacher for failing to do his CL homework) setting out how he plans to improve his CL etc.

HOW could this happen again?! How could it be that the teacher has had to pen a 没有完成作业！！ remark in his 作业本子?!!!! Just how could it be?!!!

The more I thought about this, the more helpless I felt, the louder I wailed.........

****************************

After a good half hour or so, I sat myself and the weeping WY down on the floor.

I: WY, can you try to think through carefully now - when was the assignment given out? Was it on Wednesday last week?

WY (after pausing for several seconds): I think so. I missed the CL lesson that day, I think.

I: Yes, you did. You went for your piano exam that morning, remember? But I reminded you to find out from your classmates the homework that you need to do for the lessons which you missed!

WY: Yes, I did ask my friend. He only said there was the Moral Ed homework plus something else. Not this CL assignment.

I: It is your responsibility to go through each lesson which you missed and find out specifically what work needs to be done. It is your job to go find out accurately! The information will not come to you automatically, one!

Then WY went on to explain how he had found out about the CL assignment only last Thursday when another classmate of his sought his help to hand up that classmate's 作业本子 to the CL teacher because that classmate had to miss the CL class. And when WY realised that this assignment needed to be done, he quickly took out his own 作业本子 and hurriedly tried to finish the work. But alas, there wasn't enough time and so only parts of the assignment were done and he handed both copies of 作业本子 hastily to the CL teacher.

I told WY that if that was what happened, then he ought to have explained to the teacher and ask for more time to complete the work properly. Or, if he didn't do that, he should have explained to the teacher when the teacher returned the 作业本子 back to him after marking it. Then, the teacher would not have noted the 没有完成作业！！ remark in it and demanded that I sign against this remark!

Sigh.... Anyway, I made WY write a note to the teacher to explain what had happened, which he did after all our crying and sobbing subsided. There were several 错字 in the note, but I left them as they were.

Also, I asked WY why he seems very distracted in class and what is causing him to lose concentration. He said that sometimes, his classmates are very noisy and so he cannot focus on the lessons. The noise level also causes him to miss the teachers' instructions at times.

For this, we agreed that we will seek the form teacher's help to let WY sit closer to the front of the class at least for the time being. If WY is seated further away from the more rowdy children at the back of the class, perhaps it will help.

Then I asked WY what he thinks about in class - his teachers' feedback has always been that WY's mind seems to be 'wandering off' every now and then. WY said that he is sometimes thinking about many things. For example, in the school, it is now time for electing the Head Prefect. It is compulsory for all P4 students to vote for one out of 8 candidates.

During the hastings, all the 8 candidates claim that they will accomplish this and that for the school and for the students etc, so WY doesn't really know how he should go about deciding who to vote for!!!! And so, he thinks and ponders over this......

Ha?! Sigh...... I told WY that he can discuss such things with his friends and teachers in school. But if there is no one who will discuss this with him (his form teacher has commented that unlike some other children, WY does not seem to have any 'specially close' best friend although he is generally ok with everybody), then he can always come talk to R or me when he comes home. No need to spend time and energy thinking and thinking about such things in class! This, he agrees and promises to do.

I also told WY that he must learn to 'be smarter' and learn to take charge of his own stuff, lessons and all. He must 'unlock' his intelligence and talents by opening his ears, eyes and mouth. Always be alert; listen and watch what is going on in class. Ask and ask more questions if in doubt! That he cannot keep depending on me to remind him this and that, or to settle everything for him all the time.....

Sigh... and more sighs..................

***********************

On Tuesday morning, I spoke to both the CL teacher and form teacher. Both were given a brief account of what had happened last night, including my invitation of Mr Long.

The CL teacher agrees that if the assignment had been missed out because WY had missed the lesson last Wednesday, then she would have allowed him more time to complete the work. She explained that her practice is to write on the whiteboard the work which she assigns to the class. She promises to look out for WY more and remind him to have these noted in his handbook.

The form teacher was very moved when she heard how WY gives much of his time thinking over how he should go about deciding on his vote for the Head Prefect. She commented that it is a good thing that WY takes such school-based matters seriously, and this is so unlike most of the other children who just adopt the kind of "can't care less" attitude. She thinks WY deserves to be complimented for this.

But she agrees that we should point out to WY that such things is not as important as his class work and so he should learn to prioritise these. She promises to look into how arrangements in class can be made to have WY sit nearer to the front of the class. She explained that there are now 3 girls seated at the back of the class who are rather chatty and indeed, these girls do sometimes get very excited and noisy when they start to discuss during group-work time. She will see how the situation can be improved.

Today & Tomorrow

Today, there was massive network breakdown in the office. LN was completely down starting from about 10am. Finally, they announced over the PA system at about 3pm that LN will not be available for the rest of the day as well.

So, many persons were elated! Some went for tea. Others rejoice over the cold turkey treatment that their bosses (whose 1st love is to shoot emails here and there) have to bear with till LN becomes available again!

For me, this is good break from LN. I can better concentrate on doing the 'paper' part of work for today.

We are also looking forward to tommorrow. We will have one day of World Peace.

Selli-Selli-Long-Chium-Pas!

Last evening, we had an ultra-simple dinner of steamed bak-chang and assorted fruits. WF had his cereal and cheese in addition to his cup of apples (followed by a 'Thomas' cake later in the night).

Whilst having our fruits, WF offered his stretched-out hands and started to play with me:

set, set, set!
bing-bong, bing-bong, bing-bing-bong!
左睡、右睡，
高高、低低，
前前、后后，
selli-selli-long-chium-pas!

We played this several rounds. Sometimes he 'won', other times I did. Both of us giggled and laughed as we looked to see whether we had 'scissors' cutting 'paper', or 'paper' wrapping 'stone' or 'stone' knocking 'scissors'. It was great fun!

Then WY, who had been looking on, decided to join in. So WY and WF began to play between themselves as I got back to eating my food.

set, set, set!
bing-bong, bing-bong, bing-bing-bong!
左睡、右睡，
高高、低低，
前前、后后，
selli-selli-long-chium-pas!

Rounds after rounds they went. Then gradually, they 'shortcut' the game and it became only an abridged:

selli-selli-long-chium-pas!

After a while, WY gleefully declared, "WF, I know your strategy already!" WF just gave him an innocent look and went, "Ha?"

Actually, WF's strategy was very simple - for each new round, he would 'follow' whatever the winning sign was in the previous round. For example, if WF had used 'paper' to win WY's 'stone', then WF would continue to use 'paper' for the next few rounds until his 'paper' gets defeated by WY's 'scissors'. Then WF would adopt 'scissors' for the next few rounds until this loses to WY's 'stone', after which WF would show 'stone' and so on. So, after a while, it was naturally easy for WY to realise what WF's strategy was.

But the boys continued on nevertheless, with more rounds of their long-chium-pases.... Not unexpectedly, WY kept 'winning' WF. Then, suddenly, WF decided to try something different. To the surprise of everybody, he showed this:

!!

Of course, we all roared with laughter! Then WY told him that there isn't such a sign in the game.

So WY and WF went on another round:

selli-selli- l...o...n...g.... - c...h...i...u...m... - p...a...s!

And WF showed this:



Hahahahah!!!!!! We all laughed again! WY asked WF what that was, to which WF answered after pausing for a moment, "A car." "Ha?! That sign is for 'OK' lah," WY responded amidst all that laughter......

And so, we ended our dinner on an 'OK' note.

DownTime

R + = .

So yesterday morning & this morning, it was:

in = 2 hours of for R.

And yesterday morning, for WF and me:

became .

Then, it started to as I to office.


Despite being poorer,

I landed in office only at .


Luckily, boss didn't .

Not sure when it will be :

???

Home Provision Store

I have mentioned this to CP and YP before - sometimes, I feel that the school thinks we have a provision store at home. The teacher would quite often suka suka, last minute set the children an assignment involving assembling something using various materials that are not commonly found at home. And the children will be required to hand up that assembled thing the very next day.

It was very frustrating for WY and me because most of the time, I would not be able to give WY all the materials which he asked for. So WY would often not be able to complete on time the task set or to hand up the assembled thing as required the following day. Although WY would usually reassure me that it would be ok to hand up the assignment later, it was always very tormenting to know that the assignment could not be done immediately only because of the lack of materials.

This was especially bad for WY's morale, I think, because most (if not all) of his classmates would somehow be able to meet the challenge. And poor WY would have had to 'share' with his classmates their assembled thing which the teacher would have them discuss in class.

So, I decided to stock up many items at home. Anything which can possibly become 'needed' at short notices. So things like art & craft glue, plain & coloured ice-cream sticks, long & short satay sticks, clips of varying sizes, ribbons of varying width & designs, 'vangard' papers, A4 coloured paper, origami paper, plain & coloured beads, buttons of different colours & sizes, different types of strings & threads, labels of varying shapes, big & small stickers are all now available at home.

I also make sure now that we have some balloons, paper & plastic cups and plates etc etc at home. Sometimes, I also keep a handful of kitchen towel rolls (which are more firm than toilet rolls) on standby. Several metal & plastic boxes are also put aside, in case they are needed. I also have several pairs of gloves amongst the 'provisions' at home.

So, I guess you could say, to a certain extent, I do seem to have started some kind of provision-store. Although this makes some places at home (such as the store-room and kitchen) a little more crammed and messy, it beats having to scramble to get the various materials needed at short notices. Sometimes, it would not be feasible to even try to go to buy the materials during lunch hour the following working day because there would simply be no chance to do that!

Some time last year, I gave feedback to the school and teacher and told them that they should refrain from this kind of super-short notice stuff. And there seems to have been some improvement. So far this year, there hasn't been any more of such last-minute rush to amass various materials to assemble something.

No more, that is, until about 2 weeks ago. WY told me after we picked him up from CH school on Monday evening, that he needed to make a model of the respiratory system. And that this model would be needed one day after the following day. The materials required were: a PET bottle, a straw, a clear plastic bag, a balloon, plasticine and some rubber bands.

Oh, man! I went through the list and saw to my own surprise: eh, I have every item needed, leh! Hahahaa....

What a relief it was, that WY was able to complete fixing that model of the respiratory system the following day at CH school (we brought the materials to CH so that he could do this more 'leisurely' in the afternoon rather than in a hurry at night). And he was able to use his model in class during lesson and have it handed up to the teacher at the end of the lesson.

I think that sense of being able to complete everything on time, show and share his model with his classmates during class and handing it up to teacher for comment/assessment at the same time as all the rest of the class, is VERY IMPORTANT. And I share WY's sense of satisfaction for this assignment. :)

*****************************

Yesterday, WY had his piano exam in the morning. He went to school after that and then went home (not CH school) after dismissal. I had taken leave and so was at home to revise his CL with him.

After we completed what we could cover for CL, WY brought out his Science Activity Book and showed me the assignment he was to complete: to make a stethoscope (ha?!) to measure the pulse rates of a baby/young child, a child his own age, an adult and an elderly. And then he was also to use this handmade stethoscope to measure his own pulse rate while at rest, while walking and after running on-the-spot for several minutes.

The handmade stethoscope is supposed to look something like this. Materials needed: 2 plastic funnel/cups/bowls, plastic tubing & tape.

My heart sank when I saw the list. It is almost incredible but we have funnels (of varying sizes, in fact!) and tape. But we don't have any suitable plastic tubing! (Our water-hose would have been too coarse for this!)

So, how?!

Suddenly, WY got up from his chair, dashed into my bedroom and opened the drawer of my wardrobe. Then, in a split second, he was back and said excitedly, "Mama, we can use this, lah!"

Aha! Yes, so this was what WY used eventually to complete his measurements. Hahahaha..... our 'provision store' is truly well-stocked, hor?! We even have a real stethoscope! Hahahhaa.....

After dinner, WY lined up his 'candidates' for measurement: 'young child' = WF (who was more than willing and happy to oblige), 'child his own age' = WY himself and 'adult' = me. Actually, 'elderly' = Mother but Mother had already gone back to her place by then, so we ended up with an estimated pulse rate for 'elderly'.

啊，有了这么齐全的 'provision store' (we even have ready candidates on standby!!)，还有什么可以难得倒我们的？！ Hahahhaa.....