30.04.09 - Just spending time together

Some Photos of what we did today!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Mummy is only returning to work this sunday so we have alot of time together. Due to the Swine Flu , we have changed tomorrow's airport gathering (Sept babies) to our house! So our friends are coming over instead! CooL!!!!

Hehe ...

29.04.09 - Home sweet home!

Mummy and daddy spent time going thou the things they bought for us and we tried them on . We spent the whole afternoon together and kor kor went out with them to punggol park to have dinner. I think next time they will plan to come back early after their trip so they can have more time to rest and accompany us! :)

Make a Smilebox postcard

Above is some before sleeping time pics! :)

28.04.09 - last night in bangkok

Daddy called home ...

kor kor : daddy , call mummy ... i Wanna speak to her.
daddy : okies
kor kor : mummy ... why u so looong?
mummy : we are coming home tomolo
kor kor : did u buy my mr bean bear?
mummy : yes, i did
kor kor : I mss u know?
mummy melted ....
mummy : I miss you too!

mummy and daddy bought t-shirts and mickey mouse polo tee for keith and hazel and a pair of shoes for them each! and they are almost ready to head home to hug their two wonderful kids. :)

27.04.09 - Day 2

kor kor : mummy ! why you stay at malaysia and never come home?
mummy : I didnt go to malaysia ... mummy and daddy are in bangkok!
kor kor : why u go so long?
mummy : we will be back on wed , keith!
kor kor : I dun wan ah ma ... ask her to go home. Ka ka sleep with us. I wanted to ask u why mummy use ka ka blanket then i saw it's ka ka sleeping with us . haha
mummy : hehe , keith is a good boy right? mummy put down le k?
kor kor : no ... I wanna talk to you.
mummy : phone bill expensive
kor kor : Why you dun wanna talk to me?
mummy : we will talk when mummy come home k?
kor kor : okies
mummy : loves you!
kor kor : love you too!

Mummy and daddy bought more things today. kor kor have 2 jeans and 2 more shirts, pencils and 18 pairs of socks. Hazel has a dozen socks and a big piggy boster!

Ah ma complains that kor kor doesnt wan her and hazel has been crying for mummy and mummy's tears fell. She also missed them terribly already!

26.04.09 - Mummy and Daddy went to Bangkok (Day 1)

Mummy called back home. Everything was fine and kor kor was doing okies. They were playing as usual.

kor kor : mummy , why u not home yet?
mummy : keith , mummy in bangkok. will try to buy u things k?
kor kor : u not come home tonight?
mummy : no ... so u be a good boy and listen to ka ka okies?
kor kor : can u get me mr bean bear?
mummy : I will try to look for it! :)

Mummy and daddy went on a shopping spree ... They bought keith a mr bean bear ( got chopped!) and sailor's uniform. Hazel also has a set of sailor's uniform and a pair of flower jeans . China town they will be going tomolo! :)

24.04.09 - Growing Fast!

These two cutie pies are growing up fast. Da y and mummy are planning to enrol us in childcare soon! :)

21.04.09 - Hazel busy working on her computer

Big boss in the making! :)



Simply loves her smile. She is made from heaven and a present given to me from god! Loves her to bits

20.04.09 - Keith's Activities

Keith is not learning much from PCF and his ABCs and 123s isn't so good but he learns pretty much thou play at home , these are his activities and he takes each task as a form of play instead of homeworks! :)

1. Logico

http://www.finken.de/cgi-bin/show_page/show.cgi?bereich=international&page=http://www.finken.de/international/logico/family.htm

Learning with fun

LOGICO can be used any time - no preparation time is necessary
Working with LOGICO can be interrupted any time - and continued later

Immediate self-checking by turning the card

Compact learning tool - no loose parts

Ideal for differentiated and individualized learning

The LOGICO titles cover all major subjects

Concentration, perception and logical thinking for kindergarten and pre-school classes

For primary and secondary schools:

*Reading, Writing, Spelling

*MathematicsEnglish, French

*General Knowledge

*Geography, History

LOGICO can be played:
at home
on a journey
in the waiting room
on holiday and almost anywhere… \

Advantages of LOGICO

*no loose parts - nothing can get lost
*children can learn at their own rate
*all titles developed by experienced pedagogues
*self-correcting exercises and attractive design make it highly motivating

2. Smart Driver Game

IQ & Strategy Game – Smart Driver 40 puzzles

How to play

1. Setup the puzzle by putting the cars according to the puzzle you have chosen.

2. Move the cars either horizontally or vertically to clear the obstructing cars.

3. The objective is to move the yellow car (marked X) out of the traffic jam to the exit.

40 puzzles in each set. There are 4 levels of difficulty - beginner, intermediate, advanced and expert (10 levels each). Step-by-step solutions are provided for all puzzles.

Age group
Recommended for age 5 & above

3. Road Block - Get the Gangster

Block in the red car , in this blockbuster game!

*The chase is on: block off all escape routes; don't let the car thief outrun you!

*With 60 high-octane challenges to pursue , RoadBlock promises hours of fun.

*Get L ogical - can you think ahead to visualise all the cars in all the spaces.

*Like police car chases in movies, only better

- simple rules , 4 Levels , 60 challenges!

4. Bingo Zinger

* 72 Bingo tiles
* Each player select a Bingo card

* Dealer slides the Bingo Zinger to reveal 2 tiles

* When player saw a tile that match his card , shout out the name of the object and takes the tiles

* First player to get "Blackout" by covering all the spaces on the card with matching tiles , shouts " Bingo!" and Wins!

5. Novum Memory board

* 2 Magnetic board with 30 different design tiles.

* 16 boxes on the board

* place some tiles on the board

* show to the child once

* see how much he/she got right!

6. Smart Puzzle

Smart Puzze is a serie of play cards designed for children 2-8 years old. Through manipulating the puzzle pieces repeatly, your child will develop thinking skills and a sense of logic . while using hs/her fingers to touch and feel , your child's nerves send messages to the brain. This stimulates the nerves cells to connect with one another and create pathways . Studies have shown that the more " nerve cell pathways" a child's brain has created, the more capable he/she becomes in understanding the concept and completing the task. In Addition, your child will learn the concept of multiple-intelligence .

The second stage is level 2, which is recommended for children between age 4-6. Through logical thinking and observation , your child will learn quickly and easily while playing with the puzzle pieces that have red and green multiple answer tracks on them. The themes and topics of the games include Mathematics , Science and Environment. This Product is designed to be interactive , enriching and colourful; the more your child engages with the play cards , the more he/she will learn , grow and have fun.

.... will continue with more games soon!

Friends at PCF ... :)

19.04.09 - Phonics for Hazel

Star Tots Phonics
For children born in 2006/2007
18 months to 3 Years
Phonemic awareness
AZ sounds
Music Development

LETTERLAND CHARACTERS
LETTER SHAPES & SOUNDS

a-z

Star Tots Phonics Programme for 18 months to 3 years old

It is too early to try to teach a two-year old child to read, but it is not too early to introduce letter shapes and sounds in a fun way, which is what Letterland does. Putting letters together into words is a complex process, which comes much more naturally later at 4, 5 and 6. You can perhaps expect a 2-year old to learn a few words (particularly if they always appear in the same place, say a cereal box), but their long-term memories still need time to develop. So what they learn about words at two is likely to be forgotten within months. I would suggest that you gradually encourage your child's natural interest in learning, without tiring his/her enthusiasm by too much focus on attaining specific goals. At 3 years old many children are already taking an interest in having stories read to them and it is positive to encourage and develop this, without putting too much pressure on them.

17.04.09 - Star Phonics

Daddy always wanted keith to start learning phonics since he started talking at 2 years old but no one takes in kids so young. There were also restrictions of age of they need to know their ABCs before they can enrol them.

Mummy search everywhere and enrolled him to a home based class in punggol before but it didnt work out as they would need to teach him his abcs before teaching him and it is spending too much time.

Thinking that putting him in PCF will teach him his alphabets , we enrolled him in Jan 2009. Till now no alphabets were taught because they say they will be teaching phonics when Keith starts K1 if not they will be confused. :(

Mummy is confused now. Do they need to know their abcs or not?

Mummy saw from forum that Sengkang CC is providing Phonics classes but when she went to check , it was for older keiths. 5-6 years old and our keith is bearly 3 . :(

After much searching - she found THIS !

http://www.starphonics.com.sg/

What differentiates STAR Phonics from other Phonics courses?
i. Its a whole language approach. All 4 components of language (reading, writing, speaking, listening) are developed through experience with language through literature.
ii. Its use of music to introduce the sounds. Proven to be the best way for children to remember. Phonics Zoo has won the 'Parent's Choice' award.
iii. Its use of Phonemic awareness exercises to train the linguistic ear.
iv. Its secondary emphases on vocabulary extension and creativity.
v. Its creativity

What is it?

The STAR Phonics Licensing programme is designed to help you start a meaningful, affordable business in teaching early literacy, using a proven system.
STAR Phonics was developed by a group of educationists in 1996. Since then the programme has been receiving excellent feedback for its simplicity and effectiveness in teaching reading. Children love the sessions and were always eagerly looking forward to more lessons.
At the core of the programme is a clever selection of literature, games, crafts and music. Phonics is taught in the context of stories.

Why Phonics?

Research has demonstrated that a strong understanding of the relationship between letters and their sounds is fundamental to learning to read. In the last 10 years, more schools in the USA and Britain are moving towards the teaching of phonics to improve literacy. In some cases, dramatic improvement were achieved.
Knowing the phonic sounds early in life also helps the child to develop proper spoken English. Many Asian adults have poor enunciation of English because the correct sounds of the letters were never learnt.

What about sight words?

Developers of STAR Phonics are mindful that only about 80% of the English words can be pronounced using phonics. Therefore, in each lesson, STAR Phonics also incorporate the teaching of sight words (or whole words).

How effective is the lesson?

At STAR Phonics we use a systematic, structured approach. Lessons do not start with A,B, C and so on. Research has shown that the sounds S,A,T, I, P and N are easier to make. The students can also start forming many simple 3-letter words with these letters. Students are rewarded early and gain confidence as a result.

Alethea NgAllegro Phonics
9049 8488
Pearl Student Care Centre162 Punggol Central #01-01
starphonics@gmail.com

SO KOR KOR IS HAVING HIS FIRST TRIAL CLASS WITH TEACHER ALETHEA AND HOPEFULLY THINGS WORKS OUT THIS TIME ROUND AND KOR KOR WILL START TO READ BOOKS IN 40 WEEKS!

15.04.09 - A bad day for mummy!

What a terrible day!

1. Had to carry tons of brouchues all by herself coz selfish people just doesnt wanna help.
2. broke her glasses while doing it
3. dirtied her skirt
4. rush to play mahjong
5. Lost $27 to Jess. :(

Wahaha....

14.04.09 - Happy birthday Ah ma!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 51 BIRTHDAY AH MA!

Look at her beautiful , delicious cake!

Wahaha but not for the kids as mango was a little too sour for them. I think they still prefer chocolate or strawberry cakes! :)

13.04.09 - ABC , 123

Kor kor keith has always dislike counting and writing of his ABCs. Mummy tried almost everything to get him interested in these topics.

She bought a whiteboard cum chalk board for him to practice on it , she bought dotted assignment books for him , she printed colourful worksheets for him to do counting ... but all to no results. :(

Toa Payoh School teacher introduced a game cd to mummy and it seems to be working. Kor kor has always wanna play games on the computer and he enjoys clicking and playing with the mouse. This game enables him to play on the computer and to go to the next game , he has to get his maths problems correct. :)

The trick on learning is never wait for him to wanna stop to stop the activity but stop when he is very much enjoying the game! :)

We went to Ikea for ice cream and hotdogs today and wanted to go over to Giant as mummy saw on the forum that giant was selling Gain IQ Step 3 at $48.80 ! :( To find out it was a wrong information!

But we still had a wonderful bonding time with mummy and daddy . We really enjoy the car as it's so much easier to have family time now! :)

12.04.09 - Thai PM declares state of emergency to curb unrest

Mummy and daddy was looking forward to going to bangkok. Hotel and tickets all booked for 26th April ...

and then this was on the news :

BANGKOK (AFP) - - Tanks and armoured vehicles rumbled across Bangkok on Sunday as Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva cracked down on protesters leading the most serious challenge yet to his four-month rule.

Government pronouns Bangkok to be in "state of emergency " and anyone going to bangkok should go online to inform singapore government. :(

Ah gong and ah ma are super naggy and worried abt their holiday to bangkok ... and mummy is also worried. :(

Praying and hoping that all these will be over by next week ! :(

09.04.09 - Mummy's busy week!

Mummy will be working part time at NS Anniversary Show on Friday and Sunday and she will also be working next weekend for Acer show . :(

It was tiring and she really miss us like we misses her... :( but the pay will be good to have the extra money - to pay for our education ... our books or enrichment classes. :)

In Singapore , we cant really help but be money mindful! Everything is expensive here!

08.04.09 - No more mi and di ...

I don't know if she understand me .. All I said to this little girl of mine is : "don't call me Mi ... I am Mummy , if u call me Mi , I will not answer you! " :( and I did also corrected her twice on daddy and di ...

To my surprise , she really stop calling her di and mi ... She would call " Mummy and Daddy" hahaha How delighted when I hear her call me. It has been 2 days and she is still calling me .. mummy!




We had a fun time with her alone in the morning today and we will be bringing keith to malaysia with us later for some time alone with each kid. We love them both and we are happy that they are growing up little by little and slowly but surely healthily. :)





Kor kor has been a great boy , letting mei mei have her ways at things and forgives her whenever she hit and scold at him. Rush to her whenever she cries and being a great brother to my "turnin g terrible two ..." baby girl!

07.04.09 - Baby Dexter's First month

Our STAR of the nite! :)



Mummy met up with some old friends from KC at the party. There was auntie Angela , Sabrina , Jolene and Shaina. hehe . They had lots of catching up while me and kor kor went downstairs to play with Desean kor kor's toys.



The food was nice and the toys were fun. We ejoyed ourselves very much! :) Mummy thinks it was rather sad not to have a group photo taken but there is always another time. Hope to meet up soon! :)

06.04.09 - work 3 days in a row and now off 3 days in a row!

It was a new Golf Launch at VW and mummy had to work thou the weekends, From friday till sunday. It was super tiring and she missed us alot. It is never easy working as a sales receptionist as the people you work with thinks you are working under them. They just snap when they are not happy not thinking of you at all. :( Not for the many off days she gets to spend with us , she would prefer a different job.

Bad things aside and good things to share .... today is the beginning of her 3 days off. No monday blues for her today.



She had fun playing with me and took many photos of me while kor kor is having a nap!

Mummy beleive in spending time alone with kor kor and me .She loves to see me smile and her number 1 love for taking photo ...

She loves to do mazes , logico and fun thinking with kor kor and kor kor's number 1 love is drawing.

My number 1 love should be MILK. wahaha!

05.04.09 - I am very hungry

Recently kor kor eats alot. He would have a light breakfast , lunch and heavy dinner , yet at sleeping time , he would tell mummy : " I am so hungry" whenever he sees mummy eating , he would wan some too! :)

Mummy is more than delighted to feed him and fatten him as long as he knows when to stop and not vomit his food. :) hehe

Weighing scale shows 15.8kg - how happy to know he put on 0.8kg ! :)

04.04.09 - Reading is good!

Reading is a good habit and it's great to start from young!

We have a small Library of books. Mummy buys 2nd hand books , get some from sprees and alot were hand me downs from aunties and recently our library increase it's size as auntie Sheryl gave us alot of great books that her daughters outgrown. :)

How delighted are we!