The Extended Tan Family Photoshoot with Orange Studios

I love photos. I love having nice pictures of my kids, family and friends. I enjoy taking the photographs, but that would also mean that I am often not in any of them. Thus, when Orange Studios approached us to do a shoot with them, I quickly replied to say yes. Especially when they agreed to let me bring my whole clan along! hehehe... Well, actually, it's just my parents, my sister and her family, and us. See how law abiding we are? Government say Stop at Two, my parents stopped at me and my sis. Government say have three or more... My sis and I have three kids each. Not too shabby, eh?

We've been wanting to get a nice shot of our three generation family. But, despite having two gigantic DSLRs in the family, photographs taken with the tripod and timer function is simply no match for this wonderful picture below. It is simply amazing that all 12 of us are looking at the camera and smiling too!!!

Photo by Orange Studios

And the amazing thing about the above photo and all the other photographs taken during the Orange Studios shoot is, it was all very spontaneous. We didn't have to line up according to height. We weren't shifted around like inanimate objects. We were not given any specific instructions to place our limbs in predefined positions nor anything like that. 

Being something of a control freak, I had to resist the urge to try to organise the kids to be synchonised "All sit with your legs out. Shawna! Sit properly! Smile! Ah yah, why some squat, some sit?!" Wait. I think I did say all that! Thankfully, the pictures just came out great. 

Ryan, the photographer, just seemed to have a knack for capturing us at our best.  

Photo by Orange Studios

We tried to ask for an outdoor shoot, figuring that nice background scenery would definitely be preferred to a boring studio shoot. But we were told that Orange Studios currently only do studio shoots, and no outdoor shoots. We further became even more skeptical when we realised that it was just gonna be a pure (boring!!!) white background. What? No ornate fake library background? No beautiful Japanese sakura flowers falling in the snow scenery? Er, not that we wanted those... just that.. er, er... you mean like that also don't have?!

But what do I know?! Look at the pix! Ryan's good, very good at making us the stars of our own shots. I can see, now, why he prefers to just use a plain white background. So that the emphasis is on us! :)

Photo by Orange Studios

You know, with my love for family photographs and making photo-customised items, I confess that I am a fan of those online website deals where you can buy a coupon for a really cheap family photo shoot... Thus, this is definitely not our first photo shoot, studio or outdoor. But, after going for a photo shoot with Orange Studios, I now understand the difference in service standards between mass booking photo shoots and the personalised service provided by Orange Studios. 

For mass booking photo shoots, the time allocated is fairly strictly adhered to. So, time is of the essence. As such, the photographers tend to frown when you appear with too much clothing changes and props. However, with Orange Studios, they actually make a personal phone call with you days before the appointed day of the shoot, to have a chat with you, giving you some tips on make up (light or none!), dressing (multi-colour is the way to go), as well as to encourage you to bring props along!

We brought our cardboard swords (above), Spiderman, Shawna's Minnie Mouse, bubbles... My sister's family brought their inline skates, Natalie her Lego, Rebecca her art box, and Isabelle brought along her whole collection of Geronimo Stilton books!

Photo by Orange Studios

We all brought clothing changes, and were very pleased to see that Orange Studios has a proper changing area in the studio that can provide you with some privacy to change in. Oh, you'd be surprised - we once went for a studio shoot which didn't have a changing area so the ladies had to go to the public toilets to change while the men hurriedly changed in a corner of the studio.

We had loads of fun that day at Orange Studios. Despite us being such a big group, Ryan was very patient and flexible with us, and especially the kids! We did big extended family shots, nuclear family shots, couple shots,  individual shots for the kids and many other different combinations and variations. 

I love this one of Asher below! Yes, of course we had to bring Spidey!  :)

Photo by Orange Studios

In my experience with the various photo shoots I have done with different studios, I realised that different studios have a different system of charging. So before you take on a studio shoot, be sure to clarify and understand what you are paying for.

Analysing Orange Studios' rate card, their system of charging is simple. You are charged $150 for the creative session of a one hour photo shoot in the studio, this is payable upon booking and is non-refundable. After the photo shoot, they will edit the pictures and place them in an online gallery for you to view and make your selection in the comfort of your own home. Thereafter, depending on how pleased you are with the resultant pictures, you can choose whichever package deals ($200 onwards) they have for you to buy the high resolution pictures, in soft copy, hard copy, flush mount album, or canvas prints. Thus, in other words, if you like the pictures taken, you can choose to pay more to get more of the pictures, but conversely, if you are not happy with the pictures taken, you can refuse to pay any more. Thus, you pay for what you want! :)

And boy do I have good news for you! If you like the style of pictures that Orange Studios does, why not give them a try? Quote "Tan Family Chronicles" and receive a S$150 cash voucher which can be offset from their package rates. However, you need to make the booking within one month from the date of this post, and the date of your photo shoot session needs to be within two months from the date of this blog post.

Look at the beautiful shot of my parents below... Frame it! :)

Photo by Orange Studios

Author's Note: Orange Studios offered us their photography services in exchange for a blog post. Opinions expressed are entirely our own! :) 

Isaac is six years old already!?

In a blink of an eye, Isaac turns 6 this year. Okay, make that many blinks of many eyes. But look how he's grown. That picture above on the left was taken on the day he was born, barely ten hours since he'd left my womb. The photo on the right was taken this year, two days before his 6th birthday. 

I was just scanning through the blog posts that were written during the month he was born... Sure brings back memories... and the thought that keeps repeating itself in my head surfaces again: My baby Isaac has all grown up! He is no longer a baby, and hasn't been for years. But somehow this year, it seems particularly stark, and in my head, I started to list the reasons why...

Isaac's like a mini-adult now. We can actually have pretty mature, reasonable and sane discussions and conversations with him. We see and hear him disciplining the twins like we do (the kids). And when he hears hubbs and I talking about something, he would often ask what we are talking about and join in our conversation. He has his own thoughts and ideas, and more often than not, his arguments makes sense and he actually has a point to make.

Isaac can read independently now. And boy is he a voracious reader! He reads so quickly that he often finishes reading the stash I borrow from the library by the very next day. We can now sub-contract reading to the twins, to him. The twins usually prefer hubbs or I to read to them, not because they don't want kor kor to do so, but rather, they want me or hubbs to do it. And so we do. But when they see that hubbs and I are really indisposed at the moment, they would happily allow Isaac to read to them.

Isaac can reach the light switches! It's incredible. Suddenly, seemingly overnight, he can switch on the light to the toilet by himself. But, he claims to be afraid of the dark. No fear, we usually send Shawna with him a la...

Isaac: "Mummy, I want to go pass urine! Switch on light for me!"

Me: "You can reach the light switch what. Go switch on the lights yourself!"

Isaac: "But I am afraid of the daaarrrk..."

Shawna: " I am NOT afraid of the dark!"

Me: "Perfect! Shawna, you go with him!"

And Shawna would accompany Isaac into the dark corridor until they reach the toilet where Isaac turns on the light and enters the toilet to pee... 

But seriously, he is growing taller by the minute - unless his pants all shrunk simultaneously, for I am seeing more of his ankles and shins nowadays...

Isaac's going Primary One next year!!! It is truly a milestone when a child begins his formal education. Isaac's been psyched up for primary school too, by his childcare teacher. They have been doing a good job of teaching the K2 class about what to expect next year in a primary school. Isaac's excited and more than once, he has already informed me "Mummy, I am looking forward to going primary school." Truth be told, so am I! I've heard so much about the stresses related to primary school, that I have been mentally prepping myself for it. Also helps that I decided earlier this year, not to look for a full time job (when my previous company closed its Singapore office), and do my My First Games biz full time, in order to have flexi working hours and more time next year to guide Isaac through the vagaries of P1.

Isaac's just had a pep talk on how to deal with bullies. I had initially started writing about it here, and then it started getting too long... so I will have that coming up in another post. But suffice to say that it really struck home the realisation that school-going kids bring home problems of a different nature compared to when they were young, when most problems were either health, eating, sleeping or poo related. We have consciously tried to get Isaac to talk more about his feelings and tell us about what goes on in school, with his friends etc. We want him to be able to talk to us instead of bottling it all up inside...

Thus, as evidenced above, even though my Isaac is currently afraid of the dark (he didn't used to be), and he is still very much a little boy in many ways... He is definitely growing up. I look back on my blog posts, and see my past photos and videos of Isaac when he was much younger, and I kinda miss him. However, we are very blessed, that Isaac's generally very well behaved, a joy to be with, and we pray that he will continue to be the wonderful, smart and kind boy that he is today.

Happy 6th Birthday, my Isaac. Mummy loves you always! :)

Isaac's Dinosaur Mad Science Party!

August is traditionally a busy time for us, can you guess why? Yes, that's coz Isaac is an August baby! :) We usually do not hold elaborate birthday celebrations for him. We usually just have a simple cake & goodie bag birthday celebration in school for him, and cake cuttings with the respective grandparents etc. The last time we had a huge party celebration for him was his 1 year old celebration. But even just organising the goodie bags and cakes is enough to make us quite busy already!

This year however, is a massive year for Isaac in terms of birthday celebrations. We had just changed the kids childcare a few months ago in May this year, and Isaac took to the transition remarkably well. When we actually asked Isaac "Do you want to celebrate with your old school friends, or your new school friends?" He said "Both!!!" and because he was very accepting of the change in school, we decided to reward him by agreeing to his request! 

We celebrated on the same day that the school was celebrating National Day!
That's why the kids were all decked out in red and white!

It was truly a bonus for us that Mad Science Singapore had gotten in touch with us early this year, offering to throw Isaac a Mad Science Party in school this year, for his 6th birthday celebration. So all we had to do was get a cake and settle our own goodie bag. Easy peazy, lemon squeezy! They have many different party themes they can conduct, but the topic chosen for us was an apt one - on Dinosaurs! Isaac has been reading a series of chapter books called Dinosaur Cove in which the two boys (protagonists) get transported to the world of real dinosaurs through a special portal, and has adventures with real live dinosaurs. Isaac has been so taken with this series of adventure books that he has been praying that he can see a real dinosaur when he prays at night before sleep! I told him that that is one wish that is impossible to fulfill, but we can have a dinosaur themed party for him this year. That appeased him somewhat. Phew!

So a couple of months before August, I touched based with Mad Science again, to confirm that this was on. I understand they are very popular for their parties, so I wanted to make sure the date was locked in for us! Two days before the party, I suddenly thought to myself "Oh no, what if they forget?" but I needn't have worried, for I received a phone call from the very next day, confirming the party once again.

Looking around the classroom walls, I spotted the above collage of the kids' work. Apparently the class also covered the topic of Dinosaurs recently, so this session was very timely indeed! That is Isaac's piece on the right. He wrote:"My pet dinosaur is a Gigantosaurus. My dinosaur can stand guard of my house and my dinosaur's name is Fang Claws"

The Mad Science gang needed about a half hour to prepare and set up. So while we sang the birthday songs (English, Chinese and Malay!) and cut the cake for the kids' tea time snack, the Mad Science team went into the classroom and set up what they needed to, in preparation for the session. 

The Mad Scientist sat the kids down in a classroom lecture style. He was very engaging and had no problem capturing the kids attention at all in the dinosaur themed session. He made it very interactive, asking the children questions about dinosaurs, getting everyone involved with answering questions, had the children thumping the floor like a dinosaur, looking and touching molds of dinosaur bones...

The 6 year old K2 class loved it. They listened attentively, enthusiastically raised hands to volunteer answers, and obediently carried out all instructions given to them during practical hands-on parts of the session.  Even Asher and Shawna who are 3 and a half years old were very attentive, could follow the programme and enjoyed the entire programme thoroughly.

Predictably, however, the kids' favourite bits of the party were the "practical" hands-on parts of it. We had two segments. In the first segment (below), the children got to make their own mold of a dinosaur tooth to take home. With all the materials provided for and laid out, the children simply had to insert the plasticky rubber tooth to make an impression in the sand, before the Mad Science crew poured plaster of paris into the holes, and wait for them to set while a second activity was done.

The children positively loved the second activity we had - they got to be paleontologist dusting for dinosaur bones! The kids were split up into groups of four kids where they huddled around a huge plastic container filled with an inch thick of sand, with a dinosaur skeleton in them. Armed with clean paintbrushes, the junior paleontologists embarked on their task with great fervour.

All too soon, the party came to an end for the kids. Even hubbs and I were so entertained by the whole session that we too felt a pang of disappointment as the party came to an end. That was how hyped up we were! :) But it was a solid 90 minutes of edu-tainment that was the highlight of the afternoon for all the kids and adults present. The kids got to take home their plaster of paris mold of dinosaur tooth in a plastic container too. I could see them eagerly showing the tooth to their parents when they came to pick them up from the childcare.

All in, we had a fantastic experience with Mad Science Singapore. Apparently, they even do workshops, holiday camps and corporate events. Their other birthday party themes are even more science based than the dinosaur themed one, and they really sound very intriguing indeed! So do check them out, and if you are going to have them conduct a party for you, do remember to invite us! :p

Don't change the registration system, Make Every School a Good School instead!

Primary school registration is serious business in Singapore. Some even claim that it was one of the most stressful moments in their lives, to register their child for the school of their choice. It is even seriously business in the way money exchanges hands - no, no, not under table coffee money (have you forgotten that this is Singapore?! ). No, I am talking about the fees that some people pay to the primary school they used to attend when they were young, to be an Official Member of the School Alumni. And we're talking about hundreds of dollars here, not tens of dollars. In any case, if this piece of news is anything to go buy, that may change, in future.

Okay first up, if you are confused about what I am going on about, you need to read the following links which will give you a good overview of the issue at hand and the Primary school registration system in Singapore.  

The Mad Scramble to Navigate P1 Registration by Little Blue Bottle will give you an insight into what an average Singaporean HAS TO ask themselves when registering their young ones for primary school. Navigating P1 registration - Selecting a primary school - by Little Blue Bottle will tell you what an average Singaporean SHOULD ask themselves when registering their young ones for primary school. And lastly,  Should the Primary School Registration System be Tweaked? by the same Little Blue Bottle will tell you what this whole issue about the possible change in registration rules is about.

Now, let me state for the record which side of the fence I am on. The hubbs and I both hail from reputable primary schools. So, yes, we are FOR the current system of primary school registration which gives priority to alumni of the respective school. 

In fact, about a month ago, we just registered Isaac for hubbs' alumni school. We thought long and hard about this, whether we should register Isaac for the school. The main factor going against it was the fact that we stay quite far from the school, and we are not likely to move nearer to it. However, the main reason why we decided to go ahead and register Isaac for the school, is mainly because hubbs feels patriotic towards his school. I am not kidding. The only reason why I am not objecting to this, is because it is a good school.

Also, like hubbs, I feel patriotic towards my own primary school as well. I would love to have my daughter go to the same school I did. Gosh, if I even had a choice, I would even want my daughter to go to the same secondary school I was in. Thus, I totally understand hubbs' sense of patriotism. And I think that many people who were from schools they feel patriotic to, would most likely feel the same way.

Some people say this is elitism. Why? Because they are jealous and want to get into these schools too? But why? Most Singaporean parents nowadays are born and bred here, meaning they would be alumni of some primary school as well. In the event that your old school has closed down, I understand you can call MOE to enquire and they will tell you which primary school you can qualify under Phase 2A for as the old schools closed down are usually merged with other primary schools to form a new primary school currently in existence. Hence, almost everyone, barring the non-Singaporeans, would have an alumni school to register at. So why are these people not registering at their own alumni schools but hankering after other people's alumni schools? 

I can tell you why. It is because, it would appear, that the popular schools that have most of their places taken up in Phase2A (the alumni phase) are in fact schools which are above average, good schools. So that is the real issue at the heart of it, isn't it? People want their kids to get into good schools. It doesn't really matter what name it has. I also know of people from so-called neighbourhood schools, who are proud of their schools. And we all know of the neighbourhood schools that have done so well that they have elevated themselves from the moniker of neighbourhood school into a 'branded school' status. These schools also have the Phase 2A alumni issue at play. Is it because these schools have a rich alumni that screams of elitism? No. These schools have the alumni issue because they are good schools! 

So let's face it. The issue is not the registration system. The issue is the quality of the schools. If the Ministry of Education makes good on its promise to Make Every School A Good School like it says it wants to do, then everyone would be more than happy to send their child to their alumni school, or in fact, any school at all - since they are supposedly all good, right? Thus, instead of wasting time and energy to change the registration system, they should work on the real issue of making every school a good school.

The current primary school registration gives priority to alumni, parent volunteering, religious and grassroots connections and also the distance one stays from the school in question. The distance rules have been in place for as long as I can remember. So, now, with the news put out that the Ministry of Education is seriously considering tweaking the primary registration rules, what other option do they have to use as a entrance qualifier? Distance? This smacks even more of elitism, to me.Or rather, it favours the rich. For this means that they can almost guarantee themselves a place if they stay near enough to the school. And we all know that property prices near the good schools are all priced higher because of it.

A fallacy? I hear some of you say? Now, let me assure you that I am probably one of the most qualified people in Singapore to say that it is true that property prices around a good school is higher because of the school. Why? Because I proved it. With empirical evidence. It was my dissertation topic back when I was in school. Here's the proof below, you can go look it up in the Building & Real Estate Library in the National University of Singapore. But yes, it is true 10 years ago, and I am certain it still holds true now. So, to tweak a system such that it will favour the rich the most? Now, if that isn't elitism, I don't know what is.

Some detractors of the alumni system also say the parents who hail from good schools did nothing and just benefited from it. So one day, out of curiosity, I asked my mum how she managed to get my older sister into our primary school. "Because I ligated. Government say Stop at Two."  When I heard this, I was simultaneously shocked, disgusted and felt sorrowful as I remembered how I used to openly hint to my parents that I wanted a younger sibling until my older sister came to me and said "Can you stop it?! Mummy cannot have any more children!" Government said Stop at Two, and we did. And we could go to a good school. Suddenly, I wondered if it wasn't a coincidence that a lot of my and my sister's primary school friends all only had one other sibling. 

A few months ago, at the dinner table at my in laws place, we asked my father-in-law (FIL) the same question: How did he manage to register hubbs for the primary school? This story emerged... Apparently, at that time, there was no unified nor clear system of registration. My FIL went to the school and queued up to want to register hubbs for the school. After quite a few hours, he reached the top of the queue, but the Principal said to him:"Come back tomorrow." The next day, he went again, and was told to "Come back tomorrow" again. He did that every day, for a whole week. Until he got fed up, and told the principal "I have been coming everyday like you told me, for a whole week, and still you have not allowed me to register my son into your school." To which, the principal replied:"Tell me why I should allow you to register? You are not an alumni, you are not even of the same religious belief, so why should we allow you to register?" My FIL replied:"Because the Government said to Stop at Two, and we did!" And so he was allowed to register hubbs for the school. TRUE STORY. I kid you not.

So that is the price we had to pay in order for us to have studied in a good school, and it is a heavy price that is more weighty than 60 hours of volunteer work. It is telling how similar both stories are. It is also sad, that it is this Stop at Two policy that has landed us as the sandwich generation made to bear the cost and stresses of an aging population.

Thus, I have a proposition. You want people to have more kids? Then let people who have three or more kids have their choice of primary school for all their kids. Plus free local university education - detailed discussion of that is for another post. But, I can confidently tell you. that if the government agrees to this two points, this method will definitely bear fruit - pun fully intended. 

Coming back to the real issue however... Make every school a good school! Don't distract the population with changing the registration rules. The only perfect solution to these problems is to truly make every school a good school. When that is done, school registration would merely be a formality. And everyone would be proud of the good schools they come from. So leave the registration system alone and get to work making every school a good school!!!

MegaBugs is buggerific!

Have you guys been to MegaBugs Return! at the Singapore Science Centre? If you haven't, you should do so really quickly, as the MegaBugs Return! exhibition's last day is on 18th August 2013! Just look at this humongous mosquito?! Ain't it cool!? It's the only mosquito I really wanna see - a fake one! :) 

The whole idea behind this MegaBugs exhibition is that they took the world of the buys and enlarged it so much that you feel like those kids in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! movie! The bugs have been done so well, so realistic looking, that I'm sure those army pilots who fly past Science Centre in the sky would have gotten a shock of their lives had they looked down and saw the gigantic bugs in the carpark of the Science Centre!

This is one exhibition I really enjoyed very much. The bugs were realistically made, and they even put in some electronics to make some of its limbs move. Seriously cool. The kids enjoyed it too! Do you know, we didn't just go MegaBugs once, we went twice! And the kids are still asking us to go again! Surprisingly, it was Asher and Shawna who kept requesting to go back to MegaBugs. I thought 6 year old Isaac would have been more interested in this than the 3 and a half year old twins.

Huge models aside (and there were so many!), most exhibits came with a info board that gave more info on the gargantuan bug we were looking at. There were also mega-infoboards with all sorts of interesting info and trivia on bugs. This red console below is an activity counter where you can hear the sound of a bug, and try to guess which bug made that sound.

And what's a bug exhibition without real bugs?! They do have several displays with live bugs, as well as dead bugs. The boys liked the one where you could see the dead bugs kinda glowing in the ultraviolet light. I like the one where you can see like more than 20 huge cockroaches in a tank (middle picture below). Shawna preferred the exhibit of the dead as a doorknob bugs in a framed box below :p

Oh and if you have the time and energy, do shell out a few more bucks to catch the 3D film of "Bugs 3D - A Rainforest Adventure" that is screened in Annex Hall 1 of the Science Centre. It was very interesting, like seeing an episode of National Geographic on bugs, in 3D on the big screen. Now, Isaac really liked that one.

So, do plan a trip down soon, if you haven't seen it already! :)

Note: We were invited by P'Art 1 Design and the Singapore Science Centre to the exhibition on separate occasions. Both times which we enjoyed thoroughly :) Opinions expressed above are entirely our own!

Our activities in the car!

Given how small Singapore is, it's really amazing how much time we spend in the car. Well, I suppose this is partly due to the fact that we stay on the extreme West part of our sunny island... and the kids' childcare is more than a 15 minute drive away.

This is how the setup is in the car. The kidzes take up the entire second row of the car, with Asher and Shawna each on child carseats, with Isaac on his booster seat, in the middle.

A very natural looking photo - this is how they typically look like!!!

Being on the road so much, we've come up with a number of activities to keep the kids entertained in the car, other than listening to the radio. Some of them, we thought of. But most of them just kinda... evolved. Just thought we would like to share with you the games and activities the kids get up to in the car :)

The Alphabet Game

This started way back when Isaac was just learning his alphabet. He would suggest a letter, and we would all take turns to name objects or words that begin with that letter. For example, he would say "Letter B" and we would take turns to name anything that begins with the letter B from the usual "ball, boy, blue" to the not as usual "Batman, blood, bangsai". It's a very easy game, but intentionally so, so that the kids can play. Now, even Asher and Shawna join us in this game as they are learning their alphabet now in N1.

I Spy 

Isaac learnt this in school and was very excited to teach us the game. Basically, he learnt the colour version, whereby you take turns to be the one to say "I spy something that is ". For example: "I spy something red in colour" "Is it my shirt?" "No!" "Shawna's bag?" "No!" "I give up!" "It's that red triangle in front!" he said triumphantly, pointing to the equilateral triangle on the button on the dashboard that triggers the hazard light. He loves this game, but it has a few shortcomings when played in the car. #1 There are very few things in the car that you can name.#2  If you name an item outside the car, it's gone in a manner of milliseconds... However, the kids love this game, and sometimes I think they do it on purpose when they name something outside the car so you have a very hard time guessing...

Spot these stuff!

This is not exactly a game, but it is something the kids never fail to do. When they see something on the roads, they'd be sure to shout out and point it out to their siblings in excitement. They do the usual, like spotting ambulances, fire engines, police cars. Here are also some other not so usual ones:

• Bumblebee - any yellow car is a Bumblebee, but this specifically excludes yellow taxis, those are simply "not counted"
• Botak Trees - any tree that does not have many leaves is a botak tree
• Soldier - any army men in uniform is greeted with loud cries of "Soldier! Soldier!" Asher, is especially enamoured with soldiers so Isaac and Shawna make sure to point them out to him.
• Big _____ Car - Our car is a navy blue Honda Freed which the kids have nicknamed the Big Blue Car. They are very good with recognising other Honda Freeds on the road. When they see a white one, they'd go "Big White Car!", a red one "Big Red Car!" etc...
• Transformers - yes, they would spot cars which have the Autobot or Decepticon symbol on the car and excited call out that they have seen a "good Transformer" or a "bad Transformer" car.

Car logos

Early this year, Isaac started paying attention to all the car brand logos, and started to ask us what brands they were and actively memorised them. He suddenly started doing this and was so enthusiastic about it that it got me wondering... One day, I found out that it was because one of his good friends in school, Shaun, was very into cars. Ah, that explains it, I thought to myself. But I thought it was quite a good memory exercise and it was probably quite normal for boys to have an interest in cars.

Clouds and scenery

Hubbs and I also have a habit of pointing out nice scenery to the kids. Clear skies with clouds, sunsets, rainbows, trees... anything and everything really. The kids would point out shapes in the clouds and tell us what they see in them. We want the kids to find beauty in nature too.

Hello, Bye Bye, Accelerate!

Asher is an incredibly sweet boy and he would smile and wave at anyone he sees from out of his side window. So, one day, Isaac invented this "Hello & Bye Bye game" Every time a vehicle in the lane next to us goes faster than us, the kids would wave and say "Bye bye car!" as the car speeds ahead of us. But every time we catch up with a car who was ahead of us, the kids would wave and say "Hello!" to that car in the next lane. They always have lotsa crazy fun with this game, and they love chanting a phrase over and over again. So one of the things they liked to chant was "Go faster! Go faster! Go faster" until one day, I said. "That is so boring. What is another word for 'go faster', Isaac?" He thought for awhile and said "Speed up?" "Ah, that's good!" I said "but you know what is even better? Accelerate! That means to go even faster, to speed up even more!" The kids catch on immediately and from then on, they chant "Accelerate! Accelerate! Accelerate!" whenever they want us to drive faster!

Centripetal Force - The Pushing Game

Currently, one of the routes to the childcare takes us through a road that has many tight bends, resulting in a kind of rollercoaster ride for the kids. They love it and would want to play The Pushing Game as was taught  to them by their Aunt, hubbs' sister. Basically, you push the person you are leaning towards because of the centripetal force in play. One day, I asked Isaac "Do you know what is causing you to lean to one side when the car turns? It's called 'Centripetal Force'" And I only said it that one time, but now all three kids know the phrase. In the morning, Shawna or Asher would ask me "Mummy, are we early today? Can we go Centripetal Force, please?" Yes, that road/route is now called Centripetal Force. But I found that they really know that the phrase refers to the force, coz when we sometimes make a tight turn, one of the kids will inevitably mutter "Centripetal force!" :)

The Spelling Game

Every time I hear the kids chant "Ac-ce-le-rate!" and blurt "Centripetal Force", I feel very pleased and amused. Who'd have known that even 3 year olds like the twins can learn such long words and even know the scientific concept behind them. Isaac is reading very well for someone who is turning 6 next month, and better yet, it seems that he can spell pretty swell too! He even finds that it is quite a fun game when I ask him to spell random words for me. Thus, every now and then, I would ask him to spell words for us. Shawna would inevitably want to play this game too, albeit not knowing how to spell a single word. So she would always say "I know how to spell! It's D I O C K!" no matter what word was being asked to spell. The amazing this is, she would consistently spell this non-word in the same exact way - D I O C K. It's become our in-joke about Shawna and her spelling diock.

Dancing

Last but not least, there's dancing! Isaac can really groove and move to the music, and Asher has picked this up as well. Watch this video that was taken early this year, in the car, with Isaac dancing away. Watch out for his annoyed glance at Asher when he tries to disturb Isaac during his dancing. Also watch for Shawna doing  her mini dance in her corner :) Love this video!

So, what do YOU guys do in the car? :)

Incredible Hulk drinks Green Soup

Remember our little Incredible Hulk? We call him Asher. He calls himself The Incredible Hulk - because the Hulk is green and Asher loves the colour green. That's him below in his three favourite green shirts. Which is about half of all the green shirts he has coz everything else passed down from Isaac is mostly red, and usually anything but green. 

Oh wait, that green army suit is passed down from Isaac. Technically, it was hubbs... It is hubbs' actual old Number Fours that were destined for the bin coz the army came up with those new pixelised camo greens. But the helper we had at the time, Hser Khu, was very handy with the sewing machine, and so she used hubbs old uniform to make a child sized suit for Isaac. See Isaac in the same suit here! He's hardly recognizable!

But this post isn't about Asher's green threads, it is about how we make a toddler eat the things we want him to! :) 

You know how I have mentioned before about Asher being such a lazy eater, and that the only thing he would open his mouth for is chocolate... Well, you might not remember coz that was so long ago. At that time, I thought Asher would outgrow it, and start eating properly sooner or later, like maybe when he was 3 years old or something. But no, he turned 3 early this year, and still he was refusing food. Oh, he's much better now. He would eat rice, and noodles, pasta etc. But he'd only eat the carbo and neither the vegetables nor the meat. Any kind of vegetables and meat, or rather, every kind, no matter what kind of vege or meat - he refuses. But he would drink soup. So his meals would consist mainly of carbo+soup. Rice and soup. Noodles and soup. Pasta and soup. The only exception is spaghetti bolognaise  - which is his favourite savoury dish.

Asher's constipation threatened to come back, with the usual signs of rock hard stools, and his difficulty in poo-ing, and of course - blood in his stools which is not really in his stools, but actually from his anus splitting due to the hard poo. Asher's constipation woes are legendary in our household - a long overdue post that I wanted to write but have yet to get around to. So it was the fear of his constipation rearing its ugly head that causes me to have an inspiration...

"Asher..." I said to my dear boy one day "You are the Incredible Hulk, right?" "Yes, Mummy, I am Incredible Hulk. HUUURRR..." He growls at me and strikes a menacing stance with his skinny arms raised in a fighting pose. "Right... so... you must drink Green Soup! Coz Incredible Hulk is green and he needs Green Soup! Right?" "Yes! Green Soup!" exclaims Asher, agreeably. Quickly, I ask my helper to have some of the spinach she cooked for dinner tonight blended into fine paste, and added to the clear soup to make Green Soup. And Incredible Asher Hulk, ate it all. The entire bowl of Green Soup and Rice, he finished every last bit.

And so he has since that fateful first bowl of green soup. In this picture collage above, there are three different bowls of his green soup. If you look closely, you can see that the top right hand corner bowl of green soup is a little more murky and creamy looking. The bottom right hand corner soup is a slightly clearer army green. Whilst the green soup in the main picture is quite swamp thingy green. He loves his soup, as long as it is green. When we leave the house every morning, he would say to my helper:"Auntie, you remember to cook green soup, okay?"

In the beginning, we only blended the vegetables. But after a week of so of that, with Asher lapping up bowl after bowl of green soup - but still refusing fish, meat, eggs, tofu, everything else, really... I got the idea of adding them all into the blender. So now, every night, we would put whatever was cooked for dinner into the blender and blend it all. We'd make sure there were enough greens in them so that they'd turn the soup green. But now, the green soup is a nutritious mix of meat, fish, eggs, tofu and whatever the rest of us were having for dinner. And because these dishes were all cooked already, the mixture is certainly very tasty indeed, albeit looking a tad disgusting to the rest of us. But for The Incredible Asher Hulk, green soup is the most delicious thing ever. Thankfully, he doesn't question why his green soup often takes on different tastes and different textures and consistency. He just finishes it all.

We used to have difficulty making him eat bread too. I love bread, and so I was particularly keen in introducing him to this wonderful food. But nope, even spreading Nutella chocolate spread on bread is NOT a sure hit with this chocolate loving boy. Then one day, my mother got him to eat a whole slice of bread. Can you guess what bread it is? That's right! Green bread! Pandan flavoured bread! He loved it! Now, he constantly asks for "Green bread!" and he would even eat it plain.

Just two evenings ago, he was eating his green bread while I was cutting his toenails. Poor Asher has a tendency to get ingrown toenails, something unfortunate that was inherited from me. However, thanks (or no thanks!) to that, I am very familiar with how to handle ingrown nails. So as I was relieving him of the nails that poke in his toes to cause him pain with every step he takes, he gave a contented sigh and said "So good..." I looked up and grinned at him as I pulled out the offending piece of dead calcium. I press the side of his toe and said triumphantly "Shiok right? No more pain..."  "Huh?" He says to me "Oh, yah, not pain." He looks like he just woke up from a nice dream... Ah... I realise something... "Asher, what is so good?" I asked. "Green bread, Mummy! It's soooo goood!!!" Laughing to myself, I asked him "What is so good about it? That it tastes so good? or the colour?" "The green colour, Mummy! Look!"

That's our Incredible Asher Hulk for you. Our lovely Green Boy :)

The Things That Matter

Shawna & Asher having fun on a Sunday morning

For those of you who have kids. You know how they are - every minute of play time is precious. Schedules don't matter.  They live in that minute, that second. If they feel like doing some painting, they want to do it now. Who cares if it is 10pm on a weekday night. Not them. 

This is why you would find us all downstairs on our bike /scooter /inline skates as early as 8am on some weekend mornings. The kids want to play and they want to play NOW. Who cares if Mummy and Daddy hasn't had breakfast yet? Well the people with the said empty stomachs do. So we compromise - we cycle/ride/skate to the coffee shop for breakfast. The kids are easy that way, they are quite agreeable to our compromises. Or we could have become experts in making such compromises in this past 6 years as parents.

Shawna is as swift as a swallow on her skate scooter - say that three times in a row!

In any case, it is with growling tummies and restless kids that we quickly ready the kids to leave the house in a jiffy. We get the water bottles, hustle the kids to go pee before we go, and we're out. The twins are being toilet trained and so they're wearing pull-up diaper pants, the DryPantz, which we're trying for the very first time. So far, it has been a great experience. It serves its basic function of holding pee and poo well - these are basics that can't be compromised. But most diapers serve their basic function well, so it is the other things that will make the difference. For example, I am happy that I no longer have to waste time arguing with Shawna  which side the diaper faces coz the word Back is clearly marked on the diaper.  With our previous brand, she used to argue with me that the picture should be in the front instead of on the butt... *roll*eye*

Asher is as happy as a lark!

I used to have a problem with buying diapers... Perhaps it is unique to parents us like who have twins. But then again, I hear of parents with kids who are close in age complain as well - having to buy diapers in different sizes! Oh woe! It is tough to bulk buy (to save time and money!) when you need three different sizes?! (Isaac was still wearing diapers at night last year).

It may not be so obvious from the pix in this post but Asher is very very slim and hipless whereas Shawna is already showing the foundations of my wide hips and thunder thighs (Mummy is so sorry,  Shawna!). Thus, strictly speaking, when we were using the previous brand of diapers, we should buy them both different sizes. But it was such a hassle to do so! After awhile, we just gave up and made them wear the same sized pull up pants diapers. I thought it wouldn't make much of a difference.

But there was a difference. With the previous brand of diapers we used, the XLs were a tad too tight for Shawna and yet slightly too loose for Asher and his ultra slim figure.But somehow Drypantz's XL size cutting could stay up on Asher, and yet wasn't too tight for Shawna. Ever since she was on Drypantz, Shawna no longer comes to me, showing me the red marks that the diaper elastic makes at her waist.... Nor is it totally necessary for Asher to have to wear tight fitting underwear so that his diapers won't droop and eventually drop off his ultra slim hips. At last, I didn't have to waste time on diaper issues that were trivial, yet not unimportant. Yay!  More time for the things that matter! Hurrah! :)

Bye Mummy, we're going to play now!

Disclaimer! We were provided with  four packs of Drypantz in XL size for our use in exchange for this user experience post. All opinions and reactions are completely mine and the kids. To be honest. I would never have tried out Drypantz if I wasn't presented with this chance. I was too used to using the other brand of diapers for the past 6 years to want to change. I had convinced myself that any issues were minor inconveniences, since the diapers performed their primary function of holding pee and poo well. However, I am glad this happened :) Would you like a sample as well? Hop on over to Drypers Singapore Facebook Page to request for a free sample now! :) Give it a try!

The 42km Challenge!

I did it! I signed up for the OCBC Cycle 2013 earlier this year, and completed it! All 42km of it, I cycled. Okay, so I dismounted twice, both times, on the top of Shears Bridge, so that we could take a few pictures. But still... I did complete it! :) 

It wasn't the first time I had signed up for an event like that.The first picture below is my memento from that very first event I signed up for. It was last year, NTU's 127km round island cycling event Bike Rally 2012. I signed up with hubbs and his cycling buddies, thinking it would be good to take part in something like that with hubbs. He had been taking part in marathons, triathlons and cyclethons like these since for more than 6 years now, when I was pregnant with Isaac. 

The route was grueling, with lots of hills (flyovers, really) to conquer. Hubbs was nice enough (he'd better be! ;p and he was!) by accompanying me on whatever I could manage, even though my speed was probably snail's pace to him. Cycling up the slopes of NTU just to reach the check point just about did me in. I had done about 33km by then. And considering I haven't been exercising regularly prior to the event, I thought it wasn't too bad at all. I was also into self-consolation, yes. But seriously, I didn't want to kill myself. Suddenly, all the news reports of past incidents of people falling dead after exercising flashed past my eyes. And immediately,  I thought of my three lovely children waiting at my parents' place right then - my last image of them was of me kissing them goodbye that morning at about 4.30am. I decided enough was enough. I decided to go home. 

Including the distance I did cycling home from NTU, I clocked a total of 35km or or perhaps even more. It also left hubbs the freedom to charge ahead to look for his buddies and really push himself to the limit to finish the round island 127km event. And finish he did! Complete with the Finisher's t-shirt, and medal. Me? I had nothing. No t-shirt, no medal, no nothing. Just a sore bum and aching thighs. I was happy enough to have done 35km though. But not nearly proud enough to blog a post on it, in case you were wondering why you didn't see a post on this last year.

This year, I signed up for the OCBC Cycle Singapore - The Challenge. It was supposed to be 39km, but the actual route probably measured out to be 42km coz that was what they were calling it on the actual day. Flag off for my event was 6am. I was there by about 5.15am. I had signed up alone, without hubbs, coz he had already signed up for this year's NTU Bike Rally. I wasn't sure that I wanted to sign up for an event that I knew I could not complete. And he felt that OCBC Cycle was too expensive to sign up for - about $100 for 42km, versus NTU Bike Rally's $45 for 127km. Just as well. We figured we both felt better that one of us was with the kids while we were on such events anyway.

Hubbs drove me to the F1 Pit Building, where the event was starting. Look at the crowd in the pictures above!!! It's really amazing how many people would wake up way before dawn to participate in something like that. I signed up, thinking that in the months leading up to the event,  I would find a friend to sign up too. But nope, friends just started at me as if I was crazy when I asked them to join me. But luckily, there was someone as crazy as me who had signed up - Winston, The BlogFather himself! Oh yes, I remembered Liza, The BlogMother Mother of Xander, giving me the "You siao ah!" look when I asked her to sign up too. So Winston offered to be my event buddy that day - like ya know, to make sure I don't keel over and die or something. I told him that he could just go right on ahead if my snail's pace race was getting too boring for him. But he just shook his head and said solemnly:"I will leave no Geek behind!" Yay! I'm recognized as a Geek by one of the coolest Geeks around!

We plodded on at my pace. Which is a tad faster than a snail's pace, to be honest. But still quite a modest speed. I wasn't even really pushing myself to go very fast, as my primary aim was to complete the event without getting a heart attack or something. Incidentally, that's what hubbs said to be when he dropped me off and bid me good luck. He said:"Okay, just have fun okay. No need to push too hard. Cannot complete also nevermind." The message that wasn't said was pretty morbid, though I heard it loud and clear - Don't die on us, yah?!

Thus, I wasn't going as fast as I could. I kept reminding myself that I should pace myself out, and not burn out in the first half such that I couldn't complete it. Winston was pleasant company to the end - even when he politely but pointedly informed me that I would need to go faster than I was already going, so that we could complete the race within the time limit set by the event organisers (coz they would need to open up the highway they had closed for us). So faster, I went. 

We only stopped twice, both times, on the Sheares Bridge, once on the way out, and once on the way back. We had to take photos! That's what bloggers do! At that moment, I was glad that my buddy was a blogger  :p After the stop back on the Sheares Bridge, my buddy took off for the finish line at his own pace, since, I was sure to be able to make my way back for sure seeing that it was all down slope from there. Gravity took over as my buddy. 

I finished the 42km in about 3 hours. It was good enough for me! Especially knowing that I still had energy in me, which meant I could have been faster than I was. I was just glad to have completed it. Surprisingly, the next day, I had an aching butt but not aching thighs... then I remembered why! I have been doing pilates once a week, with Aloysius of Pilates Fitness Revolution for almost a year before the event - that must have been why I was fairly fit enough not to keel over after cycling 42km! Ah... it does feel good to be fit! :)

Will I do this again? Yes, definitely! :) Thanks to my supporting hubbs, thanks to my pilates instructor Aloysius, and thanks to Winston for pacing me on the race! :) Couldn't have done it without you guys! :) Now, for next year's race!

NOTE:  I paid and took part in the OCBC Cycle event, all thoughts and opinions are my own. This is not a sponsored post by OCBC.

5 signs that we are Gold 90 FM fans

Week in, week out, when I drive the kidzes to and from childcare, I would play the radio in the car. And if I were the one driving, the radio would definitely be tuned in to Gold 90.5 FM. Definitely. Over the years, my favourite radio station has changed. When I was a teenager, my favourite station was 98.7 FM (Say it With Music with Vernetta Lopez!!!). When I was a young adult, my station of choice was Class 95 FM (Morning Breakfast show with Joe Augustin and the Flying Dutchman!). But now, for more than 5 years now, my favourite station is Gold 90.5 FM with Vernetta Lopez, Joe Augustin, Maggie Lim and Tim Oh! Hmmm... notice how some things never change? Frankly, the music's not much different either. We've just moved with the stations is all. The music that is playing on Gold 90.5 FM now is a combination of all the music I used to listen to when I was listening to Class 95 and 98.7!

Today, I just found out that tonight's Maggie's last day on the station! :( Sad! I love listening to Maggie from way back when she was doing the morning show with Hamish Brown (was it?) and then with Hossan Leong, and on the Homestretch with Tim Oh! And now "she's moving on to other stuff" said Vern this morning (Geez, how vague can you get, V?! ;p )

So! To bid Maggie a good fare thee well with many well wishes for her future endeavours, here are 5 signs that obviously show that, in addition to me, the Tan Family Kidzesare Gold 90.5 FM fans too!

NUMBER ONE : Birthday Song

This is how the kids sing birthday songs nowadays...

Happy Birthday to You , Happy Birthday to Yo

Happy Birthday to You  and you and You and You....

Happy Birthday to You, YOU'RE VERY OLD!!!!

NUMBER TWO: The Gold 90.5 FM jingle

The kids can sing the station jingle. Not only that. Nowadays, when they listen to the radio, they will ask me: "Mummy, why the radio never sing Gold 90 efffff emmmmmm....?" And the they would sing the last part of the question in the jingle style... They especially love to ask this question when hubbs is driving... for more often than not, I would reply "Er... coz this is 958???" To which they would reply: "But we want GOLD 90 EFFFF EMMM!!!"

NUMBER THREE: Contest & Short Story!

Every morning, I would use the Harvey Norman Contest to herd the kidzes out of the house coz Isaac loves the contest and wants to listen to it every morning. So every morning, I would go "Quick let's go!!! If not kor kor will miss his Contest!!!" When it comes on, Shawna would say to Isaac: "Kor kor, your Contest start already!!!" Isaac would listen carefully and he would usually be able to answer the first two questions correctly (coz if you listen carefully, you should get these two right! ;p ). And he would excitedly listen for the total tally of how much each morning's contestant has won.

Isaac also loves Tim and Maggie's A Very Short Story. When it comes on, he'd say to his brother and sister "Shhh shhhh shhh! Got story!!!"

NUMBER FOUR: Advertisements

The children start singing the advertisements to themselves... 

One time, I heard Asher say to himself:"Save me! Save Me!" *giggle*giggle* "Protect Me! Protect Me!" *giggle*giggle* "Save Me AGAIN!" *giggle*giggle*

NUMBER FIVE: Isaac knows the deejays' names!

 

The first deejay's names Isaac knew was Tim and Maggie, for we often listen to them on the Homestretch. He'd listen to them when they say something and he'd laugh and tell me "Mummy, Tim and Maggie say..."  For some reason, he never knew Vernetta and Joe's names until...

One morning, I woke up at 5am to work on the computer for My First Games, my online boardgames business... Isaac woke up at about 7am and came looking for me. He heard the radio playing and Joe and Vern were speaking, so he said

Isaac: "Is that Tim and Maggie?"

Me:" Hahaha... Tim and Maggie is on when we come home from school, darling. This is Joe & Vern. Joe Augustin and Vernetta Lopez."

Isaac:" Huh!? How come you didn't tell me their names?!"

Me:" Well, now you know!"

Now, every other morning, Isaac would say to me "Mummy, that's Joe & Vernetta, right?" 

Well, now it seems that there would be new names for the Homestretch from next week onwards. Have a good one Maggie! Thanks for all the good times you've given us on Gold 90 effff emmm!!! :)

A Mummy By Any Other Name

Sorry for disappearing on you! We've been busy with My First Games. Being a full time Mumpreneur is no laughing matter! It's downright tiring! But more on that another time! Today, let's talk about Shawna and what she calls me! :)

Generally, the kidzes all call me Mummy. Occassionally, when they speak in Mandarin, they call me Mama (in the Chinese way). But sometimes, they drop the Chinese intonation and just call me Mama in the anglicised way.

Some months ago, Shawna started calling me Mum. No, wait, actually, she calls me MUM! Yes, in caps with exclamation mark! That's the funny part. Coz she didn't simply switch to calling me Mum all the time. She still calls me Mummy, or Mama, but sometimes: MUM!

That's how she says it. She half shouts it out, short and sharp: MUM! As you might have guessed, she uses this particular form of endearment when she wants to catch my attention urgently - usually when she is interrupting Isaac kor kor who is speaking with me... Or when, I am distracted with something else and she just wants my attention.

It's very amusing to hear it though. We always laugh when she says it. It's also interesting how Shawna can call me Mummy, Mama, and Mum all in one conversation.

Lately, Shawna has learnt that my name is Pamela.

So, in the past it used to be...

Me: "What's my name?"
Shawna: "Mummy!"

A few days ago...
Me:"What's my name?"
Asher:"Mummy!"
Shawna:"Pamela!"
Me:"Hahaha... call me Mum, Shawna."
Shawna:"MUM!"
Me:"hahaha... I love you, Shawna!"
Shawna:"I love you, Pamela!"

LOL! I love you too, Shawna! :)

Trick Trivia question this will be! :)