Let your KidStartNow to learn Chinese! (Giveaway)

With Isaac attending the Primary School that he is attending, he would be taking Higher Chinese straight from Primary One. The thought of that is enough to make me shudder. For those of you who knew me from my schooling days, you would know how abysmal my standard of Chinese was. I took my O Level Chinese paper three times, and A Level Chinese paper twice, in order to scrape a pass so that I could qualify for local university. 

I must say that my standard of Mandarin is now better than ever. And for that, I credit my dear hubbs. He, as some of you would know, is quite the cheena uncle. I say that with affection, and thanks :p as he credited to be the most important factor in improving my Mandarin speaking skills. Immersion is the key! And thus, he has been trying to encourage me to speak Mandarin to the kids too! I confess that I have been very reluctant to do so, the reasons will be forthcoming in a separate blog post... But suffice to say, that when KidStartNow offered to let Isaac, Asher & Shawna attend a Chinese Camp during the recent December holidays, we jumped at the chance and immediately blocked off the dates in our calendar.

Underwater Universe theme @ KidStartNow - what crabby kids I have!

KidStartNow is located at CT Hub at 2 Kallang Avenue. This is brand new building (just TOP in 2013) which has 2 floors of retail and F&B, and the rest of the building is light industrial and office. As such, when we turned into the carpark and announced "Yes, we're here!" The kids looked at us and said "Are you sure?! Chinese Camp is here?!" and then it struck me that they thought they were going camping - like we once did at Pasir Ris Park Beach! We quickly explained to them, while walking from the carpark to the unit, that we weren't going camping per se with a tent and all...

But once we got to KidStartNow, the kids were entranced by the colourful Underwater Universe theme  the whole premises was decked out in, that they stopped grumbling about not going "real camping". They were each handed a crab hat to don, and proceed into the room to start the session for the day. Giggling at how silly each other looked in a crab hat, they went into the class (with Isaac walking in sideways)... it struck me how simple this was as an icebreaker to make the kids feel at ease in a new environment...

The holiday camp was three half days long, on three consecutive days.  On the first day, they allowed parents into the room with the kids so as to ease the kids in. It was hardly necessary for us though. The kids had a whale of a time, having fun from the go, and hardly turned around to check if we were still there. It could be because all three of them were in the same class. So having their older brother Isaac there was a solid emotional support for the twins. As it was a Chinese camp (as opposed to a term of enrichment classes), the camp's aim was to make learning Mandarin fun - so KidStartNow felt it was not necessary to segregate according to age. Besides, they have a policy of a small class size (4 - 6 students per class), so catering to an individual's level was not a problem at all.

Love the fact that we can observe everything going on without being physically in the room with the kids! :)

Each day, there was a short 10 minute break for the kids, roughly midway into the day's session.It was a toilet break cum a mini-snack break. Hubbs and I took this opportunity to leave the classroom, and go for breakfast downstairs. When we came up, we sat at the sitting area at the lobby of the centre where there was a large screen on the wall. This screen actually screens live - the going-ons in the classroom! Love it! We could see and hear exactly what the kids were doing and saying, without being physically there! Fantastic!

Initially, when the lessons first started, we had slight misgivings when we realised that KidStartNow were going to use videos and e-books in their programme. We were firm proponents that kids should not be exposed to too much TV/iPad and the like. However, after experiencing the programme for three half days, I must say I like the KidStartNow methodology, and they have executed it very well. 

Apparently, KidStartNow has developed their own proprietary e-Books and interactive computer programmes that incorporate the Chinese language and make it seem fun. The teacher constantly stops the video/e-book and talks to the class, posing questions and taking queries. Thus it is not the case whereby your child comes to class just to "watch TV". No. Instead, there is a lot of interaction, with the teacher asking leading questions, and clarifying with the children to make sure they understand what is happening and going on. I was very impressed. It occurred to me that "This is how technology should be used!" For KidStartNow has managed to integrate the use of technology very seamlessly with guided and assisted learning, to form fun and engaging lessons for the young ones. They essentially use it as an attention hook. Wow. 

Sing and dance @ KidStartNow

In their proprietary Underwater Universe programme, they also allow the children to choose a character to be themselves, and each child/character would have a "coin bank" reward system to encourage good behavior, class participation, and helpfulness toward one another. At the end of the days, children can use their coins to redeem stickers for themselves. Small stickers cost less coins than the bigger stickers did. Thus, if you wanted a bigger sticker, you had to save enough coins for it. The kids loved it, and it was one of the highlights that they never failed to talk about when we ask the kids how their camp that day went.

Other than using their proprietary e-book/system, KidStartNow also uses Chinese children song videos to teach the kids to sing Mandarin children songs, along with actions. So there is much singing and simple movement dancing in the class, mostly, I feel to act as ice-breakers and let the children feel relaxed and at ease. Oh and to make the class fun, of course - all while doing everything in Mandarin. Like in one song, it was a "hello, my friend!" song, that ended with the kids going around shaking hands with one another. and saying "Ni2 hao3" which is "Hello" in Mandarin.

In addition to this, the children would often be called on to stand up at the front of the class to speak. It can be something as simple as introducing yourself, to something slightly tougher like to give your answer to a question. This is a simple way of instilling confidence in a child about speaking Mandarin, and gives them a mini-taste of "public speaking". Sure, it's only to an audience of about 5 other kids plus the teacher - but for a child young child below 7 years old, I'd say it's certainly like public speaking.

The children were also engaged in simple art & craft in line with the theme of Underwater Universe such as making a colourful fish, and a paper plate shark. All in, KidStartNow has managed to include quite a varied number of activities for the kids during the Chinese Camp, all of which were conducted in Mandarin. From our viewing of the class while in the class, as well as outside through the Skype enabled TV - we could see that the kids were rapt with attention throughout the class. They have certainly been successful in immersing the children in a Mandarin speaking world.

Art & craft segments too!

I remember, while we were traveling to the place on Day 2, I started asking the kids how they find the camp on Day 1, etc. They said it was fun, but in typical young children's fashion, couldn't really describe much about it. Instead, they wanted to quiz me, test me, to see if I knew the names of certain sea creatures in Chinese!
Isaac:"I want to test you, Mummy! Do you know the name of dolphin in Chinese?"
Mummy Me:"I know! Hai3 tun2"
Asher:"Mummy, I want to test you! What is Big White Shark in Chinese?"
Me:"I know! da4 bai2 sha1 !"
Asher:"Yes, correct!"
Isaac:"This one you sure don't know! What is stingray in Chinese?"
Me:"Errr... is it hung herr? hahaha..."
Isaac:"No! hahahaha..."
Me:"So what is it?"
Isaac:"Hong Mei Laoshi says it's huang2 diao1 yu2 !"

After our Chinese Camp ended, for many days afterwards, the kids would still be singing the songs they had learnt and talk about the stuff they had done during the Chinese Camp. I was suitably impressed because this hardly happens after an event, for with kids, it's quite out of sight out of mind. Incidentally, just yesterday morning, Shawna remembered a song and was singing it, and she turned to me and said "Can we go Chinese Camp again, please Mummy?" :)

Overall, I would say KidStartNow achieved their aim of immersing the kids in a Mandarin environment, and making Chinese fun. My only complaint is - I wish it were 3 full days of camp instead of half days!!! :p

Top right: The art & craft work done by the kids @ KidStartNow

Now, would you like your child to try out KidStartNow's programme? If so, you're in luck! We're conducting a giveaway! The good news is, there won't just be one winner, there will be three winners! :) One N2 child, one K1 child and one K2 child! And each winner won't just win one lesson - the winners will win 4 lessons each! However, as their sessions are all quite full already, the only available timeslots are those indicated below. Please only participate in this giveaway if you can make it for the indicated timeslots as alternative timings are not available.

N2 winner attends Tuesday 3.45pm - 5.15pm from 11-Feb-2014 to 04-Mar-2014
K1 winner attends Thursday 1.30pm - 3.15pm from 06-Feb-2014 to 27-Feb-2014
K2 winner attends Saturday  1.30pm - 3.15pm from 08-Feb-2014 to 01-Mar-2014

a Rafflecopter giveaway

KidStartNow are also running a competition right now! They are asking readers to send them their best parenting tips/stories on how they help their kids develop interest in Chinese, and they will be sharing the top ten tips/stories in a blog post (with proper credits given). In addition, the reader who sends them the top tip/story will win a prize of $100! If you are interested, please send your entries to dan.tang@kidstartnow.com with the subject "[Parenting Tips Competition - #01] before 9th Feb 2014". Good luck!

Isaac's First 7 days in Primary School

2014 is quite a milestone year for the Tan Family mainly because Isaac, our eldest child, is going to be in primary school this year. Primary 1 is often considered the first year of formal schooling and it is my fear, that this year will turn me into a Tiger Mum :p 

Hubbs and I were no great shakes in school. Yes, we both  made it to the university, eventually... but we had our fair share of study troubles in our respective years of education. Thus neither of us really felt like pushing the kids on assessment books and enrichment classes. But I fear that peer pressure may mold me into a different being this year! *HORRORS* 

Without boring you any further with my inane fears, let me present to you... Isaac's First 7 Days in Primary School!

DAY ONE - 2nd January 2014, Thursday

Isaac needs to wake up at 5am as his school bus comes at 5.35am. He was sufficiently psyched up and excited to go to big boy school so he did not make a fuss waking up on this day. When we went downstairs, we saw a bus uncle and assumed he was our bus uncle. But he took a look at Isaac's uniform and said "No, not my school." and he told us he is fetching a kid at 5.40am to send to a school which is a mere 10 minute drive away! Suddenly, we don't feel so bad about his school bus timing after all!

Traditional 1st Day of School void deck shots. Before and After School shots too! :)

Hubbs managed to apply for Child-Care Leave to accompany Isaac to school, by school bus! I sent the twins to childcare and went to the school to join hubbs.. Where he was excitedly talking to his primary school friends. Hubbs, not Isaac, talking to his friends. It was quite amazing, I had never seen so many dads at a school function/event thingy before. I left hubbs to his long lost friends and looked out for Isaac as it was recess time.

There he was! With his p5 buddy! They would have a Primary 5 boy attached to them for the first two days of school during recess time, to show them the ropes. The P5 boys all had a buddy card which had a checklist to help them remember what to teach the P1 boys. That is an excellent idea and I could see many P5 boys refer to the list constantly. It was also very amusing to see the pairs of P1 & P5 boys going about :)

This is Isaac's P5 buddy. Really nice, easy going fella, patiently tried to teach Isaac stuff. He was on the quiet side, so he didn't talk as much as I saw some other P5 boys did. But he duly referred to his checklist and would tick off tasks which he had completed. Isaac, in his excitement to get his food, unintentionally cut queue, and the buddy had the unenviable task of pulling him back in line. I thought that was quite hilarious though :p

The buddy lined up with Isaac to help him get his food, settled him at a table, before going off to get his own food. Isaac bought white rice and a sunny side up egg, and steadily proceeded to eat up every bit of it. I was actually pleasantly surprised that he would order that. Rice & egg $0.90. After eating, Isaac went back to class and continued reading his Enid Blyton: Five Find-Outers book which I had just managed to start him on, the day before.

When he came home from school on the school bus, I asked him about his day and I asked him for his highlight of the day in this way:"What did you like about your day in school today?" And on this first day, he said "There's a library, mummy! And the library has books that we don't have!" :)

Isaac and his P5 buddy who did a great job helping him. Thanks very much! :)

Lest I get carried away and this post starts to read like a novel, I shall continue writing the rest of this post in a semi-point form kinda way... Pictures mostly taken within the first two day of school.

DAY TWO - 3rd January 2014, Friday
My fault - I forgot to place money in his wallet, and so Isaac thought he had no money. Just as I spotted him and his buddy in the queue from a distance, he realised he had no money and proceeded to leave the queue. I somehow managed to quickly take his spot in the queue and called him back to the queue. Gave him money. And guess what? Because we told him last night that he can actually order one more dish to go with his rice and egg, he ordered rice, egg and stir-fried cabbage on this day. Wow, I was actually quite impressed at his healthy food choices :p

He excitedly took his own plate (his buddy helped him the previous day) and in his haste, his wallet was hanging open from the springy thing on his pants. The P5 buddy looked flummoxed by it and quickly tried to help him close his wallet while Isaac was still moving - walking to the table. Rice, egg, vegetable = $1.30.

After that, the P5 buddy brought him to see where the school bookshop was, and then they walked back to Isaac's class. I was following at a distance, and suddenly I saw the P5 buddy look around and said "Where is your mummy?" I quickly walked up and said, "Yes?" "He wants to go Library to borrow books. Do you have his IC number?" I said, yes, and off we went to the library. Isaac excitedly zoomed off to get the books he wanted to borrow. But unfortunately, the P5 boy's info was slightly off, as the Librarian informed me that P1 boys are not allowed to borrow just yet. Their form teacher would bring them in one day together, to issue them library cards, and then they can borrow. Disappointed, but calm (read: no tantrums!), Isaac went back to class and continued reading his Enid Blyton Five Find-Outers book.

Highlight of the Day: "The vegetable I bought with my rice and egg VERY NICE!"

Isaac and his favourite meal at school so far: Rice + Egg + Vegetable

DAY THREE - 6th January 2014, Monday


Isaac came home on the school bus and when I presented him with a chocolate cream bun instead of the pork floss buns he'd been having after school on his first two days of school - he proceeded to throw a tantrum. He had enjoyed that chocolate cream bun before, so I didn't understand why he was making such a big fuss over it. That is, until I realised that he still had the $2 I gave him in the morning for his recess.

Mummy me:"Isaac, how come you still have your $2? Did you eat during recess time?"
Isaac:" No..."
Me:" HUH?! How come?! No wonder you're so cranky! That's because you're hungry!"
Isaac:"You didn't tell me I had to eat EVERYDAY?!"

I spluttered. Not quite sure whether to laugh or cry. I chose to laugh... until I had tears in my eyes.

Me:"Okay. Isaac, please eat everyday. You have to eat rice, or noodles, or bee hoon, with other things."
Isaac:"Okay Mummy"
Me:"How come you didn't eat? Weren't you hungry?"
Isaac:"I want to save money to buy Lego."

Urrghh. Cursed Lego. It's become something of an obsession lately, this Lego thing. We've been having issues with Lego lately.

Me:"I like it that you want to save money, but you have to eat. If you don't eat, we won't give you any money for recess time."
And after some quick thinking...
Me:"Okay, I tell you what. If you eat during recess like I told you to, every time you save money, I will match you for it. So say if you save 50 cents, I will give you 50 cents, but only if you eat, and be good and do your homework."
Isaac's eyes widened, and he quickly nodded and said:"Okay Mummy!!!"

Highlight of the Day:" I won the game during P.E. !!!"

I have never seen such a noisy and crowded library before. I found it refreshing that there was no one standing there screaming for the boys to be quiet, no one shushing people away. But instead, many, many boys, reading and looking at books. Wonderful! :)

DAY FOUR - 7th January 2014, Tuesday
Our dear friend, got his maiden scolding by teachers on Day 4 of school, because he thought he didn't bring his Homework Diary - when actually it was in his opaque file which he did not open up to search.

Mummy Me:"It was right here, Isaac. You DID bring your Homework Diary to school."
Isaac:"Why didn't you tell me that you put it there?!"
Me:"I didn't put it there."
Isaac:"I will ask Papa tonight if he put it there."
Me:"It doesn't matter who placed it there. What you should learn from this is that you should be the one to pack your own bag next time, so that you know where everything is, and take responsibility if you forget anything."

I was trying hard to control myself to not show him that I found it amusing that he had gotten his first scolding so quickly. I was actually laughing and quite glad that he got to learn this lesson early, with such a trivial matter too (better than having to learn his lesson via a serious issue with greater consequences). But he looked so miserable, so I tried to be sympathetic.

Me:"So Ms Goh scolded you? Did anyone else forget to bring?"
Isaac:"Yes, got others never bring also. We all got scolding, but she scold me the fiercest."
Me:"She scolded you most fiercely? How come?"
Isaac:"I don't know. She scold me until I cry."

Again, I stifled a laugh and hid my grin. Isaac tends to be a little sensitive about such matters, and he's got an incredibly "thin skin" so to speak. So I wasn't too bothered that he got "scolded until I cry" - for in all likelihood, the teacher was just being stern.

Besides, I could contact the form teacher anytime as I had her mobile number and email address. And the Chinese teacher's too. In fact, on Day 4, I whatsapped the Chinese teacher to ask if she had issued the ting1 xie1 (Chinese spelling) list yet, because the previous day's Homework Diary indicated that there would be tingxie (Chinese spelling) every Thursday! Thankfully, she said that there'd be no tingxie this week and that they would issue the list the next day.

Food: Rice + Egg + (different) Vegetable = $1.50

Highlight of the Day:" I got chosen to be the P.E. Monitor!!!"

Grabbing every free moment to continue reading the exciting adventures of the Five Find-Outers. Am chuffed that he likes one of my favourite series of books! :) Hope the twins would be voracious readers too!

DAY FIVE - 8th January 2014, Wednesday
Mummy Me:"Hi darling, how was your day? Did you get scolding today?"
Isaac:"No scolding! Ms Goh say "Wah, good! You brought your Homework Diary today!" And everyone laughed, because she was so funny you know. So everyone laughed. hahahahaha..."
Me:"That's great. So did you eat the same thing again today? your rice, egg and vege?"
Isaac:"Yes, I did. But I saw one of my friends eat spaghetti. Maybe I will try that tomorrow."
Me:"Yes, you can try that, see if it is nice."

After eating, Isaac went to look at the Aviation Club display. I had seen it before, it was a display of model aeroplanes, which the boys have put together. I can see why he would be attracted to that. "Maybe I can make an aeroplane to have it displayed there, Mummy." Sure...

On Day 5, I whatsapped his form teacher because there was a Health Service form thingy which I was supposed to hand in, but it wasn't in his bag nor at home. Missing in action! She said she'd check his school locker for it.

Food: Rice + Egg + Vegetable = $1.50

Highlight of the Day:"Actually, everyday I like recess time..."

DAY SIX - 9th January 2014, Thursday

On Day 6, I emailed his math teacher to inform her that Isaac had already brought the Math Plus 1B on the day after he forgot his homework diary - I had placed it in the bag myself! I wasn't sure if Isaac is plain blur, or just a little unlucky at misplacing items. In any case, it struck me how, within the first 6 days of school, I had already communicated with Isaac's three main teachers. I wonder if this is the norm nowadays. This certainly didn't happen when I was in Primary 1.

Food: Spaghetti $1.20

Highlight of the Day:"We had music lesson today! And we learned to sing Majulah Singapura! School song, tomorrow!"

I loved it that the first music lesson was dedicated to learning the national anthem! And not only did they learn the words to the national anthem, they also printed the translation of the song, so that the kids can learn the meaning of the song. They even had a short paragraph on the history of the song. Next, was the school song which was in Chinese, which they even had an English translation of so that the boys can learn the meaning of the song too. Excellent! :)

Singapore's national anthem Majulah Singapura, and its English translation.

DAY SEVEN - 10th January 2014, Friday
His Maths teacher called me, and said she really couldn't find the Maths Plus 1B we said we brought. Was also whatsapping the form teacher, who said that his health service forms were no where to be found at all. It was clear that I had to make a trip down to the school on Monday to do the necessary.

This is the day he came home with some real homework too. The first homework came on Wednesday, but it was just a few pages of math which he finished very quickly. Today, his homework was another 3 pages of maths, and a journal entry titled:"My December Holidays". Gosh, sounds like he is to do a mini-composition already. And he got his list of tingxie Chinese Spelling words. Goodness. I feel my blood pressure rising already.

I left him in the living room for 10 minutes on his own and came out to see him napping on the couch. We have been preventing him from napping in the afternoons when he comes home from school as we have been trying to push his bedtime earlier. It has been quite a struggle to do so and Isaac has been having a hard time adjusting his body to the "new time zone". Thus, for the first time in the entire week, I let him take a nap.

He apparently went back to eating his rice, egg and vegetables. I never got to ask him about his highlight of the day. I guess the upcoming weekend was highlight enough :)

What an eventful first seven days of school it had been for both Isaac and us! We have had to adjust to it as well. It does seem that Isaac is off to a relatively positive start in school since he admits to enjoying and having fun with school. And for that, we're glad :)

The Twins Turn Four!

The twins turn 4 today! And what time these four years have been for us! It seems ages ago, and yet not too long ago when I delivered my Twin 1 (Asher) and Twin 2 (Shawna) at the hospital via C-section... (The Twins' Birth Story). With my sister-in-law pregnant, the twins are only starting to really understand what it means for them to have been in my tummy, before they were born. These past few months leading up to their birthday, they, Shawna especially, have been asking me repeatedly, questions about them being in my tummy. By now, they even know their respective positions in my tummy: Shawna on my right, and Asher on my left. Asher was head down and came out first, whereas Shawna was breech. They know that Isaac kor kor had more room in mummy's tummy as he was there alone, but that they were together in my tummy at the same time...

Looking back at these two blog posts - Twins Pregnancy Update  and Progress of the Twins - I must say, I really did almost forget what had happened then, including the pain and discomfort of carrying twins and all. But I do remember the joy and elation that was when we realised we were having twins. They have truly been a Godsend to us, all three of our kids are. We do recall how trying the first year was though, especially the time when we all fell sick and the twins were hospitalised. I think most of our friends could see how tiring it was for us in the first couple of years too... So much so, that nowadays, when we meet up with friends and family whom we haven't seen in awhile, they inevitably say this while looking at the kids "Wah... now easier already lah hor?" Hahaha... yes, indeed.

Asher & Shawna @ 4 years old!

Hubbs and I have always enjoyed observing the kids, studying their behaviour is a fascinating endeavour that we take great joy in: what they do and say, how they learn, their personalities etc. Being a first child shaped Isaac in certain ways that first/only child tend to behave. Asher & Shawna's behaviour on particular,  provides many opportunities to study the age old question of Nurture Vs Nature. Being twins, it can be said that their Nurture would be almost exactly the same, and that they only differ in Nature. Yet, Asher & Shawna are as different as can be, from when they were born...

You know what they say about boys being physically more advanced, while girls mature quicker linguistically? Totally the opposite for this pair of mine. Asher has always been a little more clumsy and physically slower, and not as agile. He is the kind to trip on nothing, and the one who inevitably falls or gets hurt somewhere somehow. Shawna, on the other hand, is physically faster in picking up crawling, walking, jumping, climbing, everything physical. She is very agile and nimble, and she is the kind who can instantly right herself if she finds herself off-balanced and prevent a bad fall - if at all! Asher is however, linguistically very talented in that his diction is very clear. He could talk earlier than Shawna did, and when he speaks, his diction is very clear and he could imitate what he hears very well, from an early age. Even now at 4, Shawna's diction is still not very clear at times and her pronunciation of certain letters is not correct. 

Asher, from a very young age, is able to play on his own very well. Of the three kids, he is the one who appreciates my horde of action figures the best, as he is able to play with them and form his own stories and animate the figures himself, narrating his own little dramas. Isaac only recently started to do this, and we suspect that he learned this from Asher - in fact, he can only play like that if he is with Asher. On his own, Isaac is not inclined to do that. Shawna too, isn't really one to play on her own, and hardly ever touches her dolls. She craves company. She wants me to read to her, or play a game with her.

We do not allow the kids to watch tv at home, but on rare occasions where both hubbs and I need to get some work done, we will let them watch some kids dvds. Other than that, the kids' tv time is at their grandparents' place. Asher, loves tv. He is the sort who could spend hours glued to the tv, if you allowed him to be. Shawna on the other hand, can watch tv, but is not as enamoured of it as her brothers are. Again, she would rather I play a board game with her, or read to her, rather than watch tv. Even if she watches tv, she wants one of us to watch with her. 

Asher & Shawna - Do you know who is older? :)

Shawna is a very independent girl, who wants to do everything by herself. She taught herself to stand at 10 months - she didn't want us to hold her at all! She taught herself to skate-scoot at 2 years old, and is now an expert on her balance bike. She prefers to feed herself, wear her own socks and shoes, button up her own uniform, carry her own bag... the list goes on. Asher waited quite awhile before deciding to learn how to walk, scoot and get on his balance bike. He prefers to be fed even though he is perfectly able to feed himself. Similarly, he would rather you wear his socks and shoes for him, and claims not to know how to button himself up. 

Asher loves chocolate, and ice cream, and doesn't really take sweets/jellies, nor snacks like potato chips or crackers. Shawna, enjoys a little bit of chocolate and ice cream, but is fine to do without. But she really enjoys chips and crackers and tidbits like that. She loves fried food of any kind, and chicken wings done in any way. She enjoys eating and is quite game to try most foods. She eats raw salmon sashimi, chicken feet, chicken/duck/pig skin, pig intestines etc. Asher doesn't eat all this, and is not very adventurous with food. He does love spaghetti though and can easily down a full adults serving of it, and more!

They even show their love in different ways.

Shawna is very nurturing and it is her nature to take care of her brothers. She would take water bottle for Asher, carry his bag for him, help him place his things where they should be. In childcare, she would quickly feed herself and then start to feed him because he wasn't done yet. Put his mattress cover on for him before nap time... The last two things she only stopped doing when her teachers told her that Asher needed to learn how to do those things himself. When I was taking a bath, but Asher was looking for me so that he could lie down on my lap to drink milk - Shawna offered to let him lie down on her lap to drink milk...

Asher is very sweet and caring. He is the one who will ask you where your hurts are, and attempt to kiss it away. He is fiercely loyal to Shawna and Isaac and would be very affected if either one of them were upset, hurt or scolded. He is by nature, a bit more laid back, and is happy to be waited upon, and very accepting of Shawna's and Isaac's help in this aspect.

The twins at birth. Can you guess which baby is who? :)

Despite being very different, Asher & Shawna both have a positive disposition and are quite cheerful and bring joy to all they meet. We pray and hope they would continue to be a blessing to everyone in their lives! :) Happy 4th Birthday, my little twin stars! May you two be blessed with peace, love, happiness, success and good health for all eternity! :)

So Long, Farewell, 2013!

31st December has always been a special day for my family. That's because it is my Dad's birthday. Yes! My father's birthday is actually on the last day of the year! He turns 64 on 31st December 2013, and we have much to be thankful for. He is healthy and well, and has been traveling for leisure (with my mum!) a lot in recent years, much to his and my mum's delight. He's a great grandfather to the kids, though my sister and I wonder how come the kids barely get a fraction of the scoldings from him that the two of us used to get... :p 

Now, for my sister, 31st December is a doubly special date. That's because, it is not only the date of her father's birthday, it is also the date of her father-in-law's birthday! Yes, how coincidental is that?! It's just the sort of thing you imagine a 17 year old telling a girl he's trying to ask to 'go stead' : "See, our fathers' birthday is on the same date! It's a sign from God! We're destined to be together! You must go stead with me!" hur hur hur... just kidding. I dunno whether my brother-in-law actually said that to my sister... maybe he did? :p

Blessed Grandpas celebrating their birthdays with their grandkids and family around them! :)

This year, my sister's parents-in-law invited my parents and us, to their home for a gathering together with their extended family. Yes, this is quite usual, and it often happens vice versa as well. Partly due to the fact that both the patriarchs' birthdays fall on the same day, and also because both our families enjoy having big extended family gatherings. So we actually know my brother-in-law's cousins, aunts and uncles, and they know us as well.

You know, as mentioned in this post quite a few months back, my sister and I love The Sound of Music. And it's always been a kind of dream or fantasy of ours, to make our kids sing and act out one or more of the songs in the musical, particularly So Long, Farewell! The twins have so far been a tad young, but this year, given the double celebration party, my sister thought of asking the kids to perform this song during the gathering. We managed to convince the kids to do it (they say they shy!?!?) and we even managed to squeeze in rehearsals in our busy busy December amidst the Kohs' traveling, and me fulfilling orders coming in for My First Games. 

Before we bring you Behind the Scenes, here is the live recording of the performance that took place before an audience of approximately 30 people :)

Thanks to the internet, we easily found the lyrics to the song, and there were even YouTube videos of the actual clip from the movie which we watched with the kids. The singing of the song was not a problem at all, even for the 3 year plus twins Asher & Shawna. But we had to improvise the positioning and dance steps as we were short of one child, and we had to plan for a highly probable contingency - that the twins would refuse to perform. As you can see from the video above, it was wise that we had planned for that. Asher came through beautifully on the actual day, even though he was the one who was acting up and refusing to perform during rehearsals prior to the actual day. Shawna, unfortunately, had a shorter than usual nap that day and hence she was throwing a silent tantrum on stage, resolutely refusing to perform. Rebecca, Isabelle, Natalie and Isaac all performed very well indeed . Here's a video of the kids in a rehearsal the day before the actual day - Shawna's fine in this one! :)

Very proud of the kids we are! So long, farewell, 2013! :)

Christmas help from my elves

Before I became a Mumpreneur and started My First Games, December used to be a month of frantic blogging for me, as I keep trying to "finish blogging" whatever I wanted to, before the year was over, and so that I can print my blog at Blog2Print. But here at The Tan Family Chronicles, it is quite tough to "finish blogging" - it's never ending! There's always something to chronicle! :p

This year especially, has been a good Christmas season for My First Games, that we must truly give thanks for. But that also meant that I was sooo busy with fulfilling the orders that I didn't have time to do my own shopping! Thus, this past week, I've been trying to squeeze in shopping of my own, as well as the last minute gift wrapping.

Isaac and Shawna saw me wrapping gifts, and of course, wanted to help. They have been quite good at helping me hold down the wrappers while I paste the sticky tape, or vice versa. They even found paper and wrapped a gift on their own (teamwork!) - the small blue one right at the bottom of the picture below. After awhile though, I thought it was easier if I wrapped the gifts on my own while they helped me with the labeling. 

Shawna elf helping with the gift labeling :)

Isaac helped me with writing names and Christmas greetings on a bunch of seven presents last week. Didn't manage to take pictures but he did admirably well, with the exception of some black solid squares which apparently, happened, because he made some mistake and tried to colour out cancel his mistake. There was one particular present which was quite large, so I said to him "Since you have more space to write on, you can say more things, you know?" So he wrote:"Merry Christmas. You should be going crazy right now because we are" I read that and asked "Huh? You are what?" "Mummy, they should be going crazy because we are going crazy lah!" "But WHY are you going crazy?" said puzzled Mummy me. He gave me this incredulous look and said "Because it's CHRISTMAS soon!!!" Ah.... silly me, of course! :)

4 year old gift labeling!

Shawna helped me with labeling too. She couldn't spell like Isaac could, so I had to tell her letters one by one, and she wrote them as I spelt out the names to her, or she copied them from the rough paper I wrote the words on. I love the collage of photos above of her writing with such concentration. I must say she did remarkably well, and she didn't even poke any holes in the wrapper at all. 

 These three gifts were for my three nieces, and because they were board games for them to play together, I deliberately wanted all three names on the gifts so that it was clear that it was meant for sharing. 

Shawna labelled the orange gift first. She wrote, REBECCA. Next, as she wasn't too good at estimating space usage, she wrote ISABELL before getting distressed at running out of space for the last letter E - which I got her to write over the edge, at the side of the gift wrapper. Next she wrote a tiny N, and I asked "How come your N is so small, when your R and I are so big?" "So that I have more space, Mummy!" Ahhh... nice to know she has been listening. It was a mirror image N though, so she tried again, but it turned out the same way. I told her to just continue anyway, so she left it as it is. She realised she didn't have space for all three of their names and so Asher's name went on the left - in mirror image, backwards, no less - yes, I was busy wrapping a gift and didn't notice this until after the fact! Her W came out as M too. I hope all this mirror-imaging isn't a sign that she is dyslexic!

The red present was labelled pretty well. Shawna was apparently so afraid of running out of space again that she started writing the names in small print. I looked over and saw that, so I wrote told her to write Merry Christmas too, since there was space. My little helpful elf was very obliging (good mood, that day) and she did as I instructed, though her W came out as an M again. Next, she wrote NATALIE on the green gift perfectly, then promptly got distracted, proclaimed that her hand was tired, and went missing in action.

So yesterday, Isaac the kor kor, came to the rescue and completed the labeling for me. He missed out the middle E in Isabelle, but managed a save by inserting a tiny 'e' between the 'b' and the 'l'. Suddenly, I realised that Shawna had written everything in upper case, while Isaac wrote in a mix of upper and lower case. I guess Shawna hasn't learnt the lower case yet.

Notice how Isaac drew a heart shape instead of the 'o' in 'love'? :) His idea, not mine!

And only while I was taking the pictures of the gifts, did I realise that Isaac forgot to write Asher's name on the blue gift! So I went to Asher, and asked him to write his own name in. "Mum, I don't want to write 'Asher', I want to write Ash - coz it's so cool!" So he tried to write Ash but ran out of space and didn't know how to write on the sticky tape... Isaac to the rescue, again! "Let me help you, Asher! But you must write Asher, if not, Isabelle will wonder who Ash is." And so he proceeded to write Ashe- and was stopped midway the 'e' because Asher went "Noooooooo!!!! I want ASH, not Asher!!!"

All in a days' work of the Tan Family Christmas elves! Merry Christmas to one and all of you lovely readers of the Tan Family Chronicles! May you and your loved ones be blessed with peace, love, happiness, success, and good health forever and ever, amen!!! :)

Isaac on radio! We won No Rhyme or Reason!!!

Remember the post we put up just two days ago, on Isaac's rhyme for Gold 90.5 FM's No Phyme or Reason? Guess what?! I managed to call in yesterday morning, Isaac was on air, and he won us 4 tickets to Resorts World Sentosa's Sea Aquarium!!! Woooohooo!!! So that was the executive summary... this is what happened...

So it was Friday the 13th of December 2013, and I was just leaving the house with the twins, to send them to the childcare centre when Isaac piped up "Mummy, can I follow you to send Asher and Shawna to school? I want to listen to No Rhyme or Reason! I want to win today!!!" That got me laughing "Sure, come along! We can TRY...."

We were barely driving for less than 15 minutes when the deejays Vernetta and The Flying Ducthman announced that they were going to start No Rhyme or Reason. I quickly called for Isaac to pay attention, as he was busy eating his breakfast. The given lines were announced "Fee Fi Fo Fum, I saw..." and you were supposed to complete the rhyme. Normally, the deejays would put on a song and answer the calls, but yesterday, they decided to go to the phone lines immediately to after announcing the given lines!

Isaac, upon hearing the given lines, immediately started coming up with a rhyme.
"Are you ready, Isaac? Can you remember your rhyme?"
"Yes, yes, Mummy."

"Okay, I'm calling now, you have to say your rhyme yourself ah..."

I frantically called the station on the phone and put it on speaker. Thankfully, we were stationary at a traffic light! We weren't the first caller! But the first caller bombed out with a poor line. So we had another chance! I quickly called again - the number is in my Favourites list. And we weren't the second, nor the third caller - but both these callers had chickened out and hung up without even speaking to the deejays. And then - we got in! We were on air! I quickly turned down the radio volume and put the phone in front of Isaac

Mummy Me:"Okay, go Isaac!"

DJ Vernetta Lopez:"Helloo Gold 90FM! Fee fi fo fum, I saw..."

Isaac:"Fee fi fo fum, I saw a girl having fun in the sun!"

DJs Vernetta, The FD, and Brian Richmond all laughed and agreed to let Isaac win! 

Vernetta:"How old are you Isaac?"

Isaac:"Six."

The deejays laughed again and one of them said "So you'd be listening to Gold 90FM for the next 50 years?"

Isaac:"Yes" (after I prompted him, haha, think he was a bit stunned.)

Then the FD got my details and said someone would contact me about the prize. By now, I had turned into one of the small roads just after the traffic light and we were safely stopped by the road.

I was ecstatic! I know I know, it's super cheap thrill, but hey! How many people can say they've been on radio and won a good prize, eh? :p Well, technically it wasn't me, it was Isaac! I was very proud of him coz he made up the rhyme on his own, and presented it himself too! Excellent! Also, it was on such notice, he literally thought it up on the spot!

Actually, I remembered his rhyme as "Fee fi fo fum, I saw a girl run and have fun in the sun!" from when he was rehearsing the line to himself before we got through the phone lines. But Isaac claims that when he was on air, he didn't say the "run" part. That's why he didn't write it down for me either (in the picture above). After he wrote it, he wrote his name. And he said "Hey, Mummy look, "Fee fi fo fum, I saw a girl having fun in the sun!" by Isaac Tan - the Tan rhymes with fun and sun!" Hahaha... yes indeed!

It was a great start to Friday the 13th for us :) Thanks Gold90FM! :)

No Rhyme Or Reason

Remember the list of games we would play in the car? Well, I need to update that post coz we recently have a hot favourite game with the kids - The Rhyming Game! Isaac has always been quite good with words, and he has somehow gotten into the rhyming as he finds it funny (haha).  So it's a simple game, the kids just come up with lines that rhyme. Even Asher can do it, he says:" Hey Mummy, this is my rhyme - Sting ray, See Ray! Rhyme?!" :)

It also happens that there is a current game on the radio station Gold 90.5 FM in the morning before 10am, and we heard it yesterday. It goes like this: The radio deejays Vernetta Lopez and The Flying Dutchman would give two lines, and you are supposed to call in to complete the rhyme. If the judge, Uncle Brian Richmond liked the rhyme, you would win whatever prize they had up for grabs that day.

The two lines they gave yesterday were:

"My ang pow is red, my cheong sam is blue..." and this is how Isaac completed the rhyme

My ang pow is red, my cheong sam is blue

Christmas is coming in a week or two

So first poo then coo then moo 

Then go to the loo with you!

I tried calling into the radio station but I couldn't get through. Isaac was a little disappointed, so I told him I'd blog it and let the Vernetta cheh cheh and Uncle Flying Dutchman know about this :) Grandpa Brian would surely love this rhyme! :p I certainly do! It rhymes, and had no reason!

Isaac contribution to Gold 90.5 FM No Rhyme Or Reason's rhyme of the day

Isaac used to come up with just a 2 liner rhyme, but after I challenged him to make up longer rhymes, he started doing so. In addition to the above, Isaac thought up the one below. I liked it and had him write it down because... it was a rhyme that had one of his best friends mentioned in it. I think he misses his friends! Isaac has been home this week as we thought to give him a break from "school" before he starts primary one next year, and so we had already withdrawn him from childcare since he has already "graduated" from K2 (we had the graduation concert last Sunday!). Frankly speaking, I miss Isaac's friends too! Thus, I am thinking of organising some playdates for Isaac and some of his best friends in the next few weeks! Hopefully we can all stay in touch and they will become lifelong friends :)

Isaac Tan's rhyme about Isaac Tay, one of his best friends!

It's quite amusing how easily Isaac's taken to rhyming. Perhaps he'd be a poet or a song writer one day! :) Perhaps...

A sanitised discussion about the Little India riots with the kids

So, we Singapore, are a shocked nation over the recent Little India riots... I had to buy the newspapers this morning to read about it. Yes, we don't buy newspapers everyday as we usually have no time to read. But today we bought because we wanted to read more about the Little India riots... 

As I was reading the news papers and talking to hubbs about the riots, the kids caught snippets of what we were talking about and started asking questions...

Isaac reading about the Little India riots after we had the discussion about it

Mummy me:"Ah yoh..."

Shawna:"Why you say "ah yoh", Mummy?"

Mummy:"Er... See, this man, he wasn't careful when... crossing the road, so the bus, er, bang into him, and he died."

Asher:"Where? Which man? Can I see? Can you turn the newspaper around, please Mummy, I want to see his picture... Oh, so poor thing."

Mummy:"Yes, so poor thing. That's why, when you cross the road, you must always be careful okay? If not, can die one. Must be careful okay?"

Asher:"Yes, Mummy."

Shawna pointed to the pictures of the overturned police cars and said: "Mummy, see, these drivers were not careful when driving, they never pay attention, so they got accident, see."

Mummy: " Oh! These are not the usual cars that we see in the morning when we go to school who were not careful while driving and got into an accident. These are police cars. See those people there, they pushed the cars over and set it on fire."

Asher:"Why they do that, Mummy?"

Shawna:"Why they burn the police car?"

Mummy:"I think it's because they were drunk."

Asher:"What is drunk?"

Mummy:"Drunk is when you drink too much alcohol, then you cannot think properly, then they start learning bad things from each other, and they do silly things like that."

Asher:"Oh..."

Mummy:"That's why you should never drink too much alcohol, okay? It's not good for you, not good for your body. And that's also why Mummy always say don't learn bad things from people, right? Only learn the good things."

Shawna:"Okay, Mummy."

Asher:"No alcohol."

Mummy:"Did you hear all that, Isaac?" 

Isaac:"Yes, I heard you, Mummy."

Mummy:"Yes, so, just like smoking is not good for you, drinking too much alcohol is not good for you too. Understand? So don't smoke, and don't drink alcohol, and don't learn bad things. Be kind. Understand?"

Asher & Shawna:"Yes, understand, Mummy."

Isaac:"Yes yes..."

I looked up and saw hubbs grinning at me :)

How I became a full time Mumpreneur

I have been wanting to write about this, but haven't actually gotten down to it. I've hinted or explicitly mentioned my business My First Games before in some blog posts, but I have yet to actually write a post about it as well... Frankly, part of the reason why I haven't been blogging about this, is because I felt a little weird "tooting my own horn" - which is why you don't see me writing about the multitude of boardgames we play at home as well...

However, my friends and relatives have assured me that they don't think it's weird, that I'm silly to think this way, and even sillier for not taking advantage of this platform to talk about one of the things that I am passionate about - board games and my business. Thus, starting today, I will start to talk about my experiences as a mumpreneur (a mummy and an entrepreneur!), and about board games! :)

I originally thought of starting My First Games when Isaac was about 2 years old, way back in mid 2009. We had been playing board games with him since he was 17 months old, and everyone was very amazed with how a child not yet 2 years old, could play board games. Isaac could understand instructions, execute the instructions, take turns and concentrate on playing the games... something which people associate with older children and not a child less than 2 years old. Bright as he is, I don't think he's a genius, I know that he can do it because of conditioning, I have been conditioning him to playing board games by introducing it to him regularly from when he was 17 months old.

Our first feature! My First Games and the kidzes in the Sunday Times :)

Everyone started saying that I should import these board games to sell since they could not be found in Singapore. Board games which could teach young children to listen to and carry out instructions, to lengthen the children's concentration span, to teach them turn taking, graciousness and honesty through game play... very educational indeed! Kiasu parents in Singapore were sure to snap them up, said everyone!

So just as I figured "If I don't give it a try, I'd never know..." I got some stock in in mid 2009... then guess what? We found out we were pregnant with the twins! The pregnancy was really tiring and I slept most of the first trimester away. Second trimester with the twins felt like third trimester of Isaac's pregnancy... I was just as huge too, but it was only second trimester! I had not much choice but to delay the start of My First Games. When Asher and Shawna were born, it wasn't easy on any of us either. Having one baby was exhausting enough, imagine double mouths to breast feed, double the diapers to change, and double the times to bathe the babies! 

Simply Her sent a make-up artist and a hairdresser to spruce me up, provided the pretty dress and had their photographer take that lovely shot of me! Hubbs didn't even realise it was me when I showed it to him!

Hence it was only in late 2010, when the twins were almost a year old, that I decided to just put together a  website and start selling the games. All through this time, I still had a full time day job. Thus, with three kids in the house, I was extremely occupied even after working hours. So I had to wake up at 3am every night, to put together the website. 

Through the next two years plus, I continued to have a full time day job, while doing this on the side. I made sure that I did whatever my full time job required and was very conscious of getting my priorities right. They were: family, full time job, my board game business - in that order. Thus, as you can probably guess, I didn't have very much time for the business. If there were sales, there were sales, but if there weren't any sales, I could hardly complain since I wasn't doing much at all. I started to think if I should quit my full time job in order to put in more time and effort in My First Games. 

The Business Times article was my favourite! The reporter wrote what I said, almost verbatim!

I felt that there was a lot of potential in this business but I would need to invest time and energy into it. Isaac, my eldest child, was also going to attend primary school in 2014, which wasn't all that far away. It would be good if I had a job which would give me flexibility in working hours, and more time with my children. Thus, as far back as 2012, I started wondering if I should quit my full time job and go full time on this board game business of mine. What was holding me back was the comfort zone which I was in after working for more than a decade in the corporate world, and the fact that I would most certainly have to take a substantial pay cut. Inevitably, there was also the fear of failure. What if I couldn't make it work? What if I don't earn money? What if I earn just a pittance? I figured that I was relatively young enough such that I could return to the corporate world if I really couldn't earn much from this... Still I hesitated...

One day, out of frustration, I said this during my prayers: "God, I don't know what I should do. You tell me. You give me a sign. Tell me if I should do My First Games full time, or not. I trust in you, Lord!" Less than two weeks after I said this prayer, the holding company of the company that was funding the company I was working in, filed for bankruptcy protection in USA and in the company's country where the headquarters of the company was. I was stunned. That was as clear a sign as can be.

So I made up my mind. I would do My First Games full time. God has spoken and He will bless me on my way. The path that I should take is clear. I worked till the company I was with had to close down the Singapore office which I was a part of. Hence, since April 2013, I have been a full time Work At Home Mumpreneur (WAHMumpreneur). Since then, I have been blessed by being featured in a number of print publications, as pictured above...

 So, with God's grace, that's how I became a full time Mumpreneur :)