Lovely presents

The Nats made a lovely present for my birthday! Handicraft completed jointly by efforts of Natalie and Nathan! Amazing myriad of colours that shows patience and techniques! I am super impressed! Guess who is the artist behaind each piece?  And of course not forgetting Nathan's favourite gong gong! He made a super special piece for him!

"The blue Ocean" by Nathan

"Baby Joey" by Natalie When she was 4 yrs old

"The car/ motorcycle" by Nathan for Gong gong

"The Dinosaur" by Natban

 

" The Beautiful Bird" by Natalie

Nathan's art

At 2yrs 9mths, Nathan's art and pencil skills have improved leaps and bounds from the usual scribbles and impatient doodles. He has now mastered the concept of colours and managed to colour within the outline as well as follow the dotted patterns of the numbers as he writes. One can see patience and caution as he manage the pencil with his little hands trying to concentrate as hard as he can to complete the assignment. He even told my helper to get him an eraser when he goes slightly off course. At the same time explaining to her that mummy will not be pleased to see a dirty piece of work. Funny that he said this since I don't even recall saying it. Nonetheless I must say he is a fast learner and I am so proud of his accomplishment! 

Amazing Nathan! Alphabets will be easy breezy for you!

Bali

This was Nathan's first flight out and he looked relax and unafraid. He seems to be in his natural element, there was no fear at takeoff and landing nor traces of anxiety during turbulence. One will not be able to tell that this was his first trip on the plane. He got his headset and demanded for his movies during flight. Krisworld was not fully enabled on our trip and he was disappointed by the non-interactivity of the system since it's not on  demand and lack screening of his favourite "Cars" movie.  I must say he adapted really well on board though he  is not at all a frequent flyer and his experience of flying was inherited from dearest Natalie who had educated him of the in flight entertainment and child's meal and toys. Glad I packed their books and activities packs to keep them occupied. With kids who demand to seat only with mummy, I hardly had time to watch a movie myself!

5 days in Bali zoomed by without full relaxation coupled with low use of luxurious facilities. We rented this super spacious villa with pool and dual storey so there were ample beds and rooms for all. Each room comes with a giant circular tub thats 2 metres wide. We didnt even need to go to the pool and the kids ended up having bubble bath each night and they enjoyed it thoroughly. 

So where did we go and what did we do? First day was shopping at Kuta area. I managed to get a really good looking batik shirt for gong gong who was unable to go on the trip with us. We visited the afamous Jimbaran seafood restaurants by the sea. Beautiful sunset but food was way overpriced! To fill stomachs,  seafood bill will come up to a minimum of $500 to $1k. Sounds like our very own long beach restaurant with over priced seafood? Well kids didnt like eating by the beach and wanted to go home so in other words we were saved by them. Instead of paying for exorbitant overly hyped seafood, we had good old kfc which was wonderfully appetising!

Next day we visited Nusa Dua beach. They had the whitest and softest sands. The beaches are extremely well maintained by 5 star hotels around the area and had workers cleaning up the debris after the tides came in so it looks sparkling white for the comfort of visitors. Grandma enjoyed the nasi padang most and had a jolly good time feasting on the array of beautifully cooked food placed at the table. Over 20 dishes for you to choose from and fortunately mimi was there so we were educated on what we were eating. Well at least we avoided the inerts and fried baby eels.

Along the 2 hour drive to Tanah Lot, padi fields and rural architecture welcomed us. Drive was long but we were well entertained by the kids who sang and played "I spy". We saw medicinal products sold in bottles carried and sold along the roadsides. Indonesians believe in the organic medicinal qualities of plant products which consists of all sorts of ingredients including ginger, payaya, lime, honey etc. Medicines were prepared at home by these street "pharmacists" and people will purchase it in containers and drink them on the spot. The adventurous me wanted so much to try the satay sold along the streets.  We got the driver to stop by and managed to buy 10 sticks for the price of 50 cents!  How cheap is that!! It had this wonderful aroma of charred meat..I tried one and it was yummy, but popo warned me about hygiene and fear got the better of me. So mimi ended up enjoying the flavourful sticks of satays made from unidentified meat.

I suppose the visit to Luwak plantation was the highlight of the trip. Kids got to see and touch the Luwak or civet cat and brave Natalie even carried a baby Luwak! We all had a jolly good time sipping coffee, ginger concoctions and eating goreng pisang (the indonesian style). Back to kampong days felt so good and relaxing! I am surprised the clean freak in me did not flip and had a heart attack when the kids started to pat the animals and tried the concoctions from unknown origins.  Well at least they should be organic! I guess....

We were all super tired at the end of the trip and mum said we should have spent more time at the villa instead of travelling to multiple places. Good advise for the next villa type trip. Since it was our first, we will plan it better next time!

My colour book

I made these today for the kids to keep them occupied in Bali..hopefully they will love it as much as I do =). Am kinda into scrape booking now as it saves money, great versatility,  accordance to preferences and serves multiple purposes. Best of all I utterly enjoyed the book making process! 

Christianity

Natalie is starting to explore into religion and her hunger for knowledge is so strong and the wanting to share with the people she loves makes her a much stronger person than me. I am wishy washy with religion.. well I definitely believe in the almighty and trust that He is there protecting and looking out for my family. What I don't possess is the tenacity and commitment to attend all the bible lessons and succumb to the discipline. Mum said that's because my egoistic self got the better of me. Also my complacency won't get me closer to Him either. However I feel that time is what I lack. If I have all the time in the world, I can be religious too. Spend retirement preaching. . Evangelising His goodwill and be a great brand ambassador of God.

KTKLN card for indo helpers

The government of Indonesia introduced a card called Kartu Tenaga Kerja Luar Negeri (KTKLN) or in English, Overseas Worker Card. This card has been made compulsory to all Indonesia workers both leaving overseas to work and those already working in another country. 

What is the purpose of this card ? 

(a) Easier for the Embassy of Indonesia to contact and to provide assistance to the workers in the event of troubles or accidents. Information can reach the relevant authorities and families in Indonesia fast. 

(b) To prevent workers working illegally and human traficking 

(c) To prevent falsification of the workers' identity. 

For workers already working overseas, they only need to apply for the card when they return to Indonesia for vacation. Failure in doing so may result in the worker being denied leaving the country for work. 

There have been many cases where workers who were unaware of this requirement, were stopped at the airport and denied flying. 

Prior to this the implementation of this requirement was not strict and not consistent from airport to airport. Some workers were allowed to fly even without this card whereas some were denied leaving the country until they had obtained the card. 

Workers ( including maids ) will not be allowed to leave Indonesia without first applying for this card. According to the law of the country, those caught without this card may be fined up to Rp 1.5 million or imprisonment of 1-5 years. However this is just the laws, in reality workers are only stopped from flying if they don't possess this card. 

Mother's day Surprise

From the kids.. and I feel so loved darlings!

Puzzles

Nathan loves puzzles that comes in all shapes and sizes. He could play it over and over again, toppling them over immediately after completion. I am pretty certain he gets a great sense of achievement when he finishes his puzzles, but the act of starting all over again before bedtime can sometimes push you to the limits. We tried turning off the lights to end the game but he will attempt to see using the street light. Not sure where this spirit of relentlessness came from well at least he is not easily distracted when it comes to playing and it helps him concentrate. I certainly hope he will use this on his school work as well!

Beautiful artwork

Dinosaurs are by Nathan and drawing of nathan and natalie in the garden by Natalie. Works are completed on 26 April 2014.

Easter eggs

Both kiddo brought home their self decorated Easter eggs yesterday. Attached are photos of their little handicraft. According to Natalie these are the steps for their project:-
Step 1: prepare a boiled egg
Step 2: wrap the plastic wrapper around the egg
Step 3: dip the egg in hot water. The wrapper will constrict and stick to the egg.

Amazing science lessons!

Bollywood

Guess who won the best dressed?

School bus rides

I have extended the hours of Nathan's kindergarten just so that he avoids the long and arduous journey from grandma's place to school. The ride takes 40 to 45 minutes and takes him through multiple carparks before dropping off at
school. The bumpiness of the journey causes him to suffer from motion sickness and creates a mess before school starts thus affecting his mood and destroys the eagerness of going to school. Each morning he also faces the grab and go situation similar to the kidnapping scenes which we see in movies where a van drives by and grabs him from his mommy and he screams and struggles on the bus before the auntie manage to calm him down. As a third party, i feel that the process is highly traumatic! Imagine the negative association and how he would have felt about education and the impact long term? It dragged for weeks, but his relentless crying and vomiting still hasn't stopped. I knew i had to do something about this.

Extending the hours meant that he can go to school from home together with jie jie who can look after him which helps make the journey bearable. He is a much happier student now and the driver who prepares a morning surprise for him to settle him down certainly contributed to the calming down effect as well! Fortunately this worked! He is starting to enjoy school now!
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Benefits of siblings

There are several benefits of having siblings here are some of them:

Everyday, children with siblings learn to negotiate, or cooperate with another social being. Over time, siblings learn how to compete and what to expect from an opponent. The dynamics changes as they mature in age. This largely depends upon how the parents interact with the siblings as they learn from your behaviours and mimic your personality. Children loves to play pretend and some times naughtiness develops a ripple effect because of this as it only takes 1 to create mischief and the second will have a tendency to follow. However, this also speeds up the development of the younger siblings as they would have some one to constantly play and talk to them, be it scolding received from an elder sibling, the little ones have a tendency to be impatient and pushes themselves further to acheive a task that is way above their developmental milestones. I believe this was what happened to Nathan as he has the luxury of having his sister to coach him and talk to him. Natalie also learnt people management skills through negotiations and drawing territories on what's hers as she act as the teacher or the boss in the family.

I feel that Children who must deal with multiple siblings learn to be better leaders And parents with more than 1 child makes better coach and multitasker. Dealing with group requests and tricks makes us learn to think alternatively and Though we tend not to give in to negotiations, siblings who learn to work together have a higher tendency of success in dealing with rejections and in achieving what they want.


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Frozen- let it go

I overheard her singing this song to herself. Came as a surprise to me since I was not the one who taught her and she didn't even watch the movie. Apparently it was a hit amongst her friends and they were the ones who taught her how to sing the chorus! I am utterly impressed. ..I knew the popularity of this song ...but not enough to know that it had infiltrated my household too. Until this weekend where the children were home since its the term break.

She was not aware that it was from the movie frozen of course and now that I connected the dots for her, she has been asking to learn the lyrics of the entire song! Am Adding it here so I can make future references.

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight

Not a footprint to be seen

A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the queen

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside

Couldn't keep it in

Heaven knows I tried

Don't let them in, don't let them see

Be the good girl you always had to be

Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know

Well now they know

Let it go, let it go

Can't hold it back anymore

Let it go, let it go

Turn my back and slam the door

And here I stand

And here I'll stay

Let it go, let it go

The cold never bothered me anyway

It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small

And the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all

Up here in the cold thin air I finally can breathe

I know I left a life behind but I'm too relieved to grieve

FROZEN - Let It Go Sing-along | Official Disney HD: http://youtu.be/L0MK7qz13bU

Let it go, Let it go

Can't hold it back anymore

Let it go, Let it go,

Turn my back and slam the door

And here I stand

And here I'll stay

Let it go, let it go

The cold never bothered me anyway

Standing - frozen in the life I've chosen

You won't find me, the past is so behind me

Buried in the snow

Let it go, let it go

Can't hold it back anymore

Let it go, let it go,

Turn my back and slam the door

And here I stand

And here I'll stay

Let it go, let it go

The cold never bothered me anyway...

(let the music go on)

let it go, let it go

Let it go, let it go

Fever- little nathan

Little Nathan is down with our cough virus. Although with a fever of 39 degrees, he still insisted on completing his favourite transport puzzles at least 5 times before falling asleep. Poor little baby get well soon please mummy, daddy, jie jie, gong gong and popo are all cheering for you.

Princess' Birthday

Natalie planned her big day a month in advance. The requests became more specific as we come closer to the day and she would remind us of the dates and number of days left to her party.  She wanted party hats and blowers and little presents for her friends. Not forgetting a princess cakes and lots of balloons to decorate the classroom.

On the actual day, She donned on her cinderella dress together with its accessories. .. well she even brought a magic wand to school! The smart me had heard the kids sing Happy Birthday after the assembly on one of the occassion where i accompanied Nathan to school and decided to sneak in from behind the hall just so I can capture her moments!  And yes i managed to get the process videoed down on phone!  Only two children were celebrating that day and fortunate for her the other kid was a boy who came dressed in blue too.  So a prince and Princess stood before the entire school that day and she had the pleasure of thanking her school mates at the end! What an experience for a 5 year old!

The team at home was busy blowing up the balloons and getting them tied to the stick. we transported the balloons,  gifts and cake over to school. Huang 老师 guided her on cake distribution and little children lined up to collect the gifts from princess natalie who was beaming from left to right! It was a day with multiple memorable moments! We were all exhausted but happy to have participated in this special memory. And yes Nathan hours will be next!

What a good reminder!

Instructions from boss

Been told that Nathan is a natural coach. He will transmit my instruction to his 'subordinate' in similar likeness..except for the context.

Mummy: "Hi Nathan have you had lunch?"
Nathan : " mm"
Mummy: "so is that a yes or no?"
Nathan : " yes mama"

Nathan: "mimi come I want to talk to you."
Helper: "Yes,  boss." ( she calls him boss instead of me).
Nathan: " Mimi, you cannot say mm .. must say yes or no ok. Cannot say mm."

Mummy: "Hi Nathan, are you watching tv?"
Nathan:"ya"
Mummy:" is that a yes or no?"
Nathan:"yes.  mama"
Mummy: "you cant watch too much tv alright. There is a time for play and sleep..."

Nathan :" mimi. Mama say we cannot watch too much tv. Only a short while ok. "
Mimi:"yes boss.."
Nathan:" mmm..good."