Book Week

Little D's school celebrated bookweek this week. It is to encourage children to read more. I have no problem with that. All my kids love to read, and love being read to. In fact Little D must have us read to her everyday, and she has her favourite books. We read them to her so often, that if we say a wrong word, she will correct us. She knows her favourite books by heart!

Bookweek in school culminates with a character parade. Unfortunately, due to the FHMD outbreak in Singapore, that has been reduced to a small scale, the parade is only in class. It used to be a big one with everyone from Nursery 1s to the K2s taking part, where the character that they come dressed in are announced and they take a walk around the assembly hall. What fun! And I must say, the teachers are very creative. Their costumes are all "home-made" or adapted from what they have hanging in their (or family members') wardrobes or cupboards around their house. In previous years I have seen the tin man from the wizard of oz (made from aluminium foil), the wicked witch, cinderella, captain hook, cat in the hat (dr Seuss), amongst the teachers.

Little D went as Little Red Riding Hood! Her teacher was Papa Bear (from Goldilocks and the 3 bears). Little D was actually afraid of Papa Bear!! Unfortunately for little D, not many of her classmates came dressed up. Some boys came in superman and zorro costumes, one came with a polar bear hat, but the rest were in "home" clothes. One little girl came in school uniform. Poor dear! She felt left out from all the fun.

Little Red Riding Hood with Papa Bear

My son is driving me nuts!!

What's with boys?? My son is driving me nuts!! And it is over school work. He is in Grade 2, and he still behaves like a preschooler!

Yesterday, he was doing some comprehension homework. He gave one word answers to the questions. And when I asked him why, he said because that is all that is required!! Had to shout, threaten and scold, (almost had to use the cane) before he would change his answers to complete sentences.

Then we went on to math homework. After he had done it, I checked and told him some were wrong, and to attempt them again. I went to take a shower and I came back to take another look. He did the sums again, and got the answer wrong again. Mind you, it was not something difficult but something like what is 3 km 20m plus 2 km 5 m. His answer was 50km 25m. Twice he gave me that answer. And there were many other similar mistakes! Obviously he did not put in any effort in doing his work. because when did 3 plus 2 give you 50? I blew my top. I marched him to the study, and sat next to him. I said: "N! please look carefully before doing the sums. I am going to be very angry!" He did the sums, and got them all right this time round. This is not the first time. He will rush thru' his work in a slip shod manner, and will only do it properly when I am seated next to him!

Why? Why? Why is he like that? I know he knows his work. But he will not do it properly if I am not seated with him. I have two other kids that need my attention, and I do have other things to do, you know? Is it a gender thingy? or is it a birth order thingy? I never had that problem with my older child S, and I dont see having that problem with little D, who can sit by herself and fix her puzzles. I know I should not compare, but it is not that he doesn't know his work. That I can explain to him, but he knows his work, he just will not put in effort to do it properly to get it right if I am not next to him! Urgh!!!! Attention seeking it is, I think!

Car Accident

Was involved in a minor car accident yesterday. Hubby was in the car with me. 1st time that we are in a car together and I was driving. I was proceeding to the exit of a car park when I noticed that a jaguar was reversing without looking. I stopped some distance away and honked at the car. But the driver continued reversing, oblivious to the fact that I was there before her. Despite the space that I gave her, she continued reversing till she backed into me!! Hubby was furious! He jumped right out of the car and started scolding the woman. She looked like she was a Korean. She did not move from her seat. She just calmly took out her drivers licence. After taking a look at the car, noticed that there was no damage except for some scratches on the licence plate. So, let the woman off. She did not even bother to get out of the car to take a look. Obviously, she is not fit to be driving on our roads. She doesn't even care to look! She thinks the road belongs to her!! They should keep people like her off the road. Deny her of a driving licence. Not a word of sorry or anything. Now I can't say that I have never been involved in a road accident. She blemished my clean accident free record of 14 years!!

Pleasant surprise at the bank!

Have not visited a local bank for ages. The last visit according to my bank records was....(gasp!) 2004. I have just been making use of the quick check deposit facility, and the ATM, and have been avoiding the local banks due to the long, long , long queues. All my other transactions that required a teller were done thru' my other bank account where I am a priority customer, so all I need is to make an appointment, and I walk right in. Even with no appointment, I usually dont have to wait more than 2 minutes. I hate long queues! So when I went last saturday (no choice, had some urgent transaction to do for hubby), what a pleasant surprise it was when I walked right in at 10.50am, to find that there was no queue at all. There were at least 10 counters open. All were occupied, but my wait for a teller was less than 30 seconds! The transaction was completed in a fast an efficient manner. Kudos to the bank for improving on its customer service!! (Note: it was not POSB. My experience with them is that there are still long queues and a long waiting time.)

Why do I blog?

After reading eastcoastlife's blog on why she blogs, I have decided to give my reasons too....since she asked....well, here's why I blog:

1. To continue from where I left off previously when I used to write year end letters to all my friends, keeping them abreast with the happenings in my life. Now they can keep up to date on a more regular basis.

2. To practise writing, just in case I should need a job sometime in the future when my kids are all grown up and I am suffering from the empty nest syndrome.

3. To be able to vent out some frustrations on the matters affecting me in some other way then shouting at the kids. Must have some outlet to let off stress, right?

4. To have something which my kids and I can look back on many years from now, and be able to read and laugh about it!! Also, they cannot later in life accuse me of making up stories!!

Why are we such procrastinators?

Why are we such procrastinators? Why do we wait until the very last minute before we get down to doing something? Eg. why do we wait until 15 April (or 18 april for those that e-file)before we file our tax returns? Why can't we do it earlier? or rather, why don't we do it earlier? ... and then we complain about our inability to log onto the website, about how slow the response time is, or complain about the jams around the Tax office.

Because it is human nature. It is in born. It starts from a very young age. We dont go to the potty until we can't hold the "wee" in any longer. We dont start on our school projects until it is almost due date even though Mum has been shouting at us for the last 3 weeks to get started. We dont start studying for our exams until the week before and find that we do not have enough time, and have to burn the mid-night oil. We dont pump petrol, until the red light for the reserve tank is on.... or maybe it is all the gynae's or the nurses in the delivery wards fault. They tell us...dont go to the delivery ward until your contractions are 5 minutes apart, even though we would love to go earlier...for fear that we deliver on the way to the hospital, esp if it is our first child!! I know, because, when i had my first child, I went early, and got sent home by the nurse!!! I had to go back later when the contractions were much nearer. And paid a heavy ($$$) price for it! So with this "fear" built into us, and the price they make us pay for it, we know, wait until the last minute then do it! ;) Hahaha!

Don't you love it when....

Don't you love it when.....

..... your kids wake up with a smile on their face ....

..... your kids do their homework without you having to shout at them ...

..... you are able to go for that much needed appointment at the spa .....

..... your friend from overseas call up just to chat ....

..... the other car gives way to you when you signal your intention to change lane...

..... all the traffic lights are green when you are on the road ....

.... you are allowed to sleep in late without any disturbances, and you are not even sick!

.... your child comes home with a 100% on his test paper....

.... your husband surprises you with a little blue box and it is not a special occassion ....

Hmmmm ...... life's simple pleasures.....

Lazy Mornings...visiting websites...hmmm

Finally, Little D is quite happy to go to school. No more tantrums in the mornings. Yippee! No more stress for me in the mornings. After getting her to school, I actually have about 3 hours to myself most days, and what do I do? Log on to the net. I enjoy visiting my favourite websites which include the food websites as well as blogs. ieat's website is one I really enjoy. It is usually the first webpage I visit, to find out ablout what other yummy food that lucky guy has got to enjoy. His photos of the food makes me droooool, and I feel like rushing out immediately to try them. A website that I visit occassionally now is Umami's. I used to enjoy more, that is, before she moved to Paris. Why? Because her feature is now on things there in Paris which I am unlikely to be able to try for a long time to come. I dont know why, but Paris is not on my radar for vacation anytime soon. Another website which I enjoy is Mr Brown's. His podcasts are soooo soooo funny. As they say laughter is the best medicine, and I have a dose of it most mornings, many times laughing loudly to myself, with my helper wondering if I have gone bonkers!! :) Ican spend up to an hour or more just reading blogs!! Then it is on to checking emails.

Done with the net, i proceed to read the day's newspapers, keeping abreast with the latest happenings around the world and in Singapore. Before I know it, it's time for an early lunch and then off to pick little D....and my busy day really begins. But it is good to be able to have asome leisurely time to myself to kickstart my busy afternoons.