Monday 5 September 2016

And we survived the long weekend!

It was a long weekend for us due to child care centre closure on Friday, Saturday and Monday - the school brought the teachers to Bangkok! We started thinking about what to do since a couple of months back. Toyed with the idea of a staycation - after all, we had staycations just before ZK and ZY respectively. But I'm in pain this time and couldn't repeat what we did at Sentosa in December.... What we did in the end was fun too!

We started Friday morning with some baking. Got the kids to help a little.. First, ZK cracked the eggs into a million pieces so I took some time to fish out the shell bits... Then they took turns beating the eggs into a foamy liquid. This was the first time I made muffins with such beaten eggs - usually they are only lightly beaten. I had some yogurt that they didn't like so I threw that in and reduced the amount of oil and milk.

ZY watching the muffins


Posing while waiting for the muffins


This ZK loved the double chocolate muffins - chocolate dough with chocolate chips. While I was tending to ZY, he took a second one. Lucky I discovered it before he had bitten too much into it.. Need to ensure he could still have lunch later..

The main activity for the morning was the library! I must admit that I have been pretty slack with reading... Bedtime reading does not happen these days - ZK prefers YouTube and I don't send ZY to bed anymore... We haven't been to the library much as well. Since ZK seems to like Mum to read to him before his Sunday nap, I thought, why not try?

The boys at the entrance to the Jurong East library


This library has a much larger kids section compared to the one at Clementi where we went a few times before. Great if you're already a reader; not so great if you're like my boys.. They were so distracted by the various toys and even sturdy cushions you could jump on that they were just monkeying around!

ZY jumping on numbers


ZK playing with magnetic boards


Over lunch at JCube, I refused ZK his usual pre-lunch snack of raisins/baby bites coz he threw a styrofoam block at Mum. Somehow, ZY didn't ask for a snack as well... ZK wasn't very interested in lunch but ZY had a few chive dumplings before his noodles! So proud of him :)

After some loud singing, ZY fell quiet and dozed off in the car. Managed to keep him asleep when we got back. ZK also managed to nap. So I napped too :)

Finally got his hands on the second muffin


ZY eats like a gentleman - with a spoon instead of his hands


But still messy, especially after he spit out his milk on purpose!


Got some chicken rice for them for dinner, settled them, and went out with Sito for our usual Friday date night. We went to Popular at Bishan to get some pens and left with more than that - we also bought a set of bilingual books that come with an audio pen. The morning trip to the library certainly precipitated the decision...

We had a more experiential activity on Saturday - visiting the fire station!

ZK trying out the nozzle for the water hose


ZY had a go at it too


I find the visit more kid-friendly this time. They had various stations we could go to, including a bowling one, and they removed the visit to the office which was interesting to adults but probably not kids.

ZY had help from Papa trying to hit the bottles with the hose but failed...


He was invited to kick them down instead!


Looking like they almost got it! But no.... Sito concluded that it was him :p


While we were bowling away, there was an ambulance call. Shortly after that, there was a fire call and most of the personnel ran off and were out in under a minute - it was very exciting to watch!

Sito trying a tool that can pry open doors, with ZK lending some weight to the obstacle


Watering time! - ZK's second time :)


ZY also had fun!


Next was the fire pole - this time, they couldn't do a demo due to risk of injuries. And I thought I got a picture of ZK sliding down the pole but I didn't hit the recording button! So sad..

The boys climbed onto the carriage while Mama went trigger-happy


Finally got their chance on the various vehicles!


Hi, Mama! (Can see the top of ZY's head?)


Driving, driving in my ambulance...


Looking grouchy on a motorbike...


ZY happily posed for the camera while ZK ran off to find another truck!


We ended pretty early so we went to Ikea for a walk. Plonked the boys into trolleys and off we went looking at various home furnishings.

ZY wanted to wash his hands


ZY had fun with toys along the way. Glad he was ok to say bye bye to them too..


Wanted to eat at Ikea but penne wasn't ZK's thing so we went to the hotel next door for a ramen lunch. It was good but somehow, ZY didn't want it. Think I'd bring ZK back one day to eat at Ikea.. Or somewhere.. Need to expose him to more food varieties, and I think I'd have better luck if I bring him alone.

Walked back to Ikea after lunch to take a cab home. This ZY was very funny. On both cab rides, he left the cab, walked to the front passenger seat area and waved bye bye to the uncle. Both drivers were sporting enough to wave back at this random friendly kid :)

Back home, we did the usual Saturday post lunch stuff. But this time, we broke out the new book set and managed to interest ZY for more than a couple of minutes on the first two scenes. On Sunday morning, ZK asked for the book set so I set them on each side of me, and went through three scenes! So far so good... Hopefully, they will be able to sit down longer to read it on their own eventually, especially ZK.. His Chinese could do with some help *.*

And today, I was putting things away from the desk when I found some long forgotten school work, oops... ZK's Chinese worksheets were all done and I had wanted to go through with him but forgot.. I was very happy that he could tell me the names of the strokes - 点,横,竖!He had two other stacks which were not done - luckily not homework!! One was just colouring; the other was a mix of numbers and words.

But first, let's sharpen a pencil


ZY also sharpened a pencil while ZK worked on his worksheets 


ZK was ok with the numbers. I taught him how to use a ruler to draw a straight line between two dots. He also managed to trace some letters but had difficulty writing it freehand. Though I suspect he just didn't want to. By the time we got to the last page to read the words he had traced, he started crying :(

We had to head out soon so I let him calm down while I got changed. On the car, I chose to sit with him to debrief the episode. He said it was too difficult. So we agreed that he would just do whatever had to be done in school and we would just read at home until he was ready to write at home.

So, now to the main agenda of the day - we went to the SEA Aquarium! We were walking through the entrance when ZK said we were there "yesterday" - seems like he still remembers his trip there two years ago!

Posing with candies before the aquarium opened


My son sweeter la...


He was actually a little shy taking this...


Lollipops over our heads!


Mesmerised by a video of traditional Sumatran dance in the museum section


Big fish!


Sharks!


What are these?


Staring into the open ocean habitat


Beautiful jelly fish


But the boys were most excited to see divers


ZK finally ventured in to touch a starfish


ZY was very on from the beginning!


But ZK was scared to walk over glass...


ZK had no such fear, obviously...


We also saw other fish but the place was so dark so I didn't take too many pictures... When we got to the tank with clown fish, ZK said those weren't Nemo coz the eyes were different - um, ya, these weren't cartoon eyes! But he acknowledged the big blue Dory :p ZK was running around a lot. ZY tended to focus more on each tank. But when he ran around that one time, he bumped into a railing *.* Luckily it was a light bump.

I googled for Chinese food coz I thought ZK would want noodles but he decided on fries, hotdog and pizza!! We went to Hard Rock Cafe. No pizza but he had his hotdog and fries.

Hotdog time, with fries and lots of ketchup


I closed both eyes and let the boys feast on ketchup! ZY would only eat fries at first but we managed to hide the fish under the crispy dough stained with ketchup so he had some fish :p

The boys woke at 6.30 am. ZK got very tired after lunch but managed to get into the car himself. I was surprised ZY was more awake. But well, they both slept on the way home.

Seconds before he collapsed on N's arm


"I sleep too!" And he did within seconds...


ZK woke when we parked, as usual. But ZY managed to sleep for perhaps 30 min more. Then it was YouTube time for both while I napped next to ZY, who occasionally woke me with something interesting on the video, or snuggling cutely up to me.

The boys had some jelly for their afternoon snack and played random things like fishing and tickle tickle. I left ZK with Simba and ZY with Suria channel to get them some dinner... Managed to shower before the kids and sat down with ZY to watch colourful water balloons - so nice to be laughing with him!

And now at 8.42 pm, both are fast asleep. They must be so tired.. Hope they had fun :) It was tiring for me but it was a lot of fun to be with them too :)

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