I'm 46! Or 47?

I was rather confused on Saturday morning. I was washing my face when I thought how odd it was that I was 47yo in a PSLE year. I mean, our whole family was born in even years. PSLE takes place in the year we turn 12. I should be of even age in PSLE years!

Then I realised I got the year wrong. It's 2026, not 2027!

Or maybe I was thinking about starting my 47th year right just a couple of days before that..

Or signs of dementia?

Anyway, I'm 46. And this is my 47th year.

On my birthday on Thursday, Sito brought me to Pancakes and Friends at Far East Plaza for souffle pancakes. It was a cosy little place with minimal staff so our intended brunch became an early lunch! But the food was good - we shared a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel, and a Hokkaido milk gelato pancakes with muesli. The pancakes were so wobbly! Calories were so worth it...

Half a bagel each for my Laogong and me

Sito already bought a cake on Wednesday while I was lunching with Jo at her place. He just told me this morning that he had wanted to buy me a laptop - the one I'm now typing on is refusing to charge! But he could not surprise me coz I need to choose the colour, plus it's better that I buy with my Shopee account as I'm a Shopee VIP :p

But I do have a present of sorts... We bought a new fridge in December and it arrived almost a month later on Wednesday. We spent the afternoon cleaning it inside out. On Thursday morning, I shifted things from our old fridge to the new fridge. On Friday, I cleaned and reorganised the old fridge. SOOOOOO happy, ok... That's it. It's my birthday present, 70% paid by Ah Gong's climate vouchers :p

Anyway, after the pancakes, we headed to Bibi and Baba to get uniforms for Yang and Yu. Yang's pants were bursting at the seams - he has grown so much in the past year! His waist measures 75cm vs. Kai's 66cm 小蛮腰 ok, don't play play... Actually we bought him one larger pair in May last year but he refused to wear it as it had a button instead of a hook clasp at the top of the zip. But now he has no choice!

Their corporate tees are also rather fitting now. They look like bah zang especially the belly part. Again, Yang is going one size bigger than Kai at this age. Yu has always maintained the same shape - round - so it's kind of expected... His waist measures 65cm now. I shall see if he can wear Yang's clothes in a couple of years' time...

After a protein top-up from Old Chang Kee and a short rest with milk tea at MOS at Ion, we made our way to school. While Yu's start-of-year PTM on Tuesday was online, Yang's was F2F. Maybe coz he's P6. Kai's PTM end of the month would be F2F too - preparing for Sec 2 streaming...

Once we got to school, I went to queue at the bookshop. We already bought most of their textbooks from Popular in December but some were only available in schools. While I settled the books, Sito went to find the kids. Kai had texted us earlier to say he was getting food but the brothers couldn't be found! Eventually, Sito found them playing on the slope... He ushered Yang over to me but Yu had left for his HCL class.

After I was done with the books, Yang decided on a second lunch. He "gave me a treat" at the drinks stall :p The coffee from this drink stall was nicer than the other one but he didn't like his Milo as it tasted like tea. So he went to the other drink stall to get another Milo. 

We just sat around to wait for Papa and Yu. Watched some videos together :) Kai was seated near us but with his friends, playing chess. 

Playing with a Sec 1, who happened to be Yang's track and field friend

When Yu was done with his HCL, he came to find us and saw a kid go into the bookshop even though it was barricaded for textbooks during this period. I told him that the kid asked the auntie for permission to go in so he did the same. He came out of the bookshop with a pretty pink pencil for me :) We couldn't figure out how it works though. It took him two tries to eventually find out from the bookshop how to use the pencil - turned out it was an infinity pencil, so cool!

The PTM started late - and hence ended late - due to traffic jams as that day was also CCA open house for the secondary school kids. Sito said parents asked better questions in person. He asked about difficulty level of their P5 exams last year vs. PSLE standards and learnt that they were set at SEAB standards. Apparently, schools had to submit P3-6 papers to SEAB for sampling - too hard, too easy etc. He also noticed that Yang was bigger than many of his classmates - some went to the PTM with parents...

When Sito came back to the canteen, Yang and Yu were watching Kai playing chess. By then, they were tired and needed no ushering to leave. When we got home, Sito packed dinner for them and left for Bras Basah to get a book for Kai as it was out of stock at the bookshop. Bishan Popular didn't have it when we got their books...

Chess on the phone

I had some leftover chicken stock in the fridge and made myself some mee sua with eggs and frozen dumplings. Actually I tried to start a ritual of having mee sua for birthdays but the kids weren't too keen on it... Anyway, while waiting for Sito to come back and while waiting for the noodles to cool down, I managed to sew nametags on the new corporate tees. It's a chore...

Managed to cut the cake just before their bedtime!

Awww, I love how Kai put his head on me in this photo! This is the boy who refuses to let me hug or kiss him since P3... But sometimes, I think starting from Beijing, he would hug me to 哄妈妈 when I get upset and well, yes, I buy it... Sucker.

:p

Yesterday, we had a second celebration with the grands. The cake was so yummy but I couldn't stomach a second piece... And dinner was at Peach Blossoms - a la carte buffet. Second time there. Managed to have more variety this time with more adults. But there was a lot of food coz they didn't give us small portions as requested but portions for eight persons *.* But the kids don't eat most of the food!

Looks like a kiddy birthday though!

Took a slow walk back home, made even slower by the playground and exercise corner along the way. These monkeys can really make my heart race... I'm just glad the playground downstairs is a lot less scary than this one!

Love this shot of Yang! We were just talking about the trees on the building on the way there

All three on the 独木桥

So that's it for this year... But the cake doesn't end here.. I had wanted a Marks and Spencer chocolate cake for my birthday but it wasn't available so we will try to get it next week or so! Yay to cake!

Oh, Yay to getting old too! Don't mind mf looking old, heh! I found more white hair recently, probably due to tutoring Yang in Chinese in December... Also don't mind the colour but I mind that white hair is typically curlier?! Sighs.. Also yay to more rebonding then...!