Kai turns 14

We have a 14yo in the house!

Nowadays, when Kai walks into the kitchen while I was preparing food or cleaning up, I always think it's Sito. Kai is just taller than Sito now and they have similar face shape, just that Kai is thinner. Sito just reminded me that there would eventually be three of them looking like him, hoho!

Anyway, we had two cele as usual. Just us five on Saturday and with the grands on Sunday.

B&J ice cream for a cake

Yang and Yu had a miso soup bowl each while Sito and I had a couple of mouthfuls. Then Kai took the remaining 60%. Yes, it was a lot of ice cream. But it was his birthday and he has an indulgent Papa; I was appalled haha! Actually, now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn't be since there was a time when I would finish a whole pint by myself while watching a movie...!

Dinner was at Swensen's, no prize for guessing! Adding to his happiness was the pasar malam behind Junction 8. The Saturday before, we also went there after Ajisen. He likes the chicken kebabs very much.

Happy birthday to GeGe!

Including the Swensen's sundae, he probably had a full pint of ice cream on Saturday... And that's not all, coz there was more on Sunday!

Happy birthday to Kai! :)

Kids had kiddy flavours like chocolate and strawberry while the adults had pink guava and MSW! At least Kai had other ice cream too so yes, another sugar high day *.*

Dinner was at Keisuke Tonkotsu King downstairs. Thanks to the abundant afternoon snacks (not just ice cream but also chips and Yan Yan!), all three could only have their share of ramen. Kai ordered his usual extra noodles but couldn't finish. Even the karaage was less popular. But the adults enjoyed their food ✌️

Funny bit at the restaurant - staff was telling Mum something about correcting her eyesight 10y later when removing cataracts. She said she did that already. I heard and had to chime in that I was the one who would need the surgery 10y later!!!

The grands gave him hongbaos, a game and a chess clock. Hongbaos are still with me but he has kept the rest. With 20min before bedtime, he set up Nintendo to try out the new game. Now wait for September to play...

All in, a pretty happy birthday :) But there was also some stress as the chess kids in his school came together online to decide who would form a team for NST. Thankfully, the number of rounds came down from five to only three, so he was done by tea time.

Last night, this big boy came in to roll around in our bed. We told him how he used to nap between us and kick Papa. He told us his earliest memory was waking up lying on Papa and rolling over to sleep on Mama, and either he or Papa was wearing blue. So cute :)

Also very cute of him to still want to nua on our bed almost every night... Disrupt my drama yes but I also disturb him by ruffling his hair, sayang-ing his cheeks or flicking his earlobes hahaha! And he'll as usual tell me to act normal. Cannot la, baby 玩我这样久，我也该玩玩 baby :p

The long suffering firstborn

Kai is so big now, not just coz he's the tallest in the family now, having overtaken Sito recently after overtaking me last year.

He doesn't need me to tell him to collect his laundry to fold; he doesn't need us to remind him to revise for WAs and exams; he could make his way on his own to a new place for chess tournaments. (But when no friend is going to a chess tournament, he will 不堪寂寞 ask Papa to accompany him.)

Of course, we still have to nag him for many other things but he's certainly becoming more independent.

Being the firstborn has its boons and banes. We think he had too much coddling so he didn't learn independence early, unlike his brothers who had to contend with this big brother for attention since they were born. So yes, a lot of attention for Kai but he learnt independence last. Actually, the firstborn is really the "experimental kid" - gotta suffer at first-time parents' hands hoho!

Well, it takes time but he's getting there.. And it really hit me that he's quite grown now when he said something deep last month on the 6th.

In a tussle with Kai, Yu kicked Kai's bedroom door and smashed the bit of fake wall behind the door such that the door stopper sank a bit in. It was a baby palm-sized hole that I couldn't be bothered to get a professional fix and so taped up to prevent pests from nesting within the wall!

When I was done, Kai said, "Thank you, Mama." 

He says this a lot these days, especially after his end-of-term NPCC camp as he fell chasing for the bus and suffered three scrapes - two on his right knee and one on his right elbow. I have been putting on cream and plasters for him every day and enjoying his very nice "thanks".

So this time, I turned to him, smiled and said, "嘴很甜 hor?" He smiled sweetly and said that he read in a book that it's hard not to criticise people so he wanted to neutralise it using praise. Wa.

So glad he's trying to be nice :) Coz sometimes he's really irritating ah... Makes me want to tear my hair out! But the next instant, he offers a hug. Then how? Succumb to my son's charms lor... Hoho! Useless Mama...

Oh, he doesn't offer hugs in public ok. Very prim and proper, this one. If I so much as hug him or swoon over smile at him in public, he'll tell me to "act normal". Now he has a new line.

That day after Swensen's Unlimited, we were stuck outside Cold Storage (again) while Papa took our sole brolly to get more from home. I asked Kai, “喜欢妈妈爱爱你吗？” Big smile. Me. He turned to me in disgust and said "act normal" as usual. I refused to give up and continued chasing after him while the other two were chatting next to us. 

Then I also asked the brothers. Yang gave me a shrug. Wth? I turned away to Yu who said, “妈妈很可爱！” Yeah! And I turned back to Kai with the same question again. This time, he threw back a “丢死人了！” Hilarious!! 哪里学的，这个 si gin nah! Hahaha!

He's the long suffering firstborn, and I'm also his long suffering Mama!

A stupid thing, and hopefully a lesson learnt

On Friday, 13 February, Kai's Chinese HOD called me to inform me about a case of leakage of WA questions/answers from the Wednesday batch to the Thursday batch.

Someone in the Thursday batch said Kai was involved. So she approached Kai on Friday morning to ask for a written statement on the matter. Kai wrote a note admitting that he gave the questions and answers to his friend S who was in the Thursday batch. She told me she was surprised at his honesty. But I said honesty had nothing to do with leaking the answers *.*

Anyway, she said many students were involved and the school would conduct its investigation before updating me on the consequences.

We asked Kai about it when he reached home. He told only S who didn't give him away. But Kai heard that another boy mentioned his name somehow. Ah well, he did it so let's just wait for sentencing...

Yesterday, the teacher in charge of exams matter called me to follow up on this. Kai would get (a) zero for that Chinese WA, and (b) a "fair" conduct grade possibly for the year rather than the semester. There were other cases outside of the Kai-S loop and those students would also get zero. Kai also learnt about this yesterday, and had to write a reflection letter.

When he came home, he told us he got 24/30 for his Chinese WA, top in class tied with this boy whom he thought was a good kid. But it would be reflected as zero. He also said some boys got off with a warning. We think teachers probably didn't have evidence that they were involved. Unlike my kid and his friend who had traceable evidence on the school laptop and Google account - he told us yesterday that he and S wrote the answers in a Google doc...!!!! Really 🤦‍♀️ 

Actually, we were not harsh on him when we first knew about it last month. Only told him to not do such things anymore. Why? This kind of thing has been happening since forever. I remember people sharing "tips" in secondary school. I found it unfair that my classmates who often didn't do as well as me, got tips to score better; whether they really did score better with the tips was not important. But in the first place, why do such tests take place on different days?? There would naturally be big mouths or pressure to share when a friend asked.

I asked Kel. He said something to the effect of not disrupting timetable by taking a week out for WA, leaving it to the integrity of students and taking the chance to correct kids if anyone should cheat. I feel like it's setting the kids up.. Or, some kids. Like mine. Who "helped" a friend. Who in the end still did badly though he passed; he failed Chinese last year.

Fine, I think Kai really needs to learn. No better time to learn than when he's still a kid.

But when we heard about the Google doc, Sito really scolded him - for being stupid on top of doing something wrong that did not benefit him or his intended beneficiary.

We accepted the consequence meted out by the school without contest since Kai really did something wrong. Rather he learn this lesson now than later. This is only Sec 2 and for internal exams, and the penalties are, in the grand scheme of things, inconsequential. 

But for a kid in school, these penalties are painful. And the zero was even more painful coz he scored so well. Also, with that conduct grade, he would not be able to get an Edusave award even if he continues to do well like last year. He likes his money :p

So yes, very painful. We really hope he would remember this pain and the lesson, and know what to do and what not to do in future.

Anyway, we made it clear that he should not give - or receive - answers. He has already proven to himself that he can do well all on his own merit. If this happens again, we would not be so kind. And of course, no stupid business, please!

We also shared this with the brothers with his knowledge. We can learn from each other's mistakes. This is called 前车之鉴。

Date with Kai

Kai and I went to watch a musical!

Journey to Singapura

Yes, it was in Chinese - Mandarin, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and Hakka, I think... With lots of 新谣 with new lyrics. There were screens showing subtitles in both Chinese and English but our friend here said he still couldn't understand *.*

I wonder if his brothers might have understood more... I had wanted to get the whole family to watch this musical but then I realised it was the Saturday before exams for Yang and Yu. Just nice, make it a date with my firstborn :)

It has been so long since we last went out together, just the two of us! So long that neither of us really remembered when, except that it must be before Yang entered P1 so that means before 2021, gosh... Also a nice start for Kai's year-end holidays - nowadays secondary school kids have looong break...

Before we left home, he told me to act normal.. But I'm very normal what... Haha! At one point, he was resigned to me holding on to his arm but only for a short while.. Ok ok, I don't embarrass my teen :p

At first we were supposed to head to Raffles City for dinner. But we waited quite a bit for the bus so while on the bus, I searched for a nearer spot and found Josh's Grill at 313. Yay to bus 14 that traverses town!

So happy compared to the photo above right? Haha!

Got him a drink even though he had his water bottle with him. He was surprised to hear the coke cost $3.50. Well, that's the price for beverages. But it's ok since it's rare that we're out together like this :) 

Kai was so sweet - he offered me a nice piece of his steak. I didn't think the steak was enough - 200g - so I saved some of my chicken chop for him. Indeed, not enough! I had more than enough as I had - still have at this moment - an ulcer... 

I think it's nice to have one-one time with the kids. They can be so different when they're the only child. And it's nice to see them on their own, not as one of three kids...

Kai was lost... again!

Yes, he got lost in P1 and again now in Sec 1... At least this time, he is 13 and armed with a smart phone, not barely seven!

Again, he was on the bus and missed his stop. Only this time, he wasn't asleep; he was playing Roblox. So he didn't miss by just one stop as we did before coz blur until we saw the school fly by us. He missed by seven bus stops!

Yang and Yu were home yesterday due to PSLE marking these three days. So I was surprised to see a second SimplyGo notification saying Kai took bus 67. I went into the app and found that he alighted at Rochor, and then took 67 back to school. Lucky he always leaves the house very early so he was still early by the time he got to school.

Texted him immediately...

Mama: My dear boy, were you lost??

Kai: We don't talk about that

??!!

I dug into screen time and found that he was playing Roblox. And he used Google Maps too :p I blocked Roblox immediately. He has been playing chess on the bus since the start of the year with no problem but Roblox is indeed addictive!

When he came home, I asked him about it and he was rather sheepish and cheeky about it. Yes, he was playing Roblox but it was all his brothers' fault as they introduced it to him *.* When I told him I'd blocked it, he said he had deleted it. Was it due to missing the school bus stop? Ya, kind of.. Ok...

But it was a good learning experience, he said. So at dinner time, I asked him to share his experience with his brothers and we discussed what to do if they found themselves lost.

Kai said it was easy - just go across the road and take the same bus back. I agreed. And told them to also look at the information board for other possible buses too.

But what if there is no bus back?? It's time to call Papa and Mama! But Yu had a suggestion - take the bus to a MRT station and go home from there. Woohoo, that works too!

Yang and Yu also said they missed the school bus stop before coz they were either daydreaming or chatting but it was only one or maybe two stops, and they walked back with other kids walking along the same walkway, probably those staying in Novena/Newton area.

On a related note, I really like SimplyGo! 

Chess trophy for Kai :)

Congrats to Kai for clinching his first trophy, woohoo!!

First runner up for U15 🏆 

This was his 12th tournament already, since he played his first in December. Sito keeps an Excel spreadsheet of all his tournaments and FIDE ratings etc. Yes, we're very OCD. We also love Excel, haha!

Anyway, this round, he met a few friends - from school, Queenstown CC chess club and Bishan chess class. Wait, did I mention he attended a term of chess class after doing well in the NSI? Well, he decided to stop the class this term as his friend S decided to quit he wanted to focus on this studies.

While Sito and Kai were at SMU for the chess tournament, I was at Clementi with Yang and Yu. When they set off for Clementi, we left the library for Swensen's.

Earthquake to celebrate Kai's win!

Courtesy of Swensen's actually, coz we go there so many times and have accumulated a large number of kiddy meals...! Probably no more after this now that the kids have moved beyond kiddy meals... But sometimes Sito and I get kiddy meals instead haha! We also have a free ice cream cake for spending beyond $1k in a year or something. Yes, we eat a lot of Swensen's.

Oops, digressed...

So yesterday, Kai was very pleased. While he was showering, I gave the trophy a wipedown after its exit from the bag, ready for display at home. After his shower, he saw it on the dining table (as I was still wiping down our shopping from Clementi - yes, OCD) and took it back to his room happily. Over lunch, we all* agreed to display it in the living room once I've cleared out some space... 

* His brothers are also very excited over his trophy :)

Kai: But don't block the TV ok?

Of course, my boy :)

First teenager in the house!

And that's Kai :)

So fast, so big.

He caught up with me in height about March/April - can't be too sure coz he was either slouching or over extending his back 🤦‍♀️ But certainly some time between April and June, he became taller than me. We shall see whether he catches up with Papa this year or next...

Despite growing 20cm in two years, he put on only 6kg. So he's super slim now. I'm very envious of his 小蛮腰 haha!

Birthday celebrations were supposed to start with Macs breakfast but it was raining so I went to pack you tiao (four!) since I had to buy vegetables for our porridge lunch anyway.

Sito bought 12 doughnuts after lunch and I stacked six onto a plate - that's Kai's birthday "cake" since he doesn't like the usual cake. The kids had two doughnuts each - sugar high! Sito and I had one each and the kids took the remaining four the next morning for breakfast. Gone in under 24H :p

Cake but no cake - or no cake but cake?

This year, his birthday fell on a Saturday. It wasn't our usual fortnightly library Saturday but we went to the library anyway before heading to Swensen's, yes, our fave again, for dinner. His kid membership tied to Papa's expired upon his birthday so we signed him up for his own so he could get a firehouse birthday sundae. 

Ice cream is a must!

Thing is the membership uses Telegram, which is a 17+ app so we had to lift the age restriction on his phone to download and use it. When we put back the age restriction, the app disappeared. Looks like we'll do this once a year :p

The next day, we went to Asia Grand at Fairmont for lunch with the grands. Kids had noodles, Peking duck rolls and xlb; they don't eat dim sum much. The adults unfortunately overate dim sum *.* Had to pack quite a bit.

And back at the grands', we ate more! Kids had their usual snacks with TV and adults had coffee/tea. But there's also ice cream for everyone - again, a non-cake "cake".

Candle was supported by blu-tack!

And that wasn't it. Coz the following week was HBL week for Kai due to the sec 4s having "O" and "N" levels orals and listening comprehension. Extended birthday weekend woohoo!

But he had a lot of work, especially on Monday. He had more time to read Harry Potter on other days

Reading before the rest of us woke

Big boy thing? From not wanting to read all these years to reading Harry Potter every day for the past few weeks. He's now at the seventh book. He finished the series last week. Usually, he plays chess on the iPad and came in to nua with us a bit before bedtime. While he was reading the series, he read after his last match - he cannot start a new game after 9pm.

Or is it a Harry Potter thing? :p If so, how to get him hooked on new books?? We shall see...

On Wednesday, we went to Macs for lunch, in a way making up for the missed Macs breakfast on his birthday. He ate two meals minus one drink!

Teen trying to hide from my camera..

Big big boy at playground after Macs

Wanted to bring him out for brunch on Friday but Sito and I were very hungry after our dental appointments (made before the HBL was confirmed) so we ate at Tanglin Halt hawker centre and packed beehoon for him. He had CCA that afternoon and was away until evening. Just like that, HBL week was over! So was his extended birthday weekend!

It's amazing that our firstborn is now a teen. It's bewildering that this 1.7m tall 13yo boy is still coming to our bed almost every night to talk about chess, to nua, to do random things like pluck our leg hairs...!

Naughty boy trying to pluck my leg hairs!

Grow up, boy. But not too fast. Actually, grow up la. But slow down, pleeeease...

Parents are conflictec, sighs...

NE Show

I just realised I didn't mention anything about Kai's NE Show in 2023. Probably busy with his birthday and moving. In fact, I didn't write anything the month we moved!

He has now forgotten much of it but he said he kind of enjoyed it. I know for sure he enjoyed his supper at Macs downstairs after Papa fetched him back!

On his way to NE Show on 15 Jul 2023

Back then, the P5s wore their red level tees for camp and NE Show. But this year, Yang's batch has no level tee and wore the corporate tee instead.

Posing with one clapper - the other one didn't make it home

I was too sleepy last night and didn't take a picture of him coming home with a mobile fan on his neck and a sausage in his mouth/hand - so cute. And way too energetic for 11 pm!

Yes, he got home very late. The school expected 9.30 pm and Sito set off only at 9 pm but the kids didn't get on the bus at Padang until 9.45 pm! Heard from Yang they waited an hour to get on their bus *.*

On the other hand, I saw from Kai's class parents chat that they got back to school about 9.45 pm. But the chat wasn't so active then so it could have been later - Sito said Kai's bus was the last to reach.

Anyway, Yang enjoyed the NE Show :) He showed us his temporary tattoos on his hands last night (and I showed him mine from back in 2006 this morning!) and excitedly took out what remained in his fun pack this morning - he finished up all the snacks and even the NEWater. 

His dinner was super early, in school before they left for Padang, so he was hungry during the show and after. Sito had wanted to get him some nuggets but we went to the pasar malam at Bishan with his brothers earlier and so got him two Taiwan sausages instead. Um, all processed food so eat something less frequently eaten? :p

While in Bishan, Kai was wondering what Yang would have for dinner. He said he had McGriddles in 2023. Turned out Yang had a burger, some "waffle-shaped hashbrowns" and a cake he didn't like, but didn't know what it was from *.*

Anyway, Yang woke quite early this morning at 7.40 am. Still looking energetic. Hope he can sleep more tonight...

First extraction; last milk teeth

I had a stressful 45min today.

Kai was starting lunch when he decided to act on a shaking tooth on his left lower jaw. Then it got stuck - hanging out but couldn't be pulled out.

Brought him to the nearest dentist on the same stretch as Fairprice. After having to wait for a while for the grouchy receptionist and giving Kai's IC number, I was told that the earliest he could be seen was 2 pm or it would be tmr. Coz lunch time.

Hello, I reached at 12.40 pm and said his tooth was hanging out! Why couldn't they just tell me lunch time straight away and even ask for his details??!

Ok, our timing also sucks. I gave my details for 2 pm but the moment we stepped out, I asked Sito to help find another one coz my phone low battery.

Sito called three more in our neighbourhood and had two more unfriendly receptionists saying lunch time too. The third sounded very warm and understanding when she heard it was a kid ("Oh, milk teeth?"), and gave us a 1.30 pm appointment. It was barely 1 pm but we walked over immediately. We were registered immediately and beckoned in within five minutes. 

The dentist was a young lady, friendly and helpful. I was afraid Kai might be losing his adult tooth as my records showed I had the milk tooth in that position already, and there was another tooth right in front of it which might be knocking against it. 

But the dentist assured me that it was his baby first molar. She also looked at my picture of Kai's tooth box (which I hurriedly took before leaving the house) and told me that one of the teeth was wrongly placed. 

Phew!

Anyway, she suggested removing the first molar on the right side too as the adult tooth had already erupted in front of it. But we had to convince Kai -  he had never had an extraction before and was afraid it might be painful. In the end, the dangling one was more painful 🤷‍♀️ And the numbing gel tasted like candy :p

So that's it, Kai has no more milk tooth!

I took the opportunity to ask the dentist about braces. She herself does Invisalign for straightforward (ha!) cases; she assessed that Kai might be able to do Invisalign but would need a specialist to confirm.

We were done by 1.15 pm, a good 45min before the silly 2 pm appointment at the other dentist! This dentist is more expensive though. But I don't want Kai to suffer more. 

So now, it's time to research braces... We have time as he still has at least one empty space waiting for its adult tooth to emerge...

First inkling of NS

来了！来了！Kai's notice of exit permit requirements arrived yesterday via registered mail, just under two months before his 13th birthday.

It's rare that we get a postman at our door, and imagine our surprise when the mail was for Kai. Sito took a look behind and viola - NS.

So from his 13th birthday onwards, he would have to apply for an exit permit if he's going overseas for three months or more. But this kind of travel is not happening :p

In any case, it's now super easy to apply for an exit permit with just a few clicks. Sito said that it used to be required for every overseas trip, and he used to have to go to CMPB - or was it ICA? He couldn't remember - all the time for his term break travels. 

I was like, huh then what about those who hop over to JB on weekends? Apparently, there used to be a blue passport for travel to Malaysia with no need for exit permit! 

I tried to search for the history of exit permits but my google search skills not powerful enough.

Anyway, Kai is now my height. Actually I last measured his height on 20 April so he might be taller than me now?? Guess it depends on how straight he stands...

Big boy!

Congrats, Kai :)

Kai attended his first National Schools Individual (NSI) Chess Championships on 15-16 March and ranked 50 out of 283 in the U14 category, woohoo! 

I told Sito this was a bad wefie, haha!

Even though his school does not have chess as a CCA, a group of boys have come together to play chess in school. There's even a WhatsApp group - I didn't look at this but I saw some messages from Kai's class chat and, shall I just say I don't understand boy humour??

Anyway, so a number from this group of boys donned their school uniform and represented their school at NSI, chaperoned by parents. And for such an informal group with no coach, they all did pretty well!

Just playing with friends before the tournament started

Source: Parents' group

The parents of the Sec 1 chess boys also have a WhatsApp group going :p And parents who were there posted photos of the tournament. Sito is the chess parent of our family but he declined to be invited (by me) into the WhatsApp group - anti-social, haha! 

Anyway, my poor laogong aka dedicated chess papa sat at Macs the whole two days! Sian of Macs after that... But by doing so, Kai had a spot to rest in between matches and didn't need to sit on the ground like some others. A friend also joined him at Macs, and he told Kai that Sito was a good papa :)))

So tired at the end of day one

It was a long journey to Tampines so they both wore a mask for the train rides. But later, we found that Kai had a fever. No wonder he was so tired. He asked for dinner to be packed and eaten at home, and went to bed shortly after that. Found him hot while sleeping. When he woke due to his 9 pm sleep alarm which we forgot to turn off, we gave him some paracetamol and thankfully, he was better the next day.

Overall, Kai lost one game, drew four and won four. This tournament was just one week after his last tournament where he did quite badly 😢  So Sito said he was perhaps overly cautious hence the many draws. It was a good experience for him, and Sito also managed to put faces to some names that the boy mentioned. We were happy to see him having fun with his like-minded friends :)

The curious incident of the water bottles

I realised I didn't write about this. Probably busy then and forgot. 

Kai lost - and found - three water bottles in P5. First was on Thursday, 19 Oct 2023. He took a sip during maths and put it back in the side pocket of his bag. Then when he wanted his bottle again during the same maths lesson, it was gone.

Second was the next day, when he brought Yu's spare bottle. He came back from recess to find it gone from his bag. He didn’t bring it out for recess. He looked for his bottle in the general office and even under almost every desk in his classroom but to no avail. I wrote to the form teachers that day but didn't hear back from them.

Someone must have taken this bottles. So we told him to keep his next bottle in the main compartment of his bag. No problem for a few days until Friday, 27 October, when it was stolen again - when he returned from recess, his zipped bag was open and the bottle gone. His classmate E told him that he knew where the bottles were hidden but later said he knew nothing.

This time, I cc-ed the principal when I emailed his form teachers. This was clearly theft born out of mischief or bullying. It was water bottles today and it could be other things like his notes tomorrow. One of the teachers replied early the next day that they would investigate.

On 31 October, Kai said that a form teacher addressed the theft that morning. He also said L told him where his bottles were and he retrieved them. Apparently, the culprit told L about it.

On 1 November, a form teacher emailed to say that the teachers had addressed the issue at the class level, and had also identified and spoken to one of the students involved. Besides getting the students involved to apologise to Kai, the school would also mete out consequences.

We heard similar from Kai when he came home from CCA that day. So, S took the first two bottles coz Kai had annoyed him! S owned up to the teachers after the form teacher addressed the class.

We had already discussed with Kai about possible reasons for the theft, and agreed that if he had annoyed his classmate to such as extent, he should apologise to him as well. 

So that day, those two boys apologised to each other.

There was no closure at all on the third bottle. No reason for S to admit to two and not three so it was probably another kid. Probably a copycat coz it was hidden together with the first two bottles. We were just happy to get the bottles back.

Even better, this incident had a good learning point for Kai (hopefully be less annoying?!) and a good outcome for both boys - they became good friends, haha! They eventually went to different Sec 1 classes in the same school, and still met online and virtually to play chess.

Really a case of 不打不相识！

Kai went camping

This was his second camp, first being the P5 camp. This time, it was for four days and three nights. Again, we got everything from Decathlon :)

Have fun, Kai!

Ya, he refused to turn around for a picture... Anyway, that was last Monday. I wouldn't have known what they were doing if not for the very active WhatsApp group chat among the parents. Many were worried about the escaped crocodiles from Batam but the kayaking went on anyway!

His absence was keenly felt. It was very quiet. Haha! Yang and Yu were happy to be on their own and were quite quiet in the day. We felt it more at night. Usually he would nua on our bed at 9.30 pm after finishing his chess games. On Monday night, nothing...

By Wednesday night, I was ready to have my Kai home!

On Thursday, Sito and I went to school for Kai's badge ceremony. So, the teacher told us, the kids would get a badge at the end of every milestone programme. For Sec 1, it was this Camp Discovery.

The boys reached school after we were seated. Thankfully, they didn't smell. Haha! But his bag smelled really bad coz he just dumped all wet stuff inside from day 1, yucks!

The kids were just loitering outside the classroom, staring in at the parents and just chatting, until a couple came in. Then I waved to Kai to get him in. The first thing he said was "act normal" - eh, ok...??? :p

One of the peer leaders addressed everyone before the start of the badge ceremony. Then the teachers got them out by registration number. It was very informal and everyone looked happy.

Kai didn't look happy but I think he was happy to leave the camp!

Their class happened to be the best class overall in the camp, for cheers and class flag etc, so there was a big pack of chips. Kai got two bags of chips which he devoured on the spot. Too hungry. We grabbed more food at 7-11 before going home.

Made him carry his own stuff :p

When he got home, he cried "home sweet home!" :p

That night, Sito and I sat on his bed while he put his head on Sito's leg and told us all about his camp. Briefly, kayaking on day 1, Sungei Buloh on day 2 and high elements on day 3. He was upset that he only managed to kayak for 30 min instead of three hours, coz the instructor claimed they were noisy. The wetlands were boring to him, but he enjoyed rock climbing, less so for abseiling.

It was very nice to hear him :)

The next day was wellness day, for them to rest at home after the camp. Sito brought Kai to Fong Sheng Hao for breakfast.

The pork and egg sandwich was yummy!

But he still preferred kaya butter toast. Ok we'll go for kaya butter toast after my ulcer is done!

Kai goes to secondary school

Kai started his secondary school journey on Thursday, 2 January. Where did the time go??

No longer the tiny boy at P1, he now stands at 166cm - just 2cm shorter than me! - and weighs 47.8kg. Kind of slim built. But his hands and feet are very big, bigger than mine!

Must give such a face when taking photos - why oh why?

The school posting results came out on Wednesday, 18 December. Sito checked my SMS when he woke before me. Gan cheong Papa :) When I woke, first thing I did was to order books from Popular, together with his brothers'. Popular called me on Friday to confirm availability and we went to collect on Saturday.

This was the first time we bought books from Popular. Try something new, and also, school bookshop no longer delivered primary level books by then! Learning points:

1. Some books in the booklists are classified as assessment books rather than textbooks. The call told me a few books were not available but when I double checked with the staff on the ground, she found two under assessment books.
2. Popular prices are very similar to booklist prices, mostly cheaper, some more expensive, but at the scale of a few cents. But at Popular, textbooks have 5% discount, and assessment books 10% to 25% so it's cheaper to buy at Popular.
3. Bring a cabin suitcase to carry the books. But try not to buy shoes on the same day, haha! We happened to need three more pairs of shoes so it was a lot to carry!

Went to the school bookshop to get the remaining books and stuff on the Friday after Christmas. The teenager attending to me was as blur as me so somehow I had two A5 exercise books for free... Sito called it the cost of doing business.

As for uniforms, we went to the Henderson outlet on the Monday before Christmas. I thought it would be less crazy compared to the outlet in Orchard. But it was still quite a hassle trying on clothes and deciding the size to buy, especially when I had an uncooperative tween, grrr! 

At this point, it looks like he will outgrow his corporate tee in no time, coz it was not on the sample rack and he refused to try when the staff brought the real deal to us. In fact, it might be snug after washing... I shall find out tmr!

And as part of his secondary school gear, he got a brand new iPhone 13. Bought it a few months back but finally gave him on 26 December after activating his SIM card. He's been playing chess on his phone but otherwise, he's still figuring other things out.

Anyway, Kai came home on the first day, telling us about his new lock before he even took off his shoes. Sito said he had the same type of lock for his locker in secondary school too. But he hasn't been issued a locker yet. And he didn't listen much to all the speeches, typical...

Friday was Chapel Day for him, and also first day of school for Yang and Yu. So I had four shirts to iron yesterday. This term, each kid will wear the shirt on weekly Chapel Day and corporate tee on other days. Yang will also start to wear a tie! Hope to get a picture tmr...

We didn't get down to watching Sonic 3 during the term break so we decided to watch it after school on Friday, as a form of celebrating first week of school? They came home, dropped their bags and changed into long sleeves (and Yu took a dump) before we set off for Orchard.

Lunch at Sushiro

Yes, Kai took a wefie on his phone and I asked him to send it to me :) Told him no phone usage at the dining table other than taking photos...

The movie they were going to watch

Yes, they. Coz we only bought tickets for them! Sito helped them find seats and settle them down with their popcorn and drinks (more ex than the tickets btw), and then we went for tea :p

Btw, their online ordering wasn't very good. It took longer than queueing - Sito was spotting a couple at the end of the queue when I ordered - and the SMS to inform me that my order was ready arrived at... 9.18 pm!!! 

Anyway, towards the end of the movie, Sito and I sat at the seating area outside Macs at Lido to wait for them. As expected, they were among the last to come out coz must watch credits to see if there were any post credits scenes.

So, achievement unlocked! Will always leave them alone if Sito and I are not keen on the show... At some point, they can find their way to the cinema without us too!

Tmr will be week 1 of the term, the past week being week 0. Kai will still be having orientation. Hope he will have a good time in secondary school :)

Kai plays chess

Kai started playing chess - both international and Chinese - some time in preschool. I remember when I was doing part-time, he kept badgering me to play with him but I was such a lousy player...

In P2, he joined the chess club in school. During the pandemic, I saw him attend chess club over zoom - he didn't seem interested at all! Anyway, he didn't make it to the school team, whether it was due to skill or selection process, we never knew.

He wanted to continue chess in secondary school. But his doesn't have this as CCA. So Sito and I decided to continue supporting Kai in his hobby outside of school.

On Tuesday, 26 Nov, Sito brought Kai to Bishan CC to play chess after dinner. He played a few games but didn't meet very good players.

That Sunday, 1 Dec, we were all at AhMa's place. The kids usually waste the afternoon away with snacks and TV so might as well play chess! Sito and AhYe brought Kai to Queenstown CC to play chess. Kai met better players and went back again two weeks later after we came back from Japan.

Then Sito found that there was to be a blitz tournament on 17 Dec at Bishan. Kai beat three of four non-rated opponents; he should have beaten the fourth too but blunder. Having done well, he was then paired with rated players - he beat two, lost two and drew with one. 

He emerged third for U12 and 14th overall, out of 58. He was also the top non-rated player. Sito overheard some kids talking among themselves - who the hell is this (full name)?

So proud of him :) And to cap it all, our boy looked so cool when playing!!

This was setting up - more cute than cool :)

Sito just signed him up for another tournament - rapid this time. All the best to him!

Looking beyond grades

Today, Kai got his PSLE results. Sito and I went to the concert hall for some videos of the past six years and results analysis while he went to a designated classroom to get his results to share with us.

English: AL 5

Chinese: AL 3

Maths: AL 3

Science: AL 4

Total: 15

I'll be lying if I say we're not disappointed. He has fallen short for maths and science. We're pleasantly surprised at his Chinese though - a 3 and better than English?! He had regular tuition for Chinese, and clash courses for English and Science.

Kai said he has put in his best effort. While he was expecting 12-14, he is happy with 15 coz "it's just 3 points lower". And it's better than prelims.

But he did not beat Sito or me - we would love nothing better than to be beaten by our own kids! 

Sito also did some research and figured 15 put him at about the top 30th percentile, which means he would barely make it to the big three local universities if he continued on this trajectory. 

So we have to look beyond grades - to secondary school tuition!!!

I'm being practical here. He needs help so we should give him help. I'm being honest too - we recognise his English really needs help. Like, really.

I recall one bewildering moment in my youth when I, with my bulging waist straining my top and pants, heard this girl say to my face that she was fat, with her slim silhouette and not a hair out of place.

Similarly, some parents think their kids' results are dismal. AL 2 instead of AL 1? Please...

Of course there are poorer grades but seriously, I wouldn't harp on it if my kids are already at AL2 level. 

Anyway, I always believe in looking forward. No need to brood on the past. Learn from the past, but look forward. 

We have always known that his English has much room for improvement. He doesn't read much since young. In the past year, we made him read proper novels suitable for his age. He reads at the rate of one book every three to six weeks. As comparison, I finished the seven books in the Clifton Chronicles by Jeffrey Archer in 13 days in April; maybe double that time if I were a student.

Language takes time to master. Tuition has the power to give short-term gains, but for long-term gains, he really needs to read more. 

We made it clear to him that his best now put him at an average level. As we believe that he has the potential to do better, we will help him to prepare for the next milestone - yes, by sending him for tuition :p

This afternoon, we submitted secondary school choices already. Only filled in four of the six options as there are no other nearby schools for his grades. 

He won't have chess as CCA as (1) few schools offer this apparently, and (2) he couldn't get in those schools. So we've got him to start looking at other CCAs, and we'll probably look at how to continue his interest in chess outside the school.

We have already celebrated his efforts with Captain Kim BBQ right after PSLE; we try to focus on the efforts rather than the results. He really did put in effort, a tad last minute and perhaps not enough, but he did his best already. When he was working hard, his brothers were also inspired to do work, however unwillingly.

He had a graduation party in school on the last Tuesday of the term - parents not invited. Don't think there's a separate graduation ceremony. We're also not celebrating graduation in particular but his primary school graduating / secondary school entry gift will be a new phone with a SIM card - to be gifted later in December.

For now, here's one for the memories

I"m glad he chose to wear his shirt instead of the yellow tee for this last time of wearing his primary school uniform. So handsome!

Our first tween

Haven't posted any daily stuff for a while, apart from the recent term break. Going through my photos, I realised I have fewer photos of Kai these days. But he probably has the most number of baby photos coz it was easier to have a free hand for photos when it was just one kid! 

BK breakfast as an only kid - coz the brothers wanted to sleep

Eat more!! This boy has lost some of his meatiness as he gained height, weighing only 46kg now against a 164cm frame. He's only 4cm shorter than me now.

Recently, he's starting to slouch again. He was slouching a lot in the months before we moved and then improved. I'm guessing he's slouching again coz he's gaining height again. 

Think he grew some 10cm in the past year; my oldest (easily!) available record showed he was 154cm in October 2023. He seemed to have grown more since the start of this year, with puberty clearly on its way - his voice is starting to change, and the boys like to run around naked and/or comment loudly about private parts *.*

Mama doesn't want to see naked boys anymore!

Luckily, Kai has largely obliged by the rules - to always wrap a towel around him when he comes out of the shower*, and get changed with his door closed. I said "largely" coz sometimes he would just open the shower door to say something!!!

* It is kind of impossible for them to wear clothes in the shower coz they would more likely get the clothes wet before they wear them *.*

But he still has milk teeth coz these three started teething rather late. Just this month, he dropped two teeth three days apart. 

I don't know since when but he stopped asking me to 陪陪 him at bedtime. Instead, he played chess. Then we stopped that and he does some work or reading for PSLE instead. Sometimes he came in to lie down on my side of the bed when I was with his brothers, to watch Papa play games. But I don't like to come back to a warm bed. So we stopped him from lying on my side. 

That doesn't stop him from coming in at about 9.15pm when his go-to-sleep alarm goes off - he just kneels next to Sito's side of the bed to watch Papa play games. And then he would still hang around sometimes. Sometimes he brings a paper. Sometimes, it's just him at the foot of our bed, like this:

So big and still wants to nua on our bed!

Ok, good chance for him to sayang him. Think that irritates the hell out of him haha! Coz I cannot call him baby ok...

So, to irritate me or to shut me up, he often asks me lewd questions *.* Oh yes, he brings home a lot of "sus" stuff. Wth. Sometimes, we have to correct his perceptions or random sus comments he heard from his similarly sus classmates *.*

Yup, plenty of rolling eyes here...

Recently, Sito arranged for Kai to come in at the end of his regular chats with his cousin KS to play chess with him. As KS is a good chess player, it's more fun for Kai to play with him than with us :p In fact, I can hardly tell one piece from another!

Playing chess with KS 表舅

Anyway, PSLE is coming. In fact, the orals are already done. He was rather upset when he came home after Chinese orals on 13 August but no comments for English the following day. No comments means ok... Listening compre is coming up this Friday, and the written papers start in two weeks.

He didn't do well for prelims, totalling AL18! His maths and science were unexpectedly poor - came home with lots of comments! Hope he has learnt from his mistakes and can do better for PSLE. Jia you! :)

Kai is 12?!

Kai is so big now. At this height, it's getting difficult for me to put my arms around his shoulders; soon it'll be him putting his arms over my shoulders..

Happy birthday, my dear Kai Kai!

Yes, we stuck a candle into a pint of cookies and cream ice cream coz the boy still wouldn't have cake! I found photos of him and his last cake in 2020. From 2021, it's always doughnuts or ice cream. But this is the first time we just put a tub of ice cream there :p

Must have his hour of phone games

His birthday fell on a Friday this year. We usually have Japanese curry on Fridays so we had curry mee sua! I diluted it a little and used enoki and more carrots instead of broccoli.

Doesn't look like much but it was yummy!

As usual, we went to Swensen's. But this time, we had lunch instead of dinner so that Yang could be with us and also go to his classmate's birthday party.

The kids had their usual fish and chips x2 and spaghetti. Sito and I had nasi lemak since we were at Clementi; Bishan doesn't have this menu. We were so full we couldn't have dinner - Sito ate Yu's leftover pizza while I had a slice of castella cake. 

大鼻孔 smile!

Yang and Yu had ice cream at Macs later. Nowadays, the system does not allow us to redeem the usual kiddy sundae along with birthday treats... Bought some cakes and snacks before leaving in two groups - I brought Yang to his friend's place (and clocking 14k steps that day!) and the rest home. 

On Sunday morning, when he heard me move, Kai came into our room and onto our bed to wake Papa - he wanted him to go through a paper with him! Somehow he got Sito to play phone games instead *.*

Watching Papa play games

He still likes to squeeze with us in bed, just like those weekends when he was a baby - we used to nap together. But look at him, he's almost my size!!!

Lunch with the grands on Sunday was at Ju Xing Home, a new Cantonese restaurant in Taka. Again, the kids were more interested in playing the grands' phone. But I was glad to see Kai see multiple servings of the fried noodles and hear from Yang later that he wanted to eat there again.

More ice cream!

Think Kai had two tubs of BR and one cone. I closed two eyes - it was to celebrate his birthday anyway.

But until now, he could not tell us what he wants for his birthday present! He got Nintendo games from the grands already but from us, ??? We shall wait and see...

Kai's obsession - the good and the bad

It's an obsession indeed. For weeks now, he has been playing a song on YouTube, and has learnt how to sing it. This would have been great! I mean, I love listening to songs and singing too!

BUT!

1) He plays and/or sings the song waaay too much. And often, he came to terrorise us all the time, suddenly bursting into song at our ears. That quickly went from cute to irritating. 

2) It's a blangrah song. Yes, blangrah. So no one in this family understands a word. If anyone is interested, the song is "Mundian To Bach Ke", apparently quite a big hit. 

When I finally listened to the song myself, I also found that my son is no singer. Or at least, no singer of Punjabi lyrics. That did not stop him from singing the song in school though. 

Then he started playing the song - maybe just the chorus; I'm not familiar with the song - in Garage Band on the iPad, which eventually led to him playing the song on the piano in the school canteen!

I really give it to him. This boy has not learnt music outside of music class in school. But he 敢敢 played on a public piano anyway.

Apparently, some students joined him, and some told him to just stop. One Indian boy also told him he sang the lyrics wrongly.

But nothing deters him. No, not this boy. He continues to play and sing his current favourite song.

He can be so full of confidence sometimes. Whether it's real or misplaced can be subject :p But ok, go ahead, my boy, and have fun!

Just don't sing too much to Papa and Mama. And, can we have English or Mandarin songs next time, please? :)

Kai's first pimples

My Kai is growing up so quickly.

Last night, I came into our room after settling Yang and Yu to find Kai doing a science paper on our bed. Then I saw some red dots on the hairline above his right temple. He said they were there for some time and he popped them!

Gosh, how come I never knew?!!

He said they were also on his scalp. So it looks like he has inherited pimples from Sito *.* I do get pimples - in fact, I have an unprecedented number of pimples on my face now (five) but I got my first pimple when I was 18.

Sito was applying aloe vera gel to his pimples on his scalp while I was teaching Kai how to wash his scalp properly ("yes, I know, you told me") so just nice, gave him a dollop of aloe vera.

So cute.. So poor thing but so cute :)

Two months to 12yo, he's already 160cm. According to a random online calculator, he is expected to hit 187cm based on his current age, height and weight (46kg) combined with Sito and my height. Well, we shall see!

PS: This boy scared me half to death this morning. Usually, he's up when I get up, probably due to my phone alarm. But today, he was asleep. I like him to sleep more so I continued my prep. Then his alarm went off. I expected him to jump up but nope, nothing. At the third ring, I went in to find him motionless in bed. I patted his shoulder and called his name. He didn't move! Wa liao, I shook him harder! Thank goodness, he finally jumped up. Yes, he's two months to 12yo, but I'm no less paranoid.