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!

School gatherings

Two unexpected gatherings took place recently.

I knew from Facebook that my secondary school would be celebrating its 65th anniversary on Saturday, 17 May, and saw that some old friends would be going back to meet and collect souvenirs they ordered. Well, I didn't enjoy my secondary school life much so I just read and no action.

Then maybe a day or two before that, SX texted me over Messenger to ask if I wanted to go back. From there, I realised that I created a WhatsApp group with her and two other friends from Girl Guides back in 2014 but exited in 2022 or 2023. I didn't remember either!

Anyway, she added me back in and four of us arranged to catch up in school. When my fellow Guides call, I'll respond!

Before I go into the visit, let me share my adventure...

I thought I would walk from AMK MRT station but I couldn't find the sheltered walkway - think it was no more due to the construction... The sky was getting greyer so I decided to take the bus.

And then I lost my way *.*

There were signs I was on the wrong bus:

1. For a route the plies a school, there was no students in the queue.
2. Berth signage says AMK Ave 9 - I thought 265 goes to Ave 5? Maybe Ave 5 was enroute.
3. I saw from the screen some 5m from the bus berth while waiting - there were two lines for bus 265; I thought I blur saw wrongly since it was quite far away.
4. When the bus arrived, there were already passengers on the bus though I boarded at the bus interchange.
5. Final straw was when the bus turned right instead of left at the MRT junction. I haven’t been to school for almost 30y but I lived in that neighbourhood for a long time so I knew the general direction was wrong. 

Asked driver and indeed, I was on the wrong 265! He kindly told me to alight, cross the road to take the same bus, and not to alight at the bus interchange. 

Why oh why can’t they have two numbers or label them 265A and 265B??!

Never been so glad to see the school when I finally got there, 20min later than expected!!

SX and JX were at the bus stop when I got there; LS couldn't make it at the last minute. Three of us went in, and stayed there for two hours!

It was Speech Day in the morning followed by carnival and stuff for the anniversary do. So SX actually saw our old principal who left shortly after the Speech Day ended.

Also bumped into many other old friends from Girl Guides and other classes. Quite nice to see one another in school after 30y! Some surprises too, like an ex-colleague and a couple of Girl Guides juniors who recognised me; Auntie was, after all, Company Leader of the 19th Company. 

And of course the teachers! Physics teacher and Sec 2 English teacher - yes, the one who called us back for oral on Saturday so I didn't attend a Girl Guides excursion but she never showed up... But it was nice to see them la. Felt almost like a student again.

Went around to see the classrooms - I don't remember where I was anymore except that I was in a corner room once coz I puked at the corner one day :(

The canteen is smaller now as the sides are now storage areas?? Number of stalls not as many but we know it's hard to get stallholders anyway... Still remember our canteen food last time - very lucky to have many options.

LC sent me pictures of a board with my name on it a few years back when she was at the open house with her children. But I couldn't find it...

It was very hot and we were getting hungry. A group of us left school together but split for lunch. It was like the group who used to eat at Macs, and the group who used to go home for lunch. No prize for guessing which group I'm in!

My fave room in the whole school - our Guides' Den!

We spent many happy hours in the Guides' Den. Probably between school hours and CCA hours as our CCA fell on Friday afternoon. Thank goodness for my CCA, which lit up my secondary school life.

So three of us continued at AMK Hub, chatting about life and children and future for quite a long while. Really so nice to catch up with them again :)

Oh, we passed through a small tunnel behind the MRT station when we were walking from school to town. It used to connect the two sides of the station but one side - the side I remembered - was closed. I had completely forgot about that tunnel linking to the other side or I could have walked to school. But I might still be lost, to be honest, haha!

Yesterday was my primary school class gathering. I was not lost but I was still late. Left Bishan a bit later than expected as I had a tummy ache. Did not expect bus 55 to take such a long time! The journey took only 15min faster than if I had started from HV *.*

Harder to talk more with a big group but it was still nice to see everyone after such a long time. CY and I have of course been meeting up but for the rest, I had not seen some for 30y?! The last time I met them was at HV - it was probably during Yang's maternity leave, and I hopped downstairs for a quick one. 

The highlight got to be Des and KP singing out school song. I'm glad that even though all that remains of our school is just the name - it moved (a little), changed motto, school, uniform - class 6A of 1992 is remains strong!

QW gave me a ride back to HV as she was off to her second do that night. Lucky me, no risk of getting lost! :p

That's a third of our class, not bad!

Actually, I find that I'm no longer used to heading out at night... Sito and I used to go out for date nights but we have been doing day time since he stopped working. If we go out at night, it's usually together and to familiar places. Last night, I was on my own, and the bus passed by so much construction that I felt really lost... Thank goodness for GPS!

Parents lie to kids...

Yes, we do. We lie about all sorts of things. We keep telling kids not to lie but hey, we've done our fair share...

40y ago, Singaporean parents relied on the good old "mata" who would catch kids who misbehaved. "Later mata catch you!" And the blur kids of yesteryears behaved.

The other side of the coin - carrot instead of stick - is saying Santa Claus would bring presents for only the good kids - still happening today but only the very young would believe it. Same for the present from the newborn baby brother or sister for the older sibling(s). 

Kids just love presents. Or money.

Just recently week, I lied again. 

Yu lost an incisor on Tuesday morning. At night, while he was sleeping, I took his tooth from under his pillow and placed a dollar coin in its place. He was very pleased when he found the coin in the morning.

Of course, he knew it was me, not the tooth fairy. Or he knew I was the tooth fairy. So I guess no need to do this anymore... Works mostly for the first kid coz the older ones would rat it out!

Anyway, I started the whole tooth fairy thing in a bid to get them to brush their teeth properly coz no tooth fairy would enjoy finding a yellow tooth!

But the kids never like brushing much, often doing a quick one just to get it over and done with. Worse, Yu came home from a school dental screening on 5 February and told me sheepishly that he had two decaying teeth! Luckily those were milk teeth... He had a fluoride application done and then missed his recess or little bites as he wasn't supposed to eat for a while after that.

And this is the boy whose toothbrush always go wild from brushing. I thought he brushed enough. Apparently not. Sighs...

Hope he has learnt his lesson... 

Yang fared better. He usually brushes very quickly but now after eating Oreos, he would brush his teeth even if it's the middle of the afternoon. He has also started using floss sticks recently.

Kai's teeth have miraculously turned white. Apparently, children's enamel is naturally yellow due to a more transparent enamel revealing the yellow dentine inside. The enamel will calcify eventually. It looks like that has happened with Kai. 

But wait, I was on lies...

What else have I done? Oh ya, tell kids to lie with me 🤦‍♀️ 

"Don't tell your brothers!" when one kid got, say, a Macs happy meal while out on his own with me, or when I folded one kid's clothes for him on his busy day. Avoid all the "That's not fair!" Ya, parenting fails...

But hey, I guess kids have to learn that sometimes, you just have to do certain things to keep the world moving and the family peaceful???

May Day / Elections weekend

We had such a long weekend that it felt like March/September term break *.*

It started with the kids coming home from school on Wednesday, and Yang announcing that he had left his bag containing his wet bag and school shorts - he wore sports shorts home - in the school auditorium after track and field. So there was a bag of stinky clothes somewhere in school for the past five days...!

Thursday was May Day. We did absolutely nothing but study and TV. Recently, the boys were into Harry Potter. We had already watched five of the eight movies. Yang and Yu are even doing selective reading of the books, and casting spells at each other! I have (un)fortunately started to reread the series...

I think Yu dropped a tooth this day - or the next? - when watching a movie before bedtime... He's getting very good at pulling out his own teeth!

Friday was HBL day as the school was a polling centre for Saturday. This time, Yang and Yu had a lot of work for HBL - yay! It was as if they were in school as usual, except for the later wake-up time and a good breakfast. 

Kai, on the other hand, did not have much work but he needed to prepare for a number of WA the following week. He took the whole morning and part of the afternoon to finish a geography assignment 🤦‍♀️ And then when it was time to revise for WA, he found that he did not bring two of three books home! I'd better close both eyes for the sake of my mental health...

Saturday was exciting. We woke to a thunderstorm. The wind was so strong that our bedroom window was wet all the way to the top, despite the bit of roof protruding out a metre or so. Luckily, we had the aircon on and the rain didn't bother us.

But it meant that we couldn't bring the boys out for breakfast. We had wanted to bring them to check out the polling station after breakfast. They had been seeing ads on how to vote on TV. 

The rain abated significantly after breakfast at home. Sito and I went to vote before grabbing some vege for our usual porridge lunch. We were in and out within five minutes - super efficient, the polling centre was.

Sorry, spoke like that one day too early :p

The election officers at our polling centre looked super young. Sito said maybe we started working before they were even born. Goodness... 

The guy checking my IC stared at me intensely. It felt rather freaky. I look so different from my photo meh? Meh? MEH? 

In the evening, Yang and Yu went to the playground while Kai was chillaxing at home after his studies. We went down to grab the kids earlier so that we could swing by the polling centre to check it out. But of course the kids checked out the playground first :p

In the end, only Yang was more interested. Sito showed him from outside - cannot anyhow go in...

After dinner at our new fave coffeeshop where the kids all had ban mian and Kai topped up with two pratas, we walked to OHV to grab a cake. And we bumped into the grands on their way to dinner! Just nice for the kids to wish their AhYe happy birthday on the actual day!

Taken some weeks before

When we also tried the dessert from the same named stall in the same block

Sito and I ate half the small cake while watching drama and was too full to snack while watching the elections results. In fact, we fell asleep after the sample counts :p Anyway, the sample counts were accurate enough...

Sunday was 4 May. Or May the Fourth in American English. Or Star Wars English? :p

Yang and Yu were very thoughtful - each spent some time on Saturday and Sunday to make birthday cards for AhYe :) 

Happy birthday, AhYe!

Monday was a school holiday in lieu of the public holiday / polling day on Saturday. We worked Yang really hard as he had more to study. Kai and Yu also did their bits. Must work hard coz we went out in the afternoon!

Queued maybe 15min for this, yay!

Yu was saying he didn't know how to cook but he ended cooking all of his shabu by himself. I just made sure it was all cooked. And nagged them to eat coz they could not stop talking.

Then, we went to check out Yu's eyes. He came back from eye screening in school to say that he needed glasses. But the letter only told us to check the details online - waste of paper!

Anyway, he had 6/9 for both eyes, better than Yang and same as Kai for their P3 eye screening. So I didn't bother following up until last week after Malay class, when he said he couldn't see in school. He sits near the back during Malay class.

Indeed, he is shortsighted, sighs... Without glasses, he couldn't read an ad in the shop while Kai could rattle off the words. When Yu came out with the test lenses, he could also rattle off the words. 100 deg in both eyes, vs. Yang's 50 deg in one eye.

Yu wanted black or blue frame. We couldn't find one that suited him (and our budget :p) so black it was. And a squarish one, which looks better on his round face compared to a round frame.

Second and probably the last of them to wear glasses for myopia

He said he looks like a nerd now. Papa told him nerds earn a lot of money coz this small guy wants to live in a condo so good luck, haha!

We went to the Westgate playground while waiting for the lenses to be ready. Kai was bigger than some parents at the playground but that didn't stop him from being the child that he is :)

Ok, not stuck :p

We sent Kai to the train station first as he had to got for tuition. Then we went to pick up the glasses before going home. Sito and I were ready to crash but the boys were still full of energy as usual.

Vagrants Not really tired though Yang felt sick from drinking too much water

Oh, and I forgot to hang up the koi streamers for the second year running. No space to hang properly - in our first home, streamers outside our corner unit wouldn't disturb passersby; in our previous home, we had a big foyer space outside the main door - pictures here and here. Maybe that's it already...

Today, Tuesday, all kids managed to wake up on time. Surprisingly, Yang and Yu were not as sleepy as usual. Got them to finish quickly to catch the earlier bus to school so that Yang could go find his bag.

I really don't know if I wanted him to find his bag... If he found it, it would be super gross by now. If he didn't, I would have to quickly go buy him a set of swim gear for his swimming PE tmr. I shall update...

Thoughts on the train - and off the chopping board

Earlier in February, I met Mother at TTSH to accompany her for her pre-scope briefing and to collect her colonoscopy kit. On the train to Novena, I did not use my phone. Instead, I looked around.

As expected, most of my fellow lone passengers were looking at their phone.

I was reminded of something funny I saw on Facebook long ago. If you google images for "no phone in heaven", you'll see a cartoon with this caption: 

Most of the new arrivals seem incapable of conversation. They just stare at their hands in despair.

😂 

I wonder why we are stuck to our phone all the time. Maybe there is no other time to chat, play games or watch videos. I used to cram some things during my morning commute too, especially replying to work messages from the night before :p But what I like best is to zone out. 

The white noise from the train (or bus) is perfect for zoning out. Just 放空 and not think of anything. If there is outside scenery, let the eyes rest by looking far. Look but not see anything. Just don't forget to alight at the right stop!

But that morning, I was kaypoh-ing, observing my surroundings. 

In my carriage, a fellow auntie standing near me was looking at the route map. No phone in hand. I guess she was trying to find her way. 

The only other person without a phone in hand was a man in his 30s-40s seated a bit away. I noticed he had a dot on his forehead; he's Indian. I remember my ex boss telling me - more like replying this curious newbie who asked about his dot - that that meant he had gone to the temple that morning.

Then I wondered about temples. And reminded myself I should get myself a new bead bracelet as my old one broke. It broke a few times and I threaded it back until it spectacularly snapped in the shower one day and I gave up. 

I finally got the bracket last week - not one but two! My old beads were plastic and washable but these are supposedly 朱砂 or cinnabar and cannot take frequent washing. So I bought one for day wear and one for night wear - remove in between for showers ✌️ The night bracelet is made of 帝王砂 which is also a type of 朱砂 🤷‍♀️ 

Anyway, I'm not pious enough to go to a temple so I just wear the bracelets. Old habit from childhood.

Back to the train...

Checking the time, I saw that I might be early but not early enough to go walk walk. There was no way to know whether Mother would be early, on time or late coz she doesn't have a phone *.* She is still in the 不见不散 era!

Nowadays, only kids without phone need to know 不见不散 but unfortunately, we did not tell our kids about it until 20 February... Kai and Yang were supposed to meet and come home together but Kai was dismissed later than usual and Yang left without him. Kai texted us and Sito told him to go to the general office to confirm that Yang was not there. Yang was not. Kai was upset he had to waste time to look for Yang. Now Kai just comes home on his own instead of meeting his brothers on his early days.

Anyway, it's still good to know 不见不散 coz it's also about keeping a promise to meet. 

And these days, we get the younger boys to meet us downstairs or Star Vista for dinner after CCA. So far, the smart watch in Yang's bag has been charged. But should I forget to charge it one day or it ran out of battery before dinner, they really need to know 不见不散!

I remember having a lot of random thoughts that day on the train but now, I just couldn't remember much. I actually jotted down notes during the train ride but now I realised my notes were too brief - just a word or two per thought 😅 

This reminded me of something else:

When I was employed and at work, my brain and fingers were often simultaneously engaged with the screens and keyboard in front of me. Even when I was having my meal at work, I was reading or thinking about work even if I was not actively typing.

For the past three plus years and counting, my hands are often at work preparing meals and cleaning the house when the boys are in school*. But now the brain is quite free, and so thoughts tend to roam...

* Don't talk about when the boys are home - one or more will always be looking for me for one thing or another, be it milk (get it yourself!), complaints against a brother (just leave him alone!), or simply a sayang (awww...). 

Sometimes, I think of interesting, funny or just niao things. Sometimes, I have revelations. Sometimes, I get an idea of things to do.

And then I forget about them when I'm done with the chores!! *.*

I think I should drop my chores - if possible - and jot down my thoughts once I think of something so that I could write about them later. And since I'm SO forgetful that a word or two cannot retrieve my memories of my own thoughts, I need to be more detailed in my notes!

The pontianak ghost story

This week or so, we started smelling pontianak again. I mean, frangipani.

Fans of True Singapore Ghost Stories will know about the frangipani scent in the presence of a pontianak, the literal ghost of our childhood. 

When we first smelled frangipani after moving back to Holland Village, we remembered that oh ya, we used to smell that back in our first home too! No pontianak in Bukit Panjang :p

Anyway, the ghost story...

Last night, when we smelled frangipani again, Sito said we were too high up for pontianak. Very funny. Anyway, it was a warm night so we decided to turn on the aircon - first time in months that we slept with the aircon!

And while we were watching TV, I heard noises coming from the bathroom... Was it water dripping from the shower, which happens sometimes? Or maybe a pontianak to prove Sito wrong?? :p

As I walked over, about to open the door to check, the sound become more distinct. I started to sense it was... alive! Claws...?! Fangs...?!

The next thing I knew, something black started coming through the gap between the door and the threshold...

... I stepped back and called Sito...

... while it emerged fully...

... It was a... beetle!

Phew, thankfully not a cockroach! (Or a pontianak)

It flew about the light for a while before we turned it off and turned on the light outside instead. But the bug didn't fly out. We found it stationary on the floor. So Sito grabbed it with some tissue and threw it down the chute.

The smell of the pontianak remained strong in the kitchen... Nice but we retreated to the comfort of our room. 

Maybe it was scary back then, but now the pontianak really is *fondly* the ghost of our childhood. VS. kids today who will reminisce about a head in the toilet, I prefer memories of a vengeful female ghost with a crying baby...!

How much vegetables is enough?

As part of the new Grow Well SG initiative, parents of P1-P3 kids were asked to complete a "child lifestyle questionnaire" so that the kids could receive personalised lifestyle advice during school health screenings.

Last Friday, Yu had his health screening in school. His key takeaways were (1) Mama told the doctor he didn't eat enough vege, and (2) he should eat more vege.

On school days, his lunch is just carbs and proteins; why add vege to lengthen lunch time and eat into study/play time plus get too close to dinner time? His school-day dinner gives him one serving of vege and one serving of fruits. 

On weekends, I don't cut fruits but he gets one serving of vege in our Saturday porridge. When we eat out, he may get some vege but the bits in ban mian? It's definitely not one serving. 

Since HPB says that we should have two servings of vege and two servings of fruits a day, he's certainly falling way short. And I pretty much told him that when he came back to complain that I bao toh-ed him.

Well, I could have added vege in lunch and lengthened lunch time (plus bear with complaints) but our dinner starts at 5.30 pm. I need to put some time between lunch and dinner or the kids couldn't eat.

I can't change lunch time coz school ends at 1.30 pm and they have to bus home. It's usually 2.45pm before they start lunch and 3.00 pm by the time they're done. That gives only 2.5h before dinner. That's why my lunches are always small and heavy on proteins rather than carbs, e.g. beef and egg burger, chicken leg with toast.

I also can't change dinner time coz bedtime is 8 pm and they can take an hour for dinner 🤦‍♀️  More for Yang if the food isn't to his liking. Then it's time to poop and shower, and relax a bit with TED-Ed (latest fancy) before calling it a day.

By the way, HPB is also the one who says kids aged 6-13 years need 9-11 hours of sleep a day. Since they now wake at 6.20 am on school days, they should sleep by 9 pm. And since they don't drop off like sleeping beauty, we have to start bedtime routine early. AND since HPD also says （什么都是你讲的……）that the last meal should be consumed three hours before bed, by right must finish dinner by 6 pm - possible only on spaghetti day or curry day. 

Simple maths will tell anyone that it's impossible to sleep well and eat well at the same time. (And maintain good mental health for this Mama whose kids don't like vege.)

Actually around the time of completing the questionnaire for Yu in ~ March, I also looked around for info on vege servings. What I found about what constitutes one serving of vege was baffling:

1. A quarter of a 25cm plate of cooked leafy vegetables such as stir-fried kang kong
2. 150g of raw leafy vegetables like kai lan
3. 100g of raw non-leafy vegetables like broccoli
4. ¾ mug (250 ml) of cooked leafy vegetables like spinach
5. ¾ mug (250 ml) of cooked non-leafy vegetables like carrots

#1 ok, I understand, it's like a portion of vege at the cai fan stall - btw, link points to kids' current fave song. Never mind that I don't understand the difference between the two leafy vege, kang kong in #1 and spinach in #4, but ¾ mug of cooked spinach is quite a lot... As is ¾ mug of cooked carrots - sekali the kid turns orange overnight..!

But the one that got me scratching my head is #2. So for my family of five, we need 750g of raw leafy vege. 750g. You know how much of vege that is???

Fairprice sells vege in packs of 150g to 300g. Last time, I always bought three packets of 150g xiao bai cai for Wednesday dinners, i.e. 450g. It's probably less after discarding the ends etc. The kids took a long time to finish their food, and gave me tons of complaints and headaches. But yes, they dug into their bowls and finished it eventually.

Then, I changed their bowls to plates. It's not the standard 25cm plate; ours are 21cm. So the amount for a 25cm plate would fill all the way to the edge of my 21cm plate. But the 450g of raw vege for five of us could fill more than a quarter. I cannot imagine what 750g looks like!!! 150g per pax probably takes up half our plate and my sanity along with it.

Ok, I changed tack. Maybe the serving size for kids is different. As angmohs don't eat our kind of green leafy vege, I searched for Singapore resources only. Only saw that Singhealth suggested a third to half an adult portion for kids 3-6yo. My kids are all older now so maybe half to ¾ for Yang and Yu; Kai is adult size. Even then, half a packet of xiao bai cai is a lot of vege when you don't like vege.

In the end, I don't bother with all the numbers. I just cook an amount that we can all stomach well, which is about a quarter plate (our size) for the kids with the remainder split between the parents - and we usually get more vege than the kids. And I get better mental health (and better poop).

Even with our own serving size, we don't fulfil the two servings of vege a day, as mentioned in the first half of this post. But never mind. If the kids are growing, they are healthy, they can poop, then I'm giving them enough vege. 

Xiao bai cai for Yu ~ 50g raw

He's big and strong, and he poops.

To each family its own.

Moving moving! - Part I

Part I is on what happens in the old house, mostly packing. You can guess what Part II is about.

I lived in the same house for the first 19 years of my life. Then in university, I moved a lot:

• When staying in college in my first year, I had to move out during term breaks. For Xmas break, I went to a temp room. For Easter break, I bunked in with LS.
• Other years were great as I could stay in my room for term breaks. At least one summer though, I had to rent a temp room after my lease ended and before I came back to SG.
• But in my fourth year when I had to do a summer dissertation, I had to move for the summer as the college wanted to renovate the house.

Then during the upgrading in 2006-2007, I moved to Grams' place for a while to avoid the dust - and back again. 

These were small moves. As a student, I didn't have much beyond personal goods, and I brought only a suitcase to Grams'. The idea was to keep it simple. The major moves came with marriage... First was to move in with Sito in 2009 :)

But I didn't expect more moves to come - to Evanston in 2010, back to SG in 2012 but to a serviced apartment for a month before pulling our stuff out of storage back into our home just two weeks before Kai arrived!

After that, we had two big moves - HV to BP, and BP to HV. I'm so done! 

I actually started a one-line draft to this post back in Evanston (!) but I think I'm now more qualified to talk about moving...

Planning

Yes, must plan first! 

1. Decide what to dump, what to move, so that you can go to #2.

This means time for some Konmarie. If a blender is seldom - or god forbids, never! - used, Carousell away. I find it easier to list stuff as free - moves way more quickly. No loss to me since I don't use it.

For the frequently used stuff, two ways:

1. Buy new ones for the new place and dump old ones on moving day, e.g. TV (not as smart by then), well worn magic mop sweeper
2. Pack in the last couple of days / last day to bring along on moving day, e.g. kettle, facial moisturiser

Don't need to say which is more convenient but sometimes, no choice. 

For example, we bought new bed frames and mattresses when we moved to BP in 2018 so I set up everything nicely before moving day. Our old bed frame was falling apart and the kids were then on small mattresses. But for the move back to HV in 2023, we decided our sleep gear were still in very good shape so we dismantled the beds three days before moving, slept on mattresses on the floor, moved, reassembled after the move, and cleaned everything to sleep on moving day!

2. Estimate number of (a) moving boxes required and (b) big items requiring separate handling.

You need to tell the moving company so that they can provide enough enough boxes and give the correct quote, usually in terms of number of truckloads. Sito estimated our 2023 number based on 2018 number, plus more coz of accumulation. He also went around the house to look see and his estimate was pretty accurate!

For disposal of big items, movers will usually give a separate quote. HDB dwellers can also tap on town council to dispose of them for free, but nice to give some drink money to the workers who help you :)

3. Decide when to start packing.

Which depends on how much stuff you have and how much time you have. Remember that packing does not happen every day coz there's regular life to attend to as well. Also remember to factor in cleaning time for the new place. For our 2023 move, we started packing things that are less used three to four weeks before moving day coz had to...

4. Find space to store the boxes. 

Best enclosed to protect kids, else isolated enough that the kids wouldn't bother, especially if there's a need to stack high. We had to dismantle Kai's bed and used his room as a store room. He slept on a floor mattress in his brothers' room for a few weeks, oops :p

#3 and #4 can be combined if you decide to get white glove service - the packers will pack everything for you within a few hours max, just a couple of days before the move. You just eye power. I got a quote for this ~ $300-400 but decided to save the money. If you do this, you can go straight to Part II :p

Next, how to pack... 

First, get ready the boxes, tape, marker and pen and paper - need to label the boxes and write down in a list what's in each box to facilitate unpacking.

Remember to take a video for the memories before packing!

Less used stuff

This is easy. Memorabilia, decoration, books. Even if they don't fit into boxes, just remove them from their hiding places anyway. Like our memorabilia boxes at the top of our wardrobes - empty those shelves early and forget about them. 

Btw, don't pack boxes of books and books alone. They're very heavy! Our books took up max a third to half of the box, with lighter things on top. 

I would exclude winter gear here to avoid cardboard smell - see below on clothes and linen. But go ahead and throw in the shoes!

Oh, army stuff - Sito is already done with reservist but otherwise, pack them in one well-labelled box in case really suay kena called up!

Work, school and play stuff

Pare down to the minimum. The monitor can't fit into the box so can use to the end :p All documents, document trays, files and writing materials etc can be packed early. If the kids must lose that last eraser, here's $2 for the school bookshop! 

No need to do drawing or painting in those last few weeks. No need 1,001 toys too. Play with Toy X or just read library books. Remember to return said library books before moving :) Just don't accidentally pack library books into boxes...!

Big Lego structures may need some dismantling and packing into bags before putting into boxes.

Kitchen stuff

No time to make anything fancy while busy with final reno touchups, delivery of goods and packing. In fact, best to eat out or pack food in the last couple of days. So almost all appliances, cutlery and utensils can go into the boxes, save a small pot for comfort food aka instant noodles, kettle and cups. 

For opened goods, put them into big boxes or clean plastic bags before packing into the boxes. Not nice to have cardboard smell in food??! Not all the boxes provided by movers are brand new too...

Don't forget the fridge until it's too late. Must disconnect early to cool down the hot parts, and after the move, must let it stand for a couple of hours to ensure compressor/refrigerant etc has settled before turning it on. That means it's best not to stock up on ice cream, frozen meat etc. From when? Could be from weeks before you start packing so the planning is important!

But what about regular items like dark soy sauce, garlic salt and dried scallops? Get help from family/friends or an ice box that can last at least eight hours*. We pack our stuff in a cold bag and brought over to my in-laws' place that day before the big move.

* More is better. It's at least two hours each before and after, and another four hours for the actual move - weather and traffic may not be kind, worse if you have to dismantle the door and put it back again *.* Speaking from experience...

Cleaning materials

Sito had a good laugh when he was packing some six 3L unopened bottles of laundry sanitiser. Coz I bought a lot during a sale months ago.... Oops...

Anyway, make sure you have enough cleaning materials including laundry powder, toilet cleaner, general wipes and rags for the last days and for cleaning up after moving - need to hand over the house properly to the next occupants. 

Clothes and linen

I cannot put clothes and linen directly in moving boxes. If I do that, I'll have to wash them all over again. Yes, I'm OCD like that. Even if the boxes are new. This is where an old duvet cover or bedsheet is very useful! Heck, I would use my fave duvet cover if that's the only one available!

Just line the moving box with the duvet cover/bedsheet, and dump the stuff inside together with the hangers (if any). Keep them clean between the old and the new wardrobes :) Then just wash the duvet cover/bedsheet. Done!

Also make full use of suitcases - they need to be moved too so might as well put clothes in them, assuming they're clean, else there's always the duvet cover. In fact, I kept bringing clothes over when cleaning up the new house - might as well!

For clothes that should not be crumpled into boxes like suits, movers can provide a clothes rack - they'll hang the suits, wrap with clingfilm and move. It's unlikely they'll provide more than one or two though... If you have your own, they can wrap it up and move for you too - just remember to mention when asking for quotes.

Minimise dirty laundry to bring over by doing your last laundry as late as possible. Don't bother packing dirty laundry - just bring the whole laundry basket over.

Two things to remember:

1. Prepare clothes and towels for moving day and perhaps the next couple of days, and put them in a suitcase for easy access.
2. Pack clothes and linen last so they don't get much cardboard smell. Duvet cover is totally porous...

Big stuff

Things that don't fit into moving boxes, e.g. large paintings, furniture, white goods. See above for fridge.

Movers will secure doors to cabinets etc but good to empty them so things will just rock and roll inside during the move. 

Some stuff needs dismantling to fit into the lift or to ensure safety for both movers and goods, e.g. bed frames. Note that dismantling and assembling attract fees. As it turned out, we realised that it wasn't difficult to DIY.

Finally, the move.

This is easy after all that planning and packing. Do a few checks to ensure nothing (big!) gets left behind. Tell the main guy on the ground what to move, what to dump etc.

Usually the movers' truck cannot take people. So someone must be present to lock up in the old house and open up in the new house. I think the latter is more important coz you want to tell movers where to put the various things.

We had 1.5 truckloads so the movers had to return for a second trip. So we left for the new house while they were still packing coz they drove and we took MRT :p I gave them the door code and the access card for the old house, to be returned after the move.

After moving

Not done yet, ok... I went back to the old house a couple of days later to clean up a bit. Lots of dust from the moving, e.g. under the fridge. Also found that the movers did not throw away our old duvets. I felt lucky it was just that and not the old washing machine! After clearing rubbish and checking that the keys etc were nicely laid out for the new occupants, I said a last goodbye and left with the last of my cleaning materials.

And that's it!

How is Clan Sito lately?

I realised I haven't written about our daily life for a while. The start of the year is always so busy, especially when the breadmaker broke in January just as I started to have to make breakfast for Kai. Now, making bread takes more active time. More fun though :p

Anyway, let's see what we have been up to in the past couple of months, apart from Legoland trip etc...

"I like this!"

Fried eggs are always good. That was a lazy meal coz I just stirfried minced beef, add mixed vege and top with eggs. Made a few things for the first time this year - swiss roll (kind of flat instead of round :p), onigiri (rice came loose!), tomato with egg and noodles (single serving - easier to cook) and airfryer chicken burger. I've also turned their usual beef burger into double cheeseburger - easier to cook two thin patties than one thick patty :p

But the most interesting one was the bread. I bought a Pullman loaf pan when the breadmaker died. I tried various recipes using 250g, 300g, 400g and 450g flour. The 450g flour really filled the pan so I got a nice square loaf but it was difficult to remove from the pan. 400g was just nice. What was surprising was the 250g with egg - it almost filled the pan like the 400g, but how?? Coz of the egg? 300g without egg didn't fill up nearly as much.

Anyway, back to the boys...

Sito being 奶爸 - my fave persona, haha!

So nice to see my boys working together. Kai is not in this picture but he was also working hard in his room. He has homework almost every day now.

Earthquake!

We go to Swensen's at least once a month. Finally, we accumulated enough points for a free earthquake! Kids were very pleased :)

Individual hotpot at Paradise

Such good value. No wonder the queue was long! We went for lunch and took the premium set but realised the value set was good enough as the buffet counter had a lot of food too! Can't wait to bring the kids one day. And there was a sale so we topped up our Paradise credits - time to eat more!

A little pet came over at times, must feed :p

Does he look like Labubu??!

That was after watching Ne Zha. Papa said 哪吒 looked like labubu. Yu tried to look like labubu too. 谁比较像？

For Founder's Day school holiday, we went to the pool. It’s been almost a year since our last trip! Topped off the happy day with lunch at the adjacent Macs. Then Kai and Yang napped on the bus back. Yu dozed off while practising for his maths test. Parents were also sleepy...

Kai carried Yang who was tired

Coz Yang and I walked to the pool from some 20min away. We went to buy PE shorts for him but they ran out of his size. In the end, he decided on a pair of comfy berms from his home clothes for his CCA instead. 

Yu forgot how to swim?!!

Kai the shark beneath the surface and Yang the inflated balloon 

At one point, he let the water into his mouth 🤮 

Happy after dinner!

I've decided that I shall not make dinner on bedsheets days. Just too much work. So we told Yang and Yu to go straight to Paradise Classic downstairs after CCA. Packed for Kai who was already in PJs and doing homework.

Oooh, my fave handyman!

Somehow, the LED got busted. Soon after, the kids' toilet was partially clogged by Yang - there was a gurgling sound when flushing and the water level was lower than usual. Unlike a full clog, I couldn't just break up the poop with a chopsticks coz there was nothing I could see! A combination of dish detergent, bleach and hot water did the trick, phew!

Then Yu told me this: Our family is so good right? Papa can fix the light, and you can fix the toilet.

😂 

Funny boy is also the lumpy boy - new baluku his head!

The balukus on the side took a few years to subside 95%! Sighs... This time, he and Yang were at the playground and he fell while bouncing on a car structure. Yang brought me to the scene - turned out he fell within the car structure. I suspected he first landed on the metal bar hence the baluku, coz the bottom of the car was wood which gave when I knocked and shouldn't cause such a lump. The ground at the playground was also the cushioned type. 

Poor kid... Made the two write Rule #1 - safety - a hundred times!!!

This boy - and Yang - likes my belly so this is common...

Let's cook!

We met JY's family last Saturday. First, lunch at Kiseki. Yang is one year younger than K2 but taller so ended up paying for adult price while K2 got child price. Sito couldn't help laughing coz K2 looked heftier than Yang! Indeed, Yang had mostly tamago sushi 🤷‍♀️ But ok la, we all enjoyed ourselves. Sat there until we were the only ones left, ha!

Next was the National Museum. It was unexpectedly fun! Yesterday, Yang could still remember when the Japanese invaded China!

Listening to a Brit and a Dutch quarrel

An old-school phone!

These two "called" me. And even wanted to scam me with the fake friend scam! Yu was so funny, claimed he was "your friend, Auntie J". I told him, my friend wouldn't call herself that! So he went to ask JY for her name, and told me he was "JY" - yes, full name. Still wrong! Haha!!!

We were supposed to go to the National Library but it started to rain! So we took a bus instead - JY they all went to HV for dinner while we stopped at Somerset to catch a train to Bishan library instead and had dinner there. Sito brought them home while I went to meet KLK.

Sali was here!

It was so good to see everyone again, especially Sali. At one point, the girls all went to the toilet together, just like in JC haha! We left in batches. By the time we split, it was like 1 am. I haven't been out this late for a long time!

When I got home, the second living thing I saw after Sito was... a roach! Argh! We spent some time killing it and cleaning up. Now, I still shudder if there's a shadow near the bottom of any cabinet :(

The next day, I texted the group to scold AT - I saw a roach at the bar, which led to a small convo on roaches at home. I said I had very few roaches fortunately and he said something like “怎么可能没有蟑螂的？” Really is 承你“吉言”！

Reading an old book on fairy tales before bedtime - on our bed

On Hari Raya Puasa, we took the chance to do our annual 清明 but at home instead of at the columbarium. As it was Ah Yee's birthday just two days before, we used the gathering to celebrate her birthday too!

Swirling - what's the verb? - incense paper

Two cakes coz ML/MT and I 英雄所见略同！

Yes, that was after lunch and there was still a lot of food! There's also a third cake in the foreground but it was part of the offerings.

This year, a distant aunt was also present. She's the daughter of my grandfather's youngest brother, I think..

Was chatting with MY when we had to go as Yu had a playdate arranged just that morning. It was near his school. Probably my second time in a black and white bungalow and my first in a lived-in one. The five boys were playing in the pool when more than 20 monkeys came over! One even swiped at my drink! A boy kept throwing water balloons at the baby monkeys. Eventually, we had to get everyone into the house for safety.

Playing nerf guns

No such space at home for long distance shooting! The final activity was outdoors again - tennis and badminton. Monkeys were gone, phew! But I got bitten by mosquitoes! More than 18!!! Still a little itchy now...

Kai had tuition via Zoom that night

There is no class on public holidays, and no rescheduling. But his tutor is very dedicated and arranged a free session via Zoom! Only three kids attended so quite full attention. She also organises additional Zoom sessions to prepare her kids for Literature as well. We are so lucky to have her!

This week was learning week for Kai. Tuesday was training for his new PLD - personal learning device, i.e. his Chromebook. From next week, he is to bring it to class every day. Wednesday and Thursday were for coding, including a WA for D&T which he said he failed coz his thing didn't work. Ah well... Friday was science carnival in school. We also signed him up for Chinese day camp on Thursday and Friday after the mandatory activities. He didn't like it, as expected :p But better the immersion than not!

I'm typing this while kids were watching TV and now doing some work alone/with Papa. I should go make lunch soon.. Hungry!

Kai must be hungry too. He just asked to go to the coffeeshop at blk 6 for dinner today - we went there for the first time last Sunday and they all liked it for the ban mian and the prata :)

Finally, update on height and weight, measured on 29 March:

• Kai: 168cm / 49.5kg
• Yang: 150cm / 39.1kg
• Yu: 133cm / 29.8kg

Yes, Kai is now my height! More or less la, coz he keeps moving... Yang gained the most weight in the past three months ~ 4kg!

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 :)

A very wet Legoland

Our last trip to Legoland was 2023, before Kai's PSLE year. We were all so excited to go back again! Yu especially could be heard saying how excited he was about it in the days leading to the trip. But I was apprehensive due to the weather forecast about a monsoon surge on 19-21 March, the last three days of our four-day trip *.*

This time, we did a Tuesday-Friday instead of our preferred Wednesday to Saturday routine, as we were not sure if NSI for chess would take place that weekend. As it turned out, chess was on the weekend before our trip but we didn't change our dates, which was just as well given the weather!

Tuesday, 18 March

Everything is still awesome!

Our car dropped us at Tuas checkpoint for us to go through immigration personally, as is the rule for bigger cars these days. Didn't need to bring the big suitcase with us. It was very, very smooth. There was a slight wait at the JB checkpoint but it was ok. In Legoland itself in 1.5h.

This time, we chose an AirBnB at Afiniti which allowed us to drop baggage before check-in and after check-out time. But we were lucky - apartment was available for morning check-in! 

The boys were queueing for VR when I went to get our annual passes settled at guest services. Again something new - I pre-registered online and sent in photos so there was no need for all of us to be present to make a new card. The funny thing was that the staff took photos of the emailed photos *.* So all our cards show us looking ghostly blue...

But the VR ride went down and the boys didn't get to ride. They got a card that allowed them to jump queue for any ride though. The sad thing is, Yu never wanted to go for the VR again, sighs... But he did go for the volcano ride and the little dragon roller coaster later. After USJ, nothing can be that scary! 

Hello again, Legoland!

No, Kai isn't that tall yet! And Yu said he knew why I chose this top for them that day, yup!

My son has purple tongue!

That was after lunch at our fave restaurant in Legoland - Burger Junction. Don't know why he likes the paddle pop twister ice cream. I tried once and it was like... fondant?! 

Oh, I joined the boys to ride the volcano roller coaster - my first time. So wet! Thank goodness the boys had raincoats and I had a poncho. The boys' pants were a little wet but it was a hot day so everything dried quickly.

Yu was excited by Papa's quakeproof building - for 10 seconds

I meant his interest was 10-sec long :p

Bumped into JK and his family. Long time no see this primary school classmate! Yang also bumped into his classmate there but he didn't want to take a photo with him, just wanted to build racing cars.

Posing like the penguin

Robotics!

We were lucky to get the slots though we were not the first in the waiting list. Yang did this before but he still enjoyed it. He did the first task and Yu the second. We asked the staff if we could buy robotics materials but nope, only online. Very ex anyway... Shall let Yu continue in school first...

Big enough to drive the boat on his own!

We found more options at Medini Mall this time. Happy! But maybe due to that, the bakery at BIG was no longer as filled as the last time we were there, so not many options for breakfast... Also bought water. 

Dinner was at a new place - Eco Botanic, recommended by JY. But the roast place we eyed was being renovated and only takeaway was available! So we had the Korean BBQ next door. Got the kids drinks and poor Yang clipped his tongue on the Pororo drink bottle, ouch! Luckily he took it quite well.

A short walk brought us to a massage place. Cheaper than our usual but it didn't feel as relaxed. The boys sat at the waiting area to play phone games. When we were done, we joined them there and were served ginger tea, red bean soup and warm water.

For this first day, we had only leftover Korean pancake for supper. Not so familiar with Eco Botanic. And we were all tired.

This apartment was nearer to Legoland. There was a single bed in the MBR so we gave up that room to the kids - Yang and Yu shared the big bed and Kai took the single. The bed in the other room was bigger, so just nice for us adults :)

But the beds weren't very comfortable *.* The worst was the fifth towel - it felt more like a blanket?? I still felt wet after using it and there was fur on me?! Had to shower again and used my own towel originally meant for the water park.

Wednesday, 19 March

Water park in the rain

Well, since it's water park, right??

We went there in a slight light. Played all we could as the rain got heavier. Finally, we the parents couldn't take it anymore and ushered all out of the park within two hours. Really walking in the rain man... We only brought out the towels to dry ourselves right outside the apartment building. Sito and I shared a towel but ok, shower was very near!

Romantic (?!) stroll in the rain or waddling through the lazy river? :p

Lunch was supposed to be our usual Tian Lai but it was not open! Coz last time we went on a Thursday... Luckily our driver was Chinese and knew about another similar restaurant just across the road and he brought us there. We had their special 甘香 crabs - very nice! Reminded me of fish head curry and the assam sauce at our fave cai fan stall. But very spicy. And my fingers were stained despite gloves. Sito didn't wear gloves so his hands all yellow!

First time using gloves for crabs, I think

Big gong!

The staff were kind to shelter us to the car with big umbrellas. We headed to AEON to shop and eat. First stop was Mixue - kids had a sundae each. Surprisingly, Yang and Yu didn't have any leftovers!

Bought some underwear for Yang and Yu, and bread for breakfast. I even went to Daiso while the boys read at Popular! Of course they went there for phones but nope, not this outlet. Dinner was at Vivo Pizza - bought their membership again since the kids like it there.

Nice and quiet

Egg tart in yam base - so good! 

Hey Tea in a bottle, after LiHo at AEON

Kai and Yang had supper too - tamago sushi but all gone while at the mall! Papa went to buy drinks for Yang and Yu after returning to the apartment as they complained all we had were fizzy drinks.. That's how we also ended up with some candy - left of picture behind Hey Tea :p

Thursday, 20 March

Very wet day!

We woke to rain, rain and rain! But we went to Legoland anyway. We had four umbrellas but Yang and Yu wore their raincoats as they were cold. Just as well coz (1) I could shelter myself better as Yu could take a little splash (:p) and (2) Sito could shelter himself better when one umbrella got stuck later in the day and he had to shelter Yang too. 

In fact, another umbrella kind of broke too but still usable. Both umbrellas came apart in Yang's hands. Sighs... I bought six more umbrellas at home on Saturday. More to replace lost and damaged umbrellas in the coming year!

Anyway, all the outdoor rides were closed as expected. We went for the indoors stuff like Ninjago, mummy adventure and 4D shows, but the rain was really dreary...

When Ninjago first came out, these figures weren't that much shorter...

Mini flood!

Sito's mi bandung and bandung soda!

I had chicken briyani and the kids maggi goreng ayam. Yang and Yu also had a banana each as the bananas on every table were too tempting! That was at Faaz Bistro. Friendly staff and fast service. We went to Ridwan at first but they had only nasi lemak and steamed rice so we changed.

Kai also had Shilin fried chicken. Sito had some seafood tempura from Shilin while I grabbed a coffee from MYCoffee. All very nice. Kids also played at the small arcade. Raining day activities :p

Then we decided to go to Sea Life. Yang was the one who was very on about it but when we got there, the other two were also keen! In fact, Kai was the first to want to touch the sea stars! They also asked questions and thankfully, we had a very patient guide :)

All done, we went back to the apartment to change bags and grab their phones, and went to AEON again. Dinner was Johnny - Thai style hotpot. The kids weren't super hungry due to their big lunch but it was really nice to have some hot soupy stuff on a raining day!

They wanted ice cream again so this time, we had Baskin Robbins. Then we bought bread and supper again - tamago sushi for Kai and Yang, muah chee and yam cake for us - before massage at our usual place.

Kids sat near us to play phone games. Later, they shifted to another chair when other customers came in, but the staff were very nice about it. The kids said they preferred this place as we were there longer (!) and they had soft chairs. After the massage, Sito, Yang and Yu enjoyed the free siew mai and fishballs at the reception area. So happy!

Not done yet! Must get Blackball for dessert!

Friday, 21 March

Homebound

We woke to a visibly clearer day. There was a light passing shower while we were at Ninjago. But oh well, time to go!

We checked out at 9.30 am and left our baggage with the security. We were the first to enter Legoland, yeah! After the opening show, we split into two groups. Yang and Yu were the first to get to the boating school, and Kai was the first at the big dragon roller coaster. So happy no need to queue, haha!

Tuuurning! Must catch up with Yang!

They won!

Kai helped Sito with the pumping. He looked so tired!

As the Ninjago ride went down while they were in the queue, they were given a fast pass again to any ride. Kai and Yang wanted VR but Yu didn't. So Yu was very upset. I gave him a cotton candy.

Cotton candy - with conditions!

Later, Sito managed to "refund" a fast pass for Yu after the brothers took their VR ride. So Yu went for the boating school and overtook one boat and almost overtook another but got stuck instead :p

So the brothers got their cotton candy too

Kai looked so happy! He ate his so quickly... Yang's was still round and nice...

Bought 75RM worth of buns and cakes at the BIG bakery - finally found our usual hotdog buns there! - while Sito grabbed some snacks with the boys. They must have some candy...

Had a simple lunch of buns at the apartment lobby while waiting for our ride home. I forgot to factor in bigger appetites so in the end, we didn't have enough buns for breakfast today, oops! Must buy more next time! I'm very happy to buy their tea cakes though - for breakfast and for their school little bites next week!

We reached home within an hour. No queue at both checkpoints. Clearing immigration personally at Tuas was actually much faster than clearing in car.

So nice to sleep in our own beg last night!!