A quick thought on the NDR

I missed most of the NDR as we were on our way home from the grands' and there were evening and bedtime duties etc... I sat down only when PM was talking about integration of foreigners in Singapore. But Sito said the government was going to give out loads of money.

This morning, I read the news. Finally, support for parenthood, not incentives!

We started on the support narrative way back but Baby Bonus - which I dislike - was by then so ingrained that it was tough to shift the idea from incentives to support. Doing away with Baby Bonus is very loud and clear - we're not giving parents a bonus for having a kid. Naming the new one "child support" puts it across plainly - we're supporting child raising.

I'm also pleased with the leave even though I have nothing to do with leave anymore. If anything, I don't get leave! Giving parents eight to 12 days of leave a year is great, coz mandatory child care centre closing days (the dreaded CCCC!) are already six days! 

If the kids don't fall ill (they shouldn't after a while coz immunity :p), that leaves parents with two to six days to really spend time with the kids on their own schedule, rather than on the centre's schedule, especially for those with older kids who can only go on holidays during MOE term breaks. My experience was that CCCCs did not happen during MOE term breaks *.*

The lower preschool fees are very welcome too even though once again, they've got nothing to do with me. But I cannot forget that for a period of time, with two kids in child care and one in infant care, half of my pay went to the centre 😭 It was more expensive than uni! I wonder how the non-anchor operators will cope with the competition... Ah well...

And finally, the BTO chances. Just on Thursday, Sito was jokingly saying, give two BTO to large families! I said no way that's going to happen, but higher chances at the ballot possible. Really! I'm good. Hahahaha! Oh, and bigger flats please! Well, nothing to do with me coz I'm NOT moving! 

I also read comments on social media. The dissent was mostly about those without kids having to cover for parents at work given the more days of leave.

Actually, before I had kids, I covered my direct boss not once but twice when she went on maternity leave two years apart. I didn't mind coz it gave me more opportunities to do things that I otherwise would just happily leave it to the boss to do! But I can't say for those who have to cover a peer. Maybe that would be more work... In the end, it's a give and take? I used to go on long vacations before kids and my colleagues with kids had to cover :p

Covering for maternity leave is harder - probably need a temp or intern... More opportunities for youngsters to learn?

I also think at some point, there also has to be greater support given to caregivers of elderly parents, besides parents who care for kids. It's how our population is heading - old...

And then some wondered about the cost of the package. Sito did a search and told me that back when I was working, IRAS collected $30b in taxes; last year, they collected almost $90b. So just the tax alone can more than pay for the annual cost of the new package, which is about 40,000 kids x 16 cohorts x $2,000 + 30,000 newborns x $25,000 = $2b

Based on the $70,000 support per kid from birth to 17yo, the package estimates that each kid will return more than that in taxes as an adult. Assuming 40y of working, $70,000 of taxes mean under $2,000 a year, which is very low and so hence the returns are almost guaranteed. 

But of course, this is beyond the money. It's "existential".

I heard a bit on the part about Singaporeans remaining the majority and integrating foreign-borns. I thought it is helpful to put it out there - births not looking promising but we'll support parenthood AND we'll need to continue to import people while ensuring Singaporeans this 👆 I talked about new citizens being newfound births before.

Ok, very hot in the study and Yu is 虎视眈眈-ing my laptop as he wants to read my holiday posts so I'll end here.

Ask and it shall be given?

Some months back when a lot at HV MRT was vacated, Sito wrote in to Luckin to suggest an outlet here. The lot was vacant for a while. And a few weeks back, we saw the lot boarded up with the signature blue of Luckin! Woohoo!

So we must support, right?

Yesterday was a very hot day so something iced, please! But I prefer their hot coffee. The iced coffee was too milky for me.

We sat there for maybe 30min plus. Saw many ACS International kids coming to get drinks; a generation ago, I used to see these kids grabbing Starbucks but now Starbucks is sited in the mall away from the main road. Towards the end of our stay, the lunch crowd from nearby offices started appearing. So it appears that business is brisk! 

Happy National Day!

And a very busy one, which started with Kai waking up at 530am to report to school on Friday as he was part of the school parade - can see pictures here. 

Yang and Yu brought loads of goodies back - the ND gift from school was a 12" LCD tablet which I also like, hahaha! Yang also had a care pack for PSLE 💪💪💪 I think he finished the pack of Ribena gummies that day; I closed two eyes...

And of course ND tattoos! Yu gave me Ang Ku Kueh Girl, which is still on my left hand as I type. Yang couldn't bear to part with any *.*

After about one whole year of talking about baking class, I finally signed Yu up for one! But he said he was nervous about it coz he wasn't sure if he could do it. No worries, my baby, I'll be with you!

We were the first to arrive and assigned to right next to the chef and the hob. It was a good spot as we had first turn on everything. It was a small class of six settings. Kids below 10 could attend free - that's Yu!

First, we folded the parchment paper to fit the moulds and wrote our names on a corner. Then, we measured out the chocolate, added the pre-measured butter, and measured and heated the cream. Yu asked me to heat and pour the cream out coz it was hot. Yes, dangerous so over to you, Mama...!

Mixing hot cream with chocolate and butter

Our mixture was lumpy so asked the chef to microwave it a bit :p Yu: Smells so good!

Pouring chocolate into his mould

The chef put all the chocolate into a blast freezer and went on to the next step: folding the gift boxes! It's like we were getting chocolate from Royce :p After folding the boxes, the chef brought out some chocolate from the morning class to share with us - so yummy!

Yu did it all by himself :)

The next step was tricky. We had to cut each moulded block into 16 bite-size pieces. Yu decided to use a glove while I thought nay, no need. Then we flipped out the block and started cutting with a bench scraper. This boy measured so nicely (divide by two a few times) and after the first cut, discovered he couldn't lift the scraper off the chocolate. 

~help~

Hello, boy, use your gloved hand to press the chocolate down...

Then, I helped him invert the chocolate back into the mould and peel off the parchment. Now the chocolate pieces were sitting nicely in the mould!

Must dust with cocoa powder

After dusting, we used the bench scraper to gently cut through the dust to show the pieces clearly. Then we wiped the perimeter of the mould, covered it with a clear cover, popped it into a foil bag and pushed it into the paper box.

Yu and his box of nama chocolate!

I brought a cooler bag with icepacks to keep the chocolate as we were going to have dinner at Le Shrimp. We ended earlier than expected though so we walked around a bit while waiting for the other three to join us. 

After dinner, we shopped at Japan Home, Redman (I had 10% discount thanks to the baking class!) and Cold Storage (running out of milk before delivery day), lugging over 10kg of goods home, which was fine for my laogong but but but... Yang had to cut hair at the salon on our way home - neater haircut for PSLE oral this week... So I took the load off Sito who accompanied him *.* Kai was already carrying one bag. By the time I got to the lift, I could hardly speak so Kai quietly took another bag off me 💕 

Guess which is his and which is mine?

Answer: His on his left. Yes, they look the same but the differentiation is important coz he's having his all to himself! The remaining four of us shared my box. Since everyone likes it, I'll make some since I bought more chocolate and cream :)

We signed up for the BV ND Observance Ceremony as usual. At first, we wondered if Yang should go, given his oral exams this week. He wanted to, so we said, ok, wear a mask. Then we forgot the mask *.*

All decked out in red!

This time, it was held at Blk 2 atrium. It was fun as usual, with games and snacks and performances! I think next year, I want to go near the front to see if I can grab a slice of cake :p

Eh, the hand very long, hahaha!

Yang didn't get a prize for this game and when he went back to try again, someone gave him the prize and he was happy!

Papa also played!

Yu very gamely answered a quiz again!

He could only remember three of the five stars, and a guy went over to whisper the answers into his ears :p Emcee couldn't get her hands on a prize immediately. She remembered us though but we left before she could find us again.

Fighter jet simulator!

Looks like the real deal for training, not a science centre ride

Sito said, yes, don't crash his tax money! Hahahah! But his sons very funny - Yang didn't manage to drop his bomb in time; Yu dropped it too early; Kai dropped it on himself!!?!?! We had a good laugh at the end of it :)

The anthem was played while we were in the queue for the jet simulator. I heard a loud booming voice singing nearby and spotted an angmoh on my right front singing his lungs out. On the other hand, my sons didn't open their mouth 🤦‍♀️ Don't kids sing anthem in school?! I sad and sian...

We went home to drop everything before heading for lunch at Oriental Food. Kids all enjoyed it so I guess we now have another option in the neighbourhood!

Yu and I left for his friend's birthday party in Chinatown after lunch. On the bus there, I told him I remembered two compositions in primary school and gave him the starting para of one of them and the gist of the other. He retold the former with kiddy details, and went on to spin a two-part story of the latter.

I really enjoyed the second one. Part one was about a boy who liked cheese. At the end of it, he became a mouse. Part two started in the first person. I wondered why, and then he went, "Oh, I forgot, I'm a mouse now so I can eat the rotten food!" So cool! Yes, gross content but his storytelling is so cool!

We were rather early, so he made me follow him to walk around. We ended up walking around People's Park Complex like three times... I enticed him with OCK and ok, he would follow me instead, haha! Took a walk to Chinatown point and went to OCK twice coz the first stick wasn't enough! Then I bought some plastic bags from Daiso before finding our way to the party venue.

Bye, boy. I'm going for a massage!

Spotted the massage place I wanted to go to when I was following Yu around People's Park Complex. Sito and I went there some 20y ago! And the prices were not much higher than 20y ago. I paid only $25 for an hour of foot massage, vs. $37 at HV. But I realised that night that the guy wasn't fantastic as I no longer felt anything by the end of the day :(

Bought a marshmallow snack which Yu said he wanted, and a rose bagel from Daily Artisan and Bakery. The latter was so pretty! But it was too much like bandung for me - I don't like bandung, hahah!

Anyway, went back to the party venue to find Yu still happily playing balloons after two hours of VR games. I sat for a while before I think the staff was ready to close the account... We took a bus to Vivocity to pack dinner - Jollibee!

It was still early by the time we got home. We managed to finish dinner before NDP started proper. Of course the adults had to clear up a bit more... But in the end, we all sat down to watch the parade and performances. Made them all stand for the anthem even if they didn't sing.

Again, we all said the NDP songs this year were no good. Two didn't feel like NDP songs at all. Only Sparkle was more upbeat. Anyway, I realised that this year, we didn't spend much time listening to NDP songs on YouTube - too busy with PSLE prep...

And so I guess that was our very busy National Day :)

Reminiscing AMK library with old friend

Today is AMK library's last day at its standalone premises at 4300 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 Singapore 569842. It will reopen at AMK Hub later this year. So CY and I planned our latest meetup two days ago for us to retrace our teenage steps.

It being lunch time, we met at KFC first. I had completely forgotten how to get there from the MRT station! There were also new blocks and some construction along the way so nothing felt familiar until the mosque appeared. Oh yes, there was a mosque next to KFC! 

Eventually, I saw the smiley colonel and swiped out Google Maps. Walked around the block to the main door which we used to use. Hello, KFC! 

It looked newer than I remembered. But of course it must have been renovated since my last trip there 30y ago?!

CY arrived as I was browsing the menu, and we just ordered two-piece meals :) But no french fries to dip into whipped potato coz we're 46, not 16.

But it felt like 16 again :)

My tummy was hurting the whole time after LS the previous day so I didn't get coke like 30y ago, and drank my own room temperature water; the apple juice is now in the fridge.

It was great catching up with CY! We haven't met for quite a while and the past two times, we met at karaoke so we sang more than we chatted.

I haven't been to AMK library for maybe 20y. I thought it was 30y but now I seem to recall borrowing books when I first started work... Anyway, I had also forgotten how to walk to the library! CY had visited with her kids but they usually arrived by car. But we walked in the general direction of the library and found it! 

Old friends in front of the familiar facade

I think it was empty space in front of the library but it's now boarded up for some construction work. North South Corridor? Anyway, it kind of restricted our photo-taking angles... Lucky I brought my tripod along! A selfie wouldn't look good!

The inside is so different from my memories. I thought the library was always a bit dim. But on Wednesday, it was so spacious and bright inside. The individual couches were placed a distance apart, unlike in Clementi, and the walkway was twice as wide. I guess it will become narrow like at Clementi once it reopens at the mall...

 

We went upstairs to find authors we used to read. The shelves were emptier than we remembered but I guess it's due to the moving... 30y ago, the shelves were metal and dark grey. And we remember a 色狼 following us once! But neither of us remembered what exactly happened but think the creep left when we discovered him.

Anyway, we had to take pictures... Couldn't find Agatha Christie though...

Jeffrey Archer! I just read one this year...

Danielle Steele! Haven't read one in 30y...

So 30y ago, we used to go to the library, then KFC for a snack (or was it lunch??) followed by window shopping at Emporium etc. There is no more Emporium but we passed by the building. Think it's the one with Finest and Daiso now.

I think we also used to visit the HDB shops. There was a knitting shop which we frequented often as we were into croqueting for a while. And the CD shop! A few years back, I passed by these shops with Sito and the boys. Super nostalgic.

Also passed by Heng Heng where we had our ears pierced!

We parted at AMK Hub as CY had to get back to the kids. I um, left Sito to deal with Yang while I walked about AMK Hub a bit, but when I reached home, Yang was still having his post-lunch snack. After he had gone to his room to study, Sito and I ate the kueh and otah I bought at AMK Hub. All in, a nostalgic day!

Ear wax

What a topic!

The first time I came across ear wax was when I was very young but old enough to remember that Mother brought me to a doctor who used a gun-like thing to shoot warm water into an ear (oooh, comfortable) and a large piece of ear wax came out *.*

After that, Mother would sit down at the gate, make us lie down on her lap, and dig our ears! I don't know how often that was done but I enjoyed it coz it was very comfortable. Ticklish yes, but it was nice :)

I don't know when that stopped too. But years on, I bought a ear digger - that's what I call it anyway! - when I was in Japan. It's black with a little bell on it, complete with a stiff sleeve. Come to think of it, that thing must be some 20yo!

Anyway, apart from that ear wash in childhood, I never had any ear issues. If I feel something inside, I just dig a little. I think Sito may use it more often than me now, after he saw a doctor some 10y ago to wash out ear wax. 

Now as a parent, I don't dig my kids' ears as I've read that ears are self-cleaning. I don't remember for Kai and Yang, but I used to smell Yu's ears when he was a baby hahaha! Smelly but so sweet...

Then during the June term break, Kai told me he felt a huge piece of ear wax in an ear. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to let me dig it out. So on 16 June, for the very first time, I dug a kid's ear. I took a torchlight to the ear, spotted something and dug at it. Something came along but with resistance! Then Kai used his fingers to pull it out. Suffice to say it was gross.

As I excited told Sito about it, he reminded me that I did for him before - 10y ago when he had the ear issue. Gosh, my memory has really suffered from pregnancy and kids!

A couple of weeks later, it was Yang's turn to feel a huge ear booger but he refused to let me do it. Ah well, just wait for it to drop out then!

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!

Yang is 12!

Just like that, another kid turned 12. One last year for Yang to have free kiddy sundaes at Swensen's, haha!

Instead of going to the regular Swensen's for his firehouse birthday sundae, he chose Swensen's Unlimited as we missed going there earlier this month due to my ulcer. 

My lovely boy made a lovely sundae :)

Can also dip a banana in ice cream toppings!

Kai said this reminded him of Swensen's kiddy sundae

Which he stopped enjoying since turning 13 as his Swensen's account went from kiddy to adult but which he had just a week ago as Yang gave up his for a strawberry cone at Macs!

Yu also made a lovely sundae

Papa put ice cream in his taiyaki!

That was a huge taiyaki.. There was a Japanese theme at Swensen's Unlimited these few weeks so we also had toriyaki, fish and vege tempura, fried soba and katsu curry rice.

As usual, we went through the NUH mall on our way to the MRT station. This time, we had some fun measuring our weight, height and even blood pressure. But the blood pressure machine isn't meant for kids. I mean, a diastolic reading of 28 surely is incompatible with life?!

Very happy, this one; the other two monkeying around the height/weight measurement

12yo also means it's PSLE year, oops... So Yang didn't escape from work even on his birthday which fell on a Saturday this year. But ok la, we didn't give him a paper, just do specific exercises. He even had time to play Nintendo!

Since we already went to Swensen's Unlimited (cheaper on weekdays :p), we just headed to our usual coffeeshop for dinner - Yang's choice. And he had a haircut after that so super handsome. Cake cutting was after dinner as Kai came back from a chess tournament after tea time.

Happy birthday, our dear Yang Yang!

Sito was very hungry that day and bought some ribs from the supermarket deli. Two boys came to tax some while I sat down with some glutinous rice tea after yummy cake.

Drink milk with BBQ ribs, hmmm...

We had a second round of celebration on Sunday as usual. This time, the cake came with a party set complete with headgear, plates and forks! Dinner was at Oriental downstairs; he veto-ed South Bank as he didn't like their fish and chips much. (But the parents like, how? Haha!)

Second strawberry cake

Notice the berries at the bottom of the cake? Random. Maybe dropped onto it after it was done and it was too much to remove and do the piping again??

On the way to dinner; Kai took a photo of them/Yu

We just happened to sit under the happy birthday sign :)

Over-ordered again. We have some fried pork in the fridge. Sito already had a few pieces for lunch; the rest will come out at dinner tonight!

Yang's presents from the grands - two board games - are still on his sofa. I should go find some space for them after this..

Yang turning 12 is a bit different from Kai turning 12, maybe coz he still wants me to lie down with him at bedtime and he's so sweet that he still gives off very baby-ish vibes. Want him to grow up more and especially be more independent in his learning but at the same time, I couldn't bear not seeing the baby in him. Dilemma of parents.

Weekly activities so far

This being PSLE year, we decided that we would do one activity each week during the midyear term break.

In the first week, well, the main activity was changed from Swensen's Unlimited to Little Pond, no thanks to an ulcer.

In the second week, Yang and Yu went to a friend's birthday party. Why only two of them? Coz this friend - who is Yu's classmate - happens to stay in the same block as us, and he and his younger sister often play together with Yang and Yu at the playground. Kai doesn't really join them. 

The party was at The Cage @ Kallang. The kids had so much fun playing laser tag. I didn't join them even though there were still free guns coz I wanted to take pictures! In one game where each player had only one life, Yang and Yu were the last remaining opponents - brothers turning against each other! Hoho!

The rest were waiting for them but blocked by a tent

I experienced a candy piñata for the first time. The kids were violent! Birthday boy had thought his friends would not be so rough...! So now we have two big boxes of candy at home, don't know when they'll finish them.

It was a rainy day. We walked a distance from Mountbatten MRT to the venue and then to Stadium MRT where we had dinner at Astons. Saw Yu having soup for the first time - he liked it, especially the croutons!

What about Kai? He played Nintendo at home lor.. Anyway, he is free to go for chess tournaments at Bishan every Tuesday if he wants. He also has two other tournaments this month. For the first one, I even brought his brothers to Macs for dinner to celebrate the end of my ulcers! The second one will be on Yang's birthday but it isn't a full-day event so we have time to celebrate.

In the third week, we had two outings but Yang could only go to one...

On Thursday, I brought Kai and Yu to Mother's place to wrap bah zang, my annual activity :) But I missed my annual glutinous rice breakfast from 409 hawker centre coz it's undergoing renovation! Mother told me the night before and I was so sad! 

Googled that there should be breakfast options at the coffeeshop downstairs so we went there instead. Big mistake. Two fried maggi plus luncheon meat for Kai and fried pork and Taiwan sausage for Yu cost $8! Really, nothing beats HV hawker centre - noodles plus two items under $3. Even the fried pork not so ex.

My nasi lemak was regular price like HV and the ingredients were freshly fried. Drinks were ok. Kids said the milo was very good.

Tummies filled, it was time to start the wrapping. Let them wrap one each but they couldn't fold the thing down. Nvm, Mama to the rescue!

First time for Kai

Second time for Yu

Having his own dumpling

A tad smaller coz small hands

We wrapped some 60 bah zangs in about two hours. Add another couple of hours of cooking. By the time their dumplings cooled enough to eat, they were just able to eat it as they had such a big breakfast. After that, we packed our dumplings and headed home.

Kai the strong boy carried 25 dumplings - very heavy!

Wa, so buddy! For 10 seconds

Yu was carrying a pair of shoes. Mother got them from some event for the elderly but didn't want them. I tried and realised they were my size! Maybe the staff got her 39 instead of her 36? Anyway, very happy to have shoes for year end holiday as my sneakers are kind of falling apart...

Kai grabbing his fave kebab via Junction 8

You can't see it but Yu was snacking on OCK karaage while watching Kai's kebab being made :p

Yang had his first bah zang of the season that very night but he found it too peppery - yes, Mother accidentally added a tad more pepper this time! So poor Yang decided to skip the dumplings this season :(

On Friday, we went on an excursion to Bukit Panjang. The kids had been wanting to go back to visit their childhood neighbourhood. So we combined swimming, library and nostalgia into one!

重游旧地

Our first stop was the Senja Cashew pool. First time there. Quite small, just a competition pool, a kiddy play pool and a jacuzzi pool. But it was enough. Made the kids do six laps before letting them loose in the play pool.

Like Legoland water park!

They were too big for the slide - guard stopped Yang from sliding down - but they seemed to have had fun just splashing about.

Getting a massage!

So glad the weather held up! It was forecast to rain but it didn't. I was thinking that 端午节 was always very hot since I was a kid. But I don't know if it was the weather or the heat from cooking dumplings the whole day!

Bought some snacks from Scarlett and went to the library to rest and read before an early dinner at Swensen's. Then we got a maths topical revision book for Yang at Popular, and grabbed more snacks from Japan home. This kind of replaced our fortnightly Saturday trips so our Saturday was spent at home, just nice for Yang to pack in more revision!

Back to the kiddy playground for a bit of fun - they're too big now!

Went to Junction 10 to visit their child care centre. It had undergone some renovation and also changed its uniforms. Seemed like only one of their teachers remained teaching there but she was gone for the day by the time we got there.

Used to pass by this canal all the time - spotted only one turtle this time

Notice Yang's brolly sticking out of his bag? Last time using it!

"Toured" Hillion before making our way home. It's been a nostalgic walk. I was walking with Yu when we reached Bukit Panjang, it was so cute to hear him say oh he remembered this and that, or something had changed. When we passed through the walkway next to the bus interchange exit on our way to Junction 10, Yu said I brought him back via that path when he needed to poop during a dinner at Captain Kim's - I don't even remember!

Fave kiddy ride area - Yang could hardly fit!

Where Yang once stood, mesmerised, while I searched madly for him

All of them don't remember our first home anymore, since we moved away before Kai turned six. But they all remember our second home at Bukit Panjang. So much memories for all of us. Now we all have refreshed memories of our old hood :)

Somehow, we didn't get this nostalgic feeling about HV when we moved away to BP. Maybe coz we were still coming back every fortnight to visit the grands! Anyway, we've moved back for over three years now. It's like we never left.

Yesterday was a regular day, just cooked porridge for lunch and had dinner at HV hawker centre. Oh, we saw that the traffic light at the bus stop was finally functional! We did a first pass :) Then crossed back at the next traffic light haha! So happy!

Kai and Yu wanted to head back early for Nintendo after dinner, so Yang found himself alone with us after returning from washing his hands. Alone time with our middle child :)

Benefits :)

We like the ice cream at Chateraise, yummy and so affordable. The brothers had some ice cream at home; we have a tub of Bulla cookies and cream in the freezer so no complaints since they wanted to go home early.

We're now also one week away from school reopening. So for baking day today, I made a butter cake on top of a loaf of soft white bread, a boule of ahem, artisanal yeast bread, six pork floss batons using the artisanal bread dough and their pizza lunch. Packed away five big servings of the butter cake for Yang to bring to school and Sito had three pieces of the remaining at tea - take it as Fathers' Day treat? :p 

We don't celebrate these commercial days but it's nice to remind the boys to at least show a verbal appreciation for Papa who is also their EMS tutor, wikipedia in all things big and small, and inspirational speaker :)

回顾新谣之新加坡派

新谣是由新加坡人创作的歌谣，当然也包括了本国各领域的描述，概括了历史、成长、变化。这些写实的歌曲让人不禁点头，感叹，甚至落泪。今天，让我列下一些由梁文福词曲加演唱的写实新谣。

这几首我之前提过了：

《一步一步来》｜1987｜Link
《新加坡派》｜1990｜Link

《麻雀衔竹枝》｜1990｜Link
《赤道河水谣》｜1992｜Link

还有三首是比较新的：

《新谣历史外传》｜2016｜Link

这个叫做懂的都懂，真的道出了我们新谣的历史！于我这种没有学过中国历史的人来说，这个版本比原版易懂得多，亲近得更多。

《新加坡派2.0》｜2016｜Link

新加坡派从1990那版 - 甚至1965建国开始 - 不停演变，每一个年代的人对于自己的新加坡派的定义也有所不同吧。我的孩子们成年后将在和我不一样的新加坡生活、老去……只能说，愿这个家国故事千秋万代 indeed!

《太多太多2018》｜2018｜Link
听到麻辣火锅那段时，想到的是现在已不只是麻辣火锅了！看看我家楼下，湖南菜馆，四川菜馆，东北菜馆。听说 Holland Village 要变成 Hunan Village le *.* 不过我其实还挺喜欢这类菜的。真正让我意识到我们的中餐文化在改变的是一个西餐广告 - Pizza Hut 以前在华语电台就是 Pizza Hut, 可是现在已成了必胜客。又或者这只是为了 target audience, which also tells us the demographics of listeners of Chinese radio stations...

17 is prime

And just like that, I'm Mrs Sito for 17years :)

We had wanted to combine anniversary and end-of-term celebrations at Swensen's Unlimited on Wednesday, 3 June, but unfortunately, I have an ulcer. Again. So we went to Little Pond downstairs instead. We all like the fish pot.

Told them there wouldn't be them without this day! Yu told me this last week - that everything he has belongs to Papa and Mama, even things from his classmates coz we send him to school. I told him coz we gave birth to him :)

Anyway, we have discussed with Yang. For his birthday later this month, he will give up his birthday ice cream for Swensen's Unlimited. So it will be triple celebration there :)

I realised we don't have any recent photos of just the two of us! So here's one of my love's, at Daiso during our latest lunch date. I love taking random photos like this :)