From kids to zombies

Sounds like a scary title :p

I wanted something to indicate Children's Day and Halloween, and chose zombies for the latter on 21 Oct when Yu suddenly started humming the zombie song and gave a loud NOOOO! Just like in the song :p We had a good laugh!

Anyway...

Yan Yan for Children's Day!

I think we're always going to celebrate Children's Day this way - 1 Oct coz Papa and Mama grew up with that, and whatever date theirs falls on. This year, Kai and Yang spent much of Children's Day on their own coz I was away on staycation with Yu :p Compensated with Magnum mini instead of the usual Macs cones.

Chocolate banana muffins - my best yet!

Brought them for a swim the day Sito returned from SHN - I watched them while Sito grabbed dinner. They were so happy to see Papa home! Kai especially went to him a lot to play Rubik's cube :)

Let's race!

HBL continues into the first week of October. The original last day of HBL was Children's Day celebration. Both kids had scavenger hunts on Zoom and came to me excitedly for uniforms, green pens, photos etc. All during my work *.* But they seemed to have fun, which was great. It's already sad that they couldn't be in school with friends.

PE assignment for Kai

Then it was announced that HBL would continue for P1 and P2 for two more days, sighs... Ok at least Kai could go to school. Since it's just him, I let him come home on his own. The whole "coming home on their own" thing gets a bit iffy with the two of them together... Maybe next year...

Yu must always run on the "bridge" to avoid sharks...

Every day, I would sit next to Yu and nag him and Yang to keep eating, coz they're always playing and talking. Can talk, cannot eat. One day, Kai offered to help. Was it the food that day or Kai? They ate more quickly that day!

Kai helping me to get his brothers to finish their food

The boys got their Children's Day presents the week after. Kai first as he ended his HBL first, then Yang and Yu as the child care centre also delayed its celebration. So many new toys in the house within a week! Thankfully, there were also snacks which were now long gone and a Chinese story book.

Playing with the present from school - I love this game too!

Must eat Papa's food though they had just finished their sausage rolls

Hide-and-seek, obviously!

Papa raced with the boys and he won, woohoo! But damn siong haha!

My little chefs preparing to serve their sole customer - moi

After just three to five days back to school, Kai and Yang had a week's break. I had wanted to revise with Kai for his exams but it was cancelled for all P3 and P4! But Kai would still have weighted assessment so I didn't take leave in vain. What I didn't realise was that it was super siong to do revision:

• Monday: Three English papers for each of them
• Tuesday and Wednesday: One Chinese and one maths per kid per day, one science per day for Kai
• Thursday: One Chinese and one maths per kid
• Friday: One science for Kai

I started them at the same time but Yang would always finish first coz his papers were more like mini tests. Then he had to go read, do 习字 or do some English or maths on Reading Eggs. 

When Kai was done, they could play Nintendo for 30 min while I marked. But science papers took me over 30 min to mark. Even though I have the answer sheets, I had to do every question so that I could pick up important stuff to highlight to them, especially when they didn't get the answer.

And then:

Kai: So unfair. He (Yang) finished so quickly. He can play Reading Eggs. He doesn't have science. 

mf: Hello, you didn't have to do papers in P1 and P2. He will do the same P3 papers two years later. Reading Eggs are too easy for you. You also didn't have science in P1!!!

And of course: I hate comprehension/Chinese/maths/science *.*

So in case there's any doubt - it was more siong for me!!

I went back to work on Wednesday morning and Friday. Email revenge. Yes, very siong too...

A little reward for them halfway through

I sat at the next table. They were quite ok on their own though the auntie there helped by reminding them not to fool around :p Then we went grocery shopping. I chose what to buy, Kai put them into the basket, Yang held the basket coz he was strong...

My little helper for two minutes :p

Same two bags then went to Yang

I took one bag off him and he took the other one all the way home, including a detour to grab meatballs coz they did not have any meat with the prata.

COVID fatigue is definitely setting in. Decided to bring them for their favourite breakfast last weekend. Now that Kai is older, I feel bad making him wear PJs downstairs... Though I think I wore PJs to the market for much of primary school!!!

Kai and Yang sat together

Yu sat with me at the next table

The kids kept moving and chatting across the tables. I was so worried we would be chased away!! They were very happy though. Kai even ate eight cut pieces of toast!

Kai has been rather into 4x4x4 cube lately. But one afternoon, I found him sobbing on the floor in his room, holding a broken cube with small bits on the floor! It took me a while but I finally managed to fix everything back.

But it happened again a few days later! And more pieces dropped out! It was a nightmare... It happened one more time a week later but thankfully that was just one piece, and Kai could solve the cube before he let me fix the piece back - that's necessary coz I had to remove one more piece to fix the original back and there's a chance of more pieces dropping out...

From second time - 3x3x3 cube for colour position reference, and a pair of tweezers to adjust small bits

I also think it was single parenting - Papa would have been the go-to for Rubik stuff!

I was thinking about bringing them to Ichiban for dinner on helper's rest day so that I didn't need to wash dishes and clean tables - rather spend time with them than clean *.* But while Kai could finish his udon, Yang had to share his udon with Yu, and Yang and Yu cannot sit together on their own! In the end, decided to pack easy things from the coffeeshop.

The playground at the coffeeshop is fun. We call it "hurt-my-knee" playground :p But Kai thought it should be "hurt-our-knees" playground coz they had all hurt a knee there!!! So the plan was to let them play there while I packed food. But it rained! And we realised it only when we got downstairs. So we went to the kiddy rides at B2 instead. 

Can't remember what happened now - think Yu was throwing a tantrum so we went home soon. They passed by the tikam area and wanted to buy Beyblades. Told Kai and Yang to go buy on their way home the following week.

After they were showered and settled in front of the TV, I left them home to pack food. First time leaving three of them home alone!! Closed the door and told them not to open it. Call me in an emergency. Even Yu knows how to call me now...

They asked for steak but the western food didn't have it :( So it's chicken rice for Kai and Yu, and cai png for Yang and me. Only spoons to wash, yeah!! :p

Yang's first cai png in a box, Kai and Yu's first time eating off greased paper :)

Finally got steak for them yesterday - took a trip to Bangkit for that. While waiting, I checked out the market - still a lot of people at that hour! Fruits and vegetables were still on sale! I wanted to stay there man haha! 

Anyway, they got Beyblades from the tikam machines this week. Glorified tops, I call them. I should add lousy too. After just one day, Yang's broke *.* So Kai was badgering me to get a new one for Yang, while Yu kept asking for one too! And today, Kai's broke too! Maybe I should get them the real thing...

It being Halloween today, I wanted to get some cakes for tea. I saw a few Halloween cakes at Chateraise a couple of weeks ago but they were all gone by now. Found Halloween cupcakes though, yeah! But Kai didn't want to try - he only ate an eye :p

Making faces

Zombie eyes, says he!

And there goes October!