No doubt about it, C loves games!

We went to Popular Bookstore some time back and got this book... 

Yes, it's a sticker book of the game, Sudoku. 

It isn't as complicated as those that adults play but it was good enough for Cheryl. She was able to identify the missing characters by examining the rows and columns. She started with the very simple ones where there were only 1 missing character in a row. Much to my surprise, she was able to identify even those with more than 1 missing characters.

Uncle Kai Wei and Aunt Audrey invited us to their girls' birthday celebrations.

C was overjoyed about going for the party and she actually didn't want to leave.

We are late...

By this time last year, we had almost completed doing up our gifts for Teachers' Day. But this year, because I had been extremely busy, we didn't had the time to do our personalised gifts. But this evening, we started making the gift carriers which we would put our little tokens of appreciation.

We got C's teachers some cute and very practical stationery sets and C sat herself down to write out what she wanted to tell her teachers. 

For English these days, C has been taught nouns, verbs and adjectives and her homework this evening involved identifying these functions on simple sentences.

She was given a passage to read and then C had to underline the nouns, verbs and adjectives in different colours.

When I saw the exercise, I was smiling because it reminded me of those exercises I would give my students. And teacher, I can't help but notice that C has omitted words linking words like "is" and "was" which are also considered verbs. I stopped myself from getting her to underline those so as not to confuse her. :) Occupational hazard!

Uncle Ben had nasi lemak, one of his favourite local dish , for dinner the previous evening. In fact, the entire family had that but because Daddy, Cheryl and I weren't there to taste the food, Aunt Di, together with Grand Mummy decided that they would prepare the same food for dinner this evening.

Cheryl also lent a helping hand in the kitchen.

 Lovely food! It was extremely delicious and to know that they prepared the dinner for us made the food taste exceptionally good. Yes, we know we are loved. :)

Aunt Jules is actually a talented person. She may seem impatient or even loud at times but deep down, she can also be a gentle and really thoughtful person.

Several weeks back, she dug out some tools she had stored away some years ago and she would sit on the sofa for hours on end especially on Sundays when we visit Grandparents.

knitting! Many moons ago, Aunt Jules and I would knit. Yes, I know how to knit *blush* but I must say, Aunt Jules is a lot better than me and since she learned that Asher would be going to England with Aunt Di and Uncle Ben, she decided to make a beanie and a shawl for him. While at it, she also made one for C.

Pretty! And Thank you, Aunt Jules.

With an afternoon to kill after swim class, we met up with our friends and went for "yabby lobster" fishing.

Armed with ... nothing actually, except for a few bottles of water and a packet of tidbits, we waited patiently for our friends to arrive. And when they did, they came with fishing nets, and live bait but still no fishing rods. Instead there were fishing line... .

The children were all excited and running around with the nets. They were also making themselves useful by trying to scoop fish from the pond, or posing for pictures.

The catch for the day: yabby lobsters, 2 of them: one really tiny and the other a considerable larger one and an eel.

While the children played, the mummies chatted... the daddies were hard at work, all bent over and patiently luring the yabby lobsters with the live bait they had at the end of their lines.

Nope, we didn't bring any of our catch back. C and the kids had the honour of releasing the yabby lobsters and fish back into the pond.

From breast stroke to free style.

This is what C has been up to these few weeks. She isn't a very strong swimmer yet but what Daddy and I love about our Precious is her earnest learning attitude. She is enthusiastic and is always happy when it is Saturday.

C has been learning about Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives and these days, she has been exposed to asking questions.

C completed her homework before I got back from work. :)

C has been going to the dentist regularly and she started several years back.

Josiah gave out a booklet where C could keep track of her daily brushing.

 Actually C got the same booklet some time last year when she went to Sembawang Shopping Centre. C told me that the school would be expecting a dental nurse. :) It is good to teach little children how to brush their teeth right and I am proud of C because she has a good set of teeth.

Daddy dearest spent a good 15 minutes every morning in the toilet brushing his and during his younger days, he was the role model (he was chosen by his teachers) for our daily teeth-brushing sessions. Parents who are of my age would remember us, during our Primary School days, lining up along the drains in front of our classroom and brushing away after recess.

However, C has this problem. She loves the television more than anything and every morning, instead of brushing her teeth in the bathroom, she does it in front of the telly. Not good.

I returned with some seeds several weeks ago and C planted them.

There was coriander, chives, basil but our coriander seeds did not grow.

Daddy made it!

Before C went into her class, she looked around for her Daddy dearest and commented that he wasn't here yet but thankfully, he managed to reach just in time for her little performance. Ms Blue had an Open House this evening to show us what the little ones had been doing for the past year and to also let us know that she had plans to sign up the girls under her charge for the Royal Academy of Dance Ballet.

Cheryl clearly enjoys her weekly sessions with Ms Blue.

Ms Blue said that although C was younger than the rest, she still recommended that C register for the exam that was to take place in March next year. A check with Precious revealed that she wanted to do it too hence we promptly filled up the registration form. Preparation for the exam would start in September and that would mean C had to go for dance class twice a week. We warned C but she seemed rather undaunted. 

I treasure the weekends especially Sundays because it is on Sundays that we visit Grand Daddy and the rest of the family. Every evening, before we retire for the night, C and I would say our prayers and on the top of our list would be to ask for God's mercy for Grand Daddy.

Grand Daddy has been fighting cancer for the past 5 years. Initially, his fighting spirit was high and he almost felt that he would emerge victorious. 5 years on, I mean, it does seem that he has? Well, it isn't quite so because docs suspect that the cancer cells have spread to his bones despite the regular chemotherapy. And over the years, Grand Daddy has been reduced to mere skin and bones. Often, he would be in bed, and hardly got up. Then there were also days where even the simple action of getting up and sitting down on his arm chair requires immense strength and determination and it hurt me to see him suffering.

Then this Sunday, he was surprising in a very jovial mood and Grand Mummy commented that he had been in high spirits for the past few days. Grand Mummy had prepared her specialty: Chicken rice and Grand Daddy ate two rice balls! That was a very healthy appetite indeed because we had seen him on days where he preferred to lay in bed and not eat.

Fong was here too and we thought it was good to just go out for dinner. We had plans to eat Taiwan porridge but the shop had closed and we ended up at another eatery. Grand Daddy wolfed down two bowls of piping hot porridge and when he was done, commented that the food was delicious! That must have been the best thing we heard in a long time. Perhaps I am getting old and feeling more sentimental (is it a Chinese trait that we have this innate desire to want to feed our family well to show that we love them?) but seriously, to hear that he had enjoyed his food almost brought me to tears. 

I didn't tell Daddy how much I appreciated him for driving us down. Daddy had been tired and although he had wanted to stay in, he relented and we had dinner out. Sundays are precious because we get to rest or not. Daddy often says that he is more tired during the weekends than his work days but still, it means a lot to me that despite wanting to just do nothing, he gave in.

I do not know how much time we have left but I still look forward to spending weekends with my Daddy.

And to my dearest husband, I am sorry if I don't tell you enough how appreciative and thankful I am and how much I love you for going that extra mile... "Thank you"

C did an art piece to celebrate National Day!

This piece was supposed to be ready last week but C was working on something else for Church hence this was put on hold. 

Great job, Cheryl! :) It was beautiful.

Ms Novelle commented that C would be doing more project-based activities in school hence she would be bringing homework back for the weekends.

It has become a habit to ask C about her daily activities in school and she told us that she has been learning how to carry over for addition. This evening, we got down to actually working on some of these sums.

So, this was how it is done. :)

In no time, C had completed her sums.

Then for English, the concept if Singular and Plural nouns is further reinforced with these worksheets.

Daddy and I are very pleased that C is progressing well in school. More importantly, we are grateful that C enjoys what she is doing.

"Big Phone!"

This was C's exact words when she first saw the iPad and we were then in England.

We had a discussion some months back and she said that she wanted it so that she could play her games. I was wondering if it was a good idea because firstly, the iPad doesn't come cheap and secondly, C is only a young child and what was a kiddo supposed to do with a gadget like an iPad. It was suspiciously looking more like a toy for Daddy instead. Ha ha.

But then again, C has monopolizing my iPhone since Daddy bought that for me because of the many educational applications and movies. She absolutely loves the games that she can play on my phone and she probably knows the phone better than I do. She watches movies and video clips on the phone too and lately, we noticed that she has been squinting her eyes. Was it because of the tiny screen?

Initially we had plans to order it from Apple in the United States and had it shipped over then we changed our minds and thought since it was going to be launched in Singapore soon (it was like a good 3 months more) we reckoned we could wait. It was wishful thinking to think that we could waltz into the Apple Store to get it when it finally made its appearance hence it was onto the waiting list again.

Then this afternoon, Daddy got news that there was stocks and we headed down to get one for ourselves.

Daddy and C playing on the iPad while waiting for the sales person to come back with ours.

Yeah! Proud owners of the iPad!

That very evening, we used it to surf the Internet.

Ever since C came along, going to the movies is a luxury. But as she grew older, we were slowly but surely visiting the widescreens again. Of course, the movies that we watch are usually kids-friendly. Today, Daddy took the day off because C and I are at home and we decided to catch

Yes, I know... this movie has been screening for quite some time now and it is almost at the end of its run.

On our way there...

C, at the cinema and she saw the characters to Toy Story 3. Naturally, she insisted on having her picture taken.

We got our tickets and would be going in soon...

The movie was great! C enjoyed herself although she was trying her might not to fall asleep at some parts of the movie as it was her nap time. She was laughing too at some of the jokes and even re-enacted some scenes when she was recounting the movie.