Prepping for School

Besides getting things done for the house, we were also preparing for both Lezane and Kyla schooling matters. Kyla will be attending Beanstalk International School (full-day) and Lezane will be attending Kindyroo (twice a week, an hr each session) on Tues and Thur.

In order for Kyla to attend school, there were many administrative issues to settle. We have to get us an "Alien" visa, residential permit, medical checkup done for Kyla (which includes taking blood), clean police records, company's approval, etc etc before she could get permitted to school.

Just yesterday, we went for the medical checkup and I saw the brave side of my girl. During the blood taking session, she did not squirm, did not cry and did not move an inch. She even looked and stared at the dr trying hard to squeeze enough blood samples for testing. But I know she was scared - her palms were covered in perspiration and yet did not make any sound. She is really my super duper bravey girl.... :-)

Little One Goes to School

I have signed up Lezane for two trial classes at My Gym and Kindyroo. Lezane did not respond well to the teachers in My Gym. He wasn't paying attention to the teachers and went around roaming the class. Most times, he sticked to me like a koala. The pictures are deceiving as it only showed the happy side of him (which is only 30% of the class, the other 70% he was hanging on to me and crying or knocking at the door to find Nai Nai).

However, he behaved differently at Kindyroo. He listened to instructions and participated in most of the activities. Also, he was happy locking and unlocking lockers at Kindyroo. Hence, I have signed him up for 6mths course. Hopefully, he develops more patience and better listening skills after the entire course.

Simple activities

A purple sea with a boat
A garden with watering can

Nai Nai mother day card

Popo mother day card

caterpillar

Plane to beijing

Kids at work

Everyday has been been a challenge to keep the kids occupied as I have brought limited resources in luggage. So far, we have done lots of painting, mother day cards, arts and crafts using recycled egg trays, newspaper, foam and etc.

Our day starts at 8am with learning ABCs (alternate days will be Mandarin Class), followed by art activities till about 10am. Then after the kids would have light snacks and watch their daily feed of cartoons. At times, Kyla would do some more art and crafts with me or read books. At around 12, we would have lunch and finish off with bath and nap time till 4pm. When they are awake, Lezane would be running around and destroying things aroound the house while Kyla will do some random activities such as fixing jigsaw puzzles and dancing. At times, we will do some baking too (we will be going for some baking classes soon).

Around 5-6pm, the kids would have their dinner. That pretty much summarises what our daily life is about. On Thur and Sat, we will be out doing sight-seeing with the kids as it is Weikai's off days. In abt 2 weeks time, Kyla will be attending daily school while Lezane will be attending a weekly school with mummy. Also by then, my in laws are travelling back to Singapore and I will face the real challenge of handling the two kids on my own. Hallelujah to me then...

First Week in Beijing

It has been a week that we have been to Beijing. Everything is going well so far except for the weather. The weather has been erratic – one moment is slightly warmer and another moment it can be freezing cold with chilly winds.

The kids hate the weather.  They hate donning so many layers of clothing each time we head out (at least 3 layers for now.  At times, Lezane puts on 4 layers).   So far, we have visited the Blue Zoo, Fun Dazzle, local market and super market, Xiu Shui and Yaxiu markets (which pa and ma had some interesting buys). 

Today, we went to the Botanical Gardens with the Oakwood flat mates to view the supposedly spring flowers. However, the gardens were still very much barren with some ‘planted’ flowers along the way.  The kids do not enjoy it very much as it was freezing cold and there wasn’t any restaurant for meals during lunch.  I guess I will have to cook their meals each time we go for sight seeing as I had noticed that their sight seeing places lacked proper eating places for kids. 

One thing i have to get used here is to bring their cutlery sets and utensils for meals as most restaurants are not child friendly. Most of the eating places served food in porcelain plates, spoons, cups etc, which posed as a hazard for itchy hands Lezane.  Also, we have to bring shopping bags (eg recycling bags) out each time we go to market, shopping etc as they do not give out bags for free.  They are very serious of saving the environment here, although pollution is still an issue here. So now, our going out bag is HUGE…

All right, shall let the pictures do the talking to summarise what we have been up to…

At Wang Fu Jing Indoor Playground

  At home

Botanical Gardens   Blue Zoo Date night at 花家怡园

Fully toilet trained

Kyla has finally graduated from her diapers for 2 weeks. It was a great achievement as she didn't wet the bed when she first try without it for the night. So proud of this cheeky little girl of mine.

Stepping into the Historical City - Beijing

A picture before boarding
First night dinner in Beijing


Kyla striking a wierd pose with papa

The must have photo before the departure gates

We have arrived in Beijing safely after some hiccups both in Singapore and Beijing airport. Back in Singapore, our approval for excess baggage didnt get to the check in personnel in time and also we had issues with our seats arrangements. Both of which took quite some time to sort it out and that left us very little time to say goodbye to our family.

In Beijing, we took a while to clear the customs. Getting a porter service wasnt easy too..I could only get a porter service after scolding the airport pple. I was so so cheesed off by their attitude.... When we came out of the airport, we were informed that our driver went to our apartment to pick us up instead of the airport. How silly can they get... Once again, it meant we had to wait wait wait with two tired kids. Only by 5pm, we arrived at the apartment. My inlaws and kids, including myself were all so drained after an entire day of travelling. Well, at least our day ended well with a scrumptious dinner at a nearby Chinese Restaurant. Will send more updates soon.

Last Day At Work

Papoo, my best helper
My greatest listener at work

Advisor Joyce

my boss

best buddy

Me "next-door" neighbour

My house neighbour cum colleague

Aunty Jen

1 Apr, April's Fool Day was my last day of work. Last day usually means no work and going round bidding farewell to fellow colleagues. However, 75% of my time in office was to rush last min work for my boss and the remaining 25% was left to chat with colleagues. I wished I had more time spent chatting with friends.

I will definitely miss my team of female comrades at work. It has been a very pleasant and enjoyable time working with them and will miss corporate life too. Well, think my journey as a domestic engineer will also be peppered with lots of excitement and challenges.

Some changes in my Kids

I have started my domestic life a couple of days ago and I have seen some changes in my kids.

Kyla has become more independent like feeding herself during all meal times and cleaning up after the meal on her own accord, which I seldom see it when my mother in law is around. Didi too also self-feeds but most of the time it just ends up in a mess. But I must say Lezane is getting better at self-feeding. But somehow, when my in laws are around, their sense of independence turns to reliance on them. My kids are opportunists, taking advantage of my inlaws.

Lezane's vocab is also expanding to include borbor (my sis), bye bye, nai nai, zei zei (kyla, at times), por por (my mum). He is also getting better at listening to instructions thou most of the time he is still an ah beng.

A Talk About Marriage

Kyla saw a wedding car parked downstairs of our house and she started to ask a string of questions.

Kyla: Mummy, why there is a wedding car?

Me: There is a wedding and someone is getting married.

Kyla: Why they get married?

Me: Coz the boy and the gal like each other and they married to have kids like you and didi. At the end of the year, you will attend Gugu's wedding.

Kyla: Next time, I will want to get married too. Didi also. But why gugu has two weddings? Cannot, she married before.

Me: Gugu has an English wedding and a Chinese wedding.

Kyla: Why two? Why english and chinese?

She kept asking why until I had to divert her attention on another topic.