Saturday, December 26, 2009

Our Christmas dinner at Pizza Hut


Children are the happiest souls on Christmas...coz they get lots of pressie!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Monday, December 7, 2009

Art & Craft Series: Our Gemy Smiling Snowman

Materials required:
Vanguard sheet, cotton wool, nice wrapping paper, chopsticks, marker, white glue and bluetag.

Not very difficult to make actually. The gems helped with the pasting of the cotton wool, eyes, mouth, buttons and hat.

And we proudly presents......our very own GEMY SMILING SNOWMAN!!


Sunday, December 6, 2009

Our Christmas presents from Ah Yee

Pearlyn was super happy this year. She got her Baby Alive doll finally! I had refused to buy for her as I think it's a bit expensive for a doll. She couldn't take her hands off that little doll! She had been yearning for this doll for a long time. Pearlyn loves babies, real ones I mean. So when she knows that Mummy won't be giving her anymore real ones (hahahah) and there's this toy doll that will really poo and pee, she had been hoping to own one.

Here's a picture of Pearlyn carrying her baby in her very own SARONG SLING...




- pretending to be asleep with their Baby Alice dolls (the one beside Pearlyn is the one that'll pee and poo). The one beside Amberlyn can only chuckle and make funny sounds when u tickle her bellybutton).

Amberlyn was also very happy with her big set of Mickey Mouse toys. Know what, the girls refused to keep their toys and go to bed........oh......kids....

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Over-Confidence Kids

Will need to start tackling Pearlyn's behavourial problem from this minute...

Over-Confidence
What is the problem about?


Overconfidence in children has often resulted in disasters in their educational and social life. Overconfident children seldom heed to the advice of their parents and teachers and often land up in unforeseen trouble.Children who have healthy self-confidence tend to enjoy interacting with others. They are comfortable in social settings and actively participate in group activities as well as independent pursuits. They are also willing to pursue new interests. When challenges arise, these children rise up to the occasion and are able to work towards finding solutions. They voice their discontent without belittling themselves or others. But the situation is just the opposite in the case of overconfident children.Teachers find arrogant and overconfident children difficult to deal with. Overconfidence in their abilities leads them to be less careful in assessing their own uncertainty and the consequences of mistakes when completing tasks. Because they are overconfident, they do not take the time out to assess and think of what they need to do to ensure no mistakes are committed. They perhaps just assume that they would automatically do well.Parents also have a hard time warning over-conceited children about things which may lead to unfavourable consequences such as an imminent danger. For example, when an electric appliance stops working properly, children are the first ones to lend their hand in mending it. Overconfidence in these children leads them to run the risk of a life-threatening electric shock that might strike in case of a slight wrong move.These children see smaller milestones of success at school (such as scoring better grades in 1st term exams) or at home (such as being able to operate the computer) as an indication of infallible expertise or a sign of their growing up. They begin to perceive success as a destination and not as a journey.These smaller achievements prevent overconfident children from further pursuing their endeavours in the field, taking success for granted. They become lax in their studies or in their efforts in other areas.Ultimately these children fail to attain success levels achieved as earlier. They also tend to lose out on good friends and acquaintances due to their arrogant behaviour.Therefore, overconfidence in children needs to be seen as a serious problem.

Signs/symptoms to look for
Children do not listen to the suggestions from their parents and teachers.
The are less careful in assessing their own uncertainty and the consequences of mistakes when completing tasks. They do not take the time out to think of what they need to do to ensure no mistakes are committed.
These children wrongly believe that they are perfect.
They begin to perceive success as a destination and not as a journey.
Small successes make these children complacent and they quit pursuing their endeavours more diligently.
Ultimately these children fail to attain success levels as achieved earlier.
They lose out on good friends and acquaintances due to their arrogant behaviour.

Causes
Overconfidence is a behavioural problem. Kids who receive general rather than specific praise about their abilities are more likely to exhibit overconfidence. Too much generalised adulation such as “You are smart”, “You are a good boy”, etc. lead children to focus on the reward rather than what they are learning.Similarly, excessive pampering can also cause to cultivate fake ego among children.Parents who themselves have ego problems affect their children as well. These children begin to develop a false ego around them which manifests in the form of overconfidence. Therefore, the upbringing of children plays an important role in determining whether they are going to grow out as self-confident or overconfident. Oh gosh, what have I done!

Solutions
Praising and appreciating children are important for building their self-esteem which is the cornerstone of education. Achievement will naturally follow if children believe in themselves and work confidently. But appreciation does not always produce better students.Parents should be specific rather than general when they dispense praise. Failure can be devastating and confusing for children whose confidence is based on an inflated ego, rather than their actual abilities.This does not, however, mean that parents should not praise their children or that teachers should not try to engender self-confidence. Praise should be showered but only when deserved or required. Self-esteem should be the result of good grades and achievement, not false accomplishments.Parents should avoid mixing their love for their children with excessive pampering. Superficial love in the form of excessive compliments, gifts, etc., can lead to a false sense of security and overconfidence among children.Parents themselves should exhibit healthy confidence in their abilities which then can permeate the psyche of their children and help them become confident not over-confident individuals. \

Friday, November 27, 2009

Art & Craft Series : Shapes Stamping

It's public holiday and since Pearl is going to miss her Arts class due to "meet-the-parent session" tomorrow, I decided to let the gems play with shape stamping today. Most children would have done shape stamping in school using fruits, but I always find it a waste of food. I chanced upon a blog that uses toilets rolls to make different types of shapes for stamping instead.

Here a picture of the five shapes that I made from the toilet rolls which I painfully collected over the month, enough for both gems..



This is a fun and educational session for kids to learn about colours and shapes (although both gems are way too old for that). The gems tried their hands at creating a shape and end up both made oval shapes....hahaha

we are ready....








After the shape stamping, they also did some "creative" finger painting and also explored colour mixing. Pearl appreciated finding out the result of the combinaton of different colours more than Amber. Amber is way too engrossed with the pouring and mixing of the paint but the most important thing of all is......both enjoyed it very much

see our dirty hands



Here's the pictures of their creative art works which were being proudly put up at our Gems' Art Gallery located at the wall of our kitchen



shape stamping by Pearlyn


finger painting by Pearlyn

shape stamping by Amberlyn

finger painting by Amberlyn






Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Friday, November 6, 2009

It's Gem's Mummy's Birthday!!

Got a sweet surprise from gems-papa today. Tks dar dar and luv u too!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The difference between a princess and her maid

Amberlyn mei mei = Princess Amber
Pearlyn jie jie = 苦命 の maid

Friday, October 16, 2009

Playdough & Mega Blocks

Papa got to work today, hence, I've gotta take urgent leave in at last min to take care of the 2 gems (Pearl's CCC closed today) as BL Ah Ma need to go see doc.

All of us played with playdough in the morning, the girls' enjoyed it so much that they meddled with it for hours....but their dear mummy gotta clean up the mess thereafter...


Fish
Catapillar
Penguin
"Duck"
Pig
Pizza by Pearlyn

In the afternoon, the girls played with their mega blocks. Amber meimei seems to be pretty creative....

Gems' houses

"cake" by Amber meimei

Aeroplane by Amber meimei

Giraffe by Amber meimei

Front row: Elephant and camel by mummy

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival

This pretty butterfly lantern is hand-made by Pearl's Art teacher, Teacher Jasmine. It's cut out from carton boxes, so beautiful, said she spent a few weeks making all these lanterns 老师,辛苦您了。. She let the children paint on their own lantern. The very nice Teacher Jasmine also gave Amber one fish lantern although she's not a student. Eh...I am suppose to go home and paint with her...but....

Pearlyn's butterful lantern


Amberlyn's "unfinished" fish lantern


In the evening, I brought to children to the Mid-Autumn Festival Carnival organised by TPY East CC. TPY Ah Gong actually bought 10 tickets! 天不做媒,it started to rain when we reached. End up we just carry the lantern at the void deck. Hao Hao and Di Di kor kor were also there.



Funny papa

Monday, October 12, 2009

Smoking kills..but Sucking does not...

While buying Papa's cigarettes at 7-11, I happened to see a packet of cigarettes that are not cigarettes after all. It read "Sucking does not kill" as opposed to the one on a real cigarette pack "Smoking kills".

It's actually Chupa Chups lollypop. They're so creative!


Thursday, October 8, 2009

Poly Beaus Gathering...

Yeh, we finally had our own gathering on our LADIES' BIG DAY on 6 October 2009. I call it our "own" coz' it's a no kids' day....hahaha...just us....

Linda, Jess, Careen and myself took leave on this VERY BIG DAY. The others, Winnie, Hui and Jessmei meet up for dinner in the evening. We 4 beaus played mahjong after our breakfast of Kopi and Toast (xi bey ah soh sia!).


Careen, we must always remember to take photos tog, dont' look so contrasting standing with the rest of the ah sans...haha


We managed to just play 2 1/2 rounds of mahjong. In the end, the 2 san bohs won the 2 ah buis....see...big no use... 好看不好吃。

This really brings us back to the good old days where everyone meet at our Mess (ie. my house) for mahjong and karaokes. Here's an apology to my old neighbours, we must have been very noisy then. We chatted, joked and laughed like the old days...

Jess and I had other stuff to do, hence, cannot join the rest of the beaus for the evening program. Winnie 放飞机 grrrhhh

Linda and Careen proceeded to meet Hui and Jessmei for dinner at EN grill and bar at Mhd Sultan.