The Apple's Diary!

Birthday Hong Bao My mum passed me a red packet for my birthday this year, as usual with many of my previous birthday. I didn't give it much thought，mumbled a Thank You and a quick smile and I got distracted by the boys again. Recently, I remembered about this red packet that was buried deep in my drawer. I took it out and realised that my mum took effort to get a birthday design red packet and packed in a tidy sum of money (at least to me). Suddenly I felt nostalgic. We were not rich neither were we very poor. In their own ways, my father had given me the best gift - allowing me to take up piano lesson since young and sponsored my lessons till I finished my Grade 8. Back then, every cents count so I really appreciated that. My mum is the most giving person. She forgives readily and is generous with her time, with her bakes, with everything. She tries to balance between my brother's kids and mine, she tries to work things out if we both needed her help at the same time....

Post Dated Entry In the last weekend of July, we made a trip up to Genting Highlands with my parents. Believe it or not, we endure a long coach journey of 6 hours to get to the top. Started on a Saturday morning at 6.15am which we gathered at the designated meeting point. The coach was slightly late but it was a new fitting coach, much to our delight. After clearing both customs, we had a short break at Yong Peng. The boys had some noodles and we set off again. The boys managed to get some sleep in coach and we finally reached just before 2pm. Ah Yi's Lunch on arrival It was a long walk from First World Hotel lobby where the hotel shuttle dropped us to our Resort Hotel. For those not familiar with Genting Highlands, the whole theme park is undergoing major renovation. The outdoor theme park was totally demolished and there would be a new theme park modelled after 20th Century Fox theme and a new hotel. Because of this major renovation, the original walk of 5 minutes ...

We had our maiden outdoor photoshoot done with Natsuki Photography . This photoshoot was re-scheduled 3 times before we successfully completed it. The photos were previewed today and I picked some that are our favourite. Love the candid smiles on our faces Looks effortlessly? We did a few takes for these and called it a wrap soon after… ahaha The man with boy #1 The man with boy #2 surrounded by toys they love my youngest - looking so grown up love this for the dreamy feel We came in strips theme, with blue, yellow, khaki and white as colour theme. Chose west coast park and brought the boys' car rides out, coupled with bubble guns. Obviously we were inexperienced because once the boys were on their car rides, we were constantly running behind them. Weather was cloudy but extremely humid on that Sunday evening. We called it a wrap under an hour's time and seemed refuge at Macs. There were more shots done over there and the boys...

reading on his own The younger boy turns 31 month old today. He starts to talk more, in combination of 2-3 words, starts to display correlation ability. He sings more in both languages. He is happy to go to his Preschool and is even more playful and mischievous. Toilet-training has started and it is progressing well. Yet he still amazes me ever more. The father brought the older one to run some errands, leaving the younger one at home with me. I wanted to take a shower so I told him to take the books and go inside the room to read. I didn't expect him to act upon my instruction. He read and was still reading when I came out of shower. I praised him endlessly for the effort put in there. Though he doesn't recognise words yet and probably flipping the pages and looking at the pictures, the concentration here is commendable for a 2year 7month old boy. The effort to read to them every night is starting to reap its benefits.

Last Monday, hubby came to pick me up from work. He was furious. At the back of the car, my 2 boys were quiet. I thought the boys made him angry. Turned out that Jon got pushed by the same boy (twice in 2 weeks) at school. This time round, it was more serious. bruises He had a big bump and a cut at his left eye area. I asked him if he cried and he nodded. Then he added he is angry with Boy A that pushed him. I probed further  on what had happened. He told me they were playing, a little running and Boy A pushed him. So I checked with he provoked Boy A by pushing him or saying something nasty to him. He gave a slight nod. The next morning, we managed to ask his class teacher and she told us that the incident happened when the father came to pick Jon up. He and Boy A were playing with a little running and she saw Jon just tapped a little on the Boy A and Boy A suddenly gave him a big push. He fell backwards and knocked into the cabby hole where they put their bags hence ...

We brought the boys for a trial class at Abrakadoodle (Jurong) this evening. The boys were assigned to the mini doodlers class which was non-parent accompanied. There was a party ongoing at the outlet when we were there so it looked a little chaotic. We went into the class with the boys to get them settle and Matthew started to wail when we had to go, on the advice of the teachers. They would rather the child cry at the beginning and get used to be in a drop-off class, than to have the parents hanging in the class to prolong the separation anxiety. I wasn't too sure if the insistence would do good for Matthew but I didn't have another option. So we went to the nearby coffee shop for a drink and returned 15minutes before lesson ended. Presenting their work The class was designed to have a gallery session such that each child would talk about their art work and the teacher would guide them along in describing their art work. I was pleasantly surprised by the boys...

It is almost the end of June and it has already been 178 days gone in 2015. I thought it would be good to do a review on the study plan I drafted earlier this year. Except for the Heguru worksheet which was the most consistent, we didn't manage to work out with the rest of the plan. Berries revision was next most frequent attempted though it was not on daily basis. For the rest, we didn't do much. Like Maths, I did the addition and subtraction concept recently with the abacus from Ikea. I didn't have much luck with the Dot bar program. Jonathan is still learning to spell his name and it is fair he should have more time to learn since his name was long to begin with. I'm starting to get him write down his name on the Heguru worksheet by tracing over mine. As for Matthew, except for doing the Heguru worksheet, I haven't been really doing much with him. So I decided to re-draw a study plan. Heguru worksheet is here to stay. Instead of doing Ber...