14.4.12 - Pusat Sains Negara

We went to Pusat Sains Negara in the morning, as I had to return our library books.

We saw several caterpillars at the Nature Secrets Lab. This is a medium size caterpillar. I saw the same type of caterpillar in a broccoli head that I had bought from Tesco. Unfortunately it was dead, maybe due to being kept in the fridge. I had not realised it was there. 

There was too much mist that it felt claustrophobic, so we hurried out. 

The boys went to play at the waterpark instead. After that we went inside the main building. 

Our first time seeing a diver feeding the fishes. It seems this "show" is held on weekends only. 

At the indoor play area

13.4.12 - Gymnastics class

This is E during one of his gymnastics class sessions. S finds it scary to do this.

7.4.12 - Cheng Beng prayers

I was debating whether to bring the boys to attend the Cheng Beng prayers for my late grandparents, as the environment might be smoky and unsuitable for them. However, I thought it would be a good educational event for them to experience, so we brought them there.

We went to Nilai Memorial Park, where my late grandparents' urns were kept. It was the boys' first time there. We were pleasantly surprised that the road was not jammed and there were not too many people there. There was even a shady place to sit and very breezy too.

Grandma guiding S on the prayer rituals

Showing E my late grandparents pictures

4.4.12 - Of birthdays and presents

These are the presents that they received from their aunt S - A large Finn McMissile which is able to shoot missiles and a Hot Wheels Switch and Spray gadget for Colour Shifters.

Dangers of giving them toys as presents - since then, whenever she comes to visit, they would call on her to buy them toys, which hubby and I don't encourage as we don't want to raise narcissistic children. We try to teach them the concept of delayed gratification, which will be important when they grow up. It's still difficult at this age whenever they see some of their friends having toys that they don't have. 

This is also the reason why we only have a small birthday celebration with the family. We don't want to encourage the sense of entitlement as they expect to receive gifts on their birthday. I grew up in a family which doesn't practice celebrating birthdays. I only had 3 birthdays being celebrated, one at 5, one at 12 and one at 18. The rest of the years, my mother would cook mee sua (symbolic for longevity) and red eggs. Kids are so different nowadays. Now, my boys have started asking me, "Why don't we receive presents on our birthday?" They can't comprehend it as they attended some friends birthdays and see their friends receiving presents. 

If I do organise a birthday celebration for them in the future, it may be one without toys as presents.  

3.4.12 - Drama class - Session 2

This is session 2 of the children's preschool drama class at KLPAC in Sentul.

After the class, we went to the lake right beside the building to the fishes.

This is Sentul Park and it exudes a very serene atmosphere. 

He usually saves bread crusts to feed the fishes.

There are several tortoises in the lake

I love the tree roots. It seems to have an ancient feel about it. I wonder how many years it took for the roots to grow like that.

Hiatus

I have been on a 2-months + hiatus from updating my blog and am a few months backwards in my postings. Reason is I do not have much time any more. Our Indonesian domestic helper has left us for good after 3 years with us, as she needed to take care of her own children back home and her father is very ill. Her sister doesn't want to take care of her kids any more, so she has to return. 

Since she left in early March, I find that I do not have much time to update my blog and to juggle my therapy work, household chores, cooking, cleaning, care of the kids and ferrying them for activities, so I've left the blog for some time. We're not taking in any new domestic live-in helper, not even a part-timer, so we're trying to manage with technological gadgets. 

I also have cut down on field trips for the kids, and only join in whenever I have the time. Meanwhile, I hope to be able to keep my blog up to date with our current activities. 

30.3.12 - Books we read in March 2012

Below are the library books we borrowed and read in March 2012.

From PJ Community Library

From PJ Playcentre

From TTDI Community Library

From PSN Library

30.3.12 - Toy creations

Here's some of the toy creations by S.

The 2 pictures below are made using Lasy construction toy at a friend's house. Amazingly, I had never seen this toy before. I didn't know Lasy was around some 20 - 30 years ago. Looking back, I had played with so little toys then and nowadays kids have abundant choices. 

The other 3 pictures below are made using our non-lasy construction toy. I can clearly see the difference in quality. 

A transformer jet

The above jet transformed into this. 

29.3.12 - Balloon science experiment

The boys have been pestering me to do a baking soda vinegar balloon science experiment, which I have postponed for several days. They learnt it by watching a science show on CBeebies channel.

Items required:
1. Baking soda
2. Vinegar
3. Plastic bottle
4. Balloon
5. Funnel

All our measurements were estimations only.

Pour some vinegar into the bottle 

Pour 2 - 3 spoonfuls of baking soda into the balloon

Place the balloon onto the mouth of the bottle, and  hold up balloon so that the baking soda falls down into the vinegar below. This creates gas.  

The solution starts bubbling and creates gas which inflates the balloon.

We tried several times to inflate the balloon bigger. However, we couldn't get the balloon to inflate much. The above picture is the largest balloon that we inflated (which was rather small).

28.3.12 - The Twits play

We attended a play entitled "The Twits", which was an adaptation of Roald Dahl's book. I haven't read his book, so I had no idea what it was about. The play was held at MAPSKL, at Menara Kenchana Petroleum, beside Publika. The ticket charges were RM40 per adult and RM35 per child.

The coordination for seating was quite messy and chaotic and our group took some time to find our seats. There were some confusion as our group were told that we were seating in the front only to find that we were placed at the back.

Meanwhile, I gave the boys their sketch books and pen and they just sat there drawing while waiting for the play to start. It was good to see them so calm and unaffected by the surrounding chaos.

S drew an animal. 

Looks like some mummified cat monster

The play started finally. S could understand some of the jokes and laughed along. The play was rather long, over 1 hour and without a break. Towards the end, the boys were fidgeting and moving around waiting for the show to end.

27.3.12 - Preschool drama class

First day of preschool drama class at KLPac in Sentul. It was held on a weekday morning over several weeks and those who attended were homeschoolers. It was raining when we arrived, so they donned their plastic raincoat that was bought from Daiso. However, the material was too thin (just like plastic), and got torn when E stepped on the bottom as it was too long for him.

Don't they look like yellow ghosts without legs?

The class was taught by Ms Kimmy who was very good with the kids.

Play acting

24.3.12 - Knight fancy dress costume

I bought a book on "I'm a Dragon Knight" from the Popular Book fair at IPC. It was RM9.90 and came with a story book a shield and helmet made from foam and a cape.