To cane or not to cane?

We think Yan has reached the ultimate "milestone" - the Terrible Twos.

She screams when we tell her to get out of the bath, she screams when we don't react quickly enough to her wants, she screams when we say "no" to more TV, she screams when we don't give her the sweets that she loves. She screams at almost everything.

Ben smsed me one day while out with her alone "Yan is terrible. Can't take it". That just about summarises how we feel about her terrible tantrums and out bursts.

So Ben went out to buy a cane. It is now placed near the time-out corner, as a warning to Yan whenever she is on the verge of another outburst. It doesn't stop her from throwing another fit, but it's obvious she tries to control her emotions whenever we start flashing the cane for her to see.

So far, the cane hasn't been put to real "action" yet. Let's see how long that can last.

Costume Party

Most parents of young children will attest to this. Nowadays, pre-school is no longer what it used to be, in our times. Now pre-school comes with lots of extra currcular activities, e.g. excursions, parties, performances etc.

At the girls' school, there is excursion every month, speech and drama performance every half a year and many parties spread throughout the year. All these mean the parents end up spending a lot of money, time and effort. But of course, the children get lots of exposure to everything else outside the books, which must be a good thing.

Rui and Yan had their first costume party in school today. We decided not to spend any money so we borrowed old performance costume from Aunti E and recycled an old princess dress from Tessa.

Recycled or not, the girls look great in the costumes!

Meltdown

Rui had an emotional "meltdown" this morning.

She has been absent from school since last Wed due to stomach flu. Today is to be her first day back in school.

While eating her breakfast, she realised she had not copied down words for 听写 as she was absent from school on Friday. She panicked and started crying her eyes out. Me and Ben were startled by her sudden and unexpected reaction.

We told her there's nothing to worry about as the teacher will understand that she was ill and couldn't be in school to copy the words. We also reassured her that we will explain to her teacher and that she will not get into any trouble.

This episode worried me a little though. I am concerned that Rui's kan cheong nature will mean she will be easily stressed out by academic issues in the future. If a little spelling at K1 is going to set her off like this morning, worse is to come when she goes to primary school, where academic pressure is likely to be more intense.

However, when I shared this with my friends, they commented that I should be glad that Rui has this innate desire to do well. Cos this means that I most probably not have to worry about her slacking off in the future. They also told me that it is then my duty to help teach her to regulate her emotions and fears.

I am somewhat convinced, though not totally.

Princess Doll

We discovered a toy/craft shop at the dingy looking Serene Centre today. To our surprise, it is owned by the father of Momma's ex-student!

We bought Rui a make-your-own-doll craft from there. Here's the end product. 90% of it was done by Papa. Rui only helped to colour the face, apply the glue and to fill in the doll's birth certificate. She has nicknamed it Mary.

做家务!

为了不让两个小孩变得娇生惯养,我们开始让她们做一些简单的家务事. 蕊每天早上都会自己收拾床褥. 妍则学会自己收玩具和丢自己的垃圾. 两个小孩暂时还觉得做家务事挺好玩的!

Finally, the certificate!

Remember the award Yan won in school for being able to sit down during lessons?

Here is the certificate. Yan held it all the way from school till home and didn't let go of it till quite sometime later. It's her first afterall.

哈日族

Ben and I are huge fans of Japan.

We were there for our honeymoon, we enjoy jap movies (the last one we saw was The Departures and it was good) and we hope to return to Jap for a long holiday soon.

So when Auntie V told me about the nice grilled mackerel she got from Mediya, I couldn't resist not trying it out myself.

On sat, after swim, we hopped by to the supermarket. We ended up buying:
1. Shio Saba (salted mackerel) which was later grilled for lunch. Yummy!
2. Mini Sapporro beers (haven't tried this yet)
3. Sakura tea (how cool is that? Drinking tea made from the famous flower?)

It all came at a price though. Our bill came up to almost $100 for a bunch of knick-knacks. Blame it on the strong yen.

小鸡歌

妍最近学了一首可爱的儿歌.这是她唱歌时的模样.

Marriage and Babies

Ever since the 2 girls came into our lives, Ben and I haven't had much time for each other. We don't sleep in the same room anymore (Ben with Rui and I with Yan), we don't go out on dates frequently enough, we don't even hold hands as we walk! And most of our daily conversations revolve around our 2 kids. The situation is so "dire" that when we held hands the other day infront of our 2 girls, Yan exclaimed "So funny! Papa hold hand Mummy!"

I am sure most of our married-with-kids friends share the same sentiments. The thing is, should this be the way to go? When our kids grow up and move away, will the 2 parents be stuck with each other with nothing else to talk about and nothing else to share?

We recently managed to convince Rui that when Yan turns 3, the 2 of them will sleep in the same room while Papa and Momma will sleep in the other. I am counting down to December 2009.