All I want to say is

I truly, truly set out to blog more faithfully this month after an abysmal one post in November. And I was starting to do well too, wasn’t I?

But, then…

I decided to reorganise my kids rooms (I finally gave Little Missy a bed and stowed her “playpen bed” away). With that I had to do some major spring cleaning (both rooms and my store room). Now it’s about 90% done (for now at least).

So…

My apologies to those of you who drop by faithfully (for the lack of posts lately). 

But…

At the sametime I also want to say a great big THANK YOU for staying interested in what I have to write. It is a wonderful encouragement to me, I appreciate your audience.

Having said that,

I’ll probably be silent for the rest of this week too. Sorry, it is Christmas and after that we’ll be away on a retreat.

BUT

before I go, here’s a video. It is an adorable take on Nativity and the Little Drummer Boy.

Blessed Christmas everyone!

Chopsticks

Back to the topic of Toyrific, in addition to the toys I showed you, I bought two pairs of Edison Chopsticks (“training” chopsticks) there and they are marvellous. My kids love them and they could use it pretty well the minute they tried it out.

In fact they finished their entire meal of fried noodles using the chopsticks. Yes they were more messy than usual, my son had food stains not only on his t-shirt but his arms and legs as well! But they were so thrilled and motivated using the chopsticks, it was well worth some extra cleaning. They’ve since been using the chopsticks everytime we eat noodles at home.

The chopsticks are designed and made in Korea. It is pure genius. They make learning how to use chopsticks easy peasy.

(photo taken from Cherry Lemon International website)

I surfed the net for a bit and found a Singapore website – Cherry Lemon International – that sells them online. Apparently they are also available at several Kiddy Palace outlets. The chopsticks are retailing at SGD12.90 online (inclusive of delivery charges) but I bought them at SGD9.90 each at Toyrific (big grin).

My Best Christmas Present

I received a wonderful, wonderful Christmas present yesterday.

It is official. Hubby-jr no longer has to go for speech therapy. His speech therapist “discharged” him after doing a formal review. (He has been attending fortnightly one-hour sessions since Nov last year.) Hallelujah!

His current language is now average for a kid his age. Yes, he has acquired age appropriate language skills. Hallelujah!

I will still have to work on a few concepts with him at home (just for reinforcement). Four concepts to be exact. But that’s it. Hallelujah!

He may or may not need a review in a year’s time, depending on his progress in the year ahead. That translate’s to me as NO speech therapy sessions for one whole year minimum! Hallelujah!

This is the best Christmas present.

Thank. You. Jesus.

(For those of you who are new to my blog, you can read about my journey with Hubby-jr’s speech delay/mild hearing loss by clicking on the Speech Delay category on the left hand column).

Toyrific

I’ve been to Hougang Mall many, many times and so I couldn’t believe that all those time I was there, I missed a toyshop tucked away at level 5.

That’s right, Toyrific is the name of the shop. And I think it is pretty Toyrific!

No, they do not have a fantastic range of toys. They do however have very reasonable prices! And yes, I do so love bargains. I find them simply ir-re-sis-ti-ble. 

Here’s some of the stuff I bought there. 

This is a really fun family game. The box was a little worn out (old stock?) but everything in it was brand new.

 

My mom bought this as a Christmas present for Hubby-jr. Excellent condition.

I bought this set of 6 eggs for Little Missy. It adds to her collection of toy food to play at her “kitchen”. Otherwise they are fun to play with as puzzles too.

My kids love this simple toy. It can keep them amused for more than 5 mins (trust me that’s alot!) Hold the stick end between both palms, spin and watch it fly in the air.

Go to their blog to see more of their products (don’t expect a fancy blog, it is a simple outfit). They have an outlet at Harbour Centre (Habour Front) too.

By the way I get no commission doing this (they don’t even know I’m blogging about them) nor am I a shareholder (hubby just asked me if I was helping them sell stuff). I just love to share a bargain, more importantly I need them to stay in business to feed my bargain hunting cravings every now and then! So give them a shot and check them out, okay? Please? (There, I said please.)

The Singapore Zoo

What’s there not to love about the Singapore Zoo? Besides the undesirable smell of just one or two of the animals? Nothing really. The undesirable smell is negligible (hold your breath and move along!)

Yes, you guessed it. We just paid the zoo a visit last Friday. It is one of our must-dos at every long school holiday (i.e June and Nov/Dec). This time I was more eager than usual to go. My friends have been raving about the newly opened Rainforest Kidzworld at the zoo.

And I finally saw why. It is fabulous.

The new Kidzworld has a huge water play area, a dry playground, flying fox, a carousel and pony rides. There’s also a Ben and Jerry’s outlet (one out of the 3 at the zoo) right next to the water-play area! YUM! And yes, KFC’s next to them.

Unfortunately we only had time to let the kids explore the water-play area (after looking at the animals) this visit. Still, they had a blast.

We plan to squeeze in another visit (or two?) to the zoo before the holidays end. For the next visit we’ll skip the animals (sorry) and head directly to Kidzworld!

The Singapore Zoo is truly a paradise for kids (and a lovely place for adults too)!

Favourite animals (elephants, giraffes, monkeys, etc.) - check

Interesting animals (probosis monkey, just to name one) – check

Great animal shows – check

Tram ride – check

Boat ride (newly opened) – check

Fast food (KFC) – check

Ben and Jerry’s – check, check, CHECK!

Big, fantastic kid’s play area  (Kidzworld) – Super Duper CHECK!

Really, what more could we ask for from a zoo???

I mean besides building a glass dome over the zoo to shield us from rain and keeping it at optimal temperature (air con!!)… AND free entrance passes for everyone to boot… hmm (dream, dream, dream, dre-e-e-e-am).

Oh, one more tip before I go, repellent, repellent, repellent! Lots of mosquitoes lurking around.

And this is a…

Hubby-jr is much less resistent to writing and drawing these days. In fact there are days (note: plural, more than one) where he seems to (gasp) enjoy it!

Last Sunday was one of those days. He was doodling away during Sunday Service at our church. (He prefers to sit with us at the service rather than attend Sunday School and we let him.) He was drawing his usual train stuff and then, quite out of character of him, he drew a stick man.

Immediately after that he drew another and just when I thought he was done he added two thingies on the head.

My first thoughts were… oh, it must an alien or some cartoon character I couldn’t figure out. So, naturally I asked my dear son what it was AND he said… “that’s a girl.” Hubby and I went into a mini, silent giggling fit (a sermon was being preached).

Well apparently this is how the little man of my life pictures girls… or at least thinks it is how they should be depicted… with two antennas… oops, I mean pigtails!

 

P/S: If you’re wondering, drawing, writing and especially colouring are still WAA…AY down the chart of his favourite things to do, if they are on the list at all. However if he had a very general list, I think they’re probably just one step ahead of eating vegetables!