Geekness

Just as Jordan is developing her artisitc, expressive side, Evan is developing his vast knowledge of all sorts of information. It started with distinguishing between Chinooks and Apaches and then the various types of Volkswagon cars. That progressed to identifying cars by their badges. Now, his knowledge in some ways is very specific, countries, flags that sort of them but at the same time, also very random.

The randomness comes from the stuff he picks up from watching television.

For the record, I hate that they watch so much television and they watch full length movies. But I can't help it. Packrat, on the weekends, has them alone and rather than chase 3 kids round the house, he watches movies with them. He makes it an entire experience, popping corn with them and cuddling up to them on the couch. It is his love and it is him sharing his love with the children.

No doubt it makes them bug eyed but it really isn't something I can fight so I just go with it.

Plus I see how much language they've picked up from it, albeit in strange American and British accents. Jordan's previous description of the Big Bad Mouse complete with the British accent was from the BBC animation. Evan however, has acquired very boy knowledge.

His favourite movie at this time is How to Train a Dragon. In it, there are different dragons that do different things and are lethal in different ways. The boy is able to spout all that information at the slightest association. So we drive down the street and see a truck with portable gas tanks in the back. And Evan will immediately chime in about how the Zippleback breathes out green gas and chokes its victims to death.

What entertains me the most about what he has picked up from watching television is the ability to imitate sound effects. So watching him fly his planes and crash his matchbox cars also includes listening to sound effects of cars crashing, speeding ahead, planes zooming up in the sky and occasionally crashing. All this can be discerned quite onomatopoeically.

The most stunning moment to date. Playing with two planes and making them almost crash (all this I hear rather than see because I am in the next room doing something else), suddenly this loud voice hollers "Disengage! Disengage! You're going to crash!"

My 4 1/2 year old son knows how to use the word "disengage" in an aerial dogfight? Has he been watching Top Gun in the middle of the night? I am later informed that it comes from the Incredibles.
















Packrat thinks this boy will have a lot of "geek cred". I don't know about that since I wasn't really ever a geek. So I am going to trust the "geek" dad on that.


Technorati Tags: twins, television, How to Train a Dragon, The Incredibles

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Performing Arts

Slowly but surely, the distinct gifts or areas of interest of the 3 children are becoming clear.
Jordan is the artist. She draws, she sings, she dances and now, we've discovered, she can dramatise too.
Evan is the geek (and I mean this as a compliment). He loves tech, he loves figuring out how things work and machinery.
Muffin is the jock. Child of few words but can outrun his siblings and climb faster and higher than the both of them. The only thing that seems incompatible with his inherent jock-ness is his love for books and puzzles.

A parent of teenagers told me that I should nurture their interests and catch it at an early age. We are trying to but in a way that doesn't kill it for them. So we let Muffin climb, if he wants to (provided someone is there to break his fall if he does), Jordan draw/sing/dance/play act if she wants to and Evan watch the cogs turn at our MRT station's escalotor or examine the pulley system of our lift shaft if he wants to.

On our part, we try to record the interesting bits so that we won't forget and they can look back at it and figure out where it all began.

One of our favourite writers is Julia Donaldson. Ever since Olie bought the twins The Gruffalo, we haven't looked back. Packrat makes their reading experience multimedia and will hunt down the relevant videos. So, the video that the children watch on a loop now is the Gruffalo's Child and Jordan has seen it enough times and heard the story enough times to internalise parts.

Here she is describing the Big Bad Mouse from the Gruffalo's Child and even though she doesn't get all the words correct, it is very cool.

Send her to speech and drama? Don't know. If she asks, maybe. If she doesn't, she can just channel whichever characters she wants to at home.



Technorati Tags: twins, The Gruffalo's Child

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The more we get together

Thank goodness Chinese New Year is only once a year because all the travelling that is done on the first day of the new year is just down right exhausting.

There was so much travelling.

It went along the lines of going first to Ah Ma's house, then to Mama's house for lunch, back to Ah Ma's house to see the remaining relatives there, off to see my oldest paternal uncle, back to Ah Ma's for dinner and then back out to have dinner with Packrat's Tan clan.

By the end of it all, I couldn't remember who gave which red packets and had lost count on the number of oranges we had exchanged. The day passed in a blur the same way it did when I got married.

I used to hate Chinese New Year for this very reason. But now, I look back at the non-kid CNY days and think that those days were a breeze compared to now.























What did however stand out in all the blur was the fact that the children were old enough to enjoy the visiting and the playing with the cousins every where they went. Thankfully, collecting ang pows aren't a big thing for them yet, but finding peers to much around with, from chasing each other in the garden to forming human pyramids, they had a rocking good time.

The Ng-Tan girls were also chuffed to all be dressed up similarly as Little Nonyas with both mommies joining in the fun. It was good fun and made for good photographs.

If there is anything memorable about Chinese New Year, it is that. The children, discovering the joy of get-togethers and not realising how exhausted their parents are from all the running around.

Having said that, they were pretty flat out too and whispered to us as they were rapidly losing consciousness that they wanted tomorrow to be Chinese New Year too.



















To that, both Packrat and I had the same thought. That we were thankful it was only once a year!


Technorati Tags: pre-schooler, Chinese New Year

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School

The new academic year has begun. Everyone is back in school, except me. This time, even Muffin.

Like the twins, I decided to send him to school early. We want him to learn that the world doesn't revolve around him and that he cannot get away with smacking and beating everyone who doesn't give in to him. Currently, that is what he does with his siblings.

So, off to a nearby childcare he goes.

There are the expected tears. With that, came the expected guilt. Even though this wasn't my first time, the crying still got to me. And it took all my effort to walk away from my child who was crying desperately for me. 2 weeks in, he still cries but not so much and from the teachers' reports, he is quite happy there.

It is a family effort to get him to school; not because he is difficult and refuses to go but because it is just too much for me to take him by bus and carry him and his accompanying paraphernalia. Thankfully, the twins volunteer to come along and each of them help carry a bag while I concentrate on heaving my little Muffin to school.

His favourite part of school? The playground where he scares the teachers by going down the slide meant for the kinder children.

My favourite part of his school routine? The fact that he lies down quietly and falls asleep nary a fuss. He doesn't do this at home. In fact, it is the opposite. He climbs, he disturbs everyone and the general peace.
























At the same time, the twins are back at the same school. Unlike the past 2 years where we've had to move them every year, they are actually in for the long haul in this kindergarten. They seem happy to go back except their teachers and classmates are different.

What stresses me out about this year?
That they are in K1 and there is increased rumblings of increased academic pressure from school in the form of homework and other expectations. Inevitably, that pressure translates to me being stressed because I am the one that ends up teaching them all they need to know from penmanship to phonics, numbers to Chinese proverbs and idioms that I have surreptitiously photograph and send to friends to find out how to read .



















What do I do? Now that everyone is in school? It sounds like it gives me a lot of time but this hasn't been the case. In the time that they are in school, I rush to do my groceries and other important errands. There hasn't really been time for facials, manicures and pedicures or fitness classes, unfortunately. Most un-tai tai.


Technorati Tags: pre-schoolers, school

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Bye 2011

2011 whizzed by in a blur. Much of my life is a blur of sleeplessness, sickness and screaming kids. Granted the screaming kids don't scream as much now but when they do, it does feel like it will never stop. But it has been a good year and I have much to be thankful for. I am going to come up with 11 things for 2011.

1. The children and Packrat got sick, much less.

I spend a fortune on vitamins for them and make sure they take their vitamin concoction without fail, every morning. Even Muffin has started the regimen. I complain about how much it costs but Packrat assures me that their getting sick would cost much more. He too, seems to be much less ill, for which I am thankful for. I shove vitamins down his throat too. Without me, he would forget. Whatever works!

2. I finally gathered up the guts to resign.

Since the birth of the twins, I've been humming and hawing. I've been on No Pay Leave because I'm entitled to it. But I've finally taken a deep breath, shut my eyes and said "I'm resigning... despite your holding my bonuses!" Well, I didn't say the latter out loud but I did think it.

3. Muffin is a big boy now.

The little one holds his own against his siblings. He fights with them, he laughs with them, he cuddles them and kisses them. In short, he loves them and he has learnt to be fearless with them around. He climbs, jumps and runs like a 4 1/2 year old because of them. As a result, he is growing up far too quickly.

4. We went on 2 holidays with the children.

One short one in June to Phuket where we survived with all 3 kids and no help and the seriously long extended one that we just came home from. Shared experiences and loads of memories that the twins still bring up. The ship is their favourite topic of conversation. Of course, now they think America is round the corner and we can pop by anytime we want.

5. New job
Packrat started a new job and is doing wonderfully. He loves what he does and hopefully he grows further this year.

6. Exercising together.
Ever since I got a pair of running shoes for my birthday, I've been trying to run with Packrat. We also did some pilates together and realised how much we missed exercising together. Perhaps more to look forward to this year.

7. The children have a routine.
I'm such a stickler for routine. When we were on holiday, at the back of my mind, I was stressed because all semblances of routine were thrown out the window. But generally, they now have some idea of what to expect in the day and it makes things easier. Of course, there are times when they try to go against the routine and incur the wrath of a pissed off mom.

8. Enrichment classes loom
Not so much because we feel the need to send them for extra stuff, although Chinese was something both Packrat and I decided was necessary, we have started the twins on doing other stuff apart from going to school. Having said that, much of it is offered by school and blissfully for us, extends their school day. So our home is filled with their artwork, Jordan puts on an entirely pink get-up on Saturday for ballet and all 3 kids embrace their inner water baby by splashing around the pool (Muffin) and learning proper strokes (the older two). It hasn't made them supremely clever or anything but it has exposed them and given them a great deal more confidence and outlets of expression.

9. Jordan learns to draw
She draws on anything, parking coupons, serviettes, slips of paper, cardboard and glass. Anything that will allow ink to show through. Her favourite objects to draw are mermaids and princesses, gardens, trees and flowers. Her latest was to replicate a fish tank we got a Christmas and she did a pretty darn good job of it. The most impressive, which I wish we kept, was the replica of a scene from a performance we saw on the ship. It had people flying around and dancing and she managed to capture the essence of all of it.

10. Evan learns to read.
Both of them are picking up the rudiments of reading and blending words. While Jordan can draw, Evan can read. Both in English and Chinese, he picks up fast and has a marvellous memory that helps him along. I tell them I cannot wait for the day that they can read me a story.

11. Muffin can speak.
I constantly fear, hearing parents around me talk about slow speech development and learning disabilities, that my children will encounter the same things. Muffin has picked up words much later than his siblings. I do however know that it is because most of his cognitive capacity was geared toward him learning to jump, climb and run like a 4 year old. But he has in the recent months picked up a slew of words so that he can make himself understood and also gives us insight into what goes on in that funny head of his. "Cow....moooo.... Duck.... quack quack... Chicken... UHM!"

















Hopefully 2012 will top this and at the end of this year I have more than 12 things I can talk about.

Technorati Tags: pre-schoolers, 2011, family

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