Up Close and Personal with animals

Once again, we are back from a long vacation. Unlike the previous one which was all about theme parks and everything artificial, spending 3 weeks in Australia and New Zealand meant the direct opposite. It was all about nature, animals and fresh air. All excellent things for the city slicker kids we have.

Since the twins are old enough, they are guesting on the blog and writing about the animals from their perspective.

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Our first encounter with nature was in Blue Mountains, an extremely beautiful place with nature everywhere.
We even heard a baby goat bleating in the distance! It was actually the neighbour's pet goat. A pet goat is called a kid. They named it Juicy. That wasn't funny. And things actually got more exciting from there.

On the first night of our stay, a possum broke into the house. We didn't know how she got in, but we have a theory that she might have come through the chimney and into the fire place. Ho Ho Ho! Very Santa Claus of her! The men then tried to lure the possum out of the house with a banana. Unfortunately, my uncle and my dad spooked the possum and it ran into my brothers' room. Eventually, they laid a trail of cereal puffs out the door to lure the possum out and it worked. We were all relieved that the possum finally got out of the house! Our parents nicknamed the possum Gretel!

The next day was my favorite day. We went horse riding! I immediately fell in love with the horses. They are such beautiful, strong creatures. On the first two rounds in the bush, I had this small but strong horse called Effie. She had a white streak down her snout, and I immediately liked her. She was stubborn, like me, and had a short temper, like me. She was always  irritated with other horses. We were a perfect match!

The most exciting part was when my grandpa's horse knocked into Effie, and that immediately set her off. She whinnied and actually galloped off. We weren't supposed to gallop, but she was out of  control. For a moment, I enjoyed it as she galloped, but she suddenly stopped and bucked. Now, that was scary! I could barely hang on. At that moment, my hands instinctively pulled the reins, hard, saving me from falling off. I was so shaken, and had trouble stifling a scream. When we got back to the stables, I was so relieved and my legs were jellified!

One thing I learnt was that horses are unpredictable! My cousin's horse also ran way, but at least the horse didn't buck her off TWICE. The second I almost got bucked me off,was actually on her horse. We switched horses for the last ride and that was such a mistake. Her horse's name called Gunner. I was nervous about Gunner for two reasons:
1. he was much bigger than Effie, so I felt unstable.
2. I was afraid that Gunner would try to buck me off, and being bigger and stronger than stronger than Effie, there would be a 75% chance that I would fall off if he tried to buck me off. Miraculously, I could hold on!

Even with all the scares, it was one of the best days of my life, getting to be with these beautiful creatures.

The rest of this is going to be written by Evan.
During our voyage on the Ovation of the seas we stopped at some islands in New Zealand including Wellington and Picton, and we had various close encounters with sea creatures, including starfish, fish, rays and even a penguin! We couldn't capture the penguin or ray on the camera, though.

 My favourites were the penguin and the ducks who were all over the place. Occasionally, we saw a goose. But the geese we saw looked like they were going to bully the ducks. Not cool.

I have seen sea stars at the aquariums but I have not seen any in the wild. Or maybe I have, in Hawaii but never so big. These were clinging on to the rocks in the pier at Picton. It was also where we saw the rays and the penguin. The water was so clear and the rays looked so lazy gliding in the water.

Ray fishing is banned by law. We were told this by some boys who were fishing on the pier. They also told us that if a fish was smaller than 30 cm, they had to release it again. They caught a small fish and wanted to do that but the hook was inside the fish's belly! Jordan tried to help and then the fish fell between the rocks. I don't know if it managed to swim away. Jordan said her hands smelt funny after that. Obviously! They smelt of fish!

                                                  

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That's that. I'll do another one on the cruise next. We'll see if the twins try to hijack that one too.

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Where have the Mogwais gone?

I didn't believe it when other parents told me that ten was the magic number. That it heralded a new stage of parenting. Where a switch gets flipped and cute, obedient young 'uns turn into surly, smart mouth, sassing tweens. It's like in the Gremlins. The Mogwais are cute and adorable and you want them as pets. But heed the warning.

Do not expose the Mogwai to bright lights or sunlight which will kill it, do not let it get wet, and never feed it after midnight. Feeding them after midnight makes the Mogwai turn into a Gremlin. Getting them wet causes them to multiply.

A tween is what you get when you feed the Mogwai after midnight. I think that happened the day the twins turned 10. We must have accidentally fed them at midnight.

Because my formerly sweet-natured twins turned Gremlin-like.

1. Language:
Where did they learn to be rhetorical?
When asked a question, the choice answers are "Obviously", "What do you think?", "Good luck with that."

Fighting words
"You're always cheating!" "I hate him/ her!", "I wish I were dead!"

2. Physical Aggression:
Shoving, hitting, spitting, anything at their disposal. When warned that the sibling might one day hit back, they ignore me. I'm told that they need to feel the physical pain of the sibling turning on them and socking them back as hard as they gave it.

3. The eyes.
Oh the eyes. The eye- rolling. The eye rolling that communicate "Are you kidding me?" "How stupid are you?" "How stupid is that?" "Who died and made you God?" all in a split second of ophthalmic calisthenics. I know it is necessary for tweens to be able to do that and I know JED  have it encoded in them to roll their eyes since I do it so effectively but it's still riling and it's too easy to say "Don't roll your eyes at me, young lady/man" But I run the risk of sounding like my dad.

4. The moods
The moods are getting dark and twisty and thunderous for now apparent reason. It could be all bright and shiny and all of a sudden, thunder clouds gather and we're all at the risk of being stuck and fried by lightning. Mercurial is a nice word to describe the climate in the house. Not quite global warming yet but definitely, climate change big time.

I know it'll get worse when the hormones catch up with the motor-mouths and the poor hapless 7 year old bears the brunt of it. Us adults, we understand treading on egg shells but it's a minefield for Muffin and he's getting a crash course on how one thing that works today won't work tomorrow.

He retaliates the only way he knows how. He matches their tempers and angers with tears but his physical size and 7 year old vocabulary puts him at a disadvantage.

We can only ride it out, shower them with affection when their moods are right, attempt to express understanding and empathy even when they are being difficult and explain why their behaviour isn't what we expect of them.

On days, there is still the sweetness and consideration they showed to each other as siblings.

 

On other days, the tween-ness is reflected in hilarious ways with illustrations that give us an insight about how they are processing information. Even the illustrations are filled with eye rolls.

On other days, I want to dig a hole in the ground and hide from the strafing and indulge in looking at cute baby pictures of them.

 But no such luck. It's about wearing the kevlar and hitting right out into the minefield and hope for the best.

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Childlike enthusiasm

The nice thing about having kids is to see the world through their eyes rather than our own cynical ones.

In the last week or so, despite the fact that the twins have been ramping up for exams, they've been very excited about things happening in school. Things that an adult would yawn and roll eyes at.

For Evan, it's an emergency preparedness exercise. He's filled with importance because it's his job to lock all the windows and draw the blinds. And we all know how important that job is especially since Mas Selamat climbed out of an unlocked one.

He also very conscientiously packed his 'lock down' bag full of supplies (enough food and water for himself and some friends, how considerate). We were all briefed. There would be a cryptic message that they'll have to listen out for, along the lines of "The chicken has flown the coop, catch it!" that begins the lock down and a similarly innocuous "All clear" signal as well. So there were muttered prayers for good weather because any sort of attack on a school would only occur when there is good weather.

Jordan, on the other hand, has been a jumping bean because she got roped into auditioning for one of Packrat's student's film project. She thinks she's going to be on TV. She asks everyday if we've heard from the student. We tell her not to get her hopes up. We tell her that she won't be on TV or famous. But she can't hear that, while bouncing around excitedly.

At the same time, there's a concert in school. Where they get to sing and play the ukelele. I'm not sure how good she is at playing it or singing for that matter but every spare moment of the day has been dedicated to strumming and singing.

I would really like to be in school to watch both events happen but short of a Big Brother camera in school, I can only wait for them to recount them to me.

I like that they get excited over these little things. And their excitement is so genuine, you can't help get infected by it. Especially when half the time, we're snippy, cynical and critical of things around us like Trump managing to fail Easter.

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Conversations in the car

I've read so many articles about car rides being the best opportunity to talk to our children. Something about being in the car, in transit, the enclosed space that makes it ideal. I must add, however, that this only works when there isn't traffic to contend with.

Anyway, JED spend a lot of time listening to audio books in the car. Because of that, there is quiet and Packrat and I can catch up with one another. But sometimes, it's also nice to not have anything on and just chat with which ever kid in the car.

With Evan, his sentimentality and soft side surfaces during these conversations.

Evan: My class was very sad today.

Mommy: Why? Did you get punished?

Evan: We had to set free our tank full of mealworms.

Mommy: But they've become meal-bugs right? (Mommy is not very precise with science terms)

Evan: Not all. Some of them are still meal-babies (picking up from me) and some are still pupa. So they are helpless against the birds.

Mommy: I think that's what happens to bugs in the wild.

Evan: Yes, these are spoilt meal bugs. In class, they have 40 boys who squash every ant that goes near them. We have made them helpless and now, we're sending them into the wild to die!

 Yes, it's an analogy to something bigger but I didn't think it was the right time while he was having 'empty tank syndrome'.

This morning, it was Jordan.

She was talking about how Mommy was her best sleep buddy. I apologised that there are days that I can't tuck her in because I'm at work but when I can, I would. And so the conversation ensued.

Mommy: Anyway, at some point, you're going to be too big for me to tuck you in. Imagine if you were married and I came to tuck you into bed. Your husband wouldn't be amused. (visions of Love you Forever- the book that creeped me out because the mum would sneak into her adult kid's room at night to sing lullabies to him came to mind!)

Jordan: Okay, then you can sleep next door.

Mommy: Erm, you'll need to check with your husband on that okay? He may not want your parents in the same house.

Jordan: I'll need to start thinking critically now. For a good reason. Like.... My father makes good ribs.

Mommy: He'll say we can go over to your parents to have good ribs.

Jordan: Okay, maybe if he doesn't agree, we can live near you and pop by whenever we have time. But I think it'll be better if you live with us.

Dear Jordan's Future husband,
You've been forewarned.
Don't say I never tell you.

Yours,
Jordan's Mom. 

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A love story

This is a story about a duck and an elephant.

Duck Duck and Amelia (Ellie for short) were given to twin babies 10 Christmases ago. Duck Duck went to the boy and Ellie to the girl. Both of them loved the twins immediately and adopted them as pets. Duck Duck and Ellie were inseparable from their pets.

They went on the same dream adventures, possibly because they slept with their pets every single night and when their pets got older, they went on real adventures together.

The rule though was that if they were to sleep together with their pets, every week, they had a bath so that they would always be fresh and clean.

Duck Duck and Ellie were a source of comfort for their pets and they would always be sought out when their pets were upset or ill. Their pets would also include them in the games and Duck Duck and Ellie were happy. Duck Duck was always amused when they played Duck Duck Goose and would look suspiciously around to see if a Goose actually showed up.

As their pets got older, they included Duck Duck and Ellie in a lot more things. Both became very well-read as their pets read to them. Duck Duck's favourite books included Super Diaper Baby and the Tree House Series and Ellie was warned not to be like her name sake naughty Amelia Jane. Occasionally, they stowed away to school though that happened more with Ellie than Duck Duck.

And when their pets went on vacation, Duck Duck and Ellie got to go as well. Both of them have their own passports and thankfully, when they travelled to the United States with their pets, there wasn't any of the current nonsense about visas and aliens from other countries. Their pets would have been very distressed if they were told that Duck Duck and Ellie could not enter the country with them.

 

 

Now, the problem was that Duck Duck and Ellie were growing old and they were beginning to look their age. Their frequent baths had made their skins a lot thinner. Ellie had even gone to Build-A-Bear one day to get stuffed because she was rapidly losing weight. It had been gently suggested that Duck Duck and Ellie take residence by the side of the bed and start to take things a little bit slower; perhaps not travel as much and to cut back on rigorous activities which included bathing.

But their pets who loved them dearly were heartbroken to even think about Duck Duck and Ellie in that way. "We don't want anyone else!" they cried, sobbing their hearts out. "No one can ever replace them!" they wailed.

Both Duck Duck and Ellie have promised their pets that they'll still be around and will still love them but perhaps, as their pets grow older themselves, to perhaps just hang out at home and lead quieter lives. Their pets would have nothing to do with that though they have been noticeably a lot gentler and a lot more loving with the two seniors in their lives.

For never has there been a story of more love than this of Duck Duck, Ellie and their twin pets.

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Dealing with loss- a 9 year old's perspective

JED lost their great granddad last week. The twins, in particular were close to him because they grew up living in the same house as he did. There's something to be said about living in a multi-generational house.

Anyway, he passed, at a ripe old age of 100. We knew it was soon because he wasn't doing so well and had done our best to prepare JED. Even then, when we found out that he had passed on, telling them was still going to be no easy feat. For good or for bad, Grandma broke the news to them before we managed to.

Jordan was inconsolable. Evan was very take charge. He took it upon himself to ring myself and Packrat to let us know. He also let us know that Jordan was distraught about it. Muffin was confused because he didn't have as many memories about Tai Gong as the twins did and he couldn't understand why he wasn't as upset as they were.

It took some time for us to talk Jordan through her despair. And what perhaps helped them all process it was for them to write cards to Tai Gong to place before the casket. We also got them to share their best memories of Tai Gong.

Jordan: Going into his room and taking his hymnal and singing with him.

Evan: Stealing butter cookies from his cookie tin (the traditional round tin of butter cookies)

Muffin: The stuffed tiger that taught him to roar loud.

Allowing them to talk about Tai Gong seemed to help. So did bringing them to the wake. When there weren't many people about in the afternoon, we brought them over and allowed them to say goodbye and place their flowers and cards.

We didn't stop them from crying. Some of the elders tried to console them by telling them not to cry since Tai Gong was in a better place and had gone to heaven but we told them they could cry and it was okay to be sad. Because we didn't hide how sad we were to have lost him, we told them they didn't have to either.

By the end of the funeral, everyone was emotionally spent but I think we were all calm and at peace with Tai Gong's passing. And while I thought we were done processing our grief, I found a letter Jordan had written to a friend, two days ago. The passing of a friend's cat had triggered reminders of all the deaths she's had to see through this year and that's when I realised that in their own little ways, they were still coming to terms with Tai Gong's passing.

He had no longer been part of our daily lives but I think he was always at the back our minds. And even though the twins had memories of him, it didn't seem enough to make up for the fact that he wasn't physically present anymore. So slowly, they have to work through it and as parents, we are just there to answer their many questions and hold them tight when it gets too much.

 But in the little things that they have said and done since Tai Gong's passing, they're also showing themselves to be little grown up beings in more ways than one. And I'm pretty sure, Tai Gong had a little bit to do with that too.

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No Need MBTI

The next few posts will be exam-related because it's October and we have two kids prepping for it. November, however, I promise will be full of glee.

Anyway, it's the exams and we've realised how the twins are different in how they take on the challenges of revision and the actual stress of taking the exams. We try very hard not to be the stressors for the exams. But they don't actually need us to be the stressors because they pick it up subliminally from school.

So the night before their composition papers, the emotions were running on high. Jordan was trying to pull a Hermione and cram all sorts of things into her head. She had copious notes copied into a book and when I declared it was time for a hard stop, she sneaked in two more bits of information into her notebook and stuffed it into her school bag surreptitiously, hoping that I didn't see it.

Evan, on the other hand, grew quieter and more agitated by the minute. He kept worrying but his worry was the 'walk round in circles' sort of worrying which eventually culminated in him hyperventilating in fear that he was about to fail his exams.

We had to pull everything we had out of our metaphorical bag of tricks, convincing him that he wasn't going to fail and if he did then he just needed to figure out why. We promised him that no one got kicked out of school for failing exams. It took him a long while to settle down especially with the sister chiming in about how many things she had tried to remember and that was what he ought to have done. Eventually, he fell asleep and both Packrat and I commented about how the twins were different as an eggplant and a bag of nails when it came to how they faced challenges.

 I recalled that years before we had kids, over late night prata and Milo Dinosaurs, together with our friends, we  came up with a matrix that described people's behaviour as an interaction of how motivated they were versus how anxious they tended to be. Over the years, Packrat and I have desperately tried to recall it that matrix that we had drawn on a paper napkin.

The next morning, after the meltdowns, I could't suddenly see it in my mind. And this was what I came up with that I think approximated what we did all those years ago.

Low Anxiety, High Motivation- Zai/ Steady (Unfazed and gets things done)
Low Anxiety, Low Motivation- Bo Chup (Lazy and unfazed)

High Anxiety, High Motivation- Mugger Toad (High Achiever)
High Anxiety, Low Motivation- Gan Cheong Spider (Runs around like a headless chicken but not actually doing anything)

So there.

My twins, both high anxiety but differing on levels of motivation. I had thought that I would use the melt down Evan had to point out to him, when he was calmer, how he could avoid such a situation again.

Unfortunately, with the terror of the first paper past, he was back to just being Bo Chup and nothing I could say could inject into him a sense of urgency.

 But that wasn't my epiphany this time. I had already known my children to be like that. The achievement and accomplishment in this case was figuring out this matrix.

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Great Expectations

The exams are looming and that brings out the tiger mom in me no matter how much I try to squish it back in. The twins have only finished the essay papers for both languages and that itself brought epiphanies to me.

The most glaring one. 

I expect too much of my twins. 

Not in terms of grades though. 

It's partially an occupational hazard. When my livelihood is dependent on teaching pre-university students to think critically, I suppose that it is inevitable that some of that spills over into what I do with the twins. 

It doesn't feature as much in the actual content papers because honestly, some of that is beyond me, even as an adult and a teacher. It does rear its ugly when it comes to composition. It isn't about the phrases and whatever rubbish they are often encouraged to memorise and regurgitate. It's to do with the ideas. 

An example. 

A composition about helping. A picture of an old man selling magazines. 

Jordan's take.

Old man is poor. Needs to sell magazines for a living. 

Nothing wrong with that. But I prod on. 

Could there be anything else wrong with the old man that might require him to sell magazines? 

Jordan: 

Erm... He's sad. He needs money. 

Evan:

He likes reading magazines. He can read them and then sell them. 

I wanted to lead them to talk about people who might be disabled and what led them to that point as well as what their struggles were. I asked them about the old lady who sold tissue paper at the MRT station near us. She always had a walking frame with her. I asked them if they noticed the walking frame. I asked them why was it that the old lady had to sell tissue paper and wasn't doing anything else. 

She stuck to it. The old lady was poor. Needed money. 

Evan wondered what it was like to have a walking frame. 

Smoke started to slowly escape my ears. 

I asked them how else we could  help people apart from giving them money. Jordan offered to give them food. Evan thought very hard and wondered what toys they could give away. 

I realised that their answers were fine. But just not the direction I wanted them to be moving toward. 

I gave up.

Eventually, I showed them the video of 6 year old Alex who wrote to President Obama. Both of them were interested in what had happened that caused Alex to write the letter. I pointed out to both of them that helping could come in this form too. And that little children could help in big ways too and that little Alex had written to the most influential person he could think of to ask for help and that was being helpful as well. 

But on hindsight, I wondered if it was too much to expect my 9 year olds to think of it beyond what they see and to draw connections to things around them. I wondered if my being disappointed that they couldn't draw these connections was an unreasonable expectation. 

I guess, for the purposes of their compositions, their answers were sufficient to get by.

But for them, as people, it's definitely insufficient. I think that was why I was distressed. I see all these young adults who have such beautiful transcripts but without a heart or thought about the world they live in and it makes me angry. I fear that it's the transference of that frustration that manifests when the twins give me trite, textbook answers. 

Then I wondered if by wanting them to think about ideas in such a way , was I telling them how to think. That truly frightened me. What if I was squashing them into the exact box that I hoped they would think out of, unintentionally? 

So I stopped and I left them with Packrat and went out. I wasn't doing anyone favours. Them or myself. 

I come home to this. Of all the things that I talked Jordan through that afternoon, she remembered one thing. She made her letters bigger and clearer and she co-wrote a joke with Evan about Obama for me.

So, without these great expectations, my 9 yos are pretty great and funny and I have to remember that.

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Of Potter Heads and Potter-lets.

I was late to Harry Potter. I only read it in 2000. I remember discovering it one day when I was home, sick from school. I don't think I was sick for that long but I stayed home for the next three days. And the good thing about reading it then was that shortly after I played truant, the fourth book was released. At that point, Packrat the fan boy, who was my then boyfriend, told me that I should wake up early and get the book the minute the book store opens and start reading it immediately.

That was the beginning of our Potter book launch rituals. The last book was launched during my confinement with the twins and I broke out of confinement to go get it from the now defunct-Borders. I am grateful for the weight and length of that one because it kept me company during the long mindless hours of breastfeeding.

That was 9 years ago.

Yesterday was the launch of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. And in the span of 9 years, I haven't become less of a fan but my fan-mania has been overtaken by the Potterlets that I've spawned. So it was fitting yesterday that they wanted to go for the book launch more than we did. At the crack of dawn, they were up (very much unlike a school day where they would have to be dragged out of bed kicking and screaming) and they were dressed for the part; robes, wands and all.

I can't say we weren't excited. We were. We peeped into the Times near us and saw boxes ready to be unpacked for the 7.01am launch.

Excellent.

And the 5.45 am wake up on a Sunday morning was well worth it. 

The staff really knew how to throw a party. There were drinks and 'treacle' tarts and the twins were sorted while waiting in queue. They also got key-chain door gifts. Unfortunately, Muffin's was a key chain that said "Platfrom 9 3/4" but he loved it as much as Evan loved his wand and Jordan her Hedwig. 

The twins kept making friends, kindred spirits and all. By the end of the morning, I had triple the number of kids I came with and even though they didn't know everyone by name, they were playing quite chummily with each other. They shared food, they sat in the corner and played Top Trumps; Harry Potter edition, the older ones kept an eye on the younger ones while speed reading through the book, all while waiting for the next activity to start. 

They took part in everything from the Cosplay competition to the Snitch Hunt and Trivia Quiz.

The highlight of our day was seeing everyone so dressed up, from Loopy Luna Lovegoods with the Lion's Head atop her own to an incredibly sullen- adolescent Snape and a teeny tiny Harry Potter in Gryffindor Quidditch Robes.

The highlight of our day as parents was to watch the girls take part in the Cosplay contest where they were among the youngest, without a care in the world, duelling like they always do when they get together. It got loud, very heated and seemingly real. We were so chuffed that they did it without a hint of nervousness and they got so into character they could barely stop.

And at the end of it, they got some other Harry Potter books for their effort.

They were on such a high for the rest of the day and it carried through when they found out that they were featured in the newspapers the next morning.

Jordan is speed-reading through it and trying very hard not to spoiler Evan who is half way through Deathly Hallows. We love how they've fallen in love with the world like we did and how they've taken it a step further by imagining it through the eyes of children.

I spent yesterday and part of today getting through the book so that Jordan could talk to me about it and an added advantage was being able to annoy the heck out of Packrat as I gasped and growled at the parts that he hadn't got to yet.

We've both finished the book now and are discussing it in hushed terms lest our 9 year olds overhear us.

One thing's for sure though; we're feeling a little bit lost now, after all the hype and high of yesterday and the fact that tomorrow is just going to be boring and ordinary again. 

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Holiday Adventures 2: The One with the Birthday Party (2)

This post is part of a series for the twins' Harry Potter birthday party. There's too much for one post. This one is about the fun bits that everyone enjoyed. There'll be others to come.

The previous post was about creating the fun that was the party. Today's one will be the fun in itself.

There was the official fun.

The good thing about throwing a party in a gym and having professionals who work with kids all the time and love kids run it is that it becomes a party full of fun. The games were simple with a Potter slant to it. The regular gym drills that the kids do became Inter-house competition and an obstacle course became the Tri-Wizard Cup.

The parents were all pleased that their children were sweaty, got to jump on a trampoline and were made to do things that they thought they couldn't do. One of Evan's friends was heard squealing "I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" when he got rolled on a giant roller into a handstand which he had no idea he knew how to do. Not used, they are to being upside down and to see the ground rushing up at them.

The twins spent a lot of time laughing, being sweaty and just enjoyed their friends.

Then there was the unofficial fun.

There was also a lot of open space for them to run about outside and that they did. At some points, they resembled hordes of marauders; this pleased them when we made that comment because that in itself was a Harry Potter reference. They created Harry Potter equivalents of catch and hide and seek and that entertained them while the parents chatted after the party. It got quite boisterous when the girls chased the boys and cornered them in the boys toilet after. That was when the parents had to intervene and tell the girls that they had to stop because the boys weren't having fun anymore.

There was the prop fun.

I made some frames out of old boxes so that the kids could take "Wanted" pictures of themselves. They hammed it up and got into character. The Dreams coaches added to it when they created more photo props that the kids could all use. It was very much in line with what you get at corporate dos or weddings these days.

In fact, the twins did look a little bit like a VIP couple who stood under a banner while we inserted friends to take photos with them. They're young enough to see it for the fun that it is and be silly for the sake of being silly!

The parents' idea of fun. 

Their's was looking forward to a quiet night since the children were likely to pass out early from all the running around. 

That and the fact that we hired an ice cream man. It was one of those hare-brained ideas that popped into my head in the middle of the night and after having to Google and speak to various ice cream men in Chinese (Packrat even approached one on the street), I came away with the realisation that people really like these ice cream men because all of them were fully booked up. Thank goodness for partymojo.com.sg who had an ice cream man available. 

He showed up with the cart, the umbrella and most importantly the bell. He served ice cream with bread, wafer, cups and I think cones. The minimum order was 100 slabs of ice cream and part of me wondered if I needed to bring in ringers to eat up the ice cream. 

But the novelty of having the ice cream man was thrilling and both parents and kids (whose parents allowed them to) went back for seconds. At the end of it, we had 4 slices left. The birthday crowd at inhaled 96 pieces of ice cream all in. Quite an impressive feat seeing that we had 30 kids and some parents.

I've declared that I can only throw a party on this scale once a year and only when the creative energy hits me. 

So, this is for posterity because who knows when the next one will be. 

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Holiday Adventures 2: The One with the Birthday Party (1)

This post is part of a series for the twins' Harry Potter birthday party. There's too much for one post. This one is about the creative little bits that we created to make it more Harry Potteresque. There'll be others to come.

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Traditionally, we celebrate the twins birthday early in June. Having a birthday in June is great when you want to be anti-social and want nothing to do with people you go to school with. But the twins are far from anti-social. They love their friends. They love playing. And they love parties. So, having June birthdays means it's tough to find a time where we can catch a majority of their friends. This year, they asked for a Harry Potter themed party because they love all things Potter.

Unfortunately, we don't have a large backyard where we can play pretend Quidditch games and I don't have the time nor the constitution to create Hogwarts in my living room or a nearby rec room. The next best thing was to find them a venue that we could use where they could pretend to be Potter characters.

Tangentially,  they all do gymnastics with Dreams Gymnastics, where Jordan spends an inordinate amount of time. Because of that, we've gotten to know the coaches really well.  So I asked them if they ran birthday parties and they said they did.

Excellent. An open air gym with all the space in the world for kids to make all the noise they want to and tire themselves out nicely. An added bonus was that the coaches were Harry Potter fans and knew exactly what we had in mind without us needing to tell them. Or rather, they told me they had it under control and it was a surprise for the twins.

So, the energy I would have needed to actually plan the party was all humming and buzzing to do something. All that, I needed to get out of my system. I did what any crazy mother would do. Channel it into making goodie bags that looked like broomsticks. I don't care if Martha Stewart has done time in prison, she still has great ideas and it looked like something someone like me, who had failed art, could manage. Instead of using twigs, I used full-sized plastic wands that I ordered online with brown sandwich bags I pulled out of our pantry and I was off. I filled it with stickers, snacks, tattoos and the wand then tied it up with twine. Me, the one who disappointed my mother with my lack of artistic dreams, created something that approximated a broomstick out of non-broomstick material.

Harry Potter inspired snacks including Giant Pocky sticks as well as jelly beans and chocolate frogs.

I wasn't the only one feeling some creative edginess. Packrat too and far surpassed himself when he came home with invitation cards. Yes, we're traditional that way. Paper invitations hand delivered instead of an electronic one that could be shared in a Whatsapp chat group. Packrat's idea of an invite was a replica of the Platform 9 3/4 train ticket on thick stock parchment-like paper. The point was an invitation that they could touch, feel and use as a bookmark after. My only wish is that he printed more because I would have liked a couple for myself.

This image was designed by the twins' coach and it fit perfectly onto the invite.

On top of that, between him and our very creative friend, L, we had House and Hogwarts stickers for both the 'Sorting' as well as for a strip to take home.They looked very real and every door in my house is now adorned with one.

There is  one thing I love about the twins' and their friends' love for the Potter universe and that is how truly it unleashes creativity in them (there's enough of that to fill another post). One of Jordan's best friends from school took it upon herself to bake Potter inspired cupcakes. Chocolate Frog cupcakes, Broomstick cupcakes as well as two Snitch ones for the birthday twins. Even though we had store bought cupcakes for the candles and song, we ended up using these instead because they meant so much more to the twins.

Part of all the fun was actually in all these little things. They did add very much to the colour and to the excitement of the party. But I'm pretty sure I can only do once every couple of years.

#nopartyplannersforus. 
 

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Holiday Adventures 1: The One with Writing A Book

As part of their K2 project many years ago, the twins had to make a book from start to finish. They remember that, especially Jordan who actually goes back to kindy every year to talk to the K2 children about the book she wrote when she was their age.

Anyway, when the opportunity came up this holiday to 'write a book' at Writing Sprouts with their friends, both of them were keen to do so, though Jordan more than Evan. But he went along quite gamely and they ended up having so much fun that they couldn't wait to get dropped off in the morning. The workshop ran from 9.30 to 12 every day but they would clamour to be dropped off at 9.

I had to work so I didn't see much of what they did. But that also meant that all I had to go on was theirs and their friends' feedback.

One of the first things they did at the workshop was to learn to write acrostic poems. So when I asked what they thought about the workshop, they gave me an acrostic poem in response.

Fun.
Useful.
Noisy.
Neat
Yes.

Excellent.

To elaborate:

Fun:
They got to play games. They played charades and they played a version of Pictionary. They got to draw funny things on the board and it never ceases to amaze me how much we aren't on their wavelength. They get what each other draws. I have to look at it as a drawing and try and interpret from the oft-unclear scribbles what they are trying to communicate across. But with each other, they're so in-tuned with each other's frequencies that they get it before the unidentifiable squiggles are complete. It helped that all the children in the workshop were round about the same age so they got each other's humour. Therefore, it was fun.




Useful:
Well, they now know how to write an acrostic poem. But beyond that, Edna (who ran the workshop) gave them a lot of scaffolding about how to create a story. She taught them to use story maps, mountains, the 'hamburger' ingredients to writing a story. I asked Evan if they helped him. The matter-of-fact answer was "Yes, that's how I wrote the story".

Subtext: Duh, Mommy!

Now, to see if they actually do it when they have to write on their own. 

Noisy:
According to them, it was good noisy. Noisy because they got rowdy when they played games. Noisy because they got to read a crazy poem. Noisy because they got to talk to their friends about what they wanted to write. They got to discuss what they wanted to write. Evan and his friend Mark decided to join brains and co-create and co-write their book. They divvied the work, chatted about what needed to be done, how to do it, how to grow the story and eventually put it down and paper with illustrations.

It was happy noise.




Neat.
Neat not as in clean and tidy. Neat as in cool. Writing wasn't labourious composition. We have come to the sad conclusion that composition isn't really writing. But what they discovered during the workshop was that 'composition writing' wasn't the only form of 'acceptable' writing. Edna got them to create their stories as comics and learning how to write dialogue with the speech bubbles. I have since found scraps of paper round the house with comics scribbled on them. Not to be thrown away, I have been sternly warned.

They even got to write dedications for their books and they took that very seriously. I know that if I were a kid and I could write my every single page of my own book right up to the dedication page, I'd be absolutely chuffed too.

Evan's dedication was a bit unclear so I had to ask him about it again for Edna and he told me that it was for, in a nutshell, everyone in the family, because they were special. That was beyond thoughtful and neat, in my opinion.

Creating comics

Jordan's comic strip.

A story about Pencil Potter.

And Lord Correction Tape.

The Pencil family safe.

Yes:
Why yes? Yes to what?

In response to my questions, my 9 yos rolled their eyes at me. They roll their eyes far too much. Ophthalmic callisthenics, my favourite new term.

Anyway, yes was to all the regular questions. They had fun, they'd do it again, they had a great time.

This coming weekend, they get their published books and we get to go their book-reading session.

Having written a book. One thing to check off the bucket list and one thing off their Holiday Wish List of Fun.


Disclaimer: This post was written in collaboration with Writing Sprouts. Photos are from Writing Sprouts though it's our two cents' worth!

Writing Sprouts is an English Language Arts School for kids. Its specially crafted literacy programme leads kids to creative writing and the opportunity to self publish their work. Writing Sprouts conducts weekly classes, holiday workshops, private coaching, fun literacy events and more.

It is located at 308 Telok Kurau Rd

Vibes@East Coast #01-03/04

​S423858
Tel: 6247 7173

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Siblings

JED fight like cats some days. They really do. Sometimes it gets violent enough that toys get viciously stomped on and stuff gets thrown at each other. Inevitably, I get an angry and indignant phone call that makes me want to block our home number. Sometimes we think they need to be either separated, into different houses (put up for adoption!) or put together in a get-along t-shirt (A huge t-shirt they all have to wear at the same time).

At their most unreasonable, they are mean and sometimes even cruel to each other.

But thankfully, there are also times that I know they love each other, will look out for each other and all is good in the world.

There are times when there isn't enough of me to go around. Muffin wants to be read to. Evan wants me to play cards with him. Jordan wants to make stories or one of the twins has last minute stuff that I need to help them with and Muffin is going on and on about wanting to play/ read to etc.

So on occasion, I deputise the free-er twin to help. Both Evan and Jordan love reading to Muffin. They read in different ways. Jordan's more expressive and the true storyteller. Evan reads it deadpan, which is funny in its own right, but knows how to run a parallel discussion about the book that interests Muffin.

And then there is this. 

The twins are at the age where affection from someone other than their parents is 'gross'. Muffin is very affectionate and tries to hug and kiss them especially when we send them to school and the twins get all sputter-y and grossed out by his affections. I suspect the more they try to thwart him, the harder he tries, just to annoy them but to get them to 'love' him. 

But one morning recently, both Muffin and Jordan crawled into my bed and kicked me out. Jordan threw open her arms and said "Come Muffin, let me sayang you!" and Muffin leapt at the opportunity and they spent a good 5 minutes smothering each other in too-tight hugs and kisses all over each others' faces. 

Recently, Evan had a terrible nightmare that involved a plane crashing. He was crying in his sleep, just before it was time to wake for school. It was too real to him and it took him a long time to understand that it didn't happen and no one died. Jordan was worried, ready to bang down our doors to get us. She even tried to console him though he pushed her away.

Eventually, at wits end, she wrote him a note and left it at his seat on the breakfast table.

I don't know if it made him feel better but it was very good of her to keep trying, to let him know that she was thinking of him.

This and the fact that when each child is given extra money for an excursion for school, they choose to buy something for their sibling. Occasionally, they come home with treats for each other from the school canteen.

Hopefully, as they get older, there will be more days like this and fewer cat fight, fur and fluff flying days.

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