Recollections: High Tide

I had just started primary school. My mum, in all her 'wisdom', taught me a couple of phrases in hopes they would help me if I have any pressing need. One of her advice was to tell the teacher that I had 'high tide' if I needed to go to the toilet.

I can no longer remember the face of the teacher but I recall she was Malay. It was between classes and I went up to her and told her I had 'high tide', hoping she would grant me leave to rush to the toilet. I was already full and needed to go immediately. But she couldn't understand and ask me in a nasty condescending tone "What high tide? What do you want?" "High tide teacher ... *struggling to keep the pee in" "What high tide??! Can you say properly?!"

I must have made an agonising expression as she soon understood I needed to go to the toilet and wave me off. I ran as fast as I could to pee. It was one of the embarrassing moments in my early childhood which I could never shake off. I vaguely recalled that I was angry at mum for teaching me silly phrases. But on hindsight, she was doing the best she could with the limited education she had.

I did promised years later to never fall fault of this with my own children. I'll teach them the proper way of expressing themselves so others can understand them. It's important to save them such unnecessary embarrassment ... which one can still remember 30 odd years later.

Kopi Boy

One of the occasions where I went out to tabao coffee for everyone. Pretty challenging to juggle so many on two hands and getting it to the car.

Nebulizer At Home

OO's fallen sick again. Or I should say she never really recovered and the symptoms are blowing up again. And this time the cough was bad enough that doc ordered a course of Nebulizer, on top of the antibiotics and other medicines.

OO had these when she was hospitalised but we didn't have to understand how to work the machine since the nurse were always on hand to administer it. But since we had to loan the machine home, the nurse demo-ed it and gave OO a dose on the spot.

OO is never one to sit quietly, so we had to try all sorts of entertainment to entice her to sit down and inhale off the nebulizer. She was cooperative at times and totally frustrating on others. There were times where she simply refuse to come close to the nebulizer. We tried our best to have her inhale as much as possible. But she is really still too young to understand the need for it. Haiz hopefully she recovered fully this time.

Space Marshal 2

Having played through Space Marshal and deeply enjoying the gameplay, I bought the next instalment the moment I was done with the first. $7 for a game I know I would enjoy is a steal.

It's the same familiar gameplay, controls and view. Even so the game provides a good challenge and mix of sleath. I'll definitely buy another instalment of Space Marshal if Pixelbite launches another.

Cassia Seeds

Meimei has recently discovered an indoor playground shop featuring cassia seeds. Since OO is feeling under the weather again we decided its best not to bring her outdoors.

I'm glad Meimei found this place. OO's having a ball of a time playing with the seeds. They are like sand but 'cleaner' since they are bigger and don't stick onto the clothes.

Mostly she was excited to have freedom to pour seeds from one cup to another. This was something we frown upon when she does it with her meals. But here she is given free rein to do what she fancies with the seeds.

They also have a pen filled with balls and OO couldn't help herself but fall into them. She already likes to do this at home but here there is so many she was grinning from ear to ear with excitement.

It was so much fun for OO, we signed up a package of 10 hours. We'll sure be back here again ... so long as OO is willing to get into the car haha.

DIY Ball Tossing Station

Meimei saw this online in one of her Daiso facebook fan pages and decided to give it a go since we already had the mats.

It was a good effort. I can so imagine myself going ape and playing this over and over again if I was a kid again.

OO seems to have other ideas of the station. She treats it like an obstacle course and attempts to tunnel through it. And as expected, the station came apart pretty quickly. Oh well, we'll try again when she's older.

OO @School - Mother's Day Special Event

Continuing the Mother Day celebration, OO's school organised a ondeh-ondeh cooking session for the child, mother and grandma. I must applaud the school for making the effort to setup such events. They had all the utensils and ingredients ready for us when we arrive. And best of all, its free!

Naturally my role was the photographer-of-the-day. I managed to snap many sweet moments of Grandma, Meimei and OO having a ball of a time.

The making of the ondeh ondeh was the fun part. The eating part not so much.

Everyone was apprehensive to eat their own creation ... and with good reason too hahaha.

Overall it was a wonderful experience for the whole family. This is what it means to be a family, to let loose and have fun together.

OO @School - Sports Day

OO's school has Sports Day every quarter. But this time it's special as Mama are invited for a Mother's day theme event. Naturally Meimei was making every effort to be there for our little cutie.

I wished I could be there too but more than happy to give Meimei that mother-daughter bonding time.  Hmm then again I wouldn't be allowed to join in even if I was free ... unless I put on a dress for Mother's day haha.

I think it's wonderful that the school occasionally invites parents to participate. We literally miss many of the cute moments of our little one when they are in school. So these rare opportunities are not to be missed.

OO @School - Mother's Day Art

Mother's Day just round the corner and OO's school had all the kids do up a very nice and heartwarming paper flower art to present to Mama.

To do that the kids have to take a nice picture first. So it seems the teachers brought the class out to pick out flowers and have them pose against a maroon wall.

This was the pic our little sweetie pie had for the Mother's Day artwork. She loves her outdoor play.

And this is the gift for Mother's Day, now sitting proudly on Meimei's desk.

East Coast Park Children's Playground

OO has been under the wind again so we couldn't bring her to a water playground no matter how much she has been asking for it the past week. Though she wasn't well, I didn't want a dripping nose to put a damper on the weekend for OO. Thankfully Meimei wasn't sticky about it. Her only rule is that we cannot go water play. Meimei loves bringing OO out to play as much as I do.

I had read that there is now a huge children playground at East Coast Park. So that was where we brought OO. 

She didn't seem too excited about the place though. Maybe it's just first time jitters. That or the ever present sickness that has been plaguing her since the turn of the year.

She did get her first piggy ride on my shoulders. She was pretty unsure and scared though and came down after a couple of minutes.

I hope to bring her here again. It's a free playground and close to home. The only stumbling block is her utter reluctance to get into the car seat. I cannot imagine trying to get here on public transport ... it just ain't gonna happen. So whether we come again is really up to OO.

OO @School - Sensory Play

One of the important themes for the PG1 is the concept of touch. Feeling objects helps them understand the world better. 

Many of the sensory play involves making art with paper, paint and anything they can glue on.

Good thing they play this in school. We wouldn't be able to deal with mess at home.

Emily seems to be enjoying these activities a lot. She has always been a curious baby.

Playing Water At Gardens By The Bay

Because OO liked the zoo trip's water play so much, I've been researching on other locations with water attractions. The zoo is a some way from home and OO can't stand a long trip in the car. Plus at $33 per adult, every trip will set us back $100 just on the entrance fee alone.

So I was excited to find that the water playground at Gardens by the Bay is free entry. Armed with a box of bread with jam we set off to the Gardens early in the morning. Again the plan was to spend an hour and leave before the sun is at its hottest at noon.

We didn't get any photos this time as Meimei joined in the fun! I prefer this more than having to have one of us stay out of the activity to be the photographer. I think OO would appreciate if both Papi and Mami played with her.

We'll try to get photos next time :)