Hey June, one of my favs

From last year, I begin to like June. It's the school hols! I can wake up later and have fun with my lil C. But of course not all rosy, it can be tiring with her 24/7 around. Going out the entire day and several days in a week then the entire month is exhausting!!

We started the hols with our staycay at Sentosa. It's the worst hol for me ever! I was irritable. It's madness when I was disturbed by hub's snoring the night before our staycay. And the heatiness most prob cause my neck aches then it became painful below my ear area and chin. Copaiba was my saviour but I couldn't sleep for the first night till 4am. To make things worse, I was disturbed by my coughing and also lil C's nose congestion on second night. The room temperature was a nightmare - too warm for her then too cold. Anyway I was so glad to be back in my own bed.

It was a stormy Monday and we were so elated the weather became sunny on Tuesday and lil C could play in the pool. Otherwise it would be a wasted trip. The pools were the highlight! She really enjoyed herself and not so afraid of waters anymore. In the 0.9m pool, I got a flamingo float from the hotel staff and she tried to kick water with it. But once I wasn't looking at her, she suddenly went down into the water. I quickly pulled her up and she was alright. Definitely a scare then a surprise. I thought she would have cried. The only happy event is the swimming. Other than that, I was so glad to be back home.

On Wed when we were back home, we went to North point for dinner and bought fresh madelines. I was so tired that I napped on sofa while
hub took out our old old X box and played with lil C. She enjoyed the bowling and even perspired from the volleyball. It's an experience for her 😅

I felt better after a night's sleep in my own bed. I dislike travelling because of my sleeping issue and having to pack so much.

On Thursday, 6th, after going to market in the morning, we stayed at home. C has not cried for some time when doing Math enrichment work. So it caught me by surprise when she couldn't understand the word problems and cried. It's my fault, I think I am hurting her self confidence by losing my temper. It's really crazy why parents always need to teach them at home for enrichment work. The level is at times beyond her.  Like P3 work.

Since it's stay at home day, after home cooked food for dinner (finally), hub and lil C played X box again. This time, Dance! They really had fun.

7th:  We finally went to Jewel Changi and were like tourists in our own country. The huge mall made us filled with awe. We reached there at 2 plus and ended up having desserts and tea at Paris Baguette at 3pm. Hub was lamenting how we could spend another 3 hours here till dinner. I suggested we could go elsewhere. But in the end, as we continued our shopping and just dropping by The Green Party, Watsons, Fairprice, Lavender bakery, a Korean bakery to buy things and food, another 2 hours passed. We then had a disappointing dinner at the Beauty in a pot hotpot place we had always wanted to visit in Centre point. Thinking that we finally can try their new outlet here and with their interesting menu, we were welcomed by their not up to standard food. I was feeling extremely cold after having the yuzu slush. Hub held my hand to give me warm. I felt loved by him again..  We had an enjoyable day out. Lil C chose a notebook which is actually  a diary. She then started to pen down all the fun she had since our staycay. 😍

Her first holiday program for swimming is cancelled due to cold winds and impending rain.

8th: I suggested cycling when I saw the weather was good. C could cycle faster now and I had a good sweat out too by running behind her. As soon as we reached home, it began to rain. But I am very glad we had some exercise. Hub went for swimming.

C is totally mesmerised by the Aladdin movie and the songs. She keeps singing everyday and memorised the lyrics. She watches the movie and snippets and read up about the main leads. She also watches the 1992 Aladdin movie. She tried to even teach me to sing so that I can do a duet with her. Haha!

9th: Suddenly thought of having high tea and off we went to the one at Regent Hotel. The food spread was sumptuous and the desserts standards were commendable. I love the seafood porridge. Happy with my flowery Earl grey tea. Satisfied!  We then went to shop at OG before heading to her dance class.
We were so worried when mum didn't pick up her house phone and her mobile phone was not turned off. After dance, we went over to check out and thankfully she was alright. She just forgot to turn off her flight mode in her hp and the switch for her house phone was off.

Hub wanted to check out a large furniture store at TPY and ended up buying a sofa I have noticed it first. With genuine leather and suede, it looks classy. It's also comfortable. But it can only be delivered in mid July.

2nd week
This week zoomed by in a flash.
We started with visiting Singapore Discovery Centre on Monday, 10th. Hub lamented Jurong is so far. Although nothing much, it's still quite an eye opener. We enjoyed playing the puzzles and the last heart shape took us quite awhile to figure it out..Alas hub and I solved it. I refused to give up!

The next day, we had to collect our passports. Thereafter we went to YL to collect my ER items before heading to superpark at Suntec. She cried when people laughed at her for not able to turn at the corner when we were riding the bike. Cried again when she realised is too high after she pulled the large tyre uphill and needed to slide down. Is too high and scary. I explained to her she didn't have to be bothered about others. It is okay especially the bike is big. The second time when we ride, she was alright. Phew! She could also do the Flying Fox. But she had a scrape on her elbow area while playing the tunnel slide. Too much abrasion. The place is huge. She enjoyed the trampoline. Hub played basketball (the adult version). First time seeing him play. Quite good.. We spent two hours there then head home. Hub and lil C played X box again. It's Disneyland!

On Wed, it's rest day as she had piano in the late afternoon. We had a mini surprise when hub bought the Rich and Good Swiss rolls after he visited his grandma. C was super excited to eat the strawberry rolls. I love the coffee and chocolate ones.

As I suggested to send the rolls to Pei, we ended up having lunch with her and mum at Jewel Changi. We had so much fun at the 4D experience playing the smile challenge and riding on stationary bicycle. We then had dinner at Pei house.

We had a tiring Saturday when we went to 22 stories. Truly an eye opener when we literally went into room after room and met up with characters like Aladdin, one of the forty thieves in Ali Baba and of course princesses. Hub and I were standing and queuing all the time there except when we had snacks. In the evening, we had dinner with mum and Pei at Imperial Treasure steamboat, Ion. It wasn't good at all. Soup is bland. I was exhausted by 11pm.

She had play date with her classmates and thankfully went well. The movie, Secret life of pets 2 is hilarious and they laughed heartily. Hub didn't want to celebrate Father's Day. We just had a simple dinner at Pasta Mania. C made a flower for hub.

Week 3
The start of my lone week with C. Gonna be busier without hub's help.

We went for baking and craft on Monday. It was tiring.. but a good experience. Clay work is not easy for C.  She can't wait to eat the Swiss roll so we went to Toast Box at Raffles City. She then played at the playground at Suntec.

It was a rainy Tuesday and we made a right choice to go to Kidzania. She completed 12 jobs in nearly 5.5 hours. She said is a record! Haha. I was happy that she tried new jobs like the urban farmer, junior scientist, policewoman, bak kwa seller, making soup at Soup Spoon and even an undergraduate at Learning Lab. She had a picture in a grad gown. Is her first since she didn't have one from Greentree! She wanted to be a surgeon again and this time round they took a picture of her. I bought these pictures and made a police inspector pass for her. For the third time, she made it for theatre. But this time round as a pop star. It's a short performance but she enjoyed. She also got her first driving license 😅. Finally able to try driving at the Esso petrol station. It's definitely fun without hub along. I don't think he can stand 5 hours there.

I finally cooked on Wednesday after her piano class. A simple, nutritious meal. She had her first proper holiday programme at Muzart, making clay. It's tsum tsum and she chose Minnie mouse. It's not easy and  she needed a lot of help from the teacher. She was even worried about not able to do it well before she started. I had to let her know it's the process that counts and enjoy it. We found a restaurant selling omurice and she loves it. She's a super fan of tomato! I was so mad when she complained of aching legs. It's all because of the Disneyland game. I know her muscles are developing but I was just frustrated. But I oiled ER and lavender for her.

I was looking at the weather forecast and praying for good weather on Friday so that I can bring her to River Safari. She had so much fun with the Adventure boat ride. She was only 3 when we went there previously and it was really good to be able to see.the pandas again. The food at the cafe was delicious. Nxr really helped me to give me the energy I needed. We even went to HDL for dinner ourselves as the hub had dinner appointment, once again, as usual on a Friday. Although I complained about how.expensiVe it was for the two of us without ordering any meat, it was a good dinner for both of us. No meat, no balls stuff was suitable for the both of us. There was a short electricity disruption at home and thankfully all was good before we left home.

Last week...
Mixed emotions as usual. Can't wait to have my me time in the mornings but I miss my sleep till at least 7am. I will miss having her around in the mornings.

Learning to fry scrambled eggs, visit to Kidtopia, science holiday programme, National Museum revisit and watched Toy Story were the activities for this last week of holidays.
She gave me a scare when she woke up on Sat 29th that her throat was ticklish the entire night. I quickly applied goldenrod, let her take strepsils, gargled salt water, took pi pa gao. She also coughed more after one day of no cough and another of slight coughing. Still have phlegm out after I applied myrrh.
Thankfully her throat was all well by the next day.

Last day, 30th which is also the last day before the new school term. Ms Allison mentioned that C is doing well and catching up fast for this Grade 1 and hope she can take exams. C did say she might...See how it goes in a few months time

I seriously don't know when she can stop coughing fully. This is unusual. Pray hard...

Looking forward to a good July!! 😘

Our debut family holiday (June holidays)

The day finally arrived after much anticipation and excitement! Our maiden family holiday on a plane is on its way...

Day 1: 26th May
It's tiring as I didn't get a wink on the flight. There was so much turbulence, attending to Clarisse toilet needs and the attendants serving our breakfast just 3 hours after departure. Our flight reached Osaka 40 mins ahead of schedule!

Clarisse had an hour of nap at the lounge before the flight and three hours of sleep in the plane. It's her first business class flight. She managed to get herself comfy on flight, had small mouthful of bread and baked beans, watched snippets of movie and did some colouring after she woke up.

I was thankful that we collected our ICOCA cards and bought tickets for our train ride to the hotel without any hiccups. The 35 min ride was scenic and our super seats were comfortable. But Clarisse and I were tired and we caught a few winks.

It was easy to find Swissotel and since we were asked to go back around 2.30pm for check in, we went to Takashimaya to explore our lunch options. It is really huge and too spoilt for choices. We tried takoyaki, okonomiyaki noodles, sushi, yakitori rice and the azuki pancake. And we bought strawberries as well as unbelievably sweet cut melons.

Our room was ready by 1pm and after  settled down, we had a nap before we went out exploring Dotonburi and nearby Ebisubashi shopping street. The number of drugstores amazed us.

Clarisse wanted udon but there isn't one restaurant that have it on the menu. We ended up in 551 Horai for Chinese food. It was a good choice since we would have Japanese cuisine for the next few days. Although is just noodles soup in sesame oil with vegetables, it still tasted good. We also ordered fried rice, stir fried noodles and meat cooked in vinegar, soya sauce. Only the siew mai was not as nice as back home. Clarisse enjoyed the dinner very much.

The weather was perfect and we head back to the hotel lounge for snacks and back to our room. I love the grapefruit juice and dark chocolates served there.

I managed to get some sleep thankfully.

Day 2: 27th May
We woke up around 7 plus and went for our first0 breakfast at the lounge. Simple but hearty.

Our exploring started at 9.30am and we headed for Kuromon ichiba market on foot. With Google maps, we were able to locate it without much difficulty. It was very crowded and the lil gal started to have some complaint. She tried a small apple coated with hard candy and made her happy. Hub and I had the freshly grilled lobster. We also tried takoyaki balls there. We bought fresh and dried scallops and crackers. The melon juice with flesh is so sweet! I also bought some souvenirs.

Yet around 11, lil gal is hungry and wanted lunch. We found a small eatery that sells only don and udon. Finally she had her udon craving fixed. I love the oyako don.

Hub managed to guide us to the right direction of Nippombashi station and it is our first ride on their subway. We reached Kids Plaza at around 12pm and Clarisse had a great time at the Science discovery area and then the long slide and crossing the overhead bridge. She overcame her fear and played the slide and cross over the high bridge several times. There are also kiddish areas like policeman, postman and doctor role play. They allow exit and re-entry and hub suggested we had a drink before going back. I let her have vanilla ice cream cone before we went back in. Hub went to explore on his own and found that the longest street in Osaka is just nearby. He bought teriyaki chicken burger, fried chicken drumstick and vegetable soup from Burger Freshness. We shared that for snack before we left the place at 3pm. We had our first family shots taken at the photo booth. It was really fun posing. Reminiscing the old days in the late 90s..

We did some shopping around the shopping street. Clarisse got herself a magazine on Disney princess. It comes with a little jewelry box and a comb. She is so delighted. I managed to find spring water from Family Mart.

Since it was quite early, we headed back to the hotel, had some rest before we head out for shopping and dinner. On our way back to hotel, we bought the cute bear and dog buns. We wanted ramen and we explored the dining options near the subway basement. There were many restaurants and we ended up walking out of the basements to look for the right ramen after we bought things from Daiso. And I manage to find rulers for her there. As usual, she is fascinated by stationeries. She wanted the erasers and stickers. I also bought small purses from a souvenir shop.

Clarisse had tomato ramen and hub ordered the soft pork bones and also spicy ramen. The gyoza and rice comes with the set. It was really yummy. Clarisse had the ramen and rice.

Lots of walking today. She was getting tired towards the evening. We head back to hotel and she watched the tablet for 2 hours and slept around half past nine. As usual in hotels, the air was still and she couldn't breathe properly. The dry nose gel helped.

Day 3: 28th May
Clarisse woke me up at 6 plus and I asked her to go back and sleep. While she slept till 7 plus, I couldn't go back to sleep. Breakfast at the lounge was surprisingly yummy. We like the stir fried beehoon with capsicums. And we can choose how we want the eggs to be cooked.

We set off at 9.25am to cup noodles museum. The Midosuji subway line is very crowded despite past 9am. There are still many people going to work. Clarisse commented, "Oh I know why it is so crowded, because it is Monday and people needs to go to work" 😂. We had to find our way to Umeda railway line and is quite a distance from Umeda subway.

We tried to top up our ICOCA card at Ikeda station when we arrived and it went well.
We found the museum while following Google map.

I realised that the noodles making from scratch class needs booking and hence we can only go for the design your own cup noodles activity. I was mad at Clarisse for being impatient with the queue. She cried but was okay in a short while. We got to choose the soup base flavour and 4 kinds of ingredients. They would then cover the lid and wrap the styrofoam cup with plastic.

We then proceed to the vending machine and bought lotsa cup and bowl noodles back!

Hub wanted to go elsewhere for lunch and we stopped over at the nearby Ippudo. The Osaka only flavour is good and the beansprouts pickles is so delicious. By now we realised all restaurants will serve cold tea or iced water.

Hub found a shorter way to walk back to train station and as we are more familiar with the directions, the walk from Umeda railway back to Umeda subway seemed faster.

Our next part of the itinerary is to try wearing kimono and yukata. I made a booking the previous night. We reached Maikoya before my booked timing of 3pm.  Luckily we didn't have to wait for long before our turn. We were asked to choose our kimonos and yukata. I love Clarisse's hairdo. We took many pictures on our own and had professional ones taken too.
As we walked to Shinsaibashi, we walked past a shop that sells school bags. Hub insisted on buying as is something that we cannot find it back in SG. The backpack that only Jap elementary children have. But it costs almost S$600! I hope it can last her for a few years. We walked for quite a distance following the map before we reached Shinsaibashi. I bought some souvenirs from 3coins shop and T shirts for Shayne, Seth and Clarisse.

Clarisse kept wanting to eat curry rice. We finally stopped over at one restaurant that we thought they will have, based on the food models outside. After we sat down and checked with them then realized that all curry in Osaka is beef.no9 However, they serve a brown sauce with the rice and Clarisse loves it. The pork katsu was very good too.

After dinner, we bought 魚棒 on our way back to hotel. We didn't expect that they were so good, especially the prawn flavour. But in order to kill the fishy taste in the mouth, I had the dark chocs from lounge again..

Day 4: 29th May
Yakisoba at the lounge. I didn't like it but hub and gal like..

Day trip to Nara and the 30 min train ride was so comfy. We were welcomed by lots of roaming deers and poop on ground!

Clarisse was super duper excited over feeding them but she was very afraid that they will bite as they charged towards her. 😅 She screamed as they come to her.

It was quite a long walk when we exited from the train station till the deer park. There were more deers as we approached Yakushiji temple. We went to Todaiji temple too but took pictures from outside.

Hub said the deers bit his shirt when he was surrounded by them. Haha! The second time that we bought the deer food, Clarisse was afraid that they will bite her again. I was not afraid and while I fed them, Clarisse was hiding behind me when they come towards us..

Hub chanced upon a food area after we bought souvenirs and mochi snack. The mochi was surprisingly good and not too sweet. We found the restaurant that sells iron pot rice and another which sells dorayaki. Lunch was settled!

As we walked back, we decided to go to the museum but in the end, we went to look at some Buddha scruptures inside and walked out.

There was a shopping area and we explored. We tried their passionfruit ice dessert as we took a small break.

We decided to go back around 2pm but there was no limited express train. We took the express train which was as good since it was also fast. One old grandpa folded a tiny speedboat for Clarisse onboard the train. He was the first nice person we had seen, other than those service crew. People in Osaka are not as friendly. They seem to be in their own world and oblivious to the surroundings.

We had our dorayaki, custard breads that we bought the day before and coffee in the lounge before we head back to room and rest.

Very soon, it was time for dinner. We had takeouts from Takashimaya's food hall. The spread was really huge. We even had stir fried cai xin. It was a satisfying dinner.
😘

Hub visited the lounge for the past late evenings for wine since it is free. 

Day 5: 30th May
We woke up realizing it was raining. My heart sank a little. But I quickly decided we will skip Osaka Castle and go to the aquarium and Tempozan market place since they are indoors.

Clarisse enjoyed her breakfast at the lounge. She liked the yogurt with cornflakes, raisins and cranberries, bacon, scrambled egg with tomatoes and cherries alot. Today we took our time to eat since we won't set off as early as previous days.

So we set off at 10am by taxi. The big stingrays with their visible eyes and mouth caught my attention as they swam above us. And we saw other big fishes, schools of pretty fishes, penguins, dolphins, spotted seal, crabs and even a whale shark. As we ventured, there were many more underwater life awaits us. They were differentiated by the oceans. There was even a section for us to touch the sea creatures but I didn't let Clarisse do it.

The rain did not stop by lunchtime. We managed to find a seat at the food court of Tempozan marketplace and we tried the oyako don, ten don, ramen, udon, soba and kfc. The original chicken tasted the same as Singapore but the spicy one tasted like Tabasco which I didn't like. For the first time, Clarisse likes fried chicken.

Next, we bought tickets for the Legoland discovery centre. It was a small indoor playground but enough for Clarisse. Hub tried the surprise egg kind for lego too. We also played laser shooting with Clarisse. She really enjoyed herself very much especially when she gets to try Qoo jelly drink.

We.went to shop around and walked to the train station in the chilly weather. Luckily I brought the disposable raincoat for Clarisse. We took the train back from Osakako and as we were thinking of what to have for dinner, I asked hubby if there is Singapore food in Osaka. I was missing our food and soup. Hub searched and immediately found one very near to our hotel. Clarisse and I went back to the hotel first while he went to buy.  On our way back to hotel, we went to get my favourite fruit salad and Clarisse wanted takoyaki.

After my shower, I found Clarisse was singing loudly by herself. She sang the song, Never Enough with so much feelings. So I videoed her.

The hokkien noodles and 星州米粉 were very delicious. But sadly I accidentally knocked my fruit salad over.

Day 6: 31st May
Our day trip to Kyoto by shinkansen. It was an experience although is only 14 minutes ride. Clarisse wanted a bento but the ride was too short! Haha.. I also wish we can have the 鐵路便當.

We took the limited express train wrongly as it doesn't stop at Inari station. We then changed to their local traimn. It was very crowded at Fushimi Inari shrine. We took some pictures as we walked in and had the street food. It began to drizzle while eating and then rain heavily. The lazy hub who refused to bring the umbrella from the hotel room, had to buy one.

Thereafter, we quickly head back to the station to take the train back to Kyoto station. Finally, we found Isetan and the shops underground before we had ramen in one of the ramen restaurants. We had to buy food tickets before we can enter. The ramen wasn't as good as the ones we tasted in Osaka.

Hub wasn't so keen on the railway museum but Clarisse and I would like to visit since it is only early afternoon. We took a taxi there and it was quite a fun visit. There were many different trains from the olden days to present. We took the locomotive train for a short experience. We took some pictures. And the professional picture taken on the locomotive train was pretty. Clarisse loves history and museums. No regrets for coming! Hub played the coin turner machine again and I said I wish is a shinkansen.

Soon it was time to head back to Osaka. We didn't take shinkansen back. We took train to Umeda and look for the Alice Fantasy restaurant. It was quite a walk in the chilly weather. The food isn't fantastic and tomato based food tasted salty instead of sweet and sour. But it was still fun taking pictures in a theme restaurant and the drink to turn us 'smaller' and we were given tea satchet when we left to turn us back. The funniest part is the waitress bowed to a 90 deg when she sent us out and continued with it even when the door was closed. Very polite. I explained to Clarisse the reason for doing that.

It seemed a shorter walk back to the train station when we head back to hotel. Hub decided to get some food as dinner wasn't satisfying. He came back with the yummy 魚棒. They were so good, especially the prawn ones. Clarisse loves them too.

It's again tablet watching time for Clarisse as there is nothing on TV in the hotel. It becomes a routine for her!

And time for zZzzZ..

Day 7: 1st June
Our last full day in this city.. we saw sun for the first time! It was cloudy for the previous days.

We set off after our usual breakfast at the lounge. The last breakfast there.. no yummy bee hoon..

First, we went to Osaka Castle. I used my selfi stick and the pics we took turned out to be satisfactory. Clarisse had her haagen daz ice cream from the vending machine. We walked around the park and went to the nearby museum. Clarisse enjoyed answering the questions and stamping the cards at the different stations. She even took a Chinese version and cards for me too.. She said she loves history and I hope she will still love the subject in secondary school!

Hub was not interested to go to the zoo. After the pleas from lil gal, he agreed! The station near the zoo was just a few stops. But it was really hot. In Singapore, no one would visit a zoo on a sunny afternoon!

Although small, I love the zoo as we can see hippopotamus, giraffe, zebras, tigers, rhinoceros close up. And it is the first time I see rhinoceros!

We left the zoo after spending around 2 hours there. On our way out, we shopped in a small mart and discovered white mini strawberries. We bought a box to eat when we were back to hotel.

On our way back, we saw people lazing around on the grass under the sun! So I commented the Japanese don't see sun as much as we do. While we complained of hot days, they love to have sun. Clarisse actually remembered about it.

Since it was still early when we were back at Namba, we explored the Namba Park shopping mall. The lil gal wanted pancakes. We had ice latte and pancakes then did our shopping. I didn't expect I can get shoes there and hub bought a baby G watch with Roman characters for me. Clarisse got a pink Casio from daddy for her advanced 7th year old birthday.

We decided to explore the restaurant for buffet at the top level of hotel as we thought that they would also have Jap cuisine. But it was actually a semi buffet style where we get a serving of soup, bread and main. Only appetizers and desserts are on the buffet spread. We could make our own macarons. The salad was good and Clarisse liked sesame dressing like me. As usual, she was excited over the desserts. Overall the food was so so, but we could view the entire Osaka. I quickly snapped a pic of Clarisse overlooking the view using hub's Hp.

Our last night ended with this expensive meal... Hub then went out to get some bread for our breakfast on our departure.

I woke up an hour earlier to get ready. Our train ride to the airport was smooth. The flight back was much better as compared to the red eye flight since we don't have to try to sleep on plane. But the most undesirable plane delay of 1.5 hrs had taken place. I had never had a flight delay before so this was really new for me. Lil gal was hungry since they could not serve our lunch.

We were disappointed with SQ business class meals. It wasn't like that when I went to US, Geneva and London. But maybe long haul meals are different.

We had a wonderful holiday. We got onto the trains on perfect timings; weather was still alright despite the drizzle; directions were not an issue; lil gal did not complain much on walking and taking trains. Our hotel room was perfect, even the room number of 3308 sounds lucky and I manage to sleep well.. What more I can ask for..

Arigatoo Osaka for the memories. Lil gal would remember it for a long time.. 🤗💗👨‍👩‍👧

May

Unfortunate incidents keep happening to Clarisse. I have a bad feeling about this month. But am looking forward to the school holidays and our first family holiday (only the Tangs) on a plane!

3rd May:
Miss Lim informed me that Faith's mom was unhappy that Clarisse drew on Faith's eraser. And also asked me if I am aware of the jelly that Clarisse had asked her to buy. It was upsetting when her mom told me that Clarisse even pinched her during Math class. Clarisse denied and cried badly. I do believe in her as she treats Faith and Esther as her best buddies. She would not playfully pinch Faith. Nevertheless is words versus words.

She asked if I believe her. I told her I do but she must never lie.

I also hit her using the hanger because she took a pencil from Anisa again. She refused to listen and kept telling the friends that she likes it and wish she has it. Her friend then kindly bought it for her. I insisted for her to return the pencil the next day and explained to her I do not want another parent to complain about her.

For the eraser incident, Miss Lim believes it's a misunderstanding when I let her know that Clarisse did not do it on purpose. She had thought of darkening the picture already drawn on the eraser.

Keeping my fingers crossed that with them not sitting together from today onwards, there will not be such accusations anymore.

From last month, Clarisse has been clutching my arm when we are walking. She said she wants to lie on my arm. Haha! It's a sweet gesture and I hope it can last for years to come! 😍

She still doesn't like pork and chicken served in Chinese restaurants, would rather eat plain rice with soya sauce and broccoli. And said she only wants to eat homecooked meat.

Teacher asked them to mark the items that they have helped out at home. In addition, I asked her to wash the utensils and bowls when she finished her lunch so that she can mark it under the Others section. She learned to make the bed and is happy to do so. She also tried to help to throw the trash and fold clothes. A good initiative by the school.

I went for my long awaited massage on 7th May at PS after a few weeks of stress over revision for her mini tests. The therapist is surprisingly good, ensuring every part of my body is taken care of, including the inner thighs. Since my products have been opened for too long, I decided to buy a new set home. And I am so lucky to have a 15% discount this month. My journey to a less cellulite, firmer body awaits. 😂

Clarisse has an aptitude for spelling and she could spell the word - orientation in class and teacher said very good.

7th to 9th May ~ Tests for Term 2
She suddenly recalled a mistake for English - selected fly over the sky instead of in the sky. For Maths, she admitted that she only checked once as teacher said they can do colouring after the paper is finished. I was worried about her making careless mistakes in the calculation although she told me the questions for the word sums and her choices of equation seem correct. Word sums is 3 marks each. As for Chinese, she recalled she made one mistake for 'tai yang'. She wrote 'yan' instead of 'yang'.

She told me Esther said to her during recess that Faith's mummy said cannot play with her. She was so upset that she cried at the tuckshop. A few friends came over to console her, including Esther and Faith. I was taken aback and had wanted to WhatsApp Faith's mum about it but decided not to. I am tired of these nonsense.and decided to exit the group chat. This mom definitely doesn't know how to behave as an adult.

10th May:
She happily told me she had good news and bad news when I fetch her from school. She had a perfect score for Maths but 18/20 for English. Besides the preposition mistake, she made another for pronouns. Chose I instead of we. She even cried when Faith proudly said yes she scored 19.

She suddenly had stuffy nose at night and woke me up.

11th May:
She said she was tired in school and teacher did not let her go home as they need to take Chinese test results.

She had a perfect score for Chinese paper 2, 8.5 out of 10 for listening, perfect score for reading aloud and 7 out of 10 for pick and tell. Mdm Woo told her she did well for all except she couldn't answer some questions for pick and tell. Told her to 加油.

She had slight increase in temperature. I made lin yang for her and thankfully she was all ok the next day.

The efforts taken for revision and practice has not gone to waste. I took the opportunity to tell her that it is her hard work that leads to her excellent results.

I had sharp pain on my right leg while climbing up the stairs and Clarisse held my arms to walk up. She rushed to take water for me and asked me to put a piece of wet wipe on my leg. Then lie on bed and rest. She said she wants to be a doctor when she grows up to help people. Right now she is a little doctor. She even sweetly told me I always look after her and is time to look after me now. 😍

She has been tearing silently in class, thinking that Faith and Esther do not need her anymore as she saw them together. The individual seating for the tests had made her feel bad as she was far from them. When she was back to the original seating after the tests, she also teared when she saw Faith being sad. She had the thought that she was the cause. When she did not get the perfect score for the rolling of balls into the net for PE, she was upset that Faith and Esther had it and felt embarrassed that the rest in her group got it. I had to teach her that is the wrong attitude. She should feel happy for her friends if they do well.

16th: She had sudden headache after we got onto bus on our way home after school. And had slight increased temperature. I let her drink pocari, lin yang and additional dose of elderberry.

She woke me up at 2.30am that her head is painful. Her temperature had slightly increased to 37.7. I was so worried, gave her ibuprofen and rub her feet with peppermint. Praying in my heart for her fever to be gone, I tried to go back and sleep. At 5.45am, her fever is gone. She woke up feeling all good and was chatty.

I think her body is too heaty again after having Pepper Lunch salmon rice and curry udon on 13th.

Some of her friends got a perfect score for Chinese pick and tell. She felt sad and envied them. I had to repeatedly teach her that is not right. She can do it too.

While I was in the shower, she packed her school bag on her own without me telling her to. I was surprised by it.

When she remembered about her pick and tell scenario, she told me she was very nervous and forgot what to say. It then occurred to me that as she grows up, she started to develop nervousness. I asked for feedback from her Berries teacher and she said Clarisse's writing speed is much faster now and would raise her hand for participation. However, she tends not to have confidence in herself. Teacher told Clarisse she can do it, must believe in herself.

She told me she is the only one in the class who does not have correction for her composition practice in class. Teacher showed her piece to the class. She had remembered what teacher mentioned before they started writing.

In this month, I bought a Chinese pictionary to introduce new words to her. This is to prepare her for Chinese oral picture description next term. I also bought a English assessment book for English stimulus based conversation and let her try on what she wants to be when she grows up.

She had to miss her dance class on 20th as she was very lethargic and complained about earache. Thankfully there is no fever.

24th: Parent-Teacher meeting
It went well. Ms Lim began by saying that Clarisse has done well especially in Maths. She has all Grade 1. I was surprised when I was shown the report book by Ms Lim as she got 86.8 for English and 88.8 for Chinese. She did well for the actual tests and I realised later on that even one mark will cause a big difference in percentage. She was quite soft during her show and tell and hence one mark is reduced. She is generally well behaved but sometimes can drift away when she is talking to her classmates. And thankfully Ms Lim will separate them in the yellow group. She felt that they have grown too used to one another. Clarisse would raise her hands, wanting to answer questions and would even stand up if she raise her hand for a long time. But when she answers, teacher can hardly hear her. I didn't know that she is soft spoken in class if I didn't hear from Ms Lim.

Mdm Woo told me she is an excellent helper being the group leader although at times she is afraid to collect books from her classmates. She helps Mdm Woo alot. She can read well and did very well for her written paper, only that she is also quite soft-spoken and can hardly hear her when she answers questions. I mentioned about her being nervous during the oral and I am practising 看图说话 with her to prepare for the tests. Mdm Woo said she is just shy and should get better as she grows. She said Clarisse seldom shares her feelings with her but I told her Clarisse will come home to tell me all about her day. She then gave a thumbs up and commented very good. When we talked about Chinese not being the chosen language in her daily conversations, she emphasized that they only can speak Mandarin during her class and more exposure to English on a daily basis. She then asked me to look for more Chinese cartoons online. Also, her behaviour is good too.

Finally the last day of Term 2 arrived...And the final packing before we embarked on our first free and easy holiday! Yay! 👨‍👩‍👧