anti-mosquito patch

Mum: Oops, I almost forget that Akiu asked me to buy something.
Kate: *curious as usual* What kind of thing?
Mum: A special sticker to keep mosquito away. If someone puts the sticker on his cloth, mosquito will keep away from that person, because the sticker will release a kind of smell that mosquito doesn't like.
Kate: Emangnya di Indonesia banyak nyamuk?
Mum: Iya.
Kate: So why doesn't he buy it by himself?
Mum: Because he couldn't find it in Indonesia.
Kate: Emangnya di Singapore ada stikernya?
Mum: Iya ada. Akiu pernah dikasih temennya, belinya di Singapore.
Kate: Kenapa di Indonesia ga ada? Udah tau disana banyak nyamuk.

seven

just a simple celebration with 7 candles, 7 presents, and ... 7 plaits :)

KidsASIA

Last weekend we went to The Plaza of National Library Building. We went there to visit KidsASIA, part of Asian Children's Festival 2007. Kate had so much fun there. There were so many activities for children such as games, crafts, stories, and performances. And it was the first time Kate went to library without reading any book :D

report card 2007

Kate has done really well in her first year of primary school. Her marks for English Language, Higher Chinese, and Mathematics are similar, and all are in band 1. And she got great grades on other subjects, too.

Keep up

your good works,

Kate!

Remarks from her form-teacher:

Semester 1: Kathleen enjoys and participates actively in class discussions. She has worked hard this semester and should continue her efforts. She should try to do and check her work more carefully.

Semester 2: Kathleen is an outspoken girl who often clarifies her doubts. She is polite and it has been a joy to teach her. She has the potential to do better if she tries to do and check her work more carefully.

Johor Bahru - City Square

Yesterday was the first time we went to Johor Bahru (JB), Malaysia. We went there by bus as the total journey only took about an hour. At JB, we spent most of the time at City Square, the closest shopping mall to Singapore-Malaysia border.

Kate's favourite part of the mall is Merrybrown fastfood stall - because they have swings as the chairs. As Mum and Dad's favourite is the cakue stall - forgot the name of it, but the stall is just opposite the Merrybrown. *the cakue reminds us to Cakue Semar Stall at Bandung Indah Plasa's foodcourt*

After dinner, we went back home by taking bus until Kranji MRT then transfer to MRT to Bugis MRT. Actually it would be more convenience if we just stayed in the bus, as the bus would end at Queen St Terminal, which is not far from Bugis MRT. But Kate wanted to ride another kind of transportation, as she takes bus every Mon-Sat.

The trip must be quite tiring for Kate, because as soon as we found a seat at the MRT, Kate straight away put her head on Daddy's lap and less than half minute later she was in deep sleep.

Around midnight, Mum felt that Kate was warmer than usual, and it got worse by dawn. Mum was worried that Kate would fall ill, but fortunately the fever was gone by the time Kate woke up (around 9 a.m.). Now she has a bit cough, though.

PS:
* Kate's first impression of JB: dirty. Actually the city is not so dirty but there were many rubbish under the stairs of the overhead bridge and Kate used to with the clean of Singapore.

* Kate's second impression of JB:
After Custom Clearance at Singapore Immigration, we went to the restroom and Kate notice that "Now we are back in Singapore, because we don't have to pay for using the toilet".

Sandcastle @ Sentosa Island

It has been a year we became islander member. But we decided not to renew the membership, to give us a little break from visiting the So Expensive Nothing TO See at All Island. We had fun at the island, though. Our favourite is Palawan Beach, where we enjoy playing with the sand.

math

Missy bought 5 red apples, 3 oranges, 8 pears and 9 chocolate bars.
How many fruits did Missy buy in all?

Kate confidently wrote: "5+3+8+9=25".
Mum: Could you check it again, please?
Kate: *checking and counting* Yes, it's correct.
Mum: Are you sure?
Kate: Yes, five plus three plus eight plus nine equals twenty-five.
Mum: Read the problem carefully.
Kate: Mmmm ... it doesn't mean 5 red apples are 1 fruit, does it?
Mum: No, it doesn't. 5 red apples are 5 fruits, but 1 kind of fruit.
Kate: So? My answer is correct.
Mum: Ok. How many kind of fruits are there?
Kate: Four.
Mum: And what are they?
Kate: Apple, orange, pear, cho ... eh ... :) :)

birthday present

Mum: Hooray!! Daddy is browsing the internet to find something for my birthday present :D
Dad: ???
Dad: What do you wish as your birthday present?
Mum: Hmmm ... Kate, would you help me find some ideas?
Kate: I'm not gonna tell you. It's a secret. (She has some plans for Mum's coming birthday)
Mum: Any idea, please. It doesn't have to be something that you would give me.
Kate: Let me think ... bicycle? pen?
Mum and Dad: ???
Kate: So you could use the bicycle to send me to school and the pen for marking my worksheets.

latchkey

Kate:
"Ma, Mama kerja gih,
supaya Kathleen bisa
jadi latchkey girl."
:)

thunder vs firework

Mum and Dad were reading and Kate was studying when we heard very loud thunder. Kate quickly came to Mum and Dad and insisted to pause her study until the thunder has gone.

When the next thunder came, Dad said "FIREWORKS" and we all laughed. "Horray ... Fireworks" said Kate continuing the fun.

Kate took her book and continued study near Mum and Dad. Every now and then, when we heard thunder, Kate said "fireworks" but kept studying calmly.

Kate got mail ...

Recently, whenever Mum checks mailbox with Kate, Kate asks "Is there any mail for me?". Eventhough Dad's and Mum's mails are mostly bill and bank's matter, but for Kate those are mails to be opened and read, and she wants some, too.

Last week Kate got one mail which one of the pages said:

one is not enough

Mum made one and Kate asked more for her friends.

HAPPY CHILDREN's DAY

ompong 4 - dentist addicted

Yesterday Mum rang up the school dentist to make appointment for Kate, again. The dentist was quite surprised as Kate had just seen her last week.

Well, it turns out that Kate prefers having tooth loss by dentist rather than let it out naturally. It was less pain, she said.

my september holiday

Kate had a homework, which was making a journal about last holiday (minimum 5 sentences).

My September Holiday

      I had a super holiday. It was a super holiday because I kept going somewhere. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I went to Plaza Singapura to watch High School Musical 2. It was very noisy there because it was very exciting and the music was very very loud. It was a very fantastic show and very nice. I also went to my friend's house. It was very fun. On Wednesday, my mother and I went to Aunty Honey's Hany's place. Her children are Hanan and Hivah Haifa. Hanan is 5 years old. Haifa is 3 years old. I met a lot of new friends there. We played a lot of games. It was very very fun. The next next day, my mother and I went to Aunty Fiona's place. Her child is Brendon. He is good sometimes but naughty sometimes and even funny sometimes. It was very fun to play there. She also gave me an origami book. I was very creative when I was free because when I was free, I liked to do the paper foldings, a lot of it. It was very fun doing the paper folding.

ompong 3

Unlike the first and second teeth, Kate was feeling very uncomfortable and sometimes having pain when the third tooth (left-lower-central-incisor) was quite wobbly and started to come up. So yesterday Mum rang the school dentist, and Kate came home with another ompong :D.

end of term 3

Just a story about the holiday last week...

One day on holiday, Mum and Kate went to Plasa Singapura. Mum wanted to buy something at Daiso (the $2 shop). At the atrium, there was a dance competition (with High School Musical song). Kate really enjoyed watching it, eventhough she didn't know what High School Musical is. And it made us went back there for 3 days, just to watch the dance :)

The other days, we went to visit and meet up with some old friends. Kate was very happy playing with her old (and new) friends - thank you, guys. At one of visiting, Kate made some of the children cried - sorry, girls - because of the High School Musical bookmark which Kate got at Plasa Singapura. The reason is simple: it was not enough for everyone.

One thing that Kate must not forgot to do on her holiday was doing her homeworks. Here is one of them (using bits of this and that that we found at home)

Today Kate is back to school, ready for Term 4.

ompong 2

Finally ...

Kate's right-upper-central-incisor baby tooth fell out. It happened last night, right before dinner. Normally it takes about 6 weeks for the tooth to fall out, but this tooth took 10 weeks, while the first one took 1 day only :D.

Now both of her lower-central-incisor baby teeth are start moving. Let's see how long it struggles its way out.

(picture will be posted later)

(not) zoo animal

Kate needed to make a scrapbook about animal at the zoo.

Well, we haven't been to the zoo in Singapore, except Kate on school trip few months ago. But we had been to zoo in other countries few times. Strangely, we couldn't find any photographs of them, nor in our computer, neither in our photo albums.

After searching all our photo collections, Kate got several animals photographs. None of them was taken at the zoo, though. :)

Since Kate never sees any scrapbook, here is her idea:

another long weekend

Thursday

After Chinese tuition, Kate and Mum went to Botanic Garden for a picnic. Not many people there, so we found it quiet enough for some relaxing.

The fish ponds (near Tanglin Gate) were nice again. Now visitors who wish to feed the fish, are encouraged to give only fish food, which could be bought ($1) at dispensing machine at visitor centre nearby. It's a good idea considering usually visitors would give any kind of food (from bread crumbs to green leafy vegetables), which easily makes the ponds dirty. Now the ponds are back nice and clean, and the fishes look healthy, too.

Friday

Kate's bad habit during holiday is waking up late. Today, she woke up at noon!

Daddy had a day long meeting, which ended with a dinner feast. Mum and Kate were planning to join for the feast. But about the time to leave, Mum changed her mind. So Mum and Kate stayed at home instead, to give Kate time to do her homeworks.

While Kate was doing her homeworks, we heard loud noise ... Ooops, we totally forgot about it ... FIREWORKS FESTIVAL :(

Saturday

Usually after swimming lesson, Kate would ask to play water a little while more (which could end up another one hour). But not today, because Mum promised her to watch fireworks. Yesterday she was dissappointed by hearing the noise only.

After preparing some snacks and drinks, off we go. We planned to watch the fireworks from around Fullerton One. Somehow, we ended up at Esplanade Bay. The place was better though, closer from the main view at Marina Bay floating platform. Since we arrived "late" (an hour early), we couldn't get a nice place to get some good snaps.

Sunday

Today was library day! We went to Library@Orchard and Central Lending Library.

Kate has just finished her silver stage from her reading-bear-record. She would need to make the activity to get her silver badge.

... after this 2 consecutive long weekends (Thu-Sun),
Kate will only have 2 weeks to finish her term 3
then another holiday for 1 week...

sillyman

This time Kate is a story teller.

"Imagine there's a wall and a man. The man dressed up like a Superman. He thought by dressing up like Superman, he could be a Superman. So he climbed up a wall and jumped. But instead of flying up, he fell down.

I think he is a Sillyman, not a Superman."

By the way, today Kate likes to run, bends her body a little bit, straights her hand forward and says "Super...girl".

garden

Since Kate was having a long weekend (Thu-Sun), the teacher gave lots of homework. Here is one of them:

garden collage

let's fold

When Kate wants to learn paper folding,

star, cube, cootie-catcher

layout update

baby

few days ago,
Kate: Mummy, would you help me finish my meal, please?
Mum: I have eat a lot and my tummy is quite full.
Kate: Please, Mum ...
Mum: If I eat some more, later my tummy will get bigger and bigger.
Kate: That's really good!
Mum: Are you sure?
Kate: Yes! So we would have a baby. Horray!!
Mum: ??? Does the baby come from food?
Kate: Yes :D
Mum: So daddy could have a baby in his tummy, and you could, too.
Kate: No ... It's special only for woman.
Mum: ...
Kate: Of course not. *laughing* I'm just kidding.
Mum: Where does the baby come from, then?

Kate:
The God in heaven will put a really tiny baby in your tummy. And the baby will eat the food in your tummy, so the baby will grow bigger and bigger. When there's not enough space in your tummy, you will need to go to doctor. And the doctor will open your tummy and take the baby out ...
A really cute baby ... :)

Not sure how Kate got the idea, but ... where is daddy's part in making the baby?

round and round and round we go

Daddy was not feeling well. So while he took a rest, Mum and Kate went to playground.

Kate's highest record is 12'11" in November 2006

down with flu

This morning Kate had a little bit of runny nose. But she insisted to go for school, so she went for rope-skipping CCA in the morning and continue for school afterwards. There was 2.5 hours between and Kate preferred to spend it at school.

Today Kate also had a class trip to supermarket. Some parents (include Mum) went along to help. The children had so much fun doing supermarket detective (they required to spot some foods that listed in their worksheets) and shopping (with shopping list). After came back to school, they had sandwich party at the canteen with the food and drink they have bought. When the party has over, they went back to their class. Kate looked fine and enjoying the trip, too.

Just about one hour after Mum left school, Mum's phone rang.

"Mum, I want to go home. I want to have a rest"

Kate's voice didn't sound good, so Mum went back to school to fetch her.

And here is Kate checking her temperature by putting the thermometer through her ompong.

independent morning

Actually Mum was a bit hesitant on doing this, but gave it a try nevertheless.

Mum had to go somewhere, so this morning was Kate's first "independent" morning. When Mum left, Kate had just finished her breakfast. After Mum has left, Kate prepared herself for school, managed some spare time to play computer, locked the doors, then went to chinese lesson by herself.

When Kate finished with her chinese lesson, Mum hasn't arrived yet to pick her up. So Kate went for lunch and waited for Mum there.

Soon Kate will be ready to be a latchkey girl :)

Actually, where did Mum go when Kate was enjoying her morning ?

Psstt ...

to get a book (see the cover on the right) for $25 only :D