Preparing for Chinese New Year

Like any other dutiful Chinese daughter, daughter-in-law, wife and mother, I do have a huge list of things to do and buy to get ready for Chinese New Year celebrations.  In past years before kids, we could’ve managed eleventh hour shopping in the week leading up to New Year’s Eve.

It was sheer insanity…but still…achievable possibility. Heh.  :-P

However, with one and then two children in the picture, over the last two years I’ve had to learn to be incrementally more organized. This year, I think I can say we’ve found a good balance and I thought I’d share 5 tips which I felt helped us get through the preparation for Chinese New Year with less scramble and more amble.

• To purchase new sheets, clothes and shoes, visit sales during the year instead of waiting to the month before Chinese New Year to start. This allows you to shop in a more leisurely manner and get some great discounts or bargains along the way. It also mitigates the occurrence of last minute mad dashes to find the one thing you really really need but are not able to find for the right price in the stores. Keep a list so you know what you already have and how much you have spent, and are not buying duplicate items.
• Dry goods for cooking and dried fruits, tidbits and nuts to fill the traditional eight-treasure box can be purchased ahead of time and stored in the kitchen larder. Prices also tend to be inflated during the weeks leading up to Chinese New Year, so it is wise to stock up in “off-peak” times.
• For fresh goods that need to be bought closer to the date, avoid the crowds in Chinatown by shopping in the heartland or neighbourhood stores. They stock pretty much the same items, at prices pretty close to what you can get in Chinatown for a lot less hassle and less stress.   Research prices and nearest locations on the internet, do your cost comparisons and decide beforehand your budget and the list of items you will purchase, so that you go straight to the store in question and don’t waste time and energy trying to compare prices and inadvertently put yourself in a decision-making spot.
• Timing is key – I aim to do any shopping I need to, at lunchtime on weekdays and commute by public transport, leaving our evenings and weekends free as far as possible, for time with family. It also helps avoid the frustration of battling queues at cashier counters or the car park on weekends for an available lot.
• Stagger the laundry load in stages over three weeks leading up to New Year’s Eve – curtains, sheets, new clothings, so you have sufficient time to wash, iron, and hang up, and the work is spread out through the regular laundry load instead of having to get through a huge pile in a compressed time.

What are some of the things you do to survive CNY prep with sanity in check? 

 

Fun with Cardboard Craft IV: Making your own “box-car”

This has been in our cardboard craft ideas pipeline for some time, waiting patiently for the right size boxes to appear. They finally did, and since we needed to keep DD engaged in a quiet but interesting activity for the day so her brother could rest and recover, we decided to embark on it yesterday.

You will need: One large box (of a size that can accommodate your child in a seated position), a small box (whose length equals the width of the large box), one shoe box (that can fit lengthwise against the width of the large box) scissors or box cutter, glue, cellophane tape, plain wrapping paper, marker, pencil, empty water or milk bottle with screw-on cap, old newspapers.

1. Mentally divvy up one of the short sides of the large box into nine squares. In the top middle square, place the uncapped bottle in the centre and draw around the rim of the bottle with a pencil. Cut out the hole.
2. Line up the small box in front of the large one, and draw a circle on the side touching the large box, using the outline of the hole. Cut out the hole on the small box.
3. Place the bottle in the small box.  Push the rim through the holes cut out in both the small and large boxes. Both boxes should now be loosely attached to each other.

Screw the cap on in the large box.

4. Secure the boxes together with some tape. Cover the entire package in wrapping paper.

5. From a scrap piece of cardboard, cut out a circle for the steering wheel. Place the bottle cap on the centre of your circle and draw around it.  Cut this out.

6. Fit the steering wheel onto the rim of the bottle.  Screw the cap onto it. Ta dah, steering wheel that moves! (I would have liked to cover it with some wrapping paper, but I didn’t have any other apart from the yellow sheets available at home. Oh well, another time…) 

7. Fill the shoe box with old newspapers, and place it into the large box to make a car seat.

8. We didn’t make a car door because DH didn’t want the car door to stay flapped outward after opening it once. So he made a convex cut on one of the sides, rounded off the edges and sealed it up with tape.

Now you’re ready to decorate the car!

You will need: 4 plain white paper plates, scrap cardboard from the boxes, crayons, aluminium foil, scissors, coloured masking tape.

• Wheels – With a black crayon, outline the circle on the inset of a paper plate. Holding the crayon at an angle, shade along the outer perimeter of the circle. This will give you a tyre mark effect.  Repeat for the other three paper plates.

• Lights – Cut out four circles from your leftover cardboard. Colour two red for brake lights, two white for tail lights and wrap two in aluminium foil for head lights.
• Number plates - Cut out two long rectangles for number plates. Ask your child to call out a few numbers and letters that she likes and write these down. If your child is old enough to write, you can let them do this step.
• Add any other optional items you wish, like a radiator for the front. And sporty red racing stripes!     VROOOOOOM!!

Completed Box Car-front view

Completed Box Car - rear view

For our previous cardboard craft projects, click the links below:-
Cardboard craft 1: Making a flannel storyboard
Cardboard craft 2: Making a lion hand puppet
Cardboard craft 3: Making London Bridge

 

Fever

Sigh. However many times one steers their children through a time of illness, every single time is an emotional ordeal all over again.

You first find out about the fever when you pick him up from the cot in the morning.
You reach for the thermometer, measure the temperature and decide a dose of paracetamol is in order.
Then you watch the child like a hawk for the rest of the day, taking note of his actions and reactions, taking his temperature every other hour, recording it into the organizer function of your handphone.

The temperature eases in the afternoon and you begin to build a little hope that it’s not so bad. But reality tells you it’s just an expected outcome after a bath.
You run the gauntlet of frustration, impatience and discouragement when he refuses his meal.
Your heart sinks when his temperature starts to climb again as the evening draws on, despite having kept to a rigorous medication schedule.
38.3…..39.1…..39.2…..38…..39.3…..

Night falls and you set out the sponging basin and the medicines for one last sponge bath and one last dose before you set him into the cot for bed.
He dozes off easily because he’s been yawning since 7:45pm.

You watch the clock tick as you keep vigil by his bedside. Time slows to a crawl.
You pray the same prayer over and over again, till it becomes rote.
You think about how totally absolutely much you love your child. 
You wish you could transfer the discomfort to yourself and bear it all for him.

He’s tossed and turned and awoken a couple of times.  You’ve carried him till your arms ache, and now the night is still again.
You brush his hair gently with your fingers and leave the room.
You log on to your laptop and type a blog entry to try to stay busy.

Wide.   awake.

You know you really should try to lie down and get some sleep while you can but you also think you should torture yourself with a little insomnia, just to assuage some guilt (guilt you can’t explain a basis for because you know there wasn’t anything you could have done to prevent the illness).

You hear him stirring in his sleep, again. Leaving your laptop, you settle down cross-legged beside his cot.
He rubs his face into the sheets, and then sits up, blinking his eyes.
Catching sight of you, he musters a drowsy smile and mouths the word “Mummy”.
I know it’s tiresome, but, one more temperature check, son.

The thermometer registers 36.8. But it’s blinking and anyway you know it isn’t right because his neck and forehead are too warm.
Recheck temperature.
Give some water.
You decide there is still no need to administer the ibuprofen. Not just yet.

It’s now early am of Sunday morning.
The watch continues.

 

Parenting with purpose

“If you don’t care where you are going, any road will take you there.”

I read this in a book and am not sure who came up with the adage, but it certainly holds truth for bringing up children.

Most children will grow up, find a job, be reasonably physically able to get around – basically, get to adulthood by whichever path.  However, I believe there is a large majority of parents who recognise the importance of raising children by design, not by default. 

And most of us would strive within the best of our ability to make sure our  children start out on the best foot forward in education, healthcare and social development so they can attain their fullest potential, and get “there” by the straight route that fixes their eye on the finish line. Not one that winds in bends and distractions and sends the child into a few hard places before potentially reaching the “there” a little worse for wear.

As Christian parents, we are given an even more serious mandate by God in Deuteronomy 6:5-9. Above and beyond the equipping of life skills, the fundamental thing God holds parents accountable for is equipping their children for spiritual maturity.  We need to actively drive the process of discipling, teaching and imparting His word to our children.

It’s reminded me of two things:-

• The equal, or rather greater , importance of a disciplined and structured approach to our children’s spiritual education and growth. 
• That this roadmap for their spiritual growth should be the basis from which all other plans should be built, it’s not just a separate silo-ed one alongside others.

And because God has placed the primary responsibility on our shoulders (not the Sunday School teachers, not the pastor, relatives, etc) , we need to ask ourselves:-

• In our own spiritual walk, have we prepared our own hearts first, so that we are effectively equipped and qualified to disciple our children?
• Have we as a couple, prayerfully considered, defined and agreed on specific goals for spiritual development we want to work towards for each key stage of our children’s lives from ages 2-5, 6-12 and 13-18?

To me, this has been a good call for some serious planning and there’s no time like the present to start. 

 

Alphabet Wall: Making…k is for king

You will need: A large sheet of thick paper, markers, scissors, glue.

1. Measure and fold a 3-layered 2.5 inch thick strip on the longer side of the paper. Cut this out to make the headband for the crown.

2. On the remaining sheet , draw out some block letter k’s.

3. Measure the headband against your child’s head circumference and trim off excess lengths. Glue both ends into place and let dry.

4. Whilst you are taping the two ends together, let your child colour and decorate the k’s on the sheet of paper.

DD decided she would like to trace the letters,a task which I happily left her to do with some measure of independence. In the picture below, you can see the progression from her colouring the letters, to first attempts at tracing and then incremental improvements as she figured out the letter writing strokes. It sure made for an interesting twist on letter tracing activity worksheets!

5. Cut out the completed k’s.
6. Paste the k’s around the headband of the crown as shown in the picture below. You can also cut out some shiny paper to decorate the crown with “gems”.

Related Bible lesson: Wear the crown and pretend to be a king.

Talk about how you both are just playing pretend, but there is one true King who is the King of all kings, and his name is Jesus!

He is the King of Kings
He is the Lord of Lords
His name is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Oh, He is the King!

*  For our previous Alphabet Wall Craft on making a Q is for Queen crown, click here.

 

Alphabet Wall: Making…j is for jar

I’d been thinking about doing a papier-mâché craft for some time but don’t relish the idea of standing and stirring starch mix over a hot stove. I mean, if I’m spending time stirring something over a stove, it’d ideally result in something to eat, haha!

Anyway, simplicity is my vade mecum, and stuff requiring more than ten steps or ingredients, I abhor. So here’s my wonderbee version of a ten-step parent AND toddler friendly papier-mâché jar craft!

Part I: 1-minute papier-mâché mix
You will need: Old newspapers (lots!), plain flour, water, a jar or cup.

1. With your child’s help, spread your floor with newspapers. 
2. Tear up strips of old newspapers and set aside.
3. Mix 1 part flour to 1 part water. Stir with your fingers till there are no more lumps in the mix. Quick, hey?

4. Dip the strips of newspaper into the flour mix and paste over your jar/cup. Keep on pasting till you figure you’ve got enough layers of newsprint (about seven?) to make a reasonably sturdy papier-mâché jar.

5. Leave it out to dry in the sun for a couple of days. (sorry we have so few pics of this process. First my hands were too sticky to handle the camera, and then I was too busy scrubbing dried and caked flour mix off the floor and our hands!!) 

Part II: Jar decoration
You will need: Crepe paper, scissors, glue, craft foam, stickers or other embellishments.

1. Pop the cup or jar out.

2. Normally, most people paint the papier-mâché craft, but I chose to wrap it in crepe paper this time. It was just…neater.

3. Cut out the letters j, a and r from the craft foam.

4. Have your child paste the letters and decorate the jar further with stickers or any other form of embellishments he or she would like.

5. Jars were used for several different purposes in Old and New Testament times. For Bible lesson ideas, you could:-

• Compare and contrast what people used jars for in biblical history versus what we use them for in daily living today (e.g. contain dry grain or liquids, versus ink markers! ).
• Compare and contrast with objects we use today for the same purposes (e.g. water bottles). 
• Read John 2:1-11 with your child, a popular Sunday School story of Jesus’ first miracle.

10 steps, 10 items, easy peasy!

Note to parents: Up until recently, the story of Jesus turning water into wine had always been to me, very simply, a miracle of water to wine. However, when I went to look it up again as the object lesson for this week’s alphabet craft, the phrase “stone water jars, the kind used by Jews for ceremonial washing” caught my attention to go delve further. Click here if you’d like an interesting read on the significance of the jars.

 

Notes from the schoolroom

With a very busy start to the year, and then Chinese New Year approaching really soon as well, we have had little time to focus on our art and craft activities, but I really hope to get this back on track.

However, whilst alphabet craft has taken a backseat in the last two weeks, the maternal grandparents should now be relieved upon reading this post that their daughter has finally decided to get off the lazy seat started initiating some kind of training on stringing letters into words, phonics and writing!

I am very keenly cognizant of the fact that our decision to not put our daughter into a formal preschool program until next year, has implications on DD’s childhood development journey especially when compared to her age-peers. Having said that, everyone has their own needs and circumstances that drive the decisions they make, and this is not meant to be a statement blog about when is the right age to start a child in a formal preschool.

Our decision is based on a personal conviction that at the tender age of not quite yet three, she should be allowed to develop at her own pace and use the 12 months to discover her own strengths and talents along the way. There will be a time and place to buckle down to serious work, but for now a child should be allowed to enjoy childhood and all its inherent benefits.

The itsy-bitsy spider – entirely drawn and coloured by DD herself one morning while I was clearing up after bathtime.

Part of the reason why I have not started earlier on this is also because I subscribe to the belief that for any kind of skills development, a child should begin when she shows clear signs of having an interest or being ready. I think this calls for some wisdom on the parent’s part.

Certainly, we shouldn’t allow a child to walk all over us in the decision over when is a right age to start training a particular skill, but the truth of the matter is that if he or she is clearly not mentally or emotionally inclined toward applying themselves to learning the skill in question, but the parent chooses to persist, it then turns into a battle of wills and a showdown of whose patience can stretch further, or whose persistence can last it out. And we have to ask ourselves, is it absolutely unremittingly crucial that we start this now, or can we revisit it in a few months’ time?

So anyway here we are, at a point in time, when DD has recently started pointing to certain words on cereal boxes or signages and asking us, “What word is this?”

This is an activity sheet I drew up using the memory verse DD’s Sunday School class have been working on  (Deuteronomy 6:5). At first, I thought I would just let her colour the hearts, and read the verse to her, using the phonic sounds of the letters. But she decided to turn it into a “find and colour the letters with the designated marker colour” activity, which I happily went along with. And then it further developed into a “trace the letter” activity. It is very early days yet but I was very pleasantly surprised at how it turned out.   

 

Good reminders

Ecclesiastes 2: 24-26 ~ A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.

Ecclesiastes 4:6 ~ Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.

Once in a while, it’s good to have timely reminders of God’s perspective on work and life.  I came across these verses in my scripture readings for today.

Truly, real happiness is in receiving one handful with peace in heart and mind, than acquiring for oneself a double portion through much strife and sometimes unrequited pursuit.

 

The red rhino

Me: Look dear, a Red Rhino!
DD: What?
DH: A Red Rhino.
DD: Where?
Me: Never mind…we drove past already…
DD: Daddy, where is the Red Rhino?
DS: Rhino!
DH: Behind our car, in the car park.
DS: Car!
DD: Daddy, where is the Red Rhino?
Me: We’re way past it. No more.
DS: No more!
DD: Daddy, where is the Red Rhino?
DH: Went to eat some green grass…
DS: Grass!
DD: Why did the red rhino eat grass?
DH: Okay. The Red Rhino is not a real rhino. It’s just the name of one of the Civil Defence vehicles.
DS: Defence!
DD: Why…
DH: Oh LOOK! (pointing at MRT track) A red train!
DS: Choo choo…train!
DD: Daddy, why is the train red?
DH: …
Me: La la la la la…

What is the Red Rhino? ~ A brainchild of SCDF Commissioner James Tan, and known affectionately as the “Red Rhino”, the Civil Defence’s Light Fire Attack Vehicle is an all-terrain vehicle with a small pump and monitor turret capable of seating 4-5 responders. It is seen around the country parked near to Fire Posts, and is designed to traverse off roads to aid in firefighting of densely built-up areas without road access which conventional Pumper-Ladders may not be able to reach.  The Red Rhino was designed and conceptualised in Singapore.

All SCDF’s fire stations, except Jurong Island Fire Station, offer open house to members of the public to learn more about the SCDF, roles and functions of its firestations and firefighters every Saturday from 9 – 11 am.  Click here to find out more.

 

 

A morning in the countryside

So yesterday evening when I was thinking about what to do this morning with the kids, I came across the website for the Kranji Countryside Association. When I suggested driving to Lim Chu Kang to the hubby, he said, “Sure!” without a moment’s hesitation.  I love him so much, and not just because he is always such a great sport to accommodate his wife’s mad ideas…

We’ve been reading Eric Carle’s “Pancakes, Pancakes”, and it has been a great book to teach DD that ingredients to make pancakes go through a process from original source to our kitchen cabinets.  Now, while we don’t have traditional millers and millstones and water wheels here in Singapore, I did know that we have dairy and vegetable farms, but never knew where they were located.  Till now!

Can you believe these two pictures were taken in Singapore?  It looks and feels like we’re driving in Australia all over again, except for the very intense heat and humidity!

Our first stop was Hay Dairies.   Hay Dairies produces and distributes locally processed fresh goat’s milk, and you can buy it fresh the day it is milked.  Visitors are able to view goat milking demonstrations from 9-11am every day and walk into the pens to view the goats.  It is not a very large compound, so it turned out to be a fairly short visit.

DD finished up about 150mls of chocolate goat’s milk in two minutes! DH and I tried it and didn’t care very much for the taste ourselves and DS wouldn’t even give it the time of day, cold or straw notwithstanding.  So with that, I mentally struck off my list the option of enlisting chocolate milk to solve our milk spoonfeeding bugbear….sigh.   

But it was rather interesting to know that the milk we just drank had just been processed and bottled that very day.

Next, we made our way to Bollywood Veggies, just a short drive away.   They have a lot of banana trees on their farm.  Some look like the regular bananas we see off our supermarket shelves…

And some others look like nothing we’ve ever seen before!

It was a very educational trip, I learnt a lot myself.  Now I know what a fig tree looks like, the next time I come across it in the Bible!

We also had a quick but informative little chat with Ivy Singh-Lim, the co founder of Bollywood Veggies and the one who started the Kranji Countryside Association, and then left with some home-baked banana bread for cell group later in the afternoon.  Altogether a very interesting morning.  

*Admission into Hay Dairies is free for individuals and small families (less than 10 people).  Group visits with more than 10 people require prior booking and special charges.  Opening hours are 9am to 4pm daily Mondays to Sundays.  Click here for directions.*

*Admission into Bollywood Veggies is $2 per pax, children below 12 and elderly above 60 enter for free if visiting as a family.  Opening hours are 9am to 6pm daily Wednesdays to Sundays. Click here for directions.*