Lazy Monday

I am so glad the boys' school is only Tuesday to Friday.
Sunday nights are usually a late night for us, with a visit from my mum.
So I am glad we need not rush for school the next day.

Today Gadget-daddy ook the car to work, so we are just playing at home. While the boys are playing with building blocks and their Transformer toys, Mommy is also indulging in some quiet time for herself:

Lazying in bed beside a beautiful sleeping baby,



... and getting into some reading (Finishing Ripples and will start on Thirteen Tales as soon as I can.)


By the way, Shi-Li Kow's book, Ripples, has been short-listed for the Frank O'Connor award.

Sorry, MIA

Hey, all.

Sorry I pulled a Houdini on you.

We had actually planned a holiday sometime back, but with all the madness of Micah's party and the costume party, I was just too tired to blog at the end of the day to let you know that we would be away. We were here:

Phuket, Thailand

Also, during some of my nights, while Gadget-daddy was busy doing some audio/visual editing, I took the chance to start reading this book,


and now I want to finish it fast because I want to start reading this book again!!


Thanks, Ee-ee for handing me both the books, TLCC on loan and T as a gift.

So I will come back and fill you in on our holiday a little later.

Right now, we are all beat.

My other sis and her 2 kids are back, so the next few days would mean more outings, lunch/dinner out. But most of the time it'll be more like,
"The circus is in Ah Ma's house!!"

Inside A Cocoon

Micah's reading is coming along now.
It's like something happening inside a cocoon.

This child is slowly learning to be patient for results. Because he is always on the go, he has always wanted everything fast. Before Max could play with him, Micah rather run after a ball, run in the park, catch bugs etc. Max was the one who started him on fixing a jig-saw puzzle and arranging cars (usually not less than 6) in a row, getting them ready to start a race.

When it came to reading, Micah would always ask us to read because it was faster and I'm sure because it was effortless on his part. But of late he's been able to recognise and spell words by sound. He'd still just pick certain words that interest him, or read off things that appealed to him, i.e. cereal boxes, and inscriptions on his toys. So it's coming along pretty well. In fact he has surprised me quite a few times by pointing things out to me, saying,
"Look, mum, this says 'road'."

Well done, my boy.
Keep it up!

Max is also learning to read. Well, to read the letters, but he occasionally needs help because he can't remember. Last week he needed help recognising the letter "Y". Today it was the letter "U".

The funny thing that happened yesterday was, I pointed at a lower case "L" and asked him, what letter is this. He answered, "One." Micah and I laughed, and Mommy said, "Max, you're so funny. It's the letter "L", darling. A letter. Not number."
And Max said, "Oh, right..."
I love his good spirits.

Sounds Like 'X'-Rated

The boys were playing in the back room while I was folding the laundry.
I was done but they were still playing.

Feeling a little tired on my feet, I said to the boys, "OK. You guys can play here, but I'm going to be in our room."

Micah: What are you going to do, Mommy?
Mommy: I'm going to read a book.
Micah: You mean an adult book?
Mommy: Yes, an adult book.

To Micah an "adult book" are the books Mommy and Daddy read in silence. These "adult books" have no pictures in them, just words, and most of the time he can't get anything "logical" from them even when he asks Mommy or Daddy to tell him what they are reading about.

These are the books he will tell us to stop reading so that we'd play with him. Theses are also the books he sees us slip a bookmark in between and sits on the table for a long time before they get back onto the shelves.

In contrast, kids' books have loads of pictures, they sit in a stack by the bed or in the bag (library ones) and they usually are of their favourite topics: Trains, cars, or something about animals or the human body.

So, Mommy had just finished reading an "adult book" by Philip Yancy and still in the middle of This one - most catchy title! (Yeah, I kinda started on two books at the same time... for different needs of the soul.)

Adult book. Hmmm...