[Good Book] I think it is ... Basic Chinese 500 by Lucia Lau

There is a series of book, which we like.

Since I'm a total newbie in the Chinese language learning league, I have no idea on what is the correct title.
One of the cover looks like this (source: https://www.popular.com.sg/jsp/product/product_detail.jsp?vca001=106&vpd001=94004#):

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1. It is systematic! We really appreciated that the books introduce Chinese character one at a time. Per character, we get to learn the stroke sequence, and there is a mini story that follows, using... the new character AND the previous ones. So if you're as blur as I am, please start from the very first one (marked by big no '1' instead of '2' like in the pic, and the domino like circle starts with one dot).

2. Price wise, it's quite reasonable, unlike those hyped-up system. It's about 6$ per book, by the way. You can get cheaper during Popular promo or if you're Popular member (which I secretly think all parents in Singapore ought to be :p)

3. Pictures... pictures... pictures... :D My three year old loves to trace the strokes with his fingers and simply looking at the pictures. In a true blue kay poh manner, he insisted on doing the higher level ones. Because the first one is 'boring', always repeating few characters.

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The minus is... this is rather discouraging... I can only find the first 15 books in Popular! Per book, they cover 20 characters. So that's only 300 of them. Oh well...
But anyway, we have yet to finish what we have. So we can still keep our fingers crossed. :)

PS : There... out of my chest... so long I've been wanting to share that.

Why is it called Good Friday?

On the Thursday before Good Friday, my soon-to-be 6 years old had a discussion with her friend at school.
They were wondering, why the incoming public holiday is called Good Friday.

She shared with me their conclusion:

It is called Good Friday, because we can stay at home and play on that day.

:)

[Through the eyes of a child] We believe what we want to believe

My three year old son looked at me, eyes shining with trying-his-luck-with-plan-B-when-this-fail vibes.
"My Daddy said I can press this button if I don't know what to press"

I looked at him, amused at his conviction, while also trying to gauge the honesty level of the claim.

If you're interested, the episode above ended with me giving in. I chose to trust him.

I imagine that a child may unconsciously rank the adults in his life. The top ranking's words are always right, a norm on which he must live his life by.

The child choose to believe based on a very simple consideration, who said it.

In compromising situation, the human mischief factor goes into the equation. The child will opt for whichever most beneficial to him/her. (Unfortunately, this kind of psychological trait often get me and hubby into a row. "Did you actually told him that he can ...???", "You should've told me first before allowing them to...")

Then I realized, I think, we too, as adults, still have that basic instinct. Only that for us, aggravated by our life experience, the selection criteria on which to believe becomes much more complex.

Morale of the above rambles for me are:
1. Since we can choose what to believe, might as well believe in positive things. We CAN shape our mindset.
2. Likewise, we CAN shape our children mindset too
        Quotes : "A child mind is like a blank paper", "Seeds are in the mind, we act what we believe"
3. Be more forgiving when they land me in trouble (e.g. with hubby) because of their choice. It's just our natural instinct.      

[Fun] Segway

We just went to Sentosa, and finally after drooling a few times over Segway in the past, we took the plunge and tried it.

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1. It's amazingly easier than I expected. Even if you can't ride a bike, give it a go.
2. Seems like injuries risk involved is not high, as long as we listen to the guide instruction. Before doing the circuit, we were trained first.
3. It's fun!!! My three year old totally enjoyed it, although he didn't actually ride it in the fullest sense. He was pulled by one of the guide. My six year old was too tense such that she gripped the handles too tight. In the end she felt so tired. As for me, I wished I can use it to and fro office everyday.
4. Environmentally friendly. I'm certainly looking forward to when Segway will be considered seriously for everyday use.

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1. $$$. For a family of four, we spent nearly SGD 100 for four circuit rounds each.
2. They don't really have small children safety gear. Not only that, we need to dig for suitable ones and go figure ourselves.

[Good Brand] Mothercare

My acquittance with Mothercare, of course, started when we shopped for kid-no-1 aka daughter 6 years ago.
At that time, my impression was it's beautiful, but expensive, not within our means.

Until, kid-no-2 aka son arrived early. We were not prepared. And being early, he was small, existing hand-me-down clothes couldn't fit him.
Somehow, I decided to rely on Mothercare for below reasons. Off my hubby went to Mothercare - Plaza Singapura.

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1. The staff are knowledgeable and friendly.
2. Sizes range is good. Covering from small to big babies/kids. Sizes are also explained in length and weight so that we can gauge easily.
3. Material is surely reliable. When my daughter needs 100% cotton socks, Mothercare is my choice. Same goes for underwear. During purchase, sometime I do feel a little silly. Expensive underwear (no discount is applicable) for them that they will certainly outgrow in a year and no one will enjoy the nice design. But indeed they are the best. The fit is good and very comfortable.
4. Craftsmanship and safe design are outstanding. Up until now, I haven't found scratchy or pokey kind of zipper or button. And amazingly, buttons will stay intact for a long long time... as far as I remember, I haven't fix buttons from Mothercare before.
5. There are... good bargain! My best so far being a three piece set for boy (jeans, t-shirt, and vest) at SGD 30 (70% discount). So with the new wisdom, I've increase visit frequency :)

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1. Store layout need improvement. So far, Paragon outlet is the best. Neatly organized.
2. Stocks between outlet my vary, and sometimes sizes are not available. Got to be patient.
3. Happened once to us. We bought a set of undies (7pcs). One pc was in different size. One has to be careful.

[Good Brand] Lego

There are a few brand that I am quite passionate about.
Lego is one of them.
There are other brands developing the constructable little cubes, but Lego, by far, is the best we found until now.

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1. First and foremost, the design is beautiful and creative. Bright colours, many interesting shapes, brilliant thematic packages (not only buildings or vehicles, it also have mosaic, calendar, ...). We kept on finding more features of a certain pieces, even months after purchase. Hopefully the creativity will pass down to our kids *keeping fingers crossed*
2. Mechanically, it's a good design too. What our kids love from Lego is that it allows them to bring the creation around, and to display it. The pieces snap snugly, without being overly tight. We tried other brand, but it collapse or break on the way.
3. Blessed are the considerate people who design Lego. Firstly, duplo and lego are compatible! Initially we purchase little duplo set since the kids will outgrow it so fast. But after we found that they are truly compatible, out we go to buy more duplo :). Mommy to mommy advice : duplo or lego plastic boxes are equipped with little holes at the base. To drain the water during wash.

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They are e.x.p.e.n.s.i.v.e.
Does the quality justify the price? That's subjective. For our household, we'll wait for discount.

[Fun] Apples to Apples Kids 7+

Not in line with natural weather, my household also operates based on season. So far, we've met sporty season (jogging regularly, natural walk,...), Avatar season, Indiana Jones season, ...

Sometimes, we even acknowledge that fact. 'Did we buy this before or after the Avatar season?'

Anyway, now it is board game season.

One of our fresh purchase is Apples to Apples Kids 7+.

(Image : http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Apples-Kids-Plus-Comparisons/dp/B00112EJEY/ref=dp_cp_ob_t_image_1

[What is it about]
There are two stacks of cards, red and green.
Red cards are 'things to compare' (E.g: kitten, throwing stones, ...), and green cards states the comparison criteria (E.g: yummy, cute, ...)
Basic idea is to submit suitable red card to the judge whatever thing fit the criteria best.

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1. Simple, even my 3 year-old can participate.
2. Act as vocab builder. Each card has description of the word.
3. Training reading skill as cards do not contain picture.
4. Honing up creativity too... since we're definitely required to link things and criteria that sometimes does not even have natural nor obvious relation. Some may say term it as thinking-out-of-the-box.
5. Teaching kids to see things, to compare within given context.
6. Whoohoo... you'll like it... it's fast... One round is about 15 to 30 minutes only (depends on how much discussion you are encouraging kids).

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1. As mentioned above, picture on the card would've been great help for kids, and also will make it more attractive. But, I also think that with pictures, minds will be directed. Limiting the possibilities, the perspectives.
2. Requires at least 3 to 4 players (I think official rule quoted 4, but we've been playing with at least 3). Making it more difficult in arranging the playing time compared to those can take-off with 2 players.

Oh yeah... we take board games as great opportunity to train kids to win humbly and to lose gracefully.