Author: mamabok

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Electronic Games & Kids

I’m glad that my kid is not into electronic games that much that she won’t do anything else.  Chloe loves the outdoors, drawing, sewing, reading, watching tv but every now and then she wants her electronic games too.  From Skylanders to Lego Batman and Lego StarWars, so the  rechargeable batteries aa  is a necessity in our home.

I don’t know about other parents but I prefer Chloe to be outdoors playing or doing something creative, I’m not too happy when she is indoors watching tv all the time or playing games on the tv with PB.  But when you have a store full of games for you to pick from and a gamer dad, I feel that I am not doing a bad job with Chloe.

So how much electronic game time is good for your kids?  I say depending on your kids, for me no more than 30 mins a day – but most times, Chloe doesn’t play her electronic games except to keep her dad company or to do something with daddy on weekends.

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She Understands More Than We Think

Chloe is 9 years old and although she can be quite naughty at times, I’ll have to say that she can understand more than we care to give her credit for.  I told her I had lots of work to do this week and that she had to let me work and she tried very hard not to disturb me at work or at home, although at times, she still wants to play with me but that is understandable – she is afterall, still a kid.

And when my g/f was in a bad place, she knew enough not to let her pay for meals when we go out for food together, and she also knows how to comfort my g/f and called her ex – DS – for  Deep Shit because she cannot say “deep shit” per se as it is a bad word to her.  Yes, at 9 yrs old she seems a lot older at times and understand more than a lot of kids her age but I guess that’s because we tell her more than we should too.  We try not to keep secrets from her – that way when mummy needs to comfort an Auntie or help an Uncle she understands.

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Education In The West

I don’t know about United States but here in Canada I realized that kids do learn a lot more than we did when I was Chloe’s age.  When I was in school, we were told to memorize and to do formulas without really understanding the basics or having fun at it.  Chloe loves school because she is given a chance to be creative and explore where else back home, we just had to keep up.  There was really no fun in school for me at all during Chloe age, it was do or get caned.  So I’m really pleased that Chloe is learning with fun, she was able to come back and tell us stuff that even I don’t know – like Canada’s history – for example – Africville.  Yes! silly me ! i thought she was talking about the Smurfs when she asked me if I knew about Africville – since I said mummy knows everything – so she caught me there – mannnn!!!  these days kids are so smart !

While friends told me that they return home and have no regrets, I think I’m staying in Canada because I really don’t think Chloe would learn with so much fun if she was back home in Singapore.

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March Break

Well, March break is almost over and we survived it – wished my leg didn’t hurt so bad when we were up in Halifax though – that suck big time and to think that I didn’t think of taking some muscle relaxant was really stupid of me.  I think it was probably trying to accommodate everyone, from PB, Chloe and my g/f who went with us that took a toil on me. But Chloe had a good time although I wished I had more time with her, the next time we go up to the city, it has to be only 3 of us and no one else – so that I don’t have to try and please everyone or worry about PB being bored or anything of that sort.  Don’t get me wrong, we loved to have our g/f with us but I just worry too much about everyone and trying to make everyone feel comfy that I had forgotten about myself, so yes, the next time, it has to be only us 3.

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TV In The Kitchen

We all loved out TV shows especially the little brat and in order to make everyone sit down at the same time to have their supper, I’ve decided to go browse around for  standandmounts tv stands.  I also want to put in the kitchen/dining room – a LED TV, that way everyone would love to come have supper at my place.  At the moment, we just bring all our food to the basement and sit on the couch and watch tv, therefore, enough is enough, everyone needs to eat together at least one meal a day.

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Crazy Hair Day & A Very Prim & Proper Gal

It’s crazy hair day today and although the brat wants to do something with her hair, she is so prim and proper and wouldn’t really let me make her hair really crazy *sigh*  – she is so conscious of her appearance and worries about how people might think of her which she shouldn’t for a 9 yrs old.

She is just growing up too fast and too quick and thinking of all sorts of things – and has all sorts of questions for me – from boobies to how a baby is born and kissing – but I guess those are only normal for a growing kid – but I wished I can slow her down but with school and other kids – well, you know how it is.

Which reminds me about a dear old friend back in Singapore – I had told him about how curious my older brother was when we were growing up and he told me then that it was only normal.  At that time, I thought he was crazy too – but little did I know that he was a lot more learned that I.  Ahhhh..!!! wished i had parents who were more informed then.  So hopefully, with Chloe we can do the right thing since Grammie isn’t around to help out – I have to rely on my girlfriends with kids and more experience to help me out on that.

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Precious Daddy Time On A Snow Day

Chloe loves the snow and every chance she gets she wants to make snowman or play in the snow and who can blame her, afterall, she is a kid and a very imaginative one. I hate the cold, so on cold days like these, it’s daddy time and PB would go out and roll around the snow with her and make snowman with her.  Grammie used to do it with her but now that Grammie ain’t around, it is our duty to make sure she has fun still.

The smaller snowman were made by her alone – while PB helped her with the bigger ones but she was very happy with her snowmen.

This is PAPA snowman – all chloe’s idea – we didn’t even know she did that till she finished.  It only shows how important we are to her.  Oh she is truly the love of our lives and growing up to be a loving girl.  We are so proud of her.

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House Renovation

The father in law is doing some major renovation in his old house and it’s about time because part the 100 yrs old house is sinking and some  spring mounts  is needed to jack the house up so that they can fix the bottom part and put in some reinforcement.  Thus far, he had been doing the work with some help and when we visited last week, the computer room felt more solid than it did in a long time.  I think the father-in-law is doing it the cheaper way instead of hiring professional help but it is his house, so I’m not going to butt in like I do all the time.  Andy from the apple farm was joking that the father in law should have done the renovation when the mother -in -law was still alive because she really wanted a better foundation for the house.  Oh well, at least he is doing it right?

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My 2013 Valentine Gift

So I thought PB forgot what I told him I wanted for Valentine’s this year but he didn’t – he came home with my thermos for my tea and it wasn’t a cheap thermos either.  But normally, we don’t celebrate Valentine’s because Valentine’s day brings back bad memory of our first child – that’s another story for another day.  Anyhow, after 12 years, I guess I’m beginning to let go of the sad story and of course, PB being PB he had to thread very carefully, in case it triggers the madness in me – and I go balling my eyes out.  I had a really good Valentine’s day because PB bought a balloon and a toy for Chloe to make her day a very good one.

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Yoga At Work

A few of the girls around the block decided that we have to go for yoga before work, so here I am going out to find yoga pants for this office yoga session. For $5 a session, I think it’s a great idea – because yoga relaxes me a lot and I wished more people could see the benefit of going to yoga. There are some yoga stuff that they sell at the yoga studio here but not yoga pants, so I had to find them online and it’s way cheaper I heard from the girls who had gone to the city and bought them there. Anyhow, I’m looking forward to office yoga everyday before work, it’s definitely a great way to start the year.