ESF Kindergarten Sports Day

Posted on May 7, 2012 by admin

Firstly, lemme say this post will not do Rockstar’s school sports day justice… Something to do with approaching 8 months pregnant and trying to still follow your child everywhere on a hot (because it was rescheduled weeks later after a lightning and rainstorm warning) day as he does the various stations making it a little harder than usual to pay attention…

They're all winners on Sports Day!

As “hot” days  go, it wasn’t too sunny (just occasionally) and in fact, the weather forecast was for a light drizzle. But that did not stop me from feeling like I would pass out early on when I suddenly caught a case of the hormones – while I was still sitting in the stands waiting for the darn event to start.

"He-ead and shoulders knees and toes..." Randomly snapped pic of the beginning of a big mass dance of all the classes at the start of warmup. It's actually lotsa classes in different colored tees but I ended up taking only Rockstar's class...

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, I always say <mock pleased with self>. Had our driver drop by (his daughter, he tells me, works nearby so he was hanging at her office not two mins away anyway) so I could sit in the air conditioned car til the worst of it was over. Twice. Where there’s a will, and someone to drive the car to pick you up right outside so you can sit in air-conditioned luxury to cool down, there’s a way, I always say. Honestly, I don’t know if I would have made it through the whole event otherwise without embarrassing myself by maybe passing out or throwing up – and I was determined to.

(What? I’ve had working mums tell me they keep plastic bags in their desks for when overwork makes them throw up. I’m an SAHM who doesn’t have to follow office timings (albeit Rockstar is running circles round me), I thought the least I could do is push myself for a Sports Day (and vow to absolve the school of all responsibility if I pass out and scare the crap out of someone)).

"Cheat" picture - Rockstar does like, 5 hops and then stops (note different color t-shirted classes in background)

There are a couple events like the sack race, that Rockstar attempts, but doesn’t quite complete. Partly because he’s last in line and other kids have already finished everything, partly well, he doesn’t want to. It’s one of those times when I’m reminded Rockstar isn’t an “easy” child. People keep marveling that he can sit and do wildly un-age-appropriate Lego, spit half-eaten sweets in tissue if he thinks he’s had too much sugar, choose to switch the tv off if he thinks the program is “mindless” – he’s chosen Lego and I Wonder Why or National Geographic books over tv for weeks unless it’s something really educational like Nina and the Neurons discovering how things work….. But the flip side is he’s dropped out of external Putonghua classes or swimming lessons after deliberately (and politely – he learned early on that he wouldn’t be taken seriously if he threw a tantrum) frustrating tutors.

It was partly why I didn’t bring him to Sports Day last year – ahead of school interview season, I didn’t want him to have a chance to form any impression that “school” might not be fun. (Partly my mistake – I was afraid it was too competitive and my son too tiny, thereby being discouraging (for him, because he takes himself wayy too seriously as is); it is none of this, the kids all have a really good time). But well, Rockstar is often one of two extremes – he either does really well or not at all – I’m never completely sure safe isn’t better than sorry, with him.

(In case you’re wondering why I don’t just “cane him into compliance,” it’s because I got much better results from the Lego and Artjamming etc by nudging him into deciding he wanted to do it. And I do often still get comments from other mums urging me to cane… Obviously my confidence gets shaken and I constantly check myself and Rockstar that he’s actually doing better than the kids getting caned – and is happy about it to boot…)

So yes that’s partly why I was pushing myself to be there at Sports Day despite being due in a little over a month. I wanted to see what Rockstar’d be like. (I’m finally eye-ing ESF Sports Camp this year – I don’t know any ESF mummy friends who have any complaints, interview season is over, and I will have to get my talking to Rockstar about activities done before the baby comes out. And yes we are having the same conversations about music because his ABC Music at school will also be winding up. Time to consider an instrument. If at all.)

Misleading pic - this is actually one of Rockstar's favorite events - I think he was blinking or something...

So the classes move around in very organized fashion to each of 8 stations, collecting a stamp on their certificate of participation for each. “Track and field” is basically What’s The Time Mr Wolf where the kids practice counting steps and then of course all run from the wolf. Rockstar……. doesn’t want to stop running (wolf incidental) and ends up almost into the home straight before we yell him back.

Other activities were a soccer goal-scoring station, obstacle courses along the track and in the field, parachute games, duck-duck goose… All fun, all very encouraging, no crazy competition, with the added advantage that when it’s all over before noon your child will probably pass out for a couple hours, leaving you some blissfully peaceful alone time. Yippee. (Though it would take several more hours and a back rub to get Rockstar to nap).

I sneak away with Rockstar when the kiddie events are over and parents are doing an egg-and-spoon race. We’re hot and uncomfortable (me very regrettably so – I’m otherwise a hot weather person), Rockstar btw does better in cooler weather (won’t stop about going back to Thredbo or other ski resort; the beach is a consolation prize) like the father. And dog. How very “un-Malaysian” of them. Kings used to leave his window open to sleep in the dead of London winter – and wake to a frost-covered desk. Chee freaking seen.

Is That A Sport? Rockstar on the last of several breaks throughout the morning... Yes totally drenched and very red by now...

Not for the first time, after watching the erm, strapping young men Rockstar has for classmates (one of whom, possibly second youngest in class after Rockstar, is just 3 weeks older – and maybe a good 12 inches taller), I tell Kings: “Your son’s a nerd.” No surprises, Kings is fine with that. “I was a nerd too….” Funny I grew up with jocks on a boys’ taekwondo team and even in uni I somehow ended up in the “Sports Hall” at NTU. (And anyway “Singapore Army Boys” are in general all super fit). I lived above varsity star athletes, one of whom was also an underwear model for (if I recall correctly) Calvin Klein. Getting back to my dorm room was often to the background clink of iron being pumped. I’m still alumni. I still go for bookish nerds. How strange is that? 

Idly, I remark to another mum friend that it would be quite funny if the two males in our household are bookish nerds (no one can study like Kings can seriously study for an exam when he wants to, when he is not inhaling potato chips and watching Stephen Chow), albeit with really hot tempers, and then I go back to my wakeboarding, border collie- training, punching bag-ing former ways with the baby girl along (well one can dream). 

So nice right? Rockstar loves it!

Though… When I try to praise him for at least completing the day, Rockstar will say rather reproachfully, “Everyone got one, Mum.” Not if you didn’t show up or finish, I say. Rockstar still not totally convinced.

<mild exasperation – there people are worried he will feel left behind, there he wants to go this way> “Well then you understand how much better it feels to one day win a medal not everyone can get – ok?” Solemn nod. “The harder it is to achieve, the more special it feels when you get it. And that’s why you work hard to do well in stuff.” Another nod.

Humph. I wasn’t going for that lesson. But sigh. He started it. So may as well.

“And I suppose you know why cheating to win makes the win not special? Because cheaters don’t believe they’re good enough to win without cheating…..”

What?

I don’t like over-competitiveness. Winning is nothing if you don’t “win clean.”

Ps: And if you wanted to know what Rockstar’s response to that was, he said, “I know, Mu-um. We read the (Lightning Mcqueen)* story already…”

*If your child likes Disney Cars, several stories deal with cheating and how no one respects cheaters… And then one of the stories mentions when Lightning Mcqueen is warned that his opponent is going to try to cheat to win the race, he responds that she can’t have much confidence in her own abilities if she has to cheat, but he has confidence in his… I thought those were pretty useful lessons…..

(Honestly, even if you don’t buy the moral argument, there’s the fact that if you are caught cheating, it’s really no fun. May as well save the effort in trying to cheat and use the energy to get to a point you can seriously kick butt without it…..)

Posted in Rockstar Thoughts, School For Rockstar, Talking To Rockstar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rockstarism #207 – Got Attitude Siah

Posted on May 6, 2012 by admin

Rockstar recently left his backpack in a GOD store, prompting us to have to walk back to get it 15 mins later… Before we reached, the store had called us about his bag (which has a dog tag on it with our numbers – I order plastic tags in bulk from http://www.pettags.com/ which btw are made by the handicapped), they’re kinda cool…

Me: <Very annoyed, it’s hot and we’re both tired> You better hope no one took your iPod. You’re not getting another.

Rockstar: Of course it’ll still be there.

Me: We’re telling your father you were careless.

Rockstar: Yeah. I’ll tell Daddy but then he’ll just go back to watching tv… <pause> I can’t wait to see Daddy… <giving me a look>

Me: Neither can I.

Rockstar: How come you want to see Daddy?

Me: You think you’re the only one who misses Daddy?

Rockstar: <shrugs> JD (the dog) doesn’t.

Me: But I might – I can’t wait to farm you off on Daddy

<Rockstar starts laughing – btw even his doting grandparents have observed he can put on a decidedly evil cackle>

Me: I need to get some rest so the baby will grow. You’ve been taking up way too much of my energy, I dont have enough for the baby. Besides, the less you aggravate me and go bother your father, the less grouchy I’ll be and then I’ll scream at you less too.

Rockstar: Oh yeah that’s true.  <decisively> OK good! Let’s go get Daddy!

——————————————————–

What Rockstar wore last Dressup Day in school...

For Book Week in school recently, the dress-up theme was a book character… Rockstar went as Mr Messy because that was one of the pasar malam Mr Men t-shirts I had on hand… And he didn’t want to be dressy about it, “like all the yucky girls.” 

Rockstar: (Classmate) kept asking, “What are you, what are you?” and then finally she touched the paint n went Mr Messy! And then (other classmate) jumped on her haha. Why’d he do that?

Me: Well, maybe he just likes her. His mummy told me he likes bossy girls who are a little plump, and well he’s talked about her at home before…

Rockstar: Haiii. <shakes head> I like the skinny ones.

(To be exact, he likes “the skinny ones” with dark skin. My son is into SPGs (Sarung Party Girls.))

Rockstar: I knew the girls would wear disgusting things. I knew it. All princesses and ballerinas… One was the tooth fairy but it was still a yucky dress… 

(Ok, maybe not quite.)

I thought putting those “zinc stick” sun blocks on him was a real brainwave, but after scribbling all over him in the 10 minutes before we were out the door and then dropping him off at school, I returned to find the car seat was pink. It cleans off with wet wipes, but I think he left pink and black marks all over the school and his friends that day…

Me: S-oo….. Did you…… end up leaving paint marks on your friends and furniture?

Rockstar: <delighted> Yeah! It was great!

Oops…

And his hair's still standing up after a scrub!

His hair stood for days, but interestingly the white Mr Messy t-shirt that was more pink than anything after school and I’d expected to be totally stained for good – came out from the wash pretty much totally spot free…

Also, Rockstar would come home triumphant with a story book he’d been trying to find for awhile – and a baby ABC board book.

Rockstar: (referring to board book) They kept asking me, “Are you sure you want that?”

Me: Oh, you mean in school? They were probably wondering why you picked that baby board book when you already know all your ABCs. You guys did ABCs sometime back right?

Rockstar: It’s not for me – it’s for the baby. So I can read it to her. I need books to read to her, right?

<tiny tear> Just when you think he’s a total monkey…………

 

Posted in Rockstarisms, Talking To Rockstar | 8 Comments

Doing The Mini-Me For Mother’s Day

Posted on May 4, 2012 by admin
Guess Where We Went Shopping……….

Weeks ago, a mummy friend took me on a wild goose chase around Belchers development to find another mummy selling tailored mini-me outfits. Well, actually it was a whole bunch of mummies who apparently sell stuff out of their apartments in the Belchers area, from jewelry to cloth diaper covers to dresses, but she had somehow misread the email/ had some other miscommunication I forget and we arrived half a day later and at the wrong door.

Hint: Dis Is A Fashion Trend.

(Forgive my girlfriend, she can’t sleep at night. I know how that feels. It’s that quietest, darkest time where instead of feeling all zen and introspective you discover a fast and furious hatred for the quiet body snoring obliviously next to you. Add to that you realize you don’t just have little legs kicking you on the outside, you have ’em kicking your insides too. You’d think that would allow you the ole’ “Because Mummy said so!” in the morning, but nooooo. Instead you think, You Better Remember Mother’s Day then, you little…… No? You will “get” it when you “get” the concept of being grounded.)

OK. I need something to cheer me up. Last night was a bad night.

–

–

–

<Swoon>

See? I think this is Harper’s Bazaar US about a year ago; they mentioned Karl Lagerfeld had used Chanel muse and model Brad Kroenig and his mini-me dressed son Hudson at this show to oohs and aahs from the audience

That’s how I eventually met Quynh-Anh. She’s at www.commemamancollection.com, (being French-Vietnamese, there’s a heavy French influence on her stuff – unbeknownst to me at the time – but I’d remarked to my girlfriend earlier that some of the pieces were a dead ringer for Jacadi blouses or dungarees which btw, cost like, 3 or 4 times what she charges) though I’d actually not seen her website, we went to her home because my girlfriend was after her matching tailor-made mummy/ daddy – child clothes. In general, prices range from HKD 220 to about HKD 350 for kiddie and grownup items… I’m going to end up getting this as baby or bday gifts for a lot of my girlfriends (so I hope she’ll have new designs in future!)

I was referring to this blouse my girlfriend bot at the time, with the subtle floral and deep blue stitching (re my Jacadi comment)…

Can’t remember what the matching mummy piece looked like, but for HKD 50 extra you can usually choose one of the other mummy piece styles and have it tailored in the fabric of your choice, if you didn’t like the one that’s available… Unless that is the fabric can’t handle the cut… Darn, I meant to get this blouse too when I went back to collect my finished orders but forgot 😛

Maybe something like this one, off her website…

Now, I’d long discovered buying Kings Ralph Lauren shirts that matched Rockstar’s was always a welcome gift, but RL has been making fewer matches recently, and well, they don’t do matching cotton voile for mummies. Not to mention Kings was starting to expect RL polo shirts every special occasion. As in, “You bought me more shirts for (insert occasion) right? Where’s my gift? I need a clean shirt.” <sounds of RL gift wrap unceremoniously ripped apart and left on floor as Kings dons shirt and heads out door after I tell him where I’ve “hidden” his gift>

To cut a long story short, my girlfriend and I….. went….. shopping! And here’s my haul:

(Statues not included – this is a side table in Quynh-Anh’s living room) Finally, something matching in pink for me and baby

Rockstar was Lego-ing on the carpet while Quynh-Anh’s daughter Mina (and model in later pictures) threaded a bracelet… (Felt bit bad Rockstar wasn’t more sociable – when there’s new Lego God forbid anything tries to keep him from finishing if he’s decided he will leave wherever he is parked holding a race car/ train/ digger/ whatever, instead of Lego pieces)

I can actually wear this preggers some more...

But he did look up approvingly when I picked this. As in, You Like Pink Mum. Now You Have Someone Who’ll Wear That With You. I’m Happy It’s Not Me. And I’m Happy For You. <Turns back to Lego.>

Bot the boy’s shirt for Rockstar, and a matching dad’s shirt (sans white sailboat) for Kings…

Rockstar picked the shirt above to wear with the dad a la The Girls Will Wear Something Matching And So Will The Guys… (So now Kings knows what I got him for Father’s Day – if he’s reading my blog halfway around the world where he is right now, that is…)

(And how does she do it, have all the matching clothes without ending up like the Von Trapp Family children?)

"The Hills Are A-liiiiiiiive....." Von Trapp Family Children In The Mountains

See? Somehow she doesn’t have that effect in her pic right… (Ok, maybe the key is to not have 7 children all wearing curtain drapes. It’s a good plan.)

Then I went for this whole set for our soon-to-be family of 4… (The girl model is Quynh-Anh’s daughter Mina btw, whom Rockstar was sitting on the carpet with while I shopped…)

Daddy’s matching shirt looks exactly like the boy’s above… Obviously I can’t wear that dress, so I changed the cut….

…to this… Which I can wear, even preggers (unless I get bigger than I am now)

I’m eye-ing that little skirt above too. Friends with girls tell me they might keep their daughter in a plain onesie around the home, then for quick trips out they just put the skirt on. But I balked because I hadn’t handled a little skirt like that before (obviously!)… So I’m starting with dresses/ blouses paired with tights/ pants…

Though this one has matching bloomers…

And I bought the dresses bigger to layer over tees in cooler weather, aiming to stick to light long sleeve blouses in summer because of my morbid fear of bug bites.

(Seriously, don’t you just get so mad when you see an angry red welt on your child’s tender flesh that you want for the entire species to be extinct? What good are mosquitos, except to feed cicaks (house lizards)? Rockstar brought back this library book about extinction that he made me read while he filmed me on his iPod (his latest brainwave so he can “keep” library books even after he has had to return them) and some of the animals that went extinct were these cute furry things. And then things like cockroaches survive since the dinosaur age? HOW unfair is that??)

Anyway. Remembering Mother’s Day, as I was saying. Oh look, she did.

Cannot resist. Must put up another Brad and Hudson.

 I don’t like “Brad” (Mr Pitt’s fault), but – is it too late to call my baby Hudson?

Posted in Rockstar Shopping | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Rockstar Does Animakit Studios

Posted on May 2, 2012 by admin

We were recently invited by Animakit Studios (http://animakitstudios.com/) to try out their whole-body capture proprietary technology, using silhouettes and colors recognition. (i.e. Rockstar got to put on some colored markers and kick about making a computer animated lion or monkey follow his movements, to see if it could be used for more educational purposes)…

Here’s how it works:

Ocean Park already uses it in their Golden Monkey show (see Cantonese-speaking monkey in Youtube embedded below haha) but the Animakit is now considering more educational uses for their technology: 1) whether little kids find it engaging enough for them to develop as a teaching tool (they have voice recognition, which makes the animated character lip-sync to your words) and 2) it may be a useful techie/ creativity module in classes for older kids (who doesn’t want to read computer animation in school or create the next Toy Story for their school projects?) It brings reading those The History Of Film and Drama classes into the 21st Century!

So now it’s Rockstar’s turn to give it a try:

Computer reads “red” as “right leg”…
And “blue” as “right arm”…

Rockstar “suits up”… We explain this to Rockstar as having to “speak” or communicate in a language the computer can understand – which means he has to put on something in a dark color, and then specific color markers on each arm/ leg so the computer knows whether he is moving his right or left leg or hand…

“Are you getting this?”

Suited Up Rockstar makes sure his iPod is all ready for him (or really me) to take videos… Unfortunately the gloves that control finger movement only have an adult-sized “prototype” so we couldn’t put those on him… And we would later realize the computer also gets confused at the green monster on his borrowed shirt, making the monkey and lion’s mimicry of his actions less accurate, so we would then turn the shirt inside out…

This lesson in “communicating” to the computer is a useful one, because Rockstar has also recently asked me questions about dolphins’ (and bats’) use of echolocation, and then we brought him for the baby’s detailed ultrasound recently (future blog post)… It’s a good illustration of how animals do not “see” in exactly the same way humans do, and now how computers and other machines mimic these different ways of “seeing” or communicating… I could even smell a future conversation about humans learning from animals to invent things that are ever more useful to them, like say, night vision goggles taking a cue from animals that hunt (and therefore can see) in the dark…

However it takes a full half hour to adjust the animation to Rockstar’s proportions because hitherto only adults had been used… 

(Later I would give Rockstar credit for patiently keeping arms and legs akimbo while the Animakit guys re-adjust the proportions… Obviously this is something only we would face because he’s the first little kid, after which they would already have roughly adjusted the animations to kiddie sizes if they decide to go the kiddie-demo-on-computer-animiation-technology route…)

Oops not quite 😛

Rockstar yawned quite a few times and would occasionally drop his arms too early (having napped on a sofa at Kosmos after lunch and going up to the studio still a little bleary-eyed…) but I only managed to get a pic of him fake-snoozing on his feet in between having to hold his arms up again…

And then… Action!

And so Rockstar strikes up a conversation, telling the computer how to move the lion (and later monkey)… Note serious face..
He can see what the computer picks up…
Like so… 

Note fairly-intuitive color coded bits on screen that, though not specifically rockstar-intended, make it quite an effective illustration that Rockstar can understand…

Recognize the Golden Monkey? And which child doesn’t love joystick…..

The Animakit crew explain to Rockstar how the joystick controls the animation’s facial expressions…

Rockstar joyously finding out for himself… 

Doesn’t matter how good a demo the rockstar gets, they still must find some reason to try it out themselves haha

Rockstar carbing-up at nearby Starbucks after the approx. 90-minute trial and error “demo lesson”

Rockstar will later remark he thought computers were “smarter” than that (we’d even explained how the white background is necessary so as not to confuse the computer), and I know someday we will marvel at the amazing-ness of the human brain in processing information around us based on all the different senses, and how we learn to appreciate the wonder of nature and God’s creation when we try to replicate it by telling a computer what to do – and then realize every little detail has to be explicitly communicated to a machine, whereas human brains and even animals would naturally pick up and adjust to all the various stimulations…

Verdict: There’s a lion. A monkey. Any manner of animated character that can be used to attract a child’s attention. You could even have some cool anime guy/ gal for tweens/ teens. Rather than simply kicking around, waving arms about and having an animated character do standup comedy (which is still fun) though, what I found real value in was explaining to Rockstar, using the Animakit demo setup, how to communicate in a way this particular computer software would be able to pick up. It’s a powerful lesson a la Dale Carnegie, to be effective you have to communicate in a way the intended party (in this case the computer) can understand. Otherwise you can jump about until the cows come home and you’re just wasting your time.

With all the color-coding, it was quite a simple and effective illustration of something that could otherwise have been complicated to explain to little kids. And well technology shapes the world we live in today – I found this demo a means to familiarize Rockstar with some of technology’s uses, rather than simply parking him in front of a cartoon or even one of the more passive iPad games. 

Like The Cartoon? Here’s What Goes Into Making It Work should be a useful educational tool that marries something engaging that kids like to watch (cartoons!) with a more constructive lesson in technology.

Posted in aileensml, Talking To Rockstar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Primary School Interview Diaries: Part 3

Posted on April 30, 2012 by admin

In an old Readers’ Digest, I read about an exquisite old briefcase with combination lock that went on auction. As the auctioneer talked of superb workmanship and quality, opening and closing the beautiful briefcase for emphasis, he mentioned also a caveat: no one knew the combination to the lock. There were no takers, until finally a guy sitting next to the author hesitantly bought it for something like a dollar.

After the transaction, he whispered to the author, “Was I the only one who figured if the auctioneer could open and close the briefcase then that was the combination on the lock?” What I got from that was the auctioneer had provided accurate information – that everyone had taken at face value only. This is why I deliberately stay away from parents whose logic, after some sincere effort on my part, continues to elude me. (Either their kids are simply way too different from mine, they’re just nuts, or I am.) Then there are the opinions that say everything and therefore nothing. Like when you ask a waiter what’s good in the restaurant and he says “everything.”

If given the chance at Meet The Parents, one question I like to ask is, “What happens if a child falls behind?” The way schools get oversubscribed, they already don’t – can’t – admit every child who makes the cut. So they look for ways to narrow it down. (Often the schools I have respect for are apologetic along the lines of no one liking that little kids have to be interviewed and/or turned down, “We wish we could take them all, but we simply don’t have the room.”)

Some application forms ask where the parents went to college, what degrees they got… (Which I guess might also be a tiny indication of whether the child is likely to also go ivy league…) Some schools don’t take the kids that are “too stubborn”…….

It’s n-ot easy to see the funny side of things when it’s your child who has to go for interview. But if you could, wouldn’t it strike you as a little odd that not a few schools’ evaluation criteria include things like whether the child can count to 100, write the alphabet, and so on – before admitting the child into Reception (the year(s) before Primary/ Year 1). Like, so what will you be teaching exactly, if you pick kids that already learnt all the stuff you were going to teach? 😀

(On an aside, it hadn’t occurred to me previously that I might then have to communicate to Rockstar that he’d done well in Kindy, gotten some coveted spot at a rabidly over-subscrived private school and – oh, he would now have to repeat the year before Primary/ Year 1. “Kindy year,” to him. It’s more significant because of what his personality is like -we don’t push Rockstar, he pushes himself. We kinda nudged him in that direction because at one point I thought it was either that or he’d feel lousy when kids around him go, “He’s too little, he shouldn’t be here.” (Wouldn’t blame him because last time a kid did that was bad enough before the kid’s mum then came over and asked me, “How old is he really?” Uh, my child can hear you guys…)

I figured communicating to Rockstar a way of “doing something” about kids calling him “too little” might help – The Rockstar is hungry to prove he deserves to be there as much as the bigger/ older kids. It’s more powerful a motivation than say, the proverbial cane or carrot-and-stick. In which case I’m not sure what communicating that he would be “held back” would have done to his motivation levels… Though the point is of course moot…)

Anyway. Back to the whole screening process for kids. That’s fine (erm kind of), in the sense everyone is looking for a way to narrow it down, there are so many applicants. BUT.

Then I don’t know how such schools would ever easily justify expelling students who fail to perform academically. Someone told me they knew a family whose child was given 6 months to improve academically, before the child was then asked to leave one of the more popular international schools – hang on, this is something I got while walking the dog. There could have been more to it than simply failure to meet up to academic expectations, though yes at the time I was told the problem was “poor grades”…

IF that is true however, I wouldn’t put much emphasis on the “results” such a school achieves. You’ve screened applicants to be academically sound, you get to give up on the ones that then fall behind under your watch, exactly what is your contribution again? (Bearing extenuating circumstances like say, you later discovered the child needs additional help with learning, that is not provided at your school.)

Call the parents in, ream em out for maybe not following their child’s progress closely enough (possibly I deserved this one when I worked), have a child do extra work, repeat the material, sure. Recommend the child get extra help, of course. But sorry – you don’t get to just give up and move on to the next eager candidate.

It occurred to me that schools with a “wide range” of personalities, results, abilities might (less intuitively) be the ones that don’t give up on the poor students – albeit possibly at the expense of a “track record.” And anyway isn’t that what “life” is all about, a wide range of personalities, results and abilities? These schools should’ve been commended – not the ones that give up on some of the kids. (Not to be confused with kicking troublemakers out for bringing drugs and smokes to school, or weapons of any kind, which is for the safety and well-being of all the other students.)

Sometimes I meet parents who border on the obnoxious when extolling how special their child is, but then they will swallow bad treatment from snobby schools/ school staff, and I think it starts to sound like a kind of downward spiral of Treat Badly Who You Can Get Away With Treating Badly. Which is actually very sad when you think about it because kids are already going to learn quite a bit of that from the world in general, without that extra lesson in competitive school intake. Coming from a very results-driven schooling background, I remember kids/ young adults around me who truly believed as long as they produced results, they could treat everyone else (including their parents) like they didn’t matter.

It’s wonderful to feel like your child is part of the elite. But what if God forbid, your child makes a mistake? Or say, falls behind because extenuating factors like I don’t know, you going through a divorce, death of family member, all manner of challenges life might bring… (I once flunked a subject in a major exam when my beloved grandmother passed away.) Would you feel the same way if God forbid your child were the one getting kicked out or punished too severely or etc?

This is why I don’t like when schooling appears to get too “commercial” – they compete for investors/ donors, charge superhigh school fees, that in itself is fine (ready buyer, ready seller, and HK is an expensive town) – but then I would think there’s at least a teeny risk that a natural by-product of that is they start feeling the pressure to produce results and consider kicking poor performers out so as to remain “competitive.”

Dubner and Levitt in Freakonomics talked about Bush’s No Child Left Behind inspiring education professionals to “cheat,” rather than say, kids to do well as it was initially intended to, and there’s an actual case in Atlanta here. Mentioning this to a girlfriend in Singapore, she tells me a top public secondary school there apparently requires poorer-performing students to sit for the public exams as private candidates so as not to pull down the school’s scores. (And really, that’s allowed? It’s not considered almost Atlanta-school-esque cheating?)

And then there’s my famous last phrase: Every school is going to be a package of goods and not-so-suitables. No matter how rabidly oversubscribed, they are still a package. The problem with the insanely popular ones is that because everyone is so crazy keen to get in, we forget that what works for some kids may not work for others. There’s a risk that we just think we’ve arrived if our kids can get in. And then we run the risk of making the mistake of assuming that they are a perfect fit, when all kids are different….

Posted in Rockstar Thoughts, School For Rockstar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Rockstarism #206 – More ways he speaks…

Posted on April 29, 2012 by admin

#206

Rockstar had a “Wor” habit for about a week recently, as in, “Can’t do that wor…” I grumbled about it a little and it disappeared as mysteriously as it first appeared… For the moment, anyway… But then…

Rockstar: <chewing candy freebie from concierge desk at some mall> I like this kind of sweet, Mum. This kind of sweet would make me stop saying “Wor”.

Me: Why would a piece of candy stop you saying “Wor”?

Rockstar: It’s got vitamins in it.

Me: You think bad habits in speech are due to malnutrition?

Rockstar: I think if I get this candy I will stop saying “Wor”.

Me: Oh you mean you want a bribe and you’ll cut out the “Wor.”

Rockstar: Hee yeah.

(I decide not to tell him he’s already cut it out, in case he holds out for the bribe next time round…)

——————————————————————-

Coming in to bedroom from sounds of Kings watching Stephen Chow again…

Rockstar: Mum. Sometimes Daddy watches tv that isn’t interesting.

Me: That’s because your father comes home so tired from work he’ll watch any rubbish on tv because he can’t think anymore.

Rockstar: <authoritatively> This is true.

——————————————————————-

He didn't like the escargot... (He's had bigger snails before, maybe this time his problem was the garlic butter...)

 

Posted in Rockstarisms | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

You’d WANT To Be Involved…..

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

Another one of those posts that’s long coming… The good thing about that is since I’ve talked to so many mummies after, mummies involved shouldn’t be easily identifiable even when my girlfriends read this :)…

One of Rockstar’s sometime friends is a 5 year old boy whose Mainlander mum works late moonlighting as a Putonghua tutor for extra cash. As in, tutoring til 9-10pm, and yes she’s gone throughout the day too. At the HKD 500 an hour she charges, that’s almost double the going rate we used to pay way back when Rockstar had a relatively sought-after personal tutor. Her son is enrolled full-time in two kindergartens (not that bizarre for Chinese-speaking families, they do like to pick one English one), attending one session in the morning and the other after lunch – but also umpteen tuition classes thereafter as well (though if I were gone all the time I wouldn’t want my son facing the helper all day either, just not sure what activities I would pick to fill his time though). He caused a bit of a stir when he was accepted very recently into Chinese International School. (Taken to mean he must be extremely academically sound and disciplined – oh btw, Rockstar didn’t get an offer from CIS, I say at risk of sounding like Sour Grapes, but then I also mentioned we’d paid up everything for ESF ages before the closing date or CIS interview result anyway… And yes there’s a part III I’m still sitting on sorry…)

Thing is, for some time now at birthday parties and larger group playdates, Rockstar’s Sometime Friend is nicknamed Crazy Curtis* (*not real name). When he’s not schooling or tuitioning, apparently he’s nuts. I haven’t seen this – Rockstar plays fine with him very occasionally at parties and such where they both happen to be invited and I can’t even imagine him that way – but not a few mums have told me separately he can get extremely active and boisterous as to really live up to his nick. As in OMG that kid is just nuts.

I don’t think his mum knows because she’s hardly around, he’s always with a (fairly competent at least) helper. That wasn’t even what really struck me, this was – at playdates and stuff, Crazy Curtis actively goes around the other mums looking for a cuddle. Even me. (Which was how I first noticed him – I’m  not a touchy-feely mum, nor is he a very good friend of Rockstar’s.) CC’s mum apparently has told other mums I know that all that tuition money she’s pulling is for Curtis’ education and future, but I’m not sure anyone told her what CC’s like when she’s not around. If his mum and I had been friends, I would have told her. But we’ve never met, I don’t even know her name.

To some extent I know what that’s like for CC, because my mum taught high school English and was so dedicated she would stay behind and give free tuition to any kids who might wander into the classroom, during stints in poorer public schools. She’d repeatedly declined offers at private schools. Her students loved her. But as a result, there was a time when she was around very little for me. I resented some of it and acted up for a bit (especially when she took my New Kids On The Block cassette tapes to give to her students humph), but frankly I was already older by then. Up until I was about 10, she’d been there.

One of my first and favorite memories of my mum was when Assunta Kindergarten (yes in Petaling Jaya) asked us to bring eggshells to school for craft. She thought whole eggshells might be more useful, so she meticulously pricked half-boiled eggs in their shells with a needle, then slowly sucked the egg out. I proudly went to school that day with a bag of “intact” eggs. I remember my teacher’s face, “I said empty eggshells. Those are empty?? How did your mum do that?” And then we crushed up all the eggshells to paste on a giant turtle picture to make its shell. I remember her groaning when I told her what we’d used them for. I even remember the giant turtle picture with the different shades of green-painted shells.

The point is, 30 years later, that’s what I remember. 

Crazy Curtis isn’t the only story I know of parental involvement (or lack thereof). Rockstar often comes home observing whose parents have been volunteering at school. I don’t think he does it deliberately (he is very un-manipulative because as a point of principle he believes strongly in his entitlement to certain attentions and what-not), but it really keeps me involved in school no matter how lazy I want to get.

The Rockstar claims he is not the only child who observes this, a lot of the kids do make observations about whose parent shows up and whose doesn’t, when they talk amongst themselves. Which is probably why even though he might ditch me at the Writing Practice table because he’s “Busy chasing bad guys around the playground,” he still wants me to show up. I suspect when it comes to something like that, even the less chatty kids make the observation, even if they don’t say anything. And….. I didn’t want my kid to be one of the few whose mum or dad “never” shows. Probably also why I know working parents – mums and dads – who will still go in on lunch hour or in between business trips at some point or other.

Then there’s Show n Tell. The range of stuff kids apparently prepare/ bring appears to be quite wide, from various accounts. There are proud parents who will sneak in to film their kids “Show n Tell-ing” with a violin or whatever, and then there are kids who just bring anything their helper stuffs in their bag. Or the same thing every single time. Or they leave a “spare” item in their bag. If at all. If they/ the helper saw the note from the school that it was their child’s turn to Show n Tell. (In our case I used to leave a beanie starfish in Rockstar’s bag because when we started K2 he kept claiming, straight-faced, that everyone else had to speak but he didn’t <suspicious>… This soon morphed into “All my friends are smart, all my friends do a good job,” when I ask him how he does at school… And another girlfriend told me her boy kept “losing” the notification sticker…..)

Dress-Up Day’s another one. In weekly school emails we used to be reminded that even if we didn’t want to participate in some of the dress-ups, we should not send our children to school in school uniform because it can be quite upsetting for the child when everyone else is “dressed up.” (There are often Pyjama themes as well, but Rockstar is particularly judgmental of the girls, many of whom instead of choosing to be “cool” firemen or policemen or even “bad guys,” really dress up – poufy princess dresses, pretty cheongsams with fur trim, elaborate hair clips/ bands…) Again if you’ve ever dropped your child off on a dress-up day, you will see a very wide range of level of participation – from the parent who wears a matching cow suit/ hat to drive their similarly suited up child to school for the day, to a small handful of children who will still get sent to school in school uniform.

It’s not all bad, missing a Dress-Up Day – I remember one little girl in uniform whom I felt sorry for, while the vast majority of kids were dressed up. On the eve of the next dress-up, I then overheard her asking school staff repeatedly to confirm the theme and that it would be next school day. She probably didn’t allow the helper to dress her in school uniform the next day, she must’ve been stewing the entire time between dress-ups. Sure enough, she was exquisitely dressed, next time round. She’s one of those Rockstar has dismissed as “too girly” to be friends with. (I take note of this now because I would like to see when he “turns” and starts liking the girly girls who dress up, as he grows up :D)

Pic I took of Rockstar in school last volunteer session, to send to Kings... I think that station is "Independent Collage"... This time he didn't ditch me to go play with his friends, which seems to be some kind of consideration on his part... When I said goodbye was when he went, "Ok, NOW I'll go look for some bad guys to chase in the playground"

But… I still shudder to think how differently I would’ve viewed all Rockstar’s activities and festivities when I was too involved at work. Taking pride in one’s work is one thing, I once found my job intensely gratifying. To the point I told Kings he never had to show appreciation because I could get that fix at work (can you imagine?! Of course husband must show some appreciation right, yes I am not a good “husband trainer”…) But I wouldn’t want some asshole in the office to be the reason my child (and his friends) never saw me in school, brought lame stuff in for class work, or got left out when everyone else came in costume…

Posted in Rockstar Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Rockstar’s Lego Habit

Posted on April 26, 2012 by admin
These particular ones are all the McQueen characters – including those from extended stories which Rockstar looks for in the book shops (talk about obsessive)… But new rule is we don’t buy matchbox cars anymore, he assembles his own… Nowadays he assembles most of the cars in less time than it takes for our orders to arrive in a restaurant so I still don’t get much peace…

You know you child has a Lego habit when you try to spreadsheet your child’s Lego inventory. Other people keep their child’s test scores on excel, I have a record of Rockstar’s Lego. The only reason it’s a list instead of on an actual spreadsheet (there used to be a time when I worked much faster on excel <blissful reminiscence>) is because my Mac gift from Kings isn’t installed (how times have changed).

More Mcqueen car characters and Bat plane and Joker copter... There's a giant Star Wars X-wing thing I just took apart too...

And it by far isn’t even the full list, it’s just the ones where I noted down the number and rough description so I could chuck all the instruction manual hard copies and search them online. It doesn’t include the umpteen little ones in their individual plastic boxes that can be made into several different combinations, all from the same set. Basically, friends and family cannot easily buy us anything from Lego City or the Disney Cars series without the likelihood of Rockstar already having it.

And of course the space exploration ones...

Repeat after me Aileen, it's better than tv, it's better than tv, it's better than tv.... Should've opened the two Ikea boxes to take the pic too, they're also full of zip-locked Lego pieces, as is one more box not pictured... The bag on top is because I ran out of boxes...

But then it occurred to me all Rockstar’s Lego (especially since the absolute minimum age Lego he has is for 5yrs – and a lot of it are min age 6 and 7yrs so really small pieces) are choking hazards for the baby. So my solution was a loft bed and built in shelves and cupboards above it. We’re selling the idea to Rockstar as a responsibility to keep non-baby friendly stuff out of reach (mildly interesting to him), having his own “Lego headquarters” (a bit more appealing) and Leave It Around For Baby To Ingest At Risk Of Losing It (very effective).

And he's still at it!!! That one is the Ninjago-something and he's not looking up because he's rushing to finish before I enforce bedtime.

PS: Yes I’m aware there was an attempted kidnapping in front of Rockstar’s school yesterday evening (we immediately received an email from the school principal informing us, among others, that it had to do with “personal circumstances of the family”)… It was then reported on the front page of Chinese newspaper Apple Daily, resulting in news crew outside the school this morning. I found an English one by The Standard:  

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=121896&sid=36189774&con_type=3&d_str=20120426&fc=4

Mummies discussed alternative ways into the school around news crew. One child cried and wouldn’t go in. If there’s one thing the noise might be good for, maybe it’s frightening would-be kidnappers away…

But… I was about to post re Rockstar’s Lego this morning. It might have made a good blog entry to say my girlfriend’s son stuck his tongue out at the news crew when they got mobbed going in to morning school (I think everyone finds it a bother) but she clarified it was her husband who stuck his tongue out. Humph spoilsport.

Posted in Rockstar Shopping, Rockstar Shots | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Elderly Couple And The Sugar Test

Posted on April 24, 2012 by admin

The Pathlab opens at 9am, and when I arrive at 9.15am, there are already 5 people ahead of me. My gynea has sent me for a “Sugar Test,” apparently “standard nowadays.” (I’m thinking obviously I’m going to be checked at some point if I put on 17kg in baby weight before my third tri is done). Her office covers all test costs, I’m just whining about having to fast the night before (endeavor to have Maggie Mee with 2 eggs at midnight, after which I’m not supposed to eat), and the following morning (with only a mouthful of water) before the lab gives me a large cup of glucose to down. (For me this is a huge thing – I eat, even when not pregnant, which is why this is so uncomfy.) Then I have to sit around for exactly two hours before they take more urine and blood samples.

So here I am. There is an elderly man sitting nearby reading Chinese papers, who is soon joined by a similarly elderly woman holding a piece of cotton to her arm. The man is quietly solicitous, but not in the exaggerated way of “new” couples. Still, noticeably more attentive than most men who’ve been married to the same woman for years. (What did comedian Chris Rock say, no matter how hot the woman, there’s always one guy in the world who’s bored with her, and that’s the guy she’s’ with. At the time I think he was referring to Halle Berry.)

I notice the elderly woman makes a slight show of having to hold the cotton to her arm, and the mildly exaggerated way in which she does it makes me think she is used to his attention.

Another younger woman is also being accompanied by her other half, and I notice the man while also attentive is less so, the woman less expectant, and I find the contrast between the two couples interesting. I watch the elderly couple in particular, wondering what they’ve been through, to reach this stage in life and marriage together. I’m more accustomed to local couple fights on the streets, or even more common, that passive-almost-aggressive indifference a man displays as a woman is trying to speak with him.

I find couplehood interesting, and I don’t mean in the initial honeymoon stages, I never take honeymoons seriously. It can be quite surprising, how two human beings finally work out how to live with each other. My uncle used to say you shouldn’t pull out all the stops at the weddings when everyone is all “Of course we can work things out unselfishly, we’re in lurve.” You should pull out all the stops at the anniversaries. If you can stay happily married for 10, 20, 50 years, that is the real achievement.

Not... Though yes they're hot... (pic from Bluenile.com - I used to use their diamond finder to figure the prices of diamonds I was considering buying...)

The biggest “status symbol” of a relationship should be the body language this elderly couple in the clinic with me displays. I catch myself in an unexpected moment – I’m sitting here pregnant with my second child, with the pleasure of being an SAHM to my first who is a gorgeous (if tiny) smartass, having racked up some savings to allow me the luxury. And for an instant I envy the old woman. Not so much the attention she’s getting, but the small sense of entitlement around her most simple of actions in holding the cotton to her arm after the blood test. I’ve never had this air. Kings and I used to hang up on each other in the middle of the work day if the market beckoned, the reason I haven’t cooked in 5 years is because Kings wants the flexibility to not come home for dinner on short notice (sometimes for umpteen evenings) when he has to work – we’ve never been that couple in the past.

What must it be like? She expects her other half to carry all her stuff and open the door for her while she walks thru still holding the cotton to her arm. Just the cotton. They’ve been sitting there quite some time but she’s still got the cotton. How is she treated at home, to have kept this up through the years?

Kings got off a plane several hours earlier that morning from a long haul business class flight (upgrade, yay Marco Polo Club!) but jet-lagged from having spent several days halfway around the world and still with the tail end of a cold. Despite me initially saying I’d cab it, I decided to have him drive me before he hit the sack. (Had been having hunger pangs that seriously hurt and would require I lie on my side for what seemed like ages – come to think of it, my mum got so ravenously hungry when pregnant with me her hands would shake, and she would down 6 eggs a day on top of regular meals. I’m actually taking 2-4 eggs about 4-5 times a week currently. Having previously checked with a dietician that I can apparently handle as many eggs as I want, that is…)

Now I’m thinking fortunately I’d had Kings do the 15 minute drive to the clinic. There are a few lone men and women spending a half day in the clinic for tests like I am, but not many. Mostly couples accompanying each other, and no one else is pregnant. Normally I pride myself on being relatively “low maintenance” and independent, but the discomfort this round, plus the hormones…. I’m glad I hadn’t risked finding myself suddenly wallowing in hormone-induced, bloated self pity, by insisting on going alone after the fast. How often do we women do that, insist we don’t need the attention, and then take the guy’s head off when he “follows instructions too well” and doesn’t give us attention?

That’s the real lesson of the elderly couple sitting in front of me: Sometimes, just accept the attention.

(At the follow up appointment, my Gynea would say, “Pregnancy is a stress on your body, and will show up weaknesses in your system that wouldn’t normally be there, it’s a good time to tell if you’re going to have problems handling sugar when you get older…” Because my test turned out fine is probably why she hasn’t been giving me grief about ballooning 17kg so far… But I’m really dying to have the baby and recover from the op so I can get around and be more active again…)  

Posted in aileensml, Rockstar Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Going Preggers Shopping

Posted on April 23, 2012 by admin

Haven’t done a shopping post in awhile. At 70+kg now and in my final trimester, I’m hoping to get by without splurging on too many pregnancy items, especially since I’m thinking this is probably the last time I’ll be using them…

1) Victoria’s Secret Most Loved Yoga Pants

*Body Double Used* 😀 (Pic from victoriassecret.com)

Been wearing these to sleep and around the house pre-pregnancy and – wonder of wonders – what are the odds I can still wear the same pairs now I’m over 70kg?? Maybe because they’re old and therefore more stretchy? Regardless, USD 50 for 2 pairs and I hardly ever wear jeans now it’s warmer. (Though I did splurge on a pair of Current Elliot Maternity jeans earlier in the pregnancy after rave reviews from Shopbop.com customers for when it was still cold…) But that fold-over waistband is super comfy with a baby belly.

2) Hermes Scarf

Yum.

My first ever Hermes scarf purchase (well technically, this is a gift from Kings that I picked out myself – it is possible until he reads this post he doesn’t know what he got me last special occasion hee hee). Never understood what all the H-word fuss was about, I don’t usually go Hermes or Chanel because they don’t usually go on sale. But pregnancy symptoms putting you in a crappy mood are a good reason to shop. (Sharrup. Last pregnancy I bot Gucci horse-bit gold chain necklace, strings of pearls… and after the pregnancy I bot myself diamond studs too – tho there’s a story behind that <sheepish> (And I bot/sold my paper gold position til at least the Gucci necklace came free, because designer jewelry and the premium it comes with has got to top the list of frivolous purchases ever.)

I initially felt rather “auntie” looking for a non-cold weather scarf in some bright print I didn’t “get”. But when I told my gynea I was determined to go without meds throughout pregnancy (and at the time I had an “allergy cough” that had lasted months – she was initially all You’re Not Sick la but eventually caved and said I could take something if I really wanted), she said keeping your neck warm makes a huge difference to whether you even cough or sniff on occasion (barring actually being full-blown sick). (Actually one of my most beloved female bosses (with two kids) says the same – which is why we would buy her Jimmy Choo scarves for birthdays and such.)

It was intimidating looking for a scarf. For one thing, I had no idea how to tie one. For another, the first time I went in the salesgirls at the Pacific Place store were snobby – because they were just finishing packing up like, half a dozen scarves for some Chinese guy who wanted “corporate gifts.” The most popular 35 inch square silk scarf costs upwards of HKD 3,600 ok (I’m going to be framing mine if I can stop myself wearing it so much – as an art piece HKD 3,000- something is ok, no?), we might live here but we still marvel at the wealth flung about casually by the wealthier Mainlanders. It’s an almost voyeuristic guilty pleasure to watch them.

I had researched a few colors and designs online and brought the pics on my hp in case I got sidetracked when faced with so many vibrant colors and designs – but barely glancing at them, the salesgirl sniffed, “all from the last few seasons,” before I could even explain that I just wanted similar color combinations. They also assured me whenever new stock comes it’s gone in a few days (what recession?!)

Had better luck at the store in Elements. “Don’t worry, he’s well-entertained,” the young man serving me says, and sure enough I turn to see two older auntie saleswomen deep in conversation with Rockstar, still in his ESF uniform after school and apparently chatting about Show ‘n Tell. (The other salesgirl wasn’t exaggerating though – this store has just gotten their new shipment and the scarf counter is never empty – the sales staff have to seriously fold stuff real fast to keep up with all the women trying them on. In case you were wondering, the women I observed all spoke in Cantonese. Not Putonghua.)

Still a little embarrassing though, when the guy serving me can expertly drape and tie various scarves and I obviously have no idea what I’m doing. (Would’ve felt much more comfy if he was obviously gay, I love the gay sales guys at certain Jacadi outlets who are just superb at putting together toddler outfits but it’s actually possible this was a straight young guy who can expertly drape and tie <shame>.)

In case you’re wondering, you get a stack of cards teaching you how to tie the scarves – I went home and flicked thru them all and they still don’t tell me how to tie it the way this young guy did in the store. Freak. There is something unnatural and disturbing about young straight guys who can expertly drape silk scarves. 

3) Choos!

Jelly Choos

Believe it or not, my first ever pair of Jimmy Choos and they’re umm, not what you would expect of Choos, being flat jellies. I couldn’t wear any of my pre-pregnancy jellies and the rainy weather were turning my leather flats to mush.

Rockstar’s fingers are kinda horning in on the photo op though I managed to keep JD’s nose out of it. When I tried to take a pic of my shoes the two of them started jostling in front of the camera. Rockstar to horn in on the photo op, JD to horn in on whatever Rockstar wants. There is also a corner of our room the two fight over several times a day. Rockstar wants to put his house crocs there, JD wants to sleep there. What would one do without the other for entertainment?

Anyway. Jelly Choos were HKD 1800+ original price. I paid HKD 800 at the Choo warehouse (to be exact Bluebell carries Choo, Paul Smith, Moschino……) in South Horizon Plaza, Ap Lei Chau. Friends staying in Singapore will make it a point to look for an impulse purchase here because they say Choos are real expensive in Singapore…

Choo being Penangite (last I checked, a former classmate told me he has a school in Penang and my parents say they see him walking about the island on occasion) I bought one of his bags years ago. Love, but heavy – and I’m having back problems now. Which brings me to:

4) Little Chloe crossbody bag

**Border Collie not included

What? I hijacked Rockstar’s crossbody for months ok, til I just felt so lousy with the pregnancy symptoms, lack of sleep and feeling horribly un-stylish from wearing the same basics all the time. So net-a-porter.com (this time they were superfast processing my order). Only for essentials but not bad that I could squeeze in a small pouch for cash and cards, Rockstar’s iPod, my iPhone, mints, silk or small lightweight wool scarf. Which is all I really want to waddle around with right now. But I’m still using it when the baby comes. The baby stuff is still going in a separate bag. Unisex. The two males  can do some lugging. I’m sore enough I shall be the only one getting my stomach cut open so we can have another addition to our family. Yes. Problem solved.

5) Jersey dress

Dis is a body double from Shopbop.com

Got this from Shopbop.com cos we had a poolside dinner to attend during our recent Singapore trip. Wore with flat roman sandals. It comes in print or solid colors (btw I like to wear a shot of bright color when preggers – feel more energetic and I just think looking at the color helps my mood too, especially since this pregnancy is mostly uncomfy. My friends are always on about not being grouchy or your grouchy baby is going to give you hell when he/she is out.)

I likey the backey

I liked the back and was wearing a bikini top with back and neck ties under it so as not to show straps thru the slits. More interestingly, the model is 5ft 11inches with 34-25-35 measurements. I am slightly shy of 5ft 7inches and 70+kg. A whale. And I bot the same size as the model is apparently wearing in this pic. There is obviously something about Rachel Pally Caftan Dress that defies the laws of nature and physics. Speaking of which…..

5) A little support…

Shopbop Basics sports bra

By this time I’m hoping to have lost all my male readers as I start talking about nice underwear and support. I like to wear not-too-restrictive sports bras, even to sleep, and compared this Shopbop basic to the fugly maternity bras I bought in proper maternity shops last time round and they seemed to serve about the same purpose for me. The reviews actually called this one unsuitable for high impact sport – which is great when your breasts swell 3 whole sizes and occasionally hurt when the mood takes them which, if Murphy had been a woman, would be whenever you are trying to get to sleep at night. I hope to be able to slip breastfeeding pads into this and all when the time comes, but we’ll see… At least now I can still flop about the home feeling like I could’ve been going to the gym for a good workout – but for a teeny difference.

And yes, very important to have nice panties and things to go with. No one else might see them but you will. And you will care, because you will catch yourself in the mirror at some point and think I’m A Whale.

No, better make that I’m A Hot Whale. 😀

Posted in Rockstar Shopping | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments