Wednesday, January 12, 2011

An Assignment for the Tooth Fairy

Joann dropped her first milk tooth today! The front tooth has been a little bit shaky over the last few weeks and she seemed worried at times. Her tooth finally dropped this morning and she was very excited when we fetched her this evening. Another milestone in her growing up journey :-)

Just for info, the milk teeth is also known as the deciduous teeth, baby teeth or temporary teeth. These are the first set of teeth in the growth development of humans. The milk teeth are usually lost as early as 5 years old and replaced by permanent teeth thereafter. 

I read some interesting articles on tooth traditions around the world:

In North America such as United States and Canada, children will place their tooth under their pillow and the tooth fairy will take their tooth, replacing with money. This tradition is probably the one that we are most familiar with.


In France, Spain and Latin America, it's a little mouse that will replace the tooth with money.


In Central America, the tooth will be gold-plated and make into an earring for the child to wear. Quite a good idea for keeping the tooth as a memento.

In Mongolia, the baby tooth is given to a young dog. The dog is treated like some sort of a guardian angel there. The tooth is mixed with the food given to a dog. It is believed that when the guardian angel eats the tooth, the child will get new strong tooth.

Sounds very interesting, right? Guess these are some of the many ways that parents soothe the hearts of the little ones who lost something personal :-) 

As for Joann, she sealed her milk tooth in a little bag, as a memento for herself :-) 



Sunday, January 9, 2011

Making Orange Butter Cake @ Bakerzin Kids

Heard some good reviews on the baking workshops at Bakerzin Kids and decided to sign up the children for the Orange Butter Cake baking session about 1 month ago. The workshops are usually in hot demand and parents have to sign up their kids about 1 month in advance (can do it online).


The baking session is held at a workshop located within the Bakerzin Outlet at UE Square (81, Clemenceau Avenue, #01-15, Singapore 239917). Each baking session lasts about 1.5 hours.



The children were excited when they arrived at the workshop as they were greeted with tables filled with colorful spread of ingredients and kitchen tools. But before they began, they had to put on their chef hat and apron as well as wash their hands (If not, there will be no takers for their cakes :-P).



As the children worked through the baking session, the Chef from Bakerzin patiently gave his instructions and ensure that the children understood the procedures. He was assisted by helpers (in green shirts) who led assistance to children who had difficulty especially if they were first timers.... like Joann and Jayden :-)

The children first, sifted the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer, they beat together butter with sugar and orange zest until creamy. Added the eggs, one at a time. Stirred in the vanilla extract. Next, using a spatula, they folded the flour mixture into the butter mixture and stirred in the cream until well-mixed.





Now, the children divided the batter evenly among the muffin tins.




Once ready, the batter in the muffin tins were placed in the oven for about 20 minutes (preheated to 180 Degree Celsius).





Joann and Jayden were truly enjoying the workshop! Next step, was to prepare the sugar decorations for their orange butter cakes.





The cakes were ready! Final step - decorating the cakes! The smell of baked cakes was making me hungry :-P




The cakes are ready! Any takers?


As a whole, the children enjoyed the workshop and have been asking for more since they returned home. Besides the cakes that they made, the children were also given the Bakerzin chef hat, apron, workshop graduation certificate, photographs, receipt sheet and reward cards. You can enjoy a $8 discount when your child brings along the issued apron and hat to the next workshop.

The remaining workshops in January 2011 are almost fully booked. I am waiting for the February schedule to be released at Bakerzin's website. If anyone interested, we could arrange for our children to participate in a workshop together? 

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Joann's First Day at PLMGS (Primary)

The day has finally come! Since the start of Dec 10, Aileen and I have been progressively preparing for Joann's entry into primary school - getting her school uniform, textbooks, stationary, school bag, coin pouch ready as well as preparing her psychologically for the big school (as compared to kindergarten). We can see that she is excited about her new school too! 

Meanwhile for Jayden, he is entering K1 in Faithland 1, Living Sanctuary Kindergarten. He is in morning session while his older sister is in afternoon session. He is going to miss her BIG time - no one to play with him in the afternoon like before and his Jie Jie is going to be busier in school :-P

Jayden ready for school!

Joann looks so lovely in her new school uniform... hehe :-)
Look how much she has grown... Still remember the time when she was born...
Ordered this bag (with her name embroidered) from Disney.com like 2 years ago. Finally she is tall enough to carry it.



Joann, together with the other P1 pupils, was led to the main hall after arriving in school. With some free time before the talks organised by the school, I took the opportunity to walk around the school premises.

Useful talks organised by PLMGS (Pri), for parents

Anxious parents waiting for their children's canteen break at 3pm (I'm one of them).

Each P1 girl is accompanied by a P5 girl during this period of orientation. There were so many pupils in the canteen that some parents had trouble locating their children even if there were designated areas for each class. Can you spot Joann?

The best picture of Joann, I took during the canteen break (after some simple editing)... Wishing that I have better zoom len.

Joann preparing to return to classroom after canteen break.

Supportive parents in action!



As a whole, Joann enjoyed her first day in school and made some new friends (she has some friends from LSK with her in the same class too). Praying that she will have an enjoyable 6 years in PLMGS (Primary) :-)


Monday, January 3, 2011

First Zoo Trip in 2011

The weather was cloudy and cool this morning - perfect for a trip to the zoo!


The children's favourite photo-taking spot - with the iconic elephant sculptures at the zoo entrance
We renewed our "Friends of the Zoo" Family Pass while Jayden checked out the locations of his favourite animals. The membership fees is S$180 for a one-year family pass. We managed to get a 10% discount with my SAF 11B :-)
You can rent a wagon for your kids at the zoo entrance. It allows the little feets to rest and fathers can train their muscles
Something new to me! You can also rent an Adventure Scooter for a ride throughout the zoo during your visit. No need for helmet - it will be a slow ride.  


Lovely morning for a visit to the zoo! Love the green!

Really looking forward to the new attractions in 2012!


Free Ranging Orang Utan Island
My lovely wife!!!
The children were excited to feed the elephants! S$5 for a basket of fruits :-)


Having a little snack before the show at the Splash Amphitheatre


Jayden thoroughly enjoyed the show!




A morning stroll at the zoo is really "tonic" for the soul


Ice-cream treat for the children!!!

With the annual pass, we will be back SOON!