Key Board Magic @ Choa Chu Kang Library

Ting Ting meddling with the keyboard during the lesson

I've been pondering whether to enroll our gal to piano lessons for quite some time. As a young child, I was fascinated by piano. I remembered I budged my parents to buy me a keyboard so I could play music and self-learnt myself how to play it with one hand. I did not attended any music lessons and I kind of regretted it. 

Although that was my childhood interest, but this is not the reason why I am considering to enroll my gal to piano. Developing her temperament and her show of interest in music is what really prompted me to consider. 

As a single child, she was used to people pampering her and putting her in the centre of universe. Therefore I hope by learning music, it can somehow develop her temperament especially discipline and patience. Also, I felt that she has an interest in music too. When I borrowed nursery rhyme books from the library, she was able to sing almost all the songs in the book. In addition, when I played a tune on the keyboard, she was able to recognise the song and started to sing along too. In addition, as she was left handed, I felt there might be an advantage for her to learn piano too?

Although I am keen to enroll her to piano lessons, but the lessons are not cheap too. I need to be very sure that this is what she is interested in before I spend my $$. 

I came across this program "Key Board Magic" conducted by the library which is free. I felt that this is a very good opportunity to expose her to music learning and I quickly registered for it. Although the venue was at Choa Chu Kang library which is quite far from my place, but the opportunity to expose her to music is too good to be missed! 

It was an one hour lesson where the teacher taught some simple easy keyboard notes and taught the kids how to play a simple song. It was a fun and good experience in my opinion. 

However, I noticed my gal seems to be irate during the lesson. She don't seems to be able to follow the lesson and was restless. The teacher was teaching the kids to use their right hand to play the keyboard. As she was left handed, it seems that she had difficulty coping with her right hand. 

The first music exposure lesson seems to have dismay results. But I think it could be due to the timing as the lesson started at 1pm which was her nap time too. So it might be she was tired and couldn't focus well which resulted to her feeling restless during the lesson. I am not too discouraged by it because when we reached home, she immediately brought out her small keyboard and tried to play on it. Therefore I think this seed of music has started to implant in her mind, so it is now up to us if we want to water and sun it so that it can grow. 

At least now I know there might be some constraint for her to learn piano due to her left handed preference. So I need to do more research if this is something of a concern to learning piano. Timing of the lesson is also important as preferably the lesson should be in the afternoon after her nap or early morning if I will to enroll her in any lessons. She might be still too young to learn piano at age 3.

Review

I think this Key Board Magic lesson is a very good head start. The lesson was interactive and fun. The way the teacher taught the class was very lively and managed to instill interest to most of the kids. Therefore I would highly recommended parents to enroll their kids to the lesson as a head start or testing if their kids are interested to learn keyboard or piano. 

Rating: 5/5 

Verdict 

I think I better not enroll her to any piano lessons yet. However, I will continue to look out "Go library" for similar lessons to expose her to music. Until she is ready - when she shows that she can focus, concentrate and keen interest, then that will be the time I will enroll her to piano lessons formally.  

Omni Theatre - Earth, Moon & Sun (Digital Movie)

We watched the Digital Movie "Earth, Moon & Sun" at the Science Centre Omni Theatre yesterday after we went to Choa Chu Kang for our activity since it was on the way. 

We managed to catch the 4pm show and the experience was great! Although it was not the first time I watched a show in the Omni Theatre, but it was the first time we watched it with our precious gal.

As she was fascinated with astronomy recently, I thought that it will be good to expose her more into this area to gain better understanding and could sustain her interest too. 

Originally, I wanted to watch another show "One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure" which may be more suitable for her, but it only had one screening at 2pm during weekends and we missed the timing. I felt that this "Earth, Moon & Sun" show is also appropriate for her since it looks relatively kids friendly. 

As it was the first time our gal watched a show in Omni Theatre, she was so fascinated that she kept exclaiming "Wow!". Although the show was a short 30-35mins, but she was able to keep her eyes fully focus on the screen for the whole period without fidgeting (unlike her daddy who falls asleep even during the short 30mins....). When she saw the different planets appearing on the screen, she was pointing excitedly on the planets which she knows. She was also amused by the coyote (The character which appeared in the show which acted as the introductory figure) and when I asked her what she liked about the show, she immediately replied "I like the coyote!"

It was a relatively simple and easy to understand introductory show to astronomy for kids. It showed how the sun, earth and moon works and how they are related to each other. It also explains why a solar eclipse takes place which I felt is just timely for the upcoming solar eclipse. I think the show is educating and entertaining. Although 30mins for a show seems short, but it is perfect for young kids. Watching it in the Omni Theatre with the large screen and 360 degree view gives it a "Wow" experience for kids too. Highly recommended! 

Astronomy ~ It all started with Jupiter!

Since young, I've been very interested in astronomy especially planets. It always fascinates me how other planets look like and if there is any possibility of life besides Earth.

Few weeks ago, when I was at the playground with my gal one night, the sky was exceptionally clear and I could see quite a number of stars. I downloaded this app called "Skyview" and scanned the sky using the camera function which showed me the name of the stars and the constellations. It was an amazing app and highly recommended!

When we went home, I used the app to check out a bright star which was right up in the sky outside our bedroom. I wondered what is the name of the star as it was not blinking, and the shape looks irregular. And it turns out it was Jupiter! My gal curiously asked me: "What is this Mummy?". I showed her the planet and told her what was it. To illustrate better, I showed her a picture of the solar system with the planets using my iPad. She was so fascinated with it and I was quite surprised that she showed interest in the planets.

Last week I borrowed some kids astronomy books at the library about the planets and started reading to her. She was so interested in it and kept asking me to read to her repeatedly. Within a few days, she is now able to identify all planets and their sequence to the sun! When I asked her which is her favorite planet? Her answer was "Saturn! Because it got rings around it!". She even told me that when she grow up, she want to be an astronaut and go to space! I asked her if she will bring mummy along? She immediately replied "Yes!". Well, that really warms my heart....

Tonight, we learned about the Big Dipper. She was able to point out to me which set of stars belongs to the Big Dipper and where is the Polaris (North Star) from my iPad video clip! That is really amazing, to me.

To keep up to her interest, I am planning to bring her watch some astronomy show at the omnimax theatre at the science centre during the weekend. I also intending to bring her watch the upcoming solar eclipse (with safe settings) which is a rare occasion. I am so excited that finally someone share my interest and that special someone is my precious little gal!

Results of Nov 2015 Sale Of Balance Flats Exercise

We applied for the Nov 2015 Sale Of Balance Flats Exercise with HDB last year. After a long wait, finally today we received an email from HDB that our application is not successful due to our balloted queue position has far exceeded the flat supply. 

It was a great disappointment as we would very much like to upgrade to a bigger flat. This is especially after our gal was born, we felt that we run out of space even though our flat size was considered ok back then when we bought our current flat. 

Now as a second timer applicant, it seems like buying lottery to apply for BTO or balance flats with HDB. If we manage to get a good queue number, it is really like winning top prize. We prefer to utilise our 2nd chance buying direct from HDB instead of buying from the resale market as we prefer brand new flats. As 2nd timer, we need to pay a hefty resale levy and by adding to the purchase price, it is actually similar or even higher price as compared to the resale market for a unit in the same area. We regard the resale levy as a premium for buying new flats therefore we will continue to apply for other BTO or SOBF (Sales of Balance Flat) even though the prices not cheap and chances are very slim.  

Space is always not enough when there is a child in the house. We regretted not buying a 5-room or bigger flat previously when the prices were still low. We thought a 4 room would serve our purpose even if we have a child but we were so wrong. Having a child arrival to the family, not only we need to cater for the child bedroom but also playing and learning space. Therefore if we could do it all over again, we would choose to buy a bigger flat and stay in it till old age or until the last day we breathe. If in the future, we may not need so much space or when our gal got married and move out, we can always rent out the extra rooms or downgrade to a smaller unit. 

Therefore for newly weds or soon-to-be married couples who are planning to have kids, I would advice to buy a bigger flat if you can afford it. You will need the extra space even though it may not be too much difference. Buying a property is an important investment which needs detailed calculation on the affordability and sustainability. 

J-Pot @ Parkway Parade Review

We went to Parkway Parade for dinner on our gal birthday. Check out my previous post.

The reason why we decided to dine at J-Pot was due to its promotion of $20 discount for minimun spending of $50. Seems like a good deal. 

The main draw of J-pot is each person will have their own individual hot pot and own selection of soup base. It is more hygenie as no need to share with others. Also it uses technology like the self ordering touch screen menu which makes the ordering faster. They also uses the induction cooktop for each seat so it is safer too. 

We ordered the specialty soup and the porridge soup. Both tasted delicious. I ordered the porridge soup as I could share with my gal. We ordered the usual stuff: pork, chicken, fish, mushroom, vege, fish noodles, tofu fish paste. The food tasted good. And the most special part of J-pot is its sauce as we can help ourselves with a wide range of sauces and ingredients by mixing it like buffet style. The sauce was very good! The service was fast and attentive too where staff readily checked our pots and topped up our soup. 

Our meal total cost $40 after the $20 discount. Well, I think it is still expensive considering we didn't order much food. If we don't have the $20 discount, it would have cost $60, which I felt is totally not worth it even though the food tasted delicious. However after the meal, we felt extremely thirsty. It could mean there were lots of MSG in the soup which was why the soup was so tasty. 

I dined at J-Pot Vivo previously but don't remembered feeling so thirsty after the meal. So this is my review verdict:

Ambience: 8/10

Technology usage: 9/10

Food: 5/10 (I gave it 5 due to the MSG. If no much MSG, it could be a 9)

Service: 9/10

Value for $: 5/10 (considering the very ordinary type of food we ordered, it still cost us $20 per person after discount) 

In summary, I don't think we will patronize J-Pot again in the near future. The main draw to J-pot is the soup, however the soup was disappointing not because it didn't tasted delicious, but because of the MSG added to the soup. The soup base alone cost about $5-8per person which is overpriced in my opinion. For this price, I would expect the soup to be really 真材实料. Therefore the meal was not value for money in my humble opinion. It was a pity. 

Our gal is 3!

Time flies, our precious baby is now 3 years old!

I still remember clearly the day she was born. It was the happiest moment of my life. Sometimes, I secretly wished that I could turn back time just to savour that moment. I regretted not filming down the delivery process. 

Anyway, She got a blasting birthday celebration. In fact she got 3 celebrations! The first celebration she had was at my relatives house who celebrated her birthday in advance. My cousin ordered and bought her a Peppa Pig birthday cake. Peppa Pig is one of her favourite character and the cake was lovely!  

The 2nd celebration was at home and we only invited close family members. We bought her a Barney cake with her photo on it. She choose the Barney cake herself as Barney was another one of her favourite character too.

We just put up some simple DIY decoration on the wall and whipped up some home cook meal for a small and intimate celebration. We actually recycled the wall decoration every year. What we did was just changing the number.

The 3rd celebration she had was on her actual birthday which falls on a weekday. I baked some chocolate chip cupcakes and piped some homemade buttercream (with no food colouring) on the cupcakes for the happy birthday wordings.

We brought the cupcakes to her playgroup to celebrate with her little friends. We also prepared some Mickey Mouse theme birthday goodie bags and DIY Mickey Mouse party hats for her little friends. It was such a cute scene to see her celebrating and singing birthday songs with her little friends.

DIY Mickey Mouse party hat & goodie bags

She got 3 different themes for her 3rd birthday: Peppa Pig, Barney and Mickey Mouse! Lolx. Actually we didn't really plan to have 3 themes. It just happen that my relatives bought her the Peppa Pig cake, then she choose the Barney cake and I thought Mickey Mouse was an appropriate theme for her celebration with her little friends. Next year, we got to crack our head to think for the theme again.

After her birthday celebration at her playgroup, we brought her to Kaboodle Kids indoor playground at Big Splash in East Coast Park as we got the complimentary voucher from a contest.

She was having tons of fun at the Kaboodle, busy building and playing with the blocks! As it was weekday, so initially she was the only kid playing in the indoor playground and she got the whole place to herself! Subsequently there were a few kids joining and she had fun playing together with them too.

Riding on the bike from Mummy & Daddy's creation! 

Busy playing in the house where she pretended selling cookies! 

The house was built by the Kaboodle staff! 

Experimenting the ball rolling down the mini slide

We stayed for a few hours at Kaboodle until closing time at 6pm. She refused to leave until I convinced her that we were going to the beach and she could play with the sand.

When we went to the beach, she was so excited that she jumped up and down the sand. We only let her played for a short while as it was time for dinner.

Yeah sand playing time! 

We went to Parkway Parade and dinned at J-pot hotpot as they were having an offer to have $20 off for spending minimum $50. So we thought it was quite a good deal and furthermore, K haven't try out J-pot before. I will be reviewing J-pot on a separate post.

J-pot steamboat

So that marks the end of our gal 3rd birthday celebration! 

Children book review - Our Planet by Jimi Lee

I borrowed this children book from the library recently and read it with my gal as our daily routine. I find that the book is quite meaningful sending the message what will happen if we don't cherish our planet and what we should do to save our planet.

There are only pictures and no words at all. But the pictures are simple emough for the children to understand. As there are no wordings to read, I told my gal the story based on my understanding of the pictures. She responded quite well to the book and asked me to read again after I finished reading. 

I like that the book is promoting education for our children not to make the same mistakes to hurt our environment. Our children is our last hope to save this planet and I believe it is possible through education since young. 

In the book, children who learn to grow plants or trees from the seeds will be able to create a more harmonious environment for mankind to live with the nature and using clean energy by not polluting the environment. 

I do agree with the author that we got to repair the damage we caused to the earth before it is too late. Our children holds the key to the future. 

Highly recommended 5/5 stars.