We celebrated Malcolm’s 6th birthday last week
We bought him a cake to bring to school on Friday
I contemplated for a long time before getting one from a nearby bakery
A 2kg chocolate cake with loads of cream
A simple rectangular one which would probably cost less than 1/2 the price, if not for the digital print of his favourite heroic autobots on it

I managed to bake some mini chocolate chip cupcakes, wrapped them in nice cellophane bags and tagged each with a little thank you note
Lovely, yummilicious treats for his little friends in school

Because the little treats tasted so good
I decided to make a bigger version of it for his birthday party that weekend
He wanted something from Lord of the Ring, something that no known bakery in my knowledge makes

I was clueless, yet I agreed to bake him the evil tower

Lesson No. 1 - Never speak too soon or you disappoint a child what you can’t deliver

What followed next was many sleepless nights which gave me a few more strands of white hair
After many nights of researching I finally had a glimpse of how the cake should look like, BUT only in my head

I couldn’t afford the luxury of time to have a test bake
but I knew it had to be a 3 tier cake that would somehow transform to what he wanted
and all these had to be done on the day itself as I wasn’t sure how long the cake will last in this hot and humid weather
I was very excited
I have never baked a cake for such a big group and I wasn’t sure how everything will turn out

Lesson No. 2 - Never assume that anything mini can be morphed into something full scale

The day came, the first batch of cake came out just after midnight
It was beautifully baked
I was tired but relieved

I proceeded with the mixing of the second batch
Just before shoving it into the oven, I realized that the colour wasn’t quite right
Truth be told,  I had forgotten the SUGAR!
I thought by adding the sugar in the correct amount but in an incorrect sequence would be good enough to salvage the night
I was wrong

It took me more than twice as long to finally bake the 2nd batch
The inside of the cake just refused to dry
I knew something was wrong, I could have measured the ingredient wrongly

Lesson No. 3 - Never attempt to do Math in the wee hours of the morning when you are comatose

I couldn’t afford to go for another bake, it was past 2 in the morning
I decided to make do with what I had

The lower layer which was from the first bake tasted ok but the top layers which were from the 2nd batch tasted funny
With loads of fudgy chocolate and some dressing up, the flaws were concealed
We ended up with a cake that looked ‘dark’ enough to pass off as the dark tower
At least my son could tell what it was supposed to be
I couldn’t expect more

We couldn’t finish the cake but the kids were happy to eat what was served with lots of their favourite chocolaty snacks on it

Lesson 4 - If you ever end up with a bake that is less than perfect, go generous with the edible accessories

You can’t judge a cake by its look but with enough packaging and accessories you may be lucky enough to fool the taste bud

And with that, we celebrated Malcolm’s 6th birthday
Despite the heat and a not so perfect cake, we all had fun

Here’s a BIG THANK YOU to our friends who came to the party and celebrated the day with us. I am sure Malcolm will remember this day for a long long time

Today is the 7th day of school for Malcolm and things have more or less settled down.

Other than having insomia for the 1st night and waking up an hour earlier on the 2nd day so that he could play with his Lego before leaving for school, the transition has been quite smooth.

On the 3rd day, he came home from school telling me that there were 23 students in his class.
On the 4th day, he let a Japanese girl in his class hold his hand.
On the 5th day he recounted 22 students in his class because the Japanese girl was absent.
On the 6th day he turned down a group of boys to play fighting and chose to play alone instead.

Today, he made 2 new friends and together with the Japanese girl and another boy, they played holding hands and running in circles. It was fun and easy cos he need not speak french playing the game. He also counted 53 Big and Small alphabets from A-Z in his class.

I think instead of listening to the teacher blabbers in French, he is most of the time lost in his own world of counting game.

Summer is finally coming to an end and a new school term has formally started for Malcolm this week, or rather today, for his case. Thanks to his not so enthusiastic parents. It was only the first week of school and we had made 2 huge blunders.

First, Malcolm missed the first day of school. Monday was a public holiday and thus Tuesday was supposedly to be the first day of school. Somehow we kept thinking that his first day of school was on Wednesday, which was usually the rest day of the week but we couldn’t care less to find out more. We ended up having to cook up a story explaining to the director why he missed school on Tuesday.

Second was when I picked him up from school during lunch time today, I was told then that I need to bring him back to class after lunch. You see, je peux pas parler francais, and the teacher don’t really speak English. So there we were, a duck and a chicken trying to communicate. I figured out that school this term for him is a full day event and is obligatoire which means compulsory in French. I was told I need to speak to the director again if I decided not to bring him back after lunch.

I knew I couldn’t bring him back after lunch. We hadn’t tell him anything about being in school for the whole day, he is not mentally prepared and NEITHER AM I! Once again, to get him out of school for the afternoon class, I cooked up another story to have him excused.

I could sense his relief. I knew how happy he was and I knew that he would rather choose the ‘boredom’ of staying at home, hanging around with me than to be in school for the whole day! It is just too much, not just for him but for me. We have never been apart for this long.

So maybe this is it, after 4 1/2 years of being with Mummy for all his waking hours, my boy is now ready to venture into the big boy world. It kind of sadden me to think that I will only get to spend time with him for 2 hours during his lunch and subsequently another 4 hours when he comes back from school and before going to bed. That is like 1/2 the amount of time we used to spend together!

I know this day will come sooner or later and to many it had came much earlier. It may be a consolation to know but it doesn’t make it easier, especially for a child, who has never really wander far and long away from Mummy dearest.

14th July was Bastille Day, National Day of France. It falls on Monday, thus a long weekend for us and since we made it back from our unplanned trip, we were woken up early by Mal who heard about the Patrouille de France fly pass at the parade. He never miss any opportunity to see planes!

We board the metro to the nearest train station. Roads were closed. Locals and tourists marched and roamed. the streets along Champs Elysees. For once, pedestrians ruled the roads, a rare opportunity in Paris. I usually had to give way to tyrannic drivers when it was clearly green man! It reminded me of Singapore Swing, those annual road parties we used to have along Orchard road. We saw more planes during the fly pass and more static display of army tanks and choppers in front of Les Invalides.My boy who had been chasing airshows for 2 consecutive days, sacrificing sleeps, showed no sign of fatigue and was clearly running on adrenaline. He squealed with delight and excitement seeing the choppers landing right in front of him. Dragged me along, eager to introduce each and every choppers we passed. Even on our way home, he continued to rambled on about the planes we saw. His passion for these flying machines sometimes really amazed me.
can you spot the landing chopper?

Daddy found out in the wee hours of the morning that there was a local airshow in a little town 270 km out of Paris. Slept 3 hours, woke up at 8 plus and decided that we should go even though the website provided very little information on the location and schedule for the show. We printed out the map, packed some snacks, 1 set change of clothes (just in case it was too late to drive back), loaded up our old ‘new’ car and set off for a very last minute and unplanned trip.

As we munched our breakfast in the car, we were greeted by gigantic yellow sunflowers beaming cheerfully, corn fields filled with maize plant taller than Malcolm, handsome trees with ruffled lush green crowns, a vast different from the neatly trimmed ones in Paris.

We drove on roads too deserted for our modern GPS and the yellow sign with the word ‘MEETING’, was about the only clue we had for navigation nearing the base. It took us almost 3 hours to reach our destination, a french airforce base tucked in the countryside.

Inside the base, we were greeted by static display of jets engine planes, choppers, propeller and historic aircrafts. The show was informal, very personal and it was clear that the show was for the people, unlike the Singapore Air Show, whose objectives are almost solely commercial. There were endless aerial displays throughout the day, nonstop, one after another, you can’t help but to think about the amount of work that was put in to make this show possible.

We saw flying displays by the Patrouille de France (acrobatic team of the French Air Force), a Mirage 2000, a Swiss F18, an Italian F16, a B1-B and many others who came from all over Europe. All morning, the sky threatened with dark clouds but the ensuing rain failed to dampen the carnival atmosphere nor Malcolm’s determination to stay and see the rest of the show. It was after all his first encounter with the European fighter jets. All in all, what was initially thought as a small scale and low key local airshow, turned out to be truly spectacular. What that started off as an ordinary Sunday, turned out to be a fully charged, adrenaline packed last minute getaway, made possible by our old ‘new’ car.

I love the freedom and convenient of owning a car, the surprise and thrill that can only come from an impromptu trip like this, and I think we should do this more often.
More pictures here

A few weeks ago, in an attempt to explain to Mal how lucky he was compared to many people in other parts of the world, we showed him some news clips on China earthquake and Burma cyclone Nargis. We were hesitant at first, not sure whether the ‘real world’ might be too much for our 4 year old. We went ahead, censoring some of the more gruesome pictures and clips, taking the bet that he should be able to handle the reality.

At 4 years old, Mal learned about natural disasters through books and during our road trips to National Parks and different parts of US. He is familiar with earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunami and tornadoes but it is the first time that natural disasters happened so close and so recent. As he watched the news, we answered his WHYs and HOWs and soon derived at how we could help.

We struck a deal.
For every token in his Big Boy Bag, he could exchange for a dollar which would be donated to the Singapore Red Cross Society to help the Chinese or Burmese victims.
He counted his tokens for the week, there were 20, which means he could have 2 small treats or 1 big treat all to himself.
After some discussion, albeit reluctantly, he parted with 10 tokens and accepted a small treat with his remaining 10 tokens.
That was his first donation to charity.
5 dollars to China earthquake victims
5 dollars to Burma cyclone victims

The following week, he counted 20 tokens again. This time, almost instantly without hesitation he chirped .
‘Mummy, I want to give 10 tokens to the people in China and 10 tokens to the people in Burma’

Both Daddy and I were taken aback. It was only the 2nd week and Mal seemed to have internalized our teachings.
He had chosen to give up his treats.
Everything for the people he had never met and Nothing for himself
I was moved beyond words and caught a glimpse of shimmering wetness in Daddy’s eyes.
It was a feat. We both know that we may never have given so generously.

Note :
Make a contribution towards the Red Cross China Earthquake Appeal
or
Make a contribution towards the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Appeal

Mal doesn’t like to do colouring. This is the 1st complete colouring he did and he did it all by himself when I left him with the childcare at the gym the other day. He was so anxious to present to me the colouring after my workout, beaming ear to ear saying ‘Mummy, this is for you!’

errhhh…nope…not the yellowstone pictures yet. Had been busy packing. Now the reality seem to set in more. Yes, we are going home soon! To be more precise, I should say, I am left only like a couple of weeks to pack my things so that I can ship them back. The earlier we shipped our things back, the earlier we will receive them in Singapore. So the house, especially the rooms were in a HUGE mess. Boxes and things were piling up and as the day draw nearer, my shopping list seem to grow longer and longer. I just couldn’t resist the BIG RED clearance tag and each time I go shopping, I will come back with more stuff to add on to the pile. It is no wonder that pile doesn’t seem to get smaller!
Other than packing and shopping, I had also started Mal on his summer swimming program. So every morning I had to bring him for his class and this will go on 4 times a week for the next 2 weeks. Mal had been giving me quite a bit of trouble for the swimming class. For the past 2 days, he had refused to go for his class. I think he is still not very comfortable with the swimming coach. His behaviour was totally different when he swims at home and during the lesson. He is totally comfortable with water when he swims at home when we were around. He would jump, splash water, do funny tricks with his water noodle and even swim without float. But in the swimming class, he is always glum. So far he is ok with carrying out instructions though he told me he couldn’t understand what the coach was saying actually. I can see that he is not enjoying it. Really wonder whether I should just take him out of the class. I am still hoping that he will get over it and eventually enjoy the swim class and be his usual self.

On top of all these, there were birthday party and farewell dinner which kept us busy since we came back from our very relaxing trip from laid back Yellowstone. Now, this is reality!

mal, mummy, baby Christian and Auntie EthelAuntie Jennifer, Mal & Mummy, Auntie Shirley, Ethan and Auntie Kit

eeeee, I am a SPIDER!surprise birthday balloon hat for Daddy…can you tell that it’s a shark?! or more elegantly named as Mako

Given some paint and brush, this was the surprise that awaits me when I woke up from a short nap from the living room sofa. When Mal gets especially quiet playing alone and does not bug me to play with him, I get worried as there is a high chance that he is up to some mischief! And sure enough, this time, I was right! Luckily he didn’t draw my face, like he used to draw on popo’s ! hahah

Daddy is finally back. The last 2 weeks flashed by quite fast. Mal missed Daddy during the first few days that he was gone, but I think he soon gotten used to it.(I will be sad if Mal only misses me the first few days that I am gone!) Maybe because we reassured him that Daddy will be back soon and he also got to speak to Daddy on the phone everyday.

Telling Mal that Daddy will be back in 2 weeks’ time sounds rather vague, meaningless and abstract as he still hasn’t grasp the concept of time. I thought this will be a good opportunity for him to learn something. So, we printed a March calendar from the internet so as to show him when exactly daddy will be back. It became a nightly ritual for the past 2 weeks for us to write down what we did for the day before he goes to bed. I would let him stick on his favourite Mickey Mouse stickers for some of the days which really helps to cheer him up during the first few days that Daddy was not around. As the days went by, Mal got better at doing this. Instead of me prompting him, he would rattle on by himself on what he did for the day. I had to censored some of the stuff he said as I had problem squeezing all the nitty gritty details in the calendar! (you can see from the calendar above that I ran out of space for the last few days)

This is becoming so fun and meaningful that I am thinking of making this a nightly routine. It is like starting a diary for him…unlike this blog, which most of the stuff was written by me, the content of this calendar diary will come solely from him. As he will narrate the events for the day while I helped to pen them down. hmmm…should I give myself more work??

we woke up at 6 plus to see Daddy off…we went to the runway to see the planes took off … it was so cool to see the planes blast past us and they did a few rounds above us before embarking on their journey. Mal was dressed almost like daddy in his flight jacket (thanks to Auntie Jessica for the pic)

Brought him to a birthday party for a 5 year old boy. The theme for the party was Knights and Princesses. It was a really cool party where the parents did most of the stuff themselves. We had BBQ food at the garage and kids had craft to keep them entertained. It was a rather boyish party and it made me realised that Mal is still in his very kiddish world with all his favourite animal characters with mouse, bears, dinosaurs and animals that talk!
After this party, maybe his world has expanded a little to include more boyish stuff such as knights, swords and castles!

Had always wanted to try making my own bread. Know that it is not so simple especially without a bread machine. Was flipping through some recipes and just couldn’t resist to try my hands on these Bacon and Cheese Rolls! Thought the kids will love them and also for me to overcome my fear…hahha…and venture into another new area of baking

I went through the recipe and steps…they look simple! Thought maybe I could finish in time for breakfast. HA! I was so wrong and far too ambitious! The most difficult part was for the yeast to react. According to the recipe, it should take only 10 minutes for the initial yeast mix to turn frothy, we took more than an hour! another 30 minutes for the dough to double in size, we took about 2 hours! and finally another 15 minutes for the rolls to rise, we took close to another hour! So all in all, we spent the whole morning and afternoon waiting and more waiting! We were supposed to place the mixture in a warm place…so guess what…we left the mixture right under the hot sun, in the backyard! hoping the heat could help speed up the reaction. So my bread was practically ’sun bathing’ in the backyard for the whole morning!

Another tough part about making bread without a bread machine is…the kneading of the dough was TOUGH! I basically use ‘cow strength’ to try to knead the dough till smooth. PHEW! Mal had his fair share of kneading the dough too…he was actually more like massaging the dough. hahah and was giggling all the way cos we found it so funny!

So finally at around 4 plus in the afternoon, the baking was done. The rolls smell yummy but I had tasted better bread and rolls outside. Not bad for a first timer I guess

Definitely room for improvement. Next time I shall be more generous with the bacon and cheese! and forget about making the rolls less sinful! cos that is all where the flavour will come from and the lesson learnt is …

Watch me!
this is the 1st time I am making bread
this is the way I knead the doughor should I say, this is the way… I massage the dough!
Mummy says, “Smack it!”“Squeeze it!”
and “Throw it!”
this is so ooo funny!
we made a total of 17 rolls
sunbathing the rolls
in the backyard!
before the oven
look how fat the bacons!
finally…
wanna try some ?!

Daddy had made Mal some new toys. First is some electric circuit stuff that he salvaged from one of his toy car which was no longer working. He dismantled the electronic stuff inside and converted it to a really cool toy for Mal. It had a switch that could alternatively turn on the light bulb and a fan that spins! Mal was so happy with his new indoor toy. Daddy has always disagrees in buying toys for Mal as he likes to get nostalgic and compare how kids in the past managed to find things to play even when their parents did not splurge on toys. To him, toys can be found everywhere, with just a bit of imagination. As for me, I tend to splurge a bit more on toys as sometimes the sales for the toys here are too good to pass up!

I am happy with the new toy Daddy made for Mal as at least I feel that Daddy is making an effort, instead of lamenting on how Mal should be using his imagination for play. When you are the one playing with him everyday, new toys seem an easier option instead of imagination!

Another new toy Daddy had made for Mal was a simple outdoor stove. Mal now loves to go to the backyard to play with his new stove. He loves cooking soup and making porridge with coconut milk. He loves fixing up dinner using his new stove. Soil, leaves and water is what he used. Think Daddy is right, it sure can be quite fun with a little bit of imagination.

Mal had a new hair cut for the new year. Wanted to do that before 1st day of new year but…firstly, Mal wasn’t very keen and secondly, I screwed up, busy with other things instead of making a point to cut his hair. Ever since we came over here, I was the one who cut Mal’s hair as he refused to go to a barber. This time round, Daddy decided to take up the challenge. I think I was more nervous than Mal to have Daddy cut his hair! Sure enough, it turns out quite horrendous! Thanks to Daddy, now Mal has a hairstyle that resembles his favoutite food! MUSHROOM! and it makes his big ba loogu even more obvious!