Trying to do it all

I spent a large part of my formative years at one of the best girl's schools in Singapore.

We were taught to be fiercely independent, yet to know how to tone it down when necessary. The expectation to have-it-all and to be-it-all was deeply ingrained in us since we were 6 or 7 year old sprouts till we graduated at 16.

The motto during my day was really simple: 进的了厨房，出的了厅堂 and I can tell you my fellow schoolmates are strong representatives of this almost 20 years later.

Here's my attempt this morning with the 8 month old, the 7 year old and me trying really hard not to dress sloppy and to get the 7 year old to her class. I would normally also have my laptop with me but thankfully it was a Saturday today. Phew.

Huge bun from home

Mom in law came and brought us some hometown favorites that we miss. Check out this Dua3 Bao1 (大包）, which translates to Huge Bun.

Filled with succulent pork swimming in its own juices and wrapped with tender doughy skin - Yums.

Thing 1 was amused that this was actually larger than her head and she only managed to down a quarter for breakfast.

I, on the other hand, was amazed that Mr B could down two whole ones for breakfast. Talk about talent!

REAL clothes shopping

...except mine will say for people who eat and have given birth not too long ago...

Parent volunteering at the Autumn Excursion

I parent volunteered at my daughter's school trip two weeks ago. It is the annual Autumn Excursion or 秋游 （Qiu1 You2）.

The theme for the excursion was About Shanghai, which tied in with the content being covered in class for Exploratory Unit, a combination of science, history, geography and social studies.

Our first stop of the day was to the famed Oriental Pearl Tower 东方明珠电视塔, also known as the CCTV Tower. I have not been up there, despite my years here and was all excited about making the trip to this famed tower. Interestingly, our visit here was not to gaze in wonderment at Shanghai from high heights but instead to visit the historical museum housed on the first floor of the tower.

This museum is free of charge and houses interesting scenes of how Shanghai was like years ago. It took us through scenes from Shanghai in its infancy to the modern city it is today. The children had fun looking at mock ups of stores and streets and even learned about how children (and adults) were entertained with simple corridor games like marbles, hopstotch and hoops.

The second leg of the excursion took us to the famed Bund. Here, the children were able to take in the majesty of the city at its best - a perfect marriage of elements between the glamourous buildings of yesteryear such as the Peace Hotel and the Customs House with the streamlined towers of SWFC and the Jinmao Tower.

We ended the day with a stop at the War Memorial which was a part of the Bund I had never before explored.

It was really fun!

She turned 7

I caught her looking wistfully out the car window and muttering under her breath how glad she is that she is FINALLY 7.

I silently giggled and stroked her head and told her how glad I was for her too.

Cheeky fun

Sometimes being a mom is truckloads of fun...

The Hacking, Drilling and Hammering...

It is hard to have neighbourly feelings when your neighbours are undergoing renovations...and I mean this in the nicest possible way. So apparently the unit above ours have changed hands and the new owners have decided to under major renovations, judging from the hacking, drilling and hammering.

We are into our 3rd week, almost 4th and one does wonder what in heavens is going on upstairs.

The day starts peacefully enough. Minor bings and bangs start about 9:30am and this continues till about 11:30, at which time things tend to go silent. Chow time, I would assume.

About half past noon, the noise starts up again and tends to crescendo around the time when kiddo gets home. I am not kidding you - the major drilling and hammering seriously peaks about this time and it adds another dimension to our homework challenge.

Thankfully the rules of the compound dictate that renovations can only be done from Mondays to Fridays, 9 to 5:30pm. So yes, I wait in anticipation for 5:30pm to swing by just so I can place very polite calls to the management office asking them to get the builders to stop so that I can hear myself think again.

Now, if the builders were as adorable as Handy Manny, that will sway my sentiments a little...