Happy 3rd Birthday E!

As you grow a year older, we wish that you grow up healthy, happy and with a kind heart .

E took a pamplet from Bengawan Solo and insisted he wanted that Toy Story cake he saw on it.  That is easy, we thought!  No need to vex on which baker and the design this year - which we do on some years.  

Big brothers will always be big brothers.  See how D decided to help E hold the cake-cutting knife first.  :p

The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favourites

The kids, especially D got very excited when we told them that The Very Hungry Caterpillar is coming to Singapore in October.  We bought tickets in September and he started asking every other day if it's October.

The lovely display

Presented by Act 3 and produced by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, the hour-long production lets us get up close with three favourite classics of Eric Carle - The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Little Cloud and The Mixed-Up Chameleon.  

Through theatre, these 3 stories were presented against back-lighted background and fanciful puppets.  It's like a storytelling session comes alive!

At the end of the play, there will be an interactive session whereby the performers will show how the puppets were handled and answer any questions you might have. 

One of the pictures taken in 2012

Both boys love the stories.  So when they were presented through theatre, it was like their favourite books and characters come to live.  The use of the puppets against the back-lighted background, the little actions of each character (like the caterpillar walking and "kicking" off it's food after chomping through them) kept them very amused.

It goes to show how much both D, and now E, enjoyed the plays as we have been going to each of their play since 2011 (except in 2013 when they were not here).  We, as adults, enjoyed them too!

In 2011:

In 2012, when they had A Brown Bear, A Moon and A Caterpillar:

We hope they do come again in 2015!  In the meantime, more books and other plays!

Hospitalisation and Pain

Sometime back, D was hospitalized with severe gastroenteritis (layman term: stomach flu).  It all started with me, then B and E.  Just when we thought D would be spared, it hit him so hard that he got dehydrated and a 1-night stay at the hospital for intravenous drip (IV drip).

At 5 year old, all he could tell was that he has a "knocking" pain in his tummy.  He could not rate how painful it was, unlike us adults where we could use associations.  So, I was pretty surprised with the use of a similar pain chart:

He could relate to the faces and let the nurses and doctor know how much it hurts.  Though it might not be a 100% fit, well, it never will  unless we use a pain detection device, I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

So the next time the kids complain of pain, this chart will be useful.