Fried Rice Bento

The bento lunch box which I prepared for Justin at school.

1st tier: Octopus sausages with tomato and apples
2nd tier: Fried rice with Tomica shaped car

Mr Independent

Guess who he is?

A little two and a half year old boy who wants to do everything on his own, from wiping the table to feeding himself. He is also my Mr Helpful who gallantly drags the grocery bag towards himself (he can't lift it up because he is only at eye level to the cashier counter) and carries it for me while I pay for the groceries. And when I ask him to let me carry it, he will say, "No, thank you". Then we'll walk slowly back home. After transferring most of the stuff into my backpack before letting him carry the lighter ones, that is.

Today we went to the supermarket. As usual, he took charge of the shopping trolley. People took a second glance at a trolley which seemed to be moving on it's own. From the front view Jon was hidden behind the trolley, but his head would occasionally pop out from the sides to see where he was going. Although shopping with Jon takes a longer time, he is taking part in the weekly activities of household chores. (*Smiles*)

Thomas Land, Here We Come!

This must be the most exciting trip for the 3 Thomas die hard fans in the family, Papa and the 2 boys. Thomas Land is located inside Fuji-Q High Land amusement park , near Mount Fuji. It is a rather small park but if you have kids (or adults) who are Thomas fanatics, it's definitely worth the trip.

It was a Saturday but the park wasn't very crowded. Waiting time for each ride wasn't that long either. This is a better option than going to Disneyland on a weekend. The Fujiyama roller coaster ride at the park looked pretty scary. The height of the roller coaster kinda freaked me out a little. Think I am getting a little too old to try the heart stopping adrenaline pumping rides. (*lol*)

Fujiyama ride at Fuji-Q High Land

The rides at Fuji-Q High Land are generally for older kids and adults whereas Thomas Land is suitable for kids below six. There is the option of getting a free pass for 4,500 yen (adult) and 3,300 yen (kid) which includes entrance fee and unlimited rides, or pay for the entrance fee of 1,200 yen (adult) and 600 yen (kid). We chose the latter because we were only interested in going to Thomas Land. Most of the rides within Thomas Land cost 200 or 300 yen.

Did they enjoy themselves? Absolutely.

There is also a Thomas Gift Shop that sells everything of Thomas and Sodor Island, including Thomas toilet rolls, bedroom slippers, toilet seat covers, cookies, toys, stationery, lunch boxes, DVDs, T-shirts, raincoats, umbrellas, etc.

Justin enjoyed the "Rock n Roll Duncan" coaster ride. You can hear him in the background of this video.

Welcome Ceremony at the Imperial Palace

The following day after the lunch reception, we went to the Imperial Palace for the Welcome Ceremony of President SR Nathan's first State Visit to Japan. Justin was one of the students to observe the ceremony at the square and wave the Singapore and Japanese flags as the President inspected the Guard of Honour. This was witnessed by Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako.

Singaporean students in red caps and
Japanese students in yellow

It was a memorable day for the both of us. That night, we spent about one hour talking about what happened during the day and writing his diary. In the process, we discussed about the sentence structure, grammar and spelling. His handwriting has improved tremendously since the beginning of the year. (*Smiles*)

Justin's diary

Lunch Reception by Singapore Embassy

The President and Mrs Nathan is currently on a state visit to Japan. We attended the lunch reception hosted by the Singapore Embassador for the SG community to meet the President today. George Yeo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, was also present together with other senior officials.

The week before I started telling Justin about our Singapore President and he was very excited to meet President Nathan in person. This is a diary which he wrote today. He usually writes one page but today he wrote a few more lines on the left page.

**Double click to see enlarged pic**

Absolute Exhaustion

Today isn't a good night. I was emotionally stressed out by the two kids. Being quite worn out by evening, I was hoping that the kids would fall asleep as soon as they hit their beds. Well, not quite. Their bedtime is usually at 9:30pm (teeth brushed and ready for bed), but these few days it's been stretching to 10:30pm.

At 9:45pm, we finished reading our bedtime story and milk. Another 15 mins to brush their teeth, prepare their beds and say their good-nights. By 10:30pm they were still on bed with their eyes wide open, Justin whispering to himself and Jon using his fingers to twirl his bolster string while playing with Chikko on the other hand.

"Close your eyes and go to sleep!", I said.

The minute I spoke, both of them got up. One said he needed to go to the toilet, the other said he had a blocked nose. Both seemed very happy that they were still awake. After 10 minutes, they were far from z-land. Justin started coughing and he went out to get some warm water. Jonathan's nose was still blocked and I had to blow his nose before putting Vicks and propping his pillows up.

After sometime, Justin got up to go to the toilet again. Jonathan followed, only because he wanted to follow where his big brother went. I was getting a little frustrated by now. Looked at the time, 11:05pm. When will these 2 boys sleep?!? Argh!!!

At 11:20pm, I relented. I gave Jonathan another bottle of warm milk. It helped a little to clear his blocked nose. More Vicks Vaporub and he slept within 5 mins. Finally, a sigh of relief.

One down, one more to go.

Justin was still coughing a little. I gave him more water, a little warmer to clear his throat. He took another 20 minutes before I could hear him snoring in his sleep.

Let's hope it'll be easier tomorrow.