Covid-19 Coming to the end of...

It is coming to the end of Phase 2.

It is coming to the end of Orange.

It is coming to the end of the year.

Xianger and kids over for Pizza and chill

A very risk adverse Megi grumbling non stop about the potential fire hazard of carrying lanterns and getting bitten by mozzies on night walks verses a "I must carry all the lanterns I can carry and do my mandatory walkabout" Morgi.

Halloween makes Morgi very happy 

Mogi has grown up a lot in the past few months. Taller. Cheekier. He requests to change his toothpaste from Kodomo Grape to Colgate because he is a big boy now and what is the fluoride level of Kodomo, mummy?... Where is this come from? Also,  he officially joins his sister in the lifelong collection of fallen teeth. 

In breaking news. Morgan has best friend problems. 

"YS does not want to be my best friend, I don't want to be YS’s best friend because now JP is my best friend"… his miserable friendship rant goes on daily, much to our amusement. 

Ever since finishing his sushi art work, boy has been asking us for his first Japanese food. Where is the sushi man? Points to the menu. "I want that red one, tobiko. That orange one, salmon and that yellow one..." Turns out, other than the raw salmon, he loves sushi and Tobiko is his fav! This boy is growing up to eat just about anything - curries, coffee, stews etc.  Super adventurous with food, and to think one year ago, he can only swallow bread, white rice, steam fish, pork rib soup and prata.  Now, he is making his sister look like a rabbit. Way to go, son! 

Since we are on food, I set up an IG account all about food. Tatsuya likes so many of my posts that I am sure he is secretly following me! (Why can't he just follow me? Alex says Tatsuya is big shot so I should follow him first then he will follow me back, that is how IG works.) Ha... I aspire to this level of pettiness! 

In a funny way - cooking liberates me. Knowing how to cook gives me a sense of control - that the kitchen and fridge are mine and I can plan what I and kids want to eat. That sense of control, ability to move things my way is so important for my mental wellbeing and my sense of home pride. Control, even a perception of it, is comforting. This, I believe, is why I cook. 

My patisserie chefs are both earning their keep as well. 

Massive chocolate discount inside T3 so.... 

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Fruit tiramisu is now a staple in the household. Chef Meg also makes a mean luncheon meat bun

Talking about luncheon meat. I was queuing up in Sheng Siong that very moment Man in Pink announced CB and people around me started to murmur "lockdown Lock Down LOCK DOWN", I quietly slipped two cans of luncheon meat from the nearby shelf into my basket.  WE WILL RUN OUT OF FOOD!!!! Ever since that day, I have been progressively stocking up on luncheon meat but we hardly ate any. I counted 6 cans of luncheon meat in my cabinet so now, luncheon meat buns feature aggressively on the menu. 

Chef Morg is proving to be the king of patisserie. Here he is, demonstrating his first apple pie with poise and ease. He wants to showcase every step including stealing the knife from me to slice the apples... No.. No... NOOOO...

The apple pie is just too delicious that Chef Meg also starts to bake the same thing! When the taste is the same, one can only level up with aesthetics. More is more. 

Government or rather some ministers encourage citizens to take up a second job for better job security... Mere patisserie is not going to cut it, M&M need to double up and show me dumplings, ratatouille and I hope more. Target 2022, I can sit easy and M&M make lunch. 

We watch the cartoon Ratatouille but Morg is so not interested that we fast forward to the scene where the rat makes the dish of ratatouille and Linguini serves it to Ego. 

Comprehension time! 

Mummy: Who actually cook the dish ratatouille? Linguini or the ra.....

Morg : Me! I cook ratatouille! 

(roll eyeballs, waste of a cartoon)

I am still upset over my failed bake-a-frog-bread. Megan suddenly produces a lego frog. Easy wat she said.... wow wow wow....  I do not take competition well so must one up her with an elephant. 

Next. Buildings. Bet she cannot beat a trained architect on this. So of course I win round. In the end, Megan abandons her structure and starts to build a story into my building instead

Roof - Aspiring actress looking for attention, waving to non existence audience on the street below. Megan takes half an hour trying different hairstyles and outfits on this character so it better be awesome. 

Level 3 - Photoshoot going on. You can see the photog holding a large camera and all the flash lights in the studio all making the model look shiny and beautiful. 

Level 2 - Megan says guy is very pale. Likely dying from covid. All is not good. But I designed blooming flowers at his window latch so evidence is showing that guy is pale by nature and waters the plant regularly. 

Level 1 - The battle between Thor and some star wars character. Treasure in the form of a flaming sword is in the bin. Think they are fighting over it... 

Morgan enters the competition too, though he is a bit off the brief. It is a landscape with tall trees and suddenly water comes and washes all the bushes, plants and people away. ok.... thank you for the morbid storyline. It is a story, nevertheless. 

Bits and pieces of Morgan's daily necessities like his comb and Dyson vacuum cleaner can be found all around the house. He copies daddy and uses his Dyson to vacuum his toys. Megan too, has high tech glasses and stuff lying around. Without Kar Kar, the house is no longer spick and span. Lego at every corner waiting to bite into our feet. 

We have not done much with the kids. Processing speed games nil. Worksheets bare minimum. The Language Fundamentals assessment book arrived but I don't even know the difference between nouns and verbs to guide Morgi so this will be Kenneth's baby and progress is at a snail's pace. 

With helper gone, the past months have seen Ken and me stretching our time thin between housework, kids, jobs etc. Activities with kids drop to a low with little time, little energy. But life without helper opens many positive opportunities and we see many things. Life is still great. 

Megan’s interest in the latest US Presidential Election is strong. She glues herself to the charts and suddenly ask me one day why I mentioned that people are more educated at the east west coast than central. You mean the beach makes people smarter?

It sparks off a whole discussion on how cities are formed and tracing old marine-time shipping routes, why certain cities grew important and powerful. How trade prosper coastal areas first, leading to better education, healthcare, intellectual and cultural exchanges, more blues (ok I am sorry) etc. How development then expanded along rivers into the inner plains.

Morgan’s globe stand really helps us visualize as we start to discuss the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, how lucky the geographic location of Singapore is and what if Thailand decides to dig a canal and cut us off… All very interesting, schools should really start teaching geography in Primary 4….. 

But mummy, why would Thailand do that? Why cut their country into half to help others cross faster? And why can’t goods move by land, then no need the Suez Canal at all, goods can travel by land to here and ships can pick up the cargo facing the Atlantic….. 

Errrr…. Hmmm.... Nice chatting with you by the way, you may refer to my sifu, Youtube for the answers....