Jayden's First Pasa Malam!

How many months has it been since both Hazel and I went to any Pasa Malam? Hmmm, I don't recall any when she was pregnant, so it must have been more than a year!

I used to love pasa malams in Singapore. Growing up in Potong Pasir, there was a large area where they usually hold pasa malams when I was younger and I will race towards them to get my favorite snack - Steamed Corn + Butter and a big fat chicken drumstick. Since then, this urge in going to pasa malams has reduced, or rather, pasa malams do not have much interesting food to offer anymore. They still offer the same standard fare that I have grown up eating BUT the standard has dropped.

Last night, we had the same problem on weekends again.

"WHAT TO EAT?" Both of us still could not think of anything and so, I suggested going to the nearby pasa malam with Jayden to walk around and grab some finger food.



And we did grab quite a lot of finger food. Lets see what we got:

• 2 Chicken Wings
• 2 Chicken Ramlee Burger
• 1 Sotong Ball Stick (3 Balls)
• 4 Fish Otah
• 1 Cup Corn
• 1 Steam Corn
• 3 Tapioca Cakes
• 5 Fried Bananas
• 1 Turkish Chicken Wrap

Revenge for not tasting any Pasa Malam food for more than a year?

Alas, we cannot finish even half of what we bought but it was quite a fun trip. Jayden was hanging nicely in his baby bjorn carrier facing the front and busy looking around at all the sights around him. I think he is starting to recognize things and also constantly reaching out his hand to grab and feel the items in front of him. I should carry him on the carrier when there is another opportunity!

It did not end quite perfectly though. Hazel tripped and fall with Jayden but she was quick to move her body to cushion our little boy. As a result, she got quite a few bruises on her legs and arms and Jayden got a little scratch mark on his face.

It happened in an instant but somehow, I can clearly see Hazel shifting her bodyweight and position so as to cushion Jayden from the impact. Motherly love...

Thankfully, both mother and son are fine, just that Hazel is a little bruised on her legs. We actually thought that it was quite lucky for us that Jayden was in the baby bjorn and not just being carried around without a carrier. He might have just flown or drop out of her arms...

Phew....

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Primary School Mathematics after 2017

Yeah. I know that it is a little too early to think of that but this post happened for one reason. The other day, while I was with Hazel on our usual grocery trip to the nearby NTUC Extra, I saw a magazine that was kinda interesting, Singapore's Child. This magazine was supposed to be the leading education publication for children and in the top right hand corner of the magazine it writes, "Education for Kids from 6 months old to 12 years old."



Based on that alone, I bought the magazine.

Guess what, the part that I bought the magazine for and was interested in was just less than 1 page. Shucks.

But I did chanced upon one interesting article that left me stunned.

I have been hearing complains from parents about the mathematics being taught at school now and the difficulty of it. Being rather good at maths myself, I doubt it will be a problem till I saw this sample question in the magazine.

"1/3 of a number is 15 more than 25% of that number. What is the number?"

Sure, I can solve it VERY EASILY using the way my generation has been taught, algebra. But this question for a primary school kid? OMG.

And then, I learnt a new term called Mathematics Heuristics. That's deep. And this is incorporated into the current primary school syllabus.

Mathematics Heuristics uses a very different method of solving problems. It makes uses of visualization, drawings, models, etc to help to solve a complex problem quite simply. I could understand the concept shown in the magazine but then again, to be able to use and apply more concepts in other more difficult problem will be quite a challenge to parent being taught the other way. And imagine the questions being set for primary school go'ers in 2017, for Jayden. It is kinda scary.

Just for the note and reference, there is a book mentioned in the article, "Model Approach to Problem Solving. By Sunny Tan." It is supposed to contain step by step instructions and approaches to solving numerous problems and is a practical guide to parents. If Jayden is in Primary School now, I will probably run out to grab one. (PS: I am not paid in any sense here.)

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0.5 years old Kung Fu Master

Six months. That's just how old Jayden starting from yesterday.



The latest shot of our cheeky little boy today. Not sure what is grinning over there but I like this shot. It sums up how he is growing up to be.

Hmmmm, no. I think the one taken just the day before yesterday is more correct.



Yups. He is still our little similey boy. Although it seems like he does not really smile as easily or as often compared to about 1 month ago, he still enjoys smiling and our Peek-a-Boos. The above shot was captured when Hazel was playing Peek-a-Boo with him.

Actually, there is still another side of him that I discovered recently.



He was repeatedly kicking this cushion as he slowly slides down. Shadowless kick?

Perhaps we can consider to enroll him in some martial arts classes next time? He might be the next Wong Fei Hong or Bruce Lee!

Hahaha.

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Jayden's first big one - S H I T

Did I just type that out? Oops, I did. Disgusting entry ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Anyway, Jayden had his first BIG BIG one today! It was really comical at first but it turned to kind of a situation!

Here is how it got started....



We are all too familiar with this expression of his. It means he is squeezing all his might to poop. And it is really kinda funny when you see him do that...

But then, after quite a long time....it is still....this....



Then we placed him on his back. We had started him on some brown rice cereal on Friday and he has not poop since then. Normally, he will have not much problems with pooping since it is all pasty and easy to get out. But this time, it was his first encounter with normal shit. Normal long ones which has a standard design as normal adult humans.

Upon opening up his diaper, there was hardly any poop yet. Just a little small bit of it..

He actually cried out LOUD when his first piece came out...and then on the subsequent contractions to squeeze the rest out, the pee come together with it and he cried through the roof!

It was very obvious that it was quite painful for him as this was the first time such "BIG" things pass through.

Let's hope his next few times will be better!

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