Two weeks ago, during a lunch conversation with my colleagues, one of them asked me which school I intend to enroll Little Edison in. To be honest, I haven’t given it much thought until yesterday when I stumbled onto someone’s blog. I was shocked to know that they have been planning for their daughter’s primary school when she is just two years old.

Our boy is already four and I haven’t plan anything yet. Am I too late? Or am I too “kan-cheong”? I wasn’t sure, but I began searching for information pertaining to Primary One registration on the internet. I’m not a Singaporean, thus I don’t really know how the primary school registration system works in Singapore.

However, I’ve seen the stress that my colleagues went through in order to enroll their children into a premier primary school. If you’d ask me, I’ll be honest with you that I’m going to fight tooth and nail to get Little Edison into a premier school too. In this aspect, I don’t mind being labeled as a “kiasu” mother.

Education is a significant component in one’s life that would mould the person he would become one day. Considering the fact that our children are spending more and more time at school than at home, it’s important to find the “right” primary school for them.

V and I had a talk about this issue yesterday. Both of us were from neighbourhood schools but we do recognized that it would be a good opportunity and starting point for Little Edison if he were given a place in a premier school. It’s our prerogative as parents to give him the best wherever possible.

Our selection criteria for Little Edison’s primary school are:

• It should have a proven track record of outstanding PSLE results.
• It should have a good learning environment with dedicated and hardworking teachers.
• Ideally, it should be within 2km from our house or our parents-in-law’s house.
• Preferably, it has a good school image as reflected in their students’ attire and behaviors.

With the above criteria, we should start short listing our preferred primary school for Little Edison.

There are many good articles about P1 registration at KiasuParents.com. If you’re unsure of the process, do hop over for a good read. This article is very well-written with all the details of the different phases of registration.

From this article, I also understand that if I wish to get involved as a parent volunteer to increase the probability of getting enrolled, I‘ve to start at least ONE YEAR before the registration. Counting backwards, that means I need to sign-up 2 years before Little Edison turns 7 – which means when he is 5 years old – which is just next year!

Now, we should really start to think and plan for it. It’s never too early.

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Just when V thought that he had enough of indoor playground with our frequent visits to The Polliwogs and Singkids Playsystem, I brought him and Little Edison to another bigger and newer facility. Amazonia at Great World City, that is.

Entrance of Amazonia at Great World City

Amazonia is touted as Singapore’s newest family indoor amusement park where visitors can experience first 3D glow-in-the-dark indoor golf course, interactive Spaceball shoot-out game and a large children’s play-gym with a four-tier jumbo wave slide. It also has a dining area with its own theme bistro.

The main play-gym with four-tier jumbo wave slide

Own theme bistro

Menu and sofa seat at the dining area

Another section of the spacious dining area

There are two party rooms where parents can hold children’s parties. There is also a themed toddler play area called Jungle Gym for children below 3 years old.

Jungle Gym – toddler play area

Little Edison dashed into the play-gym at his full speed the minute his socks were on. He was extremely excited to see the new play-gym that is so much bigger than The Polliwogs and Singkids Playsystem. V and I found a nice spot at the dining area to sit back and relax while our boy tired himself out.

Little Edison at the Jungle Gym

Personally, I find that the main play-gym is much more challenging than The Polliwogs. Some areas are quite narrow, thus making it difficult for the adults to get in if they want to supervise their children. The moment Little Edison climbed into the play-gym, I can hardly see him from the outside.

Initially, I was a little paranoid. I kept shouting “Boy, where are you? Be careful when you climb! Are you okay?” But after five minutes, I gave up. I can’t possibly follow him through the structures as some of them are quite narrow. And since everywhere is padded, I feel that it should be quite safe and our boy should be able to take care of himself too.

So, I left him playing on his own in the play-gym.

Little Edison at the main play-gym

Climb, climb, climb!

The narrow structure

Another one…

Here are some pictures of the ball pit which is quite unique. There is a board on top with holes on it. Children can throw the balls in the ball pit into the holes. If the ball goes into the hole, the hole will light-up. It’s like a mini basketball game for kids.

Little Edison in the ball pit

Throw a ball into the hole!

The 8 meters high, four-tier jumbo wave slide is the most popular feature in Amazonia. Our little dare devil wanted to slide down all by himself. Again, I was worried. I demanded V to slide down with our boy on his lap (cause I don’t dare to do it! Haha!). He did it twice while he explained the safety precautions to our boy before we allowed him to slide down all by himself.

The four-tier wave slide

View from the top of the jumbo slide

He spent the entirely two hours in the main play-gym as well as the toddler play area. So, we didn’t explore the Golf and Spaceball sections which are charged separately on top of the admission fee.

All in all, this play-gym keeps children entertained for hours with its challenging obstacles and jumbo wave slide. The dining area is spacious and comfortable too. Two hours are just nice, with short breaks in between and snacks / drinks from the bistro.

Just before we left the place, I asked our boy “Is this new playground NICER or The Polliwogs is nicer?” Guess what his reply was.

As I’ve expected, his reply was “This new playground is nicer. I like it!”

Useful Info:

• Location: 1 Kim Seng Promenade, #03-08 Great World City, Singapore 237994.
• Opening Hours: Monday to Sunday: 10am to 10pm
• Entrance Fee: Age 3 months -3 years old: $20 for 2 hours, Age 3 to 12 years old: $30 for 2 hours.
• Website: http://www.amazoniafun.com/

Remember to bring your socks if you are interested to try out this new indoor play-gym!

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I found this drawing on the bumper mat two days ago. I immediately dished out my iPhone to take a picture of it. It was drawn by our 4-year-old Little Edison.

I sat down with him for a talk about this drawing. Obviously, this is a picture of our family – he is on the leftmost, I’m at the center and V is on the rightmost.

I asked him why there is a circle on my head and he replied “Mama, that’s the hair clip on your hair!”

He was delighted when I wanted to know more about his drawing. He further explained that we’re going out together, he holds my hand and Daddy walks behind us. Oh well, this is the typical setting when we go out. He is absolutely right about it.

I love to see the smiles on our faces in this drawing. I’m sure in his heart, we’re one HAPPY FAMILY.

And lastly, he wrote number 1, 2 and 3 on the drawing which means the three of us in our family.

This is another random drawing that I found in his drawing block. He loves to scribble and draw recently. Initially, I bought drawing blocks for him. But looking at the amount of papers that he uses every day, it seems not economical to buy the thick drawing blocks. So, I get him a bundle of A4 papers instead.

He also draws things at home like clock, chair, boxes and other random things like sun, cloud, cat etc. I’ll show you again next time.

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On the second day, we went to the swimming pool in Hard Rock Hotel. Thanks to my friends’ recommendations, otherwise I could have missed this wonderful pool in RWS.

Day or night, the swimming pool in Hard Rock Hotel is stunning. It has an artificial beach area with swaying trees, just next to the adult pool. There is also a water slide, lap pool, kids splash zone, private cabanas and undercover spa.

The sand is soft white and exceptionally clean. I heard that it was specially imported from Australia! Little Edison squealed with delight as he dug into the sand with his shovel and pail.

Here are some pictures to share:

The man-made beach with sand and swaying trees. Nice!

Daddy V and Little Edison

One more picture! Smile, guys!

Water slide and kids splash zone

Little Edison loves the water slide too

Hard Rock Hotel Swimming Pool

I just realized that I didn’t take any pictures of myself here. :p

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With the world of shopping choices now, I enjoy shopping at the comfort of my home more than going to the mall. Not that I’ve given up shopping in the real world, but online shopping is more appealing to me now.

For busy mothers like us, I’m sure you’ll agree that shopping away with a click of a mouse is easier than going out to the mall with our kids in tow. Forget about the crowd, waiting time, travelling time etc.

I started reviewing shopping sites and blogshops early this year. My intention is to share with you great shopping websites, good bargains and interesting products.

Recently, an idea struck me that I should create a column in my blog for online shopping inspirations. This column is also opened to all readers to share their favourite shopping sites, or even their own blogshops!

I’ll name this column as Online Shopping Inspirations. As a start, I’ll write a post every alternate Friday to showcase some of our favourite shopping sites. Depending on your feedback, I may increase it to every Friday of the week.

So, if you have a great shopping site to share, feel free to e-mail me with subject line “Online Shopping Inspirations”. Please include your name, URL of the shopping site or blogshop, photos of your purchases (if any) and a few words on why you like this shopping site or blogshop.

I hope that this column can map the best shopping sites and make our online shopping easier (and definitely more fun too!). So, come and share with me!

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