I asked my older kids what they think I do as Mommy all day. 

L said, "Take care of K, and go for tuition."

Ch had less to say. "Play, just play."

So they think their Mama spends her time playing the whole day. I decided to let them know what I actually do through this post.  

My weekdays are rather typical as I have to run errands, and get my groceries twice a week, and sends the kids to wherever they need to be according to their schedule. The usual places I'll be seen at are the nearby supermarket, the kids' school, the hospital (for K's medical appointments) or the nearby medical centre for K's therapies (read here to find out about K's typical day). I'll venture slightly further from home for three weekday afternoons as L has his Chinese enrichment, or I'll be at my students' place for tuition. 

6:20 am The alarm sounds. ZY gives me a nudge to wake me and I struggle out of bed. My whole body aches due to the effect of yesterday's morning jog. I remind myself to keep to the exercise regime else it will be this bad every time I exercise. My unwilling legs manage to get me to the children's room and I wake L. He starts whining (again) about going to school, and questions why he has to go to school (again). I reply as patiently as I can, and pushes him out of bed. He whines again about wanting me to help him prepare his toothbrush. I feel my body stiffening with frustration and I walk away from his whines. 

By the time I'm changed and clean, breakfast has been set on the table for us by my helper. We gather at the table for breakfast at 6:40 am and ZY gives thanks for the food. Today the kids have hard-boiled eggs according to our breakfast schedule. ZY and I have fried eggs accompanied with a cup of my 3-in-1 coffee. Yes, I'm one of those who can be contented with 3-in-1 coffee instead of freshly brewed gourmet coffee.



6:55 am L has to reach school by 7:10 am so we take a brisk walk to school. It is nice to see both of them in a fairly good "morning mood" today. On some mornings, they are just so antagonistic to each other. On my way back, I meet a few friends and have a short morning "auntie" chat. That is one perk I enjoy as a stay-at-home-mom. 


7:35 am I am far far behind my bible reading plan, but well, I take comfort that I haven't given up yet. I do a short prayer and asks for wisdom to understand the Bible text I'll be reading in a while. Today's text is from Genesis 41, Psalms 40 and Matthew 17. I love Psalms 40 so much. It feels like God is speaking about us when K was critically ill. I make a mental note to share this psalm with Mommy S who is also going through rough times with her little one.


8:05 am K is still sleeping, so I have more me-time. I check in on my computer and update myself with status updates on Facebook. Ah, there is a nice giveaway prize that I hope to win. I start on this post before I forget some details. I love the quiet mornings and late nights where I am more productive in blogging. 


8:35 am I check on the sleeping beauty. Ok, she is still sound asleep. That gives me bonus time on my computer. I check my Whatsapp messages and reply to the usual chat groups I'm in, who keep me sane and connected to the world outside home. 

9:20 am I hear laughter from my room. Ah, K is finally awake. I go to her, and sing my usual "Good morning" song. She asks for the same song three times this morning, and sings along with me. My helper then takes over the task of cleaning and changing her while I'm off to the kids' school.


9:26 am I help to prepare food for a friend's boy on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is a very hot and humid morning walk today. My back is damp with perspiration and I wish for the days where I could just hide in the air-conditioned staff room to escape from the sweltering heat. 


9:45 am One cup of coffee at 6-ish doesn't seem to last me through the morning. I have coffee craving again. I decide to have a cup of hot tea as my substitute. I spy a bottle with a few pieces of biscotti left and took that to fill my tums. K offers to feed me, and it becomes an impromptu therapy session for her. She touches the biscotti with a disgusted look initially, but obliges unwilling when I asks her to feed me again. I let her sniff into the container for more sensorial experience. 


10 am I pick up cues from K that she is done feeding me. She requests for her Hi-5 show, and dances to the songs. I join in the singing and dancing to have some fun with her. We laugh together at her silly actions. 

I steal some time for my daily dose of Clash of Clan game on the iPad. Ugh, my village got attacked and I lost quite a lot of gold and elixir this time over the night. 


I love mornings where I am free to spend time with K and do some activities with her. After her Hi-5 show, I sing the phonics song that she enjoys listening to. She has heard this for about a week now, and she has started singing along from A to H. Seizing the opportunity since she is in a good mood for more learning, I print out some coloring pages for K that is aligned to the phonics song we sang. I get a little distracted while on the computer, and ends up Facebook cruising instead. 


1:10 pm Today, Ch stays back in school for her supplementary lesson. In fact, she only comes home for lunch once a week, now that she has to stay back in school for her other activities and supplementary classes. So it is an afternoon of bonding time with L while K takes her nap. On his way home, L confesses that he has forgotten to bring back his lunchbox. I frown, and asks why. His classic reply to my frown is, 

"Everybody forgets something, so why can't I forget my lunchbox? You also forget sometimes." 

Oh well, I have nothing to say. 

1:45 pm It's late and I want L to start eating his lunch. It takes me repeated calls before he slowly walks over to the dining table. I expect this response, and I remind myself that I will try not to get myself angry over this. Today is Tuesday, and it is the most trying weekday for me as I have to struggle to get L ready for his Chinese enrichment class by 4pm, while battling with his grumpiness due to being over tired. He usually takes a 1 hour nap but he has to sacrifice that on Mondays and Tuesdays due to piano and Chinese classes. 

Today, he tells me that I don't have to sit with him after I'm done with my meal as he wants a story book as his lunch companion. His robotic action to feed himself porridge amuses me. L takes up to 1.5 hrs to eat his lunch in spite of the fact that I have to hurry and scold him. Sometimes, to end my agony, I have to take out Mr Cane in order to catalyse his eating speed. But he finishes his lunch fast today as we have a Clash of Clan date. We look through replays of the attacks launched on our villages, and discuss strategies to place our buildings for a stronger defence. 

March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day.

Today, the Down Syndrome Association of Singapore is organising a carnival and a buddy walk along Orchard Road in support of all persons with Down Syndrome. 

I wouldn't have known about this day - a day that is celebrated around the world to promote acceptance and awareness of individuals with Down Syndrome to the public, as well as celebrate the lives of those with Down Syndrome - if I hadn't had one of my own with Down Syndrome.

Although we can't be present to soak in today's fun and to join the buddy walk, donning our colourful socks, we will remember this day in our own way by sharing a day in the life of our princess warrior. 

Every day is quite a routine for K as she hardly leaves the house, except to go for her medical check-up or therapies. It is not that she can't, but rather, we want to keep her away from the crowd to prevent her from catching a bug. And with her cumbersome oxygen concentrator and feeding pump that comes together with the tall IV pole, things can get a little tricky when she goes out. She is constantly hooked up to these two machines to help her lungs work more easily to get oxygen, and to prevent any swallowing dysfunction from oral feeding. These are her homecare treatment after three episodes of lung infections that almost took her life. That is also why she has stopped attending early intervention programs at Fei Yue EIPIC and her favourite Sunday School classes. You can read more about what happened here and here. 

A day in the life of K starts with the morning. We would find her sitting up and playing happily on the bed once she wakes. And she does that signature pose of hers to tame her messy morning hair which never fails to make us smile (see video below). 

After getting help to wash up and change out of her pyjamas, she points to the door and says "dooor dooor" to tell us that she wants to leave the bedroom. And when she is in the playful mood, she roars like a lion while crawling. 

Watching Hi-5 or Baby Signing Time are her favourite morning activities and she will always get her spot on the sofa. She dances and moves just like the cast of Hi-5, and signs and sings along with Rachel in Baby Signing Time. 

She displays high awareness of her surrounding and looks for the TV remote control to switch off the TV after the show ends. Sometimes she misses the green on-off button and lands in another channel, earning herself some bonus TV time until I realise. 

She then gets her daily puffs of Flixotide - a medicine to help her lungs - twice a day. I sneak in some counting time with her, and we count slowly from 1 to 20. She follows and counts with me, and removes her spacer with a grin when we reach 20. Then she helps to keep the items in a bag.



The rest of the morning will be spent doing her physiotherapy, or occupational therapy either at the medical centre or by yours truly. All these come in the form of games and fun, but sometimes, she just says "nooooo" to the activity I suggest. She does have a mind of her own too. 



K takes an afternoon nap on my bed. She is at this phase where she resists sleep and says "noooo" whenever I ask if she is tired. I love watching K when she sleeps, even if she looks unglamorous.



After the nap, K continues to enjoy the day with more constructive play either with her siblings or on her own. She loves playing with her soft toys and feeding them imaginary food. She calls her soft toys by their names in an endearing voice. There is "Beby", "Boo Boo", "Bear Bear", "A-bit" (Rabbit), "O-uuu" (Olaf), and "Poo" (Hippo). 

She loves being surrounded by books too. Haha!





She loves our phones and iPads, and is very quick to grab them when no one is looking. Then she disables our phones with her numerous attempts to unlock the devices. 



But most of all, K loves posing for the camera and making us laugh, because she knows she is adorable. Her chuckles are hilarious and it's without a doubt that you will laugh along with her. She showers us with her hugs and kisses. The PICU staff can definitely attest to that. 



When dinner-time comes, she sits with us at the table. She doesn't really eat by mouth, as she has not been certified to eat safely by the therapists. But she joins in the conversation and pretends to feed herself after asking for her "boo" (bowl) and "poon" (spoon). 

You asked what the future holds for her? Echoing Dr Forrest C. Shaklee's words, 

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

That is why we, her guardian angels on earth, are here to guide her and support her each day to learn the life-skills she needs in the future. 

Wherever, whenever.

That is why we, her guardian angels on earth, are writing this post to heighten the awareness of people with Down Syndrome in our society and create a better world for K to live in - a world where differently abled individuals are socially accepted and given equal rights in education, healthcare and job opportunities. There is a lot of potential in every individual with Down Syndrome, like a pearl waiting to be discovered and polished.



The intent of this post is not to gain pity or sympathy, but rather, to encourage you to celebrate your life just like how we are celebrating K's today. More importantly, to face your challenges with a strong will-power and positive attitude like K did. She wouldn't be able to reach where she is today if not for her will-power to survive. There will be many more challenges she has to face - her cognitive and speech development, her feeding etc - but if she faces all these positively like she has done before, I am confident she will triumph over them. 

And of course, her Heavenly Father is always with her. 

If you have been touched by K's story, may I request that you perform an act of kindness today (like writing a letter of appreciation to someone or send a meal to a friend) to spread a little love in the name of Down Syndrome. You can also take pictures of your kind act and post on your social media pages with the hashtag #WDSD15. Let's celebrate World Down Syndrome Day together!

*This post is part of the series "A Day in the Life" that is a celebration of World Down Syndrome Day. To read other posts on "A Day in the Life", or to contribute your own post, please visit 

# This post is part 2 of MyMessyBox Sensory Play Review.
You can read part 1 of the review here.

Today is officially the first day of the school holidays! Once he reached home from school yesterday, L exclaimed, 

"Do you know that I am going to have 9 days of school holidays?", 

and gave a big, satisfied grin. Yes, my son, I definitely know that. 

Everyone looks forward to the school hols, as that means later waking hours (definitely yay for me!), more time to play and rest, more time to catch up with their leisure activities, and less homework! 

The kids slept till 9 am this morning, and watched their favorite TV programs while having breakfast. They are usually busy with their school work during school term, so these have also become rare indulgences (and their days are not even packed with enrichment classes!). 

The rest of the morning was spent playing together, and doing crafts. What better way to spend the lazy Saturday morning than to be with our loved ones at home!

I took out an Explorative Pack from MyMessyBox and the play continued spontaneously, with the older ones joining in the sensory play. It is always a joy to see K with the older ones, as they make her laugh so much with their antics. 

Where are the buttons?

Colourful cornstarch building blocks! I wish it came in a bigger pack though.

Initially, the focus was on the sensory play which consists of cornstarch building blocks, buttons and straws included in the Explorative Pack (theme of the box: Monster Attack). Sensory play is essentially a hands-on learning experience which uses materials to engage a child's senses, and develop his creativity and imagination. There are many benefits for a child to be engaged in sensory play, and I encourage you to do that for your child right from birth. 

Then the pretend play started with lots of animated talking from Ch. K looked on intently and I am sure she was absorbing and learning everything.

Lots of fun imitating each other and making monster faces with materials from the pack.

The older ones also wanted to do some crafts, so I took out two Creative Packs from the boxes. See, that is the beauty of MyMessyBox - the materials are all thoughtfully packed into three different bags:

Active Pack which contains toys and figurines for an imaginative play related to the theme.

Creative Pack which contains the craft materials for exploring the creative side of the kids,

 Explorative Pack which contains all the base materials required for a fun sensory play and to improve their fine and gross motor skills,

You can just grab and go with any of these packs, and they make a very good busy bag for the little ones during your church worship, or while waiting for your food to be served at the restaurant. 

First experience with snow dough (theme of box: Sea of Dreams)

Monsters invaded my house! (theme of box: Monster Attack)

Isn't it a wonderful time-saver for parents who want to have some bonding time with your children, but don't have the chance to round up the required materials? Every thing that is needed for each craft has been included in the pack. That is a gesture of thoughtfulness from the team at MyMessyBox. 

And although these crafts look simple for the older children, it takes a lot of planning, experimentation, and good dexterity to handle some of the materials. For instance, the snow dough requires some pulling, pinching and rolling actions of the fingers. That helps to develop and strengthen the pincer grasp for the younger ones. A word of caution - some of the materials are small in size, so do supervise your child when playing. 

We will be looking forward to our next sensory adventure by MyMessyBox!



As promised in part 1 of the review, we will be giving away a MyMessyBox (theme of box: The Whimsical Garden) to TWO of our Simply Lambchops readers! A big thank you to the kind folks at MyMessyBox!

In order to qualify for the giveaway, please complete ALL the following steps:

1) 'Like' MyMessyBox on Facebook,

2) 'Like' and Share this Facebook post. Do make sure you set the privacy of the shared post to PUBLIC for verification purposes.

3) Leave a comment on this Facebook post to tell me that you have completed all the steps.

Terms and Conditions

This is a local giveaway. Claiming of the giveaway prize will be through the sponsor MyMessyBox. The winner will be contacted through Facebook Messenger and/or email and has 48 hours to respond, failing which a new winner will be drawn. All incomplete entries will be disqualified. All entries will be verified before the winners are announced. To be fair to our sponsors, please note that all fake Facebook accounts (e.g. accounts set up purely to take part in contests with no or very few real friends) will also be ineligible to win.

MyMessyBox has kindly offered a 5% discount to all Simply Lambchops readers who take up their subscription! Just enter the code below when you check out your cart!

You get to save more with the 6-months or 12-months subscription. 

No frets if you have more than one child. MyMessyBox offers a Sibling Add-on to your subscription with an additional $10 per month for another set of materials. 



You can also get a free reward chart if you sign up for the mailing list on their website. An email with the download link will be sent to you. 

More information can be found on MyMessyBox's website and Facebook page. 

Disclaimer: The children were blessed with the boxes by MyMessyBox for the purpose of this review. No monetary compensation was given and all opinions are ours.

Math model drawing.

What's your first reaction when you saw that phrase?

I believe many of us either love it or hate it. Love it as we see the beauty of using models to solve Math problem sums. Hate it because we don't know how to use this tool as we have never learnt Math using model drawing. Parents of my age probably use Algebra to solve our children's Math questions with ease, but we end up having difficulties explaining the solutions to them. Often, we also wonder what the most appropriate presentation is, to gain full marks for those questions. 

What is model drawing? For those who are not familiar, this is a visual representation of a Math problem sum which is supposed to help the child comprehend and solve the question more easily. See this article for more info.

When Ch started her primary education, I tried to recall what I learnt about model drawing back in the NIE days (NIE is the institute where I got my teaching certification). Initially, the problem sums were still manageable with the limited knowledge I had about model drawing, but come to Primary 3, I could not solve many of the questions. But when I checked around with other parents for solutions to those questions, I realise models DO help very much in aiding understanding. When I managed to draw a suitable model for the question Ch asks, she would then be able to figure out the solution fairly quickly. It was then that I started to be more serious in learning how to draw models to guide Ch.  

I do not advocate tuition or enrichment for children unless they are really very weak in the subject, and need a power boost for a short period of time. So, instead of sending her off for tuition, I bought two practice books for Ch in the hope that she can pick up the strategies offered. She showed improvement after attempting most of the questions in the books. 

I was also keeping a lookout for Math workshops for myself. My encounter with Neuromath Academy, one of the leading Math tuition centres in Singapore, was one by chance. A friend had signed up for their parents seminar but could not make it, so she kindly offered me the ticket. Mr Norman Tien, the founder of Neuromath, spoke with confidence and humour for the 2-hour seminar. What got me very interested was how he capitalised on the learning styles of the students and created a brain-based learning curriculum to impart his Math strategies. That part resonated with my own philosophy and belief in learning and teaching. 

And so, I was sold. At the end of that session, I signed myself up for another morning "date" with Mr Norman Tien at the Advanced Model Drawing Workshop For Parents. 

This is one set of notes I won't throw away for a long time!

Photo credit

The turn-out looked impressive for a Saturday morning class, with all the parents eager to learn from Norman Tien. The seminar was structured but intense as there were 11 Math problem sums for us to work on! Norman believe that as parents, we need to work on the questions in order to have a first-hand experience of what our children possibly feel when they are stuck at one. And by knowing our children's experience, we can better help them. Wise words indeed. 



The 11 questions selected for the seminar are typical PSLE questions or those that are commonly tested and arranged according to their difficulty level. Truth be told, I was stuck after question 4.  

For each question, Norman emphasised the key words to focus on and guided us through the secret techniques involved with a step-by-step solution. Everything just seemed so clear after his detailed explanation! 



Although I am not an expert at model drawing yet, I know that I am better equipped to help Ch with her problem sums now. The workshop has definitely deepened my understanding of this mathematical tool. 

Neuromath Academy periodically organises such workshops and seminars to equip parents with handy skills to help our children. Some of these are free too! Do look out for updates on their Facebook page. 

What resources do you tap on to help your child solve problem sums using model drawing?


Neuromath Academy is now running their March Holiday Programme for Primary 3 to Primary 6 students, and Secondary 4 students. You can register for the P3-P6 Math holiday workshop here, and the Sec 4 workshop here.