Princess Belle

After nearly 2 years of wanting to grow up and become Queen Elsa, my Dolly finally decided she has enough of Elsa and Belle is the one to be.

She even suggests that we call her Princess Olivia Belle. Haha..

Here is a collection of her drawings of Belle over a few months. What I love most is how she had depicted Belle at different stages of her life. There is a child Belle to one who is 8-year-old and there is even an adult Belle.

This is the kind of stuff that my Dolly occupies her time with.

What she claims to be her important work!

Everyone is Born Creative, But.....

The idea that everyone is born creative is not new.

Recently an article in The Guardian reported that 'Everyone is born creative, but it is educated out of us'.

Just examine the current Primary School curriculum and it will be very obvious that there is very little focus on training creativity. By creativity, I am not referring to training the kids to be artists or to pursue the arts.

I am talking about nurturing creative thinking and encouraging creative imagination.


Creativity should not be limited to the Arts. But even in just the department of Arts, I am sure the schools can do a lot more.

Take the example of my boys' school. I must say I am very disappointed with the quality of art lessons the school delivered in the past 6 years, in both the weekly Art periods and during the CCA hours (M chose Art as CCA when he was in Primary 5).

Art lessons are given such low priority in this school, that the periods were often sacrificed and given to other subject teachers to catch up on the curriculum. During those weeks when the Art periods proceeded as planned, the kind of art work taught and done were also of appallingly poor quality. I am not referring to the quality of my sons' work, but rather, the lesson planning and execution.

I recalled with horror how the Primary One's art lessons included colouring a pre-printed fish?! Not even to teach the 7-year-old children to draw a fish or create its background! The instructions to kids were to bring along colour pencils and just do colouring!! Each year, there were only a maximum of 2 to 3 pieces of art work done which the kids brought back only in November. Though I did not expect masterpieces, but there was nothing to give the kids a sense of achievement either. If the kids had learnt some drawing or painting techniques, I could live with it. It was only in upper primary level that they got to dabble with pottery for a term, batik painting in another and that was it.

To me, the real big shame is how the school art teachers have managed to turn my boys, who both love to draw and paint and very curious about all art forms before they started Primary school, into two kids who dread school art periods.

I wonder what my Dolly's future art teacher would say if she were to produce a piece like this in Primary school.

My 4-year-old had drawn numerous mermaids in the last few months. But one day, she decided to draw one who was slightly on the heavy side. And why not? In fact, I love it that she did not think all mermaids must have hourglass figures. I love how she dared to imagine something differently.

From the feedback my boys gave, it is not just the art teachers who discouraged creativity. It is the same with Science teachers. You may either get ignored or told off if you give creative, imaginative or unexpected answers.

I get it that teachers have time constraints and need to finish the curriculum. I also get it that art teachers may have to get kids to colour a fixed shape or complete a batik painting piece in certain number of hours. I get it too that Science teachers have to teach concepts and no time to answer extra questions outside the syllabus, even if the child is curious enough to ask and the questions are a result of the child's reflection of the topics taught.

Still, it is disheartening to hear my Primary 4 boy tell me his Science teacher told the class they have to raise hands before they can ask any questions and it has been 9 months but his teacher has never ever picked him though he had questions to ask nearly every week. It is sad to see how my Primary 6 son who used to ask hundreds of questions a week at home as a preschooler, now tells me it is pointless to ask anything in school because the teachers don't answer them. He just shrugs with a resigned look and a quiet comment, "why bother?"

So what can I, as a parent, do?

I feel compelled to work doubly hard at home, to fuel their curiosity and provide them with stimuli to spark their creativity and imagination and to encourage them to keep questioning.

While academic excellence is always expected, since I strongly believe no one rises to low expectations, I work hard to ensure the fire I ignited in my kids when they were just wee tots and preschoolers doesn't get put out because of the six years of formal schooling.

Sometimes, I do regret not homeschooling them instead and wonder if I should just homeschool Dolly.

A Mother's Dream

(taken in Dec 2014)

(taken in mid 2015)

Sometimes, I look at my beautiful little girl and wish she will remain this age forever. 

Small enough to be carried and young enough to want to follow me everywhere. 

When I was in my 20s, I knew in my gut that I wanted to be a mother of three. 

By the time I had my second child, I thought (secretly) that I could handle four kids. 

In the last two years or so, I had been asked umpteen times if I would have another. And my usual reply would be, "If I were 5 years younger, I would love to have 5 kids!"

But no, before all my friends and regular readers start to speculate... 

No, there is no baby #4. 

I just really, really miss having a little baby in the household sometimes. 

So I shall have to be content with babysitting others' little bundles of joy. :)

My Lapbooking STYLE and WHY It Works!

Since we started lapbooking in 2008, I have made over 120 titles of literature-based lapbooks. Majority of these were for the different age groups of toddlers and preschoolers I taught in my Bright Minds Lapbooking classes. 

My boys learnt primarily from my lapbooking activities throughout their preschool and kindergarten days, up till they were in Primary One. Not assessment books or tuition classes.

Varied Lapbooking Approaches
There are many ways to approach lapbooking. You may create a lapbook of your child's favourite topic or theme, e.g. elephants, or a topic that you like to teach, e.g. a country or the four seasons. And just proceed to gather content and printables from free resources, teach your child to complete them and glue these pages into a lapbook.

However, these are NOT my lapbooking style.

My Lapbooking Style
I have three key beliefs when it comes to nurturing young minds.

1. Raise them in a language-rich environment. This influences the way I read, interact and discuss with my kids and students.

2. Young children do not interpret their world in categories such as English, Math and Science. They learn best when information, issues, problems and content presented to them are trans-disciplinary. To learn what trans-disciplinary means as a teaching approach and the benefits, read this.

3. Curiosity is the single most important trait to nurture and develop. In fact, research has consistently shown that curiosity is as important as intelligence in determining success. Teach the skill, and the child will learn all kinds of content easily.

Hence, my lapbooking style is very different.

• I begin with a quality literature, which can be a well-written picture book or storybook. 
• A big part of the lapbooking activities are specially designed as scenarios, issues and problems to be discussed and solved. 
• The focus is on fostering a culture of inquisitiveness and independent exploration. Teach students how to ask questions and how to think, so they learn to ask questions and reflect, instead of giving answers to questions asked.
• All activities are abilities-based. I adapt lapbooking activities to challenge every child's abilities. At any one time in class, there could be several variations of the same activity, tailored to suit the competence of each child.

If a child is already capable of reading and writing passages, I ignite her love for the language through complex stories with hidden meanings and explore with her the possibility of creative writing.

If a child is fascinated with advanced themes and capable of asking questions that reflect deeper understanding of the topics, I give her the opportunity to lead the discussions and be the role model to others.

If a child has the passion to draw, I present her with scenarios where she can express through drawings to solve a problem, lead her peers and sharpen her presentation skills.


WHY my lapbooking style WORKS
Even within every quiet, shy, unmotivated or frustrated child, there is one quality that is universal:

Every child craves to be excellent. Every child wants to achieve.

Once we are able to identify their sensitive periods of learning, with an effective method of coaching and a systematic way of guiding the child to overcome his current weaknesses and challenging him to aim and achieve more to further develop his strengths, we will increase his motivation.

As long as we remain steadfast in coaching them towards excellence, we will fuel a lifelong love for learning in every child.

How we deliver the content and how engaging our coaching approach is to our young ones is KEY to ensuring that they learn whatever we set out to teach. 



One of the most popular lapbooks documented on this blog must be 'How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World', simply because I shared a lot of details of the lapbooking activities in a three-part blog posts.

Part 1: An introduction of the lapbook and the first 12 activities
Part 2: More details on the next 10 activities
Part 3: A photo post. 

Do check out From Tiny Acorns to register for classes and workshops.


Be sure to follow our Facebook page for coaching tips, research, videos and ideas that I only share with our Facebook followers. We will announce a surprise for our Facebook followers when we have reached a milestone! 

How She Defines Beauty

These were all drawn in the last few months. Probably when Dolly was 4 yr 6 months to 9 months old.

Can you guess who these are?

I will admit that I absolutely, certainly, madly, seriously, definitely, undeniably, crazily, totally ADORE all her drawings and sketches.

They cheer up my days, no matter how lousy my days could have been.
They bring big smiles to my face.
They show me the beautiful soul in her.
They remind me of all the reasons I love kids so much.
They are evidence of how passionate little human beings can be.
They show me as long as we believe in them, they can all achieve (something).
They reinforce my consistent beliefs of how all children, regardless of age and abilities, just need a CHANCE, that good opportunity.
They give me hope that as long as I am determined, I could reach out to many kids out there and help them, even if it is just one child at a time (I have a big dream which I have never really shared in details before).

For now, I appreciate my daughter's beautiful creations everyday and be grateful.

Lost in The World of Words and Long Stories

These days, my 5-year-old enjoys reading long stories by herself. She can easily read up to an hour on her own now, if left undisturbed.

This book, one of her current favourites, consists of best-loved stories by Hans Andersen, retold by Andrews Matthews.

Her journey of learning to read did not begin with phonics lessons.

It started with having parents who read quality books to her daily. But that alone is not enough to raise an early reader or book lover, as many parents would know from their own experiences.

Other equally important factors include:
1. Being raised in a language rich environment
2. Having the opportunities to acquire good concentration skill through play-based activities since young
3. Being exposed to the whole-word approach (instead of phonics)

and a few more which I will share soon..

I should know this pretty well, as a mum of three kids who all began reading before age 4.

My experience coaching hundreds of parents and young children through the Bright Minds Lapbooking classes further reinforced my firm beliefs that all children are born geniuses with wonderful potential. When given the right opportunities at the right time, they will always shine!

Do follow our Facebook page where I will share more parenting and coaching tips. 

Artwork: When The Kids Were Four

Recently, I looked through Dolly's pile of drawings in the last 12 months as I attempt to record her progress in this blog. I used to be more diligent in keeping track of the boys' development in this aspect, so I was curious to compare the differences in the three kids' interests.

When M was 4 years old
He was fascinated with vehicles. He loved to look at pictures of different vehicles and we often visited libraries where he would sit quietly to browse the hundreds of pictures. Not content with the usual vehicles, he created monster trucks and triple decker buses.



After his years of obsession with vehicles, he began to explore drawing dinosaurs, starting with T-rex.
I was really happy then to see him venturing out of his comfort zone and was more willing to attempt new subject matters, though he also did not give up entirely on vehicles (not that I wanted him to). He decided one day to draw vehicles with broken lines, inspired by something he saw in a book and he continued to create bigger monster trucks.



By the time he was nearly 5, he had created a character of his own - the Gunsaurus, complete with perspectives, storyline and tons of illustrations.



Perhaps it was a combination of his fascination with dinosaurs and machines, boosted by his keen observation and ability to focus for a great length of time, he went on to create incredibly mechanical drawings after he turned 5.

When Chip was 4 years old
He was inspired to draw simply by spending all his waking hours with his older brother. But his style was very different. At the tender age of 3, it was already very obvious that he preferred less mechanical subjects.

He started out with more faces, people and animals, which I think stemmed from the fact that he has always been more sociable than M. As a natural story-teller, his drawings were usually illustrations that accompanied his stories, rather than just a lone picture.

Then came a time when he loved maps and mazes.


A map with a big story.

Chip started out playing hand-held games at a younger age than M, which I think explained his sources of influence and how they affected his drawing style too.

From Gesundheit to Angry Birds and PVZ (aka Plants vs Zombies), the characters of these games often appeared in his drawings.

Of course, how can we forget the time when we even received an email reply from the creator of Gesundheit who commented on Chip's drawings of his famous game!!

And the funny random pieces that he used to create daily, such as the misspelt Space Shit!


When O was 4 years old
Unlike the boys, she has always been obsessed with colouring and takes pride in colouring within the lines since she was just a wee 2-year-old. I have never encouraged colouring as an activity, which I think is a waste of time, but since she loves it, we just let her be. It beats watching TV, I guess. Since I did not buy colouring books, she started drawing her own shapes to colour.

She drew these all by herself. Just by looking at her 'model'. There was a period of time when she would 'churn' out a few Chicky drawings a day. Just imagine it went on for weeks!

As for these ocean creatures, some were drawn in the same ways, with the stuffed toys in front of her. For the others, she might have looked a picture or image we found online or on the DVD box.

The same goes for these few. We probably have over 50 drawings of crayon boxes and birthday cakes!! We did not encourage her to repeatedly draw the cakes or chicks or crayon boxes. She just wanted to do it, over and over again. But that was how she perfected her 'craft'!

Just like what I said in an earlier post about windows of opportunity and sensitive periods.

In that period, she spent over 4 hours a day drawing and erasing, more drawing and colouring until she was satisfied. In the earlier days, she got frustrated and discouraged a lot. But due to all the lapbooking and play-based activities we did at home when she was younger, her concentration span was so good that she could easily spend two hours drawing without breaks. With some encouragement and coaching in the right direction, she bounced back from her 'setbacks' quickly and would resume perfecting her skill.

Once she got to a certain stage, she needed no more coaxing or urging from anyone. The moment she woke up, she would head straight to her desk and began her 'important work' as she liked to call it.

It was the same with my boys. Exactly the same.

Windows of Opportunity: The Golden Periods

A child's talents may be hidden, waiting to be discovered. The fortunate ones will get the opportunities they deserve and with the right formula, success awaits.

For the majority of mankind, there will always be many talents that will remain buried for ever. Sad but true. Who knows, maybe I could have been a world class musician or ballet dancer too, if I was given the opportunity when I had a keen interest.

To a certain extent, it is the same with the academic development or the overall development of the child. One thing is definitely true:

The Sensitive Periods, also known as Windows of Opportunity is NOT a myth.

All these years, whether it was with my own children or students whom I had the fortune to coach for consecutive months, and especially those who were with my Bright Minds Lapbooking classes for over a year, I 'saw' their sensitive periods in many areas of development. Once I observed these windows, I worked closely with the parents so they could reinforce at home and support what I tried to do in class.

When we can accurately observe a child's sensitive periods, let's say in the areas of language, reading, writing, spatial awareness and Math, we should focus our efforts on guiding the development of the skills.

A sensitive period is simply a brief, but heightened period of learning. It is a really precious window of opportunity that can remain open for just weeks (or months if we guide them right).

And with appropriate guidance, this is the GOLDEN period when the child will be more willing than ever to overcome any obstacles in learning.

Hence, a sensitive period is also the window for accelerated learning. 

Let's take the example of reading skill.

Why is it that some 6-year-old kids cannot read simple sentences whereas some who are barely 4 years old can read passages fluently?

I do not believe it is because the latter are more talented or that they are just geniuses, unless they are self-taught to read (again, another topic I wrote passionately about years ago).

Instead, I believe the young ones were simply fortunate enough that when their sensitive periods were presented, these precious windows of opportunities were not ignored and wasted. With the kids' heightened interests captured, and through effective coaching methods, it will not take long to hone the skills.

Once a child has acquired a sufficient level of skill, whatever that skill may be, his self-motivation will take care of the rest. This is when we stretch that capability to help the child develop his full potential.

As parents, we must remember this:

These windows of opportunities will close. Once they close, we lose the opportunity to help the child hone the skills optimally. 

I do not mean that a child whose 'sensitive periods' were missed will not be able to read or learn in future. Of course he can still learn to read or learn that skill after age 6 or even 10, but it will require a lot more effort than if he had learnt during the sensitive periods. Let's not forget the advantages accumulated over the years if he had acquired the skills earlier too.

Does this mean we should pack our kids to phonics or reading classes the moment they can sit upright? No. I do not believe phonics is the only or the best way to learn to read.  

This is why my kids have never attended any of such classes and still learn to read words before 3 and passages by age 4 because I believe the optimal approach is to learn in a language-rich environment, with a whole-word approach.

Read my post Reading 800 words without phonics. 

The Hidden Talents, to Discover or Bury?

Ever since the Olympic Games and watching Joseph Schooling's historic win, I have been reflecting a lot and reviewing my parenting beliefs.

In this blog, I wrote many posts on the topics of nurture vs nature and how I believe more often than not, parents are the ones who make the most difference in making it possible for a child's talent to be discovered and nurtured before the child would ever have a chance to shine.

Yes, there must be coaches, mentors, idols and other forms of assistance and inspiration but without the parents' initial support at least, nothing much will happen.

In short, the parents are the key to the puzzle of raising geniuses and prodigies. And for the rest of the world who are neither geniuses nor prodigies, within everyone, there must be hidden talents waiting to be discovered.

I wrote a post on Geniuses and Prodigies back in October 2008.

"A child at a tender age of 4 or 5 can only have a chance to develop her fullest potential if her parents are wise enough to recognise the possibility of that talent she has or at least kind and generous enough to give her an opportunity to pursue an interest which could take years to develop and show results.

Without parental support and nurturing,  a young child's talent and passion for any particular field may need to be shelved and with each passing year of age, that hidden talent may never ever resurfaced. So for the majority of us whose parents insisted on academic development over the pursuit of hobbies when we were growing up, or were simply too poor or busy to notice a child's passion in some areas, the hidden talents remain hidden."

Click here for full post.


Nearly 8 years later, I feel more strongly than ever.

Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I realized the areas where we could have decided differently or done better.

With my Dolly, hopefully, we will be wiser.

An Impromptu Long Walk

E and I have never been the kind who rush to an attraction within weeks of its opening.

Even when we are curious about the place or its offering, we tend to research a little, listen to others' feedback on their experiences and still, we wait a little longer. Why? I guess one of the main reasons is we simply refuse to follow the crowds. An attraction will always be there after its opening, but the mad crowds will ease after the novelty is gone.

This is also why we never ever take advantage of all those Public Holidays promotions even if we only need to pay half price for admission tickets.

Anyway I digress.....

A few months ago, we finally made it to the Hort Park. Yes, our first visit though the park was officially opened in 2008. Even my sister who hardly headed out to any places for recreation had been there years ago! Haha...

Anyway, the kids were not pleased at all when the adults made them get in the car. On the way there, we tolerated all kinds of protests and excuses from the boys, who preferred to just stay home to read, watch TV or play games. The dolly showed enough enthusiasm on the boys' behalf though and naturally, as doting and wise parents, the more excuses there were from the kids about why we should allow them to just rest and relax in the comfort of the home and be couch potatoes, the more we believed our insistence was right.

The moment I drove into the parking space (literally!), the dolly informed us of the 'raindrops' on the windows. Sigh! So a little drizzle was not going to stop us. The big boys were very annoyed.

'So silly to stroll with umbrellas!'
'So dangerous to go near the trees when it is raining!'
'So stupid to be out here, wet and sticky, and feed mosquitoes!'
'What if we get bitten by Aedes and get Dengue?! I have PSLE this year!!'

Anyway, it went on and on.... but we just ignored the grumbles and nudged them on as we discovered different parts of the park.

I must say, I really enjoyed Hort Park. It was a refreshing change from the Botanic Garden, which we are more familiar with.

In the end, the drizzling stopped. Slowly but surely, they began to have fun. Lots of fun!

Unfortunately, I am the only one in the family who enjoys long walks. The papa hates the heat though he used to walk for hours in the cooler weather in London. The older boy hates walking or doing any form of exercise (yes, I am aware of how unhealthy this is and have been desperately trying to change this!). The younger boy loves any exercise because he is really into fitness and strengthening his muscles (yes, I am aware how different my two boys are), but he hates long walks which he finds too boring and is in the opinion that they are only suitable for old people. The princess loves to go for any walks as long as I promise to carry her after the initial 10 minutes because her legs will ache too much.

Sigh....

But I still enjoy my long walks and dream of having loving company with me.

Term 4/2016 Lapbooking Classes

Our highly popular Bright Minds Lapbooking classes is now ready for registration.

New term begins on 22 October 2016.

Please hop over to Class Schedule for details.





Testimonials from parents ....  

After Joshua attended his very first Lapbook class in April 2010, he announced that he was going to quit kindergarten and just attend Teacher Shirley's classes instead, as the class was so fun and interesting! I am constantly amazed at how Shirley's creative trans-displinary thematic methods spur critical thinking and enable learning in a completely natural, experiential and fun way for the children. Joshua greatly enjoys exploring the cross-linkages across different subject areas while being centred on the selected storybook themes and has blossomed in his confidence and thinking processes. I have often wished Shirley ran an actual kindergarten based on her approach and teaching methods, and would highly recommend this programme to any parent!" 
Elsie, mum of Joshua (6-year-old)



More parents' feedback here. 

Growth vs Fixed Mindset

Growth Mindset

Embraces challenges

Learns from criticism

Inspired by others' success

Persists in the face of setbacks

Sees effort as necessary

Open to new things & experiences

Welcomes other opinions

Believes that one's abilities can keep growing

Fixed Mindset

Avoids challenges

Ignores negative feedback

Threatens by others' success

Gives up easily

See effort as futile

Afraid of changes

Insists on own opinions

Believes that one's abilities are predestined

What do we do on a daily basis to encourage a Growth Mindset in ourselves and our kids? 

Food for thought.

Questions, Questions, All Day Long

Just like her brothers who were such inquisitive preschoolers, the Dolly, who is nearly 5-years-old, is also asking lots of fascinating questions.

In the car on a rainy day....
'What does the thunder do to the rain? Why is there thunder?'

After turning off the TV for me....
'How does electricity work? How does the electricity make the TV work?'

When drinking a glass of water at dinner one day....
'Why is the ocean blue when water is actually transparent?'

While sitting beside me to colour a picture she drew....
'Can we revive a person from death? Do we go to Heaven to revive them?'

As we were on the topic of people who decide to become vegetarians....
'If someone decides to eat only fruits, is that person called a fruitarian? How come fruitarians eat only fruits but vegetarians eat vegetables and fruits?'

While playing Othello with me...
'How does the White part get stuck to the Black part of the piece?'


It is a norm that children this age are inquisitive.

When we have the opportunity to raise or interact closely with many children and if we listen to their line of questioning carefully, we will also realise quickly that while every child will ask questions, there will be some who ask more questions than others even when faced with the same stimuli.

And there will be some who not only will ask more questions, they ask more complex questions that reflect a deeper understanding of the topic and a more thorough reflection on their part.

I firmly believe that every child is fully capable of being trained to reach this stage earlier than later, if only they are shown how to question.

The boys still ask all kinds of questions everyday, but these days, their questions in Science are sometimes too advanced that I have to google the answers or send them off to research for themselves.

While I do not always have the answers ready for them, I am always more interested and impressed if they have more questions than I could answer, a fact that the boys know all too well since they were little.

Besides the usual science and technology related topics that intrigued young boys, I also really enjoy our discussions on psychology, current affairs, finance, economics, law and politics where I can still have plenty to offer them to open their minds.

It is so satisfying to watch them listen intently as I describe and explain, followed often by fierce debate/exchange of ideas before they settle into a state of quiet reflection of whatever that we have just discussed. Very often, they would demonstrate their understanding of previously discussed issues in future discussions.

Of course, there were times when, due to their innocence and lack of life experience, they might not fully comprehend the complexities of issues. That was when they would ask lots of questions and the more they asked, the deeper we delved.

Some people may think that it is a waste of time/energy since the kids will eventually learn about them when they are older, so why bother now. I beg to differ.

We do not know what we do not know. Unless they are first exposed to topics beyond the obvious, they will not know if they could or would be interested and they definitely would not have any chance to understand them.

A relative had once asked, 'Are there advantages to understanding such advanced topics?' after I revealed that the boys were discussing the election results and politics with me and how I had also spent time explaining the differences between capitalism, socialism and communism and their pros/cons and had healthy debates with them. This is a relative who thinks that precious time should only be spent learning information that will be tested in school exams and the PSLE.

If we are measuring advantages only by one's ability to score better at exams, then I will be honest that there is probably none. But I am more interested in the advantages that come with opening up a child's mind and eyes to how the world he lives in actually works.

Why do we even want to limit their intelligent minds to only learning whatever that the Ministry of Education, teachers and national exams are dictating?

I like to think that I have spent a lot of time developing their thinking through instructional scaffolding since they were little and I certainly will not be slowing down now. I have lofty goals and they have little to do with the three-digits printed in the PSLE result slip.

Do Names Have Meanings?

Last week, the Dolly asked me on the way to school, if 'Joy' could really be a girl's name. She was puzzled why parents would choose a name such as 'Joy' for their kids.

I explained the typical reasons parents would pick one name over another, and when it comes to names such as 'Joy', it could be because the parents wish their child would grow up to be always happy.

I suggested other names such as 'Hope', 'Faith', 'Grace' etc... for her to consider and also included more unexpected names such as 'Apple', 'May', 'June' and 'Candy' etc...  We had a little laugh when she exclaimed with bewilderment that parents would pick months of the year and fruits and sweets as baby's names.

She pondered for a moment before asking 'What does my name mean?' Does your name have meanings too? What about boys' names?'

Without hesitation, I told her I once read that her name meant 'peace or a tree'. She was upset that I would want her to 'be a tree' or 'look like a tree'. Haha!

Then I reminded her of a character in one of her books....

'Why did you name me after a Pig?!!!" She was really, really upset by then.  Hahaha!

After some pacifying, I got her to believe that I have always loved her name and the moment we knew the gender of the little baby in my belly, we knew this would be the perfect name. After some more cuddling and kisses, she was fully convinced and satisfied that it is a gorgeous name for an even more gorgeous little girl.

Mad Love for Kiioritori

I cannot remember how it all got started but some time last year, the Dolly began to find chicks super cute. As usual, the doting papa paid attention to such cues and went hunting for presents to surprise his princess.

On a business trip to Japan, he found a Kiioritori plush toy.

Everyone at home fell MADLY in love with this egg-yolk yellow, two-haired chick. Including me! All my life, I have never cared much for soft toys. But this chick is an exception.

The Dolly brought her little chick everywhere with her in the house.

The moment she gets home from school, she seeks the chick immediately after she comes out of shower. She would bring the chick into the shower if we had agreed!

The chick sits by the table to watch her when she draws or reads.  And the chick sits near the dining table during every family meal time because we did not allow the chick to sit next to her plate.

The chick goes to bed with her, with the yellow 'ball' sleeping in the nook of her neck. Even in the middle of the night, when she crawls into my bed, she never fails to bring her chick along. Haha!

The Dolly loves this chick so much that she drew hundreds of pictures of her chicky.




The papa and gal decided to glue a few on an A4 paper. This is now on the wall, in front of her work desk in the study, so she can look at it as she does her 'work' (i.e. more drawings!)

The boys often joked that it was unfair that Dolly had such a cute chick. They would give it a sniff at bedtime, before letting out a 'ooooo, Chicky is soooo cute!'

Last Christmas, as usual, Santa delivered many packages on Christmas Eve. Among them were two messily-wrapped packages. Judging by the shapes, the boys quickly guessed the contents and the packages were unwrapped with plenty of laughter.

In my opinion, these were some of the best presents of the decades! Highly anticipated, yet cheap and will be loved and cuddled daily for years.

Now, the Chicky family lives with us... happily ever after!

Please meet Chicky and his brothers, Chicky-O and Chicky-Big!