Getting Your Children Interested in Reading - Part II

Here's some great Nursery Rhymes books to recommend, your kids will sure loves it.

Counting



Nursery Rhymes with Activity Guide & Music Scores
 
My Baby FAN loves this book, having been singing it with her for the pass 3 weeks every day.
 

 
Seasonal Books
 
For Halloween

 
For Christmas

Talkers, Watchers and Doers

Yes, I borrowed another book by Cheri Fuller.  This time, it's called Talkers, Watchers and Doers.  Another wonderful book by her.  The book talks about how kids learn, some kids learn visually (watchers), some learn auditory (talkers) and some learn kinesthetically (doers), and how you can help your children to learn and study better by understanding how they learn.  As I read this book I began to understand why flash cards, which has receive so much publicity and worked on so many children, doesn't seems to work on my 2 kids.  Majority of people or kids learn visually, thus flash card works on them well.  But there is a minority of us who learn differently and I realised that it's true with my 2 kids.  My elder son is a Doer, he learns best when he is hands on. For example, in his childcare, his teacher told us that he is always the first one to raise his hand if they is any new projects that involved the hands.  He can't seems to sit still and have difficulty paying attention in class. Flash cards that involved only his visual sense bored him, so does reading a book.  According to Cheri, for such learner you need to involve his 5 senses to maximise his learning, she gave examples where a parent taught her kid's multiplication by asking him to repeat the rules every time he throw a basket ball.  This explain why I always have difficulty getting my boy to sit still and listen to me read storybook.  I normally has to play up the storybook, make a lot of funny actions before I get his attention.  As for my daughter, she will run away every time I what to teach her using flash cards. But she loves to sing songs and nursery rhymes, at 28 months, she can now recite about 20 nursery rhymes by hard both in English and Chinese.  She can also speak very well and she now speaks in almost perfect sentences.  Her teacher told me she is like a bird in class, talking and talking away.  According to the book, these individuals are auditory learners, they learn best by singing and listening.  This explain why my daughter like me to sing to her and read storybook to her, she can ask me to repeat the storybook again and again until she can recite it by heart.

I'm still half way through this book, but I'm beginning to understand and have an idea now how I can help my 2 kids to learn better.  For a start, am going to teach my girl alphabets and phonics using songs and dance instead of flashcards.  Let's see if my experiment works.

Another thumbs up for Cheri!  For parents who are struggling with their children's study, this is a good book to have.

Schools Start at Home

Ok, I have been really lazy with blogging lately, kinda got addicted to a game in facebook....sigh....

But I meant to pen this down, a book that I recently read and felt that it's a good one to recommend to all kiasu parents out there. It's called School Starts at Home: Simple Ways to Make Learning Fun (School Savvy Kids). The books wrote about skills that you should build in your child before they go to school and how you can inculcate this skills in them.  Skills such as reading, writing, maths etc and how you can build up their love for these skills.  What I like about this book that it's a really easy to read book and some of the tips quite practical and useful.  For example, to get your kids to like writing, encourage him to help you write your groceries list or write a list of presents he/she likes for your birthday.  I tried this on my son and he wrote quite a long list of presents.  A thumbs up to Fuller, am going to try borrowing her other 2 books:

Part-time Cleaner

Changed my part-time cleaner again. This time, we engages Spick n Span International. Yesterday was the first day the part-time cleaner came, to my horror, it wasn't a Malaysian PR or locals, she was from Myanmar and has only came to Singapore 3 months ago. I'm not sure of what the current practice for these cleaning companies, but for the pass few companies I have engages, they all used locals or Malaysian PR. To make thing worst, the supervisor just asked me to pay for 2 months in advance and left. So I was left with the cleaner, so I told her what to do, one item at a time. That is, get her to change bedsheet first, then when she is done, she will ask me what's next, then I asked her to do etc. etc... It feels like I'm hiring a maid. In any case, she was quite clean when it comes to cleaning, but was very very slow, she wasn't able to complete the usual cleaning task expected and left at exactly 4 hours, saying that she need to rush for another household. I'm really disappointed, those cleaner that I engages before all finish their task before they leave. So I called up the company, but I was transferred to a voice box, so I send an email asking about termination (the contract stipulated 1 month minimum service, plus 1 month notification), I'm still waiting for their reply.

Well, just to recalled the pass cleaning companies I have engages:

• ComfyHomes: I must say they are quite flexible and the supervisor was quite friendly. They are one of the few cleaning companies that provide 2 cleaners. I must say the cleaner they provide are very fast, they also complete before the stipulated time and still have time to help me clean the fan and windows. But the only issue I have with them is that they are not very thorough in their cleaning. My hubby also complaint why here not clean, there not clean, the main reason why we decided to terminate the service.
• ISOHomes: Company was quite flexible and supervisor was friendly. They also provide 2 cleaners but only 1 main cleaner is fulltime, while the other person is part-time and they can sometime be a China PR. Cleaning was quite ok, too bad the company closed down due to finish problem.
• Anonymous company: I can't remember which company I engages as it was really long time ago, before I have my baby boy..hi hi..They provided us with a Singaporean Cleaner. She is the cleanest of the lot and very efficient. But as our engagement continues she gets lazier and started to change the schedule, for example, instead of 4 hours on wednesday, she will ask if she can do 2 hours on wednesday and 2 hours on friday. Or sometimes, she happy happy, she will drop by for 1 hour to iron clothes etc. So, we decided to terminate her service.

Sigh... I think there is a moral to the entire experience, don't be too picky. The more you change, the worst it get...sigh....Keeping my finger cross that Spick n Span will allow me to terminate with immediate effect rather then wait for 2 months.

Book Reviews: Activities for Kids

With a super active child like my SMALL FAN, I'm always on the look out for activities to engage him. So, went to the library and borrowed these 2 books, here's my review on it:

The Busy mom's Book of Preschool Activities by Jamie Kyle Mcgillian
- This books contained quite a lot of simple activities you can do with your kids. What I like about it is that the instructions was very simple, most of the activities was written in like 3 lines, so it makes reading really really easy. I also like that the book was categorized in terms of theme rather then according to developmental stages of the kids (which is the case for most of the activities book I read before). For example, she has activities for Kitchen, for outdoor, for parties, for daily routines etc. A simple and easy read book for busy mom.


The 2000 best games and activities for baby through 8 by Susan Kettman
- What I like about this book is that it's categorized by skills, for example, activities to build communication skill, concentration skill, curiosity, decision making skill, kindness etc. Under these different categories, it was further broken down to activities for baby, toddlers, preschooler and kids. All in all a pretty neat and easy to read book, good to refer to when you have a specific skills you want to build on your kids.

Book Review: Children Who Do Too Little

Borrowed this book Children who do too little by Patricia H. Sprinkle from the National Library. Many of the stuff mentioned in the book are quite common sensical, so don't think there is much take away for me. The only take away or idea that I thought was quite cool is that you should get your child to do household chores. Why?

• Prevent her/him from becoming a coach potato
• You are teaching him/her lifeskills that will help them become more socially responsible, and make better husband or wife.
• A chance for you to bond with your child doing chores together
• Gives you more free time to do other task

The book say, it's never too young to start them on household chores, they have list of chores from 2 to 6 years old. So after reading this, I became more proactive in looking out for opportunities for my boy to help me out with some chores like mopping the floor, putting his own plates into the sink after eating, helping me prepare sandwiches etc. Now, I'm trying to get SMALL FAN to help me fold clothes, but think it's a little too difficult for him, although he seems to be able to fold some towels quite well...

Book Review: Positive Plan for Creating More Fun, Less Whining

SMALL FAN nowadays watch a lot of TV, worried that he is going to be a couch potato. So, decided to look thru some books from the library for activities that I can use to entertain him. Borrowed this book A Positive Plan for Creating More Fun, Less Whining from Karol Ladd, thought it quite interesting and have quite a few good ideas to keep kids entertain. I won't really buy this book as I felt that it's a little Christian-based, so I'm penning some of the ideas that I like on this blog so that I can refer to it when required.

Boredom Busters for Waiting Rooms
Picture-Perfect Stories: Look around the room in which you are waiting. Typically, there will be at least one picture on the wall. If there is more then one picture, allow your kids to pick one picture for this activity. Tell your kids to give careful observation to the picture and the objects or people in the picture. Now they must create a story about what they see. They can either write it down or tell it to you. Depending on how long your wait may be, have them draw a picture showing what happens next in the story.

Terrific Travel Tips
Prepare a travel goody bag for each child. This can be a simple bag of goodies that you hand the kids right before you begin the journey. Customise the bags to your child's interests and age. You will want to include a snack and a small drink, a simple game or book, coloured pencils or markers, a journal or colouring book or puzzle book, and perhaps a small toy. For older kids, you may want to give them favourite CD for their player with earphones.

Plan to stop along the way. Do a little research to find out a good restaurant or park or place of interest along the route. When it comes to kids, your trip will be much more enjoyable if you offer them a few bathroom breaks as well as a chance to stretch their legs.

Add some entertainment. Many families now take their portable DVD player or laptop in the car to watch movies the entire way. I do think movies help the trip go much faster and make the traveling much more enjoyable. You maay also want to include a book on tape or CD. But I also want to encourage you to leave some room for interaction or to talk about the trip itself. For younger kids, you can have a story hour or even bring along a puppet for entertainment.

Play a few travel games. Stimulate the brain and add some family interaction with good old travel games. Here are a few to consider:

• ABC Adventure. One family member begins by saying something lik, "I'm Anne. I'm driving in an automobile and I'm going to Alabama." The next person syas a name that starts with B, traveling in something that starts witha B and going to a destination that starts with a B. And so on throughout the alphabet.
• I Spy. Before the trip, tear out pictures from magazines of objects you could possibly see out of the window as you travel. Find thre or four per family member. Place the pictures facedown and allow each person to take several. When the driver says go, everyone looks at his or her piectures. The first person to spy objects that match each of the pictures wins. YOu can then scramble the pictures and play again.
• 20 Questions. YOu star of saying, "I'm thinking of a place." A family member responds, "Is it in America?" Each questions demands only a yes or no response. If you make it through twenty questions and no one has guessed what you are thinking of, then you win. If someone guesses wrong, they are out. If someone guesses correctly before twenty questions are asked, they become the winner and start a new round.
• Car Trip Sing-Along. You may want to bring a sing-along tape or if you are musically talented, then you can do it yourself. Start with some kids' favourites.

Keeping your Sanity while Shopping

Preventive Measures
Consider the following checklist before setting out for shopping adventure. It may take a few extra momenets before you leave, but the end result will be a good experience with fewer complaints.

• Are the kids well rested? Tired often equals temper tantrums.
• Have the kids been fed?
• Visit the bathroom before you begin.
• In a positive tone, tell you kids where you are taking them and what you expect of their behaviour. Caryl Waller Krueger, in her book 1001 Things to Do with Your Kids, suggests the big three grocery shopping rules: walk, talk and gawk. Walk, but no running or pushing permitted. Talk, but no crying or shouting allowed. Gawk (or look), but don't pester for things! (boringtazz: tried this with SMALL FAN before my shopping trip, he seems to understand but tends to forget once he reach the shopping mall and I have to keep reminding him)
  
• Make your list of what you need before you go. You can speed up the shopping if you wrtie what you will need in each section of the store. YOu may find it helpful to create a master list of your most commonly bought items. Print copies so you can simpley circle the ones you need for the present week.
• Instruct the kids on what they can purchase or choose within the budget.
• Pack what you need. A toddler may need a toy in hand to keep his attention while you shop. A bottle or extra diapers can prevent a shopping trip from turning into a disaster.
• Consider shopping online for certain products and clothing.
• Choose kid-friendly stores and malls.
  

Shopping Can be Fun
Make the shopping exericne a fun time for both you and the kids. Here are a few ideas for a variety of ages.

Babies

• Teething toys. Bring along at least one or two to use if your baby becomes fussy. You may want to use a ribbon to tie it to the basket so it won't drop on the floor (boringtazz: personally find teething biscuits more useful, my baby FAN can chew on the biscuits for a whole half-an-hour while sitting on her stroller)
  
• Sleeping Babies. For young baby who sleeps soundly, tiem your shoppping so he can sleep through the ride in the cart.
  
• Front Carrier or Sling. If your baby does best by being held, then consider bringing along a sling or front carrier so your hands can be free while your baby feels your closeness and warmth. (boringtazz: this works best for baby FAN, she loves to be carried in the front carrier and I can go shopping for 2 hours with her and she never complaints. The only problem is that after that, I had a really backache, so make sure you can a good sling.)

Preschoolers

• Busy Hands. Busy hands are happy hands. Bring a small toy or book to keep your child's interest. You can also give your child an assignment to help you, such as holding your coupons, looking for an item on the shelf or holding certain safe items.
• Learn and Shop. Engage little ones in the shopping experience and create a learning opportunity as well, For instance, help your kids learn colours by saing, "Mommy is lookign for the green jar. Can you point to the green jar? Yes! That's it!" Encourage the kids to help you count the apples or the cans of soft drinks.
• Positive Motivation. You can call it bribery if you want, but I am not above offering my children a simple motivator if they maintain a good attitude or don't fight during grocery-shopping time. The reward should be simple: their favourit movie after naptime, snuggle time with Mommy during reading time, calling Daddy to tell him what a good job they did, special playtime when they get home, etc. Make the reward clear before you set out to shop. YOu don't want your children to get the impression that if they are bad enough, they can motivate you to offer a reward.
• Containment. If possible, bring the stroller or double stroller into the store to help the kids have their place instead of wide open space for running.

Older Kids

• Divide and Conquer. Give each child a list of several things you need. Tell them to meet you in the frong of the store in a certain amount of time. Besure it is a safe environment before sending kdis off by themselves. Send them in groups if possible.
• Coupon Accountant. Perhaps one of your kids has an accountant type aptitude. Assign him or her to be in charge of clipping coupons each week, organising them and helping you use them accordingly.
• Meal Planing. Allow each of your odler children to paln one meal that they would like during the week. Tell them to write down the ingredients they will need (encourage them to look up the recipe). When theya re at the grocery store with you, they can find the things on their list for their favourite meals.
• Push, Bag and Unload. Older kdis can feel useful by pushing the cart for you and helping the checker bag the groceries. They can also help hand items to you if you are doing self-checkout. Loading the groceries into the car and unloading the groceries at home can also hlep the kids feel a sense of responsibility.

Five Ingredients for enjoying a delightful meal - Fun Flair
With a little thought, you can add some flair to your normal mealtime routine. Here are seom easy tips for putting a little pizzazz into your family dinners.
Manners Night. Once a month, declare a manners night. Ask all family members to dress nicely. You could hand out invitations if you want to go the extra mile. Serve dinner on the fine china and nice tablecloth. tech one or two rules of etiquette at the dinner table and talk about the importance of respecting one another.
Dinner Theme. Every once in a while, build a theme around your dinner. On Mexican night, decorate the table with bright colours and a sombrero for tacos and tamales. On Italian night, use a red-checked tablecloth as you serve spaghetti. Of course, Valentine's dinner can be red foods with paper hearts....
Seasonal Celebration. At the beginning of each seaon, celebrate with a related dinner.... (boringtazz: For Singapore where we don't have any seasons, maybe we can celebrate festivals like, Lantern Festival, Hungry Ghost Festival etc)
Kids Cooking Night. Allow older kids to search the recipe books and plan their favourite menu. They will need to amke a list for you ahead of time so you can get the ingredients at the store. Then allow them to cook the meal, with only a little guidance from you if they need it. It is also their job to set the table. This activity tends to give them a greater appreciation for what you do.
Place Mat Art. Allow kdis to make different place mats each year. Using a large piece of coloured construction paper, they can draw or colour, make a collage, paint at scene, or use photos. Take the completed mats to an office or teacher supply store to get them laminated or use clear contact paper to do it yourself. Keep the collection mats over the years and bring them out now and then. It's fun to see the progression of your choldren's talents and abilities.

Teaching SMALL FAN to read - Part IV

SMALL FAN seems to have lost interest in the word matching games, so I'm kinda stuck, not too such how I should move on with his phonics lesson. So, hunted around for ideas and stumble upon this book from the National Library. It's call Games for Reading: Playful Ways to Help Your Child Read by Peggy Kaye.

This book is not really a teaching phonics book, but basically it contains a lot of fun activities for you to play with your little ones from heightening him/her to words right to letter sounds and also activities to enhance their visual skills (which is necessary for reading) and stuff like that. Thought the ideas were quite cool. Am thinking of buying this book and trying out the activities with SMALL FAN. Just to state a few:

• When going on a shopping trip, have a competition with your kid to look for words, for e.g. chocolate and sweets. End of the trip see who can find more words. This heighten their awareness of words.
• While waiting in queue (such as seeing a doctor), take out a magazine which you don't want, choose a paragraph in the magazine and start hunting alphabets in the magazine with the kids. He can look for the letter 'a' while you can look for letter 'e' and see who can find the most letters.
• While seating in a car, get your kid to love for letters as you travel along the road. Get him to look for cars with the letter "A" on their license plate or look for signboard with the letter "A" etc.

Service Review: Rent A Toy

I'm running out of idea on what I can play with SMALL FAN to keep him occupied at home. So, decided to rent a toy for him from Rent-a-toy.com. Excellent service, I placed the order thru the net yesterday afternoon, and he deliver it yesterday night and properly installed it for me. SMALL FAN really loves the slide, beside sliding down, he also use it as slides for his cars and bus. As for Baby FAN, she is enjoying herself on the swing. The slide also has a small basket ball net for SMALL FAN to practice SLAM DUNK. Cool...right?

VCD Recommendation: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Bought this video from wonderbox.com Ok, it's a really really old video, so have been contemplating if I should by it for SMALL FAN for quite sometime. Have been reading up reviews from Amazon on it and it seems really good. Reason I was looking for this video is that I happen to download this Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Song from Youtube for SMALL FAN to see. It teachers A to Z in a very fun and catchy tune and SMALL FAN loves it alot. That's why I thought I should go and invest in the entire VCD instead of playing it for him in youtube.

I must say, it's a good buy although I felt it's a tad too expensive, I pay $10 for the VCD and $8 for delivery from Wonderbox as I can't seems to find the video in any of the bookstore in Singapore. SMALL FAN loves the VCD, he watch it continuously for 3 times on the first day and subsequently, he will still ask to watch it. I watch the video with him and I thought the tune are all very catchy. But it's a pity the video was quite short, only 4 stories. SMALL FAN says he want to turn into a butterfly after watching the video, so I guess he learnt that a caterpillar turns into a butterfly and a tapode turns into frog from the video.

By the way, here's the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom song from Youtube.

Book Review - Cooking For Kids by Pancy Seng

Bought this book during one of the popular book sale, another Asian style cook book. Although the recipes was for kids, I personally felt that it's not as healthy as I would like it to as it contain quite a lot of fried food. But some of the recipes seems quite interesting like Cream of Mushroom Soup with Puff Pastry, Japanese Beancurd Pocket Salad, Rice Omelette etc. I must confess I have yet to try out any of the recipe in this book as I'm not sure if it appeals to my SMALL FAN.

VCD Recommendation - Mr Men in the Great Alphabet Hunt

Met up with 2 friends last week and we were chatting about homeschooling kids and started talking about videos and show that we play for your kids. Suggested to her this particular video from Little Learners "Mr Men in the Great Alphabet Hunt". I bought it during one of the weekly sales at NTUC Fairprice Extra at Ang Mo Kio Hub, I think it cost $9.90. A really good buy as SMALL FAN loves to watch it. The video show Mr Clever's journey in looking for all the alphabets from A to Z. Along the way, he met different Mr Men and introduces different objects and stuff starting with the various alphabet and of course, they also teach you how to pronounce the different alphabet. They have a really chatchy tunes that goes like that "Arh for Apples, Ber for Bouncing Ball, Ker for Cakes but Mr Greedy ate it all...."

It didn't occur to me how useful this VCD was until I started showing SMALL FAN some alphabets and he recognises their sound without me telling him, so it looks like he did learn from the VCD. He can evens say "J for Jelly".

Book Review - Hearty Congee by Amelia Liang

For Asian mums like me who is getting tired of cooking the same old porridge for your baby, check on this book. They have 58 dishes of congee of different types, right from the cantonese style to those with chinese herbs to those normal day to day congee. I have personally tried cooking Beef Congee with eggs, Lotus Roots Congee with Red Dates, Oatmeal porridge with raisins, chinese yam with frog, frog congee with lily bulb etc for my SMALL FAN before (when he is less picky).

I especially like their explanation on the purpose of the different chinese herbs, for example, ginkoo helps to reduce phelgm, lily bulb helps to norish lungs etc. But I must warn that it's quite an expensive book for just congees.

Book Review - Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron

For mum who has just started cooking baby food for your babies and wanted to cook from scratch, can check out this book. This book will tell you exactly how to cook, how to keep it, for how long you can keep the food etc. For example, how long can you keep a pumpkin once it's cut? How long should you cook brown rice, with how much water, how to freeze it, for how long you can keep it? etc..It also list the nutritional content of the food and provide you with a lot of healthy recipes like baking french fries, making breakfast cereal (from scratch) etc. But I must warn that the recipes wasn't very tasty to me but it's really natural and healthy.

Cool Blogs - Activities to entertain your kids

Here are some cool blogs that contains loads of activities that you can adapt to entertain or even homeschool your kids:

• Shirleys Preschool Activities.com
• Daniellesplace.com
• Mrs Fischer's Kinder Themes
• Homeschool Your Boys

Websites - for the Lefties

Was searching on websites on how to teach my maybe left-handed boy to write when I stumble upon these huge list of websites for the lefty, check it out:

• Left Handed Children.org
  
• Articles on "Handwriting without tears: Use the Correct Approach when teaching left handed kids
• Articles on teaching Handwriting to Left-handers
  
• Anything Left-handed
  
• Shirleys Preschool Activities.com
  
• Left Shop Online
  

Book Review - A Healthier Diet for your Baby

This is a very old book which I borrowed from the Singapore National Library. Tried finding it from amazon and some books website but can't find it anymore. A very colourful book with lots of pictures of the food. What I like about this book is that it give a very good introduction of the different food groups like green vegetables, white vegetables, protein, meat etc and the are mostly those local vegetables that we can find in Singapore. They also provide a step by step guide on the food to cook from baby to toddler, the asian way. For example, silver fish rice gruel, steam pumpkin cake, kway teow soup etc.. And a 16 days meal plan. Highly recommend those asian parent, who like me, would prefer to have your kid eat chinese food with you, rather then having to cook a separate western dish. This is how a page looks like:

Book Review - Asian Parenting Today by Jennifer Hor, Ho Ai Ling and Jocelyn Oo

Highly recommend this book for asian new mothers. It's very easy to read as it's mostly in point form! But what is most important is that it included a lot of asian cultural practices and issues for us to consider and best of all, it provide baby meal guide "asian style". It's not easy to find a book that provide meal guide for asian baby, most of the book I read are "ang mo" style like puree avocado, puree potato etc, this book have meal like Kway teow soup, Mee sua with fish etc for baby...cool. Oh and one more thing to add, it also include asian nursery rhymes, not the incy wincy spider rhymes but those in chinese and even cantonese and hokkien. Here's one in cantonese that really cool (my mum-in-law also sing for SMALL FAN)

Tim chong chong, chong chong fei. Fei toe nai chee long.

Service Review - Tingkat Dinner

With 2 kids to take care of, I'm subcontracting my dinner to the home delivery company. I'm currently eating Tingkat Dinner from Kim's Kitchen. The food is quite tasty and the portion is quite good size and their soup taste good too.

Here's some of the other tingkat caterers that I had compiled with the recommendations and complaints I gathered from forums:

* House of Catering - no MSG, less salt and oil. But quite a no. of mums from Singapore Motherhood(SM) commented that the food is lousy, soup taste bland although one mom says she like it as it's not too salty - $195 for 2 pax for 20 days, unlimited cancellation

* Four Seasons - no MSG, less salt and oil. One mom claims that the portion is pathetic - $200 for 2 pax for 20 days w max 2 days replacement. I have tried their catering myself and I agree with the mom, the portion is really pathetic and the soup taste the same every day even though it's suppose to be different. I think they cook the soup with the same base and then just add the ingredients at the last minute.

* Neo Garden - less salt and oil but got little MSG. Quite a no. of mums from SM says their portion, normally the 4th dish are quite pathetic. - $190 for 2 pax for 20 days, max 2 day refund

* Buffet Paradize - less salt and oil but got MSG. A few mums for BayB Supplies (BS) recommended them - $200 for 2 pax for 20 days, unlimted meal replacement

* Le Xin - no MSG, less salt and less oil. Vegetable dishes limited and soup taste bland - $195 for 2 pax for 20 days, unlimited days of cancellation

* Kim's Kitchen - Got MSG. Quite a no of mums from BS recommended their service. - $170 for 2 pax for 20 days. I'm currently using them, the food portion is quite good, food is tasty but I don't feel thristy after eating. However, one thing I don't like is they delivery the food quite late, around 6.45pm to 7pm.

* Mei Hao - less salt and oil. One mom in SM using them, found the food not bad. - $180 for 2 pax for 20 days.

* Jia Le (used to be Redleaf) - less salt, less cholesterol, less MSG. One mom in BS using them, found their food not bad. - $170 for 2 pax for 20 days.

* Jessie Catering - less salt and oil, but got MSG. So far reviews for them seems quite good. - $160 for 2 pax for 20 days

* YLS - less salt, oil and MSG. - $180 for 2 pax for 20 days with max 2 days refund.

While searching for tingkat service, stumble upon this interesting services provided by Mealstations. They actually prepare the ingredients for you (that is, chop the carrot, cut the meat etc..) and give you the recipe, so you just need to cook. Quite cool, right? But the cons is that you need to go to their place to cook.

Cool Websites to entertain your kids

Was looking at websites to see if there is any interesting activities I can do with SMALL FAN or keep him entertained at home and stumble upon these cools sites.

Family Fun.com (http://familyfun.go.com/printables) - have quite a lot of printables maze and puzzle for you to print and play with
Printables for kids (http://printables4kids.com) - have quite a lot of printables maze and puzzle for you to print and play with
KABOOSE (http://resources.kaboose.com)- lots of printables activities as well as online games for kids and even for moms
Making Learning Fun (http://www.makinglearningfun.com) - themetic activities from drawing to art & craft that you can print and do with your kids, I have made quite a lot of trucks and cars with SMALL FAN from this website.

For those who are keen on bible related activities, can check on this website:
Danielle's Place (http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/games.html#)