Sophie Can Walk!

Sophie took her first few steps walking on her own today! She did it subconsciously while trying to move from the stool towards me, and she let go of her hands and started walking those tiny but 'big leap of faith' steps!

So cute! The moment cannot be described in words. I attempted to repeat this again with a camera, but she didn't do it again. (Sigh!)

Property Prices Skyrocketing

High-end property in S'pore is skyrocketing in price. The latest hype in town is Keppel Land's waterfront home project, called "Reflections at Keppel Bay" which is a premium waterfront enclave. It is designed by world-renowned architect, Daniel Libeskind, who built the extension to the Denver Art Museum which Dot visited in December 2006, and who is the same architect who designed "Memory Foundations - World Trade Centre Master Plan". Imagine, he is going to build a residential development in Singapore, his first ever residential project in Asia. Wow - I would want to own a piece of it too if I could!

According to a Channelnewsasia report, the average price of the condo is going at S$1,900 per square foot, which is wow-wow-wow.

Another condo, which is at the One-north development near Buona Vista MRT, called One-north Residences, went at $1,200 per square foot, where 80% was sold within 3 days in private previews.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not into real estate. Just that there's been so much talk about it, I couldn't miss it.

Ethan at Chinese Enrichment Class

I had been wanting to start Ethan for Chinese classes since he stopped it in Dec 2005. He attended N1 class at Berries World of Learning, and enjoyed it. Today, he took a trial class for K1 at the Berries branch near our place, and came home beaming with positive and enthusiastic feedback about his class.

I'm relieved that at least, he's not saying that he doesn't understand, or worst, the last time, he told me that "I am English and I am not Chinese" when I was trying to converse with him in Mandarin! I jumped out of my chair the last time I heard that, as he was trying to tell me that he doesn't speak Mandarin, so he is not Chinese....

Anyway, the things they learn in K1 for Chinese class - they are ALREADY learning sentence construction, and idioms!! I looked at some of the sample class work, and WOW - I can't even read some of the idioms....so scary!! I feel ashamed...

Will scan some of these idioms for sharing next time, as we move along in his Berries class.

Zachary's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Zachary's 3rd birthday in school today, and I took a half-day off from work, to celebrate it with him and his classmates.

Zack was really eager and wanted to cut the cake even before the kids sang the birthday song. We had to sing it twice 'cos the other kids were really enthusiastic and wanted to blow the candles...we ensured that Zack blew out his candles, albeit one by one, and he truly enjoyed the chocolate icing on his cake. That seemed to be the only thing he enjoyed on the cake, besides the figurines and the 2 toy cars.

Visit to the Zoo

Today, we went to the Zoo with my friends (Adrian & Jenny), and their kids, Elva (4) and Elvis (2). We saw the sea otters, and also fed the fishes in the pond. Ah, not exactly what you thought we would do at the zoo right?

Well, not true. We also saw the "Wonders of the Wild" show at the amphitheatre, as it was Elvis' first trip to the zoo. The weather was nice and cool, with intermittent scatters of drizzle which didn't bother us much. We also took a tram ride, and alighted at the last stop to see the Australian outback exhibit where the kangaroos and emus were hanging out. It was boring for the kids, as the kangaroos were fairly laid back, and did not hop around while we were there. Among the other animals we saw were the orang utans, the pygmy hippos, the chimpanzees, the giraffes, and the rhinos....

The kids obviously enjoyed themselves and were really tired by lunchtime. Will add more photos into photo album later.