Singing "Jesus Loves Me"

This is one of the reason why I prefer to put T in a Catholic school. They get to learn how to pray and sing nice songs. This song actually has a series of action that goes along with it. I've seen them perform it in school, but did not manage to get T to repeat the actions at home.

Dramatic Arts - Pirates 77

We watched a Cantonese children during the Easter holidays that I haven't post about.
This is a new play written and performed by the local children's performing arts group PIP.

'Pirates 77', the latest production by the PIP Theatre Kids, highlights their yearly 'Be Positive' theme. Given the current social situations and the associated challenges that demand us of optimism, 'Pirates 77' presents its timely tale about living on fresh courage. The educational, high-quality children musical thus would appeal to a family audience,


Story Background of 'Pirates 77'
'There is nothing better than traveling - except traveling as a pirate,' says the Pacific turtle.
As one of the world's most notorious gangs of pirates with a track record of victories through generations, the Dragons have spread fear across oceans and lands far and wide with their speed, cleverness, cunning and brutality, leaving a mark on the history of navigation. Having lived off the riches of their ancestors for centuries, the Dragons, now at their 77th generation, has exhausted their legacy and face an inevitable downfall despite their extravagant appearance. Humiliated by the retired seagull, despised by the old mermaid and with no more than five loaves and two fish left for their last supper, the head of family decides it's time for the Dragons to return and make the world tremble with horror again. Their target: the oil tanker.

Tonight, in the darkness of the rough sea, the 77th-generation Dragons take over the oil tanker with their super powers. They open the tank, only to discover...
'Pirates 77' is the latest children's musical by PIP Theatre Kids in 2009. Like 'Villain Village' and 'Moon 7.5', it is an educational and entertaining spectacle in which a tale of riches, hardship, courage and nautical adventure is told with the liveliest and most imaginative means on stage - an excellent chance for grown-ups and kids to gather for a cheerful boost of courage in the face of the adversity and anxiety that surround us today.

Frankly, both T and I didn't like the play. I literally feel asleep halfway through it and thankfully AhBeeiJie was there to keep an eye on T who kept asking to leave about 30 mins into the show. We did manage to sit patiently till the end of the show and left as soon as the curtains were dropped. I think the storyline is too heavy for a young child to understand, the costumes and stage was not all that attractive.

I think thats enough dramatic arts exposure for the last 6 months and we shall take a long break before attempting to go watch another one.

Happenings - Week 10, 2009

AhBeeJie, T & I watched another full lenght ballet on Saturday. It was the performance of "Alice in Wonderland" by the English National Ballet. The show was really colourful with lots of characters and sets. T was very excited when the show started and kept trying to talk to me about scenes. It was until the usher came over and 'shh' her that she kept quiet. Still I think she did pretty well for a 2 year old. Next on the list is a Canto children play and Swan Lake Ballet in April.

T & I made these together on Thursday night. I purchased a Mickey cake mould when shopping for bento stuff and T just loved the looks of the cake.

I did not manage to take any photo of the process as we were too focused on getting the cake in the oven by 9pm so T can wash up and go to bed.

She can only see them baking in the oven and had to wait till the next morning to have them for breakfast.

Happenings - Week 6 & 7, 2009

We went to watch the play "The Gruffalo". Found this play quite 'abstract' as the costume was really minimal and required alot of imagination from the kids to identify the characters of the mouse, owl, Gruffalo, etc... It was a 50 min play and T started to get bored after about 30 mins, but she managed to stay seated with minimal fussing. I think she prefers watching dances. Really regret I didn't manage to get the tickets to UN Ballet's performance of Alice in Wonderland. Well, we are on the wait list. Hope someone will call soon.


AhBeeJie was doing her homework in our house one evening and had this posture and look on her face. When she left, T did her painting and replicated the same posture. Reminds us once more that we must be ever so careful what we do infront of little children.


Saw a show on TV about local Taiwanese food. They talked about a "black pepper pork bun" and it sounded so yummy. I flipped through my recipe books and found a simple recipe and had T help me make them. We made a dozen and hubby and I finished all of them over the weekend.

Acheivements - Able to appreciate 2 hours of stage play

In our effort to expose little T to various forms of arts and music, we brought her to a childrens play + a ballet this holiday season.

I was a little cautious about how she would take it all in. If she would like it enough to stay in her seat for the whole show. So our first try was a childrens play. After all a play intended for children should be more lively and catch their attention better. I thought the the play was only 1 hour, but it turned out to be a 2 hours play with no interval. Surprisingly, T did like the lively story and was able to understand it (it was in cantonese). She was very focused during the 2 hours and did keep pointing things out to me as the story went along. "Mummy see, witch", "Mummy see, mum mum, yummy", "Mummy see, gor gor running", "oh oh... gor gor crying....". I was very happy to see her enjoying the show. When we went home, she even took out her broom and starting 'flying' around the house pretending to be the witch.

Her reaction to this canto childrens play gave me enough courage to bring her to a full lenght ballet. T has always seemed interested by dance and music and I was hoping that she will be able to enjoy this as much. The HK Ballet Company was performing "The Nutcracker" with a live Orchestra. We were fortunate enough to get tickets at such last minute. I told T about bringing her to watch dancing and she got excited. Once again, she surprised me by being able to appreciate for the full 2 hours, clapping loudly between each act, and even getting up to tap her feet along to the music towards to end of the play. On our way home, she kept asking me to dance. Mmh.... is it still to let her attend some ballet class?

I am so happy that T is able to appreciate such performance and am looking forward to having her accompany me to more shows in the future.

Next in the the pipe is "The Grafullo" play in Feb and UK Ballet Company performing Alice in Wonderland in March.