Who says babies can't do great things

My 3yo has such a baby face that I always think of him as a baby rather than a soon to be 4yo. And because he is after all, the baby of the family, I am very protective of him and I am always looking out for him. Terence often has to remind me that Kit can take care of himself.

Kit had his school sports day shortly before the start of the June holidays. One of the activities required him to pour colored water from a plastic cup into a bottle. His teacher held the bottle steady for him just as he started to pour the water in. Then very shortly, his teacher let go. He never faltered. He held on tight and poured with a steady hand. All the water in the cup went into the bottle. He didn't spill a single drop.

His teacher must have been holding her breathe too because after he completed the task, we both looked up at the same time and gave each other a BIG smile. "Did you see that? He did it very well!" she said.

I started to see him as a big boy after that day.

Talking about small things that can get larger than life. The boys totally enjoyed themselves at the Mega Bugs Return exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre. Very educational and here's Diana F+'s perspective of the tunnel that 'shrinks' you before bringing you face-to-face with a butterfly and other creepy crawlies inside.

(Photos taken with Diana F+, 38mm super-wide angle lens, Lomography XPro Slide 200 120 film.)

Top of the world

Every time we travel, I see my boys grow up in ways I've never seen back home.

At just three years old, Kit climbed the 30m Play Mountain in Moerenuma Park together with Kai without even thinking twice about whether he can do it.

When they got tired running up and down the slope, they just threw themselves on the grass and rest. Or they simply rolled down the slope.

How cool is that for a pair of city dwellers?

(Photos taken with Diana F+, 38mm super-wide angle lens, Lomography Color Negative 400 ISO 120 film.)

Finding warmth in the snow

I've not altered any of the photographs here with software or any app. From the apocalyptic snow-scape here and the vintagie dreamscapes below, they all came from the same roll of film in my Diana F+)

I went to Hokkaido with my Diana F+, an analog toy camera, and just four rolls of 120 film. I came back with nine rolls. Given the unpredictability of a toy camera and that I was still trying to understand the camera, I was expecting 50-70% of the photos to be, well, very bad. But the results surprised me, and made me treasure the moments captured even more. The roll of film that I took along Shiretoko mountain pass delivered breathtakingly beautiful, dreamy results that are to be expected of lomography as we know it.

My note to Kai for his seven-year-old birthday contains my favorite photo of him from our recent trip to the famous Japanese island. Here're more photographs from that same roll. For the uninitiated, each roll of 120 film only yields 12 or 16 photographs? That's why I save them for very special memories.

# # #

The drive through Shiretoko mountain pass started rather innocuously. In Hokkaido, you get used to the snowy landscape very quickly. (And this is early summer in Hokkaido!) So while the first snow-capped peak and field of pristine, blanket snow would have taken your breath away, you get used to the rolling snow-scape very quickly. After a while, you forget it's there.

It was foggy and cold when we stopped to see the Shiretoko Five Lakes. As you can see from the photograph above, we didn't see the lakes at all.

Disappointed, we left the look-out point. After a short drive, we turned a corner and saw the most beautiful snow-scape ever during the short time that we're in Hokkaido. Someone, somewhere, long time ago must have seen what we saw because the government had built a road shoulder just so that cars could stop for passengers to admire the view.

DSLR and traditional SLR cameras would give you snow that is pure white, glistening, smooth, and sculptured. Lomography apps, Instagram, Photoshop could give you a sepia, retro effect if you so wish.

But the Diana F+ captured the happy dreamscape my boys were in when we brought them out to play in the snow.

What amazes me is the variety that you get from the same roll of film, using the same camera setting, same subjects, and all taken at the same place. The photographs look vintage in one, dramatic the next, and bewilderingly strange in another -- like the apocalyptic look in the first photograph of this blog post.

That's why I love analog cameras. They are as unpredictable as my boys.

Somehow the photographs captured the sense of contentment, peace, and happiness I felt as I watched Kit roll snowballs and had snowball fights with Kai.

(Photos taken with Diana F+, 38mm super-wide angle lens, Lomography XPro Slide 200 120 film.)

Happy (birthday) surprises

Snow ball fight on Hokkaido's snowy slope.
(A proud analogue moment, taken with my Diana f+, 38mm super-wide angle lens, Lomography XPro Slide 200 120 film.)

Dear Kai,

I apologize for not updating our blog as often as I should. I might not have recorded all of your (and Kit's) milestones over the past months, but I certainly remember spending many precious moments with my boys.

You are seven years old now, the year where you start your formal school years. Everyday, I struggle with giving you a balanced childhood. There is a lot of pressure to hothouse children at a young age. Many of your classmates/schoolmates' after-school schedule is filled back-to-back with tuition and enrichment classes. I only sign you up for activities which are absolutely necessary -- Orton-Gillingham (OG) classes, Chinese tuition, and swimming. Basic life skills. Tennis on Saturday? OK, that's because daddy wants to play tennis with you.

What I do, if you can remember when you finally read this, is to make sure you read an English book and Chinese short passage every day. There'd be days where I'd spend half-an-hour forcing you to speak in Mandarin to me. Occasionally, I make sure you understand the Math concepts taught in school. Then for the rest of the day, you are free to do what you like. Play computer games, watch TV, swim, horse around with Kit, draw, play with your Lego bricks. Whatever.

You grumble all the time when I say it's time for revision. But you always do it. You tell me you do it because you love me; I always tell you in return, that you will not know it now, but you're doing it for your own future.

Your achievements surprise me. Now you can recognize frequently-used Chinese characters with ease. You are able to read Chinese passages with confidence while last time you'd falter. You finish age-appropriate novels in two/three days. Your Math grades? Some times great, some times not so great. Some parents would think this is no big deal. But hey, I know you always try your best. I know you always do better, each time you try.

We spent your 7yo birthday in Japan. With amazement and a huge amount of pride, I saw you climb steep snowy slopes, sat your butt down on the cold and wet snow, and slide down the slopes again and again. This is an achievement for a boy who's afraid of roller coaster rides, sad movie/cartoon endings, and the deep end of the pool.

Happy seven-year-old birthday, my sweet boy. Continue to surprise me.