Thursday, 29 January 2009

Over Chinese New Year, did some visiting, had some naps and took lots of pics of the kids. I have never been one to run around from house to house visiting, find it totally boring and tiring. However, I did enjoy dressing up the kids for the occasion.

Nat's Angry Face Nat's Happy Face

Sunday, 25 January 2009

I have always believed in things like a sixth sense and instincts. Yesterday night, both the kids were asleep, didi on the top bed (with pillows blocking him from flipping) and nat at the bottom bed, the maid was washing the clothes and gary and i were watching tv in our room. Suddenly I heard didi crying, usually, I would take my own sweet time to saunter over next door as his crying just meant that he had woken up and was looking for milk.

This time round, I also don't know why I just dashed to the next room. Maybe it was a different type of crying I heard or maybe it's just a mother's instincts to protect her child. Poor didi had somehow managed to push away the pillows around him and rolled onto his sister, sleeping on the bottom bed. There he was bawling away, and interestingly, nat just slept on. It was not a hard "fall" and nat is actually quite a soft cushion so I guess he was crying mainly from shock then from pain. A blessing in disguise as this has made us more mindful and vigilant in future, when leaving him on the bed when we are not in the room.

Have also included some pictures of nat at her Julia Gabriel classes. She is really a handful and one of the most active little girls there. I get really wiped out chasing her and keeping her in the class. Yet, at the end of the day, I look back and feel it's worth it, having some alone time with my baby, just me and nat. She has also managed to pick up some chinese words, check it out. Of course, she is only saying the words as she wants a sticker from the teacher. Like I said, she will do anything for food or stickers.

Saturday, 17 January 2009

Yet another outing to the zoo, well, we got to make the membership worth it, you know. It's nice though, everytime we go to the zoo, we have different experiences. Today, instead of hanging out at the waterplay area, we went to the petting zoo. Here, they keep small animals like rabbits, guinea pig and encourage kids to pet them gently. We even had the opportunity to have a close look at a stick insect, a rat and a baby hedgehog. Freaked me out, but nat bravely petted the rat.

Her favourite section in the zoo, besides the waterplay area is the Africa section, which features animals like lions, giraffes, rhino, etc. She can spend hours just looking at them. Today, she came face to face with a sleeping lion at the viewing gallery and commanded for it to wake up. Luckily, it bo chup her .... if not I would end up having to pacify a crying baby instead.

Thursday, 15 January 2009

One fine day, I was feeling bored, so I asked nat what's her Daddy's name? Imagine my amazement when she looked at me and said "Gary". She must have learnt it from all the numerous times she has heard me call Gary, such little nuggets of knowledge she absorbs and secretly keeps it in her memory. Anyway, I have since taught her my name and even popo's name.

Since starting Mandarin Playclub at Julia Gabriel, I have also started speaking in Mandarin more to nat, I think it is quite important to get her used to the language. At least, when you talk to her, she does not look at you as if you are talking a foreign language. In fact, with the right motivation, like a sweet, she will even repeat the Mandarin word for you over and over again.
I taught her this very cute rhyme about frogs.

一只青蛙，一张嘴两只眼睛，四条腿扑通一声，跳下水。。。

Just one minor problem, her one frog always has 八条腿 , I dunno why ... sigh ... is she destined to be bad at maths like me? haha!

Toddlers like nat also have the strangest ways of expressing themselves. Just before she goes to bed, she will make her daily request "Mummy, sleep me", for those who cannot decipher what it means, it translates to, "Mummy could you sleep with me?" Another interesting request - when you play a song on the music CD which she likes, she will ask for a repeat of that particular song by saying "Some more song", again, for he/she who cannot decipher the code, it just means that she wants some more of that same song.


Didi lucas is flipping left, right, centre. He flips when he is changing, he flips when is resting, he flips all the time. Put him in one corner of the cot and come back minutes later, you'll find him at the other end. But he really is getting cuter by the day. He has started sitting in the Bumbo chair a few minutes a day, seems to enjoy it. He is also drooling a lot, I suspect he is starting to teeth already, but I dun spy any white pearlies yet.

Tuesday, 13 January 2009

Had a nice weekend at the zoo, this time daddy brought nat on the slides. It's a really great concept, alfresco dining for the parents, interesting waterplay for the kids, water is not too deep, unlike a swimming pool. We will definitely be going there a lot more.

Over the weekend, I also picked up some nice cheap swimwear for nat and lukie. Check out what nat is wearing. Nice? 3 pieces for $12, my eyes gleamed, I love great bargains. Also had a mini get-together with friends to celebrate my birthday.

Wednesday, 7 January 2009

Yesterday marked nat's first day back at Julia Gabriel. It was a really different experience from last year. Before, she was just learning to walk, so she was content to sit in a little corner, playing toys and socialising with her little friends. At the grand age of 23 months now, she is super curious about everything around her. Most of the class was spent wandering around, touching, looking at things ... and basically ignoring the teachers haha.

I counted ... she threw tantrums like 3 times during the 2-hour lesson. She cried and whined when it was time to keep the toys, do the artwork, go back to class after running around the playground. Each time, I tried to bring her to a corner and "reason" with her, telling her that one must not be crying all the time, and she had to promise Mummy not to scream. She looked like she understood, but a minute later, she was screaming again. To me, this is a process that we have to go through together and I will try to be patient with nat. At snack time, she went a-looking for food after finishing her own and snatched her friend's biscuits, much to his dismay.

At the end of the lesson, one of the teachers looked at me sympathetically and asked if it was tiring taking care of nat.

While at the moment she is throwing her tantrum, you feel very frustrated, I know that this is just a passing phase for my little girl. As long as I am patient and teach her well, I am sure this will pass and she will once again be my sweet little girl.

Another milestone for didi, he flipped yesterday night. His very first official flip is dated Tuesday, 6 January 2009. In between waking up and screaming for his night feeds, somehow, he flipped :) I am so proud of my little boy.

Sunday, 4 January 2009

It's been a great start to the new year.

Some interesting activities we did over the weekend. First of all, we became Friends of the Zoo and Sentosa, all in one weekend, haha. I had been hearing rave reviews about the new Kidzworld at the zoo and brought nat there on Friday. She loved it and that was all she could talk about all weekend. Definitely have to go back there again some time soon.

We also brought didi lucas for his first haircut. His hair has been growing a bit patchily, with baldie spots at some places, so I thought, why not cut it all off and it will probaby grow more evenly after that. My brave little boy looked like he was going to cry during the hair cut but in the end he did not. He sure is one cool, handsome bald dude.

Having not gone on a holiday for more than a year, we decided to stay over at Sentosa for the weekend. While, it's not really an overseas trip, nevertheless we had fun as a family :)

Nat loves playing sand at the beach. She had a blast, running away from the seaweed floating in the sea, looking out for and screaming at "non-existent sharks" in the distance and blowing bubbles. After that, we moved to the hotel swimming pool at Rasa Sentosa and had fun there as well. Who says there is a recession, the whole place was teeming with tourists. That night, she knocked out really early and gary and I managed to steal away for a cuppa and some romantic couple time. The hotel also had some free running peacocks on the premises and nat kept squealing in delight as they ventured near us during breakfast time.

What a tiring yet fun weekend! We all concussed and had an early night after we came back from Sentosa.

Thursday, 1 January 2009

A rather quiet New Year we had today, started the day with breakfast, some light shopping stocking up on baby wipes and stuff (oh yes, daddy bought a super expensive pillow, tsk tsk!) and spent the rest of the day chilling at home. A peaceful day and hopefully a good start to 2009 for our family.


2008 has passed by in a flash. Spent most of it with didi lucas in my tummy, it was a great feeling and as every preggy mummy will tell you, after they are born, you will ironically miss those days.

2008 marked many milestones for nat as well. She started walking, then running, talking (non-stop), throwing tantrums and even having adult-like conversations with us. While sometimes you feel like throwing up your arms in frustration at her antics, at the end of the day, she is still our sweetheart. One new year resolution that gary and i are determined to keep to in 2009 is to instil some discipline in her. No more throwing herself on the floor of shopping centres, no more squirming out of the stroller and shouting "help, help" when we try to restrain her from knocking over breakables in the shopping malls. Cute as our darling may be, this is the age when some discipline is needed or else she could turn out to be a brat when she gets older.

In 2009, nat will continue with her swim class and begin Mandarin classes at the Julia Gabriel Playclub. I look forward to spending more time with my firstborn as she seems to be growing up oh so fast.


Didi lucas is now 3 months old and is getting to be a real charmer. Every morning, he smiles happily when you say good morning to him and coos so very excitedly whenever you pay him some attention. He is still on total breastmilk feeding, something which I am very proud of and I do hope that I can continue providing this to him for at least 6 months. While the experiences with didi is unlike what we went through with nat, as she is our firstborn, nontheless, it has been a wonderful experience. I love holding him in my arms and when he looks adoringly at you, you can't help but plant a big kiss on his chubby cheeks.

Finally, 2008 has been an "emotional" year for gary and me. During my pregnancy, I was always getting moody, grouchy and even after birth, there were times I could not control my emotions well. I am happy to have gary there for me, and grouchy as I may be, I appreciate all that he has done. While we may not be the lovey dovey lovebirds that we had started out as during our courtship years in junior college, I believe the love between us will be able to stand the test of time.

In 2009, we will both work hard to make our relationship even better and happier. After all, I strongly believe that when daddy and mummy are happy, the family unit will naturally be a happy one, with well-adjusted kids.

Have a great 2009, and I hope we do too!