Sunday, 22 February 2009

Inspired by my mummy friend, I am attempting to do a reading list/book review on things that nat reads. Good platform for sharing as I found my friend's review very useful. Enjoy.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie & More Treasury - Laura Numeroff
I first heard of this author through some book discussion on children's books in the motherhood forum. Later, I took a look at the book in Borders and decided to buy it. Good decision as nat adores it. A must-read before bedtime. It is a good book for learning new words and is really quite creative as it gets the child thinking what happens next? I have read it to nat so many times, she knows exactly what the mouse is going to do next even before I get to that page. Buy it at Borders when they have their sale coupon, it's more worth it then. Her fave is still the Mouse & Cookie but recently she doesn't mind the Pig & Pancake either.

Hop on Pop - Dr Suess
I brought nat to the library yesterday. It's quite a difference from half a year ago. Then, she ran around the library and played hide and seek with me. This time round, she did not mind sitting down at one of the lanes and taking out books to read. She would choose a book, shove it to me and say "Mummy, read me". I borrowed this book because it is quite catchy and full of rhymes, like "hop on pop", "mouse on house". There is a lot of repetition of words and after a few reads, nat can remember some of the words . The pictures are not super exciting but overall, still a book worth reading.

Little Miss Series - Roger Hargreaves
I have always loved this series, ever since I was young, so I introduced this book to nat very early on. To date, she has read Little Miss Stubborn, Little Miss Shy, Little Miss Tidy. The text is a bit complex for pre-school kids and she loses interest towards the end. So instead of reading all the text, I kind of make up the stories based on the pictures as the cartoon is quite well drawn.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
Nat's absolute favourite author, and one of the first books we started reading on a regular basis. It's about a caterpillar and his eating adventures over a week, after which he transforms into a beautiful butterfly. Cartoon is very well drawn with lots of colours and the sentences are not too long. Even teaches the days of the week. A very good read for young kids. Nat can flip through the book on her own and she half babbles the story to herself.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? - Eric Carle
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? - Eric Carle
The first book features different animals like leopard, flamingo, hippopotamus and the sounds they make. The second one is also on animals but more focused on colours. We had this initial fear before that nat is colour blind as everything was red to her. But after reading this book numerous times, she is now familiar with all the colours. Phew! Again, I think the drawings are great and you can even sing a tune to the text. Youtube it and you will be able to find the tune somewhere.

From Head to Toe - Eric Carle
A very interactive book. The animals are made to do an action like a gorilla raising its shoulders, a donkey kicking. Then a question is posed to the kids on whether they can do it? Nat likes to show me the action when I ask her Can You Do it?

The Very Busy Spider - Eric Carle
This book is about a spider spinning her web and as different animals approach her, she is not distracted and keeps to her task. The spider is kind of small in the book so I love to ask nat to spot the spider on each of the pages.

I will do a review of some Chinese books in the next update, so do look out for it.

Saturday, 21 February 2009

My kids never cease to amaze me. Nat has a new toy, a cheapie guitar I bought, which makes a pitiful twanging sound when plucked, but nat loves it very much. She picked it up, pretended to play it and to my amazement, started to hum Edelweiss. I realised later that there was a scene in the Sound of Music, where the Captain was strumming a guitar and singing Edelweiss. How interesting that she can remember these things, and associate it with her own toy guitar.

My little man, Lucas is growing stronger every day. Flipping is a piece of cake for him and these days he is attempting to crawl, although he looks more like a worm at the moment, using his head to wriggle about. His favourite activity when you are carrying him is to step, step, step all over you. He can sit unassisted for a few seconds before he topples over. Gary's expensive carpets have become crawling mats for the kids, much to his dismay. Well, might as well put it to good use, right?

Sunday, 15 February 2009

Need I say more? His smiles are enough to melt your heart :) But when he is grumpy, he looks exactly like daddy. My advice: don't mess with him!

Saturday, 14 February 2009

Nothing too exciting to update, just some pictures and videos I took recently. Trying to introduce Chinese kiddie songs to nat, which she seems to enjoy. Even I enjoy it as some of the songs are quite catchy and I remember my mum singing it to me, when I was younger. She also likes role-playing these days, arranging her dolls on the carpet to watch tv together with her. Included a video we took of nat, when she was about a year old and just starting to explore walking, sigh ... brings back such sweet memories for me. Like I was telling gary, such moments cannot and should not be outsourced to the maid. Although it is very stressful running home from work to bring nat to Julia Gabriel, there are really no regrets :)

Haven't been taking many pics of lucas these few days, probably because he is rather cranky. He is teething, you can see the slightest hint of his pearlie white teeth at the bottom jaw. He wants to be carried all the time and requires the rocking motion before he sleeps. I also introduced that French boy choir to him today, seems to calm him down slightly, just like it did for nat.

Sunday, 8 February 2009

They say that when the 2nd baby comes along, the first one will be neglected. Definitely a myth. In reality, your first baby is at an age when she can demand your attention constantly. When this happens, it is oft the second baby that gets neglected as he is usually satisfied once he has been fed. I sometimes feel very guilty for "neglecting" didi lucas. As he reaches 5 months old tomorrow, I sense that he is beginning to want more attention from me. So this weekend, I arranged for gary to spend some time with his firstborn, while I tromped off for a walk at the nearby park with didi, just him and me. It felt good, I sang to him, pointed out the birds and interesting sights along the way and after a while, lulled by the comfort of the sling, he fell asleep. Moving on, I think we will try to have such "solo" outings, once in a while, especially when both kids get older, it's good to spend some time alone, with either one of them.

Time seems to have just flown by in a flash, these past few years. We got married in 05, conceived nat in 06, had our first kid in 07 and our second in 08. From swinging singles, we have become parents of 2 beautiful kids. Every day is a learning experience for us as we spend time with our kids.

Happiness is:
When nat comes up to me, plants a big kiss on my lips and says I love you, Mummy.
When lucas wakes up, looks up at me with his sleepy eyes and gives me a bright smile.

I love my kids :)

Saturday, 7 February 2009

A Letter to My Sweetheart, Natalie

Dear baby,

Yesterday, at Julia Gabriel, you cried and cried. Somehow, you have become scared of going for classes there. I noticed this happened after the Chinese New Year class, when one of the teachers dressed up as a dancing lion for the occasion. During a certain segment of the class, the teachers will hide behind the door and re-appear as interesting animal characters, lions, monkeys, rabbits, etc with their headgear.

These days, whenever you see the teacher heading towards the door, you will start crying. For the life of me, I cannot imagine why? After all, I think the teachers do look kind of silly and really unscary. It was only later in the car, when I heard you mumbling to yourself the following, that I realised just how differently babies think, as compared to adults. You were quietly telling yourself "Lion hiding behind the door, no scared lion will mum mum you." Your super active imagination is running wild, with thoughts of big and fierce lions hiding behind the door, ever ready to pounce on you. It is no wonder you end up in tears. I guess mummy has to be patient and learn to get through this with you together.

During the class, the teacher will sit you down and read out some Chinese characters to you. In return, you've got to parrot what she reads and she will reward you with a sticker. You absolutely love this segment, and are always ever eager to lay your hands on the sticker. Interestingly, this is the only time you will allow the teachers to hug you and talk to you. Any other time, if they even try, you will let out a big wail.

Every day with you is different, darling. Some days you are so super well behaved, it surprises me. Other days, you whine at the drop of a pin. Yet through it all, you have taught me to have patience and the meaning of loving someone without condition. As I was telling my friend, I never realised parenting was so hard i.e it does not just come naturally the moment you become a mummy. But you know what, it's all worth it when I see my 2 kids, happy and healthy.

Sunday, 1 February 2009

Yesterday, we had an early birthday celebration for nat. Her birthday is on 5 Feb but since it's a weekday, I decided to have a mini celebration for her on Saturday instead. Invited a few of her little friends over. The party was held at my mum's place as there is a big garden for the kids to run and get wild. I also rented a few toys for them to play, including good o'le thomas the train (pool) and a slide playset. They also had a blast playing with the sand and water play equipment I bought as a birthday present to my baby. We were blessed with really good weather, slightly cloudy with some sunlight. At first, I thought it was going to rain, but it never did.

I can't believe it, nat is going to be 2 years old already. Time has just flown by in a flash. Nothing has changed though, I still adore my kids. I love hugging them, smelling their baby fresh hair, listening to nat chatting away and didi cooing. I want to enjoy every minute of my kids' growing up experiences with them. It gets really tiring sometimes, but believe me, it's all worth it.

Oh yes, check out the Barney agar agar jelly cake, it's a change from the usual sponge and cream cake and was quite enjoyable.