Sunday, 22 November 2009

On Friday, didi lucas had his end-of-year party at Julia Gabriels. We dressed him up for the occasion, complete with long-sleeved shirt and gel hair, just like daddy. What fun he had, tromping around, gnawing at his chicken wing and being amazed at how big and red Santa was. It sure is fun to be a kid!

On Saturday, blessed with good weather, off we went to the Bird Park. As it was not nat's first time at the bird park, she was not overly-excited. Didi lucas, who had never seen such big birds up close, was totally mesmerised by the birds and kept babbling away, keeping up a constant stream of conversation, although the only word I could make out was "bi..rd". Check out their expressions on seeing the birds, it is priceless!

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

I realise that I have not posted videos on my blog for a long time, so here goes, enjoy!

Nat enjoys piecing her jigsaws together, keeps her occupied for hours. These days, I just sit by her and accompany her, she can do most of it on her own as she is quite familiar with it.

Didi Lucas doesn't seem to dance as much in Julia Gabriel class as Nat used to. This is one of the rare times I managed to capture him dancing in class. That said, he loves dancing at home. In fact, when nat sings in the car, didi will sway and dance to her song.

Just before bedtime, nat and I were doing some chinese flash cards. Nat and Lucas have both been watching Chinese flashcards on DVD, these index cards are just duplicates of the terms found in the DVD. I think repetition really works for kids. Nat seems to be able to recognise the Chinese terms for squirrel, snake and worm. There are no pictures on my cards, so I guess she is basing it on memory and not by visual association. In this video, she is trying to teach the baby frog Chinese using the flash cards, it's quite cute to watch her.

Sunday, 15 November 2009


Remember nat's terrible twos phase? It did descend upon us at about 2 years of age. My baby boy, all of 14 months old, is reaching that stage. He cries and screams when he is unhappy, likes ultimate freedom to roam around and wants to be entertained constantly. He hates to be restricted, especially in his car seat. Everytime he has his temper outbursts, his sister will chide him in her grown-up voice, asking him not to be naughty and to behave so well, just like her. Amidst the noise, it is quite fun to watch them together. Lucas still adores his sister, always poking his nose into her business, especially when she is doing her jigsaws. However, I am proud to say my baby girl loves her brother too.

Just the other day, we were at one of those kiddy rides. I had only a dollar and the ride was meant for a solo driver. I explained to nat that didi wanted to ride on it, so could he have the ride on his own. Reluctantly, she agreed and without fuss.

Tantrums aside, my baby boy's personality is blossoming ever so nicely. He loves to dance and his favourite activity is dancing with his sister. He can dance to all tunes, especially nursery rhymes and will stand up and shake his butt. I really have to capture it in video some day. He now understands the concept of being praised and when I say "Clever Boy", he will clap his hands and look at me. He loves the song itsy bitsy spider, and especially loves the part when the poor little spider is washed out and he will splash his hands around in glee.

Over the weekend, we went about our outdoor adventures, the zoo, botanic and also a short trip to Orchard to enjoy the Christmas lights. The kids and even my maid had a blast. Normally, I do not "celebrate" Christmas in a big way, with a tree and all. However, this year, I wanted to do something different and make the experience more enjoyable for the kids, so I got us a tree from Giant (cheap and nice). My maid was rather excited, I think in Philippines, they celebrate Christmas in style, and she misses that, as she has been in Singapore for a few years already. Will take some nice pics when the house is all done up, with Christmas stockings and all.

At Botanic Gardens, we met my aunties who are frequent visitors to the park and the kids got the opportunity to play with Astro Boy. Nat used to have no fear of dogs when she was younger, just like lucas is now. However, at this age, she is a bit more scaredy, but she did like patting Astro. Thankfully, my kids are unlike me, who had an irrational fear of dogs when I was young.


Oh yes, please do check out nat's lovely skirt in the picture. I mentioned in previous posts that she is obsessed with having a tutu. We managed to dig out this skirt from her collection of clothes and told her it was a tutu. She loves it to bits and refuses to let us take it off. Interestingly, when I showed her a real tutu, you know the frilly kind, she politely thanked me and said she already had one.

Wednesday, 11 November 2009

The frustration at work melts away when I am with my kids. I refuse to let any negative energy affect my happy time with them.

As parents, we also celebrate the small achievements of our kids. I was truly proud of nat today when I walked into the living room and lo and behold, she had done a 30-piece jigsaw puzzle by herself. For this particular puzzle, she usually needs my help as the colours are quite close in terms of shade and I always guide her. She shone with pride as I heaped lots of praises on her. Didi also surprises me every day, we were watching a cartoon which was showing a tiger, and I kept repeating the word to him. Suddenly, a small little voice said "tiger", softly but clearly. Although, he did not repeat it again, I am quite sure he said it. What a clever little man!

Today, I brought my kids to Botanic Gardens for a walk. Instead of our usual route near the Visitor Centre, we went to the other end, nearer to Jacob Ballas. My mum had brought them there before and they enjoyed themselves feeding the birds.

My conclusion: I don't like birds, not in a big group anyway. My kids and maid were totally unfazed by the hoards of birds, pigeons, swans and all manners of birds flying towards us, in search of the bread in our hands. This scaredy mum quickly gathered her brood and made a quick getaway to feed the fish and turtles instead. At least fish can't jump out of the water, or, can they?

Sunday, 8 November 2009

After nat's flu, which she is still recovering from, I realise she has become potty trained 90% of the time. I'm not sure what the stimulus was , maybe during her diarrhoea sessions at the peak of her flu, she realised how uncomfortable it is to live with soiled diapers. Even during night time, she does not want to wear diapers anymore. Sometimes she will wake up in the night to pee, somedays she will sleep right through without wetting the bed and pee the next morning. I'm so proud of my baby girl.

Today, my maid had her day off. I was telling her to go out and have a good break, since she has been looking after our cranky kids 24/7. It's really quite stressful and I was glad that when she came back, she seemed more relaxed and happier. I had quite an easy time convincing nat to sleep today but didi was not sleepy. Gary kept an eye on him, while I caught a few winks. Thereafter, I entertained didi who was rather cranky. In the end, I did manage to lull him to bed, after rocking and singing to him.


I also managed to catch some pics of didi tottering outside at the balcony, exploring the area with his handy broom and dustpan. He even poked at the potted plants. I tell you, it took great determination to stop myself from whisking him inside the house the moment he headed for the plants. Sigh, experts say that it's good for kids to explore by touch, but does it have to be in the form of soil and grit under their fingernails?

Friday, 6 November 2009

It's been a rough month, taking care of sick kids. Nat passes the bug to didi, he passes it back to her, she passes it to him again! Sometimes, it seems never ending. When you see them on the road to recovery, playing with their stickers, drawing and colouring, just having fun with smiles on their faces and twinkle in their eyes, it really makes your day!

Over the past few weeks, I have been looking after nat quite dedicatedly, my maid looks after lucas. We figured no point for both of us to handle both kids, which increases the likelihood of cross-infection. When she cries, I'm there. I pat her to sleep, I sing her songs, I comfort her when she wakes up crying. However, since she is finally feeling better today, with less hacking, I figured I should go back to routine i.e having didi with me at night. Nat did not like this, she cried and wailed and it took my maid almost half an hour to comfort her.

Sleepless nights and hacking coughs/runny noses/fevers aside, the kids have progressed wonderfully, and for this I am always grateful and thankful.

Nat's latest obsession is jigsaws and we've accumulated quite a decent number, ranging from 3-4 pieces to about 30 pieces. For the more complicated ones, she will still insist on piecing it on her own, so I usually try to consolidate the similar looking pieces together for her or subtly suggest that this piece may go with that one. It's a great activity and keeps her occupied for quite a long time. Her writing skills are slowly improving and these days, I can just about make out the 'A' that she scrawls on the paper. She can now draw objects with eyes, ears, nose and mouth, this is a vast improvement from the time she would just scrawl rubbish on the paper. She can finally colour within the lines, this achievement must be attributed to popo who helped encourage her.

Her memory never ceases to amaze me. On one of our many visits to the pediatrician, she shared with me the story of Cinderella and Snow White, little tales that my mum had read to her. I could actually follow her storyline, with highlights of the ugly witch and the seven dwarfs. What got me laughing though, was that sometimes she got confused and suddenly in the middle of Cinderella, there was mention of a bowl of porridge on the table (obviously she was confused and had got it mixed up with Goldilocks and the Three Bears).

My darling lucas is now perfectly stable on his feet and just loves tottering everywhere, up and down, left and right, into the kitchen, into the playroom and into the nooks and corners of the living room. I've started flash cards with him and surprisingly, he actually focuses. I've also started reading storybooks to him and he focuses on my reading, peering intently at the pictures in the book. He enjoys it when I am overly-dramatic, with loud and soft tones in my voice. He responds to selective keywords e.g Say the word lion and he pets his chest indicating fear. Recite Jack and Jill to him and he will touch his own head, showing how Jack broke his crown. Even though he is my second child, I still love watching his little progressions into toddlerhood.

Just the other day, I was watching a documentary on new parents attending antenatal classes and I just started to reflect on the earlier days (not so long, in 2006) when Gary and I attended the antenatal classes together. Although tiring, those were great experiences we shared together as a couple and I'm glad we made an effort to enjoy such times together. As busy parents of two young kids now, such times are rare.

Now, if only the kids could recover quickly, I would love to enjoy family time once again in the great outdoors!

Sunday, 1 November 2009

Nat's fever has gone, thankfully. However, her hacking cough still remains. The problem is that whenever my maid feeds her medicine, she will force herself to vomit it out. Recently, I have taken over the job of feeding medicine to her, and over several feedings, I have picked up some tips.

1. Reasoning doesn't really work. Neither does threatening. Praises sometimes work though.
2. Bribing her with toys, or a favourite activity like painting works wonders.
3. The medicine has to be spooned into her mouth. She determines how big or small each spoonful is. Sometimes feeding just 3ml of medicine to her can take up to 10 minutes, as each spoonful is very small.
4. Mixing the medicine in milk works only when she is hungry, if not she leaves a whole lot of milk behind.
5. Comparing her with didi doesn't work, telling her that he is a good boy because he eats his medicine without fuss, just makes her more adamant about not eating her own medicine.

Sigh, I don't blame her, as we all know, cough medicine (the black type) tastes really quite yucky. Well, I'll persist in devising new and creative ways to get my baby girl to eat her medicine, wish me luck!