Our Journey Together

Isabelle @ 6 Months 3 Weeks

2012-01-20T07:33:00.001+08:00

Due to the recent bout of nappy rashes and flu, we had delayed our girl's vaccines until a week after she had recovered from the flu.

At the clinic on 7th January 2012 (6 months and ~1 week), her measurements were:
Weight: 7.2-7.4kg (my postpartum brain is bad)
Height: 69cm

I wonder if Ian's clothes have shrank? Because Isabelle is now wearing about 12M sizes in some of Ian's old clothes, and even some of the Gap/Carters/OshKosh dresses that I had bought for her. However, the percentile charts do not seem to put her height in the top range.

Her weight has been rather stagnant since 5 months, probably because of our recent trip to HK and also because of a poorer appetite when she caught a cough and a flu from her elder brother.

Since some time around hitting the 6th month mark, Isabelle could roll over from both sides, and from tummy to back, and vice versa. And now, she can also crawl, based on GD's definition of crawling (meaning move around on her tummy). Whenever we put her on the LG playmat, she will wriggle her way out of it quickly. And if some object catches her fancy, she will make her way towards the object. Ian has had a "hard time" keeping his slowly deflating blue balloon away from his baby sister. She has also been showing signs of wanting to lift up her butt, and hopefully, she can start creeping soon even though that means more efforts on our part to keep her safe.

She can also sit independently for a few seconds, before she topples over and go back to her crawling position. We are waiting eagerly for the day when she is able to sit more steadily, so that we can leave her on the high chair while dining.

I think that she is a rather quiet baby, as she has not started to make many babbling sounds. However, I noticed that when we forced her to take her medicine until she was crying very badly, she would let out a "ma" sound! Wonder when she could start calling us? I have always thought that girls develop speech much faster than boys.

Ian - Beginning of a new year means beginning of enrichment classes again!

2012-01-14T20:10:00.000+08:00

We have not been sending Ian to enrichment classes last year, partly because of my unstable pregnancy and partly because we had wanted to settle down to a more manageable routine with a new baby. However, we felt that his progress had stagnanted after stopping his LNT classes at the end of year 2010. Hence, Hubby also agreed to send him for classes starting this year. After gathering feedbacks from friends, we had shortlisted Chinese, Phonics and Piano classes for Ian.

Chinese @ Tien Hsia
The first of the enrichment classes to commence. The trial lesson was FOC, but we had to pay for the trial if we decided to sign up. The charging part did not make sense to me, but we signed up anyway because Ian said that he wanted to go again when we asked him right after the class. The good thing was that this centre did not make us pay registration fees or deposit. The bad thing was, a few days after the trial, Ian said he did not want to go again and he preferred the art class (that he attended in December) to the Chinese class. Errr... well, since we had signed him up for a term, there was no turning back now. Hubby and I agreed to give him some time in this class and see how things turned out at the end. Our objective was to see some improvement in his poor Chinese. Somehow, we felt that he had no interest in the language as he did not like to read Chinese story books nor speak Mandarin.

Phonics @ Jan & Elly
When I learned, during the first lesson, that the curriculum for learning the sounds of the 26 alphabets would stretch for 6 months, I opted to put Ian through a placement test upon the suggestion of the teacher. Ian passed the test for half the alphabets, and the teacher gave us a few options. One was to let him enjoy the class for the entire 6 months, or to home-tutor him the other half of the alphabets, or to take an intensive course of about 4 lessons to bridge the gap. And he could either join the intermediate class immediately, or wait for the current batch of students in the beginner's class to graduate and join them later. The risk in joining immediately was that he might not be able to catch up, because from their experience, most children start to understand sound blending only around the age of 4.5 years old. Since we felt that it was quite a waste of time to spend 6 months on the letter sounds when he knew at least half of it and could already recognise all the upper and lower cases, we opted for the intensive course. And, we opted to let him join the intermediate class immediately too, since the teacher felt that we could give it a try as he might be able to cope if we did some revision at home. He has since attended one intensive lesson and one intermediate lesson. The teacher's feedback was that he coped pretty well in the intensive lesson and was ok in the intermediate. But it could be due to fatigue from the back-to-back lessons (45 minutes of intensive course, followed by an hour of intermediate lesson). Anyway, there are 3 more of such tiring weekends to go, and then things will be less hectic again when it is only a one-hour lesson.

Piano @ Mandeville
Ian has always shown an interest in music since young, and after asking around, we finally decided to enroll him in this school as they have piano lessons suitable for his age group. It will only commence in February and we hope that he will truely like the class.

English/Mandarin Speech & Drama
The speech and drama classes were conducted in his school by Julia Gabriel. I had intended to sign him up for only the English version, but put a tick by mistake for the Chinese version. Even though I had scribbled away the tick, they had counted it as an interest to enroll in the class. I only got to know about it, after he had attended the first lesson (the school did not collect any payment until I asked about it later). Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, because Ian said that he enjoyed both classes. I had been secretly suspecting that he loved to perform, and probably this was the reason that he enjoyed the speech and drama classes now because he would have a lot of chances to perform! Hopefully, this mistake would also spur his interest in Chinese!

First Food For Isabelle

2012-01-10T07:57:00.000+08:00

This is the first food that we have introduced to Isabelle, at 6 months.

Frisocrem rice cereal, the same that Ian has loved when he is a baby. It is good that we still have a few extra spoons and bowl for weaning, left from Ian's time.

When I first fed this to Isabelle a few days before she turned 6 months, she rejected the taste, and literally blew out the cereal like blowing bubbles. It was daunting and messy. After a few more tries, she has gradually started to accept the taste. Now, she can finish about 1/5 of the bowl. She is a small-eater, and we have accepted this fact.

The Siblings

2011-12-20T23:16:00.005+08:00

A rare, nice shot of our 2 babes, with them looking at the camera at the same time...

Ian, 3 year and almost 9 month old.
Isabelle, almost 6 month old.

Ian, Wow, Art

2011-12-19T15:52:00.002+08:00

It was an official closure day for Ian's school today, and I had signed him up for a holiday workshop at WowArt Studio, after learning about it from a friend. It was $38 for one lesson (1 hour 15 mins).

Yesterday afternoon, Hubby had brought me around the area for me get a little more familiarized. This morning, after dropping Hubby off at work, the 3 of us headed directly to the studio although it was a little early. It was drizzling, so I could not park at the open carpark outside, even though it was very empty. Instead, I tried to park into the basement carpark. I was not sure whether it was open to visitors, and caught a fellow motorist around to ask. She was not sure whether it was open to guests but she had been parking there for an hour anyway. And the strange thing was, the barrier was up, meaning that she could exit without paying. Anyway, I just parked there as well, and brought the children up.

There were only 3 children in this class, which I liked for the small group. In the class, the teacher taught them how to knead clay, and they had to cut out some shapes using dough cutter. As expected of Ian, after he finished a shape, he would crush it up and do it all over again. The teacher had to remind him not to do that again after he had finished another one. She also helped to put the finished product aside so that he could not do it.

After Ian had settled down in the class, I went out with Isabelle back to the carpark. The carpark attendant was back, and she said she would help me with the barrier later when I needed to exit. There was a Sheng Shiong supermarket and I walked around. It was pretty cold, so I just grabbed myself a bottle of drink and returned to the studio to wait for Ian.

When I returned, Ian had already finished painting the clay model and they were doing free painting. When I saw his "abstract art", I thought that hmm, I had better enrol him in some art classes soon. I guess painting/drawing is not his forte, at this stage.

Here was Ian's finished product, though I was not sure how much of it was done by the teacher...

I had asked him on the way home on the class, and he told me that he liked going there, and asked me to bring him back again.

As for the carpark, the attendant charged me 1 hour 1 minute, $1.90.

We had originally wanted to meet up with Hubby for lunch, but unfortunately, he had been called away for a business lunch. Hence, we bought takeaway lunch from the drive-through Macs. It was Ian's favourite food and he kept bugging me to give him the fries on the way back.

HK Trip 2011: Day 2

2011-12-16T09:31:00.000+08:00

12 December 2011
We woke up at our usual timing - 7-8am and headed out for breakfast at Mongkok only at around 9am. Ian loved taking the Mickey Mouse train that ran between Disneyland and Sunny Bay.

We took the MTR to the Prince Edward Station first, and walked down the markets. We were in search of a cafe for pineapple buns and ying yang. Unfortunately, the cafe was located along the stretch of buildings that caught fire recently. There was a strong smell of burnt things, and we saw that a lot of goods from the stalls in the market were still around, some were burned, and some still intact. However, the whole area were cordoned off and there were policemen around.

Along the way to hunt for our next eating stop, we passed by the Ladies Market and quickly bought a set of Chinese costumes for both of them. They costed HKD180, perhaps slightly cheaper than our local prices. We did not haggle a lot because we were in a rush as Ian was grumbling that he was hungry. Hence, we settled down for a meal at a fishball noodle shop that we passed by. It was OK, so we had only ordered a bowl of noodles and a plate of vegetables to share.

When Ian's hunger was satisfied, we had more time to hunt for the next eating stop that we had planned in our itinerary - Mi-Ne Sushi. It was not difficult to find this place along Nathan Road. We ordered those that were not so easy to find in our local sushi chains - uni sushi, different grades of toro and some other miscellaneous. For Ian, he ate tamago sushi and ikura sushi. The latter definitely did not taste like what we had in Tsukiji Market, but that could be expecting too much. On the overall, it was a memorable and satisfying experience at this restaurant! How I wish I could taste them here!

Along the way, we went into the Xu Liu Shan dessert shop and took a short break again!

We had an early dinner at Ippudo Ramen, Silvercord Tower. Good thing that we had the itinerary planned with the route to take, so it was quite easy to find. We ordered the Akamaru Shinaji and another soup base which I could not remember the name. Unfortunately, we did not know that the ramen did not come with a half-boiled egg as we normally had them over here, so we had to order an egg separately after the ramen came. It was quite disappointing that the egg was white in colour, and not braised. Both types of ramen were quite good, but still, it was quite a disappointment as the local shop that we had been to, tasted better and had more ingredients, plus a tasty braised half-boiled egg. Perhaps it was better to have spent the time on some dim sum.

We attempted to shop at ToysRUs at the Ocean Terminal for a while before going back, but Isabelle was not cooperative. She was yelling in the store and I had to bring her out when we just barely stepped into the store. We tried to feed her and coax her, but nothing worked, until we carried her around. When we tried to put her back into the carrier, she was screaming again. So I had to take out my backup carrier - my sling - and tried to carry her in it. We endured the way back as my legs were aching after walking for the entire day, plus Ian was tired as well and Hubby had to carry him for part of the way back. On the way back to the station, we stopped at Xu Liu Shan again for a short rest.

When we were back at the hotel, we finally discovered the cause of Isabelle's crankiness - she had a nappy rash from her diarrhoea. There was a raw spot on her skin, and it must have hurt her a lot. Good thing that we had brought along the Bactoban cream, so we applied it with Desitin.

HK Trip 2011: Day 1

2011-12-16T09:00:00.043+08:00

11 December 2011

We arrived at Changi Airport at around 7am to check-in, and hopefully a kind ground staff could allocate a bassinet seat to us. However, it was a fat hope and we had to stick to our original seats, but they were good because we were near the toilets.

To our surprise, we saw Angry Birds and some other exhibitions. We hardly had time for breakfast and quickly took a few shots before finding a good spot to sit down.

After a quick breakfast, we headed to the departure gate. It was my first time on an A380 plane, and somehow, it had felt more comfortable. For this time round, we had chosen to take a SIA flight because after comparison with Cathay, the former turned out more affordable. It was a pleasant flight, but we reached HK later than the estimated time. We were probably lucky that Isabelle did not fuss much during the flight, and Ian was kept busy by the cartoons on the flight entertainment system and the tidbits that we had bought for him.

We took a cab to the hotel and it was cheaper than we had thought, less than HKD150. The check-in queue was rather long and I had to wait for Hubby to do the check-in, while keeping an eye on the luggages and Ian, who was running around the lobby. I had not expected the Disneyland Hotel lobby to be that crowded.

After settling down our luggages in the hotel room, packing our diaper bag, we set off to Tung Chung at 3.30pm, to the Citygate Malls. We had missed this place during our last trip due to lack of time, and this time round, we made it our first place to go because of the close proximity to the hotel and our lack of time. However, it was quite disappointing, because there was nothing that we wanted to buy from there.

At about 6pm, we had to rush back to the hotel again, for a dinner appointment with my long-time pal, Annie and her family. When we reached the Crystal Lotus restaurant, they had already arrived. It was a joy to see her lovely daughter for the first time in person.

Activity Books Completed in November 2011

2011-11-30T23:33:00.001+08:00

Riding on another wave of momentum in doing the activity books with Ian, we managed to complete yet another 4 books this month. We had worked on these books since a few months ago, and I was glad to be able to keep them away at last.

Preschool Basics - As the name suggested, a workbook of simple exercises for preschooler. However, we had needed to guide Ian in some of the activities such as the sound of a word.

快乐连线游戏 - Workbook for connect-the-dots from numbers 1 to 10. It was simple, but Ian did not draw very smooth lines to join all the dots. He did have a lot of fun colouring the pictures though.

My First Book of Mazes - We might have been working on this book for a year, because of the long hiatus from worksheets, here and there. Ian did not need help in tracing the mazes now. He was able to retrace his route and try another route whenever he encountered a dead end.

More Let's Fold - So glad to have finished this, at last! We had been working on it alongside with the first book in this series, as I had felt that he needed some reinforcement in the basic folding techniques that I found in the beginning pages in this book. However, as we finished the book, I thought that he was still not able to fold neatly according to the lines.

Isabelle @ 5 Months

2011-11-30T10:42:00.006+08:00

Our little girl is not a big eater like her brother. Till now, I am just starting to push her milk intake to 4-5oz every 3-4 hourly. However, many people have commented to me that she appears to be bigger-sized than her age. I feel rather puzzled, because according to statistics, she is merely in the 50-75 percentile range for both weight and height. And this is a result of adding one dreamfeed at 1 plus AM just before I call it a day.

As of this month, Isabelle is now a proficient flipper, abeit only from back to tummy, on her right side. She likes to sleep on her tummy, or her side. Whenever we put her down to sleep, she will quickly turn to her side or her tummy, and find herself a comfortable position to fall asleep. In a way, it is a good thing because her head will not become as flat as Ian. On the other hand, we have to be more vigilant when she is sleeping and make sure she is able to breathe well.

Ian @ 3 Year 8 Months

2011-11-29T12:03:00.000+08:00

We have an early Christmas visit from Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer!

Our super duper active boy had a fall from the sofa at G2000 Takashimaya about 2 weeks ago. His face landed flat on the rough mat and his skin sustained scratches from the mat. The bump on his forehead has subsided a lot now, but his broken skin on the nose is still red and pretty raw. It does not help that his itchy fingers are always scratching and peeling on the wound!

As of now, his weight is approximately 16-17kg, height is approximately 105-110cm. I think he is the tallest boy in the class now!

He is now able to read books with simple words. During the recent Popular sale, I purchased more of the Peter & Jane series (3a/b, 4a/b) for him to progress to the next level. As always, I have difficulty in making him sit still during our reading sessions, unlike Daddy. Wonder how to make him improve on his attention span?

Isabelle's Smile

2011-11-28T11:47:00.000+08:00

Today, she surprised me by flipping from her tummy back onto her back! She has also been trying to move around on her tummy, by kicking the floor with her toes. Like Ian, she is now at the stage of drooling, drooling, and drooling! We have endless loads of laundry to do for the two of them!

I also noticed that a pearly white line is sprouting from her lower gum. Will try to take a picture of it soon!

Isabelle @ ~ 5 Months Old

2011-11-26T21:31:00.002+08:00

Isabelle had been having a low grade fever since Friday. On Saturday morning, we decided to bring her to get checked by the PD. She was diagnosed to be having a viral fever. The PD also assessed that her neck support was strong enough, and we could her on solids.

Her weight as of today - 7.03kg.

It seemed a bit slow as it was slightly below a 1kg gain from last month. However, when I checked the growth chart in the health booklet, her weight still fell around the 75th percentile.

Isabelle had also been able to rotate 360 degrees, when on her tummy. She had not been able to flip from tummy to back yet, but was already proficient in flipping from the back to the tummy. She loved to sit up and look around her as well. Her naps were getting shorter too, and that meant I had to pay more attention to her. Just recently, I had found, on different occasions, the swaddle blanket and pillow over her face. Or else, she would be flipping to her tummy in her sleep, and once, face down. I had to remind myself to be constantly checking on her, even at night. It was a good thing that she would make noise if something was over her head.

I finished flashing the GD outline cards to her about a month ago, and had started on the words cards and also the Math dots cards. Pretty slow here, but I am trying!

Our girl also loved to make "ah" and "uhm" sounds when she was playing. Perhaps she had found her voice, and enjoyed hearing her own voice!

She also loved to clasp her hands together, and appeared to be studying her own fingers and hands.

One thing that set her apart from her brother, was that she loved to smile! And she was a lot more responsive than Ian when someone played or smiled to her. One funny thing that I noticed was how excited she would react whenever she spotted her Daddy. She would fix her eyes on him and kick wildly.

Our girl simply melted our hearts when she smiled sweetly at us! I guessed that girls were inborn with an ability to be very sweet!

Ian's Development Assessment

2011-11-25T21:59:00.000+08:00

We had an early parent-teacher session in Ian's school, as we were not able to make it for all the scheduled dates in December.

Overall, the teachers were pleased with his academics and independence, and mentioned that he was quite advanced academically. Their primary concern was still his behaviour. Even though he knew that something was not to be done and could even say the consequences, he would still attempt to do it. The teachers also admitted that he fared better in a smaller group setting, but needed a lot of attention. He would also have sudden outbursts when the teacher talked to him on what he had done wrong, for instance.

As we had a review session with the child development doctor in the afternoon, we mentioned the above to her. She proposed to send Ian to a few occupational therapy sessions to manage his emotional behaviour, and in the meanwhile, to schedule for a session with a child psychologist.

Upon my request, she also did an assessment for Ian, but based on a 4-year-old guideline since he was only a few months away from hitting four. He passed most of it and the doctor said he had already reached the 4-4.5 year old level in most of the items.

We were contemplating putting him into another childcare centre, but due to our location, there were limited choices available. Hence, Hubby suggested looking into more enrichment classes for him at the time being, as he felt that Ian's progress had been slowed down since last year.

Trial Class @ Kindermusik

2011-11-21T21:51:00.000+08:00

I had received a coupon for a complimentary trial class at Kindermusik via their Facebook page. So we decided to bring Isabelle for the class this morning, since Hubby was on leave and Ian was in school.

We arrived a little early, and waited some time for the rest of the kids to arrive before the instructor started the class. As expected, Isabelle was the youngest babe in the class. Most of the others were already crawling at least. Halfway through the class, she became cranky, and Hubby brought her out to feed her.

She managed to calm down a while later, and we managed to complete the class. However, we both felt that she was still a little too young for it.

Keepsakes

2011-11-01T10:26:00.005+08:00

When Isabelle was a month old, we brought her to the Taimaobi Centre opposite TMC to have her first haircut, as well as to make these keepsakes for her.

The brush is to wish her wisdom and the umbilical cord stamp is to wish her good health and wealth. We ordered almost the exact set as Ian, except that they no longer sell the semi-engraved brush, so we have bought the fully-engraved brush instead. The photo mug came as a freebie from the shop.

Have to thank my 2nd sister-in-law for collecting these goodies on our behalf from their outlet at TPY!

Isabelle - 1 Week to 4 Months Old

2011-10-22T21:18:00.001+08:00

We brought our little girl to have her 2nd doses of the 6-in-1 and Pneumoccocal vaccines today. We were glad that she did not cry, and had no fever.

Her stats:
- Weight = 6.35kg
- Height = 64.5cm
- Head circumference = 41.5cm

Her weight gain was on good track, about 1kg gain from a month ago. Now, her weight and height were around the 75th percentile. We were glad because her weight had been a worry for us since she was admitted to the hospital during her full month.

Isabelle's First Flip - Tummy to Back

2011-10-09T16:23:00.000+08:00

Our little girl was having her tummy time as usual, and to my surprise, she put down her head on the mat, turned the body sideways, and appeared to be struggling to turn over to her back. I quickly called out to Hubby to watch Isabelle, as she was about to perform her first tummy-to-back flip. With great luck, both of us witnessed her first flip (some parents did not get the privilege if it happened while they were away at work)!

It would probably take a while before she would do it again, but still, it was an unassisted flip!

Isabelle Lifts Her Head

2011-10-03T14:58:00.000+08:00

After the session from GD, we decided to work harder on Isabelle, and to give her more tummy time. Her neck was still not strong enough and as of 3 months, she still could not flip.

Yesterday evening, since our girl was wide awake, Hubby put her down on the playmat to let her have her tummy time. Her two arms were "stuck" at the side, arms straight and she did not know what to do with them. So we had to help her bend her arms and put them near to her body, so that she could use them to prop herself up. We had some success getting her to lift up the head, but as usual, she was frustrated after a while.

This afternoon, since she refused to go back to sleep, I put her on the mat again to let her have her tummy time. To my joy, she propped herself up, and lifted her head higher than yesterday. She lasted in that position for at least 10 seconds. She also demonstrated lesser frustration in this position.

We would continue to work on our girl more diligently!

Activity Books Completed by 3.5 Years Old

2011-10-02T16:35:00.000+08:00

After a long break, I tried to get back on track with the activity books with Ian. We finally managed to complete another 2.

Kumon Let's Fold - We had started working on this book since the beginning, but progress had been slow because Ian was not able to follow the fold lines well. I had alternate the exercises in this book with More Let's Fold, hoping that the repetitive exercises would reinforce his skills. After what seemed to be more than a year, we finally completed the first of this series. As of now, Ian still could not fold neatly along the lines, and I wondered whether he simply had no patience for this or???

Chinese sticker book - Matching oddly shaped stickers to the scene. I was not sure how this helped in CQ, but Ian had a lot of fun playing this.

Ian Is Reading!

2011-10-01T21:22:00.002+08:00

We finally paid a visit to GDBaby for a refresher course, after procrastinating for so long. I attended the advanced class first, because I wanted to see how to get back on track with the GD program with Ian.

Since Ian already knew quite a number of words, I was given a simple book to "test" Ian's proficiency in reading. To my surprise, he could read most of the book. When he came across a new word, he would try to sound out by looking at the beginning letters, though he might not get the pronounciation correct eventually. Hubby said he was looking at the picture and second-guessing the words though. So, Ian was asked to participate in the demonstration on how to do word-play. And the instructor concluded that Ian was already reading.

He did not have to continue with the GD method any more, but we just had to expose him to a big variety of books, and to try to get him to read books with more words and less pictures. Since Ian already knew the numerals, we did not have to do the Math program with him too, but just to expose him to all the concepts that we ourselves knew. The world is the limit now.

Before leaving, I had a brief refresher on the method for a newborn. I hope that with Isabelle, I would get more use out of the cards.

Crafts: Project for September 2011

2011-09-26T03:13:00.000+08:00

It had been a super long hiatus from doing crafts with our little boy. Since we were keeping him at home away from school due to his fever over the weekends, I found some time to repeat a craft that we had done before - a rocket! I helped him cut out the construction paper and put some double-sided tape on it, before allowing him to paste over the toilet roll. I also helped to make the cone at the top and secured it for him with a craft glue. Ian had some fun sticking the leftover stickers from the mosiac crafts as a decoration for the rocket.

Isabelle's Vaccines

2011-09-24T15:19:00.001+08:00

We brought our little girl to have her pneumoccocal vaccine today, and to our surprise, Dr said that she could take the Rotavix as well as the 6-in-1 as well. We did not feel so comfortable with her getting poked so many times in a day, and hence decided to delay the 6-in-1 till next month.

As of 2 months 3 weeks, Isabelle was:
- Weight: 5.5kg
- Height: 60.5cm

She was in the 25-50th percentile for weight, and 50-75th percentile for height. Dr was not worried about her low weight, because she had actually gained 1kg since last month, which was just right. Dr said we should not start solids for sure because her neck was not firm enough. Well, we did not plan to start this early anyway!

Goodies!

2011-09-20T11:02:00.000+08:00

Ian loves the no-brand cars shirt from Por Por and always reaches for it first whenever it is back from the laundry. However, he has already outgrown the shirt and we are also short on his pajamas. I saw these shirts on Kohls and since they were still within reasonable budget, I grabbed them for him. It was also partly because he had been eyeing on the Cars merchandise when we were out shopping. It was cute that when the long-sleeved shirt was dried for the first time on the laundry line, he took it down himself and told me it was dried and he wanted to wear it to bed. To my surprise, he could almost fit well into it, and I had purchased a size 5. The short-sleeved shirt was a size 4 and he could already fit them now. Glad that I am buying 2 sizes up nowadays!

Now, Isabelle's share of the loots... her first soft-soled shoes, from Sneak-A-Roo...it is a bright pink but the colour looks way off in the photo which was taken with my iPhone. I bought the smallest size (0-6 months) but it is still too big on her, even though the shoes would not drop off her feet. Perhaps they would be just nice on her for CNY!

And more dresses from Kohls.. simply love these seersucker dresses from Youngland. I have bought them in various sizes from 12m to 3T, and they are just waiting now for Isabelle to grow into them! :)

Swim, Isabelle, Swim

2011-09-19T21:09:00.000+08:00

I brought Isabelle to her first baby spa session at Northpoint this afternoon, and signed up for a 22 swimming sessions + 5 massage sessions package for her. As of 2.5 months old, her neck was still not strong enough to lift up from the ground and she had not started to flip yet. Hopefully, some physical exercises would benefit her.

She spent most of the first 15 minutes just floating in the tub, not knowing what to do. As usual, her fists were tightly clenched. She only started to move a little in the water towards the end of the swim, after which, she got to enjoy a session of massage.

Too bad Daddy was always so busy, and could not witness Isabelle's first dip in the water.

A Short Getaway ... Club Med Cherating

2011-09-06T16:47:00.001+08:00

Hubby's company treated them to a retreat and he topped up $800+ for the 3 of us to tag along this company trip. We did not take the coach, but drove up all the way north, with 3 other cars.

3 Sep - At 4am on Saturday morning, I woke up to finish packing the last of the things that needed to go with us. It was a little challenging to get Ian to wake up and get dressed. When he was done, we simply picked up Isabelle as she was ready to go in her pajamas. We drove over to my mom's place to pick up the visitor's cards, and as I had expected, she was waiting for us. She came out to the car to see our 2 kids, before we went on our way to meet the leader of the cars gang.

After meeting the leading car and another car, we headed to the causeway checkpoint. We passed through smoothly, and headed to the first rest point to meet up with another car. After a quick toilet break, we proceeded up the highway. We had a break for brunch along the way, but Ian was not fond of eating burger. Luckily, we had packed some Coco Crunch and he snacked on them later on.

Ian pretty much enjoyed the scneary outside, while Isabelle was sleeping most of the way, thankfully. (During our last self-drive trip to KL when Ian was only 5 months old, he got cranky along the way and was yelling in the car.)

We took a different route from the rest of the colleagues who were in the coaches. Our way was longer but less bumpy. We spotted the Twin Towers about 3/4 of the way to Cherating. It had been 2 years since we saw this landmark.

We reached the desination at about 2pm. To our dismay, we could not check in as the last coach had not reached yet, and had missed the lunch hour in the restaurant. Anyway, we managed to sneak into the restaurant and took whatever was left on the buffet tables. When we finally got into the room, we quickly showered the 2 kids, and then Hubby had to change and attend their team building session. I was alone in the room with both kids, and as usual, Ian made me want to pull my hair.

When Hubby was back, it was almost time for dinner. We had to wait a little while outside the restaurant before they were opened for the guests. The buffet spread was not too bad. Ian enjoyed the ice cream cone the most!

After dinner, we walked around the resort to see what other things there were to do. There was a show at 9pm, so we went in to join the crowd. It was a prize presentation ceremony, and we got so bored, plus Isabelle was not very happy with the noise, so we left the place and went back to our room.

4 Sep - Early this morning, we woke up later than we should. Hubby had to attend a meeting with the colleagues at 9am, and we were left with around half an hour for breakfirst. To our surprise, many of them were late as well, and we quickly ate and Hubby joined the team for the meeting, while Ian, Isabelle and I stayed back at the restaurant to eat some more. Ian was not interested in his food as usual. We hanged around for a while until Hubby returned. After that, Ian and Hubby went for a dip in the pool. Needless to say, Ian enjoyed the pool a lot!

After the swim, we returned to the room for a short rest again, before going out for lunch. After lunch, we explored the area again, this time going to the beach. It was a hot day, and we walked for only a while and returned to the pool area for a drink.

We went on to explore the other activities that were offered in the resort, like archery and mini golf. Ian enjoyed playing golf for a short while, and on the other hand, Hubby and I enjoyed shooting some arrows. There was nothing much for us to do and we decided to take the tram to check out the other beach. There was nothing much to be seen, except that it was a super bumpy ride!

After a short rest, Hubby brought Isabelle back to the room for a shower, while I brought Ian to the Mini Club for a cookie making session at the beach. Ian enjoyed it immersely, thinking it was playdoh! After the session ended, we returned to the bar area to meet up with Hubby again. Dinner for the day was slightly different from the previous day. I discovered the Japanese section that served pretty delicious soba and roasted barley drink!

We had an early night after some packing, because Hubby was going to have a long day ahead the following day... driving all the way south!

5 Sep - We woke up slightly earlier and went for breakfast as usual. After breakfirst, we joined some of the colleagues in the mahjong room to idle the time away before checkout. After checkout, we had lunch and took a group photo before heading off. When Ian boarded the car, he was holding and staring at the Angry Bird game that his Daddy had bought on the way here at one of the rest points. This time round, we passed through KL and saw the Twin Towers again up close! Unfortunately, there was jam and it delayed us a bit. It was about 10pm when we finally reached home.

So glad to be home! It was a nice getaway, and at least Hubby did not have to work for that one weekend! I think Ian enjoyed it the most though. Forgotten to mention - he had an ice-cream cone at every lunch and dinner there! It was also very kind of the colleagues who had helped us with our many luggages!

Isabelle Likes to Socialise

2011-08-17T16:20:00.001+08:00

Recently, we noticed that our little girl has started to smile at us. During the day, I attempted to play with her by coo-ing and talking to her, or touching her face. When she saw me, she would give me a heart-melting smile. She must be a happy baby, because she often smiled or let out a chuckle in her sleep. From my memories, Ian did not smile at us this early as Isabelle (just over one month old). Perhaps, girls do develop faster than boys?

Isabelle's 6-in-1 Vaccination

2011-08-13T16:13:00.000+08:00

We brought Isabelle to her PD for the first 6-in-1 vaccination. As she has just been discharged from hospital not too long ago, Dr skipped the Rotavirus vaccine for this time, so that her body would not be so overloaded.

The clinic assistant took Isabelle's weight and height. As of 6 weeks old, she is:
- Weight: 4.4kg
- Height: 58cm

Her statistics were not as fabulous as Ian who always topped the charts. Perhaps it was because she was a small eater, unlike Ian. As of now, her milk intake was still hovering around 60ml every 2-3 hours.

Mosiac Fun

2011-08-06T17:38:00.000+08:00

I introduced Ian to the world of sticky mosaic crafts (Alex Little Hands - Pretty Things) recently and to my surprise, he could do it without much help from me - when he opened up the package, he already knew to match the shapes and colours of the stickers to the cardboard. However, he lost patience along the way, and was playing around with the stickers, until I joined him in doing the craft to arouse his interest again.

Isabelle's First Haircut

2011-08-01T16:50:00.002+08:00

After Isabelle had been discharged from the hospital, we crossed the road and popped by Taimaobi centre to have Isabelle's first haircut, and also to make the brush and umbilical cord stamp.

Before the cut...

After...

Isabelle Is One-Month Old

2011-08-01T13:43:00.000+08:00

On 24th July, we held a customary full month 'celebration' for Isabelle with the immediate family. Well, not exactly a celebration, but rather going through the rituals of praying to ancestors and distributing cakes among the family.

Early in the morning, Hubby, my mom, and Ian went to collect the cakes. After that, Hubby dropped off Mom at the temple where she wanted to pray for Isabelle, and in the meanwhile, Hubby drove back to fetch us before going back to the temple to fetch my mom.

Back at my mom's place, we offered prayers to the ancestors, had our lunch, before going to Hubby's parents' place for another round of ancestors praying. After that, we delivered a box of cake to Hubby's godparents before heading home.

On 29th July, one day before Isabelle turned one month old, I was down with a fever and was not sure whether Isabelle was sick too. I informed Hubby about my fever, and he returned home during lunch to bring us to see the GP. My fever had subsided by the time we reached the clinic, and since Isabelle was there, we asked the doc about her as well. To our shock, she was running a high fever and the doc suggested us to bring her to the hospital immediately, as she could not accept a patient under 6 weeks old.

We dashed down to TMC for the pediatric clinic since our usual PD was closed under the evening. We had to wait a while for 2pm when the doctor would return from lunch. In the meanwhile, the nurse took her measurements and put an urine bag on Isabelle to collect the urine sample for tests. While waiting, we took a quick lunch with Delifrance sandwich.

I was in a shock, when the doctor said that she had to be hospitalised for at least 3 days, as they treat infants under a month old very seriously. Moreover, the bacteria test result would only be out in about 3 days. We proceeded to do the admission and then waited in the ward for the doctor to visit again. We decided that Hubby would stay in the hospital while I return home to take care of Ian. The nurse offered to bathe for Isabelle, and when they returned, she said that her weight was only 3.2kg. We were totally stunned as we had always felt that she had been gaining weight!

For the next 2 days, I had to shuttle to and fro the hospital with Ian. On Saturday, it was the first time I drove out alone with Ian to a shopping mall to shop and settle our lunch. We went to Causeway Point and the ongoing renovation made the place a big mess. We could not find our favourite sushi chains on the top floor and in the basement. Hence, I brought him to his fave haunt - MacDonalds. I ordered a kids meal for him, and it was a torture to watch him eat. I had finished my burger and all he had were fries and my coke. I had to trick him to finish 2 nuggets, while I ate the other 2. It was fortunate that he loved to eat corn, so there was no difficulty in making him eat that on his own. We brought some fruits and bread before going home to let Ian have his beauty sleep. In the evening, Hubby brought Ian out to buy dinner while I took over the duty at the hospital for the time being. We had udon and sushi for dinner, and Hubby also got the Koi bubble tea that I had been yearning for since I had abstained from it during my pregnancy. We sat around for a while before I brought Ian home.

On Sunday, the doctor brought us good news that the bacteria tests were negative and Isabelle could be discharged on Monday. So on Monday, after putting Ian into his school, I headed for the hospital straightaway. The nurse took her weight again - almost 4kg. Daddy had done a good job in feeding her every 2 hourly in the hospital.

The Siblings

2011-07-15T16:38:00.001+08:00

3 year old vs 2 week old

Our New Family Member Has Arrived...

2011-07-02T15:51:00.000+08:00

Here is the story on 30th June...

12am - I passed the birthday card to Hubby just before going to sleep. I was feeling crampy as I had been for the past few days. The feeling was getting worse as my EDD approached.

2am - The pain in the stomach woke me up. I was not sure whether it was just another tummy upset that I had been experiencing for the past few days or weeks, but it was bad enough to make me want to go to the toilet. I started to time the pain while in the toilet. It was not exactly regular at 9 minutes apart, with some milder ones at 4 minutes apart.

3am - The pain did not go away despite waiting for an hour. It was getting worse and the intervals seemed to have shortened to 3-4 minutes. I still was not sure, but I woke Hubby up to go to the hospital, just to play safe.

3.30am - I had changed myself, and was waiting for Hubby to get ready. In the meanwhile, I called my Mom to alert her that we were bringing Ian over. After making the call, I prepared the things to go along with Ian (recorded children programs and some tidbits) in case my Mom could not handle him. On the way out, Ian pee-ed on Hubby's shirt. While my contraction was getting so bad that I could hardly stand, we had to change Ian and Hubby.

4am - Reached my Mom's place and Hubby went into the house to settle Ian down. It seemed like forever while I was waiting in the car, with the contractions coming closer and getting more painful. When Hubby was back, we sped down the roads to the hospital. It was lucky that there were very few vehicles at this hour.

4.30am - Reached the hospital. Hubby dropped me off at the guard post while he parked the car. It was lucky that this time round, the guard immediately called the nurse, who came almost immediately with a wheelchair. (When I was in labour with Ian, I had to climb the stairs on my own!) Hubby joined us while we were waiting for the lift, and I was wheeled all the way to the labour ward. It was lucky that Hubby was around this time to help me, while I changed into the hospital gown. (The last time, I was suffering alone in the toilet because the contractions were too painful for me to walk back to the bed.)

Hubby had to go down to do the admission, while the nurse did a cervix check for me. I was rather shocked that it was already 4-5cm. The nurse called for enema, and I asked for the laughing gas as the pain became more and more unbearable. While I was dizzy with the gas, I was not sure how long later it was when the nurse came again and said it was too late to take the enema or the epidural when I was already 4-5cm dilated. I was wheeled into the birth room, and Hubby was still not back.

While in the birth room, I was so glad to have the gas mask back. I was not sure why this time round, the gas was making me nauseous. I had to remove the mask whenever the contraction was gone. It had made me half asleep such that when the nurse talked to me, I could not even hear her properly. I was afraid that the pain would become too unbearable, so I asked the nurse for the thigh jab. When the contraction was gone, the nurse got Hubby's name from me and went outside to call. Hubby had just returned from the admission counter and came in immediately. He held the mask for me, so that I could relax my arms.

The nurse did another round of cervix check and said it was about 8-9cm and the action would be coming very soon. I vaguely heard the nurses going out to call for my gynae again. I did not know what time it was, because I was too delirious from the effect of the gas, but my gynae came finally. After she had prepared me, I was told to push hard during the contractions.

5.28am - At about the 3rd try, our baby finally was out.
Weight: 2.96kg
Height: 48cm
Head circumference: 33cm

As the hospital was too packed, we were pushed to the "VIP room" (basically a suite divided into 2), while waiting for our ward to be available. Unfortunately, the single room that we had wanted was fully occupied with a long waiting list. Big thanks to Hubby for upgrading to the single premium room for me, so that I could get more rest while I was in the hospital.

Hubby quickly went back to my Mom's place to bring Ian to school, while I waited alone in the hospital. Surprisingly, our PD came and she had already checked our girl (it was only 7 plus in the morning). She said that everything was fine, but unfortunately, she was going overseas for a conference for the next few days, and so had gotten her good friend to take over for the next 2 days.

My gynae came again at around 8.30am to check on me. She saw that I had not touched my breakfast yet and kindly pushed the table to me and told me to eat. Hubby also returned at around 9am and helped me scooped my noodles as it was still a bit challenging for me to sit upright to eat.

We waited until after lunch, when finally, we were pushed to our ward. Coincidentally, it was just next door to where I had stayed when I delivered Ian. It had been renovated and was so much more comfortable now.

Anyway, here is our newborn... baby Isabelle!

Here are the siblings!

Although it was a short and comfortable 2-night stay, I had missed the men at home. We were also glad that Ian had taken it well, when he came to visit his little sister. Poor Hubby had to shuttle to and fro a few times in the 3 days, and bringing Ian over to keep me company for both evenings. And thank you for being there once again!

Weekly Checkup: Week 38

2011-06-25T17:08:00.001+08:00

"Expecting to see some action this week" were the words Dr Tan said to us, after she did my checkup.

Our baby is now:

3.2kg
Engaged

However, cervix is still not opened. And again, she reminded us to rush down to the hospital if the contractions came to intervals of 15 minutes. She said that the contractions would start as mild, irregular ones, and then become regular. If we were not sure, it would be better for us just to come down to the hospital. She was also afraid that the pain would progress too quickly and become too intense for me to walk, if we did not make it to the hospital fast enough.

Hubby is wondering whether his girl is bent on sharing the same birthday as him!

Weekly Checkup: Week 37

2011-06-18T23:18:00.004+08:00

Another long wait today. Even though we booked the last appointment at 12pm, we only entered the room after 2pm and had to wait for a while.

This week, I did not gain much weight myself, but our baby girl has grown to 3.1kg. Dr commented that she had surpassed her big brother! She did a quick cervix check and said that our girl was still not ready to come out.

Since I was experiencing frequent BH contractions, I asked Dr how would I differentiate BH from the real contractions. She mentioned that the real thing would feel like hardening of the tummy, and the pain would be at the lower abdominal area, and would be much more painful than the usual menses-like crampy feeling that I had been experiencing. It would come and go, and I would definitely tell the difference. Being a second-time mummy did not seem to help me in knowing when was the real contractions, because the last time round, everything happened so quickly (from waterbag leaking in the middle of the night, to the sudden intensifying of the pain, and to delivery).

Since Ian was delivered in the 37th weeks at 3.1kg, our girl had surpassed all of her big brother's records. I had been starting to feel the stretching and expansion of the tummy as though it was my first pregnancy, and sadly, new stretch marks seemed to have formed. :( Because of the experience with Ian, I think I am getting a phobia of going to bed, just in case the waterbag leaks again in my sleep... :(

Verdict: Ian Is A Happy Child

2011-06-15T10:20:00.000+08:00

I was reading an article on the Babycenter ("How to raise a happy child"), and came to the conclusion that Ian is a happy child.

According to the article, "a happy child smiles, plays, shows curiosity, socializes with other children, and doesn't need constant stimulation". And, an unhappy one "is withdrawn, quiet, not eating very much, doesn't spontaneously get involved with other children, doesn't play, doesn't ask questions, doesn't laugh and smile, and has very spare speech".

Ian is definitely not quiet, has tons of questions, and always laugh at the tiniest things such that sometimes, we do even not get his joke.

Weekly Checkup: Week 36

2011-06-11T21:58:00.001+08:00

It was a long wait today, because Dr had to attend to a delivery (or was it more than one?) and we only managed to see her at almost 11am, even though our appointment was at 9am. From this checkup onwards, I had to clear the Strep B test and also do internal examinations. After checking, Dr told me "3 weeks" with a smile. I was a bit stunned at first. Did she meant she was predicting another 3 weeks before I would deliver? Anyway, I did not ask. She said that baby's head was in the correct position, but not yet engaged, and my cervix had not ripened too.

The estimated weight of our baby was 2.8kg, which was just as we had guessed (about 250g gain every week). As for my own weight, it was 57kg. That meant most of the weight I had gained had gone to our baby? Some people had asked me why I did not gain much weight until now, and my reply would always be "how to gain with a super active kid like Ian?"!

Since 37 weeks is considered to be full-term for a pregnancy, we are now expecting our girl to come any time... And thanks to Hubby, who has relieved me of my chauffeuring duties since the beginning of week 36.

Shapes Sticker Book

2011-06-02T22:39:00.001+08:00

I happened to buy this sticker book from a shopping mall roadshow some time last year, and only took it out for Ian to try recently. It required the child to be able to match the shape of the sticker to the picture in the book, eg. to paste a missing flag or a missing wheel in the picture. It was pretty interesting, and I was pleasantly surprised that Ian could do most of the sticking on his own, though there were some that still needed guidance.

There were only about 150 stickers in the book, but it had provided a lot of fun for my little boy.

Ian's First Movie Experience

2011-05-28T23:00:00.000+08:00

Hubby had gotten hold of a few complimentary movie tickets to Kungfu Panda 2, and hence we enjoyed the treat this evening. It had been 3 years since Hubby and I went to a movie (the last one we watched together was CJ7, just 2 months before Ian popped.)

We had an early dinner at Suntec before the showtime. To our surprise, each complimentary ticket came with free popcorn and a can of coke. We collected the goodie bag on our way in.

Upon entering, Ian eagerly started his popcorn feast. He enjoyed the show on his Daddy's laps, although he did not pay full attention to the screen. He was distracted a few times by crying babies and turned around trying to find the source of the noise. Towards the later half of the show, he was losing interest in the movie, but luckily the snacks kept him occupied for a little while more, so that we could watch the ending.

It was a good test how he would behave in a movie-viewing session at the cinemas. Perhaps in another few months down the road, he would enjoy watching movies even more.

Gynae Checkup @ Week 34

2011-05-28T14:51:00.001+08:00

My checkup has shortened to an interval of 2 weeks since my last visit at week 32. Today, we arrived about 20 minutes after the scheduled appointment because I was on the last slot. We still waited for a while, but it was not too bad! Just about 2 patients in front, though that was still about another half an hour of wait.

Dr first listened to the heartbeat, then checked the amniotic fluid level and said it was still good, and also estimated our baby's weight - 2.3kg. I was a little shocked at the 500g jump since our last checkup 2 weeks ago. My own weight was around 56.5kg, which I thought was still reasonable. At this rate of growth, she would be 3.3kg at 38 weeks?

She also told us that it was normal for me to carry this baby lower in the tummy because it was not my first child. (Several people kept asking if I was going to be due soon because my tummy looked pretty low already.)

Dr said since Ian came out at 37 weeks, there was a good chance that this baby would be out early too. But then, nobody could tell for sure at this stage. She also gave us the OK to watch a movie.

Another Fluffy Post

2011-05-26T23:37:00.000+08:00

More fluff mail to add to my stash....a free Happy Heiny diaper with my purchase, an Evolution ION diaper, plus a pack of Bummis prefolds in infant size, a Thirties hemp prefold, plus a pair of hemp inserts. Also gotten 2 sample jars of CJ Butters, that are supposedly good as a diaper cream with cloth.

A pair of cute diapers from Bumcheeks, which is an Australian brand...

On this afternoon, I found some time to prepare my Bummis prefolds (unbleached organic cotton, I think), and the hemp prefold and inserts. (Preparation for natural fibres: boil for 20 minutes and finish with a hot wash.)

Surprisingly, the Thirties prefold and inserts still remained so soft after washing and line-drying, as I had read that hemp will stiffen up unless you use a dryer. Perhaps this is due to the combination of hemp and jersey material in these, but I love the softness!

Toilet-Training: Success!

2011-05-18T11:42:00.000+08:00

For about a month or so ago, we noticed that Ian had been randomly keeping his night diapers dry. Sometimes, he even woke up, took off his pants and diaper, and went to the toilet in the dark. Although the occurrence of a dry diaper was random at the beginning, he became more and more consistent until a fortnight ago, he had done it for almost an entire week, and was consistently waking up early in the morning to go to the toilet.

Last week, Hubby decided to take the gamble and put Ian in his undies (although Ian still wanted to wear his diapers!) for the night. Hubby would warn little Ian not to pee in his undies and to go to the toilet, after Ian had changed into his pajamas. It was gratifying that Ian had managed to keep his pants dry until now. And we were glad that he had done it without sacrificing his nightly bottle of milk during bedtime.

Goodbye, diapers!

Vesak Day Dinner

2011-05-17T23:44:00.000+08:00

I had forgotten my own lunar birthday, but my Mom remembered it and bought me pig kidney to share with Hubby and Ian. We collected it and the mee sua that she had prepared, and Hubby cooked it for our dinner. When Hubby added the egg into the bowl, Ian got excited and kept begging us for the egg, so the egg in the picture below went to Ian's bowl right after I took the photo.

Hubby also cooked Fish and Papaya Soup tonight, for the first time. The green papaya was extremely hard to find. We purchased the fish from NTUC last Saturday, but I only managed to find the green papaya from the Chong Pang wet market today. (This was after our futile search in the nearby wet market and 2 NTUC outlets.)

Surprisingly, Ian loved this soup! We would be counting on Hubby to cook it during my confinement! :)

32 Weeks Scan

2011-05-14T11:21:00.000+08:00

This morning, we visited Dr Tan for my 32 weeks scan. It had been a month since we last checked on our baby princess. We waited for some time because Dr had to attend to a case in the hospital.

It was good news this time round, because our baby finally turned down. Her weight gain was good, and estimated at 1.88kg as of date. Dr said that her weight was comparable to Ian's.

My visits would shorten to fortnightly after this, and one last month for us to finalize and settle whatever we needed to do. Time really flies!

汤圆 For Mother's Day

2011-05-08T14:24:00.000+08:00

I had promised Ian to make glutinous rice balls (汤圆) with him about 2 weeks ago, and had not gotten down to action until today. This morning, we woke up slightly earlier, and I prepared the dough as Ian was watching his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse again.

He was very excited when I brought the dough and the tray out to his little table. He rushed off to wash his hands and they were still dripping wet when he started to knead. I made him dry his hands first before allowing him to touch the dough. This was not the first time he was making the glutinous rice balls. He had done it in school a few months ago around the Chinese New Year period. Both of us kneaded all the rice balls, while Daddy was busy doing other things elsewhere in the house.

Here was our breakfast! As we were eating, Ian told me that he made these for Mommy!

It was amusing how his funny Mandarin accent made 汤圆 sounded like 团员 (meaning reunion).

Fluffy Mail

2011-05-06T13:59:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Earth Day, I purchased some of these items for 20% off.

2 wet bags - I saw some ladies spreeing for wet bags on the forum, and did not really understand their need for it since we had never used these with Ian. To me, plastic bags would do the trick. However, now that Ian has started full-day childcare, we had a lot of dirty clothes and a wet towel to bring home everyday. I gathered that on a long-term basis, plastic bags would not be the way to go. We would need a lot of these plastic bags (that were reasonably clean to put in his clothes) and it was not exactly eco-friendly.

The Earth Day promotion came just in time, so I ordered a Bummis medium bag, and a Planet Wise large bag. Anyway, we would need a wet bag for storing dirty cloth diapers in future, to keep the stink contained. The medium bag just fitted all of Ian's clothes and towel for childcare.

More fluffs! There was a "Buy 5 Get 1 Free" promotion on Bumgenius diapers (which others said was a good discount as there was seldom discounts on this brand), but I was lucky enough to find a better promotion with the 20% off. Hence, I bought 2 pocket diapers (a snap and an aplix), and a highly-raved Elemental all-in-one diaper. I also bought a FuzziBunz to try since the reviews on this were good too. There was a seconds sale and I grabbed a Flip cover for USD$8.55 with free shipping. The defect with this cover was a small tear at the edge, but for this price, I thought it was not a big deal.

This stash could probably last me for about a day of diapering our little princess, if used together with our cotton flats and prefolds.

Ian @ 3 Years 1 Month

2011-05-03T21:53:00.001+08:00

Today marked the day of Ian beginning his full-day in school. When I picked him up in the evening, he was happily playing with a few of the classmates who were also waiting for their parents. It was a relief that he appeared to be adapting well, as what the teacher had informed me. The only problem that she highlighted was his lack of interest in eating. We would have to monitor his weight for the subsequent period.

For the past 2 weeks, we had been eating at home, because my Mom had undergone an eye surgery and was thus not able to cook for a long period. One benefit of eating at home was that Ian had been forced to self-feed, and we had managed to cut him off from TV and iPhone. When I told Hubby about this over the weekend, he thought that it was better for Ian as he was getting obsessive with watching TV and playing iPhone during mealtimes. However, that meant it would be tougher on us because he had to go grocery shopping on a few mornings and I had to cook in the afternoon. One good thing was that I did not have to worry about the weather, because it had been raining cats and dogs at those times when we were just about to leave the house (also depending on what time Ian woke up from his beauty nap)!

As of 3 years old, our little boy had become very talkative, and often talked to himself about his imaginary friends from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Backyardigans, or Little Einsteins. He had also found a pet dog (a soft toy that Hubby gave me many years ago) that he claimed to be his, and sometimes, we found him to be talking to the pet dog as well. It was a pleasant progress to us, because he was diagnosed with a speech delay when he was 2.

He also found a love for reading books, and always demanded us to read him a few before he was willing to take his milk bottle and go to bed. He was able to read some of the words in the books, but we were not sure whether he memorised the book, or he was actually reading the words. But it did not matter either way, because it was still a progress. One problem we were still facing now, was his lack of interest in the Chinese books. We let him choose most of the books that he wanted to read, and he seldom picked the Chinese ones. We had also noticed that he was unwilling to speak in Mandarin sometimes, and wondered why?

I also discovered a change in Ian's attention span, at least in watching cartoons! In the past, he would only watch for a few minutes at most, and then find something more interesting to do. But recently, he had been watching cartoons with his eyes glued onto the screen. I wondered if that was a natural progression in growing up?

Since Ian had been toilet-trained in the day for about half a year, Hubby and I had been playing with the idea of toilet-training him for night-time as well. We tried to put him on one of the cloth diapers for one night, and that was it. He refused to wear it subsequently, and I thought it was because the diaper was too tight on his chubby thighs and made it uncomfortable. Well, we would just save the diapers for his little sister then! However, the good news was that subsequently, he had kept his diaper dry for a few random nights. Recently, we had noticed that he woke up more frequently early in the morning, took off his diaper on his own, and went to the toilet in the dark. And, his diaper had remained dry. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this would continue (although that would mean we would get lesser sleep)! One thing that we did not change was his nightly bottle of milk, because some parents had cut off any liquid an hour before bedtime when they potty-trained their little ones for nighttime. I did not want to do that because I thought that it was essential for him to drink more milk at his age (without sacrificing solid food intake), especially when he was so willing to drink it.

Our little boy was also growing to be a bossy guy. For instance, if he wanted our attention and we were watching TV or looking at our phones, he would say "Daddy, stop watching. Come and sit on the floor.", or "Mommy, stop watching. Eat your lunch.". Sometimes, if I unfastened the seat belt before the car came to a full stop, he would chide me, "Mommy, your seat belt!". Somehow, I could not help but be amused by this little bossy guy.

Just a quick stat:
Weight: 16.4kg

I was astonished when I saw the number on the weighing scale, because I had not been carrying him for the past few months. But I was super pleased with his weight gain! I did not manage to measure his height, but a random guess would be around 100cm perhaps?

Kumon - My First Book of Cutting

2011-04-26T21:46:00.000+08:00

Ian has completed this workbook, finally! I let him start off with the simpler exercises in the first few pages, concurrently with the beginner series (Let's Cut Paper and More Let's Cut Paper). He loved doing the exercises in this book!

A Not So Happy Easter Weekend

2011-04-24T22:30:00.000+08:00

Ian came down with a fever on Thursday night, and we started to give him Panadol on a 4-hourly basis. Unfortunately, on Friday, the fever went up to over 39 degrees, and we started him on Neurofen as well, on a 6-hourly basis. The fever did not subside throughout the day, and in the evening, Hubby decided to try the suppository instead of Neurofen. It worked pretty well and the fever went down that night.

Early on Saturday morning, we brought Ian to see his PD. She diagnosed his illness as a bacteria infection and also prescribed an oatmeal powder bath for the little rashes on his body.

Ian still had a slight fever until Sunday. It was a tough weekend because he had been cranky, coupled with a poor appetite. Whatever he had eaten would cause pain in his mouth (we wondered whether this was due to the ulcer that developed after his bump in the school). It was a blessing that he still loved to drink milk, because whenever he did not eat sufficiently for his meal, we could still supplement with milk.

A photo of our boy, eyes puffy from a lot of crying in the past few days, and hugging his two favourite soft toys on Sunday morning - his "Pluto" and Mickey Mouse - while sitting on the sofa and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV. He had been asking me to buy him the Mickey toy for a few months. We saw the new ones at Guardian on Friday afternoon, and finally bought one for him, hoping it would replace the dusty "Pluto" that he hugged everywhere at home. Unfortunately, it only served to keep his other arm busy as well, as he now had 2 favourite soft toys to hug around at home!

Stickery Fun

2011-04-22T22:26:00.000+08:00

The sticker book that Ian completed over the last couple of months at my Mom's place. As compared to the first few sticker books, now he could gauge when the sticker was going to tear and try to peel it from another side.

More Clothes + Diapers

2011-04-18T17:02:00.038+08:00

Newly arrived today were a few more pieces of clothings from OshKosh (9m-24m dresses/tops/leggings for baby princess, 2 tees for Ian). I also threw in a Carters french terry jacket for Ian as this material was not as easy to find as fleece.

The DHL guy also brought us more of the cloth diapers today - what I had collected through various sales (about 40-50% off): 2 fitteds from Earth, Mom and Baby, a Rumparooz pocket and cover, and the 4 AppleCheeks that were hard to come by (the website crashed while I was trying to buy, and only managed to order through email 2 hours later hoping that there would be cancellations).

Scan @ 28 Weeks

2011-04-16T22:57:00.000+08:00

It had been a month since we last saw our Princess on the U/S machine. Her head was still on the top, but Dr kind of assured me that it would turn down later on, when the head grew bigger. She did a quick scan and showed us the head, and her stretched out legs and toes. As of 28 weeks, her estimated weight was 1.2kg. According to Dr, the weight was good and she was expected not to be lighter than Ian. I did not know whether it was such a good news because when Ian was born at 37 weeks, his weight had already reached over 3kg! I had already stopped taking Anmum for over a week and was taking calcium tablets as a replacement. But I guessed it was because of the extra servings of food that I had been helping myself, and not to mention the sinful cream cakes that Hubby had been treating me for breakfast. Anyway, both Hubby and Ian got to take a good look at our new darling as well. I wonder how much Ian had understood when he was looking at the U/S machine and calling mei-mei.

Review of His Development

2011-04-13T23:22:00.001+08:00

Hubby took the afternoon off to accompany us for Ian's appointment with the child development doctor. It was supposed to be a review since our last visit in Dec.

We had lunch first and here was a happy child, waiting eagerly for his fries at Burger King...

At the doctor's office, we relayed the feedback that we had gathered from his childcare and she did a quick assessment on him. She said he was pretty OK, but probably slower in expressive language development from what we had described. He was still largely in the parroting stage of language development, which happened to most toddlers when they were 2. But because of his earlier delay in speech, any language development problem might also show up more in the later stage of life. She also suggested that she paid a school visit to check on how he was doing in school. Guess we just had to wait for her feedback after her visit and see whether a further course of speech therapy was required. Our next review would be due in August.

Cloth Diapering

2011-04-12T11:19:00.000+08:00

After discussing with Hubby, we decided to try out cloth diapering our #2 because it would be more cost-saving in the long run, and we would stop adding so much landfill to the environment as well. Besides, we would be expecting more laundry with another child, so it would not be too much of a hassle to wash the diapers on a daily/every other day basis.

The kind of cloth diaper that we are thinking about is not the traditional flat piece of cloth that you fold into a triangle. We had plenty of those and used them during the first month with Ian. But, they just did not work out because I was so sick of having pee all over me whenever I carried Ian. Actually, we did not know that they should be used with a cover and so we did not have one. But since the confinement lady left us, I switched to the disposables immediately because they absorbed more and were convenient. I only found out recently about modern cloth diapers that were much more absorbent than the traditional types. Some mummies even used those for overnight and had lesser problem with explosive poos (we had leaks with disposables too). There are other benefits too, like lesser problem for sensitive skin, and earlier success with toilet-training.

And so... here are the very first 2 diapers we have in our stash from Earth, Mom and Baby - the Bumboos...

To prepare them, I handwashed them twice in some dish detergent. A lot of lint appeared in the water, but it was normal in the first few washes. In the 3rd wash, I used some Country Save detergent and washed them until the water was free of soap. I will probably throw them into the machine for one more wash, before letting Ian try them on at night.

Clothings For The Little Ones

2011-04-11T22:38:00.009+08:00

Bought a few pieces of girly clothings in preparation for the latest addition to our family, so that she will not have to appear in her brother's clothings all the time, and have something girly for special occasions like full-month, etc. They are in various sizes from 6 months to 12 months.

Of course, not forgetting our Prince.... and an Elmo tee for him (I showed him on the screen before I added it to the cart, and he loved it!).

It was a pretty lucky spree, since the package came in a plastic bag and BDL charged me the exact weight. But I realised that as the clothes sizes get bigger (for Ian's case, we're buying kid sizes already), the heavier the parcel gets. :(

A cozy blanket and a dream blanket from Aden+Anais, bought before the price increased on Amazon, and also used my 3rd and last $10 coupon on one of them. These are mainly because Ian would need extra blankets for his childcare from next month onwards, so we would have enough to rotate at home between the two of them.

Unfortunately, the dream blanket came in a huge box this time (unlike the swaddles which was packed very compactly), so shipping was small blow.

Kumon's Book of Uppercase Letters

2011-04-10T14:05:00.019+08:00

After months of practice, Ian has finally completed this workbook. He is still not proficient in writing his uppercase letters, but he is able to recognise them, and write some of the simpler ones like "M", "W", "Z", "H", etc. We will continue to work on his letter-writing skills using other worksheets and perhaps, we can start to try writing the lowercases too? As of now, he is able to recognise most of the lowercase letters, though sometimes, he gets confused by "I" and "l".

Oops! He Did It!

2011-04-02T23:12:00.000+08:00

We visited Courts this afternoon to check out the washers since our current one was in an unstable state. As we were on the way out, I wanted to show Hubby the La Gourmet water flasks. Just as he walked towards the shelves (with Ian in his arms), Ian struggled and used a back kick to knock off one of the flasks on display.

To our chagrin, the plastic top broke off on the ground. We had no choice but to pay almost $20 for the display set that I would never, ever have paid for if I had wanted to buy. We were pretty upset with Ian's mischievous behaviour when he was outside (he normally ignored us and ran around expecting us to come after him), especially when he broke something this time round, for real. I left him standing there for a while, until he showed some remorse of what he had done.

It suddenly occurred to me, that I should really bring extra cash out whenever he was around, just in case I needed to pay for something that he might break again!

New Laundry Detergent

2011-04-01T23:27:00.008+08:00

I was doing some research on cloth diapering (I would perhaps write a separate post on this topic later), and came across detergents that would be cloth diaper friendly. Perhaps cloth diapering is not that popular in this part of the world, and so it is not easy to find the recommended detergents in most of the supermarkets and departmental stores. Each box of these detergents is not exactly "cheap" at first glance, but you only use a very small scoop for 1 load, as compared to 1 huge scoop with our usual detergent. And, they are not supposed to leave residue on your clothes and you do not need to use softener with them.

If anyone is interested to check out cloth-diaper friendly detergents, here is the link.

Happy 3rd Birthday To Ian

2011-03-29T22:53:00.001+08:00

This morning, Ian went to school as usual and had the last Speech & Drama class for the term. Hubby took the afternoon off to spend some time with our boy, so I picked both of them up in the afternoon. We ordered takeaway MacDonald's lunch, and Ian got to enjoy his favourite fries in the car as we drove to the Apple service centre to get a replacement for Hubby's phone as the warranty was expiring at the end of the month. On the way back, we collected Ian's birthday cake and went home to let Ian get some sleep. Unfortunately, the short trip had made him overly excited to sleep.

When we went over my Mom's place for dinner, Ian had a surprised party. My sister-in-law bought a birthday cake for him as well as a toy car which he loved. So, he had a small celebration with his 2 favourite cousins (whom he would love to bring home if he could) singing a birthday song for him.

Back at home, we had our own small and quiet celebration as well...so that the cake would serve as a supper for us.

Some quick stats for our 3 year old:
Weight: 15.5kg (estimated)
Height: 100cm

He has recently began to like singing, and has been singing songs that he picked up from school very frequently. He has also picked out a soft-toy dog (a present from Hubby to me) as his pet dog, which he always carried around at home, and even to bed. Apart from the dog, he has chosen soft-toy pets for us as well - a teddy bear for his Daddy, and a "Knuffle Bunny" (one of his top favourite books at the moment) for me. And, he always forces them on us even if we do not want it!

Field Trip To Changi Airport

2011-03-28T14:23:00.001+08:00

Ian's school organised a field trip to Changi Airport, and the teachers requested the company of his Daddy as they felt that he was too active and always running around. So, Hubby took the morning off from work to chaperone this little naughty boy.

As his teacher required Daddy to sit on the coach with Ian, I had to drive to the airport on my own. The bus driver did not know which terminal they were going to when Hubby asked him during boarding, so I could only follow the bus from the school to the airport, and it was a tiring drive because the bus was travelling at only 80km/h along the expressway. In a way, it was good to drive safely with so many preschoolers on board.

I followed the bus all the way to terminal 2, and then went my own way to the carpark. It was the first time I drove to the terminal 2 carpark (we always parked at terminal 3). Unfortunately, after parking, I discovered that they had taken the sky train to terminal 3... duh... it was a long walk to the sky train terminal, and I finally caught up with them at terminal 3.

First destination: Viewing gallery....the children were excited to see the airplanes.

We took some time at the gallery, and then moved on. The teachers had wanted to find the exhibition at the airport, but nobody could remember where it was held, so eventually, we ended up at MacDonalds. As usual, Ian was running and jumping around. Daddy said it was because I appeared, that was why he started to misbehave. :(

Although the whole school did not participate in this field trip (unlike the Dairy Farm trip that I had gone before with Ian), I thought that it was good that Daddy came along to take him in hand. We shared a table with 2 other children (who eagerly helped us finished up our fries). I noticed that Ian was particularly mischievous when he was with another boy, and so I made him sit with his girl classmate for the rest of the meal. Perhaps more female company would do him good!

After lunch, we got a balloon for Ian (as I had promised him one for behaving) and quickly left, as the other children were starting to ask for it as well from the teachers and other parent volunteers. It was good that we drove there because we could bring Ian home directly without following the bus back to school. After driving us home, Hubby went straight to office to work again.

Mee Sua For Ian's 3rd Lunar Birthday

2011-03-26T23:16:00.001+08:00

What my Mom cooked for Ian (and both Hubby and I got to benefit as well)... yummy...

Checkup @ 24 Weeks

2011-03-18T21:14:00.004+08:00

This afternoon, our family made a trip to TMC for my 24th week checkup. It was quite a long wait and I was almost the last patient to go in.

Quick stats:
My weight: 52.6kg
Baby Princess: 697g

During the scan, her head was on top (unlike Ian, who was always in the "good position" with his head down). Dr also attempted to show us her face which was facing us in the machine. Dr said that our baby's weight was "good", meaning she would not be a small baby at birth, and she would be like Ian (above 3kg), growing at this rate.

I seriously think I need to cut down on Anmum and switch to low-fat milk or calcium tablets, so that I will have an easier time during labour!

Tonics
Ever since I fully recovered from my prolonged cough at around the beginning of February, my tonics include birdnest, cordyceps, and chi2 di3 sheng4 taken on a weekly rotational basis. Occasionally, I also drink chicken essence, or red date and longan tea, for an extra energy boost. Hopefully, this princess will have a stronger immunity than her brother who has been a constant prey to flu and cough since the beginning of last year.

BBB for Baby Princess

2011-03-14T17:07:00.000+08:00

Purchased these items online (after adding shipping, they were still much cheaper than buying locally!), which I thought would be useful for my #2 (based on previous experience with Ian):

Nursing cover
Swaddle cloths - Ian always managed to wriggle out of his swaddles when he was young. Not even the Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe could keep his arms inside for long. Hopefully, these would prove to be better than the small receiving blankets that we had used with Ian. A good thing was that they could also be used as blankets in future (just tried one on Ian and it still fitted his height).
Sleeping bags - Gotten 2 medium sizes of these from a "steals" website at half price, and another one (small size with swaddle) from Amazon using their 25% discount code plus a $10 coupon. In fact, we thought that Ian would do well with one of these bags because he always kicked off his blankets. But because we did not start him from young, we were not sure if he would like to sleep in a bag now, even though they had those with leg holes.
Not in photo - some spare parts for my Medela pump and a box of Lanisoh nursing pads to stand by.

Completed Yet Another Sticker Book

2011-03-08T15:11:00.001+08:00

This was a follow-up book to another one that we had completed in September 2010. I had kept it in the cupboard for a while, because the exercises needed some thinking. Like the first book, it was worthy of its price. Ian had completed in within a few days (though we deliberately dragged it). It was something that was good to occupy some of his time, while giving his brain some thinking to do.

His Doraemon Hand Soap

2011-03-07T23:06:00.000+08:00

This was something that our little guy had been wanting us to buy for a while, ever since I brought him to Guardian 1-2 weeks ago. Whenever we passed by the shop after that episode, he would ask me to buy it for him.

This evening, we went to Guardian again because Hubby had wanted to activate his new credit card. Ian saw the hand soap again and was so thrilled. He begged his Daddy to buy, and surprisingly, his Daddy decided to let his little boy indulge a little. It was not exactly cheap, coming close to $7. However, it did have a nice fragrance and lathered well.

Activity Books Completed By 35 Months

2011-02-28T15:13:00.055+08:00

We sped up a little on Ian's activity books for the past month, meaning no craft for February.

Kumon's My Book of Easy Mazes - an excellent introduction to tracing mazes. Ian had been working on this book for a few months, since somewhere last year (I just could not recall when!). We took a hiatus from doing these worksheets in the last 2-3 months of 2010, and when we resumed them in January this year, he surprised us by showing a vast improvement in doing the mazes. He was looking at the path ahead before he drew the line. At times, he still took the "wrong path", but I thought that was okay as it was part and parcel of learning.

The 2nd book was from an online spree for Chinese books, for pasting fun. There were some stickers for pasting at the beginning of the book, but most of the pages had a strip of pictures to be cut out and pasted on the book itself with glue. I cut out the long strips and let Ian cut out the individual picture frames, and this provided him chances to practise his dexterity with scissors. I think one of the objectives of this book was to let children learn how to apply glue, but I simply could not get Ian to be interested in this aspect. I had to apply the glue for him before he would paste the pictures properly. As such, it was kind of a chore to go through this book, and Ian was not too interested in it.

Kumon's More Let's Cut Paper! - Another of Ian's favourites. It was supposed to be a sequel to Let's Cut Paper!, or so I had thought, but it appeared more like a repetition or reinforcement of the other book. While Ian was working on the first series, he had showed weakness in maneuvering the scissors. Hence, I let him work on this book simultaneously as the exercises were pretty similar. Just like the other worksheets, we took a break from them for a while, and when we returned to do these again, he suddenly showed an improvement. We were doing 3-5 sheets of exercises daily as he kept asking for more. By the end of the book, I could also relax better when he was cutting and not to have to watch over him like a hawk.

Shopping Spree On A Friday Night

2011-02-25T23:35:00.002+08:00

This evening, I drove Ian to pick up Hubby from Orchard. It was my first "lone venture" to the town without Hubby sitting next to me. I was grateful that Ian did not create much trouble for me on the way. Just when we arrived, it started to drizzle and luckily, Hubby was able to leave. Hubby took over the steering wheel and we went to Wheelock for a sushi dinner (my dose of fish).

After dinner, we walked to Isetan to check out the toilet seat cover and if they were having any good buys. It was quite lucky that there was a Little Tots Fair and most brands that we wanted to buy were on a 20% sale, though Medela was only a 15%. We figured that it was not worth waiting for the private sale which might have an additional 10%, since we were not buying big ticket items. It was also difficult to shop with a little monster running around the store.

Hubby saw the toilet seat cover, and decided not to get it since it was thrice the price of a cheaper brand that we saw at NTUC. While the men hanged out at toys department, I shopped for things we needed, like Ian's bottle teats, brush and took a look at their Nuk bottles for our second one. We had decided not to get the Dr Brown's bottles that served us well when Ian was born, simply because there were too many parts to wash. We also wanted to try the wide-neck bottle for our next child. After checking out reviews from other moms, I narrowed down the choices to Nuk and Avent, and decided to try out Nuk because of their special teats, and also because Avent's PP bottles (those that reportedly did not leak) had an extra sealing ring (meaning, one more part to watch out for).

In the meanwhile, Ian had grabbed himself a box of Lego - the real Lego, not his Mega Bloks sitting at home. Hubby had been meaning to get this for him as there were more things to build with them as compared to our Mega Bloks. I think he really enjoyed shopping for a toy because he showed us such a sweet and happy smile when we agreed to let him carry the box around the store.

On the way to the cashier, we found the Nuk bottles on bundled sale in the "Sales" section. One pack contained 2 big and 2 small bottles (~$50). I thought that we could skip the small bottles altogether, since these were BPA-free and we did not have to replace them so frequently. Another bundle contained 4 big bottles in Disney Pooh designs, 2 Disney pacifiers, and a pack of 5 white onesies ($63). I had originally wanted to get the bottles from Amazon, but figured this deal was quite worthwhile since there was no risk of a surprise on the shipping weight. The onesies were rather redundant, but it came with the bundle.

All in all, what we have bought - and paid only $5+ thanks for a lot of vouchers...

A happy boy with his new toy...

And a surprise goodie bag from Isetan! I only knew about it upon leaving the store, because Hubby took care of the payment while I distracted Ian elsewhere. Avent pacifiers, a disc, Goldbug socks and headband (nice, so I do not have to buy these), Goo.n diaper sample, a pack of Combi wet wipes, and some other miscellaneous samples from Pigeon and Nuk. Not sure what qualified our purchase for the gift, but it was a welcomed surprise.

On our way back, we agreed that we did not have the energy to shop at crowded sales nowadays, even if there was a better discount at card member sales. I felt quite tired after standing around for that "long". It was good to start buying the things we needed for our second child, so that it would not be so tiring towards the end to buy at one shot. (Friends, hand-me-downs are most welcomed too!)

Red Dates With Longan Tea

2011-02-25T10:42:00.004+08:00

The 2nd time I brewed this drink for myself, after copying it off the forums. It was recommended for replenishing vitality and nourishing the blood. Also, it is a popular confinement food.

I bought the ingredients from Hock Hua, all for about $11+.

Dried Longans (from Thailand)

Red Dates (was recommended to get the seeded ones because they were sweeter, and also because unseeded ones might have rotten cores or bugs)

Black Dates

10 red dates, 2 black dates, and a handful of longans (optional, and quantity depends on personal preference)

The shoplady said that this tea could be cooked over the stove fire for about an hour, but I used the slow cooker and cooked it for a few hours, then consumed in the afternoons while Ian was having his beauty naps.

A Little Princess Is On Our Way

2011-02-18T23:09:00.004+08:00

Today was my detailed scan at 20 weeks, and like the previous time, we did the detailed scan at Dr Chang's clinic. It was not a very long wait, and the whole process was finished in less than an hour, or maybe just about 30 minutes?

Dr confirmed for us that we would be expecting a baby girl and showed us the 3 parallel lines at the genital area. Her weight as of today was 333g. The results were all within the normal ranges and he assured us that there was no cause for worry at this stage. It was a relief to me, because ever since the spotting on week 12, I had been feeling uneasy for this baby.

Both Hubby and I were happy to have a girl for this time, and hopefully, she would not be as naughty as her brother! But it also meant that we had to get some girly clothes, so that she would not have to go out in her brother's clothes all the time. I can finally start to buy things in pink and Hello Kitty!

A retrospection...
We discovered this pregnancy at about the 4th week, using the cheap pregnancy test strip from Amazon. It was good that we did not have to spend $10+ per test kit from local pharmacies. To double confirm the accuracy of our cheap test kit, I visited our family GP to take another test. After the result showed positive again, I called up Dr Tan's clinic to make an appointment at the 7th week.

For this pregnancy, it was probably not as smooth as the previous one with Ian. I had a bad nausea (though no vomitting) for the first trimester, and it was worse than when I was carrying Ian. I had a bad appetite and my taste bud also changed. The smell of certain things that I used to like, was suddenly a turn off. I lost about 2kg in the first trimester, and had to take small meals to keep hunger away. Many people had mentioned that the nausea would be bad if the baby was a girl.

At the 12th week on 27th Dec 2010, just when we thought that the pregnancy was stabilized, I suddenly had a "bloody show". It was shocking to both Hubby and I, and we quickly rushed down to the hospital, leaving Ian with my Mom and brothers. It was "fortunate" that Dr Tan was still in the hospital, but because the clinic was closing, I was told to meet her at the 24-hour clinic instead.

When I arrived, the nurse brought me into the ward to lie down, while waiting for Dr to come. We waited for a while (perhaps half an hour), but it seemed an eternity because of our anxiety. It was the first time I had seen Hubby so worried since we found out about this pregnancy. But, I thought that in both our minds, we were mentally prepared for the worst.

Dr had a solemn face when she reached, and immediately did a check up for me. She was not able to tell us why it had occurred, but said that the baby could be saved since the mucus plug was intact. She ordered a jab for me, bed rest for a week, and 3 doses of Duphaston a day for the week. Before she left, she advised me to take things easy. Hubby had to take over all the duties of taking care of Ian and applied for urgent leave for the week. Although he was officially on leave, he had to continue his work at home.

The staining did not go away for the next few days, and since I was scheduled for a routine check-up 3 days later, we went ahead to see Dr Tan. She did a check on me again and discovered that there was still "some bleeding here and there". She ordered another jab for me and extended my bed rest for another week. The oral medication was already at the maximum dosage, so I had to buy more pills for the next week. The nurse who administered the jab told me to return in a week for another jab. (By the way, as this was an oil-based jab it was more painful than normal vaccines, and the pain would last for a few days.) I dreaded it but it was for the good of our daughter. It was a relief when the staining stopped the next few days, but we returned for the 3rd jab anyway. At the same time, I also bought the fish oil and multi-vitamins supplements from the clinic since I was already in the 2nd trimester.

Our next checkup was scheduled on 27th January, but a week before the checkup, Hubby had been informed to attend meeting that he could not re-schedule, and hence, we postponed the gynae appointment a week later (the nurse on the phone did not allow me to bring it forward because she said I was only supposed to go back a month after the previous visit). We were taken aback during the next visit, because the nurse who always assisted Dr came to us to ask why we did not visit earlier since I had staining. We asked Dr about the gender, and she said she could not see any protruding part from down there. She double-checked and still could not find, and said it looked like a girl, but she would double confirm during the next visit. We were rather happy not to find anything "down there" as it was both our wishes to have a girl this time.

For the past few weeks, we have been telling Ian that there is a mei-mei inside my tummy (even before we found out the gender), and interestingly, sometimes when he misbehaves, he will say "later mei mei take cane". Once in a while, he will stare at my protruding tummy/belly button which I find quite amusing because of his curiosity.

For this pregnancy, I did not develop the linea nigra like the last time, so I had been having a feeling that it might be a girl. But like the first one, I had an outbreak of pimples in the first trimester, though they disappeared by the 2nd trimester. And also, for both pregnancies, the Lunar Calendar predictor was accurate! Thanks to an ex-colleague who passed the spreadsheet to us!

Our Dear Boy... 1.5 Months to Reaching 3

2011-02-17T15:58:00.001+08:00

Here's how he looks now...

Let's Cut Paper!

2011-02-15T15:38:00.001+08:00

From somewhere in the middle of last year, Ian has been exposed to the operation of a scissors. Because he joined the 2007 class at LNT, he got to use a metal blade scissors to cut strips of papers in the class. He was pretty clueless on how to use them and we had to guide him in the class, to the extend of cutting for him.

When I got to know about the Kumon workbooks, I was excited to find the book for working on cutting skills. This was bought somewhere in June 2010, if my memory served me well.

My mom had also purchased a pair of plastic scissors for Ian to practise, but both Ian and I gave up on it after trying it out a few times. My next purchase for Ian was the Maped plastic scissors from Popular, since it looked pretty decent. We gave up after a few tries again. I went ahead to order the Friskars plastic one from Amazon, and it was the same with the previous ones. I decided that we were not fated to use plastic blades, and ordered a Friskars metal bladed scissors from Amazon. This was indeed the best one for Ian.

We supervised over him like a hawk in the first few months of teaching him to operate the scissors. We had gone through the Kumon's first book workbook for cutting, along side with the follow-up workbook More Let's Cut Paper, as and when I saw that he needed extra practices in certain areas.

Finally, we had completed one workbook after the few months of effort! Ian was able to cut out the animal shapes at the back of the book without much help from us now.

Cordyceps Tonic

2011-02-13T08:52:00.001+08:00

Courtesy of dear Hubby for this box of cordyceps... bought in December 2010 during Hock Hua's anniversary sale, at ~$250 after an almost $100 discount. The shoplady recommended us this over the other brand that my Mom usually bought, reason being this had higher quality checks. She said that the price of cordyceps was ever increasing, because the effect of this tonic on cough was really well-known. This was why we splurged, hoping to strengthen Ian's health (he had been coughing for months) and also for the health benefits to us. It was also good as a prenatal tonic (perhaps I did not take much when I was carrying Ian, that was why he is now so prone to cough). The shoplady told us that this was an effective cure for cough (but not to be consumed when there was an accompanying flu), and must be consumed for 3 consecutive days to see the effect.

Origin: Tibet
Net weight: 13.5g
Packaged weight: 15g

Cooking it for the first time on my own:

10 pcs of cordyceps, broken into smaller pieces, for the 3 of us (3 small bowls)
2 honey dates
2-3 big bowls of hot/warm water

Leave it in the slow cooker for 4 hours, then consume (best on empty stomach). The water in my slow cooker would evaporate during the cooking process, and thus I added more water in between.

Verdict: Ian and I were having a mild cough when we drank this, and the next day, our cough was gone!

Crafts: Projects for January 2011

2011-01-31T09:16:00.000+08:00

Paper Plate Frog - Yet another froggy craft - we did it on a whim because Ian was begging to make a frog again. This time, we made a different version from the previous one that we did last month, with a small pocket to hold things. Firstly, I cut up a paper plate into half, and let Ian paint one and a half paper plates in green. When the paint was dried, I let Ian paste the eyes and helped him paste the tongue and 2 paper plates together.

Rocket - Since we did not have any towel roll on hand, we used 2 toilet rolls to make the body of the rocket. Ian got to stick the 2 rolls together using scotch tape. Next, I cut out a piece of construction paper and let Ian stick them to the toilet rolls while helping him to hold the parts together. Then, I made a cone for the top of the rocket and also cut out triangles for the "stand". Ian enjoyed playing with the rocket for a few days, until Daddy made him keep it in his box of crafts. :)

Hand-print Flowers - I traced Ian's little hand onto a piece of construction paper and cut out the template and also a small leaf. Then, I let Ian stick the flower and leaf onto an ice-cream stick. As it was a simple project, Ian demanded to make a few more flowers, so there they are...

Shoes - This craft was created from a book of punch-out templates. It was super easy - just stick the strap onto the "sole".

Paper Plate Crown - Ian actually painted the paper plate in December, but as our pen knife was missing, we never got to complete it until we bought another pen knife this month. I helped Ian cut up the middle of the paper plate and showed him how to bend the triangular part upwards. He was not very interested in it though. For this craft, I got to use my scrapbook punches - Mickey Mouse and heart. Ian attempted to punch a heart shape, but he did not have enough strength to press it down. I pasted double-sided tape onto the back and let Ian stick the punch out shapes onto the crown.

An Early Birthday Gift for Ian

2011-01-19T09:57:00.000+08:00

Ian loves to play with our iPhones and I feel rather perturbed whenever he watches random videos on YouTube. Hence, I decided to get him a gamester of his own whereby he only gets to play educational games.

Purchased the bundle set of Leapster 2 from the Leapfrog website (USD$91.75 with tax). The box was rather big to my chagrin, but upon opening up the package last Sunday, I guess it was pretty acceptable because the items filled up most of the space. The case alone was pretty bulky. As I have researched, the price was not the cheapest around, but to get the best deal might take me another year of waiting. That was why I took the plunge. It would be an early 3rd birthday present for our little one.

Ian was extremely curious with our new purchase when he found them lying on the floor. He could not help going over to study the boxes. It took us some time to set up the system because it required an installation of the accompanying CD, and also to set up the profile with Leapfrog. Once it was ready for play, Hubby showed Ian how to use the system. He started with the Thomas and Friends cartridge first and now is able to accomplish some simple tasks in the games.

First Speech & Drama Class

2011-01-18T21:57:00.000+08:00

As Ian starts his N1 class this year, we are pleasantly surprised that he is now eligible to join a series of enrichment classes available at his childcare. We enrolled him for 2 classes - English Speech & Drama (conducted by Julia Gabriel), and a music class (conducted by Opus One). Unfortunately, only the former have enough students to start a class.

Today marks the first lesson in English Speech and Drama. I went slightly earlier to see how the class was, but unfortunately, as I approached the glass windows, I thought Ian had spotted me and hence had to withdraw myself.

Hopefully, he will be able to benefit from this class, which was recommended by many people we had asked.

Collectibles From SG Mint

2011-01-15T22:44:00.000+08:00

We made a trip to the Singapore Mint booth at AMK Hub this morning to get the collectibles for the year of the Rabbit. It was a shame that the $1 gold coin that we had previously gotten for Ian had been sold out long ago. Hence, we ended up getting 1/25oz gold medallion and the Hongbao coin set.

1/25oz gold medallion

Hongbao Coin Set - 5¢, 10¢, 20¢, 50¢, $1 and a scallop-edged $5 coin. Mintage: 60000pc

Junior Engineer At Work

2011-01-12T22:30:00.000+08:00

I was engrossed in watching a TV drama, and to my surprise, Ian built this little "machine". Hubby, who had been playing with him, said that he did not help Ian in making it.

It looked like a helicopter wanna-be, but Ian said it was an airplane? Watch how he enjoyed playing with his own creation...

Come, Rabbit Year... First, We Shall Keep Your Stamps

2011-01-07T11:13:00.002+08:00

Courtesy of Hubby who made a special trip down to the post office today to get this on my behalf...(Thanks Hubby!)

Our collection - a First Day Cover, collector's stamp sheet (with metallic finish and morphing effect), and a set of new stamps (which I had omitted to get for Ian in 2008). The only thing different for the Rabbit Year collector's sheet from the Rat Year was that now the stamps had a metallic coating which I thought was nice. However, I could not tell how the morphing effect worked this time by looking at the stamps. As a bonus for making a trip down, we also got to collect the ang pow packets. Compare with the set that we had gotten for Ian here.

Our next target for collection would be the Singapore Mint coins, but unfortunately, the $1 gold coin had already been sold out long ago last year.

Crafts: Projects for December 2010

2010-12-31T10:14:00.002+08:00

Paper Plate Pig - Yet another piggy project we had done together, after the disastrous 3D one that we did a few months ago. I had also wanted to remind Ian the effect of mixing white and red colours. Ian painted the 2 paper plates, after which I traced out the ears, nose and legs for him to cut out. When the paint had dried, I showed him how to paste the parts together, and helped to draw the eyes and nostrils, and put on the tail.

Paper Plate Frog - I had originally intended to make a crown with Ian, and since there were some leftover yellow paint afterwards, I mixed a little bit of blue paint to turn it green. I wonder whether this mixing had registered in Ian's mind, as it was not our first attempt? Ian had more fun with painting yet another paper plate. After the paint had dried, I traced out his little hand and did the cutting as it might be tough for him. He got to paste the legs and eyes, while I helped him with the chenille stem as it was tricky to make it stay in place.

Santa Claus Hat - A craft that we did out of a whim on Christmas morning. I thought that it was pretty boring for Ian to be idling on this day and quickly found this neat craft from the internet. First, I made a cone out of a piece of red construction paper and stapled it in place. Then, I cut out the face and belt. Ian got to paste on the face and I helped with the belt as it was a little challenging for him. We used the leftover cotton wool (since Ian was born) to make Santa's little hat and beard. He enjoyed pasting the wool onto the face. It was kind of regrettable that the hat was a tad too small for Ian to wear properly, but that was the largest piece of red construction paper we had at home. Nevertheless, he loved his new little hat!

Last Speech Therapy Visit

2010-12-30T22:24:00.001+08:00

Hubby brought Ian to visit the speech therapist for the last time. In this visit, Ian was assessed on his language ability. The therapist concluded that he had reached a normal level for his age (2 years 9 months), though it was noted that he had a weakness in comprehending the words "he" and "she". She officially "discharged" Ian from the treatment and we only needed to follow up with the doctor in April next year for another review.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year To All Readers of HelloLavender!

2010-12-24T10:28:00.000+08:00

Activity Books (Oct-Dec 2010)

2010-12-21T09:41:00.000+08:00

For the past few months, Ian has been working on a couple of activity books simultaneously. These are the ones that he has completed between October and December.

Sticker Books - More titles from Usborne, which filled up Ian's time when I ran out of activities for him.

Kumon Workbooks - Ian began working on the book of tracing sometime in August, and finally completed all the exercises in November. Towards the end of the book, I thought it was getting boring for him to be tracing the paths all the time, and introduced the other Kumon workbooks (Mazes, Alphabets, and Numbers) for him to do concurrently. He was also working on the little Kumon workbook on pasting for a while before he finally finished it recently.

Chinese Activity Books - The first book of mazes contained tracing exercises that were similar to Kumon's. Ian finished the first maze book very quickly and I let him progress to the next level (bottom picture). The 2nd book was slightly more difficult. In comparison to the Kumon's book of mazes, I would prefer to the latter. In the Chinese version, there were some mazes that had animal characters blocking the path, and Ian had confused them as road blockages. In these books, Ian had used a pencil instead of a dry-erase marker which he used for the Kumons.

The other activity book (first picture, right) contained punch-out templates of things to make, eg. an elephant, a watch, a bucket, etc. It was slightly difficult for Ian and I had to help him paste some of the 3D parts and held them until the glue dried. Ian simply had no patience to wait for the glue to dry. However, this book was convenient to use when I had no time to prepare for his paper plate crafts.

We are now working on a series of other activity books... till the next time!

Sick Again

2010-12-20T15:05:00.000+08:00

Our boy is sick again... Yesterday, we had already noticed his teary eyes and a lot of mucoid particles in the corner of his eyes. And in the night, he developed a fever and we gave him panadol immediately.

This morning, we rushed him down to see Dr Oh again, and she had diagnosed his lungs to be having the wheezing sound. She also discovered that he had ear and throat infection. Since Ian was always taking a long time to recover from his coughs, she suggested us to get an inhaler home to help him. If his cough was not treated properly, it could worsen into asthma. She demonstrated how to use the inhaler and luckily, Hubby was around to learn as I was kind of confused. She told us to go back for a review in a week's time and also after we finished the spray bottle.

I also checked with her whether he was always coughing because I had taken birdnest during my pregnancy, but she said during her time, people only said that birdnest was good for the fetus' complexion. I was quite relieved to hear that.

Hopefully this time round, Ian's cough will really be gone for good after the long treatment.

Our First Visit to Universal Studios (SG)

2010-12-19T23:10:00.002+08:00

A complimentary trip sponsored by Ian's Da Bo, we made our visit to the "new" theme park in Sentosa. We arrived there at about 10.30am together with Hubby's family, and to our surprise, the carpark was quite full by that time. Luckily, the sun was not strong and it was quite a cool and breezy day.

Shops near the entrance

A huge Christmas tree for this festive season

Nice, "crowd-less" street in the morning

A happy kid waiting for his lunch

After 2 shows, we had fish burgers for lunch at about noon and Ian did not like the burgers and only ate some of the fries. The chocolate milkshake was pretty good, I felt. After a few more rides, we headed to the foodcourt for a second serving at around 2pm. This time, Hubby bought wanton noodles and Ian ate more of it. The queue at the foodcourt was horrendous! I told Hubby that I had been sitting until my back was aching, while he complained that his legs were aching from standing for so long in the queue. The noodles were surprisingly decent though, after the long and horrible wait.

We did not expect to find a mini splash park outside the foodcourt, and it was a nightmare to pass by the area as Ian kept on wanting to go in and get wet. After lunch, the party went for more rides at the Jurassic Park, while I entertained myself with YouTube. This time, the sun had come out and it was getting painful to wait under the sun.

While the rest of the party wanted to try out the more adventurous rides, the 3 of us split up with them. It was way past Ian's nap time and he was super tired but refusing to give in to his fatigue. Fatigue had also caught up with me. We went for the carousel and around the shops to spend the 2 pieces of $5 vouchers. At last, we decided to get a Magic School Bus book and a box of biscuits, and headed straight back home.

Ian probably enjoyed the rides and the new sights more than us. It was pretty boring for me since I could not take almost all the rides. The only 2 that I got to try out was the Shrek 3D movie and the carousel. I also went for the "rock concert" but it was not to our taste. Perhaps, it would be more fun for us a few years later when the rides become more "suitable" for us and when Ian is able to take the roller-coasters.

An Early Xmas Celebration?

2010-12-13T23:07:00.000+08:00

It has been our family's little tradition to buy a hazelnut log cake ever since we moved in this house. This year, things got sweeter, because we only paid a few cents for our cake (we accumulated a few Bengawan Solo cake vouchers collected over the year).

Somehow, it tasted better than last year. Perhaps it was a good decision to buy the cake earlier and avoid the busy Xmas Day (we bought it on Xmas itself last year).

New Car Seat for Ian

2010-12-12T14:29:00.002+08:00

For a while, we noticed that Ian had long outgrown his convertible carseat that he had been using since birth. His shoulders were way above the highest strap slots, and his chin was already over the top of the seat. It was also getting difficult for Ian to climb onto the seat because of his height.

We had been scouting around for a suitable upgrade for this boy. I had done some research on the Internet and many "experts" suggested a 5-point harness seat, for safety reasons. So, we had gone around searching for one. It was not so easy and almost all of the booster seats with a 5-point harness were too small for his height. After a few comparisons, we finally chose a Combi booster seat. It cost around $215+ after the 10% discount from Takashimaya. It would probably be cheaper nearer to Xmas, but we figured that we could not beat the crowd then. As a bonus, we claimed back $3 in our cashcard as they offered free parking benefits for cardmembers and also earned some rebate points to exchange for their vouchers.

We had compared with 2 other Maxi Cosi boosters and decided on this, because the shoulder strap did not cut his neck and the seat belt laid across his laps nicely, and not across his tummy.

The new seat was delivered to us on Wednesday afternoon, and Hubby changed his "throne" on Friday since he was on leave. Ian fitted in the seat nicely, and it was no more an arduous task to get him into the car seat. In no time, this little rascal learned how to release the buckle. Thankfully, he had not been mischievous enough to release the buckle while the car was moving. But, he had always demanded to be the one to "press the button" to get out of the seat and would fly into a tantrum if we had done it for him. It was also a blessing that the shoulder strap laid properly over his shoulder most of the time, as my initial fear was that he would struggle out of it.

An Early Xmas Pressie for Ian

2010-12-11T23:57:00.000+08:00

A staff from his ex-enrichment school had recommended me to get him the Junior Engineer toy a few months ago, and hence, we gotten one for him during the recent festive sale.

This is only the basic set, and costs around $60+ after discount. When we got home, this little boy was so eager to open up the box and play with his Daddy!

Ian's Haircut @ Baby Spa

2010-12-10T23:53:00.025+08:00

Our usual hair stylist was overseas for this festive month before we could get one 'last' cut at her place, hence, we had no choice but to source for another place to get Ian a trim.

Since Ian has always gotten his hair cut at the same place since he was a baby, we had no idea where to bring him to, because it was hard to keep him still during the cut. I remembered that the Baby Spa shop did have this service, besides letting babies swim, and hence we brought Ian there to try out their service on this afternoon.

Ian sat in a toy car and the lady who attended to us switched on a cartoon to keep him entertained. Unfortunately, he was not in the least interested in the cartoon. Hubby had to keep Ian down as he was fidgeting at the sound of the electric shaver.

I had told the lady that I wanted the hair to be short, and she really did exactly what I said. (I am lamenting at the shortness now.) One thing good about their service was that they provided a vacuum for us to suck up the hair from Ian's clothes.

The first cut cost $16, and with the member card, subsequent visits will cost $10.

Ian's Progress In School

2010-12-10T21:10:00.037+08:00

We had a review session with Ian's childcare teachers this afternoon. It was a short 30 minutes chat with the teachers and they showed us his "report book".

Generally, his "grades" in all aspects had improved, with mostly 3s (1 being the lowest, 3 being the highest). I wonder if the teachers had been a tad too generous with the scores? However, as expected, the language development sections had many 2s, but there were no more 1s unlike the mid-year review.

The teachers also showed us a stick figure sketch that he had drawn in the beginning of December. It was a self-portrait, with eyes, nose, mouth, hair, body, hands, and legs. I was a bit surprised at the sketch, and the teachers said that they were a bit surprised too because it was probably something that a 3.5 year old would draw. They noticed that he was strong at sorting shapes and colours. They also commented that he was a curious child, and always tore off bits of paper from the crafts pasted on the wall.

It was a pity that I only had a quick look at the comments written in the report book, which would follow him until he completed K2 in this school.

On this day, I also noticed the big difference in his behaviour, upon the appearance of his English teacher. He was running wildly along the corridor while we waited for our turn, and immediately turned into a "demure" sheep when she walked out of the classroom. It was good to know that there was someone in school who could control him from misbehaving.

Crafts: Projects for November 2010

2010-11-30T13:47:00.000+08:00

Yet another lazy month for me... only managed to accomplished 2 pieces of crafts with my dear boy this month. He has been more engaged in tracing mazes, alphabets and numbers for this month. Also, this lazy mommy has been using pre-cut craft templates from craft books, and also letting him play with stickers.

Thumb Print Apple Tree - I cut out a template of the tree and let Ian create the "apples" with his thumb. A simple activity, but he enjoyed it a lot.

Paper Plate Rabbit - First, I drew a centre line across a smaller paper plate and let Ian cut the plate into half. Then, I traced out 2 ovals on a piece of pink construction paper and let Ian cut out the shape (though I did help him to trim a little). I drew the eyes and mouth on the bigger paper plate and let Ian stick the pompom on as the nose. Then, I helped him paste on the chenille stems as the whiskers, and guided him to paste the ears behind the bigger plate.

Ian @ 2 Years 8 Months

2010-11-29T10:44:00.001+08:00

Quick Stats:

Height: 97cm
Weight: 15.2kg

Our little boy is getting more and more talkative, and likes to sing along with the radio or TV credits. He also has the habit of repeating something he said until he gets our attention. His tenacity sometimes surprises us.
Ian is now able to unbutton his uniform when he is back from school. However, he still needs some help when buttoning his shirt. So far, he has been putting on his undies and pants without much help from us.
He is now toilet-trained in the day, except for occasional accidents. We are contemplating to start him in his undies for school as well, as he can differentiate his undies from a diaper and refuses to go to the toilet whenever he's in a diaper.
Able to write a few letters and numbers though they do not look as pretty yet: "H", "I", "T", "L", "1", "2".
He is also starting to show defiance whenever we ask him to do something.
Learning to pedal a tricycle.

A Happy Weekend for Ian

2010-11-27T22:24:00.030+08:00

Ian must have enjoyed this day a lot.

Firstly, we signed him up for a trial class at Abrakadoodle. The theme of the day was using fir tree branches and create a painting of snowy forest. As much as Ian enjoyed doing arts and crafts at home, he enjoyed dabbing the paints on the paper. At the end of the class, he got to bring back his framed artwork.

After the class, we decided to bring Ian to ride his bike at the Lower Seletar Reservoir. We had been talking of visiting the place for ages, and this was the first time we realized our 'talks'. There was a splash park but strangely, the people playing with the water were not kids.

Ian learned to pedal his bike on the wooden bridge...

The Maid #2

2010-11-02T10:38:00.001+08:00

Our Scooba's long-awaited sibling finally reached us yesterday afternoon. I had waited for a while to woot this sibling, who will be complementing the Scooba in house-cleaning. Although it was not the model that I had desired, nevertheless, the price was too good to resist ($290) and almost half of the price I saw on eBay.

After charging it overnight, I set it off its first mission to vacuum the whole house. See it in action...

These 2 siblings never fail to amaze me how much dirt they always find in the house. I have tried running the Scooba everyday for a week, and the water is always black. Perhaps, I should use the Roomba first to suck up the dirt, followed by the Scooba for a more effective cleaning.

Crafts: Projects for October 2010

2010-10-31T10:46:00.000+08:00

It has been another lazy month for us... anyway, here are what Ian has been doing for this past month...

Paper Plate Fish - We read the book Rainbow Fish and I decided to let Ian create one (the one on the right). First, he used crayons to colour the fish as he liked, while I helped to divide out a portion for the mouth. After he has finished his colouring, I let him cut out the tail and he drew the eyes. I stapled the tail to the body of the fish, then tore out little scraps of aluminum foil that he pasted with glue onto the body of the fish. We found another piece of paper plate around and he said he wanted to make one more fish, so I let him. To my surprise, he enjoyed doing this craft which was simple in my opinion.

Frog and Tortoise - I was trying to introduce the concept of mixing yellow and blue paint to get green paint, and to avoid wasting the paint, I let Ian paint the colour onto 2 paper plates. I had prepared the cut-out legs, eyes and other body parts in advance, and Ian helped to paste the body parts onto the paper plates.

Pig and Elephant - Ian first painted the 8 paper plates, egg carton, and toilet rolls in pink. After that, Hubby helped to glue the individual parts together as it was not easy to handle. This craft was not very successful in my opinion, as perhaps we should have used more plates to make it look more proportionate with the legs.

The 2nd craft was from Chinese craft book with punch out templates. Ian helped to attach the body parts of the elephant with glue.

Cheap Homeschooling: Dressing Frame

2010-10-25T10:17:00.016+08:00

I made a simple buttons dressing frame for Ian to learn how to button and unbutton. What it had cost - a $6 frame, scraps of cloth, huge buttons that I found amongst my scrapbooking materials, and about an hour of work at the sewing machine (my first attempt to sew button-holes with this machine).

He has started practising on it for the past 2 months or so, and it was only recently that he started to apply this skill in real life. Now, he is able to take off his school uniform, although he still needed a little help buttoning it up in the morning.

Once he is more dexterous with this skill, perhaps I could try to let him learn how to tie a ribbon?

"Eat M, Okay?"

2010-10-20T10:47:00.000+08:00

"Eat M, Okay?".

Initially, I did not get what Ian was trying to tell me, until once, I followed his eyes and saw the big "M" signboard - McDonald's. Every time we passes by an outlet, or when we tell Ian that we are going to eat, he will say these 3 words.

He loves their fries, much to my chagrin. Whenever I am in a hurry to fetch him or have run out of time to have my lunch before fetching him, I will resort to fast-food. Sometimes, I bring him with me to buy my lunch, and he gets to eat my fries, which appears to be a feast to him as he savours each bite.

Most of the time, we finished the meal in the car before going home. Sometimes, if we do bring the food home, he will place the fries in front of him, followed by placing my coke next to his fries, and begin his feast.

Our Long-Awaited Maid...

2010-10-19T14:50:00.003+08:00

I wooted this at the beginning of the month, and it seemed a long wait before the DHL courier finally brought our robotic maid to us yesterday afternoon. We quickly went out to get the local voltage charger and fed it with power for 16 hours. After putting Ian to bed just now, I eagerly made it perform the very first task for our house...

Verdict: I had expected it to leave the floor pretty wet, but this is wetter than expected. Perhaps if I left it to clean the same area, the last cycle would have dried the floor. It could not reach the corners, but it did a pretty neat job of sucking up long hair and random dirt and dust on the floor. For the price I had paid ($310), it is good, as it can take away some of the housework from us.

However, after the robot had completed its task, I had to dismantle the tank, the filter, and the brush cleaning head to clean up. The water for the first mission was black (showed how dirty our house was). It was quite a chore to clean up the filter and cleaning head as a lot of hair, dirt, and even bits of papers that Ian tore up, was stuck inside. After that, I wonder how long it would take to dry up, before it can embark on the next mission? Perhaps because this is a lower end model, so it could not clean up the whole house. But, it is good enough for us. Hopefully, with a cleaner house, Ian and I can stop suffering from allergy-related problems!

As a side note, I have not seen how Ian will react to our new family member. Hopefully, he will not abuse it!

Surprises Today

2010-10-18T17:47:00.000+08:00

Our little boy gave me many surprises today!

1. When he came back from school, he unbuttoned his uniform without any help from me. We have been teaching him how to handle buttons for about 2 months, and finally, he did it on his clothes. Hopefully, this will not turn out to be a one-off event, and he can continue to do that tomorrow and so forth.

2. After his shower, he went to the first-aid box to take a plaster to paste over the little cut on his leg. Although he has been able to put on a plaster properly (he has even helped to paste one over a mosquito bite on me before), it was a pleasant surprise still when he came to the kitchen with the empty box to throw it away.

3. While I was changing the bedsheets, Ian has become my little helper. He helped me pull the bedsheet at the other corner of the bed, and took the dirty linens to the laundry basket in the kitchen. He even helped to place the pillows at their usual places.

4. Voila! That is a portrait that he drew while I was not looking. When I asked who it was, he said "Mommy!". It was a surprise to me, because it did not look as weird as his previous sketches of our family members.

Development Assessment: 30 Months

2010-10-04T23:57:00.000+08:00

We visited the speech and occupational therapists today. The occupational therapist explained the result of the profiling that we had completed last month. Ian fared pretty normal except for his auditory processing, which showed that he had a slightly higher threshold for noise tolerance, which meant we needed to put in more effort to catch his attention if we were talking to him. The therapist mentioned that he could be 'discharged' since we did not have any major concern.

The speech therapist also mentioned about discharging him soon, perhaps after a doctor's review. She was happy with Ian's explosive progress since our first visit just a few months ago. Ian could now attempt to join a few words together in his effort to communicate. And surprisingly, he could pronounce some difficult sounds such as "train" (the "tr" sound is supposed to be quite advanced for his age). She was also happy that he could recognise a specific vegetable such as broccoli during the play time. We pointed out that he is having difficulty pronouncing "fish" instead of "bish", and she told us that this was pretty normal for someone who just began to talk. But strangely, Ian could say "four" and "five" correctly.

After the next review, if everything is good, we probably could go for a review again in another 6 months.

At his childcare, his teacher also brought up that Ian's progress in talking was good. He was starting to imitate the words that the teacher said.

Both of us also found that he has become pretty talkative. Sometimes, he would wake up in the morning and talk to himself while he played alone. He also loves to praise himself "well done" for something that he has done.

Crafts: Projects for September 2010

2010-09-30T11:40:00.000+08:00

For this month, I have slowed down the pace of his projects due to some unforeseen events at home. Here are what we have done...

Sheep - Found this project from the internet and decided to try it out with Ian. I cut out the head, tail and legs beforehand, and let Ian paste cotton balls on a paper plate. In case you are wondering, I helped Ian fill in the gaps between the cotton balls that he pasted. After that I guided him to paste the other body parts onto the body.

Lion - Another simple project... I cut out a yellow circle beforehand, and drew the face. I showed Ian how to mix the red and yellow paints to get the orange paint for the lion's mane. He painted the paper plate first and after it dried, Ian made snippets around the edge of the plate to get the mane. After that, I guided him to paste the face onto the plate.

Hand Prints - A 'lazy' project! I showed Ian how to mix white and blue to get a lighter shade. After that, I gave him the brush to dab on his palms and paint at his free will.

Resources:
Artists Helping Children - Paper Plates Crafts
Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Ian Is 2.5 Years Old

2010-09-29T17:18:00.069+08:00

More noticeable development for the past month was his vast improvement in speech. When we first sought help from a speech therapist in June (~ 3 months ago), Ian could hardly pronounce words with 3 syllables. Now, he is able to join a few words together such as "I don't want", "Thank you, (whoever)", and pronounce some words with 3 syllables.

We are pleased that he can finally say the letter "W" properly, though now he still has difficulty in pronouncing some lengthy words like "helicopter" and "octopus" (which becomes "oc-pus-to"). Ian is also making more effort to express himself, although sometimes we did not manage to catch what he wanted to convey. He has also displayed some interest in using preposition, such as "in the floor", "in the top". We are still trying hard to correct his wrong usage though.

Socially, Ian is able to recognise some of his classmates. I only realised this when I showed him the photos that his teacher had taken, and he started to point out his classmates with names. He seems to be well-adapted to going to school now, because he does not become clingy when we drop him in the class. Instead, he will wave bye-bye to us.

Another more notable development is his progress toilet-training. Now, he is able to keep the pants dry at home and through his naps. There had been a few accidents on and off, but I guess that is to be expected. He has also managed to keep his pants dry when we go out for a short trip to my mom's place for dinner. I wonder when we can start to put him in cloth for longer trips? (We are two clueless parents who managed to toilet-train our boy up to this stage!)

Thanks to his toilet-training drills, I have let him put on his pants by himself. Most of the time, he is able to put them on correctly (label at the back). With loose tees, he can take them off on his own and sometimes, put them on without help.

Ian has also managed to draw a simple sketch of a face, but his favourite thing to draw is still a balloon!

It had been a busy month for us, and Ian spent a lot of time with his 2 cousins during their one week holiday. Now, they are officially his top favourite people (perhaps they top the list over us!).