Our Little Angels

Little Baby in Tummy

2011-05-27T21:48:00.000+08:00

Jo: Mommy, when I was a little baby, I was in your tummy. why did you eat me up!!??
M: No, Mommy didn't eat you up. God put you in mommy's tummy :)

4 years ago....

2011-02-27T00:24:00.005+08:00

at this time, I think I was looking at Matthew and thinking about his future, worrying if he will accept his little sister, wondering how we are going to handle 2 children, wondering how he is going to be during my 3-night hospital stay.

In another 10 hours, 4 years ago, we saw our beautiful daughter for the very first time. I remembered she was screaming, I talked to her, she immediately stopped crying as if she knew mommy was talking to her. Tears rolled down her cheeks and my cheeks! Her big eyes were open! I still remember our paediatrician Dr Dorothy Ong pushing her screaming into my hospital room and she was already a chilli padi at 1 day old!

Watching Joanne grow up everyday, her cheekiness, her big smile, her smily eyes, her tantrums, her sweetness. How she slept alone as a baby, how she stopped latching on one night (after I reprimanded her for biting me, she refused to latch!), how she is addicted to TV, how she loves her brother and always remember to share good things (such as sweets) with him. It has been an amazing journey with her so far. She made a difference to our life and she continues to amaze us everyday...

Dear Joanne, Happy 4th birthday! Be good, less tantrums and eat less! We love you!

Bedtime Issues

2011-02-26T15:35:00.006+08:00

We are having bedtime issues with Joanne. She's definitely not having enough sleep for her age....

Typical weekday waking time: 730am
Typical sleeping time: 11pm
Naptime: 1+ hour
Total amount of sleep: 9.5 hours
Required amount of sleep: >10 hours

Every night I have to struggle with her not wanting to sleep. She will struggle here, struggle there, talk to herself, talk to us, talk to Matthew. I have to threaten her with a cane. Last night, I finally caned her. She cried, quietened down and fell asleep.

Bedtime routine? By the time I come home everyday, the children would have had their dinner and would most likely be watching TV. Matthew will play piano and some PC game. Jo will do her own things (such as drawing, colouring) and watch TV. They will brush their teeth after milk / milo, change into their pyjamas and go to the room at 10pm for bedtime story. After which, it's lights off.

Matthew will lay down on bed quietly, sometimes sing softly to himself and will sleep shortly after.

Joanne is the terror. She's our Energizer bunny. She will move move move, talk talk talk till she's totally drained and "out of battery"... sometimes I'm so tired that I fall asleep before her. sometimes while I'm sleeping and she disturbs me, I'll wake up angry... sigh.. what am I to do with this girl?!

So what happens when a child does not have enough sleep? Cranky, sleepy and uncooperative child. It shows more in Matthew when he doesn't have enough sleep, compared to Joanne.

Some articles on sleep.
How much sleep does your child need?
Connection between sleep and growth - 2 to 4 year old
Connection between sleep and growth - 5 to 8 year old
Irregular sleep tied to kids' obesity

Irregular sleep are associated with kids obesity!? oh no....

6 years ago....

2011-02-24T23:27:00.006+08:00

at this hour, I was worrying about having to go through C-section to deliver Matthew. I had always wanted to give birth naturally, but my kids' heads were simply too big and I'm too small sized.

In another 13 hours, 6 years ago, we set our eyes on our son Matthew for the 1st time. It was such an emotional experience. But I did not get to see him again till more than 24 hours, because he was admitted into NICU for water in his lungs. For him, I had to make myself get up to go 6th floor to see him. For him, I had to pump pump pump in order to get some breastmilk for the nurses to feed him. For him,.... everything else was secondary.

To see Matthew grow everyday, finding out about his left ear at 6mths, our 1st family trip to Perth at 13mths, doing jigsaw puzzles, building duplo at 15mths, singing and dancing in Dr Lynne Lin's office at ENT during one of the review sessions, carrying his little sister Joanne at the hospital, kissing her, going to CCC at 27mths, from a shy boy to a confident boy, changing to church kindergarten at 35mths, starting music lessons at his request at 38mths, switching to full day CCC at 4yrs, learning to play 1 page piano piece at 5yrs and now he's 6 yrs old...

Happy 6th Birthday, Matthew! You are a big boy now, be good!

Japan Trip - Nov 2010 - FOOD

2010-12-10T23:46:00.004+08:00

If anybody was to ask us about food in Japan, we can only say one thing. UDON! We had UDON everyday! The children love Udon. Each time we asked them what they wanted to eat, they would reply in unison - Udon! But it was not easy to find Udon. Udon was not as common as Soba, but it was definitely one of the cheaper foods in Japan.

our 1st udon meal in Japan. Osaka!

we had udon in Kyoto...

and Nara....

We managed to get them to eat other foods, such as saba fish with white rice, Tonkatsu-don, ramen. At times, we let them have their Udon fix, while we bought bento sets from the supermarkets. The supermarkets were amazing! I forgot to take photos. They sold almost every type of Japanese cooked food. They even sold cooked salmon, cod fish slices. We bought a piece of cooked salmon slice one day for the children. Yummy!

Ramen by the roadside at Tsujiki Market

our last meal in Japan. Saba Fish set...

Tonkatsu-don-Udon set.

And the two days in DisneyLand and DisneySea, we practically survived on BREAD and cookies! Butter rolls, Raisin rolls, butter cookies. and SWEETS! these kept them occupied while we queued for the rides.

To give the children some credit, they did try other food. more like snacks. it's either you like it or not. Mealtimes were also disastrous when they were tired.. :P

Food issues. Do you have the same problem as I do?

2010-12-10T23:23:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was a special day. We went to the zoo (as requested by Jo for umpteen times). M & Jo were excited. They still remember what they want to see in the zoo. I think the last time we went was in May?! We have the family membership, but have not been going there for a while.

The kids finished the Gardenia butter rolls we brought along and each had a small cup of Ben & Jerry ice-cream (very expensive at $4.40 per cup after discount). Then we went to eat fishball noodles at Yishun market and definitely one of the cheapest around. $2.50 per bowl!

In the afternoon, we watched Rapunzel at GV Vivocity, as promised to the children. By the time the show ended, both children were hungry and tired. We wanted to go off to IMM for dinner, so they could rest in the car. But NO! M wanted to eat there. Jo wanted to eat salmon. The only place I could think of was Marche.

DISASTER!

M ate half a slice of salmon with white rice. Jo had the other half slice of salmon and a jumbo chicken cheese sausage. M complained he was hungry, so we ordered grilled turkey breast. He didn't like it. Then we ordered a pizza (half salami, half mushroom). He complained the pizza was bitter, salty, too sweet. omg. We gave up. $60 spent for a dis-satisfied meal. And the two children were fighting over colour pencils!

Conclusion of this special day was disastrous!

but i managed to get Jo to smile for this photo. actually she was the one who wanted to take photo! :P

Food? We better stick to Japanese food, chinese food. No more western style cooking, i.e. we cannot plan a trip to Oz with the Tans!

P/s - has anybody else spotted this trio of a pea-hen & her 2 chicks in the zoo? cute!

What happened?

2010-12-08T21:51:00.005+08:00

The blog has not been updated. I have been so caught up with my work from the role change and other responsibilites in the office. In the midst of the work madness, we sold our flat, moved to my mom's place and travelled to Japan for 10D 11N. It was fun, but very tiring for me and Mike.

After the trip, I went back into work madness and my paternal grandmother passed away last Tuesday. The kids were curious. Both requested to look at great-grandmother in her coffin. She looked very peaceful. I was not sad. Glad that she passed on peacefully in her nap after her usual breakfast w coffee. The tears only came when we took one last look before the coffin was closed.

M & Jo got to know the extended family whom we meet only twice a year, at CNY and grandmother's birthday. There were 7 great-grandchildren (including M & Jo), from 1.5-year-old to 6-year-old to 21-year-old. The two older ones (19 and 21) helped to take care of the little ones and kept them entertained while we went about our duties.

Last night, M requested to write an invitation. To invite his new-found friend / cousin XinYi to our house to play. He probably doesn't remember, but they did play together before. We will meet up soon.

Time flies

2010-03-11T00:31:00.002+08:00

Time flies. Matthew is now 5 years old and Joanne is 3 years old. The whole timeline started when I became pregnant on 31 May 2004, gave birth to Matthew on 25 February 2005. Then pregnant a 2nd time, I think on 10 June 2008, gave birth to Joanne on 27 February 2007...

.... School Celebrations on 25 Feb 2010....

Joanne requested for a chocolate cake. We got her a Hello Kitty royal chocolate cake from Polar. Standing behind Matthew are his good friends, Cadence and Seth. He liked strawberry, so we got him a strawberry cake from Four Leaves.

.... Home Celebrations ....

Matthew loves strawberry so much that we got him a smaller one to celebrate at home. We got Joanne a chocolate banana cake from Awfully Chocolate. :)

Riddle

2010-03-11T00:17:00.001+08:00

Mike: What goes up and doesn't come down?
Matthew: Height!

Smart answer :)

How come so long?

2009-12-27T14:21:00.004+08:00

My parents are on holiday this week. We sent them to the airport on Thursday. In the car, Matthew asked my mom: "为什么你们去 holiday 那么多天，我去那么少天?"

How will you answer if you were my mom? she was totally speechless.

Diaper Free... TOTALLY!

2009-11-21T22:35:00.002+08:00

I just found out that this is our 200th post on this blog and I'm happy to announce that Joanne is totally DIAPER FREE! YES, even at night.

I'm quite surprised that she managed to go dry so soon, because she always woke up with a full wet diaper.

It started when Mike went reservist 1st week of November. Joanne refused to wear her diaper. I think she wet the bed for that week if I didn't get her to wake up and pee. Subsequently she cut down her water intake before bedtime and holds her pee till morning or wakes up in the middle of the night to pee.

HAPPY! :) no more spending money on diapers! :)

I can cycle!

2009-11-19T21:59:00.003+08:00

I have been caught up with work that I have not been giving the children attention.

This week, I found out that Joanne could cycle! Really cycle, as in pushing the pedal all the way and round. Matthew could only do that after he turned 3 years old. Joanne is 3 months short of 3 years. Her motor skills are definitely more advanced than Matthew at the same age. She walked, jumped, skipped much earlier. This was perhaps not a real surprise.

Well done, Jo!

By Itself

2009-11-18T21:21:00.002+08:00

On the way home just now, Jo had some coins in her hand. She dropped 4 of them.

Papa: Jo, 钱掉在哪里?
Jo: 钱掉在这里.
Papa: 钱怎么会掉在那里?
Jo: 钱自己掉在里面 by itself!

my bilingual daughter!

Earthquake

2009-09-21T14:15:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday in the car, the kids had 2 mini bags of dino gummies. Matthew finished his 2 gummies and out of the blue complained that he had a tummyache and that led him to cry and whine. After he stopped, we asked him why he had tummyache.

Matthew: Because I had too much sweets.
Mike: You don't need to finish everything.
Matthew: But I don't want to waste. The people in earthquake areas have no food. I cannot waste food, so must finish everything.

.........

An improved version of Matthew

2009-09-20T01:20:00.003+08:00

Matthew has been attending childcare for six and a half months now. Intellectual development, he has always been quite good, so I was not so concerned on that part. He has definitely picked up more, as the teachers here are able to "tune" to his needs and development levels due to a smaller class. He has an almost endless thirst for knowledge.

What impressed me was the improvement in his social behaviour and interpersonal skills.

His teachers said that he is able to apply the correct behaviour to the situation. When it's schoolwork time, he really put in the effort in the piece of work he's given. He plays hard at playtime. He eats quietly at mealtimes.

He has more friends now. I think it's good that at childcare, the kids get to mix around. Matthew loves to be with the older kids, because they can communicate at the same levels. It seems that at his previous school, he tend to stick to himself more, because most of the kids were not able to express themselves well enough and he got frustrated communicating.

He is better behaved, much much less whining and crying. Whining and crying usually happens when he's tired or hungry.

He feeds himself, asks for a wider variety of food, questions the benefits of each food that he eats; willingness to try new foods and telling us how he feel about the food.

He is now more sociable, smiles more and greets people when told, even to neighbours in the lift.

Last but not least, he learned from his friends that they sleep alone without papa and mommy with them, he told us he wanted to do the same. The first big step was to "kick" Joanne out to our master bedroom and he slept on one mattress, Mike slept on the other. He told Mike that Papa cannot hug him at bedtime. The second big step was on Thursday night, he had no choice but to sleep alone, because Mike had a late appointment and I had to put Joanne to sleep. I switched on the aircon and fan (he complained it was too hot) and left the room door half-opened. He was scared of machines, aliens and monsters. I told him that they won't look for good boy who sleeps on his own. They only disturb naughty boys. Less than 30minutes, after calling out to me several times, he slept on his own...

One time only, but it's definitely a big step... :)

Well done Matthew. Jia You!

>> Matthew eating a strawberry sundae, 6/9/09, bt batok macdonalds

One year in childcare

2009-09-19T23:46:00.001+08:00

One year ago today, I enrolled her in half day (afternoon) childcare, then in full day childcare a few weeks after. Time really flies. In this one year, she has developed so much and also learned not just to care for herself, but also the other people around her.

She was weaned off her pacifier.

She learned to talk, ask for things, sing songs. In fact, she loves to talk and sing songs. HOWEVER, she sometimes simply refuses to join in the action during music class.

Her speech is a mixture of English and Mandarin. We correct her. But we find that it's really amazing for her age to be able to do that.

She is learning to colour within a confined area on a piece of paper.

She knows her numbers! Not counting, but recognising the numbers. I didn't know that till this morning, when we went for her music make-up class and asked her which room is number 3, she pointed to the correct room!

She shares. BUT she'll be very angry if the thing is taken away without asking her. She'll scream, cry and complain if Matthew takes her things without permission. If Matthew asks nicely for something, she'll definitely give him.

She helps to take care of the other kids in her toddler class. Teacher Grace calls her class monitor. :)

She learns to sit down to do some "work", like colouring or drawing, for a while only...

When she has good things, she'll make sure Matthew has one too. This evening, we celebrated Baby Ian's full month baby shower. Joanne saw the red eggs and took 2, telling us 1 for Matthew. She brought the egg to Matthew, only to realise that Matthew already had 1 egg. She then went to put the egg back in the basket and came back for her egg. When she is given sweets, she always ask for an extra one for Matthew.

We have been so amazed by how much she has learned and developed in the past year. We will continue to be surprised, I'm very sure of that. Keep them coming. Jia You Joanne!

>> Joanne at Class95 Movies in the Park, 12/9/09, fort canning park

我不是小可爱, 我是Joanne!

2009-09-19T23:36:00.002+08:00

This was the response we got when one of the older relatives (or is it her grandmother) called her 小可爱. She just wanted to be called Joanne and nothing else. She always put the record straight whenever she hears something different.

We always correct her when she calls her brother Matthew instead of gor gor. She will say, "哥哥是Matthew. Matthew是哥哥." telling us that there's nothing wrong to call Matthew.

My mom (me included) sometimes calls the kids wrongly, Joanne - boy, Matthew - girl. Joanne will correct, "我是girl, 哥哥是boy."

CUTE! We have to praise her, right? :)

Prawning

2009-08-10T23:50:00.003+08:00

We have been going to the zoo many times in the past weeks. We also went to catch the fireworks on the NDP preview day and yesterday. Today, we decided to do something different - Prawning. We have walked past this prawning pond at East Coast Park a few times. This area used to be the Singapore Tennis Centre. Now it has been transformed to Futsal courts and prawning pond.

The kids woke up early as usual. They kept themselves entertained, got their tetra-paks milo / milk from the store-room, while Mike and I continued sleeping! We had a late breakfast of mantou and decided to head out for East Coast Park. We made a detour to Clementi Road for some pratas.

The weather was wet, with intermittent showers. We hid under the big umbrella, but after a while, the kids did not care about the rain at all. We saw prawns being fished out; they were all excited and couldn't wait to do the same.

The kids had fun, watching out for prawns hooking on. Matthew spotted quite a few. Joanne kept herself entertained using her toy phone to take photos of us and the catch and "chit-chatting" on the phone. After a while, she got bored, Mike went to get some Macdonald's and brought her along. After 2.5hrs, we packed up...

>> LOOK AT OUR CATCH!

We brought the prawns over to Por Por's house. We had prawns in tangkwei soup for dinner! YUMMY! The prawns were big, juicy and fresh!

Scrapbooking 2

2009-07-13T02:26:00.002+08:00

Here are some of the layouts I completed the past few weeks.

>> Matthew and Joanne having fun running up a slope at Botanic Gardens, 3/5/09

>> Joanne at 3+ months, making faces, 20/5/07

>> Matthew and Joanne at the zoo, enjoying a moment at the Pygmy Hippo enclosure, 14/3/09

>> Shopping at Citygate, Tung Chung, Hong Kong, 28/3/09

>> Matthew outside Disneyland, 26/3/09

Put on record

2009-07-13T02:16:00.006+08:00

Just want to put on record some things that we did after our HK trip.

1.
Mother's Day weekend. We spent Friday night (8/5) that weekend at Marina Mandarin. For Mike's hard work, he was rewarded with a Spa getaway stay at the hotel, in lieu of a Bali trip. That Friday, Mike and I took leave and had a relaxing massage before we checked into the hotel and fetched the kids. The kids had fun and we went on a river cruise after dinner at Ryoshi Sushi in Marina Mandarin. The next morning, we all had buffet breakfast and went for a swim before checking out for lunch.

2.
Matthew joined his friends from piano class for a concert at DBS auditorium on 6/6. He was to play the Can Can. He joined his friends, despite not being able to keep up and play with the music. It was a good experience for him and he enjoyed himself. Looking forward to more concerts. :)

3.
World Blood Donation Day was celebrated at the Jurong Bird Park on 13/6. Because Mike and I donated blood last year, we both were invited and had free admission into the park. The kids enjoyed themselves, despite the constant drizzle. They finished their visit to the park with hand painting!

Creatively Balanced

2009-07-13T02:08:00.005+08:00

I've noticed that Matthew is quite creative and has an eye for balance. He is able to build things symmetrical in 2 planes, left and right, back and front. Here is a great piece of work. The same protruding parts on the front is exactly the same at the back.

Cute poses from the kids on the 2nd shot. Jo was playing with her flashcards.

Movie Date

2009-07-13T01:48:00.004+08:00

Last Monday, the childcare centre was closed. Mike and I decided to take leave and bring the kids out on a movie date. We took a direct bus from home to Vivocity. The kids had fun along the way, looking out for things, singing.

We were early, so we had some snacks before the movie. There were long queues at the ticket counters. Luckily we bought our tickets a day earlier. That day was Youth Day and there was no school.

Matthew and Mike watched Transformers, while Joanne and I watched Ice Age 3. I forgot that Joanne didn't need a ticket! Anyway it was good that we got her a ticket. She had a booster seat and enjoyed watching the show. She talked a lot LOUDLY and asked lots of questions, like "That's papa elephant, mama elephant. Where is baby elephant", so on and so forth. She went to toilet a few times, but all in all, she was quite ok and definitely enjoyed the show.

When the show was almost to the end, she insisted that she wanted to go toilet. When we came back, she got all upset because the show ended and the credits were running. I had to convince her to leave and that I would show her Ice Age DVD when we go home.

After that, we went to the foodcourt to get lunch. While waiting for Matthew and Mike, I managed to buy all their food (udon and yong tow foo) and my own lunch and grab a coffee too! She was quite good, sitting there, eating on her own while waiting for me.

Matthew and Mike finally joined us at the foodcourt. After lunch, we made our way out to take the train. Mike managed to pat Jo to sleep and transferred her into her baby pouch, while Matthew only fell asleep at JE stop.

It was quite a fun outing. We shall do it again on a weekday.

Fragile Forest

2009-07-13T01:12:00.004+08:00

The kids requested to go to the zoo. Despite the gloomy morning (which cleared up after lunch), we made our way there yesterday morning. It has been a few months since we last went. Now that Jo is older, she is able to recognise more animals.

For some reason, the kids loved to look at the snakes! yikes! Along the way, we had to convince them to see other animals, like the white polar bears, the smelly rhinos, the featherless-bottom ostrich, the long-necked giraffes, the sleeping lions (amazing, the lion and his 3 mistresses were all sleeping!), the two lone leopards, the active jaguars.

When we finally reached the reptile garden, the kids were so happy. Jo was able to spot almost all the snakes in their enclosures. Mike then brought the kids into the close encounter enclosure. I decided to wait outside. After waiting a lot while, I was beginning to wonder what was keeping them in there for so long.... I popped in to take a look and found myself spotting 4 small alligators, 1 chameleon lizard and 1 tortoise! The lizard actually crawled over 1 alligator and the tortorise!

>> 2 alligators

>> the lizard with the tortoise

After that, I suggested that we went to see some butterflies over at the Fragile Forest enclosure. We have brought Matthew there before, but not Jo. She loved butterflies, so we thought it might be quite fun to come up close and personal with the beautiful flying insects.

Our journey began with frog encounters. Matthew had fun looking for frogs and toads hidden in the various enclosures. Jo was able to spot few of them. One of the student volunteer guides Hui Jing then led us into the forest enclosure for close encounters. We were lucky. It was feeding time. We saw the animals coming out to feed on the fruit, vegetables that were left out for them. Ducks, pigeons, lesser mousedeers.

The butterflies were flying all round. One of the species is 4-egg fly; on the wings of this butterfly, there are 4 spots which look like egg, hence the name.

We moved up the enclosure and came face to face with the lemur, sloth and the fruit bats. The sloth is the slowest moving animal in the world, but it has 2 very strong toes on each limb which helps them to hang on to branches. The lemur is a native animal to the island of Madagascar. This animal has a very deep impressive on Jo, as it came very close to us and also in the movie Madagascar, this animal sang "move it move it".

>> can you spot the sloth? >> 2 handsome lemurs

We also saw the red lory which I recognised from our recent trip to Bird Park (World Blood Donation Day on 14/6/09). On our way out, there was a exhibit on the life cycle of butterflies, with enclosures showing the butterflies at different stages of life (i.e. egg, caterpillar, pupa / cocoon , butterfly). I was quite amazed at how pretty the cocoon looked, shiny gold!

We were tired and decided to spend some dollars to take the tram to stop 1, nearer the entrance. Only then we found out the tickets entitle us to unlimited rides. Next time, we will take the tram!

The kids enjoyed the Fragile Forest, though Jo was a little afraid of the animals coming too close. We will definitely be back again!

Joke

2009-07-12T23:26:00.002+08:00

Matthew started his formal swim class with Torpedo at Fairway Country Club this afternoon. He joined a class of 3 students.

We asked him about his instructor. He said, "本来是Auntie, 剪头发变男的"

Go figure!

>> Matthew submerging himself in the water. He got daring after the swim trial yesterday.

Matthew and Nutella

2009-07-05T00:57:00.004+08:00

Matthew was not a great fan of Nutella, but Mike, Joanne and I simply love Nutella! Recently Mike managed to convince him to try and he got hooked! Matthew saw a TV advertisement on Nutella and told me in Mandarin, "Mommy, the TV say Nutella is good for me!"

Stunned. The Power of TV. What can I say?

Here's a recent photo of Matthew and his music teacher Shumin.

>> 6 June 2009, DBS Auditorium where he performed in a concert.

I think....

2009-07-04T13:47:00.002+08:00

This morning, I wanted to tie Joanne's hair but I couldn't find her comb. I asked her where is the comb. Pointing to the TV console, she replied, "Mommy, I think it's over there."

She surprised me every other day, with new phrases and words. How many kids at her age can use "I think"?

Here's a photo of Joanne with her hair tied up. :)

>> This morning, West Coast Park

Cute again!

2009-06-26T23:19:00.002+08:00

Yesterday in the car, Matthew tapped Joanne and she wailed. She stopped and turned to Matthew, "Gor Gor beat me. Pain, you know?"

Cute!

2009-06-24T22:29:00.002+08:00

One fine morning, Matthew woke up and sang the National Anthem, followed by the Pledge. Before he said the Pledge, he told Joanne, palm to the Beaver (on his uniform), and proceeded to recite the Pledge. I was surprised! He must have learned in school.

Just now in the car, Matthew was bombarding Mike with lots of questions about the animated movie - Monsters vs Aliens. At one point, Joanne said, "问我! 问我!" That had me laughing and she started laughing after me too!

Scrapbooking

2009-06-07T22:34:00.004+08:00

For a while early last year, I was all crazy about baking - bread, cakes, muffins. Because of a new project which I was heavily involved in, I had to put my baking aside.

This year, the project is now on track, but I'm still busy. However I caught on another fever - SCRAPBOOKING. Actually scrapbooking is not totally new to me. Previously, I would use self-adhesive albums, put in the photos with my own "deco". Now i take this a step further, with specialised paper and "deco". Here are the layouts (LO) I have completed so far.

>>> The photo was taken in Apr06 on our trip to Perth with Matthew. We were at Maraget River Chocolate Factory when Matthew spotted a beautiful golden retriever. I cut the leaves freehand to depict the fallen Autum leaves around us.

>>> Jo has her 1st stage experience last Dec. This photo was taken during the full dress reheasal. She did not cry, probably just stunned. :p

>>> We meet up with Auntie Jan and her kids quite often. One of our favourite locations is West Coast Park where the children can play with sand or run up and down the playground. This was taken in Jan09, after some sand play, on our way to MacDonalds for lunch.

>>> Just a simple LO showing Matthew and Joanne sharing a soya milk drink at Changi Airport Terminal 3.

>>> A photo of Joanne playing with my photo. A simple bright LO.

>>> One of my favourite sleep photos of Matthew.

>>> Matthew and Cheng En. Playmates. Borned in Feb05.

Here's some SB websites / blogs I follow:
http://dorcasyhj.blogspot.com/
http://momentsrecorded.blogspot.com/
http://www.pencillines.com/

Movie Outing @ Iluma

2009-06-07T21:28:00.002+08:00

Mike had wanted to do this movie outing for a while. Finally a Sunday there was no music lessons. The chosen movie - Monsters vs Aliens by Dreamworks. The kids woke up bright and sunny at 7am and allowed their parents to live in till 730am, while they went to the living room and play on their own.

We parked at our favourite "Park-for-Free-on-Sunday" carpark at Stamford Road / Armenia Street, where the old National Library used to stand. The intention was to walk over to City Hall MRT station and take the train to Bugis MRT station which is just 1 stop away. Seeing the weather was good and it was still early, we decided to take our time and enjoy a walk to Iluma. Along the way, we went past some churches and I think Jo was "captivated" by the sights from the way she was looking around sitting in her stroller.

The show was at 1050am and we reached the shopping mall early, so we spent our time roaming around the place. The kids had some fun walking and running around. We finally went into the cinema. To be honest, I wasn't sure how long Jo would be able to sit and watch the movie. She surprised me, sitting, shifting between Mike and me, watching the movie. It was only after an hour when she started to get restless and we kept her "occupied" with sweets and raisins. Then she started to walk around. Luckily, there weren't much people around and she wasn't making much noise.

When the movie finally ended, we made our way to Bugis junction, wanting to have lunch at the foodcourt. It was a long time since we were there, we didn't know that the foodcourt was shifted to the 3rd level. We ended up eating at Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao. Jo enjoyed the la mian. Matthew needed lots of persuasion and threats before he ate. Even then, he insisted Papa fed him.

Damage for the movie outing = tickets (9.50x3 =28.50) + lunch (34) = SGD62.50. Conclusion, it's very expensive for a outing at the movies..... let's wait for the DVD or VCD release in future. Definitely much cheaper!

Mommy or Papa?

2009-05-17T21:08:00.002+08:00

The kids behave differently when Papa is around. When I, the mommy, handle them on my own at home (at times when Mike need to go for late or Saturday appointments), they are so well behaved. When Papa is at home, they will be to some mischief or try to create havoc.

When we are out, Mike and I will take one kid each. Whoever I take, he or she will be an angel and would not demand to be carried and will walk hand-in-hand with me. When I say that I won't buy, he or she will put back the item and follow me.

With Mike, he or she want to be carried. Most times, when Jo wants something, Mike will buy for her. Thank goodness, the things she wants are not expensive.

Maybe I'm no-nonsense and is very strict, so much so that Matthew sometimes tells me that he doesn't want me... Mike can get angry, but because this seldom happens, Matthew is quite scared when Papa flares up. As for Jo, she is "banished" to the naughty corner when she is too demanding or throws tantrums.

Matthew - Must Win Attitude

2009-05-12T22:18:00.004+08:00

I decided to look at this issue more positively. Matthew has a must-win-attitude, which is making him very upset over little things. Everything must be done his way, correctly. Otherwise, he'll be very very angry and start whining.

We can see that when it comes to detailed colouring. There is this spiderweb which he was colouring. The widths of the web lines are very narrow and it's definitely very easy to colour out of line. No matter how many times we tell him that it is ok to colour out of line, he gets upset each time it happens.

Then earlier, he was playing an online Thomas Tank Engine race, where he was supposed to use his finger power to manuoveur the engine using left right arrow keys. When he lost, he got angry and upset and shouted for help. When Mike helped him and lost the race, all hell broke loose.

Is it a Must-Win-Attitude or Scared-of-Failure(Losing)-Attitude?

Hong Kong - CONCLUSION

2009-05-09T23:29:00.004+08:00

On the whole, the trip was quite a satisfying trip, especially for the kids.

Matthew surprised me many times.
. He walked and walked and walked with me, holding my hand. Only thing was his endless questioning on whether we are reaching our destination, but he did not complain.

. He ate quite a lot. He ate food which he had not tried before - wanton, BBQ chicken wings, roast goose.

. Walking the entire way up the hill to see the big buddha at Lantau Island! Never once complaining along the way. But he insisted Mike carried him down.

Joanne did not have a very good time, because she was teething (meaning she ate less), she was sick before the trip, BUT there were a few good points to note:
. She is very brave and daring, dancing in front of the crowd at Disneyland.

. Her memory is good, she could recall which rides we sat in the 1st day we were at Disneyland.

. Like Matthew, she can walk a lot too. She held my hand and walked, till she was tired or when it got too crowded and requested for me to bao bao. Lucky for me, she still wanted to squeeze into the baby pouch :)

Below are a few points to note for my friends who are planning a trip to Hong Kong:

DISNEYLAND
. If you are planning to stay at Disneyland, make that your final destination before leaving Hong Kong. It is definitely a fantastic finale to your trip.

. Opt for a garden view if you are going during off peak. High chance of getting a free upgrade to sea view. According to one of my mommy friends who went, they could see the fireworks from their garden view room. Not too sure about that. Anyway, you will be spending time at Disneyland, not in the hotel room.

. MUST STAY for fireworks. The whole fireworks show was accompanied with songs and music and got us swaying to the music.

. Try to go during off-peak season. We queued max 20 min for 2 rides. There were not much queues at the popular rides too. In the mornings, expect more crowds as tourists come in by bus loads and so expect to queue! Our 1st day at Disneyland started at 5pm and we did not need to queue long at all.

OCEAN PARK
. Go early to avoid the crowds.

. Must go for young kids - Pacific Pier (Seals, Sealions), Ocean Theatre (Dolphin show), Ocean Park Tower, Atoll Reef (Aquarium), Cable Car, Panda exhibit, Skyfair and Lowland (where all the kiddy rides are. We missed that because we started from the rear entrance and it was raining when we got there).

. Be prepared to eat awful food. Bring bread for kids, if you worry there's nothing for them to eat.

THE PEAK
. Go for the peak tram / viewing gallery package. The viewing gallery is worth going, though we couldn't see anything due to the mist. Have dinner at Hong Kong Day (cha chan teng) and go up to the viewing gallery to see the harbour light show, which starts at 8pm.

. There are two malls at the Peak. Go earlier and spend some time walking around. We went near dinnertime and Matthew was already hungry.

LANTAU ISLAND
. Go early to avoid crowds. The cable car ride is really cool. Very different from our Sentosa one.

. Just get the entrance fee to the budda at the top. The vegetarian meal we had was so-so, nothing fantastic. There are quite a few places to eat in Npong Ping village.

. Do walk all the way up. It's actually not difficult. Matthew and I had fun counting the steps going up.

. Must go - Citygate at Tung Chung. It's next to the MTR station / Cable station escalator. We love the New Balance outlet and the kids got themselves new shoes. Mike got himself polo tees from Timberland. Do check the local prices. Not all prices are attractive, unless it's something you cannot find locally (like Jo's new NB shoes)

FOOD
. Check out openrice.com. It's a very very comprehensive guide for eating in HK. There are lots of comments from Hong Kong people. You can even zoom into the area you are staying in for the eating option available.

. Yung Kee. Roast Goose is good. Don't order the char siew, not worth the money. Century egg is a must-try.

. On the plane. If your kid is not interested in nugget or spaggetti, it may be a better option to opt for an adult meal. For our flights, we opted for oriental, seafood for the adults and Matthew. Jo had kid's meal, as she's not particular.

. At Disneyland. Research the available eating places. Most of the available options are foodcourt style. Mainly fast food. Not much available in the evening. Be prepared if you are planning dinner in the park.

. At Ocean Park. As I mentioned earlier, be prepared for awful food. Bring bread for the kids.

TRANSPORT
. MTR is the most accessible. We were glad we stayed near TST MTR station, but the room was really small. Ocean Park, however, is only accessible by bus, but the latest infrastructure development is bringing MTR right to Ocean Park in 2012.

. Star Ferry. Do go for a ride on the HK attraction.

. Peak Tram. It also amazes me how they build the tram and the buildings!

. Open Top Bus. We didn't plan for this on this trip, but you can, you should.

That's all I can think of for now. If you need more information, do leave a note in the comment page. :)

PostScript:

WEATHER
. Do check out Hong Kong Observatory website. According to my colleague, it's very accurate. It correctly forecast rainy weather for all the days we were in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong - Day 5

2009-05-05T21:55:00.002+08:00

It was our last day in Hong Kong. The kids woke up a little later and they had bread, which we bought from a confectionery near Yung Kee, for breakfast. I've been wanting to eat dim sum, so we asked the reception for recommendation. There were two in Camarvon building just behind our hotel. We chose 稻香 (Tao Heung) because it was less crowded.

>> Sumptuous spread. 5 dim sum items for HKD87 (inclusive of service charge). Matthew had siew mai and Jo ate some bao.

After dim sum, we checked out and left our luggage at the concierge and walked to HarbourCity. It is a gigantic shopping mall and it took us almost 20min to talk from one end to the other. We ended up walking from one end to the other because we didn't know where the Toys R Us was! Along the way, we saw Star Aquarius (or Superstar Virgo, I can't remember now).

>> Matthew loves action shots! Jo slept, definitely not enough sleep.

>> Jo in love with Thomas the Tank Engine!

After Toys R Us, we quickly made our way back to the hotel to get our luggage. Along the way, Matthew kept saying he was hungry and finished up the bread (balance from breakfast). He was good, walking the entire way from HarbourCity back to the hotel! We took A21 from a bus-stop near our hotel (in front of Rolex watch shop along Nathan Road) and it took about 40min to get to the airport.

We were running very late, checking in our luggage only at 250pm. Luckily, I checked us in for our flight before we made our way out to HarbourCity in the morning. After checking in, we went through customs and had a quick lunch before making our way to the boarding gate.

>> Jo fell asleep after the nuts and drinks were given out >> Lunch was cheese macaroni and she enjoyed it

>> A quick shot of Papa and the children

We finally landed before 8pm and went through immigration very fast. The luggage took a while and the kids had fun while waiting.

We took a cab home and the kids had energy to play more!!! Matthew didn't even take a nap!

Bye Bye Hong Kong... Home Sweet Home... Till our next adventure. :)

Hong Kong - Day 4

2009-05-01T15:22:00.004+08:00

We wanted to make Day 4 an easy day. The itinerary was Lantau Island and Tung Chung shopping. As usual, the kids woke up early. We headed over the Maxim fast-food style Cha Chan Teng opposite our hotel for breakfast. we then took MTR from TST to Tung Chung via Lai King, to take the NP360 cable car to see the big buddha...

We were early and there was no queue (strange for a saturday), so we had the whole cabin to ourselves.

>> Waiting for our turn to get on >> Sleeping beauty in the pouch >> Sleeping beauty awaken....

>> This was another cool (not cold), misty morning. This was all we could see ahead of us from the cable car.

>> From this point, we were supposed to be able to see the big buddha, but too misty...

We made our way through Ngong Ping Village to the foot of the buddha hill. We bought our tickets, which included a simple vegetarian meal at Po Lin Monastery. Then we proceeded to make our way up to the top. At first I was quite hesitant about going up, because I was worried about having to carry the kids half way up. Surprisingly, Matthew was quite cooperative and walked all the way up. Mike carried Jo all the way.

>> This shot was taken on Step 133 (thereabout), Matthew counted his way up, which was about 240 steps or so. We got mixed up after a while.

>> Action pose :)

We went round the buddha and under it to look at the exhibits (which the kids were obviously not interested in), then made our way down for lunch.

>> still misty..

>> Vegetarian lunch at Po Lin Monastery >> After lunch, outside the restaurant >> Walking back to take cable car, finally we saw the big buddha from the foot of the hill

>> Can you see how "steep" the ride was? it was fun though.

Upon reaching Tung Chung, we made our way to Citygate, which has many factory outlets under one roof. The most important task was to buy Jo a new pair of shoes! The pair Jo wore to HK was opening up and after a few days of walking, it was "gone" case. We love New Balance. We found both Matthew and Joanne new shoes from NB outlet. The NB outlet in IMM did not carry as many designs for kids and Matthew actually took quite a while to decide. In fact, after he couldn't decide, we went to Addidas, Nike and Converse outlets and we found all too trendy to be sports shoes. Eventually we still ended up at NB. :)

>> Jo kept the salesman amused, kept saying "my? new shoes?" >> With her shopping! wearing her new shoes.

Terrible Joanne pooed in her pants 2x! We had to throw away her pants and bought her new pants from Giordano. After walking around, I decided that I didn't want to buy anything and we went up to a shop on the 3rd level called Michael's and it had all Thomas the Tank Engine toys, accessories there. Mike went off to shop around and he brought 2 polo shirts from Timberland outlet.

>> Matthew and Joanne outside the Michael's shop >> Waiting for Papa

No photos after this.. :p somehow I didn't flash my camera to take photos...

We made our way to Hong Kong MTR station on the Tung Chung Line and the kids fell asleep on the way. We walked to Wellington street (via underpass to Central station exit D2) to try the famous roast goose at Yung Kee. A lot of our colleagues and friends recommended Yung Kee, though the price was quite up in the sky. It's also the place to see HK stars. In fact, Mike said a lady seeing at the next table looked very familiar. Don't ask me about stars, I watch TV, not stars. It takes me quite a while to realise if a star is near me...

We ordered a mixed mushroom vege soup, century egg, char siew and of couse the famous roast goose. The roast goose was good. Matthew like the soup. Century egg was oishi, really different from those you find here in Singapore. The char siew was not so appetising.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel, taking the ever-so-convenient MTR. The kids had an early night, while Mike and I packed to go home the next day.

Day 5... our last day in Hong Kong...

Hong Kong - Day 3 Part 3

2009-04-25T23:19:00.005+08:00

After Ocean Park, we made our way back to the hotel. Everybody was washed up, fresh and we made our way to the Peak. Took the MTR to Central station (exit J2) and walked to the Peak Tram station...

>> Matthew and the Bank of China building >> Before crossing a road...

>> The Peak Tram station and the area really look so different from the last time we were there in Dec00. The walk seems shorter too. I remember it was a long and quiet walk to the station from Central station then.

Matthew was quite excited, asked so many questions about the Tram. As it was a cold and misty day, we couldn't see much around us when we were near the top. When we finally reached the top, it was dinner time. Me, the silly mommy as usual, couldn't remember which restaurant it was that I had read about on website, we were out and about searching. We went to this Italian restaurant, but Matthew wasn't interested in the food. Then we decided to go to this cha chan teng called Hong Kong Day. Matthew had rice with egg and Jo had the ham that came with the rice. I ate Fried Beef Hor Fan and Mike was not keen to eat at all.

>> Hungry Matthew >> Fried Beef Hor Fan

We bought a combo ticket package which included the entrance fees to the Viewing Gallery. This is what we saw from the Viewing Gallery...

Surprisingly, it was not cold and there was no wind blowing. the kids were comfortable wearing just their tee-shirts.

>> Some fun going round the lighted panels >> Jo "flying"

The mist or fog came from the south, moving over the "hills", over us, towards the north, and we felt as if we were in the clouds! We really couldn't see anything when the "cloud" went over. After a while, all the lights became more visible and we decided to make our way down.

>> Joanne in the Peak Tram on our way down

We walked back to the Central station and along the way, we realised that the Harbour lightshow was on, as the Bank of China building had "lights" dancing away. Matthew was quite fascintated with the lights that kept moving along the edge of the building.

>> Mike with the kids on our way back to the hotel

>> Awake and happy... >> Too tired liao...

Joanne ended up sleeping on the train. She continued sleeping after I changed her into her pyjamas. Matthew also had a long day and it didn't take him long to fall asleep..

Day 4... an amazing day...

P/S - the restaurant at the Peak we were looking for is Hong Kong Day which has quite good reviews on some website. We saw Hong Kong Day when we stepped out of the Peak Tram and it's just outside Madame Tussard. Silly mommy didn't remember the name, we still ended up at the place I have put on my itinerary. :p

Hong Kong - Day 3 Part 2

2009-04-20T23:43:00.003+08:00

Ocean Park. We took the "wrong" bus and ended up at the exit. As we went through the park, it was not a bad idea to start from the end, there was less crowd. :) 1st stop was the loo, which was next to the Bird Paradise. With the bird flu news flying around, we decided to just make a quick stop at the flamingo pond, skipping the bird sanctuary.

Then we took the world's longest outdoor escalator...

passing through AdventureLand (where Matthew actually wanted to sit in the Mine Train, which we said no)... to reach the highest point where Marine Land is located.

The Ferris Wheel in the Headland Rides was not in operation that day and I was quite disappeared, as i thought the kids would love it up there. At the Marine Land, we popped in at Pacific Pier to look at the black seals and sealions.

Then the kids had fun taking photos with the statues...

>> Doesn't Jo look like she's waving like the sealion... and I love this photo of Matthew with the sealion. :)

We went for a ride in the Ocean Park Tower (which is similar to our Tiger (originally named Carlsberg) Tower at Sentosa) and had an aerial view around the area and came down just in time to watch dolphins and sealions perform in "Sea Dreams" at the Ocean Theatre.

>> The dolphins came jumping high to welcome the visitors, then the show, finally their tails waving goodbyes...

The kids had fun watching the show. We kept Jo occupied with sweets and raisins and biscuits.. :p The Atoll Reef was CROWDED and we went through all the levels and Matthew was amazed by the aquarium. Jo had fun, hanging on the bars, trying to propel herself upwards on my knees to see the fish. With the crowd and the running kids, no photos...

Lunch was some roast chicken and baked rice from a food stall just outside Atoll Reef. Matthew insisted Papa feed him and Joanne refused to share her fries...

Then the most exciting part of the Park - CABLE CAR! The kids were so amused and amazed to be in the cable car!

After the cable car, we went to look at the 4 pandas and they exhibited photos from Sichuan Earthquake, showing the panda enclosures. There was a panda who died during the Earthquake. I told Matthew about it and he asked so many questions... We couldn't do much after the panda enclosure as it started to rain quite heavily. It was getting late as well, so we had to go. We headed to the bus queue and waiting in the rain under our umbrellas. Thank goodness, the kids were quite cooperative. We decided to head back to the hotel, then think about dinner after we washed up from all the fun. On the way in the bus, Jo fell asleep...

Part 3 next.. find out what fun we had after...

Hong Kong - Day 3 Part 1

2009-04-13T00:05:00.002+08:00

Day 3 started really early in the morning, when Matthew woke up wanting to pee. After pee, he insisted he was hungry and wanted the bread we brought from the confectionary across the road. That was 540am!!! After he finished his bread, he went on to wake Joanne up. Of course, Joanne woke up seeing that Matthew is up and ready to play!

Since the kids are up early, we washed up and went down to the cha chan teng next to the hotel. Matthew had 2 egg tarts. Miss Joanne Eng was grouchy, cranky, refused to sit down, fell off the chair, didn't want her breakfast at all. Mike and I took turns to entertain her.

We washed up and headed down to Star Ferry Pier. The walk took us about 15min. Cool weather. Matthew enjoyed the walk to the pier. He walked with me, while Mike carried Joanne. He asked lots of questions and I must be becoming very hard of hearing, I kept "shouting" at him to talk louder.

>> Outside Space Museum

>> Matthew looking tired

>> Jo looking tired... then finally falling asleep

When we reached Star Ferry Pier at Central. Mike carried Matthew and we walked all the way to Central MTR station to take a train to Admiralty to catch a bus to Ocean Park. Matthew also fell asleep while we were waiting for the bus to Ocean Park.

.... Day 3 Part 2 coming up .... (in a few days)....

Hong Kong - Day 2

2009-04-09T00:57:00.007+08:00

Day 2 began very early in the morning at 630am with Matthew waking up asking for food! I think he was also woken up by the light we left on the night before. After eating bread we bought from Maxim Confectionary at Tsing Yi station, we proceeded to explore the hotel compound.

Then the kids found the playground and spent some time going up, down, under and around. We got them to the gift shop where the kids amused themselves with all the disney toys. We checked out and left the luggage and backpack at the store and took the courtesy bus to Disneyland.

We took our time, enjoying the cool weather and let the kids run wild. When we reached the main entrance, silly mommy me realised that I left the park tickets in the backpack! So I had to take the bus back to the hotel to retrieve the tickets!

When we finally went in, we went straight to Futureland to ride on the Obitron. Then queue to drive in Autopia. We saw Buzz Lightyear and had our photos taken. Then it was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters where the kids got their hands on laser guns to shoot at the baddies.

Lunchtime, the kids had chicken wings and french fries and Mike and I shared a teriyaki chicken burger.

>> During lunch, Matthew saw Buzz again and went to say hi...

After lunch at Futureland, we caught the High School Musical show in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. When they asked for dancers, I got Jo to stand up and she was very brave and went to join in the dance!

We went over to Fantasyland to take the Small Small World cruise. Jo knew the song and kept saying small small world AND till now, she still remembers and tells us there's water in small small world! We then had our photo taken outside small small world...

Then it was the jungle river cruise at Adventureland. Jo was so tired, she fell asleep while queueing up for the cruise. Matthew fell asleep on the raft going to Tarzan island.

We were on time to catch the Disney Parade. Joanne caught her favourite characters - Mickey and Minnie. Matthew saw his favourite Toy Story float with Buzz Lightyear.

Then we were on our way out of Disneyland. We took some photos - last looks at Disneyland and goodbyes...

We went back to the hotel to get our luggage and took the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui (via Sunny Bay and Lai King stations), reaching Hotel Benito at 5pm. After checking in and washing up, we went to a nearby noodle shop and had wanton and fishball noodles. The wantons were delicious and Matthew enjoyed it. Joanne was not too keen on the food (she was teething her molars which we didn't realise till 2 days later and she was having runny nose).

After dinner, we then walked to the TST Waterfront Promenade / Avenue of the Stars as we intended to catch the lightshow. Matthew complained that it was too cold (wind blowing) and it started to rain! I tried to take some photos of Joanne and the beautiful HK skyline, these were what I got!

... more fun on Day 3 ...

Hong Kong - Day 1

2009-04-06T01:54:00.005+08:00

Our trip began on 25/3/09 at the Changi Airport, of course! We were there early, the kids had some fun around the Koi pond area before we proceeded to board. Our flight was 11am on SQ861, scheduled to reach Hong Kong at 245pm.

>> Fun at Koi Pond area, Changi Airport

Our plane was a new B777-300ER. It was great, especially the Krisworld Entertainment System which kept Matthew occupied during the flight. As for Jo, she made me switch programs every few minutes. In the end, I had to give her puzzles and books to keep her occupied.

>> Matthew playing games

>> Joanne playing with her jigsaw puzzles

Forgetful mommy already forgot what we took for lunch on the plane. Joanne fell asleep when we were about to land. Our flight landed late due to heavy air traffic and rain. Finally landed at 3pm. We cleared the customs quite fast and got our luggage immediately after that. We then took a Airport Express train to Tsing Yi station, then changed to the Tung Chung line, getting off at Sunny Bay Station to take the Disney MTR train!

Everything on the Disney MTR train was Mickey theme! Imagine Jo's excitement when she saw Mickey everywhere.

>> Jo so excited!

>> Even the windows are mickey shaped!

We finally reached Disneyland and went to Hollywood Hotel via the courtesy bus. We checked in, washed up and rushed back to Disneyland! We saw Mickey and Minnie and joined the queue to take photo! Joanne couldn't wait, ran to the front and stood at the side watching Mickey and Minnie.

>> Watching and waiting patiently for her turn

>> Finally our turn!

>> The kids with Mickey and Minnie

By that time, the kids were hungry, so dinner first. We bought noodles and rice sets to share and Joanne couldn't wait to go on the rides.

By the time we finished the teacup rides, it was time for fireworks. It was so magical, with the music and the loud and colourful fireworks.

>> Magical Sleeping Beauty castle, 25/3/09

What a wonderful way to end the day and to start our trip! We went back to the hotel, happy! The kids had fun, bathing in the bathtub. They finally went to bed and were asleep in no time! For more fun the next day!

** Will try to upload a short video **

Many Changes

2009-04-02T01:16:00.003+08:00

Since the last update on the kids' birthdays, there had been quite a few changes. I've been so busy since moving on to a new project, catching up with friends seem to be more important than updating this blog now. I need to make more effort to update more often.

We just came back from a fantastic 5D4N trip to Hong Kong. It was quite a good trip, other than the fact that it was drizzling most of the time we were there, but it wasn't too cold. We didn't do much shopping. It was almost impossible to shop with the kids around. More updates coming up.

Other than the trip, Matthew is now in the same school as Joanne. We made the painful decision to pull him out, in order to make everybody happy. Also I would have to get off work on time and fetch the kids, instead of having Por Por and Gong Gong to fetch them. Will post more on this change with some video clips from the teachers.

Come back for more, ok? I promise to update....

Happy Birthday Joanne!

2009-02-27T01:25:00.002+08:00

Joanne turns 2 on 27/2/09. Prettier, Sensible, Independent. Terrible 2s... Joanne, hope you grow prettier everyday and stay healthy always.

Happy Birthday Matthew!

2009-02-25T00:21:00.001+08:00

On 25/2/09, we celebrated Matthew's 4th birthday. 4 years. Joy, Happiness, Laughter. Tears, Heartache, Tantrums. Matthew, you are 4. Hope you will be a good boy, growing stronger everyday.

Happy Niu Year!

2009-01-30T02:17:00.003+08:00

>> The kids in new clothes on our way out to visit, 26/01/09

HAPPY NIU YEAR and hope everybody has a peaceful year ahead!

Little Kitchen Helper

2009-01-30T02:15:00.001+08:00

Our little kitchen helper preparing for reunion steamboat dinner at Ah Ma's house.

24/01/09

One Clear Night

2009-01-30T02:01:00.002+08:00

One Clear Night, good for seeing stars. We spotted the Orion Belt, which mommy insisted was southern cross because of the two stars on each side of the Belt.

22/01/09

Outings with Tan Family

2009-01-30T01:51:00.007+08:00

Two saturdays in January, we went out with the Tan family to West Coast Park and the Zoo. The kids had lots of fun.

>> We had snacks from MacDonalds at WCP and it was amazing how they all sat down together. Must be quite hungry, 10/01/09

>> Wen and Joanne held hands, walking to the carpark, 10/01/09.

We then went to Auntie Jan's place and had lunch. In the evening, we all went fishing near Japanese Garden and had dinner at the seafood restaurant there.

>> Here's a photo of Joanne and Wen holding hands while waiting for the lift, on our way out to fishing, 10/01/09

At the zoo, En and Wen kept wanting to hold hands with Matthew and Joanne, but the Eng kids were not interested. It was only almost till the end of our trip, did they hold hands.

>> Photo with PaPa at Baboon enclosure, 17/01/09

>> FINALLY holding hands, 17/01/09

We finally found the BumbleBee and Jazz transformers in the gift shop at KidsWorld. At En's request (and Matthew's insistence), we made our way to Auntie Jan's place after leaving the zoo.

P/S: En and Matthew were borned one week apart. Jan and I watched them grew up from baby to pre-schooler now, from crying to playing to snatching toys. Now they play together, run together. Wen and Joanne are four months apart. Despite her age, 2-3 weeks after she still remembers Wen though she thought Wen is from her school. It's amazing how much they have grown. :)

Matthew performs

2009-01-29T23:40:00.005+08:00

Matthew had another go on stage in December. This time with his music school at the Chinese Chamber of Commence. He surprised us again. Initially he did not want to go up on stage, wanted Mike to follow him. The morning of the concert day, he declared he's 4 years old, brave enough to go up on stage to perform without us. At the concert venue, he decided that he wanted to put on his Santa hat. He followed his teacher's instructions to the T and did not get distracted by his schoolmates.

21/12/08

P/S: the whole planning of the concert was in a mess. Noisy and disorganised. Despite that, it was a BIG BIG step for Matthew to get up on stage. We are so proud of him and he showed us that he was paying attention in class, even though he seldom joined in action. :)

Jo performs

2009-01-08T23:54:00.004+08:00

Joanne's first stage performance at her school's graduation ceremony. She was the youngest toddler in the group, no stage fright, no crying, probably just overwhelmed. :)

6/12/08

P/S: These past few months, we watched Joanne grow from a pacifier sucking toddler to a pretty little girl. Knowing her character and personality, we are not surprised that she would be on stage so soon, only 2 months in school. She's the teachers' little darling and helps to take care of Ameus, a little boy 4 months younger. She's also independent, self feed, toilet trained. So proud of you, dear.

Matthew's performance

2009-01-07T00:50:00.003+08:00

As promised in my much much earlier blog post (Matthew in a Concert), here's the video of Matthew's performance at his kindergarten graduation concert.

MIA!

2009-01-06T01:07:00.008+08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thousand apologies for the late greetings. December was a hectic month. I started work on a new project. Mike went on 2-week reservist. I fell sick with stomach flu, taking of two kids with the stomach cramps. Then it was Jo with fever that went up to 40oC, giving me a shock of my life. After 5 days of fever with no improvement, she went on antibiotics. Thank God she recovered by Christmas and was jumping up and down!

Joanne performed at her school graduation concert. It was her very first time and she was very brave. Despite being a little stunned and not following through the steps, she did not cry at all.

Matthew also went up on stage for his second time. This time for his music school Xmas Prom. It took us quite some persuasion, till that morning he declared that he was 4 years old and brave enough to go up on his own.

More updates, videos and photos coming up.

New Sakae Sushi in the West

2008-11-23T23:32:00.004+08:00

Yuppie! New Sakae Sushi in the West, right along Boon Lay Way at TradeHub21.

We like to go Sakae because the restaurant is quite family friendly and the food that all of us could eat, sushi for the adults, udon / rice / chawamushi for the kids. Recently Matthew picked up the love for tamago maki and sushi rice, partly the reason why we are going more often.

The new outlet is definitely good news for us. It's only 5min drive away from our place. There's free parking right at the doorstep. In fact we pass by this place every weekday, on the way to my mom's place / Jo's school. Today after Sesame Street show, we made our way there! This new outlet is superb, big, bright and not noisy! There's a new play area right behind the outlet, especially for Sakae customers! Ball pit, slide, play house. The kids enjoyed it!

>> Kids run wild!

Sesame Street Show

2008-11-23T23:08:00.003+08:00

Sesame Street is in town at Marina Square! This morning, the kids had their music lessons. Immediately after Matthew finished his class, we made our way to Marina Square. As expected, Joanne fell asleep in the stroller and Matthew "complained" of hunger. We had lunch at Food Loft and Joanne woke up as we were finishing lunch. It was too late for her to take a full lunch at 2pm, as it would affect her appetite for dinner, we brought the kids to Hans for some cakes.

>> I love this shot. HUGS!

We then made our way to the Atrium and found ourselves queuing to get in for some close up action. In fact Auntie Belle already messaged me, saying that the queue had started and that was about 245pm!! The show was at 4pm. We were hesitant at first, wondering if the kids would cooperate. To our surprise, they were quite cooperative. Mike took turn to bring the kids around, so that they would not be bored. Joanne "read" her book, then Matthew played a game of snap cards. We were lucky, one of the 40 families to get up close and personal with the characters for a photo!

>> Before the show

Joanne was stunned when the show started, probably because she had never thought her fav characters would be so huge. Her soft toys are small. Matthew was tired, but tried to enjoy the show. I was the one getting all excited about the show. I grew up with Sesame Street. :) That would explain the number of Sesame Street softies I have at home.

>> Favourite characters in action

>> After the show, up close and personal - Cookie Monster, Elmo, Ernie and Bert

We passed our camera to the in-charge. Joanne kept pointing at him because, like Matthew at the same age, she doesn't like people to take our things, especially strangers. :p

>> We caught up with Auntie Belle and Chloe!

Lucky for us, we decided not to hang around for dinner and headed back to get our car. We saw the seriously dark clouds / sky and RAN! We hardly made it. As soon as we got into the car, the rain came.

New Icon in Town

2008-11-23T22:47:00.004+08:00

A new icon at Marina Bay was opened officially two weeks ago. We have heard a lot about it. Colleagues and friends have visited the place. My new worksite office is right next to it. It's the Marina Barrage. The Marina Barrage sits at the mouth of the Marina Bay, creating a dam and turning Marina Bay into a fresh water reservoir. At the same time, it acts as a flood control gate, especially during the monsoon season.

We had nowhere to go yesterday, so decided at a very last minute to make our way there. The Contractor is still rushing to finish up the place. There was no toilet attendant, i.e. no toilet paper, no soap in the soap dispenser. The kids couldn't wash their hands. Well, it's still new, I shall assess the place again in another 2 months. :p

Here are some photos...

>> Nice views

>> Having fun in the gallery

OH, just to make a note, a little girl bumped into Matthew at the solar park. The bump was quite bad, as Matthew cried immediately and there was a red mark with small streaks of broken skin on his right cheek. Funny thing was the girl was fine, no crying, nothing at all. Took me a while to pacify him.

Matthew in Zoo

2008-11-23T22:11:00.006+08:00

It's the school holidays. Last Friday, Mike decided to take a day off and brought Matthew to the zoo, together with Ah Ma. They headed straight to KidzWorld making use of the free tram ride (only on weekdays for members). Matthew had fun in the water zone! Then he requested for the horse ride, which cost $4 for 5min. Nevermind the money - he had fun.

>> "Busy eating sweets" look >> Distracted look >> Determined look! Zoo - 21Nov 08

Where were mommy and Jo? I was at work and Jo was in Childcare. :(

Reward & Punishment

2008-11-18T00:37:00.002+08:00

Need further explanation?

Hungry Caterpillar & Farm Tour

2008-11-17T23:33:00.007+08:00

Mike took Matthew on the MRT to Raffles Place to catch the Hungry Caterpillar play by Act 3 International last Saturday. The show was very good, in fact better than the other plays by another theatre group. The Hungry Caterpillar is a book by Eric Carle. The show was not only about the Hungry Caterpillar, there was also the Little Cloud and the Chameleon. I packed some snacks for Matthew - french toast and chicken cheese cocktails. He finished everything before and after the show.

Here's a cheeky shot of Matthew.

While Mike and Matthew were at the play, I brought Joanne on a Farm Tour with the Mar07 toddlers. 1st stop - Goat Farm. Joanne and I went to feed the goats. Joanne has no "fear" for the goats. She put her hand so close to their mouths that I worried that they bit her. I told her to let go as soon as the goats bit the grass. She understood!

We joined the other toddlers and their parents for lunch. Yummy spread -french toast (me), chicken cheese cocktails (Ash's mommy), jelly (Bel's mommy), yogurt (Bryan's mommy), Gerber juice (EJ's mommy), cheese bread (Tian's mommy) and pandan cake (Reyden & Reyes' mommy). Keira and Moon also joined the toddlers for some rural fun!

Here's a photo of Joanne and Reyden playing peek-a-boo!

We then proceeded to Qian Hu Fish Farm. The kids had fun going round and round looking at tanks and tanks of fish! Big ones, small ones, long ones, short ones, colourful ones, not-so-colourful ones. The highlight was feeding the koi! Bel's daddy bought fish food for the kids to feed the koi! Thanks Uncle Nick! Joanne wanted to eat the fish food.

Moon, Joanne, Reyden and Reyes

After the fish farm, the kids were all tired. We went to IMM for lunch. Mike and Matthew took the MRT and went to meet us at IMM. Both of them were so tired that they napped on the journey to IMM. The kids sure had lots of fun!! :)

Joanne in uniform

2008-11-08T22:53:00.002+08:00

We finally got Joanne's uniform on Tuesday and she wore the uniform to school on Thursday. When she first saw the uniform, she kept saying chey chey. The uniform reminded her of Clara chey chey from school. She was so happy to wear her uniform that she kept pointing at the school logo in the car and saying chey chey. ahaha... :)

Kidzworld @ Zoo

2008-11-08T22:29:00.004+08:00

We went to the zoo again! This time, we met up with Tian Tian and Racia who are same age as Joanne. We were very early and took our time to walk to Kidzworld. In fact, today we covered many many exhibits we seldom go to. It was quite fun, as it was early and the weather was good.

We saw the Malayan Tapirs eating their breakfast of leaves. I spotted so many spider webs today! Spider is not my favourite creature. Can you spot the number of spider webs in the photo taken at the Malayan Tapir exhibit?

We then made our way to the tiger exhibit. We saw all three tigers, 2 were sleeping, 1 was walking in the water. Obviously to cool off, it was quite warm!

>> Joanne and Matthew looking at the display board

Then we saw one lone pygmy hippo in the water... and many many fishes. The other hippos must be resting somewhere..

>> Looking at hippo

>> Hippo in water

Australian Outback. We saw many kangaroos and the emus. Matthew actually touched one of the emus!! The emu felt the touch and turned round to see who touch! ahaha

We saw the crocodiles and heard the noisy chimpanzees before we saw the kidzworld. Then Racia, Tian Tian and Bryan came and join us. Joanne refused to join gor gor in the water and was contented to hang on to me and walk around. She was not even enthusiastic about the dry playground...

>> THis was as far as Joanne would get to the water... >> Matthew and Papa getting wet!

>> Joanne was not even really interested in the playground.

Finally lunchtime, Joanne was all happy that she could eat! ahahaha.. she finished the omlette I fried this morning and even wanted to finish all the chicken cheese sausage. She had some of my KFC chicken. Joanne sat next to Racia and shared some of her bun with her. Racia in return shared her fries.

Joanne learned a lot about sharing and team play in school. Throughout the walk back to the zoo entrance, she kept looking back to look for Tian. Then kept asking for Gor Gor Pa Pa when they went out of her sight. We took a slightly longer but shady route, passing by the jaguar, snake, iguana, giant tortoise, kodomo dragon along the way. Joanne simply refused to sleep and struggled to keep awake till we were out of the zoo.

We will definitely be back at the zoo for more fun. :)

Matthew in a Concert

2008-11-07T00:25:00.003+08:00

Matthew's kindergarten held a Graduation Ceremony cum Concert for the graduating K2 class today. The whole school is involved in the concert. The theme for the concert is God's Creation. Matthew has been singing a song about stars and moon. Matthew and Joanne were quite cooperative and were all ready to go, waiting for me to come back from work. I had a quick dinner and off we went to school. We wanted to go as early as possible, so that Matthew could have some time to warm up and get ready. Joanne had fun going up and down the slides, while Matthew spent some time with his friends...

>> Matthew and Joanne

>> Matthew with his friends, Jin Long and Chelster

>> Matthew in his star shirt, with makeup and sparkling hair spray >> Glam Joanne :)

>> Waiting for the show to start...

Matthew actually did all the actions and with zest! We are so proud of him because quite a number of the kids were distracted, but Matthew and his good friend Chelster got most of the action correct. I had a chance to talk to Mrs Cheong after his segment. According to Mrs Cheong, Matthew didn't participate at all during rehearsals. He just stood at his position and refused to follow the action. She was very happy that he actually knew all the steps and hand actions. This boy really knows how to surprise us. :)

Will upload the video after I edit it. Too long to be uploaded.

Joanne will also be in a concert. I'm waiting for more information from her school. According to Lao Shi, Joanne is very good and can follow instructions and actions quite accurately, better than some of the older kids. In fact, Lao Shi put her to "replace" a jie jie who was absent that day and she could follow through. Maybe maybe I should put her in a dance class, not music class, when she's older.

So proud of our kids! :)

Go Go Bambini

2008-11-06T01:11:00.003+08:00

My parents went holidaying, so I took leave to take care of the kids. Tuesday was the last day of my long break, so we took the kids out for some fun. After some discussion, we decided on Go Go Bambini. We went to fetch Joanne after her tea break and popped by to say hi to Por Por and Gong Gong.

The last time we brought Joanne to GGB was in March. Matthew was there with me last Thursday for a gathering with the Mar07 mommies. That day, he stuck to me quite a bit, till I challenged him to go play on his own.

Joanne was a little hesitant at first, till Matthew showed her the fun! She crawled round the place and through a hanging tunnel at 3rd level. Until she found the big red slide and the ball pit. She just shuttled between the two areas till she stuck to just the slide. She was so hooked on the slide that she could "push" herself up to the 2nd level off some steps without our help.

Matthew complained the slide was too high and steep and refused to come down without Mike! He managed to control the speed he went down, then he went down on his own. Somehow he could crawl up the steep slide!

Here are some photos, then and now.

>> 14/3/08 at 12+ months -->>> NOW at 20 months

>> Big girl now!

>> Going up and coming down - Matthew

>> Can't go up, but brilliant coming down - Joanne

Feeding Giraffes

2008-11-02T00:17:00.007+08:00

We promised our boy last night that we would bring him to the zoo if he was a good boy. We woke up to a raining day. So sad. Matthew kept coming to us, telling us that he was a good boy and he could go to the zoo. After lunch, we got the kids bathed and packed them into the car, with no destination in mind. We ended up at the zoo! The weather was cool but humid, as the sun was out after the rain. We were in time for giraffe feeding.

Mike and Matthew had a go at feeding the giraffes first while I took some quick shots. The Zookeeper then took over the camera while Jo and I fed the giraffes. Jo wasn't scared at all! In one shot, she almost had her whole hand "eaten" up! :p The giraffe's tongue is long and rough and their saliva is very very sticky!

The Zookeeper kept trying to catch a good family shot, but Matthew was always blocked by the giraffe.

FINALLY! but we were all not looking at the camera.

Here's a cheeky shot of Matthew with the sleeping otters.

Birthday

2008-10-27T00:43:00.004+08:00

We celebrated Gu Gu's birthday on Saturday night in a Korean Grill restaurant at Yess Building. The kids had a wild time at the ball pit. Xiao Gu Gu was so smart, bought 13 slices of cakes (instead of a whole cake), a variety and there was no need to cut the cake. Joanne must be well trained in school when it comes to birthday parties. There were quite a few birthday parties in school these few weeks. I half-expected her to grab the cakes but she didn't. Matthew and Gabriel (Gu Zhang's nephew) went for the strawberry cakes! Yum yum! We brought home the tiramisu, which was nice too...

>> Joanne in the ball pit

>> Joanne, Matthew and Gabriel with Gu Gu.

Happy Belated Birthday Gu Gu.

Hand in hand

2008-10-27T00:15:00.005+08:00

Today was the first time Matthew and Joanne walked hand-in-hand. This was at IMM after Matthew went to the toilet and Joanne and I waited for him outside. Quite surprised that I managed to catch quite good shots with my handphone camera.

On the way back from the carpark, all four of us walked hand-in-hand. I held Matthew's hand. Matthew and Mike held Joanne's hands. :)

Happy Joanne & Matthew's Worms

2008-10-17T21:54:00.004+08:00

Two weeks, Joanne has settled in very well in school. She's a very independent girl and insists on doing things herself, like carrying her own bag, drinking from cup, feeding herself. This morning, she did not cry at all on the way to school. She only cried because she wasn't carrying her own bag. After she got her bag, she allowed me to carry her, put down her bag and she showed me where she wash her hands. After that, she sat down at the table and had some food and drink. Even kissed us goodbye... :) She's also weaned off her pacifier. She now naps without her tu tu and we also don't allow her to have it in the car.

The teachers love her a lot, the older kids also dote on her. She makes everybody smile. They laugh, she laughs along. They eat, she also wants to eat. Tr Ann said that she's very lovable. I guess so. What they don't know is that she's an angel in school, a terror at home (almost).

Here's a photo that Tr Ann MMS me this morning..

Now to Matthew's worm. These two weeks, Matthew has been complaining of stomachache in the afternoons and there seems to be a lot of wind in his tummy. His cough and blocked nose did not get any better despite taking the usual runny nose and cough medication. Today, I finally found time to bring him to see Dr Ong.

When we walked into the clinic, first thing he did was to ask for a sweet. His weight was taken (heavy! 16.2kg) and he got his sweet. Then he asked for two more, he agreed to wait till he saw Dr Ong. He sat on his own in front of Dr Ong while she checked him. He proceed to lie down on the examination bed as Dr Ong examined his tummy (by pressing), all the while not complaining at all.

Dr Ong's conclusion - he either got some germs in his tummy or there's a worm in there. as for his blocked nose and cough, his nose is very badly blocked. 3 medicines for tummy - Probiotics, a de-worming suspension and Colimix for the wind. 3 medicines for nose - Zyrtec, Bambec and Dhatifen. After the de-worming suspension, we should see some worms (yuckS!) a few days later in his poo. Dr Ong had a chat with Matthew and showed him photos of a worm. He was told not to put his hands / fingers into his mouth or bite his fingernails and he has to wash his hands often.

He was a brave boy and took all his medicine without a blink. :)

So cute!

2008-10-07T22:59:00.003+08:00

After lunch today, I realised I forgot to leave Joanne's bolster in school, so I sms Teacher Ann and asked how Joanne was. She replied that Joanne was so tired that she slept without having the teacher to pat pat her and in her words "jus tat she takes all her assets to sleep with her"... so cute!

Teacher Ann MMS 2 photos to show me that Joanne is settling well.

>> Jo with her teacher and friend at morning assembly, 6/10/08

>> Joanne with her friend and teacher working on her colouring sheet, 7/10/08

Full Day Childcare

2008-10-06T22:07:00.002+08:00

Joanne started her 1st full day at childcare today. As expected, she cried buckets when we brought her there. In fact, she started crying when she realised we did not stop at por por's house. She settled down after we left. Naughty me and papa took a peep from the road bridge next to the school and she actually saw us and started crying again! Such sharp eyes! oops.

I sms Teacher Ann to inform her of some items and she sent me a MMS showing Joanne sitting with Guo Lao Shi. They had water play this morning and Joanne joined in. She followed Guo Lao Shi around and sat quietly in class, listened to lessons and story-telling. For lunch, she had half portion of macaroni and her milk. She napped from 1230 to 215, woke up and roamed around on her own. There was a birthday celebration and she had cake and barley for tea. That was followed by playtime and TV time while waiting for us to fetch her. I left early from work to fetch her and she cried when she saw me.

Teacher Ann is the "bad" teacher who takes her away fr papa, mama and por por, and her pacifier etc etc. good because Joanne actually listens to her, like when Teacher Ann asked her to remove her "tutu" after her nap. she took it out and put on the table and walked away to play with her friends.

Well, she's adapting quite well, having fun. It's only the separation anxiety that would last a while...

Within 2 weeks...

2008-10-02T16:28:00.003+08:00

We made the decision and switched Jo to full day child-care starting next Monday. Rationale behind it was it is easier for us to send Jo to child-care in the morning, rather than for my mom to send her in the afternoon, after spending half day at por por's house.

As I have mentioned in my previous blog post, Jo cried and clinged to me when I asked if she wanted to go to school. This morning at por por's house, she clinged to por por and refused to go for car ride which she loves so much and cried everytime the word school was mentioned.

I called Teacher Ann and she agreed to take her in on Monday for full day because Jo is already familiar with the place. She assured me that Jo will be ok. Jo has a fav teacher and knows what she wants. She also knows to tell teacher if she wants to go toilet. She's generally quite happy in school and will laugh and play with other kids. She also has her water bottle with her most of the times because that's the only familiar item she has with her in school.

Teacher Ann also said that it might be easier for her to adapt on a full day or a half day morning child-care. There's really nothing for Jo to do in the afternoon. When she goes at 1230pm, everybody is getting ready to nap. After nap and tea, some playtime and some of her friends start going home about 4pm. That's why she gets upset. Everybody is going home but not her. In the morning, there are lots more activities, like water play, sand play etc. She will have more fun and will start to enjoy school. Give her 2-3 weeks, she said.

Wish us good luck and hope everything turns out fine. I really want Jo to love school, not hate.

*sob sob* heartpain... :(

Oh No!

2008-10-02T01:48:00.002+08:00

Joanne does not want to go to school! She cried whenever we asked her if she want to go to school. She doesn't want teacher, friends etc etc. She clinged to me and refused to change clothes to go out.

Officially, the 2-week trial period ends this Friday. I have to ask if they can extend the trial for another week, so that we can see how she adapt to a full week. I also have to ask teacher how she is in school, generally happy or looking lost in school. I need to discuss with my mom too.

So heartpain. I thought she is happy in school and happy to go to school. I guess she really miss us when she doesn't see us. Now in school, new place, new faces, feeling lost. *Sob Sob*

Creative Matthew

2008-09-30T01:30:00.007+08:00

Matthew loves to use his imagination, with the things he has, think out-of-the-box and comes up with different things.

Stairs of cars...

He used the four bolsters he has and "hang" them from his head - Matthew is a jellyfish!

Matthew's very own Formula 1 car, using wooden blocks! For the record, he took this photo himself with Mike's phone camera.

Our Little Drama Queen

2008-09-30T01:15:00.003+08:00

Today is Joanne's 3rd day in school after a week's break because of HFMD. I spoke to Teacher Ann this evening.

This afternoon my mom sent her to school. She cried when Teacher Ann carried her away from Por Por. She didn't finish her milk, asked for her pacy and went to sleep. This was despite taking a 30+min nap in the morning. I think she must be so sad that she went to sleep hugging her milk bottle. She woke up, did not cry. She had cake and barley for tea.

She did cry but stopped if nobody bothered her and joined in the activities. If Teacher sayang her, she cried even louder!!?? She also went to the gate and screamed for ma ma! aiyo, to think this girl doesn't even call me when she sees me, always go pa pa!

5pm, it was TV time, and kids started going home. Everytime the sliding door opened, kids went out, she cried (without tears). Once the door closed, she stopped crying. Aiyo, I heard her when I was talking to Teacher Ann who was sitting beside her! She must be crying to just show her "unhappiness". She was watching Barney then and at one point, Teacher Ann said she stood up and danced!

I think she's really enjoying herself, but she remembers and she misses us. Teacher Ann said she'll try to take some photos / video clips and email to us. Thanks Teacher Ann!

Jo in school

2008-09-23T21:25:00.004+08:00

Last Friday morning, I made a last minute decision on the spot and sent Jo to childcare that very afternoon. She liked the place so much and so focus on playing with toys that she ignored me when I said bye. I called childcare and learned that when she realised I was no longer around, she cried till she vomitted. The teachers cleaned her up, changed her and patted her to sleep. She cried when she woke, refused to eat or drink anything except her water bottle. She insisted Lao Shi carried her the whole while. She cried complaining when I went to pick her up.

Yesterday was her second day. I rushed back from office and sent her to childcare. She cried and insisted that I put on her shoes after I took them off to place on the rack. Gave her milk and patted her on her little cot, she cried when she couldn't see me around. so poor thing, no yao yao to sleep, no pacy to sleep, in a new place, so Lao Shi and I agreed that she should at least have her pacy for now, and they will slowly wean her off. I called Teacher Ann and learned that she had woken up a little cranky, but quite ok. She had some cake and barley. On her own accord, she went to play with her new friends. The teachers were very encouraged.

Today, my parents brought her to childcare with Matthew. Teacher Ann took her temperature at 37.4oC. There had been 2 cases of HFMD, so as a pre-caution, I thought better for her to stay at Por Por's house. The two kids were full-day kids in N1. One of them only came down with a fever yesterday afternoon after nap. There was a high chance of infection. We will have to monitor over the next few days and if she's infected, we will be able to see by end of the week.

On the whole, I feel that it was a good idea to start Jo in the afternoon, as there are less kids and the teachers are able to give her more attention, especially she is the youngest there. She's happy as far as I can see. She wants to go to school when we ask her. :)

Matthew and his Magic Stick

2008-09-13T00:42:00.002+08:00

A few nights ago, Matthew dropped his toy under the bed. He couldn't retrieve it, so he went to the living room to look for something long. No umbrella in sight, he decided to put his Crayola markers together to form a long stick....

Terrible Two

2008-09-13T00:38:00.002+08:00

I declare - Terrible Two has started for Joanne! Because she is not able to tell us what she wants or needs and if we don't get the "right" answer, she'll throw tantrums. The other way to get her into crying mode / throw tantrums is to say NO to her firmly.

The WAR has commenced!

Toilet Trained? Almost there!

2008-09-07T14:32:00.002+08:00

Since young, both my kids seldom wear diapers at my mom's place. My mom and mother-in-law will diligently bring the kids to the toilet to pee. Matthew has been the easy one to train. He could tell us at very young age that he wanted to poo or pee. In fact, when I went to look through the old blog archive, I had logged that he was toilet trained at 18months.

Now with Jo, it was not easy, in the sense that she simply refused to co-operate and won't tell us when she wanted to pee or poo. Only a few months back, she started to tell us when she wants to pee by going to the potty and trying to take off her shorts. Even when we were out, there were a few times, she kept pointing to her diaper and wanted to take it off. Asked her if she wanted to pee, she nodded her head and held on all the way to the toilet! Last week at Safra Mt Faber pool, she came out of the pool and walked to the shower area and pointed down. She wanted to pee! :)

However she still refused to poo into the potty, so most of the times she poo in her shorts (yucks!) or diapers. She hates the cleaning up, so I have been talking to her to tell us when she poos, so cleaning up is easier.

This week, she started to tell us when she wants to poo, either by pointing to the potty or telling us "eerrhhhmmm" very loudly! Just today, she said "eerrhhmmm" so loudly! I asked her if she wanted to poo, she nodded her head! I put her on the potty and with a little urging, she poo into the potty! I was so proud of her, but she was a little upset, I think it was because it hurted a little when she poo.

Well done Joanne!

Creative Matthew

2008-08-19T23:29:00.001+08:00

Jo's new chair

2008-08-19T23:26:00.005+08:00

Jo has graduated from her Ikea high chair to a booster seat on our dining chair. It's slightly lower than her high chair, but she loves sitting there. I have also weaned her off her milk bottle for morning and night feeds. Now she drinks from the cup with a straw and silly mommy still went to open up new bottles!

Sure?

2008-08-18T23:18:00.003+08:00

On the way home, Mike was asking Matthew about his day...

Mike: 你今天乖不乖?
Matthew: 乖.
Mike: Sure?
Matthew: YES! 不小心多过故意!

Faintz!!!

Sand Play and Sharing

2008-08-18T22:56:00.003+08:00

I was going to start the post with "Weeks back", then now I look at the date, it's 1 month ago already. I like the photos, so I have to post the photos.

Matthew's first movie

2008-08-18T15:49:00.004+08:00

I have been wanting to bring Matthew to the movies, but have always been wondering if I would be wasting money because he's not particular keen on dark theatres (after bringing him to two shows).

We wanted to bring him to Kungfu Panda. The timing wasn't right, both Mike and I couldn't make the time to bring him. Since I took leave last Thursday for Matthew's sports day, I decided to bring him after lunch. The show was Space Chimps. We made use of the Cathay Mom N Tots promotion, where a child watch for free with every paying parent.

We were early. We got the tickets from Cathay Cineleisure and we went to Takashimaya to walk around. Matthew loves to look fountains, so we spent some time in the basement event hall area. Then we got some pancakes and trooped back to Cathay, with Matthew shouting "hurry hurry" the whole time, because I told him we were running late. I was confused by the location of the theatres, because they have added new theatres and I couldn't find it. Finally we found the theatre and was just in time. I love Cathay because they provide booster seats for kiddos and Matthew enjoyed sitting in his seat.

Matthew sat in his own seat through the whole show, only complaining of the cold and asked for his water bottle.

Next show - Wall-e. He has already asked about it! I got to find the time to bring him, next two months are quite packed for me at work.

Matthew's Sports Day

2008-08-18T15:28:00.004+08:00

Matthew had his 1st sports day in school last Thursday. He didn't tell us what his race was about and was quite excited that we were all going there to support him. His class sports uniform was a white tee with red trimmings and red shorts. Cute! We were late that morning, because he woke up late and was whining. When we were there, the kids were all assembled and the sports day started with a march-past.

Everybody had to wait for their turn. The youngest, pre-nursery class (i.e. Matthew's class), were very co-operative and sat around, watching the event and waited for their turn.

When it was finally their turn, the kids were all getting frustrated, all couldn't wait to run. Matthew and a few other kids were obviously the older kids in the class and could complete the race without any help from the teachers. All the kids got a present, of course.

After the sports day, the kids were given ice-cream. Matthew didn't want to follow me, but wanted to take the school bus instead. While waiting, I managed to talk to his form teacher. She said that Matthew is very independent and wants to do everything on his own. Socially, he has improved and learned to share and play with his friends. His eye-hand coordination has also improved tremendously (now he can write). In whole, his development is termed "age-appropriate". :)

Kite Flying

2008-08-14T00:35:00.003+08:00

A few weeks ago, Mike suddenly had this idea of bringing the kids to fly kite! He bought two butterfly kites and we brought the kids to West Coast Park. The weather that Saturday morning of 26 July was fabulous! The kids had brunch at MacDonalds with hotcakes and milo. Jo had hotcakes with margarine and tried the sausage and hash-brown and she loved it! Matthew stuck with his usual hotcakes with margarine and jam.

We went to newly opened seafront promenade and flew the kites. The wind was nice, not too strong, just nice for flying kites. Matthew had fun holding on to the kite string. Jo just loved to walk around, so the whole time she was walking around and around and around.

How Jo eats

2008-07-30T00:31:00.004+08:00

Every Sunday, we go to Funan the Digital Mall for Matthew's music lessons at Seimpi. We have lunch at the 5th floor Food Junction foodcourt. The kids will have chicken macaroni or yong tow foo kway teow mee with my home-cooked soup. Matthew, if he is in a good mood, will be happy to eat on his own. Jo is now in the self-feeding phase. I give her her bowl of food, all cut up to bite size, easy for her to spoon. They don't have high chairs here, unlike the FJ foodcourts at United Square or Great World City.

This is how Jo eat. She sits on the big chair, with the bowl between her legs and eat on her own. Occasionally I'll feed her a few spoonfuls if I find her playing with her food.

Jo's sleeping partner

2008-07-23T22:38:00.003+08:00

Hi, I'm Jo's sleeping partner. My name is Mommy.

Hahahaha. I put Jo to sleep most of the times, except when I have to work late, which is very rare. Before bedtime, she watches some TV, like her fav show of the moment - LeapFrog Letter Factory. She switches off the TV after finishing the show. She then holds my hand, drag me to the kitchen. She helps to take the milk powder from the cabinet and "patiently" waits for me to make her milk.

With her milk bottle in one hand, she puts her other little hand in mine and we walk to her bedroom. She is happy and lies down on her bed and drinks her milk. I close the door and switch off the lights.

This little girl insists that I cover myself with a blanket. She is protective of her territory and I cannot put my hand on her side of the bed! She finishes drinking her milk and passes me her bottle. She "flips" around her bed, holding her elmo and cookie monster, finds a comfortable position and falls asleep.

zzzzzzzzzzz

Papa for Fun, Mama for Sleep

2008-07-17T17:15:00.012+08:00

Joanne's real first words were Mummum, no, not for me, for food... Then she progressed to Mama to call me... Recently she FINALLY called Mike Papa, making him so so so happy. She wants a response from Papa, she will call Mike in varying tones and pitches "Papa", "Ah Pa", "Pa".... BUT horrendously, everything became Papa, even me became Papa!!??!! She wants something from me, she calls me Papa, not Mama.

Papa is the one who plays with her and gives her sweets. Mama is her "food" source and her sleeping partner. So if she wants milk, she'll look for me. If she wants to sleep, she'll put her little hand in my hand and tug me to her bedroom. If she wants to play or go for a walk to see her doggie friend Yacky or she wants to open the fridge for a sweet, she'll look for Papa. Such is reality.

~~~~~~~~~

Joanne has been watching Leapfrog's Letter Factory and she loves it. The first thing she does in the morning walking out of her bedroom is to climb up the sofa and point at the TV. As guilty as I may be, but to get some time for myself to get ready for work, I don't have a "choice" but to let Letter Factory babysit her for a while and that keeps her quiet for 30min.

It wasn't such a bad thing after all. She learns her alphabet and recognises quite a few of the letters like A, B, C, L, M, O. She's not like Matthew; she can't sit still for 30min for me to teach her something. She has also picked up some phonics through Letter Factory. Sometimes in the car, she would suddenly go "AAAHHH" when she sees A on the roadsign or on the bus' advertisement.

She has also been "reading" more books, especially in the car. I guess she must be bored, so books keep her occupied. She loves the flip-the-flap chunky animal book which Matthew also loved at one point. She loves animal books and would scream if she sees something she recognises, like Tiger, Butterfly.

~~~~~~~~~

In other aspects, she has been eating well and loves food tremendously. She has eaten a lot of food, food which I wouldn't have given Matthew at the same age. Since she's keen, I let her eat. She loves fish, fishballs, eggs, like all kids. I have stopped bringing out her milk bottle on weekends for her afternoon feed because I'm plain lazy. These days, she'll just drink UHT milk from a small tetra pack and she loves it. Sometimes she wants to share Milo with Matthew...

She started walking before she turned 11months, so now she has progressed to RUNNING and she can change directions super fast. She's quite good going up and down the slope. She has also started to try walking up the stairs like an adult, without holding the wall!

~~~~~~~~~

To round off this post, here's a video to share.

One Fine May Saturday Morning in the Farms

2008-07-11T14:49:00.005+08:00

I think I mentioned somewhere in my earlier posts that we went to the Goat Farm with En and Wen and Auntie Jan. Then we went to Poison Ivy for lunch and the boys had fun with sand...

Anyway, I have time to do this now, because I'm sick and was on MC for the past 3 days. Now back in office, boss on leave in the afternoon and I'm still feeling too goggy to do any serious work... got to get back in "shape" and do work on Monday!

Singapore Flyer

2008-07-10T14:41:00.011+08:00

We went up the Singapore Flyer early one fine sunny May morning...

We only paid for 2 adults because they were having a opening special and kids ride for free....

Then we went to collect Jo's passport. We made an appointment to pick up the passport and were surprised that our number came up even before we walked into the waiting hall. Apparently the officer-in-charge has been assigned but we were early, so had to wait 5min for them to deliver the passport to her. After that, it was sign and off!

Cycling

2008-07-09T22:18:00.008+08:00

When Matthew was younger, before Jo, we went cycling at East Coast Park quite frequently. After Jo came along, we seldom went because knowing Jo's character, she's not one who would sit still for more than 1+ hours.

A few Sundays back, after Matthew's music lessons, seeing that the weather was quite cool, we made an impromptu decision and headed to East Coast Park. We managed to cycle almost 2 hours, all the way from the Tennis Centre to Bedok Jetty and slightly further before heading back. Jo was quite co-operative and enjoyed the ride. On the way back, she got agitated and in went the pacy and she kept quiet for the rest of the way back and even fell asleep. I had her on my bike initially, then Matthew wanted me to ride him on the way back, so I swopped kids with Mike. I had never taken Matthew on my bike before because I always thought he was too heavy for me to ride him. Surprisingly, it was ok and we had a good time chatting and talking. :)

Here's my favourite photo, currently on my vista desktop :)

After that, we went to our fav Jap restaurant Waraku and Matthew was disturbed by a buzzing housefly. He kept shouting at us to hit the housefly. Mike made an online feedback to the management and was told that they had sent the pest control to eliminate the offending housefly (i think there was only one but Matthew hates houseflies, so really cannot blame him for kicking up a big fuss). The management apologised profusely and sent us a meal voucher. If you ask Matthew now whether he wants to go to the Waraku at East Coast, he will promptly reply no because 有苍蝇 and he wants to go to the one at Central...

Another one?

2008-07-09T22:00:00.003+08:00

Matthew told me something interesting when we went cycling last Saturday. He wanted me to ride him on my bike (in the child seat). He said, "Mommy, 等 Jojo 长大以后, 再生多一个妹妹给我!" I asked him where he heard that from, he insisted that he thought of it himself. He doesn't want a brother. He wants another sister! 2 is more than enough to handle for the time being, with him bullying Jojo ever so often, give him another sister to bully??!!

Singapore Flyer

2008-06-12T21:32:00.003+08:00

I forgot! We went on the Singapore Flyer early morning on 16-5-08, before we collected Jo's passport. Come back for updates, k?

Lots of interesting things we did

2008-06-10T01:09:00.004+08:00

The past few months have been busy ones for me at work! So busy, staring at the computer and reading documents the whole day, that I become just simply too lazy to plug in the laptop to log on. That's why my updates have been scant and few.

We did a lot of interesting things the past two months. Since Jo's first trip to the Zoo end March, we have been to the Zoo at least 3 times. The latest trip was on NTU Alumni Family Day on 31-5-08 and we got admission tix at half price for Ah Yi and her boyfriend. Por Por also came along and she cooked fried rice for our lunch.

>> L-R: Jo and Por Por, Jo and me....

The previous weekend, we went to walk the new park connectors from the new HortPark at Alexandra Road via the elevated walkway to Telok Blangah Hill Park, then via the interesting Henderson Waves bridge to Mount Faber. It was a good 3km walk there and another 3km back to where we parked the car! If it was just me and Mike, it would be so much easier. It was definitely not easy to walk with 2 kids. I thought I would be aching all over at the end of the day, but I was fine! We would definitely be going there again.

The photos were all taken at the Henderson Waves bridge. The 1st and last photos show us taking breaks before and after the bridge walk. There were seats for the tired ones to rest and for kids to play.. there were couples taking wedding photos and also a fashion photographer with his model.

The Sunday after the zoo trip (that was 1-6-08), we were at IMM in the afternoon. There was a storytelling session followed by a handpainting session. I was lucky and got a queue number of 5 for Matthew. He has become more daring these days and more game to try different things. When we asked if he wanted a picture on his hand, he said YES. After thinking for a while, he requested for a butterfly. The jie jie was very nice and even painted the butterfly in shades of blue to match his attire.

Just last Saturday, Matthew even tried the cotton candy (which I hate because it taste too sweet and too chemical). After 5 bites, he decided that it was too sweet and requested for fishballs instead....

ok.. That's all for now.. We also went to the Goat Farm and Bollywood Veggies with Aunty Jan and her kids in May.. I'll try to update again... :)

Jo got fake measles

2008-06-09T22:28:00.002+08:00

Jo came down with a 38.5oC fever on last Saturday evening. I had to give her paracetamol every 8 hours to keep the fever. She was bubbly, active and noisy as usual, but she was more sleepy than usual. As fast as her fever came, it was gone after her last dose of paracetamol yesterday evening.

Then I noticed some red spots on her neck, then I suspected that it might be fake measles, which Aunty E had mentioned that Emma got it a few weeks ago.

After some googling and surfing, I could "safely" confirm that it's roseola or fake measles. Since the fever has gone, there is no need to see Dr Ong, as there's no medicine for it anyway. I'll just give Dr Ong a call. One good thing I found out was that Matthew won't get it even though it's contagious because the virus would only affect infants and toddlers up to 3 years old.

Here are some websites for information on Roseola: AskDrSears.com and Mayoclinic.com

Update on Matthew's hearing

2008-06-09T21:50:00.002+08:00

We brought Matthew for his ENT review at NUH on 29 May 2008. He was co-operative and went through the whole Play-Audio Test. In the test, he put on headphones and various sounds and tones (different frequencies, pitches and decibels) were played and he was to place the jigsaw pieces in the correct position when he hear each sound. He was game and did well.

From the test, the specialist and audiologist confirmed that his left middle and inner ears were intact and responding well. his left ear can hear sounds and tones all frequencies, pitches but only at 50-60 decibels. That's about the level of human conversation in a quiet room. His right ear is perfect. In fact I think he can hear better than us. There was once at a noisy shopping mall, I was asking him a question. I thought he couldn't hear me, but he actually gave me an answer and I could hardly hear him!

Next up in February 2009, Matthew has to be admitted into Day Surgery Ward for a CT scan. He has to be sedated for the scan. Hopefully this time round it would be much easier experience for me compared to the last time.

1st Salon Haircut

2008-06-07T20:06:00.003+08:00

Matthew and Joanne got their 1st salon haircut yesterday evening. I was early from work, so we decided to bring them to the market. Jo's hair was long and untidy, I decided to bring her to our regular hairdresser. I wasn't sure what her reaction would be because she had always resisted haircutting attempts by my mom. Trimming had always been done when she was busy eating or something. Anyway i decided to try my luck.

Jo was ok when we first stepped into the salon. After the first nip, she got agitated and kept wanting to get down and out. In the end, the hairdresser decided that I should just carry her.

Mike and Matthew then came after their little agar-agar treat session. The hairdresser gave Jo a sweet and also one to Matthew. Jo ate the sweet and stopped moving around, making the hairdresser's job easier. Matthew saw Jo having her haircut, he also wanted one. Surprise surprise! Only thing he refused to sit down or have the cloth around his neck. Mike carried him instead.

He was good, listening to the hairdresser's instructions and Bravo, he got a haircut and was rewarded with 2 sweets!

>> My boys and the princess :)

Businessman in the making?

2008-05-26T00:03:00.002+08:00

The big earthquake in Sichuan, China on 12 May 2008 was devastating. The after-shocks were and still are equally destructive and hindering the rescuers' efforts. There was a big after-shock rated 6.4 this afternoon, injuring more people, killing at least one.

The past 2 weeks, we have shown Matthew many many newspaper reports on the earthquake and explained to him the effects of the earthquake, how many children have no food, no water, no home, no school etc and how fortunate he is. We also tried to teach him to be charitable and asked him to donate money for the earthquake rescue-and-rebuilding efforts.

Me: 你要捐多少钱？
Matthew: 五块钱。
Me: Jo Jo 要捐多少钱？
Matthew: Jo Jo 捐四块钱给我。我就有九块钱捐给那些地震的人。
Me: **SPEECHLESS**

Joanne's Passport Photo

2008-05-12T21:45:00.003+08:00

We are planning a little overnight trip overseas in July, so we need to apply for Jo's passport. We tried to take her photos, so that I could edit the photo for the passport application.

Here's the 1st attempt...

She was watching her favourite DVD - Leapfrog Math Circus. No matter how I tried, she just wouldn't let me take a proper shot because I was blocking her. This girl, no matter what I did, I just couldn't get her eyes off her show!

The next morning, she was sitting on the high chair. We took the chance and got this shot...

and I cropped it to this...

I didn't notice the stray hairs and the runny nose, till I submitted the photo online! I showed the photo to Mike and he was going "no no no, cannot lah". We were "praying" hard that ICA would reject the photo. They accepted the photo and Jo's passport is now ready for collection!

It seems that they are quite "lenient" when it comes to kids' photos! Just take a look at Matthew's passport photo!

Jo's first Zoo trip

2008-05-09T11:17:00.003+08:00

It has been a year since Matthew went to zoo. It was fun. There had been lots of upgrading carried out at the zoo and new attractions. The kids enjoyed themselves. We also signed up for the family membership, because we foresee bringing the kids there quite often and it's definitely more worth now to get the membership as Matthew has reached the age where he needs a child admission ticket. The customer service lady tried to take a photo of the 4 of us, but the 2 kids similarly refused to look at the camera. We gave up. On our membership card, you can see the kids looking to the sides instead of the front.

Jo is growing up

2008-05-08T16:19:00.004+08:00

I'm lagging so much on my blogging.

This week Jo got a runny nose. She's more prone to get a blocked or runny nose, whereas Matthew is more likely to be coughing. I just found out that she knows how to blow her nose. She must have learned from Matthew. So cute!

Just a quick update. Jo has started to run run run and she's fast. Her reaction is also so fast that we got to keep a close watch on her. Her gross motor skills are way advanced for her age, but we are not quite surprised, because she started walking very early before 10 months. She climbs stairs and can walk up stairs holding to the railing or wall. She knows how to throw her weight on to the sofa and maneuver herself up.

Intellectual-wise, she knows A, B and C. She knows bird, dog, cat. I was surprised that she knows zebra, giraffe and tiger, when we brought her to the zoo. She's quick to pick up and learn. At the zoo, I needed to just point out to her the orang utans on the trees a few times, the next time we went past the area, she could point them out to me. That was the same with the flamingos.

I need to update on our zoo trips. We have signed up for the family membership again, after 1 year from the expiry.

Jo's first time at T3

2008-04-12T16:17:00.004+08:00

Singapore's Changi Airport Terminal 3 opened in January. We brought Matthew last November when it was open to public for visit. That included the restricted area. Three Sundays ago (23/3), Matthew wanted to see aeroplanes, so we decided to head down to T3 for lunch that morning. It was Joanne's 1st time there. She definitely enjoyed herself. We were lucky to catch the Looney Toons - Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird in action and were even luckier to be the third in queue to take photos with them plus a free polaroid. I'll let the photos do the talking!

More Fun in March

2008-04-09T21:31:00.004+08:00

I'm taking too long to update the blog... Here's more fun in March.

During the 1 week school holiday, the kids fell sick, so did I. Luckily everybody was well for the exciting weekend. The Friday 14/3 during that one week, Mike and I took leave and brought the kids to GoGo Bambini. Matthew kept pestering us to bring him to the big playground where YiXuan had her birthday party! Both kids had baked macaroni cheese for lunch from GGB. After lunch, we let the kids played a while more, before heading home.

The next day, we headed down to West Coast Park. Jo had fun with sand! She even tried to eat the sand, making Mike rush her to toilet to wash her mouth at least two times. The kids had hotcakes for lunch. We went home after that.

We went to IMM for dinner. After eating, Matthew had some craft work done with Mike, I brought Jo to Daiso. This gal is a helper. She helped a store manager to replenish stocks! I couldn't take any photos, because I was following her, making sure she didn't mess up the place. But here's one showing her helping me carrying the shopping basket!

On Sunday, we went out with our usual Feb/Mar05 gang on a bus! I organised a farm tour and Auntie Cath helped us with the bus. Everybody chipped in with snacks, drinks. Auntie Lih Miin was a crowd pleaser with her balloons! We went to Hay Dairies Goat Farm, Bollywood Veggies for lunch, then to a fish farm. For more exciting photos and write-up, see miiniworld LJ >> Go West

>> Goat Farm

>> The kids taking a breather at Bollywood Veggies. How often you get toddlers sitting in a row like this? more photos on miiniworld.

The following Friday 21/3 was Good Friday. Matthew requested for a cable car ride. We took the Sentosa Express to Imbiah Station, had a round trip on the cable car. Back at Mount Imbiah, Matthew went on the Carlsberg Tower with Mike, while I carried a sleeping Jo in my pouch and had some snacks and tea at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Mike managed to take photos of me and Jo from way there!

>> Cable Car

>> Mommy carrying a sleeping Jo

We then went back to Vivocity and had lunch there. Matthew wanted to play sand, so we went to East Coast Park!

>> Jo having her own fun!

>> Matthew must be mad to have do this! So unlike him!