31dec and I am going to give birth Tom!

Title says it all.. Now feeling a bit excited, a bit nervous. Wondering how the little one will take it all.
Am praying for a smooth delivery and for everything to go on well.. The little one to be a big boy and not be too emo. He is emo today cos I think he can sense it and was crying buckets when he saw me leave for the doc appt this morning. This is usually a no issue for him so dun know why he got so worked up.
Soon there will be another baby in the house ;) I wonder who he will look like and if he will be a good baby!
It is indeed the most special gift one can ask for the new year!

It's 27 dec and counting down!

Didn't know how I managed to survive without my dearest sari the last few days and being as big as a cow! But thank goodness we did. Thanks to the hubby who has been great in doing the chores (unfortunate he is the sick one now) And the little one who was quite the well behaved little boy the past few days.
Haven't had him sleep with me for such a
long time and over the stretch of a few
Days that I must say that I did enjoy the early morning cuddles a lot and yes, even the part where he would say good morning mummy straight into my face! He is my big boy now ;) and even graduate to the PN2 class today!
Teacher said that he said something to his friend : "today I am going to sleep in school and drink milk in school." she had a good laugh when she heard that.... Me too ;p

Sad day for Aunty sari

We got news this morning that Aunty sari dad passed away last night. In his sleep peacefully. She is going home for a few days to settle things at home.

It's Xmas season!

Day two of maternity and the nesting feeling has started! ;) still hoping to hold on till new year's day so am hoping that Jason will allow mummy to enjoy this holiday season!
Wrapped all the pressies and getting everything ready for the party on the eve. The big one was the sweetest and he got me my always wanted to get navity set! Sure that came with all the usual baby jesues jokes and three wise men cracks but hey, it wouldn't be a gift from him, otherwise ;)
Of Cos the kids are the ones with the biggest pressie stash! Something for everyone..all wrapped, ribboned and put on the shelf and for all the adult guests, a wonderful wonderful bottle of rose
Champange! I like that ;p

Its the Flu Bug Season Again

Okie, can someone tell me why little toddlers fall sick so often? i know, its their way of building up their immunity and all but its so painful to see.

The Little One's school had a outbreak of chicken pox and so quite a lot of the kids were affected. Sigh, the good news is that he (mainly becos he got vaccinated against it) is safe from it (touchwood, cross fingers, cross toes), i think he caught another flu big again. So kept him at home with Aunty Sari and it was the drink lots of water, soups.. visit Dr Lim, usual routine.

Most of the mummies who have two will attest that once the older one falls sick, the baby usually follow suit. That thought is quite scary! Will be bf-ing the baby for as long as i can but not sure if giving the Little One some of baby's BM will help? I sure hope so, and i definately hope that the Little One will consume it. Maybe sneak it in his ceral or milk or something.

It will be the Little One's Year 2 in school next year and i sure hope that he will fall sick less often. Trying to adjust him to full day school is one thing... seeing him fall sick is yet a painful other that comes with it. Is there no solution other than letting him fall sick?

Cross fingers, toes and everything esle!

35weeks and counting

It's week 35 and just had my now weekly check up done. Baby is already engaged!! That's fast right? But still hoping to hang on till Jan which Is week 39.
Need to find the time to pack bag and arrange the cot, the bottles etc!!!
Meanwhile the little one has been in school for longer hours. So far so good ;) and he is enjoying school and his friends, especially shenise! Whom he absolutely loves.
I am praying Justin will be well adapted to the change and look forward to his new little brother!

His last abrakadoodle class for the year!

The little one has been attending art classes with his daddy for about 3 months now and today is his last class for the term!
We continued to sign him up for another term cos he really does seem to enjoy the classes plus it's good bonding time with daddy every sat morning ;) mummy is hoping that it will give me some break in future when the younger one comes along.
I think it helps that he has quite a few friends in this class - faith, Clara, Kayla ;) and he enjoys meeting them every weekend.
The only negative thing is that very often his art work comes back with hmmm rather manly colours and daddy says it looks like war craft! ;)

Parent teacher meeting ;)

The big one and I went to the little one's parent teacher meeting this afternoon. I have always liked his teachers for this year, teacher phyu phyu and teacher Wern and have always found it a pleasure to talk to them ;) today at the meeting, they commented on the little one's improved verbal skills and said that that's an area which he has really made a vast improvement! The little one used to only mumble to himself but is now able to converse a lot more and even hold a simple conversation. We are so proud of him!

His ability to converse better has also helped him play better with his friends. The teachers commented that he would share stories with his friends about what he is doing and also auntie sari! And they will reply ... How cute!!

Eating, drinking has not been a problem and the teachers hope that he can stay longer in school next year as they are going to really launch into the full elfa curriculum. Sounds a bit daunting but I am quite sure the little one can cope with the changes. Have decided to let him stay in school but perhaps for the first few months still choose to fetch him ourselves rather than put him on the school bus. I definately hope that with the new baby coming, he will cooperate!

All sorts of stuff

The bun in the oven is already 34 weeks and this mummy to be is still relatively I'll prepared! Well, at least compared to last time. Haven't packed my bag, haven't applied for leave, have not assembled the cot, haven't done lots!

Yet, why am I so tired? Hopefully in the next month I can better set aside some time to do all of those things! Including getting all the Chinese herbs ready for confinement.

The little one is really learning how to express himself and I continue to be amazed by him. Realized that he can recongize quite a few Chinese characters like fei (fly) and kou (mouth). All thanks to his teachers in school no doubt! And he is becoming quite the little reader who insists on reading me the books ;) and sometimes making up his own stories!

Am hoping that he will take to the baby well and all will be smooth!

It's my car!

Am starting to see the little one exerting more and more of his will on situations. Today he told me so clearly that "it is my toy!!" and didn't want to share it with me. Find that he is really starting to be so sturborn and the only thing that works is distraction. Had to get him to keep his toys by devising a new game of guessing where the dinosaurs are. Well at least it works!

Rainy Sunday

Didn't do much today cos it has been raining the whole day. Staying at home is a relatively safer option ;) anyways, we did manage to do a trip to ikea this
morning. Tried to buy a baby bath tub cos we needed one for the new baby but it's out of stock due to a supplier problem. Can you imagine that? Finally got one at istean .. Some lucky baby brand but that should do!!

Ramblings

The Big One is away for a 1 week reservist stint and yes, we miss him a lot a home. Especially the Little One, who i think misses the daddy who will rough it out with him and play "horsie" where he gets to climb on the Big One and ride him like a horse. Not that the Big One's back can take it that well, but he gallently lets the Little One ride it every night :) Let's just hope that his back can withstand another little boy on it!
This week happens to be quite a hell week at work too.. so that doesn't help. Its nice to hear the Little One calling out for me the minute i step through the door. It makes everything at work that much more bearable and reminds me that i need to make full use of the maternity leave and be with the kids more. I do miss working parttime and being there more for the Little One and more time for myself. But for now, i need to finish up my work! so that i can go on maternity in peace :)
Was spending story time with the Little One who tonight, insisted on drawing. So i took out the paper and colour pencils and let him doddle. He suprised me by being able to name a smile face that i drew out for him! and he draw long straight lines that he tells me is a dinosaur! and then he went to draw a house that ehrm, looked nothing like a house. But cheers for the effort! We are keeping him at home these few days cos lots of kids are sick in school and he hasn't really recovered fully from the block nose attack. Am hoping that the good weather stays this way for us, with lots of sunshine and clear skies so that there will not be another relapse. So he gets to terrorise aunty sari the whole day at home and watch loads to TV!
Am sleepy now so am going to go to bed soon.. weight check on the little One on sat: 16.1kg :)

Now i can talk...

At 31 months, i must say that the verbal skills of The Little One has really exploded! He had been a relatively late talker, at 24 months, he didn't seem to catch on words or phrases, still speaking baby talk quite a lot of the time. It slightly improved after starting school, and i think the influence of other kids talking finally rubbed some off him, but still, it was that few phrases and words.

We did not doubt that he could talk, cos he can sing very well. He could sing most of the nursery rhymes he was taught and even the chinese songs from the DVD. But perhaps he didn't see the need to talk??

Finally at 31 months, it is as though the speech button has been activated and he is stay loads loads more than he used to. Be it naming colors that he sees, animals that he is playing it, or even having conversations with his toys.. the yaking never stops! Sometimes he even talks and talks till he falls asleep :)

His new books...

Have always loved the Scholastic set of books that the Little One has. And thankfully, he likes them too :) He has 2 sets, one which is a First Words series and the other, a collection of old time stories like The Three Little Pigs.



About 2 weeks ago, the Big One and I were both on leave so decided to send the Little One to school whilst we try to shop at Taka. Had to get some baby stuff plus visit Kino. And at this visit, i saw a set that i had to get for the Little One!

:) wanted to wait till xmas and give it to him as a xmas pressie but couldn't contain myself! So i opened the set and have started reading it to him :) So far so good, he has his favourite stories as usual. And it is now a bedtime routine for him to read the books before nights off! I don't think he can recongise the words and is "read" it out of memory but am still happy at that :) He can read some titles already like "bubbles" and "in the playground", only becos i think he can associate that with his favourite activities.

Daddy and i have avid readers and i hope the Little One will develope the same interest too!

He got a haircut :)

Well actually the Little One got 2 haircuts and both by the dear Auntie Sari.

Haircut 1
She was cutting his hair in the toliet during his shower time. Its the usual spot and just for the sake of recording, he gets his fringe cut once every 2.5 weeks or so. We usually don't trim his hair very short, so i guess we make up for this by triming it more frequently.

So today, was the usual haircut :) but.... the Little One choose to turn abruptly to the left which ahem, resulted in a werid angular cut to his fringe.

Can u see the left side being so much shorter than the right? Yikes!

Haircut 2

So like 1 hour after his first shower, we rushed him into the shower again. Cos the hair cut really super cannot make it. So he got his fringe cut again, whilst he was having some water play. The result was a much much shorter fringe so now he positively looks like a bowl head! Haven't taken photo but will try tomorrow.

Anyways, during the Haircut 2 encounter, which we had to bribe him with fish crackers in order to do so, he said something quite funny.

The Little One said: "More biscuit please...Mummy, more biscuit"

Aunty Sari: How many more do you want? You already had 2..

The Little One: Five

Aunty Sari : HUh! (mummy gives him 1 more cracker which he proceeds to stuff into his mouth)

The Little One: More biscuit mummy!

Aunty Sari: You had 3! How many more do you want?

The Little One: 6!

Mummy: No more biscuit for u!

:P he starts yelling for more but the haircut session has been completed so no more bribes!

Fix the car?

Last evening when we were going through our bedtime routine with the Little One, he did this "game" where he was fixing the car.

He likes to play with auntie sari's hp earphones and often uses it to play "doctor" where he will put the receiver onto my tummy and check for heartbeat :) or use it to check my nose. I think they must have taught him that in school and it certainly helps him overcome the fear of being checked by Dr Lim. In fact nowadays when we have to make a trip to the doctor, he very nicely lifts up his t-shirt for her to check his heartbeat.

Anyways, back to the story - he was using the same set of earphones to fix the car by putting it into one of the compartments of the car and telling himself "fill it up".. tot that it was so cute! Don't really know where he learnt it from.. asked the daddy if he has seen him fill up the car at the petrol station but i think that's quite rare. Concluded that it must be school then :) must remember to ask the teacher.

his art wall ;)

The little one has been taking art classes for sometime now and we decided to put up his works on a wall in the living room! It's a parent accompanied class so daddy normally goes with him while mummy waits for them and sometimes sips a nice coffee!
What is making this art class even more enjoyable is the accompany of his friends, faith, Kayla and Clare! And mummy has made some new friends too!
Hopefully when mummy pops, daddy will have this special one on one time with him ;)

The stupid silly haze

Haze = sensitive nose acting up again = daddy and mummy don't have to sleep well.

Its really terrible this haze thing and this time round, i must say that its really bad! Cos there are times when i can't even see the next block clearly. I sure hope that the skies clear up soon otherwise i will be in for endless rounds of blocked nose and mucus that irritates the hell out of the Little One.

So he skipped one day of school today... at least he gets to rest at home. The mummy and daddy has to pull themselves together and go to work, abit very sleepy and very grouchy.

Let's hope tonight will be better :)

Taking off t-shirt on his own

Had to blog this down before i forget - yesterday after dinner, we were watching tv together. It was yet another hot and sweltering day in Singapore.

Perhaps the t-shirt material wasn't that comfy or it was rough. But he kept tugging at his t-shirt and said "scratch mummy".. Think it was itchy. He pointed to the stack of t-shirt that Sari has nicely folded up and said "donkey" which is his way of saying i want the donkey t-shirt.

When we told him okie we will change him, he proceeded to tug at his t-shirt and you know what - he managed to take the t-shirt off himself! i was like wow.. okay, not the most incredible skill set but still, wow!

That's the woe of a working mummy i guess.. you might not be around to see all his firsts but when you do, you wonder if you should always be there for him :)

Stacking up books!

New game for the little one during bedtime. He goes over to his shelve and gets a few books and proceeds to stack them up and tells us "mummy.. Look.. See.. A house!". Didn't quite get it in the begining cos he only said make house..then it started to make more sense to me ;) at a point, he even added a roof to the structure! Must be something they are learning in school!
When I was putting him to bed tonight, he stretched out his hand against the wall and said " mummy trace" ;) awwww he wanted me to trace out his shadow. It occured to me just how small his hands still are.. Positively heart moment.

Horsie?

The little one started a new game tonight:

Little One: Daddy.. horsie.. horsie
Daddy: Okie, come up (and the little one climbs on daddy's back- which of course kills the man totally)

Little One: Okie..enough .. (he proceeds to climb down and stands in front of the daddy, who still has to act as a horse, and pretends to reach into his pocket and takes something out to feed the "horse")
Daddy: munch munch munch...
Little One: Okies, let's go.. horsie!
Daddy: (groans) okie.. (has to do this like five times before the little one lets the horse rest!)

Wondering who taught the little one to feed the horse? Was it something that they were pretending playing in school? :) yes, its rather cute and all - even if it kills daddy's back!

30 months

The little one turn 30 months old this week! Wow that's like 2.5 years gone past in a flash.. Just remembering the moments when he was still a little infant, all helpless and all and now, look at him! The funny obese baby has shed most of his baby fats, has learnt (rather annoyingly) to insist on wearing only his ultraman t-shirt, feed himself and do star jumps!! There are of cos sweet moments when he says he loves me and others when he stomps his feet and cries " I dun want".
As we get ready to welcome the second little Yong into the household , I wonder how u will react and if u will turn jealous and all. Mummy worries about spending less time with you and so am getting daddy to do more with u nowadays. There are times when I think u understand ;) and for those moments of patience, I love u more!
You come home and tell me about ur day in school now and u have a new friend called Shanice ;) you always say that Shanice is v guai and Justin is noti! Well, everyone esle in class is noti, with the exception of Shanice!
We haven't started potty training u yet, partially becos of mummy being too big now to start anything but also, you still dun tell us when u need too!! U still like running off to a corner and hiding till u are done! Is it a form of security for u?
Well, for now ;) at least till mummy pops we will not be revisiting that.
Happy 30 month old birthday! We love u!

Didn't go on our Sept break

Old photo taken in universal studio...

Sigh.. in the end, becos the Little One was so sick, we cancelled our trip to Adelaide. Didn't want to bring him when the weather was going to be so cold plus he was running a fever. Felt very bad cos i knew that the Big One was so excited about going and all and even had a few gigs lined up during our stay there.

Well, as the Big One would say, there is a sliver lining in most things - and true enough, The Little One was more sick that we initally thought. Nothing big, but the raging fever didn't go down despite meds and this was unusual for him. At first, it was thought to be a nasal infection, but when a ugly rash started appearing, the ped said, probably rosela. Then after the rashes came out, but the fever did not subside.. in fact went higher - he had the scarlet fever. Yikes!

So we did spend the whole whole whole week stuck at home. It was massive tv time for everyone and in midway, we even found the energy to do up a lantern for the Little One's class project.

that plus aunty sari was away....

Well, we surived! and he is all well and good now :) back to his usual active active self

Looking forward to our Sept break :)

We are heading off to Adelaide in Sept for a short holiday :) yippy! Consider this last holiday until the baby is perhaps, 1?

Whilst packing his clothes for the trip last night, i realised how much my little baby has grown... the thicker stuff that i used one year ago when we went to Adelaide in autum, cant fit him at all now. The jeans are too tight and too short! So i have to do a bit of shopping before he can be properly outfitted for the Adelaide spring weather which is suppose to be below 20 degrees.

Despite all the hard work that goes into preparing for a trip, all the packing, the worries, the horrible plane ride, i do look forward to all my holidays with the hubby and boy. Its the time when we can be alone :) yes, of cos we miss having sari's help but for now, we can still manage.

Have planned to bring him to see some ducks at the Torren's River, a day trip to Handorft and Victor Harbour. The rest of the days are free and easy. Sounds just perfect for my relax and chill holiday!

The busy little Boy!

The Little One with his cousin at the airport waiting for the skytrain :) Don't they look cute together? The picture was taken.. hmm about 1 month back?

We had a hectic National Day weekend.. today back at work felt so much like a holiday blue to me that i needed that extra cuppa coffee to stay awake. Says the mummy who is suppose to be drinking less of that kopi stuff! The Little One enjoyed the National Day Parade on tv and was busy marching and stomping to the music :) think he was very thrilled by the fireworks display and kept going "bomm boomm" all night long. Would love to bring him to the Parade but as the Big One wisely put, hmm, we might not survive bringing him there and back. So mental check to oneself, remember to book hotel room stay to watch the fireworks next year.. yes, all in aircon comfort!

Some recent pictures..

At the T3 car mart :) He loves going to the car ride!

Playing daytona at the arcade.. courtesy of the Big One!

The Little One in his Ah Pek t-shirt that was a 3 for $10 sale at the market downstairs.. love this thing to bits!

He is now 27 months!

Wow doesn't that seem like a huge milestone! In a short 9 months, he will be three ;) and joining the little one , would be a tiny new baby in the house!
Many have asked if I wanted a girl.. Truefully, I wouldn't know wHat to do with a girl having spent so much time with my very rowdy boy! I don't know what games to play, what's the latest in baby girl fashion or even name the disney princess.. Not that I am less girly, just that I seem to have lost touch. Plus my world for the past two years have been filled with trucks, trains and Lego and more cars than I would have ever imagined! This is scary tots!
So I am embracing my future as a mummy to two rowdy boys ;) as much as they kick up mayham in my life, they bring with them a rowdiness that I never knew.. ;)

What he is up to at 2 years and 2.5 months

The Little One is growing up really fast. There are moments when i ask where has my baby gone to? He is so big now and yet still the same little chubby boy.

School:
He is well adjusted in school already. At the parents teachers conference in May, the teachers told us that he mixes well with the friends in school, can eat by himself (and always finishes the food), can wash his hands on his own (but doesn't know how to dry them) and likes the art and craft work. They gave us a CD of the Little One's pictures in school and it was really lovely! :) Watching it was quite emotional for me, cos my little baby has all grown up. He can even put on his own pants and his shoes.. seems so much for a 2 year old.

Language:
He still babbles on and on but i can have simple conversations with him now:

Little One: Mummy.. wet wet (pointing to his t-shirt)
Mummy: Is your t-shirt wet?
Little One: Yes..yes
Mummy: Do you want to take of your t-shirt?
Little One: Yes
Mummy: Can i take off your pants?
Little One: Nooooo.. no.

We read a few stories each night, depending on how tired he is or how cranky i think he is. He has his favourites: Stone Soup, Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. For these books, he can finish the words at the end of the sentences and generally follows the story very well. Daddy also got him some posters from Popular that we pasted up on his wall and he loves going through them with Daddy, like pointing out the animals or his ABCs and numbers. Its a routine we go through each evening.

Boys being Boys
Yes, the Little One has always been very much a boys boy right from an early age. He still loves his cars, his trains and balls and plays with them with what i think is like destructive forces! He loves wrestling with his daddy and play acting to be a lion. and he growls! loudly!

He is very fond of the yellow tabby cat that we have our void deck and everyday on the way to school, he calls out for "yellow" and looks for the cat. There has been moments when aunty sari says he shares food with yellow :) okie, maybe its food that he doesn't really like. We are happy that he is fond of animals and has a geniune affection for them.

Overall, he is a happy joyful boy who is sometimes a handful and an armful! But like we always say to ourselves.. boys are boys!

The Things He Does at 2

We have successfully weaned him for 1 week now :) there were some moments when he will point to the breast and still say "hot". I guess that's because of that one single sip that he tried when the breast was unfortunately coated with vingear! poor boy!

As he turns 2, i would say that his terrible twos and tantrums are making their appearance fast and furious. Yet those terrible moments will fade away when he smiles and hugs us all when he is all bright and cherry. And whenever i see him in a tantrum, i can just see the frustration that he has for being unable to express what he feels or wants. Those are the times when i hug him tightly and hope that the tantrum will melt away. Othertimes when i am too hot headed and i have to leave him in a safe concern to sort himself out for a while. I have been trying various combinations of time out in his notti corner and the "No" method but some works and some doesnt...

As he is 2, he is showing quite a lot of muscial talent :) be it songs and dancing or just tapping away to rhythm. Now he has mastered a few songs:
1. Twinkle twinkle little star
2. Happy Birthday
3. One little 2 little 2 little indian...
4. Old macdonald had a farm
5. Wheels on the bus
6. Rain rain go away
7. The theme song to chungington
8. The theme song to Cars (which is his all time favourite)
9. The theme song to Mickney Mouse playhouse
10. The theme song to Pocoyo
11. Emm.. some indian song that is on aunty sari's phone!

At age 2, he is also finally showing interest in puzzles! It started out with playing the Tozzle puzzle game on my iphone and then it has progressed to physical puzzles of home items and animals.. that keeps him occupied in the morning when aunty sari has to finish the housework.

The Little One now has a regular art time while he bathes cos he colours the walls with crayon! waterproof ones of cos:) sometimes we can see circles and lines and sometimes its just that doodle.. i hope to nurture more of such art work!

He is growing up fast and getting heavy to carry. Call it mummy's guilt but i love carry him!

Sneezing and a sleepless night..

After being well for a total of 3 weeks, the Little One had to get a block nose attack again. This is very frustrating!

It started out with a trip to ECP on Sunday and am not sure what he came into contact with but he started sneezing like nobody's business all morning and into the afternoon. I could tell that it was irritating him cos he kept rubbing his nose and sniffing. Well, that caused him to pretty much sleep super badly during his nap and the pattern repeated itself the whole of the night. We are pretty much super knackered. Someone.. bring me the coffee!

Luckily he was a sweetheart during the rest of the day and even sat through a dinner with us a Waraku :) He loves pasta so the trick is to set a plate in front of him and he will pretty much entertain himself with it. The only thing is that he still loves to use his hands to eat pasta..i gather that to him at least, it would be faster to use his hands compared to the fork. Well, not much complains since it keeps him occupied!

I hope that the visit to the doc will help resolve the problem and let us all get some sleep tonight.

PS: Weaning has continued for the rest of the week and i am so proud of him. I tried letting him lull himself to bed the whole of last week starting from tuesday and i am please to say that it has worked! Only that from last night, we had to resume the patting again just cos he was so cranky. I hope we can put back on track our good practise....soon.

All well and good.. back to school and his terrible twos

This week is quite significant for me as the mummy of the Little One.

First the simple things, he is all well and given the all clear to go back to school last week but mummy wanted to keep him at home for another week so that he will be all well and good. He went back to school this week and only for 1/2 first :) He has regained all the weight that he has lost and is back to his usual bak bak self.

Second, yesterday was the first day of weaning.. yes, for those who do not know, the Little One (OMG!) was still nursing. Only for comfort cos he obviously eats enough and drink lots. I was waiting for him to self-wean but as his 2nd birthday drew closer and past, he was still nursing and in fact enjoyed it a lot. So yes, after bf-ing him for so long, it was a decision that mummy took to wean him starting from yesterday morning. He had his last sip on Monday morning and it has been more than 36 hours now. I think i miss it more than he does. Mummy told him that the boobies were hot and had to resort to applying vinger on the breast but when he took a sip of it, he said "hot" and promptly closed my t-shirt! This morning, he ask to nurse again but i told him, its hot and then he said "ok".

Why did i suddenly choose to stop.. it partially has got to do with his terrible twos.. On Sunday, he was throwing a tantrum and started crying.. he was yelling for "ne ne" which is his word to nurse and i didn't want to give in. I know that it has been his usual comfort tool, but i knew that it was high time he learnt to be comforted in other ways. He was yelling for it..and i knew that i had to stand my ground.

So, i did my research and braced myself for all the crying and yelling.. thankfully day 1 seems to have gone well. i hope that day 2 will be even smoother.

It represents his journey (well, in my eyes) as being a big boy now. It has been sometimes crazy with his struggles and "no nos" to everything but i hope that we can go through this together!

Size check!

Just a short note on the little one weight and height at 2 years old:
Height - 1
Weight - 14.4kg

Happy Birthday to Ah Boy

Happy Birthday The Little One, or Ah Boy as Auntie Sari calls u...

We are just so happy that you are so much better and can be discharged from hospital :P It is the best birthday present ever! We hope that you stay strong and healthy and happy!

There wasn't a birthday party or a special birthday cake for you this year.. we didn't get the chance to do all that. But it was nevertheless a meaningful celebration for all of us this year, in our home. We all love you darling!

Hospital stay

It started out innocently as a block nose that didn't quite clear up. First Doc gave a course of antibotics before we left for Bali. And thankfully in Bali, perhaps thanks to the good weather and sunshine, the nose mucus said its good bye.

But once we came back to Singapore, his mucus started running again and by Friday, he started coughing. Was quite concern cos with his sensitive airways, brought him back to the doc to check it out. It wasn't anything serious cos it was not affecting the lungs yet. But doc said his nose is not clearing up as much as she would like so she gave a different set of meds.

He was coughing quite badly on Friday night and threw up phelgm 3 times that night. Gave a call to the doc on Sat to let her know cos i was wondering if the throwing up was related to the new meds. She assured me that it wasn't the meds but asked me if he was wheezing. Didn't think he was at that stage but she told me that if he started wheezing to call her back that night.

Perhaps he was too tired out so he went to bed early... by about ten, i could hear that his breathing was a bit loud. Told myself, let's see how it is like in the morning.
But lunchtime Sunday, i told the Big One.. the Little One doesn't look that good. Plus there was a werid rash on his backside that i only noticed after the doc visit on Friday and the rash was spreading. Wanted to put my mind at ease so i called Doc's emergency number and she very promptly called back. She said better to check him out. So we had an appointment to see her at 1plus at Eastshore. Quickly finished the lunch and went there.
One check from her-yes, he is wheezing and better to admit him for nebulizer treatment. Well, this doc doesn't believe in allowing parents to neb their kids at home and i knew it from a long time back. So it dind't quite come as a total suprise to me..but was quite sad cos it was going to be his 2nd birthday on Tuesday and i certainly did not envisage that he would be celebrating it in hospital! Had planned a birthday party for him in school and all! But all those plans had to be postponed.
He was his usual cheery self in the hospital and thank goodness he loved the cot and keep pointing to the picture of the rabbit in a car and said car car! We had to supply his usual stash of DVDs to keep him entertained plus iphone plus lots of visitors but am glad that doc cleared him to discharge on his birthday :)

it was good to go home.. cos it meant he was better and i didn't have to endure holding him down for any more neb sessions (he nearly boxed a nurse and broke the neb tube). He truely hates the thing!

It is our 2nd stay in East shore and the nurses which looked after him when he was first hospitalised at 2 months old, are still there! in the same ward :) it was nice cos they were all so friendly and helpful! The Little One even made some new friends with the other kids in the ward and he grew particularly attached to this little baby (15 days old) who was there with a high fever. The Little One would say 'baby baby go" and that meant he wanted to visit little baby. So sweet right?

Moral of the story - kids get sick fast and it can get worse quick. Am glad that i trusted my instincts to bring him to the doc on sunday. and double glad that he is all right now!

Pictures from Bali

Have been super busy trying to move back into our newly renovated place, plus unpack the house, that plus the Little One was hosptialised for wheezing (thankfully he is now discharged.. more of that in another post).

So, to follow on from my earlier post on our holiday in Bali. Here are the pictures.. well not all, just some of the ones i tot were really nice:)

Okay-Day 1/2
We took KLM to Bali.. pls remind me never to fly that carrier again. Even though it was a full service carrier, their service was definately not as "full" as i thought it would be. Nevertheless, it was a late afternoon flight at 4pm to Bali and the Little One was cranky like hell on board cos he had skipped his afternoon nap. Note to self - never book that flight time again. Luckily there were cartoons on board to entertain him a bit. But it was certainly a struggle trying to hold him still and getting him to cooperate when we had to fasten his seat belt.

So, by the time we arrived in Bali it was close to 8-9pm. Hence no pictures.

Day 2-Playing in Intercon!
Becos we got a cheap deal on KLM(perhaps that was the mistake!) we decided to splurge on a really nice hotel resort. After some research, we decided on Intercontinental Jimbaran Bay and upgraded ourselves to a Singaraja Room so that we have more space for boy to run around. It was definately a good choice cos the room was very spacious(sorry no photo cos forgot to take). And the hotel is very kids friendly with lots of open green ground for kids to play and a kiddies club which offered programmes at a reasonable rate. Here's the Littele One at the hotel playground doing a peekaboo with mummy!

Day 3 - Tour of Tanah Lot
After a day of resting in the hotel and getting over our flight experience, we called up the trusty Mr Suri tour guide whom was recommended by the Big One's parents. Not bad! He managed to do a tour for us at really last minute notice (we only called the night before after we determined that we should go visit a few places). We requested for 2 half day tours, bearing in mind the Little One's need for naps. So for the first tour, Mr Suri brought us to the Tanah Lot temple, which is a temple built on a cliff to worship the sea. The view was fantasic!



After the tour, we went back to the hotel for a nap(all of us) and in the afternoon, decided to catch the famous Jimbaran sunset. One of the reasons why we choose to stay in Intercon was also becos it had a private stretch of beach so we figurered it would be nice and Boy were we right! Here's me and the Little One at the sunset ....

Day 4- Uluwatu

After a hearty breakfast, Mr Suri picked us up from the hotel and took us on a longer drive, south of Bali to a place called Uluwatu. Another temple, this one was built in the 16th century and was also to worship the sea. There are also monkeys in the nature reserve leading up to the temple. Like most places in Bali, in order to get to the sight, there is a lot of walking and climbing involved so trust me, both of us adults were exhausted by the time we reach the vantage point to catch the best view.

And that afternoon, we decided to brave the beaches and brought the Little One on a small expedition on the sand. He didn't quite like it and was giving us werid looks all the time.

Mummy had the chance to play a bit with the sand while the Big One and kid went out to the waves!

Day 5 - Easter Sunday

The hotel kids club organised a Easter Sunday Egg hunt for all the kids staying in the resort. It was really nice cos we got a personalised letter of inviation to join in! Decided that it would be nice for Justin to enjoy a Easter sunday so we accompanied him to the party. Must say that the staff put in a lot of effort in it cos there were a string of activies from egg painting, to egg and spoon races and finally the egg hunt and food! The Big One was game enough to bring the Little One on a egg and spoon race and it was loads of fun!

That afternoon, we did a spot of shopping for some gifts at Kuta. The Big One really enjoyed our holiday and Bali and we hope that the next visit we can perhaps stay in Kuta.

Day 6-Last day

We didn't do anything much :) just wanted to enjoy the rest of our stay so we spend the time at the pool and the beach. So one last shot of the beach and us...leaving our footprints behind!

Till the next vacation!

Holiday in Bali

;) we are just back from a week in Bali! The little one had lots of fun with his first experience in swimming! At first he was rather scared of the water but after warming up, he took to it very well. He looked cute in his thomas the train swim wear . The big one also had fun in the sea and even lost his sunglasses!
Of cos we did the usual tour thing and did two half days of sightseeing and a bit if shopping. But most of the time we just lazed around in the hotel pool and our big room. The little one had the chance to watch quite a lot of tv ... Thanks to that he now can say the word "tv" and a phrase from his favourite cartoon "pit stop".
And boy did we spend on food! Becos we were in the hotel a fair bit, we ended up spending mostly on food and drinks... Lots of pasta, noodles and fried rice for the little one, with the occassional chicken porridge ;) luckily this trip around he took milk quite well so I wasn't that afraid that he wasn't eating.
We went to tanah lot and uluwatu for sightseeing and at certain times it was quite a steep climb that took a lot of effort from the big one specially. Still the view was very worth it!

Naming fruits

Over the weekend, we brought the Little One to the Colds Storage Supermarket at Taka. He had a fun time helping us push the trolley and wanted to hold a basket by himself!

We were at the fruits section where he surprised me by naming the fruits: apple (pple), orange (oooge) and banana (nana).

The Big One also taught him to say the word "wait" cos the Little One is always in a hurry to get out of his car seat and open the door himself! So daddy told him that he must wait for daddy to carry him out of the car. The Little One repeated by saying "wait wait" and held out his hand to show the wait sign :)

It was a good weekend.

How he enjoys school..

Haven't blogged about this before. The Little One really does enjoy school, which is such a good thing. Every morning, after his ye ye tells him they are going off to school, he will turn to me and say bye bye with a wave and head on straight to ye ye's car. When they arrive in school, he walks out of the car by himself, heads for the gate, unlocks the gate and runs straights into his teacher's arms for a nice big hug :) Ok, the only part is that he never remembers to say bye bye to his grandparents or sari.. which i guess is quite odd, like as though once he sees his teacher or friends, he has happily forgotten all about everyone esle!

He has a friend in school by the name of Xander. Xander is slightly older than the little one and is the school's cry baby.. everyday, xander waits for justin to arrive in school at the gate and looks out for him. When justin arrives, he will get excited and holds justin hand and they both walk into the classroom to wash their hands together :) how sweet right? except that i think the little one doesn't really know what is being a friend and sometimes doesn't know what xander wants from him! Wah, my son quite dao lor! there are days when according to sari, the little one is surrounded by girls too.. hmmm,.. do i see the signs of Mr popular in the making?

I am glad that he enjoys school so much :) and for his 2nd birthday next month, i have ordered a nice big big cake to bring to school to have a party for him and his friends, plus a little goodie bag of treats that i brought back from bangkok! His grandma even bought him a new birthday banner to place in school.. haha..hope he will enjoy it!

Up and down ;)

Was reading to the little one last night. It's a new book based on the adventures of little eienstens, this cartoon on Disney Channel. He suprised me by saying pat pat pat pat which is what the characters say in the show to get the spaceship moving. And he also shouted up and down ;) and blast off!

The prince in the car

Take out!

Just a short note.. New word today is take out. The little one has finally taken to the car seat and does enjoy his ride, with the help of the iPhone ;) so today we brought him to the fish farm and when we arrived, he said "take out" refering to the taking off of the car seat!

Why? and Wet

New word for the day is... Why?

Heard it this morning when he was, you guess.. searching for the iphone. Kept saying "where .. where... where.. why no??" haha.. i was smiling to myself that at a young age, my son is already a ah beng.

Then the little one insisted on drinking from my cup, which cause some water to spiled out. He exclaimed.. "wet"

Am wondering what is it with words starting with "w"

Where?

That's his new word for the day.. Where? Started hearing it when I got got home from Bangkok. Sari said that when they brought him to my pil place, he started asking... Ye ye where? Cos he knows that it's ye ye place but can't find ye ye. Then that evening we had such a hard time putting him to bed cos he was unfamiliar to the place (we are staying with my inlaws for 3 weeks while the home Reno is going on), we decided to bring him on a car drive. He yelled .. Where? Where where? Complain that I didn't bring the iPhone.
Now everything is where wherewhere.. Non stop! Luckily today he didn't scream for the iPhone and peacefully went to bed.

Mummy is away...

Am away on a girls trip out in bangkok...lots of shopping, eating and massage ;) am having lots of fun but am really missing the two boys at home. Didn't feel that it's the same without them.
Sari said the little one did the funniest thing today. She wanted to put him to sleep in my room but he just sat on the bed and looked around, led her hand and told her to open the door and walked onto her room. He laid on her bed and when she asked: do you want to sleep here? He said yes. Then she asked: are you tired? He said yes and flopped in the bed and went to bed ;) in the sweetest manner! Just wished I was there to see it.

More words ?

Am writing this on my way home from work on the train thanks to the wonders of iPhone!
Have been hearing a lot more words from the little one. Last nights conversation went like this:

"do you want to sleep?"
"yes"
"do you want to show mummy how you sleep in school?" he runs off to the mattress and lies down and pats his hand on the mattress- which means he wants you to pat his backside to sleep.
After moving around for a while, I ask him, "you cannot sleep?" "yes", "wAnt to sleep on mummy bed?" "yes!" and runs off to climb on my bed ;)

Well, at least he tells me what he wants to do! Will have to work on the he doing what I want him to do bit!

New words

GeoTagged, [N1.32107, W103.93428]

Today we heard him say a few new words... Poke (when I was teaching him to use his fork to pick up the potatoes), down (when he was pushing the plunger of the teapot) and ya, his version of yes I guess. It's a departure from the usual no that we hear. Now you ask him if he wants to go walk, go out, eat dessert, his reply will be, ya! Sari says it's her Malay speech getting into him. That made me wonder if his ramblings are Malay words?

We had a good dinner with the big one's parents at kallang. The little one really took advantage of his grandfather by making him bring him for walks the whole night . Poor man didn't even eat! But could tell that he was so happy just because the little one is happy ;) actually both me and the big one have never seen such joy in the both of them and it is certainly something we both hope to see more often!

Language

Must say that after the little one started school, he has picked up quite a number of chinese words. Since we speak mainly English at home, I am really thankfully for the exposure to Chinese that he is getting in school. Examples of the words he knows in chinese now are:
1. 1, 2 , 3,4 and 5
2. Mama, papa and ye ye
3. Wash
4. Brush - shua shua ya
5. Take - na
6. Car
7. Open

And he is picking up lots of new English words too! Like animal names like rooster, sheep, pig, cow, horse, goat. Shapes like star , circle, square, triangle. Vocabulary is really increasing but still not speaking as much as some other kids. But am proud of him ;) and happy that he is happy healthy and learning!

He bit a friend

The little one bit a friend in school today. From what I heard, they were fighting over something in school when it happened. Sigh, you might say boys are boys but he actually bit a girl! Felt so bad that when I got home, I immediately asked him, " is it ok to bite your friends?" and for he whose standard reply is no to everything, he actually nodded and said "yes" . Fainted. I tested him by asking again "justin cannot bite your friends right?" answer is a very quick . "no" . So he can understand after all!

It got me thinking about how fast he is growing up and all the things he is learning. In a way I do feel gulity for not spending enough time with him to teach him. And half of the time he drives me crazy! Will my little wild boy ever grow up?

Just random thoughts

Noticed that the photos which i posted from iphone are not captured properly.. maybe i need to check the guide on how it can be properly done.. otherwise pple will think i take funny pictures right?

Anyways, just some thoughts on the Little One. Checked my calender and its just less than 2 months to his 2nd birthday. What has this mummy done ? nothing yet ;) well, compared to the 1st birthday, i have decided that the 2nd birthday will be a rather low key affair. No big parties and certainly no to 3 parties! At one stage i was contemplating if i should have a birthday party for him at home since the house will be nicely renovated and all.. then i tot that it would be too much of a rush to get everything done and decorated for the party. Too much work and just remembering the last birthday was tiring enough for me.

So this year, its going to be a bring a cake to school and sing happy birthday song, classroom party. simple and easy :) maybe just get another cake or something for the home one (as u can see, i am having cake fatigue from the 3 cakes i had for his 1st and the nightmare of trying to finishing eating them).

He is such a big boy now that sometimes i wonder, where is my sweet baby? Not that the terrible twos have really started and at this point, i hope that he doesn't get too much of the terrible twos. He is speaking a lot more and loves to sing and dance. most of the time, he is a happy little boy that makes us laugh in the mornings with his silly antics. He loves school and his teacher, which i am grateful for... just wish he will fall sick less often.

Now at 22 months, his world is full of cars, cars and more cars.. and the occassion truck! He is running everywhere and always exploring. Shelves and tables are no longer an obstacle to him cos he climbes them! yikes.. and no one is a stranger cos he is Mr super friendly!

There are times when i miss my "just laying here, drinking my milk and not doing much" baby, cos the little one is like a tornado that sweeps past the home. Yet, he is such good fun that we just want to hug and kiss him. One friend commented that we are quite a passionate family, always kissing him and hugging him.. it stopped me for a while cos i never thought that it would ever be any different. Can u hold ur kids at arms length?

So now while he will still stand still for me to kiss, he will get kisses everyday!

With mummy

On a lazy Sunday afternoon while waiting for our pizza home delivery to arrive. The little one was such a good boy today ;) we were watching "so you think you can dance" and he was dancing along to the music! Super cute!

From my iPhone

After a huge meal , couldn't really fall sleep so decided to try blogging from my new toy! Finally done! So here is a recent photo of the little one taken on the eve of cny in his red car and the ultra man tshirt sari got him!must say that she really dotes on him.

Backdated stories

The mummy has just realised that for the month of Jan and Feb, she has clocked in a sad number of 6 posts. Tsk Tsk tsk... Well, certainly not because there are no stories to tell but just that there has been so much to do with so little time. But with my new iphone toy, perhaps there can be a way to do updates via the iphone? questions questions..

Well, the bug that i last posted about, turned into a week long stay at home for the Little One. It was the fever, which followed by a fake measles attack, which was damm ugly, followed by a cold. It was very stressful and we didn't feel all comfortable bringing him around for all the CNY visiting, so he had a smaller dose of it this year. We went to collect the ang paos on his behalf :) Luckily, after the cold, he is much better. Since school was closed on Wednesday, i let him stay at home for an another two days and over the weekend. Hopefully it will break the vicious cycle of him falling sick, getting well to fall sick again. Touch wood!

The Little One has discovered that climbing on top of his little tikes car is quite fun and has been trying to do that all the time! its quite funny but of cos the good parent in us, tells him its dangerous and he could fall. Does he listen? No! he flips the car all over the place and climbs in and out of it .... well, as long as he doesn't hurt himself i guess its alright for the moment.

He has also discovered the iphone and all the game wonders and calls for the phone whenever he sees it. so i hide it away from his sight and only let him play for a while... its seriously addictive man! even for me :) and its amazing how fast kids learn with technology.. just a few tries and they get it already! unlike the slow me ...

Now, his favourite phrase is "no".. everything is 'No" with a shake of his head even. Ask him if he loves mummy,loves daddy.. the answer is no. Ask him if he likes cars.. he actually pauses to say yes.. but that is the only thing that makes he say yes! sigh.. so much for parenthood!

So enough for now.. home reno which starts after the CNY is killing me..

Sick again

Yes, he is sick again..

sigh.. ok, on one hand i know that this is part and parcel of adjusting to childcare but the other part of me feels so sad that my choice has caused this to happen. Big sigh.

Now he is running a temperature of 40 degrees... quite high for his standard and suprise suprise it is not his nose that is causing it. Doc said that its a viral infection.

So am on leave today and tom.. his yo-yoing fever is causing him and us much distress..

Photos?

Got a message from the Little One's teacher that i am suppose to provide a photo of him as well as a family shot, for art and craft..

Went around searching the house in a frenzy and realised, oh no.. i haven't developed a photo of him since errrr.. shy to say, his 1st birthday. OMG! Have i been that lazy?

Realised that nowadays with digital photos, we can simply download it from our cameras and store it in our harddrives, without much need to develop them. but a full 9, 10 months without a photo of my little one? Hmm, that's a bit too long.

Will develop his pictures this weekend... there must be tons of it!

Every Sunday..

The adults call Sunday... the day when the Little One shows his power. Yes, he is often out in full force on Sundays.. be it playing, running, whining, crying, refusing to drink his milk or take his nap. We have since, come to terms with it.

But it is also every sunday, when me and the Big One get to spend one on one time with the Little One that he shows us how much he has grown and all the wonderful skills and words he has been learning. For the Sunday that just passed, i got happily suprised when he said "flow-er"! For the Little One, the word flower has been for the longest time, just "flow", just the first part of the word. But now, i realised that this little one is now capable to pronoucing the whole word!

And the 2nd surprise of the day was when he showed me he can now climb up and down a flight of stairs totally on his own! :) i had a super proud grin on my face.. my baby is growing up.

I love Sundays, despite all the anguish at times. It is the day when the Little One knows that he gets the undivided attention of us and us knowing that it is our special day as a family.

Oooops! The HFMD strikes

Sigh.. the Little One caught the HFMD... really poor thing cos we could see that he was in pain cos his tongue was covered with uclers, so couldn't really suck on milk.

It started with a higher than usual temperature on Friday morning. The school said that he was a little warm but after giving him some water, his temperature came down and it stayed down for the rest of the day.

On Saturday morning, his temp hovered around 37.3 - 37.5 degrees.. he was warmish but not really having a fever. No other signs so i concluded, maybe teething fever.

On Sunday, wow.. that's went the spots started to appear. In the morning, i brought him to the gp to check on one bigger spot and the doctor checked his mouth.. no uclers.. but wanted us to monitor him for more spots. Sure enough, the red spots started appearing at the end of the day.

So i arranged for FIL to bring him to the pd for a check on monday morning... sigh, one look and doc confirmed that it was HFMD. called school and told him,and the Little One will be on MC for 1 week.

Now, with the meds, he is feeling much better... still no fever and i sure hope it continues this way. Hope he gets well soon.

Bonding with papa

Noticed that this week, the Little One has been so eager to play with The Big One :)and that makes my heart skip a beat.. its just awww.. so touching.

Last night, when i was putting the Little One to bed, he must had heard the keys opening the front gate, he sat up from his lying down position and called "papa.. papa..". Usually i would keep him back in bed and not let him out of the room, but it was still relatively early and he hasn't seen his daddy before he gone to bed for 3 days (cos the Big One has been busy at work), so i tot, heck why not.

I lead him outside and the Little One flew into the daddy's arms, calling "papa.. papa". So sweet! And while the Big One was having his dinner, the Little One climbed onto the kitchen stool and joined his daddy for dinner, talking his usual gibberish while The Big One told him about his day at work. Me and Aunty Sari were grinning with pride!! Our little baby has certainly grown up.

And today, he even had quite a long telephone conversation with the Big One in the afternoon... not sure what he said, but he was definately listening very carefully to what his daddy had to tell him cos he had the serious look on his face.

:) I hope to see more moments like that!

In the New Year :)

Mummy has been busy and stuff has been happening on the home front that kept me sort of distracted.

This new year, we have lots of stuff happening in the Yong household:

1. The Little One is turning two!

2. To celebrate point 1, we are going to Bali for vacation in end march :) yippy..

3. Aunty Sari would have worked for us for 2 years now.. double yippy.. she is going on home leave.. not so yippy for mummy

4. Before we all embark on our vacations, us and aunty sari, we are renovating our house!

5. That happens after CNY... yippy grins :).. have to start packing the house immedidately after CNy.. not so yippy

6. How we got into this type of calendar, mummy cannot remember the reasoning

7. So by the time we finish the reno, and go on our vacation, it would be just in time for the Little One's 2nd birthday.. and his birthday pressie.. His Own Room! triple yippy for all of us

hhaha.. that's why the rush and the mad planning that has been keeping me doubly occupied.

So with the new home and all, perhaps i should have a birthday party for him..hmmmm dangerous tots..

:)An update on his school-he no longer crying and is doing well!

Here's him and me.. (okie not a very nice shot of both of us) one of the mornings when he was preparing to get to school..