Tobots and Pandas

Kieran's latest crazes are Tobots and Jia Jia and Kai Kai (the pandas). I should plan a trip to bring him to River Safari soon. Whenever I tell him a story, the story has to have at least a Tobot or a Jia Jia and Kai Kai, especially Jia Jia. He wraps up presents and says they are for Jia Jia and he wants to give Jia Jia candies and chocolates.

He has this Tobot Evolution Y at home, a gift from his uncle, and he has another one that is call Tobot Tritan which is a Tobot that can transform and separate into three different cars. That is from grand aunt. Amazing right? Toys nowadays are so complex. My hubby and brother in law are the only people who can transform it for him. I only know how to transform the simpler Tobot Y. But it actually isn't so simple. Wow. Things I didn't know I could do. I never used to like Transformers as a child because I thought they were ugly. I didn't imagine myself learning how to transform a transformer or even want to learn how to transform one!

Caitlin is walking!

Little Caitlin is walking! She took her first few steps a few days ago and she's 16 months. She's walking very steadily now! Watching her toddling around makes my heart burst with joy. She's so tiny and cute and she's walking so gingerly, putting both arms out to balance and bravely taking steady steps one by one!

She's talking a lot too. She can say "No more" and make the no more hand sign. I love it when she says this because she sounds just so demure and cute! And she'll say "yeah..." sweetly when she meant yes to our questions. So sweet!

Managing Finances

How do we manage finances in our family? My hubby works full time and I work part time. As a middle income family on a (almost) single income , managing the finances is a very important part in keeping the household happy and well run.

No Retail Therapy

Well, I'm not a fan of retail therapy, fortunately for our family, so usually when I shop, I think thrice (or more times) before I buy an item. I make a shopping list, then I buy only the necessary things. If a very pretty dress caught my eye and I would really love my daughter to have it, usually my first thoughts will be "So lovely! $29.90 is cheap!" But I will tell myself "No, think about it." After walking one round around the shopping mall, when the initial excitement wears off, the price tag does seem a bit steep for a simple dress. A few days later, if I do pass by and see the dress and I still like it, and it's on sale, maybe I'll buy it. Or maybe I'll find a cheaper and similar one elsewhere. That's how I shop. NEVER buy on impulse. And only buy what I NEED. 

Buy on iHerb

I'm a great supporter of household products that does not use animal ingredients, does not test on animals and are earth friendly. I also love to give my children organic snacks. So iHerb has a lot of such items! I basically accumulate my shopping list and buy all on one go, and sometimes Singpost has free delivery too. If you buy these items over the counter in Singapore, they are going to cost twice as much as they could have cost you on iHerb! I've bought laundry detergents, baby food, baby yogurt bites, baby biscuits, shampoos, body washes, sun blocks and diaper creams from iHerb. I read the reviews and decide on which items to get. Some are great, some not so, and I write the reviews to help other buyers too.

Buy online during Sales

I joined sprees and buy from websites like Carters during Black Friday and Christmas sales. Carters clothes cost almost half the price as they could have cost in shopping malls in Singapore. Hubby also buy things like running shoes and mobile phone covers from Amazon and Taobao. These save us a lot of money!

Buy during Sales at market stalls or hyper marts  like Giant (Tampines) and Fairprice Extra

I went Giant recently and bought boy's t shirts, pretty girl's blouses, woman's pants all at under $6 each! These places do have lots of cheap clothes with very nice designs.

Eat Home Cook

I'm a SAHM and working part time as a freelance writer so one benefit about this is I get to cook and eat home cooked food. Home cooked food is cheaper! Our family only eat organic food if we eat at home. If we were to buy organic meals outside, they will be very expensive. What comes out of this is healthier bodies for the children and for us adults, and less medical bills to pay.

Family Outing to Places with Free Entries

Places like botanical gardens have lovely sceneries, a large pond with black swans and ducks, and kid's playground, and don't change entry fees. Since we don't drive, we go by MRT or Taxi so the only cost incurred with will be transport fees. Botanical Gardens is very accessible by MRT now. Other kid friendly and free entry places are East Coast Park, Punggol WaterWay Park where there is a water play area and huge sand pit, Bishan Park where there is also water play and sand pit, and free playgrounds like the ones at NEX shopping mall and Marina Square shopping mall.

Don't save on Children's Education, Health, and Parents' welfare 

When we decided to have a family of our own, we already subconsciously gave up many of the luxuries we could enjoy when we were still single. Hubby's love of gadgets, photography and travels my love of violin, beautiful clothes and cafe hopping... all these will have to be second or third or fourth in priority. While we are stingy on ourselves, we don't save on several things. We gladly spend on children's education. As I embraced the Waldorf philosophy of no academic teachings before seven years old (or at least no pressure on children to perform in academic area before seven), we don't give in to marketing tactics of enrichment classes like Berries or I Can Read or Phonics classes etc. But we take Kieran to Yamaha's music lesson which he enjoys and which is blessed with a very engaging and passionate music teacher, and I buy many picture books and pre-writing books and colouring and painting materials for us to play with at home. Books are things we don't save on.

Health is important so we believe that if the children need to see TCM to get them back to good health, we will see a practitioner no matter how expensive it cost, and we must not save on good, whole food. Organic food is expensive and cooking at home can be tiring but it must never be replaced with unhealthy and easier alternatives, although we do eat out at times. In Singapore where eating out is so easily available, it can be a very attractive alternative. But we try to make eating at home at habit. We also cook healthy soup for the whole family. Soup therapy is very important for good health. One thing we are against in is supplementing. At least I am against it. If we eat healthily, there's no need for supplementing. I do take supplements when I am pregnant and breastfeeding for the first year, but now, I reduce supplementing to just calcium pills and vegetarian DHA, and I don't think I will buy them anymore after I'm done with the current bottles. I never buy into the pushy marketing tactics of expensive supplement companies, especially MLMs.

I won't spend on many things like dining at Yakun Kaya if I'm alone, and I won't buy certain things for myself but if they are for my parents or parents in law, I will buy them. Parents' welfare some times mean their mental wellbeing and its good for them to know their children are willing to spend a bit more for them.

Left handed?

Kieran has been showing preference for left hands. Here's a picture of him tracing straight lines. I've got him a few books from Popular Bookstore that he can practise tracing, reading etc.

I'm amazed by this boy's intellectual development. At just 3 years old, he can recite several Tang poems (唐诗), recites 满江红 and first few verses of 弟子规, talks and reasons like an adult, understands Mandarin mostly but also understands and speaks some English, recognise several Chinese words like (人，外，小，一，多), and can already trace lines well enough. I'm not starting on the writing because I don't want him to learn how to read and write so quickly but I think if I do, he'll be able to write well already.

And my mom came to teach me how to make tasty soft bread today!

Before baking

After baking.

Easy to guess which shape is for Kieran and which is for Caitlin! Car shape bread for Kieran and bear shape one for Caitlin :)

The children shaped the dough and played with the flour. Delicious and healthy wholemeal bread for the family!

Kieran is obsessed with Transformers and any vehicles that can transform into robots lately. He's a fan of Robocar Poli and Tobot! Here's daddy teaching Kieran how to transform an Autobot Hound, and Mei mei Caitlin is watching closely beside them. A family bonding time before bed.

Caitlin's First Step!

As of today, Caitlin is 15 months and 24 days old. Today, she just took her first step! She has been trying to stand and walk by herself since last month and today, she has finally done it! Hurray! Baby steps but our guess is that before the end of the week, she'll be toddling around the house!

We went to Changi Airport Terminal 3 to see the Disney installations. Here's Caitlin at the T3 Kopitiam (where there's vegetarian food stall! Yeah!) drinking from her sippy cup by herself.

Caitlin looking cute!

Kieran looking cute!

Enjoying home cooked kway teow and mee, cooked with love by daddy. Even when going out, we make sure the children have healthy home cooked meals. We bought a good tumbler (保温壶) to keep the food warm.

Little Caitlin is also developing well speech wise. 

Here's some of the milestones reached.

Motor skills:

• Great hand eye coordination. She picks up tiny objects from the ground with great expertise. We just have to make sure she don't put them into her mouth.
• Can cruise around the house.
• Crawls well and now learning to walk. Can take a few steps unaided!

Speech skills:

• Calls mama, ah mah, papa, gor gor (calls him da da)
• Tries to vocalise "ah gong" but can't say out.
• Recognise and says bear as "Bah"
• Recognise many objects like apple (she makes a eating gesture), rabbit (she jumps), lion (she roars), cow (she moos), goat (she says baa!), fish and bird (she makes kiss gesture to shows she loves them), flowers (she says "hua"), stars (makes twinkle twinkle gestures with hands), sun (sings ah ah ah because I sing 太阳公公 whenever I point to the sun), moon (she tries to say "moon").

Although Caitlin's speech development isn't as fast as her gor gor's, she's quite on par with children at her age. Jia you, Caitlin! It's such a joy to hug this little angel close to me everyday, smell her pleasant scent, kiss her soft cheek and feel her soft hair everyday! And she's so loving. She will kiss my cheek and daddy's cheek. She's not as milk milk addict as Kieran was before but she definitely loves her milk milk. She still nurses a few times a day and every time to sleep. She wakes up several times at night to nurse. But I'm not complaining. Co-sleeping helps very much in getting enough sleep for me, and she soothes back to sleep easily with nursing. Her favourite person is mummy! Who else can provide food (milk), comfort, fun all in one?

One thing I notice about play in Caitlin that is very different from Kieran, is that when she is given an object like a ring, she will put it over her arm and wear it like a bangle. Kieran will never attempt that! It's a girl thing, I guess? Haha. Children never cease to amaze me :)

Sister's Wedding!

16 November 2014 was an extremely exciting but tiring day for me! On this day, my younger sister got married to my very dashing and nice brother in law. The day before the wedding, my children and I stayed over at my parents' home because Kieran had to be up early and dressed to open the car door for Yi Zhang (姨丈). It is a traditional custom for Chinese weddings to have a boy relative from the bride's family to open the bridal car door for the groom.

Kieran opening the car door.

During the tea ceremony at my parents' home, poor Caitlin couldn't stop crying because she's so scared of strangers, and on that day, the house was brimming with a lot of people she hadn't seen before!

Finally, after the tea ceremony was over, my parents and the bride and groom went to the hotel to get ready for the banquet, while hubby and I washed up the place a bit, got the children home, got them to nap for a while and then prepared their dress and shirt for the night.

                             

Family photo at Zhi Ying and Sulin's wedding banquet.

Exhausted, the children fell asleep the moment we reached home. Caitlin actually fell asleep in the taxi and I had to gently take off her dress and put on her pyjamas while she snoozed on the bed.

Lots of Pictures!

Mummy and Daddy took pictures with the lovely kids on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

The children painting together! This is Caitlin's first time playing with brushes.

We visited my friend's new house and here is Kieran with his friend Jodi who is only a few months younger than him.

Hubby and I go for USS trip without the kids. We had super good fun! It's good to take a break away from parenting and enjoy ourselves as a couple. This is a very very rare chance for us! All thanks to my parents for agreeing to help take care of our kids.

Heart Angina - A huge warning to us!

My mother in law suffers from heart angina ever since she has several blocked arteries and malfunctioning heart valves about 3 years ago. Few nights ago, she suddenly experienced extreme pain in the chest that does not go away with rest. She was admitted to hospital and had to undergo surgery tomorrow.

It is really a combined issue of bad lifestyle, bad diet and stubbornness! I vow that I shall never ever follow such footsteps. Like all of us, she likes fried, salty yummy food, but after the diagnosis of blocked arteries and malfunctioning valves, she abstained from these food for a period of time and then return to this unhealthy diet again! All because of the stupid MLM health products! Friends and people she trusts introduced her to expensive MLM (multi-level marketing, also known as direct selling and in some cases, pyramid schemes) health products like Rain, Bamboo salt, Electric health chair, and that stupid piece of glass Bio Glass. She trusts these so much and these have such strong psychological effects on her that she would rather spend her money on these expensive products than heed the doctor's and dietician's advices to go for healthy diet and exercise! To her, these supplements and health products are enough, and are miracles, and because these works, it is not so necessary to eat healthy ALL the time. So occasionally a bit of oily food is ok, occasionally a bit of fried food is ok, she doesn't exercise but it's ok... Maybe it's ok for normal people but NOT OK for a person with four and more blocked arteries at a range of 60-80% and malfunctioning heart valves, and constant chest pains! She couldn't even enjoy a normal life for three long years, refraining from travels, longer journeys than a trip to the nearby market causes chest pains, couldn't come to visit grandkids, and yet, she still tells herself that it's ok. Even when family members encouraged her to live healthily, even when my father in law talked to her about living healthy lifestyle, she does not listen! My mother in law is a very generous and kind and trusting lady. This trust is a double edged sword. Who to blame in this case? The MLM sellers or the MLM buyers?

I remember the whole family got into a very unhappy situation when my parents in law requested for us to buy her a SGD900 Bio Glass! $900! This piece of crap does not have filtering properties. You just put it into your water jar and it will miraculously change the water molecules to positive ones, creating positive water and you get healthier and healthier and eventually all your illness will go away! God will deal with who ever create, sell and promote this crap and all other MLM craps! I shall not go into it. There are many evidences against this Bio Glass thing and you can easily search for it online. Type "Bio Glass Scam" and you have it.

Every time people talk about these MLM stuff I may look calm but I'm burning angry inside. I wish this bad business scheme will stop! I once wrote to MOH but they say they cannot do anything to these sellers. If I suspected a scam, then I can write in to police for investigation. The thing is the government has to educate the public about these things. Tell our elderly what is MLM, what is direct selling, what are its disadvantages and how these cannot overwrite doctor's advices. The claims made by the sellers are horrific, giving personal evidences of miracles, and praising their products to the Heavens. The harm done to individuals can be dire. And how do we make police reports against friends and relatives because the sellers are usually friends and relatives since it's a direct selling scheme?!

Cruelty Free Cosmetics and Skincare

I am a vegetarian, a Nature lover and animal lover. Frequently, on Facebook, I read and share PETA's post on cruelty to animals and how we can help to eradicate such behaviours. Recently I'm looking for new cosmetic products and I was searching on how to choose a good brand. And then I realised that to really love the animals, I have to show it through my actions, and that is not just by sharing PETA's articles and videos. I have to make a change in my lifestyle and my decisions. I have to be more aware of products that test on animals and I can help to send a message to companies that consumers like me who are animal and earth friendly will not buy their products if they are not cruelty free.

There are some good drugstore products that I am looking at so I searched for whether they are cruelty free. This includes Revlon, MAC, Bobbi Brown, Estee Lauder, Maybelline, L'oreal, The Faceshop, Skinfood, Missha, The Body Shop, etc. Here is what I found out:

• The Korean brands did not state whether they are cruelty free and they are also not listed in PETA's list but I assumed they are not cruelty free.

• Revlon does third party animal testing in order to sell in China. For many years, Revlon is cruelty free on PETA's list until they want to enter into China's market and has to test on animals before they can sell in China. Required by China's law. PETA even has to buy Revlon's shares in order to get them to come clean about it. http://www.peta.org/blog/peta-becomes-part-owner-revlon/

• MAC is no longer cruelty free. http://www.logicalharmony.net/mac-cosmetics-is-no-longer-cruelty-free/#axzz3GKlSJQsl

• PETA removes many brands from their cruelty free list. http://www.crueltyfreekit.com/2012/02/peta-removes-avon-mary-kay-and-estee-lauder-brands-mac-bobbi-brown-smashbox-clinique-from-cruelty-free-list/

• Maybelline, a brand under L'oreal, is among many drugstore cosmetic products that test on animals, not cruelty free! Very disappointed to know that because they have many nice products and I have bought them and using some of them. http://www.mybeautybunny.com/drugstore-makeup-cruelty-free/

So in the end, I go for The Body Shop. I like their philosophy. If I want to spend, I want to make sure the money I spend does not hurt anyone or any animal or harm the Earth. I want to be a conscious consumer.

Got this lipstick in pink, cinnamon eyeshadow, eyeshadow blending brush and got a body butter free gift. Here's how I look with the make up. I haven't used pink lip stick for ages and being in the 30s, I thought pink might make me look younger. Haha!

 

Shu Uemura carries the best make up primer and UV under base but unfortunately, it is a brand under L'Oreal which means it does test on animals! Sad!
http://www.shuuemura.com.sg/makeup/make-up-base/uv-under-base-mousse-poreraser-in-beige-spf35-pa.html

Injured Nipple! - Nursing My Fierce Girl

I was dozing off while nursing my little girl when she suddenly got frustrated and gave me a vicious bite!

I have never had such a bad bite from nursing Kieran! She literally bit down and pulled! I screamed in pain while she cried in fright, and thereafter, I stopped nursing her on the injured breast. In fact I developed such a fear of latching her!

The nipple hurts terribly and I stopped latching her on that side, only latching her on the other, and hand expressing the injured breast when it got too engorged. At night, once, I latched her on the injured side as I did not want the supply to go down too badly, and that latch was excruciatingly painful! I took care to unlatch whenever I felt baby was fussy, or when I felt her teeth. Caitlin was definitely teething and very often, she would attempt to bite me.

I got so demoralised that I contemplated stop breastfeeding her altogether. Caitlin refused bottles since she was four or five months old, but I refused to nurse her and gave her a bottle, and she actually drank 30ml of breastmilk from it.

Later, I realised that Caitlin was not only teething but developing a fever. That explained her crankiness and her likeliness to bite while nursing.

Now, it is two weeks since she recovered from her high fever and roseola (fake measles) and she has resumed her lovely, nice, non-biting self, albeit a little fierce when she's refused the things she wants. Oh yes, she bites you when you snatch her toys. It's almost like a reflex action from her. She instinctively lunge forward and bite your arm if you snatch her toys. She reminds me of a puppy! Haha! But she has stopped biting me when she nurses. Thank goodness!

Never fail to amaze us!

The children never cease to amaze us! Kieran said he's going to do yoga, and went to spread the 3-fold mattress out by himself, then he put his hands and head on the mattress and did a somersault! I never knew he could do somersault by himself, and I clapped and told him to show it to papa later. He ran out to look for papa, and then realised papa is working. Haha!

And two days ago, my little daughter has learnt to stand up by pressing her hands onto a support. 

At 10 months old, Caitlin can call "Mama!", "Ah ma" and crawl with hands and feet, leopard crawl at times, and stand up by herself with support.

Regarding toilet training Kieran, it was a great success. After a few weeks of accidents at night, he don't need to wake up to pee anymore. Now, its 一觉到天亮. I was afraid he might pee and would wake him up to pee when he stirred in his sleep, but he, sleepy eyed, told me "I want to sleep" and fall back to sleep. For nap time too, he skipped the mid-nap pee which he used to have few weeks ago. He's also willing to pee into the public toilet, other people's house's toilets, and he's pooping into toilet bowl on a kid's toilet seat, and would tell us when he needs to go. Very very happy with his progress. Considered fully toilet trained at 32 months!

pretty girl!

Breadmaking with the children

Kieran has a white nose and Caitlin enjoys kneading the dough.

Family Photography 2014

With the addition of darling Caitlin to our family, we did another family and baby photography again!

Oh, and one happy thing that happened today is my darling daughter called "Mama!" at 10 month old. Sweet sweet little voice! Loud and Clear! Hahaha

If...

I was discussing with hubby, a few days ago, if we did not have the children, what would we be doing?

I will be still obsessed with The Sims.

In the morning, I will struggle to get up to go to work.

In the office, I will do my work, drink tea and eat cakes while I work, I will check Facebook and chat on whatsapp and gossips about stuff and complain about stuff and talk about dreams and the next holiday destination.

During lunch, I will eat with colleagues or ex colleagues and chat and discuss about life and work.

After lunch, I will battle with Z monster and whatsapp hubby to ask him what's the plan for the coming weekend. I may get into debates and quarrels with hubby over why he's not spending enough time on me.

Then there's some tea time and biscuits and cakes, when I gorge myself with sweet food to ease the stress and the boredom, and worry about becoming fat.

After knock off time, I may stay back a bit to finish up a bit of stuff and then tidy up, and then go out to meet hubby for dinner, or go home to cook some stuff and eat with hubby, or go to either his parents or my parents' place for dinner.

We chat about work stuff and gossips while at dinner. We talk to our family members about work stuff.

We make plans for holidays and check up on latest promotion.

We may do grocery shopping at 24 hour NTUC Fairprice after dinner, before taking a cab home.

We may grab a late night movie at NEX or AMK Hub because its Friday night and the night is still young!

We may spend some time chilling out at a cafe nearby and do some reading.

We may do some window shopping after work, after dinner, if we eat out, before we head home to shower and sleep.

I will buy lots of fashionable dress and work blouses and pants and skirts.

I will be able to afford luxurious skin care and facial and spa packages, and the salesgirls will know I'm their target customer.

I will buy and buy because, well, I can afford a little of pleasure and gifts for myself. I will also buy gifts for friends, and family and hubby.

After midnight, like now, I won't be trying to finish up work. I'd be playing The Sims, or Sims City or some other time management/ city management games.

Well, that's not going to happen.

Because...

Anything late night is pure luxury.

Anything that's not home cooked is not healthy (for the dear children especially)

Movie? Wait 10 years later or until we have a really good one that we are dying to watch, and the nearby cinema shows it, and the kids are not sick or cranky, and the grandparents agree to watch over them while we watch the movie, and we are lucky that the grandparents won't complain of us enjoying while they help us. Too many conditions to fulfil. I might as well not watch lah.

Shopping? No money. In the past, $10 seems cheap. Now $10 item, I need to consider thrice before deciding to buy.

Gifts for people? When I really really can afford to spare and there's sale. Other working parents buy lots of clothes for the children, but me? I just buy the on sale ones and the necessary ones.

Facial? Skin care? I put that as lowest priority.

Holiday? Dream on. I plan on stay cations for the next few years. Heck, even visiting a mall in town requires hours of careful planning.

After work, if I do work in an office, is rushing home to feed the kids, bathe the kids, make sure they are well, read them books, play and then sleep together.

I guess we'll all be too dead beat to do anything else.

Daddy's Birthday

We celebrated daddy's birthday with a hearty lunch at Roma Deli's and Tom's Palette ice cream. Yummy! Then we walked around Bugis before going back to my parents' place. We only brought Caitlin because the grandparents won't be able to handle both children at once, and we couldn't bring Kieran in case he throws a tantrum outside due to being over tired.

Mother's Day Phototaking with my lovelies

With 31 months old Kieran and 9 months old Caitlin

Slow...

The days pass by exceedingly slow.

I'm pretty stuck on the romances and drama of my favourite genre, stories in the 19th century England. I watch Downton Abbey, read Longbourne and Pride and Prejudice, and I've discovered a list of this genre of books to read.

Sometimes I wonder how it is like to be in the shoes of those elegant young ladies in those days, whose mere purpose in life is to marry a man who will provide her with wealthy, or if not, sufficient establishment. How it is like to be having nothing much to do all day but to dress up and travel from country to London and back and to spend months at a place on holidays and then spend the next few months at another visiting friends or relatives, and to spend the days at tea parties, dinner parties, and so on. Life will then really be incredulously slow. Even if they have babies, like I do now, they won't be so confined and busy and tired, as the housemaids and nannies will do all the job, and they just have to rest and lament the lost figure and the perceived fatigue and the whatever stuff they have to lament about.

Oh and I'm so looking forward to the birthday celebration of darling hubby. He has been a great daddy and hubby and he deserves a day of niceties. We plan to go for lunch and ice cream, and we'll have to bring Caitlin along because after her serious fall when we left her at mother in law's place for a few minutes, I won't trust her to be left anywhere. Not the fault of anyone, but caring for a baby and an active toddler will be too much for anyone. Anyone except me, actually, because well, I gave birth to them so they are essentially my problems, so if no one else can care for them together with me, I'll have to do it, and if I can't cope, hubby have to take leave. That's part and parcel of parenthood.

Sometimes when I watch cartoons, Postman Fred with that silly black cat, Mia the Bee, Noddy in Toyland, etc with my son, I enjoy it so much and hope so much that our world is like theirs- so pure, so innocent, people don't die, don't get old, don't get sick, seldom get irritated and if there are any disputes, people usually resolve it within an episode, with a hug and a kiss and a sorry and a smile.

Reflections

Sometimes, in the midst of all the business of daily routine, which includes crying and screaming baby wanting milk, wanting to be carried and held and hugged instead of sitting down to explore the toys, and toddler rolling on the floor crying for attention at the same time, and the spilt drink on the floor needing to be cleaned before the ants smell it and come, and the sweltering hot weather that makes my t-shirt and stray hair stick to my perspiring back and neck, and the vegetables which need to be cut and the rice which needs to be washed for lunch and the clothes to be washed before it fills the laundry basket to the brim... I wonder why in the world, when I was still young and ignorant about the life of a married housewife, didn't my parents warn me against having children?

That is just sometimes. Definitely.

Sometimes, Kieran makes me laugh, and sometimes, I get a minute or two to enjoy a shower or a cup of tea while I watch my latest craze, Downton Abbey, or read a book. I just finished Longbourne and I realised, after reading it, that I should be reading Pride and Prejudice too.

I'm glad my hubby is helpful. Unfortunately as working parent in Singapore, its difficult to spend much time with the family. I wonder if I start full time work too, would I start to be distant from my children?

I'm feeling a little jittery today. Maybe its because of the tea this morning. Maybe I'm just not feeling quite right.

Kieran at 2 years old

Kieran is really smart. I love the baby Kieran because he's such a cutie pie. Chubby and with large imploring eyes. I love the toddler Kieran because he's extremely smart, and witty, and a lot of fun! I enjoy learning with him, cheering for him as he learns, and growing up with him!

Here's some of what we did together and the funny stuff he said since 1 Jan 2014:

13 Jan 2014 (Monday): Daddy was telling Kieran people need to eat to have energy, & asked him what do cars need to drink to have energy? He said "cars need to drink Transformers' milk milk." I imagine a Transformer breastfeeding her baby car... Things a breastfed child say!

10 Jan 2014 (Friday): 允轩：阿嬷去哪里？
我：阿嬷去外面丢垃圾。可以把允轩丢掉吗？
允轩：我不是垃圾。
哈哈！
Translation: Kieran asked where is Ah mah (Grandma) going to? I replied that she's going outside to throw the rubbish. And asked him whether we can throw him away too. Kieran replied "I'm not rubbish." (In a really innocent and matter of fact way) Haha!

8 Jan 2014 (Wed): I was putting Kieran to bed so I told him to close his eyes and sleep. He said no! And I asked him "Are you a goldfish? Goldfish don't close their eyes when they sleep."
He said, "no, I'm a shark! Does sharks close their eyes?"
That baffled me. I never knew... So do sharks close their eyes? Do they have eyelids?
PS: I googled and found that Sharks have eyelids but they do not close their eyes, contrary to goldfish who do not have eyelids and therefore, cannot close their eyes.

Kieran at Playground. He enjoyed himself so much!

Eating his own meals on his new Mother's corn plate. I found that this is the best plate I can find as the individual "bowls" are deep enough to put porridge, soup and other dishes. It's not easy for him to scoop up food if the plate is shallow.

Kieran learns how to hold the pencil by himself. He explored different ways of holding it and ended up in the position which he find easy to use. Clever! I didn't want to teach him to hold a pencil because it may create unnecessary stress which can stifle creativity and remove the joy of exploring and learning something by himself. Two years old is the age when toddlers like to do everything themselves. So just let them! There'll be mess, lots of time and effort required to clean up, lots of guidance and patience, and some small accidents and spills, but who cares as long as they enjoy the process and have fun learning and exploring!

Painting lesson 1: His first time painting with brushes. He loves it a lot!

Painting lesson 2: Today we went out to collect leaves (I also taught him not to pluck leaves as and when he wants. We only pluck them when we absolutely require to do so for lessons. Respect Nature.) and use the leaves to do prints with paints. I also brought him to buy lotus stem and cut it for prints. This is the first time he sees a lotus stem.

Early childhood is the time to be happy, play, to learn through play and exploring the natural surroundings, and most importantly, with the child's favourite person - mummy!

I read the book [病是教養出來的] written by a traditional Chinese medical doctor who is also a Waldorf [華德福] doctor in a Waldorf school in Taiwan, that children has to have enough play in childhood [孩子一定要玩夠]. Indeed, this is the time when they play to their fill, then sleep to the max, then eat till they are happy, and then play again. Why make them grow up too quickly? Why make them learn academic skills and their ABCs? If they are smart, if they are geniuses, they don't need special brain stimulation any more than a normal person. Play - that is the right of a child.