Stacko Queen?

It's December and papa does not need to go to work early. Hence the little one has a little more time to spend at home. I can confirm that we do not have as much toys as my mother-in-law's hence she decided to improvise...

As papa says "I am the Queen of Stacko!!!" 8 cans of softdrinks!

Let me build another softdrink can tower! : )

Seven cans so far...

Eight! Just nice!!!

I am 2 years old!!!

The little girl is finally 2 years old! A bundle of energy and wit, a curious little tot who is well loved by all close to her...


Papa and Mama decided to throw her a little birthday party at Beng Hiang Restaurant. It's a cosy restaurant that serves pretty good and reasonably priced Hokkien cuisine. When you celebrate a birthday there, the restaurant will play a "birthday" song (both in English and Chinese) that can be heard by all the diners there.


Here are some pictures to commemorate the special day. :)

* Cheeky smiles all around! 

The Swensens Mickey Mouse Cake 

(This cake has a long story behind it. On the Thursday before the celebration, I went down to Earle Swensens @ Vivo and was told I could not order a cake as they needed 3 working days (which excludes Saturday). Made a mental note that the outlet had the above design but KIVed to reserve it as I hoped the outlet at Bishan would have the same. The Bishan outlet only had xmas log cakes so I quickly called Vivo Earle Swensens to book the cake (above design) for collection on Friday evening - the manager said the cake was available and would place the reservation for me. Was so busy on Friday evening I could not go to collect the cake, tried calling them for close to 10 times and only got the fax tone. On Saturday morning, called the Vivo outlet and was on the phone for almost 5 minutes because the girl could not understand what I was trying to ask her and she took another 3 minutes to take down my phone number. She claims that their phone a bit spoilt!?!! Finally the manager of Vivo Earle Swensens called me back and the earth shattering news: There was no cake reserved under my name and the cake I reserved was not in the fridge already! He offered for me to buy the last Mickey cake and only admitted that the cake's icing was warped after I asked him about it (I already noticed it during my visit on Thurs). He was apologetic and asked me to try the Swensens outlet at Nex. So poor me, ran to the outlet at Ion but did not see any Mickey cakes. Called Nex and placed a booking. Took a train down to that mad house shopping centre to get the cake. Luckily, the little gal loved the cake and so did everyone who was there... On a serious note, I am really disgusted by this whole experience.)

Had a seriously hard time trying to keep her hands off the cake! -__-"

Birthday Girl with Birthday Uncle! 
(PS: The little girl was perhaps feeling a little "paiseh" because the diners next door was singing the "happy birthday" song too! She blew out the two candles on her own too! Well done! :p )

The family (Erhmm... papa anxiously staring at the cake?) 

The two "shou xin gong"s cute the cake together... 

Eyes on the cake! (PS: Mama not so evil to get a cake she can't eat. Haha!)

Evidence: Ah ma feeding her with the cake! Yummy!

What's been up these days?

Coming close to 24 months, the little bundle has changed so much! Becoming more outspoken, she tries to converse with the adults in sentences! Although sometimes we cannot figure what she is trying to say, it's still cute. She also loves saying "hello" to kids about her age.
The witty little girl was quick to learn that adding the word "please" to her requests would gain her faster access to what she wants. And I am quite pleased that she can actually recognise the faces that she does not see on a very regular basis...

Here are some photos of what she has been up to these days...

Say "CHEERS!!!!"

Happiest with Papa!

 Little gal: Let me count... I have... 1...2...3...4...5!!!!

@ Clarke Quay with mama...

Happy walking @ Riverside!

Splashing FUN!!!



Opps... caught tasting water!!!

 Splashing good time @ JOM Clubhouse!

A little update...

The little one is finally off the pacifier during her 19th month! *double applause*

It took about 2 weeks for her to get used to the days without the pacifier... It all started because hubby and I decided to pop by at my grandma's with her. I was ill-prepared and forgot to bring the pacifier along for her lunch nap. She managed to fall asleep after I told her that "Mama, forgot to bring it along". That following night she managed to fall asleep with the pacifier as well.

She started wailing during the lunch nap the next day! Evil mama decided to snip the pacifier and give the remaining to her. Without the teat portion, the pacifier was really nothing much to suck on. So she stared at the pacifier and cried "Tu-tu!!!"... Well after that the worse was over. Her night wakings also stopped unless she is over-stimulated in the day... :)

This is the 2nd and last attempt for her to quit the pacifier. My guess is the last time I tried to let her quit, she was still teething and that made it difficult for her to survive without her comfort object - pacifier...

Mid Autumn Festival!

Little one has her hands full this year!!!

Da Yi (Mum's elder sister) and Ah Ma decided to buy her a lantern each... So she has two that has lights and music. Da Yi's lantern is a lion dance theme while Ah Ma's is a cute dolphin doing stuns with the hula hoop. We came back home late and found many kids and their parents downstairs!!! All of them were armed with lanterns, sparkles and candles...

The whole area was so smoky but little girl was immensely attracted to the buzz. Papa rushed up to collect her two lanterns while she walked amongst the kids who were burning every candle they have in the box (and placing them on the floor of the MPH.

A nice father let Nic hold the traditional gold fish lantern. The little girl did something unexpected though, she placed the lantern on the floor, pointed to the inside of the lantern and made some noise. The nice father then asked her "U want a new candle?". Trust the little one to "complain" as the candle was burning out. So the sweet nieghbour changed the candle for her and after holding the lantern for less than 5 minutes, she did not want the lantern anymore!

Papa finally arrived with the lanterns and the little one stunned everyone with her funny antics by "walking" the lanterns.

Round 1: Happy to be with the rest of the kids in the neighbourhood

Round 2: Sparkles with my very own neighbour!!! This is my favourite photo and the only one Papa captured of the little one playing with the beautiful sparkles... :)

祝姨姨生日快乐!!!

Happy Birthday to my dearest sister (or my little girl's 姨姨)!

My little sister's birthday was celebrated last weekend at Marriot Cafe. The main dishes at the dinner spread were not exactly wonderful but the fresh section was pretty awesome! There was fresh oyster, Sashimi and drunken prawns! The little girl had already had her dinner before we reached, yet she enjoyed her feast of grilled salmon, sushi rice and bread. Which means mama and papa get to enjoy the buffet in peace. 

Here are some photos of her self feeding... She could actually handle her drinking from the open cup, without spilling a single drop!

Mama with the little girl (who is eating ice-cream waffles...)

Pretty Yiyi with little gal whose eyes are transfixed on the lighted candle!!!

All eyes on the candle!!! 

A wish is made and the cake is cut! 

Ah Gong is feeling on top of the world with the little one in his arms! :)

Yippee! Mac'donalds for Sunday breakfast!

I would describe myself as a strict parent when it comes to diet. The little one has had her share of adult table food but I have been careful to make sure she does not develop a sweet tooth or liking for junk food. Occasionally when hubby and I have Mac'Donalds for dinner, she gets a pinch of the burger or unsalted fries.

Sunday came and we decided that we will head for Mac'Donalds! And she gets to eat the Mac'Donalds pancake for the very first time! I use the word "eat" because she had about 1/2 of the pancake with maple syrup all to herself on her very own plate!

The word that describes her is "Filled with glee" or ecstatic!

All smiles after feeding herself with the yummy pancake! Will be back for more pancakes during the weekend! : )

 

Before I go to sleep...

The little one has a routine that is more or less the same everyday... In recent days, there are some funny things that she will do that will make me want to LOL (laugh out loud).

I decided to post because it happened once every few days but it's largely triggered by the fact that even hubby noticed it. Yesterday, an irritated hubby came to me and said "She's not sleeping and she's talking on the phone non stop!". 

Just tonight, she repeated her own routine:

Little gal: "Bi Si Si"  (very loud, I do not know what this means!)
(pause)
Little gal: "Uh!" (very loud)
(pause)
Little gal: "Uh!" (very loud)
(pause)
Little gal: "Hao!" (in Mandarin, which means "Alright")
(short pause)
Little gal: "Hao!" (in Mandarin, which means "Alright")
(short pause)
Little gal: "Hao!" (in Mandarin, which means "Alright")
(end)

And this little phone call will be made while she is lying on her bed facing the ceiling. Using her best friend - the pacifier as the cellular phone, which she holds to her ear. She needs to make this very important call before she can go to sleep and I'll be suppressing my giggles at the side.

Cute isn't it?

I can string words!!!

Oh dear, I haven't been blogging for so long and many people might have thought that I have given up on updating! ;p But seriously it's because I have been too busy...

The little one has started full day childcare from 10 August 2010. On the first day, she explored the school on her own and only cried a little after she realised I have walked off. On the second day, she began to be a little clingy but the teacher took over and she was fine. On the third day, she did cry a little when I left, but the teachers all said she did not cry after lessons started. All in, it seems like the little one is adapting well. Of course, she tends to be clingy when we walk into the centre, but after I tell her "Mama will be back to pick you up later ok?", she will just sit there and let the teacher take her temperature. Then off she goes into the centre! : ) 

The only feedback I got is that she clings on to some of her playgroup teacher and refuse to let them out of sight. Other than that, her chewing skills are pretty bad and she takes a long time to eat rice... More than a year of eating porridge must have created the lazy eating habits. But better late than never, I have been feeding her rice for dinner... And I do see some improvements! :)

In the recent 2 weeks, we have noticed that she will sing to herself and after she finishes, she will clap her hands. The songs include an array of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Alphabet Song", "Baba Black Sheep" and some chinese nursery rhymes. Though her singing may skip certain phrases, but hey it is still a song! Other than that, we have been teaching her to string words together... E.g. Wo yao yi ge ( "I want one"). So recently, she could say "Nai Nai yao tu tu". Over the last weekend, she spouted a "Papa say Qi Lai" ("Papa say wake up).

Her vocabulary has also grown tremendously. At least now she can identify things like "car", "flowers", "dog", "cat" and the different parts of her face (e.g. eyes, noses, mouth, ears, hair, etc). When you ask her where is her nose, she will point to hers and point to yours too... To me this is a tremendous improvement from 1-2 months back.

Ending off, every child progress differently... For my little one, I am just glad that she is learning well... And as most parents will agree that it is a miracle before your eyes when they start spouting words and stringing them into sentences...

Toothy Grins!

This is just a little entry for memory sake. Since two weeks back, the little one has been battling with sore gums! Despite the emergence of the pre-molars and molars, she is not salivating as much as she did when she was younger. However, when the sore-ness gets to her, she becomes grumpy or whiny...

And for some reason, she does look different when she smiles with all the pearly whites... : ) * 

Here are the items I use to brush the little girl's teeth every night...

First Teeth Toothpaste
It is important that the toothpaste used on babies must be fluoride-free. Because babies do not know how to spit out the toothpaste, you have to check to ensure there is no fluoride.  When she was slightly younger and did not have so much tooth, I used the finger toothbrush that was sold with this toothpaste. But with all her teeth, she bites so i changed to toothbrush! : )

Pigeon Infant Toothbrush 
We bought the set when she was younger but we did not really use all of them. The one on the extreme right is the one that I am using now...

King of Fruits, Durians!!!

Mama and Papa went to Malaysia for a Durian feast! Jeff (or Uncle Jeff as my girl will call him) bought some Durians to bring back to Singapore and we decided to share it with the little one... :)

She did not eat much but at least she tried. According to my mother in law, my hubby did not like durians when he was young. In my memory, I did not eat durians until I was in Primary School. So maybe it's in her genes that she will not be eating much durians until when she is older. : )

Happy Birthday, Papa!

My (mama's) parents threw a little birthday celebration for hubby (papa) at a Japanese restaurant. As my little sister booked early, we manage to get the VIP room. We manage to reach early so gave the little one her dinner first...
 

 PS: I forgot her bib so improvised one using the restaurant's paper napkins... ;p

Lucky for us, the little one sat in her little chair between me and my sister throughout the dinner. She enjoyed our dinner too since there was nice chawanmushi (Jap steamed eggs) and shabu shabu pork and beef. She also stuffed herself full with the sweet US cherries that I bought from the market in the morning. :)

 The little girl with papa and the cake...

The little one was ALL SMILES when everyone in the room started to sing the birthday song. Her expression made everyone laugh because she might be thinking that it's her birthday and not papa's! 

Happy Birthday, papa! 

Thanks to my younger sis. I totally love this picture. Eventually papa blew out the candle because the little one will most probably contaminate the cake with her saliva when she blows. =P

Reading...

Recently a nice neighbour shared with me that I could get a library card for the little girl. The National Library Board can issue the card to her from the day she is born. How pleased I was to hear that since that would mean another six books for her...

I have to find time to bring her to the library to get the card and pick out some books for her. Since she loves reading, I should give her encouragement and introduce a wider spectrum of books.

Her favourite book at the moment is a present from Ah ma (mama's mum). It's a Peek a Boo book named "Where is the Hippo?" (you can see the book in the previous post).

Asking us to read her a book which mama & papa are glad to oblige!

A tribute to 18 months...

This little bundle of joy is finally 18 months old!

The growth of the little parcel that was so dependent on us is a miracle and the hardship of the initial year seem to have melted away like it never existed. The little girl can now understand most of what papa and I say, do things as she is told (like keep her toys, or throw away her own diaper, etc), communicate her needs to us using simple language or actions and of course run around on her own...

Heres some indication of what she will be in future...

Future Mac'Donald Happy Meal kid???

Academic? (PS: Papa and mama are secretly happy that the little one loves her books)

The great businesswoman? Doing her big business on the phone. :)

A trip to Genting - Day 3 (Splash Pool!)

Throughout the Genting trip, we stayed indoors because the outdoor theme park was mostly rides and those "Ti-Kam" counters. This is what the little one enjoyed the most! It's an indoor hot water Splash Pool! This was unplanned and we decided at the snap of our fingers!

Hubby and I each paid RM 10 to get in while the little one got in FOC! The pool was not deep and has 2 slides where you can take a "ride" down. ;)  

The little one was originally cautious of the pool and water. But she had lots of fun after a little warm up help from papa who made her totally wet!

Suprisingly she had the courage to play with the water jets!

It's just so much fun!!!

Ending off with a picture of little one with papa and mama!