I love strawberries!

Went to NTUC yesterday for the usual grocery shopping. The Bukit Merah NTUC is the biggest one near my area and there is always so much to "see", that we spend quite some time walking up and down the alsies. 

As I was not in my best form, I just wanted to grab the stuff and head home. So as hubby and mother-in-law were leisurely shopping, I decided to laze at the "corner" with the children- as they entertained themself with servings of chilled drinking water. There was even a small bench to rest your foot. 

We hung around the area for quite some time and i noticed NTUC's implementation of wheelfriendly facilities (from an elevator to buttons that you can press to call for assistance at the lane you are at. The call button area also features a manifying glass which is good for elderly who forget their glasses). 

#2 as usual was keen in Strawberries! A punnet cost a whopping $7.20 (there were 12 South Korea strawberries in the punnet). I shoke my head and said no, too expensive. But when she said "mummy i want these strawberries please?" in such a sweet voice, heh... Ok la buy lor. Tsk tsk... Hubby must be shaking his head as he reads this... 

The strawberries were really sweet and fresh. They smell really good! We tried them when we reach home and it was really really yummy! 

This was the last serving of three strawberries shared between #2 & #3... Luckily #2 was willing to part some of her favourite fruit to #3. 

Ignore didi's face. Didn't know why he was even grimancing... :p

Happiness in a different form...

I am very sick today with chills and aches running down my body... Returned home to find that I was running a high temperature... 

After bringing #1 and #3 to the doctor's with me, we came home for some "fun". Birthday cakes and candles always brings smiles to the children faces. And nothing beats the excitement (though I wish I could be as excited as they were with the fever). 

The candles were lighted (one per kid), the birthday song rehearsed, the candles blown a few times... And the whole cake was gobbled up by the kids (too heaty for me, guess its really good since #1 had 3 pieces!)...

 

快乐就那么简单。

Cute max...

Perhaps its a second child's cuteness - learning things from the elder sibling...

M is now talking, mostly in bits and pieces or jus babbling some incoherant phrases... Recently (@ 21 mths) fwe noticed that instead of expressing herself in words, she will use sounds or actions: 

When something is nice to eat... She will shake her backside and go "mmmmmmm.....".

When something goes wrong or she "spoilt" something or we go "horrrrr...", she will say "ohhhhh oooohhhh".

When we ask her something and the answer should have been a "yes" (eg did you drop your pacifier?), she would go "mmmm hmmm".

When she is duly impressed with something, she goes "wowwwww" or "wahhhhh". 

Cute max ain't it - learnt all these from non other than sister dearest. Am savoring every moment of this for as long as it lasts and while its still cute...

I am learning to talk...

For some strange reason, I do not recall N's learning journey for speaking. I can only remember her first word being "bird" and that was after she figured out how to address papa, mama, nai nai and yeh yeh... 

At 19 months old, M is finally able to address all of us - "mama" being an early word she used as compared to N. Uh... The wonders of our bonding through latching. Sometimes in her excitement she would call hubby "mama" too. 

Recently, she decided to join her sister in calling hubby "daddy" - her way of pronoucing? "Da-yeeee"... Lolz

Mother in law has also thought her a few chinese words "饱饱” (meaning she is full after a meal), "我要" or "我也要” (meaning yes I want or I also want and nodding her head), "不要” (don't want), "喝水” (drink water). The other word which she can consistently recognise and name is "ball". She can also say  "要 tu-tu", for someone who can't live without her pacifier... 

Just this evening, we also taught her to say "please"... Well, its kinda wrong because of the mixture of chinese with english - but courtesy right? So M went "喝水”, then I went say "please?". So she said "pi-sssssseeee". Oh well better than nothing right? 

She is at such a fun age now. Must start teaching her more words... ;) 

Ending the post with a picture of my two lovely girls... ;) 

Mama its sooo painful...

I know teething pains are part and parcel of growing up. These little beings (even myself) don't remember much of this traumatic experience after that. 

During the wee hours of today and yesterday, hubby and I watched helplessly as my usually gung ho toddler woke up to cry. The little girl pushed all her fingers into her mouth against the gums and cry. The misery apparent with saliva (loads and loads of it) and tears smeared all over her face. There were several occassions this week where she sticks her fingers into her mouth and then cry as though she had her fingers in between cupboard doors. 

Today's misery is made worse by a rather empty tummy since she refused her milk feed before her sleep.

Having had N go through this before, a lot of people would say it would be a walk in the park for me. Rightfully, I would have lots of tricks up my sleeve! Well... Right but wrong at the same time. 

Dentinox and ice cold towels DID NOT work. Rubbing dentinox and using ice cold towels to rub against the gums worked for N but not for this little gal. 

Today, I told hubby to go to sleep since he needed to go to work later. Took over the crying girl. Went to the kitchen and offered her an ice cube. Ok ok I am sensing frowns - which freaking parent would give an ice cube to a young child at 2am in the morning. That's me in desperation to soothe her. If she was miserable, I was not going to be any easier on me. She sucked it, pushed the ice out and swirled the ice cold water in her mouth. As the ice got smaller, could see her pushing it at the molar areas in her mouth. 

Being more calm, she also nodded when I offered her cold milk. She rejected the hot milk early remember? She happily/hungrily drank and finished what was left in the fridge. Then requested for another ice cube (pointed to the top part of the fridge). Gave it to her and she happily took it. For some unknown reason she ran out to the living room but started crying and refused to eat the ice cube. Uh well, nevermind - the earlier ice cube had already done a good job. 

Brought her to room, changed her out (romper was wet with saliva, tears and what not), applied her fav Baby Vicks on her chest and moved her back to her bed. Hopefully she sleeps till the next morning... 

DG, I hope you will allow the molars to emerge soon and return the fiesty but cheery little girl to me. It breaks my heart to see her cry like this. Hubby commented that she has lost her cute little tummy for eating so little this past week. Hopefully her appetite would also come back when those big molars are out.