My walking little girl

Emma has finally taken her first few steps!  Not many. Three, five steps before she plonks on her butt and laughs cheekily.  I recall my amazement when she went from a squatting position to a standing position trying to hold up a very long toy, and started walking towards me.  I almost teared!!!

Soon. Soon she will be walking all around the house. Please Emma... don't grow up so quickly.

hugs,
Mummy

Sucking her thumb - The Solution!

Emma keeps sucking her thumb til it has blisters. We tried putting on mittens, socks and she has learnt to pull them all off (and she throws them out of her cot!). So Tri (our maid) came up with this brilliant idea. She sewed adult sized socks to Emma's night time tee shirts!!! Now... try taking THAT off!!

Ten months old

Emma hit the 8kg mark finally. I haven't really been weighing her as much as before. I figured that she is eating well (yes, lumpy, age appropriate food like pasta, bread and porridge ), growing well (teeth coming out, eyes bright, can crawl forward quickly, can stand unassisted for a short while, respond to action requests like "bye!" etc, there isn't any cause for concern.

I took some time the other day to teach her that she can pick up the delicious geber puffs with her fingers and place them in her mouth. She finally did it!

Toilet training has been smooth so far, when we see her face turn pink and she makes the em! Em! sounds, we bring her to the potty. Otherwise, we just put heron the potty routinely after breaky.

Emma loves swimming so when ever I get the chance, I will bring her into the water with her neck float. Last Sat, I got invited by a good friend, Theresia, to the Raffles Town club spa suite! Wonderful hotel room with a jacuzzi in the room! Travis n Emma had a lot if fun in the warm tub! She wasn't afraid of the bubbles from the jacuzzi either!

Watch her as she grows! hoping that I can complete her First year photobook by her birthday in Jan.

Emma slept in her own room last night

Emma has been sleeping in our room (in her cot) fo ten months. Once she is asleep, we have to open the door carefully, tip toe to grab our stuff and close the door behind us silently. Lead we n I can't even use our own attached bathroom for showers. We have been using Travis' bathroom th last ten months! Lol!

It was time to RECLAIM our bedroom. I moved Emma's cot into the last bedroom in the house last evening. I put her in the cot and she rolled around in it happily. I left the room and closed th door behind me. No sound from Emma. Fiv minutes later, I stood outside the door to listen in. Silence.

And so she slept there for the night!

And since Travis slept in his own room as well, lead we and I could watch TV in our room again for the first time in many months!

Bliss!!!

7.885 Kg finally

Her weight was stagnant for almost two months hovering at 7.2kg-7.4kg for the longest longest time.  With 700ml of milk a day and three full meals, Emma has really grown... and I am pleased. =)

Emma hates her Pasta

Think she hates chewing. She kept spitting it out... maybe its tasteless, or fishy (we mashed fish and added it into the pasta meal). I gotta keep trying out new menus and hopefully she starts eating more lumpy food which is age appropriate.

Emma the Gemma

Travis' little sister - Emma finally reaches the 8th month milestone yesterday. Weighing 7.2kg, measuring 71cm.  She sits very comfortably and has started to crawl a little! Emma has two bottom teeth at the moment and a third one is growing out very soon.  She loves to eat her purees and hates to drink from the bottle as she prefers to be breast-fed.  I cannot believe that I have managed to breast feed this little milk monster for 8 months!! I did think that 6 months would have been more than enough. We saved on buying milk powder for the last 8 months.

Feeling charged up, i decided to make her a black and white polka dot dress today.  She will wear it for this Saturday's party ("Liwei's ex colleague Alex's 5 yr old son's birthday").  The dress turned out to be a hit with my friends on FB.

Oh well, I should really keep up with blogging. Been very busy and its very hard to find time when I am looking after two milk monsters. =) Ciao!

Mami B

Sleeping without diapers

The LMM has been off diapers for many months now. To his credit, he has never once wet his bed since we removed the night diapers. I have now XL (opened pack) and XXL (unopened) pack of mamapoko diapers in the store.

But two nights ago, he did wet his pants. Just a little. When I asked him the obvious... here's the reply

LMM : "I spilled water only lah"
Mami : "Really? Where did the water come from?"
LMM : "From my stomach."

The Story of the Pencil and the Eraser

Dear all,

Encourage you to read it and be thankful, pls.

 *Pencil:* I'm sorry

*Eraser: *For what? You didn't do anything wrong.

*Pencil:* I'm sorry cos you get hurt bcos of me.           

Whenever I made a mistake, you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself.  You get smaller and smaller each time.

*Eraser: * That's true. But I don't really mind.           

You see, I was made to do this.   I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad.

I found this conversation between the pencil and the eraser very inspirational. Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil. They're always there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes. Sometimes along the way... they get hurt, and become smaller (older,and eventually pass on). Though their children will eventually find someone new (spouse), but parents are still happy with what they do for their children, and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.

"All my life, I've been the pencil.. And it pains me to see the eraser, that is, my parents getting smaller and smaller each day. For I know that one day, all that I'm left with would be eraser shavings and memories of what I used to have..."

This is to all the parents out there...cheers!

Travis' 3rd Birthday

Travis really loves birthday parties. On the morning of his birthday party, he woke up and asked,"is it my birthday?" He walked into the living room and saw that we hung a banner shouting "Happy Birthday" and some balloons along the sides of the banner. Not satisfied with the decoration, he said,"These balloons are not enough.."

So as usual, we went down to Bez Balloon at Ubi to buy his helium balloons. We bought 18 helium balloons ($1 each), 7 pet walkers ($5 each) and the balloon auntie Joy gave travis a free Garfield balloon + a whole packet of new balloons.  Paid $50+ for everything and went off in our car filled with the balloons.

Balloons really set the party mood. Just by adding these colourful balloons, the living hall looks more vibrant and party-ready.

My mum bought a Barney cake from Angie's the Choice for Travis and Liwei's mum cooked all the food for the party herself. She made mee siam, roast pork, sliced fruits, fried rice for the guests.

For this party, we invited about 6-7 little guests with their parents, hoping that the kids will have a good time playing with each other.

Travis really enjoyed the candle blowing and cake cutting part of the program. Beaming throughout the happy birthday song.

We were exhausted at the end of the party. But for the little birthday boy, the party just started because he gets to play with all the left over balloons after the guests have left. He hugged a red balloon to bed that night.

Turning THREE

The LMM is turning three this month. Just two more weekends to his birthday party.  I spent some time reviewing all his videos yesterday afternoon.  Videos of the LMM on the first day he was born all the way to more recent times.  I felt sad after watching the videos.

From the videos, I recalled the times his cries were a lot more feeble, the times when he couldn't even flip over, the times when he tries to crawl unsuccessfully to daddy, the times where he could only walk with assistance, the times where he blabbered only one or two words at a time.

Those times seemed to have gone by in the twinkling of an eye.  He is now dashing about the house, hitting the drums, the cymbal, drawing on his bed sheets, demanding for his big biscuits, refusing his milk, always asking,"we go where?? where are we going???" & "Why??"...

But I also believe that one day, when he grows up, calls home and tells me,"Mum, I am not coming back for dinner tonight.", I will also feel sad and miss the times he calls out to me for everything that he needs.

Happy Birthday Travis. Happy 3rd Birthday.

Mami Bel

Beat the doctor

‎"Travis, it was the doctor that pushed you out of mummy's tummy." 

Travis: "I wanna beat the doctor." 

"Why?"

 Travis: "cos he's naughty. He pushed me!"

美人鱼

天乐："这是什么？＂

爸爸："这是美人鱼。＂

天："有尾巴吗？＂

爸："有。＂

天："我要吃！＂    (~_~;)

I "tah jia"!!

The LMM has been asked to sit in the Thinking Chair in school.
I asked the LMM why.
He replied,"Someone hit me, so I hit my friend."
He paused for a little while and smirked,"I tah jia!"

Faint.

Could it be the Ip Man advertisement he has been watching?
He would shout,"Ye Wen, Yong Chuen! Yen Wen, Yong Chuen!" while throwing punches in the air with his short arms.

So much to teach this little monster. sigh.

The Little Negotiator...

Travis seemed to have grown up very quickly. He is only turning 3 years old next month.

During dinner, when offered a bit of water, he would try to gulp down the entire glass. We wouldn't let him for fear that he might be too full from the water and would not have appetite for the food. His response:"Wait I fall sick how? I don't drink water I will fall sick you know?"

He loves to use papa & mama's toilet bowl.  We want him to use his own.  There was once, I smelled cigarette smoke in his toilet (must be from the neighbour upstairs) so I quickly pulled him out of the toilet and offered him the use of my own toilet.  The next day, when he wanted to go to the toilet, he headed straight to my toilet.  When I asked him to use his own toilet, he said,"Got smoke leh! Got smoke how?"

Oranges are his favourite.  He would declare loudly,"Mama, I have no cough." When I nod my head, he continues,"So I can eat orange?"

He is also a druggie so he loves medicine.  He saw his grandfather's medicine on the dining table once and he started to cough very loudly. "I sick leh...I need to take medicine."

When we slap his leg for being disobedient, he would examine his leg very carefully before whining,"I need to see doctor. Got blood already. I am injured."

Daddy's Mini-Me

I particularly love this series of photos. Both of them really look like versions of each other.

Let's Fly Kites!

Its been ages since I flew a kite. I almost forgot the joy of getting the kite up in the air and the

pleasurable challenge of flying the kite higher and higher, that we'll want never stop til the string finishes.

Saturday Evening 5:30pm. Sengkang - the land of kites.

When we reached there, I was astounded by the breathtaking view of hundreds of kites flying in 

the air. There were fish kites, bat kites, smile face kites and this giant sotong kite which was more than 6 storeys tall!

Travis tugged and the strings and watched in amazement as his kite took off to the air.

"What's this.....?"

Questions.


We've always wondered when the LMM would enter the Questions phase. We always thought of Questions he would ask and how we would answer and how he would ask "Why?" again to that answer.

The Questions have started.

The LMM would now ask us Questions in the same manner we ask him Questions. He then answers his own Questions. He is asking for the sake of asking.

For example, when the LMM sees the housekeeper Marilou washing the dishes, he asks,"Who wash the dish? Who? .... Auntie!"

When he sees a new toy,"Who buy this? Who? ..... Mami buy!"
When he sees something he knows,"What's this...? Phone, yes? Phone!"

Soon. Soon we'll get the WHYs from him.

Travis' School Year End Party

Travis and his classmates performing the song - "Mami, Mami, I Love You" waving the paper hearts in their hands and dancing to the tune.  The LMM seemed to know all the moves and was happily singing along.

The school's principal handed Travis a paper bag with his photo on it. Inside the bag was a CD of all the wonderful pictures he took in while in school!

No party would be complete without the hotdogs, sweet drinks, cakes and biscuits.... here's a picture of

Brennan and Travis enjoying their party fare in a little corner...

Spiffy Dresser

I like dressing him up.  I take pains to make sure he's well co-ordinated from top-to-toe to go to school, to the library, to the malls, to where ever we take him.  The clothes really last a long time as we usually get him stuff for bigger boys, and let him grow into them.  It's different for shoes though.  Too big and he'll trip over them, too small and we worry that he'll get blisters.  Feet really do grow a fair bit at this age.  Come to think of it, it's probably time to buy him shoes again.