Someone turns 18 months!

21 Feb 2013 - P turns 18 months. We had a mini celebration at home, with 2 mini slices of Thomas & Friends (well, Edward and Toby to be exact). We had done this on the same day last year. Look how she has 'evolved', from a blur blur infant to a cheeky toddler.

At 18 months, she can do the following
- Say mama, dada, ma (for grandma, ah Ma and godma)
- Understand most of what we are saying, although it's obvious she pretends otherwise sometimes
- Eat most adult food. In fact, she usually insists to eat what we are having, ignoring the baby food I had painstakingly prepared
- I had previously blogged about her struggles with the shape sorter, but I realised today that she has improved leaps and bounds, unknowingly and surprisingly.
- She loves to be read to. I've stocked up slightly more than 10 books, mostly deemed appropriate for her age (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Dear Zoo, Where's Baby's Belly Button). Every night after bath and before she sleeps, she will place book after book in my hands and seat herself comfortably on my lap to wait for the stories to start. Hubby tried reading to her too, but she doesn't give him much face, haha.
- Toys: Really interested in her kitchen toys nowadays, and spends time cutting fish/grapes/ radish and putting them together. Sometimes, she will put lots of ingredients in the Shabu Shabu pot and start to stir vigorously, finally ending off by scooping the contents, place it to her mouth and go "Mmmmmmuuum!"
- Kissing: She kisses inanimate objects with gusto, but seems turned off when it comes to human beings. Once in a blue moon, we'll get a politically correct kiss on the cheek. Other times, she will just put her cheek to yours and go "Mmmm-muack!"
- Bathtime: She used to be really really pissed when water sprays on her face, but I've been trying to introduce her to sprays by turning on the shower at a low level. She likes it, only if the water cascading down onto her face is within her comfort level. If not, the crying begins and I have to wipe the droplets off her face with the bathing towel.
- Snacks: Yogis and more recently, raisins are her favourite. She knows the raisins are kept in the fridge. Everyday when we reach home, the first thing she will do is to rush to the kitchen and grab the fridge handle. Luckily, she hasn't learnt how to open the fridge yet. She would flash her award winning smile, and we found ourselves helpless but to open the fridge for her and let her take her prize.

I'll be on leave tomorrow to head to the Babycare Festival at Expo. Expecting a maniac crowd due to the Natas Fair, but hopefully I can get what I need.

Happy 18 months, my darling!

Valentine's Day 2013

I saw plenty of flowers and yummy food on my FB news feed. I saw plenty of girls holding bouquets and balloons at Orchard mrt. I saw shops selling all sorts of lovely gifts. I saw many people picking out gifts in branded retail shops at Ngee Ann City.

I texted Hubby to ask him about dinner plans, and his reply was "Let's dabao food home and not be suckers. V Day is a scam by companies who want to make money." Haha, that's the reality of my married life. 8 years together and we're down to dabao-ing food.

I had plans for a nice dinner at either Basilico at Regent Hotel or even just Jack's Place, but I'm appalled at the sky high prices. Jack's Place already costs a minimum of $39++ per pax, which will work out to more than $90 after taxes. Basilico? Hmmm, $128++ per pax. I dot even bother calculating the after tax amount. I overheard a conversation in the shuttle bus today, a couple of colleagues talking about roses and flowers. Apparently, a bouquet of 10 roses is going at $155 somewhere. Ugh, have I been so lag in keeping up with inflation? It's really scary!

Anyway, what I did was to head to Bishan J8. Intended to get some red velvet cupcakes from Twelve Cupcakes, but they were completely sold out with a prominent sign saying "We're baking fresh cupcakes, and they will be ready in 30 mins." Nah, I can think of a better way to use that 30 min. Bought 2 cups of bubble tea from Gong Cha, 2 sets of Salmon and Chicken from Yoshinoya, and 1 slice of Red Velvet cake from Coffee Bean. Sounds pretty sumptuous eh? Total damage was about $26, plus tastes good too!

How did you celebrate your Valentine's Day?

CNY 2013 - 初一

The first thing I did on CNY day 1 is to open a new tin of Nan Ha 3. P still runs through the milk powder tin like a bullet train, and I hope this will subside in the year of the water snake.

4 stations to go today
1. Hubby's paternal side
2. Hubby's maternal side
3. My paternal side
4. My maternal side

CNY is really a love-hate relationship with food. There are so much goodies on the table, and all of them contribute to my waistline. I eat and regret, eat and regret, argh!!!

P had a blast too. I lost count of the number of soft drinks she had by stealing/grabbing them from people. It's bad I know, but this indulgence only happens during CNY. She would arrive at each destination feeling shy and clingy. After warming up, she would end off that location with a stomach full of soft drinks.

Her nap today was long overdue too. Everything was so happening for her that she only napped at 2.15pm, instead of her usual 11am.

Snapped a lot of pics today. Showcasing some of the better ones...

CNY eve

Started CNY eve with a brunch at Canopy Dining at Bishan Park. P didn't eat much of the Eggs Royale and Scrambled Egg with Smoked Salmon, but she drank lots of hubby's orange juice ($7). I find their drinks quite overpriced (my avocado drink costs $12, and that's the price of my food too), and was quite shocked that the bill came up to more than $50 for 2 brunch dishes and 2 drinks. I'd probably return, but just not order their drinks.

We did a last leg of spring cleaning when we got home. Little P tried to help here and there, but she wasn't very effective haha. Hubby kept sending her to me, and I kept sending her back. In the end, she spent more time shuttling between us both than getting anything done.

Reunion dinner is at my maternal grandparent's house. It was great catching up with my cousins. P was kinda overwhelmed by so many people in a 3 room flat, but warmed up after awhile. She even let some of my relatives carry her, which is really rare. Here's the spread that my grandparents lovingly prepare each year. Their ngoh hiang is homemade and tastes oh so good! Haha this is the second year we have 四代同堂, P being the only great grandchild until my cousin's wife pop in March. Love the company of my relatives!

Here's wishing all a happy CNY!

Last lesson at OMS

Brought P for her final lesson at OMS this afternoon. That is the last of the 4 vouchers she received for her birthday last year. The vouchers were meant for Musical Babes, program, which is for kids up to 18 months. When I called up to make an appointment this afternoon, the staff suggested for me to let P try the Rhythmic Tots program (18 months to 3 years). I told her about the voucher use, and still she let me proceed. I thought that was really nice (and flexible) of them. P will turn 18 months on 21 Feb.

Before the start of the lesson, I had a chance to speak to the teacher to understand more about the difference between the 2 programs. She explained that it will primarily be the same, save for a section on vocal and a section on story telling. Essentially, the vocal part invokes getting the kids to repeat what she said through a toy microphone, but she did warn me that most of them will shy away. The children in class were mostly 2011 babies, so their speech is not as developed yet.

P did pretty well throughout the lessons. However, I realised she acts up (in previous lessons too) when it comes to the drums section. She would ignore the drum allocated to her and go for other kids' drums, or even the teacher's drum. I guessed its more fun when you play with other people's stuff? Come the story telling section, she tried to go forward and snatch the teacher's book. I wasn't surprised coz that's what she usually do to me as well. I had to pull her back. She enjoyed the bubble session, though it was a short one.

I really like the things that OMS is doing. P will always come out of the lesson a happy kid. The only reason I'm not signing up is because I do not have hubby's buy in to fetch us there every week. He is always complaining that the mall is boring and there's nothing for him to do. Even when I offered to let him attend the lesson with P (so he doesn't have to deal with the boring mall), he isn't keen at all. Sigh, maybe I should get my dad's buy in instead...

P had been really funny recently, and she laughs very often too! I'm quite tickled by her antics, like this pic I took at the playground. She saw some kids sitting in a circle and she decided to join them from afar.

I also caught her trying to put on my work shoes just now.

She saw some moles on my arms, and pretended to pick them up and throw them away.

Whenever she wants me to carry her, she will do the clap clap action, like what adults do to babies when they want to initiate the carry process.

We've been trying to teach her the gongxi gongxi action. Instead of up and down, her version goes left and right, somewhat like how a fish swim.

BabyBug

Brought P for a trial at Artbug at Waterloo Street today. The program is called BabyBug, and obviously meant for babies. I see it as a make-a-total-mess session, and hope that P would like it, but it was not to be.

My 'lil one is such a clean freak that I'm quite disappointed. I rubbed some paint on the soles of her feet and that sent her into a panic attack. She freaked out and started clambering on me. She got some paint on her fingertips and started whimpering, asking me to wipe it off for her. While her peers were really engaged in the paintwork, she was just trying to get herself cleaned up. Sigh, so much for trying to get her interested in art.

Next steps is probably to set up such a scene in my bathroom one day, and get her used to playing with finger-paints. Some pics of P in action, taken by my mom who isn't very adept with the iPhone camera.


Taken on the Circle Line otw to class

 

A group pic!

At Citilink after class

Get rid of the caregiver!

My MIL's maid comes over every morning to bring P for a walk before heading back to their place. P was doing great for a period of time when it's time for her to separate from us (well, it's more from me than hubby). However, this has regressed recently and each separation episode always conclude with large scale crying and big drops of tears.

This morning, we decided to leave with them and reduce the time that P's away from me. We entered the lift to go down, but some screw up in the elevator actually got us separated from MIL's maid. P was super duper ecstatic! I mean, I can't even describe her shrieks of happiness. It's like "Yes, we got rid of MIL's maid! I can be with mama!! Whee!!!"

P's happiness obviously did not last long. We convened at the 2nd floor and handed her over to MIL's maid, and the whole crying episode starts again. Nevertheless, hubby and I really had a good laugh at her mindset. 

Captured when she was sleeping. How long more will her hands stay this small?



Separation Anxiety

P's separation anxiety seems to have reached a new peak lately. I swear her most hated sentence is "妈妈去pong pong". The moment that sentence pops out from my mouth, she starts clambering on me and is determined to stay on/around me.

When hubby is around, she is still ok to let me go, albeit reluctantly. In absence of hubby, I have no choice but to leave her crying outside the bathroom, unless I can convince myself to bathe only after she sleeps. I try to leave the door open when I bathe, so she can see me through the glass shower screen. That didn't ease her anxiety though. She was so so angry with me just now when her repeated banging on the shower screen did not make me appear next to her. In her anger (and my horror), she took my towel (hanging on the shower screen bar) and ran out of the bathroom. OMG! She appeared a short while later outside the bathroom and gave me dagger stares, as if saying "I said no bathing right? How dare you go and bathe? HOW DARE you go and bathe?" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

And yeah, it took me a lot of convincing before she finally returned the towel to a fresh from shower naked woman.