Mr Teh

It is so funny that the little one is referring us by name, calling ATM, Mr Teh and me by Michelle. I know ATM get piss off at time when he is being called Mr Teh by P. Whereas for me, i m glad, she knows our name. At least when she is able to tell the lady at customer service of some shopping center when she is lost. Well, i like the way she call me.... Mommy Meeeeeeechelleeeeeee...... so sweet.......

I Love you

At times, i find P very annoying especially when i m busy doing work. But this little gal really know how to get your attention. As usual, i m busy doing my work and she was toking non stop. Knowing that i wasnt paying attention to her. She said 'Mommy, mommy, i love you, i love you.... can u come over please'. How can you just ignore her when she is saying 'i love you' in a sad puppy voice. And that really gets my attention.

Tiger Mother

Finally got my paws on the book 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother' by Amy Chua. I got it at a low price $28 at Chinatown Sq compared to $30+ in bookshop. Half way thru' the book, i m glad tt my parents were nt rich, else will be forced to practice piano or some musical instrument. My parents are the typical Chinese, they think tt having a gd education will lead to gd life.... Not true.... At young, my dad will tell us tt he wish tt we will be doctors or engineers. My elder and youngest sisters are the smart 1 cos they did very well in school, whereas me and the other younger sister who are nt so smart, shown the typical middle child syndrome.

Even till now, my parents adore the 2 smart one, the elder being the pharmacist and youngest is now practising medicine down under. The parents always brag abt them being busy with their work and so on. My other sister is working as an account assistant in a well know pharmaceutical company. Notice tt they are in health related field. Whereas me, always been an outcast since young, never been able surpass my older sister in term of grades. My dad wanted me to be a teacher, but i wanted to be a nurse. End up he won as he is paying for my tuition fee, i spend 4y in uni doing something that chinese parents will never agree with. I had a degree in applied chemistry specialising in petroleum geochemistry.... During my 4y course, i've never see any oversea students enrolled in the course, and i m the only international student. I worked in BP sister company after i graduated. Then in a research lab. My parents have no freaking idea what i m doing even till now...... To prove to my dad that i m nt stupid, i applied NUS research scholarship to pursue my graduate degree..... I got it but instead of pursuing a PhD, i graduated with a Masters. Being an academic is nt what i want. I m happy with what i m now..... Finally learning to let go and pursue ones dream, one can be happy.

I wish i can be a good mother who can be flexible and not pushy in raising my children. I dun wan to be a typical Chinese tiger mother. P still cant recognise all her ABC, well what the heck, i only know my ABC when i was in P1 (i didnt even attend kindergarden). ATM think i m to lax with P.

Dear 16 year old me

Melanoma is the 2nd killer in children and young adult. In our family, we enjoy outdoor activities, we stock up alot of sunscreen at home and spf 50 fisherman hats for P. I m making it a habit for P to block up when we go up, so is wearing her hat. My aunt has impetigo, to play safe, i block every1 up with spf 80 sun screen before going outdoor. In CC, the teachers will block them up and mosquito repel the children b4 outdoor play. We prepared a pre-outdoor kit for P in her school bag, KS huh...

Nutren Junior

Wrote to nestle, to ask for some FM sample, Nutren Junior. Guess what, P doesnt like it either.... Well i m just gonna feed her fresh milk, which will save me a lot of $$ in long run. Came to think abt it, only us still feeding our toddler FM. In western countries, the kids are drinking fresh milk, only children with special needs will be fed FM.

Me: Why u dun like milk?
P: milk nt nice
Me: What do u mean by 'not nice'?
P: Milk is sweet, yuck

Ok, P dun like sweet stuff, except sweets and ice cream. She takes dark chocolate and hates milk chocolate, takes vitagen (50% less sugar) n dislikes yakult, and hates Milo. With her reply, i tried her Pediasure. Yes the milk is sweet. But which kids will refuse sweet stuff? I m so not going to force her to drink her FM, but well i have 6 cans left in the pantry. Well at least till we ran out of FM.....

Kids' Gallery @ Young Parents Fiesta

We were there to sign up for my yearly subscription, by them time i reached there on Fri evening, all the gifts of choices were out of stock. So we ended up taking the mandarin VCD.

Went down on Sat afternoon, and sign P up for a craft session @ Kids' Gallery. P painted her rabbit cardboard frame n deco the crown. She enjoys herself, the teachers are friendly (nt to mention cute n pretty too) and the staffs are not pushy. If it is nearer to our place, we would have sign her up for the art class.

Deciding the colors for her rabbit

Orange for her rabbit

Getting helps from the staff

Bento 2

Fried brown rice with corn, ham cube and egg, brussel sprout and homemade ngoh hiang sitting on a bed of alfafa grass

Wkend playmate

C, my lovely 5 yo niece will sleepover at my place once awhile. P will get super excited, as she has a playmate. They will start their day with breakfast, the playground time, lunch then out we go......

Pig and bird shaped wholegrain bread with nutella n cream cheese, cube cheese and ham and a handfl of blueberries.

the 2 of them having a hell of a good time @ playground.


Isnt it perfect to have 2 kids? P yearns to have a sibling to play with, she enjoys goin to her cousins on weekend. We are considering, but will i be brave enuff to take up the challenge?

Soft Launch

There will be a soft launch of the Frontier Primary School on the 30th June. ATM asked me to register ourselves for it. Hmmmmm..... are we being KS? Well i've never been or participated in the Spore Education System, so this would be an eye opener for me. I m for one will nt be sending P to go for famous school, we will put her in neighbourhood school. Well at least less stress on her and us too..... I dun wan to do PV or join RC..... so hopefully with this new school, P will be able to join them base on the distance from our home. I have no idea what Phase 2 ABCD means.... It shows how ignorance i m rite?

Playground

P treats her bedroom like a playground, she hardly sleep in her room. Yes she is sleeping in our room, we are currently trying to move her to her room. I think this will be a very difficult task. To her, her room is a mini playground, her bed is the slide, she has a rocking horse, 2 cars and lotsa blocks.... Cleaning her room is a big task.

Angel @ Sleep

One of my silly little habit, is looking at P when she sleeps. When she is sleeping, she just look so angelic, she smiles at time. She loves it when i stroke her body when falling asleep and wakes up when i stop. At time when she has nightmare, she will crawl to my bed and hug me to sleep.

DIY nails

I've a collection of nail accessories, but hardly used them. As i have FAT and short fingers but i enjoy accessorising others' nails.

nice? the flowers are hand painted nt stickers

Bento 1

Started bringing bento to work again for my mission to loose FATS. I m using Lock n Lock boxes to pack my lunch, as P will nt let me use her cutey boxes. CP bought a few bento accessories from Korea for P, is really nice of them (my colleagues) to buy gifts for P when they go on holiday.

This is my lunch for today

Brown rice with green tea sprinkle, tomatoes, stir fry broccoli with celery, corn n prawn and shrimp paste wings

Blueberries, kiwi and dried cranberries (all P's favourite, her after school snacks, i m giving her fruits instead of biscuits)

Mommy go work

After i brought P to my work place (due to some last min unforsee stuff), she finally realise that i've to go work like her papa :). Whenever we drove pass my workplace, she will point to the building and said mommy work here, and waive bye bye to me. It makes dropping her off in CC so much easier, cos she knows i have to work. Perhaps she has grown up. Teacher S also feedback to me just last wk, saying tt, P was asking her fren to stop crying, cos her mommy has to go work, and will come to pick her up after work, so no need to cry :) I was actually quite proud that she can comfort her fren.

Perhaps showing her, where we work is a good idea. I also introduce the few colleagues that i work closely with to her. At times when i need to be in the lab, these helpful colleagues will entertain her in the office. P knows them by the type of phones they have. She refers to non touch screen phone as no battery, need to charge. Yes, she is very high tech, she is the current owner of my 2nd generation ipod touch.

Frontier Primary School

Frontier Primary school is one of the 11 new primary schools built to facilitate the transition of primary schools to single session will take in its first batch of students next year. It will be equipped with new generation primary school infrastructure such as an indoor sports hall, a student care centre, a performing arts studio and outdoor learning stations. And the most important part is, it is within 500m radius from our home.... With the available of student care centre in the school, i will nt have worry abt looking for one. Well at least now i dun have to worry abt parent volunteer......

http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110621-0000040/Frontier-Primary-first-of-11-new-single-session-schools

PTC June 2011

Went to P's 1st PTC for the year 2011, ATM volunteered to join me (well, i m surprised). When we were at the CC, Teacher S, commented, ' wow, daddy is here, normally is only mommy.' :)

We sat down, Teacher S talked to us abt P's progress, she is doing well, catching up with all her milestones, her speech has improved and the only concern is toilet training. She is getting there but nt 100% yet as she still need to wear diaper during nap. 陈老师 told us that P has showed a very big improvement since last year. As we were worried that she has some speech issue, since she still cant really speak much in dec 2010. Were told by that she might need to go for speech therapist is she still nt speaking by nov (her yearly neonat appointment to check her progress to see if she need early intervention). That is our biggest worry, but now i feel so relieve, she is talking so much till i need to tell her to stop :) 陈老师 said that even though she looked small but she behaves beyond her age (nice to hear this), she even helped her frens when she sees that they are falling behind (this is what we would wan her to be, showing concern to other ppl and not being self centered). Last but nt least, both teachers said she likes to complain...... hahaha....

Overall, we are happy to hear all the +ve inputs, and have to work together to encourage her on the not so +ve stuffs. No one is perfect.

Rock Climbing

The organization has organised an outdoor rock climbing activity, I was the 1st to sign up for it. The last time i rock climb was like 10y ago when i m still in my 50kg.... Time flies so is my weight, it is going upscale rather than down. Just came back from being a spiderwoman. As i m typing this, i m feeling the pain crawling from my wrist up to my arm. It is like a sign, telling me tt age is catching up with me.

My palms started to sweat, just looking at my colleagues climbing up the 25m wall (tallest in SEA). Though i have my level 1 rock climbing cert, but still cant help but sweat when i see others climb. When it was my turn, i still have the speed at the begining, but as i go higher and higher, my weight are bringing me down. My arms are tired, they started shaking trying to carry my weight up :) Not much of lower body exercise but the upper body. After reaching mid way, my arms just stop working, and end up swinging all the way down. It was tiring but fun, hope this will nt be the last time but the begining. Hope to be able to do it wif P. We have a mini wall at the children playground in our estate, i must say she is a natural. She swing like a monkey on the monkey bar, she loves hanging herself on the hand rail in the lift, all this exercises indeed train up her upper body.

Note to self, if i get to rock climb again, wear a pair of shoes with thin sole and most importantly to train myself. Had a fun filled evening tonight.

Random Rant

It is so irony when man always think that taking care of the kids n housework is a woman's job. The world keep on advancing but nt the brain of the man, eg. ATM and FIL. Sometimes i think  the maid get treated better than me. They get paid, the even have day off.

I would love to have a me day once a week, be it having a drink and catch up with frens, or going down to Kallang river for a row, or window shopping, or a movie, or just reading in the library. Just me, me alone with no P or ATM. Perhaps havin a me day, i can perform well at work, i can live longer, i will smile more n i will more energy and the list goes on.....

But looking at the current situation....... doubt this will happen..... ATM will be training for IPPT, hopefully he will pass. NDP rehearsal will start next sat and all sat till NDP will be burnt. Meaning, i will spending a lot of quality time with P, just me and P.

Phuket 5D4N Part 2

How could u go to Phuket without goin to Funtasea and beach.........

Funtasea theatre

All ready for her swim

Having fun in the kid's lounge, where there is activities every hour to get the kids occupy

Hungry gal chowing down her snack

Showing the very 'buay song' face........

All gathered ard to look at the death blow fish

Enjoying the sand, sun and the wind

Having fun in the tub

My fav take on the last day in Phuket @ Phuket International airport

 Overall, the kids enjoyed themselves. I will still wana go again next time, but i will stay in Patong for a few days before going to the resort to relax.....

Phuket 5D4N Part 1

The very 1st ever trip that we are travelling in such a big group, 5 adults and 4 kids under 5 yo. Our flight were scheduled at 10am, and all of us reached Budget terminal ard 730 am, had breakfast at Mac. The kids just love goin to airport, and 3 of them will be flying for the 1st time and they are so excited. P is a season traveller, and for this trip she will have her own seat for the 1st time, which means i will be paying more :)

ATM had his group pic with the kids, S were missing in the pic

P is all ready for her trip, she even packed her own bag. 

On the plane

For this trip, we finally get to use our Marriot points to book for the vacation club oversea. We booked Mai Khao beach resort, the apartment comes with 2 bedrooms, a living room, a full kitchen and laundry. It is perfect for family. Initially we wanted to get the apartment with plunge pool, but worried that the kids will jump into the pools without us noticing.

The living room comes with dining table and a sofa bed and nt to mention wifi...... how can we survive without technology :)

Full kitchen, equiped with all cutlery, toater, rice cooker, coffee maker and microwave oven

The big bathroom where all the kids go ga-ga seeing this

Diaperless Day 2

Teacher S feedback to me that as P is small in size, and she doesnt let her to go toilet on her on. But i told her it is ok, let her go on her own, as she never wan me to go in when she is using the toilet. She will tell me, u wait outside ok.
加油

Diaperless Day 1

P ran for her panties this morning and repeatedly shouted, 'I dun wan diaper.' Nothing much that i can do except to let her wear her panties, she is nt 100% toilet trained, she has her moment. Is perfectly fine for me if she is diaperless at home, but in CC, i m more worried. What if she created mess, and causes other kids to fall, all the what if.....  When we reach CC, first thing was to make her clear her bladder and inform Teacher W that she is diaperless and mayb after breakfast let her change into her diaper. Perhaps is time that i get some training pants for her.

Teacher S wrote on P's communication book saying that P  was diaperless for the whole day except nap time and no accident. Way to go P, keep up the good job. When it come to poo, she still cant tell us yet....

讲中文

My part time cleaner who came to clean our place every fortnight told me that P can speak in Mandarin very well and that she dun mix it with english and vice versa. She even mentioned that compare to the other kids that she saw, her Mandarin is very good. I m so proud to hear those comment :) The chinese teachers in CC had taught her well as my Mandarin is really bad that ATM prefers that i dun speak to her with my lousy Mandarin.

Milk Drinking Issue

Teacher W just feedback to me that P is nt drinking her milk..... Argh, it is that phase again, i've never seeen any kids who dislike FM as much as her. Mayb is time i need to look for new FM.... Her daily milk intake is 3 glasses a day, 1 in the morning and 2 in CC, night time we stop giving her before her sleep, as she will vomit it out due to overfeeding..... Basically 1 big can of milk can last her for a whole month.

Due to her milk issue, we have been feeding her yogurt, cheese and ice cream to compensate on her milk intake. So she will still have healthy bones to grow.

不要吵

The little princess is getting very vocal now....... Perhaps is that she is getting older, she will be 3 yo in 1 mth times.

Recently when we ask her to do some chores, her reply to me will be "不要吵". Wonder where she learn that.

After our phuket trip, spending 5 days with her cousins, she is now a complaint queen. She came home yesterday, telling me that her fren, N pushed her head. Just yesterday when i pick her up from class, saw aher in another pair of pants, out of curiosity i asked, did u spill ur milk today? She replied, nope. i finished my milk today, i pee pee in my pants.

Slowly, perhaps she will tell me what is happening in her world..... Cant wait for that.