Sulking Alicia

Alicia has been sulking for the past 2 days.  I only realised what causes that this morning.  How stupid of me!!!

She refused to go to school yesterday morning.  When asked why, she said she does not have a new school bag.  The same happened this morning.  When asked what she wanted before she prepares for school, she requested a Minnie Mouse bicycle.

Ohhh.... she's jealous!  Brandon had so many birthday presents while she wasn't given any toys.  Well, after daddy promised to bring her to buy toys tomorrow, was she with a smiling face again.

Kids!

Jus can't sleep early

Sometimes, I envy parents whose kids sleep early.  Alicia and Brandon usually sleeps about 10 to 11+pm.  As Daddy wants to go to office earlier these few days, I try to bring them to the room by 9.30pm.  It was the same ritual last nite.

I changed them into their pyjamas.  However, they were jumping and playing on my bed instead of sleeping after milk.  Helpless, I just grabbed my camera.  Just take a look at them...

Visit to the office

Mummy received a sms from Aunty Stephanie today and thereafter arranged for a meet-up in the office at Tampines.

Caden went along.  The talkative boy was so happy enjoying the air-con and the company of the aunties.  The moment we left the office, he slept all the way home!

For the aunties and uncles who are viewing my mummy's blog for the first time, welcome!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Brandon!

Daddy, mummy and Alicia stood beside Brandon's cot this morning.  We sang him a birthday song to wake up him.  He was so shy but happy.  Happy Birthday, my darling Brandon.

We had a 2nd round of pre-celebration for him last nite with 99 and yiyi.  Dinner was at Swensen's @ the newly opened Tampines Mall.  While daddy queued for our table to be ready, we went shopping at Toys 'R Us.  Yi-yi bought Brandon a Thomas & Friends tricycle.

Brandon's banana split with a candle.

They posed for a picture - but why must they always slant their head sideways???

It's Thomas & Friends collection of toys this year.  He received a tricycle from Da-yi, a whistle & train from Aunts Corina & Jo, a VTech phone from mummy, a school bag from daddy and a mini-backpack from Cousin Val.

Brandon in his Thomas t-shirt too!

Alicia was so helpful when it comes to unwrapping the presents.

Brandon can't wait to play.  He hasn't unwrapped all the presents.  More to go tonite.

Pre-celebration

It's Sunday! We had a pre-celebration of Brandon's birthday at Uncle New's place. Grandaunt, Aunt Ling and Shalby were present too as it's Great-grandma's death anniversary.

Brandon has his wish fulfilled - a Donald Duck cake!

But the aunty at Bengawan Solo got his name wrong - Drandon.

Daddy said it looks like Dragon!

He took so long to blow out the candles. Uncle New requested the top layer to be removed cos he said there's too much of his saliva! : )

I can really tell that he's a grown boy, from this picture.

Well, the kids are all asleep now. Hope Brandon likes his presents when he unwraps them later.

Hair Cut @ Simmon

It's hair cut day again. The kids don't go to those kids' salon. Instead, they follow daddy and mummy to Uncle Simmon's salon. I'm glad that they are not fidgetty when it comes to haircut.

Both kids, having their cut cut by Uncle Simmon

Alicia - after the haircut.

As she wanted to keep long hair, Simmon only trimmed her fringe.

Brandon - after the haircut.

As he gets sweaty easily, we requested that his hair be cut short.

It's lunch at MacDonald's after the haircut. The kids were so happy!

Alicia enjoying her favourite yoghurt from the Happy Meal.

Drypers Wee Wee Dry

Received a registered mail from Drypers yesterday. It's a Milestone folder which allows me to record the stages of my child from birth to 3-years. Quite useful. They also enclosed a birthday present for Brandon, a book. Thanks!

Potty training

I tried to potty-train Brandon again today, after failing few months back. Aiyo! Dunno if he's deliberate or just because it's a cold day. After he pooed and pee-ed, I change him into shorts. Less than a minute later, he pee-ed on his shorts. I brought him to wash up and changed into a new pair of shorts. Again, less than a minute later, he told me that he pee-ed again. Within the next minute, he pee-ed on his toys! So much pee??? Guess before long, mummy would put him back on his diapers again.

We'll see how many times he needs to change today.

Brandon with his Thomas look-a-like - the Shinkanshen train

Trial session in school

Daddy's off to Taiwan for a business trip today. So, mummy sent Alicia to school. As Brandon wanted to follow, I brought him along.

When we reached the school, Brandon insisted on joining the kids for their interaction session. Thanks, Miss Pang, the principal, for the permission given.

Brandon wasn't singing along. However, I'm glad that he could hold hands and moved around with the rest. When the time comes for the kids to go to their respective classrooms for their lessons, Brandon refused to go home. He wanted to join them!

Haa... Miss Pang took the opportunity to encourage me to send him to Playgroup in May, instead of the intended July. She even computed the school fees and called me in the afternoon.

Well, will think through today. Maybe, it's good for both Brandon and mummy.

Nebuliser

Sigh... was still deliberating with Daddy if we should bring Brandon to Dr Ong this morning.  Lucky I did.

He's wheezing and has ulcers on his inner cheeks (both sides).  No wonder he's not drinking milk these few days.  Dr Ong said it's not asthmatic yet, jus bronchitis for now.

Aiyo, it's a real torture to neb him.  99 and I had to force it on him.

See how creative they can be - the nebuliser machine.

Brandon posed for a pix after he's done with the neb.

Drumstick

Couldn't help but allowed Caden to continue sucking his thumb for me to record.  Usually, before his thumb finds his way to the mouth, I would have stopped it.

Yummy drumstick...

Just so lovely

Saw Caden playing and smiling and quickly grabbed the camera.

No milk again

Brandon is better, eating almost everything.  However, he's still not drinking milk.  Last nite, he insisted on sleeping with us on our bed again.  My darling Alicia slept with Xiao Gu again.  She's grown and is a good girl now.

Brandon did not wake up at nite, but was tossing and turning around.  Daddy said Brandon bumped onto his head a few times.  Haa... guess we have more of such days to come.

Bad night sleep again

Brandon has not been sleeping well for the past few nights. He was awake between 2-5am on Friday morning and 3-6am on Saturday morning. He woke up at 7am and only took a 15 minutes nap yesterday.

By 9pm, he was tired. We tried to put him to sleep early. Sigh... he had to be caned by daddy before he agreed to drink his milk. I was so happy when he finished the whole bottle. And not much effort was needed to cajoule him to sleep.

Alicia slept with Xiao Gu. For the first time, Brandon slept with us on the bed. However, for the whole night, he kept waking up crying. Daddy and mummy agreed that we should not cane him again.

No milk, pls

Brandon's not drinking milk these few days. He's teething and at the same time, has an ulcer on his lips. We'll try ways and means to make him drink. Today, we tried having it in his Dora cup.

Instead of from the milk bottle, he sips thru the straw.

See what happened to his face...

What a fright!

Just as what Daddy always say - u can't leave them alone for even a second!

I was talking to 99 for less than 30 seconds.  When I turned my head, I heart nearly dropped out.  Brandon overturned the rocker which Caden was sleeping in.  That means, Caden's head was down and legs were up!  OMG!  If I was slow for another few seconds, Caden would have fallen off!

Rock-a-bye Baby

Not sure if he finds that he has not many toys, or it's just him.  He's different from Alicia.  Alicia can play with a car, as it is.  He likes to fiddle with the door, the screws, etc.  Is that the difference between girls and boys? He can even play with Caden's Fisher Price rocker.

He'll flip the rocker over and this is what he calls as opening the door, 

and closing the door.

Caden's Bad Habit

Caden has a bad habit - do u consider that?  He'll fidget alot when he drinks milk.  It's sometimes very frustrating when feeding him.  In addition, no matter how much milk I make, he'll not finish it, always leaving behind abit.

Ba Lu Ku

Daddy and Mummy went for a Chinese drama at the National Library - The Soldier and his Virtuous Wife, with compliments from OCBC. When we reached home, Alicia told mummy that she fell off from the bed. She was playing and jumping on our bed when Grandma was changing her into her pyjamas. Boy, I could feel the 'ba lu ku' on her head! Ouch!!!  But, being naughty, she deserves it.

See the little red patch on her right.

Talkative boy

Caden is so talkative.  He loves it when we talk to him,

always smiling and replying with a "ang-ghi".

Fairmont Hotel

It was supposed to be a weekend spent in Penang. However, as advised by Daddy's Penang friends, it is not politically stable to go there now (just after the elections). We booked Fairmont Hotel for a weekend stay instead.

After a night out at the Singapore Flyer and a little shopping, the kids (and us) were so tired. We decided not to set the alarm clock for the next morning. Rather, we wanted to wake up naturally - like what daddy said: "zi ran xing".

I had so much difficulty waking Brandon up. He woke up at almost 10am!

Alicia was the 1st to be ready!

Mummy could only take this shot before we go swimming as no valuables were brought to the pool.

Well, not forgetting the views we had from the room - the standard CBD view, and

The "durians", Esplanade.

The Singapore Flyer

We went up the Singapore Flyer. The whole flight up there was about 45 minutes and we managed to catch both the day and night scene. Not sure if we're the only Singaporeans who are so kiasu, but I realised we spent the first few minutes taking pictures, rather than enjoying the view we paid for.

The capsule

The family shot, with Alicia looking away from the camera

The kids were not enjoying the view. Instead, they were playing afool in the capsule.

Alicia was playing "monkey bar",

Brandon was even hiding under the chair!

Caden's visitor

Caden had a visitor last nite, a friend from overseas.  Wow, bai pose again.

Here's the handsome (and botak) Caden...

Nightmare (cont'd)

Brandon woke up with a mild fever today.  Oh dear, what else can mummy do but bring him to Dr Ong?

We waited for 2 hours.  Dr Ong said it's not scabies, definitely.  It should be some form of insect bite which could have been gotten from the garden or playground.  What a relief!

Brandon playing with the toys at the clinic.

Daddy instructed that he be banned from playground for now.  Wonder how he'll feel tonite.  Daily, he'll pester 99 to bring him to the playground after his dinner.  She'll usually tell him to wait till the 7pm show on Channel U (The 7 Princess) is over.  Once, he was so impatient waiting that he switched off the TV and told her, "Finish already!"  What a smart boy!  : )

Brandon has grown up

Today, I realised that Brandon has grown and that his vocab has indeed improved.

When Caden cries, Brandon will go near to sayang or rock him.

Brandon will address the dark skinned man, Bangla workers especially, as Ah Neh.

While in the lift, he saw that it was dirty.

He said to me, "Ah Neh did not clean properly."

While looking out of the window, he saw a worker spraying water, washing the floor.

He shouted to him, "Ah Neh!  Don't play with water!"

: )

Scary, man!

The maid at my mum's place had been here for less than 3 months.  However, she requested for a transfer, claiming that she can't stay on as she felt that my mum was not satisfied with her work performance and that she does not have a room by herself (what a request!).  As this was her 2nd time requesting, we informed the maid agency and selected a maid last week.

On Monday nite, we noticed that she has rashes and big red lumps on her hands, neck, etc.  Karine called me in the morning after bringing her to see the doctor on Tuesday.  The doctor has diagnosed it as scabies, a skin disease caused by mites.  According to her, it should be brought in from her rural hometown.  What's worse, it's contagious!  Yeeeehhhh!

As Karine had to rush off for urgent work, she can't handle her.  Too bad, I also had an appointment to choose lights for the new house.  I quickly settled my things and went to my mum's place.

The moment I stepped into the house, my mum called for help.  My niece, Valarie, is restless and lying outside the room toilet.  I rushed in and saw that she's in cold sweat and looked pale.  She just had her medication (fever and flu) and felt drowsy.  I took a towel to clean her before helping her up (boy, was she heavy!!!).  Luckily, she felt alrite within the next half hour and was asking for fruits to eat.

We can't afford to keep the maid till the new maid arrives.  I spoke to the maid and informed her to pack up.  Within 20 minutes, she was ready to go.  I sent her back to the agency.

The agency agreed to take her in as they knew that I had a newborn at my mum's place.  They requested for a doctor's certification, which the doctor did by fax.  The maid was to be repatriated back to Indonesia the next morning, as they can't risk her infecting this disease to anyone else.

That evening, all the items used by the maid were thrown away - mattress, pillow, blanket, cup, etc.  I even sprayed Dettol disinfectant for the whole house.  And just when I thought this was over...

This morning, Brandon woke up with a red spot on the face.  I assumed that it was a mosquito bite and ignored it.  Later towards the afternoon, the spots seemed to have multiplied.  There was even rashes on his hands and back.  This worried me.  You know what I'm thinking? I quickly brought him to the same clinic which saw the maid.

Phew!  Doctor confirmed that this can't be scabies.  It's either some form of viral rash or the worst case, chicken pox.  We'll have to monitor the rashes and go for a review if it gets worse.

Scary, man!

It's pom-pom time!

The kids love "pom-pom" in the bathtub, especially Brandon.  He'll pester 99 is she doesn't bathe him in the bathtub.  Today, his fingers were all wrinkled after soaking in the bathtub.  When he saw that, he said to 99, "Lao Ah Peh!  So poor thing...."

Brandon's favourite bathtub, with the matching cup.

Poor thing... so wrinkled.

Super 99

Having 3 kids is not an easy task.  Looking after them is worse.  Lucky for me, Ally goes to child care.  Most of the days, I bring Brandon and Caden to my mum's place.  I can leave them in her care while I take a nap or go for my pedicure.  Thanks, 99!

Mummy's sick

Oh dear... mummy's down with cough and sore throat. Felt so drowsy after the cough syrup. Thanks to the gu-gus for bringing Alicia out shopping yesterday afternoon so that mummy could rest. Daddy seems to be falling sick too. Pray hard.

"Bai" pose

I must say, Caden is very good at "bai" pose. He can even do it while sleeping.

Gai gai again

Mummy needs to go to the gynae for review today.

I get to go gai gai again!!!

On the way there, we passed by Bishan Park and Alicia said, "I want to go Bishan Park!". But Brandon said, "I want to go shopping!" Hmmm... who is more like mummy?

Doesn't matter. What's important is, since we're at Thomson Plaza, it means more kiddy rides. Yippee!!!

Dora Apron

Ain't I beautiful? Thanks, Aunty Wendy, for the apron!

It's kiddy ride day!

Mummy brought Brandon to Tampines Mall to meet up with Aunty Wendy and girl, Kayla, and Aunty Jerlene.

We had lunch at Sakae Sushi - look at the kiddy set mummy ordered.  If only we could bring that home...

The aeroplane set - which looks nice, but doesn't taste good.

Look!  Kayla jie jie finished the california mini maki using the chopsticks!

While there was shopping for the mummies, the kids also had fun on the kiddy rides too!  More than 10 $1 coins were gone, with compliments from 99.

Brandon with Kayla jie jie

They just love the Barney ride!  It's buy 2 get 1 free!!!

More rides...