1 Apr
Thurs

ds1 had no school cos of a sports carnival for the upper primary. So I happily arranged to bring him out with my sis and her kids.

Since my niece has school in the morning too, it was a perfect chance for a getaway.
I naively thought dd would be good in the car. So this was my first time driving a long distance with her. I also thought there was ds1, so it should be fine.

With all HDB apartments, especially the not so new ones like mine, we have to walk a distance to the carpark to retrieve the car, so I had to either bring everything with me to the carpark, and climb many storeys to get to the car, or do the easy but perhaps risky thing of leaving dd with ds1 till I retrieved the car and drove to my block.

In the end, I decided on a compromise. I pushed dd in the stroller which was packed with my bag and other stuff, while ds1 carried the infant car seat (fortunately he's present) and we walked all the way to the ground level of the multi-storey car park.

I made ds1 wait with dd and all the stuff (too much to carry up so many levels) and walked all the way up to get the car. The previous night we had returned from Bible class late, so had to park at one of the higher levels.

I asked ds1 to pat dd and make her happy. I rushed and drove the car at rather high speed all the way down. Phew, dd wasn't crying. And both had not been kidnapped.

I loaded up the car and we set off.

Well, the journey there was still bearable. Dd slept for a while along AYE and only woke towards Alexandra and started to cry. ds1 tried to pacify her but she's that kind, won't stop until she gets to nurse.

So I had to bear with the screaming till we reached my sis' house and I nursed her at the car park. Then we set off for Great World City. She screamed again but my sis was around, and had only Elias to take care of then, so it was manageable.

At GWC, it was an enjoyable time cos after I nursed her to sleep, we had lunch at Cz-zar and managed to browse. That was when my sis bought the Monopoly for the boys.

Then it was time to pick Eva up so I drove to Kay Siang Rd. This time both Elias and dd were screaming away. I thought it was deafening but we still made it. While waiting for my sis to pick Eva up at her school, I nursed dd yet again.

Here comes the winner...
Kay Siang Rd is a tiny street (but for 2-way traffic!) lined with bushes and trees. It's not like typical Singapore. It's more like a countryside lane somewhere in the USA boondocks or maybe Australia outback. Ok, maybe I exaggerate, but you don't see anything but trees until you reach Eva's school.

And the school was converted from a bungalow, so the driveway is for single direction actually. Yet, it was pick up time and there were 3-4 cars waiting there. Then more taxis fetching expats came in and the driveway was jam packed with cars. It was a dead end as well so all the cars trying to leave had to do many point turn to get out.

Now, we all know how taxi drivers are. So this cab had the passenger alight and she probably told him to wait while she picks her child up. He wanted to turn around first, but right in my alley. So there was some more space behind me, and he gestured that I should reverse so he has more space to turn around.

I have a fear of offending taxi drivers, especially such burly looking ones. I read about road rage incidents in the papers... I was nursing dd remember?
She finally had her eyes close already and I was loathe to unlatch her for fear she would scream again, once I put her down in the car seat. But then this cabbie wanted me to move the car NOW.

So how?

I did the unthinkable. I was driving my mil's manual gearshift car, remember?
So left foot depress clutch, left hand shift into reverse gear, right hand holding dd nursing away, eyes check rear view mirror. Right foot depress accelerator, left hand quickly leaves gear shift stick to maneuver the steering wheel. RIght hand still holding dd.

It was nerve wrecking trying not to bang any other cars or people, nor crash into the school building, trying not to wake dd and keep her latched on, plus trying to get the clutch and accelerator balanced... I think I never multitasked more than this before.

dd and I survived but I will not do it again.

After that, we made our way to Ikea. We let them play at the kids section and also had a snack at the cafe. Eva still can't get into the playroom so we decided ds1 would not enter as well.

When the kids had enough, I went to pay for my stuff and we left. The nightmare started here. Eva, Elias and dd cried, all together, and screamed as well. It was normally not a long distance from Ikea in Alexandra back to my sis' place in Queenstown/ Strathmore, but oh man, I couldn't take the noise.

Still, my sis was around to control the situation.

The fun began when my sis alighted at her place and went home. Good, now I have a tired ds1 and a cranky dd. I thought I should let her sleep before trying to drive home, which was a much longer distance now. So I nursed her once, tried to put her back into the car seat really carefully, but no, she woke up. So I nursed her again, she finally closed her eyes and I tried to put her back again, nope, the eyes fluttered open at once.

Tired, and frustrated at the time, because it inched nearer and nearer the dismissal time of ds2 and he would be back from school to my home at 3.45pm. It was already 3.10pm. Ok, maybe I will try carrying her, swaying back and forth and walking around the playground area below the block where my sis lives.

After walking for 10min, she finally slept once again. ds1 can be a witness, I put her down with minimal movement. I even held my breath and strained not to hae any unnecessary muscle movement, I didn't blink my eye, I think my heart even stopped beating for a sec. I laid her down.

Oh man! How did babies develop such sensitivity?? She awoke and let everyone know how angry she is to be placed in the car seat. So I just shifted the gear in place and drove off. It was almost 3.30pm. How to rush back by 3.45pm?

I called my mom using speaker phone, while driving and enduring the full blast screaming of a furious baby (she can cry till her face is blue/ purple; with the mouth open wide but with no sound, then she seemed to be unable to catch her breath. after she catches back her breath, louder screams will be let off, and she can also choke and cough as if she's going to die crying. It's terrible.). Phone got through, asked my mom if she could be at my place to meet the school bus just in case I don't get back in time. Thankfully, my mom happened to be at my place!

Needless to say, after that incident till now, I still haven't tried driving alone with dd. Give me time to get over the stressful traumatic memory....

On to better experiences...

17 Apr
Sat

Mary invited us to her house for dinner. Haven't been there for a couple of years, I think!

It was lovely, the grilled dinner, and the kids had a lot of fun playing together. The adults could catch up. Of course, dd acted up a bit, but she did sleep for awhile for me to eat and enjoy myself. It's good enough. You can't ask for too much when you have a newborn.

The kids played this fun board game. It's a HABA game given to Ch by Mary's friends. It's suitable for a range of ages and is actually pretty fun for the adults to watch too. Involves frogs catching little bees flying around to get their honey.


10 Apr
Sat

I try to bring the kids to the library every week, usually Sat mornings. This particular Sat, my sis was able to bring her kids as well.

Eva loved the library and went wild taking all kinds of books to the corner where my boys were reading. Reminds me of when ds1 was a toddler. The funny thing was, she took all the Malay books! Our table was then piled up with Malay books. Had to get her to stop. Only this time, I can sit back and relax since it's my sis' job.

I still remember, with each boy, first ds1 then ds2, how I had to teach them, with each visit, when they were about 2-3, to be quiet, not to run, to take only the books they would read, and to place the books back after they are done. And then as they got older, how to borrow the books by themselves. It's not easy cos as toddlers, they are very active and they tend to talk in a normally loud voice. So after 2 rounds, I am quite tired. I've got quite a bit of time before no. 3 starts to be like that - running around and shouting.. so I'll just rest now. :-)


Of course, the kids need to let out all their energy in the playground at the library! Eva's quite the sporty gal. She looked at what the boys were doing and wanted to follow them in whatever they did. So cute.

She's able to climb very well and she can take falls well too, as long as she fell down herself. If someone pushed her, that's it, she'll scream. Kids are all like that, huh, so funny. My boys were like that too. It's the "if my brother pushed me, I must wail loudly so mommy will punish him" mentality. But if they fell down themselves, they are not sure if they'd get scolded cos they did something wrong so they will look around to make sure no one saw, and be as quiet as possible.


It's especially so for ds1 who is the reckless one. ds2 is rather timid, so he gets into less accidents cos he tries less dangerous stuff in the first place. Forgot if I mentioned this incident but ds1 was in the playground at our apartment block. I was wheeling dd in the stroller and ds2 was in the swing beside ds1. ds2 was swinging slowly. ds1 went higher and higher.

It was way too fast and high for my liking so I reminded him many times to be careful and to hold on tight. But then, once my back was turned, he tried doing something with one hand, I think it was to pretend to shoot rifle or something. And during the part of the swing where he flew up into the sky in the forward motion, his bum slipped off the wet rubber seat (it was raining before that). With only one hand holding on, it was not enough to remain on the seat, so he was flung off.

So if the kids fall cos of their own irresponsibility, it can actually be very painful, but then they somehow control themselves very hard... I heard the thud and turned back to see him on the ground. Only ds2 saw what happened, and ds2 was in shock. He didn't budge from his swing. ds1 got up at once, grabbed his arm/ elbow and rushed to hide behind me. All the while, he looked around to see if anyone saw. Can you believe it?

After I found out what happened, I was so surprised he did not cry. It looked painful to me, the bruises on his hips, and one side of the body, as well as the elbow. He's lucky he did not dislocate any joint or broke any bones cos 1. he's very light and thin, 2. the ground of the playground was padded. If it was one of those old playgrounds with concrete floor, that's it.

It did teach him a powerful lesson though. For a while he was much more careful and listened better to my instructions. I always wonder why it takes an accident or a painful experience to make them learn something better. Our advice tends to fall on deaf ears until they make a mistake and realise we were right all along. sigh... Every generation, it is the same. (I was like that too, when I was young. I only realised what my parents said was, well, generally right, only when I grew up. When I was a teen, everything they said seemed wrong and unimportant. :-))

7 Apr
Wed

My mom cooked and my sis family had dinner at my place in honour of my bil, who had his 30th bday.

We then went for Bible class, and after class, we got him a surprise cake. We sang a song together with everyone and shared the cake.

They'll be going to UK soon. My bil's going to do his Master's. I'll miss my sis and my niece/ nephew, so we should have more gatherings together now, while we can!





ds1 returned home with 5 empty seaweed wrappers in his shirt pocket today.

I was surprised because I give him only 80cents each morning now, just enough for his mee soto or spaghetti in the school canteen.

(He told me about many friends buying this toy ring from the school bookshop that can light up, and it cost $4. He also mentioned friends who always buy a cold drink together with the bowl of noodles or plate of rice. A plate of chicken rice costs $1.50. A cold drink ranges from 80 cents to $2. I told him to drink and eat all he wants at home, and his toys at home are so plentiful so he doesn't need the extra money to buy anything else in school except for the main course.)

He explained that his friends gave them to him! SK, a boy, gave him 1 packet while another girl, St gave him 4 packets. Each packet has 3-4 seaweed pieces and costs 10 cents.

I was taken aback.

Me: Did you ask them to buy for you?
ds1: No, they gave it to me.
Me: (not sure if their parents would like it) Err, maybe next time just take 1 packet ok? 4 is too many.
ds1: ok
Me: Why did they give it to you?
ds1: They know I like to eat seaweed.
Me: Oh (look of disbelief on face)

ds1 then proceeded to justify that since he saw I look unconvinced.

ds1: Many people in class like me.
Me: Really? Why?
ds1: because I always make them laugh.
Me: How?
ds1: I keep cracking jokes. Everyone laughs when I say things in class. Everyone except Mdm I.
(Mdm I is his form teacher/ homeroom teacher!!!)

Oh man... I sure hope when it comes to Parent-Teacher meetings, I can still hold my head up high!



4 Apr
Sun
5.30-7.30pm

Picnic and concert at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

After church, we prepared some snacks and finger food...

Headed down to the Botanic Gdns at about 5pm to get a good parking lot, then settled ourselves at the lawn in front of the lake.

The SSO was tuning their instruments and rehearsing already.

We were supposed to meet my sis and her family at 5.30pm, but usually when I tell her a time, she is 30min to an hour late. I've waited longer than 1hr for her before too, so we just sat down and started eating first.

Kids enjoyed their food. Whenever it doesn't involve a lot of long leafy green veggies, they tend to enjoy eating it.

The concert started and most of the pieces were familiar classics. Like the New World Symphony.

A little girl seated nearby provided a lot of entertainment for us when her mom arranged her balloons like timpanis around her and she beat on them through the pieces, performing very enthusiastically to the music. Very cute.

dd enjoyed herself very much too. She was asleep for half of it, and the part she was awake, she actually cooed and gurgled with the music. I caught a bit of that in a video clip on FB.

My sis family arrived when it was the last piece, with only about 5-10min left. That was 6.50pm. My niece liked the music very much and she applauded and say "again, again" after the piece ended. My sis, not knowing it was the last piece, told her to clap louder and longer so they'll play more pieces. My niece really went ahead and clapped with all her might.

But the orchestra left the stage. She was so disappointed! It was their first time. But they'll be back for more cos she likes it so much! Next time I'll have to tell my sis a timing that's 1 hr early though! :-)



2 Apr
Good Fri Hol

Brought kids to the Science Center cos the Pixar Animation Exhibition just opened and Dh's side extended clan went to do Qing Ming stuff in the morning and will meet for lunch at the Science Center's Sakura restaurant.

The Pixar Exhibition costs a lot more than the usual Sci Center admission but we paid cos we thought it would give the kids a good idea of how the movies are made. They had a lot of publicity in the papers.

However, even though there was a lot of information, it seemed geared more towards people who can appreciate it - film makers and those who can read all the tiny details/ fine print.

The kids can only look at the drawings and what they enjoyed was just the zoetrope and the video clip on how the pictures/ paintings come to life for the different movies like Toy Story, Incredibles, Ratatouille...

For the Pixar Shorts, they showed the exact same short films we had in our Pixar Shorts DVD already. That was not worth it.

For me, I liked the 3D Zoetrope and the film showing how the still life pics are turned into animations too. The zoetrope is the coolest.

But still the admission fee is too steep. 3D shows like Toy Story will be charged extra. Those might be worth it but we didn't have time for it and we've always got dizzy watching 3D.

But we adore Pixar movies... I can't wait to bring the kids to Toy Story 3. It's showing in June, yay!


Our kids love every single Pixar movie. This is the cute Monster...

Kids in a scene of Ratatouille.


We finished looking at the exhibits within an hour. There were many sketches, some figurines, photos and paintings but the kids at their age, would not fully appreciate the lifeless sketches and historical facts.

I think it would be better for them to reach out to kids by having some activities, more interactive or hands-on exhibits and some friendly volunteer guides on hand to tell the kids more about the different sections and how to make an animated movie. I had to explain everything to the kids and it wasn't whole lot of fun when I had to read the fine print and then explain in bits (since I'm not an insider).

The local polytechnics set up exhibition booths within the Pixar show as well and they were much more enthusiastic with volunteers explaining their stuff. They had the YOG (Youth Olympics) people there showing kids how to play the various sports online.

We went on to explore the other parts of the Science center.

The Discovery zone had the Discovery channel media room. The blue screen is a perfect backdrop for our picture to be taken, haha. If Dh framed it a little better, and we all dressed up more, it would look like a studio shot!

The mirrors in that zone... Kids had a lot of fun fooling around in it, making many "clones" of themselves. They at once tried a lot of fighting stances and laughed hysterically at the effect. It scares me though, to see so many boys... Can't imagine having that many kids, all fighting away.

They had their calm moments, thankfully.

We stopped to browse at the Curiosity Shop on the way out of the Science Center. They saw 2 more Horrible Science books that they didn't have and would really really love to have. They pleaded and begged their dad to buy them, so their dad finally agreed.

They were able to sit and read them while we waited for the rest of the clan for about 1 hour! So it was a good buy. The rest were late because apparently a lot of people were at Sin Ming Drive where the rest of Singapore decided to go do Qing Ming duties there as well. So there was a huge jam.

When they arrived, everyone had a good time eating and chatting. I think the kids treated the restaurant as their home? They walked around and chatted and laughed and played. I just sat and ate and nursed dd back to sleep whenever she woke.

(That's the reason why most breastfed kids are "fat". Or maybe I should say totally direct breastfed kids of SAHMs. Cos when SAHMs need to do something, they want baby to be asleep. What's the easiest way to pacify them, get them into a "drunken stupor" and sleep? Nurse them. So now you know why dd's weight is currently off the charts. I just have the need to do a lot of things everyday, all the time. Like logging into FB, oops.)

I like seeing his aunt have her arm around ds1. We seldom meet this family, only at weddings or Chinese New Year. That makes it once a year. And since we've been to Utah and Tianjin, it's been 3+ years since we last saw them. But when we met them again, the kids were still able to be close to them, talk with them as if they never separated. Hmm, wow.

I like my kids being part of a big extended family and I like them to be close. Just like in the church, and then with their blood relations too. Warms my heart.





Kids were down with flu for a week. During that week, which was AFTER the school hols, I really had a hard time. Fortunately Dh and my mom helped out.

Then they got better after the 1st 2 days of fever but the cough and runny nose lingered. They should not be back at school in case they spread the germs but yet they are well enough to fight, play the fool and drive me mad at home.

So I had to think up activities for them to do when they start getting restless.

One of them was painting. Now that they are bigger, they can paint independently without too much mess. Linda happened to give ds2 a canvas to paint a rocket on, so he used that, while ds1 just used his school drawing block and painted whatever he wanted.



They also did some printing with lady's fingers.

After painting, they decided to hang up their paintings to dry the way I hang my washed floor rugs up! So funny.

Then they help their baby sister to scrub the stroller clean. We had fun pouring and splashing water all over the stroller. I know that's not the proper way to wash it, but it was fun!





Funny incident:
ds1 came home from school, entered the house and handed me a piece of drawing block paper (A3 size).

ds1: "Mom, I want to recycle this."
Me: You don't want it anymore?
ds1: Yup. (went on to toilet, washed hands, then looked for food to eat)
Me: (looked at the drawing, which is quite neat, but not by him) Why? It looks quite nice. Did someone give it to you?
ds1: Yup, but I don't want her to think I like her so much. Don't want to keep. Recycle it.

This is the drawing:

Not his style. Of course not done by him. Looks like it was done by a girl.

This is his style. This particular drawing is on our fridge at the moment. They (ds1 and ds2) change their fridge drawings once in a while, by themselves.

This pic, with albatross, raven, arrows, darts... Usually his pics will have some powerful animals, robots or monsters and there'd be some form of aggression for sure.


I looked at the former pic by the girl. It had flowers, had girls, had nice neat lines drawn with a ruler. Before reluctantly relegating it to the recycling basket, I flipped it over and saw these words:
"Txxx love Ong Sxx Yxx"
with drawings of a decorated heart shape, and then a boy and a girl sitting together, smiling happily.

(cannot picture it cos it contains the full name of the girl)

Suitably taken aback, I rushed back to question ds1, who was gorging himself with all kinds of food now.

Me: SY gave this to you? She drew it? What does this mean? (pointing to heart shape, to the "love" word, and the boy and girl)
ds1: (mouth full) huh? orh... she said she likes me lor... then she gave it to me..
Me: oh.. but why does it say you love her here?
ds1: don't know? maybe she wants me to love her lor...
Me: *speechless*

After his meal, he settled to do his homework. I was by then preoccupied by a crying dd. But I still carried her and hovered around him, and asked him more about this girl. (haha, the very curious and busybody mom...)

Turns out she sits next to him for English classes. (He says a boy sits beside him for Math, and then they change seats yet again for Chinese due to some banding.)
{I just got to know about banding when he told me that! This is another long story. He doesn't even know what band he is in, and when I asked is he in the worst grouping for Chinese, he claims he is in the best group. Never know when to believe him.}

He also says that sometimes, during recess, she will go and sit beside him to eat. I asked him, "I thought you ate with Fariq everyday?" And he said yes, but she will go and sit there with him too.
All this while, she had sometimes sat with him and he never mentioned it to me!

Then more things came out as I asked him more questions abt the girls in class. It turns out that he still doesn't know where the water cooler in school is. And a girl called XH will fill his water bottle for him as and when he needs it filled!

I was like, what?!?! I duly educated him on the importance of being gentlemanly and chivalrous. He needs to offer to do things for girls and not ask them to do things for him! Aiyoh!

My mom, when she saw the drawing, told ds1 she is glad so many girls like him. It must mean he is a nice boy in school.

Dh, upon seeing the drawing, once again asked if the girl is pretty. duh!
And then, he confidently told me that both his sons will have no problems finding girlfriends/ wives in future. His reasoning is that ds1 will be attractive due to his many talents and intelligence. ds2 will be attractive due to his charm and endearing nature/ sensitive personality.

Is it just me who is worried about ds1? Sigh.. I wish I can be so relaxed and optimistic.

*********************

The other activity the boys are engaging in now:

Since ds1 leaves for school earlier and arrives home earlier, while ds2 arrives home later on most days except CCA days for ds1, ds1 has taken to writing and leaving notes for ds2 to discover and read when he gets home.

They'll use my Post-It notes and stick 'em on the study room door. Here's one of the many notes:
"go to the shelter. meet albatross and me. we will plan to attack raider flyer. destroy Him! but how? combine forces!"


Some other notes are quite straightforward, like, "I left you a marshmallow. It's on the table."
Some others are totally in code, I won't be able to make anything out of it. There'll be numbers and some pictures (like a rebus message) but then there'll be some sentences with just letters, like words without vowels.
(ds1 recently borrowed and read a Murderous Math book from the library about codes)

Seriously, I doubt ds2 understands everything his brother wrote, but he enjoys rushing to read them and somehow knows where to go and what to do once he reads them. Ahhh, they have telepathy... It's nice to see them play and interact in a fun and cheerful way.

Then my sis let them choose their birthday presents, budget S$50 (she's a wonderful aunt, what), and ds1 chose Monopoly (the Singapore edition) while ds2 chose a Lego book cum bricks set. They had some balance left over to buy their Schleich/ Bullyland/ Papo animals too!

After the Monopoly was opened, it was played over and over again! Both Dh and I were asked to play with them so many times each day. I have obliged a couple of times, sometimes, even having to carry or sling dd when I play. Now I am totally "off" the game, but they are still at it, albeit the passion is slowly waning.

Here they are, at it with a fervour:

After a few rounds, they (or rather, the cunning ds1) changed a lot of the rules. The 1st rule they changed was to divide all the money up between the 2 of them, so they start ultra rich. The bank has no money, and they don't care.

The other rule was very weird cos it obviously swung all the odds in ds1's favour but ds2 was too young to understand that. I didn't interfere until after a few rounds of losing repeatedly, ds2 came crying to me.

That rule was: all the property cards were divided into 2 groups. ds2 can only buy from one group and ds1 can only buy from the other group. ds2 had all the cards with lower value, eg Joo Chiat Rd, while ds1 had the Sentosa Cove and Tanjong Rhu sets.

That was so funny to me, but obviously not funny at all to ds2.



Recently there is a hot debate on "elitism" in the papers/ online.

Maybe there are people who really consider themselves as the elite and view themselves as separate from other groups of people in the society but I don't see how we can behave like that when we are working or interacting with others outside the school context.

My parents didn't know my primary school was a SAP school or even a good one. They just enrolled me in it cos it was the nearest to our house then. Even though most or all of my primary school classmates are earning a lot or are high flyers now, we are all also fathers and mothers and fellow Singaporeans contributing to the country.

All through life after that, I also went to so-called elite schools but perhaps didn't feel all that "elite" or special because I still went to church and I was the sort who went home after school everyday, not hanging out with friends at Orchard Rd. Only in JC did I stay out late, but mostly in school or the vicinity as well. So I cannot consider myself as only hanging out with "elite" friends.

I think upbringing and how the parents teach the child is more important. It moulds them and influences them. The imprinting is most crucial in childhood. My parents never told me and my sis that we were so special. They didn't place much emphasis on academic results. If we did well, they were happy for us, but we never saw them telling others how good we were, so we didn't feel we were that great either.

Also, they happen to be the reserved and quiet type. So I hardly highlight my strengths and achievements. I admit this could be a disadvantage during work reviews. I do write out all the work and achievements I accomplished over the year but mostly, my supervisors had to see what I did for themselves. I don't talk about them.

I have met many who will introduce themselves and then straightaway list all their achievements. And they are very vocal during meetings or gatherings. As long as the views are constructive and helps others, I don't think anyone would think they are boastful. But we have all met those who are obviously proud and elitist, I guess. I can at once think of a few... haha

Dh came from a different background. His siblings and himself are very vocal. That is not a bad thing.

However, before he became a Christian, he admitted that he seldom thought of how others would feel when he made certain remarks. His good friends would know he is just very frank and straightforward, but he would rub strangers or acquaintances off the wrong way with his direct comments. Sometimes, he comes across as elitist, I guess. Now he is much more mellow.

Ok I digress from the post. These are the remaining photos on ds2's bday.

The cupcakes he decorated for his Sunday School teachers:

The class photo taken on that day. The girls in his class are so sweet. He is the one in a black shirt in the center of the middle row.

Then on Sunday evening at mil's house with his cousins. These cupcakes were also decorated with cream cheese icing by him but the sprinkles and M&Ms were topped by the cousins themselves.

Sample pack of the goody bag he packed for his friends at school.





Recent pics of dd engaged in various activities. Around 1+ to 2 mths old.

Here, the toys on the stroller bar given by Ming and Judith were detached and velcroed onto her wrists. She wasn't aware of them but cos her hands always moved around, the toys made all the rattling and tinkling noises.

Then ds1 played with her, making her smile and vocalise a lot. She was very happy indeed.

To top off the night for her, the 3 males sang many hymns to her, a la the 3 tenors. They really surrounded her and sang. Wow, she is one lucky girl to have so much attention.

When the boys are playing and I need to do some stuff, I realised she can sit happily in the bumbo and watch them for quite some time, maybe 10-15min. That's quite long compared to her normal attention span lying on her back on the bed.

And it's enough for me to go to the toilet, take clothes out of the washing machine, or eat something. So I am thankful for that, thanks to Mary who lent me the bumbo!

(I just need to make sure behind her head is something soft/ padded and around her as well, just in case she jerks her head back or falls forward, which is not supposed to happen, but I do it just in case.)

Her trip to NTUC with daddy! Quite rare!

Sitting before 2 mths old! haha. Only on the soft La-z-boy recliner, cos it can support her back, bum and thighs in such a way she can remain upright.

She is quite demanding and requires either nursing or rocking/ carrying to be able to fall asleep and remain asleep. But who has the time to keep doing that?

I have resorted to many ways short of buying a sarong rocker bed. This is one way:
Place her on her side with firm pillows behind and in front of her to simulate me still lying beside her and give her the false idea that she is still being nursed to sleep.

Place firm and heavy pillows on her tummy and legs to give her the impression that she is still being carried. Basically surround her. Her back must be against the bed's headboard too. And the folded blanket is touching her cheek, as if I am still beside her.

She can sleep slightly longer in these positions, apart from lying on her tummy while sleeping.

Surprise parcel came from UK for her! Lovely Pumpkin patch clothes, a pretty princess board book, a card and a drool-worthy funny book for mommy! Thanks, Dory!

She loves to lie on the changing station, look up at the light and air con unit and "talk" to them. haha.

One of the few rare times she fell soundly asleep cos she is so tired that she was able to lie on the bed without all the pillows and what not.


Often, I have to place her on her tummy. It is advised against by many experts because of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) or suffocation.

But it is the only position she can sleep for 2 hrs uninterrupted, cos she feels secure. I just have to keep checking on her and make sure my bed is firm and without loose cloth that might smother her.

Her mouth and lips often become compressed and look like a bird's beak, very funny.

Both ds1 and ds2 often slept on their tummy as infants as well. They also had colic and it soothes them to sleep on the tummy. Sometimes we just have to take expert recommendations, think it over but not blindly follow. Can modify a bit to suit our circumstances, but overall still observe safety standards.

Pic below: lying on the sofa, on ds1's pillow, communicating with us. She loves to coo, gurgle and "say" all kinds of things now. Very animatedly. Such an enjoyment to watch and listen to her.

We are indeed enjoying this 3rd baby a lot.

-{dear-hubby}- dh
-{dear-son}-ds1 T
-{dear-son}-ds2 J
-{dear-daughter}-dd E
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huiming shaypiao chiuwai teck 03S73 05S73 05S75 05S78 05S7B janelle medalene eunice zelda maryGanMa meizan sheryl dory jessica danielle sammi jen OzSeow

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