9 little updates...

It has been a busy month for me so that explains the lack of posts this month. Hence, before the month ends, I am going to lump everything into just 1 post here. And, being the 9th month of the year, I happened to have 9 little updates here, most of which were things related to my girls' new milestones.

This month has seen...

1. Sze Yi singing Michael Jackson's song, Heal the World like a pro. Oh yeah, we've switched her to another music school last month, starting her on the Little Mozarts' program. Both the girls loved music so much that when they heard music, they'd start dancing or moving their bodies to the tune (I had to bring Sze Juin along too at times because there's no one to take care of her).

2. Sze Juin's growing vocabulary (no more, close, open, bird bird, sorry, thank you, please, buyau (don't want in Mandarin), mei you (don't have), hello, bye bye, Gong Gong, mei mei (pretty), wow wow (for dog), cat, throw, kakak, aunty, uncle, wee wee, ng ng, lai (come), sit down, apple, etc.) She seemed to be able to pick up words faster than Sze Yi at this age last time, and it's rather easy for her to repeat after us when we asked her to say a new word.

3. My 2 girls helping out with the laundry. Sze Yi could now hang the clothes out to dry, and also to collect them back after they're dry, while Sze Juin did most of the passing of clothes (dry and wet) over to me or her sister. Sze Yi could also fold all the clean clothes and put them back into the respective drawers correctly (meaning according to the owner, like hers, her sister, mine and daddy's). Well, if I can close 1 eye, of course it's considered job done! You see, she still couldn't fold them very neatly yet, and she would just pile all the folded clothes into the closet/drawer without segregating them (pants, blouses, towels, undies, etc.).

4. The girls went to the fun fair at least twice already (Sze Yi's more, of course). The first time, all of us ride together with them. However during the 2nd visit, Sze Yi insisted that she could ride on her own so we just stood outside and let her ride alone. When she waved to me as the train left us, with the proud look on her face, I couldn't help imagining that this would happen a few years down the road later, when she's leaving for further studies, and I knew deep down that I would cry then, the feeling of her leaving me was still unbearable although I knew that I couldn't avoid it.

5. Sze Juin can do somersault now! And she's also a quick imitater, she quietly observed what her Jie Jie was doing, and not long later, I'll noticed that she would try to imitate what she saw earlier! Another incident was that she actually caught a cockroach the other day - she's seen me catching cockroaches and then she told me "kat chat" (meaning cockroach in Cantonese). I looked at her hand and saw one there :)

6. Sze Juin's learning to pick up the shape sorter currently. She could put all the blocks into their respective place already, but at times she would need me to tell her where to place them. She could then nicely place them all into the hole on her own!

7. Sze Juin's learning to use the potty now. Sometimes there's output when she asked us to let her sit on the potty, but most of the times, she just wanted to play. At times, she would signal us that it's coming, but it's too late. She could now tell us that she's uncomfortable and wanted her diapers changed if she poo poo in it.

8. Sze Yi's getting easier to handle nowadays. She's more understanding and we could use reasoning with her. Not as naughty as she used to be. When she's naughty last time, she could easily drive hubby and I crazy. I learnt that it's really important to spend lots of personal time with our kids, instead of leaving them to the care of others. If we couldn't handle our kids, who else could? And despite my busy schedule, I decided to give more time and patience for my 2 girls even though I was really tired. The results were amazing, and I honestly think that her attitude has improved a lot! Just yesterday, she came back telling us that it's her teacher's birthday, so she got 2 chocolates - 1 for Mommy and 1 for Daddy. She didn't even take one herself! Also, now she hardly requests for never-ending stories when she wants to sleep, or when we're in the car (not as frequent as last time).

9. The girls enjoyed playing on their own and also with each other now. So I got to accomplish more of the housework while they were playing instead of having to wait until they slept. However, recently Sze Juin was rather clingy, I'm not sure why. Maybe she's just grown 3 teeths in a shot? She had 11 teeths now. Also Sze Juin didn't want to take milk from the bottle - whether EBM or formula. Ah yes, and that reminded me of her new antics - when she wanted to drink milk, she'd lie down on the bed or sofa, pulled up her blouse and said "nen nen", as if wanting to nurse me!

And They Live Happily Ever After...

Yes, I am going to blog about another wedding dinner that we've just attended at E&O Hotel. When I showed Sze Yi my friend's wedding album, she asked me if the bride has met her prince. I told her yes, and they live happily ever after.... :)

Our camera's LCD monitor was not functioning, so we hadn't been taking many photos lately. Here are a few precious photos that was taken with my father's camera when we went back to Ipoh during the Raya weekend, and being uploaded by my brother so I get to share them here.

Little Mozarts in the making?

My brother got these costumes from Hong Kong for them, which were just the right time because we would be attending a wedding dinner that week. Luckily my father took a photo of them in it, because I didn't get a chance to have Sze Juin's picture taken on that wedding dinner night.

Sze Yi with her cheeky pose

Sze Juin's still afraid of my parents... see the look on her face!

And here's the photo taken by my colleague's 40D - only had Sze Yi in it because Sze Juin was too afraid to join us.

Noticed the difference? Sze Yi was rather shy here compared to the earlier photos, right?

Well, luck was on my side because the 2 girls sit thru the whole dinner up to the 7th course! I was really proud of Sze Juin because at such age (16 months), this was really a great milestone. Last time when Sze Yi was around this age, hubby and I had to take turns going out with her every 2-3 courses or so, but this time, we got to enjoy our meals. Only during the 7th course, Sze Juin wanted to go join the kids at the stage dancing :). She kept pulling my hand to ask me dance with her. So, I took them out for a walk outside.

If you're wondering what kept her occupied throughout the dinner, it's nothing than the snacks that I'd prepared and also the music played by the band. I gave her cranberries and apricot in litle containers (I separate them into 2 different containers, and only gave her one by one, so that she'll be kept entertained all the time). She also played with the water tumble, pouring out the water onto her babychair and also her dress! Luckily when I stopped her, she only struggled for awhile before I managed to distract her with other things. Another good thing was that I noticed she was quite attracted to the songs played by the band. When they finished playing, she would sign with her hand, motioning 'no more' sign and said "Boh". Then when they started a new song, she would start to move her body, dancing along with the song. It's cute to watch her.

As for the big one, hubby was entertaining her and feeding her (but she ate very little that day, didn't want most of the food). At times, she got naughty and wanted her sister's snacks. She actually finished up one of the container's food, so I had to use my backup container instead. Luckily it could last till quite some time. And this girl chose to do her big business there (hotel environment?) of all the place and time! I've been asking her at home, but she kept saying no. Then in the hotel, she told me she wanted to go wee wee. I took her there twice, but on the 2nd time, she said she also wanted to poo poo and it just came out without much notice! But luckily she didn't create too much mess for me and it's towards the end of the dinner already.

All in all, I felt glad that I took them there and was really proud of them, even though they gave me so much headache in the beginning. We just came back from Ipoh that afternoon, and Sze Juin only had a 1-hour nap. She didn't want to sleep after that, and only started to get sleepy again when we're preparing to go to dinner, but still refused to sleep. And I had a hard time trying to get her to wear that costume, she kept crying and struggling. In the end, I just let her ran around naked, until we're about to leave the house. As for Sze Yi, she kept saying she wanted to tuck in her clothes (need to tuck in only will look nice, that's what my teachers said). So she wore a pants-like skirt and tucked the dress into it! I kept telling her how ugly she looked, but she refused to let me take that out. Luckily in the end, before we left the house, she agreed to take that out! My, looks like my little girls had a taste of their own :)

Daddy's Birthday

While the nation was celebrating their independence, we're celebrating our Daddy's birthday at Ferringhi Garden. Nope, it's not the actual day yet, but we took the opportunity of the public holiday since it's quite a distance from where we're staying.

This was my 2nd time celebrating Daddy's birthday. Last year, I was just about 3.5 months and that was my first outing. Before that they hardly took me out, since I was too small.

1 year ago

Now

No, you didn't see wrongly, I'm a BIG girl now!

Daddy, Mommy and I arrived rather early, so we had time to go around the place while waiting for Jie Jie, Amah, and 3rd Chik Chik (2nd Chik Chik was still in Singapore). By the time they arrived, I've finished my porridge!

Amah, 3rd Chik Chik and Jie Jie

Halfway eating, we're greeted by a band who offered to sing us some songs. They started with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for me, followed by Mary Had a Little Lamb for Jie Jie and finally Happy Birthday for Daddy. Very nice songs!

While they were eating, Jie Jie and I had a fun time roaming around the place. Mommy had to follow me all over the place, since I wouldn't want to sit still. After everyone was done eating, Mommy asked the waitress to serve the birthday cake. It took Daddy by surprise, even though he knew that they would be serving the cake soon. Why? Because of the setting, how it was served, and also the birthday songs that came with the cake - from the crew of waiter/waitress. It was really a pleasant surprise.

Photo session with the birthday boy - yes, see I was clapping my hand too!

The birthday cake - Mommy's home-made peach marscarpone cheese cake

Enjoying the birthday cake - Jie Jie feeding me

Well, that's only the prelude. Here's what happened on the actual day...

Jie Jie insisted on getting a party hat before we had our dinner.

We had a lot of detour before we finally made it to our destination - the dinner place, which was the same one that we went to during Mommy's birthday. Jie Jie kept asking for this and that. Daddy had to make a few u-turns because she didn't want to go to Jusco when we're nearly there, but to Tesco instead. And she wanted to get a party hat for Daddy somemore! Since we're running out of time, Mommy told Daddy to ignore her - we had to return the camera to Mommy's friend by 10pm, and it was already 8.30pm then. Our camera's LCD was not functioning so Mommy borrowed one for this special occasion. And Mommy's friend had been very nice to come to our place to deliver it to her, and also to collect it back later. In the end, Daddy and Mommy managed to convince Jie Jie that party hats were only sold in Jusco, so she agreed to eat in Jusco (actually it's QBM). Phew! Much nearer to our house compared to Tesco.

When we reached Jusco, Jie Jie headed straight to Toy r Us and she took quite some time to choose the party hat, etc. Not only for her, but for everyone! Daddy was really patient with her, and in the end, he managed to persuade her to get the princess party set for herself (she wanted a blue pipe, not any other colour!) while everyone else had a common hat (as if it's her birthday!). In the end, when we're done, Mommy thought we could go straight for dinner. Not that easy, we were distracted by the rides on the way so they had to make another stop there and let us had some fun at the playground first before we finally headed to the dinner place.

Jie Jie ate a lot of those sushi rolls, while I had some portions too. Later I wanted to go walk walk so Mommy had to take me out for a short walk while Daddy and Jie Jiew finished their dinner. When we're finally done, we headed home to sing birthday song to Daddy and cut the cake.

Posing with our party set

Jie Jie wanted to light the candle, see she's holding the knife to cut the cake too!

Singing the birthday song and cutting of the cake

A mille crepe birthday cake, Happy Birthday Daddy!