Mucocyst

Sometime in Oct, we noticed there's a small growth under SY's tongue. We thought it was ulcer, so we didn't really bother. Just applied honey, but it did not go away. When it grew abnormally large after approximately 1 month, we got worried and took her to see the PD. He told us it's not ulcer, but mucocyst and suggested us to see an ENT right away. He warned us there's a need to remove it thru a minor operation. 

I searched the web, and found some info on this. It's not as scary as we initially felt (sources  from here). 

mucocele (MYOO-koh-seal) is a swelling in your mouth. It can happen when a salivary gland is injured or blocked. 

You have many salivary glands in your mouth. They secrete saliva. Saliva is made of water, mucus and enzymes.

Saliva moves from a gland into your mouth through tiny tubes called ducts. Sometimes, one of these tubes is cut. The saliva pools at the cut spot and causes a swelling, or mucocele. These swellings commonly occur inside the lower lip. They also can be found in other places inside the mouth, including the roof of the mouth and the floor of the mouth.

Swelling also can occur if one of these tubes is blocked and saliva backs up in the tube. If swelling occurs because the submandibular duct is blocked, the mucocele is called a ranula. A ranula is quite large and appears under the tongue.

When we went to see the ENT, he brushed off our apprehension. It's not dangerous at all. The most, it might make her feel uncomfortable. He wouldn't encourage operation, but asked us to apply this gel instead. The gel will make her feel sticky, but SY co-operated willingly as she didn't want to go for operation. 

After about 1 week, she's healed!

A Barbie Makeover

On my 5th lunar birthday, I got to a experience something new - a total Barbie makeover experience! I've happily changed into the Barbie dress and heels, but when they started to apply the make-up on me, I cried! So since the slumber party was going to start soon, Mommy told the girl that I'll come back later instead.

Barbie slumber party - can u see me in pyjamas with my pillow and a barbie doll?

Guess what we did there? Just watching the Fashion FairyTale Movie from a CD, which I've already watched many times at home! Anyway, I got some sweets from Santa Clause, as well as a gift towards the end of the show. 

The next day, I had an appointment with Mickey & Minnie, but Mei Mei suddenly developed high fever. So Mommy took her to the hospital, while Daddy & Amah took me to see my mousie friends.

I took my own mickey along too! I actually won a free ticket to the Disney on Ice -World of Fantasy show by answering a question correctly. 

After that, I went for my Barbie make-over...

Barbie in transformation...

Did I cry? Mommy asked. Err.. yes I did. Coz it's my first time having make-up and I'm afraid! What an excuse.... Anyway, Amah managed to soothe me and I'm fine in no time. 

Ta-da! Do I look like Barbie?

We didn't buy the softcopy so here's what you see after we took a shot of the 4R hardcopy that we have.

Sze Yi's 5th Birthday Celebration in School

When Sze Yi informed me that her teacher told her that next day was her birthday, I thought they mixed up. It was supposed to be 1 month later. However, when I dropped her off at school, her class teacher asked me if we'd stay for her birthday celebration. We're taken by surprise because we're not prepared. Hubby had a meeting, so he couldn't stay. I could, but we're car pooling that day. So he had to fetch me back to get my car and when I reached, I was late. But my girl was sure very happy to see me, she was waving at me joyfully.

Can you spot her at the far left corner there? 

The birthday cake

The birthday girl receiving the birthday present and a flower for Mommy

A photo group session with the Oct, Nov and Dec babies 

(there are some more which didn't fit in Mommy's camera)

Can you spot Mei Mei? She's smiling at Mommy :) 

Jie Jie & Mei Mei

This is the song that was sang towards the last part - very touching it seems

After that, parents could take the birthday kids down to have breakfast provided by the school.

Turning FIVE

Sze Yi has been counting down to her birthday since 1 week ago. We started the celebration as early as Saturday. Took them to Toyland on Saturday night for a shopping spree, and the birthday girl got a present each from Daddy, Mommy and even Mei Mei!

On Sunday, we started our day by going to church...

Girls in purple during Advent

Followed by ice-cream making using Mei Mei's birthday gift! Mmm... it tastes yummy!

Then, off we went out for celebration! After a froggy lunch at Sakae (special request from the birthday girl), we spent some time with the books while waiting for the screening to start. 

Cheeky Santarinas clowning around and refused to pose nicely for Mommy

before they finally behaved!

And then, comes the awaited moment! We went for this...

Initially the girls were afraid, because of the loud sound effect before the actual show came. There were some previews of the other movies, and most of them were dark, scary, violence... that's why they hid their faces & close their ears with their hands. But when Rapunzel started, they didn't feel scared anymore. Because it's bright and sunny, and there were cartoon characters. Phew!!

SJ slept towards the end (after all the pop corns finished), but woke up immediately when we went out from the cinema. I asked her if she enjoyed the movie, she nodded her head :) She's really a very good girl, I could always be rest assured that I wouldn't miss any part when I brought her along. How about Jie Jie? Well, she behaved very well too, she watched the whole movie on Daddy's lap, while enjoying her pop corns & drinks. 

That night, we ordered Mc Donalds for dinner at Amah's house, because Daddy has promised the birthday girl that she can have Mc. D on her birthday. They couldn't wait to play with their party packs that very night. But good thing was that they knew how to keep everything back in good shape for the actual day. 

Mei Mei imitating Jie Jie

We went home to our house quite late that night. Sze Yi insisted to help me with her cake. So we waited until Sze Juin fell asleep, and then we started at around 11++pm. It was Stage 2. The night before, we've made the biscuit base (Stage 1). Sze Yi helped me all the way from beginning till we put the cake into the oven. By then it was already 12 midnight. She wanted to wait for it to bake, even though I told her I'll take care of that. She said instead, "It's ok, never mind. Mommy's so tired already, I want to help you". Then she took out a book for me to read with her, but halfway thru, she was yawning so badly that I suggested that she took her milk first. She nodded, and then she went to bed :)

On the actual day, we didn't take any leave. The school had already celebrated for her last month. We gave them a day off and sent them to Amah's house (in fact, they have missed schools a lot this holidays, they only went once a week in average! That's because Daddy pitied them, as it's supposed to be school holidays). It's the first time in 5 years that we didn't take at least half a day off to celebrate our girl's birthday. But we went back to see them during lunch time, and let her open another present from Aunty SL. 

She was ecstatic when she found out what it was!

After work, I took the cake to Amah's house because there's where the celebration will take place. Sze Yi said it's better to have it at Amah's house because the guards won't let her guests in to our place (LOL!).

Present opening time again... this time from Aunty HP. 

Posing with their cousins, everyone was eager to see what she got this time

I launched Stage 3 then - the cake decoration, with the girls (4, not 2!), taxing the candies, kit kat, candles and the deco items one by one. Finally, when it's ready, here's how it looks...

Yes, I managed to persuade her to go for m&m cake instead of little mermaid

Can you guess what cake is that? 

Yes, it's cheese cake, since the birthday girl said she likes cheese very much

See how happy the girls look

1, 2, 3, blow!

And then cut, cut, cut...

The girls had a fun time playing with each other that night, while Mommy get to catch up with their cousin's parents. It was a great night for everyone, and we didn't realize it's moving by very fast. We reached home nearly by midnight after we cleaned up the mess. But we all had a great time, and the birthday girl loved it the most. 

Happy Birthday Sze Yi darling. We hope it's a birthday you'll remember, love you always. 

Sze Yi's Prize Giving Ceremony

We missed the actual concert because we're down in SG attending my brother's wedding. Luckily they had another mini one 9 days later which specially catered for the Year 3-5 students.

Sze Yi receiving her trophy

They printed out all the achievements on the trophy - basically there were 3 main categories that were evaluated. Singing, Arts and Class Performance. The Singing and Art competitions will select the best 3 from the whole forms (they have a few lasses for Year 5), while the Class Performance were based on the top 3 best performers in class - which were evaluated from their exam results and also their everyday behavior. 

Sze Yi got awards for Singing and Class Performance, so her trophy was the medium size. 

Some students even got all 3 awards, so they got the tallest trophy. 

The awards recipients from Year 5 classes

Sze Yi with her class teacher. 

We're really lucky to have her as her class teacher, she's a very nice and wonderful teacher. 

Sze Juin came to support her Jie Jie (she was too small to be evaluated, but Sze Yi told me that Sze Juin actually went up the stage to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars) 

Sze Juin with her class teacher. She's a very caring teacher, and SJ warmed up to her immediately. 

After that, we were entertained by some performance from the students. 

Universal Studio Singapore

We had a getaway to the Universal Studio after Chiu Chiu's wedding in Singapore. It was also Mei Mei's first trip to Sg (well, if we ignore the transits during the Russia trip recently).

Let's see what the photos tell you about our trip, ok?

At the main entrance

Me and the woodpeckers, too bad I can't find the real one like this one.

Here's the map...

We decided to start off with Madagascar first.

Our family photo turned out quite good (the hardcopy, I mean) - much better than this one, so we ended up buying that as well!

We loved this part the most, we've had more than 4 rides here

Next, we moved on to Far Far Away...

With Puss in Boots - Erm, I nearly cried, Mei Mei was braver than me!

Then I spotted this!

I insisted that I wanted a ride, no matter how Daddy or Mommy convinced me that it's too dangerous for me. So, in the end, Daddy took me to check if my height meets the requirement, and I qualified! I was thrilled (while Daddy was nervous, because he got assigned to bring me in, while Mommy took care of Mei Mei)

 Mei Mei was very co-operative, waiting for me and Daddy to finish the ride

Can you see me up there? 

That's where Mommy thought I was, so she just went snapped, snapped, snapped!

 Finally, we're back!

Uh, did you really think we went for the ride? Well, Mommy did! But Daddy told her, while queuing up for our turns, I chickened out, so we didn't go for the ride afterall! Ooopsss!

Next, we went to watch Shrek 4D. 

I was sitting by myself on the moving chair, and I got a terrible shock when the water sprinkled on me and my chair started to move uncontrollably. I kept screaming until Daddy had to bring me out. Mommy opted for a stationary chair, because Mei Mei insisted to sit on her lap, so she was seated very far from me because the stationary chairs were only located at certain places. So she didn't hear me screaming (although Daddy claimed the whole hall could hear me!). Anyway, Mei Mei was not very brave either. She kept covering both her eyes, and sat very still when she heard all the noises. She would pull her leg closer to Mommy when she felt the water sprinkled on her. Still, she was very well-behaved, and sat through the whole movie, so Mommy   got to enjoy the whole show :)

What did I do while waiting for Mommy? I finished the whole can of the 100 plus drink while identifying what I wanted from the Fairy Godmother's Potion shop!

  We had a ride at the small wooden ferris wheel at the Potion Factory. 

Here's how the Fairy Godmother's Potion shop looked like from the outside. 

We ended up buying 2 princess shrek water tumblers and a princess tiara for myself. 

After that, we had lunch

Posing with the princesses

before moving on to the Donkey Live show

At least in this show, both of us were not scared at all. As how Mei Mei puts it, we just need to clap only, no need to be afraid one. 

Next, we moved on to the Lost World. 

 Jurassic Park...

While we're queuing up for this ride, Mei Mei suddenly fell asleep! 

So Mommy went out from the queue and waited for me & Daddy.

See, I got my Dino pass!

After the game, we continued on to Ancient Egypt.

Since Mei Mei hadn't wake up yet, Daddy took me for a train ride around the place. 

Here are some of the things that I saw along the way

Posing with the Mummies

Before going to look for my Mommy!

Ah, so Mei Mei's still sleeping...!

Next, we made our move to Sci-Fi City

 Yes, Mei Mei's awake!

After a spinning ride, Mommy's more dazed than us!

Then, we roughly covered New York.

Random poses

We managed to catch the making of the Spielberg movies there, but both Mei Mei and myself were afraid when we saw thunder and lightning. 

We kind of completed most of the theme parks except Hollywood, but before Mommy and Daddy took us there, we were distracted by the Madagascar rides. Of course we vetoed our next destination. Yay, we had a really fun merry-go-rounds, and we took our own sweet time selecting characters to ride on each time. After that, we went back to those places that we enjoyed most, yes, for the 2nd round. 

The merry-go-rounds that we loved the most was actually King Julien's Beach Party Go-Round

 The large tree that greeted guests entering the Madagascar zone 

On our way, we saw the Move It Move It Madagascar dance. Initially I was excited to see the penguins. But when we had a close-up photo session with them, I got scared and cried!

Can you see me crying? Mei Mei was braver, but she's too engrossed with the penguins and missed the camera!

Back to Far Far Away - we missed this place just now. Did you noticed Mei Mei's new pose? She kept posing with one of her legs up!

While in Far Far Away, we passed the 4D Shrek again, and since the showing time was just about to begin, Mommy asked Daddy to go see since he missed it just now. The show was really nice, and Mommy felt that the trip won't be complete without that. So, while Daddy's inside, what did we do? 

Yes, free advertisement :)

 Then, we went to have another ride at the ferris wheel inside the Potion Factory

Inside the wooden ferris wheel

Posing with Shrek

And then the Donkey!

Savoring the marshmallows...

And finally, we made it to Hollywood.

Watching one of the dances along the street

That's our last stop in Universal Studio. It was indeed a tiring day. But that's not all yet. The night was still young. Guess where we stayed? Find out in the next post!