Wednesday 20 February 2013

Jare turned TWO

My boy has turned TWO! Welcome to the terrible two phrase and as this gets more challenging, I'm too, all ready to receive the hurdles. My little boy who's still barely able to put words into a sentence, has about 120 words in his little dictionary. I counted that with excel. Shall try tracking every month to see if we've been helping him to increase those vocab. He has grown so fast, outgrowing my arms soon. Still, he's really adorable to cuddle, hug and kiss all day long.

Significant Milestones achieved:
1. Feed independently. So much so that I sometimes wish I could feed him instead. He's too messy and slow. But it's a good skill, practice makes perfect. I'm now proud that he can clean up a fried chicken part all on his own. Really clean to the core!

Love the seriousness he gave
 
2. He's finally able to eat cherries the correct way, after 3 attempts of seeds swallowing. Glad they were passed out and not growing a tree in him.

3. He's able to conquer his A to Z phonics. All thanks to leapfrog, letter factory.

4. Knows some simple colours, shapes and puzzles. 

5. And of all, I like it that he's a good little helper at home. He helps me with the laundry, putting his dirty clothes in the laundry basket, getting clothes into the washer and out of the dryer. He takes instructions very well.

On this big day of his, I baked him his favourite character, an Elmo cake! With that healthy nose - Oranges! I was even tempted to lay Elmo's face with strawberries, but wasn't too confident about how it would looked, I had better stick to icing.

We had an early celebration at home before heading down to Disneyland for his big fun. We thought Disneyland is a nice place to celebrate birthday. With that 'Happy Birthday' tag, strangers and crews would wish you!

Happy Birthday my Prince!

Birthday fun at Disneyland!

Thank you little boy for coming into our lives. Watching you and your sister grow and love each other is our greatest joy! Happy Birthday!!!

Saturday 16 February 2013

Friendship Day in School

Jazz celebrated valentines aka friendship day in school today. We missed the notice about preparing a little something for her classmates, but Mother's instinct prompted me to work on something for her teachers and friends. I know valentines day is quite commonly celebrated among schools here and it can be quite embarrassing to receive and not give. I always like to instill the art of giving as a lifestyle within the kids, cultivating it since young.

And so, I worked overtime to get these done, while she was asleep. One side printed with a heart and typed 'From: Jazz', the other side with a chocolate bar double taped to the paper. 

Hope the kids and teachers love it! 
 
Sweet valentines

Great thoughts from the little minds
 
In return, she got these much goodies back! I'm glad we prepared something for the kids too. My guess-estimation was surprisingly near accuracy even though I had no idea how many kids were in her class. I'm sure everyone had fun giving and receiving! 

Today also marks her last day with this school she attends thrice weekly.

Valentines craft

Did a door knob holder with the kids on valentines day. Here are the materials we gathered:
- Colourful papers (3 to 4 colours)
- 1 pipe cleaner
- 2 wiggly eyes
- 1 paper plate
- 1 piece of tissue
- White glue
 - scissors


1. Cut a large heart shape out of the red coloured paper. Large enough to cover the paper plate. Then paste in on the bottom of the paper plate.

What we need

2. Trim away the excess parts of the plate. And cut a '+' in the center of the heart. Approximately 3 by 3 inch, depending on the size of your door knob.

Did this tricky cut for Jazz

3. Cut two little heart shaped dimples and a little ribbon. Paste them as below. Trim pipe cleaner to fit as its mouth.

Smiley heart
4. Lastly, tear a tissue into many little pieces as its 'hair.' Tissue tearing is Jare's favourite activity.

Paste all round the border

5. Now's all good with the door knob as its nose!

Door knob holder

  And if you do not have those wiggly eyes, here's another option to cut those circled eyes.

Happy Valentines day!

 Great craft that helps beautify our door. The kids sure had fun!

Friday 15 February 2013

Talkative Thursday: Great weeks

I'm beginning to see the highs of my days here. Had a very bless week last and this week with much gratefulness within:

1. I'm thankful to have gotten my California driver license. I could have tried to smuggle my stay here without doing the tests, relying much on my SG license. But, what prompted me was that one night, when I was on the way back after a baking class, I was followed by the police for not having my headlights on. That was scary! With their flash lights flooding my rear mirror, I thought I was suppose to give way, but I was literally followed between the lanes. I pulled up and 'chatted' with the kind officer who gave me some good advices. Spouses here know how challenging it can be to take our state license without any social security number, I'm glad to have attained it swiftly. 

2. I was introduced by some spouses to MOPS - Mothers of Preschoolers. A place where local mothers gather for a time of fellowship through crafts and guest speakers sharing tips on parenting. MOPS happens once every fortnight, and what makes everything truly enjoyable is their awesome childcare services. I always have two little ones on tow and I'm so thankful for that 2 hours of women's time. Eating breakfast with no kids on my lap. 

Am glad to be part of this group and to have met some friendly local mums. Last week, we did lemon sugar scrub craft. All easy with olive oil, sugar and lemon juice. What all mums need - a good relaxed scrub! Love these sessions that help make motherhood a happier journey. 
 
My scrub
 
3. I've also taken a leap forward to attend a series of women's Bible study classes. Even more glad to have a spiritual friend, Mummy vonne for walking the same faith with me. I'm truly blessed by the teachings and learning about the spiritual women in the Bible. I'm hungry for knowledge and hope for more transformations in my life - Being a better women for God in the multiple roles I hold in life, a Wife, a Mother, a Daughter, a Sister, a Friend and the list goes on. Again, their amazing childcare services gave me good moments for God's words without distracting kids.
 
4. We had blasting fun of Lunar New Year celebration in this far away land. The SG community here is big and strong. With that, we had celebrations after celebrations at different houses and the kids had their overwhelming dose of red packets too! Thank you uncles and aunties! One thing I truly miss and can't get here is Bak Kwa. My attempt to make some isn't as tasty. Sigh! Above that, I've also attempted peanut cookies with two other spouses and made some cornflakes cookies too. These were yums!

Look alike bak kwa, but not tasting as good

Appreciate the moments of families get together for food and chats. And next week, more exciting events coming up...



Tuesday 5 February 2013

Buttons - Interesting know

One evening, while the man was helping with the laundry, he asked if I've ever noticed how buttons are sewn on the men and women's apparel. I thought he was very random with his question until he imparted an interesting know. Buttons on women's blouses are sewn on the left while buttons for men's shirts are sewn on the right. Something my apparel designing friends would have known, but definitely new to me.

In the Victorian days, the ladies have got servants to help put on their wears like corsets. And buttons on the right help to ease the servants when buttoning their mistresses, as most of them are right handed. Since then, buttons have been sewn the way it is, till today. Even for the little ones.

Jare's tee above and Jazz's dress at the bottom




And I thought buttons for little ones should be all on the left, since I'm 'servant' to them. 

Friday 1 February 2013

Serious conversation with Jazz

I seem to have had an unintended serious conversation with Jazz this evening, while we were singing a birthday song in the car...

Jazz: How old are you, mama?
Me: I'm 31
Jazz: What about Dada?
Me: He's 34
Jazz: How old will you grow until? 
Me: Well, I'm not really sure, we age every year just like how you grew from 1 to 2 and to 3. 
Jazz: What is age?
Me: Age is growing old, till a day I stop growing, I'll die.
Jazz: I don't want Mummy to die, then no one will take care of me
And she started crying, in sincere tears, not those pretentious cry. 
Me: Darling, Mummy won't be with you forever, some day, you'll grow to be a Mummy and have little children and family of your own. We'll all age and die.
Jazz: No no, I don't want Mummy to die.
Me: Alright alright, we'll try to be with each other as long as we live and as much as possible. Let's take good care of our precious lives, be responsible and not endanger ourselves anytime and anywhere. 

Woah, what a conversation has this birthday song led us to?!! In some sense, my little girl seemed so grown up, we actually discussed about a 'cessation' topic. She understands the fear and sadness of losing a loved one. The moment she started to cry, I got teary too, I felt how genuine her love was expressed for me. And I thought Mothering her was a lifetime! I got reminded that she's not gonna stay a little girl all time. She matures as I get senile.

I gave her no promise that I'll be with her forever, but as much as living is possible, I will be there for her and Jare. Life is simply unpredictable. Moral of conversation - Don't take tomorrow for granted, treasure every little moment with our loved ones.