Jo and Ray in town

Joanne and Rayhan have been in town this past week and I met up with them several times, in fact I saw her 4 days in a row!

On Monday after a check-up at KKH, I found out she was nearby at United Square so I popped by to say 'hi' and buy some groceries at the same time. Found her at the Cotton On Kids stocking up on clothes for Ray and I bought some things for Natasha as well. We went to a couple of other shops before parting ways.

On Tuesday, she shopped at Vivo with Tsolmon and Alistair and swung by in the evening to see Nat and Sasha. Swana and Gigi were here too, and Nitya and Anaya dropped in for a while, so there were 5 kids in the house and whenever we have an influx of babies and toddlers, I dub the house 'Mita-ssori'.





On Wednesday, we brought the bubbas to the Bird Park together with Tsolmon and Nitya. Thank goodness Nat co-operated by sitting in the stroller most of the time or walking on her own since I was alone and I think she enjoyed herself.




Didn't really take in all the exhibits, but managed to catch the Birds and Buddies show, view the Lory Loft, the waterfall, penguins, some flamingos and ride the monorail. The Bird Park isn't a very stroller-friendly attraction with limited ramps and lots of steps. Had lunch at the Bongo Burger, where Nat and Anaya hammed it up for the camera.








On Thursday afternoon, I met Jo and Tsolmon again at Tanglin Mall. Ray had an unfortunate accident in the baby care room in a split second while Joanne turned away to wash her hands. His hand fell through a dustbin swing door which was part of the changing table and he hit his face. His cheek got severely pinched and he had a small cut on his eyelid.

Not taking any chances, we brought him to a clinic that was just outside the room, where the doctor cleaned his wound and checked him thoroughly. Coincidentally, the doctor is the brother of the pediatrician we bring Nat to sometimes at Crown Centre. Poor baby, I shudder to think about how close he came a serious eye injury but he was laughing away in no time and we proceeded to check out the Zara sale at Liat Towers.

This morning we met again for a final time before she departs tomorrow. Had breakfast at East Coast KFC and Germaine and Ginny even woke up early for the occasion. Or rather, Joanne gave them a very effective wake-up call! Jane, Albert and Ethan also joined us and we were so noisy inside the restaurant.




Midway, Nick brought Nat to the beach to play with her sandcastle kit before he rushed off for a football tournament down the road. The rest of us then strolled along the beach for a while before cooling off at Carl's Jr. It was soooo hot today, Natasha was melting!

And the award goes to...

...Nat and Gigi for being such actresses as they turn 29 and 22 months respectively!



This past month, they have been falling to their knees very easily at the slightest reprimand. If you scold them for doing something they weren't supposed to do, they would pretend to fall and in an injured voice complete with quivering lips try to gain sympathy by saying, "I fall down, I fall down" as a means to distract from their bad behaviour! But they didn't fool us and have since given up!

From not wanting to sit in the stroller or walk on her own, Nat has made a u-turn and is starting to display some independence. Now everything is, "I do myself" or "I walk myself". Am so glad I don't have to lug her much these days, she willingly walks most places and occasionally agrees to use the stroller, but she prefers Gigi's Peg Perego that Natasha has been using over her Lulu Guinness Maclaren but the point is she can be persuaded to sit and walk now, coincidentally after I stopped insisting she do so. Guess she wanted to do things her way and didn't like being told what to do!



Even when it comes to feeding, she keeps wanting to feed herself so I encourage her whenever the food is not something too soupy. Likewise, she insists on brushing her own teeth, but usually she'll just suck and swallow the toothpaste so I brush for her first, then she practices herself. She's had some success on the potty, requesting to sit on it the last couple of days and actually pooping 3 times on it. Progress!

She's not independent when it comes to sleep though. Instead of crying in the middle of the night, she now drags her pillows and blanket and stealthily enters our room at odd hours and climbs into the bed herself without making a peep. Nick almost kicked her once, not knowing she had sneaked in.

The phrase of the month has been, "Gimme some" in a very 'teh'-like manner whenever we're eating something she hasn't tried. And when she gets her way, she'll say, "Thank you, welcome!" saving us the trouble of saying 'You're welcome'. Conversations are two-ways, kids really do say the darnedest things. Previously when someone wanted to talk to her on the phone, she would be mute, just listening to the other party and not answering questions. But now she answers back. Sometimes she'll just grab any phone and pretend to answer it by going 'hi'.




She's getting observant and absorbs words and phrases like a sponge. When she spotted some dirt on the bathroom floor this morning, she went, "So dirty over there. Aunty Wendy need to clean the toilet." She also bosses Gigi around, beckoning her with, "Gigi, come I tie your hair nicely". She's curious in the kitchen, now she takes a stool to see what Wendy does at the sink or counters. Kaypoh lah this girl!



Her favourite CD in the car now is the Sound of Music soundtrack, she loves 'So long, Farewell' and 'Do Re Mi'. She tries to sing along in church for the Amens and Hallelujahs, clasping her hands in prayer when she sees Nick doing so. So 'on the ball' and holy!

Nick signed her up for another term at JWT Kids Gym, there was a promotion so she has 11 sessions to complete. Wonder if her new-found independence and confidence is a result of the gym activities? She's definitely a little less shy and clingy these days when meeting new people, taking less time to warm up.

Gigi has joined the 'gym' too. She had no shyness or anything at the first session, getting into the swing of things immediately.



She and Nat can't get enough of each other, wanting to stay at each others' houses.

Her sentences are growing e.g. "I pee pee so much" or "Wow, flower shirt. So nice", "Natnat wear shoes now!", "I go papa's house/playground", "I don't want this shoe.".

She still calls me mummy sometimes, proclaiming she has 2 mummies and pointing to me and Swana. Her pooping might have improved slightly, less reliant on suppositories.

She's always looking for a place to hide. If it's not climbing into a drawer, she's hiding in cupboards, influencing Nat at the same time.



They both copy each other and lately like to remove their clothes and streak around the house, much to our exasperation!

Farmers' Market @ Dempsey

Nick had to work today and Kevin, Bernard and Rachel came over to play badminton this morning while Swana babysat. After showering we headed to Dempsey for lunch, leaving Pumpkin in Aunty Sarda's care.

Rachel wanted to check out the once-a-month Farmers' Market at the Loewen cluster. Though there was a heavy downpour earlier in the morning, the market was not affected. Felt like tourists as we browsed the stalls under the marquee, most of them were selling organic flowers, vegetables, fruits, eggs, jams, oils, wines etc and manned by ang mohs.


Bernard bought some wine and oils and I spent $8 on five tiny cupcakes, just because they were prettily packaged with grosgrain polka-dotted ribbon...plus Nat wanted them! Swana bought some ginger jam that Kevin was raving about.

We had lunch at a cafe called The Pantry and I had their all-day breakfast and we shared some couscous and quinoa salads. The Pantry had some lovely cupcakes on display and I ordered a lemon drizzle cake and something called Melting Moment for dessert, which really melted in your mouth...like a giant sugee biscuit.









Nat and Gigi entertained themselves on the small playground next to the cafe and thereafter, we browsed some of the surrounding shops.




There was a nice kids shop called Children's Showcase which had a lot of colourful things on display. I just had to buy something and bought a blue vinyl polka-dotted crayon case for Nat and a colouring book. Though some of the things were expensive, I want to go back and take a proper look at their stuff. There was also an interior design firm that had a nice window display...tempted to re-do the kids' room with a vibrant multi-colour theme. Maybe in December...




Last night we had dinner with Baba and Aunty Irene at Sin Hoi Sai and they came over after to watch a little of Holland vs Brazil. Nat and Gigi wore patterned Gap tunic tops and Old Navy jeans...I think 90% of their wardrobe is from Gap and Old Navy. The amount me and Swana spend is scary, probably $300-400 a month between us! We really ought to cut down...though I have to say, they are probably the best-dressed kids at our playground!

The kitten and her mittens

The pumpkin turned 3 months today, which means I go back to work in about 3 weeks! Might even have to go back a little earlier because of a regional kick-off.



Aaargh, so much for all the grand plans I had to accomplish many outstanding tasks like organising/printing my photos, creating several photobooks, clearing my Yahoo inbox of 5000+ messages, clearing my office mail of a gazillion messages and organising folders etc...can I cite no time as an excuse? The ongoing World Cup doesn't help either!

Seriously with 2 kids in the house, sometimes 3, I don't have the luxury of sitting uninterrupted at the laptop for even 15 mins. If it's not one, it's the other demanding attention or climbing onto my lap. And when they nap, I nap.

I think for the next couple of weeks, I am going to cart Nat off to Membina, wean her off me being at home during the day and let me enjoy some quality time with Sasha, who has been sadly neglected I must admit. I hardly play with her, doesn't help that she still sleeps all the time. Have not been giving her tummy time, or exercising her limbs, nor strengthening neck muscles. Bad mother!

When I do play with her, Nat and Gigi will gatecrash and want in on the action but they are rough without realising it and I feel sorry for the pumpkin who gets poked, prodded, knocked and elbowed.


At 3 months, Natasha is more or less on a 3hr schedule, drinking about 80-90mls seven times a day and only waking once around 4.30 am to feed. She sleeps about 80% of the time but is starting to stay awake for longer periods now.

She's getting all smiley, flashing you a toothless grin when you 'chat' with her. Melts my heart. She can coo, squeal and laugh, she has a dimple and her double eyelids have decided to put in an appearance. Sometimes she'll sigh or grunt, or pout her lips and make little noises as if complaining. She hardly cries, only when extremely hungry or frightened by loud noises or in pain.







She's got a case of cradle cap, something I never experienced with Nat. Her scalp is really dry and starting to flake, so I oil occasionally to get rid of the scaly patches. In addition to outgrowing her skin, she's outgrown a lot of rompers, especially those meant for 3 month olds. This morning she had a jab and her latest weight is around 5.8kg, she's almost doubled her birth weight.


Her face rash is on and off, depending on how much she sucks her mittens. I have a sucker on my hands, I think she has already started teething because I can feel some soreness on her gums and when not sleepy or hungry, she still sucks her hands, so I succumbed to the pacifier a couple of weeks ago. It was either the pacifier or changing mittens every 10 mins!

My little rugrat also has a cute way of falling asleep, Nick likens it to a kitten. She will flail her arms and swipe at her own face before gradually covering her eyes with her mitten-clad hands, as if blocking out the light or playing peekaboo. I hardly rock or pat her to sleep nowadays, just leave her on the bed with the pacifier and she will fall asleep by herself using the above method.




Her head is quite obviously 'senget'. Her left side is flat while the right is more rounded. Bought a dimpled pillow but I think it might be too late for that. Oh well, her hair ought to cover it up when she's older. Her current fluffy hair reminds me a little of Conan O'Brien, do you see the similarity? :-)