Kelly Hiew's Baby Blog

I Have Moved!

2007-01-14T18:25:00.000+08:00

Dear friends and visitors, I have moved my blog to Wordpress. Please direct your browser to http://qianyi.wordpress.com for the latest posts! See you there!

Back to School!

2007-01-05T10:03:00.000+08:00

Qianyi went back to school two days ago. Everything's back to normal and my life's so much easier now. The teachers have been very busy dealing with the crying kids. I didn't get to talk to them until today.

After sending Qianyi to school this morning, I stayed there for half and hour to order the concert photos. I received the concert vcd yesterday. Qianyi and I watched it a few times before Hubby came home. When Hubby watched it, he laughed all the way because Qianyi looked so funny during the Hawaiian dance and the catwalk.

Both Teacher Linda and Teacher Esther told me that Qianyi's a very good girl. She has shown a great improvement. I was quite surprised to hear that some old kids were crying too including a 6 year old boy. Luckily, my little one goes to school happily every morning. Teacher Linda told us that Qianyi covered her ears when other kids were crying. Teacher Esther laughed upon hearing that and said it was Qianyi's turn to laugh at others. Haha, she forgot she used to cry a lot when she first started school. We all agreed that the 3-week holiday classes did help a lot. Qianyi enjoyed the holiday program very much.

Teacher Linda suggested me to let Qianyi attend their enrichment class (Jolly phonics). It's held every Monday, 12.30 to 1.30pm. The phonics lessons will help her pronounce properly. I've just discussed it with Hubby via email. We decided to let her join the phonics class. That's good...I'll have longer break every Monday! :)

Where's Mummy?

2007-01-03T09:40:00.000+08:00

When Qianyi woke up on the first day of year 2007, I wasn't there. Hubby was taking care of her. He brushed her teeth, changed her out of her pyjamas, made her a bottle of milk and brought her out for a walk. While they were at the playground, she suddenly asked, "Where's Mummy?"

I was feeling super stressed dealing with this little monster's tantrums...so Hubby suggested to let me take half day off on the New Year's Day. It's a badly needed break for me to recharge my patience battery.

I had breakfast with my good friend, DM. After breakfast, we went swimming together. We enjoyed the swim and our "girly chat" sooooooo much! We also said hello to an Indian lady who was swimming alone. It's a great way to celebrate the New Year and the weather's beautiful!

It's already 1pm when I reached home. Qianyi's so happy to see me. She followed me everywhere and wanted me to carry her. Hubby said she's a good girl when I wasn't around but she didn't look as happy when I wasn't there. :p

So Sweet!

2006-12-26T10:46:00.000+08:00

Poor Qianyi is down with bronchitis during this cold and rainy holiday season. She is currently on antibiotics and is slowly recovering.

Look! Despite being unwell, she was so sweet yesterday, bending down to unfasten Daddy's sandal straps just as we were about to enter our home after returning from the market. Daddy was caught totally by surprise and was very touched :-)

Some Happy Moments

2006-12-20T18:55:00.000+08:00

Qianyi's enjoying her school holidays now. That's why I didn't get to update this blog for quite a while. I have to entertain her all day long. There's no 3-hour break in the morning for 3 long weeks! :( I was also busy preparing for my basic driving theory test last week, needed for the conversion of my Malaysian licence. I sat for the test last Sat and I passed it! :)

Qianyi and I have spent some pleasant moments together... When the weather's good, we would spend at least one hour at the playgrounds (we usually go to three playgrounds). When it's raining, we would bring something to play at the void deck.

Playing with bubbles at the void deck...

Riding her scooter happily at the void deck...

Dancing in front of the mirror....

Dancing before sliding down...

Singing "itsy bitsy spider" song at the playground...

We went back to our old place last week to visit Qianyi's little friend, Qianqian. It's been 5 months after we moved to our new home. This was the first time I brought Qianyi there for a visit. She couldn't remember the place anymore but her eyes lit up when she saw the swimming pool. However, she seemed to remember Qianqian and her mum. The two little girls enjoyed playing together...:p

Good Girl?

2006-12-07T09:46:00.000+08:00

Qianyi received two stickers from Teacher Linda yesterday for being a good girl. She usually came home with one sticker on her clothes only.

According to Teacher Linda, Qianyi has shown a great improvement in school. When Teacher Linda said "Qianyi, you are running around?", she stopped running straightaway and sat down while saying "sit sit". She would keep the toys after playing and tell her friends to do so by saying "keep keep".

This "good girl" turned into a little brat yesterday afternoon. We used to put away her toys together while I was singing the "clean up" song (from Barney vcd). But now, she doesn't like to do it anymore. She prefers to be in a messy house. She would let her toys lying around on the floor. It always looks like a hurricane has just swept across the house. So, I was very surprised to hear that she actually cleans up after playing in school.

After I made a bottle of milk yesterday afternoon, I picked up her saxophone and put it on the tv console. She saw it and ran immediately to me. She took the saxophone and dumped it on the floor! She looked angry. She doesn't like us to pick up her toys. Well, I was angry too. I picked up the saxophone again. She wanted to snatch it away and ran after me when I brought it into our bedroom. I put it on a high shelf where she couldn't get it . I raised my voice and spanked her bottom...but that didn't work at all. She cried so hard until almost vomited. It's so difficult to feed her half bowl of rice for lunch. I didn't want my effort to be wasted like that so I gave her back the saxophone. She stopped crying after dumping it for a few times. She then took the milk bottle, lay down on the sofa and drank the milk while watching the vcd. When she finished the 260 ml of milk, she said "good girl" to herself. I was speechless.

I felt mentally exhausted after trying to discipline her. I was at my wit's end. Her mood was good again after she finished the bottle of milk. She seemed to have forgotten the "emotional crying episode".

Messy But Fun

2006-12-06T10:01:00.000+08:00

We bought some bottles of washable paint with special sponge tips from ELC together with the easel. We let Qianyi draw with crayons first and introduced the bottles of paint to her only two days ago.

As expected, she enjoyed painting very much. She tried each colour with all her imagination. Her first painting session took place in the afternoon. There's no mess at all. When Hubby came back from work, I told him about it and he would like to do it with Qianyi too. She was more creative this time. She kept doodling and suddenly put her hands on the wet paint. She started painting with her bare hands! Her two little hands were stained with colours and she tried to touch everything (including her own face)... She had loads of messy fun that night!

They Are More Than Toys

2006-12-04T10:17:00.000+08:00

Qianyi's stuffed toys are her imaginary friends too. She would sit them on the floor and talk to her stuffed toy audience in her baby language. She would bring them into her little cottage and play with them.

She enjoys "camping" with her friends so much after we placed her tent in front of the mirror. She loves playing with her furry pals while looking in the mirror.

She used to place all her stuffed toys on the TV console. She wasn't actually interested in them. Now she treats them as her best friends. She's lonely and she needs playmates! I think the soft toys managed to give her warmth and joy.

She's attending holiday classes now. She goes to school happily everyday. This is a 3-week holiday programme and it's going to end this coming Friday. She's definitely going to miss her teachers and friends. While waiting for the school to reopen, these furry friends will give her comfort and help ease her loneliness. They are more than toys...

Daddy and Daughter (Part II)

2006-11-27T10:28:00.000+08:00

We visited VivoCity yesterday. Qianyi let Daddy carry her. She let him hold her hand too. It made shopping so much easier for me. We used to bring along her stroller a few months ago but now she refused to sit in it. I got to carry her most of the time without a stroller and that was the root cause of my lower back pain.

Daddy also spent some time with her at the playground. It's a fun way to bond with her.

We went to Giant later. After sitting her in the shopping trolley, I let Daddy push it. She resisted it at first but gave in later because Daddy "kept trying" by saying "Let Daddy push lah". Haha... She then smiled happily being pushed by Daddy.:)

Daddy and Daughter

2006-11-22T16:20:00.000+08:00

Daddy used to be quite unhappy because our little sweetheart was too attached to Mummy. She didn't let him hold her little hand when we were taking a walk. She didn't want him to carry her. When she was sitting in a shopping trolley, she didn't want him to push it.

Things have changed. Daddy started chasing after her to feed her rice during weekends. I told him it's the best way to slim down. He made a special effort and he managed to win her heart. Now she lets him hold her little hand when we are taking a walk.:)

Somersaults At Bedtime

2006-11-19T10:28:00.000+08:00

Sigh, Qianyi's more interested in doing somersaults than sleeping when her bedtime beckons.

Our Home Activities

2006-11-15T16:50:00.000+08:00

When I felt enthusiastic the other day, I printed out a Baby Bop colouring page and taught Qianyi how to colour within the lines. It's not easy. I had to hold her hand to do so. If not, she would just doodle. I also drew some shapes and objects. I held her hand but let her guide all the way to join the same shapes or objects with a line. Unfortunately, I'm not always that enthusiastic!

I prefer to play music with Qianyi. When she's blowing her saxophone, I would play the little piano. It's noisy but fun. She enjoys dancing with her daddy too!

She learnt ABC from the vcds... She can recite A to Z except LMN (she would skip these 3 alphabets by saying "aiyaaiya" three times). I would step on the alphabets and sing the Alphabet Song for her.

I told Hubby that it's his turn to do something with our little princess one weekend. Hubby decided to do drawing with her in the living room. Teacher Linda told me Qianyi's a carbon copy of her daddy during our PTA meeting. Well, she's not the first one to say so. There's a strong resemblance between them.

She enjoys doodling a lot...

We bought an easel for her last weekend. She can do her colouring, doodling or painting using the easel...there's no mess...so nice! :p

We've also bought a numbers pad called "Funky Footprints". When you step on a number, the pad will say it out! Qianyi keeps walking on it. She can recite 1 to 10 now. :)

Qianyi With Makeup

2006-11-09T12:53:00.000+08:00

They were having a full dress rehearsal in school today for their Year-End Concert (next Fri). Qianyi came home with makeup... Gosh, look at her lipstick!

Sit Back & Relax

2006-11-08T09:19:00.000+08:00

We bought an Ogawa massage chair! Hubby always feels exhausted after work and I'm always too tired to give him a proper massage. So, we need this wonderful chair. We take turns...to sit back and relax on the amazing chair...:)

Qianyi was enjoying the foot massage in the last photo...that's the free gift we received!

I Have A Daughter!

2006-11-03T16:48:00.000+08:00

I called an old friend quite a while ago. She told me,"Hey, I have a daughter! She looks a lot like me!" She was so proud to tell me that she has a daughter...she forgot she has two sons too.

I have a daughter too...although she doesn't look like me. Sometimes while we are enjoying our quality time as a family, Hubby would suddenly say something like this, "We have a daughter! Can't believe we have a daughter now!" :p

I'm so grateful for the precious moments I spent with Qianyi. While we were in a crowded lift after I picked her up from school yesterday, she raised her little head and smiled at me. We didn't say anything, simply exchanged glances. We both felt very happy then. When she put on her glasses and cap, she would walk to me and smile until I say "you look so cool!"...this is something she picked up from her favourite Brainy Baby vcd. She always looks so adorable when she does that. When she runs with her daddy while I'm walking behind them, she would stop to wait for me and call me "Qianyi" loudly. She looks so cute whenever she calls me "Qianyi". Sometimes she would call me "mummy" too.

Isn't it amazing to have a daughter? I totally understand why other mummy bloggers claimed that they share a special bond with their daughters though they love their sons dearly too!

What's she saying??

2006-11-02T15:43:00.000+08:00

I think the second part should be "it's a hat". Since she's putting the removal cup of her potty on her head, it makes sense when she says "it's a hat". But what about the first part? Can you figure it out? She would say that when she's putting the removal cup on her head. I don't know what she's trying to tell me. :(

Unhappy Face

2006-10-30T16:25:00.000+08:00

Hahaha... Look at the little sad girl above... She cried during the school photo session. I told Hubby we didn't have to buy this one since we've scanned it. But Hubby said she looked cute too though she was crying. So, we ordered some bookmarks with this individual portrait printed on them.

I let her bring along her favourite toy, Baby Bop but it failed to cheer her up. The Chinese teacher was holding her little hand to calm her down. Hubby emailed this photo to his friends. He said she looked very cute here. :)

She felt better here but still looked very unhappy. The Indian lady is Teacher Linda.

We ordered this one, 8R size. I thought there're only 12 kids in Qianyi's class. The class size's actually 15!

Upside Down

2006-10-27T13:53:00.000+08:00

Qianyi attended Halloween Party happily as a little fairy this morning. Teacher Linda said her costume's very nice and asked where I bought it. When I was there to pick her up later, she's the first one to come out. Other parents who were waiting at the school entrance were very impressed and said she looked so cute and pretty. On our way home, we received more praises from strangers.

I've just received a comment on Qianyi's video, "Little Fairy Halloween Costume!"

Looks like her wings are on upside down. TOO CUTE!

It never occured to me that the wings were worn upside down. The teachers, parents, strangers and mummies who have viewed the video before didn't realize that the wings were not worn in the correct way either! The comment should have reached me earlier so that I could let her wear the fairy wings properly. Hahaha...

My 1st PTA Meeting

2006-10-25T16:22:00.000+08:00

I attended my first ever PTA meeting yesterday.

My meeting with Qianyi's class teacher, Teacher Linda was held in a cordial atmosphere. She told me Qianyi has shown improvement in her speech compared to the previous term. She's able to pick up some words from Teacher Linda and use them during class activities, which is a very good progress. She was a very timid girl who used to cry but now she's learning to listen to instructions and her listening skills have improved. She's curious about things around her. Teacher Linda wears full makeup and Qianyi's very curious about that too because her mummy doesn't wear makeup! One day, Qianyi frowned and pouted her lips while staring at Teacher Linda. Teacher Linda suddenly realized why Qianyi did that because she forgot to apply lipstick after having her breakfast. Qianyi must have seen Teacher Linda pouting her lips before when she's putting on lipstick. She told me, "Your girl's very smart!"

Qianyi gets distracted easily. That's why Teacher Linda always makes her sit right opposite her, facing the cubbyhole. If not, she would walk away when she sees someone's coming. She would hold Qianyi's hand to do her schoolwork. After going through her schoolwork with Teacher Linda, I realized she has learnt quite a lot of things in school. I was allowed to bring home some of her schoolwork.

Teacher Linda told me Qianyi's a cheerful girl. She would say hello to everybody (but not the clay teacher) and smile at them. I was shown a photo of the clay teacher's. He's an ordinary looking bespectacled man. Teacher Linda said she loved teasing the man, "Hey Patrick, do something to make yourself look more handsome so that my girl will smile when she sees you!" She laughed happily.... I brought home all her clay artwork too.

I enjoyed my meeting with Teacher Linda very much. Next, I was in the Chinese classroom to review Qianyi's progress with Teacher Lin. She told me almost the same thing... Qianyi used to cry a lot but now she listens to instructions. She can't sit still for too long. Teacher Lin told me Qianyi's the youngest in the class, she's still a baby who needs lots of attention but she's learning and she has shown improvement.

When it's time to leave, Qianyi waved at me and said, "Mummy, bye-bye!" Oh, my girl wanted to stay back! She missed school. She hasn't attended school since last Friday. There was a field trip last Fri. I didn't sign her up for that. There's a staff training on Mon. Tue was Hari Raya Puasa. There's no school on Wed and today as they're having PTA meetings. Never mind, she's going to attend Halloween Party tomorrow and I'm sure she'll have lots of fun!

Working-Out In Daddy's Home Gym :-)

2006-10-22T22:30:00.000+08:00

Little Fairy Halloween Costume

2006-10-19T22:39:00.000+08:00

Aunty Qianyi

2006-10-18T16:33:00.000+08:00

My nephew's wife gave birth to a baby girl yesterday. My nephew is Qianyi's cousin (biao ge). So, his baby should call Qianyi "biao gu" (aunty) !! It sounds so funny... My little girl became an aunty at age 2! :D

Playing With Stickers

2006-10-17T16:40:00.000+08:00

Qianyi has had so much fun playing with stickers!

Going Hawaiian

2006-10-16T09:39:00.000+08:00

We bought Qianyi a beautiful sexy 2-piece swimsuit last weekend for her Hawaiian dance in the Year-End Concert. She loved it so much and kept admiring herself in front of the mirror. She mentioned "swimming" many times while wearing her new swimsuit. We haven't brought her for a swim for 4 months already! We felt guilty and bathed her in our adult bathtub yesterday. She enjoyed the bubble bath very much. :)

Happy Chat

2006-10-13T09:06:00.000+08:00

I called Teacher Linda yesterday while Qianyi was taking her nap. I asked her if Qianyi's still attending the clay lessons. According to her, Qianyi's still scared of the clay teacher but she didn't cry anymore. She's actually accepting him. They let her play with the clay in her classroom. They will put her back in the clay class when she's not scared anymore.

I asked Teacher Linda if the clay teacher really looked scary. I wonder how he looks like. Why is Qianyi so terrified of him? The answer I received from Teacher Linda was somewhat amusing. "No no....he looks ok to me..but of course, not as handsome as your husband!" We both laughed...:)

I then told her about Qianyi's speech assessment. I asked if it's normal that Qianyi still doesn't speak much at this age. She told me there are kids that started talking at age 3. She said Qianyi's been learning and she has shown some improvements. She taught Qianyi what to do in the classroom when she reaches school in the morning. First, she would put her bag in the cubbyhole. Second, she would take her water bottle out of the bag. Third, she would drink water from her bottle. When it's time to change her pull-up diaper, she would take it out of her bag. She follows Teacher Linda everywhere, even when she goes to toilet. If Teacher Linda asks her if she needs to pass urine, she would point to her pull-up. Sometimes the older kids would ask her if she needs to go to toilet, she would point to her pull-up too..Teacher Linda told me she's a smart girl. She enjoys interacting with her friends too. She would say hello to them and talk to them in baby language. :)

I really enjoyed the chat with Teacher Linda. She's a good teacher. Qianyi's very scared of Indians but this Indian teacher managed to win her heart.

Dream Come True

2006-10-12T09:54:00.000+08:00

I woke up from a happy dream this morning. It's really a wonderful start of the day!

Qianyi refused to go to school yesterday. The moment she saw her school uniform, she started crying. She pulled her pyjamas down with all her strength when I tried to take it off. I managed to change her into her uniform but her face was already full of tears. When I opened the door, she ran away from me and cried so hard. She looked distressed and I failed to calm her down. So she missed school yesterday.

I called Teacher Linda, her class teacher later yesterday. I asked if Qianyi has been scolded in school. She told me Qianyi's scared of the Clay teacher because it's the only male teacher there. Qianyi ran to Teacher Linda and grabbed her hand the other day when she saw the Clay teacher. She felt better when Teacher Linda told her she didn't need to see him if she didn't want to. Teacher Linda suggested me to bring Qianyi to school today in her home clothes and put her uniform in her school bag. She would change her in school.

However, I decided to let her go to school in her uniform. I don't want her to feel "cheated". She woke up happily but started crying when I showed her the uniform. She refused to change into it but didn't struggle much. I repeated what I did in my dream. I kept talking to her. I told her she's a good girl and a brave girl. She shouldn't cry and Teacher Linda will give her Yakult to drink. I kept talking to her on the way to school. I spoke in both English and Mandarin..."你是好宝宝，你是勇敢的小孩，不可以哭哦！老师会给你 Yakult 喝！" I actually don't know which language she prefers to use. So I tried to say the same things twice. She seemed to understand what I told her. She whined but didn't cry. By the time we reached school, she was ok and walked into the school carrying her school bag. It's such a relief...my dream has come true...hahaha...

Our Sat at Forum the Shopping Mall

2006-10-10T09:32:00.000+08:00

We were at Forum the Shopping Mall last Saturday. Well, we had an appointment with Dynamics OTC, Therapy Centre For Kids that day. As Qianyi's verbal development's very slow compared to her peers, Hubby and I were pretty anxious and decided to bring her there for a speech assessment.

Throughout the one-hour therapy session, Qianyi refused to speak a word no matter how the therapist persuaded her. She started speaking only when it's time for us to leave. The therapist told us Qianyi's receptive skill is much better than her expressive skill. She also noticed that Qianyi is a very strong-willed girl. She understood most of the instructions but she preferred to do things her own way. The therapist told us to encourage her to ask before giving her anything that she wants. This therapist also suggested us to let Qianyi go for oral-motor exercises. It's once a week, one hour per session. They will give her some special devices to chew for jaw exercises. We told her we needed to think about it first. We paid $150 for the speech assessment. When we asked for a report, she told us we needed to pay another $100 for them to prepare that. So, we didn't ask for the report as it's too expensive. As for the weekly oral-motor exercise, it's $120 per session. Back home, Hubby search online for oral-motor exercise and found that it's not really useful in the treatment of phonological disorders. We decided not to send Qianyi for that.

We went to Toys 'R' Us later. We met MediaCorp artiste, Xiang Yun there. She said hello to us first when she noticed I recognized her. She looked radiant and was very friendly. She guessed it right that Qianyi's a two-year-old. When I told her Qianyi loved her Shop n Save's advertisement, she said the "jie jie" (her daughter) who also appeared in the advertisement was there too and started calling for her daughter. When her daughter ran to us, Qianyi was too shy and lowered her head. We then said goodbye to each other. It's great to see Xiang Yun, her two kids and her mum. But too bad, her hubby with ever-youthful look wasn't with them.:)

Little Harmonica Musician :-)

2006-10-08T10:42:00.000+08:00

Qianyi's Clay Artwork

2006-10-06T09:41:00.001+08:00

The Clay Modelling Workshop started a few days ago. Teacher Esther (a senior teacher in Qianyi's school) showed me Qianyi's clay artwork the other day. They're so cute and colourful but can only be brought home next week. I couldn't wait to show Hubby our little princess's artwork so I requested Teacher Esther to let me take some pictures of them this morning.

When I was taking photos of Qianyi's clay artwork, she saw me from her class. She looked upset and started crying. Teacher Esther told me Qianyi's very scared of strangers. The Clay Modelling Workshop is taught by an outsider. Qianyi cried so loud that she didn't join the big group. She would play with play doh on her own outside the room. The teacher would come out to teach her when he's free. :(

I felt so heartbroken seeing her cry. She goes to school happily every morning and her mood's always good when I'm there to pick her up. I didn't know that she actually cried in school. She cried during the Clay Modelling Workshop and cried again during the school photo session...poor girl... We paid for the Clay classes hoping she could have lots of fun but we didn't expect the presence of the Clay teacher would terrify her. Sigh. :(

School Photo Session

2006-10-04T15:55:00.000+08:00

It's school photo session today. All the students were told to wear white socks and black shoes. As Qianyi didn't have a pair of black shoes, her doting daddy bought her a pair of black boots and long lacy socks during his lunch break the other day. :)

She went to school happily wearing her new shoes and socks this morning.

When I went to pick her up 3 hours later, I heard someone's crying. When her teacher saw me, she opened the door and asked, "Can you come in and calm her down?" According to her, Qianyi started crying when she was brought into the dark room for photo shooting. When Qianyi saw me, she ran to me and hugged me. Her face was full of tears and she rested her head on my shoulder. My presence managed to make her smile and she's happy again. But when it was her turn to take photo, it started all over again although I carried her into the dark room. She was crying and refused to sit down. So I gave up and told them she'd do it next year. The puzzled headmaster asked a teacher who was standing beside him, "Why? It's just a photo!" Well, this man doesn't understand a toddler's fear at all. My little girl's scared of the dark room and the two photographers, is it ok?? @#$*%X

Happy Children's Day!

2006-09-29T17:48:00.000+08:00

Qianyi's school was celebrating Children's Day this morning. This special occasion was packed with fun filled activities and goodies for all the students. The theme for this year is "Disney Party Gang". We were told to dress our kids as Snow White, Cinderella, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Peter Pan etc. There was a characters parade on stage and prizes were given to the best dressed in each class.

Oh, she's unhappy...because Mummy and Daddy didn't get her a Disney costume. She was wearing her old dress. There're no wings or tiara to make her look like a fairy or princess. That's why she didn't win the best-dressed prize!

I brought her to Baby's Hyperstore yesterday but couldn't find any party costume so I decided to let her wear her white dress. When I sent her to school this morning, I saw a mum with a guilty look. She totally forgot about the party and her kid was wearing the school uniform! At least I remembered it and have tried to look for a party costume.

I saw many princesses and fairies at the school entrance, but my little girl's the prettiest...haha..in my eyes...;p

Awful Kindergarten Teachers

2006-09-28T15:56:00.000+08:00

I cringed with horror after reading the following letter to ST Forum. As parents, we entrust our precious ones to their teachers without really knowing what truly happens behind closed doors. How can we ensure our children are safe from these deplorable teachers?

*****************************************
I applaud the comment of Ms Ruth Low, chief executive of PAP Community Foundation (PCF), that our government placed strong emphasis on pre-school education, which is important for our young generation's development. Believing that the PCF is well-equipped with qualified teachers and sound education systems, I transferred my four-year-old son from a child-care centre to a PCF Kindergarten in Block 556 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10 in January.

However, the following incidents in this school have raised doubts about how my son can benefit from it.

In May, my son suddenly became very temperamental. He refused to go to school, threw tantrums frequently, and hit anyone with whatever he was holding.

I suspected something could have happened in his school. But he refused to tell me anything. I took him to a psychiatrist. To my astonishment, my son told the psychiatrist that whenever he misbehaved in school, his teacher would lock him in a dark room and he was left alone until the teacher released him.

The school's principal admitted that her teachers practised this 'time-out' method where they put a child who misbehaved in a 'music-room' with the lights turned off.

The principal said some children could take this kind of punishment, but some could not. However, when I checked with my son's three teachers, all said they did not use this method.

My nephew was in the same school as my son, but he was transferred to another school in May. When I mentioned this incident to my sister, she confirmed it had happened to her son as well, which was the main reason for the transfer. My sister spoke to my nephew's teacher and she confirmed that one of the teachers did punish five boys with this method.

My nephew said the room was so dark that he could not see his own fingers. The five boys were left in the dark room crying, without supervision from any teacher. Such confinement is not allowed in any pre-school.

In July my Filipino maid complained that my son pinched her. When I asked him about it, he said his teacher pinched him whenever he disobeyed the teacher.

Recently my son said his teacher would put his classmates in a basket if they disobeyed her.

Both my nephew and my son are four years old. I believe that the children did not tell lies. I am very disturbed by these incidents and would appreciate Ms Low's comments.

Jenny Goh Ai Tin (Mdm)

Help, My Socks Are Too Tight :-(

2006-09-27T21:24:00.000+08:00

Creative Daddy

2006-09-26T17:39:00.000+08:00

Qianyi's school requested us to make a lantern together with her at home. I don't know how to make one. So, Hubby made it on his own last Sunday while I was taking care of Qianyi. :p

I brought the beautiful lantern to school this morning. When Qianyi's class teacher saw it, she said, "What a nice lantern!" I told her it's Qianyi's daddy who made it. She was amazed to hear that and told me Hubby's very creative! Haha...

It's also Qianyi's first lantern. We thought of buying her one last year but gave up in the end as she didn't know how to appreciate a lantern yet. Hope she'll enjoy her lantern with her friends in school although it looks a bit too big for her. :)

A Happy Weekend

2006-09-25T16:24:00.000+08:00

We went back to Malaysia last weekend. Qianyi cried briefly when my sis-in-law came out of the house to welcome us. My niece, Mei took out her old toys for Qianyi to play. She started enjoying Mei's company and it's such a relief.

She loved Mei's long hair. When Mei tied up her hair, Qianyi looked so envious and pointed to her own hair. Haha...she wanted Mei to tie up her hair. When she didn't see me and Hubby around, she would ask Mei to carry her.

Mei was amazed to see Qianyi wiping her bottom after doing a pee in the toilet. She said Qianyi's such a smart girl. Qianyi wouldn't tell anybody when she needed to pee. When she wasn't happy, I would bring her to the toilet. (She goes to the toilet on her own at home. I would follow her to make sure she doens't fall when getting down from the toilet.)

My sister told me Qianyi's getting braver. She's still scared of some of my family members but she wasn't crying anymore. When they (10 of them) came to Singapore last month and spent a night here, Qianyi cried a lot. When they first arrived, she cried non-stop. I had to bring her to the playground after opening the door for them. When we went out for lunch, we sat separately so that she wouldn't cry. I didn't get to talk much to my dad and couldn't sit at the same table thanks to my little girl. Luckily she was behaving better later and enjoyed playing with the ladies in the guest room.

I do hope when we visit my dad next time, she would be a much braver girl and enjoy the stay in my hometown. Hope there'll be no more crying!

School Update (Part II)

2006-09-22T09:54:00.000+08:00

When I sent Qianyi to school this morning, the receptionist was busy attending to some parents. Qianyi walked in on her own but didn't run off. She went to the reception counter and waited there. Other kids started queuing up behind her. They were waiting for the receptionist to take their temperature.

I couldn't believe my eyes. My little girl didn't run to her class right away. She remembered the first thing to do in school. The receptionist didn't have to remind her to wait there. Her teachers did a great job! :)

I was waiting for a senior teacher. That's why I managed to see this scene. I usually would leave immediately after handing her over to the receptionist or other teachers. I was there to make payment again. I paid $98 for the 'couple' year-end concert tickets and $926 for the termly school fees yesterday. Wah, spent so much $$ for the little fellow! Today I paid $190 to sign Qianyi up for Clay Modelling Workshop. Qianyi will get to learn how to mix colours and to create textures with the colourful polymer clay. I'm sure she'll have loads of fun!

School Update

2006-09-20T17:07:00.000+08:00

I had a brief chat with Linda, Qianyi's class teacher this morning. She told me Qianyi's doing better and would follow some simple instructions. Whenever Linda tells her, "Come, sit!" She would go to Linda and sit down. She would repeat the word "sit".

There's a new girl in Qianyi's class. She cries everyday. My naughty girl doesn't know how to say "don't cry". She would go to the new girl, put her index finger over her lips and say "shh" and then cup her ears with her two little hands. Haha...that's so cute! I wonder if her classmates had done that to her when she first started school.

Qianyi will be taking part in her school's Graduation and Year-end Concert in November. Linda's currently teaching her some steps. She didn't cry when she was told to learn the steps on the stage. She was excited to be in it but she would run off after following the steps for a while. The "big day" is held on a weekday. Hubby will take a day off to attend the concert. We are looking forward to our little darling's "stage debut". :)

Clever Qianyi!

2006-09-19T21:05:00.000+08:00

Clap! Clap! What a clever girl! Mummy and Daddy are so proud of you!

Down Memory Lane

2006-09-16T23:22:00.000+08:00

An MTV of Qianyi when she was just a baby, how time flies! Hope you like the video editing, do turn up the volume!

Little Drummer Girl

2006-09-16T13:52:00.000+08:00

Qianyi's Artwork

2006-09-13T15:51:00.000+08:00

Qianyi brought home her second piece of artwork yesterday. It's now sitting on our bookcase. Her Chinese name was written on it. (Her first piece, a Singapore flag has been pasted on the wall in our study.) Looking at this piece of artwork, I wonder how much was actually done by our little darling. Maybe she helped tearing some old magazine pages into pieces. She's good at that. :)

As time goes by, I believe she will bring home more pieces of artwork. Perhaps there'll be some nice "masterpieces" when she's bigger. Are we going to display all her artwork? Guess we need to store some of them. When she's older, we can go through her old artwork together. I think that would be a good idea, don't you think so? There would be quite a collection after a few years. We may become not as sentimental after collecting too0000 many pieces of her artwork and decide to dispose some of them later. So, I decided to take pictures of every single piece of them for future remembrance.

Hubby's Birthday

2006-09-11T16:06:00.000+08:00

It's Hubby's birthday last Sat. First, we went to the wet market in the morning to buy fresh fish, prawns, pork ribs and vegetables. Then I cooked him a nice birthday lunch. There were steamed white pomfret, stir-fried broccoli with prawns, button mushrooms and his favourite peanut soup. Well, it's just a simple meal but I prepared it with all my love. In fact, it's not bad at all because our little fussy eater ate quite a bit! I also gave him a self-made birthday card. It's not very beautiful but I made it with all my love as well! :p

Hubby would like to have a new pair of running shoes but unfortunately he couldn't find what he wanted when we went shopping at Parkway Parade. We ended up buying a toy wheelbarrow and a beautiful pedal car for Qianyi that day. It's Hubby's birthday but the little one received presents!

Hubby sent me a sms just now. He told me he bought himself a pair of nice red Nike shoes during his lunch break. It's great to hear that...and I thanked him for buying the birthday gift (on my behalf)..haha...

Qianyi!

2006-09-07T14:55:00.000+08:00

We've been calling Qianyi "darling" for too long. She doesn't respond when we call her name now.

Everybody calls her "Qianyi" at school. Back home, she keeps saying her own name too. The funny thing is, she calls me "Qianyi"! When she sees me, she would call me "Qianyi" happily. When she looks at my photos, she would say "Qianyi" too.... In the beginning, we thought she mistook "Qianyi" as a greeting term like "hello". But she doesn't call her daddy "Qianyi".

Whenever she calls me "Qianyi", I would correct her. I would tell her I'm "Mummy". When I do that, she would call me "Qianyi, mummy"! Sigh...

Now we try to call her name more often. Hopefully she will understand it's her name very soon.

9th Anniversary

2006-09-03T17:58:00.000+08:00

It's our 9th wedding anniversary today. Hard to believe we've been married for so long! However, 9th is really not enough for us. Hope there'll be many, many more years...

Hubby handed me a nice anniversary card at 12am. He wrote some heart-touching words inside. A big beautiful bouquet was delivered to our doorstep this morning. Little Qianyi seemed to be more excited than me when she saw the gorgeous flowers. After we enjoyed our lunch at Secret Recipe, he went on to buy me a diamond pendant and chain. Lastly, he bought me a CD which has my favourite song, James Blunt's "You are so beautiful" because I told him I loved this song yesterday. Thanks Hubby...it's our anniversary but you made me feel like it's my birthday. I didn't buy you anything. Not even a card. But I will give you a great full body massage later, when the little one is asleep. :p

Just want to let you know, if I were to live my life again, I would choose the same path I did...to go to University of Malaya and to fall in love with you at first sight all over again on our first day there. You are my wonderful hubby, best friend, confidant, lover, teacher, listener etc. You bring happiness to my life, you give me confidence and my life is complete with you and Qianyi.

Hubby, I love you...and happy anniversary!

Nail Polish

2006-08-31T09:53:00.000+08:00

I don't use nail polish. Actually I've never applied nail polish. I don't know why. Maybe I don't want to spend time on beautifying my fingernails or toenails. Or, I'm just not feminine enough. :)

When Qianyi saw my sister's black-painted toenails while we were back in Malaysia, she was so curious and kept admiring them.

I put some tiny nail stickers on her fingernails the other day. She loved them! Look at the photo below...she's so vain..haha..

A Tale of 2 Qianyi(s) 倩仪 & 芊怡

2006-08-29T14:57:00.000+08:00

It's great to meet up with my blogger friend, Lichin and her two-year-old girl, Qianyi (better known as Chiaki) when they were back for a holiday in Singapore. I used to have a pen pal in Singapore. We were both 17 only when I came to Singapore to meet up with him. It's very exciting... He's a very good-looking boy then. It's equally exciting to meet up with Lichin, her hubby and their little one.

The photos above were taken during our first meeting at my place. Look, Qianyi's so fond of Chiaki. The photos below were taken when we visited them. Hubby joined us and he's amazed that Chiaki could speak so well at her age. He told me Chiaki's such a smart kid. We started worrying about Qianyi's verbal development.

Qianyi kept calling Chiaki "baby". She does look like a baby because she's very chubby and cute. Whenever I visit her blog, I would ask Qianyi, "Darling, do you want to see baby Chiaki?" She would run to me and laugh when she sees Chiaki's photos. Now she always says "Siaki" (she can't pronounce properly) whenever I show her the video clip on my mobile phone taken at Lichin's place when the two Qianyi(s) were playing Singapore flags together. :)

If you tell me Qianyi's ready to have a sibling, haha, I would say Hubby and I are not ready and we think she's a source of tension. Hubby and I were chatting away when Qianyi's taking nap the other day, we felt we finally got to enjoy some peaceful moments. (Blurblur, you think I've lost some weight...maybe you are right.. I'm often under stress because taking care of Qianyi is real hard work! :p )

Looking at Birds

2006-08-27T20:53:00.000+08:00

I'm back after being plaqued by IT problems for more than a week. After I switched to the new beta version of Blogger, I always logged in to an empty dashboard. My old posts were not there and I couldn't access my original blogger account. My blogs were viewable but untouchable. I emailed Blogger's helpdesk a few times but didn't hear from them until yesterday. They told me they failed to switch me over but I regained access to my old blogger account. (Jean, thanks for your concern. It's great to hear that someone's missing my blog! ;p) Well, now the Windows XP on my laptop is giving me problems. I can only boot up successfully at random. Hubby is looking into the problem but I fear I will have to reformat my harddisk and re-install Windows. No thanks to Microsoft!

The weather's cool today. We decided to bring Qianyi to Jurong Bird Park. Both Hubby and I haven't been there for ages. The new facade of the bird park is great. It's so different from the one we visited when we were much younger. Qianyi's only interested in pelicans. She kept shouting "Bird...!!" loudly at the huge pelicans. She didn't pay much attention to the other birds. When we were at the bird shows, she weren't interested and kept climbing the stairs by the seats instead. Hubby and I took turns to keep an eye on her and missed most of the shows. Sigh.

She loved the birdpark's large playground the most. She kept running around or climbing up and sliding down. She was having loads of fun and her hair was all wet. Although there's no sunshine, we sweated profusely due to the high humidity. Hubby and I were tired chasing her around so we decided to leave. But she still wanted to play and refused to go with us. I carried her and walked away from the playground with fast paces. As usual, she yelled and kept struggling. She even sat on the road to throw her tantrums. Her pants became wet and dirty.

At last, after a couple of hours of fun at the birdpark, she was tired and was willing to follow us to the exit. We didn't really have a good look at all the birds but who cares? It was a good family outing and that's what matters most! :-)

Sexy Lips

2006-08-15T14:32:00.000+08:00

Qianyi had a bad fall and required 7 stitches inside her lower lip on July 18. The photo below was taken on July 19 after her discharge from hospital. Her lower lip was swollen. It looked thick and sexy.

She hurt her lower lip again today... I was feeding her some fried rice after fetching her home from school. I let her play with her little umbrella. She was standing next to our three seater sofa. When I picked up some rice from the floor and walked away from the sofa, she suddenly cried loudly. I quickly turned back and shocked to see her standing with bleeding lips. I was in an intense fear...Did the same thing happen again? I was trying to see the wound outside her lower lip while comforting her. It didn't bleed much. I didn't witness how she fell. It happened too fast just like her previous fall. When she finally stopped crying, she was too tired and fell asleep. Her lower lip is now swollen and sexy again.

I'm really stressed. I can't watch her every minute. She didn't run this time but still fell and hurt her lower lip. Why is she so clumsy these days? She fell many times at our old place but she had never hurt her lips. Sigh....:(

Playing with her hair...

2006-08-11T17:06:00.000+08:00

I've seen an envious look on Qianyi's face many times whenever she saw some little girls with long hair tied up neatly and beautifully. She would try to tie up her hair with her two little hands too. Unfortunately, her hair is way too short and little.

After sending her to school this morning, I went to buy some small hair bands for her. When she's home, I started playing with her hair. She was so excited and happy to see her new images!:p

Qianyi With The 70's Look

2006-08-10T17:06:00.000+08:00

National Day Celebrations

2006-08-08T14:34:00.000+08:00

Qianyi stayed at home yesterday as she had a slight fever. She was down with a viral infection last Saturday. I sent her to school today although her nose was a little runny this morning. There's a combined National Day cum Racial Harmony Day celebration party at school. All pupils were encouraged to go to school in ethnic costumes. Hubby and I wanted her to join the fun so we just didn't care that her runny nose has actually started.

The flag is the first piece of artwork she brought home. Her name was written behind it. We are going to keep it in our study. :)

Although she wasn't feeling well in the morning, she walked into the school on her own and didn't look back. I'm so proud of my little darling. :p

Happy Girl

2006-08-04T14:36:00.000+08:00

Qianyi let go of my hand at the kindergarten entrance this morning, walked in on her own and ran towards her classroom right away. She stopped halfway, turned back to see me but didn't cry. I didn't say goodbye or wave my hand (She started crying when I waved to her yesterday). I left quietly. When I was there to pick her up 3 hours later, she looked very happy. She kept jumping and clapping her little hands while I was taking her shoes from the shoe rack.

She didn't cry four days in a row when I was there to pick her up. On the first day, her English teacher brought her to the school entrance. "I've got something to show you," the teacher told me. She opened the picture file on her mobile phone and showed me some photos of Qianyi at school...she wasn't crying. It's her Chinese teacher who took her to me the second day. She told me Qianyi enjoyed the singing lesson so much that she refused to come out. I wasn't alone yesterday (the third day). My blogger pal, lichin, her hubby and their 2-year-old princess joined me at the kindergarten. We were waiting for Qianyi together. We walked back to my place under the scorching sun later on. My little girl enjoyed playing with the younger Qian Yi so much! She couldn't stop grabbing her little friend's chubby pink cheeks. We are going to visit them tomorrow morning...the older Qianyi is missing the younger Qianyi already. :p

Some parents asked me the same question today, "Why did you place her here? She's still so young!" They brought their 2-year-olds (who looked bigger than Qianyi) along to wait for their older kids. I told them we wanted Qianyi to learn to socialize as she's a very shy girl.

Here's a picture of the happy girl, taken today. She put the bracelets (gifts from my blogger friend) on her ears. Hmm..she thinks they look more like ear rings. :)

Qianyi's Country Cottage

2006-07-31T18:10:00.000+08:00

Hubby started his new job yesterday. His 2-week break ended. He decided to buy something new for Qianyi to play with last weekend so we bought a pop-up play tent and some toys for our little darling. We hope she would spend more time inside her little country cottage instead of running around the house with dizzying speed.

I send Qianyi to school and pick her up later on my own without Hubby now. She didn't cry yesterday when I left her alone at school but the moment she saw me when I was there to pick her up, she cried. A grandma couldn't believe that Qianyi's still crying after so many days. The other kids go to school happily except my little girl. She's the youngest there...and looks so "baby". All the waiting parents, grandmas and maids would look at us with a smile when I'm comforting my crying baby.

Homemade Pizza

2006-07-29T16:59:00.000+08:00

Lichin, my blogger friend who's very interested in cooking has shared with me some recipes for her little princess whose name is Qian Yi too. One of the simple snacks is pizza.

It's Hubby who first tried out the recipe, not me...haha.. He put some hotdog, tomato paste and cheese on two slices of bread and then toasted them. When it's cooked, Hubby didn't think it looked anything like a pizza. However, when Qianyi saw it, she kept saying "pizza pizza..." and couldn't wait to taste it. Well, she enjoyed the homemade pizza happily. :)

My dear blogger friend flied back home from Australia yesterday for a holiday. She and the little one will visit us soon. Ah, it's kind of exciting to meet a blogger pal...and I hope the two little girls will be happy to meet each other too.

I'm Back!

2006-07-27T14:50:00.000+08:00

I've been feeling super stressed since Qianyi's bad fall. I would watch her every movement and start yelling when she's running quickly. I was too mentally exhausted to update this blog or read other mummies' blogs. Many thanks for those who left your well wishes in my previous post (blogged by Hubby, I didn't have time or mood to write then).

The photo below was taken yesterday. My little princess is always very happy at home after school. For those who are anxious to know how she's doing now, she's fine...kids heal fast.

We went back to my hometown last Friday. My dad's place is quite crowded, there's not much space for her to run. It's safer there as my nieces and nephews would follow her everywhere. I felt less stressed there. We came back to Singapore last Sunday and Qianyi went back to school the following day. She cried again when we left her alone at school. :(

Ever since we moved to our new home, she's suddenly interested in her potty again. She would pee in her potty without telling us. She's bladder trained all of a sudden. But she has to wear a pull-up diaper at school since she doesn't tell anybody when she needs to go and her familiar potty is not there. We'll let her enjoy school first. When she stops crying, hope she'll go to toilet with the other kids.

As this kindergarten is so near our house, we thought we'll let her attend it for maybe a year so that she won't have to wake up too early in the morning. We'll consider better nurseries after that. Found Julia Gabriel's Chiltern House programme to be quite interesting, any feedback anyone? :-)

Qianyi Underwent Surgery

2006-07-19T22:22:00.000+08:00

This is Qianyi's daddy blogging, temporarily taking the place of Qianyi's mummy who is totally exhausted after the events of the past 2 days.

Qianyi seemed to be coping well on her 2nd day at school, her cryings lasted shorter and her wailings less loud. We thought life would get easier from here and happily brought her home from what should be considered a successful day at the kindergarten. As usual, active Qianyi was running around the house at dizzying speeds while we were having lunch. Then suddenly we heard a loud sickening thud; Qianyi lost her balance while running and fell really hard on her face. We panicked at the sight of quite a lot of blood oozing from her mouth; at first we thought she lost a few teeth from her fall. A closer look revealed a big long tear along her inner lip. We immediately called a taxi and rushed to the nearest children hospital, Thomson Medical Centre.

The doctor there inspected her amid lots of struggles and terribly loud wailings (Qianyi has always hated doctors' offices since birth). Qianyi probably needed stitching but he does not have the expertise to confirm the diagnosis or perform the procedure. The recommendation was to send her to KK's A&E. After hearing all the horror stories about the waiting time at KK, I told him this was not an option and urged him to call in an external specialist to perform the procedure at Thomson. To cut the long story short, we finally secured a plastic surgeon from Mount E who operated on Qianyi under general anesthetic about 5 hours after her fall (we weren't too concerned about the cost as Qianyi has a supplementary hospitalization insurance plan under which all these would be claimable). My wife felt so helpless watching the still and unconscious Qianyi being carried by the surgeon onto the surgical bed (after the little fella put up a valiant struggle before succumbing to the sleeping gas). About 7 stitches were required to close the gaping tear. Just for safeguard, we spent the night at the ward so that Qianyi could be observed by the medical staff throughout the night.

We are at home now with Qianyi being discharged this morning. Life's back to normal for her; she is now sprinting round the house as usual with her Mummy frantically chasing after her. Kids, will they ever learn?

First Day at Kindergarten

2006-07-17T15:53:00.000+08:00

It's a big day for the three of us. Hubby's taking a 2-week break before starting his new job and thought it's the perfect chance to introduce Qianyi to her first taste of schooling life by accompanying her everyday for her first fortnight at a kindergarten. He started feeling stressed last night. How would his precious darling react? Will she be traumatized when we leave her alone there? He didn't sleep well. I knew Qianyi would feel very excited once she realized she was going to make lots of new friends but that she would feel stressed and scared too because of the separation anxiety. Anyway it'll just be for 3 hours a day (8.30-11.30am).

We reached the kindergarten slightly earlier to help her settle down. The senior teacher advised us to leave before 8.30am. She told us it's easier for the teachers to help her settle if we leave earlier. As we left, two teachers were trying to block her from rushing out to join us. We heard her wailing loudly from the kindergarten entrance. We both felt very broken hearted. We then had some breakfast at the canteen downstairs but didn't have much appetite. Qianyi went to bed around 12.30am the night before and we woke her up around 7.45am. She went to school on an empty stomach. We started worrying that she might not like the breakfast at school. Back home, Hubby started searching online for better pre-schools. He doesn't like this one. He said it's too small and the teachers don't look qualified enough for his princess...uh oh... Qianyi and I visited the kindergarten twice before this. She seemed to like the place a lot and it's so near.

Anyway time seemed to pass by so slowly and it seemed like forever before we returned to the kindergarten around 11.15. From the glass entrance, I spotted Qianyi from afar; she was sitting alone on a little chair. From her bobbing head, Hubby and I realized that she was sobbing quietly there. It broke our hearts all over again. Her teacher then wiped her face and carried her. Maybe she didn't want us to see her in this state when school ended. When it's finally dismissal time, we saw Qianyi walk slowly to the entrance carrying her own school bag and water bottle. The moment she saw us, she immediately burst into tears and started wailing. Hubby carried her immediately and hugged and kissed her. He also fed her some cookies he brought along just in case she didn't eat the breakfast provided. Her teacher told us she only cried for a few minutes after we left in the morning. She ate her breakfast and interacted well with other kids. Hmmm... how come she's wolfing down Hubby's cookies then? She started crying again only around 11.15 when she realized it's going to be time to leave. Where's Mummy and Daddy??

We wonder what will happen tomorrow morning. You may feel scared darling, but just know that we'll always be there for you, loving and comforting you and trying our very best to help you grow to be a happy, well-adjusted child.

DVD and TV

2006-07-13T12:00:00.000+08:00

Look, Qianyi's watching Barney while I was enjoying my favourite Taiwanese drama on TV! Both DVD and TV were turned on together. Isn't it great? However, I can only enjoy my TV show by reading the subtitle.

Still So Young?

2006-07-11T15:18:00.000+08:00

We were at MPH bookstore last weekend and saw this pair of nice sunglasses. Qianyi loved it so much so we bought it for her. The new sunglasses managed to keep her happy for the rest of the day.

There's a woman at MPH (I guess she's in her 40s) who said hello to me and Qianyi. She told me, "You're so lucky. You're so young but your kid's so big!" Hmm...is my girl very big?? I told her Qianyi's only two, still very young. "Kids grow very fast...and you're still so young," she said with an envious tone. Ah, maybe I'm "still so young" compared to her. I've told Hubby many many times that we're so old already and our kid's still so young...haha..

New Home Part 3

2006-07-07T11:19:00.000+08:00

Our new home is much more spacious than our old place. Qianyi enjoys running around so much. In fact, she doesn't miss our old place at all. She loves this new nest very much because we've got so many mirrors! :p

Beautiful Hat

2006-07-05T18:12:00.001+08:00

While we were doing grocery shopping at Giant the other day, I gave Qianyi a little basket to play with. She put it on her head straightaway, and said "mei mei ah" (beautiful). A little boy saw her and asked his dad, "Why is she wearing a basket on her head?"

She didn't take it off until we were at the checkout. I removed it and apparently, she wasn't happy because her beautiful hat has been taken away. :)

New Home Part 2

2006-07-04T20:31:00.000+08:00

Our bright orange kitchen :-)

New Home Part 1

2006-07-02T21:06:00.000+08:00

Been super busy the last few days moving and settling into our new home. This is going to be a short blog, just too many things still left to do and clean... sigh. Enjoy these very first few photos of our new home!

Photo 1: Feature Wall on which our new TV is mounted. Qianyi contributed by piling up all her soft toys as decoration :-)
Photo 2 & 3: Some snapshots of our 'home gym'. Hubby decided to invest in this as he's getting fat but doesn't want to spend lots of time away from home in a professional gym.

Photos 4 & 5: Father and daughter at work in our 'home study'. Hubby may have to spend quite some time in this room in the future after he starts his new job at a foreign bank, sigh.

June 27

2006-06-27T09:59:00.000+08:00

This is a special day. I first met Hubby on 27.6.1992. It's our first day in University of Malaya. When I raised my head and met those eyes...those charming eyes...we just couldn't take our eyes off each other. We had fallen in love from the first sight!

I told Hubby last night that we've been together for 14 years. He said, "Ya, 14 years but our daughter is only two years old." He told me our kid would be a teenager now if we married and got pregnant right away 14 years ago! It reminded me of my coursemate who gave birth to a boy during our second or third year in university. Her son should be around 12 years old now, so much older than Qianyi.

We used to celebrate on June 27 but not today. There's still lots of packing to do...Time's running out, we are moving on 29th.

What's She Doing?

2006-06-26T12:50:00.000+08:00

My little girl loves climbing into a small space very much. The bottom two boxes of the rack used to be filled with heavy photo albums but I have just packed them into a box. She discovered this new climbing pleasure just now. When she climbed into it successfully for the very first time, she laughed happily...:)

Please Don't Climb...

2006-06-23T11:29:00.000+08:00

My little darling, please don't climb up the boxes...it's very dangerous... If you really want to climb, then do it once or twice a day...don't climb too often...mummy's very tired...please...

Long-Legged Girl

2006-06-22T12:44:00.000+08:00

Long-legged girl with the short dress on...;p

When She's Down With Flu...

2006-06-21T11:50:00.000+08:00

Qianyi has just recovered from flu. I let her wear her pyjamas all day long for two days when her flu started last week. She was in good mood during daytime but she would become very cranky at bedtime. She had difficulty in sleeping due to her blocked nose.

To cheer her up, Hubby bought her a doll during his lunchtime. It's a lovely doll and it was wearing a hat. Qianyi's very excited to see it and played with it straightaway. The hat fell off suddenly and she was so surprised to see a bald head! Hubby and I laughed and I said "没有头发" (no hair). She laughed upon hearing the Chinese words. She learnt to say "hair" long time ago...but after I introduced her to its Chinese translation, she prefers to use the latter. To her, "头发" sounds very funny. When she says it, she would stress the F sound. I kept saying the Chinese words to make her laugh...what a funny girl!

She loves the "没有头发" doll so much that she would feed it with milk or orange juice. She would even kiss it on the mouth frequently...:p

Her Tantrums...

2006-06-19T11:19:00.000+08:00

We'll be moving to our new home 10 days later! We've been busy shopping for furniture and electrical appliances for the past few weekends and there's no exception on Father's Day too.

We were at Robinsons last Saturday to buy our bed and mattress. Qianyi didn't like to be there. She kept running to the toy department. Whenever I was trying to get her back to choose our bed, she would throw a tantrum by sitting on the floor sulkily.

She felt better when we were in a big fitting room when Hubby's trying on some nice shirts. She enjoyed looking at herself in the mirror so much. I managed to change her diaper and fed her a bottle of milk there too..haha.. We bought Hubby two handsome shirts for his Father's Day. :p

We started packing our books on Saturday night. Qianyi kept disturbing us. She helped putting our books into the box. She threw tantrums again when we stopped her from climbing up the boxes. I ended up keeping an eye on her while Hubby did the packing alone. She's really a little troublemaker.

I gave Hubby a little surprise on Father's Day. I made a childish card for him on behalf of our little girl. I actully planned to buy a nice card for him during weekdays but Qianyi hasn't been well since last Tuesday. She has runny nose but is much better now. That's why I didn't bring her out and decided to give Hubby a self-made card. Hubby's very happy to receive it and he asked if Qianyi has done the colouring. Well, I actully planned to let her do it but she's really not good at it. She even tried to grab it while I was doing it.

We visited our new home on Father's Day. We would like to take a good look before going to buy a fridge and a washing machine. Again, Qianyi threw tantrums because she felt very bored there...as it's still empty and there's nothing for her to play with. Hubby lost his cool and yelled at her for the first time. She started biting her little fingers and gave Hubby a pitiful look that melted his heart immediately. Sigh....

She's in good mood again when we were at Parkway Parade later. We bought our fridge and washer cum drier. We had a peaceful meal too. Although we were busy on Father's Day and didn't really get to celebrate it nicely, Hubby told me he's happy and contented as long as his two darlings were with him. :)

Running on Tiptoe

2006-06-15T17:33:00.000+08:00

We were at the swimming pool with Qianqian and her mum the other day. We mummies were trying to relax ourselves while chatting away in the warm jacuzzi. But Qianqian didn't allow us to enjoy for a little longer. She climbed out of the jacuzzi and ran towards the baby pool. Needless to say, my little girl followed her immediately.

Qianqian kept running from one pool to another. I wasn't too sure if she was trying to avoid Qianyi. It's a funny scene where the mummies kept chasing after the two little girls. Qianqian's mum noticed that Qianyi was actually running with tiptoe steps. She looked so happy and cute in her swaying swim skirt.

"Why don't you send her to a ballet class? She's tall and she loves tiptoeing..but must keep her hair long," said Qianqian's mum. Since then, I started picturing what that would be like if Qianyi's wearing a ballet dress and dancing with elegant balletic movements....Oh, dream on...;p Anyway the old photo below is the closest we have caught on camera :-)

28th Month Birthday

2006-06-13T11:21:00.000+08:00

We were at IMM last Saturday to shop for furniture and managed to find our ideal sofa, coffee table and dining set there. It's 10th...We realized our little girl actually turned 28 months that day! Well, we tried our best to make her happy on her 28th month birthday...

We brought her to Burger King to have her favourite food. She enjoyed her meal very much.;p

Miss Burger King...heehee..She looked so naughty...But there's no mirror for her to admire herself..haha..

It's such a pleasure to meet her three dinosaur friends later. She hugged each of them. She even kissed her old friend, Barney! :)

Does She Look That Young?

2006-06-09T10:27:00.000+08:00

Qianyi has been mistaken as a little baby a few times recently. Does she really look that young? She actually looks like a little lady in the photo above!

Qianyi and I were having fun at the swimming pool the other day. It was a great sunny afternoon. The pool was quite crowded. A mummy with a little boy in his stroller were taking a walk and stopped near us briefly. We smiled at each other. She then asked her little boy to call Qianyi "mei mei". I was sure Qianyi's older than him. A toddler who can walk or run would never want to sit in a stroller during a walk. I guessed he hasn't started walking. Next, she asked me, "Not yet one?" Gosh! Last week two mummies asked me "How many months?" while we were enjoying ourselves in the jacuzzi. "Not yet one?" sounded more unbelievable. When I told her Qianyi's already two, she looked embarrassed and apologized immediately. She then told his little boy that Qianyi's actually a "jie jie". Haha...

New Toys

2006-06-06T17:59:00.000+08:00

The little green umbrella was given by one of Hubby's female colleagues. It's a free gift that made her feel eerie. It looks like a ghost umbrella and the 7th lunar month is coming soon so she gave it to Hubby. It's smaller than Qianyi's red umbrella but she doens't really like it. Maybe she finds it eerie too...haha..

We bought a 42" LCD TV for our new home. One of the free gifts we received is an inflatable World Cup chair. Look, Qianyi's all ready for World Cup!! She loves to jump on it so much. It's a fun chair for her. Our living room looks so crowded now with this additional chair.:)

Unexpected Affection

2006-06-02T11:17:00.000+08:00

We were at the playground last evening. Qianyi and I were alone before little Qianqian and her mummy joined us. Apparently, Qianqian's still scared of Qianyi because Qianyi snatched her ball away a few months back.

Qianyi's very interested in Qianqian, especially her hair. Qianqian's hair is thick and long. While Qianyi's trying to touch Qianqian's hair which was tied up nicely, I warned her, "Touch, don't pull!" After touching Qianqian's hair, she went on to touch the button on Qianqian's dress. She seemed to like Qianqian a lot now. But Qianqian felt very uneasy with Qianyi around. Whenever Qianyi was standing too close to her, she would throw her mum a please-rescue-me glance and say "mummy..." in a frightened tone.

When they needed to make a move, Qianqian's mummy said goodbye to us. When she carried Qianqian and started walking away, Qianyi ran towards them all of a sudden. She hugged Qianqian's mummy's leg, her face rested on her thigh and she patted her leg with her little hand. This was totally unexpected! Qianqian's mummy asked me if Qianyi has mistaken her as someone else. Hmm...my little girl has never shown such affection to anybody except me and Hubby. I wonder why this shy girl has suddenly become so warm towards her friend's mummy. Maybe she's feeling closer to them now..but too bad, we are moving away soon.

Great afternoon!

2006-05-30T19:15:00.000+08:00

Qianyi and I had a great afternoon. The weather's beautiful today. We went down to the swimming pool to join the crowd around 5pm. Lots of kids were having fun there. It's been quite a while after our last swim together. While I was changing into my swimsuit last Saturday night, she opened the wardrobe to look for her own swimsuit. She looked kind of upset when I went down for a swim on my own. I felt guilty but managed to enjoy a half-an-hour swim. I promised her I would bring her to swim very soon.

We were having loads of fun at the pool. It's sunny and the water's not cold at all. I was asked the same question by two women. One of them is a mother of two. They asked, "How many months?" I knew they were asking about Qianyi's age. But it's just weird to hear that. It sounded like Qianyi's still a little baby. When I told them Qianyi's already two years old, they looked surprised. Maybe they thought she's much younger than that. :p

After enjoying ourselves for 45 mins, I decided to bring her home. I dried her body with a towel and then helped her put on her beautiful hooded towel. Some maids and aunties there said she looked so cute with the nice towel on. Back home, I quickly took some snapshots of hers before she started removing her hooded towel.

She's not sleepy after the bath. I then decided to go jogging. I put her in her stroller and went jogging outside the condo. It's been a long time since my last jog. When I finished jogging, I found my little darling asleep in the stroller! I didn't sleep well last night but feel myself all charged up after the swim and the jog. It's a wonderful afternoon! :)

Eyes Tightly Shut

2006-05-29T19:26:00.000+08:00

When Qianyi's scared or doesn't want to see certain things or people, she would shut her eyes tightly, like in the photo on the right. In this case, she didn't want me to capture a shot of her looking at the camera.:p

Whenever we walk near our guard house, she would always shut her eyes tightly and open them only after we have passed it. She's scared of all the security guards here. They love to tease her for this. One of them calls her "shy girl".

While she was running happily on the grass downstairs the other day, she bumped into a male gardener. She just stood right there with her eyes tightly shut. The gardener laughed as he found her very funny.

Whenever I want to bring her to the bathroom while she's watching her Barney VCDs, I would pause the video player. Guess what?? She would keep her eyes tightly shut until I let the video play again. She's scared of the paused video screen! Haha..what a funny girl she is! :D

She would also shut her eyes and be absolutely terrified whenever the Hyundai car commercial appears on TV. That's definitely one brand we would not consider when buying a car!

Boring Mealtime

2006-05-26T18:18:00.000+08:00

Mealtime is always a boring time for Qianyi. She hates to stay in the high chair. When she gets bored, she would refuse to eat. I have to keep giving her different toys, including her umbrella to make her happy. When she gets bored with one particular toy, she would throw it away. I'm just like her maid, keep picking up the toys from the floor and searching for another toy for her. What else can I do? This is the only way to make her finish a bowl of porridge. :(

I feed her porridge once a day. She wakes up late in the morning, it's usually 10am these days. She would have a bottle of milk for breakfast. Then she'll have her porridge around 2pm. And then, I would feed her another bottle of milk before her nap. I don't cook anything for her in the evening. She would have some cheese sandwich, yoghurt, fruit when she's hungry. There's another bottle of milk for her at bedtime. She sits in the high chair only once a day, yet she would look so bored. Bored bored bored...it's so000 difficult to please her!

Goodbye, Swimming Pool!

2006-05-25T14:40:00.000+08:00

We are moving away next month. Time flies, we have been living in this rented condo for two years! We moved here when Qianyi was still a little baby. She loves the swimming pool. I wonder if she's going to miss it after the move. Will she remember all the happy moments here? I know she has a memory but I'm not sure how much she can remember about this swimming pool, the playground and the people here.

There will be no swimming pool downstairs at our new home. When we take a walk there, she won't be able to see the familiar surroundings and people again. Will she enjoy the new environment and be happy to meet new people? How are we going to help her settle into our new home? Will there be some sleepless nights? Oh, I do hope she'll love our new home!

Here's a photo of Qianyi's first dip in the pool. She was 4 months old. Look, she was so chubby then..but she's getting slimmer and slimmer now..sigh...

I don't think I would bring her to a public pool as it's kind of inconvenient. Haha..what a lazy mummy I am! We'll try to enjoy the swimming pool here as much as we could during our last month here. ;p

Little Imitator

2006-05-23T17:25:00.000+08:00

Qianyi loves to imitate what Barney and his friends do in the vcds. She likes a scene very much where the blindfolded kids are allowed to touch and bite the snacks given to them before making a guess.

When I came out of the kitchen this afternoon, she dashed into it and opened the fridge immediately before I managed to close the kitchen door. I then witnessed a funny act of hers.

First, she took a carrot out. It's something she does very frequently. She loves to take out a carrot or an apple whenever she's in the kitchen.

Second, she bit the carrot. She would try to bite every carrot or apple before I get there to stop her.

What happened next really amazed me... She imitated the first blindfolded boy who's given a carrot in Barney vcd, "Hm...it's a carrot!" Hahaha...

It's not bad to be a little imitator. At least, she has learnt to form some simple sentences. She started adding "it's a " to some nouns quite a while ago but I didn't realize what she was saying then. It sounded like "isa ball" when she was trying to say "it's a ball"!

She's been actively using "it's a" lately. "It's a cat", "it's a car", "it's an apple" have been repeated umpteen times. Hubby and I felt so happy when we first noticed this sudden improvement in her speech. But sometimes we can't understand what she's saying to us. Hubby used to tease me that I should be able to decipher her code since I'm her mummy. Well, I'll try my best to figure out some of her mispronounced words. :)

Sweet, Girly Look

2006-05-22T13:38:00.000+08:00

Qianyi has been mistaken as a little boy many times when she's not wearing a dress. My niece suggested me to let her wear hair clips. Unfortunately, she doesn't like the feeling of having some hair clips resting on her head. She would remove them right away.

I managed to take some snapshots of hers with hair clips on yesterday. I showed them to Hubby later last night. We both found her weird... The hair clips did help create a girly look but this new look doesn't quite suit her as her hair's still so little and short. Well, we think she looks better without any hair clips. Our little girl is beautiful and smart looking without any hair accessories!:p

No Longer Friends

2006-05-18T12:20:00.000+08:00

We met little Qianqian during our evening stroll two days ago. When Qianyi walked near her, she panicked and turned towards her mum immediately. Her mum embraced her and suggested Qianyi to give her a hug. Guess what?? She bit her mum's arm! I didn't expect her to be so scared of Qianyi. Her mum told me she still remembered the "bully" incident at the playground two months ago where Qianyi snatched a ball from her.

Well, Qianyi's just like a little monster to Qianqian now...no longer friends... Now I understand why Qianqian shouted and ran away when Qianyi's trying to hug her the other day. :(

My 3rd Mother's Day

2006-05-15T16:47:00.000+08:00

I celebrated my first Mother's Day as a mum when Qianyi was 3 months old. Hubby suprised me with a nice Mother's Day card and a gift. He cooked us a wonderful dinner too! Qianyi was 15 months old when we celebrated my second Mother's Day. While we were choosing a watch for myself, the aunty who served us asked, "It's a Mother's Day gift from Baby huh? Daddy will pay first and Baby will have to pay back when she's a big girl!" Well, that's right...haha..

It's a long Mother's Day weekend this year. We celebrated it for 3 days! To have a great start of the long weekend, I suggested Hubby to do something for me...;)

I told Hubby to toilet-train Qianyi! Hubby has no patience to train her but for the sake of Mother's Day, he did it for the very first time. Look, isn't it a good way to bond with his little princess? :)

We went to IMM on the first day. We had our lunch at Secret Recipe. Qianyi wasn't very happy until we ordered her favourite ice-cream for her.

She was much happier when we went grocery shopping at Giant. She seemed to enjoy a lot more sitting in a shopping trolley instead of a restaurant high chair.

We had our dinner at a mamak stall on the second day. She's happy sitting in the high chair this time. I ordered the roti prata ice-cream. It was something new to me. There are 3 scoops of ice-cream inside the roti. Qianyi shared the ice-cream with me happily. :p

After the dinner, we had our tennis session from 9 to 10pm. It's the second time I played tennis. Hubby's a beginner. He booked the court to practise his serve and let Qianyi have some fun running around. Well, she was very busy chasing after the tennis balls and she would throw them back to Hubby. She would sit on the bench to rest for a while when she felt tired. Apparently, she had a good time there.

Hubby handed me the beautiful Mother's Day card while I was patting Qianyi to sleep. It's 12am, a very sweet way to start my third Mother's Day! Like the previous two Mother's Day cards, Hubby signed on behalf of Qianyi...:)

What's my third Mother's Day gift from my two darlings? It's a pair of gorgeous Nike jogging shoes that makes me feel gorgeous too! Thanks a lot to my two sweethearts!!!

It's a wonderful Mother's Day and it's great we had loads of family fun during the long weekend!

My Poor Sweetheart

2006-05-10T17:18:00.000+08:00

Qianyi fell off the bed early this morning while she's still asleep! It's my fault... She sleeps in between me and Hubby. I usually sleep towards the wall. I would shift to Hubby's place when he's in the bathroom, getting ready to go to work. But I was too tired this morning. I managed to open my sleepy eyes only when Hubby was kissing me goodbye. I drifted off to sleep again almost immediately. Although Hubby has placed his pillow next to Qianyi to block her, she still fell off.

I was woken up by her cries and was shocked to find her on the floor. She was crying softly and pitifully, clearly in shock. I felt so guilty and hugged her tightly to comfort her. I kept saying "Sorry darling" to her. However, I couldn't find any bruises on her head and body. She stopped crying after a while and was trying to sleep again. She gave up after tossing and turning for one hour. We were both wide awake then. Luckily, she's been in good mood all day. She seems to have forgotten about the fall.

Well, it's time to change our sleeping arrangement. Hubby and I don't want this to happen again. She's been napping for one hour now and I'm relieved that she didn't wake up from any bad dreams.

My Active Angel

2006-05-08T18:06:00.000+08:00

We met a SAHM yesterday during our evening stroll. I said, "Your daughter doesn't like to run!" Well, I've never seen her running around. It's so easy to handle such a not-very-active toddler. She told me, "Ah, every kid is different... Your daughter is not running, she's sprinting!"

She didn't seem to care when her little girl was walking away. She said she would definitely come back after a while. I told her Qianyi would run straight into the swimming pool or fish pond if I didn't follow her close enough to catch her in time. She then told me Qianyi's very boyish.

There are some maids and mums who have been amazed by Qianyi's endless energy.
"She's so active...just like a boy!"
"She behaves like a boy."
"Whenever I see her, she's running around. She barely walks."
"She's always running around. I didn't get to carry her."
"She runs non-stop. Her mummy also runs non-stop. That keeps her mummy slim."

Haha..I am really getting slimmer...It would usually tire me out after handling such a super active toddler for a day on my own. Poor me...

Umbrella!

2006-05-08T12:46:00.000+08:00

Qianyi can't pronounce "umbrella" correctly. She calls it "balla"! Ever since she's a baby, she got a thing about umbrellas. Whenever we open our umbrella to shelter ourselves from the sun or the rain, she would stare at it happily.

Sometimes our neighbours who live opposite would leave a wet umbrella outside. Qianyi would shout the word "balla" the moment we open our door. She would touch it and peep under it as if something's hiding there.

Hubby bought a little umbrella for her. She would ask me to open it for her whenever an umbrella appears on tv or her vcds. Umbrellas just never fail to excite my little darling. :p

Our Long Weekend

2006-05-02T08:49:00.000+08:00

Saturday

We went for our weekly grocery shopping last Saturday. In the supermarket, Qianyi kept looking at the Heinz cereal. Apparently she loves the chubby babies on the boxes very much.

The taxi stand at the entrance of the shopping centre is under upgrading now. We were told to wait at a temporary one at the back. After waiting for 10 mins, we decided to call for a cab. We waited for the cab for 20 mins and called Comfort's call centre to complain. Well, they arranged for another cab to pick us up. There's no sign of the second taxi either after another 15 mins. Hubby took his mobile phone out of his pocket and found there were two missed calls. One's from the call centre and the other one's from the cabbie, saying he had arrived. Oh no, Hubby didn't realize that his phone was on silent mode. We called the call centre again. We were told the cabbie had arrived at the entrance but left later because Hubby didn't answer his call. So they arranged a 3rd cab for us. Hubby walked to the entrance to wait for the cab while Qianyi and I waited at the temporary taxi stand with a shopping trolley full of our stuff. The 3rd one didn't know how to get to the back either. Luckily Hubby was waiting at the entrance. It took us 45 mins to get a cab! We were exhausted and totally pissed off. Qianyi was in good mood in the beginining but became cranky in the end. It's a rotten day!

Sunday

We visited the zoo last Sunday. It's the second time we went there after Qianyi was born. It was scorchingly hot and we regretted immediately once we were in the zoo. The three of us were sweating profusely and it's really uncomfortable. We should have gone to some air-conditioned place. But Qianyi enjoyed the animals very much especially those she was allowed to touch. She laughed uncontrollably when she touched the horses and the goats. She even tried to insert her little finger into a goat's mouth! Her playful and joyous mood amazed some visitors who were standing nearby. :)

Well, it's a happy day for us...

Labour Day

We had an appoinment with our interior designer on Labour Day. He was bringing us to his design showroom to view the design drawings for our new home and to select materials. While waiting for him to pick us up, we asked for some fish food from the clubhouse and started feeding the Koi fish. We had a good time!

Qianyi enjoyed the ride to the design showroom very much. She was smiling and clapping her hands. When we were in the design showroom, she was running around happily. I had to follow her everywhere during the 3 hours there. She would explore every corner and touch everything. She would climb onto the glass coffee table top, shake the vase etc. Her endless energy stunned our designer! I was dead tired when we got home later. It's a tiring day for me...

I've Been Tagged!

2006-04-28T18:45:00.000+08:00

I've been tagged by blurblur. I'll try my best to answer the questions. :p

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4.
It's "Five Favourite Storytime Tales"", line 4 on page 18 is "and his wife knitted two little caps."

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
My hand is being blown by the fan.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Japanese ghost movie

4. Without looking, guess what time it is?
11am

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
11.15am

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
Bumble Bee baby vcd playing in the background

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
15 mins ago, to defrost pork and scallop in the kitchen

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
chiaki's blog

9. What are you wearing?
T-shirt and shorts

10. Did you dream last night?
No

11. When did you last laugh?
Last night, when Qianyi kept yelling the word "exercise" while jumping in the lift.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Our photos

13. Seen anything weird lately?
No

14. What do you think of this quiz?
Quite fun

15. What is the last film you saw?
Lord of the Rings-The Return of the King

16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
Whatever we fancy...

17. Tell me something about you that I dunno.
My height is 170cm and my weight is 55kg.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
I hope there'll be no terminal illnesses and war...and it's a peaceful world without natural or man-made disasters.

19. Do you like to dance?
Yup. I used to perform with my friends from primary to university days.

20. George Bush.
Idiot

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
My first and only child is a girl, she's Qianyi!

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
Zhe Han

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
Yup. Have lived in England for 3 years. Hubby may want to work in another country a few years later.

24.What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
I don't believe in GOD!

I would like to tag lichin, Christine and My Rays. :p

Sitting on Balloon!

2006-04-27T15:12:00.000+08:00

Hubby blew up a balloon for Qianyi to play last weekend. This brave girl was sitting on it! It made me so nervous as I was scared that she would break the balloon. Hubby kept teasing me because I screamed a lot..

I've never learnt how to blow up a balloon by mouth. I tried yesterday but failed to blow one up. I did it again just now and I managed to blow it up this time. Unfortunately, I blew until it burst. It gave me a real scare. But Qianyi looked calm, as if nothing had happened. Ah, she's much braver than me!

Who's in the Mirror?

2006-04-25T17:11:00.000+08:00

We moved to our current home when Qianyi's 4 months old. We placed her cot next to the mirror in the living room. Since then, she started looking at her own reflection very often.

She loves to study her own reflection. When she's eating something, she would open her mouth while looking in the mirror to see what the food's like inside her mouth. She enjoys watching her own different types of facial expressions too. She would spend quite some time looking in the mirror whenever I put her in the cot. She would smile, thrust out her lower lip, knit her brows and etc...What a funny girl!

She loves to take the lifts with full-length mirrors here. She would wiggle her bum while lifting up the edges of her dress...she's a vain girl..haha..

Early Bird

2006-04-25T11:42:00.000+08:00

Qianyi woke up at 6ish am today! It's rare as she usually wakes up at 9ish.

We walked with Hubby to the bus stop and waved him good bye after he boarded the bus. It's a great way to start the day. He usually would kiss us good bye while Qianyi's still asleep before he leaves home.

We took our morning walk happily. We enjoyed the fresh air and the cool wind so much. She really loved the feeling of being free and started running around. We were stuck at home yesterday as it was raining heavily in the afternoon. That's why we didn't get to have an evening stroll. We both felt so bored and she's fed up with all her toys. I was frustrated too as I was too tired to entertain my little darling. Well, she's happy again after her daddy came home from work. :p

After the 1-hour morning walk, her mood's beautiful and she used the potty to pee. But the naughty girl stirred the urine using her own hand right after I praised her...yuck...

Ball!

2006-04-20T19:20:00.000+08:00

Qianyi always gets really excited when she spots a ball. While we were taking evening stroll the other day, we walked passed the little basketball court where two little boys were playing with a ball.

She ran towards the basketball court and shouted "Ball!". She managed to grab the ball and didn't want to return it. One of the boys (I guess he's 3 or 4 years old) told me, "You and baby are not in the team. Baby can't play with the ball." Wow..haha..I then asked Qianyi to return the ball but she ran away. When she was bouncing the ball, the other boy managed to take it away.

The first boy told the other boy, "Don't let baby get the ball!" They threw the ball to each other while Qianyi was running around trying to catch it. She didn't know the boys were bullying her. She actually looked very happy playing with them. It's fun although the boys didn't like her..hee hee..:)

S.H.E Lookalike

2006-04-18T20:23:00.000+08:00

I emailed an old friend Qianyi's photos a couple of months ago...He told me she looked so much like Ella, a member of the girl group S.H.E. We met up with one of my primary classmates recently. She, too, told me Qianyi resembled Ella very much! She told Qianyi, "You look a lot like Ella. You must have got some singing talent!" Haha...:) Well, I don't see the resemblance but I think they both look smart and boyish. :D

Her Favourite Toy

2006-04-13T17:19:00.000+08:00

Qianyi's favourite toys are her jigsaw puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles seem stimulating. And they're not expensive so we can get her as many as we can afford.

Her very first one is a 8-piece jigsaw given by Aunty Apple. She managed to do it on her own not long ago. She kept playing with it again and again...The cardboard has started to bend. Sometimes she would get very frustrated when she couldn't fit the pieces onto the cardboard.

The second one was given by one of Hubby's colleagues. This consists of 2-piece mini jigsaws. It's easier to match the 2-piece puzzles according to the pictures, colours and shapes. She would finish it without help and put the box on her head to celebrate.

The third one was bought by Hubby. It's "mother and baby puzzles", meant for 3-5 year-old kids. This one is a bit difficult. The shapes look similar. She would look for the same colour first and forget to match the animals. However, she managed to match them correctly after some practice.

Hubby bought a 15-piece Chicken Little jigsaw a few days ago. This one looks colourful and beautiful...But it's too difficult for her. We have to do it together or else she would shout out of frustration. I would clap my hands and say "Very good!" whenever she finishes fitting the pieces to form the picture again. I would give her a hug too and tell her what a clever girl she is. :)

Daddy's Girl

2006-04-11T17:26:00.000+08:00

We had visitors in the past 2 days. First, it's our interior designer who dropped by to show us the design drawings for our new home. Then it's our insurance agent who came to deliver our fire insurance policy and to explain the details in it. Whenever Hubby was engrossed in a discussion with the visitors, Qianyi would interrupt the conversation by extending her two little hands to cup her daddy's face and held it close to her own. She did it a few times when the visitors were here. We were surprised. She wouldn't really bother to show her affections for her daddy when there are no strangers around.

So why did she do that? Was she trying to tell the visitors that she's Daddy's girl and she's Daddy's number one, the center of Daddy's world? Daddy would give her 100% of his attention when he's home. Maybe she couldn't accept that Daddy was paying so much attention to some stranger.

We had a get-together with two of my old friends at Starbucks Raffles City last Sunday. When the little princess became cranky, I told Hubby to go to the nearest bakery to get her something to eat. When Hubby was leaving, Qianyi started crying and chased after him. She held his hand and dragged him back to Starbucks. That was the very first time she showed separation anxiety towards Hubby. Hubby tried a few times and she repeated the same thing. When Hubby offered to bring her along, she cried and came to hug me. She just didn't want to be parted from any one of her parents.

Although she's very attached to me, there's apparently a very special and sweet bond between her and Hubby too! :)

Amazing Surprises!

2006-04-07T11:37:00.000+08:00

While I was chatting with my nephew on the phone yesterday, Qianyi pulled down her pants and sat on the potty. I thought she would do nothing on it as usual. But I heard the wonderful sound after a while...She's peeing on the potty! I was so happy and told my nephew about it. However, it's just an one-off yesterday. She did it on the floor again afterthat.

There's another amazing surprise today. I was surfing the Internet just now while she's playing on her own. When I stopped surfing to check on her, I saw her holding the urine-filled removable cup of the potty!! She did it again on her own. :) Wow, I couldn't believe it! She would resist if I sit her on the potty. She also hate it whenever I remind her to pee on the potty. She prefers to do it without me asking her to. So, I guess it's wiser for me to let nature take its course! :)

Never-Ending Worries

2006-04-04T16:36:00.000+08:00

As a first-time mum, I just can't stop worrying about every little thing. I wonder if I'm a good mum. I love her dearly but I don't know if I'm really taking good care of her.

She's a fussy eater. I was picky with food too when I was a little girl. I still remember my mum slapped me one day when I refused to eat rice. Haha..that scene still remains in my memory. I think it's because I felt hurt although I was still very young. I wouldn't slap Qianyi if she doesn't want to eat what I prepared for her. I would rather blame my own cooking. So far, she enjoys the porridge I cook for her. She would finish at least one bowl a day. That's good enough...:) She enjoys having barley water too. I try to boil barley water everyday because it's an excellent source of dietry fibre. Qianyi poops everyday now. Her tummy is also no longer bloated. I'm so happy when she eats well and poops regularly. :) Her absolutely favourite food is french fries. We would let her enjoy it during weekends.

I also feel guilty about her toothbrushing. I can only manage one quick brush for her every night before she starts whining. I will also let her brush her own teeth in the living room every morning. Sometimes she will just chew on her toothbrush without really brushing. She however loves to see me brush my teeth. We bought a fluoride-free baby toothpaste for her recently but she doesn't like it. :(

I worry about her speech development too. My elder sisters said I was already talking a lot when I was one. Qianyi's already 2, but she only says single words. I wonder if I don't talk enough to her. :( She loves to sing "Hello Hello Hola", a catchy song from one of her Barney VCDs. It always sounds so cute when she sings it. I feel better after reading a passage in a parenting book: Some two-year-olds speak in short, 3-5-word sentences. Others still speak one word at a time. Unless your child doesn't understand simple questions and requests, there's nothing to worry about.

I do hope I'll be a brave and worry-free mum. No matter how tough it is to be a good mum, I'm trying to enjoy my role as Qianyi's mummy! :)

Under the High Chair

2006-03-31T15:56:00.000+08:00

Look!What was she doing? Haha..she's doing exercise under the high chair!!

I came out of our bedroom this morning and couldn't see her in the living room. I panicked and then I spotted her under the high chair. She was sitting there quietly. I think she was hiding there to scare her mummy. :)

Being under the high chair seems to be another fun thing to do. Well, she discovered that yesterday. She would bend down to walk under the high chair. It's not very easy as she's quite tall now. It's amusing to watch her do it again and again. Haha..my little funny girl...:D

She's not trained yet...

2006-03-30T17:03:00.000+08:00

Potty is just a toy to Qianyi. She loves to put the removable cup on her head and turned the potty chair upside down.

Qianyi mastered the skills needed to use a potty months ago. After a while, she showed her resistance again. She would pull down her pants, sit on the potty, saying "shh shh"(not peeing anyway), then get up and pull up her pants. She prefers to pee on the floor and play with it excitedly.

She was diaperless from 1pm to 5pm yesterday. She did a wee on the floor 7 times! Everytime she did it, her hands and legs were wet and I would carry her to the bathroom and wash her. I then went on to clean the floor. I felt exhausted after doing it for 7 times. She kept drinking water and peeing. There's always a big puddle of urine on the floor. :(

When she's wearing a diaper, I must make sure she's wearing her pants too. I let her wear just a pull-up diaper the other day. While I was in the bedroom, she pulled down her diaper and passed urine on the floor in the living room. Needless to say, she started playing with it happily. I should have let her wear her pants too as it's inconvenient to pull down both pants and diaper.

I'm really struggling with potty training. Sometimes I just let her wear a diaper when I feel tired. I have read something that made me feel better from a potty-training book:

More haste, less speed
In the USA, paediatricians have a saying about potty training:
'If you start at 2, you'll be done by 3.
If you start at 3, you'll be done by 3!' :p

Meow...

2006-03-29T13:00:00.000+08:00

Hubby and I took Qianyi down for a walk around 10pm last night. We saw a white fat cat right in front of the clubhouse. Qianyi ran after the cat right away and shouted "Cat!" excitedly. She used to call it a "Dog" but now she knows how to differentiate these two animals.

The cat stopped near the flowers. I asked Qianyi to touch it but she didn't dare. Hubby then made a cat's sound, "Meow..." Qianyi laughed immediately. Since she loved to hear the sound, we kept meowing to make her laugh. She learnt to meow too..but it sounded more like "mel..." :)

Well, she enjoyed watching the cat so much that she was reluctant to go home. We couldn't believe that a cat managed to bring our little princess so much joy and fun.

When we arrived home, she went to get her animal flash cards straight off and looked for the cat eagerly. She looked so happy the moment she found it! I then meowed again to make her laugh... It was a great night as it's filled with our little darling's cute and sweet laughters! :)

So Little Hair...

2006-03-27T13:34:00.000+08:00

I was chatting online with a friend the other day. She asked why I didn't keep Qianyi's hair long. According to her, Qianyi looks smart now but she'll look better with longer hair. To her, a perfect baby girl's look is one with long and curly hair...:)

Well, well, I do hope Qianyi has longer hair... Unfortunately, her hair's been very slow-growing. That's why she's always been mistaken as a boy when she's not wearing a dress. She had less hair when she was smaller. I cut her hair from time to time, hoping it'll grow faster and it does work. I know it'll take a long time for her hair to grow longer.

There was a security guard around here who loved to tease Qianyi. He would ask, "Boy or girl?" When I told him it's a girl, he would say,"No lah..doesn't look like a girl..it's a boy lah..Boy boy!" He asked the same question whenever we bumped into him. Hubby suggested me to tell him Qianyi's a boy if he asked again. But later he's gone..no longer working here. Hubby said he must have been sacked as he kept harassing Qianyi..haha..:)

Let's be patient...I'm sure my little darling's hair will grow longer and thicker soon..and hee hee..she'll be a more strikingly beautiful little princess!! :D