The Chair Series (1 year 4 months old)

DS is now 16 months old and her favourite word is...

NO!

Usually, when DS objects to something (like if you want to take away the pen she's been chewing on), this really loud and really shrill scream erupts from her and we all have to take a step back and rethink our move. She's that scary. Brrrrr...

This week however, she has started using "no" to express her, erm, discontent. It's actually quite cute because she takes her time to say "no" and it always comes out like this, "noooooooo..." and the best thing? There's no  exclamation mark at the end! So I'll take this over the loud, shrill scream any day.

Although, we do realise that we soon have to stop giggling and hugging her whenever she says "noooooooo...". It's quite counterproductive!

Here are the other words DS can say. Take note though, that we are the only ones who can understand her!


Bye, Elle, Hi, Mama, More, Papa (only when she's really desperate and there's still no response from my lifeless, sleeping body after calling me for half an hour), Sit, Shoes, There, Yes... and a few more but for the life of me, I can't remember them now!

Chef DN

About three weeks back, I got a text from WP asking if I was keen on signing up for a parent-child baking workshop at So EZ Cooking Studio. We would be learning how to make a log cake. A log cake! I only know how to eat log cakes, so learning how to make one would be pretty darn cool. PLUS, I get to spend time just with DN.

"Ok!" I texted back.

Now that DS has joined the Ong family, she has become the fifth limb I didn't know I had. I need surgery to detach her from me on weekends. She is THAT clingy. It does amazing things for my self-esteem but it also means that poor DN doesn't really have his mommy any more. Sad face. I don't think he feels good about it. And because of this, he is now really attached to PF. Like seriously. It's always, "I want Papa to brush my teeth!" or "I want Papa to pat me to sleep!". He doesn't really ask for me any more. Sigh!

So I thought the baking class would be a great chance to get some solo time with my little man. And it was quite fun! We made a really basic log cake from scratch. It was surprisingly simple - just a swiss roll covered in fresh cream and decorated with a jelly santa and fruits.

DN got a little chef's hat and coat to wear during the class. Pity it wasn't his to keep though. I heard that the kids get to keep theirs at Bakerzin classes. Well, no matter, we had fun!

That's us mixing the eggs and sugar for the swiss roll.

DN and Jovann having a little snack during the break. We were waiting for the swiss rolls to bake and cool down a little before moving on to the next step - decorating!

That's DN decorating his log cake with fresh fruits (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries), chocolate balls and sprinkles. He took the decorating very seriously!

I know this is a bit belated but, here's wishing you a fun Christmas and New Year holiday!

Elle & DN

My sister has the cutest dog I swear. See?

Okay, I know it looks like Elle has no legs in this pic, but she really does! Look closely and you'll see her little paws. And believe it or not, she IS standing up in this pic. LOL. I love Elle and her short, short legs. DN and DS love Elle too. She's like a walking pillow. So soft, so quiet and so nice to squeeze! In fact, (I'm sad to say) DS can now say Elle's name (air-yeeeee...) but still can't say Mummy (she goes MAAAaaa...) or Papa. Humph!

DN : I love you Elle!
Elle : Er... right back at you dude. Where's my food?

Elle : Hey, what's that on your chin? Rice??
DN : mtfhffphttt...!

DN : *bounce*bounce*bounce away* BLEAH!
Elle : Humph. No more hugs for you!

Jump Hair

I've been meaning to write about this for the longest time because it's quite, uhm, interesting.

When DS was born, she had normal baby hair. Not too much, not too little, very soft. From the looks of her, I had no idea her hair would soon grow a mind of its own and do its very best to defy gravity. Now that I look back at her old photographs, I should have guessed. The signs were all there!

See?!

DS - 1.5 months old

Initially, she looked kind of okay. It was just the hair on top that was reaching for the sky. And it was kind of pyramid shaped too, so she even looked... cool. And honestly, at that time, I didn't really notice the hair. I was sleep-deprived remember? Not much oxygen in the brain.

Over the next two months, the pyramid had time to grow. And it became... "curly". Okay lah, still quite cute since she looked like Tin Tin and I like Tin Tin. She had already started losing hair but as you can see, it was only on the sides. The top was still going strong!

DS - 4 months old

At six months old, DS was almost bald so I thought, "A chance to start afresh!" (although tufty still reigned supreme). 

DS - 6 months old

It kinda went downhill from there. Or maybe UPHILL?!

Yikes. Who let the baby stick her finger into the socket?!

After a while, DS stopped channeling the Tin Tin vibes and went with Krusty the Clown.

Someone's obviously been dipping into the durian stash.

Beware. Porcupine ahead.

When DS was 1 year old, she still looked more durian than baby. In the first few months of her hair-volution (haha), I was quite disturbed. I bought clips to tame the mane but it was useless. One clip did diddly squat. Two clips? Who are we kidding? She needed twenty to look human. When we went out, people would ask, "What happened to her hair?" or say things like, "Wah, her hair is so... cute! (read : Why does she look like a toilet brush?)" and give us advice like, "Put olive oil / Shave her head / Use less shampoo..." Bah... After a while, even DN starting calling his sister's hair "Jump Hair".

LOLOLOLOL!

But now, I love it! I love my durian baby and her crazy hair! I can't get enough of it!

Now that DS is almost 16 months old, her hair has all grown out and she doesn't look like she's from Fraggle Rock anymore. But after naps, she still can look a little, erm, frazzled!

But I'm not tired mummy! ... zzz...

Now that I have two monkeys children, every time I see parents with twins, I have this urge to run over to them, shake their hand, and ask, "HOW do you do it???" I have two children, THREE years apart, and I struggle to find time to go to the toilet. How do they handle two children of the SAME AGE? Amazing.

DN has definitely become more challenging to handle this past year. It's probably because of DS. I think in general he loves his sister (sometimes he gives her random out of the blue hugs) but sometimes he wishes she were toast. Like today. He woke up complaining that his sister stole his bolsters and pillows and went on and on and on and on about it and even pushed her! DS of course, doesn't take this kind of abuse lying down and promptly threw her milk bottle at his foot. At this point, if PF were awake, he would have started his usual chant - "fight fight fight fight fight!"

By this time, my FIL is flipping out. It's not yet 7.30 in the morning and he has two young spitfires children on his hands, ready to leap at each other's jugulars. I of course, am still wiping crust from my eyes and trying to walk in a straight line. So my poor FIL has to referee the fight. Again.

Sigh!

The cheeky monkey and Barney 

DN has also been resisting sleep and refusing naps. Nothing too unusual, he's 4 after all. The thing that gets me is, he's SO not ready to drop naps. Of course he doesn't think so. If he misses his 1pm nap, by 3pm, his eyes are glazed over, his arms are limp and his mood is BAD! And our usual conversation goes something like this...

Me : DN! It's time for a nap! You haven't taken your nap today!
DN : No! I don't want to sleep!
Me : You have to sleep. You're so tired. Look at your eyes!
DN : I'm not tired Mummy. I don't want to sleep. I want to play!
Me : No more playing. Okay, you don't have to sleep. Just close your eyes and lie down. (He hasn't caught me on this one!!)
DN : But I'm not tired Mummy! ... zzzzz...!

And he's out like a light.

And then DS wakes up from her nap. ARGGGGHHH! Just stab me already.

Ilovemychildren. Ilovemychildren. Ilovemychildren. Ilovemychildren.

Hello again!

I feel really really rotten for ignoring this blog for half a year. When I started it in 2006, I chronicled DN's every major milestone and you can really see him growing up on this blog. So I feel terrible that DS doesn't have the same thing. Sorry Mei Mei! :(

But it's hard trying to juggle work and two kids. Something's got to give right?

But I'm not going to let this blog die just like that! I'm going to keep it simple but I promise to post SOMETHING at least once a week. (God help me!) I hope I can stick to this plan. It's been pretty pretty crazy at work.

First up, a DS update. My little girl is now 1 year and 3 months old. Can you believe it? I blinked and 15 months flew past. She's a spicy one, this one, and had us all deceived the first few months of her life. Compared to DN, she slept better (so WE slept better), sat in the pram better, sat in the car seat better (no possessed baby type of screaming like you-know-who) and basically let you do anything to / with her, no complaints. Biggest plus point? She never needed a pacifier! An amiable and pleasant baby.

Well done June, I told myself (*pat on back*), good thing you kept up with the Community Chest donations!

Fast forward to now and why I say she deceived us all. She's spicy! If she's unhappy with something, she will Make. It. Known. And the neighbours will know it too. She doesn't give her brother face at all and if she's unhappy with him, trust me, he will know about it. Once, it cost him some hair on his head. Which then caused me to lose mine because I had 2 screaming monkeys on my hands for half an hour.

What else? Well last week, she screamed at her doctor when he vaccinated her. First, the screams were screams of shock. Then it was pain. But that didn't last long because they soon morphed into screams of anger. We could tell because she wasn't crying (no tears) and to put it simply, she looked pissed off! Her face was red, she was staring at poor Dr Keoy and shouting at him in her baby language. Dr Keoy kept muttering, "She's tough. She's tough. She's tough."

So he gave her a biscuit and all was peaceful again. Easily bribed, just like her brother!

So yes, Mei Mei is a spicy one. Don't let that smile fool you!

Next up... a DN update. Stay tuned. ;)

The Tanglin Tree

Yes, I'm alive, and no, my fingers did not rot and fall off. My excuse dear friends, for totally falling out of the  blogosphere, starts with "work" and ends with "crap". Whoops, I just meant "work".

Sigh. It's been pretty crazy since April. I've hardly had time to go to the toilet, let alone blog! Mornings are spent leaping out of bed (late, no less), sterilising pump parts and bottles, deciding on an outfit, getting dressed, changing mind about outfit, getting dressed (again), feeding DS, packing bags (mine and DN's), getting DN dressed, sending him to school and then myself to school before class starts. Nights are spent harvesting my pumpkins on Farmville in Facebook preparing for the next day's class. 

I hope things will be better in this new school term. :) It probably will - I've moved the Facebook app on my iPhone to the last page and have sworn off Facebook. It's the damn farming that's been a pure waste of time! Wish me luck... and will power.

So many things have happened since my last post about the kiddos - DN outgrowing his milk allergy (woot!), DS sprouting teeth, DN's trip to the theatre where he spent 40 minutes sitting ON THE FLOOR and DS's transformation from baby to toilet brush. Yes, toilet brush. But more about that later this week. (Haven't downloaded the photos yet, haha!)

Today, I want to blog about the fun time we had meeting up with Sophie when she came back from New Zealand for a holiday. Sophie and DN have been hanging out since they were 8 months old and have gone to the zoo, the botanic gardens and even the theatre together. A whole bunch of us decided to meet up for breakfast at The Tanglin Tree one Sunday morning. DN had a swell time that day, playing with Jovann, Clarence and Sophie.

The Tanglin Tree has a pretty nice tree house out front and after about half an hour, we had to admit defeat and release the children into the sun... where they stayed for the next whole hour.

Jovann, Sophie and Clarence were thrilled with the water pit. There were also water and sand toys for the kids to play with. DN steered clear because he didn't want to get wet. He can be quite mak nenek (a grandmother) sometimes!

So while everyone else was splashing around, he entertained himself with the slides.

When we finally managed to drag the kiddos in, they headed for the books. Please don't ask me why I have such a stupid look on my face.

Sophie and DN, May 2010

DN and Sophie, March 2007

Updates soon... promise!

Meet "Chi Chi" the Mosquito.

Yes, I'm alive! Check back soon for an update. :)