Garden theme school party

Yiu Yiu's kindy had their year-end school party last Friday, the last day of school. This time, the theme is Garden, and the children were asked to dress as a flower, fruit, vegetable or bug, things commonly found in a garden.

Yiu Yiu wanted to become a butterfly and I bought these from a party supplies shop near my office.

I needed to get her a pair of leotard/bodysuit to go with the wings and since I had no idea where to get them, I asked this mummy who always dresses her two princesses in pretty outfits. She graciously offered to lend me Ashley's ballet costume, since Yiu Yiu only needed it for the party. Thanks Christene.

As with the earlier party, the kindy was already a hive of activity when we arrived at about 8.15am.

Yiu Yiu was so excited and was running all over the place with her friends. Dunno how I managed to capture this, but I love the sense of motion in the photo.

With Chloe, who's also dressed as a butterfly

And Faythe, who's dressed as a flower

The wall decorated with artwork made by the students. Yiu Yiu's class made the whale, starfish and clams.

I initially wanted to bake some Oreo cupcakes for her to bring as snacks for sharing. As it was a new recipe, I baked a batch the weekend before just to try out and ensure they would turn out right, which they did. Unfortunately, the little butterfly pronounced that she didn’t like it, and so didn't want to bring them to her party. When I asked her what she wanted to bring, she said guava. Haha! But I thought guava would be a little too plain and simple, and some children may not like the fruit, so I prepared these.

Plenty of food for the children: (L) Perishable food items to be consumed (R) Individually packed biscuits, candies, etc to take home.

Tucking in

Hooray for a wonderful year with her classmates in Jasmine class

Yan Yan – 4th month update

Yan Yan is four months old today. I missed updating her 3rd month progress, as I was away in Montreal then and was really busy throughout that trip. I was caught up with work upon my return and when I finally was able to afford some time to jot things down, Yan Yan was already 3.5 months so I decided to just wait it out till her 4th month.

We took her to the paediatrician for her vaccinations two weeks back and she weighed 6.7kg, was 62.1cm in length with a head circumference of 40.5cm.

Physically, she's learned to do quite a bit over the last two months:
- holding her head steady when held in a sitting or standing position at 3 months
- loves to stand and would push down on her legs to bear her weight
- rolling over while lying on her back to the front at 3 months, and started to inch forward while lying on her tummy at 3.5 months.



As such, it's getting difficult to change her nappy, or to dress her up, as she's really quick to turn herself over. And since she gained a little mobility, she has had a few accidents – once she rolled herself down from the bed onto the mattress beneath, through a slight gap between the bed guard rail and the head of the bed. Luckily her papa was sleeping on the mattress so he cushioned her fall. She also rolled and got herself caught between the bed and the bed guard rail several times. So we’ve really got to be extra careful when leaving her on the bed now.



Emotionally, she is a joy to wake up to. She's a really happy baby, and always has a gummy smile on her face. The other day at the paediatricion, she only let out a quick cry while being jabbed, but very quickly returned to her chirpy, cheerful self when carried, while flashing her gummy grin.





She responds by smiling and laughing excitedly whenever people coo or talk to her, and has recently acquired the habit of ooohhhing and aaahhhhing loudly, as if to invite you into a conversation with her :-) She definitely has a much better temperament compared to her che-che. She also loves to look at her own reflection in the mirror.

Most nights, she sleeps after her last feed at about 10-11pm till 5-6am the next morning, waking up only occasionally. On the nights that she does wake up for her midnight feed, it's still pretty easy on me as I'll nurse her lying down and continue sleeping :-) I'm truly thankful for her sleeping through the night as Yiu Yiu only stopped waking up for her midnight milk recently, after more than 3.5 years! Part of the reason why Yan Yan doesn't fuss as much at night is because she sucks her fingers to soothe herself. Sometimes she even sucks on her whole fist.

Sucking on her index finger

Sometimes it's her middle and ring fingers together

Che-che saw me snapping photos of mei-mei sucking her fingers and insisted I took one of her too :-)

TWO thumbs together also no problem :-)

I still can't decide whether it's a good or bad thing - good because she can soothe herself and fall asleep by herself without much effort, bad because she may carry this habit into toddlerhood and beyond.

It's also a breeze when ferrying her to and from the babysitter's house, or the occasional outings. Yan Yan will lie in baby carrier without any fuss, and entertain herself by looking out the window at buildings zooming past.



Again, in contrast to Yiu Yiu when she was a baby, who would scream the moment she was put into the carrier, and all the way home. I remember having to make several stops on the drive home to carry and calm her, or else she'd cry till she had no more voice. When I mentioned this to her the other day, the cheeky little girl said, "When I was a baby that time, I cried because the car seat is 不舒服 (not comfortable)". Haha! What a clever excuse.

The only worrying thing about Yan Yan thus far is her bowel movements. She passes motion only once in 4-5 days, and when she does, it's always yellow with a pasty, sticky, consistency and slightly foul smelling, very unlike the typical stool of breastfed babies which is soft and quite sweet smelling. When I was in Montreal, she actually went seven days without passing motion so hubby had to bring her to the paediatrician who inserted a suppository to help her pass them out.

Long service award

When I was on maternity leave, I received an email from HR asking me to choose a gift from the e-catalogue for my long service award. I flipped through the e-catalogue to find a vast selection of women's jewelry, men's jewelry, watches, as well as home decoration items such as crystal vases. As I'm not a jewelry person, I chose an elegant watch with stainless steel case and black leather strap.

Though it's no Omega nor TAG Heuer, it's still nice to know that the company recognizes and appreciates its long-serving employees.

You are not a good mummy

Yiu Yiu was keeping her toys, books, stickers away while I was working on my computer. She asked me to help keep a big piece of magnetic board with multiple small magnets into a book and even though I told her I'd do it in a minute, she kept whining and nagging me. Patience is really in short supply with this girl. When I eventually helped her to keep it, she made a fuss again, coz she wanted to have all the magnets facing the top of the book, which is not possible.




Mummy (with a slightly raised voice): The magnets are like that. You cannot arrange them all straight.
Yiu Yiu: Little bit also scold scold scold. You are not good mummy, you know. Good mummy is like this, (speaking in a soft tone and smiling) "Good children, I love you." Bad mummy is like this, (speaking in a stern tone) "The magnets are like that. You cannot arrange them straight."
Mummy: OK, so what will good mummy do if her children are naughty and never listen? Will the good mummy scold her children?
Yiu Yiu: Yes, but I want mummy to sayang me. So you sayang me or not?
Mummy: Of course I sayang you. I scold you and let you know what you did wrong, but I will still sayang you.
Yiu Yiu (with the puppy look on her face): I want mummy to sayang me.

Mummy 1, Yiu Yiu 0.

Breast talk

When we were lying down together during bedtime…
Yiu Yiu: Mummy, what is this sharp sharp thing on your breast?
Mummy: It's my nipple, darling.
Yiu Yiu: Mei-mei suck on your nipple and nen-nen will come out is it?
Mummy: Yes.
Yiu Yiu: Can I squeeze the nen-nen out?
She proceeded to squeeze my nipple before I had the chance to answer her, and giggled with delight when she saw milk actually coming out! :-)

When I was trying to latch Yan Yan on…
Yiu Yiu (pointing to my breast): Mummy that is baby's Mamil Gold ah (she's drinking Mamil Gold Step 4 now).
Mummy (amused): Yes, darling. That's baby's Mamil Gold.
Yiu Yiu: Who made one?
Mummy: Mummy made lor.
She has since used the term Mummy Gold to describe breast milk, how apt!

Making orange juice

We were at Daiso last weekend when Yiu Yiu spotted an orange juicer. She asked me to buy one coz she said she wanted to make orange juice for me – and so I did. The moment we got home, she pestered me to get her an orange from the fridge, coz she can't wait to use the juicer. I helped to halve the orange, and let her squeeze the juice out. Of course I had to finish it off for her coz she didn’t have the strength to squeeze everything out. Anyway, that was my first ever cup of juice prepared by my daughter, with love :-) Too bad I was busy preparing ingredients for cooking so didn't take any photos.

Cutting hair

Yiu Yiu has always liked to keep her hair long, and each time we teased her about cutting off her hair, she'd protest with an emphatic NO!!! She still allowed us to cut her fringe though, and so we've been taking her to her姨婆(hubby's aunt) salon to have her fringe cut ever since she started growing her hair long. And oh by the way, only her 姨婆can cut her hair. We tried taking her to other salons, or getting another stylist from 姨婆 salon to cut for her but no, the stubborn girl only wants 姨婆, as if she wields a magic scissors :-)

Out of the blue 2 – 3 weeks ago, she told us she wanted to cut her hair SHORT! I was like, WHAT?! She said she wanted to cut her hair short like Faythe, her buddy in kindy. And she had been pestering us to bring her to 姨婆 salon since then. We warned her that if she really cut her hair short, there's no way to reverse it if she changed her mind. I certainly don't fancy having to deal with a whiny little girl who wants her hair back so better warn her in advance.

Anyway, when we were at the salon, 姨婆 was against the idea of cutting her hair short, since Yiu Yiu has curly hair which may be unruly if cut short. Surprisingly she listened to 姨婆 and agreed to just trim her hair. I think 姨婆 must have snipped away about 3 inches of her hair.

Getting ready, with part of her hair clipped up

Snipping away

Notice her half-cut fringe?

Me and my new hairstyle. Pretty or not?

Mission breastmilk: Bits and pieces

On the Montreal – Amsterdam flight, there were only 12 seats at the section that I was sitting and all the seats were full. I didn't inform the crew that I would be occupying the toilet for a long time so when I made a disappearing act to express in the toilet, my absence of conspicuous. One of them came knocking at the door when I was half-way expressing to make sure that I was OK, and not fainted in the toilet :-)

~~~OOO~~~

My breastpump broke while I was expressing at the lounge in Amsterdam airport while on transit home. The pump can still be used but it takes a lot more effort to balance the broken part and work the pump. I have to thank my lucky star it didn't break any earlier, as it would have made my expression sessions much more difficult.

~~~OOO~~~

What's my record output in one single expression session?
13oz!
This was achieved when I had a gap of eight hours between expressions, instead of the usual 5 – 6 hours.

~~~OOO~~~

Yan Yan has no problems at all with nipple confusion or breast rejection. When I offered her the breast upon my return, she didn't hesitate one bit and suckled like a pro, as if I hadn't been away at all. And I'm thankful for this - one less thing to worry about in my next trip - Bangkok for a couple of days at the end of the month. Now that we (Yan Yan and I) survived Montreal, I'm sure Bangkok will be easier.