All Went Well

K had her 1st day in school and everything went pretty well on the whole. She was pretty reserved when we initially stepped into school but this was easily resolved when teacher led her to where gor gor was having breakfast (they went to school at different times).

T told us that K did a Prison Break and wandered to his class during lesson time. It was not a random wandering, mind you. More of her peering into each classroom one by one to "hunt down" gor gor and then sitting down beside him and refusing to budge. I must say that having T in the same school has aided her transition greatly and i am very thankful for this.

Downside: she woke up cold in the middle of last night screaming, perhaps due to the new stimulus of going to school and having so many new things and routine to get used to.

Rounding off with some pictures...

Ready to rock and roll!

Where are we going mummy?

Looking for a bug

Her lesson plan for the month:

I laughed and laughed so hard when i saw this!! Simply cos K is such a good monster; identifying most of the foods listed will not be an issue for her. *wink rice and porridge*

After-school picture where the subject was not very happy abt being placed on a void deck table for photos.

Grumpy also for an overdue nap

Having tea break - Japanese sesame bun with azuki

小花猫

She's All Grown Up....

I've been feeling rather emo since last week, as the time grows shorter before baby girl starts childcare.

Perhaps it's the fact that she's growing up so fast. Or maybe its because I won't have another kiddo to send off to childcare anymore (yes, two is really enough thank you very much!). On reflection, K represents the last for many things: last pregnancy I'll ever know, last baby to spend precious moments with during unearthly night feedings, last kiddo to witness important baby milestones etc etc....

Ok, that last paragraph sounds a little pessimistic so I'll look at the glass as half full now. Her school bag is packed and ready to go (little owner is optional, lol..) and everything is nicely labelled for first day at school. Can u believe that kiasu mummy here started preparation work since last year? It started off with buying her school bag in Nov and everything else just got added on along the way. Very contrasting with when T started school and we scrambled to buy everything last minute.

I won't have any super precious pictures of her in uniform tomorrow, cos she doesn't have a formal uniform to speak of. The school recently underwent a management restructuring and the new school uniforms are still not ready yet. So all kiddos have to make do with home clothes until the uniforms are finally in stock.

My baby girl's growing up too fast....😣

To the left: original intended school bag in mama's favourite design.

To the right: Cotton On bag (last minute switch when i realised that all her barang barang + emergency kit can barely be squashed into the Panda)

My best school discovery so far - 

Cotton On pillow bag, which nicely fits a kiddie pillow, mattress cover and blanket (mummy cannot tahan using NTUC or some other recycle bag for this purpose.)

Water bottle and milk bottle 

(poof went the unintentional panda theme when her school bag was switched.)

Firstborn vs Secondborn

1st born:
15 min to finish up baby porridge, max.

2nd born:
A crippled tortoise can travel from Changi to Tuas before she grudgingly opens her gold mouth to eat up the last scoop

1st born:
No salt, no sugars passed his mouth before 18 months. The one person who fed him table food (horror!!) has diplomatic  immunity and therefore can't be killed by way of motherly death-glares .

2nd born:
The crippled tortoise's leg miraculously healed when reduced-salt soya sauce was discovered.

1st born:
Oblivious to baby porridge and adult food, as long as his tummy gets filled.

2nd born:
Happy to give porridge facials in her younger days when it is not to her taste. Can't get the spoon into her mouth fast enough if table food is concerned, to the accompaniment of "I want!!!!'. May reach high soprano notes at times.

1st born:
Durian smells are down there with the raw materials of New Water. Complete bane of his life, much to his mum's sadness.

2nd born:
Have yet to discover something that she doesn't eat. (baby porridge being the only exception)

1st born:
70yr old ah pek stuck in a 5.5yr old body (kinda like his pa, 'cept that the latter is 29.5 years older). Likes noodles but not pasta. Dislikes cold ice cream. Lives for salmon skin.

2nd born:
Loves fish and eggs. Everything else is negotiable, as long as it is not baby porridge.

Boxers and Briefs

An era has come to an end - one that was familiar and convenient.

Every half-year (or thereabouts) for the past 2 years, T will start a ritual of tugging at his cartoony undies. First the wedgies, and then the crotch. That's my cue to berate him for such an ungainly action and then head to Mothercare to 'upsize' his undies. It was a no-brainer; wedgies equal Mothercare shopping trips.

But as T grows bigger, the rack selection grows smaller. At age 4, i had a choice of buying size 5-6YO (size is just nice), or i can be kiam siap and buy size 7-8 so that the undies get greater milleage.

For the un-informed, Mothercare stocks up to 8-10YO only i.e. no bigger size liao. Ditto H&M. This translates to having to source for new places to buy big boy underwear and goodbye cars, Batman, tractors, multicoloured undies and other kiddy designs. Is there even such a place? Or do u head straight for adult briefs?

Anyway, T has started his tugging ritual again and the only size suitable for him is size 8-10YO  (he's only 5.5YO now, for cryin' out loud!). No more fun picking out kiddy designs anymore; hello black, blue, grey adult briefs?

Boys And Girls II

Boys: like building blocks, anything with wheels, bouncey balls, Transformers

Girls: like flinging building blocks around, anything with wheels, bouncey balls, whatever gor gor is holding

Boys: major OCD for anything out of their rightful place in the universe and cleanliness

Girls: major compulsion for shifting things out of their place in the universe (see Building Blocks) and enjoys picking random dirt particles on the floor for personal consumption

Boys: indifferent to being styled or looking like a homeless hobo

Girls: enjoys the odd ribbon or hairband on their head for a few seconds before going bald from yanking said ribbon/hairband/rubber band out of their hair

Boys: indifferent to wearing sandals, slippers or covered shoes

Girls: admires the pretty pink shoes on their feet for a few minutes before dismembering said pretty pink shoes on a  long car journey (and irritating the hell out of mum who needs to put them on again when desired destination is reached). Decidedly has a shoe fetish.

Boys: loves their broccoli, salmon skin, fried rice and all junk food. Loathes ice cream and durian for some strange reason.

Girls: gets fishy breath from eating beloved fish porridge and spits out all traces of minced pork before the discovery of soya sauce. Does not mind durian or stinky dried crispy cuttlefish *shudder*

Boys: as good natured and easy-going as they come

Girls: scream their lungs out when they do not get their way

Same same but different...

Ferragamo or Melissa?

Scholl!

Where did my shoes go??

Neh mind, I play fire engine instead.

Indifferent to looking like a ge tai singer

Indifferent to looking like a typhoon-blown mad man

Few seconds before she yanks them off

Budding engineer

The flower should be bigger mummy!

 Obey my wishes or die!

Happy cheery chap

Walking Home

The time has come.

Time for the toddler to leave the confines of mama's baby carrier and be hoisted instead into the now-very-squashy embrace of the baby seat in her chariot when going home.

Very drama hor? The paragraph on top just means that I have given up on lugging a 12.3kg toddler who would insist on flailing her limbs around on a crowded bus while being strapped infront of mummy who by the way is also lugging at least 5kg worth of dinner home.

K is honestly getting too heavy and 'long' for me to manage alone on the 3 bus-stop journey home so papa will be taking over bring-home duties, who is better equiped with 4 big wheels instead of mummy's bipeds.

Huge relief...my knees can finally stop aching due to the combined weight of baby and tingkat. Yet at the same time, feeling kinda wistful for by-gone days where I can sing and talk to her on the way home (on foot) and not risk being piaked on the face by 'octopus' arms (to Ms Tiyo, this particular type of arms seems to be a common affliction in HG too!)

Another Stage in Life

If everything goes well, I'll be moving house in mid-Dec. Wanted to pen this down before I go nuts from excessive brain work and gets institutionalised in IMH, which is very conviniently located right across the road from my new place.

First - The interior designer
He is a young Malaysian chap whom I thought look kinda like Qi Yiwu at certain angles. He has proven very competent at marrying ideals and designs so far and we are hopeful that the reno process will be a relatively uneventful one.

Second - furnishings
2015 happens to be Singapore's Golden Jubilee year and one can hardly go anywhere without seeing SG50. Retail shops seemed to have cottoned onto this and the Husband and I have been going to places which offers generous SG50 discounts. Congrats to those shops who got our money and are laughing their way to the bank. A heartfelt thank you to Ms J who told us abt her staff discount and we managed to save plenty on lighting stuff and such.

Third: The property agent
A VERY young chap who has probably made his first (or second. Or third) pot of gold and sports a Rolex and BMW. Smooth talker who seems to like psychological warfare and 见人说人话, 见鬼说鬼话. Definitely good traits for someone in the sales industry...

Fourth: The MIL
There are 2 living persons on earth whom I trust to take care of the youngest member of our family - her nanny and my MIL. The latter has thankfully jumped to the rescue (albeit on a vonlunteered basis) on the numerous occassions when we need to meet the ID for discussions on the weekends. The only time we tried bringing her to the ID's showroom, K nearly demolished it with her cos we had the audacity to get into discussion with the ID while she was waiting to be entertained, the cheek...the Husband and I were in very bad mood by the time the meeting ended and it was by unwritten agreement that K will never darken the hallway of our appointments with the ID ever again.

Finishing this post up with some pictures of the new house in its errrrr.....retro glory *shudder*