Run...Norelle...Run

Yup! Norelle did just that on 8 August 2009 as she participated in her 1st ever Sports Days organized by her school, Summer Academy. The event took palce at a multipurpose hall at Subang Jaya. When we arrived, the event has just started and very quickly, she was being 'whisked' away by her teacher to be with her team mates. She was placed at a 'Yellow' team (I was also on a Yellow team during school time) and we were told before hand to wear something to reflect the colour of the team. HY had a bright yellow shirt on, and me, well..the closest thing I had on to yellow was my 'beige' top (hey, I've been out of the 'fitness' world for quite sometimes).

She was lined up as the 1st person in her team (due to her petite size) and oh, she looked adorable having a yellow sash pinned onto her top :) She had no clue or whatsoever what's gonna happen, so she just followed whatever she was being told to do. Hahhaa...then the game started and she was supposed to run until she reaches a bench and crawl underneath it and run to the meeting point, turn back and run back to her team mates. Phew! I was so nervous for her as she looked quite 'lost' when the teacher was briefing her what to do. Then, the whistle went off, and surprisingly she did all the things correctly. It was so exciting and fun to see my lil' baby ran and ran..Hahaha...

She took the other games pretty well too. She had lots of fun on that day. We brought Preston along as well. There were also games for the daddies and mummies too. It was a fun event and in the end, the yellow team was in the 3rd runner-up position but to all of us there, all those kids were already a champion in their parents' eyes. Well done, Norelle. Daddy, mummy and di di were so proud of you :)

Water Play

Ok..this is a (super long) overdue post. We went to a friend's house on a Sunday afternoon for a little get-together as HY's college friend was back from Australia for a holiday.

The highlight of the day was of course kids-centered event - water play! It's great that the house has a huge swimming pool as the kids enjoyed themselves tremendously. Norelle of course was very excited and she can't wait to get into the pool. Having seen the rest of the kids splishing and splashing away, lil' Preston also wanna have a share of the fun. But he's not going into the pool as this 'forever-rushing' mummy forgot to bring along a change of clothes...so he settled in the big red basin instead...hahahha...

Norelle goes to school

We enrolled Norelle into a half-day nursery at Summer Academy in Damansara Utama. This place was recommended to me by Fu Bee as her girl, Sophia is going to this nursery. Summer Academy’s main branch is in Subang Jaya where we attended their Open Day. We like the programmes they are running and the teachers seem passionate with education and kids.

On a Friday morning, we decided to visit the branch in Damansara Utama. The nursery is housed in a corner unit of a HUGE bungalow. The surrounding area is very quiet and calm and it is facing the DU primary school. The place used to be Pat’s Schoolhouse but it has since ceased its operation and moved back to Singapore.

The place is very airy and bright, and comes with complete facilities such as proper classrooms, play room, library, outdoor garden and many educational toys. Norelle was very excited when she first saw the place. There and then we decided to put her for a trial class and she loved every minute of it. She didn’t even notice that we’ve left and she had a great time there.

So after that we enrolled her for the nursery. It starts from 8.30am to 12.30pm with a tea break and lunch provided. The fees for this nursery is higher compared to the rest but judging from the quality (teachers) and quantity (of kids) there, we feel that it’s worth it.

Norelle started her first official day in school without much problem. She’s so eager to mix around and play whereby she forgotten to bid me goodbye. She has been attending the nursery for a week now and she’s been adapting very well. She didn’t even cry for once and didn’t look out for us while in school. We are so proud of our little girl.

Sweet Moments 2

I just want to document this down while it's still fresh on my mind...

One morning while I was surfing the net and Norelle was by my side reading her books, she suddenly asked me (she spoke in half English and Cantonese):

Norelle: Mummy, kam yat yau rain mou? (mummy, it is raining today?)
Me: Nope...It's not raining
Norelle: Then jang kan hui kau slide, ok mou? (then, we go and play on the slide, ok or not?)

I was caught off-guard! She's so clever as she knows when she asks me such question, I would normally answer her by saying 'it's raining outside, the slide's wet' or 'it's too hot to go outside'. With that, she knows that she can't go and play outside.

This time, she twisted the question around!! Did I answer her???? Hah! I tried to divert her attention other things :P Bad mummy......

Hong Kong Trip (15-20 May)

We brought Norelle to Hong Kong last month. It was her 1st time taking the plane and to our surprise, she handled it very well. No fussing, managed to nap for about 2 hours (to and fro) and enjoyed the inflight entertainement and food. She was given a complementary baby kit by Cathay Pacific - a bag with some crayons, stickers, colouring book, etc.

Hong Kong was ok overall - we dont really enjoyed it very much. Maybe we had too high expection for that place. Anyway, we brought Norelle to Ocean Park - nope, we didnt make a trip to Disneyland despite that would what most people thought we should/ would go especially when we are going with a toddler. Norelle enjoyed Ocean Park very much and she had a blast - looking at those dolphons, sea lion, panda and the rides.

Overall, it was an experience and we look forward to bringing Norelle to other places since she's fine with the plane - more vacation? Oh yes! We (at least I do) need another vacation after this one......and actually it's going to be one soon....................... :)

An Easter-licious Sunday

Last Sunday we went to Delicious at Dua Residency for its' Easter brunch buffet. The setting of the place was very spacious and bright. Love the different shades of blues and white that decorated the whole place. There were 2 floors whereby the buffet-line was laid out at the upper floor and all the kids' activites such as face painting, bounching castle, arts & crafts were located at the lower floor.

There were quite an impressive spread of food ranging from fresh oyster to foie-gras, champagne to desserts. Norelle had great fun at the arts & crafts whereby she did her first 'bunny mask'. It's such a great joy seeing her little hands cutting and pasting and colouring her masterpiece :)

Indeed, it was a great Easter to all of us....

Some 'not-so-new' updates

Was lacking behind in updating both my kiddos' milestones. Work has been crazy since I returned begining of March. Well, good and bad. And plus having to adapt my pumping schedule minto my work routine = crazy! But I am surviving through these 'chaotic times'.

Ok, now move to my kiddos :) Norelle turned 26 months on 30 March and lil' Preston now is 3.5 months. Both of them are fine and growing well respectively. Let's see at some of their milestones:

On Norelle:

- her vocab is getting much much advanced. Her knowledge of some words amazed me from time to time.

- she loves to sing and can complete the entire song on her own such as:

twinkle little star, happy birthday (out of tune), baa baa black sheep,

and some other songs partially like:

yi san yi san liang jing jing (twinkle little star - mandarin version)

liang zhi lau fu (2 little tiger - mandarin)

london bridge is falling down

- can count 1-15

- can recite A-Z

- able to differentiate between alphabet and number

- able (understand) to count some items (as in 1 ball, 2 sweets, 3 cakes, etc)

- able to recognise some colours, red, blue, green, orange (her favourite is green)

On appearance wise, not a big jump as in her weight - she's about 12kg and she has a very small feet . I call her 'cinderella feet' as she can fit into the smallest size for Crocs (C4/5) and is still wearing the same size since last year!!!

On Preston:

- getting much more alert

- still on total breast milk

- loves to talk / sing (he can actually make a tune when he's 'talking')

- loves to smile

- able to reach out his hands and grab things

- able to sleep longer at night (6 hours straight)

- he weighed 7.4kg and 62cm in height

- outgrowed most of his 0-3 mos clothes, he's wearing 6-9months now

- realised the presence of people and able to 'interact' and play

- can sit longer in car seat/stroller (which makes going out easier)

These are some points I can think of right now. Hopefully I am able to post next updates soon :)

Norelle's new haircut

Her worst fear.....getting a haircut. It's such a nightmare for all of us whenever we bring Norelle for a haircut. No amount of coaxing, treats, bribing will do for her. We can reason with her all we want BEFORE the haircut and she will obligingly says OK but once she sits on the chair, all the OKs are gone. Think I will try cutting her hair myself next time. Wish me luck!

Norelle turned 2

Our cheeky Princess finally turned 2 on 30th January 2009. We had a pre-birthday celebration for her together with Lil' Preston full month in early January, so on her actual day, which was also the 5th day of CNY, we just had a simple 'mini' celebration for her. We had yummy 'dim sum' at Chuai Heng Restaurant at Jalan Imbi together with Norelle's poh-poh, kung-kung, yee po and cousin sister.

Glad to say that her T2 phase is getting better but she will still launched into that 'monsterous' mode on-and-off. While her behavious is getting better, it's Lil' Preston turn to cook up some challenges for us. He's very demanding as in ALWAYS wants to be carried (upright position), ALWAYS wants to suckle, not interested to be on his own even for less than 30 sec! He's driving me up the wall and it's impossible to even go to the loo when he's awake. I can't remember Norelle being so 'difficult' when she was younger.

Anyway, I just hope that he will grow out of this phase (one after another) soon or another alternative/consolation for me is I'll be hitting the workforce again soon :)

Double Celebrations

On last Sunday, 11th January we celebrated the full month of lil' Preston and Norelle's 2nd birthday which also falls on the same month (30th January). We had a small gathering from both sides of the immediate family members which comprised of 12 adults, 3 children and 1 baby.

A quick look on the development of lil Preston:

Weight: He is now 5.3kg (he put on 1.74 kg for the past one month, about 54.38g/day - which is 2.5x more than the average weight of 20g/day)

Height: 57cm (he has outgrown the bath tub!!)

Feeding: Paed termed him as the 'Barracuda' eater whereby he eats more than 10x/day

We had a simple yet very tasty nyonya peranakan lunch at BibiChik located at PJ SS2. The food was very good as usual and after that we had a simple 'ceremony' of singing the 'Birthday' song and cake cutting for Norelle. For her 2nd birthday, I ordered a'Barney & Friends' cake for her as well as some cupcakes for Preston's full month from Lau of Heavenly Sweet.

The children were estatic upon seeing the cake and all the adults also went 'Oooohs' and 'Aaaahs' looking at the cake and cupcakes. Norelle also got a 'Barney' doll from her 'Dai Pak' and 'Dai Pak Leong'.

Here are some pictures on the double celebrations:

Norelle @ 23 Mos

Getting more and more talkative. Her T2-phase is still here to stay (please GOD, help us!) Loves her didi a lot. Diet wise, poor as she's on a strike now - T2 again. Vocab wise, superb! Can converse in a full sentence consisting in a few words... And we cant even 'trick' her. She knows. Apart from that, she's still as loveable as she can be :)

With mummy at Paddington House of Pancakes (mummy still in confinement :P)

Lil' Preston @ home

Lil' Preston @ 1-week young

Norelle 'jie-jie' giving a lil' kiss to baby Preston

Lil Preston @ 2-week young

The strike of the BIG 'T2'

The first week of the arrival of lil' Preston was a challenging time. Well, the problem was not with him as a newborn - so far he has been quite 'predictable'. He feeds every 3 hours, not a very fussy baby, pees and poos quite often...(well, compared to Norelle, he's much easier to handle).

Now the BIG problem is Norelle, herself. She has been quite 'difficult' and has been throwing tantrums since the day I've been admitted. She has been very demanding, stubborn, ignorant, rude, etc. She knows the arrival of her lil' brother and she will shows her affection towards him such as kissing, cuddling, and 'sayang' him. But her 'inner' self was somehow 'disturbed'. Since I'm doing my confinement at my MIL's, she also stays with me as she has never spent the night with another person (well she did spent 3 nights with my MIL when she was 4 Mos old - but she was still too young then).

And she's finding 'comfort' in her Barney. She practically asking to watch Barney 24/7 - which can be quite daunting when you are facing that 'Purple Creature' so many times a day. When we relented, she turned into a different person - wailing, screaming, kicking, fussing for the whole day. She will even 'cry out' for Barney in her sleep! We bought a few toys for her telling her that those were given to her by her 'didi'. That worked a little. But she is still very 'focus' in her Barney...

So we made a decision to bring her home (me and lil' Preston too) during the weekend. To let her 'break-away' from being station at my MIL's for so many days. She will tell us that she wanna go home as she misses home or misses all of us being together. Can tell that she is frustrated as her 'normal' routine has been disrupted. And she was better after the weekend stay at the home. But she still ask for her Barney DVDs but much better.

*Sigh......I hope this Terrible 2 phase + jealously will be over soon..........

Sweet Moments 1

Looking at how talkative my girl is nowadays, I came across a short conversation between her and my HY's nephew, Neils (4 YO). Both of them were playing on some puzzle blocks and this was what I heard:

Neils: Eek...eek..eek...(Grumbling as he cant fit one of the puzzles)
Norelle: Tor-tor, srow-ly (Gor-gor, slowly) - pacifying him to be patience
Neils: Eek..eek...Ngem tak geh (Why cannot eh?) - already losing his patienceNorelle: Tor-tor, man-man lei (Gor-gor, take it slowly)

Wahahahha..... so cute.

Norelle @ 22 Mos

Let's look at her development so far...

Weight
Erm...should be over 10kg (didnt weigh her)

Height
Erm..seems taller already lor (yeah, I know that I am a lousy mother - I dont keep track of her vital stats)

Teeth
I think she is still at 11 teeth. Or maybe sprouting some new ones????

Diet
Eat almost everything but not a big eater. More like she is interested in every single thing which she sets her eyes upon on. Her main meals are stil rice (cheena girl) and she likes soup. Not so keen on western food - except fren fries (not surprising). I think she has flavoured quite a wide variety of food/snacks/drinks already.

She LOVES to jump! Pratically that's her everyday 24/7 routine. Be it on the bed, sofa, stairs, baby cot, door-grille, gate, car, you name it, she's done it. This girl is not afraid of height or whatsoever!. And she can jump non-stop.

She is quite good with hands - she can screw and unscrew those bottle caps since very young. She has a knack of 'dismantling' things and put them back in one piece. She can fix those big ABC playmat puzzle (correctly) and those with pictures of fruits, etc. She can hold pens/pencils the correct way - think she's a leftie. She can self-feed pretty well now.

Vocab
This is the fun part. This little chatty box of mine is so talkative nowadays and most of her words / sentences are in cantonese as that's what she picks up from her cousin brother at my mother-in-law's. She knows quite a lot of words and has been speaking in sentences more foten now. Let me list down some of the sentences that she knows (cant remember all)...

"mummy/daddy/whoever..., lei zhoum mat yeh" (what are you doing?)
"yeh-yeh/ma ma/..., sik fan lor" (come and eat your dinner)
"I want Barney water" (I want to drink water - Barney bottle)
"I watch Barney ah"
"Barney spoil chor ah? / wai jor ah" (Barney CD spoiled?)
"I want to buy ta-kult' / ti-ta-gen'" (yakult/vitagen)
"Got somemore"
"I dont like...."
"mummy, tor ji ngo" (hold my hand)
"mummy, cannot reach wor"
"daddy play tennis"
"we go kai-kai first ah?"
"ngo em moi yi koh" (I dont want this one)

And some other sentences which I can remember. But she definitely knows a lot! And I dont know where she's getting all these from. Another funny thing is she knows how to form a sentence using 'and then'. Like for instance,

Me: Baby, you pooh-pooh already?
Norelle: Pooh-pooh already
Me: Who wash your bum bum?
Norelle: Daddy lor
Me: What happen to the pooh-pooh?
Norelle: Daddy pour away the pooh-pooh and then flush away lor

She can sing a few of the nursery rhymes (not the complete song). She can sing the first 2 lines of 'Twinkle twinkle little star' quite clearly and also the mandarin version of it, 'Yi shan yi shan liang jing jing'. Her favourite song so far is the 'London bridge is falling down'. Oh, she can also count from 1-10 and some parts from A-Z.

*Sigh*..that's my girl :) Just love her innocence. So pure and simple. Yes, she is quite a handful but I just love the 'free spirit' in her. Being totally carefree and laugh and cry to the fullest. I love her being totally her at her age. That's how a child supposed to be. And they only get to be like this once...........so cherish it.

I am a little hippo drinking my favourite 'ti-ta-gen'

Hi from baby Elmo and me!