At the playground

We have been going to the playground almost every Saturday before dinner.

He liked the highest slide. Today, he found that he could grip the handle above the slide and swing like a monkey. But he would just swing and stop, swing and stop. I think it's only a matter of time before he swings off right onto the slide and slides down..

And at the top of the slide, he could see the other playground across the road - AhMa 家 playground! Big playground! :)

Today, he decided that it was fun trying to walk off the platform of the slide structure, onto horizontal railings that step down to the ground. Sito had to stand right there with him to hold him but ZK would only go onto the first railing. Again, a matter of time.

Often, there were other kids at the playground, and sometimes they would interact, though not all interactions were good.

The last time we were at the playground, we met a boy just younger than him. After a short chat with the mum, we realised that the boy was entering his playgroup class the following Monday. This was one of the friendlier kids we met at the playground. There was another super friendly boy some weeks ago but he was speaking some European language with a kiddy accent such that I couldn't even tell which language that was!

Today, there were two other girls in the playground with him, one older and one younger, unrelated. They were all running around screaming! Such fun! But when the girls ran to the slides, ZK went after them saying "it's mine!" *.*

ZK was standing still when the younger girl ran into him and fell to the floor. She ran back to her father while ZK, all confused as to why the girl fell, was walking to us. We thought the girl was such a poor thing and asked ZK to go sayang her and say sorry, which he did :)

Then, when ZK went to another part of the playground, the girl came over and pushed him from behind and ran away! The poor boy turned around and gave a sad look :( I felt so 委屈 for him :( I could only say that the meimei didn't know how to talk so she couldn't say sorry. He climbed up the play structure and at the platform where he met us, he said, "Meimei naughty! I don't want meimei.." Yes, my dear boy, that was a naughty meimei indeed!

Then a pair of siblings appeared. They were much older; the sister was there with her dog and just watching her younger brother play. ZK saw the dog and walked over. I knew he wanted to touch the dog so I asked him to ask the girl for permission. He repeated the request after me and the girl was very nice and let him touch. But this boy got scared - he said "bite!" Ah well, if that's the case, let's not touch it la *.*

We also encountered anti-social behaviour some weeks ago. This girl who looked like she was in lower primary school was hoarding the slides. First, she went to the highest slide and just sat there at the top repeatedly blowing a balloon and releasing it. When she slid down, she remained at the bottom even though there were three kids waiting to slide down. I gently asked her to move away. Later, however, she came back with her balloon and climbed up the slide from the bottom, blocking other kids again. The mum was sitting there not looking so I went over to ask her to talk to her daughter.

Some time ago, I read this article that we don't have to beat ourselves up if we stare into our phones while our kids run around in the playground because, really, we don't need to watch them having fun the whole time when we already watch them all the time. As a fellow mum, I can agree - if the kids are having fun and are safe, I don't have to watch over them like a hawk; I could actually play with my phone and have some me time! But the anti-social girl reminded me that I should be a responsible parent - safety of my kids aside, I should also make sure they practise good playground etiquette and do not hurt other kids or be a nuisance.

Anyway, photo time!

With Papa! He looks so different compared to a year ago at the playground!



This is where he goes "hello!" through the hole :)

Nostalgic Toa Payoh days

I have time tonight to think about non-baby things :)

Last month, we had a family gathering for Grams' death anniversary back at my favourite place in Toa Payoh. Look at what happened just before Clan Sito took our leave:



That was ML tying HH's hair into a scorpion braid (aka French braid), more than 20 years after tying my hair into a scorpion braid! And many still remember my screams of pain back then, haha! I loved having my hair tied by ML but it was so painful for goodness knows why!

And this was an old picture from an aunt-in-law - celebrating Gramps' birthday! Can you find mf? :)

ZY is three months old!

Just one day shy, actually :)

And today, he had his first baby spa! He really really enjoyed it! See, he was even drooling :p



We bumped into the pretty auntie who liked ZK very much, and now ZY too! Mum got ZY a package of 20 sessions and the auntie gave us an extra session. His massage today was also long and blissful. This boy really knows how to enjoy life! And he went in with enough food and enough sleep cos he has fallen into some sort of three-hourly routine so that I could estimate the best time for baby spa.

The workout and massage did wonders for his naps - he napped for almost three hours after that. He woke for milk while I pumped, and then I put him on the sofa while I washed up the pump parts. When I returned, he was asleep again!

Earlier this week, I was changing his diaper at night when Sito was home. He commented that ZY seemed to grow a lot faster than ZK. I thought so too. Perhaps what AhYee said was right - that kids who stretch a lot tend to grow very fast. Or perhaps time is just a very strange thing.

On 8 September, ZY picked up something for the very first time. It was all accidental of course, but it was a good start.



So I got him to whack his toy during our weekend trip. These days, I just put it on his hand randomly and he would move it around. Sometimes, he whacked himself; sometimes, he munched at parts of it.



The most fun part was being able to fist bump with him! Just have to hold my fist within range and his little fist will float over :)



Also stuffed his rattle into his hand to let him wave it around - I'm a baby!



His neck started out stronger than ZK's and he likes tummy time, especially on my tummy ^.^



Getting better but the drool!!!



Another sleeping feat - I put him there to play while I washed my face but he fell asleep!!



Selfie time when he woke!



Another selfie from some days ago - I adjusted the lighting for flawless skin :p



He's also big enough for the carrier though he didn't seem to like it very much...



So cute from my angle!



On 16 September, he hit a critical milestone. He wasn't sleeping well after 4 am so I nursed him to sleep and put him down on ZK's bed in a slanted position to avoid waking him. His legs were dangling off the bed so I put a blanket on the floor near his head in case he somehow kicked himself off the bed.

When ZK woke in my bed and made a din, ZY also woke. I went in when I heard him cry and to my horror, I found him on the floor but he did not land on the blanket!! He must have rotated on the bed and fell off the other side! He wasn't screaming, just normal crying so I just sayang-ed him a bit and put him back in his bed.

And true enough, he could rotate himself already. The next morning, I went in to find him at 90 degrees to his bed. The next time, it was 180 degrees! And the past few days, he has been lifting his legs high and trying to turn on his right side. It's a matter of time before he makes that first flip :)

Yes, he's growing up fast. Must treasure time with him, and especially moments at my breast like this - I love how he holds onto my bra or shirt when nursing!



A random shot - he has a clockwise swirl. Old wives' tales say that his younger sibling, if any, would be a boy! Hohoho!

ZY's first holiday!

We went to Malacca last Friday-Sunday!

And he was sleeping on me as we boarded the bus downstairs.. This was the first time I wrapped him up this way - he didn't seem to like it very much..



Both kids fell asleep on the way to Malacca. ZY even pooped! Immigration was a breeze even though we had to go through a counter instead of the automated gates cos of the kids.

Arrived at PoPo's place and set off immediately for lunch at a curry fish head place before returning to wait for check-in time.

Check out ZK in the bamboo chair that he was last in last year - cheeky face!



We were leaving for the hotel when he climbed onto the driver's seat when no one was looking!!

I can drive!



Oh, I woke up with hives for unknown reasons! Took an antihistamine and was drifting in and out of sleep in the morning before we set off. It got better for a short while before new patches of red appeared again. Once we checked in, I took another and got Y to watch over ZY while I napped.

Dinner was at some duck place. Poor Sito missed out on the food cos he was in Manila!

I had a pretty good sleep that night cos ZK was sleeping with Mum and Dad! I only had to wake two times to nurse ZY and did not have to be on high alert for ZK who might wake his brother. And ZY was very cute and small in the middle of the king bed. He slept much better than at home too!

The next morning, ZK came over before breakfast as they had an errand to run. Y and I brought the kids down for breakfast. Ah Yee joined us there so with more hands, I managed to bring ZK to choose some food cos he refused cereals. Then I realised that he just wanted the cornflakes, no milk! *.* But he didn't eat much anyway...

Decided to go for a foot massage while ZK was with his grandparents - seriously 偷懒, this mama!! But that turned out to be very good for the hives - I woke with almost no red patches but was covered in big ugly patches by breakfast time. So big, said ZK.. After the foot massage, they were mostly gone! I don't know if it was the hot foot bath before the massage or the massage itself, but I was so glad the hives were gone! They were so itchy!

Went back to the hotel to find ZK fast asleep on AhYe!



He has been driving around!

Woah, I can drive!



Lunch was at Second Ah Yee's place. There was a tea ceremony and a buffet lunch - oh ya, the purpose of this trip was to attend her second daughter's wedding :)

ZK on the swing with YeePo, looking lost...



ZY with TaiMa and BiaoJiu - ZY charmed TaiMa so much with his ready smiles! ^_^



Sito finally joined us! The older pair of Sito siblings on the swing they knew as children:



That's us! :) We have so few photos together these days...



Wanted to get foot massage but didn't manage to - it was popular! So we went back to the hotel where ZY decided to chat with Papa - love his cute sounds :)



All dressed up for the wedding dinner! Just missing my dear ZK...



There he is! So handsome I must kiss him!



This is the only one where ZK was smiling - this boy doesn't pose very well for the camera yet *.*



Managed to nurse ZY with a nursing cover. I had wanted to get a nice nursing dress and even asked SL to recommend nice nursing gear. But I found that this favourite dress was breastfeeding-friendly! Just pulled down the strap and bra under the cover! Saved at least $60 yeah! :p



ZK was seated across the table from me. Gave him some chicken cereal as he didn't want table food. Sighs, my big baby ah, when will you be less picky over your food??

Had to resort to the iPad to keep him happy *.*



ZY almost fell asleep when a glass was knocked over, sighs.. Took some more time before he finally dozed off - the handkerchief was stuck under :p So glad we brought the car seat along so we didn't have to carry him throughout the dinner.



The next morning after breakfast, we brought ZK for some waterplay!

He remembered what he did at the Jacob Ballas garden :)



So happy!



Around this time, another toddler in a big float floated towards ZK. ZK stretched out his hand in a "no" sign and said "not for you!" Wonder where he got that from!



Hi! :)



Wrapped up like a cute mummy :)



At that point, husband and wife ditched the toddler for foot massage! :p We came back later than expected but managed to check out in time to go for lunch, where ZK was cranky as usual. Y had to sling ZY while I had ZK on my lap. At some point, I slapped his hand and he went "I don't want Mama anymore!" in between sobs *.*

Happier back at Popo's place - he kissed Taima! :)



Love this look - he really looks like a big boy! And the legs look so long..



Finally on the bus home! Made ZY whack jigajung and after a while, he had a go at it himself! :)



Came back to a hazy Singapore... Sito disciplined ZK just before dinner as he refused to apologise to YeYe after hitting him. He eventually did when we left him at home with Y and walked down the corridor. But he remained cranky through dinner.. So tired when we all got home - I slept like a log in between feeds!

The routines of both kids got quite out of whack this trip. Had to make ZK nap twice so that he could last dinner. ZY napped very well cos he was in the sling but his bedtime was very delayed. Tried to tune back ZY's schedule on Monday by staying in but he didn't nap much and in the evening, fell asleep much later than ZK! Luckily he seemed to have fell back into routine today.

Training the toddler

Potty training

I'm happy to report that I gave ZK his second star this evening - for a full pee into the potty :)

He first peed into the potty on 2 September. He had his potty book with him and after he peed, we turned to the page with pee in the potty and said 一样 :) And after that, every time we prepare him for a shower, he would want to pee and actually pee into the potty! :) The quantity varies from a fifty-cent puddle to a full pee. Sometimes he doesn't have much pee but just wants to pee into the potty. We let him but I keep reminding him that if he doesn't have pee, he does not need to pee; no good to strain!

All those weekends of wetting underwear proved useful after all. For a few weekend mornings, I gave him his underwear and let him run about in that and a shirt. Every 10 or 15 minutes, I would ask him if he wanted to pee and he would say no, but eventually, he would go the next minute after saying "no"! I tried to make him stay in the living room as I didn't want pee on the bed or the laminate floor in the bedrooms. But a couple of weekends ago, he peed on the sofa! Luckily, it wasn't too much and our leather sofa is easy to clean.

Just this last Sunday, I was nursing ZY when he said he wanted to shhh shhh. Y ushered him to the potty and he had a full pee - underwear remained dry, yeah! I gave him his first star sticker :) I even let him choose the star!

Usually, we'll put on a diaper after the morning pee, be it in the underwear or in the potty. I'll see how he fares the next couple of weekends. If he's good, we'll go the whole day with underwear except during nap time. Then we'll try nap time when he doesn't flip all over the bed so that I can place a mat under him. Then it's night time! I'm excited :)

Oh wait, there's also pooping.. Well, he knows about poo poo but when he says "poo poo", it's already done. Or at most, being done *.* There was this one time last week when he let a little poop into the potty and right after, into the shower!!!! But other than that, no luck with pooping in the potty. Maybe I should also ask him if he wants to poo when he's in his underwear..

Brushing

I've also started him on a brushing schedule, well, sort of... Every morning - if I don't forget! - we'll bring him to the basin to brush his teeth. He likes to fill his cup and rinse his mouth - he can even copy my action of tilting my head back before spitting the water out!

He used to let me brush for him first before taking the brush himself, or letting me hold his hand to brush. But in recent days, he wants to brush by himself only, which isn't much brushing... And he dips the toothbrush into the water more than putting it into his mouth! He also likes to clean his toothbrush the way I do it, i.e. thumb rubbing bristles. But no toothpaste - he spat it out almost immediately the first couple of times even though he had asked for it himself.

Hope to get him to brush properly or at least, do more brushing than playing so that he will be less wet. Then I'll add on the evening brush after he's changed, cos sometimes he wants milk after his shower.

Feeding himself

He used to feed himself at dinner time at home. That was messy but he got his food.

Then he wanted to watch videos while eating. That slowed things down and he needed to be fed sometimes, but fine, he got his food.

Then - the sequence is a bit blurry here - we removed the high chair and let him sit on the adult chair. I also got fed up with him and videos so I removed the laptop. Trucks replaced the laptop.

At first, it was ok. Then he decided to not sit on the chair! He now runs between the dining table and his play around with his toys, or he grabs a clothes peg from the rack next to the dining table and tries it on me and the chair. I came out of the room just now to find Y chasing after him with his food!!

I really don't like to see that. Table manners are important. I want to train him to sit at the table to eat again. But I can't use the high chair as ZY will use it in three months' time, and it's high time ZK learns to sit on a proper chair. And now that I'm busy with ZY at dinner time, it's difficult for me to teach him. I want to try bringing out the laptop again but restricting it to DVDs only - Thomas and flashcards. I told him about Thomas just now at bedtime and he said "laptop". Yes, let's see what happens with that...

Sleep

So I started out with bunking in with the kids. Then I began to sneak back to my bed when I could. But at first, when ZK woke and I wasn't around, he cried bloody murder. I had to physically remove him to the furthest corner of the house - which isn't very far! - to calm him down so he wouldn't wake ZY. Sometimes, he would cry even when I was around, simply because I was lying down instead of sitting or something trivial. It was very irritating and it got super frustrating when ZY woke as well.

After a few such episodes, one day, during a particular bad bout of crying that I couldn't understand, I dumped him on the sofa and waited for him to calm down so that he could hear me. I told him there was no need to cry - he could talk already so just tell me what he wants! And I shall choose whether to lie down or sit cos Mama gets tired too! After a while, he repeated "no need to cry" so I latched on to that phrase.

Now, every evening before we settle for bed, I'll remind him to just go look for me if he wakes and I'm not around - no need to cry. One day, before I even said it, he told me "no need to cry" :)

Other than that, I'm still quite stuck in their room. ZY hasn't been sleeping very well lately but I'll leave that for another day... Sometimes, during Saturday nap time, ZK would tell me to go out although he would eventually ask me back in. So just now, I asked ZK if I could just go out while he was awake. He said "no" *.* Oh well, at least I tried!

ZK is my Spider-Man!

Because he gave me a super wet upside down kiss right on my lips this morning!!

He woke at 5.30 am and I was trying to lie in more. Somehow we got to about 6.15 am, and he went "milk time" for the umpteenth time. Fine, let's go, but first, "kiss kiss Mama", I said. Then a little thing came from behind my head and piak! Yup, it was no muack but piak *.* But so cute :)

Anyway, he's asleep now. Don't know what time he'll be up - he didn't have dinner at all. Wrote a note to the teachers to stop them feeding him after 5.30 pm; Y said he was having a biscuit at the end of the day.

Think he likes snacks, like me :( Asked me for mooncakes this morning..

Having mooncake on Tuesday morning..



Which he made on Monday! :)


Source: School

Long weekend!

It was very long because Friday was Teachers' Day* aka childcare centre closure day!

* So crappy that they have moved Teachers' Day and Children's Day from the first of the month to the first Friday of the month for administrative convenience!

We went to West Coast Park in the morning :)

ZK went really high in this safe swing!



He didn't like sand very much so Y had to carry him - I had ZY on me while he's too heavy for Mum to carry for prolonged periods. We were on the slide a little, on the balancing beam a little, but eventually he got tired and it got hot, so we adjourned to Macs!

吃...



He had almost the entire McChicken! Less mayo and vegetables of course... Next I'll have him try the fillet burger. There's a little cup of Milo for him too - he likes :)

And having fries with lots of ketchup - Sito's son indeed *.*



There were two middle-age men at the table next to ours. This ZK suddenly got friendly with one of them..

Uncle! Uncle! abcxyz fry abcxyz biscuit!

The uncle was very sporting and replied him too! I was busy with ZY so I didn't catch much but the scene was pretty fun :)

He was nodding off on the way home and we had to keep him awake for a shower before we let him nap!

ZY napped too - took a video of him falling asleep :)



We cabbed to Mother's place after the afternoon nap. Again, ZK got friendly with the cabbie.

ZK: Uncle, 开叮当! (He wanted to open an unopenable tab on his toy.)
Uncle: Uncle 不会开啦...
mf: ZK 今天这么 friendly! So kaypoh!
ZK: Kaypoh..

Uh-oh... :p

He spent most on his time at Mother's place with three Russian doll-styled boxes on the coffee table, opening them in turn, placing them in correctly, replacing the covers etc. I loved seeing how focused he was at his task, with no other distraction :) Even when Mother later brought out a small bag of my old toys, he was still going back to the boxes.

He sat at the table for perhaps two mouthfuls of rice and off he ran!! Why oh why can't he sit down properly to eat when at home?! He used to sit properly and feed himself :(

But so cute :)



When we got home, he said goodbye to the cabbie - another friendly move. Is the friendly era here? Sito was a very friendly kid so... :)

ZK got packed off to the centre on Saturday morning so that we got some peace - we're so bad! *.* - and ZY finally got a nice little nap! He didn't nap well the previous afternoon at Mother's place.

Sito was very tired so I left him to sleep in instead of dragging him out for lunch. I packed some fried rice while Y fetched ZK home. He fed himself a few mouthfuls - think he was hungry - and ran off again!!

ZK didn't want to go to his room for his nap so we nua-ed a bit in ours.

Love this shot of my boys!



Another one! With my imagined thoughts:

Sito: ZK is so cute <3 p="">ZK: What shall I do next to irk Mama?
ZY: Papa, I'm cute too!



Sito worked while everyone else took a nap. ZK woke first - he didn't cry but came right in to find me, just as I had been teaching him at night for the part week! :) So we chatted a little and when ZY woke for milk, we had a little fun:



And then more fun downstairs!

mf: Are you ready?
ZK: Yesss!



We headed for dinner at Star Vista, our usual Saturday haunt. This time, we had Yomenya Goemon. It wasn't very kid-friendly; no plastic bowl! So Sito sat next to ZK to manage him as I had ZY in my arms, as usual.

ZK was very cute. After finishing his appetisers (biscuits!), he kept saying "I want 面！吃面！" while waiting for our orders to arrive. He also played a little game with me:

ZK: Where d'spoon? (hiding it under the table)
Mama: 汤匙在哪里？我不知道⋯⋯铠铠告诉我！
ZK: There! (show spoon!)

:)

When the spaghetti came, I prepared his portion with meat and mushrooms as he watched on. Then he ate everything! I even saw him picking out the meat to eat! Has the era of meat arrived, finally??

The auntie at the table next to ours was impressed - she asked for his age, said he was so cute asking for 面 and praised him for feeding himself :) I was very proud :) I only wished he would feed himself with such gusto at home as well but I guess I shouldn't be too greedy after all :)

ZK also had some chocolate cake and ice cream, which came as part of the set. And what happened the next morning probably confirmed my suspicion from earlier chocolate delights - that ZK has "chocolate poop", i.e. poop that looks like chocolate! *.*

We spent most of Sunday at Mum's place. I took ZY home to settle down while Sito took ZK to carry his lantern as it is Mooncake Festival today! But ZK wasn't interested - oh well!

So there, that's one long weekend - super tiring but very fun and cute because of our little boys :)