Yu's frenemy

I was writing a sequel to HX and Yu's first meeting only to realise that I only posted their first meeting on Facebook, not here! So let's start from the beginning.... The story of the frenemies...

Back in December, at Na's place:

HX: Who are you?

HX: Mummy, who's this on my mat?

HX: Don't care, box first!

Yu: Why are you the one crying?!

Ok, truce

We want out mummy!!

Yesterday, at my place:

HX: Were you the one I punched last time?

Yu: Yes! I'm so scared now!

HX: Don't worry, I'm friendly now!

HX: What? Are you going to punch me back?

Yu: Fufufu! Yes!

HX: Don't like that la...

Yu: Ok lor, let's play instead.

HX: Nice school bus you've got there...

Yu: Stop staring at it. It's mine!

Yu: Told you to stop staring at it! It's MINE!!!!

Yu: Ok, we play dog and bone to see who gets the school bus

Yu: I got it!

HX: No, I got it!

Reset - see their intense looks!

Yu: See, it's mine - it came to me!

HX: Dang!

:)

Achievement unlocked!

Yesterday was vaccination day for Yu but Kai happened to wake with a swollen right lower eyelid. He said it was painful. I also saw that the white on the outside of that eye was a little pinkish. So I asked him to stay at home. And this boy also wanted to chao keng, claiming he had a running nose and could not go to school *.*

I was supposed to meet Na for lunch after vaccination. With Kai, I wasn't too sure. But in the end, I figured at most I stopped the adventure immediately if I could not handle both boys? So we went. And we had fun!

First, the bus. We got a double decker bus but unfortunately, I couldn't bring Kai up. He whined a little, only a little, and proceeded to kneel on a seat to look outside happily, telling me about things he saw. I took the opportunity to update Mum about him and that we would pick Yang up ourselves later.

Side story: We were seated on the three-seater near the driver. So there was an auntie next to me. I told Kai in Mandarin a few times - and very loudly - to wait for me to talk to Ah Ma. Yet, the auntie kept trying to talk to me, also in Mandarin, about Yu - boy ah, is the sling safe etc. Finally, I just told her sorry, I had to text my MIL. And right after I put the phone away, I turned away from her to chat with Kai. Some people just don't know when to stop!!

We got on and off the bus successfully. Kai also tapped his EZ Link card by himself. We arrived at the clinic early but somehow the three families ahead of us took quite a while with the doctor. Kai spent some time playing at the kids' area while I entertained Yu.

Kai went first - I seriously couldn't remember what the doctor said! But it wasn't serious. Probably some irritation. He gave us some eye drops for the pinkness and Zyrtec for the swelling. Kai then turned to me and asked a question halfway, hesitating... I knew what he wanted and so did the doctor. He asked if he wanted a lollipop hoho! And just before we left the room, he even got himself a Spiderman sticker!

Kai making faces; cute pose sucking on his lollipop

Then it was off to meet Na for lunch! Took a bus again and walked to Wisma. As I had to settle Yu with one hand as he was fussing and hold the bag in the other, I couldn't hold his hand. But this boy just held my wrist above the bag instead of running amok :) Even at times when I told him he could walk on his own, he still came back for my hand :)

Kai took some time to choose his ham pizza. I tried to steer his selection towards one with more sauce but in the end, not successful. So he picked out all the rockets on top and I had to eat all the cherry tomatoes, but he ate only less than half the pizza coz it was a honey mustard sauce. I ended up eating my three bulgogi tacos AND his remaining pizza *.*

Kai tried a bit of the rockets but decided against it.

He enjoyed his super fresh apple juice.

We finished lunched in record time and caught a cab back home so that he could nap. He was really tired in the taxi but I told him he wouldn't get ice cream if he fell asleep in the taxi! Coz I promised him something nice and cold if he could behave himself, and he did behave himself. We just had no time and no wet tissue left for ice cream right after lunch.

Na and I had some baby fun (next post) at home, and went for bubble tea and walked around a bit. Then Sito and I took Kai to Daily Scoop. He wanted a cone this time. And this time, he made very little mess - my boy has indeed grown much :)

Making faces again!

It was really enjoyable bringing Kai out. What a lovely age, four plus :p Can't wait for Yang and Yu to grow more too!

Oh, on the way to ice cream, Kai was holding on to Sito when he suddenly said, "Last time, when I was younger, I used to eat outside. Can we eat outside please?" I think the lunch made him recall our Saturday dinners outside. Well, soon, I hope, soon...

Hot little baby

Poor Yang came home with a fever in the high 38s on Wednesday. On Thursday, I gave him medicine at 5 am and wanted to keep him home. He also said he wanted to stay at home, probably attracted by Yu's new bear bear. But when he found Kai gone, he wanted to go to school too! Ok, so I sent him in and went about my day as usual while on standby - I turned up the volume of my phone so I could hear it ring should the school called.

I was on the bus to Orchard - in fact, I was already in Orchard - when I saw two missed calls. I forgot to turn off silent mode!! Anyway, yup, fever again. So I got off before I reached my lunch stop and cabbed to the school to pick him up. He stayed at home on Friday and Saturday too, which resulted in Kai not wanting to go to school on Saturday so we had a busy morning!

Hugging my hot boy

He wore the fever patch for a very short time. He also didn't like us to sponge him or tuina him so I threatened him with the fever patch so I guess it's useful!

So Yang (and Kai) spent a lot of time watching TV when at home. A lot. But I'm busy with Yu so there was little I could do...

Playing with thermometers - very fun meh??

And now, Yang is an expert in using the Braun thermometer on himself.

Over the weekend, somehow this Kai decided that the "gun" thermometer was no good. Maybe coz I said it was a little spoilt - the battery compartment cannot be closed properly. So he hid it away!!! Of course we didn't know it at first. When we couldn't find it, we asked the kids coz they were playing around with it. Then Kai took it out of our wardrobe *.* He hid it away again after that but I found it in the wardrobe, lying on the bottom innocently. It was quite a funny sight :p

Was going to take a picture but his "giraffe" fell down!

"My new giraffe!"

Took part of his Friday afternoon nap on the sofa coz he refused to go in

A keen learner despite the fever!

He can finally do a proper pen grip. Sometimes he still purposely showed him the stabbing grip but at least I know that he can do it properly if he wants to.

Not fever related but I love it when my babies sit like this :p

Yang was sensitive to light when he woke at night. And he kept saying "my eyes! My eyes blinking blinking!" He also had a bit of nosebleed - the blood didn't come out; just made his mucous a little bloody. Dr Google said dry eyes and nosebleeds are side effects of ibuprofen! Gosh, we had to use that a lot to keep his temperature down in case he got fits again but he kept hitting the 39s anyway.

So he had his last ibuprofen on Saturday. This morning, no more nosebleed but his eyes are still dry - just now I got a picture and message from his teacher about a sore left eye, which he said was painful. I went to have a look but he was ok. I touched his cheek and it was also painful *.* So I left him in school.

One key thing from this fever episode is that Yang did not have a febrile fit despite hitting 39s! We certainly hope he is past fits. I just bought new packs of diazepam last month coz the previous ones expire this month. I hope we never have to use them.

Another thing that came out of this weekend is that Kai learnt about fever. This morning, he said Yu was hot and asked me to measure his temperature. Kai has not had a fever for a very long time - thank goodness! He usually gets running nose and coughs. So he forgot how it was like having a fever. I think he also felt a bit sidelined when we showed so much attention to Yang. Ah well, he'll learn! Big boy right?

Kai is a big boy now

Have I mentioned that Kai is in K1? K1 leh!! Gosh, I still remember when I was in K1. Which means he will probably remember too, though Sito thinks otherwise, coz he's a boy *.* Well, we'll see...

But lately, I really find that my Kai has grown so much. Sometimes, I just looked at him but found that he was suddenly very tall - he's 109 cm now. Sometimes, he landed on me or I carried him, and found myself crumbling under his 18-19 kg. Sometimes, I looked at him concentrating on something and thought he looked older than his age. Sometimes, I looked at the things he did and was impressed at how well he did them, or that he did them at all!

Last night, I spent some time sleeping next to Yang who was burning. When I left the room in a hurry to attend to Yu who had earlier migrated to my bed, I also left the two little blankets I used lying on the bed in a pile. Those are Yu's blankets actually. This morning, I came into the kids' room to find them (quite) nicely folded and placed aside - Kai told me he did it. I was so happy coz it was the second time he did that - three times to make a habit, they say?

And this afternoon, when he was helping to keep the train tracks, which was a standard thing to do, he arranged them very, very nicely, so nice that I removed his "strike one". We recently implemented this three strikes thing - three strikes and he doesn't get YouTube. He knows better than to ask for YouTube every day now but he usually asks for it on Sundays. I'm very inclined to give him and Yang YouTube especially when N is off - makes evening logistics that much easier! So this three strikes rule is very useful since I get to determine what constitutes a strike! :p (Sorry, Kai, when you eventually read this...)

This week, I also bought a shower head holder - found it accidentally in Daiso. It's perfect for teaching Kai to shower by himself. We've been teaching him during his showers and even did demonstrations. He can soap himself pretty well, missing only the front part of his hair, but he needs greater supervision to rinse himself. But it's good to let him try; he enjoys it. And practice makes perfect someday!

Kai rinsing himself

The holder dropped just now though, haha! $2 and suction cup in a wet area.. Gotta fix it back later.

Recently, this K1 boy has been learning how to write both English and Chinese. They are at three-letter words in school now. At home, I'm teaching him his Chinese name, which has many, many strokes! But he's learning very well and better than expected with more enthusiasm than expected too.

Writing (part of) his Chinese name

Sometimes, I even entrust Yu to Kai. Like yesterday, when I asked Sito to go buy yoghurt after dinner - yoghurt has become an essential part of Sunday morning - and it was Yang's turn to shower after Kai was done, he insisted that I rather than N shower him. I can't remember if he meant for me to shower with him but I thought I might as well shower with him so I asked Kai to take care of Yu. He did it quite well despite a fussing Yu - he kept bringing baby toys to Yu when one failed to keep him happy, and towards the end, he told me to hurry up coz baby didi wasn't happy!

Kai is quite the doting brother. A bit too rough at times, a tad too loud most times, better to Yu than to yang, but overall, a good big brother, yes :)

BUT! And it's a big but. Kai still whines and cries a lot, and does not obey us. And when he's upset, he throws himself to the floor and whines and cries. It could be a floor full of dropped food *.* Then just this morning, he kicked me on purpose as I walked past him on the sofa. I warned him against it the first time, especially since Yu was napping on me. When he did it again, it was the cane and lots of whines and cries - it took the finale song of Trolls to stop him.

So, yes, big boy but still plenty of room to grow.

Yu turns five months!

I can't believe it sometimes, how fast my baby grows - Yu is five months old already!!

Isn't he such a big boy now??

And, that bear he was holding? It was the present "from his brothers". I only just gave it to him coz I lost it in his clothes! That day, I also gave him a new Sophie. The previous Sophie used by Kai and Yang broke when I was washing it for Yu. This new one smells a little different - like cinnamon! - and the batch number was etched into the leg differently too. Amid various unconfirmed reports of fake Sophies, I bought this in an established brick-and-mortar store.

Giraffe is yummy!

What does this remind you of?

It reminds me of .... a baby lizard!! It is just so unfortunate that I had to see a baby lizard at close-up the other day, so close I could see the four digits on each limb very clearly, and so close that I could need that despite the size, each paw was quite fleshy - like my baby's hands T.T Well, I do love seeing and having Yu's hand on me while breastfeeding but now I really can't help but think of that lizard!

Something we both love to do!

Don't worry, I only started this very recently and no, I didn't throw him up, just lifted up high. I throw the older boys :p

My baby's 姑路 is still very obvious

I look horrid in that hairband right? Don't know what made me buy it 10 years ago!! I used it once in a while since then. This time, it's to keep baby hair away from my face coz when it tickles while I'm rocking the baby, I have no hands to scratch!

"This is how I read"

I finally succumbed and let him have the book - to eat! Just glad this is a new book, not a library book. Can you imagine the germs on library books, having been eaten by n kids already? And also not nice to destroy library books...

I try to read to him at least once a day. In fact, if he would let me, I would read again and again - it beats singing again and again coz I don't have to put on interesting expressions when I'm reading since we face the same direction!

Tried to spoon fed him milk this week. He didn't know how to swallow at first but he's learning! That's the last resort already, if he still rejects the bottle when he starts school...

March is our last month together already. In fact, we are three weeks away from infant care. Honestly, I can't wait to put him there coz he can be so fussy these days! But I'm so going to miss smelling my sweet baby head, no-longer-sour little hands and even his smelly-yet-lovely ear wax all the time!

An unexpectedly memorable smell of motherhood

This evening, I finally finished my confinement shower gel. I took time to lather and wash off, and even used a scentless moisturiser on my legs so that the smell of the shower gel would linger longer.

It reminds me so much of the first days of Kai's arrival, days of green bedsheets next to a brand new bassinet which held our precious baby, days of lazing with Sito in the coolness of our room in the midst of July and August heat, days of watching my baby grow and learning about each other.

I thought back then that it was a tough time, handling Kai, but now I think I have "advanced", handling Yu with his brothers!

I'm happy to go back to Dettol after five months of confinement shower gel but I just might get a bottle again in future when the kids are grown, just to be brought back to those days :)

PS: Read about smells and me here and here.

The cheeky preschoolers-turned-machine operators

Recently, Kai's check-in/out photos have been cheering me no end. He's so smiley! I'll just dig up photos from the past two weeks:

So happy!

Ok, cheeky - show me your eyes!

Monkey dance? 

My silly boy's goofy smile :)

What an earnest smile!

Guai zai smile

Unnatural smile :p

Plenty of photos look like this

Another super happy smile!

Yang's check-in/out photos are often shot from above, making his head super big and his face super cute!

This somehow reminds me of 陈冠希?!

Back home, Yang is cheeky as ever. I think that might be why I have more photos of him at home than of Kai!

All 10 Not heavy meh?!

Big baby in the sling!

Well, Yang disturbed Kai and Kai hit him, hence starting a fight that Sito had to intervene to break up. Ya, things are getting real physical here... It was Yang's fault but he cried and whined and wanted me to carry. So, there I was, putting his chunky legs into the sling! He fitted well into the sling though! And I managed to sling him all the way to Mum's place without feeling too tired. Magic of a proper hold - can't imagine if I had to carry him with only my arms!

Found him hiding under Mum's bed!

My lovely machine operators!

We headed out for dinner tonight and had some time to check out the Diggersite. Bought a pass for 10+2 rides. Utilised two today as we didn't have much time before our dinner reservation.

Kai seemed to be concentrating very hard here

Yang was looking at the digger; sometimes he wasn't :p

Both boys didn't smile much during the activity but Kai said he liked it and would like to try the other machines. Think Yang is still too young for this so we'll probably utilise the pas mainly for Kai!

Yu can flip!

Yu flipped a couple of times on our bed in the past couple of weeks but our bed is soft and easy so I've been waiting for him to flip on the play mat. Truth be told, I haven't exactly given him much mat time but yesterday, he finally flipped! I came back in to find him in the midst of flipping! So happy! So yes, he's the earliest to flip among the three! The next trick is mine - video him doing it!!

Put good old Ding Dang on his right and he turned to reach for it

Flip side (:p) is that, he may flip in his sleep and drool all over the bed!

Btw, that was my bed :(

This week, he also seems to be more able to stay still - he didn't wail much in the car seat at red lights, he didn't need the stroller to keep moving all the time.

Yu staring ahead in the stroller on the way to the library

But the saliva!! He's been soaking bibs every day, else his shirt. And my hair fall - whose timing I link with the start of baby drooling - continues to amaze me...

He can also pull things very well now, after we junked the mittens at four months. And he can master quite a death grip! It's ok if it's his toys but sometimes it's my hair :(

Yesterday, I dozed off for some 10 minutes with him lying in front of me. When I woke, I thought Sito brought him out. But a movement drew my attention to what was in front of me - baby under duvet!!!!! Gosh... I pulled it off but he somehow kept managing to pull the duvet over the top half of himself..

Chewing the underside of my duvet

Developments aside, Yu met a new friend this week! Actually, they met in December but this time, they were both more awake! But the funny thing was, they both kept crying together! She was sleepy so she cried while DL was making lunch. The moment Yu heard her cries, he started to pout and cry too. And when she heard him? She stopped for a while before continuing to cry! It was quite funny as it happened so many times!

"Is there a baby next to me?"

"Yes! And it's a GIRL!"

"Are you a competitor? Box you away!" "Yeah!"

"Boo hoo! I'm scared when she cries!"

Actually Yu hasn't been easy in the past two or three weeks, starting from just before his 13 Feb vaccination. But this Monday, he smiled at me from nursing again! So happy! There were still moments when I simply couldn't understand what was biting him but there were more manageable. And this week, I also decided to not waste his pacifiers - if he's not using them as pacifiers, I'd use them as toys! And while Sito and I were chatting away, I suddenly found him sucking it!

Using a pacifier while looking at Papa

This coming week, my baby will turn five months. And this month is our last month at home together. No matter how fussy he is, I think I'll be missing such days...