One morning, I came into the room after settling ZY to find ZK awake. The first thing he said to me was - Mama, how are you? *whisper*
*** *** ***
At HIS bedtime:
ZK: You want sleep? I pat pat *smile*
*** *** ***
mf: *singing* Driving, driving in my car...
ZK: This is not your car!
mf: Whose car is this?
ZK: AhMa...
mf: Where is my car?
Zk: *think* There! *randomly points to the front!*
*** *** ***
mf: Little pig, little pig, let me in!
ZK: Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin! I won't let you in!
mf: ... Ok!
:p
A short while later...
ZK: You want knock the door?
mf: No!
ZK: WHY??!
*** *** ***
ZK: Didi is naughty..
mf: Why?
ZK: ... Because he is not handsome..
??
*** *** ***
mf: Why the unhappy face?
ZK: ... Because I'm tired..
Awww...
*** *** ***
ZK: I want "who's afraid of the big bad wolf" like Teacher A... No, like Teacher C..
mf: *searching* 来，自己找！
ZK: *scrolling* Ahhh, correct! You find! Good job!
The toddler is less than three months shy of his third birthday. But he suddenly became quite the baby - I think he sees me with ZY too much :( And we're also trying to send him to bed awake recently. This isn't new but this is the first time we're consistently doing it.
After ZY has gone down, I'll go back to my room to find ZK watching videos - ya, no other way to make him stay away from me before ZY sleeps! Then we'll make him turn it off to go to bed. But he'll want to read some books so unless it's very late, we let him. Then we're off to his room where I'll sit at a corner of his bed for a while, sometimes carrying him or hugging him. Then we get to "the last time, I promise". So one more hug and I set him down with lots of kisses. And I leave the room.
Within minutes, sometimes seconds, he'll be at our door *.* I send him to the sofa if he isn't sleeping. That sometimes works - after a while, he'll go back to his room. But often, he'll whine. And lately, he's working his charm on Sito. Sito just sent him in for the nth time tonight, after he came out every time after I sent him in.
That first time he charmed Sito into going in with him
And after all that, he usually ends up in our bed before dawn *.*
But I guess besides sleep, he has been progressing well.
My reading boys read together :)
And he patiently waited for YeePo to help him with Lego :)
He patiently sat next to me while I was hard at work on Saturday - guess the videos helped *.*
He can eat so well on his own - spoon, fork, knife.. Chopsticks next?
Even big slices of apple, except that he eats them from the middle *.*
He made a house in school!
This term is on nature so...
But his plant quickly became a monster!
He drew a happy face!! :)
That was done at home but his teachers often drew smiley faces on the back of his hands :) And they just went through a series of facial expressions. The happy face is our fave :)
He's usually happy going to school! ^_^
He... Well, I don't know what they're doing at ZK's check-in!
But at check-out that same day, I heard he was paying attention and answering questions! :)
I like that they go outdoors for lessons sometimes, formal or informal. But one evening, they were doing some colouring outside when ZK got bitten by some bug - his right ear was swollen for a few days! Thankfully, it wasn't painful..
My poor baby with a swollen ear :(
Ok, I don't know why he was grouchy that evening *.*
But he stood up suddenly and ran to the edge of the bus stop! We all got a shock! Had to educate him back home with a bear bear and one of his many toy cars - let's say that the poor bear bear got flung far quite a few times... I knew the lesson stayed when he re-enacted the scene with the bear bear a few days later, and at one point, he also verbalised the sequence - with lots of onomatopoeias.
He can finally sing the happy birthday song! In English AND Mandarin! Both Sito and I won't be the first recipients of his song wishes though - Ah Ye first, next week!
ZK sang the songs but was interrupted by clumsy Mama, oops...
His other fave song of late - "no need to see (video, just sing)"
And yes, he's grown taller - almost 97 cm today :)
I'm quite busy lately and hence too tired to blog at night, so have a lot of backlog - hope to upload more photos and stories this week! :)
While I was quite ill in March, he learnt to high five. This whole week, he kept wanting to do that with Mum during dinner time - super cute :)
I want more food!!!!
A teacher told me today that ZY tried a little bread in school yesterday :) Yes, he should start to eat more. Think ZK was already eating rice and chunks of bread and cheese at this stage!
Monday night, I walked in to find him on his belly - he flipped! I was so happy! But that soon gave way to despair when he kept flipping onto his belly and got stuck. One night, he got up every seven minutes for some 40 minutes!
Getting more mobile just by shifting butts - he had not flipped at this point..
Napping ZY - why can't you stay like this the whole night?!
He can sit very well now though he fell last Saturday when trying to turn on his butt *.* Hate the sound of head on tile :( Kena again the next day at Mum's place cos the brother was playful and I was pushed an arm away :(
Shuffling away on his little padded butt while playing with GeGe's toy!
Just this evening, he wanted to stand and play with the wall decal next to his bed. And it's not just about standing - he was talking! He pointed out the monkey and the wheel, and he pointed out the monkey and the wheel, and he babbled something each time.
He likes to pull himself up to stand in school!
Though I was the one who put him there in this photo taken a month before - one month is plenty for an infant to grow and learn!
Such a busy baby. Mama has been very busy too. But tonight I finally have some time to post some pictures!
What you looking at?
Happy with a "friend"!
I disapprove of this "friend" though - it looks scary!! Was a Christmas gift exchange in ZK's class.. Nvm, ZY seems to like it..
He now sleeps on his side most of the time, like prawn??! (random!)
Such a bright smile :)
Quit eating the books! Argh, whatever!
I was doing work and he wanted me, but he kept swiping at the laptop so I put him on the floor next to me. It worked!
Happy baby!
Love kiddy rides, even stationary ones!
ZY froze when the music played - the ride wasn't even on!
But he's ok on his belly in the day?!
Smiley milky baby :)
I read my fabric book...
What Mama is reading looks more interesting!
Fine, I'll read this..
Nah, let me have Papa's book if I can't have Mama's!
This boy really likes to read :)
When I next have some time - is ZK a busy bee as well?
My supply dropped quite a bit somehow. I suspect it was due to ZY's short nursing sessions - four mins! Anyway, I was attending a course on Monday, 16 March. I decided not to pump during lunch. And the next day, I worked through lunch during the course. And then I fell quite ill and just didn't pump. By the time I returned to office on Thursday, it was pretty clear that that was it - no more pumping. I continued to bring my pump essentials to office just in case but well, it was a very slippery slope..
I finally stopped bringing the milk bag to office on Tuesday, 24 March. I couldn't help but feel that I was forgetting something on the way to work - I was travelling light! So light that when I had to bring my laptop back for the rest of the week, it didn't feel like much to carry.
And then came last week - ZY had his last bottle of of EBM on Friday. And by Saturday, I decided to give him formula for his bedtime feed as well. So now I'm only nursing him when he wakes in the morning. And I've since killed the supply on the left too.
The last two feeds or so
I checked against my records for ZK. ZY had a slightly longer period of full breastmilk before I had to supplement with formula. I also stopped pumping later for ZY and had more in store. But overall, the amount ingested may not be very different as ZY didn't start out guzzling like supply was eternal - though he eventually did.
A proud moment - 320 ml at one shot! Back in mid November..
So much milk was coming out so fast - 快到冒泡!
ZY has never been the marathon feeder. Even now, sometimes he'll stop within five minutes. When I dropped the left feed, the factory didn't even swell *.* I really hope I can continue to breastfeed him until he turns one - even though it's only once a day now. Nothing quite beats seeing your baby having his fave meal right there in the crook of your arm :)
So after two weeks of stress, my body gave up immediately after the source of the the stress passed. I woke sneezing strange sneezes on Wednesday. I used so much tissue that my upper lip was all red by the afternoon. Took some medicine to tide me through the evening as I had a dinner with colleagues. Then? Diarrhoea halfway through the dinner!
So I stayed home on Thursday to rest. Best, I didn't bring my laptop home cos of the dinner. It was a real MC day!
Took some medicine in the morning. Sent the kids to school. Drove to school a second time with a bottle of milk cos I forgot it in my grogginess. Stomach was weird in the morning so I didn't sleep. Packed kids' clothes - some to keep, some to give away.
Napped after lunch but woke to heavy rain shortly. Saw the rain hitting the ventilator cover and splashing water into the bathroom. So I went in to close the ventilator. Then I saw water dripping down the mirror into my brushing cup - no wonder sometimes I returned home to find it filled and the tray underneath all wet! But very strange, it was always my cup, not Sito's *.*
I carried on napping until Y woke me to ask me about fetching the kids. Gosh, that was the longest nap I could remember!!
Much better yesterday though the cough from two weeks ago came back a little. Went to IMM for lunch and took a road trip to Bukit Panjang to check out the progress of our new place - only up to the second floor! And Dad (who works in construction) estimated another two to three years, omg *.*
We had dinner at home and went to Junction 8 for a little date night. It was as if we went to 夜市 - snacked a bit here and there, looked at stuff, snacked again :p We ended the evening at NTUC Finest to get some stuff that we don't get at the tiny branch at our place.
I woke past 3 am to the sound of ZY stirring, and found that ZK had somehow came onto our bed. Whatever. I slept with ZY for an hour and went back to bed. The next thing I knew, ZK was rolling over me and the skies were a pale blue - 6.30 am. ZY woke shortly after. And both of them went to bed very early last night - ZY at 7 pm and ZK at 8 pm! How I wish I could replicate that every day - 早睡不太早起！
I just woke from a short nap before fetching the two from the centre. The cough really came back, sans the phlegm. Sighs.. Hope things look up soon. Hate to sing out of tune to my babies!
At the end of the State Funeral, we were gathered at the TV for the minute of silence signalled by the PWS. I had ZK in my arms and Ah Yee was carrying ZY - of course the kids didn't realise the significance of this week, the week that witnessed the passing of a giant and the coming together of so many Singaporeans for one single purpose. Even the heavens cried. (Or we would have brought the kids downstairs to line Commonwealth Avenue!)
It has been two very heavy weeks. This time two weeks ago, I was coughing madly but had to go back to work to prepare for a meeting on last Monday - which was to discuss what to present at a meeting today on what to discuss at a meeting in May!! And, best, after Monday, it was decided that we needed yet another pre-meeting yesterday. Seriously...
Last week was heavy for two reasons - there was the preparation for the pre-meeting today and there was national mourning.
I have been following the news when I can, i.e. on the way to and from work though I usually ended up looking ridiculous cos I would be tearing up here and there. There are so many articles on LKY - how to he led his team to build up Singapore, first-hand accounts of him, but what caught my attention most was when Mrs Lee was mentioned. I'm such a sucker for love stories.
I signed up to go to the Parliament House last Wednesday to pay my last respects to the man but due to limited allocated space for my office, I wasn't able to go. I was on the reserve list (?!) but wasn't activated. Perhaps just as well cos my colleagues who went were stuck in the bus for hours and the group split up when they walked near so a number didn't get to go near to bow at all. Heard the public generally just walked past that day. And the queues just kept getting longer and longer.
So I thought I'd just go to my office's reflection session on Thursday - a couple of videos and a few speeches were on the cards. All was fine until the big boss spoke. He barely started when he teared. And then everyone started crying too! :( We were asked to reflect on LKY's legacy for Singapore and Singaporeans, and for us personally as well. Many tuned in to the special Parliament sitting that afternoon too, but I couldn't cos of work. I could, however, hear sniffles from the two colleagues flanking me as they watched the live streaming.
But then, I still wanted to go! Thought of going with Sito on Thursday night but the estimated waiting time as of 11 pm was eight hours?! I stayed up to do work and checked the queue duration along the way - before I slept around 4 am, a colleague had waited for four hours and counting!
So last Saturday, we went to the Botany Centre community tribute centre but there was a queue too - only an hour but 10 min could be too long when you have two kids with you. They had no priority queue so we left for dinner.
But I wasn't giving up, not even when Sito gave me a valid counter-argument: If someone else had died and the queues snaked on, LKY might just tell everyone to not waste time and get on with life, he being pragmatic and all. Well, my heart defied logic. After all, it's LKY leh! My 偶像!
So I went with fellow LKY groupie CY instead to the AMK tribute centre. We waited in line to get to the front, which was in no time at all. An elderly volunteer along the way was thanking us and told CY that we were too young to understand what people of her generation had gone through. The amount of flower bouquets was amazing. A volunteer led the group to bow three times to the wall with his picture and video, just behind the flowers.
The scene was quite amazing. The flowers. The people. The volunteers of all ages - kids handed bottled water to us. The wall of colourful post-it notes from so many people. It felt awesome to be standing there. It felt awesome to be Singaporean.
I was very heartened by what I saw and heard the whole week. I mean, people went to pay their last respects to LKY not because they loved him like family or friend, right? I think people respected him and went to thank him for what he had done for Singapore, the country we share. I'm very 感动 because going by what you normally see and hear, people don't love this place very much. You see, I'm more than a LKY groupie; I'm a Singapore groupie :)
I was a nobody to this man. But he was somebody to me. Not that he was a friend or what, but without him, Singapore would probably not be what we are today, and then, there would not have been the me and us today.
Source: PMO website (screen-shot)
This morning, I was latching ZY when I saw a flashing banner - Kel whatsapped me that LKY had passed on.
The inevitable had happened, I thought. He had had a long and fulfilling life, and he left in peace. We should be happy. But still, I feel sad at the passing of a great man. He felt like the grandpa whom we didn't talk with much but whom we know had done much for us.
I pretty much ignored the noisy boys on the way to school today as I was concentrating on the radio - PM was going to make a speech about his father's passing at 8 am. When it took place, I was on the way to work and missed it. But I read so many Facebook posts about LKY and how PM delivered his speech that I lost half my eyeliner by the time I got to office. Just lost my eye cream after watching the recording of his speech:
I tear up when I think of what he has done for the country I love so much. Then perhaps I wasn't a nobody to him - I'm a citizen of the country he committed his life to.
Thank you, Mr LKY.
“50 years ago, he wept for the nation. 50 years on, the nation weeps for him.” Source: Somewhere online...
PS: I had wanted to write on his tribute page but the input page I saw in the afternoon is now gone. Let's see if I get to write this somewhere later...
Lots have happened in the past month... ZY turned eight months and started having porridge on 28 February - that first time failed cos I forgot to soak the rice to make it soft enough.. But we did better on Monday, and now ZY is eating porridge very well - he has even started on chicken and fish in school!
Outside, he's getting troublesome but thank goodness for snacks! Oops, food bribes aren't too good right? But they're useful!
I gum gum my biscuits...
Smaller biscuits? He plays with them but doesn't put them into his mouth, hmmm...
At this age, he can be forgiven for going as he's eating..!
Oh, milk? Well, I started him on formula the Monday before LNY and he will start his second tub tomorrow - one tub for three weeks as I still give him 40% breastmilk. But as work gets busier and my supply keeps dropping (cos of work stress??), I finally dropped one pump from last week. Today, I was attending a course so I didn't pump until I got back. My mini stash in the fridge probably won't last another month...
I'll probably just latch him morning and night, and give him formula in the day eventually. But lately, he's been tugging at his food source when nursing at night. I screamed out in pain the first few times and he would smile at me. So I stopped giving him an apparently funny reaction but he continues to tug and smile, argh!
I can have my milk milk standing up too!
Let's go back a couple of steps before we get to standing....
He is sitting very well. BUT! No flipping except accidental ones, no crawling.. Just as well, no need to worry too much about him falling off his bed at night or crawling out to no man's land in the middle of the night like ZK did last time!
ZY up, penguin down!
But I still place him with his back against something safe, just in case he decides to fall backward... And I give him a toy. Or fruit.
We had some fun in the kids' room one weekend morning. He sat in front of the cabinets, pulled out drawers and gummed them to his heart's delight!
Is this edible? No.. Still, yummy!
Mama, why did you put me on my belly?
I don't want! Waaaa!
Hush now, my baby.. Let's smile for the camera!
I also let him sit on me - and one day, I caught this on video - sooooo cute! :)
He's also very cute when he claps his little hands :) He seems to clap whenever I sing.. And lately, I realised how little I have sung to him! I used to sing to ZK on the way to and from school but now, we drive them to and from school so just now, I sang to him before bedtime but he didn't seem to like it :( Have to slowly sing more and more to him. ZK still wants me to sing sometimes :)
When he's less cute, I scooped him away from the changing table and dumped him half naked on the floor *.*
He can sit so well that it's so easy to use the bath tub - ZK didn't sit very well until later but by then, it was easier to let him stand than to use the tub.
Looking up to the big brother who was holding another rubber duckie
But my little baby still prefers to sit with someone - and read!
And then he stands!
He can pull himself up if I give him my arm as a grip. And he likes us to help him walk a few wobbly steps. So he can stand now and almost going to walk with support but I still love to wear him! Until he gets too heavy, that is...
First time in the full set - that was the fourth day of LNY
And now, my two-going-to thirteen boy! Really...
mf: ZK, what are you doing?
ZK: *silently watching videos*
mf: ZK...
ZK: *silence*
mf: ZK, you're ignoring me?!
ZK: Yes? *without looking up*
*___*
Of course, Mama - see? I'm already big enough to carry my own big bag!
And eat noodles with less mess - and sometimes no mess!
Wefie!
Papa's turn with ZK - I really like this photo, so happy :)
I was trying to take a photo of his milk beard but was overpowered by my tot..
He's really a big boy now. A couple of weeks ago, he started consistently going to poo poo in the toilet bowl. And after wetting the bed two or three times over as many weeks despite staying dry while in diapers, he finally woke with dry underwear last Sunday! It's the third consecutive night - let's keep our fingers crossed..
See? I poo poo a lot! Like chocolate... (Really, he said that!)
When we brought him to the huge playground at Westgate, he wasn't interested in the playground for his age group at all. He wanted to be with the big kids! Lucky it was a week day and there weren't many kids around so I let him explore. It was scary at first as I watched him. But he was confident and where he wasn't or it was difficult, well, he fell a couple of times! :p But he conquered the route in the end :)
Easy to go up, difficult to go down...
Wearing beach pants instead of swim diapers! But somehow he didn't like this waterplay area very much..
He has been super cheeky these days. The terrible twos are going into the threes... Just a small thing can trigger him off, e.g. if he isn't the one who presses for the lift. And he still watches so much videos!
Watching next to me when I was having a fever *.*
But the past couple of weeks, he would turn the phone off and reach for some books - nice but it certainly dragged his bedtime... And for the past week plus, I started leaving him awake to fall asleep on his own. He kept coming out to get me, or go pee, or go poo, or just whine. So now he sleeps past 9 pm every day, sighs.. Maybe I have to wait until he drops his afternoon nap before he will start to sleep early again..
Sometimes I feel so guilty towards this boy. On days when ZY slept in and I brought ZK to school first, he would be such a good boy. But when we all went to school together, most times he whined and asked me to carry him though I was already carrying ZY.
And cos time is always tight in the morning, I'm forever nagging at him to have breakfast, brush teeth, pee etc. Now I nag at him to go back to bed. Sometimes I was outright shouting. I don't like to do that :( And worse, he looked at me sadly, sometimes at the brink of tears, and said, "I don't want Mama angry... / Don't (be) angry with me..." My poor boy.. I love you ok? I love you very very much... I hope he knows that...
