Pics at bilingual class

Appended are Pics of Nat enjoying herself in class during last Semester.

Initial classes were tougher to deal with as she is fully reliant on Mummy's presence. We struggled during Daddy's week as it's a class full of males and we forced her to accept Daddy's involvement which went really well initially but once she saw mummy.. she would be so highly distracted. Hmm.. Chris would give me this really crossed look for exposing myself against the windows. Ok ok my fault. Anyway she did enjoy herself with daddy more thereafter.

She has been really attentive during classes and teacher Jovanna would always sing praises of how wonderful she is. Personally I think Natalie needs to be more independent and less shy. Many a times teacher Shoba would tease her about her secretive smile.. where she tries to control a smile that's coming from the heart or she would turn her head away to smile.

She loves the drama classes which never fail to amaze the adults as well.

She would sing her way home to her favourite "Hello" song.

And activities which she looks forward to....  outdoor play at the playground!

oh not forgetting the handwashing breaks.. "This is the way we wash our hands.... "

Concept of $

Daddy has been away for 2 weeks and Natalie would ask to talk to daddy via skype every night .

She would wait for the call to dial. Each time she gets frightened by the dialling in tone and hides behind mummy, away from the screen.

There was one day where daddy showed her the things which he bought from Shanghai and she said this:-
Natalie: Papa Papa, buy book... buy use money.

I was so surprised she used the words "buy" and "money" and understood the context of when to use them.

Obviously I didnt conscientiously teach her about the money and buying concepts, but I suspect she picked it up when daddy was queuing up to purchase some of her books and she saw the assistant opening and closing the till full of money.

Amazing...

Funny thing is the following night she says "Papa give money... mummy"

Told Chris over Skype he was in shock! haha he thought I conspired with her to ask for allowances.

I asked her how much and she would point to the pricetag at the back of her book, which reads " $2.00". Ok, she don't quite understand the value of the decimal places and what no. of zeros behind a coma or dot signifies. I'll teach her some day =).

Happy dedications

Happy Bday darling! Enjoy the clips! I know you did when you were 2yrs old =)

http://babytv.com/kingofbirthday.aspx?comp=172920&step=play


http://babytv.com/birthday-clip.aspx?step=play&p0x=151.825&p0y=110.625&p1x=130.825&p1y=138.625&p2x=90.825&p2y=138.625&p3x=65.825&p3y=112.625&p4x=64.825&p4y=72.625&p5x=87.825&p5y=48.625&p6x=128.825&p6y=48.625&p7x=151.825&p7y=73.625&imgx=-322.9&imgy=-178.8&scl=62.704&rot=-8.2584&path=129802114880360.jpg&bn=Natalie&ba=2&bd=undefined&bc=Singapore

Valentines

Recept: Sharon, we have received an item for you.
Sharon : What is it ?
Recept: It's a bouquet...you better come now..Now ya.. it's kind of .. you'll know when you see it.

When I arrived, there were 2 bouquets waiting on the table.

One was in a vase (medium sized ) and the other took up half the recept table.

Guess which was mine?


It's the.... humongous one from my long time admirer!

More of Spanish Architectures

4 CATS offers one of the best cuppa in central Barcelona, but locating them is not easy as they are situated along one of the many narrow corridors/ walk path. If it's not for its neighbouring Indonesia restaurant, it would never have caught our attention!

 

We have cough!

It first started with daddy and when we thought he was on the verge of recovery, Natalie caught it. Had really high fever for 2-3 days. We brought her to the PD who charged us an exorbitant amount but gave us an array of medication for the worth of the visit. She had fever meds - paracetamol & neurofen ( to be given only when baby's fever goes beyong 38.5deg) to bring down the high fever; anti-biotics; cough syrup; sore throat meds; and nasal congestion syrup. Poor little girl had to take all 5 different types of meds to control the bacteria from spreading.

I lost sleep during this period and 0.5kg as a result of full time care. Her fever goes up to 39.6 /39.8 at night. We had to constantly feed her with juices (she refuses water) and ensure that she gets hydrated. We brew Chinese meds in the likes of double boiled pear juice with north and south almod seeds ( one is apparently sweet and the other bitter for purpose of removing heatiness and reducing phlegm).

One very useful tip which helps relieve the cough is to ensure your baby maintains an elevated position to make coughing easier and try to keep your baby elevated whilst sleeping by placing a pillow underneath the crib mattress for very young babies or you could place your toddler on a large pillow to open up her airway and prevent choking on phlegm.

At night you could try rubbing Vicks on her soles and ensure that she wears socks. This works for adults as well.

An evening at the Park

We've been wanting to bring Natalie to the park, but kept putting it off since 3 weeks ago due to 1) Rachel didn't nmanage to make it 2) Natalie taking longer naps than usual, leaving us with very little time before dinner 3) Bad weather 4) The family was ill.

Today, we did it. Rachel has finally fulfilled the promise of bringing Natalie to the park.

Natalie was thrilled! She flew her kite ( ok we did it on behalf, yee yee was really bad at it btw. I think I was not too bad at least the kite was airbourne for a little while. ok wind was not strong enough so the gentle breeze didn't provide sufficient liftoff.) and had half her dinner before she complained about wanting to go to the toilet where we all had to rush home.

 Like every other new adventure, it takes time for her to warm up to the concept of grass.  She didn't want to go on to the grass, squirmed as I tried to put her down. So we placed a piece of newspaper on the grass, which removed the pokiness and she was much better after that.

Above are some pictures which we've taken today.

All about the new addition

I have officially received a complain from Rachel Yee Yee: " Why no mention of the new addition?".

Been pregnant for more than 14 weeks now and tummy is getting more and more apparent. Colleagues from other departments have been subtly asking if I am expecting, not wanting to say that I am fat just in case....

I would like to assure Rach that baby seems ok . I think he/she is bound to be a survival in life. Having gone through the most unexpecting traumas or a series of unfortunate mishappenings during the first trimester.  Where you know, mum was diagnosed with Colon Cancer; new boss left to be a Chief HRO after 3 months of my joining the company; demanding new boss who has no idea about how things are run around here and demanding timelines through the Yr end peak. It's crazy having thought about how things managed to run on it's own despite some hiccups here and there. Anyway who don't commit errors? What's more some one who doesn't quite know the business inside out. The new team had couple of minor hurdles to cross and a part of it was contributed by the new boss' inexperience and unpreparedness at the committee meeting. Guess it's expected of us to fumble in the first year, as the committee has asked loads of histrorical questions where the boss didn't quite have an intelligent answer to reply. Anyway  that's passe. So let's be hopeful about the future since nothing could go any more wrong than it already was. We will all improve as we learn from this minor setback, but I must say the new boss suffered quite a blow to the ego and this places a lot of stress on me as she is asking a hundred and one questions like an auditor before attending any of such meetings.

If it's not for baby, I would have tried looking for greener pastures.

So bb has been my pillar of strength. Been through the worst phrase and I don't suppose there will be any other obstacles which we can't face together... in the next 6 months or so before maternity kicks in.. One good thing about this company is that we could serve notice whilst on leave. There are people who didn't even need to come in to work after tendering the resignation as they simply have too many leave to clear. This of course is not gardening leave. Resignees are allowed to go on holidy during their notice period. Wonderful huh?

So what's so different about this new addition?

I seem to have a liking for ginseng chicken soups. Loved the strong herby taste. Sometimes I would dream of having a nicely fried Kenturky drumstick ie no visible chicken fats in between. I love the taste of plain flour... you know the pita bread / nann kind of piping hot bread coming straight from the oven with extra sprinkles of flour on it.

I dislike the smell of fish, especially steamed fish with tomato. Simply hated the taste.  When Nat takes her beef porridge I can't be the one feeding her as smell of cooked beef gives me the eirks.

Haven't been putting on weight, but tummy is growing real fast. Barely 4 months and the bump is already visible. When I first visited Dr Watt I was 59kg, now I am 59.5kg. Not sure if it's the placenta that's ballooning up and making me look so bloated at the tummy or was it the baby who is really putting on weight. Anyway this pregnancy seems a little more manageable as I didnt quite had time to think about puking after the morning car ride since I am the one driving myself to work most times.

Talking about morning sickness there was this day where I thought I should grab a $2.50 Mac Breakfast and went via the drive through. After giving my orders and when I ended up at the payment counter, I vomitted right at the spot. The assistant immediately closed the window on me and ran away. After 2 minutes she came back and told me that she went off to get some serviettes. Weird that they don't have serviettes at the pick up counter and had to go all the way in to grab them... Chris said they probably found it way too disgusting that they immediately shut the window on me.. sigh what to do.. you just can;t control it. When it comes it comes.

Baby seems to love the taste of potatoes and white feta cheese salad. You could give me potato with little bit of mayo and I think I could have them every day of the week! Can't stand the taste of apples as daddy always prepares a bag of freshly cut apples for me to bring along to work. Used to like it alot but apples nowadays makes me feel acidic and I jsut can't stand  the smell of regurgitated apples.

The Barney Addiction

Not sure what exactly is so interesting or attractive about Barney, but Barney is now Natalie's new found friend.

She would ask for permission to watch Barney CDs throughout the day and would even throw tantrums if it's not given to her. We note that her addiction is getting more severe each day and tried introducing her to other stuff animals but she just wants Barney. Even during outdoor actitivities, she would ask if she could watch Barney when she reaches home! She would cling on to those coin-operated Barney mobiles and hug each and every characters and not wanting to let go of them. We had to literally pull her away and let her cry a little before she would say 'bye-bye' to the familiar characters.

To be honest, we only had 1 Barney CD at home and she got hooked instantly. I sat and watched the entire series with her and I must say it's a lot of talking, some song and music but you know, not the sort that would appeal to babies with beautiful colours and quick motion pictures. Somehow she connected with Barney. Barney's name is one of the words which she pronouces real clearly with the right emphasis placed on the first syllabus 'Bar'-'ney'. She loves Baby Bath too! and would call her 'BB Bath'. I'm not sure what's the name of the yellow looking character, it hardly appeared in the series that she was watching. So she didnt quite manage to learn the name of that character.

To me,  I don't think they are really adorable, seems a little clumsy most times. But Barney has got good catchy songs and Natalie's favourite tune seems to be the 'I love you' piece.

Babies take the cutest, most natural photos

I am sure this is not new to all but babies are the most natural models. Nat knows that she needs to pose and would dance in front of the camera whenever the camera phone is turned on. And she enjoys scrolling through the end result! Guess this is an expected self discovery stage that all babies would undergo but I thought only adults who superficially wishes to look their best would request for a retake. It seems that the concept of vanity seems to develop out of our innate ability to appreciate beauty through everyday behaviours and micmickry of adults since a very tender age!

Appended below are some recent pictures of Natalie.. Look how fast you have grown my dear!

Updates

Felt like months have passed since my last entry!! Definitely been a hectic year end for me both at work and home. Keeping a running list to track the major happenings

• Natalie is growing into a fine lady, she has her usual share of tantrums but still manageable. She is turning 2 next month... and we are keeping fingers crossed that she don't suffer from the 'horrible 2' symptoms!
• New helper 'Mimi' for short, named by Natalie after the first introductory session, is doing well. She is more respectful than the previous helper who thinks she is boss. She is diligent and has a positive attitude towards work and treats Natalie well. Best of all, mum loves this new maid. So all's well back home .. or at least for now.
• Mum has been diagnosed with colon cancer last December. She is now recuperating from surgery. Really got to thank Dr Tay for doing such a wonderful job and keeping her on track. Though she scolded him 'black-hearted' for pressing hard on the side of the intestine which hurts after the surgery, and he stomped off after being scolded. Funny this, but Mum miraculously had a instantaneous recovery. In the end, she gave him a flower basket to thank him. No pain no gain I guess. She has to undergo chemotherapy next but things are certainly looking better. And we are watching her diet real closely, making sure she doesn't take any red meat going forward. She is definitely not too pleased about this. But prevention is always better than cure.
• At work, I have survived the worst peak of my life. Being the only person in-charge of compensation definitely means no room for error and on top of this I had to write the management reports and do up the remuneration paper for executive committee's approval. Tough season, especially when previous boss has left for greener pasture, leaving me 'the newbie' to figure things along the way. So glad the past is now over and I certainly look forward to the 4 months maternity leave by end this year =).
• Little baby in me is doing well despite the stress at work. "Glad you are there as the whole family pulled through the toughest times!"

About BB Oraljel

Nat has developed an ulcer on her lower lip. Cause might be due to hot food or accidental biting during mealtimes. It has been about 4 days since we discovered the ulcer. Am really tempted to place some salt to kill off the bacteria but this would instill quite a bit of pain.. not sure if she could take it. Anyway been googling on other methods and it seems that commercial products do have their side effects. Below is an extract, am keeping it as a reminder..
Active Ingredient

•The active ingredient in Baby Orajel, in any form, is benzocaine. Benzocaine is a commonly used pain reliever, because it numbs nerve endings. Parents need to check what the active ingredient is in any medication they give their children because it is that ingredient that will most likely cause a reaction.

Serious Side Effect of Benzocaine

•Benzocaine has been linked to a condition called methemoglobinemia. This is when there is too much hemoglobin in a person's red blood cells. According to the FDA, this complication tends to only occur when the medication is used incorrectly, either from too large of a dose or if used for a longer period of time than recommended. If the patient gets a gray/blue skin color during use of this medication, it is possible that she has too much hemoglobin in her blood.

Swallowing Medication

•If while using Baby Orajel your baby gets hives, has difficulty breathing or swelling of the face, lips, tongue or throat, call 911, or your local emergency services, immediately. These side effects can be caused if your child is given too much Baby Orajel and swallows some, which could numb his throat.

Other Common Side Effects

•Some side effects from Baby Orajel are not life threatening, such as a mild burning or itching to the area the gel is applied. Some children might get red in the area the gel is applied or white flakes will appear where the gel was applied. These side effects are not overly dangerous, but parents should stop treatment and discuss future use with their doctor before using Baby Orajel again.

The new year

There are good news and not so good news to share..

Good news is i'm pregnant! About 8 weeks now... So edd probably in July/ august. Hopefully my new boss would allow me to take my maternity leave all at one shot. Anyway am gaining weight real fast on this one. But baby seems to hate the smell of steam fish, and beef cooked with butter. Still having morning sickness, but realized a good method around this is to eat before you feel like throwing up, which explains the weight gain. Am feeling super thirsty all the time and had to pee like a zillion times. One doctor to be friend said it's pretty normal as my uterus is expanding. So my body needs loads of water at this stage. But I would need to monitor my diet and not overeat in order not to get gestational diabetes.

The not so good news is.... Maid wants to return home to get married and I've got to retrain the new maid. Had some earlier issues with getting her across before Christmas as agent kept telling me that there are no flights out from serembang. So we had to wait till end next week before she arrives in Singapore and hopefully passes the singapore's foreign domestic helper's assessment. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one as she had failed the test once. Perhaps with the delayed entry, this would give her more time to practice and remember her training. Can't really do without a helper at this Stage. So we really hope she could start work with us soon.

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Ipad updates

I've given nat the iPad in the afternoon and she didn't quite demand for it at night so this kind of worked for me. I've also realized that playing the iPad in the afternoon doesn't seem as fun since she hoas other toys to tend to... So this really seems to be working. Her posture when playing with the iPad has improved from the slight slouch to proper seating at the play bench. I'll test this strategy out again today. Hopefully it's sustainable.

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ipad and nat

The fantastic thing about iPad is the wonderful applications that users are allowed to download. There are so many educational apps to select, and many comes free if you wait long enough or if its the lite version but of course one could always pay or upgrade to a full version if you want instant satisfaction. Nat has a couple of favorite ones and like a savvy iPad user she is able to zap through the applications quickly, flipping the pages with ease after 1 or 2 tries.

However on the flip side it's highly addictive! Last night, I've decided to go cold turkey on her and she cried and cried for half an hour. I couldn't appease her with any other toys. She just wants her iPad! She started with whimpers, trying hard to muffle her cries by using her hand to cover her mouth... I tell you this makes her look so super poor thing that my heart aches as she kept saying 'ipad' between her tears. After 10 mins of whimpering she realized she is not getting her way she decided on performing the full outburst! She cried like she lost her favorite friend! I endured another 20 minutes of this before her daddy came running into the room to find out what's wrong. And you know what.... He gave in immediately to her request! This is what happened:

Nat: pa pa pa pa....
Dad: nat what happened why are you crying?
Nat: no iPad sobs sobs...ma ....sobs....
Dad: so poor thing ...come papa give you some huggies
Dad to mum: why don't you give it to her? We bought the iPad and should maximize it's value right! I don't understand why you must put her through this?
Mum: she is over relying on the iPad and doesn't listen when I say stop. We should just stick to the conventional story books, else she doesn't even wants to read any other books except ebooks.
Dad: you are ridiculous make her suffer like this. I don't understand you. Just give it to her.
Mum: you give it yourself, I told her have ipad no mummy.
Dad: I need to send your mum home...she has been a good girl don't make her cry like this
Mum: you over pampers her!

So I ended up putting her to bed with the iPad that was handed to her by her father.

Hate it when one parent doesn't support the other.

He should not have given in to her tears! And I ended up going against my instructions. All her crying for nothing!

And Chris did not send mum home that night as she wanted to go shopping on her own.

Today I'll let her play with the iPad in the afternoon, a reward for good behavior. So daddy won't have the excuse to say " you never let her play in the day and you never let her play at night. So why buy the iPad? " .... My answer to this has always been.... It's for my blog :) , our entertainment and reward for her goodbehaviour.

Anyway Let's see how long we could endure her cries before the 'filial' father gives in to his princess tonight.



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