Raelynn's 1st 3 days at Elfa CC

Raelynn started going to Elfa CC on Tues since it was a long weekend. First day, brought her back after lunch as advised by Teacher Irene. RA saw me but didn't protest. I bluffed her Mei Mei has diarrhea, that's why teacher asked me to bring her back.

Second day, I wanted to leave her there longer. At least try to keep her there to try to nap, but teacher called again that she is crying badly so rushed to pick her. Today, I was out at work so Nai Nai went to pick her up after lunch. She said she did not cry when she went. Today, RA came back during evening and complained to me why Mei Mei went back earlier than her.

Didn't expect Mei Mei to take so long to adjust since she only took 3 days to get used to Learning Train playgroup. But I guess she never slept outside home or Nai Nai's house before so it will take longer. But hubby is going back to work next Monday. Think I will make a judgement call by end of next week. If I have to keep bringing her back after lunch, might as well convert her to half day instead of full day.

RA's first Yamaha concert

Today, RA just had her yamaha class concert, she's a bit distracted cos so many pp in her classroom (even Nai Nai came to lend her support) but at least she did not have stage fright. Compared to the first time she performed a dance with her playgroup classmates at 2 yrs old, must say she really grew up. Too bad, she is still not ready for unaccompanied enrichment classes though. -_-

Brought her for ballet trial at Crestar, Abacus Plaza but she did not want me to leave the room. How to sign up like that? Anyway, we decided to start private swimming lessons on Sunday morning at Tampines swimming pool. I think $300 for 2 tots is quite steep but hubby said we just go for it. The gals have been having cough and cold nearly every month, we spend a lot of $ bringing them to see dr anyway. Since, swimming supposed to strengthen the lungs, we will try it out and see if it improves their health.

Next yr, she is starting on Yamaha's Junior Musician class so we need to get an instrument for her to practise but I'm not sure which instrument to buy. The full height piano costs $5-8k. If I buy a piano at $3k plus (supposed to last for 10 yrs), will she lose interest? If I buy a digital piano at $1k plus, will I end up having to top up more if she does have the interest. Dilemma.

Happy anniversary!

So fast, we have said 'I do' 7 years ago. 七年之痒? I definitely think it is up to us to make our marriage work forever, hope never to lose that loving feeling even though we are so busy looking after the kids without a maid for the last 6 months and harassed by our 2 night birds gals who sleep between 11-12 midnight daily and shuttle in our busy daily routines. Especially hard on hubby who gets only average of 5 hrs of sleep everyday cos his working hours are super long as a teacher.

Happy anniversary Dada! 辛苦你了! :)

Raelynn scissorhands

Last week, I took my eyes off RL for 3 mins while she was cutting paper with a tiny pair of scissors at ILs place cos I went to the toilet. When I came back, I was surprised to see thin strips of black paper on the floor. Was wondering to myself how could her fine motor skills be so advanced to cut paper so accurately. Then I had a rude shock, the stuff on the floor was not paper, it was her hair! This naughty gal had tried to imitate Nai nai and cut chunks of her hair from both side off. Although there was no obvious ugly hole at the back, but her hairstyle was definitely disproportionately layered so Nai Nai had to remedy the damage. So she trimmed her hair very short and now she looks like 'ah dude' with coconut head hair. There goes my hope of taking a family photo in dec since I signed up with Pic perfect at Suntec in July when taking my ERA photos.

Today, she wanted to cut paper so I took out RA's Kumon workbook for her and tried to teach her to cut. She only managed the first cut so had no patience cutting lines. Then when I tried to help her cut out a pineapple shape, I turned around and saw that she did it again. She cut a tiny chunk of hair off again. I beat her hands and scolded her this time but she didn't even bian zui nor cry. Not repentant at all. Grr... no more real scissors for Mei Mei, only plastic scissors from now on.

Evidence of her holding strands of hair in her fingers and proudly admiring her masterpiece... Maybe, she wants to be a hairstylist in future? :P

RaeAnne's first concert at Elfa :)

Her dance piece was I like to move it move it by Madagascar. She is sick with flu but managed to perform with the help of panadol. But I went to backstage and brought her home shortly after her performance though the concert has not ended so that she can rest more at home. :)

Happy 2nd Birthday to RaeLynn!

Our little Mei Mei (RaeLynn) is 2 years old. She is 82cm tall and 11.5kg. Just 500g more than RA when she was two yrs old. RA was taller at 85/86cm though. :P

In terms of speech development, she can say short sentences. Some of them very well eg. I want 这个. Me, me, Mine. I want Mummy 抱抱. 找奶奶, 找Mummy. I want take/throw/jump, I want 穿裙,I want 穿鞋, I want cheese. 姐姐打. Oops! :P

Physical development - she can climb very well much to ye ye and Nai Nai's constant worries. She will dance and move to the music. She can take aim and throw a ball. She can walk with alternate foot on the staircase if someone holds her hand. Her favourite part is jumping off at the last step. :)

Social development - strangely, she is not as sociable as before. Eg. she will say hi five to certain close family, but no longer does it with school teachers and admin. She will still wave bye bye to everyone she doesn't know though. :)

We had her school bd party early yesterday cos today is RaeAnne's Elfa CC year end concert. Strangely, Mei Mei refused to eat her birthday cake though it was strawberry flavour Elmo cake from Polar. Previous yrs, we always ordered from Prima Deli cos it was the nearest bakery from our home. She did blow out the candle on cue though. :)


Bought 2 presents for her, one Elmo toy guitar that costs $36.90 (b4 30% discount) and a Elmo colouring pencil set that costs just $3 from Toy R Us Warehouse sale. She took only a few glances at the toy guitar but instead both gals clamoured over the $3colouring set. When we brought her to Toy R Us, she picked a pink cow potty seat and refused to let go of it so we bought it for her as bd present from the grandparents since they gave her ang pows. She went around holding her potty seat in her hands using it as her hat or trying to sit on it like a rocking horse. Quite a sight at Tampines Mall and hubby was quite embarassed. Moral of the story, it doesn't take much to satisfy a kid's imagination. ;)

But she stopped using it as a hat after her head got stuck in the potty seat ring when she was playing with it at home. :P

Stayacation at Resorts World

Back from our stayacation with the gals and MIL at Festive Hotel. Checked in on Thurs and made use of the Mastercards promotion 3d2n with 2 free Universal studio tics and 2 free Voyage De La Vie tics at $590. I had to rush out 1 hr after checking in to see the Bedok Residences showflat on Thurs at 430pm.

Came back to Resorts World at 7+pm, gobbled down Pu tien fried bee hoon and fried rice which hubby tapowed earlier. Then booked a spa treatment last minute and enjoyed a green tea scrub and aroma massage at Spa Republic on Thurs night so that hubby and MIL can bring the kids to Voyage De la Vie. Only 2 tickets anyway. They left the show shortly after cos hubby said the show too quiet and the kids were too noisy. Luckily, I didn't join them. Keke.


Next morning, had bread from Breadtalk. Then we went to USS at 10am on Fri. Not that much crowd but still need to queue 5 mins for entry. RA went for 6 rides (boat ride and merry go round at Madagascar, Shrek 4d & Donkey Live show, Dragon kids roller coaster and Mini Ferris Wheel at Far Far away. RL only managed the first two rides but she didn't enjoy them nor does she like taking photos with the characters. She kept crying. Maybe she's too young or she was hungry. I was surprised by RA cos she said she wanted to go for the Dragon ride but I dun think she realised what a roller coaster was. Even I closed my eyes throughout cos I am always freaked out by roller coasters. She had a blank dazed look after the 3 mins 'hell ride' but I am really proud that she did not cry or scream during the ride. After I told her she's so brave, she said "I want mummy 抱抱." kekeke.

RL ko at the park at 3+pm, so we came back. But after we reached hotel room, she woke up cos hubby put her down on the baby cot too suddenly. So, MIL was the only one who managed to catch a siesta while we entertain the gals. Decided to go for international buffet dinner at Hard Rock hotel with MIL since we seldom get the chance to dine out with her. Per pax was $68++ but luckily got 10% discount for Masters card. The kids dine free since below 4 yrs old. Phew! Food was ok, not the best buffet we had. Couldn't load our plates with the sashimi and oyster and other seafood cos MIL didn't like us eating cold, raw food. hehe.

Then at 8+pm, we slowly walked back to USS for the fireworks show. We were just in time, cos it started at 9pm instead of 930pm which we were told by the hotel reception. The fireworks were beautiful, RA enjoyed it but RL was a bit frightened by the loud sounds. Came back at 9+pm and had an early night at 11+pm.

All in all, quite a good experience. Both gals enjoyed climbing up and down the loft bed which freaked MIL out. RA had her fill of her favourite bubble baths at the bathtub. RA had 3 bubble baths in 3 days. Didn't let them go swimming since both were dripping mucus and coughing.

Only comment was there there is not enough food variety at USS and the hotels. In the morning, the one and only Toast box had a long queue cos there was nowhere else for bf. At the huge USS foodcourt, there were only 4 types of food, laksa, wanton mee, chicken rice or kids nuggets meal. For dinner, variety outside was ok but hotels, it was sad. Imagine there was no restaurants serving buffet at our own Festive hotel so we had to walk over to Hard Rock Hotel. :P

First play

Brought the gals to their first play at Esplanade today. It's one of their playtime programmes called 'What a Noisy Zoo'. It was their first experience sitting on the floor with a raised stage in front of them, people dressed up in costumes dressed as zookeeper or animals. Due to the floor seating, their view was blocked by taller kids in front who couldn't see cos they were blocked by the kids in front of them. Not an ideal situation for tots aged 2-4 yrs old cos they are already shorter than other pp in the first place.

But at least the play was interactive so lots of kids are shouting, singing and dancing. Not mine though, Mei Mei pooed in her diapers when we first went in and there was no time to change her unless we miss the 40 mins play so we let her be. RL didn't understand much anyway and she was too short to see anything so Daddy carried her to the back where there was 1 row of chairs. RaeAnne joined Daddy and Mei Mei at the back half the time.

But I think she did enjoy the play cos after she came back, she kept telling me that she went to the zoo, even told Nai Nai. And she said the monkeys are very naughty cos they took the zookeeper's keys and ran out of the zoo. She even asked me which animals in the zoo fell asleep (the segment she missed cos she went to look for daddy) but I had no idea either cos I was busy chatting with the other Feb mummies. kekeke. :P

4 tickets cost $50 so each ticket was just $12.50, slightly more than a movie ticket so I won't complain even though both kids weren't very enthusiastic. I was glad we didn't have to waste the tickets cos the gals, hubby and me took turns to succumb to stomach flu. Mei Mei brought back the bug on Fri, then it quickly spread to RA, ILs and us. Luckily, we recovered enough to go for the play though I'm still feeling queasy due to my gastric problem triggered again by this bad bout of stomach flu. RA did complain that she missed her music class a few times though so I told her next time if Mummy brings her for a play, I will make sure it won't clash with her music class. :P

Anal fissure & separate bedtime

Raelynn gave me a shock last night when i changed her diaper for her. She told me ng ng after she stood beside her cot bed for a while so I knew she pooed. What I didn't expect was the huge amount of sticky blood on the poo. It wasn't a bit, it was a lot. Took a pic before wrapping up the diaper cos thought may need to consult PD or GP.

Problem with Raelynn is that she doesn't like to eat fruits nor vegetables (not even evergreen favourites like strawberries or golden kiwi or apples, papaya or watermelon which RaeAnne loves. So, she has hard stools once in a while. But the strange thing is that last night's poo in her diapers wasn't hard. It was quite soft actually. Hubby googled and think it's an anal fissure. Possible, cos I've seen a slight crack before but that was a long time ago. Maybe it got worse. Asked MIL to give her more fruit juice but she suggested yakult. Don't think that will help with her cough. But don't know which is the lesser of two evils now. :P

Tried a new strategy in order to make the gals sleep earlier. Got hubby to bring RL into the bedroom to sleep since she refused her bedtime milk feed (as usual). I kept RA with me as I hang the clothes (Had to do laundry cos RL's mamy poko diaper leaked again last night, too loose? :P). While I showered, I made RaeAnne do colouring in my bedroom so that she won't go and disturb Mei Mei. By the time I finished shower at 10pm, hubby was successful and Mei Mei had slept.

Was feeling good when I brought RA into their bedroom to sleep at 10pm. She talked non stop but in hushed tones cos I told her not to wake Mei Mei up. She finally fell asleep close to 11pm. But who knows, I saw Mei Mei sucking her thumb and pull it out, she hardly does it nowadays unless she is hungry in her sleep. She started to fidget, scratch herself all over and in the end, she woke up. Arghh!!! Think she was probably hungry so I made 200ml of milk and she drank all. After I left to wash the milk bottles, she didn't go back to sleep, and started to call 'Mummy... Mummy...' from the bedroom. Bo bian had to ask hubby to go back and settle her cos I need to do work tonight.

Morale of the story. Next time, must ask hubby to dreamfeed after putting her to sleep... -_-


WARNING!!! Don't scroll down if you don't want to see any gross pic ...

Height charts

Haven't measured the gals for a long time ever since I stopped taking monthly photos for RL, just too busy after Maid left. RA is now 99cm tall, while RL is 81cm. :)

RL's birthday is just 2 months away. We will be having a party at her school and it's time to think about birthday cake designs. She really loves Elmo, loves her red Elmo socks (it's cute to see her wearing t shirt and diapers plus elmo socks), loves her Elmo music player book, and Elmo sticker book. I already bought party packs fillers 2-3 months ago from the party shops outside Bugis Junction so I am not going to change that. But at least I can find an Elmo cake for her, luckily Polar Cakes has sesame street theme so that's not difficult. Need to collect cake early in the morning though. :P

Brought the gals to Bedok Point for the first time cos suaku Mummy never been there before. We ate at Kungfu Paradise and the gals enjoyed the Mui Fan and esp Mushroom soup. RL started a runny nose, while RA started a slight cough, even Hubby. Sigh, think I'm the guilty one passing the bug cos I have been sick again since Monday. After 2 rounds of antibiotics for the previous 2 weeks, usual GP didn't want to give me any more antibiotics. But the runny nose, sneezing progressed to blocked nose and coughing after 5 days. Think I need to see dr again tom. Sigh. When will we stop cross infecting one another?