Little Emperor on parade!

Eversince Ethan mastered the art of walking, he has been diligently taking walks every morning, after lunch and before dinner. He would confidently make his way to the little red chair placed at the entrance and deposit himself comfortably on it. Then, he would grab his shoes from the shoe rack next to the chair and try to fit them on. Of course, it is more of a gesture than anything else :) He would start to yell and scream if Rose doesn't get to him quickly enough to render her service :(

As I blog, he is out again for his routine walk and he walks like an emperor with both legs striding outwards in big bold steps!

Stinky me :(

It has been quite a while since we last met up with Eddy and Penny for a meal. Nicole missed Ella very much too. Nicole is 4 months older than Ella and they get along pretty well. They have kind of "grown apart" a little after this long lapse of "separation".

We had peking duck and 4 other dishes which in my opinion were over-rated by the public. The girls didnt eat much too. Nicole wasn't exactly very well and a cup of milo at the cafe prior to dinner triggered a vomit. It came gushing at me before I had time to react to it. Within a split second, I was drenched in Milo and so was Nicole!

It could have been a cosy dinner if not for the unexpected "shower" leaving me stinky and sticky all over. The big boys were not sympathetic at all. They commented that I had just sprayed myself with the latest stinky Milo perfume :( We had to gulp down our food and make an early departure just in case Nicole threw up again :(

Thoughtful Nicole

Nicole was being very thoughtful.

Lawrence asked her to swing the bedroom fan towards him as he was having a foot massage using the Ossim isqueeze but, seeing that I was taking a rest on the bed, she went out to search for her portable fan instead. She even brought a chair into the bedroom so that she could stand on it and fan Lawrence with it! Wasn't it so sweet? :)

Home pedicure

Vanity is certainly in the genes! At a tender age of 4, Nicole has learnt to pamper herself with a good pedicure. Every so often, I would see her touching up her toe nails! OMG :)

Ethan's first "char siew bao"

We took the kids out for a walk on Sunday. We had some dim sum, claypot udon and claypot rice at a restaurant. The claypot rice was quite a disappointment given its status as the restaurant's signature dish. The rest were deemed acceptable.

Chubby for the very first time, had a taste of "char siew bao". He just couldn't have enough of it. He displayed much pleasure on his face as he was being fed. As he saw that his "char siew bao" was disappearing, he yelled " more! more!". We all had a good laugh! :)

Nicole as usual, being her choosy self had 1 "char siew bao" and a few strands of udon and she was done with her lunch. Her main is still her milk! She can drink up to 5 bottles of 240ml milk a day though 3 bottles are her average! Her milk consumption is no lesser than a 2 y.o.

Play time

At times, it is just so interesting watching Ethan play. He can self entertain for a good half hour provided I am sitting around, responding to his play and being his playmate every now and then. He enjoys capping his bottles or rolling his balls. He knows exactly which cap or lid to go with which bottle or pot!

Self directed film!

It was one of those nights when Nicole just wouldn't lie still in bed. She insisted that her back be scratched till she fell asleep. Certainly, I refused to entertain her. Immediately, she put up a show, thinking that it would win her the service.

Nic " I am so angry with you. I am not going to sleep forever"
Nic " I am going outside now"
Me " Take good care ok, Nicole"
Nic "hmm..hmm...I am not going to come in again"


Within 30seconds, she was in the bedroom again because it was warm in the living room. She figured the bedroom was a much better place to be in, with the aircon on :)

Nic" I am going to sleep on the floor"
Me" Oh, be careful ok? there are cockroaches crawling everywhere"

Automatically, she sprang up onto her bed. The trick worked!

Nic " I think you don't love your daughter anymore. You don't even care about me!"
Me " I surely love you, Nicole"
Nic " I am not going to talk to you forever"

She turned and tossed for a good 15mins before she finally dozed off :) That's how my little tough nut tries to get her way through most of the time, sigh!

No peeping!

Our Sunday class was a little more casual last week. We just did some revision and a little enhancement.

The girls were instructed to write the names of the countries on the whiteboards as soon as they located them on the map or globe. It was a good practice for them.

Then, we moved speedily to do some maths. This time, I gave them 4 numbers on a flower, one of which was a trick number. They needed to determine which number to strike off. Shanon needed a little help but she soon got it right. I deliberately gave them 2 different sets of numbers so that they couldn't peep at each other's work! Instinctively, they would :)

Before I could even proceed to the next flower, Nicole sprang up.

Nic " Mom, can we watch Mickey Mouse now? It's almost 530pm"

Me " 5 more minutes. Let's do 1 more"

Nic" No, Shanon, let's hop onto the sofa. We are going to watch Mickey Mouse"

Shan " Oh sure!"

They happily bounced onto the sofa and sat next to each other, leaving everything behind! :(

The bathroom is flooded!

Lawrence has this very bad habit of wetting the bathroom floor everytime he showers. I really mean wet with pools of water everywhere and it could get so slippery that Nicole once fell when she stepped into the bathroom. It happened again.

Nic " Papa, why is there so much water on the floor?"
Lawr " oh, I am sorry"
Nic " Papa, do you know it is so slippery? You flooded the bathroom!! I almost fell! I am going to tell mommy"

Doesn't Nicole just love to report? :)

Nicole's calendar

Nicole received this wonderful calendar as one of her birthday presents. It is indeed a very thoughtful gift, thanks Auntie Chukky!

Nicole is now diligently updating her calender every morning and she is beginning to have a clear concept of time. She knows which day to expect what. For example, she knows she has ballet every Saturday, Sunday School every Sunday and so on. She even knows how to count down to her school concert which is just 2 weeks away :)

3 princesses and a castle

Nicole came running home with her artwork. She couldn't wait to show it to me. Lawrence went to meet her at the door but she insisted to show it to me first. How sweet :)

She put on her megawatt smile while handing the artwork over to me. She proudly announced that she did it all by herself and it was her idea to draw 3 princesses and a castle while the girl next to her drew a caterpillar. More importantly, she did not forget to broadcast her artwork was graded A with 10 stars :)

Nicole's Disney Shades

We have been wanting to get a pair of proper shades for Nicole for a long time. However, we have not been able to get a suitable pair until last weekend when we walked past an optical shop which had a good selection of kiddie sun glasses.

I could see the excitement exhibited on Nicole's face when we brought her to the shop. She had a fun time trying on all the shades on display and she finally decided on this pair. She wore a megawatt smile after making her choice. Isn't it beautiful?

We didn't forget about Ethan but there were no baby shades, unfortunately :(

Time" filler"

Nicole's activities are very much mood dependant, be it maths, reading or role-playing.

While waiting for her 930pm Little Einsteins, she suggested doing some maths! She wanted a different companion this time! She wanted to play with my laptop instead! That was easy, all I needed to do was to turn on my laptop and there she was, doing the addition maths all by herself. It could go up to 3 digits and she was managing it well. I was "shaking legs" while she found herself some challenges! What a relief! If only she could do this more often :)

Note that there is still a black hole on my keyboard, courtesy of Ethan? I have yet to get it fixed :(

A junior negotiator

Nicole was trying to talk Lawrence into giving in to her request for a glass of sugar cane juice.

Nic " Papa, I want a glass of sugar cane juice"
Lawr " Oh..what did mommy say?"
Nic " Sugar comes from sugar cane, so I shouldnt be drinking it"
Lawr " Ya, it is too sweet"
Nic " Can you ask the lady to add less sugar?"
Lawr " Oh no no, the sugar is already inside the sugar cane"
Nic " Then, I will just have half a cup?" (giggling away:)

Nicole simply wouldnt give up till she got what she wanted.....

Greenie the master "wu gui"!

I discovered little Greenie's hidden "gong-fu" skills just like Master "wu gui" in Gongfu Panda! Greenie could climb and hang himself on the "tree"! I was absolutely amazed when I spotted him doing his stunts!

Isn't it spectacular?

" Yeah! No poems today! "

The girls were very excited when I told them that we were going to play a game instead of reading a poem :). Simultaneously, they exclaimed " A game? That's fun"

I provided them with a map and a globe. They could use either one. I asked them for some names of people. Very naturally, they named themselves first. So, here goes:

They were asked to find a country on the map or globe which had the same initial alphabet as their names! Shanon was quick to shout "Singapore" while Nicole took a while to come up with "New Zealand". They enjoyed the game and came up with more and more names. We had the followings"

Irene for India and Indonesia

Colby for China

Jessica for Japan
Melody for Malaysia

Tim for Thailand

The objective of the game was to get them to read the map and hopefully they soon would be able to navigate as they love to "travel the world " after lesson :)

Then, they went on to do drawings. They were told to draw a clock each and they learnt where to point the long and short hands to for some easy time slots. (E.g. 1 o'clock, 5 o'clock, half past 3, half past 1). They even decorated their clocks!! How sweet.

After their favourite tea break, they did maths! I gave them a number tree each and explained the rules of the game to them. They were to only use the numbers hanging on the tree to complete the equations. Nicole was quick to jump start as soon as I was done with the instruction, and Shanon got the hang of it too, after looking at how Nicole completed the first equation.

Soon, they were done with the number trees and they merrily helped themselves to the toys, the scooter and the bicycle before I even had the chance to dismiss the class :( They just couldn't wait to hop onto the scooter and bicycle going on their world trip again!

Being No.2

Chubby is at a stage whereby he is aware of his position in the family vis a vis Nicole. To a large extent, he adores his sister but I can also sense that he feels "threatened". He would prefer to be alone with me than having Nicole circling around me too. Very vividly, every morning, when Nicole is leaving for school, Chubby would wave good bye furiously, as if trying to shoo Nicole off as quickly as possible :(

If they are not playing with each other, Ethan would sometimes go near to Nicole and try to "attack" her in silence! He would poke Nicole with his little pointer or try to pull Nicole's hair. Nicole has been very tolerant to-date, thank god! She would, as usual, "report" to me instead of taking it in her own hands! I am thankful for this as I know some kids would actually victimise the younger ones. I guess I just have to make sure Chubby doesn't feel threatened unncessarily, just so that he would not take such extreme measures to get even with Nicole:(

Do your kids exhibit such behaviour too?

"My magic brain has broken down"

There were days when my little tough nut simply would not cooperate with me.

Me " Nicole. take a look at this, it is so easy, your magic brain can tell you the answer straight away"
Nic " No, my magic brain has broken down"
Me" What do you mean?"
Nic " The battery is flat!"

..*fainted*.....

"My Express Giraffe"

Nicole is in a drawing mood lately. Her drawing skills seem to have improved by leaps and bounds, from drawing big headed human beings to sophisticated images of animals. She did this within a span of 15min when I was blogging :)

As soon as she was done with it, she came running to me, showing me her express master piece. She commented that her giraffe was a rainbow giraffe. How sweet and creative of her :)

The most beautiful pair of swans!

Nicole was chirping away merrily when she came home with this piece of artwork! She proudly announced that she completed everything on her own, from drawing to colouring for the very first time! It brought me great delight to learn that she was able to even draw on her own now which she used to need some help from the teacher:). I repeatedly asked if she did this and that on her own and she confidently claimed them all.

I could tell that she was really very pleased with her own achievement as she was in an extremely good mood, thanking me here and there for little things which I did for her. I just smiled at her and deep down, I felt the sweetest moment of motherhood, seeing my little girl grow and shine each day! The pair of swans was indeed the most beautiful pair of swans to me! What pleased me the most was how perfectly Nicole had drawn the neck of the swans, in a very nicely shaped "2" and "s" respectively :)

My little tough nut with a magic brain :)

It has been some time since I last did maths with Nicole. She suggested to do maths yesterday and I thought it was a good idea.

I was kind of worn out after a long week tending the kids especially on Sunday as it was Rose's off day. Rose had a good time shopping for her own birthday present because we decided to give her the $$ instead of buying a gift which may not be to her liking.

I thought of introducing a new concept to Nicole. I first showed her below (see pic) :

X - 1 = 5
Y -2 = 3

Without finger counting, Nicole filled in the boxes with 6 and 5 respectively. I was very impressed and asked her how she arrived at the answers. She said she knew it up in her "magic brain" that 6 -1 =5 and 5-2 =3. (huh? magic brain? that is creative!)

I probed further as I wasn't sure if it was some pure memory work. Then, I gave her another set of double digit equations and she got them all correct! She disclosed that she just added the 2 numbers together, the way I had taught her earlier after learning the concept based on the easier questions! I rejoiced at her good logical analysis and I just gave her one big hug! For that, she had one bottle of Vitagen as reward :)

Living in fear?

It got me thinking deeply recently as more bad news is breaking out in every part of the world, financial news that is.

We live in a world so closely knitted together, in a balance so delicate, only the most Devine could create. But, what have become of our world today?

It all started with the subprime mortgage crisis in the US, being an ongoing financial crisis characterized by contracted liquidity in global credit markets and banking systems. The impact was further amplified by a downturn in the housing market in the US, risky practices in lending and borrowing, and excessive individual and corporate debt levels causing multiple adverse effects on the world economy.

Many are now living in fear, not knowing what to expect tomorrow. Why should this be the way to live? To me, there is a fundamental flaw in our moral education worldwide. We have become so blinded by material wealth that we are prepared to do anything to attain the material satisfaction. Nothing but greed has brought us down! I am very much disturbed to see many innocent souls suffer, directly or indirectly as a result of the wrong doing of others. It is a zero sum game, some have gained much at the expense of others!

The banks lent with full knowledge that many of the borrowers were not credit worthy. Borrowers were enticed to borrow more at the back of rising housing prices then. They were incentivitised to assume difficult mortgages in the belief that they would be able to quickly refinance it at more favourable terms or flip it for a quick profit. However, as soon as interest rates began to rise and housing prices started to drop moderately in 2006–2007 in many parts of the U.S., refinancing became more difficult and the vicious cycle began to take its place globally.....

We are just beginning to feel the pain as it gradually filters down to this part of the world. I just hope that we as parents could instil good moral values in our kids so that they would not make the same mistakes during their time to save them from all the man made disasterous turmoil! I personally believe that moral education should begin at home, and at a young age when the kids are still very much influenced by the parents rather than their peers or the media. To me, sending Nicole to Sunday School is one avenue for her to learn good moral values apart from including her in my daily prayer with me -to give thanks for all that she has; as well as reading some Chinese moral classics to her which she is able to relate to.

Raya Lunch (2)

When we got to Su' house, Nicole made herself very much at home. She played with Sofia and Sarah for a while before helping herself to the yummy cakes and "kuehs". She ate 11 pieaces of the super yummy homemade hazelnut spread cakes! She counted the number of pieces herself! I got a shock when she told me how much she had eaten. That was all she had for lunch!!

We brought Chubby's home cooked porridge along but obviously he too was very much distracted by the yummy hazelnut spread cakes which Uncle Soh had very "kindly" popped into his mouth. Thereafter, Chubby just turned his head away when the spoon of porridge came near him. Instead, he went looking for the cakes :(

Su, being her usual generous self, bought a bottle of baby Fancl shampoo for Nicole and Chubby during her recent business trip to Hong Kong. It costs about S$10 equivalent for a small bottle of 80ml vis a vis S$15 which I would otherwise have to pay at any departmental store here. That would be a saving of S$5. This small bottle of 80ml is easily depleted by Nicole and Chubby within a month! Gosh! My shampoo comes in family size of 750ml and it is less than S$15 for sure!!

Morning before Raya Lunch (1)

Su invited us over for a Raya lunch (12pm). I told Nicole about the Raya party the night before and she was all excited about it. She slept a little earlier than usual (10.45pm) because I said if she couldn't get up the next day, then I would have to leave her behind, and it worked! :)

Truely, she got up early and was getting restless by 10am. Ethan was trying to get his morning nap and he finally dozed off at 1030am. By 1120am, Nicole was rather agitated by the long wait but she was under strict instruction not to make any unncessary noise when Ethan was napping. Indeed, this super mischievious girl of mine obeyed! But, obviously I underestimated her ability. She went into the bedroom, lying down quietly next to Ethan without the slightest bit of noise. Instead, she touched his hands and his hair (not much though :). Being a light sleeper, that was enough to wake Chubby, so that we could get going to the party!!

Me " Nicole, I told you not to make any noise, didn't I?"
Nic " I didn't make any noise. I was just lying down here and watching Ethan. Then, he woke up" Me " Why did you touch him?"
Nic " I was just checking on him. You only said not to make noise and I didn't"

See what I mean? Her winning rate is extremely high! Indeed, she was not in breach of my "law" and it was my fault for not inserting a catch all clause!! :(

E-ladybird!

Ethan has this unique affection towards Ladybirds! Yes, the bug! He could just sit and flip a book which has a picture of it for a good 10minutes, over and over again. He knows exactly which book and which page the bug appears in.

On a good day, he would take all his books out from the box and start looking for his favourite bug. The moment he spots it, he would give a yell, while pointing to the red little insect, signifying his victory in finding it!

Now, he has upgraded himself from books to my laptop, in search for that red bug!! Every morning, he would request for his red bug to be displayed by pointing to my laptop and mumbling " pu-ter, pu-ter " (meaning, computer), eversince I exposed him to some animated e-bugs! I would then have to accede to his request by turning to you-tube for some video clips. That would keep him happy for a good 15minutes!

"My favourite sushi train"

Nicole just loves watching the sushi train go round and round. So, we brought her to one restaurant which served sushi on the running train.

We told Nicole to look out for tamago sushi and carlifonia maki for Rose as those were Rose's favourite. The dishes came and went but there was no sign of them. So, we had to place a separate order for them together with our a la carte dishes. It turned out to be a wiser option as the sushi came freshly rolled!

Nicole was "taxing" all of our sushi. She only wanted to eat the seaweed! So, all our sushi were "stripped naked" before we could eat them :( How unappetising!

The next thing she checked out was the dessert menu. She couldn't decide which dessert to have, so we helped her in making her choice. We chose the wafer ice cream eggs. There were 6 nicely shaped wafer eggs in her dessert bowl. She loved them so much that she was not willing to share with anyone, except mommy :) Lawrence didn't feel good about it. He tricked her into losing one egg without her knowledge by diverting her attention. As soon as Nicole looked away, he scooped one out of her bowl :()

While we were having much fun, Chubby was snoozing away in his stroller. Bet he would have loved to sample the ice cream too!

One professional reporter!

Nicole is undoubtedly one professional reporter in the making!

She came home from her piano lesson and Rose was waiting to clean her up. There she was, taking her own sweet time, scootering about, turning a deaf ear to Rose. It got onto Rose' nerve after much coaxing. I think the dialog took place something along this line, as I wasn't present at that moment.


Rose " Nicole, hurry up, come and shower" (many times)
Nic " No, I dont need to shower, I am clean " ( many times)
Rose " Go away then"

Thereafter, I came into the picture.

Nic " Mom, Auntie Rose asked me to go away. Can you tell her not to say that to me?" (She came to look for me in the kitchen)
Me " What did you do? Did you do anything to upset her? If you don't like that remark, you go and tell her yourself"
Nic " I didn't do anything. Auntie Rose is so rude"
Me " You go and settle it yourself"
Nic " I told mommy you asked me to go away"


I tried not to side Nicole as I didn't want her to grow up thinking that an "auntie" would always be there for her, completely at her disposal. I guess I can safely keep Nicole at home now, if I ever return to work!

My daily routine

I count my blessings everyday. I am very thankfully for all that I have, however insignificant they are in the eyes of others.

Everyday, I wake up with a thankful spirit though I may be dragging myself up from bed due to a lack of sleep. Ethan would be taking a walk by the poolside with Rose at about 730am and I will quickly get my fruit juice and coffee fixed. That would kick start a busy day for me. By 9am, Lawrence and Nicole would be out of the house, going to where they are expected to be. Thereafter, Ethan and I will be spending time together and he would take his morning nap at about 11am ,while Rose gets the housework done before Nicole comes home at 1230pm.

Nicole would nap from about 330pm to 5pm while Ethan would continue to roam about. He has been skipping his afternoon nap for the past 2 weeks. This really drains me out.

Lawrence gets home by 7pm on most days. He would spend some 10minutes with Chubby before he dozes off by 730pm or 8pm. Then, it would be some private time with Nicole. Nicole doesn't sleep till at least 11pm which means I don't get to sleep till almost 12am every night. As a result of the constant waking during the nights to check on Chubby, I don't usually have much quality sleep. :(

This would be my daily routine with the kids. To many, this may be dry and uninteresting especially to the older folks in my family. By their definition of an interesting life style, it would be taking up an important post with a big organisation paying big bucks. Well, head hunters have been knocking on my door since I left the corporate world. Frankly, I sometimes do have the lingering desire to resume my old self - a career woman who aims for nothing but the best. But, with deeper thoughts, I think I can forgo the social status and financial freedom for the sake of the kids when they need me the most now :)

On the other hand, I would love to be able to take up some contract work or part time work which would not take my soul away as it would vis a vis a full time job, in my line of work! That would enable me to fulfil my own aspiration while still being able to spend sufficient quality time with my kids. Well, then this thought would add on to my daily prayer from now on! If it is His will, then it will be done! Amen!

"Kong Rong Rang Li"

I was reading this book (Kong rong rang li) to Nicole, just before her afternoon nap. This is a classic read in the Chinese literature. It teaches good moral values to young children. As usual, as I read, I casually asked nicole below.

Me " Nicole, how many children are there in Kong Rong's family? Kong Rong has 5 older brothers and 1 younger brother"

Nic " Hmm....5 older brothers, plus 1 younger brother.....and Kong Rong himself...so, 7"

Wow! I was very surprised and absolutely delighted when I heard her response. 6 was my expectation from her as I did not imagine a 4 y.o. would know that she had to include Kong Rong in her calculation. That was the mathematical part of it. Then, I moved on to read about Kong Rong's generosity and love for his family members when he picked the smallest pear for himself, leaving the bigger ones for his brothers and parents.

Me " Nicole, do you think Kong Rong is a good child? He keeps the big pears for his brothers and parents because he loves them dearly "

Nic " Ya, he is a good boy"

Me " How about you? You ate all the dragon fruit last night without leaving a single piece for me"

Nic " I am your daughter right? and you love me, right?"

Me " Of course I love you. I am your mommy right? and you love me right?"

Nic " Ya, of course."

Me " Then, why didn't you leave anything for me?"
Nic " Hmm...because I dont know how to cut the dragon fruit into 2 pieces. But, I will keep some for you tonight. I promise"

I hope Nicole did learn some good moral values from the book and she meant what she said!

My home orchestra

As much as Ethan is still technically an infant, he is catching up fast and furious with his "jie-jie". He is mild and gentle in many ways but certainly not when he feels that his position is being threatened.

2 nights ago, I was reading his favourite book to him and out of the blue, Nicole came dashing in with her favourite book too. Both wanted theirs read first. Nicole used her best selling weapon (ie tears) to jump Q. Seeing that I switched book, Ethan got agitated. He snatched Nicole's book from my hand, and passed his to me instead, while screaming " Mama, du, du!" (meaning mama, read, read!)

Then there was an orchestra of loud "classical music", intensely painful to the ears! Lawrence was very kind to come checking on the kids. However, as soon as the 2 orchestral instruments pumped up their volume, he just walked out, mumbling " OMG! I am going to work. Keep up the good work. I think I am better off working than looking after them!"

How very helpful, Lawrence!

Piano again?

Nicole was practising her songs on the keyboard. She was getting restless after a mere 10 minutes. She started thinking of excuses to get off the chair. Seeing that she was no longer keen to practise, I decided to call it a day.

Me " Nicole, ok, let's pack up and get ready for bed"
Nic " Mom, why are you so kind to me?"
Me " What do you mean?"
Nic " You asked me to pack up. So, I don't need to practise anymore, yeah!"

Me " Do you mean I have not been kind to you?"
Nic " Well, sometimes. Whenever you ask me to play the difficult songs"

I was totally speechless! Nicole deemed playing the piano as an unkind order from me! OMG! When I suggested to stop her lessons, she put up a struggle. I really don't know what to do with this super tough nut of mine. Help!!

Nicole's one and only fish is gone too :(

Rose and Nicole were very happy to bring home 22 guppies. They separated them into 2 tanks - green and pink, with Greenie in the blue tank. They followed the feeding instruction carefully, 2 pallets, 3 times a day. Nicole went checking on them every other hour. I could sense the liveliness in the household.

Soon, their happiness was overtaken by extreme sadness. The guppies were dying, one after another. Within 2 days, Nicole was left with one miserable fish, all alone in the tank. I prayed that this little fish would survive to be a companion to Greenie as it was set out to be!

Just yesterday, we spotted 5 baby fish in the tank! The one and only mommy fish had given birth! But upon closer examination, the babies were no longer alive. I was very disturbed and rather emotional when I cleaned the tank.

My heart sanked right to the bottom when I went to check on the lonely mommy fish just now. It had gone to heaven too! Nicole is still in school and I dont know how she would react to see her one and only fish floating motionlessly in the water :( sob!

Cheeky Nicole

We were on our way out. Nicole, being Nicole, her little brain is always full of mischevious ideas.

Nic " Mom, you look so pretty in your new hair style"
Me " Really? thanks"
Nic " Can I sit in front with you?"

Hohoho, that was the ultimate motive, it seemed! The compliment did not come free of fine prints! Of course, we did not accede to her request. She had to be buckled up at the back seat! "Well, at least I tried" - that must be what she had said to herself quietly! :)

"Fishing" excursion

Nicole wanted to get Greenie more companions! So, off we went for a "longkang fish" scooping excursion.

Nicole teamed up with Auntie Rose. She was good at cheering and giving instructions.

"Auntie Rose, here, here, come and scoop the fish"
"Auntie Rose, there are more over here"

Nicole was running about with her net and she finally got 1 fish!

"Auntie Rose, Auntie Rose, Look! I caught 1 fish"

We were all excited about her catch! We quickly went over to congratulate her. Indeed, there was a fish in her net but it wasn't moving nor flipping. It was a dead fish!! :( :) We could see the disappointment on her face when we declared her fish dead :( Thereafter, she decided she was better at giving instruction than scooping :)

Chubby was grouchy as he was sleepy. It was way past his morning napping time. So, he didn't really participate much though he enjoyed watching the kids running about with their nets and tanks :)

We called it a day after a good 45minutes at the fish farm. We counted Rose's achievement and it totalled 22. She managed to scoop up a good 22 guppies and even the attendant was impressed!

My ultimate challenger!

My little tough nut just loves to spill things. First it was that packet drink in the car after Yanni's party and next, it was black sesame paste dessert after dinner.

I wanted her to know how much work it entailed in washing all the stained clothings of hers and so, I instructed her to do her own washing. It seemed that my strategy wasn't effective. She was having so much fun playing with the soapy water.

Nic " Mom, look, I am doing my own washing"
Me "Good. Do a good job. You will wash your own clothes from now on, if you continue spilling "

Nic " Cool! It's so fun. That's great!"
Nic " Mom, I am working so hard just for you!"
Me " No. You are working for yourself"

Nic "No, I am doing a good job just for you. You should be kind to me"
Me " I am very kind to you, sweetie"
Nic " No, you ask me to wash my own clothes"

...* Fainted*... again. Either way, I lost! Big time! Do your kids constantly challenge your authority, the way Nicole does? I mean do you have such "problems"?

"My Greenie"

Finally, we got Nicole a pet! Yes, a tortoise!

Nicole's eyes sparkled with pleasure and excitement upon seeing her new pet. She named it Greenie and she gave Greenie a company instantly - a toy tortoise! I really wondered if that plastic toy has added more joy or torment to poor Greenie :)

Botanic Garden

We took the kids to the Botanic Garden for a walk.

It has been a long time since we last visited the pair of loving swans. We brought some bread along, intending to feed the fish and turtles. Nicole was put in charge of food distribution. She gave 1 tiny piece to Ethan, while trying to gesture to him how to throw it into the pond. Before she could stop him, the bread was speedily desposited into his own mouth instead! He figured it would be a wiser choice to feed himself rather than the turtles! We all had a good laugh at him :)

Nicole was diligently feeding the fish and turtles but the lake creatures just turned their heads away. There was already an abundance of bread floating on the surface, a sign of overfeeding by the public. She soon lost interest in feeding them. Instead, she started helping herself to the bread too!

Nicole was tired out by the late morning sun soon after. While we were in the car heading home, Nicole asked for a second helping of bread.

Nic " Mom, may I have another piece of bread? "

Me " Sure, here you go"

Nic " I think I am more hungry than the fish"

We all just laughed at her innocent but completely factual statement!

" I know where to find my "a-bu""

I was reading to Ethan on the bed. Just after some 15mins or so, Ethan was begining to lose concentration. He suddenly remembered his "a-bu" (nappy that is). He flipped the pillows and quilt, just to check if I hid it underneath. Seeing that it was nowhere to be found, he crawled over to his own bed and waved good bye to me, while saying " bye-bye".

Within a span of 5 seconds, he was out of the bedroom, standing next to his changing table. There he was, pulling out his "a-bu" from the rack and happily smelling it!. He found his treasure and nothing could take his addiction away from his "a-bu", at least for the time being! (I wasn't quick enough to snap a picture of him holding his "a-bu" with a contented smile on his face. What a pity!)

Picnic by the poolside

Nicole invited her friend, Melody and baby Jossiah over to our place for a swim. The girls were all excited having each other's company in the pool while Jossiah needed to be accompanied by his mommy.

Ethan joined in the fun too! He missed his star fish boat dearly. He hasn't used it for a long time as the weather hasn't been good (no picture attached. Sorry! Because mommy was with Ethan in a 2 piece swim wear :)

The girls soaked themselves in the kiddie pool for a good 1 hour before having their "picnic" food by the poolside. The girls requested for pasta, pizza and salad and their wishlist was granted. They had fruits and cranberry juice to complete their meals with.

Melody enjoyed the pool very much and she wanted to come again. Nicole was delighted to know that she would have a regular "pool soaking" partner going forward :)

Me, Myself and I

As I flipped further, I saw ME!....I had a similar 2 year old birthday cake too! Thanks mom! What a coincidence. So many years have passed by and now I have my own kids too! I hope I wasn't as demanding and challenging as Nicole when I was her age :)

And next, it was Lawrence and I. This was taken over a decade ago when we were attending University in Australia! Those were the good old days when we didn't have kids to worry about. All we needed to do was to pass our exams!

My little boy

Then, I saw this picture of Ethan. It was taken when he was barely 4 months old. Ethan was just so chubby and cute!! He is less chubby now but he is growing up to be a handsome young man! I truely love the dimple on his cheek when he smiles. It can really melt my heart! Don't you just wish to have a taste of his lotus thighs? :) :)

My little girl

We are always so busy with our daily routine so much so that we hardly have time to reflect upon the past. I was dusting the albums and these 2 photos just caught my attention.

1)Nicole celebrated her 2nd birthday with her po-po and gong-gong and everyone else back in my hometown. She was simply mesmerised by the huge Barney birthday cake. Nicole was already very chatty at a mere age of 2. I really miss those good old days when she was less demanding and much more accommodating. She is now an opinionanted 4 y.o.! It has been 2 years since. How time flies. That said, I do rejoice at her achievements and milestones. Looking at her, it is comforting to know that my decision to be SAHM is all worth it :)

2) Nicole at her 1st ever school concert in Dec 2006, soon after her 2nd birthday and guess what? I was already pregnant with Ethan, and hence the baggy clothing. In spite of the pregnancy, I still insisted on wearing a pair of 3 inch high heels :) Looking back, I think I did enjoy both my pregnancies though I had morning sickness for a good 3 to 4 months. The feeling of a little one growing in me was simply beyond words! If only I were 5 years younger, I would seriously consider a 3rd one!