汗宝宝

The most "in" look in town?

Jayna is one "hot babe"! She perspires so easily, even more so than me. Just 5 min out of the aircon environment, her hair will be all plastered to her head. Joash just doesn't have that problem despite how active he is.

(Warning: What I'm about to say can be very gross...)

The above hairdo was styled with her perspiration!!! Naughty Mummy... Heh heh.

Falling asleep drinking...

Is this simply a common thing amongst young children or it runs in the family? LOL (Pls watch the below video to be enlightened.) *grin*

Feeding Woes

I really dread preparing my children's meals everyday.

As I mentioned a year ago, Joash only wanted to eat plain white rice with corn, potato and carrots. Nothing else. After months of trying all sorts of food that everyone says children love, I realised there's no forcing him to eat what he doesn't want. I was extremely worried about his nutrition but I nailed that frustrating concern to the cross and moved on. Over time, I've discovered many different ways to prepare those three basic things he likes to eat.

Thank God that he has gradually come to accept other types of food like my broccoli in cheese, fishballs, soups and the occassional chicken. Tonight, I took the trouble of cooking non-spicy teriyaki chicken for him but he refused to eat it. (Usually I cook the spicy version cos Joshua loves it spicy) When I begged him to try at least once, he took it and spit it back out.

At the very least I'm glad that he eats everything at school due to the peer pressure. I was hoping that when Jayna starts to eat solids, Joash would be influenced by his sister to eat better.

My meager hope was brutally dashed when I realised that Jayna hates to eat!

At least Joash ate everything I prepared till he acted up at 15 months old. He had tasted a wide variety of food and I was blissfully happy preparing them. However, right from the onset, Jayna hardly ate more than a few mouthful once a day during dinner. I tried feeding her different types of cereals, fruits and purees. So far the only thing she eats at least a few tablespoonful is the Nestle rice cereal. I already tried ALL the suggestions I've received but to no avail.

Now that she's nearly 10 months old, I worry once again for her nutrition but she even refused to eat at any other time of the day except the cereal during dinner. She's almost surviving on milk alone! Even tonight, when I tried giving her pureed porridge, she rejected it too.

The amount of food I've thrown out due to her is enough to raised another baby!!! Some people suggested starving them and I did just that. The only thing it accomplished was constant crying unless I carry them throughout the day. They became too hungry to play or sleep so they found comfort in my arms. The only result I got in return was a body full of aches and pains that took days to recover. All the food I prepared simply went down the drain literally.

This evening, when BOTH my children rejected the food I gave them and started to wail non-stop, something within me broke and I hid in the corner of the kitchen and cried to God amidst the screaming symphony performed by my kids. When I finally regained my composure, I gave Jayna milk which she grabbed instantly and gave Joash plain white rice untainted by the food he dislikes. Joash actually ate the rice gratefully and said, "Yummy!" to me! *faint*

How do I press on in the quest to feed my children appropriately? Where can I turn to but my Father in heaven for the strength to go on? Just as God accepts me for who I am despite my failings, I must learn to accept my children despite all the challenges they present me. When I feel defeated despite all my efforts, I take comfort in the Word of God that tells me that trials are meant to train me in righteousness. God sees my efforts and He alone dictates the results. I think I would have long killed my children out of anger if not for God in my life...

Hebrews 10:36
"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."

Fast Learner

The stereotype of boys developing more quickly in the kinesthetic sense while girls are more cognitively advanced is rather true for my kids. Jayna often gets frustrated because her physical ability cannot keep up with her understanding of the world.

One fantastic thing about Jayna is that she learns quickly. Here are some examples:

1) She already knows that the reflection in the glass is not the real thing since she'll turn back to look at me when I wave to her in the mirror. Until more than a year old, Joash was still thinking that there was another baby in the mirror and he tried to befriend 'him'.

2) She needs only one session of discipline to know what not to touch. After that, I only need to call her name sternly or say "no, no" and she'll stop her approach towards the forbidden. In fact, this morning, Jayna was moving to touch a cable when she suddenly stopped midway and looked at me. When I shook my head, she smiled and moved on to explore something else. She actually remembered not to touch it without any reminders! Joash needed quite a while to get it in the past.

3) I saw Jayna banged two toys together and I thought she would be ready to understand the concept of clapping her hands. After just one demonstration. she picked it up immediately and can now clap on demand. It took Joash 2 months of toy-banging to master the applause. Watch the video below to see her in action.

The Show Car Incident

I constantly marvel at Joash's intelligence...

I was at Vivocity shopping with the two kids. On the way to Daizo, Joash saw a red and a blue show car downstairs and requested for me to bring him there. I wanted to get to my original destination so I continued on in the hope that he would forget about it by the time we passed by the escalator. Our dear boy here actually reminded me that we could take the escalator that we went past to go down to the next level. Since he was so alert, I thought to reward him by obliging him. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine what happened next.

Joash sauntered up the blue car, opened the door, climbed into the driver's seat and shut the door beside him. Before I could register what happened and open the car door to get him out, he locked the door!!!

I was at a lost and panicked when I feared that Joash might become frightened after a while. Instead, even when I asked him to open the door after I overcame my shock, he merely grinned at me and pretended to drive the car. Meanwhile, Jayna was simply laughing away at my attempts to get her brother out.

After trying in vain for quite some time, I went to get help and the saleslady scolded me for being negligent and went to look for the keys. Somehow, I simply couldn't muster any bit of contriteness at that moment due to the surreality of the situation. However, before she came back, Joash somehow unlocked the car door and came out all by himself!

Before he could run up to the red show car and pull the same stunt, which was what he proclaimed he wanted to do, I quickly dragged him away, kicking and screaming.

We've never allowed Joash to sit anywhere but in his carseat whenever we use my father-in-law's car so I never expected him to mimic what he sees his Daddy do with such confidence. Looks like I really should stop underestimating what my son can do!

The show car in question

Exploring all the buttons inside

Checking his blind spot???

"Driving off" into the distant sunset...

Maturing

Since his first haircut at the salon a year ago, Joash has matured a lot. He was very obedient when I took him there over the weekend. He simply exclaimed, "Thomas the Train!" as we approached the salon and climbed up the seat nearly all by himself. He didn't need any toys to occupy his hands anymore and he didn't even need me to sit by his side to assure him. He remained focused on the cartoon throughout and even chatted with the hairdresser about what he was watching. All I had to do was to relax at a corner in a comfy chair. He's such a big boy now...

Watching the show intently

Thanks to the school having a Thomas the Train set,
now Joash recognises this cartoon character very well.

Dutifully closing his eyes when asked

Getting the balloon that comes with the haircut

Tada! Handsome boy!

Jayna @ Church

Playing with the toys

Time for a milk break!

Jayna: "Mummy, look! The pastor is preaching!"

Flower hair-clips

I didn't really have the occasion to wear these beautiful flower hair-clips that my husband gave me. Even if I don't mind putting them on for casual wear, it's kinda hard to keep such pretty flowers safe from curious little hands. I'm glad that at long last I have the chance when we went to my friend's wedding dinner without the kids!

No need my help

This is one of the rare times when Jayna willingly drank the entire bottle of milk by herself! It's not a matter of ability as she could do it if she feels like for quite some time already. She seems to love me so much that she yearns for me to cradle her in my arms and hold the bottle for her while she drinks the milk.

If I were to try to make her hold it on her own, she'd start to play with the teat, throw it away or pass it back to me and cry, even when she's hungry. Let's just hope she'll be more and more willing to become an independant "milk-drinker" as time goes by...

Bus Driver

*singing*
"The wheels on the bus go round and round..."

The First Pearlies

It's quite blur due to movement but can you see
the two white spots on the lower gum?

After a day of fever, terrible throat ulcers and a week of major fussiness, the bottom central incisors have broken through the surface of Jayna's gums! Yay!

Getting Mobile?

Jayna is definitely not as active as Joash. At 9 months old, Joash was already exploring the house on his own. However, Jayna is content with rolling around, fiddling with toys and inching around on all fours; everything done within an orbit of radius 1 meter from me. And yes, not forgetting climbing me as if I'm a mountain and flashing her sweet heart-melting smile at me when she gets bored of the toys. That's her signal for me to put her on my lap. She gets nervous every time I stand up and she'll eyeball me till she's sure I'm not going too far from her. If I do get further than she's comfortable with, she'll start her "siren". LOL

On all fours

Mini cruising... ???

Belated Mothers' Day

On the actual Mothers' Day weekend, I worked very hard to make it pleasant and memorable for the grandmothers. Even though we went to really fantastic restaurants to eat, I was too busy taking care of the kids to enjoy the expensive buffets.

But never fear! I had my very own belated celebration without the kids last Sunday. Yeah!!! My fabulous parents-in-law helped us to take care of the kids for the afternoon and Joshua took me out for the long-awaited Alaskan crab lunch! *slurp*

Since my mum-in-law's church service ended 45 min later than normal, I was starving by the time we could go off for lunch. I guess the humid summer heat didn't help either. A hot and hungry Meow Meow was a grouchy Meow Meow. (See the pic below)

We've finally arrived at the New World Seafood restaurant but even though we were the third customer to arrive, we had to wait for half an hour before the food came.. *stomach growling* Thankfully, the nice air-con, the ice honey lemon drink and Joshua's wonderful company helped me to relax while we waited.

"Ahhhh....."

The salted egg crab was absolutely heavenly!!!
Definitely worth the wait. :)

The fried buns and the chilly crab was only passable
but juicy nonetheless...

A full and satisfied Meow Meow!

Joshua then brought me to get this lovely bouquet
of flowers in my favorite color combination!

There was still more! We went home and I received a dreamy long massage from my hubby under 'spa conditions'. (i.e. aroma therapy, soft romantic music and dim gentle lights.) Joshua even went to get the kids, feed them, bath them and put them to bed with the help of my Mum-in-law while I continued to sleep! Pure luxury.... Hmmm....

This is the best Mothers' Day ever!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Joshua is the one who does the morning shift from the time the kids wake up at 5 plus 6am till he starts preparing to go to work at around 8am. This is his daily time spent with the children. Here's an interesting anecdote that he told me this morning when I woke up.

Apparently, Jayna was on all fours watching Joash playing with his toys. All of a sudden, Joash went up to Jayna and said, "Lie down, Gor Gor pat pat." As if she could understand him, Jayna immediately lie down flat on her tummy and Joash proceeded to pat her backside. This actually happened twice.

Our dear boy probably learned it from seeing us parents do the same to the both of them. It was so hilarious when Joshua told me the story that I couldn't stop laughing for a while. What a lovely thing to hear about first thing in the morning!

Strawberry Motif

Today, the church's gift for mothers is a portable bag that looks like a strawberry when it's kept. Just nice, Jayna was wearing a dress with the strawberry motif too. So, being the cheeky mummy, I put it around her neck and let her play with it for a while...

Jayna: "Mmm... Yummy!"

Jayna: "The string is quite tasty too..."

Jayna: "Look! I can even carry it like a handbag!"

Mothers' Day for Grandmas!

This weekend, we celebrated Mothers' Day with the grandmas!

Hoping to make good use of the oven that we bought, I asked Joshua to take the morning off on Friday so that I could bake two cakes (one for each grandma) and three batches of cookies plus finish my daily laundry without having to carry Jayna at the same time!

It took quite a while to get used to the oven's settings. I had to adjust the timing and temperature a few times! Thankfully, they still turned out fine. To make the cakes just a little healthier for our parents to eat, I used yogurt instead of cream for the topping and decorated them with fruits instead of icing.

Celebrating with my own mum on Sat.
Wonder why the kids looked so gloomy when we took the photos...

Grandma: "Joash, come help Ah Ma blow out the candles..."

Grandma: "Ok. One, two, three. Blow!"

On Sunday...
Mum-in-law with the cake.

My parents-in-law
Awww... So sweet!

Happy Family!

Medicine Miracle

This is a back-dated post.

When Joash fell sick two weeks ago, I had a tough time trying to feed him his meds. At first, I added them into his milk but he wised-up and refused to even drink a drop of milk for nearly the whole week! I cajoled and coaxed, whipping out all sorts of tactics that usually worked. However, he still refused medicine. Finally, after much prayer, I resorted to force-feeding by pinching his nose and dunking the meds down his throat while I pinned him down.

The amazing thing is, after a few days of that, Joash suddenly became very cheerful whenever I said, "Time for medicine!" In fact, he even exclaimed, "Yay!!! Eat Medicine!" by the last two days of his illness and ran to sit at the table with eagerness to be fed by me! What's even more surprising was that he asked to take medicine himself before he went to school for the first time since he fell ill!

Praise God for He cares for us and answers our prayers! I actually feared that after he has recovered, Joash would ask for medicine cos he seems to like it so much. However, the amazing thing is, he didn't at all. Maybe he understood the concept of taking meds only when one is sick??? I dun really know for sure but it is such a miracle to me how this medicine saga turned out.

Mark 10:27
"Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible,
but not with God; all things are possible with God.'"

Trying but not yet

Trying to use the table's leg to pull to stand.

Not successful yet.
But soon enough...

First "Collaboration"

This evening, Joshua was teaching night class so I had to fly solo again. After the kids were fed, we were playing in the living room. Since Jayna is super-glued to me, I cannot leave to wash the dishes unless I put her in the sling. She refuses to sit on the floor (or anywhere else for that matter) without me right beside her. Since I was tired, I didn't want to exert myself too much so I 'resigned' myself to sitting on the floor with her while Joash was entertaining us with his crazy dance steps.

After a while, Jayna took a fancy to the coffee table and started grabbing onto it's legs and banging the table top. I was sitting behind her when suddenly, I saw an opening to sneak into the kitchen without her noticing as her back was facing me. And that was what I did. I fully expected Joash to come to the kitchen to find me and thus expose my 'absence' from behind Jayna.

To my surprise, when Joash came running to tell me that it's raining, he gave me a cheeky grin and put his finger to his lips when I mouthed the words to him, "I know it's raining" silently. He could read the situation well and went straight to the living room to entertain Jayna till I was spotted by her while wiping the dining table. Needless to the say, she started to wail for my attention. (And I do mean wail.)

I'm utterly amazed by how intelligent Joash is. From experience, he knows that Jayna cannot bear to be apart from me. He also remembers that I often request for him to help me entertain his sister though mostly unsuccessfully as Jayna only wants me. He remembers, too, that I would mouth my words usually when I try to put Jayna to bed which means he should by all means cooperate with me whenever I do that. Somehow, he managed to process all these information and acted appropriately without ANY verbal instruction from me! God is good, indeed, for fashioning Joash into such a splendid boy!

Playground Fun

Since Joash now wants to look at the pictures in the camera the moment he sees it, it has been quite tough to take good pictures of him. So when he was gleefully enjoying himself at the playground, I quickly took the chance to capture some long-awaited shots of my dear son.

Jayna: "I'm watching Gor Gor play since I can't play yet."

Look how delighted he was!

Joash has been rather good at wearing his own shoes for a very long time but I don't have the chance to take a photo of him in action because we're always heading out somewhere while he wears his shoes and thus not convenient to whip out the camera. My chance finally came when Joash was running so fast that his shoes came off at the playground. Very often, he likes to ask me "Wrong side?" or "Correct?" in case he puts the shoe on the opposite foot.

Joash: "Do I look like I'm in a bubble?"

Joash: "To go (down the slide) or not to go?
That is the question..."

Joash: "Let me just enjoy the breeze for a while..."

Joash: "And off I go again!
Dashing around like a cannon ball."