Enjoying Each Other

Phoebe and Reuben together, enjoying each other's presence. I'm waiting for Reuben to grow up so that the 2 of them can really play with each other :)

I'm a Happy Helper

I'm a happy helper,

Show me what to do.

I'm a happy helper

I like helping you

Yes, I'm a happy helper

Helping is another way of saying I LOVE YOU!

(lyrics extracted from 'Barney')

Phoebe loves to help. She loves to imitate what we do. When she saw Auntie Nia ironing the clothes, she went to her playroom to take out her toy iron and two of Reuben's old T-shirts. She laid the T-shirts on a stool and pretended to be ironing too. She's at this stage where she loves pretend play. I think she has mimicked very well! :)

I Can Write 'a'

For this semester, Phoebe's teacher is teaching them the Alphabet, both the capital and small letters. The teacher got the parents to be involved in the learning process by requesting them to make a card for each of the letter, somewhat similar to the flash cards sold commercially. I spent quite sometime looking through stacks of magazines to find items that represent each letter, e.g. for the letter C, I found pictures of cars and for the letter B, I found pictures of ballerina, babies and bottles. It was tedious to make cards for the 26 letters but I love doing all these for my little girl :)

I think Phoebe has quite a fun time learning her Alphabet in school. She already knew her Alphabet (capital letters) from A-Z since she was about 2 years old. However, she doesn't know how to write them. My hubby and I had previously tried in vain to teach her how to write. However, over the last weekend, Phoebe caught me by surprise when she suddenly told me, "Mommy, a." I saw her doodling on her easel but I didn't know that she was actually writing 'a' until I got closer to have a look. I was very happy and praised her :) The next day, I tried to teach her to write 'b' but she simply rejected learning from me. Hmmm... I guess she prefers to learn with her friends :)

Pocoyo di-di

Phoebe loves to watch Pocoyo and the Little Princess in Kids Central. Whenever she sees Pocoyo, she'll say, "Pocoyo di-di." She says di-di looks like Pocoyo. Does he ? Mama and Auntie think so too and they have started calling di-di, Pocoyo. What do you think?

Itsy Bitsy Spider Uppa Ala Gain

Phoebe seems to have an inclination to music since young. She's able to catch on to the melody and rhythm of songs rather quickly. My mother said that she's rather similar to me when I was young. But of course, Phoebe is much more adorable and expressive than I am. However, she is still rather inaccurate in her lyrics and she will sing the words as according to how she perceive them to be. In her version of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider", the spider went uppa ala gain instead of went up the spout again. Well, who cares about the words? Aren't we talking about holistic learning these days? Since Phoebe is able to see the big macro picture, who cares about the microscopic details! Haha :)

So Long, Farewell...

Ever since I've exposed Phoebe to The Sound of Music a few weeks ago, she fell in love with it, and has watched it several times. She particularly likes this song "So Long, Farewell"and likes to imitate the children popping out from the back of their parents to say 'Cuckoo'. It's amazing that she, one little girl of 33 months, can assume the role of 7 children and 2 adults! Haha :) Her papa managed to capture a short clip of her acting out the scene.

In the clip, she was singing:

Cuckoo, is popping to say cuckoo... cuckoo...

Say goodbye to you, say goodbye to you...

So long, farewell, it's time to say goodbye...

I hate to go and miss this pretty sight...

But she suddenly got conscious and became camera shy... (and screamed unpleasantly to my dismay!) Watch this clip and you'll know what I mean...

I've promised her that I'll look for the lyrics for her. So here it is :)

THE CHILDREN:
There's a sad sort of clanking
From the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple too.
And up in the nursery an absurd little bird
Is popping up to say cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

Regretfully they tell us
But firmly they compel us
To say goodbye to you.

So long Farewell Aufwiedersehn (it's time to say) Goodnight
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight
So long Farewell Aufwiedersehn
Adeiu Adeiu Adeiu To yieu (you) and yieu and yieu
So long Farewell Au 'voire Aufwiedersehn
I'd like to stay and taste my first champagne
So long Farewell Aufwiedersehn Goodbye
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye... Goodbye!
I'm glad to go I cannot tell a lie
I flit I float I fleetly flee I fly
The sun has gone to bed and so must I
So long Farewell Aufwiedersehn Goodbye--
Goodbye...Goodbye...Goodbye...Goodbye...

Hey Mr. Potato Head

We made Mr. Potato Head yesterday morning, together with our little neighbour and her mommy. It was pretty fun as we tried to knead and roll the mashed potatoes into a ball, just like the Play Dough. Then we added in the eyes, nose and mouth using the bits of carrot. Lastly, we dipped the potato head into the chocolate rice and TA-DAH! We have made our Mr. Potato Head! :)

However, I made a mistake by forgetting to add some margarine into the mashed potatoes. Hence the mashed potatoes were rather dry before we put them into the oven toaster to bake and it also didn't turn brown as I have expected. Instead, it turned out even drier. However, Phoebe seemed to enjoy eating it. I tried one too. Hmmm... it was dry but yet sweet because of the chocolate rice. We didn't finish the rest of them as it was Phoebe's lunch time. Auntie made her spaghetti which was tastier than mommy's Mr. Potato Head...

To comfort myself, not bad for the first try... Well, at least it looked rather cute. Haha :)

Different Faces, Same Girl

Phoebe grew up very quickly. I can hardly remember how she looked like when she was an infant or toddler. I can only rely on the images and marvelled at how much she has grown and how her look has changed throughout the months. I have put up photos of her from birth till now. No matter how, she'll always be my gem :)

Little Phoebe Wiping Mouth

Found another video of Phoebe. It was taken when she was about 8 months old. Don't you think Reuben looks like her? Well, except that Reuben has more hair :) Haha.

Young Pianist

Found this video of Phoebe singing and playing 3 Tigers, Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars. It was recorded when she was about 22 months old. Enjoy :)

Have Your Say

I think I have quite a few audience (both adults and kids) hearing me airing my views. However, some of them have brought up that they were unable to add comments because they do not have a blog account.

"HAVE NO FEAR, MY FAITHFUL VIEWERS! SUPER MOMMY IS HERE TO YOUR RESCUE!"

Haha. I've added a C-Box where you can leave your comments with no strings attached (meaning, even if you do not have a blog account). Scroll down and you'll see the box on the right. But please be decent in your words or I'll have you block out of my blog forever and ever... Hahaha! :) Have fun! :)

Phoebe My Girl

In my previous entry, I've explained how Reuben's name had come about. This morning, I shall explain the meaning behind Phoebe's name.

Like Reuben, the name 'Phoebe' was also found in the Bible. It only appeared in the Bible once, in Romans 16:1-2.

"I commend to you our sister, Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me."

Hence, Phoebe was a helpful biblical character, worthy to be mentioned. Phoebe also means 'brillant and bright' and that's what I want her to be, to be a bright star to shine and help whoever in need.

Her Chinese name is 'Wang Zi Xin'.

Wang Zi = Prince

Xin = Heart of Love and Compassion

So if you combine her name, it would mean "The Prince of Love and Compassion" and who is this Prince of Love and Compassion? He is JESUS. When I selected this Chinese name for Phoebe, a Christian song came into my mind :

"Let me see through Jesus' eyes, let me know how you would feel.

Let me love as He loves and give as He gives,

Lord let me be more and more like you, just like you..."

I want Phoebe to have a heart of compassion, to be able to feel for people around her. To be a brilliant and bright light to shine for those who need help.

Indeed, I think Phoebe does live up to her name. Even at 2.5 years old, whenever she sees someone in pain, she'll frown and ask, "Why like that? Pain pain. Nevermind, it's ok, it's ok..."

I thank God for this wonderful name and I know that Phoebe will be a useful vessel that God can use to touch the many lives of those who need compassion.

Wang Zi Xin Phoebe, mommy loves you.

Snip Snip Snip...

It was time for a hair trim again. Phoebe's fringe was getting too long, touching her eyes. We want to keep her hair long, so the hairdresser only trimmed her fringe. Reuben had a small bald patch at the back of his head due to sleeping. We wanted to shave his head bald. But Auntie Nia pleaded to preserve some of Reuben's Elvis Presley glory. So, in the end, we decided to keep the front portion of his hair.

They were very well behaved. After the cut, Phoebe was rewarded with a sweet and Reuben, a bottle of mommy's milk! Haha :)

Reuben Can Flip!

Reuben can flip at 4 months 1 week old. However, in this particular video, I couldn't really capture him flip properly. What is interesting about this video is Phoebe's reaction and facial expressions... Watch and enjoy :)

Preserving Memories

I've been rather serious in blogging and I know that I do have a standard few audience reading my blog. I'm just wondering if there's any way where I can preserve my blog - My thoughts and pictures ? Are we able to burn our entries into a CD-ROM or is there a proper way to print our entries out ? It'll be such a waste if everything suddenly disappears when the blogspot closes down.

Anyone has any good idea to save our archives permanently?

Lil' Red Riding Hood

Who says that Little Red Riding Hood has to be a girl ? Mine is a boy ! And a very charming one :)

Little Neighbour

Phoebe and her little friend were talking to each other behind bars when I snapped this picture. During weekdays, the little girl will stay in her 'popo' house in the day and comes back at about 9+ pm. They will usually greet each other when they see each other at the door. Sometimes they will give each other little gifts. Last night Phoebe gave her a picture of a character in 'In the midnight garden' and she gave Phoebe a packet of 'xiao man tou'. So sweet :)

My Colourful Pocket

I've wanted to make potato balls with Phoebe today but we ran out of potatoes. So we did this instead : A Colourful Pocket.

I Can Colour Nicely If I Want To

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Phoebe colouring so nicely. She usually does not have much patient in colouring but yesterday she was keen about it. I've printed these pictures from BBC Cbeebies. They were the characters from "In the Midnight Garden".

Feed Me, Mommy

We only started to give Phoebe semi-solid food when she was about 8 months old. Reuben is about 4.5 months old now. He's always hungry and we've resorted to give him breastmilk once every two hours, about 125ml each time. We've started to give him semi-solid food when he was 4 months old. We've tried pureed sweet potato, carrot and today we gave him pureed sweet corn and pumpkin.

Watch him eat... sooo cute :)