Pyjama Party

Last Saturday night, we attended a Pyjama Party organised by Starhub in the National Museum. One of our family friends had an extra family ticket and invited us along. It was pretty fun for the kids. There were a simple free dinner buffet, storytelling, cartoon character meet-and-greet, booths with activities for children and good freebies. All the children were encouraged to wear pyjamas there and of course, ours did. I met one of the organizers and asked them if they will hold this event yearly, he said they hoped so! I hope so too :)

Time To Change Picture

For about 3.5 years Phoebe's solo picture has been dominating the windows in our wallets, card slots and passes. I've long wanted to change the picture to one that has Reuben's face but was too busy and lazy to do so. After looking through all the pictures, I've finally made my pick! I chose this picture because the two of them were smiling and the colours are vibrant. So from today onwards, this picture will up! :)

This picture of Phoebe was taken when she was about five months old. She has a bright smile since young.

Baby Alive Baby So Real

Alright, Phoebe has finally collected her six stickers. As promised, I got her the "Baby Alive, Baby So Real" doll. Before I bought it, she even told me specifically,

"I want a girl baby, not a boy baby okay?"

I bought the doll on the Monday morning before going to school. When I was home, I placed it on the coffee table. My hubby went to fetch the kids and he told Phoebe,

"When you reach home, mommy has a surprise for you."

Phoebe immediately asked, "Is it Baby Alive, Baby So Real?"

She quickened her steps along the corridor to home and when she saw the baby on the coffee table, she smiled. She smiled so brightly and yet so shyly! She held the box in her hands and she said,

"Thank you mommy."

I asked her, "Do you like this baby?"

Saying through her grin, she replied yes. It was such an expensive doll but I thought it was all worth it when I see her smile. I love to see her smile. It's so fulfilling and heart-warming! :) Love her bits :)

Phoebe's Encouragement Chart

Every night without fail, before Phoebe goes to bed, we'll give her milk. Then she'll go to the toilet to urinate, brush her teeth, have a quick shower and change into her pyjamas. We have been carrying out this routine for about 27 months. However, Phoebe has a bad habit. She likes to procrastinate or find excuses just to delay the wash-up process so that she doesn't need to go to bed early. She is doing it out of mischief rather than defiance or challenge of our authority. We have tried to coax her using incentives such as reading of story books or watching a short children's programme. However, sometimes we lost patience and decided to wave the cane about. I must say that the latter was a very efficient method. The minute we wave the cane in the air, she will come immediately to complete her tasks. But I don't want to resort to the cane all the time or it'll lose its effectiveness after a while. Hence, I decided to try a positive and visually-enticing method and that is, none other than, the good old Encouragement Chart.

I told her that each time she completes her bedtime tasks, I'll reward her with a sticker of her choice and she'll get to stick the sticker onto her own chart. If she obtains 6 stickers, she can choose something as a reward. So far, the chart has been up for about 6 days and Phoebe has collected 4 stickers. That means, she has been cooperative 4 out of 6 times! That's a good sign. Last night, when Phoebe has collected her fourth sticker from me, she excitedly told me,

"See mommy, I have 4 stickers already. I only left 2 more stickers to get my present."

I was very happy because she was motivated to get her prize :) She has already told me that she wants to get the baby from "Baby Alive" when she collects all 6 stickers. I can't wait to award her with 2 more stickers! :) I guess I'm just as excited as she is. Hee hee :)

Face Painting

Ever since Phoebe's school taught her the reader "Face Painting" by Monica Hughs, Phoebe has been bugging me to do face painting with her. I promised her that we'll do it someday but in my heart, I was rather reluctant because I was afraid that it'll be a messy process. I'm a hygiene and neat freak, anything that's messy will be a no-no for me. I kept postponing the idea of face painting until two days ago, on Wednesday night, we went to Compass point for a walk after dinner. We went into Popular and Phoebe reminded me about face painting,

"Mommy, I want to do face painting. I never do face painting before."

Oh no, I just can't run away; my girl has good memory. I looked for the paint for face. They only carried one type, from Lyra. I thought it was good because it was in pencil-form, therefore easier to manage. No hassle. It was pricey though, $14+ for just 6 sticks!

Last evening, I was in the bathroom when my hubby played face painting with Phoebe. He painted her face and Phoebe came knocking on my bathroom day excitedly. When I opened the door, I had a shock! My gosh! Her face was brutally painted! Not an inch of her face was spared! I thought she looked like a cat though Phoebe kept insisting that she was a rabbit (her favourite animal). Papa also had his face painted by Phoebe, but his face was less vandalised because Phoebe has no experience in vandalism. Haha :) Even Reuben was not spared of the ordeal! Only mommy me was spared because I've just washed my face after my bath, so only my right hand was doodled on.

After that, Phoebe was still in a playful mood, so I got her to re-read her school reader again. She obliged very willingly. It was pretty fun and I'm glad that we've helped Phoebe to fulfill her wish.

Listen to Phoebe read for you.

Reuben is a Big Boy Now

The first picture was taken about 2 days ago. As compared to the one taken on the same stroller in October last year, Reuben has grown taller. His legs are longer and can touch the foot rest of the stroller. He has also lost some of the babyish looks. He's a big boy now! :)

Reuben at 16.5 mths old versus him at 7.5 mths old

So I Sing For You

Nothing is more pleasurable than hearing your girl sing a love song for you. (^_^)

What's Reuben Saying Now

I had a previous entry about what Reuben could articulate. Since then, Reuben can babble even more now. However, some of the words that he used to say have suddenly disappeared from his vocabulary list. It's either a hit and run case, or that he just refuses to say those words anymore because we kept telling him to repeat. He used to say :

papa, mama (mommy), mama (grandma), milk milk, jie jie, banana, apple, dog dog, ball ball, no no, fish, bao bao (carry)

But words like papa, bao bao (carry) and banana have disappeared from his mouth. Now, his vocabulary has expanded more. I heard him saying :

two, open, ostrich, orange, mum mum (eating), shoe shoe

He learnt the word "ostrich" when we brought him to the zoo recently. His papa was carrying him and showing him the ostrich. Papa kept repeating "ostrich ostrich", I think that's how Reuben picked the word up. He learnt "two" from Hi-5 Charlie's ABC song. He also learn "open" because he wants us to open the toy box for him.

Till now, Reuben's favourite children's programme is :

Ranked according to his liking and responsiveness

1) Hi-5

2) POKO

3) In the Midnight Garden

4) Backyardigans

5) Elmo

6) Barney

7) Dora the Explorer

Reuben is very responsive when watching Hi-5, he will do the actions together with the characters. Sometimes, he'll chuckle when the characters do silly acts. He does understand the shows and I think his language acquisition is developing as he comprehends the speech of the characters. :)

Ikea

Ikea is one of our favourite hunts because Phoebe loves to eat their poached salmon. It's a child friendly place with clean babies' room, slides and niches for children. We also like the free parking, ample lots, free drinks from the restaurant and halal food for Auntie Nia. On the last day of the June school holidays (yes, this is another backdated entry), we had our dinner in Ikea. They had a little corner for children to do face and hand painting. Phoebe chose the picture with 3 balloons. We requested to have one of the balloons be painted pink (pink pink and more pink, everything must be pink for Phoebe). She's very happy with her balloons and didn't want to wash her arm when she get home. We have to coax her. Good thing that she has this snapshot for keepsake. :)

Reuben's First Crocs

This is Reuben's First Pair of Crocs. We bought it when he was only a few months old, way before he could walk! Now, his feet is big enough to wear it :) Everyone in the family likes to call him "kateh (as in short - wrong spelling?) ayam, xiao ai ren, ai dong guah" But now that he can wear the new shoes, it means that he has grown taller! Yey! :)

The Monorail aka Sentosa Express

Yes, this is another backdated entry. My friend and I brought our kids to Vivocity for a monorail ride during the June holidays. The fare was only $3 for adults and children under 3 is free. However, they didn't charge Phoebe too :) Initially, we thought that the modern monorail (aka LRT look-a-like) would bring us one round to tour the whole Sentosa (like the good old days) but we were wrong. Apparently, the monorail only brings us to four stations, 2 of which were outside Sentosa and the other 2 were inside the island. We were very disappointed. We should have known right because they don't even call it a monorail anymore, they called it The Sentosa Express. The children, however, did not know what they have missed out. They still enjoyed themselves. We went to the Sentosa Palawan Beach to have lunch in the Kou Fu foodcourt, have a short walk and took the monorail back to Vivocity. We visited Toys R Us and I wanted to buy a helmet for Phoebe but she didn't want purple and they didn't have pink. Nevermind, we just carry on with the search for the pink helmet then :)

I miss the good old monorail that can go low to the ground or up the viaducts.


This is the modern Sentosa Express

Blogger-Mommies Outing 2

Backdated and outdated this entry may be, I still want to report on our trip to the Singapore Philatelic Museum with the blogger-mommies. I thought the whole place was very well kept and informative. I could have spent a whole afternoon on my own to read all the interesting information in the stamp museum (read : on my own). But of course, with my 2 little ones around, one of my eyeballs will be on them while the other tries its utmost ability to absorb whatever that it can see.

Level one is more suitable for adults because the information provided are a little more profound for children. Level two is meant for children. The rooms are brightly decorated with some hands on activities and story books for children. Because this year is the year of the ox (as according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar), one of the rooms is decorated using the cow theme. Another room depicts the scene of old Chinatown. Phoebe and Xiao Ci role played lion dance. They even tried walking with clogs (not crocs). Wobbly wobbly!

I thought the people working in the museum were rather kind. They did not charge the children at all, even though Xiao Ci and Phoebe are above three years old. They also did not make me pay for Auntie Nia coz they said that maids don't know anything. Haha. They're wrong. Auntie Nia is pretty smart okie :) But it was very nice of them :) So, in the end, I only need to pay for myself. Quite worth it, $5 for 2 adults and 2 kids... heehee. Cheapskate me :p

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'WHAT'RE OUR FAVOURITE STAMPS' CONTEST

Look at the second picture.
1) Which is Phoebe's favourite stamp ? (Clue : She may or may not be pointing at the one she likes)
2) Which is The Tired Mommy's favourite stamp?

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