Barbie Tea Party

Inspired by a friend's children, I suggested to Phoebe to have a tea party for her Barbie dolls. Phoebe added the pets and gave the pets some food too. We spent about an hour fussing over the Barbies. It was a lot of fun. We shall have another tea party again :)

Polka Dot Dress

This cute little dress is another gift from Yi-yi. I thought Phoebe looks a little like a Japanese or Taiwanese girl wearing this dress. She happened to have matching shoes.

New Arrangement in Playroom

I'm constantly arranging and rearranging the children's things, trying to pack and de-clutter. This is the new arrangement in their playroom now. More shelves for books and two kid-sized tables with matching chairs.

Dear God

Papa's left ear has some infection. He has seen the specialist. The problem was rectified and recently, it seems to reoccured. We were talking about it in the car on the way home on Wednesday night, after our trip to Tampines Ikea for dinner. Phoebe said she wanted to pray for papa. So I encouraged her to do so. This was her prayer,

"Dear God,

Please bless papa's ear, that the dirt will not go into papa's ear. Don't let the germs go into papa's ears so that papa can go to work and hear what (he needs) to do.

In Jesus' name I pray and thank, Amen!"

Wow. I was touched. I believe God too. And I believe in the power of prayer and God's healing. Well done, Phoebe. May God mould you into a Prayer Warrior! Amen! :)

Phonics Trio

Phoebe and her 2 other friends are attending Phonics classes in Aunty Sharon's place in Punggol, for once a week for 1.5 hours each time. She likes the lesson very much. She has learnt to blend many words and is able to read quite a lot of readers independently . I think Phoebe is doing fine and most importantly, she's also having lots of fun with her friends while learning.

The 3 pretty girls enjoying their Prima Deli waffle treat after their Phonics class :)

Mini NBA - Part 1

Takashimaya is having a toy fair now. We went there last Sunday. There wasn't anything we wanted to buy in particular because I am constantly thinking of de-cluttering my place. But when papa saw this basketball set, we both thought it was a good toy. The children can play together, they can get some exercise and Reuben can/may become taller because of all the jumping. Well, our intentions were there but our children do not buy our ideas. They both wanted to get the ball, only Phoebe was exercising and tossing. Reuben, I don't see how he can get taller through this game because instead of jumping to toss the ball into the net, he wanted us to carry him to the net level and he would just drop the ball into the net. So, who was exercising ? Us! I think our arm muscles must have grown stronger after carrying him up to drop the ball into the net umpteen times! Haha. Aunty came up with a bright idea. Look at the picture. Now, Reuben can drop the ball without having us straining our arm muscles. Haha. What a game! :p

Phoebe's Work

I saw Phoebe's work being pinned up in one of her school's notice board, together with her friends'. I'm so proud of her. Now, she can spell 'rabbit'. Little progress for some people, but a good achievement to me :) I'm so proud of her :)

Monkey See Monkey Do

Reuben mimicks what his sister says. He also imitates her actions. Sometimes, Phoebe has not been very good role model, like in this picture.

Monkey 1 and Monkey 2, we still love them just as much! :) There is never a day we do not hug or kiss them. Simply precious, our little monkeys! :)

Toy Story Craze

Phoebe and Reuben love Toy Story. They have been watching Toy Story 2 almost every day. They're crazy over Toy Story. We took them to Swensons for dinner about 2 weeks back because there was a Toy Story promotion on the dinner. Phoebe received a kids activity pack which consist of a Jessie mask and some activity sheets with stickers. She was elated.

Reuben's Progress

Reuben is almost 29 months now.

He is able to say simple sentences. E.g.

"I like your rabbit." Instead of saying "I want..." , he will say, "I like your...".

He'll also able to request, e.g. "Mommy, please..." and "Mommy put cream (eczema ceam)."

He is also able to ask simple questions such as "Jiejie, what you doing?", "Vera go there. Where Vera going?".

He is also able to reject, e.g. "I don't want."

In terms of pronunciation, I realised that he is not very clear with words with the "st" sound. E.g. he would say

siter- sister

tand up - stand up

toy lolly part 2 - toy story part 2

Other words that is not clear are looler (noodles), kiken (chicken), confake wi milk (conflakes with milk).

Basically, words that have double consonants, Reuben is unable to pronounce. e.g. /st/, /fl/, /ch/, /sh/ etc. I suspect that he might have short tongue because his papa has short tongue too.

In terms of colours, he already knew most of them : red, blue, orange, pink, green, yellow, white, black, purple etc.

He knews some of his alphabet too. He can recite the 26 letters by singing the alphabet song but actual letter recognition, I think he can only recognise B, S, O and the rest I've not discovered from him.

He can recite his numbers from 1-14 because we live in the fourteenth floor. Haha :)

He loves singing and is able to sing many Christian songs etc. Give thanks, This Little Light of Mine, Be Bold, Amazing, Love Others, The Fruit of the Spirit and many many more.

Reuben is still drinking milk using a spoon-bottle. He drinks about 150ml in the morning and night and sometimes 120ml in the day. He likes porridge, which he eats for lunch and dinner. In between, he loves bread, biscuit and plain waffle from Prima Deli. His favourite are nuggets and fries which Phoebe dislike very much. Phoebe doesn't like fried food at all. Reuben doesn't like chocolates and candy and anything that is sweet.

Oh and Reuben likes to ask us to smell his yellow blankie, which is his favourite! :) He'll say, "Mommy, smell blankie. Smell, smell." :)

That's my cute Reuben :)

TCS Flag Day 2010

Last Saturday was TCS Flag Day. TCS stands for Touch Community Services. It's a yearly event and we will usually take part in selling flag. Since last year, we have involved the children in the selling of flag too. Hopefully, they can learn about the value of money. Phoebe stood there for some time and sometimes people walked past her and she was quite discouraged. So I told her it's not easy to earn money. I also hope that they will learn that there are many people who are needy and needs our help. Last year, Reuben was unable to help much because he was only about 17 months old. This year, he was able to hold the tin by himself to get donations and people would donate because of his cuteness. I think it is a meaningful event for the children to take part in. Hopefully, we can do this every day. If you want to make a donation to TCS, you can do so via online too :)

Phoebe's Family

This is Phoebe's idea of a family. Notice the things she had drawn and words she has written? Heart, balloon, LOVE, joining hands to show togetherness, smiley faces, rainbow to show hope, bright sunny day with clouds, grass to represent garden and people whom she loves. To me, all these have positive connotations. Hopefully through the portrayal of her drawing, Phoebe is showing that she's growing up in a happy, loving and secure environment. :)

Grandma - mama (with curly hair), grandpa - gong gong, mommy, didi Reuben, papa and Princess Phoebe

Phoebe Jessie Ong

Phoebe loves Jessie, the yodeling cowgirl, from the Toy Story Part 2. She wanted a cowboy hat like Jessie. We couldn't find the exact Jessie's hat, but mama and gong gong (grandparents) happened to have a brand new cowboy hat which they bought from China a few years back. So Phoebe inherited her grandparents' gift and she was happy about it. She pretends that she's Jessie and wants to tie her hair like Jessie. She also yodels like Jessie. Phoebe's favourite part in the Toy Story 2 is the song sang by Jessie. It's about Jessie being loved and then neglected by her owner, Emily. So I used this opportunity to teach Phoebe to love her toys or they'll become like Jessie too. She watched this clip umpteen times and is learning the lyrics :)

When somebody loves me, everything is beautiful...

Phoebe's Song - Answers Revealed

Questions :

Can you figure out what song Phoebe is singing ?
What language is she singing in ?

Answer :

And we have a winner! She's Mommy KF! And here's her mystery gifts.

Princess water bottle for Violet and Ben10 briefs for Dash!

Thank you Mommy Sophie for trying! :)

Phoebe's Song

Can you figure out what song Phoebe is singing ?
What language is she singing in ?

Anyone who can answer both questions correctly will win a mystery gift! :) So have a try and type your answers in the comment box! :)

I shall reveal the answer in my next blog! Mark this page :)

What are you singing, Phoebe? :)

Run Phoebe Run

In the June holidays, Phoebe took part in Sprint Kids 2010 event presented by Jurong Point. It is a 30-metre sprint challenge for the children. Each successful registrant will receive a Sprint Kids 2010 T-shirt plus a goodie bag. Phoebe had to run a distance of 30 metres and every child who did that will receive a medal. The feeling of receiving a medal was very encouraging for the children. I thought it was good because this sends forth a message that every child is a winner. It's a good morale booster and it helps to build up Phoebe's confidence. Now she will say that she can run very fast. Haha :)

Run Phoebe run

Pajamas Parade

I like to dress my children up during bedtime. I always get the children's PJs from Old Navy or Baby Gap from the internet. Recently, I also buy them from the FOS in Melaka. I love the cute design and the snug fitting of the Old Navy and Baby Gap PJs. Here is Reuben parading for you! :)

Wall Stickers

A family friend of ours, Aunty Ann, gave Reuben a pack of wall stickers for his birthday. Initially, I had wanted to stick the stickers in the playroom but the playroom was really crowded with toys and there were already Pooh Bear wallpaper strips on the wall. So I thought I better not complicate things there. After much thought, I decided to stick the stickers on the wall in the bedroom, just above the toddler's bed. Phoebe helped me stuck the animals on the wall. She had fun doing it, sticking and peeling it off and rearranging it again. The quality of the stickers was really good. We peeled it off several times but the sticker did not tear or crumpled, neither did it peel the paint off the wall. Reuben loved the animals and he would name them whenever his eyes catch the animals on the wall. Thank you, Aunty Ann. It was a great present! :)