Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

I love rabbits and my hubby love fish. He has been keeping fish (guppies, tetras, sucker fish, molly) since 2002 and has been very faithful to his fish. Under his care, the fish have multiplied, although some old ones had passed away. There is always a fresh supply of fish in his tank. Some of the fish were as old as Phoebe. Since young, Phoebe has noticed her papa feed fish. When she was a toddler, she would put her little hand into the baby guppies' tank. She was mischievous since young but we love to watch her cuteness revealling out of her mischief :) Now that she's old enough, her papa is able to entrust her to feed the fish. She enjoys doing it and sometimes she'll remind her papa that it is time to feed the fish. She would say,

"The fish don't have (food). So poor thing."

Haha :) That's my little girl :)

Happy Birthday Singapore

On National Day, we went to the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden with our neighbour. To add a touch of patriotism, we decided to wear red and/or white and the girls brought their Singapore flags along. Jacob Ballas Children's Garden is part of the Singapore Botanic Garden. It is specially dedicated to children. There are lots to play there, a wobbly bridge, a tree house, a mini waterfall, a mini maze, a sandpit, a water play area etc. Phoebe has loads of energy and this is exactly the right place for her to exhaust her energy. We spent about 2 hours there.

After that, we went to Turf City to play in a shelter playground and had lunch there. When we headed for home, Phoebe fell asleep in the car. My little energizer bunny must have been really tired :) It was a HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Singapore :)

Touched By My Babies

I've kicked off my e-business!! Please take a look, the brand new items are fit as gifts :) There're many many more to come, so MARK MY PAGE!! :)

Reading is Fun

Phoebe was exposed to reading since she was about 5 months old. She would look intently at the pictures in the picture books. She was also able to flip the pages by the time she was about 7 months old. Phoebe loves to be read to. We have bought her many books. I would also borrow books from my school library. She would select the stories which she wants to hear. Sometimes, she will want us to read and re-read the same story consecutively for at least 3 times. She would say,

"I like the story. I want to read again. I want again. Mommy read, mommy read."

To encourage her to pick up books, we got her a small book shelf of her height and we put all the suitable books in it. She will access to it freely and easily. Among her favourites are books from famous children authors, e.g. Tony Ross - Little Princess series, Eric Carle - The Hungry Caterpillar, Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear, Lady Bird Classics - The Little Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs etc.

I hope Phoebe will develop her love for reading and grow up to be an independent and avid reader.

Mommy Enterprise

I have always enjoyed shopping and buying things from stores and internet. Phoebe and Reuben are very well loved and we have amply prepared for their coming, way before they were born. We have clothes for them up to size 5T when they are barely 3 years and 5 months old respectively. We see our children everyday and hardly notice that they have grown taller and bigger until they outgrow their clothes. Some were forgotten and others, hardly worn. Storage is beginning to be a problem. Hence, I've decided to sell off some of Phoebe and Reuben's pre-loved clothes cheaply, to bless other children and also to get back a little of what I have invested in. I've just set up a blog "Touched By My Babies" to start my e-business. I'll have to take pictures of my children's clothes and post them in the blog. Seems like my days ahead will be even busier :)

Jelly for Lil Girls

On Sundays, we're usually back home after church service. Phoebe loves Sunday school and she can sing quite a few Praise and Worship songs. For example, I walk by Faith, We bring a sacrifice of Praise, Jesus Loves Me This I know, Priase Him Praise Him All the Little Children etc.

Our little neighbour waited for us to be home in the afternoon because she wanted to make jelly with Phoebe. They made orange flavoured jelly. It was fun to make jelly together :)

Splish Splash Splosh!

The Anchorvale Community Club and Sports Recreational Centre was finally opened. We visited the swimming pools on Saturday. We were very impressed with the place. In fact I thought it was more like a water funworld with slides and sprays and bubble pools suitable for the little ones. The facilities were pretty comprehensive and family friendly. There were ramps for prams / wheelchairs, children's toilet/shower rooms, baby's nappy changing area and also a room for nursing mommies. The charges were reasonably cheap - $2 for adult and $1 for children (weekends). The 2 little girls were very excited because once again, they could play with each other :)

However, when we were about to enter the pool, Phoebe's fear revealled. She was afraid of swimming pools because when she was about 14 months old, we made a mistake by bringing her to the pool, for the first time, after a heavy shower. Hence, the water was very cold and there was breeze. She screamed when we carried her into the water and was chattering in cold. From then on, she never wants to be near the pool again.

I was very thankful to my neighbours. They tried to coax Phoebe into the water and with their encouragement, Phoebe finally entered into the water. After a while, she relaxed and was able to enjoy herself. Yeah!! Phoebe has finally overcome her fear! Victory is on our side! :) We will definitely visit this place again!

Next saturday is Singapore's National Day. We have made a date with our neighbours to visit the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden in Botanic Garden. Wait for our pictures !! :)

Look at Phoebe's initial fearful face

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 :)