I can eat noodles by myself

Gwendolyn is one independent child. She loves to do things by herself. And man, you see she even learn to eat her noodles with chopsticks and spoon. Though she doesn't have the best chopsticks skill, but her appearance with the utensils makes her looking very competent!

Self admiration

Ever since Uncle Patrick ("pu pu") has shown Gwendolyn photos from the computer, she has this constant urge to view herself from the computer screen. Whenever Mama switch on the computer and the screensaver runs by itself AND Gwendolyn has caught a glimpse of the screen, she'll run towards the study desk, get herself seated comfortably on the chair and start admiring herself, commenting on each and every single photos being shown.

I want play-dough

Remember Gwendolyn was once a hygiene freak and refused to touch anything "dirty" (either in form or in substance)? However, after going to school for roughly 5 months, her "hygiene freak" traits are finally fading away. She doesn't mind picking up food with her fingers, she can dip her fatty little fingers into squishy finger paints and dive her chubby little hands into the play-doh!

Few days ago, Papa and Mama went to buy a set of play-dough, with fun accessories, e.g. scissors, shape cutters, rolling pins, pressers, etc, for our little princess. As she has been asking to use the scissors whenever we dine outside and cut up the food for her, we've decided that the play-dough scissors are the safest form, with no blade! In school, teachers have been making play-dough with the children with flour, water and salt, but at home, Papa and Mama took the easier way out by buying ready-made...hehe...

she enjoys seeing Papa roll the play-dough into round balls and then use a rolling pin to flatten them into ovals! She will take turn with Papa in holding up the play-dough pieces and cutting them apart with the scissors. She presses the shape cutters onto the play-dough to make different shapes. She enjoys pressing her own hands and feet onto the 4 play-dough lumps the most and will admire her own hands and feet afterwards...

Bubble bubble...blow blow blow

Bubbles have this special appeal, where they are able to capture both adults and children, regardless of age. Gwendolyn is a fan of bubbles and whenever she sees them, she'll jump up and down with joy! However, as the bubble solution is made from soapy water, Papa and Mama thinks that she is too young to blow bubbles by herself at the tender age of 2. However, during the wedding banquet, she noticed that some other children were blowing bubbles and she wanted to join in the fun. One of the adults passed her the nicely bottled bubble solution, in the form of a 3-tier wedding cake and she started trying to make bubbles by herself. Throughout the night, she just can't stop blowing...until she was all grumpy towards her bedtime. Whenever she cannot blow anything out, she'll scream and cry. That's when Papa and Mama decided to bring her home...in the car, she held the bubble solution tight in her hands, until she finally fall asleep. After sleeping for half an hour, she suddenly woke up and cried for bubble again. Mama has to place the bubble solution in her hands and reassure her that she's holding the bubble solution and the bubble solution is with her...as if she's suddenly remembered what she was doing before she fell asleep...

Fun at the Balcony

Normally, the balcony is a forbidden area for Gwendolyn. Even though she knows where to get the keys for the gate, but has not been successful in opening it and best of all, never insisted on opening it. However, recently she has once seen Papa opening the gate to water the plants and that's the end of the "forbidden balcony". She kept requesting Papa to bring her out to the balcony, wearing the slippers out there, walking from one end to the other end and stand facing the outside, looking at the swimming pool. She enjoys the occasional breeze, as if she likes the wind brushing on her face!

I love crackers

We went shopping at Takashimaya on Saturday and as usual, Gwendolyn was crazy about the Thomas the Train pyjamas (I have no idea why???) and in the end, she was holding the pyjamas around the shopping complex until Papa and Mama paid for them. After shopping, we went high and low looking for a reasonable eating place, but everywhere was crowded. Without many choices, we ended up eating at Sanur Indonesian Restaurant. I swear to my life that if I had a choice, I will never ever set foot in it any more. The food is horrible and with an unreasonably limited choice. We couldn't order any food suitable for Gwendolyn and in the end, she only had eyes on the crackers...

Good Clean Fun

Ever since our maid has left, Gwendolyn has been following either Papa or Mama when they are cleaning the house. In order to keep the dirty real brooms, mops, etc, away from her, Papa and Mama has put up the cleaning trolley set on her birthday wishlist. When she first saw the trolley set, she was thrilled and can't stop cleaning...well, either Papa or Mama has to clean with her at the same time! Anyways, the skill that she's mastered the best was to imitate Papa in drying the floor after mopping!

Mathematical Enlightenment - The Joy of Measuring Part II

Following the use of measuring tape, Gwendolyn has found out that she can use a scoop to transfer water from her bath-pal Hello Kitty buckets, into the Hello Kitty watering pot. She carefully took turns in scooping from either one of the two buckets and pouring into the middle pot, trying to gauge the amount of water she can transfer. In the end, she found out that the combined amount of water that two buckets can hold is more than the water the watering pot can hold. She poured the excess away!

Dance to the Groove with Frederick

Baby Frederick came to our house on Vesak Day and Gwendolyn had a fun time sharing her favourite Barney CD with him. Both followed the music and wobbled their bodies to the rhythm!

Tying hair

Saturday, 6 May, Gwendolyn was playing with her "utility box" and have taken the hairbands out, asking her daddy to tie her hair. As vain as she can be, she quickly run to the nearest mirror to admire herself and gave an acknowledging nod...after that, she was obsessed with getting her hair tied up.

Monday after school, when Papa went to pick her up from school, her hair was being tied up and she was lovingly touching them, refused to let anybody remove that, even when she go to bed. Tuesday morning, before Papa send her off to school, she's asked Mama to tie her hair for her! I supposed, that's just girl's second nature to be VAIN...hehe

Mother's Day Celebration

We had an early Mother's Day celebration this year, primarily because Karine is not free on the actual day on 14 May and also to avoid the crowd. To satisfy everyone's tastebuds, we've decided to go for seafood at No Signboard Restaurant at the Esplanade. It is more fun this year, as both Gwendolyn and Joel are more "grown-up" and being able to walk around on their own. The location at the Esplanade is also safer for them to walk around by themselves (under supervision).

Recently, Gwendolyn has been to this same restaurant with Gong Gong and Por Por and discovered that there is push-cart selling pop-corn. From one of her Barney and Pingu VCDs, she learnt that popcorn is "fun to make and fun to eat". She insisted that we bring her out to watch the making of popcorn and buy one tub for her! She enjoys that and is very willing to share with everyone!

Mathematical Enlightenment - The Joy of Measuring

Gwendolyn has this habit of opening either Raymond's or my bedside drawers, looking for adventure. She has been taking a measuring tape from mine, pulling out and retrieving it back into the container, without knowing what exactly this thing is for. Sunday, 7 May 2006, I've decided to tell her how to use a measuring tape, so that she can make some sense out of playing with it. I first asked her to stand still and I measured the circumference of her head. After that, she was all excited and started measuring anything possible. Yes. Literally ANYTHING under the sun! She was measuring the wall, bookshelf, playhouse, the fan, doggy, Ernie, Bert...etc. She was so carried away that she refused to talk to her Gong Gong and Por Por! However, she diligently said "Hi Gong Gong" and "Hi Por Por" clearly and that has made their day!

Meeting Uncle Peter

Uncle Peter came back from Birmingham (UK) for a short break and met up with Papa and Mama. He was Mama's flatmate and Papa's coursemate back at their university days. He paid us a visit on Labour Day and had afternoon tea with us at home. Initially, Gwendolyn was rather frightened by Uncle Peter's arrival, as she's just awaken from her afternoon nap. However, when Mama told her that Uncle Peter is Papa and Mama's friend, just like Barney, BJ, Ernie, Bert, Doggie, etc as her friends, she was very friendly with him!

They had a good time sharing the use of "technology" (i.e. mobile phone and camera)!

Visit to the President's House

Today is Labour Day and the President's House was opened to the public. This is the first time that Mama and Gwendolyn visiting and it was the area is BIG! When we first walked in, the landscape was designed like a golf course. As we proceed further into the grounds, we started seeing sand pits and flags, which is just typical of a golf course! How nice.....

As we walked further in, there was an area designated for kids' to play (with various types of slides and swings). Gwendolyn was crying for the swings (ever since she's reached the age of 2, she started crying for things she wants + she was tired) and was impatient in when waiting for her turn. She literally cried until the parent of the other child has to ask his child to give way to her...sigh! Anyways, she had her share of the swing, slide and the cubby house!

Later on, we went into the President's House and saw some big crystal chandeliers. It was funny that she was shouting for BUBBLES, as she thought the crystals were bubbles...haha...then I corrected her and told her that those are in fact CRYSTALS! She loved them. After visiting the interior, we went out to the garden and she was excited by the fountain, as she's in love with WATER! Whilst tapping her little fat hands into the water, she saw a little boy falling into the fountain and his mother quickly jumped in to fish him out. The boy must have gotten scared and didn't know how to react, while his mother was "scolding" him. I asked Gwendolyn whether she was scared and she replied a crisp NO!

Frederick's 1st Birthday Party

Today is Frederick's 1st birthday party. Frederick is one of the di dis that Gwendolyn interacts with more often. Occasionally, Adele and Kim Siong will bring him over to our home sweet home to play during the weekend. We had a few planned swimming sessions previously, but so far, only 1 has materialised, due to unforeseen rainfalls (don't know why, everytime it bounds to rain whenever he comes over for a swim).

Anyways, Gwendolyn was so excited in getting involved with the function room decoration and removed her shoes to climb on the chairs to help with the hanging of the birthday banner.

When she saw other guests started eating, her saliva started to drip and refused to eat the porridge that mama has already prepared, insisting on eating the bee hoon (rice vermicelli) (even though papa has given her some being dipped into curry sauce, she had no problem and asked for MORE). In the end, she ate almost 2 plates of bee hoon! Apart from that, she was asking for Frederick's biscuit snack and been showing a sweet smily face whenever she wanted more of the biscuit.

When she was done with filling her stomach, she followed the other kids outside of the function room to chase the balloons (who are not guests to the party)...and end up capturing the attention of an older child (8-year-old jie jie), to play with her! She does have her charms!

Gwendolyn's birthday party at the Ridout Tea Garden

Thank you everyone for attending Gwendolyn's 2nd birthday party at McDonald Queensway, Ridout Tea Garden. Sorry for confusing some of you to have mistaken it as the one at Queensway Shopping Centre...but sure we all had fun seeing the birthday girl running around, enjoying herself! She had her first try at french fries and loved it. After that, she was going round the guest tables, asking for fries. In the end, when she reached home, she was dying of thirst and kept asking for water!

Just to recap the moments below:

Thank you for all the nice presents too and she had a fun time tearing away the wrappers and after that, still asked for MORE MORE!

Meet and Greet Elmo

Meet and greet Elmo function at IMM Building, at 3pm, for the official launch of the Polar Sesame Street cake, which papa and mama has already ordered for Gwendolyn's birthday party on 23 April 2006. Gwendolyn was so excited in seeing Elmo in real "person" and forgotten to pose for the photo...

My birthday party in school

Gwendolyn had her 2nd birthday party in school on 21 April 2006! Grandma and grandpa came purposely to celebrate her birthday! In the morning, everyone sent Gwendolyn to school at around 8:50am but she refused to stay, thinking why she's being left in school when no one is working! After a little struggle and Mama get her to go into her "fans'" class (please note that she has a fan club with the K2 class jie jies). The girls surrounded her and smoked a little, so that Grandma, grandpa and mama can go off to get her birthday cake for her! At around 11:30pm, everyone arrived back in school with a Hello Kitty birthday cake, waiting for the children to have their lunch before we cut the cake! Grandma and grandpa were amazed that Gwendolyn can eat her lunch all by herself!

After that, Ms Shu Ping and Ms Lay Cheng cleared the table to make way for the cake, followed by the entrance of her fan club members! All sang "Happy Birthday" in both English and Mandarin. So funny that everyone else knew what was happening except for Gwendolyn. She didn't have a clue why she was seated there, surrounded by so many people singing so loudly next to her!

After that, Gwendolyn requested to CUT the cake (her favourite action at every single "cake cutting" event) and then helped to distribute her "Thomas" plates for the cut cakes.

After we have finished with the cakes (during the session, the fire alarm went off and there was a "sudden" fire drill. Everyone went down to take attendance, including grandma, grandpa, mama and papa...), the children started with playing with balloons! That was how Gwendolyn got closely acquainted to Gong Gong in the next few days!

After celebrating in school, all of us went to Suntec City, Toys R Us to buy toys for Gwendolyn. Initially, we wanted to get her a tricycle, quadricycle or motored car for her. However, she is too big for the tricycle or too young for the others. We gave up the idea in the end. We concentrated on more Thomas the train vcds, Thomas the train toys, etc. But we spent a long time at Toys R Us and then the Early Learning Centre shop next door, as she saw plenty of familiar toys she played in school! We went home after a quick dinner at Country Mama and quickly got home to open her birthday presents together! What did papa and mama bought for Gwendolyn? A foldable kitchen set! All of us were amazed when she started saying "Fire! High!"...

Easter Activity at Mt Faber SAFRA Club

Today is Easter Sunday, Papa and Mama knew about some Easter activities there and brought Gwendolyn there for some fun! There was supposed to be a balloon man and a muppet show at around 3pm and we arrived earlier that expected, since Gwendolyn didn't want any afternoon nap. When we arrived, there was an Easter Bunny "loitering" around the lobby area to distribute sweets to the kids, but Gwendolyn was being scared off by that huge, dirty, pink monster! Instead of scaring her further, we brought her to the outdoor playground to play her favourite slide! She's discovered a new activity: the "turner". Initially, she was scared of by sitting in the "turner" by herself, but after sitting with Mama and Papa separately, she loved it and requested to be in it by herself!

When the time comes for the "balloon" time, Mama brought Gwendolyn to sit in front of the stage to wait for a balloon sculpture. However, the balloon man (performer) was being really horrible. He knew that Gwendolyn was there early and was longing for a balloon, but he purposely didn't want to give one to her and she was really upset. She kept pointing at herself, telling Mama that she wanted one. In the end, she even stood up a few times, wanting to walk in front of the stage to "ask" for one. Disappointed, despaired, she started rubbing her eyes and felt disinterested. Luckily, the organiser standing at the side (the top left picture, girl wearing t-shirt with #4), saw that and asked the balloon man to make one for her. That horrible man only made a small flower for her to be worn on her wrist. But after such a long wait, she was all happy and excited! She kept touching and rubbing it on her nose...at least, she got what she has wanted, even though she missed her nap time...

I love to read AND eat!

Papa and Mama brought Gwendolyn to the Times (bookshop) warehouse sales at Expo Hall 6A on 15 April 2006, to groom her reading habit. She was so excited when Mama told her that we were going to buy "book book". Once we reached the exhibition hall, we took a trolley and Gwendolyn insisted on pulling the trolley. Mama was searching high and low for Barney/Sesame Street/Thomas the Tank Engine books, but failed. In the end, we only managed to get some "Kipper the Dog" and "Pooh Bear Bear" sticker activity book. Nothing much. Surprisingly, Gwendolyn has asked for some Chinese flashcards and cd-rom...

By the time we finish shopping at the Times section, we went to the John Little section and bought some home items. It was almost 8:30pm, when we start to queue for payment. Mama brought Gwendolyn back to the car to eat dinner, as Gwendolyn appeared to be tired and hungry. She has finished almost the entire tub of rice that Mama prepared earlier on. When Papa finally through the payment (almost 40 mins later), we went of to Bedok, Feng Shan Food Centre to eat the infamous Ba Chor Mee (minced meat noodles). Since it is well-known to be slow, we ordered some snack as we waited. This is the first time Gwendolyn tried chicken wings and oh no, she loved it. She was asking for more and in the end, Mama has to sacrifice the mid-wing and part of the drum for her + half of Papa's drum. I thought she said she was full after the tub of porridge??? She can really eat...hehe

Good Friday - Fun at IMM

IMM Building, the shopping nearest to our house, is having a "Babies & Kids Fun @ IMM" event from 10-23 April 2006. Papa and Mama brought Gwendolyn to checkout the activities on Friday. Whilst coming down the travelator from Level 4 to Level 3, Gwendolyn spotted the "new" rides: Elmo & Big Bird; Oscar; Cookie Monste; and Ernie & Bert. She quickly shouted: Ernie and anxiously pull Papa and Mama to find the rides. Once we reached there, she refused to go...

At the beginning, she was waiting patiently for the Ernie & Bert ride. However, as the "Gor Gor" refused to give up the ride for this eager "Mei Mei", she turned over to wait for the Elmo & Big Bird ride. Luckily, her persistence was paid back and the "Jie Jie" went away and she can sit on the ride! See how happy she is:

After taking the Elmo & Big Bird ride, she happily went off with Mama to find Papa to eat her favourite Wonton Mee - HK style (but something must be wrong with this Wonton Mee, as everytime after she eats, she will not sleep until after midnight - without fail???)

After mum mum, she spotted the kids' playground has been shifted next to the Wonton Mee eating place and requested to play for a while, so Mama accompanied her to enjoy herself playing rough with the other kids!

To close off today, we went to the GIANT hypermarket to do some grocery shopping and Gwendolyn was busy choosing her "bread bread", "gheese" and "ble ble (vegetables)"! When we are done and on our way to the car park, she spotted the Barney ride and screamed for it! She managed to scare off the child who was originally sitting in it and got away with her killer smile.

Gwendolyn's pressies from HK

This is the only time Papa and Mama left Gwendolyn behind and return to HK by themselves. Which means they have more time to shop for items for Gwendolyn. Even though they have only been back for 4 days and 3 nights, they managed to shop for clothes, toys, home decor items for Gwendolyn.

You will notice that most items are Sesame Street characters:

soft ball ("pu pu" buy) - she likes balls (and so does most kids)

t-shirts - she's been very choosey with clothings and will only wear those with characters she likes

hello-kitty chest of drawers - yes, that's right! a little crazy to bring this back as a piece of check-in luggage, but she loved it!

hello-kitty bubble maker - she loves bubbles and Papa & Mama has been forbidding her to own one. since she's turning 2-year-old soon and this one doesn't requiring blowing, we bought for her!

pooh bear bear height measuring tape - to keep track of her height

Papa and mama away

Papa and mama were away from Gwendolyn for a few days since last Wednesday (5 April 2006). They went back to Hong Kong to settle some family matters. Mama was worried that Gwendolyn will look for her and cry and urged papa to call grandma to check.

Saturday noon (8 April 2006), finally, it was the right time to call, Gwendolyn casually said "papa, mama" and "papa, mama" and then she said "bye bye" and walked away from the phone. Mama was a little sad, as she didn't show any sign of missing her. So papa and mama assumed that she was fine and didn't call again until papa went to pick her up for school on Monday (10 April 2006), whilst mama was at an offsite meeting.

When papa picked mama up from the offsite meeting, papa told mama that Gwendolyn actually missed something whilst staying with grandma. On the first night, she woke up in the middle of the night, sat up and looked around, looking a little lost. Grandma offered her milk and she was fine to sleep again. However, she has been sleeping early and waking early AND been waking up in the middle of the night for milk. I supposed asking for milk was a sign of "comfort". Oh well, at least she felt at lost when papa and mama were away. Phew, what a relief!

We went to pick her up, but she was already asleep. But when we reached home, mama put her into her baby cot, she opened her eyes, surveillanced around. She showed a big bright smile and told mama: Lyn Lyn room. Then rolled over and slept again. She's happy to be HOME and back to her own BED!

Gwendolyn goes shopping

Nowadays, kids are so independent! Gwendolyn has reached a stage, whereby you cannot force her to wear anything that she does not fancy. She must be able to relate the piece of clothing to something she likes, prior to agreeing in wearing it. E.g. she will always wear anything with Elmo, Cookie Monster, Barney and Thomas. Yes, Thomas the Tank Engine. One of her favourites. I think it is because Thomas is predominantly BLUE and that's her favourite colour. Otherwise, as most of my friends say: Huh? Thomas? Isn't that boyish?

See, she went shopping with us 2 weeks ago and was happily choosing her own clothes. She was standing at the Thomas rack and refused to go. See, she carries her little My Melody bag like a "Tai Tai" and chooses her own Thomas t-shirt. In the end, we've only bought a Thomas pyjamas for her.


Other good tries: anything with a shape, espcially Star and heart. Just like the one she's wearing in the photos. It's a Barney t-shirt with a heart in front. By the way, Barney shyed away and is hiding behind. She loved it!

Translation

It's funny how Gwendolyn has recently start to speak in "sentences". Below are a few daily sentences that she use:

"mama no mama no room"..."lyn lyn room"... = I don't want to sleep in mama's room. I want to sleep in Gwendolyn's room

"mama bain bain, papa" = Mama's in pain and cannot carry Gwendolyn. Papa carry...

"mama bat bat, papa" = Mama apply nappy cream and papa apply mopiko"

"mine bb" = My baby

"mine nie nie" = My Barney

"mine ban" = My friend

"mine boo bear bear" = My Pooh bear bear

"dun dun dun" = Thomas the Train

"goot guerl" = Good girl

"ell dun" = Well done

I love driving

Ever since Gwendolyn starts school, she's taken an interest in DRIVING. Yes, you've heard me right. DRIVING! Firstly, it's the "baby car car", where she's first tried at Uncle Victor's house back in last year. Then, it's the "baby car car", where she plays in school. These are fine, since they're all "FOC" (free-of-charge). Unless, she asks for IMM's baby trolley car car, which costs S$3 per hour. Well, basically, they're all Little Tikes kid's car, selling at around S$149. However, we do not have extra space to get her one to play at home.

Anyways, as she grows older, she's taken a more serious interest in the "moveable" ones, which costs S$1/2 per ride. She's just asked us to pay for her ride on Saturday night...she told Mama: Lyn Lyn...Tar...Lyn Lyn...Tar (a.k.a. Gwendolyn's Car)...haha

 

Arrival of Frannie's bb

Finally, Frannie & Hong's bb, Manhay (高文熙) has arrived. He's a healthy bouncing baby, born on 17 March 2006 at 9:00am, weighing 7lbs 11oz. Same as Gwendolyn, Manhay is the first grandchild to both the Ko's and the Chan's family, really 万千宠爱在一身!

When I went back to Hong Kong in November 2005 and met up with Frannie, it was only like last month. Time flies...

Frannie with her bump