Absent from School

Thank you everyone for being so concerned about Gwendolyn's bronchitis. Apart from throwing up twice last night and kept asking Mama to carry, she doesn't look like she's unwell at all. Mama took leave to stay home and take care of her for the day and she napped for 3 hours in the afternoon after taking the medicine. But as usual, cough takes longer to heal, as long as the phelgm is cleared, she'll recover faster. Fingers crossed then!

See, she was enjoying her Spots VCD and doesn't look sick at all...

Busy Sunday

Last night, Gwendolyn played a practical joke on Mama. It's not funny, but when she's sick, she's very sticky and demanding (I supposed all kids are the same). She kept waking up every other hour, just to ask Mama to bring her over to Mama's bed or returning to "Lyn Lyn"'s bed...Mama was terribly exhausted after the "transportation" of a 15kg load...in the end, Mama showered Gwendolyn later than usual in the morning and after showering, she asked to sleep. No way for her to sleep with wet hair, Mama took out a hairdryer and started blow drying her hair. She was amazed by this "new" object and was trying to see what happen when being blown on the face, running away from it, etc etc...it's a new experience for her.

Later in the afternoon, before we went out shopping, she's spotted her butterfly wings that she made in school this term (Friday was end of term and all artwork were brought home). Yes, she asked to put on her wings and started "flying" around the house, singing "Fly Fly Butterfly", as if she were in school! She even brought the wings out for shopping, but we didn't let her bring out of the car!

After returning from shopping (well, though it's the Great Singapore Sale and Mama wanted to buy some things, since Gwendolyn asked to be carried, Mama can't really shop much), exhausted, we've decided to get takeaway from Pizza Hut and Gwendolyn was all excited. Yes, I have the same question: how come she likes pizza??? Anyways, she was screaming for it and ate by herself, BIG BIG MOUTHFUL of pizza...

BBQ

Haven't had a BBQ for a very long time and finally, we've managed to find an excuse to have one! So what happened? Adele, Tricia and Mama has been plotting for this secret BBQ cum birthday celebration few weeks ago and was planning for the details. We managed to keep it well undercover and the birthday gals didn't have a clue about that!

So, we've started off with a normal BBQ, with Gwendolyn frantically playing with her new bubble gadget: Bubble-fan gun. The interesting thing is that it can make small bubbles inside a big bubble and when the outer big one bursts, the small ones will fly out and continue! It kept Gwendolyn busy for quite a while!

When the real BBQ starts, we had the usual Satay, Otah, Chicken Wings, Hotdogs, Char Siew, Fishball, Sotong (a.k.a. cuttlefish) Ball, Prawns, Mashmallow and some mushrooms...Yum Yum...Gwendolyn was kinda bored and requested for Mama's ice lemon tea drink. After a few rounds of pouring, she was suddenly in this teh (a.k.a. tea)tarik (a.k.a. pulling) mood and started pouring water from one cup to another, repeating numerous times! Tricia Jie Jie took over and taught her the proper "tarik" and Gwen was really amazed! However, this didn't last very long, as water start to be poured onto hands, feet, clothings, etc and we started asking her to sing. Surprisingly, Frederick joined in the singing, but no one knew what he was singing about! Since Gwen wasn't very well and requested to sleep, Mama quickly brought her upstairs for a shower, before the surprise party begins. Adele, Tricia and Mama were busy preparing in the kitchen, assigning tasks to various parties. When everyone was ready, lights off and cake was carried out from the kitchen along with the singing of birthday song! Yeah, it was truly a surprise and both birthday gals didn't expect that! So good...but something funny...Gwen was kinda blurred and might have thought herself being the birthday gal, she sat in front of the cake and waited to cut...

Good Clean Fun II

Papa was away for business trip between 23-25 May and Gwendolyn was behaving very well. When Papa came back on 25 May, both Papa and Mama brought her to Giant to buy some items for Saturday's BBQ. Papa got her a new toothbrush and she was all excited in using the new one! She couldn't stop herself from brushing her teeth around Mama's room.

Whilst having so much fun in brushing, she climbed onto Papa and Mama's bed and started rolling around. She followed one of Barney's songs: Four Little Bear and the Little One Say Roll Over Roll Over...and she sing alongside rolling. You can see how much fun she's having here...

Bronchitis

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, Poor Gwen, couldn't sleep well the whole night, kept asking Papa and Mama to carry her. Mama hugged her close and felt that she was a little warm. Papa and Mama concluded that she has a temperature and gave her some panadol to bring down the temperature. It worked. But next morning, she was coughing as if she had TB. Papa and Mama brought her to see the doctor and concluded that she has Bronchitis. Poor thing. Couldn't really recover from her coughs from previous times. Doctor was curious whether she has a family condition of Asthma, but not that we know of. Except for "Pu Pu" having very sensitive throat. Anyway, there's no medication to cure that, but needs to be grown out of gradually.

Poor girl, coughed herself up in the middle of her nap and puked. Phew, she puked phelgm, which was good to clear some from her lungs! What's so special? She threw up some puke on her hand and insisted Mama to clean it off first! What a clean child!

Thomas Thomas, here I come!

When Gwendolyn spotted the "Thomas the Tank Engine" ride outside Toys R Us at Suntec City, she couldn't wait, but dashed across to sit on it at the first instance. She was so excited to get a ride on it and insisted that Papa and Mama insert coins into the slot to make it move.

Before it started moving

However, when the ride started moving, Gwendolyn's face changed and she was all worried...

When it started moving: so scared

Hold on tight, I don't want to get thrown out

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!