Practising How to Eat by Herself!!!

About 2 weeks ago, Enda Jie Jie and Mama gave Geraldine a spoon to try and put some food into her mouth. She enjoyed it so much and was so proud of herself. Every night, when Papa and Mama sit at the dining table for dinner, she'll come over, crawling on Mama, trying to grab whatever chopsticks, scissors, spoon, etc...anything available to practise. Mama saw the opportunity to let her practise this self-feeding skill and test her out to see how clean she is...it was fun to see how focussed she was, trying to scoop one mouth by one mouth, picking up all the rice dropped on the little table in front of her. Most amazing of all was that she sat in the highchair, for the entire duration of the session!!!

Clever girl...Papa and Mama are so proud of your independence, at barely over 17 months!

What's the best part? It was when Enda Jie Jie was telling Joel Gor Gor : See, Mei Mei is eating all by herself, though she's a baby. How about you? 4 years old already, still asking for adults to feed and chase him all around the house at meal times...sigh!!!

Steamboat Dinner @ Crystal Jade, IMM

Papa and Mama noticed that Crystal Jade @ IMM is offering a la carte steamboat buffet...finally, there was a chance to leave Geraldine at home and the 3 of us went for a try! Initially, Mama thought that the stated price was fairly reasonable for a restaurant. However, when Mama saw the a la carte menu, there wasn't much food on order...the so called over 100 items to choose from was a gimick...where seafood was not included, with mostly veggies, different types of noodles, bean curd, mushrooms, some "ball balls", usual beef/pork/mutton...other than that, any kind of seafood is an additional order...

At least, Lyn Lyn enjoyed herself in cooking her own beef, but Mama still prefer the "ma la huo guo" at Outram, slightly more expensive, but quality of food was much better!!!

Garden Party

It's almost the end of the June School Holidays and one of the parents of a K2 child has decided to host a Garden Party in school, to celebrate their child's last birthday party at Etonhouse, inviting all the kids to join! Gwendolyn was all excited about the party and Papa and Mama brought her to buy a special dress and a pair of wings with a wand, so that she can be the "prettiest" garden princess at the party!

She requested Mama to help her with some light makeup, after putting on her nice princess "gown" and her pair of wings!

The garden princess in making


Mama still thinks that she looked like a bridesmaid than a garden princess...what do you think?

Tennis Game

Recently, Papa and Mama had resumed their tennis games with Uncle Victor and Uncle Chee Keong...both girls were joining them at the tennis courts...Geraldine was most interested in the balls...chasing after them and putting them back into the tins...

Mama didn't want the girls to be bored and brought along Lyn Lyn's kid's badminton rackets for them to play! Look at Geraldine! She was trying to pick up a tennis ball using both rackets...that reminded Mama of a picture she had, at the balcony, holding 2 badminton rackets as well...when she was a kid...

As for Lyn Lyn...she "borrowed" Papa's racket and tried hitting the tennis ball against the net...learning how to aim at bouncing the ball at the right spot! She seemed to be doing quite well and maybe, she can be a good tennis player when she's a little older? Let's wait and see!

West Coast Plaza and Jurong Point

Mama likes going to Sushi Tei @ West Coast Plaza, as it's not crowded and the menu offers something different from the usual Sushi Teis (or that's what Mama thought)! Though there isn't much to do at West Coast Plaza, but food was a good enough excuse! The 2 Ngs sisters like going there as well! Gwendolyn loves udon and Geraldine loves chawanmushi...

After the delicious lunch, when we're about to go home, so that Mama can prepare for her lecture in the afternoon, both sisters were running around chasing each other again as usual...see how much they enjoy each other's company?!!!

Night time, we went to Jurong Point to early celebrate Father's Day and had Korean food at the new wing. It was quite disappointing, as the Korean food was not nice...Lyn Lyn enjoyed herself, playing with the cooking, with Geraldine eating a lot of Korean seafood pancake and fried rice. Geraldine is in love with eggs and whenever you tell her that you're feeding her eggs, she'll willingly open her mouth and gulp down the egg, still, continued to say "egg egg"...despite the kids being happy, Papa and Mama agreed not to step into that Korean restaurant any more...

Haagen-Daz was conveniently located next to the food court that housed the Korean restaurant, we went to indulge in big ice-cream platters, with a special Citibank 1-for-1 promotion. For every order of a 2-scoop serving, to enjoy another 2-scoop for free. Papa and Lyn Lyn shared a portion and Mama had her own...yes...it's fattening, but yummy! So what did Geraldine do? She was playing with the spoon in the water glass!!! Initially, before the ice-cream platter arrived, it was fine for her to play with the water...however, when Mama's ice-cream arrived, she kept dipping into Mama's cup and caused a milky emulsion in her glass of water...yucky...


Finally, we finished with the 2 ice-cream platters and was about to leave for home...but the 2 sisters were chasing each other again outside Haagen-Daz and caused some weird looks from some passer-bys...what a fun day they've had...

New Hair Style

Isn't this hair style familiar to all Chinese families? Typically, most of the kids would have had this "look" once or twice during their childhood...Mama was suddenly triggered to try this out for Geraldine...surprisingly, she looked very cute indeed!

What more? She liked the "baby" in the mirror so much that she kissed the dear baby in it!

Hair Curler

Gwendolyn had seen Por Por using curlers when she was in Singapore, visiting us and has asked for a set for herself. She didn't use those curlers, until recently, after she's washed her hair...

Mama tried putting them on her and in turn, she tried putting a couple on Geraldine...see both girls having fun and looking cute with those curlers...that reminded Mama that she used to have a picture looking like that when she was around that age!!!

Geraldine "benefitted" as well

Mama wasn't very good at using the curlers on Lyn Lyn's thick hair

Etonhouse Sports Day 2009

29 May 2009, the last day of school for term 2, before the month-long school holidays! This day also marks the annual sports day at Etonhouse Vanda...where Gwendolyn missed the fun last year, as she had a fever that very same morning!

This year, our enthusiastic athlete was well prepared to face the challenges, which comprised of Treasure Hunt, Obstacle Course, Egg & Snake Shalom and last but not least, Gold Rush! This year, the N1s & N2s were separated from the K1s & K2s, so that the external arena was not so crowded with eager parents! Lyn Lyn told Mama proudly that she's in the Red Team, with Darcie and Lydia!!!

Before the race begins...K1s...Cheeeeezzzzzz

First was the Treasure Hunt...basically, the kids need to form into 3 in a team...taking turns to flip the coloured half-circles on the ground to look for balls to bring back to their home base. The team with the most number of balls at in their home container wins!

The ever competitive Lyn Lyn was trying whatever she can to get more balls in her team's container, whilst her relaxed team members were taking their sweet time in looking for balls...Mama say Lyn Lyn cheating as well, during the race...but she was really very eager to win...well...in the end, her team didn't win and she was kind of disappointed...

Red Team - Cheeezzzzz

After the exciting Treasure Hunt...the kids took a rest...not sure why though...but only after 1 game...they went under the pavillion and took their snacks and water...it was really hot that day and the parents standing at the side were all sweating...

After the short rest, the kids resumed at the Obstacle Course and started going around all the "obstacles"...Lyn Lyn was so proud that she's finished 5 rounds of the course, all by herself! Bravo...

The course was so easy for Lyn Lyn and she finished with ease...

Next in line was the Egg & Snake Shalom...basically, the teams, with the original 3 members, have to take turns to run from their home base to the water pool to scoop the balls out from the pool, but matches their own team colour...no doubt, Lyn Lyn was the ultimate cheater again, as she used both hands and fingers to make sure the ball goes onto her spoon...guess what? Without any surprises, her team didn't win again and she was very disappointed...

The ultimate last game : the Gold Rush...this game requires a lot of team work...where the whole team would run to the bucket at the other end from their home base, with a cup. One person will scoop a cup of water out from the bucket and everyone stand in a line and keep passing to each other, until reaching their home base and pouring into their own bucket. Repeating all these until their home based bucket is full...During this very last game, Lydia was already very tired and disappeared for a while...Lyn Lyn was kind of shouting to get everyone to hurry up, so that at least, her team can win this very last game...but guess what? Without fail, her team didn't win and she cried...

Mummy tried consoling her...telling her that winning isn't the most important thing in a race, but to complete something which she's started and keep the enthusiasm going! All of them were winners when they've completed all their tasks and no need to be sad! Luckily, these were reiterated by Ms Emelia in their class's debriefing session...Lyn Lyn was shouting the key points out loud and clear...in the end, all of their class members received a certificate for completion!

Well done, Lyn Lyn...Mama was so proud of you! Keep it home and be a good sportsman!

Learning to Drink with a Straw

Geraldine's been observing how Papa, Mama and Jie Jie's been drinking with a straw from a carton...unlike her, kept drinking from a teat. Mama knew that she couldn't suck from a straw, upon request, Mama casually let her try sucking from a cup of coke light! Oooops...it seemed that Geraldine's got the hang of it and was so pleased with herself by asking for more! Mama knew that she shouldn't be drinking any carbonated drinks. Instead of offering her drink for a second time, Mama opted to dig out a straw-cup with plain water for her to explore...she was addicted to the straw-cup and sat down quietly to explore this newly acquired skill...

Cold Storage Kid's Run 2009

About a month or so ago, Mama heard about the Kid's Run event and called up Auntie Lena to see whether she's interested in registering Summer for the same event, so that both Gwendolyn and Summer can participate in the non-competitive event for their age group : kids born between 2003-2004! Both mummies agreed and separately registered for the girls! Finally, 24 May 2009, the actual day of the event! It was a real hot and sunny day...the girls were expected to report at the hold-up area by 8:45am, half an hour before the event were due to start.

In high spirit @ the hold up area before the start of the race

The 2 eager participants didn't arrive until 9:00am and were due to enter the starting point. Luckily, theirs was not a competitive event, which required registration and collection of a time recorder...so both girls leisurely did some basic stretching and warm-up exercise (basically for 10 seconds), before the race officially began! Whilst waiting...Papa spotted Uncle Leon and Maximus Gor Gor within the same vicinity...as Maximus Gor Gor entered the same race, under the same category! What a pleasant surprise!

Turn left, turn right, stetch up, squat down...warming up for the race

The first 100m was a good attempt by both, trying to keep up with the rest of the kids! Lyn Lyn was trying to lend a helping hand to Summer by holding her, so that they could run together, but it wasn't a good idea at all!

Three, Two, One...Start...running as fast as they could

After the initial 100m, both girls have started to shown tiredness...and it was so obviously that they preferred walking for the rest of the race, than to continue running...still in good spirit, with cheering Gor Gor and Jie Jies at the side of the track, cheering for the young runners not to give up and to finish the race! Along the way, Mama kept encouraging Lyn Lyn that it doesn't matter even if she cannot win or cannot continue running. Most important of all is that Lyn Lyn has to finish the race...once she's started on something, she must complete it, despite how difficult it's going to be! Lyn Lyn repeated to herself and told Summer the same...

Low battery...walking slowly after the 100m sprint...

Eventually, when the girls spotted the green balloon arch, they knew that they were near the finishing line and hurried towards the exit...both couldn't wait to complete the race and collect their goodie bag and medal!

Yeah...we did it! We've completed the whole race!

Well done, Lyn Lyn and Summer! Both girls have completed a 700m track with a combination of running and walking!

The proud runners showing off their medal!

After the hot morning race, the kids sat at the bench to relax for a while, before receding to Raffles City for some brunch! Initially, both parents were thinking of bringing them for the carnival, but there were really too many people and it was really way too hot...in the end, all went lazing in the air con for a long brunch...the tired runners were eating at their own table, enjoying a relaxing time!

Sharing the result of good work...sharing a bowl of noodles after the race!

7 Days Quarantine Period is Over

To Papa and Mama's surprised, Gwendolyn recovered extremely fast! The number of ulcers in Lyn Lyn's mouth remained the same from the second night upon delivery, until the quarantine period was over! It was great that she didn't suffer the terrible pain of a full-blown HFMD and was eating and drinking very well! She found it extremely bored at home and Mama had to find different activities for her to keep her busy, whilst Mama tried to work from home and to take care of her...

In one of the 7 days, Mama and Lyn Lyn found a common set of clothing and wore them to be the same! Mama and Lyn Lyn took a few pictures to show Papa how sister-ly both were!

Sisters in action!

7 days quarantine period is over and finally, Geraldine is home! Cheezzzzzzzzzzz!

Cafe Standard, Kopitiam Price

Recently, there was this new-ish stall at the newly renovated kopitiam in Clementi Central. Since Gwendolyn wanted to eat her favourite spaghetti, Papa and Mama decided to try it out, due to the attractive price...S$4.50 for a chicken spaghetti bolognese! Papa was particularly interested in the steak and was really satisfied with the quality! Why? It was a real slightly "more than medium" standard, with a thick cut! The sausage was another good try, as good quality ham sausage was used, charging a hefty S$4 per portion! Mama was a little disappointed with the lamb loin...but well, it was lamb loin and not lamb chop, what would you expect?

Overall, it was a good try and surely, we'll be back!

HFMD - Hand Food Mouth Disease

28 March 2006, Mama posted something on HFMD before on this blog site
http://the-ngs-update.blogspot.com/2006/03/hand-foot-mouth-disease-hfmd.html
that was when Mama first learnt about the virus and that it is common amongst pre-school kids. 3 years down the road, unfortunately, Gwendolyn is down with it and has immediately been quarantined by Mama at home, with Geraldine being grounded at grandma's place. Geraldine has been ordered not to return home until at least 7 days later, after Lyn Lyn's been cleared and a full disinfection process has been carried out at home.

Mama is missing Geraldine so much...not sure whether Geraldine is missing Mama too??? But for Geraldine's benefit, this is the best transitional arrangement, until Lyn Lyn is certified fit...Mama is keeping track of Lyn Lyn's condition, as there is an obvious increase in the number of ulcers in her mouth tonight, as compared to the night before...hope that Lyn Lyn won't suffer too much!

Cultivating a Good Habit

Quite some time ago, Mama has started giving Gwendolyn her excess $1 coins for her to put inside her piggy bank, teaching her how to save money! Recently, after she's learnt more about money and value, additions and subtractions, Papa and Mama have added some fun element into the saving game! Once Lyn Lyn has 10 $1 coins, she may ask Papa to exchange for a $10 note, with 5 $10 notes, she can exchange for a $50 note! During this process, Lyn Lyn managed to feed her piggy and her ducky really really full...and to the extent that Papa and Mama think that it may be a good idea to start her to bank in the money...finally, in a boring afternoon, all of us excitedly "killed" the piggy (since there's no opening, Papa and Lyn Lyn had to literally cut it up in order to take out the coins)!

Geraldine, without knowing much what was going on, heard the noise and joined in the fun...Whilst Lyn Lyn was trying hard to count the $1 in 10s, recording the number of 10s which she's counted, with Mama auditing her work, Geraldine grabbed some of them and dumped them into the ones which Lyn Lyn has already counted...Papa was enrolled to keep her busy, so as not to mess up the whole counting process! Unbelievably, the little piggy was actually quite FAT...it had $240 worth of $1 coins! Lyn Lyn packed them up nicely into a ziplock bag and we've decided to work on the ducky as well...

Ducky is so much bigger than piggy...Papa was making a wild guess that it could hold up to $500 worth of $1...unexpectedly, it had $600 worth of $1, though it's not even at full capacity! Lyn Lyn's really a rich gal...$840 worth of $1 coins...how heavy was that? Papa put the 2 bags of $1 coins into the Dora backpack...it weighed a hefty 5.5kg...my goodness...that was half of Geraldine!

I Had Curry Fish Ball

After a long fluctuating fever, Gwendolyn was finally well...all of us went to Crystal Jade for a dim sum lunch and Mama offered Lyn Lyn some curry fish ball. Having tried teeny weeny bit of spicy food before, Lyn Lyn was brave to offer herself to have a bite! She liked them...Mama gave her more and she finished all...wow...maybe next time when we're in HK again, Mama should ask Auntie Annie to bring her to try the HK style curry fish ball...talking about them...Mama started to salivate...Poor Geraldine...staring at Jie Jie's food...and eating her baby porridge...

Darcie's Birthday Party

Darcie's invited her K1 classmates to her house @ Gallop Gables for a poolside BBQ party! Gwendolyn was all excited about it...however, Mama didn't allow Lyn Lyn to dip in the pool like the others, as she was not 100% well to start off with. Mama only allowed Lyn Lyn to play around the pool and splash water with her friends, with extra clothings to change afterwards! With the company of her own friends, she's totally forgotten about Mama...and Mama told her that she'll be back to pick her up in about 2 hours' time.

When Mama arrived to pick her, they've only just started cake-cutting and all the children crowded around Darcie when singing the birthday song!

After the cake-cutting, Darcie's dad took out some party toys for the children to choose and Mama observed the dynamics amongst them when choosing the colour that they liked : e.g. Darcie was telling Lyn Lyn and Ariel that it's her birthday, so either of them should give in to her request for getting the colour that she wants! So cute...

Post cake-cutting, quite a lot of the guests have started to leave and Mama was reminding Lyn Lyn that Papa is waiting in the car for them to get back and she'd better go and get changed! But Lyn Lyn insisted that she wanted to keep the birthday girl company and spent some quality time together by the poolside!

Finally, when Darcie's parents were trying to pack up and go home, Lyn Lyn agreed to back down and went into the changing room with Mama to get changed...she had a lot of fun!

Thanks Darcie for the great party! As usual...Lyn Lyn fell asleep on the way home and skipped her dinner again...

Geraldine's First Love

Geraldine has finally found her first love...ELMO cushion! This is the first and foremost item that she has chosen for herself whilst shopping for Darcie's birthday present! Once she has spotted it, she grabbed it, hugged it and refused to let go...the only moment that she let if off, was when Mama was about to pay...she knew that Mama needed to pay before she can bring it home...smart gal!

Mother's Day Celebration

Without fail, Mama promises Gwendolyn to attend the Mother's Day Celebration in school every year. This year, it was a breakfast tea party, with performances by all classes! Contrary to the previous years, snacks were served at the entrance to the school, with a display of snack items made by the kids! Mama was anxiously looking for the one by K1 Grand Canyon, but was a little disappointed...as there wasn't any. However, Ms Wahila told Mama that K1 did something different in "making" a tree! Well, Mama thought that it would have been something done after the Earth Day discussion (but Mama hasn't been able to verify up till today)?!

This year seemed to have more mothers turned up for the event and the room was all full...All the mummies waited for their kid's turn to appear in the room to perform their special deeds proudly in front of their beloved mummy!

When it's K1 Grand Canyon's turn, Lyn Lyn's class had 2 performance items : Poem Recital and sang a song! As usual, Lyn Lyn was the loudest and clearest when reading her share of the poem! Mama was exceptionally proud of her, when she realised that she's read her words wrongly. She would stop immediately, looked at her script again and correct herself, making sure that she read the correct words! Bravo, Lyn Lyn!

When the kids were done, they returned to their preparation room, leaving the mummies to have some fun...this was something new, as compared to the previous years! Mama enjoyed it, as she volunteered herself to play with the other mums, for a round of charade! Just when she thought that she'll wait to be the last one to be the one to draw out the clue, she's got the most difficult (or the teachers agreed that it wasn't easy) to draw, for the "Three Billy Goat Gruffs"! The only thing that Mama could think of at that time was to draw 3 goat-like thingie, with 2 horns and 4 legs...hoping that the other mums can take the cue from the "3"...Mama acknowledged that her drawing wasn't good and there were mummies laughing and shouted "3 ants"? "3 cockcroaches"...then...one shouted "Three Billy Goat Gruffs"! Phew...not a bad representation eh! [By the way, did any teachers took any pictures of the "3 cockroaches"? If so, may I have a copy please? Thanks!]

Peek-a-boo

Geraldine is really a funny toddler...she invents her own games and act funny to make the adults laugh! Tonight, whilst having dinner...she, the usual her (not a good habit though), ran around the house, avoiding to take her porridge...she ran all the way into the room, hid for a while, then reappeared to "scare" us with her cute little "peek-a-boo"...isn't she lovely?

Her classic cheeky but innocent smile

When Swine Flu Alert Met with Lyn Lyn's Viral Fever

Gwendolyn was down with viral flu, when the scary Swine Flu alert first gained publicity around the world! When Mama brought Lyn Lyn to see Uncle John, Mama gave her a Hello Kitty Mask, which she bought from Taiwan some time back! Lyn Lyn was so proud of her mask, though there were a lot of onlookers staring at her on the way...