Visit to the Singapore Philatelic Museum

The Singapore Philatetic Museum was having an open house last weekend, so I thought it'd be a good time for us to visit the museum. I liked the interactive displays, and now that Noah is walking, he also had fun opening and closing the panels, and watching the displays 'come alive'. Other than a good collection of stamps, they also had on display old post boxes and postman scooters. 

Now that emails have somewhat taken over snail mails, we don't get to see much stamps around. I still remember how stamp collecting was a hobby for many when I was in primary school. All of us would have stamp albums, and we'd enjoy swapping stamps with each other. I like the artwork on stamps, especially the commemorative issues. Sometime back, I came across the Annual Collection of Singapore Stamps and decided to buy the 2011 and 2009 collections for Noah and Nathan. The books contain a collection of stamps issued in that year, and there is a short write-up about the design/event. I thought the books will be a nice keepsake for them, and they'll get to read about the events that took place in their birth year.

The highlight of the visit for Nathan was the dragon boat. He enjoyed banging on the drum and rowing the boat, and it was hard getting him to move on to something else. When we were about to leave, Nathan asked to row the boat again!

Tangled

Nathan and I visited the Kids Arts Village at the Esplanade Park yesterday, and the boy had a ball of a time getting tangled! In "Tangle", the children were given the opportunity to help create a visual art installation. Each of them were given a ball of stretchy string which they were supposed to tie / weave around poles. Nathan was pretty good at going over and under the strings that other kids had already woven, and did not need much help from me. Tangle happens at 4pm, 5pm and 6.30pm, and will run till Saturday, 2 June. Registrations are required. Just turn up at the booth near the installation itself, and you will be given an arm band which entitles you to participate in all the activities in the Kids Arts Village.

There were other craft activities for the kids to take part in. Nathan got to decorate a mask using highlighters, and we got to bring the mask into this dark room, where he saw it glow in the dark. He also made a crown using envelopes and string. He was really proud of the two items he made, and wore them all around Esplanade and all the way home.

If you have not visited the Kids Arts Village, it runs till Sat, 2 June. I say it is worth making a trip down. There are stage performances from 5.30 to 6.30pm as well. Most activities are outdoors though. So probably not a good idea if it is raining. 

Let's Go to the Zoo!

I was looking for materials to teach Nathan phonics, and was really glad when I found Julia Gabriel's Alphabet Zoo. The songs are catchy, the book is well illustrated, and Nathan loves everything about it. He's been asking to listen to 'the animal song' EVERYTIME we get in the car. I think we must have listened to it about 5000 times now. He knows a good chunk of the lyrics by heart, and can also remember quite a few of the animal sounds. He's also been asking to go see the animals at the zoo, but I just didn't get round to bringing him to the zoo.

A few days ago, Nathan was with me when I went to drop Noah off at the daycare. He saw some of his old friends getting ready to go on an excursion to the zoo. Nathan loves excursions - riding on a bus, and going on an outing with his friends. Well, this time, he didn't get to go since he doesn't attend that daycare anymore. So, he decided... 'let's go tomorrow'... 'mommy, daddy and Noah will go on the bus with me, and we'll go to the zoo'! And we did... just that we didn't go by bus.

The zoo is a lot more fun now that both the boys are older. They are excited about seeing the different animals, and are able to sit through the animal shows. Nathan got to ride on a pony now that he's 2... and several days after our trip, he still talks about his pony ride. Since Noah wasn't old enough for the pony, I bought a ticket for him to ride the Wild Animal Carousel. He enjoyed it so much that he cried when it ended!

If only Singapore was less hot / humid... then we wouldn't be all hot and sweaty after a day out at the zoo. :) We'll visit again soon... maybe when the River Safari is ready in the later half of this year.

It's the School Holidays!

The holidays are here! There was a mini party in school to celebrate the last day of term 2... And that means almost half the year has flown by. Since we had the morning free, I decided that we'll bake chocolate chip cookies. Nathan enjoyed measuring out the sugar and flour and watching me mix everything together with the electric mixer. I had to keep myself from getting too fussy about the small mess he made when he was helping me measure out the ingredients. Generally, he was careful, and didn't make a big mess... but small messes by small hands is inevitable. The end result... YUMMY!

I love baking with Nathan... We'd read the recipe together, and he'd help with the scooping, measuring, pouring... He's already decided on what we are going to bake next... GINGERBREAD MAN!

Reflections on being a SAHM

It has been about 2.5 months since I left my full time job, to spend more time with the kids. Just thought I'd pause, and think about how the last couple of months have been. I've taken Nathan out of day care. He goes to school for 3 hours in the morning, and I get to spend the rest of the day with him. He comes home after school, has lunch with me, takes a shower, and we'll spend some time reading/crafting/writing/playing before he takes his afternoon nap. After nap, we either run errands, go for enrichment classes, or spend more time reading/crafting/writing/playing. Noah still attends day care, primarily because I cannot cope with having him with me at home the whole day. He clings to me like a koala bear when I am home with him, and starts whining when I venture more than 1 metre away from him. He was down with HFMD a month ago, and it was tiring caring for him because he wanted to be carried ALL THE TIME. That said, I believe that having friends to socialise with at day care, learning to take turns and play nicely with his peers, and having structured activities to keep him occupied is good for him, so I'm planning on keeping him there for the time being. He's just started crawling and crusing confidently, and is less clingly now that he's more mobile. So thankful for that!

A good part of my first month at home was spent researching on enrichment classes for Nathan, as well as finding materials and ideas for us to use in "home schooling". I've gotten our materials in order, signed him up for some enrichment classes and we've gotten a good routine going. I am insprired by the numerous creative activities that other mums have done with their kids, and I hope to introduce more varied activities in the months ahead. It's been great that I can spend more time with him. He's picking up new words everyday, and cracks me up with his comments sometimes. I enjoy snuggling up with him at nap times, and having him in the back seat of the car, asking for the same music CD to be played over and over again. Even though it means having to plan my day around him, I wouldn't want it any way else.

Having just moved to our new home, I was also busy with unpacking and getting our new house in order. We had about 100 boxes (of which about 85 are packed by me) for our move. Till date, I think we still have about 10 boxes left waiting to be unpacked. They are left sitting in what's supposed to be the kids' playroom. I hope to be able to unpack and tidy up that messy room, so that we can begin setting up a playroom for the kids. It has been tiring packing, unpacking, meeting contractors, getting furniture, etc. Am glad that we are slowly settling in, and most glad that we are now living so much nearer my parents, who are a great help with the kids. :)

And of course, a good part of the last 2.5 months has been spent on setting up Mama Shoppe. It is almost like having a new baby. Giving birth to the idea, learning the ropes, consulting with the more experienced, stumbling along... and now, finally, the store is live. Read more about why Mama Shoppe was started here and have fun shopping at our webstore. If you / your friends are expecting a new baby, get them to set up a gift registry. I did not find any online store / department store that offers a gift registry service when I was expecting my boys. It'd be so much easier if one existed then. :)

There's lots more for me to do to get Mama Shoppe in order... uploading products, sourcing for more products, marketing etc. I'll get round to that after I pick Nathan up from school. It's easy to get caught up with work, and I have to constantly remind myself that my main reason for quitting my full time job, is to spend more time with the family. 

Happy Birthday Nathan!

In the weeks leading up to your birthday, mommy's been teaching you to say "two", in response to "how old are you, Nathan"? Initially, you needed some prompting. Now, you are able to respond enthusiastically... "TWO"! Gosh! Mommy's little boy is growing up so quickly. We celebrated your birthday in school with a Cookie Monster cake. Mommy prepared Elmo goody bags, which you had fun giving out to all your friends. Teacher Jaime said you went up to each of your friends, and made sure that everyone had a goody bag to take home.  We also got you another cake so we can celebrate with at home with the family. You had difficulty blowing out your candle, and promptly got daddy to help. And before we even got you to cut the cake, you've already stuck the knife into the cake! Mommy & daddy are so thankful for you, and we continue to pray that you'll grow into a fine young man who'll honour God and remember His grace.

As for presents... mommy & daddy got you a Strider Balance Bike, while por por and gong gong got you a yellow bicycle helmet. The first shop where we got the bike from, didn't have many helmets to choose from. Mommy didn't like the helmets they had there, and wanted to get your helmet from somewhere else. You got really upset when we asked you to take off the helmet that we had let you try on. You were more interested in getting the helmet than the bicycle! After some coaxing (and tears), we finally managed to get you out of the shop, with just the bicycle, no helmet. Thankfully, the second shop we went to had a nice yellow helmet! Now that we've gotten all we need to get you riding, mommy's hoping that you'd be doing stunts on your Strider in no time. :)

At two, you love playgrounds, raisins, swimming, school (most days), Sesame Street, painting, stickers, water play, sand play, roaming around toyrus... 

You are able to string words together and say stuff like...

- I like swimming pool... I like playground...

- More, please?

- Jaime, push, please? (when on the swing)

- Mommy, carry ya (been trying to get you to say 'me' instead of''ya')

- Bye bye gong gong, good night, see you!

- Where is it? Find!

- Daddy, where are you? And this applies to objects too... you'd say things like... bear bear, where are you? playground, where are you?

- Noah, Noah! Noah, Noah! (sounds like you are cheering for Noah)

- Noah, careful.

- Mommy, poo poo, please. (when you want to go on the potty. so far, you are able to tell us AFTER you've poo-ed... but we've not consciously started potty training... 

- ABC AGAIN! (when listening to your nursery rhymes CD in the car, you have a tendency to request for a particular song over and over again. but it's rather amazing, as you can now recognise the intro of each song, and know which song is coming up next. you even know what song comes after which, for the songs that you like)

Vocabulary wise... you are able to name many more objects, like fire engine, dustbin, dinosaur, penguin, balloon, heart, telephone, daiper, train, bus... You are able to sing the entire alphabet song, and count from one to ten. You try counting to twenty, but get the x-teens mixed up. You can also count to ten in mandarin and lao shi's pretty pleased. :) You enjoy music and movement, and can sing several other nursery rhymes including, itsy bitsy spider, butterfly song, mr golden sun, two little dicky birds. You've are able to put on your pants but sometimes you get them on the wrong way around. You are also able to put on your own 'cookie shoes', but sometimes get them on the wrong way around. Mommy's been trying to teach you colours, but we haven't quite succeeded. Whenever we asked you "what colour is this", you'd say "purple" or "yellow". With shapes, you always say "circle". You enjoy sorting and arranging things neatly... It's nice to have a neat freak at home. Cos even though daddy's a hoarder, he rarely has time to sort out his 'treasures'. So if you do become a hoarder too, I hope you'd at least be a neat hoarder... though I think that our house might not have enough space for so many hoarders.

You enjoy playing with Noah and making him laugh. I do hope that when he gets older, and is able to fight over toys with you, you'd still be as loving as ever. It's such a blessing that our home is filled with your laughters. 

Moving on to your third year, there'll be some exciting changes to look forward to. Two major ones would be moving to our new house, and you starting 'big boy school' in 2012. As with all changes, mommy feels excited and apprehensive (mommy's a perpetual worrier). Let's continue to trust that our good God who has blessed us so abundantly will continue to see us through the changes.

22 months old

Dear Nathan,

We're 2 months away from your 2nd birthday. You're growing up so quickly, and I'm already missing the time that has flown by. This month, you've taken to calling 'daddy' very loudly and enthusiastically. You'd stand at the foot of the stairs and yell 'daddy, daddy'! And daddy will respond with, 'yes Nathan'? And you'd smile. So sweet. Mommy's really glad that daddy gets to spend more time with us now that things at work has eased up a little. Some days, daddy works at home and we even managed to take an evening walk together. It was the first time we walked around our estate as a family. Noah and you were riding in the double stroller that the Loh's just gave us... and we were just enjoying the evening breeze as we walked and chatted. Simple joys.

This month, you've added more words to your vocabulary, like 'aeroplane', 'sunshine' and 'shark', and you've also started to sing songs other than 'Baa Baa Black Sheep'. Now, you'd also sing along to 'ABC' and 'Happy Birthday' (in English & Mandarin). I must say that I was pretty surprised when you starting singing in Mandarin. The first bit comes out a bit muffled, but the 'kuai le', you'd sing loud and clear. We hear from chen lao shi that you've also started saying 'xie xie lao shi' lately. I think we must try to converse in Mandarin more often.

You really love watching Sesame Street and you are able to name most of the main characters - 'Big Bird, 'Elmo', 'Cookie', 'Bert', 'Ernie', 'Elephant' (Snuffy), 'Oscar', 'Grover'. Mommy was really excited when I found out that there was going to be a Sesame Street Meet at Greet at the Young Parents' Fiesta. Got you to take your nap so that you'd wake up fresh for the Meet and Greet. But when we got there, we found out that the show has been cancelled as the costumes were stuck with the customs. So disappointing. But mommy's gotten tickets to Sesame Street Live 'Elmo's Green Thumb', and you'd be able to meet all the Sesame Street characters in October. That's something to look forward to.

For the weekends out, we've been to the Art Museum and Singapore Discovery Centre. The Art Museum was having a special children's program this month, so they had many interesting displays that were just right for you. At the Discovery Centre, you got to watch your first movie 'Sammy's Adventure'. It was a 3D show, and you were quite scared initially, cos it really looked like the turtle was crawling towards us. But when we assured you that all is well, you managed to sit thru the entire 40 minute movie. We also brought you to the library to borrow books, and we think we'd make going to the library a routine. The books at the newly opened Clementi library are nice and new, and they have a whole variety. Think it's good to cultivate a love for reading.

Mommy got really worried when you came down with a recurring fever. The fever kept coming back every 24 hours. You'd be fine for the rest of the day, the fever would come on in the evening, subside after I gave you nurofen or paracetamol, and come back again the next evening. It happened 3 days in a row. So we decided to had it checked out. You were really brave and didn't cry when the nurse pricked your finger to draw blood for the tests. Thankfully, it wasn't anything serious, and you recovered soon after.

Mommy and daddy celebrated our wedding anniversary a few day ago. 4 years on, we are a family of 4. We had a lovely dinner at Salt Grill, a restaurant on the 55th storey of Ion Orchard. You enjoyed running up and down the slope in the restaurant, and we all enjoyed the panoramic view of the city.

Mommy is so thankful for how God has blessed our marriage, given us 2 adorable children. I look forward to many good years ahead.

Lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Mommy

To Daddy With Love

I am so thankful that you are the daddy that you are, and I can imagine that if Nathan (and in time, Noah) can blog, these are the reasons why he loves you so much...

1) Daddy is so much fun to be with.  

2) Daddy took baths for me when I was too little for the shower, and now that I am old enough, we enjoy splashing in the shower together.

3) Daddy looks after me when I'm sick, and makes me takes my medicine... even the ones I do not like, so that I will recover faster.

4) Daddy takes me swimming, lets me jump into the water all by myself, and is always there to catch me.

5) Daddy got me lots of Sesame Street videos which I really enjoy watching.

6) Daddy tucks me in bed, and will oblige when I ask him to sleep beside me. And when I wake up crying in the middle of the night , he is there to comfort me.

7) Daddy taught me how to drink from the straw, and he's now teaching me how to drink from a cup. Cheers!

8) Daddy takes me on holidays, and we get to spend lots of time as a family. I enjoyed swimming in the sky pool, eating B&J ice cream, seeing fishes at Underwater World, taking the aeroplane, and lazing by the beach. More holidays please?

9) Daddy feeds me my lunch/dinner, making sure to cut up my food so that the pieces are small enough for me. He also makes sure that there are no bones in the fish, cos bones can't be eaten.

10) Daddy knows that I love milk shake... and when there's not enough to share between mommy and me, he'd buy us another cup.

11) Daddy lets me sit on his head, so that I can have a better view of Elmo and Friends.

12) Daddy makes me a bottle of milk in the mornings, and makes sure that all the Pediasure is properly dissolved so that I do not miss out on the goodness. I just have to have a bottle of milk every morning. :)

But most of all, I love daddy because daddy loves mommy, Noah and me! *HAPPY FACE*

HAPPY DADDY'S DAY!

It's one of those days...

Daddy has been working really long hours the last 3 weeks...  working weekends, and coming home at really odd hours. This morning, he came home at about 6am, was going to shower, then head back to work. I offered to send him to work, like we did yesterday. Yesterday, we dropped Nathan off at school, then sent daddy to work, with Noah in tow. Everything worked out well, and we got to spend that little bit more time together. Today, daddy was running late, and we had to drop him off first, before dropping Nathan off at school. Maybe it was mommy's instincts... I kinda knew that it wasn't that good an idea.

When we arrived at daddy's work place, Nathan was so upset that daddy had to leave for work. He cried when we drove off after dropping daddy. Probably the worst of Nathan's cry that I've ever encountered. Even teddy wasn't of any comfort. He cried, cried, cried... until he vomited his breakfast... in his car seat... all over his school uniform. After a while, he did find comfort in teddy, like how he always does, and stopped crying for the rest of the journey. In fact, he fell asleep just as we were reaching home. Mommy decided that she had to drive us home, take a shower for Nathan, before sending him to school again. And cos the car seat was already dirty, I had to move Noah's infant seat to our other car, so that Nathan can sit in a clean car seat to school. Imagine having to do all these, with Noah in tow. As I was driving home after dropping Nathan, I was just thankful that the day isn't worse than it already is.

To add to my bad day, my office email wasn't working... People were chasing me for replies, and the helpdesk took over an hour to fix the problem.  And dismantling the car seat so that I can get it cleaned is actually quite a challenge. At this point in time, the seat covers and shoulder straps are clean after having gone in the washing machine. I've soaked the seat belts that cannot be removed, and now they are drying out. Have also surface cleaned the rest of the seat. The next challenge is fixing everything back. Yikes!

On such days... I'm just thankful that...

1) I have a very hardworking and loving hubby, who I get to send to work.

2) I have 2 adorable boys that I get to clean up after... and boys who love their daddy so much.
3) We have 2 cars.

4) I have a job.
5) The office helpdesk managed to fix my problem remotely, and I didn't have to bring Noah all the way to the office to get the problem fixed.
6) We own a washing machine.

7) My mom's coming over in a few minutes to share my burden.

Meeting the Teachers

PG2 Table

I had the opportunity to meet with Nathan's teachers during the school's bi-yearly parent-teacher meeting. I love to hear about what he's been up to in school, since that's a side of him that I do not get to see. The last time we got to meet the teachers was about 2 months back, when Nathan 'graduated' from the infant class. Thus far, he's been in playgroup for about 2 months. Transiting from infant group to play group took a little getting used to. The routines were different, they took their naps in a different room, and they are expected to be more independent. Nathan took about a month to settle down. Thankfully, he was still able to nap well despite the new environment, and continues to eat well in school. A few of his friends 'graduated' as the same time as him. So I guess having familiar faces around helped.

Nathan's pigeon hole with loads of purple diapers

Teacher Nor shared that two of Nathan's favourite activities in school is cooking and sand play. I'm not surprised that he likes cooking, since he loves to eat. But I didn't quite expect him to enjoy sand play, since he didn't really like getting his hands dirty, and is pretty fastidious when it comes to mess. I shared that it is so much joy when I see Nathan being able to do something new... things that he picked up from school. Like saying 'please', holding his pencil properly, attempting to sing 'baa baa sheep', and counting from 1 to 10. Also shared that when we ask Nathan 'what number', he always says '2', and when we ask him 'what colour', he always responds with 'purple'. And teacher Nor says she thinks Nathan likes purple (for now), cos that's also the first colour he picks when he's asked to colour a picture. She thinks it might be because of his purple diapers. Ha! As to learning things like holding his pencil correctly, counting etc, teacher Nor believes that Nathan likes to be praised. She praises Nathan when he does it correctly, doesn't force him if he decides that he's not ready to try, but encourages him to, when he's ready. 

Like most kids, Nathan likes knowing in advance what's going to happen next, so the routine in school helps. Teacher Nor says that Nathan knows the routines very well, and is sometimes ahead of her. Mommy's proud of my little boy.

One of Nathan's quirks is that he doesn't like it when his friends touch him. An accidental nudge, or a light tap on his arm... and he'd go "PAIN"! Very funny to watch.

Chen lao shi shared that Nathan has not attempted to speak Mandarin as yet, but is able to take instructions very well. He'd also participate during Chinese lessons, responding with actions/animal sounds etc. I hope that he'd not have as much trouble with the language as I did.

All in all, it sounds like Nathan has settled down well in play group, and is enjoying his time in school. Ms Angela says that the next thing we can look forward to is the school's annual concert. That'll be fun to watch. :)