28 months - graduation

h moved up from toddler class to nursery class this week! we have been prepping her for the change in classroom and teachers and so far she's taken it in her stride.

glad that it's been a generally smooth year at childcare and that she's had good committed teachers that genuinely care for the kids. at this age, it's the care and love from the teachers that matter most. 

when we met the teachers at the year-end parent-teacher session earlier this month (we are pros now!), we were told what we more or less knew about h already. she loves all kinds of physical activities, participates actively in the music and story sessions, is focused during art/craft sessions and is generally a fun kid to have around in class. she still needs to work on sharing stuff but i think it has gotten much better from 6 months ago. the teachers say she's a smart kid and picks up new things very quickly. she also has a kiasu streak in her (uh huh, check out how she hurries to wear her shoes before the hubby every morning so that she wins). 

i think her english teacher is somewhat of a h fan judging by the way she talks about h and how the chinese teacher tells her not to always pick h first for every demo session and said 有些爱, 爱在心里就好! :D oh well, i am all for equal treatment in the classroom ... no point ingraining a top dog mentality now only to have her lose her daring to try new things later on.

it's a pity her chinese teacher and the teacher aide (big 老师) won't be following this bunch up to nursery class ... they are the no nonsense auntie types that children tend to listen to. nonetheless there will be some continuity with teacher s and all her classmates that are familiar friends by now. always enjoy dropping h off because we get to say hi to the other kids too who are also very friendly once they are familiar with you.

28 months - throw away ...

h is at a stage where she doesn't like pictures or stories that show characters as angry, "ugly", being naughty, or getting scolded/bullied. everytime she spots any pictures in her storybooks or toys that depict such scenes, she'll insist that we "throw away" the offending book/toy.

1. spot goes on holiday lift the flap book

there's a picture of a hippo who is annoyed with spot for taking his towel. she insisted that i throw away the book.

2. spot's birthday party where there is an "so ugly crocodile" hiding under a rug. it was also relegated to the dustbin.

3. ELC puzzle where she insisted "the dog's eyes are so big" and didn't want to have anything to do with it.

4. lego mini set of a police and thief where she insisted on throwing away the thief figurine and was most upset that the figurine later surfaced again (because surely we wouldn't throw away 50% of a lego set!!

5. mr greedy goes to lunch where little miss fickle gets VERY MAD at mr greedy for eating all her lunch. she always covers her eyes when we get to that page of the storybook.

she has on several occasions really taken the offending item and dumped it in the dustbin just outside her room. she's that serious about it and has no regrets afterwards. she really has a very decisive and strong-willed streak in her ... perhaps also a strong sense of justice which ain't such a bad thing!

28 months - neighbourhood hangouts

we've been hanging out at nearby spots more often recently which helps cut down on travel time by car and makes it easy for me to bring h out by public transport.

part of the fun is actually in travelling to/from these places. h enjoys the bus rides, counting the passengers getting on and off, waiting for her chance to press the bell ... so we still take the bus sometimes even though it probably takes much more time to get to our destination compared to hopping on the train. when taking the train, she'll help with scanning the transitlink card and press the lift buttons (since we usually bring the pram if we take the train). always glad that she's very well-behaved in public transport even though she's such a hive of activity and raring to go usually. i would probably stay home rather than bring her out if she's difficult to handle.

1. woodlands regional library

multi-storey library at the civic centre next to the woodlands MRT station which has a huge children's section occupying the top floor. h likes the central reading area which is a "grass" patch under a huge tree and surrounded by huge mushrooms  that she enjoys climbing on and jumping off from with no injuries so far (phew!)

one thing great about this place is that it is such a quiet haven compared to causeway point just across the road. plus point - there's a McDonald's just downstairs which we can adjourn to for cup corn and iced milo.

2. sembawang library

is finally open! but it is a horrible journey that we have to take to get to the library because everywhere else in the mall is currently under construction. so everyone has to wait for ONE service lift to get to the library in a drippy dark lift lobby with lots of scaffolding. 

but stepping into the library gets one in a good mood. there's so much space and reading nooks. the children's section is at least twice the size of the old library and it feels so comfortable. a great place to hang out and read.

3. northpoint / yishun library

the lego/duplo play area and lego display outside the brick world store is the main attraction for h here. we are usually happy to oblige since it means a breather  from her usual state of non-stop activity. 

there's also a outdoor (shaded) area that h also likes to run about at ... the green tractor is her favourite there.

the library in the mall is also a pit stop for us.

4. SAFRA yishun

for the wading pool. we brought her there for the first time this week and she really enjoyed herself splashing everywhere and getting used to the ring float. she walked all around the pool like a boss and even learnt how to lean back on her float/water and do a "大" with her body. we were fortunate that there was a bout of strong sunshine in the morning such that the water was not too chilly even though the sky got overcast around 11ish. we will probably be back when the weather is warmer and the days are less wet. all that water play made for a very tired h who would have fallen asleep immediately getting into the car if not for us keeping her awake (which made for quite a funny video) and later slept for a good 2+ hours. plus point - there's a McDonald's next door for fuelling up either before or after the pool session.

5. orchid country club

somewhat out of the way, but there is lots of space for running around, and it is relatively quiet even on weekends. the club cafe serves decent food and has a pretty view of the golf course. 

also, the NTUC supermarket there is usually empty which means we have no qualms pushing around the supermarket trolley that tends to be a hassle in the more crowded supermarkets. h loves picking out stuff from the shelves ... and sometimes we have trouble sneaking unwanted items back onto the shelves/chilled section because she has an elephant memory and does a trolley spot check every few minutes. we usually land up getting a few bottles of yoghurt drinks too many which is probably not so bad. we also let her pick out 1-2 treats each time for herself which teaches her how to prioritise and also exercise some self control. 

27 weeks - stretching skin

hello again, painful spots of skin at the top of my tummy. :( looks like there's still no escaping them the second time around!

---

always get asked whether i have food cravings, but my boring answer has always been no, not really. the hubby has never had to do a food run for me ... even when i was expecting h. if i HAD to pin down what pregnancy cravings i have had this time round, it would be spicy food in general. have been gravitating towards spicy options when eating out - curry noodles (ah heng chicken curry noodles), laksa (EAT and any other breakfast place with that option), ramen with spicy broth (marutama), tom yum tang hoon (brastagi), otah in my economic bee hoon - but that's probably as far as my "cravings" go. 

28 months - trampolining

had a play date at the AMPED trampoline park at jurong over the weekend and h was looking forward to it ever since we told her about it on wednesday. in fact, she even teared up on thursday morning when she realised she was going to school rather than the trampoline park that day. but afterwards she was happy enough counting down the days to the weekend.

being on a trampoline is not new to her as there is one in her school, but having a whole school hall filled with adjacent trampoline beds is a whole new ball game! needless to say, she had loads of fun bouncing everywhere, stopping only to take water breaks. in fact, this energizer bunny outlasted even the dads and other older kids who were all ready to get out of the play area when the hour slot was up. she would have gone in again if we let her!

was glad the area was air conditioned, otherwise h would have been even sweatier and stickier than she was after an hour's worth of jumping. the hubby would probably be in a lousy mood too. 

also pleased that i managed to take quite a few priceless videos from the session! 

with energy spent, we checked out the open house abrakadoodle art studio for kids where h made a really cute snowman from random scraps of paper. 

had lunch with cw/c and their 2 kids at some taiwanese eatery with full view of the jcube ice skating rink and olaf who made a guest appearance. the minced meat rice and pig trotters noodles we ordered were surprising good and h demolished her share of my rice/egg/fatty pork!

also got to see h trying her best to share and understanding the concept of taking turns ... she probably kept to her side of the bargain by allowing j to have the coveted Spider-Man lego car during his turn while she played with his other toys ... but when she thought he had had his turn and he refused to let her have the car, she cried like there was no justice. heh. don't exactly blame her though since in her mind, it should have already been her turn. will probably still need her to learn that sometimes events don't unfold according to the rulebook even though she had followed the "rules". hard but important lesson.

26 weeks - the good sized baby

weight is piling on more slowly this time around ... 68.0kg (+1kg after a month) even though i feel like i have been on an eating spree this past 2 weeks. 

first thing our doc said after i told him about the back feeling all better was "yup you look much better ... looks like pregnancy suits you!" uh-huh, i think i knew that since the first time. 

we got confirmation yet again that there's a very good sized baby in the oven. 981g based on the scan. what to do, big sized babies will probably run in this family given that both of us are tall. doc said baby's gender was also a factor.

given my back issue and the prolonged induction process with h (which could mean second time round may be just as long!), he was trying to prep us for a c-section eventuality. but a big part of me prefers delivering naturally again if the back continues its good run ... plus baby is head down and based on past experience, will likely stay head down for the rest of the pregnancy. it's a sign. although if the back gives trouble between now and EDD, we will of course choose the safer option of a c-section and i will try not to feel any regrets.

28 months - quotes and current peeves

"powowo". she says this but actually wants to say "pororo". this also means tries to correct me when i say "powowo" by saying "po----wo----wo" very slowly by way of teaching me the "right" pronunciation and beams at me and says "YES!" when i say "pororo"

"sssss-co-weee" for chloe and "orpato" for oswaldo ... the new kids in her class.

"the problem is no battery!" when asked what was causing the ipad to be unusable.

after trying to tell me at least 4 times with an earnest face and big eyes that "auntie dawn buy me the peppa pig toy" only to have me repeat it as "we didn't buy the peppa pig toy", she looks at me when i finally get it and says "you forgot her name ah??"

"you are not going to work ah?!" when i put on my shorts/tshirt on weekday mornings even when she is dressed for school.

"this is a nonsense story!" after i tell her about a boy who lands up face down in his lunch because he didn't sleep enough the night before.

"papa, mummy, h, didi. FOUR!" when i ask her how many people stay in our house. she also names and and can count everyone who stays in her grandparents' and g-grandma's homes.

she hates it if the car moves before she puts on her seatbelt. she will also ask me "have you put on your seatbelt?" "you want me to help you?" 

she can remember and press the password access codes for the ipad and her grandma's iphone. she will tell me "don't say!" if i mention the codes as she is keying them in because she wants to hao lian.

"this is your doctor also??" when we visit the nearby RMG clinic instead of dr w.

"don't ask me so many questions" when i ask more than 2 questions about what happened at school.

"are you feeling better? i feed you medicine ok?" when she comes into our bedroom in the morning after we tell her the night before that my back is pain.

.... more to come as this month rolls on!

gravid

gravid - pregnant; distended with or full of eggs. 

first time today hearing someone use the word "gravid" to describe 3rd trimester/late stage pregnancy. it's such a serious sounding word! aiya, just say heavily pregnant lah. anyway, am not planning to go anywhere near looking distended or full of eggs anytime during this pregnancy! and the goal seems do-able from this 24+ week mark.