5 months - got milk?

that "what do you mean there's no more milk??!" look that he gives me after every 7oz milk feed. like he isn't already eating more than his milk monster sister ever did. i have a nagging feeling that he is ready for solids but we will hang in there till next month before we start!

SG50 long exhausting weekend

end july up to the long national day weekend was kind of a crazy period for me in terms of handling baby n. 

he went back to waking up in the middle of the night after a night spent at the in-laws' and refusing to settle sometimes, which drove sleep-deprived exhausted me into a grumpy snappy state. later found that it was much easier to have him drink from a bottle in his cot (since he can now hold his own bottle) and then have him fall asleep on his own with a full tummy instead of being half-satisfied with whatever milk he was getting by latching on. 

over the long national day weekend with the hubby gone for a short trip with his parents, the plan was to camp out at my parents' place with the kids so that there would be extra helping hands but n was quite moody and sleeping with him in the same room at my parents' home made for very bad sleep for me (the reason why i insist on having the kids in a separate room from very early on!!) such that i decided to haul him home after a night's stay and just go it alone with him while h stayed on at my parents' place. that weekend couldn't have passed faster. plus the hubby missed his flight home and arrived a day later and at that point i was so prepared to kill someone already.

still, managed to get out of the house for some interesting activities that kept h happy. we spent some time wandering around the clark quay area on national day after a heavy buffet lunch. we were all patriotically decked in red and white ... it's probably the first time in a long long while that i have been so enthusiastic about being in national colours. usually i don't bother. 

the day after was spent catching the last day of the national museum's masak masak season. h loved the "wood cut" section which included inked stamps that the kids could use to stamp all over pieces of paper, the colourful wanderlust installation as well as some sections of the 700 years of Singapore exhibition which was also closing that day, such as the old-school playground installation which included a merry go round which the children were more interested to push rather than to sit on (we don't have these in the playgrounds nowadays!) also finally tried out the good food at food for thought. i like how the seating area is filled with natural lighting from the sun coming in through the glass ceiling and sides of the museum.

all in all i was so glad that the long weekend was over and i could have some peace and quiet at home from tuesday. am sure i wasn't the only parent feeling a little jagged and worn out that SG50 weekend. as a stay-home mum for now, weekdays are definitely the more sane part of the week. weekends can be fun but they are OH SO TIRING!!! 

36 months - DANCE!

signed h up for a trial dance class at the recently opened dancepointe academy near our home as we were exploring some kind of physical activity for her to let off some of her energy on weekends, and she was all interested and excited from the moment i mentioned "ballet lessons" to her. perhaps it had to do with me drawing references to the peppa pig episode where peppa goes for ballet lessons, but it was nice to see her enthusiasm. also thought dance lessons would help with encouraging good posture which is something i have come to appreciate after the slipped disc incident.

she couldn't wait for saturday afternoon to come and was so cooperative that morning. brought her to have a peek at the dance studio that morning so that it wouldn't be too foreign to her and she got a glimpse of some of the older girls having their class. later on we would have this conversation when i was tying up her hair just before class:

me: i tie two ponytails for you ok? (her standard hairstyle as her hair is too short for a single ponytail)

h: no, one. all the big girls have one ... aiya ok lah two two.

me: your hair isn't long enough for one ponytail. next time you ask porpor not to cut your hair so short ok.

h: it's not porpor, it's the cheche in the shop!

she even checked if i tied the ponytails well afterwards, which she doesn't do usually.

she also asked a lot of questions about whether the other kids would tie their hair and what they would be wearing and whether they would be wearing leggings as well. 

anyway she had a ball of fun (see video) and was really keen to go back the next weekend. i got to sit in to watch her during the lesson and i think she was able to follow the instructions and steps quite well considering that it was quite a fast paced lesson. she also remembered the moves for the alphabet song when i got her to show them to the hubby the next day. not bad!

think we will sign her up for a term and see how it goes. seeing how interested she is, i think i can also use that as a bribe for good behavior. DOUBLE SCORE! haha.

http://youtu.be/BBBnJfNrXgI