Color match!

From our BKK trip 2 weeks back, I bought Ash and I a pair of matching plain v-neck tees so we can finally have decent matching outfits without appearing too corny. As I prepared our outfits for the morning prayer session (Hubs' maternal grandpa's death anniversary, Hubs realised he has got one to match us too! )



here's me pointing to her cheeks and trying to get her to smile at the camera



finally getting a decent shot

pleased as punch when I let her hold the cold can of coke



here's one with Hubs

Later in the day, after a trip to my parents', we brought her on an impromptu trip to the OCC. Hubs' friend is a member of the place and since he's bringing his children along, he asked if we are interested in joining them.

Ash looking apprehensive at the entrance of the playground, probably wondering what awaits her...

Hubs putting on the compulsory bib (forgot what the actual term for this is) for her

What did she see?

This! pointed this out and said to me, "Elmo! Big Bird!"

got all excited about picking up balls once she's inside the playground

this little structure takes in the sponge balls from the side, where Ash is putting the balls in, and blows it up from the top, scattering the balls everywhere

Hubs sneaking in a little rest

Ash was already getting off this ride when I shouted "mummy take picture~" but she got back to it and posed for me



Song and dance

Finally, the actual day of the Mid-Autumn Festival is here! Ash has reached an age where she is able to hold her own lanterns (she has at least 6! and none of them are bought by Hubs or me) and appreciate the celebration (by running around).

Every year, the temple in my neighbourhood will have a BBQ celebration and since my parents are part the committee, we are always asked to come join in the celebration and just hang out. The activities normally consists of KTV singing (mostly oldies to cater to the older crowd) on a stage, BBQ-ing, playing with candles ... Ash seemed to soak in the atmosphere quite well and kept running here and there and even danced to the KTV songs! Glad she's enjoying her 2nd Mid-Autumn Festival so well with all her cousins.

"Reach for your lantern!"

"Kor kor/lantern, don't run!"

"Jamie, won't you come join in the fun?"

trying to get a shot of them together

still trying ... not easy with kids

Tadah! Finally getting it right!

Hubs giving Ash "the look" when she misbehaved

watching the action from a safe distance

Dancing to the oldies!

Today happens to be my mum's actual birthday too so I guess she was really happy to see all her grandchildren there and us having a big reunion celebrating both the festival and her birthday.

Happy Birthday, Mummy/Po Po! We all love you lots!

Happy Birthday, Po po! and Mid-Autumn Festival with the girls

Had a family dinner with my parents and the rest to celebrate my mum's birthday which falls on 12th Sept (Mon). Had dinner at this cheap and good Thai restaurant at Yishun and everyone enjoyed the food even though it was a bit of a rush. Everyone (well, almost) had something to rush to after the dinner and the waiting time for an available table took quite a while as there were 12+2 of us! Ash even managed to finish her porridge while waiting. Haha ...

For us, we were rushing home because I had made arrangements with the girls to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in advance at my place and the park below. I was hoping for Ash to join in the fun since she's of age now, unlike last year where we had to help her hold the lanterns and she can only look on while the older children had their fun. She was also sick last year and didn't manage to stay for long outdoors.

However, towards the end of the dinner, she fell asleep! My dad took her on the 2 kiddy rides available there (only 20cents each! where can you find them nowadays?!) and upon the 3rd time, she was already nodding her head off. Fell asleep in my dad's arms and totally KO for the night. Oh, too bad she can't join in mummy's fun with the aunties/jiejies.

Had some fun with the girls at the park with our old school lanterns and whistling sparklers before we went up to my place for some mooncake and tea. The girls went off early, seeing how everybody was so tired and I had to take care of Ash who awoke around midnight, crying to be cuddled to sleep...

in the mood for some photos earlier in the day

 

Happy in her ride



birthday song came and went with the KO-ed Ashley



Happy Ah Ma with Jamie





Taking care of the little one

As Ash had been down with virus over the past 2 weeks, she hasn't dropped by my mum's place. Since she's up and about and ready to rock and roll, we brought her to my mum's on a rare Wednesday evening (she doesn't come over on weekdays unless it's for special occasions but I guess Ash being well is considered special enough!) to play with Jamie. Both of them seemed to click well and will appear to be rather excitable once they see each other. Tonight is no exception.

Ash patting Jamie's butt and looking under her romper when my mum asked Ash, “妹妹又没有小便？”(Did little baby sister pee?)

Jamie tagging on Ash's tee and wanting to catch her attention but Ash wanting to brush her off :s

helping to feed Jamie when it's time for her milk

Jamie finishing the milk under big Jiejie's supervision

Both of them will shriek at and sayang each other whenever they meet. Ash will always call out "Mei mei! Mei mei! Ah-Mi (Jamie)! Mei mei!" while Jamie will always grin her toothless grin and chuckle her soundless chuckle. That, is what always set me thinking if I should give Ash a sibling sooner than later.

Tremendous Two

Ash is at an age where the tots will just surprise you anytime, anywhere with their sudden knowledge/understanding of things around them. I wouldn't call this period the 'Terrible Twos', rather, I would call it the 'Tremendous Two'. Tremendously active, tremendously curious, tremendously cute, tremendous learning. They learn so much and do so much during this period that can totally melt your heart (either thru anger or ultimate cuteness, depending on how you look at it).

The few incidents recently that showed how much my baby has grown and learnt:

Situation: Weekend mornings (7ish) when Hubs and I just wanted to stay in bed a little longer:

Ash, opening her eyes: " Meemeee, meemeee, Daddddy"
Me: "Baby, mummy tired, can you let mummy rest a little while more?"
Ash, from a standing position back to lying position : "Yest (rest)..."

Back when she was much younger, she will just scream and call and won't stop till we pick her up from the cot. But now that she understands conversations and instructions, she will continue to play with her blanket, talk to her soft toys, roll around a little in the cot for at least 10-15 minutes more before she will call out to us again. On good days, she just roll around and falls asleep for a while more.

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Random days, she will just reach up to our photo frames (peppered around the house), takes one down and starts pointing out the people one by one, calling their names out audibly and lovingly, letting me know that she knows who the people in the photos are. Photos used to be just pictures to her (I think) but now, they mean so much more.

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Situation: Me, being the usual clumsy self, will knock onto things and  gives out a yelp whenever that happens. She will then soothe me in a way that mirrors what we do to her whenever she's in pain:

Me: "Ouch! Pain..."

Ash, touching the area where I'm in pain: "Yang (Sayang) ...."

Sometimes she accompanies that with a sympathetic "Wooo...." or even a kiss. Awwwwww.

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Situation: Me, wanting her to keep her toys after playing and her, just wanting to run off after being distracted by other activities.

Me: "Ashley, please keep your toys before you bring your book out/watch TV/(insert whatever activity that she is distracted by)"

Ash, walking away: "No..."

Me: "But mummy already said please, so can you do it for mummy?"

Ash continues to ignore.

Me: "OK, so next time when you say please, mummy don't listen to you or help you OK?"

Ash rushes off to do whatever I have instructed earlier on.

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Situation: All along, Ash has the habit of walking (pun unintended) into our walk-in wardrobe just to sit down in a corner or to look at my necklaces, but not touching and sifting through the clothes. Until recently.

Me, looking at Ash sift through the clothes laboriously: "Why baby, you choosing clothes for Daddy?"

Ash, nodding and continuing her actions.

Me: "So, what do you want Daddy to wear?"

Ash, after a moment's pause, pointed at a particular Tee-shirt: "This!"

Me: "You want Daddy to wear this? Sure?"

Ash, nodding vigourously: "Yes! Take!"

Me to Hubs (who has just stepped out of the shower): "Eh, your daughter wants you to wear this out."

Hubs to me: "Don't bluff, sure or not?"

Hubs to Ash: "You want Daddy to wear this?"

Ash *nod nod head*

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Situation: We have this impression that Ash doesn't really understand Mandarin since we always speak to her in English. We do make efforts to try to pepper Mandarin here and there but we didn't think she has a grasp of the language yet because she hasn't shown any response towards it. Anyways on Sunday, my parents and I brought her to the supermarket and:

My mum, handing out Heinz juice (in a little glass jar) to Ashley but talking to me: (in Mandarin) "So she drinks this brand of juice right? Shall we buy a couple of bottles for her?"

Me, sensing that Ash's outstretched hands are almost taking the jar: (in Mandarin) "Mum, don't pass it to her, she will drop it."

Ash, suddenly squatting down and patting the floor, and not wanting to take the jar anymore: "Orh, drop. Drop."

My mum and me stared at each other and exclaimed together: (in Mandarin) "She understands Mandarin!"

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Situation: All along I've been calling my MIL at certain intervals of the day to see how Ash is doing and will attempt to talk to her. Most of the times, it's a one-way conversation until recently.

Ash, on picking up the phone: "Harloooo (in a coffeeshop aunty kinda way)...."

Me: "Hello Ashley/En en, call mummy?"

Ash: "Meemee...."

Me: "Where (is) mummy?"
Ash: "Erk (work)!"

Me: "Daddy?"

Ash: "Erk (work)!"

Me: "Da gu (XY)?"

Ash: "Gai gai (galivanting) ...."

Me: "OK, good girl, say 我爱你"

Ash: " 爱你...."

Me, melting: "OK, love you too baby, Byebye"

Ash: "Byebye!"

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And her 1st two sentences are ...

So, the little imp has started speaking 2-word phrases for a few weeks now. Things like, "peaceee (please) mummy", "ang cute (thank you) mummy/kaka/daddy", "Elmo sleep/yest (rest)", "meemee sit/chorchor", "bus (brush) teeth", etc.. Naturally, we were wondering if her sentence-forming day could be any time soon and were eagerly anticipating it.

And so, it finally happened. Yesterday and today! Ancedotes to follow:

For the longest time now, she has turned into one of those iPad/iPhone kids who knows that these gadgets are their best video-churning friend and had always turned to her Daddy, thrusting the gadget into his hands, chanting "Daddiii Momo (Elmo)" and doing a little dance with her hands waving up and down (somewhat like the little dance Elmo does at the very beginning of every Elmo's world Video).

Yesterday was somewhat different. She picked up Hubs phone and tugging at Hubs' tee, said... "Daddii, I want to watch Elmo..."

Hubs threw me a look and asked, "Did you hear that??"
Me: "Yah... I think she said 'Daddy, want watch Elmo' right?"
Hubs: "NOO! she said a full sentence! She said 'Daddy I want to watch Elmo'!!"
Me: "No kidding?! You sure??"

Apparently her "I" and "to" was so soft I missed it but still, her first sentence, finally!

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Today, as usual, I dropped by my in-laws to visit Ash (she's been down with a flu for a while now, another story for another day) and according to my SIL, Amanda, Ash said her 2nd sentence today.

In the afternoon, Amanda was trying to play with her while my MIL was taking a break. She sat down beside Ash and tried stroking Ash on the arm. According to her, it was a slight stroking that was supposed to warrant Ash's attention. Ash moved her arm away slowly and said, "Don't touch me..."! Paraphrased from Amanda's words (jokingly), "Wah! Made me so angry! Ask me not to touch her! Moved her hands away somemore"

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And there you go, my baby Ash's two sentences! With me missing both of them. Aw shucks. Apparently, I wasn't the only one sore about missing the moments. I whatsapp-ed her favourite Da-gu (XY), who went to Dubai to work just a couple of days ago, about these moments and she exclaimed: "Wahhh! Must she talk so much only when I've just left?! Really...."

Hope to capture the 3rd sentence moment!



Bugged by virus

Ash is once again a little bogged down by cold virus but she's been recovering well. Just that the persistent runny nose is taking quite some time to clear. Due to this, she's been rather clingy when I bring her home on weekends. No matter who we are with, she would always want to make sure I'm there as well and would randomly call out "Mummy, mummy..." in a very 'sai nai' (coquettish) manner. But I'm not complaining! I'm actually revelling in this period of time since this is the most clingy she has gotten to me since birth. And she's already 20 months old now! Abit late right! But better than never. All along she's been a rather independent and highly adaptable child so it's good for me to feel so wanted as a mummy once in a while :)

These 2 days, she's been wanting to go out for walks a lot more often. She didn't use to ask me to bring her for walks previously but these 2 weeks, she's been holding my hands, taking her shoes and asking me to bring her go "gaigai/walk walk" at random times. Like, mid-afternoon, evening, pre-dawn 4ish in the middle of sleep ._. Told you it's random.

3rd Sep mid-afternoon - trying to imitate what I just did moments ago

3rd Sep evening ard 7ish - brought her down to the ma-ma shop and bought some biscuits

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Since I can't bring Ash over to my mum's (because I didn't want Jamie to catch whatever leftover virus Ash still has), I decided to pay my grandma a visit with my parents and Ash. It's been a while since we dropped by and I thought it a good idea to let Ash see her great-grandma more often as I want her to appreciate and acknowledge this superb grandma of mine.

All ready to go meet Gongx2 and Pox2 for breakfast in her cute outfit - my sis got the tshirt from BKK

taking a while to warm up (warm up time takes longer the older she is) to my uncles and grandma before letting her guard down

Trip to the Botanic Gardens

One of our friends have been suggesting playdate for our children for the longest time but Ashley hasn't been able to join in either because she has other engagements already (yes, she's a busy bee!) or she's sick. We finally have the chance to say yes now because everything looks good for that day! Was supposed to be a playdate for 4 families but one family (Stanley and family) can't make it so it was down to 3: Weixian, Shujuan & Shihan and Siwei, Lixia, Dylan & Baby Evan and us.

It was supposed to be a "painting" outing for the little ones and my friend, Shujuan, very kindly volunteered to bring along children-friendly paint and drawing paper for them. We (more like Hubs lah), on the other hand, prepared some sandwiches to share. The weather was superb for the day's activities, sunny and windy, perfect for the kids to indulge in some outdoor fun :)

We seemed the least prepared among all ... Shujuan and Lixia both brought their children's colouring materials whereas we totally forgot to bring Ash's :S and Lixia even brought along Dylan's bubble gun for some fun. Only consolation is we brought sandwiches, cloth and water for cleaning up.

Ash really seemed to enjoy herself as she loves running around, doodling and bubbles. Seems like the perfect outing for her! :)

the little troopers having fun with the paint

Shi Han - Weixian's and Shujuan's princess

Dylan here with Lixia

my little budding painter - yes, she's a lefty!

Hubs putting on his best expression for the photo

Hubs teaching Ash how to use the sponge stamp

here's looking at ya!

the happy ones with the bubbles

I must say it is a rather enjoyable trip and I hope to bring Ash back there again. I promise to be more well-prepared! :)

1st trip to the Zoo!

Been wanting to bring Ash to the Zoo for the longest time but have been procrastinating have not been able to find the right time to do it due to various reasons: lousy weather / sickly chubs / occupied with other activities / insert other lousy excuses valid reasons. Recently, Hubs' company provided Zoo passes to their staff but only catch is that you have to ballot for it. Hubs was lucky to get 3 passes as his colleagues who have gotten it couldn't make it this weekend.

We can finally go on our long-awaited Zoo trip! Together with another colleague and his family, we trotted off to Zoo under the hot (but not scorching) weather with our 2 little tots in tow. (You can click on the pictures to see them more clearly):

Ash's 1st ice-cream! We let her eat 80% of it because it was so hot and we wanted to cool her down.
She was elated!



Happy camper guarding her treat really fiercely

 

Took her a little while to warm up to the water area

Because we seldom let her play with water (with the exception of bathtimes), she didn't dare play with the water when we brought her to the kids play area (Kidz Rainforest?). We had to keep coaxing her to touch the water, and engage her before she finally took to it. And boy when she started, she didn't wanna stop! We really had to practically pull her away from the area to shower her. Though she was reluctant to leave, we were lucky she didn't throw a nasty tantrum. 

Enjoying the water play!

requesting for a "cake" (muffin) after shower

having some fun with Daddy while making our rounds

After the water play, we were just in time for a Rainforest Animal Show. She was entertained by the monkeys and was excited upon seeing them. However, towards the end, she was so zonked out she couldn't concentrate very well and was almost nodding off. When the show finally ended, she totally KO-ed in my arms. For somemore who can't sleep under hot conditions, she is one super tired baby to have fell asleep there and then. Luckily Hubs brought her pram along so we could actually let her sleep in there for a while while we grabbed a bite.

We left the Zoo rather early, around 4ish because everybody was rather tired out, partly because of the weather and partly due to the active tots.

Very good experience and I can't wait to go back there again (I've always loved going to the Zoo!)! But Hubs did mention that he would like to wait till Ash can appreciate more before we drop by again so we shall see! :)