Book Week

Book week in school and the children are to come dressed in their favorite book character. As usual, the adults are more excited than Chloe, which means I'm searching for the character. The hunt begins... She has so many favorite books, favorite meaning she asked to read the same book 10 times non-stop on a loop for a week, maybe more. And every time you ask her to get a book, she whips out the same book.

Ta-dah! The book she read to death. And I think in a way, she do have that impish streak in her like the little princess.

The book given by Auntie Desiree, she so love and read to death, a little torn and tattered but still greatly treasured.

'The Princess' looking every bit high and mighty, giving her most sullen look.

Chloe wearing my white t-shirt back to front, with the collar stitched and the ends hemmed up a few inches. Simon made her the crown which fits to a T, custom made. All ready to leave the Royal Household for school!

Happy Birthday Mama!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!

A happy mama and a very excited Chloe, who can't wait to poke the candles into the cake, sing mama a song, cut her cake and eats it.

A birthday kiss for mama!

Hmmm... at long last, tucking into the awfully yummy chocolate cake.

Potty Trained

We had this nice pink potty sitting in our bathroom looking pretty and another mini 'throne' in her bathroom, both just sitting there looking pretty, collecting dust for the longest time. Well, she knows how to go potty since she was really excited over her fancy potty for a while and was practicing how to go about it but just refuses to do it, preferring the convenience of dumping her waste into her pull ups.

The day (19 April 2009) she pulled off her pull ups and fling it 3m away, declaring,'NO! I DON'T WANT TO WEAR MY PULL UPS!' Gosh, I thought she was having one of her meltdowns and I was just so tired to deal with it but who knows, she surprises me.

Me: Why not?! You don't know how to go potty!

Chloe: NO PULL UPS!!

Me: FINE! You wear your panties and if you want to pee, go to the potty. OK?

That's it! We had a little dramatic exchange and voila, she was potty trained in a day. Hey girl, we should have this conversation earlier. Ha! And I'm so proud of you.

Spotty Boy

After a week of high fever, sleepless nights and clueless about what strike this time round, the truth is out today. Raphael's fever finally broke this morning and he is covered with red spots. It is roseola. Chloe got it when she was 6 months old and I remembered how between Simon and I, we coaxed and struggled with syringes of fever med down her throat. So here he is, definitely a happier baby!

Wheels and balls

So girls go wild over dolls and pink and boys over balls and wheels? Raphael gets very excited over the 2 rides at home and though he is not tall to leg paddle by himself, he gets his kicks chewing them at the moment. He likes unconventional teething stuff and I have given up buying teething rings for him so he chews plastic chicken drumsticks, hotdogs, fries and whatever he picks from the mini kitchen set, he knows where to find the goodies. Back to the wheels, today he chased after Chloe squealing as she drove around the hall. Yes, he is now fighting for his share of toys and claiming his territories too.

He wants a ride everyday so I put him on and push him round. He has a routine round the playroom, sort of a circuit. He would start with the kitchen, works his jaws with the rubber toys then go on to the books, pulling them off the shelf, so we read a few books. When his interest wears off, he moves on to my Ikea chair to practice his standing and walking, swing over to the bouncer for more jaw exercises. Then the rides, some window viewing and end up in his favorite corner with the barn.

Chloe is very generous with her car today. This is one of her favorite toy which she plays everyday without fail, driving to her 'supermarket'.

'And it is also my favorite...'

Baking again

We are baking again! My sister revived that baking bug by sending me a blog that leads to many more blogs with so many recipes and great looking cakes and cookies and the so yummy pictures makes me want to bake and eat them up! Glutton.

We made a batch of 'Oatmeal Cookies' and an 'Orange Yogurt Cake' today. Here's my little helper, helping to mess around in the kitchen.

Chloe waiting for the cookie batter to be mixed after helping to measure out all the ingredients. Her mixing is a little scary, Tornado Spoon on rummage, we maybe left with half the batter if she keeps on so Sri takes over to save our cookies.

Spooning the dough onto the greased tray. 'Can I make a biiiig one?'

We are almost done...

All ready for the oven! The right half is by Chloe and the left half by my helper. She is so proud of her work, exclaiming 'I did it!', when I told her it's ready for the oven.

The baked cookies.

Enjoying her fruit of labor, fresh from the oven!

Our loaf of Orange Yogurt Cake!

Explorer

He took me by surprise again. He was digging into the toy box kneeling on both knees then one knee for the past week and today he was on his feet, cruising. He has been grabbing on to chairs, railings, pushing himself up against walls and steps, basically anything. Oh boy, oh boy... the fun is here.

Hmm... what's good here? Where's my favorite catalogue?

This is it! Must be! Feels like it.

Got it! It's not my all time favorite but it will do. Ha! You think I'm going to read it? Chew it!

Raphael does not like 'baby toys' meaning toys meant for him, his age. He prefers the big kids stuff, the musical instrument, bike, whatever Chloe is playing and all remote controls and hand phones (I think all babies love these). They are more fun and definitely taste better.

He's good at treasure hunting too and this means I have twice the amount to clean up. 2 hurricanes in a room.

Us

When you have a little free time with a happy boy and the cheeky girl is not around, what do you do? You fooled around with the camera...

In the bathroom, dancing and snapping away.

Just the 2 of us...

My A380

I can hear Lego block being thrown in exasperation, shouts for help and finally a girl covered in perspiration coming out from the room, with a frown and stamping her feet. She was holding a structure, she called 'airplane'. Okay, from the look of it (4th from left) it is far from being an 'airplane'. But wow! She was never interested in assembling her blocks, she normally 'fries' them in her kitchen. So she pulls me to the room to help fix whatever is driving her nuts and I got a shock....

I was greeted with these 4 airplanes! Ahem, from left, mine (the biggest and nicest! With wheels and wings!!), hers, Dad's and Raphael's. I was nothing but full of praises and hugs, going silly over her work. I can't believe she did it all by herself. :)

'Mummy, this is your airplane. Is it nice?' Gulp, nice? It's perfect! Don't you think so? Aww... my private jet, finally!

She modified my airplane later on, adding these 2 flowers. Sweet...