Botanical Gardens

It was a fine morning and a good day to go to the Botanical Gardens. A couple of bird watchers had their super big and pro cameras all set up, lenses pointing up at a tree and about to shoot some amazing photos when the following happened:

All the birds flew away. The bird-lovers could only look dejectedly at one another, and carried their heavy cameras to another spot. Sorry guys!

Scene 2: A Causasian couple was enjoying the serenity, reading their papers when a hurried "SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!" startled them.

Looking up, they commented, "What a good way to track an active child!" Haha, Mama So had intended to buy a pair of silent shoes but there were too many people at Bata that day, plus Xuan was rather grouchy that day to choose properly.

We went on to feed the fish. Xuan is very generous with her fish food (bread), sometimes tearing too big a piece for the fish to swallow. And we saw a HUGE soft shell turtle! (鳖bie1)

On to the grass patch...and run like the wind!

Another happy day at the Botanical Gardens!

Happy Chinese New Year 2009

Colin's first ang pow~

(at Mama's HCJC track gathering. Great seeing u guys!)

Happy family~

Haha...Xuan gets the ang pow but Mama is the ultimate "winner" :P

Xuan's new (annoying) hobby

First day of school

My 2 little darlings

They do look alike, my 2 little darlings :) (Hmmmm Chern's hair seem to be a little long now)

Innate sisterly love :):) The Pooh bear is given to Chern by Xuan, which is her favourite bedtime buddy, cos he was crying. And the Pooh bear, coincidently, is a souvenior from LA Disneyland which was bought during Papa and Mama's honeymoon trip :):)

Imaginary tea party

She can climb the ladders quite confidently now. Toyed with the idea of enroling her in Tumbletots but lazy mommy thinks that playground and rolling on the bed is good enough :P

Long ring fingers

Mama So made an interesting discovery today: Baby Colin's ring fingers are longer than his index fingers!

Right hand

Left hand

Papa So says Mama So is "very free". Well, the reason why it's of any interest to me is because this was on Yahoo News:

"Researchers at the University of Cambridge in England report that men with longer ring fingers, compared to their index fingers, tended to be more successful (in high-actively trading that calls for risk-taking and quick reactions in the frantic high-frequency trading) in the London financial district......The same ring-to-index finger ratio has been associated with success in competitive sports such as soccer and basketball...

...The length ratio between those two fingers is determined during the development of the fetus and the relatively longer ring finger indicates greater exposure to the male hormone androgen, the researchers noted......Previous studies have found that such exposure can lead to increased confidence, risk preferences, search persistence, heightened vigilance and quickened reaction times..."

Let's see if it's really true in 30 yrs' time ;)

Cute little boy

One of Mama So's fav :)

"Huh?"

"Hi!"

Can you guess which one is Melody and which is Colin?

Chuckling

Little boy is chuckling and coo-ing and charming all the ladies. Whenever I carry him on my shoulders, he attracts the attention of people behind me with his bobbing head and I hear a lot of "So cute!" and "How old is he?" when I do turn around. He's going to be a heart breaker when he grows up! :P

The fact that didi is here to steal attention away is setting into Melody. Being sick recently, she is really whining for me everyday and refusing everyone else :(

Her toilet training is going well, she accepts her "little potty cover" on our toilet bowl happily and always claps after she finishes her business. She has her own fashion sense now and we let her exercise her "independence" by offering her choices ("Which pants do u want to wear? A or B?"). She sang "Rain, rain, all the way (yes she sings it that way), come again another day, little Melody/Mummy wants to play guitar" when we were playing last night. I'm amazed that she is grasping her grammar [动]+[名] subconsciously and forming phrases correctly. She has other "funny" sentences though, like “妈妈坐椅子这个”. I should really make a conscious effort to capture the way her speech is evolving.

Botanical Gardens

We went to the Botanical gardens today! Strolling in the park early in the morning feels good. Just taking in the fresh air and enjoying the greenery is so refreshing. When xuan grows a bit older, we can probably bring a canvas for her to draw. For now it's still simple activities like sitting in the pram :S (she refused to run around) and feeding the fish.

In the afternoon we went to the library, and she seem to be more active there. We have raised a potential book lover! :) After reading for a while xuan decided to be neat and stack up the books, whether or not Papa So is still reading his book...and dunno why she has to go one big round the table.

没良心的妈妈

Where to sit

We all have our places in the car, and xuan has the spatial intelligence to visualize it on the toy car!

West Coast Park and sing-alongs

Our first family trip to WestCoast Park! :D But see what happened?

Heavy down pour!!! :(:( So Xuan enertained us all by singing her made up songs and Baby Chern did what he does best:

On the way to West Coast Park she sang “客人来，看爸爸”，then started singing "客人来，看妈妈/萱萱”and when she got to “客人来，看弟弟”, she changed the lyrics from "弟弟不在家”to “弟弟睡觉……”but there's one more note and she doesn't know what to sing to that, so she looked at mem trailing off, so I helped her “弟弟睡觉啦。我请客人先坐下，再敬一杯茶”I'm impressed by how she knew which words to substitude. Reminds me of how I sang ”爸爸/妈妈/五姨听我说，我不是一个坏女孩”when I was...4?

On the way home she continued her singing mood:

It used to be "Row, row, row your boat, ti ti ti ti treeeeaam" so she's made a great improvement :D

And this is a song that I will listen to every year :):)

And it was a happy day :)

Neck trainings

---------------------------

Recently Xuan likes blu-tac a lot and always asks for it (“我要blu-tac!") so much so that she bid it goodnight "Blu-tac 晚安！" -_-"

Last night I took her to the stadium to run around, then she got tired and lazy, and requested me to carry her. As we were strolling back home, I told her, “萱萱长大了，妈妈就不可以抱你了” Hearing this, she hugged me even tighter, while resting her head on my shoulder, and said, "可以！" Awwwww...

Looking at Colin growing fatter (yes, fatter!) and more alert everyday, I cannot believe Xuan was that "immobile" before. She's almost 2yrs old soon, how time flies! I'm glad I'm spending that much time with them everyday now because it'll feel like a minute before they're all grown up and wouldn't even want to hold my hand anymore, esp my little boy.

Babies' KL trip

The entire So "clan" went to KL for a 2 night stay at the Trader's Hotel. There's a huge playground area next to the hotel so Little Melody gets to try the swing and roam in and out of the maze.

Mummy and daughter and the Petronas Towers

Mama and Papa So didn't exactly get any shopping done with Xuan whining to be carried most of the time, didn't exactly sleep well with 2 babies in the same room, didn't exactly eat well with xuan refusing to eat most things. When we did shop we were looking for cereal, corn in a cup (for xuan to eat), diapers...Little Colin is either sleeping or drinking milk in Mama So's sarong. On the way back to Singapore Xuan even vomited all over grandma. Overall it was a very tiring trip, but a good experience for everyone. Xuan had fun running around with her cousin Keagan all the time :)

After KL we travelled to Seramban to hold Uncle E's wedding dinner. Throughout the whole dinner, Mama So and Aunt Z were busy nursing or comforting Baby Colin and Baby Kaelyn. Xuan displayed her musical talents (when she sings she's quite in tune) by making up her own song: "Dowan dowan dowan fish, dowan dowan dowan fish..." (sung to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star") Aunt YR learnt a valuable lesson and decided to enjoy her honeymoon year ahead instead of having babies early, haha :D

At the end of the day, the trip was worth it cos we got a nice family photo:

Chern will learn how to smile in time :)

Wantoks Jersey

I played for touch rugby team Wantoks til I got pregnant with Melody. My teammates got her a set of jersey that she finally can fit into :)

Fist eater

Babies suckle for comfort, it gives them a sense of security.

Colin (7weeks)



Melody (3 months)



Chern is starting to coo and smile at me when I smile at him. When I brought him out to go gown fitting with a friend yesterday, everyone said he's got a boy-boy/beach boy look cos he's so tanned! He looks absolutely adorable in this little doggie pose when he was sleeping and flipping about this morning :)

Wedding!

Mama So bought a dress for Melody that matches my own for the wedding! :D:D

Poor Melody was playing hide and seek during the solemnization and her baby chair fell on her, leading her to screeeeeeaaamm and Papa Mama So quickly took her out to sayang her little head. Little boy stayed at home with grandma cos the dinner will end late. Little little girl had a good time and fell asleep at the second last dish :)

Sentosa!

A friend held her wedding at Rasa Sentosa (Congrats LT! It's one of the most entertaining weddings I've been to ;) ) so we thought it was a good chance to bring her to the beach. Little Melody's first experience to the beach was a happy one. She scooped sand with this sea shell container and walked on the beach a little. I brought her to where the waves are lapping but she didn't dare to step there so I carried her and walked along the shore. Thats all we planned to do for this trip cos we really just want to show her the sea and try walking on sand.

During the wedding dinner she was in a good mood. Probably because she had a good nap before leaving the house and everything's new and exciting to her. She took my hand and walked around the big "maze" (the ballroom with all the tables) several times. Then as we ate she played with her utensils and with my friends, who successfully got our baby to respond to them after about 2hours? ;P We find that she's a little apprehensive about trying out unfamiliar things and interacting with people she doesn't recognise. Even with her own uncles and aunties, she doesn't really warm up to them. Which means she won't be running off anywhere with strangers! This dinner is a good warm up to her Uncle Eddie's wedding this coming sat. At least now we know what we can expect from her :)