Viral attack!

It has been a long week. And it all started last friday night.

Kae was running a fever, which somehow subsided after we gave her paracetamol. Then it suddenly ran high on saturday night to 38.9 degree celsius. We were worried sick. And we brought her to the Thomson Paediatric Clinic on sunday. We had a blood test taken for Kae and it turned out it was a viral infection. Luckily no bacteria! And Kae was super brave during the blood test. She didn't cry at all!


Then after all the medication, her fever ran to a high of 40.2 degree celsius on sunday night. I was worried sick. Luckily, it jumped back to around 38.5 degree celsius by monday morning. Of course, she didn't go to school. Luckily for us, her fever subsided and she recovered by wednesday. But then, her cough and sore throat came. Sigh. I brought her back to Thomson Paediatric Clinic on wednesday and she was given antibiotics for her sore throat.

Kae finally went back to school today, friday. Boy, am I glad she has recovered! We didn't sleep well at all this past week. And I can meet up with my 2 groups of friends over this weekend for much catching up! Heehee! Thanks dar!

Chocolate or Strawberry?

As you can see, this is Kae's version of her favourite strawberry. She can finish one whole pack in under 1 hour, or make that 30 minutes sometimes. Hah!

Clairey's Kitty Party!

Me and Kae attended Claire's 2nd Birthday Party today.

Truth be told, I think it is the best kid's party I've attended, hands down! Maybe it's because Mama Jo has carefully thought and planned specially not just for Claire, but also for the kids who are attending the party. Everything from the theme, the colour, the cake (pretty!), the paper plates, the logistics, the activities for the kids, the door gifts, even down to the tattoos, the finger food for the kids, etc. The adults, namely me, had loads of fun too! Mama Jo, can you help to plan for Kae's 3rd birthday party? :P

I just lurve how the balloons bring out the Hello Kitty feel to the house.


And Kae was immediately drawn to the super pretty kid size kitchen.


Claire just lurve to sing and dance!


And now for the activities! The kids made their own Hello Kitty picture, with Mama Jo at the helm of course.


And then came Kae's favourite part of the party, food time!


And I simply lurve the cake! Of course we have to take group pics of the birthday girl with her family and friends!


Kae and Claire finally got to playing with each other. They seem to have forgotten that they attended the same class for near 2 terms at Julia Gabriel Playclub after not seeing each other for 2 months. Hah.


And I had to join in the fun!


Thanks again Mama Jo! Looking forward to your next party! Heeheehee!

a Photo update of Kae at LSH

Kae has been doing really well in school. For starters, she only whines in the early morning when dar drops her off in school, and when she bathes (as she hates the water flowing anywhere near her face), and sometimes before her nap time. Other than that, the teachers had assured that Kae is interacting really well with the other kids and don't whine at other times. Most importantly, she doesn't cry and whine "mummy/daddy come back" now! Yay!

Kae now remembers names of some of her friends, especially those who are also of the full day schedule. I always tend to peep at the door before I make my entrance known, and I am glad to see that she has been playing happily with her friends everytime I peep. Hah!

Here are some photo updates of what Kae has been doing in school:

the 2nd change of 2010

I somehow feel that there's a need to justify our decision to put Kae into full day school now, instead of next year when she is eligible for Nursery 1. This came about when one of dar's relative knew of Kae attending school, and seemed somewhat mortified that she has to attend full day school at a tender age of 2.


For those who are still not in the know, the main reason is that we are expecting an addition to our family in end June. Yup. Kae will be having a younger sibling come June. This is the 2nd change for us for the year 2010. The stubborn me is against hiring a maid, so our next best solution is to send Kae to school, so that I can care for the baby in the daytime. I think it will be quite unmanageble to handle both Kae and a newborn in the day solo. Think I will go mad.

Which brings me to my point. Somehow the older generation seems to think otherwise. They were brought up in an era whereby their mothers stay at home to look after herds of them; I mean like 3 children or more. So what's the deal with stay at home mummies looking after just 2 kids? Well, if the mummies now do what the mummies used to, which was to just let the kids play amongst themselves, trust that they can pick themselves up when they fall or knock into anything, let the kids roam around the corridor without a care, play the whole damn day without learning a thing or two daily, that is fine. But the thing is, mummies or parents don't believe in this kind of upbringing anymore, that is if they have a choice or a say in this matter.

Choice: I am lucky to have the choice and chance to care for Kae in her first 2 years since I am a stay at home mum. I can see to everything she needs, tend to her every fall or pain, see her grow both mentally and physically everyday. I can be the one to decide what she can or cannot eat, control what television programmes she watch (baby educational programmes of course :p), be the one she runs to whenever she feels discomfort or just in need of a hug, discipline her in the way I want her to be brought up. I am glad to have this as one of my choices, aside from placing her in infant care when she was just 3 months old, or have her looked after by a maid, a nanny or even the in-laws/parents.

Say: There are the parents who are both working, and are forced with the other options that I did not take up; namely infant care, or in-laws/parents. These parents will not know their babies' habits first hand. They will not be there when their babies do their first flip, when they blabber their first words, when they take their first step. So I am kind of baffled when the parents who leave their babies with the in-laws/parents during the day do not even bring their babies back home with them after work at night, and only bring them back during the short 2 day weekend. Yes, it may be a bit inconvenient especially if the parents live far away. But does the distance really matter in Singapore? How far can you live from one another? It's like what one of my friends said: So why give birth to your kid in the first place if you do not even bother to look after them in the evening when you are not at work? But hey, who is to say I won't do the same thing in future if presented with this choice again?

I guess different people think differently. It doesn't mean that they are bad parents or that I am a good parent. At the end of the day, it's up to the parents to decide what is best for the baby and their family. Just like some people might think that I am being cruel to put Kae in full day school when she can be at my in-laws, since they are already looking after dar's 2 nephews. I won't dwell into that, coz that is another issue altogether, and a long one I might say, so don't even get me started.

At the end of the day, do what you think is the best for your family. I just hate it when people seem to want to criticise how I choose to bring up my kid(s). And I suspect there will be more exclamations to come, especially when the chinese new year season is around the corner. Bleah!

Kae's baking!

Kae is slowly getting used to waking up early in the morning and going to school.

This week, we started with just dar fetching Kae to school alone. I can't possibly follow them in the car and go back home after dropping Kae in school. Anyway, she seems to cry less when dar dropped her off in school. She would say "bye bye", though reluctantly, to daddy; she would cry and not let hold if I tag along. Or that could be because she's more taken with the teachers now, now that she's seen them for the past 1 week plus.

But on and off, she would still cry and whine a bit whenever she thinks of us, at moments when she's got nothing to do especially, during the transitional periods; when they change from one activity to another. But at least she's now interacting more with her friends and teachers, and is able to play freely and happily with them. For people who know Kae, she needs quite a while to warm up to people. And I'm proud of her for doing that now in only a matter of 1 week.

At Little Skool House, their Literature-Based curriculum uses meaningful children's literature as the key medium to seed the learning process in children and help them develop life-long learning skills. Children's literature is used as the foundation upon which sequential and phonics with learning are based. In addition reading, writing, listening, speaking and problem solving activities are integrated into the multiple intelligence activities as related extensions for each story.

For last week, the book (for english) used was "The Best Mouse Cookie". The story is about a mouse who loves cookies. He decides to learn to bake his own cookies and goes through difficulties while baking but never gives up trying.

Through the story, the children were taught and involved in the process of baking such as kneading and mixing of ingredients, mostly exploration of dough play. They were also taught the matching of different shapes. Lastly, they learnt how to make mouse puppets and used them for dramatic play.

The teacher sent us pics taken last week during their "baking" lesson. Look at Kae baking!

Kae's 2nd Birthday Part 2

We celebrated Kae's 2nd Birthday on the actual date, 10 January, as a family of 3. We really had nothing much planned. Guess we were all too tired from the bbq the night before.

We started the day with brunch at Jones the Grocer at Dempsey. Even though we were there near 2pm, we still had to wait for like 15 minutes for a table. It's getting more and more crowded at Jones. Sigh.





After brunch, we just hung out at Orchard. We really had no idea where to go. So we just hang around, drank coffee, and window shop a bit before heading down to Coffee Club at Siglap for dinner, which was also a last minute idea.

The manager of the place remembered that we celebrated Kae's 1st Birthday last year at their outlet, and kindly offered Kae a slice of the exact cake, strawberry shortcake. So Kae got to blow another candle!





Hope you had a happy birthday weekend Kae!

Kae's 2nd Birthday Part 1

We decided to have just a small celebration aka barbeque with our immediate families for Kae's 2nd Birthday this year. Lazy mummy is too tired to plan a big party like what we did last year for Kae's 1st Birthday. We will do one big one party next year instead! :P

We actually ordered all the food from City Satay. Yes, including the chicken wings, pork, aside from the satay and otah. They taste really yummy, seriously! I will definitely order from them again if we are ever going to have a bbq again. Save me all the hassle of buying and marinating all the food!

And Kae sure had a great time running all over the estate with her 2 cousins. Think she was zonked out at the end of the day; she slept like a log after.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kaelyn!

And my baby turns 2 years old today! Happy Birthday Kae! Mummy and daddy lurve you so much! Can't imagine how time flew by so quickly and that you were just a tiny little baby 2 years ago. Muacks!

Kae's 1st Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of 2010

I've been really busy and tired these few days coz of Kae going to full day school for the 1st time in her life.

It is not going well at all.

I was with Kae the 1st day, as in she knows that I am there. Everything was fine in the morning when she reached, coz I was with her. Then they went for play at the play room. And she was lurving it. When they came out of the room, I tried to hide, and she cried. When I left her alone out of sight, she cried. When the teacher gave her a bath, she cried. Basically she cried when she can't see me. And I had to feed her milk, and rock her to sleep on her 1st day. I was so tired at the end of the day, when dar came to pick us up at 7pm.

Little Skool House actually send parents photos of their kids taken during school time. Some pictures of her taken on her 1st day:





The 2nd day, I told her that I am going to work, and hence will not be around. She wailed like mad when the teacher brought her in. I had to stay outside the school at the viewing window to see what she's doing. Basically, as long as they start a new lesson, aka, start something new for the students to do/play with, she was okay. Once they are done, she starts to remember me and keeps wailing "mummy come back". It was really heart wrenching. Being so near to her, and yet can't do anything to console her. So she wailed on and off when she remembers that I am not around. Once in their classroom, she would run to the door and look out at the entrance to see if I am back. Heart pain. She did that so many many many times. Sigh. I really had to psych myself up to only go to her at 445pm; when my parents came over to fetch us home. I was so tired; I knocked out when I reached home and woke up only when dar came back from work.

Some pictures of her taken on her 2nd day:




Today is the 3rd day of school. But Kae is home with me. Why? Because she had been waking up crying with her eyes opens every 10-20 minutes throughout the night until in the morning! And I do mean it literally. Seriously! I decided that she would be too cranky for school. So decided to give her a day off. Though the principal did say that it's quite common when I called the school and that Kae would be more cranky on the 4th day when she returns.

But erm, Kae might not go to school on the 4th day after all. Coz she is now having high fever and runny nose! Argh. It is definitely due to lack of sleep and dehydration! She has been drinking very little water the past 2 days even though she had been crying buckets. Sigh.

It is not going well at all.

It's gonna be a year of Change!

Hello again 2010!

The 1st change: Kae will be starting school in 8 hours' time. I am so excited, and yet sad at the same time. Kae had been home alone with me since birth, and now she's gonna be in school 5 days a week. Sigh.

I miss my baby already! I have a feeling I can't sleep tonight.

Praying everything will go smoothly later on! PS: for you too Joanne!

Bye bye 2009, Hello 2010!

Bye bye 2009!

We spent the last few hours of 2009 and 1st few hours of 2010 at Eli and Clarice's abode for a quiet and cosy countdown. Nothing too elaborate, no binge drinking, just friends getting together and enjoying one another's company, enjoying the food, enjoying looking at the 2 kiddos getting acquanited all over again.









Hello 2010!