Self explanatory really. We didn’t disappear into some blackhole or other but really, were trying to survive the twosome. Jayden is 4 months shy of turning 3 but we don’t see the end of the ‘terrible twos’ stage. Nowhere in sight. Nope. In fact, it feels like it is getting worse.

He is testing boundaries, pushing limits and has spent an insane amount of time getting to know Mister Cane. A part of us suspect that he might be ADHD but there’s no way to actually test it out until he turns 3. And even so, will take a while before a proper conclusion can be reached. He has turned the home topsy turvy and been chalking up a whole list of ‘naughty’ deeds. Like spoiling a perfectly new-old TV that we had just brought home yesterday. And refusing his medicine. And not eating. Flipping tables in acts of defiance and turning around to hit whoever is disciplining him.

No fun I say.

Behavioural issues aside, we did a whole host of other things over the last week. Like visit Changi Airport to watch the aeroplanes take off (and a couple taking ROM shots), stare at fountains and rub out etched carvings of ‘iconic’ Singapore. (Terrorise the foodcourt is not the main point but they did just that. Jayden did. Kathlene just slept through most of the meals).

Baptise Baby K 2 Saturdays ago. Monkey around with the gramps. Life does go on. Just that we need a whole lot more comfort food. And canes. And more raised voices.

As for Baby K, well, she is a screamer. And a spoilt brat (quote unquote my mum). She is quite the koala, nevermind who is carrying her. Just so long as she is being carried. Sometimes she takes it up a notch higher by disallowing said person to sit. Time consuming. And also, since she’s on a developmental streak, she has learnt how to flip perfectly and is constantly ’showing off’.

I had quite forgotten how difficult it is to change the diapers of babies who love to flip. And am not enjoying the reminder.

Oh. I forgot. She’s quite the tv addict too.

Enough photos for today. Till the next round… Hopefully sooner than later!

All dressed up … almost looking like he’s going to school. Not. Just downstairs for some munchies. He insisted on carrying his bag, a must have every time he steps out of the house. His food intake is generally on the upswing though the speed at which it goes down leaves much to be desired.

Very easily distracted by what goes on around him, he nibbles at his food. And the fact he has 4 missing front teeth does not help the situation. He has learnt to chew with his back / remaining teeth and does a pretty decent job of it. However… my milk guzzler of a son has turned into a milk hater. Maybe he had downed (what he thinks) enough milk for a lifetime in the short span of two years such that it is an uphill struggle getting him to drink it now.

He turned against his milk (formula), his sister’s (expressed breastmilk), ‘my’ (Meiji low fat freshmilk) and his dad’s (soy milk). He used to take each reasonably freely for a period of time but has since settled mainly on chocolate milk. These had better come straight from the packet else he’d reject it too. *sigh* Which brings us to a point of a freezer full of ebm and no one to drink. Kathlene has not taken to the bottle and we are looking very likely, to be transiting straight to a sippy cup.

Help. So what do I do with all those packets of milk? Some suggested a milk bath. Or milk cubes. Any other ideas?

Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

Life with a toddler is like a box of chocolates. You never know what they are gonna sprout.

Jayden is able to string words together very well and its quite frightening sometimes to hear what he says. Not that its gibberish or anything, but to see the way he picks up on ideas. Like how he has nicknamed the maid at an aunt’s place “Honey Star Aunty” (her name is Honey) or how he told us “Jayden no strength to switch off tv. Ask the maid to do it.” (we do NOT have a maid at home).

He is very quick on catching words and remembering them. Even if you just mention them once. He picks it up. He has learnt ‘boring’ and right now, we are telling horror stories of what might happen. We can just picture it right now… First day in school and he goes “boring” straight in the teacher’s face. Not quite the best of methods to get in the teacher’s good books.

I foresee many such “throw face” moments to come. Stay tuned. Now where did the non-vocal boy of mine go to?

thanks for all the love, care and concern.

(and the whacks on the butt, caning and disciplining…)

There’s a new camera in the house… and I’ve been having lots of fun snapping away with it. The new age ‘instant’ photography I like!

And as a reminder that the boy is growing up… the letter regarding Pre-nursery orientation has been received. We have a date with the school next month. New shoes, new books, new experiences. Hopefully he’d stop torturing me with his endless “Mummy what happened?” all day long.

Oh, instead of the typical “WHY?” questions, this boy does his own take with “What Happened?” All day long. 7 days a week. Help.

He certainly inherited his parents’ ability to eat the same thing day after day, meal after meal and not be tired of it. So long as it is a favourite food, he can have it a couple of days in a row without any fuss. Right now, the hot favourite is pau. Though he does sometimes alternate between liking the filling and the bun itself.

Best washed down with a packet of chocolate milk. Chocolate is like the spoonful of sugar that helps everything go down. Chocolate coat the food and mealtimes will probably go by much faster than they normally do. Only thing is, I don’t think we’d be doing it anytime soon. We’d need to order cacao by the truckload…

But what he really needs to work on, is his eating manners. Such a messy eater. *Tsk tsk* Not to mention his ’sam seng kia’ way of sitting with his leg up… *slaps forehead*

(With baby K, we bring extra diapers and clothes in case she does a big poo job. With Jayden, we bring extra clothes and wipes to clean up after meals! Little wonder the diaper bag is not reducing in size anytime soon… nor that we are no longer carrying travel sized packs of wet wipes around. They just finish too fast! Bring on the large packs of 80s and more!)

We went on a kiddo necessity restock shopping spree yesterday and it occured to me that we don’t quite have brand loyalty. Whatever works really.

For our two babies, we have gone through the following wide-ranging brands, from the relative expensive to the downright cheap. All at different times and stages. As they grow older, and we aren’t quite the clumsy new minted parents, we go for budget.

Some things like diapers just need to have an assortment of brands… depending on day or night / outdoor use. Heh.

Diapering Needs

• Carlson / Angel / Tollyjoy / Carrefour / Kodomo baby wipes
• Desitin Creamy (the original has a really pungent smell!) / Drapolene / Pureen / California Baby creams
• Pureen / Gaia talc free baby powder
• Mamy Poko / Giant / Carrefour / NTUC / Pampers / Petpet / Huggies / Drypers (hooboy, lousy choice!) diapers

Bathing Needs

• Johnson & Johnson / Kodomo / Body Shop (ask Jayden) / Crabtree & Evelyn (again, ask Jayden) body washes
• Tollyjoy nappies (used almost exclusively for anything but nappies) and liners
• Johnson & Johnson baby lotion

Milk & the Like

• Friso / Pediasure (freaking expensive!) / Dumex / full cream fresh milk / chocolate milk / soya milk / almond milk
• Playtex (cheap cheap!) / The First Years / Gerber milk bags / recycled glass bottles for ebm storage
• Avent / Nuk / Tommee Tippee (trying out on Kathlene) milk bottles
• Avent ISIS breastpump (manual) / Medela Swing (electronic)

Out and About

• Moms In Mind sarong slings / pouches (never quite figured out how to wear them properly though…)
• Chicco Go carrier (o.u.c.h but does its job)
• Aprica / Chicco stroller
• Chicco / Lucky Baby / Mamalove rocker
• Graco / Lucky Baby car seats

Good grief. I don’t think I’d like to actually tabulate the amount spent on all the above.

How does your list read?

A little quiet on the blogging front but the flickr photostream has been pretty busy. Just borrowed the dslr and went completely trigger happy (don’t like? delete delete delete!). Learnt quite a few things in the process like …

1. I want need want need want a dslr NOW
2. been so used to using the P&S cameras that I completely forget all the jargon and how to tweak settings
3. the P&S cameras weigh so little its insane (almost like a toy right now…)

Oh wait, you are concerned about the kids…

Ok, things I’ve learnt about the kids whilst using the dslr…

• great to capture the kids with the fast shutter speed

• Kathlene is a lazy baby. She absolutely hates being made to exercise (aka tummy time). Hence most, if not all of her shots are of her lying on her back. Unless she is sleeping…

• Kathlene is also most awake in the mornings. When I am not.
• Jayden is perpetually eating. And making a mess. Hence not that many pictures of him. Messy faces aren’t quite conducive situations for photos.

Erhmm, overdosed on baby K yet?

Last Thursday, we thronged Takashimaya for their cardmembers’ sale. Making a beeline for the baby’s department, we joined the crowd in the teeny corner. Seriously, if you didn’t know where it was, it was easy to miss. Very unlike the size of the baby fair they typically have in the atrium. The small space was made even worse by the crowd. And the type of crowd. Shoppers who flocked there fell into 3 categories:- mothers to be with their very swollen bellies, mothers with bulky strollers or sarong-slinged child or active toddler or some combination of the above and clueless mothers with experienced friend / mother / relative in tow. Navigating the tight space took some time…

And yielded some erhmm, unexpected things.

Like the Safety 1st Jack Potty. According to the reviews, perfect for toilet training your toddler. Or training your child in preparation of the IR’s opening. To us, it seriously begets the question of what the designers were thinking. We’d settle for a more ‘normal’ potty, thank you very much.

Fell in love with Kaloo and their amazing soft soft toys. I want! But I can’t afford nor justify spending so much on the soft toy. French designed but not made in France. At least according to the salesman.

Love this Teddy sleep wedge. Designed to help prevent wee ones from rolling over (and on their face) in their sleep, it is a cute and functional piece. We used a simple (read, clinical white wedge design) one on Jayden and went one down with Kathlene by strategically placing bolsters beside her. She has no need for them right now but this makes a really whimsical gift. For newborns that is.

We unexpectedly took the Baby Bjorn Synergy for a dry run and Kathlene loved it. However we are still unwilling to cough up $299 for it. We did explore the Beco since we did consider buying Bjorn but scraped that idea because Kathlene loves front facing… which the Beco is not designed for.

What we eventually left the mall with was… 2 tubes of Pigeon toothpaste for Jayden and a couple of Tommee Tippee bottles for Kathlene. Yes, we are boring consumers like that.

(Kathlene has rejected all previous bottles thus far. We’re trying our luck with these!)

Jayden has never been one for toys. Instead he goes for the weirdest objects. With the birth of Kathlene, we sometimes think he sees her as a huge toy. Just for him. His sister tries to tolerate him when he is in that ’state of mind(set)’ but when things get a little too much to bear, she lets out a bloodcurling yell indicating we better rescue her pronto, lest she throws a major fit.

This little one has her moods. When she is in a good mood, she joins me in the workroom as I craft new accessories. She sits in her baby rocker and coos away. Occasionally she demands a ‘rock’ and together, we’d pass the time quite pleasantly. She coos, I talk. A little tete-a-tete.

We spend mornings together. With grandma asleep and daddy out to work. She loves the interaction after her 6am *groan* feed. She typically gets all wide-eyed, eager to make the most of the day, oblivious to my eye-bags and incessant pleas for her to nap a bit more and spare this night owl. We spend the time lazing in bed, talking and smiling. Sometimes taking photos because she is all alert right now. And after everything’s done, some tummytime to exercise her muscles. By 11, she gets tired and then she nurses before a midday nap.

Which is just about time to go care for her older brother. No rest. Just a continuous stream of activities. Jayden eats quite ‘continuously’. He’s a snacker in my opinion. Not quite the sort who eats one full meal and lasts till the next, but the kind that nibbles endlessly such that it is a mindless blur of food. His day is peppered with random requests for food amidst his tricycle riding. Oh, he is getting quite the pro at navigating that tricycle. Even with the obstacle course we have in our crowded living room. Occasionally he gets to bring the tricycle down to the void deck to paddle away… and he spews out his commands to himself, “turn right!” “parking…” “go behind and pick up toys”. Amusing to some extent. Not when it occurs too frequently.

Both are growing in their own rights. And at their own pace. Kathlene is no longer the wee thing that popped out some 10 weeks ago. Jayden is turning into the pre-schooler that has left babyhood behind. Sometimes you think that time passes too fast. Amidst all the diaper changes, temper tantrums, disciplining, these two have found time to grow. However did they do that?