In a bid to keep him occupied, we have all sorts of odd activities for him to do. The latest is colouring. He is still not very adept at holding the pen(cils) and has a long long way to go. But it does get him seated. Most of the time anyway.

The sheet in the picture is a printable from Brittany Soucy. They are rather nice and well, better for older children. I was tired of doing ABCs!

** The boy came down with gastric flu over the weekend past. And boy, am I glad that the weekend of pee, poop and fever is over. On a sidenote, he is semi-toilet trained whereby he typically does not use the diaper when at home. Only when out or overnight. We had cajoled him to use his potty before the Hong Kong trip and oddly enough, he did.

Except it ‘backfired‘ on us where we had to work our way through 3-5 layers of clothing to get him ready to *ahem* pee in the cold spell that struck whilst we were in Hong Kong.

Nazi, angsty mum strikes again.

You know, with all the talk about how fast kids learn to read, write and spell, more so with the use of flashcards, why on earth would a childcare centre name themselves “My First Skool”?

I’m sure there’s a good reason and most adults would smile at the kiddish spelling of school, but really. Seeing “Skool” spelt as such, everyday is not going to help the kid.

No?

Ok, random rant over and out. That aside, they just opened a branch within walking distance. Everything is NEW and utterly appealing. Plus, the student-teacher ratio is great as erhmm, no students yet. But it does seem depressing for the kids. They look so lonely in there.

Jayden : Mrs S is not teaching us anymore. She got headache.
Me : Why does she have a headache?
Jayden : From teaching us.

The class has had a change of form teachers at the start of this new term. Haven’t talked to the new form teacher yet. I wonder how she is, having to deal with Mister Smartypants.

Updates have been very random and very late. So much so that sometimes I don’t quite feel like blogging anymore. It is quite a ‘chore‘ to blog when the event is long over. I find myself rambling on (ok, I do that a lot, no matter how ‘fresh’ the event is).

These days, there really isn’t much time to blog. BabyK sleeps really late. Following in the footsteps of her brother. More accurately, she is spoiled rotten and needs to be carried to sleep. She usually knocks off around 12plus (11 if we are lucky) and then wakes to nurse around 3plus or 6 (again if we are really lucky).

She then sleeps through till 9ish, 10. Sounds good, but then there is older brother J to think about. He wakes around the same time and the day begins with a struggle to get him ready for school with teeth brushed, breakfast in tummy and all changed (hopefully with a bath) and out the door. Usually babyK is fed her solid brekkie, ie, non-breastmilk food at the same time.

Then J’s off to school at 10plus and hopefully, babyK’s down for her nap. If she does her *ahem* business early, she gets an early bath. Otherwise, we’d play by ear. Then it is a constant sleep-wake-play cycle for her. Most of the time with her attempting to stick herself to me.

3 hours FLY by and I’m off to pick Jayden up from school. If the weather’s fine, we are all happy. If it is hot or rainy, I question whether it is a boon or bane to be staying so near. Although I have not tried, I’m positive  no taxi in their right mind would take us.

Back home again with the boy and we spend the afternoon cajoling him to have his food. We have activity time throughout. And the activity of the day depends on our mood. His as well as mine. Sometimes it is the tv as the babysitter to the rescue with Hi5 (current favourite) as he is somewhat obsessed with song and dance right now. Music he calls it. But any non-parent would be faster to call it noise.

By the time 6pm rolls around, we start him on his dinner and try to wind down his activities and pack him off to bed by 8. He gets some reading done (C.A.T cat!) and when he finally nods off, I get some peace. That is, if babyK allows.

Inbetween, I try and create new items, pack orders, list new items and blog. I wonder why I don’t get more done. Hmm.

And all this is only possible because my mum’s around to help (thank you mummy!).

From this trip, we learnt that babyK is a wonderful traveller whilst J has no concept of time. Nor space. It was a crazy trip, with the mercury dipping to 10 degrees (wth?!) and a mad rush to ensure that everyone is well insulated from the cold winds. Cold to summer hot Singaporeans that is.

We spent 6days 5nights in Hong Kong. Taking the early morning SQ flight and bumping into our pilots at T3’s Killiney. While the breakfast was nothing to shout about, we were suitably impressed by the features that newest terminal Changi had to offer. Baby wise of course.

We didn’t quite make use of our ‘privileges’ in having children in our traveling party to board early. In fact we were so slow and easy-going that we were at the final call on our return leg. Not that it really mattered. BabyK settled down easily, snacking on her biscuits and sleeping in her bassinet whilst older brother squirmed in his seat, spilled soya milk on it and went walking around the Economy class at every opportunity he had.

Landed in HK and took the road less travelled, staying at Sham Shui Po. With our party of 5 (3 adults and 2 kids), we went for a service apartment in the outskirts. It proved to be a fun experience, and surprisingly easy to travel as it was right smack between two MTR stations / lines.

Didn’t do much, as in, didn’t cover as much ground as we would have sans children. We did however, head to Disneyland. We went on the ‘coldest’ day on our trip, with the temperatures falling to 10degrees. It meant that both kids were well layered with clothing and that visitors were few. BabyK slept through anything. When she was tired, she’d sleep. Nevermind that Main Street was having a parade and Mickey and friends were out in full force.

We think Jayden enjoyed himself though. He hated the fireworks but LOVED Autopia. But most of all, he loves his $4 pizza set. The simple pleasures in life you say?

The full set of HK pictures… here.

Just realised that a proper update on what this little girl has been up to is probably wanting. She has been on a real journey these couple of months and it is probably good I journal it down before her milestones are forgotten.

On one of those days when the two kiddos drove me nuts, I started to teach K to call ‘papa’, in the hope ala Baby Blues that daddy will help change her butt/bathe her/feed her food etc etc etc. And right now, she does so with great skill now. She has figured out how to pull herself up to a standing position, and can do so with great speed and, stand for quite some time. Crawling is no problem for her though, like her brother, she doesn’t look like she’s ever going to do it with her tummy off the floor. Instead, she is learning how to walk.

Nowadays, she lurches for her brother’s tricycle and uses it as a means to ‘getaway’, covering quite a bit of distance in the process. Scary stuff really. She appears to understand the spoken word very well and constantly surprises us with the correct response (we never learn huh?).

Today she discovered the mirror that is above her bathtub. Her bathtub is typically placed on the vanity, above which hangs a mirror. She squealed with delight when she pulled herself up to a standing position to discover a reflection staring back at her. So bathtimes are now erhmm, ‘jack in the box’ times with her popping up and down. Insane really. She literally creates quite a splash.

I guess we are in for more discoveries… and it does seem true after all. Having an older sibling hastens their development.

Wish us luck and may we remain sane.

Well, errr, hello and goodbye We’re off to Hong Kong this Friday for a short break and will only be back next Wednesday. Updates have been short and slow on the blog. But they have been quite regular on facebook and the like. Blame it on the Iphone. And school. And flu.

Jayden had a bad case of flu a week or so ago, with his temperature shooting up to 40deg. Coupled with the gibberish he was sprouting, we packed him off to KK’s A&E in the middle of the night. Service was fast and efficient, and the environment has ‘changed’ from the last time we were there. All’s good though. Nice and more cheerful. Which *should* help in lifting moods in difficult times.

Other than that, everything’s fine. Kath’s still growing. See you again soon. Hopefully not as long as the last time.

… and in a twinkling of an eye, Jayden turns three. And we’re off to the Science Centre later to splash about @ the waterworks. Well, as soon as he is done with school that is.

As per ‘tradition’, we headed up North when baby K turned 6 months old (a couple of days shy but who’s nitpicking?). We decided that we weren’t going to attempt bloody murder and drive up with 2 kids so Kathlene flew up with us whilst Jayden took the good ole North-South highway with the grandparents.

And it was non-stop madness the whole way through. Both kids travelled well by air (Jayden returned with us via air) and for that we are thankful. We were almost thinking we’d be like Wanda (of baby blues fame), shouting to the rest of the passengers to count their blessings. Thankfully aside from a little fussing at the start, they settled in well.

Jayden’s at the age where joyrides are fun and those were the thunderstealers for the whole trip. That and MacD’s happy meals. Old MacDonald never goes on a holiday it seems.

And this time round, armed with iphones and free wifi, photos get uploaded much faster.

So erhmm, next trip anyone?

If you had not already heard, our passports were approved and we trooped on down a cold wet Friday to collect them. And back again to book our air tickets. So… we are headed up North to visit relatives before the official mad rush for CNY. Although with the way things are going, you really can’t tell its not the peak period yet.

Jayden has had a sudden about turn with regards to going to school. He sometimes cries and throws a big fit when we drop him off. We are still trying to figure out what the root of the problem is but needless to say, its driving us insane in the meantime. He stubbornly refuses to participate or listen to instructions at lessontime so we are seeing how things go. Nerve-wrecking. Especially when he woke up one night crying incessantly.

*sigh* the joys of growing up.

In more positive news, baby K is progressing really well. She is sitting up with great skill and forever looks set to surprise us one day by standing. I’d probably get a heart attack if she does so soon because, really, one active kid is enough to handle. Argh. But at least, for now, it means that she can finally sit in them baby high chairs when we go out for dinner. Ok, if she’d stay in them that is.

And in even more random updates, here are some ‘out and about’ shots with the iphone. Gotta love it!