Baby No More

You know your lil one is really no longer a baby when:

1. You don't seem to need diapers or wet wipes
2. You don't need the safety gate (or in our case, Megan has figured out how to open the gate)
   
3. You don't need to undress your child
   
4. You don't need to feed her
5. You can use a booster seat and 2-point harness
6. You can trust her to feed the pets
7. You can (almost) trust her to give herself a bath
8. You are ordered to sit only on a particular chair
9. You are being entertained by song & dance (instead of you singing/dancing to a baby)
10. You are asked "Why?"
    

Sponging Water

I bought a brand new sponge some time back for this activity but never found time to do it. It's been really HOT lately and so we took the sponge to the pool for sponging water to containers. This activity makes children use those tiny muscles in the fingers and experience other forms of water transfer (besides pouring and scooping).

Sewing Machine (for Megan)

Megan takes her all her play very seriously. She has seen my grandma and aunties sewed using the old-fashion manual sewing machine at my grandma's house.

Here, she is 'sewing' with her battery-operated (with lights !) pedal sewing machine. It is quite a clever toy as there is a clear acrylic box covering the needle bit. The only flaw is that the wire connecting the machine to its step pedal is too short for it to be placed on the floor as a workable foot pedal. Megan eventually improvised and used her hand instead of her foot.

Oops!

To cut the story short, we went swimming, as always. But just once, I'd forgotten to bring a change for Megan. So we went home in a 'towel dress' (thank goodness I drove that day).

Coupon Butterfly

I was driving and Megan played with parking coupons to amuse herself. She used to enjoy poking through the circles. Now that she is older, she is more imaginative. She took 2 used coupons, interlaced them and said "妈妈，你看，butterfly".

My Forgotten Promise

I told Megan we would be catching some plays at the theatre some weeks back. We picked up the pamphlet for Boy Cry Wolf by ACT 3, and another flyer for a Korean tale about a froggy prince. long ago. She didn't seem very excited about it but we took the flyers and brought them home. She kept them around the house and yesterday, she took out the flyer and asked me when are we watching Boy Cry Wolf (the last show was 12 Sep).

GULP.

So I am booking tickets for SWIMMY, FREDERICK & INCH BY INCH.

NOW.

Art in-lieu of Ballet

I arranged to meet a friend who had flown 20hrs back to SIN for lunch so we didn't go for dance class today. When I got home, we did some painting & printing instead. Megan likes star and heart shapes and she made up songs as she did her artwork "This is my heart shape, this is my star shape, this is my yellow star, this is my yellow heart..."

Her first complete sentence in English came about as a result of her dance class whereby the teacher will get the kids to recite "This is my right toe, this is my left toe" as they did their routines.

Megan's Friends

September has kicked off well. I am enjoying a week of meeting up with friends and I thought about my daughter's social life. It is definitely more colourful than mine if I may dare say. So I thought I will write about the lil ones and do some reflection on the growing up she has gone through with some of her friends.

We finally met up with Joey and Ryan when they came back from Kolkata this time round. Ryan & Megan got along so fine during their first meeting, one would think they had been friends for the longest time. Ryan will be 3yo in Nov and he is very affectionate and sociable. It was so much fun having seeing the 2 kids enjoy themselves - we will sure miss Joey and Ryan when they return to India :-(

This is Zachary Ong (aka 旺旺） who is 5mths Megan's junior . He is Megan's most frequently visited friend. The friendship started off a little shaky (or should I say bitey?)

A few months down the road and many delicious meals cooked by 旺妈 (aka Irene), we see the friendship blosoms into something more conventionally acceptable ...

Megan met Baby Reika when EJ invited us over for a swim. Reika is absolutely adorable and very 'portable'. Mommy Kyoko could carrier baby in her carrier and finish her meal ! Megan is always asking when are we going to see Reika. I still can't quite figure out how she could remember Reika so well but I suspect its because she saw the mommy nursing her once.

These are some of the girls at my grandma's estate that will come around and play with Megan from time to time. She loves the pair of twins (Trenyc & Trista are seated right of photo). This is taken outside the hair salon run by the twins' grandparents at the neighbourhood. The girls' kakak is very kind to Megan too :-)

A New Apron & Cookie Time

I have been trying to drop Megan at my Aunty's place at AMK on Saturdays. It worked well last week and I thought we should keep it going :) So today, we went and Megan had requested to bake cookies cos when we were there last week, 臭臭-姨 wasn't ready for baking.

On our way to AMK, Megan decided to do a checklist and asked me:

"有没有带我的衣服" (did you pack my clothing)
"有没有带臭臭被" (did you pack my smelly-blankie)
"有没有带M&Ms" (did you bring the M&Ms)

It is as if Megan knows me very well, I forgotten one of the above - the M&Ms. She comforted me and said its alright, she will go with 姨 to buy M&Ms from the shops.

I reminded Megan that I have packed her knickers and she must tell someone she needs to pee when she needs to go (we are almost diaper free!). She gave me a really serious look and told me "这个 lao-goh 家没有 potty 的“ (there is no potty in this grandaunty's house)

And yes, the apron she has on is lovingly hand-made by my very own 姑姑！

What I Feed My Child (when I do)

Most of the people who know me well enough knows about my cooking masterplan. It is not that I hate cooking per se, but to cook for a toddler (only for her to reject the nourishing meal you whipped up) is really not all that exciting. But I have plans and boy, did I cook for all the Thursdays in August !

First, it was out to get the condiments and staples (we didn't have any at home, unless instant noodles can be considered a staple in a household). Then to spruce up the food, I went DIASO and got the cute barang-barang. After which, I had to look for my stashed away rice cooker, pots, pans etc.

Now that August is coming to an end. I am secretly happy - cos the plan was to cook for August only. But I do think I am getting better. My rice is no longer soggy, thanks to tips from Irene (even Megan complained that I cooked 'porridge' when it was meant to be steamed rice).

Perhaps I should persevere and continue cooking every Thursday ... perhaps.