The Weekend That Was

We had a great break over the extended weekend, celebrating Children's Day (Oct 1), starting Livi at Pats Schoolhouse on Oct 2 and basically for me, just spending time with her and catching up on some much-needed rest.

The 5-day break (Oct 1-5) saw us hanging out at Esplanade where we caught several short children's plays - all part of their Children's Day Prog; having a riot of a time with a new caterpillar-shaped float in the pool; having Isaac & Keira over; visiting Liuxiang & her new boy Ian; checking out new restaurants (My Space @ Humble House and Lao Beijing) and even checking out condos (Concourse Skyline which Bro/Lisa bought a unit - happy for them!).

One of the most interesting discoveries this weekend was how Livi's doodles of people are starting to take form! Like eg. the people now actually have a discernible head, 2 huge eyes, a long line for body, shorter lines for arms & legs, and hair! We thot this is great coz afterall, she's all but only 2.5+ yrs.

Her language skills of course continue to amaze us - even her teachers at Pats. Eg. she said a few times "phew, that was close". And her comprehension and inferencing abilities are getting quite sharp too. In fact, about 1 month back, she surprised me by saying "Mommy, I tell you the sequence, first we go Shichida then we go church..." amazing isn't it?

Trembling Jelly!

Livi and I made jelly today. It was uneventful but fun as I got her involved in the entire process - from trying to cut the packet of jelly crystals to pouring the crystals out, adding water and stirring till everything's mixed in. I also showed her where the jelly's chilling in the fridge. When I later asked her what colour it was - she told me it's Red and said it's likely to be Strawberry coz "when it's red, it means strawberry". Hah!

Can't wait to taste our first joint "culinary creation" tomorrow!

Sleep Tight

After much delay, we finally did up Livi's room by putting in the finishing touches - a set of pretty Ikea bed linen and her darling Brownie & Lambchop. And without much fuss and fanfare (in fact, with much enthusiasm), Livi slept in her own room on the night of June 14.

It was mixed feelings for BP and I as we contemplate how that'll probably be the way we'll feel when she gets married - proud but with a tinge of reluctance as our baby moves on.

But things weren't as smooth sailing coz Livi cried in the middle of the first 2 nights. Anxious but patiently, we put her back in her bed each time and she carried out sleeping. We told her there's no need to cry if she awakes - coz if it looks bright, then she can just walk over to our room; but if it's still dark, all she has to do is turn over, close her eyes and sleep.

It's amazing what clear and simple explanations can do but sure enough, on the 3rd night, Livi only wimpled but didn't cry as she came over to our room.

The next morning, I asked her why she did so - was it coz she missed us or coz she was frightened. She looked really down and didn't answer at first. But after some probing, she said it was coz "I'm sad". I was shocked at her reply and amazed at what complex feelings a little girl like her was capable of. To allay her concerns, I explained the reason she's sleeping in her own room these days is coz she's growing into a lil girl and therefore need to be more indepedent, and not coz Daddy & Mommy don't love her anymore.

Till today - 2 weeks since she first moved to her own room, Livi still walks into our room in the middle everynight. But I hope she at least knows now, that she wasn't abandoned but merely taught greater independence.

Sleep tight my babe.

"Why this Man So Stubborn?"

Livi constantly amazes us with her grasp of the English language. Here are just a few examples:

- Flipping thru a storybook recently, Livi suddenly asked "Why this man so stubborn?"

- On CNY 15th day, she saw the big round moon and went "Wow! It's so big! Lets take a picture!"

- Her ability to carry on a proper conversation with us is really entertaining, eg. "Can you remember where you went last night?"... "I went..."

- "I brought this to... " - note she used "brought" to refer to a past event.

- On other occasions: "I didn't..."... "I don't know..."... "2 pieces... "... "This is Mommy's phone..."

We get so tickled at times that we'll repeat the question, or ask her to repeat. If anything at all, I'd like to think her language skills has got something to do with BP reading to her everynight before bed, our habit of speaking to her using proper words and sentences and my singing nursery rhymes to her since she was a baby. And of course, God's blessing has been amazing too. Oh how we love Livi!!

Sandcastles & Lil' Hands

The past weekend had been pretty eventful so that's why I'm trying to quickly post these before I forget what happened.

Sad to say but even though we live so near East Coast, last Sunday (18 Nov 2007) was the first time we brought Livi to the beach and boy, was it a new experience for her!

We prepared a simple breakfast picnic and found a spot where we could also build sandcastles after breakfast. But the first time we placed her on the sand, she simply froze and didn't quite know how to react to a "shifting floor/ground" - like sand! It was only when we assured her it's ok and brought her to walk around a little barefooted that she calmed down.

The next surprise came when we got her to play with the sand. Looking at her sandy hands and fingers, she insisted on washing her hands, saying "Dirty! Dirty!". Again, it was only after much assurance that she started to mutter to herself "It's ok, it's ok" and picked up with her little watering can (still with some apprehension).

Getting Livi to dip her feet into the water (with me carrying her under the arms) proved "the last straw" and we had to quickly bring her ashore to stop her from going hysterical.

Thinking back, I'm just wondering -- have I conditioned her to be such a clean/clinical kid that she'll not participate in such activities anymore in future? At this point, I don't think so coz she reacted the same way to crayons the first time she used them ("Dirty! I want to wash my hands!"). But since then, she's gotten over green/blue/red-stained fingers and seem to be enjoying herself. My take? I feel it's better to instil in them a value for hygiene and being neat and then permit some leeway, than not to have taught these basic values. The verdict's still out of course but well, that's what I hope for anyway.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Sis found this play staged specially for kids and we decided to bring Livi and Kang. I had been looking forward to it all week and was kindda psyching Livi up for it too (not sure how much she understood that though...).

The play was very entertaining and Sis and I were pleasantly surprised at how attentive the 2 kids were throughout the play! To say the least, they were dumbfounded and awestruck. To me, the song and dance segments were the most entertaining and hilarious, and the props pretty ingenious.

Whilst we encountered some parents (1 pair) who behaved rather ungraciously, the overall experience was enjoyable and it was a pleasant outing with just Sis and Kang.

I can't really tell if Livi enjoyed herself but I tried to ask her questions about it after that and I think she understood a little of it. Guess it's not so much about how much she comprehends at this stage, but really to expose her to different experiences. Would certainly love to bring her to more of such activities in future!

Snip Snip Snip

For 21 months, this mommy had never given her babe a haircut till yesterday when I finally played hairdresser to Livi.

I wasn't planning to do anything too sophisticated. Sorry but no. It was just gonna be a straight-across fringe which I can pass off as the latest lil' girl style, inspired by the Japanese bob do.

I thought I was pretty ingenious to get a big IKEA plastic bag and snipped 3 holes on it for her head and 2 arms. But she protested and refused to be "bubble wrapped". Ok, guess I'll just make do...

Then when I finally got down to cutting her fringe, she started to squirm and refused to let me continue -- after I've snipped off half the fringe. So just imagine a staggered fringe now with the right side shorter than the left. Thank God I managed to convince her to also comb and cut Winnie the Pooh's hair before I quickly snipped the rest of the fringe for a (rather) even cut.

So did I do well? Hmmm, I think I did ok for a first-timer. Livi's still got a few compliments on being cute and sweet after the haircut so if anything, I think I've maintained if not improved her sweet quotient : )