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Sunday, August 31, 2008

Thank you Ms Shauna

It's the end of my Kindermusik journey... *sob sob sob* Last Sunday I had to say bye to Ms Shauna, because Mummy is withdrawing me from Kindermusik. She would have loved to carry on with Kindermusik, but Ms Shauna is leaving the school soon (I heard she is going to Shanghai because her husband has been posted there for work) and I have not settled in to the Our Time class as well as Mummy hoped I would. We didn't anticipate that Our Time would be such a big difference from Village!

In fact I was not supposed to be at Kindermusik this semester as Mummy had already moved me on to Kids' Loft, but at the last lesson last semester she couldn't resist especially when she heard Ms Shauna was leaving after this semester, so ta da!!! I was back the next week!

We've been at Kindermusik for almost a year and loved almost every part of the journey. The last 2,3 semesters of Village especially was very fun for us, and a large part of the credit must go to Ms Shauna, who has been wonderfully patient and manages to make each class such an enjoyable experience.

Mummy would like to say a big THANK YOU to Ms Shauna for taking such good care of me and teaching me so many things during the past year. We will miss Ms Shauna's infectious enthusiasm and lovely voice. Mummy is not ruling out bringing me back to Kindermusik again next time if Ms Shauna comes back.


Me, Charlene and Reina with Ms Shauna. So difficult to get 3 tods to smile!!!


Conversation with the Clairester

Time: 10pm

*Claire takes pack of Healthy Handful cookies and brings it to Mummy*

Claire: Mummy, kai! ('open' in Chinese)
Mummy: It's very late, Clairester. You've already had your milk. It's time to go to bed.
Claire: (shakes the pack insistently) Mummy, kai, kai!!!
Mummy: *sigh* All right. But you can only have 1 cookie ok? (gestures '1' for emphasis)
Claire: (thinks a while) 2! (gestures '2' with her thumb and index finger.. machiam like going to shoot mummy, hahaha)
Mummy: (stunned) No Claire, you can only have 1 cookie ok. (gesture '1')
Claire: 2!!! (gestures '2')
Mummy: 1, darling.
Claire: 2!!!!
Mummy: (gives up) Ok darling, mummy is going to give you 1 cookie. Just 1 cookie ok.
Claire: (takes cookie and walks away without agreeing or disagreeing)

******************* FIVE MINUTES LATER************************
*Claire walks back with pack of cookies in hand*
Claire: (very sweetly) Mummy, 1!!! (gestures '1')
Mummy: *pengz*

Papa's comment when he heard about the incident: Wah, not bad, she knows how to bargain leh!!!
Mummy: ...... *speechless*

Saturday, August 30, 2008

I Crept and Crawled at Kids' Loft

Long-awaited pictures from my Kids' Loft weekend playgroup, where I attend 1.5hrs lesson every Saturday. I have just completed my first semester there, and have more or less settled in, though I'm still warming up to Teacher Lavina (yeah it takes me a while... it took me about 2 terms to get comfortable with Ms Shauna!). So Mummy says she will most likely be keeping me at Kids' Loft until I'm 3, since I'm progressing well there. Besides, we like it that the class size is small, my classmates are friendly (even though I bully them by hitting them as and when the fancy takes me - trying to control it) and I can get more personal attention from Teacher Lavina. And of course, the very reasonable prices *wink*

Some pictures from my last class of the term:

My certificate, surrounded by my artwork. Mummy was very impressed with the cert which comes laminated and personalized with my pictures from class. This term I painted, stuck stickers, crushed paper, drew lines with crayon.

Playing during free play time. I'm obsessed with this toy and I never fail to grab it when it's free. Mummy's trying to get me interested in the puzzles and other toys, but nope, I'm one faithful gal.


Snacktime. Last day of the term we had a little potluck party of sorts. I love rice crackers, hahahahaha. Mummy is still not having any luck with getting me to say 'please' in class, though I will say it at home when prompted to. Oh, and Shanice and I enjoyed the party so much we insisted on sitting at the table to finish our meal and subsequently missed our zoophonics session. Teacher Lavina couldn't stop laughing at us.

Dancing with bubbles. I am always the first to run to the carpet. I love snug corners.

Dancing along to the music while Mummy stands outside taking pictures. hahahaha...

Oh, and in case you are wondering why we did so little during our class, it's just that Mummy was not able to capture photos of every part of class, as she was alone with me. So she didn't capture photos of storytelling, singing hello, and zoophonics (which incidentally, I missed. Because food is always more important. Hahahahahhahaha)

I hope to see all my classmates again next term!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

I WANT

This evening during dinner I was so desperate to have a potato wedge that I screamed "Wo yao na ge!" It was quite funny to watch my folks' reaction:

Mummy: (exasperated with my nonsense but still manages to ask calmly) dear, did she just say "Wo yao na ge"?
Papa: Yeah I think so. I heard it too.
Mummy: I can't believe it. She'll talk for food.
Claire: *screams away but does not ever repeat the phrase again*

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Mummy speaks - To Wean or Not to Wean???

Recently I got hit by a nasty bout of flu and it got so bad that I had to be put on very strong antibiotics. As a result, I had to stop nursing Claire for those few days that I was on medication. As I haven't had frozen reserves for the longest time, there was no choice but for Claire to be put on FM fulltime.

After I recovered, Claire appeared to be very impatient at the breast; the first night we went back to breastfeeding she rejected me after two or three minutes and cried for the bottle. Had no choice but to give her what she wanted but I felt quite upset.

The next day I told my mum what happened and she suggested that I stop breastfeeding. Well, that got me even MORE upset, because my mother had been so supportive of my breastfeeding journey all along. I wondered if perhaps it was really time to stop - after all my milk supply has been insufficient for the past few months largely due to work stress. But my thinking all along had been that I would still continue to give her what I had because I'm so convinced of the benefits of breastmilk. My intention had always been for Claire to self-wean when she wanted to.

Then this awful thought crossed my mind - is Claire self-weaning from the breast already? She had never been very attached to the breast, but I certainly didn't expect her to self-wean at the age of 18 months. Spent a couple of days waddling in misery over this. The few days when she was on full FM were indeed quite liberating in some sense - so convenient to just make some milk for her when she wants, and there was no need to worry if she was getting enough. But the thought of not nursing her again - well it just hurts! I think I've gotten more attached to the experience than Claire has! *rolls eyes* But still... if she no longer wanted to nurse, then I can't very well force her to stay attached, right? (hahaha... I think I need to be weaned more than she does)

So I decided to let things go their natural course - if she really decides to wean off, then I'll just let it be.

Verdict? After the failed "reattachment exercise", on the 2nd night, I made her milk instead of nursing her - out of 150ml, she drank 120ml, and went to sleep. The next night, I made her 120ml, she drank 40ml, then she rejected the bottle and started crying for "nai nai". I asked her if she wanted to drink mummy's milk. She nodded her head. From then on, it's back to total latch-on at night again. Wakkakakakakakkakakaka... ok, so I guess she does feel some bit of attachment to nursing after all. Now sometimes in the afternoon she will ask to be nursed instead of drinking from the bottle.

Though at the moment Claire is partially weaned off, we still enjoy the whole breastfeeding experience, so we'll still keep on with it for the moment when we can, because I still feel that it's one of the greatest gifts I can give her.