Nadine turns 3!

Nadine turns 3 today! And she got to celebrate her birthday with her new classmates and teachers.

She had fever yesterday, so did not go to school. And Mummy was worried that she'd have to miss school again today if her fever persists. In fact, her fever went up to 38.9 at 3.30 am. Thank God it fell to 36.7 by 9am, in time for her to go to school.

She was invited to the front of the class, and then the teachers and classmates sang her a birthday song. Her school doesn't allow birthday cakes, but they have a toy birthday with a real candle that the birthday children can blow off. And they had prepared a birthday gift for Nadine! So thoughtful!

Today being the 3rd day of school, the principal encouraged parents to stay out of the classroom, and leave the teachers to manage the kids, even if they start crying.

Mummy went into the class with Nadine, settle her in her seat, and told Nadine she was leaving. Of course Nadine wouldn't allow that. Then Mummy said she needed to go to the bathroom. Nadine also said she needed to go. One of the teachers immediately asked if she could bring Nadine, and Nadine actually said yes! She held the teacher's hand, and went out with her. Mummy then disappeared, and from time to time, peeked into the classroom.

Nadine did really well for the first half hour. But after that, she cried a bit, and was carried by a couple of teachers. Nonetheless, Mummy was glad that she did not bawl like some other kids. Would have shattered Mummy's heart if she did. According to the teachers, Nadine could be easily comforted and was quite easy to manage.

Since Nadine's not completely well, Mummy decided that she'd fetch Nadine home for this week, and let her take the school bus next week onwards. During dismissal, Mummy went into the hallway to find Nadine. The teachers had lined her up for the school bus already, and she seemed ok. But the moment she saw Mummy, she bawled like there's no tomorrow. The teacher chided Mummy for appearing. Said Nadine was doing very well, and that she was even helping to take care of a younger boy. Good to know. Maybe Nadine's more ready and steady than Mummy thought!

Nadine's 1st Day in School

9 January is Nadine's 1st day in school.

Daddy and Mummy started talking about school a month ago, to prepare Nadine. She seemed excited. But then, she had no concept of school.

Getting ready for school. Mummy must have been too stressed out this morning to notice that Nadine's shorts were worn too high. So ah-chan!

With Luanne, who is in the same class as her

Nadine swung from being super sticky to Mummy, to being a rebel, wandering away from the class, doing whatever she wanted, and crying to try and get her way, to helping the teachers to keep stuff. She was not interested to follow what the rest of her classmates were doing nor where they were going. Hopefully she'll learn to be more compliant ... soon!

While everybody obediently sat in a circle to play, Nadine sat in the middle of the circle.

Mummy went on the school bus with Nadine for the journey home. And repeated countless times to Nadine during the bus journey, and for the rest of the day, that Mummy will not accompany Nadine on the bus tomorrow onwards, but she'll be ok, and Mummy will pack some snacks for her to eat on the bus, and Bibi will be waiting for her when she gets home. Nadine kept saying "ok" and "yes" to Mummy. Hopefully, it'll really be "ok" and "yes" tomorrow!

Nadine's 3rd Birthday Party

We held a combined birthday party for Nadine and Marcus today. Marcus turns 6 on 6 Jan, while Nadine turns 3 on 11 Jan.

Nadine was really excited about the party. Early in the morning, she came into Daddy and Mummy's room, and asked, "are you ready to go to Nadine's birthday party?"

The kids started by having 2 hours of crazy fun at Go Go Bambini. It was near impossible to capture any decent photos of them running, climbing, jumping and crawling around.

Nadine in her 'rainbow' dress that Daddy bought from the US

A happy shot with Gerald

After that, we proceeded to Ben & Jerry's next door for lunch.

Aunties shot

Uncles shot, missing Uncle Andrew and Uncle Weiquan

Godma with Aaron

Although it was a combined party, the parents decided on 2 cakes, 1 for each child, so that they can each choose a design that they like.

The last time we went to Ben & Jerry's for breakfast, Nadine saw this 'Rainbow connection' cake and said she wanted it. Daddy promised her that we'd order this cake for her birthday.

The Gans

Just when we were going to take a family shot, Aaron started crying

And just as we were going to take a children shot (very ambitious), Nadine started crying. No idea why. Daddy had to carry her away.

It was such a challenge trying to take a nice shot of the kids!

At least Nadine was willing to cooperate to take a shot with Godma

It was a great birthday party, and definitely a joy to be able to celebrate it with so many good friends. Mummy hopes that Nadine and her friends will continue to celebrate their birthdays together for many many more years of their lives!

First hair cut

Nadine and Aaron both had their first hair cut yesterday.

Nadine's hair had grown beyond her waist and has become quite heavy. It's also becoming difficult to wash and dry. So Mummy decided to cut it shorter before Nadine starts school in 2 weeks' time. Nadine was actually looking forward to the hair cut! It was a new experience for her. But when the hairstylist tried to put the cover over her body, she got scared, and clang on to Mummy. So Mummy had to carry her throughout the hair cut.

She was happy after the hair cut, and seemed to like her shorter hair.

Aaron was a lot easier. Probably because he is so young and had no idea what's happening.

New look

Christmas 2011

This year's Christmas came and went very quickly .... just like previous years. But because we went to Bali for holiday 2 weeks before Christmas, Christmas shopping was squeezed into the week before.

It was a great time of feasting, fellow-shipping and catching up with old friends and family.

1st party - UJC cell party on 23 Dec. Was great that majority of the cell members could make it. Nadine enjoyed the buzz of the party, and the attention from all the Gor-Gors and Jie-Jies. And, the sweets. There was Gong Cha (tho she did not like the pearls), baked honey corn flakes, chewy junior and ice-cream. Major sugar over-dose!

Christmas Eve was spent at Uncle Chris & Aunty Zin Ee's new house. Super creative Aunty Lydia brought chocolate blocks for the kids to build a house. They decorated the house with M&Ms, jelly beans and fruit loops. The kids loved it, coz it was a fun activity, and there were so many colorful candies to eat!

Didn't get a chance to take a family photo, nor photo of Nadine and Aaron, on Christmas Day.

Here's Nadine wearing a dress that Aunty Sue Ern bought her a long time ago. Nadine called it her "bubble dress".

We took a break from parties on Christmas night. There would be a 3rd party with Daddy's side of the family on Boxing Day.

We brought Nadine for her first ever foot massage! She loved it. Sat there quietly and enjoyed her half hour massage while watching Rio. When asked if she'll like to go for foot massage again, she replied with a very affirmative 'yes'!

Aaron - 5 months old

Weight: 6.5 kg

Height: 63 cm

Aaron's a wriggler, a flipper, a lunger and a tugger. Whenever he's put on a flat surface, he'll flip-flop, wriggle and lunge all over. Even when he's asleep, he moves all over the cot. Just like his Jie-Jie.

He also has a tendency to flip backwards when he's being carried. Cannot keep still, except when he's tired or sleepy. Then he likes to be carried by his Daddy, koala-bear style.

Aaron loves to tug at his clothes, clothes of the person carrying him, and his fave - Jie-Jie's hair!

Nadine - 35 months old

Weight: too heavy

Height: taller than last month

35-month-old Nadine thrives on being independent and helpful. She likes to do things that adults have been doing for her - spreading jam on her bread, pouring milk into her cup, unlocking the door, opening the letter box, etc.

She talks like an adult too. The other day, she took a box and pretended there're candies in the box. Started feeding everyone, including Aaron. And she said to Aaron, "Cannot eat too much candy. You'll get a cough, ok!"

Nadine loves to role-play too. She talks to her stuffed toys, and even dress them up in her clothes ......

Bali

We had a great holiday in Bali last week with the Gans and Gong Gong KK. Wasn't expecting Bali to be so much fun. But it was, and had everything - fun for the kids, excellent food, pretty good shopping, and the weather was gorgeous.

At the start of our Safari tour

The Bali Safari and Marine Park was an extremely well-kept and well-run private zoo. It was a very hot day when we went, but we could sit in the comfort of the tram that brought us around the Park, and right next to the animals. The kids were really excited to see the lions, tigers, zebras, giraffes and many other animals up close.

Another wonderful place for the kids was Waterbom Bali - a water-themed park with slides and rides for adults and kids. Daddy and Mummy were expecting Nadine to have a splash of a time. But she was scared off by the humongous water canons, and didn't a long time to agree to step into the water.

Mummy coaxed her to go on a cruise in the tube raft along the lazy river. She was actually quite gungho about it, until we got to waterfall. She was really spooked. And after that, would not go into the water anymore. To entertain her, Daddy bought her ice-cream and donut.

Nadine sharing her donut with Ethan.

The Gans enjoying themselves

Then there's Turtle Island, where there were humongous turtles, eagles, toucans, pythons and bats.

We also spent a day at the beach.

Nadine was supposed to go on the banana boat with Daddy and the Gans. But the vendor ran out of children's life vest and Nadine wouldn't wear the oversized adult life vest. Diva!

Nadine had way too much ice-cream, coke, candies and cakes during this trip.

Our one and only family photo taken during this trip.

We did not take any photos at the restaurants we went to, mainly because Daddy and Mummy had to carry Aaron and ensure Nadine ate her food, or was not running away from our sight, nor terrorizing Ethan. Also, all the restaurants we went to for dinner were pretty dark, and Aaron did not like darkness. He cried endlessly and would only stop when he was brought to bright spots.

Nonetheless, it was a really enjoyable trip. And we will want to go back to Bali again. And when we go back, we will definitely go back to 2 of the restaurants where we had the best dinners - La Lucciola and Mamasan.

Puss in boots

While Mummy was in hospital with Aaron, Daddy took Nadine out for another movie - Puss in Boots. Just Daddy and Nadine. Daddy said Nadine really enjoyed the movie, and could follow the story. But 3/4 into the movie (7pm show), she turned around to Daddy and told him that she wanted to go home and sleep. Maybe next time, we should try an earlier movie.

Hospitalisation

Aaron's bronchiolitis worsened on the 7th day. He wheezed badly, was super cranky, and slept terribly last Wednesday. So we sent him to KKH on Thursday.

After a course of nebulization with Adrenaline, and sucking out of the phlegm, he was sent for an x-ray, which showed a lot of phlegm in his lungs still. So he had to be admitted, for round-the-clock nebulization.

Under the hood

His oxygen level and heartbeat were monitored round the clock for the first 2 days

Despite being in an unfamiliar place, having to be put under the hood for nebulization every 4 hours, and having to deal with the discomfort of phlegm in his lungs and a runny nose, Aaron was still his usual cheerful and easy self. The nurses loved him because he was always smiling, and did not cry during nebulization nor when they give him nose drops. What a trooper! Daddy and Mummy were so proud of him!

After 5 days of hospitalization, Aaron was finally discharged. Big thank you to all the aunties and uncles who had prayed for him!