Prayer drive

Every morning, during the drive to school, Daddy & Mummy would pray with Nadine. Mummy would always start by saying, "shall we pray?"

Sometimes, Nadine would say "yes, and sometimes "no", but Mummy would go ahead and pray anyway. And Nadine would then tell Mummy to pray for Di-Di, Daddy, Ma-Ma, Bibi, and a few times, for various other people.

This morning, Nadine initiated the prayer by saying "shall we pray?"

Daddy and Mummy are so pleased!

Hong Kong

We went to Hong Kong last week for Auntie Betsy's wedding. The itinerary included Hong Kong Disneyland of course.

Nadine was one happy bird the moment we reached the Park. The path leading to the entrance were lined with flags of different Disney characters. Nadine ran from one pole to another, pointing out the characters excitedly. Her joy was really infectious.

And the first thing we saw when we entered the park - a queue of people waiting to take photo with Mickey and Minnie. It was a long queue, but Nadine insisted that she wanted a photo with the 2 mice.

On Daddy's shoulders, waiting to take a photo with Mickey and Minnie.

After almost half an hour, we finally got to take a family photo with Mickey and Minnie.

And one with just Nadine.

Mummy and Aaron, in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Nadine went on the Dumbo ride with Daddy, and loved it! Here's a photo of them after the ride. It was impossible to take one during the ride.

She was keen to go on the merry-go-round, but the moment Daddy put her on a horse, she freaked out. Probably because it was too high. They went on the "sofa" instead. After that, Nadine kept saying, "I don't like the horse. I like the sofa."

We spent a night at Disneyland Hotel. It was a grand fairy tale hotel. Highlight of the stay was breakfast at the Enchanted Garden, where various Disney characters come round to take photos with diners.

Nadine was scared of Pluto and Goofy ...

But loved Daisy, and of course, kept asking for Mickey and Minnie.

The other interesting thing about Disneyland is all the Mickey-shaped prints, food and sculptures everywhere.

2nd day at the Park, it was Mummy's turn to go on rides with Nadine, while Daddy took care of Aaron.

Slinky Dog ride

It's a small world - with costumed dolls from around the world

Nadine's favouritest ride - the Mad Hatter's Teacups. She went on it the night before with Daddy, and wanted to ride again the next day.

We stayed for the parade, which was really spectacular. Nadine was so excited to see the many characters, and danced along to the music.

On Saturday, we went for Auntie Betsy and Uncle Adam's wedding. They were really happy and it was a joy to be able to witness this special occasion.

The wedding dinner started with cocktail, during which the newly-wed took photos with guests.

While waiting for the dinner to start, Nadine amused herself by taking photos.

Uncle Joe and Auntie Irene entertained Nadine by posing for a photo ...

So did Uncle Quan ....

So did Uncle Gary and Auntie Alice.

Nadine also took a photo of Daddy and Aaron ...

and the wedding favour. Actually, Nadine's quite a good photographer, for a 3-year-old!

But she could only take that many photos. Got bored after a while, and started running around. Which was fine, although a little dangerous, with the waiters walking around with food, cold and hot drinks. Then she started rolling around. And Aaron was cranky. Mummy was constantly chasing Nadine and Daddy was starting at a corner, carrying Aaron. By the 5th dish, we decided that it was enough, and headed back to the hotel.

It was a good thing that Auntie Betsy and Uncle Adam hosted a lunch for their overseas friends the next day. We had a chance to catch up with them properly.

Nadine with the "Princess Bride" ....

and the "Prince"

This was the first time that the family travelled "alone", without any friends on the same flight or staying at the same hotel. It was super tiring. We also made the mistake of packing in the program, and tiring everybody out. By the time we got on the flight back, both kids were tired and cranky, and both wailed non-stop. Nadine even threw up on herself and Mummy. Thank God the SQ crew were super nice and helpful.

But overall, it was still a good trip. And it sure was a great joy to see Nadine so happy at Disneyland. Too bad Aaron is too young to enjoy the park.

Aaron the Slider

Aaron can't quite crawl yet, but he's super good at sliding and slithering around. And he's very fast too!

Settling down in school

Week 3, Day 11

Nadine's finally stopped saying "I don't want to go to school". We reached school at 8.30am, worship had already started. She ran in to join her friends in the singing and dancing, didn't even turn back to say good-bye!

Week 4, Day 12

Nadine cried in the car while we were in the car park, wanted to sit on Mummy's lap. But Mummy had to drive, so offered to let her hold Mummy's hand and drove with the other hand. Reached school, wanted to be carried to the door. But no more tears, and guai-guai followed teacher in.

Week 4, Day 13

Happily said bye to Bibi and couldn't wait to get into the lift to go down to the car park. Reached school, walked into hall without turning back. Mummy had to call out to her to get her to say good-bye!

Week 4, Day 14

Ran out of the house, and shouted to Mummy, "Mummy let's go!" In school, remembered to turn around and say good-bye to Mummy.

Hopefully, this means Nadine has settled down into the school routine!

CNY 2012

This is Aaron's first Chinese New Year. On the first day, he was wonderfully bubbly and cheerful at Gong-Gong and Po-Po's place, most of the time. Everybody thought he was such a darling.

Nadine had a field day eating junk food and drinking coke. Ma-Ma taught her how to say Gongxi Facai. But her Gongxi Facai has a funny ang-mo accent to it. Where and how did she get that accent from?!

Early in the morning on first day, before we set to to Gong-Gong's. Nadine in her Vietnamese suit, and Aaron in his dragon suit.

With Cousin Joelle

With Yi-Ma

Aaron - 6 months old

Aaron turned 6-month-old last Saturday, and had his first cereal meal. He loved it. Finished 2 table spoons of cereal.

It wasn't his first taste of semi-solid though. 2 weeks ago, Daddy had let him gnaw on his green apple. And he loved it! Think Aaron loves food .... just like Daddy!

Aaron is a little rolly-polly now. He loves rolling, flipping and turning around, even when he's seated on his bumbo. Totally different from Nadine. When Nadine was 6-month-old, we could leave her in the bumbo and go about doing our stuff, knowing that she's safe and snug in there, and she'd sit still. Aaron, on the other hand, is always trying to wriggle out of the bumbo. Very dangerous, cannot be left alone!

He has also started to crawl and grab things. Most of the time, whatever that he manages to grab, he brings it straight into his mouth. In fact, he's managed to chew off 2 of his stuffed toys' hands! Like a little puppy!

Nadine's 3rd day of school

On Thursday, Nadine had fever again. At 3.30 in the morning, her temperature went up to 39.3. So even tho she was ok by 8, Mummy decided to give her mc.

By Friday, she was all ready and eager to go to school. But she kept telling Mummy that Mummy must "go inside" with her - go into the classroom. Mummy said we'll have to ask the teachers.

But there was no chance to ask the teachers. She was led into the assembly hall by a teacher so quickly that Mummy didn't get to say a proper good-bye. And as soon as she realised that Mummy didn't enter the hall, Nadine started crying. She ran back to Mummy. A teacher offered to carry her. With a shattered heart, Mummy let the teacher carry Nadine away, and went to peek into the hall thru another door. A few teachers took turns to carry and calm Nadine. Feeling helpless, Mummy decided to go off to work.

Mummy went back to fetch Nadine home after school. This time, she was a happy child. Smiled as she gave Mummy a big, tight hug. The teachers said she did really well. No more crying after they went into the classroom and was participative. Mummy felt really proud of Nadine!

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!