Aaron - the first week

Aaron spent the first 3 nights home crying and feeding and totally depriving Mummy of any sleep. Thankfully, 4th night onwards, he started to sleep longer stretches, about 3-4 hours each time. It could be him settling into a routine (which is actually a bit too early), or his high jaundice level.

His jaundice level had gone from 230s to 268 on Tuesday. The polyclinic doctor was very unsure whether to send Aaron back to the hospital or not. So Daddy and Mummy decided that they better go back to KK to get better expert opinion. And doctor at KK children's emergency said jaundice admission is for 300 and above only. Tsk ... what a waste of time! But at least now we know for sure when to admit him.

The jaundice level only came down slightly on Friday. Hopefully, it'll drop to below 200 by Monday!

But aside from the jaundice, and the first few nights of non-stop crying and feeding, Aaron's been a pretty good, happy baby.

Jie-Jie Nadine

Nadine has assumed her role as Jie-Jie pretty well. Whenever she hears Di-Di crying, she'll run into the room, and try and comfort him. She'll go, "sshhh .... sshhh ..... don't cry, it's ok, it's ok ..." Very cute.

Jie-Jie now also knows that we're no longer just Daddy, Mummy and Dine-Dine. We have Di-Di as well. The other day, Mummy bought a box of cupcakes for her. There were 5 cupcakes in the box. She had 2 for breakfast the next day. When Bibi asked her if she wanted anymore, she replied, "no, this for Daddy, this for Mummy, and this for Di-Di!"

But she has her jealous and attention-seeking moments too. She wants Mummy to carry her, sit with her, read to her and pet her to sleep all the time. Mummy tries to spend as much time with her as possible, except for carrying and showering her. The other day, she came to Mummy with puppy eyes, and said, "Mummy shower me please". Broke Mummy's heart. She must have thought pretty long about the sentence, and constructed it properly in her mind first, because she usually says "you" and when she means "me", and doesn't always say "please". Mummy just have to try and spend time with her in other ways.

And now we're 4

Aaron 李哲明

(we hope he'll be a leader in his own rights; charismatic, wise, enlightened, and a light for others)

Birthday: 21 July 2011

Time: 9.27 am

Weight: 2.7 kg

Length: 47 cm

Hospital: KKH, Ward 82 Room 27

Yep, plenty of 2 7s. Another 7 - this year is Daddy and Mummy's 7th wedding anniversary. Daddy thinks it's God telling us of His grace and perfection upon our family!

Threesome

For our last day as a family of 3, we went to the zoo.

The weather was great, though a bit too hot, and the zoo was relatively quiet, since it's a weekday. But as a result, many of the animals also took the chance to "relak 1 corner", literally. Still, Nadine enjoyed herself thoroughly.

She's been watching Madagascar and Madagascar 2. So when we told her that we're going to the zoo, she couldn't stop saying that she wants to go see Marty (the zebra), Alex (the lion), Melman (the giraffe) and Gloria (the hippo). And at the zoo, she made sure she saw all 4 animals.

She enjoyed herself the most at the water park in Kidzworld. But of course - hot, scorching sun, nice cool water and many interesting fountains + lots of other kids running around.

She was absolutely exhausted after that. Ate up her biscuits, drank her coke, and fell asleep immediately on the tram.

As an additional treat for Nadine, we went to Swensens for lunch and ice-cream. She was so focused on getting her ice-cream that when Mummy asked her what she wanted to eat for lunch, her reply was "eat ice-cream first".

Tomorrow, we'll welcome Di-Di Aaron into the family. Nadine has been prepped for this special day for months. She transited from being able to tell people that she's going to have a Di-Di, to arguing that she's going to have a Mei-Mei, to saying that she will have a Di-Di and a Mei-Mei, to agreeing that she will have a Di-Di.

Last night, Mummy asked Nadine if she wanted to be Jie-Jie and baby. She replied, "Jie-Jie .... baby inside here (tapping on Mummy's stomach)".

Now the major test is tomorrow - how will Nadine react when she actually sees the baby?

"You" & "Me"

Nadine's not too clear about her "yous" and "mes". She tends to use "you" first, coz that's what she hears people say all the time - "Mummy shower you", "Daddy read to you", etc. So now, whenever she asks for something using "you", like "Mummy feed you", Mummy will ask "Mummy feed who?" To which Nadine will answer "Mummy feed me".

30 months old

At 30 months old, Nadine is more cheeky and assertive than ever, and definitely developing her negotiation skills.

She now likes to read, or rather, be read to, before bed. And after going through a few books, a few times, Daddy or Mummy will tell her, "ok, last book, then you must sleep"; to which her usual response is, "and then Goldilocks and Flower Princess (or Apple Blossom, or Gingerbread Man, or whatever other books), 2 last ones," with fingers signing 2 and a cheeky-pretending-to-be-sweet-face.

Besides signing 2, she can now use her thumb to sign "good". No more index finger for good.

She is also very imaginative.

pencil stuck in a little plastic sharpener = cake with candle

mattress lying 45 degrees on a pile of pillows = slide

cup over a fat marker = lamp

She can sing "A, B, C" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" pretty well. And is starting to hum along with whatever music that's being played on the radio, tv, etc.

Goofing around with Ethan last Sunday. She'd used that same piece of wet-wipe to clean her mouth, clean Daddy's, Mummy's, Ethan's, Uncle Mel's and Auntie Wendy's mouths (touched gently only), as well as the floor, the wall and the toys. And then she'd draped it nicely over a chair, as if she's drying it. And then she decided to put it on her head. Monkey see, monkey do - Ethan followed her in cleaning the floor, wall, draping it on a chair, and on his head.

Vocab

At 29 months +, Nadine's vocab consists of numerous 3-4 syllable words such as: broccoli, elephant, water melon, mosquito, Madagascar, spectacle.

Her Mandarin, on the other hand, leaves much to be desired. She pronounces her Chinese words with an ang-moh accent. How that came about, is really a mystery. Too much ang-moh cartoons?

Her Hokkien comes with an ang-moh accent too, tho she only knows 2 words - "ang gau" for red grouper - Daddy's favorite fish.

Hopefully she'll get rid of her ang-moh accent when she starts Chinese class in school next year! And yes, Nadine's got a place in the very popular LSK, thanks to Uncle Ben and Aunty Lydia's advice to pre-register her early - like when she was barely 1. It's not as popular as some of the branded kindergartens in Bukit Timah area. But in Hougang, LSK is probably one of the best and most popular; and has a long waiting list. It's amazing how early kiasu-parenthood starts, even at pre-school level!

Church camp 2011

We went for church camp in KL's Palace of the Golden Horses Resort 2 weeks ago. And we brought along Bibi, so that she can take care of Nadine, and Daddy and Mummy can enjoy the sermons. It was a good decision.

And even better decision, letting Nadine join the children's program, which was actually meant for 4 and above. She didn't exactly participate, but ran around in the room, and tried to follow some of the dance moves, and thoroughly enjoyed herself. Perhaps from next year onwards, Nadine can go join Children's Church!

One of the very few photos taken during the camp. This one was taken on our way up to KL. Nadine looking sassy with her sunglasses.

29 months

At 29 months, Nadine is speaking pretty good and complete sentences, and every now and then, she'll sprout lines that are both surprising and amusing, and shows how she's really taking in all that's spoken to her or around her.

For eg, the other day, Mummy slapped her bum for climbing the window grilles at Po-Po's house. She turned around and said to Mummy, "hey, why you beat me?"

And today, when Daddy woke her up from her nap, the moment she opened her eyes, she said to him, "there's a big rabbit in Wallace & Gromit!" She was watching W&G before she went for her nap.

She loves the series of books Godma bought for her last Christmas - Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, Ugly Duckling, The Great Turnip and The Magic Porridge Pot. She's made Daddy, Mummy and Bibi read the stories countless times to her, so much so that she can remember the stories so well and can even recite them.

Her best recitation is Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, but Mummy has not been able to capture that on film. Here's her reciting parts of Little Red Riding Hood.

Toilet trained

Bibi started toilet training Nadine months ago. There had been quite a number of accidents, especially on days when she drank too much, or had too much fruits.

But all those cleaning/wiping up efforts seem to have paid off now. For the last week, every time Nadine needeed the loo, she'd say "want wee-wee". No accident. And even in her grouchy, wailing mood yesterday afternoon, after being woken up from her nap, she could still tell Mummy that she needed to wee-wee.

Next step, try bringing Nadine out without diapers!