Chinese

DH and I have taken to speaking in dialect or chinese when we are around dd. Not because we are trying to initiate her into the lingos , but more out of necessity and desperation.

DD understands a fair bit of our conversation these days. And if we speak of the word 'bread' or 'rice' or 'biscuits' or anything else she fancies, she demands a share of her favoured food. Many times we can't oblige because its her meal time or milk time and we try not to let her spoil her appetite. Problem is dh's command of chinese really CMI, even though mine is quite bad as it is. So we both struggle along in broken mandarin / dialect.

Phlegm

DD is officially ill. She coughed 15 short coughs today and each cough was laden with potent sounding phlegm. We brought her to the pd. For the first time ever, we saw the clinic bursting with waiting patients. Perhaps our visits have always been appointment based, so we have never seen such crowds there. We were there at 1230 and only finally saw the doctor at 3pm. We went down to Thai Express for lunch in the interim of waiting for our turn

We were pescribed a nebuliser (our first time) and the nurse gave us a live demo in one of their empty rooms. Tho' she had good intentions, we reckon she overdramatised the process. DD's arms were pinned down behind her back which made her very upset and we don't blame dd cos nobody likes to have their arms pinned down. Back home now, dd barely fusses when its nebuliser time and even holds the mouthpiece herself. The trick is just distracts them with some toys/tv and they won't fuss. Lets hope this phlegm buster works well and fast.

Trade fair

It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon of browsing a 'pasar malam'. Thanks to a 'tip-off' that came specially from dd's sensei that there was a 'tradefair' ongoing at Toa payoh. I love browsing these tradefairs and dh will even help to look out for any that he bypasses, whenever he is on the road =P. DD was awed by all the sights and sounds, tho' she was sweating buckets by the time we finished.

Dollhouse

DD adores this dollhouse pressie.

Ding dong, who's at the door?

Getting the pieces in place

Meet the family DD: ok, now its my turn to go up the staircase to bed

Merry X'mas

My christmas surprise pressie from dh who sprang it on me last night after dd had gone to bed. Its a uber cool Gucci Indy bag in a sleek borsa finish. It came in a huge paper carrier but he hid the whole package in a nondescript Daiso plastic bag so as to keep it a surprise for me. And what a wonderful one it was too!

DD busy tearing all her presents open one by one after coming home from the usual annual Christmas party held at Ah gong's house.

Downtown East

Our first visit to Downtown East and we enjoyed every minute of it. Glad that dd had a sweater on as the aircon was close to artic level that day. There were many choices of restaurants, playarea for kids, shops and even a huge marquee which had an ongoing jumbo sales of clothes/ accesories.

DD waiting anxiously for her turn on the train

The li'l train ride that took us 3 rounds around the pretty x'mas props

DD wearing her $5 Carters sweater, posing in front of the ferris wheel which we hadn't the time to try out yet.

Lawn party

X'mas on the lawn of Riders' Lodge at Turf club. Our host, Brenda did a fabulous job of coordinating and organising this x'mas celebration. The food was fantastic, we especially like the butter chicken and battered fish. The music was divine, provided live by the RJC choir and the australian group, Angels for Architects. And it was wonderful that she had invited some old folks from a nursing home to join us for this party. Oh, and not forgetting the little touches like doorgifts, mats and some toys to keep the kiddos occupied.

Unfortunately, dd didn't enjoy the occasion as much since she had to be jolted out of slumberland as she had fallen asleep during the car ride to the venue. DD is still struggling with nap time and only consents to napping when she is taking a car ride =P. She was very quiet and refused to smile at even the friendliest of faces. Even our plate of food didn't interest her when usually she will be clambering for some bites.

In anticipation of warm weather at this outdoor party, we dressed dd in a white tank and jeans. Whats dd pointing to?

Ans: This colorful toy lying next to a caucasian man (whose hand you see in the picture). A simple toy but one that dd enjoyed immensely.

The organising team wore white tanktops and jeans ensemble complete with 'wings' to identify themselves

Ill

I have been ill countless times in this past year. But dd has always been fine. Unfortunately, the minute my helper comes down with a cough, dd gets ill immediately *sigh*. DD coughed up to 8-10x two days ago and that was enough to get me all worried. Thankfully, she only coughed like 5x today. No fever but I have heard of how tough it is to shake off a cough.
Hence, I had dh zip down to Dr Low today to top up our stash of home medications. Lets hope dd gets better soon.

More sales

Many thanks to Kris for her party invitation, unfortunately we had to pass on it. Merry x'mas to Kris and family!

We woke up nice and early today to pack in all the itinerary for today. Amongst the long list of to-dos, was a 'educational toys' warehouse sales at Tannery Lane, we wanted to visit.

Damage here was about $100 for our loot. Sorry no time to upload pics of the loot.

Schedule

Its the last weekend before x'mas and our schedule is packed. We start off at a dinner party for dh and some work associates. DD came along with us and enjoyed herself scampering around.

Discounts

The last day of our first term at sm. Everyone hung around after class to chitchat and to take some photos. The whole class will be moving on together to the next term. DH came by after class to pick us up. We headed to Marina Sq as there were sales for Massimo Dutti, Warehouse, Topshop, etc. Happy to buy dd the socks that I had been eyeing since 3 weeks back, at $2+@.

Rice

We fed dd her favourite item on the menu during lunch at Crystal Jade - white rice =P. She gamely finished almost the entire bowl of plain white rice. We could barely keep up with her gobbling down the rice as we were cutting up her vegs to bite sized at the same time.
DD also loves the char siew bao/soh as much as dh does

Endless

I had a long overdue facial and some x'mas shopping done before picking dh up from work. We then headed over to ah mah's house for dinner. DD was already there and having a field day of ransacking ah mah's house for new toys.
It was nice to take an afternoon off from dd and her endless 'demands'. Now that she's alot more 'linguistic', she's inundates us with endless requests. Some of her favorite phrases:
1. 'mummy sit here read book'.
2. 'drop already, mummy pick up'
3. 'mosquito bite, scratch itchy itchy'
4. 'mummy open cupboard take toys'

Obliged

We were at a warehouse sales again today, this time to browse learning resources' products. Being unsure which of the many items on sale were suitable for or might interest dd, I was just about to leave empty handed. To my nice surprise, a very kind mummy who happened to be browsing the shelves next to me, suddenly spoke up and taught me which items would be of interest to dd. Her son is already 4, so she was familiar with the products as her son had been using them from when he was younger. Because of her kind advice, I came away with this LR reading rods set and activity book at a good discount. Much obliged to mummy V for her kind help.

Shang

Dinner at Shang Palace. It is a special occasion because dd's tai por is almost 96 yrs old and though she lunches at the Shangri La quite often with Ah mah alone, the rest of us hardly ever gets to meet her. Also, the family had been travelling recently so its been a few weeks since everyone had the chance to sit down for a meal together. Here are the pictures, in the private dining room: DD was awe-struck by the gigantic chandelier that hung over the lazy susan. The table's big enough to sit 18 diners comfortably.

Chitchatting with Tai por before start of dinner. There is also a private sitting area at the back of the private room

Everyone arrives for the dinnerPreparing the peking duckMeira 'play acting' with dd. There is absolutely nothing on those crockeries, yet the two kiddos manage to entertain themselves endlessly just 'feeding, drinking and stirring' away.Meira: ok Maishia, time for mum-mum. Say ahhhhh... Meira: good girl, ok here 's one more spoonful for youDD: let me have a gulp of water from this cup

Our family shot with tai por. Age difference with dd: 95 years

Tutu

DD's first tutu outfit in a really sweet soft shade of pink.

Basket

DD gets up to mischief whenever the helper takes out the clothes basket to use.

Flags

Glad to get my hands on this new world map/flag toy. Been looking high and low for something like this. Made of solid wood, with a foldover that makes it easy for storage. Even the flags have got BOI printed on the back.

Sales

DH is ill and we have spent most of the weekend recuperating at home. Even our proposed family lunch at the Shangri La with dd's tai por was shelved because ah ma was also not feeling too well. Late afternoon, we managed to make a trip down to the Furla warehouse sale (I am not fan of Furla though) and Gap kidswear sale ( thanks to Cass!).
I got dd 2 tops and 1 bottom from the gap sale @ about $6 each. Thats even cheaper than the Fox sale that we went for =P.

Party

Early x'mas party for dd! We were at Tammy's place today where she had rented a huge section of large toys for all the kiddos. From a huge climb n slide, to a ball pool, to a cosy cottage to a trampoline and more, there was also a buffet spread for the adults n kiddos. And to make a x'mas party complete, there was even good ole Santa Claus! Too bad we were there for less than an hour as we were rushing off for something else, so dd didn't have much chance to play with all the nice toys. Here are the pictures:

Nothing comes between dd and bread. Doesn't matter if its croissant, baguette, toasted or just plain white bread. She loves them all. Not even the most interesting toys can distract her from sitting down quietly and gobbling down the whole croissant.

DD: Mummy, I can't smile when I have my mouth full.

DD: ok, better get back to munching my bread, I saw more of these yummy croissants on the table

Loot

Loot from the toys sale. My favorite has to be this fabulous doll house going for a song. The rest of the toys were the usual sesame street, megabloks and litte people range: