at the children's pool

This is where Caden will be when I couldn't swim due to the monthly thingy. I always hate that day. But today, I saw Caden was enjoying himself playing at the children pool with cici Abigail and mei mei (Abigail sister).
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In less than two weeks, I will be leaving for US. I hope Caden would not miss his regular swimming time with me. I would be very happy if he could swim with someone else when I am not around, though, but oma (my mom) and ii Ali (my sis) both hate to swim!

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Oh well...

egg egg egg...

Every dinner Caden would say: "Mommy...egg egg egg....pis"

I have closed one eye on what could half boiled egg do to his body, some said it is not good to give a young child half boiled egg as one could get salmonella disease from it.

But a lot of time Caden refused to eat his dinner (FYI, he is not taking any lunch), and he will be screaming so loud, letting us know that he doesn't want to eat at all. But when he is given his once a day half boiled egg, he dramatically changed to be an angel. No more screaming, no more throwing things, no more crying...rather, he would look closely to the bowl of the half boiled egg, and a lot of time he would grab our hands to make sure that we won't take that away from him. Then he will eat it until it is totally finished 'till the last drop.

Of course after it is finished, the screaming start again! Now, he would ask for more. And everyday I would say, "Sorry Caden, mommy forgot to buy more egg today. I will buy for you tomorrow, ok?"

And of course he didn't buy the excuse...and keep screaming for more...*sigh*

If only we could give a lot of half boiled egg to a child per day. It would make everybody super happy.

PS: I have given him half-boiled eggs since he was not even one year old. Click here to find out more.

Soon, he would teach me how to do things his way...

Emotional mommy...

I cried last night and this morning! In TWO weeks time, I will have to leave Caden in Singapore for TWO weeks! And now, I felt that he might not be ready for it (or rather...I am not ready to leave him yet.. ^_^)

Although I know that there is still an option of bringing Caden along with us, I also want this trip to be just about Paul and I. After all, he is only home on the weekends for the past 2 years, and when he is home, he would give more of his time for Caden => I only get a small portion of it hehe... which is fine! I agree that Caden needs it more than I do.

Anyway, so I am actually looking forward for this trip together with my husband, if only I don’t have another wonderful little man in my life.

Caden has been acting up pretty bad since last week. He suddenly gets so easily annoyed with everything. And when he is, he would showing it loud and clear, whether by crying or by giving tantrums.

He hates it when we ask him to change his clothes, his pants, take out his old diaper, put on new one, then put on new clothes and pants – there will be tantrums in every single one of them.

*sigh* How tiring!!!

It’s totally fine with me if I am not planning to travel. I believe this is just a phase that every child has to go through in life. I am very sure he will gets over it very soon. But why now????

The worst of all is, Caden seems to look for me more often this days. I have been teaching him to sleep with his nanny (not with me anymore) since around February this year. And it has been successful so far, until last week.

He suddenly asked for me right before he sleep, cried hysterically if he don't gets it, and he wakes up in the middle of the night, crying hysterically, demanding me to sleep next to him for the rest of the night.

I cried last night when he was actually sleeping on top of me (while I am lying down on the bed). He never was like this EVER! He never acted like 'he is going to loose his mom' for the first one year of his life when I sleep on the same bed with him all the time. On the bed, there was always some gap between Caden and I. But now, he is like glue to me when comes to sleep. There has to be a part of our body that touch or else, he would say “mommy mommy,” making sure that I am still next to him. Sometimes he would sleep on top of me for hours.

I cried because I feel that more than anything, he needs me to be beside him to help him go through this stage, but at the same time, I am really looking forward to spent more time with my husband.

I am torn apart.

But I come to a solution that if GOD wants me to go on this trip, there will be something that makes me confident to leave Caden alone for two weeks. And I am sure if GOD wants me to go, he will definately watch over Caden for that two horrible weeks (for me).

AMEN!

Soaking wet!

The weather has been so bad this past few days or sometimes Caden gave tantrums in the morning, therefore, we have not been able to walk to school for quite some time.

I can see that Caden miss his morning walk. He has been asking me to walk around the house on his stroller and one time, insisted us to ride in his stroller when we were only going to visit our neighbour in the next building.

So I thought I gave him a surprise to walk on cloudy Thursday afternoon. Little that I know that it's going to rain very very soon. We were only out for about 5 minutes when the rain started to pour and it got really REALLY heavy a few seconds after that.

Luckily Caden was in his stroller, he was saved from all the wetness, but Mommy and Suster were soaking wet!

Lesson to learn: Never to walk again on cloudy day in Singapore! The weather here can get very unpredictable.

"fish..please..."

We went to Takashimaya today. A lot of time when we are here, we like to buy Japanese fish-shaped bread before we go home.
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Caden has been looking how the aunties makes the cake for countless times.

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And today, ONLY today, when I asked him if he wants one, he said, "iya" (means: "yes'"). So I bought two, one for Suster and one for me (as I don't think he would ever eat it -- I suspect, he would just touch it for a few seconds and gave the fish back to me).

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I let him sit in his favorite stroller (read: a shopping cart -- Suster suggested me to buy one of this instead of the Maclaren stroller that we have), ate the tail of the fish and let him played with the rest of it.

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I was quite shocked, but all giggly and excited, when I know that Caden took a few bites on it. He ate about hm...the whole tiny mouth shape of the fish, quite a lot for someone that don't eat anything like that at all.

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[He is still not eating any snacks except for Cheerios cereal that is quite difficult to find here in Singapore]

Imitating others...

Socks was not something that Caden would consider a nuisance, until he saw his friends pulling it out (and eventually sock-less) in class.
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He is definitely in the stage of imitating others. I must contantly watch out my action and words from now on!

Daddy's Time

Every time Daddy is back from anywhere (Dubai, Bangkok, Vietnam, Shanghai, Hongkong, Jakarta, etc) is always cherish by Caden. It's the most important day of the week for him.
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He loves his dad so much. Caden would look for him during the weekdays when Daddy is not around. Playing Lego is (sort of) one of their special time. They could spend hours building something out of it.

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Therefore when Daddy is not around, Caden would sit by the pile of Lego and said, "Daddy, duduk!" (Daddy sit down). And I would only be able to remind him that Daddy has to work and he had told him a few days before about it. Then I would distract him with something else, such as asking him what we are going to build today.

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Of course Mommy's creation is not as good as Daddy's who had his degree in Architecture. I think that was make it more special to him. Caden would look attentively what daddy is going to built this time and it always turns out to be soo nicee....

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This week, they are building a huge zoo, just like the Singapore Zoo, complete with the tram, the driver, and the people who is waiting outside the tram, also all the animals: a giraffe, 2 monkeys, a panda, an elephant, a horse, and a crocodile.

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After that the three of us went downstairs for a swim and of course, Daddy was so impressed with Caden's swimming skill.

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Then we went out for an early dinner at 5.30pm at Din Tai Fung, Paragon.

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Fuih...what a wonderful day for Caden. Today, Daddy never leaves his sight. Caden would look for him when daddy was not sitting next to him; Mommy was not important anymore when Daddy is around.

Understanding: Fast & Slow

This month would mark the 18th month of Caden attending classes at The Little Gym. He has graduated twice since then; from the 'bugs' class to the 'birds' and now he is in the 'beasties' class.

At almost every class, we would do this huge colorful parachutes activity (with different arrangement depending on the age, of course). And every time we do this, we would shake the parachutes FAST and then SLOW for a couple of times (nowadays, we would run FAST and then SLOW while holding it).

But apparently Caden only get the REAL concept behind it after today's class.

He was so fascinated by it that he would shake his hands FAST while saying "fasss...." and then shake them slow while saying "shooo..." [He was doing it for probably 50 times today] ^_^

I hope, now, he understand when I told him to do something slower. But well, deep inside my heart, I know that it would be hard for him to follow, what I called, simple instruction at this very young age.

Soon soon... Just be patient, mommy! ^_^

What is terrible two exactly?

Ok, so I heard a lot about it from friends but never really experience it until last week.

Caden get easily annoyed nowadays. He would be so angry if we told him to take a bath while he is just wondering around the house. He would cry hysterically when we told him to change his clothes for school. He would push us away and keep saying NO (a lot of times) to show that he doesn't want to do what we want him to do, even before we have the chance to say it.
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Everything is a NO for this little guy!

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But honestly speaking, I feel that his tantrums and difficulties is not as bad as the story that I heard or read. I am not sure if I am actually more relax about this terrible two thingy (because I come in prepared for the worst) or I have helpers to help me with him. Hm...I think it's a combination of that two.

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[That reminds me!... This Idul Fitri (or Lebaran), Suster is going back home for 2 weeks... TWO WHOLE WEEKS! and Caden is not in his best shape!! Well, I am sure we will be okay (with a little mess here and there), and not to forget a Bible verse that says "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthen me!!" (Philippians 4:13). Hihi.... Indeed I can!!!]

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Back to the terrible two. I hope this wouldn't get worst. I feel bad when I saw him crying or asking for something that we don't understand. I am sure he doesn't really understand what's going on, too. He feel something is wrong, something is not right, something has to be done, but now sure what!! That's what explain the tantrums and sadness.

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Though I know that this is a phase and almost all kids are going through, I pray this will be over very soon.

Silly Boy...

Mommy: "Who is the silly boy?"
Caden: "Den den" (while pointing at himself - He cannot say Caden yet. ^_^)
Mommy: "Really?? Den den is the silly boy??"
Caden: "Den den... si..lly... BOY! Den den Silly BOY!"

Purple Week...

At English class.

one of Suster's artwork

Taken at one of the meal times gone bad!!!

I have known for a long time that despite of Caden's chubbiness and muscular looking, he is a VERY fussy eater. It is so hard to make him try new things. We used to be able to sneak new foods into his mouth. If he likes it, he would shallow it, and if not, he would just spit it out.

But it doesn't work that way anymore. He is older now, he gets upset very easily when he sneak a new food into his mouth that he would cry hysterically and would not taste the food at all (read: even if his tongue thought that it has a nice taste, he would be too upset to shallow it).

So we have doomed that method. Now, at every meal times, we need to distract him with stufffs...anything that attracts him will do; his toys, frying pan, soup spoon, fake egg, fruits, ballon, ice, etc etc. And on bad days, which occur quite often, it takes two of us to feed him.

It takes a lot of creativity on my side! But it does works most of the time.

When he starts to scream or look stressed-out, I let him go, even though if he hasn't eat a single spoon. (I don't believe in forcing someone to eat). Later on, I will make sure to give him more milk.

PS: He is still skipping his lunch. Only breaskfast and dinner are served! ^_^

Kimberly's 2nd B'day Party

We were invited to Kim's 2nd birthday party at their home. It was a really nice home complete with a huge swimming pool and a koi pond.

What makes it the most memorable birthday party compared to the other parties that we attended was because it was the very FIRST time that Caden want to open up himself to a clown (in this case, barney).

He used to be afraid to any type of clown, doesn't matter how cute and cuddly it looks, he would be so tensed up when they are in close proximity (at about 10 feet away).

When Caden first saw him, he was acting as he used to be, but soon, he looked more relax and even enjoying watching the barney doing all sort of silly things in very very close distance!!

The most achievement of all was that, we took a family photo with the barney right before he went back home. Caden was so calm sitting NEXT to the barney (actually the barney even put one of his hand behind Caden's shoulders). And right after, he even touched and felt his hand fur for a while.

Mommy was in cloud 9!!! I think with kids, patient and time are the answer to almost everything.

Act 3 Class

I enrolled Caden in acting class by Act 3. I found out a few months ago that they are located so close by from our home.

I wanted to see if Caden has some acting skill inside of him. ^_^

Last week was the first day of class. Caden wasn't really following the class; rather he would wonder of around the class most of the time. But this week, he is so much better. He could follow a few instructions from Miss Elaine (the teacher) and joined in some of the activities.

He seems okay in the class, but I see that he is a bit not too interested sometimes. At first I told myself that I had enrolled Caden into something that is too advance for him.

But when I remember again, he was acting very similar when I first enrolled him at Julia Gabriel School (especially the Mandarin ones, maybe the strange sounds of words scares him a little), and now, after he knows all the routines and the familar faces, he enjoys the class so much.

This semester theme are opposites and emotions. So last week, we learnt about sad, happy, angry and annoyed, while this week we learnt about tall, short, big and small.

I hope he is enjoying this class as much as he enjoys Julia Gabriel.

Jump + Swim Part Two

My Very Cute Penguin

...after we were done from swimming...

Caden Jump and swim by himself

I've been teaching Caden to jump by himself for quite sometimes. Usually, suster has to push him a bit or I have to pull him in. But yesterday, he was finally willing to do it!!!

He was so excited that he keep getting out from the pool and jumped in.

Then...mommy thought of a new idea!! I wanted to try out and see if Caden is able to swim to me.

I told him, "Caden, this time, after you jump in, you swim to mommy, ok?"

[He has mastered swimming -- I will submerged him inside the water while holding his armpits and assisting him to swim to the shore, since he was only 8 months old]

And when he replied "ok", I wasn't even sure if he knows what he gets himself into, I let him struggle in the water for a few seconds before I hold him up again.

Caden apparently able to do survival swimming (you know, with all the hands and legs moving trying to survive), but he is not able to push himself up so that his face will be outside the water. So what he did when he is inside the water by himself is to look for me.

He was fine after the swimming. I was so happy!

So we'll be perfecting our swimming skills from now on. ^_^

Almost kicked out...

The two of them were soooo noisyy!!! They run from one end to the other end of the library (while screaming). They fought over books. They messed up the books from the shelves.

Basically they enjoyed themselves, while mommies were trying to hide ourselves from embarrassment somewhere between the books.

They librarian came a few times to tell them to be quiet, which obviously not going to work!!

In the end, mommies gave up and we all went out from the library.