It's Botanical Garden again!

Mummy booked for a early dim sum breakfast at Orchard. Reached there at 9.30am. The dim sum was not bad, to be honest (only the dessert was utterly dissappointed), but cannot fulfill my craving for dim sum at all, only made me missed the Ipoh dim sum more and more :-( But well, that's what we can get in Singapore, the delicious Ipoh dim sum (and other good food) is simply too far to reach.

Since we were so near to the Botanical Garden, we visited the garden right after the breakfast. No shopping at Orchard, as shopping is really not our thing. Since this time round was a planned visit, mummy bought some fruits for the family to enjoy, while sitting on the green patches of grass and under the blue blue sky.

Hao Re enjoyed the fruits, and at the same time, he couldn't get his eyes off other children who were playing. Oh, by the way, Hao Re didn't eat much of the dim sum, like didn't like the food at all, could he be having a even more difficult to please tastebud than us?!!



After the fruit treat, daddy accompanied Hao Re to join other kids and to run around the field. Absolutely wonderful feeeling looking at the pair bonds. Later, mummy joined them and we have great fun! See the small photos - Hao Re rides on mummy, mummy and daddy carry Hao Re on the back, and daddy swing Hao Re going round-and-round. This little boy was so excited and laughed out so loud. Wonderful Sunday indeed!



Hao Re was very tired already by the time we left the garden at about 12.30pm. He has his milk during the car ride and continued to sleep while we reached home. After that, it's total stay at home. Played with him, watched a bit of TV, and he played on his own also. Time just passed by so quickly.

Mummy was a bit tired today. Think baby gal is getting heavier and pressing down on mummy. I have to run to the toilet very very frequently, and my back is aching....... Really feel like this little girl is bigger than his big brother the last time round. When I was having Hao Re, I never had this aching stuff until the very last day. Now baby gal is only 34 weeks, and the aching is all over. Never mind baby, mummy endures all this, as long as you grow healthily and happily inside mummy tummy :-)

Right, we went for a movie with Hao Re :-)

Initially wanted to go for cycling at the East Coast Park, but we woke up to a grumpy morning. So we decided to go for some indoor activity instead (the sky cleared up soon after 9am though, but we didn't change our plan).

Decided to bring Hao Re for a movie! No, this is not his first movie, his first movie Wall.E was back when he was 8 months old (all because he has a daddy who loves watching movies!). The show at VivoCity which would be viewed in 3D has already been heavily booked. So we booked 2 tickets for normal screening at the Jurong Point. On the way there, Hao Re took a short 10min nap. He woke up as soon as hubby stopped the car engine, as if he knew something exciting was coming ahead :-)

It's really amazing (and unbelievable as we didn't expect he would) this 18 months old boy watched the entire movie without any fussing. In fact, he watched with full interest and concentration! He even screamed loudly when the animal (also screaming) and the eggs were sliding down the slope, until the girls in front turned back and gave us a can-you-shut-him-up-look :-) And he laughed when he saw some funny stunned. He pointed to the screen when he saw some cute animals. He waved to the screen when the animals dissappeared. Etc, etc. All in all, he absolultey enjoyed the show! Towards the end of it, he was a bit impatient, but I made him a bottle of milk, and he gained back his focus after that and hold it to the end. That's a very enjoyable movie for us as well. Should bring him again when they are movies suitable for his age on show.

Went back home after having our lunch. He hasn't had his nap yet. Although he didn't show sign of tiredness, but still playing with his toys happily, I went ahead to make him milk and brought him into the room, and that's about 4pm already. He knocked off soon after finishing the milk. I have to wake him up at 6.30pm.

Brought him to the CCK park again. Let him walk and run around. And also played with the sand. Had dinner there and arrived home at about 8.30pm. Quickly bathed him and he went to bed at the usual time at 9+pm.

Today ended so fast. It's a nice day, except that I have developed some pain at my hips...... baby gal is pressing on me...... well, it's okay, just a few more weeks to go!

Tomorrow will be a better day :-)

..... of our family blog :-)

I started the first blog on the 24th July 2008. For the past year, I have posted 181 posts in the past 365 days, an average of 1 post per every 2 days, a pretty "hard-working" blogger, ya :-)

I certainly enjoy blogging and I am glad that I start blogging. It helps me to note down the growing up of our kids and that's invaluable to us (if not we might forget most of the things a few years later and there is no way we can remember things in such details)! Initially hubby thought I spent too much time and effort into blogging. But he later appreciates and likes the blog, and he helps me with the photos editing since he is a pro in Photoshop (note: hubby claims that the photos collate in the latest blog entry are so much nicer because is HIS artwork! Do you agree or not?). I am very happy that hubby wants to be involved and so I can proudly call this OUR FAMILY BLOG!

For the past year, almost 95% of the posts were about our dear boy, Hao Re. With a wonderful kid like Hao Re, I just feel like I could never write enough about him, just like I could never kiss/hug him enough. I hope for those I didn't manage to write/to photograph/to video, they will stay in our memories as long as possible. For the coming year, Hao Re has to learn to share our full attention with his little sister, Xi Yu. I shall continue to keep this blog as active as possible, to share with you the stories of our family.

I want say a BIGGGGG "THANK YOU" to all "supporters/readers" of our family blog, our dear families, our dear friends, and those who happens to come in here on and off, GREATLY APPRECIATED! It's certainly very fulfilling when some readers told me they have got out some useful information from the blog, and some sent me e-mails telling me they were touched by what I have written. Hope you have enjoyed reading and will continue to enjoy reading our family blog, the Kam family!

Thank you!

谢谢你!

Terima kasih!

To be noted down before I forget to do so.........

1. Separation anxiety
Thank goodness, he has changed for the better!!!
> First is sending him to the childcare in the morning - for the past 2 months or so, he refused to be left at the childcare and clinging on me like a little koala bear. And as soon as I "forced" him down on the floor, he would cry very pitifully, very sad to have to go through this every morning. For the past couple of weeks, it's hubby who brought him in to the childcare, still the same, clingy and cry, but slight better than me sending him in. Starting this week, he doesn't cry anymore, hurray!!! He even waves goodbye to us! Hope he has gone through this phase! Phew, after 2+ months of heart pain and feeling bad, finally.....!!!

> Second is when he doesn't see me - especially when we go out, he insists that I should be the one who carries him, who pushes his stroller and who carries his bag. Hubby does the right thing to not to follow what he wants all the times. So even when our boy cries asking for me to carry, hubby won't allow him and carries him away from me, and he actually stops crying after a while. It's not that bad when hubby is around, but if I am alone with him, I would rather not to go out with him, because if he refuses to sit in the stroller, I would have a hard time carrying him. At night, he only wants me, that's difficult to change since I am the main carer. I make myself think positively that while he is still young now and still wants me, I just enjoy the stickiness of him, soon he grows up and doesn't allow me to hug and kiss him as often now........

2. Say "NO"
It's very funny when I heard him say "no" for the first time, and he pronouces it very clearly and precisely. I don't know where he picked up from (not from us, I think, since we speak to him in Mandarin), probably from his teachers/classmates. Think he knows the exact meaning of "no" and he means it when he says it! Sometimes, he shakes his head while saying "no". I take this as an important development showing that he is improving on his language. The fact that he is now at the playgroup certainly helps him to pick up more words, since all his classmates are older than him.

3. Start running
He walks very fast. And sometimes he runs! When he walks with us, we don't have to slow down to wait for him. We just walk at our normal speed and he is able to catch up, very good ya, for a 18 months old boy :-) And recently, he is into running. Even when at home, when we calls him, he would run to us, especially there is food on our hands! Initially, he ran a bit wobbly and bumped into the sofa. After a few days, he runs pretty steadily now. He runs better when we put on the cover-toe shoes for him. We went to park last Sunday, and he followed his daddy (who was jogging) and ran for 5-10 min, until distracted by the birds and dogs :-)



4. A big and greedy eater
He has been eating A LOT recently, I mean A LOT!!! Presently, his weekdays meal schedule goes like this:

7am --------- 8oz of milk at home before going to childcare
8.30am ----- breakfast at school (usually bread)
11-11.30am - lunch at school (rice/noodle + fruit)
12-12.30am - 7oz of milk before napping
3pm --------- afternoon tea at school (biscuit/cake)
5.30pm ----- dinner at school (rice/noodle/porridge)
7pm --------- "evening" tea at home (anything we are eating/yogurt/cheese/fruits/biscuits/etc)
9pm --------- 8oz of milk before bedtime

That's 3 milk feeds, 3 solid meal, and 2 "tea time" plus fruits. At times, I am worried that I might have overfed him? But then, my mum said kids are smart that they know when to stop when they have a full stomach. For toddler this age, it's actually better that he is willing to eat than becomes a picky eater, I reckon. So I just have to make sure I continue to give him healthy food. He is also a big drinker, he likes water, can easily drink 2-3 bottle full of water (>1 liter) per day. His bowel movement is still very efficient, so food goes in, after processing comes out again, healthy healthy :-)

And his favorite food for now is - chicken drumstick!!! Oh yes, just give him a drumstick and he would happily eating without any help from us. About 10min later, he would return to us a totally "meat-less" drumstick bone. Whenever he sees drumstick, he would get very excited :-) He loves fruits, all types of fruit, including the King & Queen of the Fruits - durian and mangosteen!

And by the way, he weighs 12.5kg now. No kidding, he is heavy (and with a big tummy :-))!

5. Self feed
He can self feed very well. Better with spoon than fork. Especially when he is having his yogurt, he peels away the cover, and off he goes happily enjoying his pot of yogurt. By now, he manages to scoop out about 90% of the yogurt into his mouth, with little spilt. Okay with rice and noodle, but still not consistent, sometimes can be very neat, while sometimes still creates small/big mess (if big mess, hubby frowns :p). All I would say is so far so good :-)

Not forgetting his ability to drink from the cup. No spilt now, can finish the whole cup of milk. Only thing is when he has enough of the drink, he starts to play with it, i.e., to put his whole hand into the mug...... messy messy!

6. Blocks and puzzles
He still likes his building blocks, more on Lego than Megablock, and now when he plays with the blocks, he would build something and play with it imaginatively, e.g., he would assemble a few blocks together, and push the blocks on the floor and make the "wromm wromm" sound like pushing a car. And I am teaching him to build blocks horizontally and not just vertically, and he is doing that well. I really think building blocks are great toy for kids to development themselves in many aspects.

Also I have introduced puzzles to him. Same as when he is at school. It's also another great toy for toddler this age. It helps to sharpen his motor skills and also to train his brain to think logically. There are 2 types of puzzles that we have bought for him. 1st type is the simpler type - it's single piece one and he just needs to find the right place to slot in the puzzle, we bought the ABC and the animals one, he can do this pretty well. 2nd type is the more challenging one - it's like the adult puzzle, but only 9 pieces puzzle, to be honest, very tuff for him to play, but at least he shows interest and fully concentrate on doing this. The aim is not to ask him to complete the puzzle but really to help him starting on logical thinking. And as usual, most important of all, is that someone is there to play with and guide him.



My little Hao Re is really such a good boy that I really really really love him to bits! Oh no, my another dear man will get very jealous reading this :-P

Till the next update..........

Back to CSC at Bukit Batok, after stopping for months.......

Due to the H1N1 outbreak and with Hao Re diagnosed with eczema, we have stopped bringing Hao Re to swim at the CSC at Bukit Batok since May as per advised by his pediatrician. But He does really like swimming, as you can see how much he enjoyed himself when we brought him to the Pasir Ris Park.

Since H1N1 has now become a common flu, and his eczema is not that bad, we figured we should bring him for swimming again. We are happy with the cleaniness of the CSC swimming and this time round we brought shampoo and bath gel so we can shower him right after the swim to get rid of the chlorine which could be a possible cause that worsen his eczema.

So, off we went for swimming!!!

Hao Re changed from a grumpy face (cos he didn't comfortable in his swimsuit) to a happy face (cos he knew we were heading for swimming?!!)


First thing was to have our breakfast. Hao Re already took his morning milk, and he can still finish half bowl of corn flakes with fresh milk, plus some of our food!


It's not a hot day today. We only arrived at the CSC at about 10.30am and it's still nice weather to have a good swim. Today mummy just sat by the pool and be the camera woman, while the pair of daddy-and-son went ahead to enjoy almost 1 hour of fun in the pool. Hao Re was so excited when he saw the pool, he ran in to the pool immediately, and started to splash the water and to "swim". Daddy helped him to swim around by holding to his arms/hands and there were lots of laughter from the pair. Daddy also did some crazy stunts on Hao Re, like let him totally immerged, head included, into the water, or let go of his hands in the deep water. When the wave pool started, the pair enjoyed the wave so much, initially Hao Re was a bit scared, but after he got used to it, he was doing "surfing" using daddy's body as the "surf board". Mummy merely sat there and admired.

Daddy and Hao Re swimming..........




After 1 hour soaking in the water, we called it a day. Hao Re was not happy to leave the pool, but he didn't make much noise, probably he was already exhausted. I gave him some biscuits to munch on during the 15 min car ride home so that he won't fall asleep. When we reached home, I quickly made him a bottle of milk and he dozed off to sleep immediately and slept for a good near 3 hours!

In the evening, we brought him to the CCK park to run around and to have some fresh air. It's really good to let him have as much physically activities as possible. This weekend has been very good for him, as he spent less than 1 hour in total on TV for both days. We love to let him play (especially under the blue sky) and tire him out, so that he would take long nap and goes to bed earlier at night, kekeke, naughty parents :-) But honestly, it's all good for him!

This is one of the photos where we managed to tire him out. He fell asleep on the stroller in sitting up position. This stroller cannot be flatten down and yet he was still able to take 1 hour nap in sitting up position, guess how tired he was!

Xi Yu is growing very well :-)

The checkup has changed from every 4 weeks to every 2 weeks now. Meaning it's drawing nearer to THE DAY, and the good thing is we got to see our baby gal more often. Though being a 2nd time mum, sometimes I still worry about the little one in my tummy - when she moves too much or when she doesn't move that much....... seeing her on the screen and listening to her heartbeat make us feel relax.

And yes, it's all well. Baby Xi Yu weighs 2kg now. Dr Tan said by size she is 32 weeks, but by date she is 34 weeks. We don't know exactly what does these mean. So for the convenient sake, I take the average and tell people our baby is now 33 week :-) She is at the right position (head down) but hasn't engaged yet. For the first time, I didn't gain much weight for the past 2 weeks, but I told Dr Tan that I am not that optimistic as the durians are still aplenty out there :-P

I asked for fish oil supplement as I don't think I eat fishes 3x a week as per instructed by Dr Tan these couple of weeks. So better get the supplement to make sure I have taken in enough nutrients since fish oil is crucial for the development of the brain. Now is 3 pills per day - Obimin (multi-vitamins), iron supplement and fish oil.

Hao Re was early than EDD by about 15 days...... according to Dr Tan, #2 usually will be early than EDD also. Meaning, Xi Yu will arrive to this world in about 4-5 weeks time, that's fast approaching.......

Dragged myself to sort out the clothes for Xi Yu, finally did the first round of washing of the reusable napkins, and will do for the clothes this coming week too. It's really the time round to get things prepared NOW!!!

........no poop day!!!

For the past 18+ months, the 10th July 2009 was the day when Hao Re didn't poop at all! Hao Re poops everyday without much trouble, except for the first few days after birth, and he poops 2-3x as "normal output", and for a period of time when mummy gave him too much fruits, he pooped 4-5x a day! His infant care teachers teased him that for all other babies/toddlers, they usually notice the days when they poop, but for Hao Re, it's for them to notice when Hao Re didn't poop, and for the 16 months at the infant care, his teachers were dissappointed because Hao Re didn't fail to poop, so they had to see his buttock everyday :-) Only on last Friday, he didn't poop at all, but he is no longer at the infant care, so his teachers couldn't "enjoy" the day where don't have to see his butt :-)

Think he is born with a good digestive system and bovel movement. And also his willingness to eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Happy pooping!!!

A lazy day spent at home alone

My running nose started on Sunday night. I think I could have caught the germ from Hao Re. Still feeling okay so didn't consult doctor. But after 2 full days of work, felt really tired and needed a rest. Went to consult a GP downstairs and got the mc for absence at work. Sent Hao Re to childcare. And early in the morning at about 5am, sent hubby off as he has a 3 days business trip to China. So glad that it's just 3 days, and will be back on Friday evening, meaning the weekend is still for the family. So today is totally ME day, the full day to myself, to rest :-)

Initially I thought I can do a lot of things that have been put on hold for the longest time, like arranging the document, cupboard, store room, photo albums, started to tidy up the clothes for baby girl Xi Yu, etc. But ended up like doing nothing :-( Only managed to organise and backup all photos on the PC and of course surf net. Well, still better than doing nothing. Time just flies while you are not at work, sigh!

Once the part time cleaner was here, I went to fetch Hao Re. Oh yes, forgot to mention this - we have engaged a part time cleaner since 4 weeks ago. And she is great, doing a good job cleaning our house, and most importantly, she is those very "automatic" type, as in she does whatever needs to be done, don't need to ask me every week what to do and what not. The good thing of having the help from this kind lady is that hubby can free up a lot of his time during weekend, and thus can be more relax and so spend more time with us. And this lady really does a good job!

After fetching Hao Re from the childcare, we went to the CCK Park before heading home, so that he can get some fresh air and run around. Not quite a smooth trip though, he wailed a bit as he demanded for something but I couldn't figure out what he wanted, luckily he got all settled after 15 minutes or so. He spent the next 30 minutes playing there happily. It's getting dark and we have to leave, but he hasn't had enough! So it's crying throughout the whole journey back home (luckily it's a short 15 minutes, else I would have gone crazy :-))



When we reached home, I gave him a chicken drumstick, stewed one, and he finished it all (it's small-ish cos I used kampung chicken) and won't let go of the bone until 1 hour later :-) This little boy is certainly a greedy eater (I am not complaining, it's GOOD!)



And that ended my "home alone" day :-)

Our new adventure, and it's NICE!

Though it seems to be quite a distance from where we live, we are at the far west, and Pasir Ris is at the far east, but hey, this is Singapore we are talking about, it's actually just about 30-45 min drive away. So after picking up Hao Re from the Infant Care Centre after my routine checkup, Hao Re took a good 3 hours nap. And off we went to explore the Pasir Ris Park.

We liked this park. A lot more peaceful compared to the East Coast Park. The East Coast Park is forever crowded with people. This is the first time we came to the Pasir Ris Park, and we stopped at the Car Park A. My little boy immediately attracted by the sea. Yes, he loves water!!! He didn't need to think for even a second, he ran into the see right after hubby let him go. He was not scared at all.

Look how happy he was playing with the water, it looked like that he was swimming :-) He happily made himself wet, sat down and even immerged himself totally under water! We didn't teach him that, okay!


Today, it's hubby who did all the hard work, i.e., to run around with Hao Re. Me, as the heavily pregnant woman, just sat down on the grass enjoying the sun and the breeze, and watching the dad-and-son pair spending time together.


The good thing about the Pasir Ris Park is that there is a shower room in the toilet nearby and the toilet is pretty well maintained (compared to that at the East Coast Park). So hubby washed Hao Re thoroughly (without soup though) after about 30-45 min of water play. And we all sat down to have the dessert, the sweet potatoes soup and rambutan. Now it's the bonding time with mummy :-)


After that, let Hao Re play with the sand for a while. Think we have spent a good 1.5 hours there. Should visit the park again!

Then, we headed to another BIG MISSION of today - yes, you guess it, it's DURIANS, again!!! This time round, a friend of mine recommended the 717 Durian Stall at Highland Centre, off Yio Chu Kang Road. We got 1x Mao Shan Wang and 2x XO. And gosh, it's VERY VERY VERY NICEEEEE, esp the Mao Shan Wang. Previously we thought Mao Shan Wang belongs to bitter-sweet type. But apparently not. The guy said good quality Mao Shan Wang is actually very bitter. It's so nice! A total different kind of bitter and texture compared to the XO ones. Should come back again next weekend!!!

Baby girl is growing very well

Yes, it's that FAST, it's already the 31st week our baby girl has been "made". If taking my past experience into account, I may deliver our girl at about 37-38 weeks, that's only 5-6 weeks away!

The first thing Dr WK Tan said to me was that my blood count is a little lower than the normal range. She asked if I want to increase it by the natural way (eating more red meat and green vegetable) or take iron tablets. I said it's unlikely for me to increase the red meat intake as I eat very little meat, but I am eating lots of green leaf. So I opt for iron tablets (actually it's the same thing happened for my 1st pregnancy).

Then Dr Tan did the scanning. Baby has turned, head down. Now she is already in the right position. But not engaged yet. Dr Tan showed us baby's head, eyes, nose bridge, heart beat, legs and toes, etc. Everything is well. And the estimated weight now is 1.69kg, and Dr Tan commented it's a very good weight for baby this age. She said by weight baby is now ~30weeks, but it's 32 week by LMP. So she wrote down my EDD can be anyday from 27th August to 7th September 2009. I have a feeling that our gal would be a August rather than September baby, let's see if my feeling is right. Dr Tan also mentioned I should clear all my work and get ready by August.

She wrote me a "Request for Admission" letter, filling in some details of my pregnancy. And I was asked to carry this letter with me everywhere I go. Really feel that THE DAY is not far away now...... Next checkup will be in 2 weeks time.

And yes, we have finally decided (I think we have decided, are we not, hubby???) to name our baby girl - 甘淅瑜 Kam Xi Yu :-)

There will be more stories about 淅瑜 coming up. It's close to midnight now and I have appointment with the 周公 :-) Tata!

6 months (or less) to the "terrible twos"

Firstly, about the childcare centre........
Hao Re has been officially "promoted" to the Playgroup at the childcare centre on the 1st July 2009, a few days before he turned 18 months. So far, he has been coping okay, including the changing of nap time (from 2x to 1x) and changing of food (from cereal to bread/corn flakes+milk for breakfast and from porridge to rice/noodle for lunch). Only 1 thing that upset me - I observed that he seemed to be very hungry when I picked him up and demanded for food as soon as we get home, and he ate really a lot! Only after a few days that I found out they are no longer giving him dinner, but no one told me about it! Maybe they thought my boy is already with them for so many months, so they didn't explain clearly to me about the Playgroup, taking for granted that I should have known about it, but in fact, I don't, and they couldn't take it for granted, could they? When in Infant Class, the teachers recorded the meal/milk time (how much and what they eat), diaper changing, poo time, bath time, nap time in great detail. Now in Toddler class, they only have 3 ticks to indicate the kid has had breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. Nothing else, I felt totally lost of control....... So, not only Hao Re needs to adapt to his new class, I also need to adapt to his new class, and his new teachers. Based on the past few days talking to his new teacher, who is a new hired, I don't like her so much. She is a young lady, probably in her early 20's, think still single and no kids. I cannot feel her love for the kids, it's like she does it because it's her job. Unlike those aunties in their 50's, I can definitely sense they genuinely love for the kids. Sigh, how I miss Hao Re's ex-teachers at the Infant Class.

Hubby teased me that in my previous post, I said so much good things about this centre. Now only for less than 1week, I have already started to make complains. I will continue to obsserve for 1-2 weeks. And I still don't feel comfortable with it, I will seriously consider changing Hao Re to another centre. Think hubby will support me, right, hubby?

Secondly, about the "terrible twos"........

Yes, I think Hao Re has entered the stage of "terrible twos"!!! I read that when they use the term "terrible twos", it doens't mean that all those terrible things would start at the age of two, but can be anytime between the age of 1 - 3.

Quoated from a website - "Characterized by toddlers being negative about most things and often saying 'no', the terrible twos may also find your toddler having frequent mood changes and temper tantrums. To help you cope with this normal stage in your child's development, you should always remember that your child isn't trying to be defiant or rebellious on purpose. He is just trying to express his growing independence and doesn't have the language skills to easily express his needs. This can also be the reason why your toddler frequently gets frustrated and resorts to hitting, biting, and temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way."

What I observed on Hao Re for the past few days was that he wants things to be done his way, rather than following what I ask him to do. For example, before this, I was the one who decided on what activities to do, reading, playing blocks, watching tv, etc. But now, he makes the lead. If I don't follow his way, he would wail, fiercely. Previously, I dictate when to watch tv. But now, he tells me when to on the tv. If I on the tv without his "permission", he again would wail and bring the remote control to me and ask me to off it. As long as you don't give him or follow him the way he wants it to be, he would wail and sometimes throw temper tantrums. Since he still can't say the word "no", he shakes his head more often now to indicate no.
As of now, I do not know and haven't learnt how to deal with him, especially when and how not to give in for the situation that I shouldn't be. I cannot bear to hear him cry. And how to talk/communicate/teach/lead him. There is a lot for me to learn. And I need lots of patience. And I don't want start disciplining him at this stage. SO I have to keep reminding myself - "My son isn't trying to be defiant or rebellious on purpose. He is just trying to express his growing independence and doesn't have the language skills to easily express his needs". Must key in these sentences into my hard-drive and protected it from being deleted. I am very positive, and I have to stay positive, that I will find a way to communicate with my boy soon and end the "terrible twos" stage, happily. Meanwhile, keep cooooooooool!!! Just want to add that Hao Re is not like that everyday (that would probably be too much for mummy), but only on some days. In general, my little man is still the most adorable and cute :-)
(p/s: I shed some tears on Monday seeing how rebellious my boy was, feeling I was not good enough to be his mum :-( But after a few days more of observation, I am feeling ok now. Motherhood is certainly not easy, but I am enjoying it very much!)

Lastly, some updates on his development..........
Well, actually not much changed from previous month. So just try to note down whatever I can remember:
- Weight: Opss..... dropped to 11.7kg (would it be due to the few days of not enough food or for some other unknown reasons?) But he still looks fat especially the big tummy is still there.

- All 16 teeth were out, only left with 4 molars (might have also erupted, but Hao Re didn't allow me to have a look).

- Still learning to speak. Currently his favourite word is "turtle" whenever he sees picture of turtle. Started to imitate what we say - currently manage "xie xie" and "bye bye", and "yi (one).

- Can recognise many objects, be it real objects or those on the books. When we ask him to point to something, about 90% he gets is right. The remaining 10% is more like random guess :-)

- Respond well to most of our instructions

- Able to "read" and "draw" on his own

- Run pretty steadily

- Feed self with a spoon very well, but still not that good with fork. Especially like to self feed with a pot of yogurt

- Become more and more interested in adult food, and still eats a lot, like a small "rubbish chute", he happily eats whatever you give him

- Brush teeth with help, but he doesn't like brushing so much and we have yet to make it a routine
-
Jump around and crawl onto sofa, dinning chair, climb out of high chair, etc

- Cooperative while take off clothes, as of know how to lift up his hands and legs

- recognise almost all parts of his or his body

- Not yet potty trained. Show some signs of readiness. But his teachers said need not hurry in doing that until he can speak or indicate when he wants to pee/poo, otherwise it's more stress for the boy and mummy

Righto. That's all.

Will be blogging another one very soon, for my routine checkup for my baby gal and our new adventure to the Pasir Ris Park. Stay tune!!!