The cute genius

She is such a genius..at 2 years 2 weeks, she can -

1) sing the ‘Days of the Week’ song by herself..i am not sure whether she learnt it from her brother, but i sang it twice for her while putting her to bed last night and i realised she could sing it herself when she went

..monday, tuesday wednesday, thursday friday, saturdaaaay…’

I was so surprised i thought it worthy of reporting to P.

2) She can rote count (i.e. recite) up to 10 and count items up to 6…we were eating peas during dinner today (she has 3 rounds of dinner everyday..her own at 5.30pm, another round when my mum or her brother eats, and a round while seated on my lap as i have my dinner) and i thought to burst the pods open to reveal the peas inside. we started counting the number of peas in each pod and she impressed me with how she knew each pea should correlate to a number and managed to count the number of peas accurately. Plucking the peas out of the pod was also good for practising her fine motor skills..

She is the cutest when she fed me the pods after she was done eating all the peas..i gobbled 3 pods in a row and she started admonishing me ‘must chew must chew…must bite bite okaaay…?’

She is also so cute when she says good night and ‘see you tomorrow’ to an imaginary lizard on the ceiling..when she pulls her hand towards her and strokes it gently with her baby fingers, saying ‘i want to sayang mama’, before giving me loud kisses on the insides of my palm. Sigh. These sweeeet days won’t last forever, I know. And that’s why it is important to jot these moments down.

She’s so sharp too..insists that i sleep and lie down next to her. i am not allowed to sit and put her to bed cos i suppose that means i am likely to leave her and not really fall asleep next to her. and so i laid down next to her…but got questioned a minute later ‘why you need spectacles mama?’

Oh i wish i had more time each day to read and sing with you…a lot of the time after work is spent with her brother monitoring his home work, revising his mandarin, reading new books..i feel like there is not enough time to divide between the siblings… =\

Celebrating Calista’s 2nd birthday

My parents have yet to go to MBS together since it opened and I took the opportunity to celebrate Calista’s birthday there last Sunday by visiting the lunch buffet at Rise.

 

It was a rather good deal cos the children ate free and I only paid half price for the adults. :) I was pleasantly surprised by the good service and the range of food..It was the children’s first time at a buffet and they were so entertained by the sights on offer..the chocolate fondue and dessert table being a particular hit with them. There was even a suspended honeycomb dripping with honey!

The waitress also provided colouring activities complete with a free set of crayons so the adults could eat in peace for a while. P declared we should go back more often while Christian declared “I love this lunch!”

Calista seemed to enjoy the new surroundings too, and lasted till 3pm without a nap. Needless to say, she crashed within ten minutes of being in the car.

Happy Birthday darling! We love you lots!!

Magical words

Calista fell ill again and was slightly feverish and oh-so-clingy yesterday.

I felt guilty about leaving the house for work right after she cried “I want mama…” Sigh. Watched over her as she slept last night, fitfully..coughing and woke up crying every 2 hours..it’s as though she is back to her infant days. It gave me empathy for parents of critically ill children though. I thought of the hell they go through and said a silent prayer for them.

In any case, she is much better today and her mood improved so much that she even waved cheerfully “Bye mama” when she saw me approaching the door this morning. That did nothing to assuage my working-mum-guilt. I got into sort of a funk thinking about it during the day, and coupled with the virus i think she passed me, i hugged my bolster and looked miserable when i was home in the evening.

Calista was such a sweet little girl as she went “Hmmm…? What happened?” I got her to play doctor and asked for hugs and kisses from the doctor as well. It was so cute, the way she tried to administer medicine by pouring imaginary potion over my afflicted areas, and the way she resolutely said “Ok!” whenever I wrangled hugs or kisses from her.

My mood was completely lifted a while later, when i was putting her to bed. i put my face close to hers as i patted her to bed. She used her hand to feel my face in the darkness, and spontaneously kissed my face 5x, before saying out of the blue “I love my mama”.

*heart melts*

All the worrying and sacrifice is worth these magical moments and words.

 

Christian’s art

This is what Christian did during his holiday camp..I was trying so hard to look for a camp which would teach him some basic skills of drawing, and Christian lurvvved his art class so much he kept asking if we could continue.

Given that we had just made the decision to pare down his classes to two (swim & chinese) it was difficult for me to accede to it, but i am definitely going to sign him up again during the next holiday. I think part of the reason why he enjoys art over the others is cos he gets to experiment with different materials and create something without pressure.

During his 6 lessons at the art camp, he made a lighthouse out of toilet rolls and clay:

drew a butterfly:

and painted a scene of his choice on canvas (in case you can’t tell, it’s a prince in front of a castle, at night..):

 

I think this is great work for an almost 5 year old..think i was still drawing stick figures at 7. Hah. Am very happy to have found the “Little Artists” studio at Mandarin Gardens too..the teacher-student ratio is excellent and they look like a proper art studio instead of a kiddy craft play enrichment centre.

Will continue to encourage him to practise at home, till the next art camp!

At the Gardens

P had to go for a insurance-related medical at Gleneagles 2 saturdays ago, so we decided to make a family outing out of it by waiting for him at the Botanic Gardens. P and I prefer the Botanic Gardens to the newer Gardens by the Bay which seems so manicured and artificial in comparison.

The Gardens was a hit with the kids. They were initially a little lost after having eaten all the food we brought..but I think it is good to let them be bored sometimes and think up their own games. And so..Christian became the commander who charged down the “hill” with his trusty lieutenant (Calista) behind him.. They blew bubbles,

kicked ball, played hide and seek behind bushes and trees,

took pictures of the sky,

chased a monitor lizard,

duelled with fallen palm leaves,

and rolled down the hill on their balance bike / skate scooter

It was hilarious watching Christian bravely hurtling down the slope on his balance bike, almost out of control..he had a stunned look on his face, but said he was not at all scared when I asked him.

All of us really enjoyed the time in the sun, and Christian even proclaimed that he prefers it to the beach! Well, I definitely prefer it to the crowded malls, so hopefully we’ll be able to find more Saturday mornings to go back and laze around.

Calista is 2!

My dear Calista turns two this Friday. It’s hard to believe that two whole years have elapsed since she was in my tummy. She is growing up so fast, i’m happy yet wistful all at the same time.

Sometimes when my colleagues and I talk about current affairs, I get thrown the question: “what would you do if that was your daughter (being promiscuous/run over/etc..) I am often momentarily speechless as I imagine my sweet baby all grown up or taken away from me. It i so hard to imagine her as a girl with her own life to lead, away from me..or as a girl with her own destiny. Perhaps i do not believe in destiny…but that is when i am wracked with questions such as “Maybe if i am not a working mum, our bond will be stronger and we will weather those inevitable tumultuous times better…”

Anyway, I have digressed. I wanted to capture a snapshot of her personality at age two..for I am sure I will forget the funniest things she says, and the most tender and pure moments we share.

She will fight tooth and nail (mainly by the simple act of wailiNG) for things (bolster\my hp\book\some ridiculous pamphlet mama asked kor kor to throw away) but she will soon after offer the same thing very sweetly to me. She has shown a sense of humour, and imitates how P laughs (theatrically) – hahaha.hohoho.hehehe.

She has progressed from starting 80% of her sentences with “I want…(bitamin, wafer, bread, milk, berry) to “I think….”

What a cognitive leap!

She blurts out the most amusing things just before bed..i feel like a priest during confession time when i hear things like:

“meimei play the playground today.”

“I think….i drink mama milo today.”

“Because jiejie give medicine”

“meimei go to school.”

“I think kor kor take it.”

“I don’t want this sooooong!”

“I hear the children sing”

“Mama go work?” *pouts* “I want mama baobao”

“I see the pocket I want put the money. Gonggong….!”

“Meimei fall down at playground. Meimei run, meimei knock, fall down.”

“This is mine. Mama have own pillow.” (when i tried to share her pillow with her.)

“What’s this mama? meimei sayang…” (touching my BCG scar on my arm)

Her speech reveals her healthy ego, forceful and demanding personality, and  yet, her tenderness. She can cause one to be exasperated, and yet melt one’s heart in a matter of seconds. I am thankful that she is in our lives.. may God bless her and keep her under his watch.

Thank you for bringing us so much joy the past two years…we love you so..

Night conversations with Calista

Calista has taken to telling me the funniest things before we go to bed each night..things that happened to her in the day, random snippets or comments..

Last night, she remarked out of the blue - “air plane crash. crash crash.”

I was alarmed and a little superstitious..as her dad has been flying frequently, i absent mindedly admonished her and said “Crash? No…airplane fly..fly fly.”

She sounded a little puzzled and asked - “NOoooo? No crash????

Oh.”

A few seconds later she blurted “Meimei see the newspaper…”

That’s when it struck me that she must have been referring to the Asiana crash which was all over the papers yesterday. I was taken aback and affirmed her, telling her she was right.

Checked with my dad in the morning whether he mentioned the crash to her and he beamed, saying she saw the pictures on the front page and asked “what happened gonggong?” and he explained to her. He praised her for understanding things immediately after just one explanation.

Children can be more capable and aware of their surroundings than we expect. Shall try to remember not to dismiss all they say as gibberish or babytalk.