Glad to be home

Ah I’m really glad that I hv the opportunity to be at home to watch declan grow. Though there are times when I get really frustrated with him but overall I still appreciate this luxury. Only SAHMs will know what the working mummies are missing out.

Whenever I notice declan learn some new skills or words i'll be really thrilled and when i'm thrilled, he'll be thrilled too and the both of us will end up giggling away together. He has the habit of laughing together with others whenever he hears laughter. It doesn't matter that he doesn’t know what they are laughing about; he'll just laugh after them if he's in a good mood. I noticed he learns a lot of things through mimicking people around him. During the past week, these are the things I observed that he's learnt:

1) he says :' chame chame' and giggle away while using his index finger to stroke his cheeks. 'chame chame' actually means 'shame shame'

2) for the longest time, he only knows how to nod his head. It was only like last week that he's learnt to shake his head to express that he didn't want something.

I love looking at him shaking his head from side to side. As he's got a big head, he looks real comical and clumsy when he shakes his head.

3) when we say 'hide away', he'll cover his eyes with his hands. He saw this expression in 1 of the library books which I borrowed for him. I'll flip through that book with him and mimic the expression while reading it to him, so he picked that up.

4) if u ask him, how ah ma put her eye drops? He'll blink blink his eyes, which is what his ah ma will do after administering the eye drops.

5) he's learnt that there are great treasures in the fridge. He's since learnt how to ply open the fridge. The moment he ply it open, he'll mumble :"ball ball" all fruits including raisins (except banana) to him are "ball ball". He sure knows where to get his "ball ball", he'll head straight for the drawer where all the fruits are kept and take his pick.

6) there was once I left his wet diaper on the dustbin lid. While I was washing some bowls, he picked up that diaper and called:" mummy!" when I turned to answer him, he raised the diaper and goes :' eeeeeeeeeee' at me, before he turned around, open the lid of the bin and dropped the diaper in. It's as if he's reprimanding me for leaving his dirty diaper around haha. So aunty hor????

7) I tested and confirmed that he can also recognize bear, rabbit and horse on his flash cards. He'll only pick what u asks for when he is in a good mood. I only ask him to pick 2-3 cards at any one time as his attention span is only that short.

8) 'nake' is what he calls his 'snake' flash card.

I will share more on his 'aunty traits' in futures posts.

Flash Cards

I bought 4 sets of flash cards for Declan when he was only a few months old. I kept those boxes and started showing him the animal cards when he was able to sit upright. While I showed him the cards, I will also tell him the names of each and every animal. However, he never seems to be listening to me. When he was much younger, he'll just snatch my cards away and crush them. When he was much older, he prefers to mess around with the cards, such as throwing them around or just sweeping them all over the place. Having said that, I still continue to read out the animal names to him once in awhile (which is like once in a few weeks :p).

As he was about a year old, he was able to just pay a tiny bit of attention to me when i call out the animal names and show him the picture. I assume that out of the whole lot, he'll only be able to recognise the cat.

I got a pleasent surprise just now, while i was lazing in bed, I was trying to keep him occupied so that he'll allow me to just lie down for awhile, I spread out the box of flashcards for him to mess with. While I lie down, I casually ask :"Declan, can you pass me the "snake", he search for awhile and push the "snake" card in my face. Ah well done! i told him, brushing it aside as coincident. While I'm still lying down, not even looking at him, I ask ;" Where is the butterfly?" He pointed to the "butterfly" card and say "neh!" Ohhh interesting I tell myself. So I went on to ask him for "cat", "tiger" and "fish" and each time, he was able to give me the right card!

How exciting! But I decided to stop at 5 cards. In case he got bored of it.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

I took the 5 cards, held his hand and went to the living room. I spreaded the cards on the table and ask him to pick out the "butterfly" for his ah ma. He chooses the right card and gave it to his ah ma. Ah ma was excited to see him doing that. He went on to give his ah ma all the other cards correctly as I called them out indivdually.

This is an exciting milestone. He is starting to recognise the different types of animals. I'll just make do with these 5 and probably I'll try to intro 1 or 2 new animals(those more common ones) to him every few weeks. Let's see how many new animals he can recognised. So Fun!

Little Terror

I have a little terrorist at home. This fellow is very good at ambushing his malnourished mother. He'll always flash his 'white fangs' at me and sink them into my flesh at the most unexpected moments. For example, while I'm lying on my belly reading my book, he'll crawl over, sayang sayang my thighs and while I'm basking in the 'love' of my little baby, he'll pull me back to reality by 'putting a signature' on my thighs using his teeth....... OUCH OUCH OUCH! My shoulders are also full of 'love bites'.... He'll sink his teeth in when I am carrying him.... he'll only bit me... he seldom do that to his dad. On average, i'll be bitten at least twice a day...

I've tried slapping his cheeks, telling him "No" in a stern voice, scolding him fiercely (& sometimes with vulgarities :p not that I wanted to be a bad influence but sometimes it's soooooo.... painful that I lost control of my speech). I've also tried explaining to him nicely but nothing works....

Other than biting me, he also pinches and scratched me. When we are engaged in rough play, he'll also pull my hair real hard, as if he wish to pull their roots out. Sometimes he'll also surprise me with a few slaps on my face. *sob sob* Its hard being someone else's mother. Not only must we provide for them, we must also endure being 'attack' by these little terror.

I guess this is just a phase of them growing up. Let's hope this phase will pass soon before I murder the little terror. :x

Dine with you Doggies

Paisay, this post has got nothing to do with my son :p

Hey all dog lovers out there! Take note. For the month of October, BeBoz(a Mediterranean restuarant along Robertson Walk) is having a special promo whereby dog owners can dine with their doggies!

Dog owners can bring their dogs along and when owners dine, doggies get complimentary meal too! This is a very rare opportunity in Singapore. Most eating outlets don't even allow the entry of pets let alone let them dine with us right?!

So folks, anyone who is keen to experience dining with your doggies don't hesitate, drop me an email at ivy.sbl@gmail.com and leave down your contact. I will either help you make a booking or I will get the towkay to give you a call and provide you with more info. The food and ambience there is wonderful and pricing is real reasonable. Its just for the month of October! So hurry!

By the way I don't own the restaurant, it belongs to a friend, just helping him to pass message around.

Tag.....

When I went to Fannie's blog and read that she has been tagged, I have a "bad" feeling that I will be tagged soon or may already have been tagged without me knowing... After reading through Fannie's entry, I hopped on to Blurblur's site and true enough.. I was tagged.... and WIN LIAO LOH FANNIE AND BLUR! all those people whom I know and whom I can tag are all tagged by the both of u!!! Leaving me high and dry! how how how????

Before I worry about who to tage, let me just do my part and share with all the 10 things that will bring me moment of joy :

1) When Declan can sit quietly and play independently for about 20 mins. He is a boy who needs alot of attention and gets bored easily. Thus he either wants attention from adults or new toys to keep him occupied.

2) Whenever Declan calls :"mummmmmyyyyyy" in a very playful tune.

3) If i can get 24 hours of personal time to do all the things which i love to do e.g reading a good book in a quite cafe over a nice cup of brew, or sewing my x-stitch in a quiet and bright environment with nice soothing music.

4)Whenever we have the opportunity to go out as a family of three.

5)When Declan can sleep by 10.30 p.m

6) When my clients call and say thank you

7) When clients call and say they wanted to attend our complimentary "Secrets to Study Success" workshop

8) When declan laughs or giggle cheekily

9) When Declan hops off the bed and runs around naked and play catching when we are trying to dress him. You should have seen his cheeky face and hear his cheey laughter when he does that!

10) When someone feed me cheesecake!

Now now my headache starts... who should i tag???? I think I'll just be kind and end it here cos ahhh no one else for me to tag wor!

15 months update

Declan went for his 15 months injection last friday. He didn't cry as much as I thought you would. Just 2-3 loud wails with a few huge drops of tears and that's it.

His weight = 9.5kg
His Height = 76.5 cm
No. of incisors = 6

I think his remaining 2 incisors will be out in a few weeks time. It'll be good if he can add a little more chub.

New words he acquired :

1) Bei Bei - Refers to his comfort blanket

2) Bread - He pronouces it as "bwead"

3) Cat - The first reaction when he sees a cat is still to call it "dog". However when we correct him and tell him:" ohh that is a cat" he'll try to say "cat" too. By the way he also refers to lizards as "dog" -_-

4) Dat - Suppose to be "Kiat", his dad's name. He imitates us when we call his dad Kiat, he'll also shout "Dat"

5) Daddy, Mummy - He has upgraded us from mama and papa to daddy and mummy.

6) Peh - refers to our eldest brother in law

7) take - it means just that "Take"

Let's see what other new words he will learn in the next 2-3 weeks

Nice Hat?

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Nice hat??? Nah it's Declan's float. Finally the dad is able to get the float up after buying and keeping it at home for months. Not a bad choice as it can be worn on the head for some shade on our way to and back from the swimming pool. Goodie Goodie!!