New Toy

Measuring 15 x 8cm, her latest favourite "toy" is this piece of bubble wrap she found one day. I don't even know where she found it, it must've been stuck around the book shelf and she got hold of it. During the days, when she has tire of her other toys, she'll bring out her new "toy", and start bursting the bubbles - "split splat" is all I hear. Sometimes she gets creative and goes stomping on it! I tell her nicely not to step on it, not because it's rude and may cause her to fall but because the tiny sheet of bubble wrap would have all its bubbles burst if she goes on like this. This is like the best ever toy!

Sadly, a few days later during one Saturday morning as I was getting the both of us ready to go out, Shean Wenn decides to toss her bubble wrap into the bin. I was like, "BUT WHY?". I opened the bin again to have one last look at it. Obviously there isn't any bubbles left to be burst. Bye bye bubble-wrap, it was good while it lasted.

When we came back from shopping in the afternoon, I saw her happily bringing out a NEW BIGGER piece and went on happily playing....

(Shean Wenn with "Bubble Wrap version 2" - bigger & improved version)

This little girl!!! I'm so amazed at the things she can find to amuse herself. And this is definitely one fo the cheapest toys and it really keeps her occupied for a good 15minutes.

"Dor Dor!"

"Dor Dor!", she shouts while pointing to her crayons. It's her signalling she wants to "Draw Draw". This is one of her favourite activities now. After her breakfast in the mornings, she wants to draw.

I bought the brand new un-used crayons for 50p at one of the fairs held at Children's Garden - best 50p I ever spent!

In the afternoons when she has tire of her books or playing with her other toys, she wants her crayons. I give her 3 crayons at a time.. she scribbles and then shouts for me to get new colours. I bring over the box of crayons, she puts the old colours in and picks new ones. The cycle goes on for possibly 8 or 10 times before she gets bored. She can immerse herself in her drawings for a good 30 minutes.



Her drawings : I always tell her that she is doing a great job, and truthfully when I look closely at her drawings, I see circles and lines and I'm seriously impressed. I read in Babycenter that some Toddlers at 20MO can do this but if they can't there is nothing to worry about anyway. I'm just impressed at her work of art anyway because I can see her growth and improvement everyday and she never ceases to amaze me. That's my little girl! Love you to bits. :)


BTW, today is also Square Root Day! According to Lilian of Wrong Side of 30, "Math nerds around the world are celebrating Square Root Day today, 3/3/09, ie 9 is the square root of 3. The last Square Root Day was 5 years ago on 2/2/04 and the next will be 7 years later on 4/4/16. Happy Square Root Day!"

Now, surely that is something you didn't know? :)

Chuffed!

I'm so delighted! The talented digi-scrapper Roslyn held a contest on her blog to say she'd design a blog header for free. So I entered and on Fri (I only checked her blog on Fri) I found out that I had won! Both her girls facilitated the drawing of the winner and I must thank them for picking me at random *kisses!* :)

This is like my early birthday present! Yayyyy.... (thank you, generous Ros).So to start the ball rolling, Tsu Lin ++ will be "closed for maintenance" on 5 Mar and will resume few days later (one week?). Do check back for my new look!

Tinkering

I was bored with the blog banner/header which I just changed a few months ago and decided at a whim last night to produce a new one. Something clearer, simpler but yet maintaining the colours of the theme, which is quite obviously GREY, BLUE, GOLD & WHITE. In two hours, this was what I got. I suppose it can still be tinkered here and there with slight improvements over the next few days... but honestly, the hard-coding of HTML is really annoying me. I'm neither here nor there (on programming) and I wasn't SPLENDID in codes - I don't even remember how I passed C++ and the other programming exams! I must be simply good at "reproducing" - ahem. (Thanks to those who lent me your final work to be "researched")

Anyhow, a few things came to my mind :

1. The new nuffnang ads ain't showing properly & their tutorials pretty much suck. Either that or I really need to go back to basics and learn up coding.

2. Due to my blog theme, I can't use some of the "flashier" and cooler features/"Gadgets" that blogspot had added such as Polls, video bars, etc, unless I know how to code it in.

And do I fancy spending my time reading on tutorials on this - heck, no! So, either I stick to this theme or change my layout to the standard ones blogspot offers.


PS : And you guys think it's easy spending a day in the life of a Stay-At-Home-Mum!

Valentine's Day

.. is just like any other day in the Wong household. We, being the non-conformist, unsentimental & not-bothered-with-dates couple spent it very fruitfully though. The shippers came and collected the boxes (9 of them! Meng had a good work-out walking 4 floors down carrying them, 9 times!) in the morning and by noon we had to rush to meet the seller who bought the Travel Cot I managed to sell on e-bay. We then went for yumcha, something we do most weekends anyway and then off to grocery shopping. And more shopping/grocery shopping. We also went on a big-roundabout way exploring the South of London & it's scenery!

Anyway, for those who do celebrate, Happy Valentine's to you....

Attending playgroup

It's been almost 2 months since I brought her back to Children's Garden for the weekly playgroup. Michelle came over to pick us up and we arrived a little late. After taking the coat off Shean Wenn, I asked her to go in to play.. she walked heading to the class but made a u-turn back when she saw the group of parents and kids (quite alot of people that day). She was overwhelmed, most likely, by the familiar setting (classroom) but unfamiliar faces! She hugged onto me and was reluctant to go into the class.

I prodded her along and reassured her that it's ok, go play with Kaka. She wanted to stick to me instead. That day, we were making some felt jewellery for the kids. I grabbed onto a heart-shaped felt, took along some felt string and a metal bell. I devised what design I wanted to make and did as fast as I could.. but, unfortunately my sewing is still BAD. In the end I had to take it home to continue working on it. One of the girl's nanny sitting opposite me came to the table for the last 10minutes (she was reading her papers at the corner before this) and FINISHED a necklace for the girl in that short 10minutes! I peeked at her sewing and it looked great. Hmmm.... some people just have all the crafty stuff sorted.

That day was one of the kid's 1st birthday, her parents, BOTH of them came to the playgroup bringing a cake & some yummy samosas to be shared. During mealtime, as with our usual meal of fruits & rice biscuit, there were of course, samosas & the cake. SO satisfying (because in the mornings I always rush out and don't get to eat my breakfast). Then it was outdoor time and I put on Shean Wenn's waterproof jacket and let her head outside - this time, I let her "go wild"! I took her to the sandbox and she proceeded to entertain herself in it!

(Shean Wenn in her Ferrari suit with Kaka the fashion-diva)

(The little girl on the left is Ka Yee, isn't she a beauty - look at the big round eyes and her jetblack hair!)



Shean Wenn enjoying herself in the sandpit!

GOING HOME NOW! Let's hold hands.. Both mommies love looking at how they hold hands while walking although it slows us down to a snail pace! :D

Snow Snow Snow....

It feels like christmas this CNY! Yesterday, as we were in our friend's house having "Lo Sang" (my first Yee Sang this CNY), it started snowing.. little by little, the grounds were covered in specks of snow. Last night it continued to snow covering an inch on the ground, I see kids making snowman/snow angels outside the window.




This morning I dressed Shean Wenn warmly and put on her boots and made our way down.

Someone had already made a snowman bigger and taller than SW! She was abit puzzled by the snow, but as soon as she saw the snowman, she said "Mow-man!" (Snowman). She tried to touch it, she stood at the spot for a long time, putting her hand out & trying to catch the snow.. then she walked around abit, fell on her knees! It's sooo cold!

Walking carefully in the snow...

After 10 minutes outside, I was feeling cold and so, I asked her to go back inside. She reluctantly followed. She was still looking at the snow as we walked back up.

(Everything is covered in snow!!)

Healthy Snacking : Easy Peasy Carrots

Sometimes instead of giving her biscuits, bread with cheese/peanut butter, or cheese sticks as her snack, I boil some vegetable sticks instead. It is so much more healthy that way, and Shean Wenn does enjoy her vege-sticks so much!

Just look at her....

"I love it!"

("Lemme sip some water")

.. continue snacking!

Preparation : It's easy, I just cut them into bite-size sticks, boil water, put them in & add a pinch of salt. 5 minutes later, drain n let cool & serve! There are so many variety of vegetable I can use : Carrot, Broccoli, Sweet Potato, Potato or even peas.

It is also a great snack for out & about, and as one of my friend put it, "the kids don't get to eat much vegetable when you dine out, esp in an ang moh restaurant" (This is in UK, of course - you usually get a serving of salad at the side : cold, raw vegetable which their tiny tummies may not be able to tolerate). So, I have also done what she recommended, boil the veges the night before your day out, store it in the fridge and just before you head out of the house, grab them container. It's a great snack for them!

(Left : Tombliboos cutlery, Right : Fun at the Zoo animal pots)

Look at these goodies I found from Mothercare . I know SW will love both of them, Tombliboos are one of the characters in "In The Night Garden" and the pots with cute animal prints would be great for storing her snacks... one for every other day!

19 Months Old : A rebel?

At 19 months-old and my BABY DAUGHTER (she is and always will be our baby!) has already turned into a teenager! Grrr.... *exhausted*

She fusses, she screams for attention, sometimes she brushes you off.

During lunch today
I feed her a spoonful of rice saying "Sek fan la." (Eat rice la) - my attempt at establishing "chinese vocab" in my young daughter.

She says "Rice!" - so much for my attempts!

After a few bites, she demands "Chic-chen!" (translate : chicken). I obliged. She eats happily... then.. "SOUP!". LOL! Well, at least she likes her soups - that is a very good chinese habit. :D


Near dinner-time
Me busy in the kitchen. She comes and screams at the kitchen entrance, walks into the kitchen (we have trained her not to do so, she is clearly testing her boundaries, this lady!), reverses out when I scream "OUT Shean! No coming into the kitchen".

She puts both her hands up in the air, frustrated that I am not giving her any attention. Punches the air/rolls on the floor/throwing her toys around in fits of tantrum. I stop what I am doing when she throws her toys, goes out and tells her firmly "No throwing your toys. Pick it up NOW". She relents after a few scolding. I make her say sorry. She mumbles "Bor-wee" (sorry?).

These days, she also puts out both her hands and says "Pou pou!" (a little accented, may I add.. meaning "Carry me" in cantonese), everytime I am busy.

The terrible twos has started, hasn't it?


BEDTIME : Daddy putting her to bed
Dad kisses her good night and covers her with a blanket. He looks lovingly at his perfect-in-everyway daughter... and she says "GO!" and pointing him to the door!

Meng comes running to me, complaining of her rushing him out now. Heh!

(Shean Wenn's "GO!" ala "You're fired", Apprentice-style)

On another more visual note, here are some photos of us swimming after New Year's



Photos above : You can clearly see Shean Wenn in her "swimming chair" while Karmen is using her swimming tube which I MUST add, is such a great product for babies this age. It is essentially like a swimming ring, but designed so well that it has a clasp to open and close so you can put your baby's head in it easily, strap her on and she's on her way to great paddling motion!

On a side note, if you notice in the background of the photos, we are facing the O2 Arena (Millenium Dome for those who didn't keep up to date after leaving England in 2000 :P)

Photos below : Look how happy Shean Wenn is, using it! She was practically focussing ONLY on her kicks! See the bubbles splashing around us??? She was just kicking and kicking, stopping only to check her toes ;)

My friend Michelle is selling it (Suitable from birth to up to 18kg). Do drop me an e-mail at tsulinplusplus[at]gmail.com to enquire.

Happy Chinese New Year : Spring of Hope!

Credits : Freebie Quickpage by Armina Designs

In her new dress morning of first day of Chinese New Year 2009.

"Wishing you a year of abundance and health!"





"Make sure you protect your eyes too!"

(Enjoying her sweet "kam")

Year of the Ox : Wishing you a meaningful & healthy new year and may all your wishes come true!

from our family.