My child says goodbye to year 2007

At this last hour of year 2007, Keatkeat and I reviewed his progress. From drawing just straight lines, colouring out of the pictures and could not differentiate “b” from “d”, to this very day, when he could draw a non-abstract figure, colour within the given picture and recognise all his letters….Indeed, he has progressed.

He is always eager to put up a new worksheet or handicraft to show his Papa and Mummy. We called this special area “the pride of my child”. This area in the living room is always a motivation for him to want to improve on his motor skills. See photo...

Children help cleaning up

We decided to clear up our storeroom, at least I can have my foot in it, now its so packed I can hardly see the walls!

You know how easy it is to always stuff things we seldom use into that little 6 by 4 feet space and by the middle of the year, things are already piling up. This has become a yearly routine, but this year I've got helpers!

We were trying to pack all the old clothes which the kids have out-grown to give it to Salvation Army. There they are helping with the folding. SEE VIDEO

Breastfeeding with Confidence Tip 4-Milk Supply 3

There are no specific foods to eat that will stimulate production of breast milk, but there are things that can help with milk production. More important than what you eat is how your baby eats. When a baby is properly positioned, well-attached and sucking effectively, the longer a baby nurses at your breast the more milk will be produced. This is the single most important way to increase your milk production.

There are two important factors critical to producing milk.

Breastfeeding with Confidence Tip 4-Milk Supply 2

If you decide to give formula and breastmilk to your baby, you may face a serious problem which I did for my elder boy.

Firstly, by doing that, you cut down on the frequency of your baby sucking from your breast directly and that will eventually cut down on the supply of the breastmilk. Remember, feed more = more breastmilk supply. Find out what other problems you may face

Breastfeeding with Confidence Tip 4-Milk Supply 1

The most common questions that kept ranging in my head when I first decided to breastfeed was MILK SUPPLY.
I am not even a B cup, so I thought my supply will be very low or may not be able to meet my baby needs.
But the good news was, irregardless of the size of our breast, our milk supply WILL meet the requirements of our baby. Yeah! Lucky me. *wink* Find out when your breast starts to produce milk

Breastfeed with confidence tip 3-Latching

Matin was breastfed for 1 full year. I wanted to do that for Binbin too, but because of the nature of my work, I had to stop when he was 6 months old. From my failure in breastfeeding Keatkeat, I am already very pleased that I breastfed Binbin completely for 6 months without any formula. Find out how to latch on correctly.

Breastfeed with confidence tip 2-Comfort

How often do we enjoy an air-conditioned place to dine in more than having a meal outdoor where we are at the mercy of the weather?

Its the same for babies, they need to be comfortable when they are being fed. Tips on how to be comfortable.

Breastfeed with confidence tip 1-Timing

you may had a difficult time breastfeeding your previous baby and hence lose confidence, I hope I can build up your confidence in giving breastfeeding a chance (again) to prove its worth for the effort put in, in the beginning.

Because of my mother-in-law's objections I failed terribly in my first attempt at breast feeding. When I had my second baby, I was determined to get it right no matter what comes! I had lesser objection this time, although my second child is still a grandson, from my in-law, because it was not the first grandson. Secondly, I discussed with Allan that he must help me to prevent his mother from interferring and this time he did a great job! Find out how to get the timing right.

6 Tips for buying presents for children

I have always loved buying presents for children. Its just so easy. The following are the 6 simple tips to get the right present for children, no point buying an expensive present that does not bring a smile on the child's face.

Tip 1, buy something that they have ever said,"Mummy, can you buy this for me?" or "Can I have that?" or "Buy this, please?" whenever you bring them shopping. Suddenly you are spoilt for choice, huh?

Tip 2, get whatever candy, chocolate, sweets, high in sugar edible stuff, irregardless of size and they will stick to you like bee is to honey.

Tip 3, get whatever kids' stuff that has been flashing on the TV screen. Children always want the latest in-trend gadgets or toys. So that whenever the advertisement comes up on the screen, he can say proudly, holding up the exact thing, "See, I have this already."

Tip 4, get whatever thing that has his favourite characters on it. Be it on the T-shirt, the cup, the shoes, the bags, the waterbottle, the toothbrush even if its just a sticker. They will love it.

Tip 5, this is a MUST, do your homework before you dash into the store and get the item. Make sure that the present which you are getting for them is not something which they already have.

Tip 6, if you know that there is something which the child used to own and treasure very much, but somehow it was broken or lost. GET THAT EXACT SAME THING! The child will kiss you a thousand times!

So this was what I bought for my nieces.....

My child - my apprentice?

Did you miss me yesterday? So sorry, I was busy making new accessories for the Christmas bazaar today at the KK Hospital for their staff.

You know how children love to imitate their parents, the way they talk, walk, move and not forgetting the bad habits of their parents. *watch out*




I left my desk full of parts and pieces of my accessories to put my little Binbin down for his noon nap.


When I came back...... I found this.......

8 Objections to Breastfeeding

Its really tough when you don't have the support of your family on breastfeeding. It definitely didn't come easy for me.

My in-laws are the typical traditional Chinese who loves boys more than girls, as the boys will carry the surname of the family and hence producing more offspring for the 'Loh' (their surname) generation.

So lucky them, my in-law have 3 sons. So no child was neglected. My 2 sis-in-law gave birth to girls before I gave birth to my 1st child, A BOY. So naturally my in-law, especially my mum-in-law was over the moon. She wanted to make sure that this boy, the very 1st grandson of the 'Loh' Family, is well taken care off; and she is a woman of strong character who believes in no one else except herself.

She strongly refuse to let me breastfeed him. Want to know why?

so said my child

Allan and I wanted to bring the kids out for shopping in the evening and so we were trying to coax Keatkeat to take his afternoon nap. He hasn't been willing to catnap during the day for a few weeks already. But when it comes to 8pm, he will start to whine. That's the last thing we want in a crowded shopping centre, where everyone will stare at the noisy child.

So Allan "threatened" him, "Mommy is going shopping later, if you don't go sleep now, you will stay at home."
Keatkeat:"Alone? What about Binbin?"
Dad:"Binbin (who is fast asleep) will go with mommy. You will stay at home with me."
Keatkeat:"Why?"
Dad:"To keep me company. I will feel very lonely if I stay at home all by myself."
Keatkeat: Find out what he said here

Handicraft-Santa Claus

Do you think your kids will like this?

See step-by-step instructions...

Blackout Dinner for the Kids

Yesterday, certain units in my block of flats have unstable electricity supply since 6pm. It comes on for about an hour and off for a few minutes at first, then as the night continues, it began to have electricity supply for a few minutes then gone for more than an hour, all the way till we sleep.



We had candles at different corners of the living room. We even had one candle on a plate for us to move around with it. We didn't have proper candle holders. Anyway who would need it when this hardly happen in years!

Luckily we are done with the cooking. Imagine if we were half-way through with the fried fish and it blacked-out....ahhhh...horror!

So we had candle-light dinner. This picture was taken with the flash on. Hey, I have a pretty strong flashy camera ya? Oh please pardon the naked daddy, its hot when there isn't any wind and the house is full of candles everywhere.



Its boring to have no electricity. No TV, no surfing on the internet, no reading to the kids and it was way too early to sleep!

But the kids love it, cos' its their chance to have their hands on the illumine sticks again! Luckily we bought new ones 3 days ago. If not I really wouldn't know how long I can grab their attention for so many hours just by playing shadow games....Phew!

Have you had such an unplanned candle-light dinner before? Share with me in the 'comment'

Keep your promise made to your child

....and so I did what I promised last week.

The Christmas Tree was proudly brought to you by Keatkeat, showing you his brillant smile and Binbin, who is missing in the picture because he was throwing a tantrum on the floor, the typical 2-year-old.....

My boys did all the decorations, with a little help from the adults of cos.

From the cotton wool for the pretend snow, to the candy bars, the lights, the mini presents and the little santa animals at the bottom of the tree, they enjoyed every moment of it.

Afterall it is their first Christmas Tree. So often we see kids lose interest in the things they do, when they do it often. Let's hope they will never lose the joy that Christmas brings, other than the fact that they will have lots of presents from everyone.

Have you put up your Christmas Tree yet? Its less than 2 weeks away only.

My child's new word "Die"

Keatkeat has been saying "die" in almost everything we talked about lately.

An ambulanced was driving past our van with its siren on.
Keatkeat:"Oh no, somebody die" he is still not very good at past-tenses
Me:"No, its just a sick person, he may not die."
Keatkeat:"But the ambulance is driving so fast, so dangerous, sure die."

We were at the doorstep of the supermarket. I squart down and looked at my boys with a serious face:"Now, we are going into the supermarket, what must you do?"
Boys:"Keep my hands to myself."
Me:"Good! If not, the uncle in the supermarket will throw us out."
Keatkeat:"Throw us out!" with eyes wide opened. "Is the uncle very strong? He can carry all 3 of us and throw us out together?"
Me:"Mm! So do you want that to happen?"
Keatkeat:"No. If you fall on me I will die!"

Keatkeat was trying to negotiate to skip brushing his teeth.
Keatkeat:"Why Binbin never use toothpaste?"
Me:"Because he still doesn't know how to spit it out. What will happen if he swallow the toothpaste?"
Keatkeat:"He will die!"

In these days its quite hard to find a pet shop that sells birds. Today we were lucky, we saw a pet shop that sells almost 50 over birds. They were cheeping away and the sound caught the attention of my boys.
Keatkeat:"I want to go see birds."
Me:"Ok, so can you touch the bird cage?"
Boys:"No!"
Me:"What will happen if you touch it?"
Keatkeat:"I will die!"
Me:"No! The birds may think that you are a piece of food and they may bite your finger. What will happen when the birds bite your finger?"
Keatkeat:"(yes, you guess it!) I will die!"

Sigh.....

Christmas Tree?

Ever since the children went to IMM they have been asking me to put up a Christmas Tree at home. They never knew that there is one sitting in the storeroom unmoved for years.

Ever since my dad pass away, I have not touched that box.

So I told the boys that if they could draw me a Christmas Tree, I will grant them their wish. And so they drew this!



The green marker did not leave its tracks on the paper alone, but on their faces....Binbin wasn't in the mood for photo shoot today, so its just Keatkeat and his Green Tears..... See Photo

Happy 1st Month, Bernice

My neighbour's daughter, Bernice, is turning 1 month old today. Bernice's daddy and mommy are Chinese. As the tradition goes, they will give a 'Full Month' celebration cake with red eggs and ang-ku kueh.

Find out what does each item symbolise here...

My Child's creative mind

During Christmas Day, we often see people wearing christmas hats and illumine sticks, which are then bent to form bracelets. My kids are always crazy over these. I hardly buy for them except for party-time.

It was their lucky day today when Allan's friend gave a tube of 50 sticks to them. They were so 'high', they bent ALL THE 50 STICKS to 'activate' the lights.

Usually they would just bend 1 stick to form a bracelet or at most, join 3 or 4 of the sticks together to form a necklace.

But not for tonight, Keatkeat's creativity cells were at work. He made this for me.....See Picture

A Father who lives for his Children

Half Man Half Tree



Details below are taken from Discovery Channel

32 year old Dede lives in a remote village in Indonesia with his two children, trying to care for them. Dede, a former fisherman, has an extraordinary skin condition: he has root like structures growing out of his body - branches that can grow up to 5cm a year and which protrude from his hands and feet, and welts covering his whole body.

He is known locally as ‘Tree Man’ and his condition has baffled local doctors for 20 years. In an attempt to earn a living to support his family, he is part of a circus troupe, displaying his Tree Man limbs along with others afflicted with skin deformities in ‘freak’ shows.

According to my friend Aldian, Dede's wife left him and got sacked from his job.

You can view his special interview. The roots are growing fast and getting heavier. Now his only wish is to be able to live long enough to see his grandchildren.

It takes alot of courage to carry on living in such a state...on this joyous season, let's take time to be thankful for what we have and teach your child to always be grateful for who he or she is, never take anything for granted.

Have you or your child been complaining? What do you think goes through the mind of this man when he hears the type of things you complain about?

A Charlie Brown Christmas!

I always love A Charlie Brown Christmas!

Hope you enjoy too....

Children having fun shopping in IMM

Finally, its not raining! Just want to get out of the house to get some fresh air after 4 days of cold and rainy weather. Got the kids to bathe, get dress....when kids know that they are going shopping, they just become sooooo obedient and do exactly what you say in fast speed....*wink*

So in less than an hour, we got out of the house. Yeah! Waited for about half an hour for the free shuttle service to IMM from the bus interchange and in less than 10mins, we are there.

IMM was so full of Christmas decorations. So we took the chance and take photos...

Didn't look too excited. So I gave each of them a Santa Hat to get them in higher spirit.

That's Better!

Then we shop....



then they saw the kiddy ride...$2 for 10mins...because they were younger than 7 years old. The assistant said I had to be on it too, so what a bargain! All 3 of us in the kiddy ride together for $2! So 3 of us drove around the 100+sq foot of empty space on the furry elephant.



and we played and played....



and they spotted the water playground!



Sorry boys...not today...



it dark clouds start covering the sky again...have a drink before we go...



on the way home, Keatkeat spotted these on the floor....



the kids only managed to observe for a few seconds and the rain started...what a waste!



Its great fun to shop with the kids when you know how to handle them. Children normally become extra active when they are outdoors, parents must understand that its the way children express their excitement.

Its so often that you hear parents shouting, "stay still", "don't run", "keep quiet" when they are shopping with their kids. Kids are not robots, they have feelings, let them have the freedom to express it.

Do you enjoy shopping with your kids?

Kids decorated the toliet

Stickers were contributed by Keatkeat's school teacher. He was so excited about the stickers and kept telling me all the good habits that we must have when we go to the toliet. He wanted to make sure that 'everyone' remembers so he asked if he could stick them in our toliet.

My reply, "Why Not?" He told me that he is afraid he may not stick them well, so he requested me to do it and that I must do a good job....

Well, he was the instructor, I just do the sticking...so we stick here...

and here...



AND HERE!



"Thank you, mummy." Keatkeat said with a smile full of pride as he looks at the stickers.

Every now and then, he would point to the pictures and say, "remember ah....do not....."

This is really good when it comes to building good habits in children. Get them stickers, get them to participate in the sticking process, it does get into their heads.

Mmmm...maybe I should start finding stickers on "SIT 3 meters away from the TV"!

Snake and Ladders for your Child?

Finally my 4-year-old Keatkeat is old enough to play a decent game of Snake and Ladders, without throwing the dice so far, you could hardly locate it...and refuses to slide down when bitten by the snake...sigh...yes, all those days are gone now.....

Its "Good Etiquettes" Snake and Ladders. It teaches you what you should do (gives you a ladder to climb up) and what you should never do (get ready for the slide down the snake).



The longest ladder goes to gardening, *scratch head*, maybe because you need to put in lots of love and care, from 28 to 84, up up and away!

Riding a bicycle without holding onto the handle will cause you to slide down from 87 to 24. I guess children that perform bicycle stunts wouldn't agree then...*wink*

At last, Keatkeat can tell me the number of dots on the dice in less than 1 second. Of 'cos, I still need to do-the-walking for him most of the time, ....with the pictures its really hard to see the tiny numbers on a board that is smaller than the size of my 2 palms put together.

Ever played snakes and ladders with your kid? The next game on the list...Tic-Tac-Toe...he still doesn't know when to 'block' my move....