Best friends..

One moment, they are best of friends..

The next moment, they are fighting over the minutest thing...

Month of celebrations

A large part of September was in a mess.. literally, due to the massive renovation works to the kitchen that started since early September. The entire kitchen was torn down and re-constructed with replacement of most of the equipment, including sink, cabinets, oven. Even the living area was not suitable for any activities as it was extremely dusty. The temporary kitchen was set up in the study.. that said, Daddy was lucky to be outstationed in the week when most of the hacking was done.

October is a more joyful month. With the kitchen completed, it's time to hold birthday parties for the October babies - , Weiwei, Daddy, Lleyton & Leanne, each of them less than 1 week apart from each other. The parties were kept simple, and they were held over a few Saturdays when the families gather during the weekends. In addition, both Lleyton and Leanne also had a joint birthday celebration in school!

Reward to the zoo!

Mummy has implemented a reward chart system for Lleyton: for every 5 stars awarded in each category, he will get his reward upon request.
1) Brush teeth twice a day = 1 big chocolate
2) Feed himself and finishes food in 30 min = Go to the Playground
3) Keep toys after playing = Go to the Zoo
He was keen in the initial stage, and was actively monitoring his stars. There were some negotiations along the way (including removing stars if he refused to do certain things) or swapping for stars with other categories. Finally when he received his full 5 stars for the "Zoo" category, Mummy arranged one big outing together with his cousins and Ah Ma, Ah Gong, Ah Yi etc.. Ah Yi kindly helped to obtain 2 corporate passes (= 8 adult entries) and off they went!

The 2 boys were seated comfortably in the push-cart, while Leanne sat in the stroller.. only weiwei has to complete the entire course on feet (which explains her grumpy look?) :)

Besides stopping to look at the animals along the way, the first show was the Splash Safari. The highlight of the day was a proposal that was pre-planned by one of the audiences, in collaboration with the zoo management. It was indeed touching though.. and all their family members were present to witness the event. What's more unforgettable was the "BIG SPLASH" that got Lleyton & Leanne totally drenched! Well, that again explains the change of clothes before they proceed to the Elephant Show.

For the rest of the day, the kids were enjoying themselves at the kids' playground and the kids' pool. Let the pictures do the talking...

Happy Birthday Singapore!

The kiddos' school had a mini National Day celebration on 8 Aug and they were told to dress up in red and white. As usual, Lleyton wore the same National Day Tee and shorts (the exact set he wore for the past 2 years), and Leanne wore a Mickey Dress in red & white.

It's a pity Daddy was overseas for business over the public holiday. The kids were having fun with playdoh, at the same time, messing around with Mummy while she was trying to capture some National Day shots.

Happy 46th Birthday, Singa-PORE!

Visit to the dentist

There is a big and brand new dental clinic nearby the house.. and Lleyton was drawn to the pile of toys sitting in the corner of the clinic. One fine day, Mummy decided to pop in and make an appointment for Lleyton to have a dental consultation.

Lleyton was excited on the day of the visit, and was keen to meet the dentist. The consultation room was well-equipped with toys, cute sunglasses and a TV showing cartoons. Poor little Lleyton had a little filling, and the dentist told him that she was trying to catch the worm trapped in his teeth. The 15-min visit was not cheap, but at least now he is more convinced that he should brush his teeth in the morning and right before he sleeps.

Little helpers

They are great substitutes for domestic helpers.. FOC.

Meals together

Since the departure of the helper, it is extremely important that the 2 kids (or at least one) can self-feed. Having meals together can be enjoyable as well as eventful, depending on the mood of the day. A simple meal can end up with lotsa mess, lotsa noise, as well as lotsa fun..

More videos..

Daddy agreed with Mummy that more videos on the kids should be taken, simply to record their development and how they progress in terms of speech, movements over the initial years of growth. Here's one on Leanne demonstrating how much she loves school, even on a non-school day, insisting that she wants to bring her school bag with her everywhere she goes.

Cold Storage Kids' Run 2011

The kids were signed up for the Sunny Family Chase Run.. and both entered the same category. They probably enjoyed the after-run events more than the run itself.. but it's a good experience nonetheless.

New gadget at East Coast Park

The 2+2 seater 4 wheeler peddler was just nice for the family of 4. It was tiring though but good exercise for Mummy and Daddy. They are planning to do it again soon.

Random shots of the kids

To commemorate the significant milestone of Leanne (attending school at 18 months), Daddy came up with the great idea of revamping the bedroom of the kiddos (yes, again) and converted Leanne's cot into a child's bed, changed the position and re-do the wardrobe with some organisers from Ikea.

Here's the little princess..

and here's the spiderboy (well, Bin had an exact same one, which Ah Ma bought from Perth for the 2 boys!)

Magadascar Nite..

The family went for the Magadascar A-Crate Adventure free preview nite at the USS. It came with a goodie bag, some door gifts and juices for the guests. Not too bad for a half-hour queue + 9-min ride.

超省时妙招。。 and it worked!

The terrible 2s have started. And indeed terrible. Leanne loves to throw tantrums, cries non-stop in order to get what she wants, screams at the top of her voice. Mummy has a perfect plan, which she learned from the show "超省时妙招". This technique basically states that any crying baby who watched herself cry on video, will stop almost immediately. So she puts it into practice, filmed Leanne crying non-stop and showed it to her at that instance. It worked! And here's the video.. bet she is going to blame Mummy if she watch this when she grows up.

Leanne's in school!

Leanne has started school (or rather full-time childcare) since first week of May. She was enthusiastic at the thought of attending school with her gor-gor and was all smiles from the morning. The morning went well as Lleyton was following her closely, watching her every moves and helping her with the orientation at the childcare. Mummy was peeping outside and left everything to the teachers. Leanne started wailing only when the N2 and PGs were asked to return to their respective groups.

The next few days of the week were equally tramatising for her as she knew that she will be left alone at the school for the entire day. The past 2 weeks seem much better, as she will enter the main door without protest and followed the instructions of the teachers. Hope she will grow to love school!

Family Trip to Margaret River & Perth - Days 5 to 7

On day 5, the family departed their Margaret River home for the past 4 days, and headed for Perth. The 3 hour journey included en route visits to Bunbury and Fremantle. At Bunbury, the family visited the Dolphin Discovery Centre. This was where Daddy & Mummy had visited 5 years ago, and had successfully sighted dolphins. Hence, they enthusiastically brought the family along and even prepared the appropriate change of clothes to get into the water and up-close with the dolphins. But alas, the dolphins did not visit this time round, during the hour and half that the family was there. Nonetheless, Lleyton and Leanne were given a good tour of the dolphinarium and brief on the aquatic creatures, including a good feel of a baby starfish.
That day also marked the end of the 5-day Easter holiday in Australia, and Fremantle was abuzz with excitement and fun. There were street buskers and performancers on the roads and market, and the crowd were exhilarated with the fun-filled atmosphere and engaging performances. Lleyton and Leanne were no exception.

Day 6 started with a stroll around the Perth city centre, where the family stayed at. After a quick dash to the local supermarket for supplies, the family headed for a picnic at King's Park! The kids enjoyed it tremendously. Lleyton was so excited by the feeding of the ducks that he wanted to give away almost all the food! He and Leanne fed the ducks with cereal, biscuits, and some bread.

After the picnic, it was shopping time. Mummy had her fill at Harbour Town Outlets. Following that, the family had a sumptuous seafood feast at the Fremantle wharf. It was a great meal of fresh seafood, comprising oysters, squid, various types of fish and chips amongst others.

The key highlight on the final day was the return to the King's Park for Lleyton to feed the ducks again! This time round, he used up all the remaining bread that Daddy had bought earlier. After that, the family headed for the airport for the flight back home.

Looking back, the week-long trip had brought the kids much closer together, for they have shared many new experiences together, including animal feeding, chocolates munching and jacuzzi soaking. Daddy is very pleased that the kids have responded well to the trip, and had stayed healthy throughout. Perhaps, it is a good time to start planning for the next trip...

Family trip to Perth - Day 1 to 4

The long awaited to Perth has finally arrived! The family of 4 had the privilege of having Ah Ma and Ah Gong to go along as their trip to Japan (which was supposed to relieve them from bb sitting for the week) has been cancelled. Mummy arranged to book a 8 seater People Mover instead to accomodate the larger group. With the advice from a friend, Leanne & Lleyton's carseats were brought along and checked-in with the rest of the luggage.

DAY 1
The first day was spent travelling on flight, followed by another 3 hours drive from Perth airport to Margaret River. The supermarkets have closed by 7pm, so the family bought Pizzas and Fish&Chips take-away. Lleyton totally enjoyed the spa in the apartment, and insisted on having his bath in the Spa.

DAY 2
The family started off with a visit to the Market which was held during 2 Saturdays in every month. Lleyton had a go at designing his own Easter egg. A visit to the supermarket was made to stock up on groceries before they set off on the trip to Yallingup Shearing Shed. It was one of the the kiddos' first close encounters with farm animals. Both looked intently at the sheeps with curiousity, yet feeling reserved about feeding them. The rest of the day was spent travelling around the vicinity, with visits to Cullen Wines (2 bottles of Carbarnet Sauvignon Merlot), Simmos' (Ice)Creamy, Margaret River Nuts&Cereals etc. Dinner was home-cooked noodles, served with roast chicken and chips. The nights generally ended early, thus the adults continued with few rounds of card games after the kids fall asleep.

DAY 3

The third day was packed with more activities, with a short trip to Cape Leeuwin (Leeuwin Lighthouse at the the south-western tip of Australia) as it was along the way towards Jewel Caves. Tickets were bought for the 12pm visit to Jewel Caves, and unexpectedly there was a black-out in the cave half-way through the guided tour! A black-out in the cave = pitch-dark. The guide advised all to walk back the way where the tour started with the help of the pathetic torchlights. A refund of half the ticket price was given as the tour was more than half completed. Needless to say, few photos were taken (those taken were not clear as the cameras were not good enough). Lunch was at Karridale Tavern, a cosy little pub. Ordered pizza and fish & chips again.

After lunch was a visit to Leeuwin Estate, and Daddy bought another 2 bottles (of Brut).The day ended with a visit to Sunflower Farm. The kids were thrilled at the close promixity to little bunnies, chickens, sheeps, kangaroos. But what excite them most was the...playground.

DAY 4

Half a day was spent at the Busselton Jetty, and a visit to the Underwater Observatory (UWO). The train ride across the 2km jetty was also part of the attraction and Lleyton waited patiently for the train to arrive. At the UWO, he was amazed at behaviour of fishes underneath the jetty. Almost all the must-go places around the Margaret Rvier region have been covered, thus the next best thing to do will be to continue the wineries visit. This time, Mummy and Daddy chanced upon Sandalford and a bottle of Sweet White.

(to be continued...)

Something different...

Daddy suggested driving down to Geylang for "dou jiang you tiao" on morning instead of the regular hike. Breakfast ended early at 9.30am and the tennis court looked exceptionally empty probably due to extremely hot day in the morning.

Mummy decided that there was sufficient time for a workout before Lleyton attend his class at 11.30am, thus promptly got ready the gears and off they go!

Both kids were overjoyed as they were free to roam around the court with the balls and rackets . Don't they look like professional players (except that they were holding "badminton" instead of tennis rackets)?

18th months leanne and 3.5 years lleyton

The months of April and October often call for some kind of celebration, as they mark the 0.5 years development and birthdays of both the kids. Time flashes past and now Leanne has reached the age of attending childcare. Mummy registered her in the same school as Lleyton and she will start full day playgroup in a few weeks' time.

Meanwhile, she has turned demanding in many aspects, more fussy, more stubborn.. She also recently got her very first hair cut since birth. Lleyton has physically grown taller, talks non-stop but sometimes with intelligence, and replies his age as " I am three years old, going to four years old". At times, he will start his baby-ish language just to imitate his sister and irritate his parents.

Nevertheless, they are a bunch of joys and definitely takes the tension and stress off work after working hours. Happy 18th months Leanne, and Happy 3.5 years to Lleyton!

The kiddos' development

These kids are definitely growing fast.. with Leanne eating almost the same portion as her brother, and playing games that her brother is playing. That is the reason why the big brother has been reminded several times that he ought to set good examples for his little sister.

For a change, besides building his Thomas the train set, Lleyton now prefers to do his writing exercises and maths activities nowadays, and has taken an interest in spelling. His usual phrase: "Mummy, XXXX (e.g. truck) - A B C D is what?". What he meant was to find out how to spell a certain word. To date, though he can spell only a couple of words (i.e. Lleyton, apple, cat, cap, car, brush, bus - almost) on his own, it is still a good attempt. He has been teaching Leanne new words as well. Glad that they are helping each other.