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Sweetie (1 - 18 months) [click x if cannot view]

Cutie (1 - 18 months)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

2 years old Cutie (Part 10)

In about 2 weeks' more, this Cutie of mine will turn 3. Gee... but this Cutie always tells me she doesn't want to and only wants to be 2 years old. Mummy is glad that she loves being 2 years old so much that she wants to be 2 forever. But mummy can't make time stop tho' mummy would love to (hee... cos' mummy wants to stay young too).

A few days ago, found her alphabet album which mummy has created for her last year in Singapore. At that time, my Cutie has already known the beginning letters of quite a number of words. When my Cutie saw it again, she was very excited cos' it has gone missing for months.

My Sweetie was also very excited to see this album again and shouted "bum" (album) the moment she sees it. Guess she remembers how she tries to get hold of the album when she was around 15 months old. The badly torn condition of the album shows how successful she has been then, hee... poor mummy has to constantly "fix" it with scotchtape.

Mummy has wanted to record the whole process, but too bad the memory card was full and so the video was stopped abruptly and mummy couldn't continue recording. From the video, it shows that this Cutie is proficient with the vocabulary of each word, the beginning letter of the word and also her ABCs.



Playing with Wii is also not a problem for this Cutie, see how well she plays.

Here's another video of her playing, mummy was surprised that she knows how to move down the ladder too. The interesting part is to see her getting so engrossed and jumped with the character (which even we adults would have done so if we get too engaged in the game).

So cute.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Pre-schools headaches

Recently, mummy has been busy searching for pre-school for both my darlings here in Korea and in Singapore.

In Korea, it has been quite a disappointing find cos' the pre-schools here cater more for Korean kids, ie. lessons are conducted in Korean. Throughout the half-day program, there maybe only 1 English lesson (half-hour). Had initially wanted to enrol my Cutie in a English speakng school, but too bad they only accepted 4 years and above (ie. my Cutie is not eligible). They recommended another pre-school, but too bad the minimium age of entry is also 4. Fyi, it was really hard to find a full/partial English-speaking school in Daejeon and it's even harder to find one (pre-school) for a toddler. Through recommendation, we also went to another pre-school which has good learning environment for little ones. But it is mainly catered for Korean kids, so language and food concern, will be a problem for my Cutie (who don't eat spicy stuff). Guess we have to forget about finding a pre-school here for my Cutie.

Then we went to Gymboree, with belief that this American-based International playgroup for toddlers will be taught in English. Similarly, the teachers conduct the lesson in Korean and understand little/nil English. Mummy thot it will be fine if the songs are in English (like any Gymboree branch worldwide), but to our surprise, even the songs are in Korean too.

Well, mummy gave the situation a thinker.

In the first place, why do I want to send my darlings to child-care when a mummy's love and care is the best. In Korea, many woman become a SAHM (Stay-at-home mum) naturely after marriage. But in Singapore, many women have to make a difficult choice of whether to sacrifice their well-paid career and stay at home to look after their children. I am blessed to be able to take care of my children myself.

In child-care, the teacher-children ratio is 1:4 (in most desirable situation). At home, it's 1:2 (for my case). Definitely, a mummy would be able to provide better care than any teacher. Besides, being a trained teacher myself, I am sure I would be able to teach and care for my kids better.

Numerous researches have also shown that the first 3 years of a child's life is the most crucial formative years and a mummy's care is considered the best for any child. In addition, young toddlers have higher chance of falling sick after going to pre-school as their immune system are not strong enough.

Food concern, spicy food (eg. kimchi) is considered a staple food for the Koreans, but not for us Chinese. In addition, Mummy would rather that my Cutie masters her Chinese language instead. At this stage, my Sweetie is also at the stage of speaking proper sentences, it would not be wise to entrust her with someone who cannot understand English and thus the possibility of eroding her confidence to speak up in future. Well, the main factor is that understanding my babies well, they would prefer to stick with their mummy (aka me).

See, it's not easy being a mother. Well, but it's worth it especially when they hug and call you "mummy" sweetly. Keke...

Arrgh, settled the issue here in Korea and now got to worry about their pre-school back in Singapore next year. The registration period for next year pre-school is around April this year, so got to make decisions fast. Hee... the problem with the pre-schools in Singapore as compared to Korea, is that there are just too many to choose from. What a vast difference. Mummy will have to spend numerous nights to search for the information online, haha... there goes my beauty sleep.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

KT&G, fighting.

Gee... we went to the stadium again to give support to mummy's favourite volleyball team. Somehow, the excitement wasn't there as in our first visit. But it was still great to watch the match "live" and time flew by quickly. (Amazingly, the KT&G's teambase is located in Daejeon, the city where we are staying and the number of the main spiker (mummy's favourite) is 18, a special number for daddy and mummy).

Before the match, there was a KT&G booth for kids to draw and make their own banner. So mummy was busy colouring with my Cutie. Saw the kids wrote some korean words on theirs, mummy could only think of the word "fighting" which is commonly used by Korean as a form of encouragement. Guess mummy must have been missing far too long, resulting in daddy called to ask where am I. So mummy got him to come with my Sweetie to join in the fun.

Having 2 kids mean got to make 2 banners (cos' you never know when they will ever fight over it). But I think my darlings enjoyed the doodling session most.

In the middle of the match, we went to the top of the stadium so that the little ones can wander and play along the corridors. It's great cos' Mummy got to watch the match from various angles of the stadium.

It was an exciting match and finally, KT&G won again with a score of 3:2.

KT&G, fighting.

(afternote: KT&G didn't manage to get into the finals cos' they didn't play well in the subsequent few matches. Well, it's still thanks to them that we got the opportunity to go to the stadium here in Korea).

Friday, March 13, 2009

2 years old Cutie (Part 9)

This Cutie has known the days of the week well for a while, but now she is quite proficient in identifying the spelling of the days. In the video, Mummy has purposely asked her about the days again randomly to test if she really knows the spellings well.





She loves nursery rhythms too. See her singing them as she looks thru' her nursery rhythms book.




Did you notice a little doggie in the last 2 videos? Haha... that's my "granddaughter". This Cutie identifies herself as the mummy to that little doggie. She will hug it everywhere she goes cos' she says it's her baby. So, this little doggie often addresses me as "ah mah" which means grandmother in Hokkien language. Kekeke... this has been ongoing for a few months already, guess it's going to be forever.

In fact, Mummy is glad to have a new member into the family (hee... tho' this little doggie has been with mummy for almost 9 years already... ie. it's my doggie actually) cos' at times, my Cutie is more willing to listen to her baby than her mummy. For example, when it's time to sleep and this Cutie still wants to play, it's quite hard for mummy to get her to sleep. But then when this little baby of hers told her that (haha... with mummy's cutie voice), this Cutie of mine will go to bed willingly and immediately.

My Cutie is a good "mummy" who takes good care of her "baby". Every night, she will hug her baby to sleep. The first thing when she wakes up is to look for her baby and hug her. Often, she will make "milk" for her baby and also cover her with blanket so that her baby will not feel cold. What a lovely mummy.

Hee.... imagine being a mother at 2.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sweetie Pie or opposite?

Now my little Sweetie is a big little girl at 21 months old. She can be such a darling dear that makes you melt. Yet she can be at the other extreme end of the behaviour chart too and drives mummy crazy. At times, she can be so sweet to share her things and play with her Jiejie happily and then at other moment, she can be grouchy at a slightest touch by her Jiejie or wants to "fight" with her Jiejie for mummy's attention.

With 2 of them at the attention-seeking age, mummy finds that she can't really talk to friends, at times even daddy is not spared. Whenever mummy is engaged in conversation even while on the phone, they will cry or do something to get for my attention.

*Sigh* Should mummy feel happy that they love me so much that I can't really talk to people and only want "us" time alone? Actually when this Sweetie is a darling, mummy doesn't mind at all.

Here's a video of this Sweetie eating the ice-cream cone herself for the first time then, see how sweet she is as to want to share and feed mummy (hee... tho' it's just a tiny piece).



Talking about this Sweetie, she is really good at enjoying life. Many times, this Sweetie will take the cushion from the sofa and put it on the floor, sitting comfortably on it, watching television.

In the video, see the way she sits with both her legs on the table while reading her favourite book. So "shiok". You will be able to hear her says "pig" and "wolf".




It was barely 2 months since the last update and her vocabulary have improved tremendously (maybe cos' everyday she keeps on asking mummy "what's that?" at the various things she sees).

Yesterday, she went for her vaccination. Poor thing, mummy feels her pain. As Korea doesn't have the 5-in-1 jab (ie. only 1 injection), so she has to have 3 injections in total. At the clinic, she just kept on crying nonstop and wanted to get out of the doctor's room quickly, to the extent of saying "see you" repeatedly to the doctor.

See her smiling face in the picture (pointing to the rabbit plaster), thank God she has forgotten about her pain on both tighs.

It's so cute that her life has so many association with Pig. First, she is born in the year of Pig. Her favourite story book is "Three Little Pigs", her favourite part of the cartoon show is when the AlphaPig appears. and most important of all, she simply loves to eat. The other day, I told her she cannot eat and eat nonstop else she will grow fat, and she blurted "pig". Mummy couldn't contain my laughter when I heard that. Well, she's such a sweetie little pig, hee...

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

"Live" Concert again

See the way they sing, mummy couldn't help giggling at the way my Sweetie sings.

This "concert" sparked off when they imagined the toy as a microphone. It seems that to them anything that is long and has a round ball attached will get them singing non-stop.

Haha... there's a dance item included in the concert. See how well they synchronised.

Wow, must go for their concert again.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

2 years old Cutie (Part 8)

Sometimes Mummy is quite impressed with this Cutie of mine - being quite good with computers at such a young age.

As usual, my laptop is hooked up to the television. Having to multi-task with housework while watching my shows, mummy will often miss out certain parts of the show. However, now mummy doesn't have to worry cos' mummy can just replay the shows through the use of just my voice. Hee....

This Cutie will then maneuver around the touchpad until the cursor goes to the "play" button and start the replay. Lazy mummy is glad to have gained a great helper, gee... all thanks to her IT-savvy Daddy.

The show on screen was the Japanese drama "1 Litre of Tears", hee... it's really quite a touching show which mummy couldn't help tearing too.


Besides being able to use the touchpad on the laptop, this Cutie is also quite proficient with the mouse. She can scroll up and down the web and start any video that she wants to watch. In the video, do lookout for my Sweetie too at the ending part.

Sisterly Love