look, mommy,

an airplane!

Pointing to a small craft up in the blue sky, that was the first thing that came out of Kristin's mouth when we got off the car this morning.

Funny thing that both my children started out with "airplane" instead of the English way "aeroplane". The three syllables are probably too difficult for Kristin right now. Certainly, it isn't an influence of the American preschool.

Being the second one, Kristin has been quite an imitative learner. Bryan and Mommy have been putting up little finger puppet shows on Saturday mornings, and this girl has quietly picked up a few stories on her own. Here's a clip that tells us how:





Kristin's been pretty busy the whole morning. She was mumbling alot of stuff to herself and going around naming items like this one belongs to korkor and this one belongs to meimei. But it's just mainly pointing to something and saying korkor, meimei all the time.

daycare for Kristin

Actually, I missed this one: Taking a photo of Kristin's first day in school... not exactly, just a quasi-first day. That's why I had reservations to really take a photo and have it marked as her first day of school. Actually, we've been leaving her at the creche in church every Sunday morning and she's been with me to the childcare centre at the gym before. So this wasn't exactly the first time she's been left alone either.

It probably was more significant to her. She must be thinking now: I can finally do all the fun things Bryan gets to do in school. I wonder how things will be like tomorrow. She'll be thinking why she isn't going for daycare anymore.

joke of the week...

"Bryan, please stop jumping up and down like a monkey."
"I'm not a monkey. Meimei is more like a monkey."
"Why do you say that?"
"That's because she likes to eat bananas!"

Haha... that's a pretty good argument, don't you think?

Here is a footage on why Bryan thinks his sister is a little monkey:





Monkey see, monkey do?

marvellicious monday lunch...

Top five marvellicious reasons because
1) no kids!
2) wonderful steaks, tender and succulent!
3)great wine!
4)beautiful sunny weather with blue skies!
5) no kids... that would have made anything palatable enough for me!

It's a special treat from the company today. An annual fund that looks after the welfare - to be precise, the tummy of course -of the staff and at the same time enough to allow spouses to join in on a more relaxed context.
At first, we thought of extending Bryan's school hours till 3pm so that Mommy and Kristin could join in the fun feast. Then Mommy thought, hmmm, why don't we also leave Kristin at the daycare from noon to 3pm so that Mommy can truly have a decent meal? Yeah! Finally, for the very first time, Alan and I dined in one of the finer restaurants here without kids!!!

And we finally got our sizziling steaks after a really, really long time... Piping hot food with children around? Those of you with kids will know... no way! Most of the time, we'll be quickly gobbling down cold dishes and chasing after the kids once they're done with their meals. For someone who loves his food served piping hot like me... tough luck for the next four, five years still, perhaps??? Hopefully by then, the kids would have learnt good table manners and Alan and I can finally enjoy a reasonable meal dining out with them.

By the time I was back in school to pick both the kids up, Kristin had enjoyed herself so much that she refused to leave... hmmm, maybe an occasional lunch without kids will do both Mommy and children good.

Imagine this is gonna be my new routine come fall this year when Kristin also starts school daily from 9am to 2pm! Hey, kids, Mommy will have so much energy to deal with you when school is done and you'll be asking for naps willingly... haha!

lazy Sunday afternoon...

It wasn't the smell of spring in the air that got us excited about the temperature yesterday afternoon while we went out for our walk. It was the smell of barbecued meat! Yeah, finally, the weather has got warm enough today for a great outdoor gathering... We still haven't used our barbecue pit from last year. Maybe we should have a BBQ soon.

I've been wanting to get shots of cherry blossoms here. Saw rows and rows of them in Ditmarstrasse, but alas! No camera with me. Anyway, last Saturday was quite a gloomy one. We didn't missed anything there if you see these beautiful ones along the Bockenheimer Landstasse.

Daddy finally had a chance to play with us at our favourite playground. And yesterday's sand was just perfect to build sandtowers! Look at our happy Bunny Bryan, hopping - actually, demolishing one after the other.

naming body parts

When I change Kristin out of her pyjamas every morning, I always play a tickling game with her. It's a good trick to keep her still and at the same time, she learns to identify her body parts.

This morning was nothing less the usual routine. But I was pleasantly surprised that she was going through the body parts with me. She had a little Ernie doll with me. Pointing to Ernie's nose, she went "nose"! And then she went on with eyes, ears, mouth. And when I pointed at Ernie's hand and said "hand". She went on and pointed to her legs and said "leg" and subsequently her right knee and then left knee and said "knee, knee"! Wow! I guess I didn't expect her to respond in such a way. So I quickly seized the opportunity to squeeze her cheeks and said "cheeks"! I think one of these days she'll be surprising me again. :)

It's also a joy to watch how she plays with a doll. She will wave the arm of the doll and say "hello" or "bye". Or she will stretch out the doll's hand and pretend to do a hi 5 with the doll. Or she will give the doll a peck on the cheek or a tight squeeze. It all comes naturally. I certainly don't see Bryan showing such affection to a doll. So it's true that women do tend to be a bit more emotional, hmmm.

how's it like being a mom?

I was dumbfounded by a question posed at me almost 4 years back: How is it like being a mom? To be precise, it was when Bryan was one month old.

I really had no idea how to answer that question then. I had nothing in my mind except that breastfeeding was indeed a tough decision to live with. The first four weeks were marked with insecurity of whether I had latched the baby on correctly and if the baby had enough to drink. I didn't know how time passed coz there seemed no end to breastfeeding and there wasn't much sleep to talk about. For the first time in my life, I wasn't functioning normally, i.e. my mind could be thinking about something and my mouth would be uttering total nonsense.

So that much went through my mind when the question came along. But I didn't really dwell on the early troubles of breastfeeding. I smiled and said, "I'm still learning how to be a mom." Only that much sense came out of my mouth that morning.

Four years have lapsed since that question was first posed at me, and I won't say I can asnwer the question well yet. I'm still learning how to be a mom each day. A good one. A responsible one. Sometimes, it backfires and I become a not-so-nice one who screams and yells at my children. And believe me, the learning curve was great when I suddenly switched from a full time working mom to one toddler with help from grandparents and a maid to a stay at home mom with a baby and a toddler to care for, minus all the help. Luckily, my mom helped a lot during the transition period. Yeah - so great is a mom's love. It never ends even when your child is thirty-something and even when your child herself is a mom too. That's one thing about being mom... Will I ever be that kind of mom one day when the situation calls for it?

at the bookstore...

I intended to just quickly pop by at the huge departmental store in the city centre to look for some exercise books to practise writing with Bryan. It turned out that the store does not carry the ones I was looking for.

So the short trip became even briefer and Kristin still wasn't anywhere near the LaLa-land yet. In the end, I decided to drop by Hugendubel - a huge bookstore, something between Borders and Kinokuniya. I didn't really have the luxury to roam in a bookstore until now... And I was pleasantly surprised by the collection on English children's books offered there. Finally, I get to browse the books. So far, I have been ordering books left and right off the Internet. It didn't take me long to spend about 60 Euros on a few board books for Kristin and some Richard Scarry's titles for Bryan. Kristin totally enjoyed the experience of picking up books and struggling to get up a sofa to read them. She was just trying to look at some books and asked to be read to as usual.

We had loads of fun, but Kristin only fell asleep at quarter to one, way past her morning nap. And while I quickly got home to gobble down my lunch, she had hers on the go when we were off again at 1.35pm to pick Bryan up.

Actually, earlier this week, I have already placed an order with amazon.de, amounting to about 50 Euros, and another order of 150 USD on books from Scholastic. Gee, quite a lot spent over just one week :P

Kristin is 19 months old!

Two years ago during this period, I was pregnant with Kristin, working and at the same time, a mother to another toddler. But I couldn't find energy then to really marvel at the little achievements that Bryan made.

I'm certainly thankful that I get to spend as much time as the day can afford right now with both of them. It's really a joy to watch a child grow, and looking back, I'm already finding that the memory is faint for I can't even remember exactly how big Kristin was in my arms on Day 1. Yeah, the records show 3050gramms and 47 cm. But how did that feel in my arms then? Try as I might to recall... I can't! Babies do grow quickly. And children will grow up even faster.

a little kitchen top concert & other performances...

This impromptu concert took place on the 23rd May 2006 in the kitchen of our cosy home. Audience included a flown in guest of honour from Singapore - grandpa and other in-house fans like grandma, Daddy, Mommy and Baby Kristin. Bryan then was about 33.5 months old.

It's alright if you can't exactly understand what he's trying to sing. Coz he's putting many tunes and beats together and jumbling up the words a lot. The performance became much audible in the later part when he finally decided to stick to the song, "Praise the Lord, Hallelujah!"

Applause, Ladies and Gentlemen! And don't forget to acknowledge the spontaneous background singer too! :)

Sorry no guitar there... more like a capella!
Certainly different from this rock-style, head-banging concert back in Singapore. He was almost 27 months old then.







This one was filmed when he was 2 days short to 18 months. His first electric guitar:

something worth rejoicing...

I think one of the most exciting things about being a Christian parent is whenever your kid begins to ask questions on our Saviour. It is indeed a privilege that God has granted me tonight to enjoy a precious, yet simple and quiet moment with Bryan.

He told me he wanted to go to Heaven as I was praying with him. And I shared with him that in order to do that we have to invite Jesus into our life and ask for Jesus' forgiveness for our sin. My heart leapt with joy when he told me with total simplicity that he wanted to do it then and there.

We said a brief sinner's prayer together. But I really doubt he knew and meant exactly what he repeated after me. But I shall not restrict this to the sheer human understanding of the linguistics. I believe in the power of the Word. I trust in the Lord that He has planted a seed in my little boy's heart tonight. I'm really weeping tears of happiness now.

the c-food...

C is for Cookie and that's good enough for me...yeah!
Remember our dear friend from the Sesame Street? Cookie Monster?

C is also my all time favourite easy-to-cook and yet nutritious one dish!

C is for chicken,

C is for champignons,

C is for carrots,

C is for celeries,

C is for Chinese cabbage,

C is for Canola oil!

Voila! My C-food dish!

staying at home with Kristin...

Being at home with one kid has always been a more relaxing time for me. So far, it has always been a mother-daughter-time. Mommy and daughter had nothing better to do so we tried a new hairdo for Kristin. Nowadays, she allows me to tie her hair... but I still have to do it quickly. And as long as I say she's a pretty girl, she'll not touch her hair anymore. Hmmm, vanity?


I wonder how time would be spent if I were to be staying at home alone with Bryan. Perhaps some real homeschooling? Bryan's theme at school this week is insects. I'm still thinking if I'll join him on his field trip this Thursday. Thing is he'll not behave well when Mommy is around. And worse still, Mommy has to catch Kristin - who will definitely be running wildly behind the bigger ones.


We caught a ladybug today. Erm, actually, I caught it. Bryan's too chicken to even go near the bug. Nonetheless, he's very delighted. He wants to bring it to school tomorrow.

Today's lunch was a simple one. I haven't served Kristin off-the-shelf baby food for a long time. Since we were out most part of the morning, an off-the-shelf menu certainly came in handy and would be definitely more nutritious than the leftovers from yesterday's dinner. Actually, I didn't cook much for Kristin until she became a much better eater at about 15-16 months. I used to give her the baby food jars. I reckon I wouldn't have been able to do a better job at eliminating the fertilizers off the normal vegetables I get from supermarkets. So why don't I just stick to the jars that have gone through strict German quality control for organic baby food?

Here's a clip on how she's enjoying her lunch:





These days, both the kids seem to show a liking for carrots and zucchini with scrambled eggs. They eat it heartily with their rice and porridge or even as a dish on its own. I'm certainly not complaining about this one:

the little drummer...

Check out those nice comfy seats in the background. Forgot to mention that the new Ikea FFM even has different sections in the restaurant: The usual smoking and non-smoking, with kids or without kids, bar-counters or comfortable couches... you have them all!

ikea in FFM

Finally, Frankfurt's got its very own Ikea! Previously, we used to have to drive either 30 min eastwards (on the Autobahn not including the travel time to get out of the city) to Hanau or 30 min westwards to Wallau (yeah, I know what the name sounds like. Wait till you come to Germany and discover places like Aha, heehee!) to get affordable furniture. Or just sometimes for breakfast and then send Bryan off to the playground for free babysitting... haha! Actually, he asks to go there each time. And Ikea's playground is the only thing he has in mind, of course. Why else would he have anything to do with a furniture store?

Last Friday, Mommy was still feeling a bit down with her sore throat. Besides, her sore finger (I sustained a pretty deep cut with my new Justinus kitchen knife the other day) really made cooking a torture. So it was a good excuse to check out the brand new Ikea within Frankfurt itself! Well, not really downtown, still in a suburb, but it took us at most 30 minutes door to door.

Conclusion: New facilities, spacious restaurant - we are definitely going back more often for food and playground, and of course, boosting the economy a little. Ikea always manages to get us to spend more than just on meals. Moreover, there's basement parking! One big criterion when you have both little children and cold weather to consider.

Just can't tell you enough why little children like Ikea. Here's one example:

recovery... on the way!

Last week had been a pretty down week for us here, in terms of health and blog update. :)

On Monday, Bryan was sent home after being an hour in school coz some teachers thought he might have conjunctivitis. While other teachers did not think so, Alan and I did not want to take chances coz we still have another little one to care for at home, should it really have been infectious. So we decided to let the PD have a look at his eye. Much to our relief, the PD also thought that it was probably a reaction to his runny nose/cough and that it should be gone by Wednesday. In the meantime, we had to keep him at home, just in case it was otherwise.

So the first part of the week was without school, and Mommy here could only thought of bringing them out for as much fresh air as possible so that we could be all healthy again soon. The weather played along too with clear blue skies and temperature up to 16 deg C warm! Yeah, the next few days were spent much to the children's delight at the playground.

Here's a clip on them exploring the sandpit:






After having been to the playground for two consecutive afternoons, Kristin has learnt to climb up the slide like a pro, but sliding down still needs a lot of confidence building.






Bryan also discovered the monkey bar for the first time!

And he got so excited about his new trick that he let go of his feet before he could get a good grip. So it was also his first time falling down from the monkey bar - luckily no mishap there! Just his first taste of crunchy sand! When I showed Daddy the video clip and photos later the next day (By the way, Daddy was travelling again.), he commented at how dangerous it was and that I just allowed our son to have a swinging good time up at the bar. But I just thought it was a cool, adventurous monkey bar. Besides, who never fell off from a monkey bar before? Bryan really needs to learn to exercise a bit more care the next time. Actually, he was just too anxious to impress Mommy and wanted Mommy to take a few shots . That was why I had the camera ready to document the little accident.

The highlight of the week was, of course, a suprise birthday celebration for Daddy in the middle of the week! O yes, I'm definitely going back in time to back date a special post for Daddy. So do remember to scroll down for updates! Yeah, just another one on Bryan's playdate too.

I finally got my antibiotics from the doctor on Friday. Am certainly looking forward to a healthy me this week. Can you believe it: The family has been sick on and off since February, just two weeks after we got back from Singapore. My theory: The winter was not cold enough and the germs didn't all die. This year is especially bad. Every other person I know here is down with something or another.

just for laughs...

This week, Bryan surprised us again with his mixed up phonics skills.
It's "E" for "Igloo"!

And not long after dinner today, he suddenly took a break from his toys and looked at Daddy solemnly, "Are you sad, Dad?" On hearing a positive reply from his Daddy, he quickly said in a chirpy tone with his arms waving widely, "So, why don't you cry?"
Hilarious! Daddy and Mommy couldn't stop laughing! On days like this, I don't think anyone is gonna be sad at all!

a-maz'-in train station...

I was gonna start some simple mazes with Bryan soon. When we came back from our shopping last Saturday, I thought this was a sure sign that he'd really enjoy solving mazes.





At first, I impatiently waited for him at the exit and hurried him no end. Then while I stood there waiting, I realised he viewed the different tiles at the basement level as a special footpath that would lead him to our exiting escalator. And of course, while he was happily trotting along his special path, he was chanting, "Aitch, Aitch... as in 'H', 'H'!" So much to learn from a child's point of view...

flatteries and sweet nothings...

I'm penning this down so that I won't forget why I'm staying at home with the kids.

Now and then I get a compliment from my son, like "Mom, your hair is very pretty!" Or "Mom, you look nice!" Or "Mom, I like your clothes." Hmmm, I do think I get more compliments from my son than from my husband these days.

Just the other day, Daddy was telling Bryan this:
You know, Daddy is taking care of you right now. Daddy is putting on your shoes for you, bringing you to the toilet, bathe you, feed you... One day, when Daddy is old, Bryan has to put on shoes for Daddy, bring Daddy to the toilet, bathe him, feed him etc...

Bryan: No, Dad. I won't take care of you. (I was incredibly shocked when I heard this... what filial piety is there???)

Then Bryan continued, "I will take care of Mom only. Not you, Daddy."

Ouch, that hurts, my son! I'm definitely glad that he obviously thinks much of his Mommy, but I do expect him to do the same of his Daddy too. O dear, Daddy, you've gotta work harder there! Maybe you can start thinking about being a SAHD!

getting spiritual...

Bryan prayed for his sister over dinner. And he thanked God for making Benny well again. And he prayed for another friend named Ben that he'd be a good boy when his mommy is busy. A complex prayer indeed.






Bryan wanted Mommy to capture the baptism on video.

you've got mail...

Last Friday when we came home from school, Mommy suddenly had this brilliant idea: Let Bryan play the postman. You can't imagine how thrilled he was. Actually, it was my plan to avoid a confilct situation with him. You see, earlier on, I checked the mailbox and had already taken out a letter. But knowing him, he'd probably kick up a big fuss later when he discovered that I had already done checking the mailbox. Therefore, I decided to let him put the letter back into the mailbox again with this pretend-to-be-a-postman-game. It turned out pretty well and I was glad that I did take some time off for this little pretend play. Coz I realised my son can read Daddy and Mommy's surnames on the mailbox. And he also took time to read the name of the addressee on the envelope. Hmmm, not a bad learning experience, isn't it?

who drew on the wall?

As we were rushing out for church this morning, Mommy discovered some fresh crayon doodling on the wall next to the easel.
M: Who did this?
B: Meimei did it. She drew on the wall.
M: Not possible.
(Mommy dragged Kristin to the wall and stretched out the little girl's arm. Kristin couldn't even reach the drawing. And then she did the same with Bryan. It was the perfect height. Daddy grinned and commented that it was CSI Frankfurt.)
M: See, it must have been you. Meimei isn't tall enough.
B: But Mom, it's not me. It's Meimei.
M: Ok, since I didn't see it with my own eyes, I will not cane you this time round. But you will still receive punishment because you didn't tell me when you saw Meimei drawing on the wall. So you will have to clean up the mess.
(Mommy passed him an old toothbrush with a little toothpaste on it and got him to scrub off the doodling. By the way, this is a sure way to get crayon stains off the wall.)
M: And the next time when this happens, Meimei will be canned once for drawing on the wall, and you will get canned twice for watching her do it and tell Mommy nothing about it.
B: Ok, Mom.

Yap, you will be punished twice as severely for witnessing a crime and not reporting it. He was obviously being dishonest but I didn't catch him red-handed.

ping ping pang pang

Do you do tongue twisters in Chinese? Both my kids just love this tongue twister at about the same age. They can even pick up the book and flip to right page for me to read it to them. Of late, this has become a favourite pastime for Kristin. She'll go digging for this book and have me read the tongue twisters again and again to her.

And one of them on table tennis goes something like this:

Ping ping pang pang, pang pang ping ping

Ping pang pang ping, pang ping ping pang

Ping pang pang ping, pang ping ping pang

Ping ping pang pang, pang pang ping ping

Phew! Not easy, try it out!

By the way, that's her favourite book she's holding onto.

a new bed for Annabelle

Poor Annabelle! So far she always had to share the bed with Bryan. Yeah, Bryan and not Kristin. Initially, grandma bought a baby doll for Kristin when we were back in Singapore over the holidays in December. But ever since we came back to Germany, Annabelle had been kidnapped by Kristin's brother. Kristin is not allowed to care for Annabelle anymore. I always wondered if it's healthy to let boys play with baby dolls, but I saw the kids living below us have baby dolls too. And there isn't a girl in that household! So I thought, hmm, this is certainly the new age man in making! Besides, men are expected to be equal partners with women in all matters of parenting.

Bryan quickly took an affinity to this baby doll since the day Kristin received her in a package from her grandma. He even took the trouble to name the baby. Why Annabelle? That's beyond Daddy and Mommy. Perhaps he's heard girls in his class naming their doll babies with that name. So there you have it: The adoption of the baby doll, Annabelle, into our family.

Anyway, what does one do with extra pampers boxes lying around? Convert them into toys, of course! And our dear Annabelle here needs a new bed. So what were we waiting for? That night Bryan had this tiny bed placed next to his and commented that he now had two beds in his room. I corrected him that he had three coz meimei's playpen had been stored in his room ever since she outgrew it.

mee sua - a mighty mistake!

Kristin has always liked noodle and soup. And give her a combination of both, she'd be slurping it down heartily. But this is a messy meal to serve a toddler who has just discovered her own ability to feed herself! For two weeks now, she refuses any forms of help when it comes to matters concerning her bowl, i.e. nobody touches it until she empties its content. What on earth actually made me cook her mee sua for lunch today?

As soon as she finished her meal, I had to carry her off the high chair, taking care that nothing dropped along the way to the bathroom where I then took off her pants and gave her a new pair. And the high chair? I didn't even have the time to inspect the catastrophe coz I had to quickly whisked Kristin off to pick Bryan up from school.

I think I did have some foresight that the meal would not have turned out to be as neat as the past ones. That's why I decided to put her in her high chair for lunch. And luckily the cleaning was thus confined to only one piece of furniture. Here is the shocking aftermath of a mee sua lunch!

Check out those gooey noodle paste on the straps.

first piece of homework

Earlier this week when I read Miss Julie's letter to all parents, I was informed that the kids were required to bring in a hand-drawn picture of their favourite character in any of Dr Seuss's books on Friday for a show-and-tell session. First piece of homework that Bryan had to do! And first piece of homework that Mommy had to help in too. Well, I didn't do it. But I had to think of ways to encourage him to do it. And we went through 4 Dr Seuss's books (actually, I've only got one, and it's a collection of four stories :P) just to decide on a favourite character for Bryan.

Come Thursday night, Mommy was all stressed out that Bryan still hadn't done his homework yet. So, while Daddy was busy making a bed for Annabelle (that's the name Bryan gave to his sister's baby doll), Mommy opened up the water colours station to lure Bryan to work.

And here it is, ladies and gentlemen, presenting the dog-like creature with an incredulously long tail:
The Zong from Oh, the Thinks you can Think of.
I'm very proud of his painting. I did help a little, just the forming of the body of the Zong, and the initial strokes of the neatly shaped blue dome mushrooms obviously did not come from the hands of a 3-year-old. But the rest was very much Bryan's own creation. Well, it does remotely resembles the illustration in the book, I thought.

the cat in the hat

Here it is, I finally took a picture on what the kids said they would do on a rainy day. Sorry, Buba and Ryan, I got your line wrong.

a true blue toddler...

As I was walking out of the bedrooms with the milk bottles, there came Kristin running to me, rattling off a whole bunch of toddler language - I put back, I put back! Me! Me! Wait a second, she wanted to help me put the bottles back in the right place!!! Haha! This is an overzealous toddler trying to help in every possible way she can think of! When she put the bottles into the sink - well, she tried. Mommy had to help a little coz she's too tiny to reach the sinktop. You know, all the things here are made for the huge giants in this country and our Kristin is very petite for her age even. When she was done, she grinned at me proudly, waiting for her "great-job-hug"! Yeah, she did get one from me!

painting again...

While I was busy preparing the tarte flambee on Monday night, I left the kids to entertain themselves with the water colour sets. They had a great time. The picture on the left was done by Bryan. See the purple crocodile at the bottom of the picture? The painting on the right was Kristin's art work. Certainly not the rainbow. That was Mommy getting the kids to name the colours.

what do we do on a rainy day?

This is the title of a poster pinned up outside Bryan's classroom. This week's theme in school is Dr Seuss. I'm sure all parents of little children own a copy or two of this series. Children just love Dr Seuss, especially when it's read aloud with a good rhythm.

The kids read The Cat in the Hat on Monday. And guess what? They all went home with a hat that day.

And today, I took a moment to go through the things they said they'd do on a rainy day.
Bryan: Walk in the rain with an umbrella! (Smart boy!)
Ryan: Play with my aeroplane. (Huh?)
Buba: Step on puddles of water. (Oh no!)
Tara: Stay in my bed. (Good choice! I'd love to be your mom, babe!)
Miss Marcia: Bake some cookies! (Can I come to your home, please?)

Interesting... parents just love to read these stuffs. Thanks, Miss Julie!

Well, these are some of the things I can remember off-hand. I should have taken a picture since I can't take a mental photo of all that was said.

is she tired...

We walked around in the Carl Schurz Siedlung - where the school is located - today. I really like this area. There are hardly any cars around, mainly stationary only - thanks to the rigid security measures. All cars entering the compound must be registered with the consulate and only residents to the area are permitted to enter. But since Bryan attends the school there, our particulars have been scrutinised and we've been issued passes to enter the Siedlung.

So I always get Kristin to walk around, with only one aim: To expend her energy. Besides, it's healthy to let her run a little and work her lungs to get in more fresh air. But she walked a whole lot today... all the way from school to the playground and lots more on the playground itself and then 1/4 way back to school. Well, the rest of the journey was OUCH for my shoulders and back. By the time I left the school, it was 5 minutes to 11 am. Almost two hours after I've dropped Bryan off for school.

Then I drove home only to find Kristin already asleep in her car seat. That's not it. We went out again. Basically I went back into our apartment to get the buggy out and I was off to the bank in the city centre. Had to run errands today. Got to get US dollars ready to pay for Bryan's school fee. Then it was back home for lunch for the two of us... and before I even had time to clean up, it was time for me to pick up Bryan...

I'm really the tired one here.

Look, I promise I'll write on those not so good days coz being a SAHM is certainly no holiday job. I gotta be realistic about what I do here.

Here's a clip on Mommy working Kristin out.





Another one with Kristin out at the playground near Bryan's school:





I know, the quality ain't too good. It's just my camera phone.

hey, this is my little sister...

"Hey Joseph! This is my sister. Her name is Kristin." And then Bryan turned and looked at his little sister and said, "Kristin, this is my friend Joseph."

It really warms my heart to see Bryan holding the hand of his little sister and going around his school to introduce her to his friends and teachers. Actually, it was more like he was parading his little sister around. I could almost hear the pride of a big brother from the tone of his voice.

Kristin is also certainly most ready for school, at least for the moment. Who knows what may happen when the actual first day of school arrives for her?
During the pick-up, she walked nonchalantly into Miss Sri's class and turned around to smile and wave! "Bye!", and off she went looking for new friends to play with.

But it was a hard time for Mommy again. They didn't want to come home. Kristin was following her new friends around and almost joined them in the gym, while Bryan wanted to stay in the library to read and worst of all, he wanted to leave with all the books he could find on the Magic School Bus. At present, the craze is fixated on the Magic School Bus.

lunch... tarte flambee

Just wanted to take a break from all the cooking. So just did something easy and stuck it into the oven. Result: Husband loved it. The children had to get used to it. They are basically Chinese kids, and their staple has always been rice or noodle. So pastry is something new. Maybe I should keep doing this until one day they begin to eat a whole lot of it.

This was the leftover piece from yesterday's dinner - my lunch today!

joke of the week...

Bryan: Daddy, it's "S" for escalator!
Daddy: No, Bryan. Escalator is spelled with an "E".
Bryan: Huh???

See, this is what you get when you don't start introducing the alphabet with phonics.

Kristin is eating porridge.

3 more days to 18 months and 3 weeks...

I remember when Bryan was this age, I was poring over childcare books on the development milestones of an 18 month. Whatever he could achieve would marvel me loads. But with Kristin, it's a very different story. I've completely stopped checking against any developmental charts and never once wished she could start crawling any earlier than 9 months. In the end, she cut short the time she needed for everything, e.g. crawling and clapping her hands at 8+ months.

I just got an email from babycenter warning me that my daughter might soon master the power of some words coupled with a negative tone in getting things done in her way... hmmm, I think this warning has arrived far too late for Kristin started saying NO as soon as she turned one. And now, if her brother should ever get into a fight over a toy with her, she will even cry out, NO, IT'S MINE!

Who says pronouns are far too abstract for an 18-month-old to grasp? It's I, I, I and MINE, MINE, MINE with Kristin all day long.
I think being a second child certainly causes her to be more aggressive than her brother.
By the way, she likes to refer to herself as Tin-Tin too, as of 16 months onwards.

some video clips...

I recently discovered many clips on my camera phone. I guess I must have been using it more frequently ever since our old Canon Ixus gave up on us. Just slightly more than three years and it's decided to retire from this world!!! The new Panasonic Lumix has such high resolution settings that files often end up so huge. I shall be experimenting with several settings to get the optimal resolution for the next few days, if the children are cooperative and if I still can summon enough energy for extra activities. You see, the main activity for a SAHM revolves around looking after the children, feeding them well, making sure they are well rested and stay healthy, entertaining them when they are bored, educating them when they are interested to learn, and lastly, reading a whole lot to them so that they'll be contented and have a happy night of sleep, or rather, I shall then have some decent rest.

Actually, I have been cleaning up my disk space for the past few days. I really need to get more organised with the digital datas. Otherwise, I would still find another 300 GB too little for storage. Gotta be burning up some backups and delete the photos away definitely, forever, irrevocably... but that's precisely why I'm procrastinating. What if the backups of backups are damaged? That would mean I'd lose many years of fond memories.

By the way, here are some interesting ones that I've managed to upload onto Multiply.

what's for lunch, Mom?

After a long day out at the playground, all I wanted was to sit in a bath and unwind when the kids were in bed last night. But guess what I had to do? I cooked a whole week of lunch for Bryan. Usually, I get up at about 7 am to prepare a fresh lunch for him to bring to school every day. And that I mean every day without fail. Otherwise, my son will have no lunch. Sometimes, I cook more so that my lunch is done too.

This week's gonna be a busy week for Alan and that also means a long hard week for me. Reasons: 1) The children will be awfully upset that Daddy won't be home for two nights. Expect them to ask for him umpteen times before they finally fall asleep. In the case of Kristin, she'll be fussing the whole time for her Dad. 2) I got to drop Bryan off and pick him up. Usually, I get some respite from this sending/fetching routine when Alan's around in Frankfurt. But at least, I get his car for the next three days in his absence.

So without having Alan around to play with the kids, I can expect them to be following me around the whole house. And without Alan around helping to get the kids dressed in the morning, I won't be able to prepare lunch. Therefore, I had to prepare everything at one shot... noodle and rice! That's what he eats by experience so far.

Doesn't it look like some catering service? Ready to freeze and go.

If only someone had told me that I had to wake up early every day to cook lunch for my preschooler to pack for school, I'd... sigh! So if you're thinking of becoming a parent, please check your childcare options. Make sure the preschool provides meals.

she said her own grace...

I think I heard Kristin say her own grace today!
"Dear God, Thank you (for the) food. Amen."

That was during lunch.

And then before she took her nap, she quickly said it again as I gave her the bottle.

Here's our girl, happily enjoying her breakfast. But I observed a bad habit in making today: She's been playing with her food. I think there goes my joy of watching her eat on her own...

wanna see some animals?

Just before we left for the playround, we had a display of creativity from Bryan. There was Daddy lazing around waiting for Mommy. And Bryan decided he was an owl perched up high on the branch of Daddy. Next, he was a monkey, balancing on Daddy's branch. Last, he was a snake spiralling around Daddy the tree.

spring has sprung...

Again, we were out trying to expend the kids' energy. But this time we opted for a cheaper option - actually no cost at all, apart from driving all the way out of the city to get to this public playground - just for a change for the children. The weather was fabulous today. I couldn't believe it was still raining all day just yesterday - perfect weather to get sick actually. Maybe that explains why the virus hasn't quite left me. Though the symptoms of stomach flu is gone now, I am still having an irritable cough with no phlegm and that just leaves me with no voice to talk to the children, like I almost screamed out my tonsils when I saw Bryan walking towards a moving a car!

Looks fun huh? At the end of the day, Alan asked me if my parents went all the way out then just to bring us to play the whole weekend. I thought for a moment. Maybe not to playgrounds, but I did have lots of fun on weekends as a kid too. My mom's from Malaysia, so on weekends, it's always great adventures with all my cousins in the kampung.

And that question got me thinking further:

My mom always says that it's a big waste that I should ever give up my income to be a SAHM. She also says that being one will not do justice to my degree. But precisely because of the education I enjoyed, I would like very much to give my children the best... so being a modern SAHM isn't easy either. We feel guilty all the time coz we know exactly what nutrition means, and how boring it would be for the kids if we didn't entertain them, muse them with the arts and music or jump around to help them gain confidence of their bodies.

focus on Him...

Today's sermon was somewhat special to my heart. As the preacher shared on how one should take heart while facing trials and tribulations, and to ask for wisdom and guidance from God, it suddenly hit me that I've been struggling so much all this while - all the painful childcare experience especially - just because I haven't fixed my eyes on Him. How right was he to have pointed it out. Thank God indeed that this wake up call didn't come any later.

Henceforth, I shall:
Turn (my) eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Give (my) heart unto Jesus
And worship His glorious name
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

I will definitely ask for His wisdom, love and patience in handling my children. In doing so, I hope I can be a better witness to my own children.

a busy saturday...

We were out the whole time during the weekend, mainly to expend the kids' energy. However, it's usually the parents who ran out of steam in the end. We were so exhausted!

In addition to the usual grocery shopping on Saturday, we brought Bryan and Kristin to an indoor playground. Can you imagine paying for entrance to a playground? We did! That's what you do when you are a parent. Getting nice things for yourself is not a priority, but spending every penny on your little ones, including doing silly things like paying to enter a playground. 3 Euros for Bryan and that was 50% discount with the Elterncard (parents' card) we own. And then another 3 Euros each for Daddy and Mommy. Kristin could get in for free coz she couldn't have enjoyed much of the facilities anyway. She could only entertain herself at the small children's corner.

Bryan was thrilled to bits as he explored every inch of the indoor playground. He had special names for the slides, e.g. the flying slide (the one that's so steep that he felt he was flying when he went down on it), the bouncy slide (the one that he bounced off several times on the slide before he finally reached the bottom, and the zooming slide (this one is a tube and I think his experience was that he went down so quickly that it left him feeling all dizzy.) He's certainly going back there again, but we thought perhaps we would ask another family to come along so that the kids could keep a lookout for each other. Then it would truly be some timeout from the kids for all parents... at least ffom the older ones. View here for the landing Bryan made down the flying slide.

Then we moved off to the city centre to look for a tux for Daddy. Apparently, that's the dress code for an event next week in Hamburg. But with Daddy, he always takes a long time to make a decision to buy anything. So we went off without getting anything for Daddy but for Bryan instead. Didn't I mention earlier that we parents only spend our money on kids?

We then quickly finished the day with a bit of grocery shopping at Kaufhof (for expensive veal - yeah you guessed it again, for the children) before we rushed off to feed the kids. Yeah, we were at Vapiano again, for the 3rd time within a week! Yap, Vapiano in the Westend Duo has become our favourite hangout for dinners since the children love Italian, the restaurant is almost smoke-free and so spacious for the kids to run about. And best of all, Mommy doesn't have to cook. Actually, cooking has never bothered me until these little fussy eaters came along. I'd give up this position to any willing taker, anytime.


And there was still some time left... 9:15pm. We thought we'd still drop by at a supermarket round the corner from our place to top up on our vegetable supplies. So that was grocery shopping round 2. And here's one when we decided to get ourselves tied down with a couple of kids.

potty training already...

Kristin's been playing with her potty these few days. She would drag it all over the place - of course, it's clean - and then she would sit herself down carefully and pretend that she's taking a dump with a constipated look on her face. No, no... she's definitely not doing it coz we know she's already moved her bowels in the morning. I'm just wondering if the time has come that she wants to be potty trained... she looks pretty curious whenever she sees korkor needs to go.
Maybe we'll just have to wait till it's a bit warmer...

in our backyard...

We really love this area in the Westend. As my parents put it, we stay in the Shenton Way of Frankfurt. It is absolutely safe at night - what with a police van parked outside a building opposite our block, of course! Besides, we've got the Palmengarten behind us and the Senckenberg Museum 10 minutes' walk away - great hang-outs with the kids. Shopping is convenient too with the city centre even within walking distance... what can I just complain about?

Just about this one! This is the construction on the other side of our backyard. See the taller building? That used to be the previous American Consulate. It's been moved to a more remote area where security can be tightened. You see, we're smacked right in the middle of the city and the street we live on is quite a busy one during the day. So if there were increased security measures here, then no one would ever get to work in the banks in the city on time. So after the consulate moved, this was acquired by a private developer and two more residential buildings will be added to this part of the map by fall this year.

Let's just hope that the construction will be completed as planned... coz it's really no joke to be living next to a building site! We had almost 10 months of peace before men in yellow helmets started working in our backyard. And we certainly do not look forward to living with this noise for the rest of our stay here. In the meanwhile, our ultra light sleeper in the family - Kristin - has got used to the drumming noise. Phew! Imagine those tormenting times when she was woken up by the drilling and hacking clangs...

on becoming a pro...

Wow, after Kristin started feeding herself on Monday evening, she's becoming quite a pro now. I'm absolutely elated with her current achievement. I tell myself to ignore any mess she makes and just keep encouraging her to self feed. Be relaxed about the little cleaning up and let her learn to feed herself is my priority now, for there has never been such an easy lunch like today's : Kristin sat at the table and fed herself cereal, while I prepared my own lunch in the kitchen.

She's quite good, isn't she? And rather tidy too. She'd exclaim "yeeeeeeeeee" when her fingers get sticky with food.

The truth is I've never really enjoyed feeding Kristin. She's not been an easy child to feed. Alan and I always have to distract her with a toy she likes during meal time just to get her to finish her bowl. So I'm really enjoying this phase... but knowing a toddler, she might end up with a tantrum and demand to be fed very soon. So relax Mommy while you still can...

By the way, Kristin's been speaking a few sentences these days. E.g. Mommy. Sit. (Indicate that I should sit down.) Bao-bao! And I thought I heard her say "bad habit" just during lunch. Coz I told her she's taking after her brother's bad habit of having to be read to during meal time. You see, I had to resort to reading to Bryan just to get him interested enough to feed a year ago, and now this has become a routine for him. So much for no talking during meal time.

chinese new year in Carl Schurz

We had a great time in school today.

The children learnt about the monster "Nian" and they were all warned that the "Nian" did not like the colour red. So they would all put on red shirts or socks or whatever that could find at home so that they wouldn't become the Nian's lunch or dinner.

The children also learnt that they were born in the year of the Goat. That's why they are all called kids, in the first place... haha! And goats love to work in teams and are great friends to each other. Aren't we, kids?

Then they learnt all the 12 zodiac signs and why the rat was first and the pig was last. Do you know why? Check out this story on the zodiac animals yourself.

Some children were disappointed that the dragon didn't come in first in the race for it's the strongest animal of them all. But they learnt that's because it's also the most helpful one. So now they know, with greater power comes greater responsibility.

Of course, this was the day's delight - the lucky money envelopes aka angpaos! The kids were thrilled that there were altogether 15 days of Chinese New Year's celebration and we counted 15 days on the calendar together... great counting, kids! I know, this little celebration came a tad too late but, hey, we still made it within the 15 days. It would have been a heap of fun if the stomach flu hadn't got us and we also did the paper dragon craft together before the 1st day of CNY. By the way, the angpaos were filled with their favourite treats instead of money.

To seal off the Nian from the classroom, we decided to put some red decorations on the door so that the Nian would never find its way in. But we weren't afraid of the Nian because all the children vowed to fight it and because they were all kids, i.e. baby goats, they liked to work in team and teamwork would beat noisy drums and light firecrackers to make sure that the school was a safe place for the children. :)

This little girl also had an opportunity to stay longer in korkor's class today. She was easy... she just disappeared among the girls and was one of them... excelllent behaviour. I think she's all ready for school now that she even feeds herself!

And over here, the children were enthusiastic about helping to keep the Nian away... at least for the year! Xin Nian Kuai Le!

I had a wonderful time with the kids... reliving classroom teaching live for once after being a SAHM with two kids for the past 1.5 years plus. I was actually getting cold feet about teaching such young children last night. But surprisingly, everything went pleasantly well.

We left the kids with some love letters and kueh bangkit. The love letters were a hit among the boys, while kueh bangkit wasn't so well received. Maybe it's too dry and sweet for their taste. I don't think the taste is a Chinese thing coz even my son doesn't like it.