silly snapshots...

Look Mommy, I'm a doggie! 

Look Mommy, I'm a Pharoah! 

Ya right, you can pass off as a samsui woman. 

What's a samsui woman? 

pulau ubin - lalang

In Germany, dandelions are everywhere. 

In Pulau Ubin, we have lalangs. 

And Kristin is just there to help the seeds disperse with a little (more) distance. :) 

Kristin's first day of school...

 

She cried... she was reluctant to go to school. Aiyoh... painful and I think we were the only parents who deposited our kid and left straight away. For many, this was truly the first day of school ever. But for Kristin, she should know the drill. She's been through 2 first day of school already. Her actual first day of school was totally free of tear. She was one of the two who didn't scream for mom and dad. The other boy too had a sister in the same school. 

But today, she was just being clingy. She did cry, for 15 min. And then she went on to play. By the end of the day, Mrs Wong assured us that she was all smiles again. 

first movies...

Bryan's first movie ever was Ratatouille. He was about 4 years and 3 months old. He sat in the cinema flanked by Mom and Dad. Still, half way through the film, he cried. Daddy quickly swooped him off his seat and brought him out for some fresh air. 5 minutes later, he was back in the theatre again. Except for that little hiccup, Bryan managed to sit through the whole movie. 

Kristin's first movie ever was Madagascar 2. She was about 3 years and 3 months old. A whole year younger than Bryan. I didn't expect her to sit through. But she did! Not once did she scream, nor was she clingy... she sat on her own. Actually, she stood for some time. Swayed between Bryan's and my seat. Then she sat some more, ate popcorns, while her eyes were still fixed on the big screen. And when the music came on, she had no qualms to jump off from her seat and dance! No tears, no fears! Hurrah! Looks like Mommy can go for a movie more often now! With the kids. 

The theatre was almost just ours. Bryan, Kristin and I with Bryan's friend and his friend's mom. There were a couple sitting right at the back. How cool was that? It was private viewing! 

k for kristin

I had an opportunity to chat with Kristin's teacher yesterday. 

Surprisingly, I heard so many good things about my daughter - things that I wouldn't have imagined, e.g. she could get her letters, numbers, colours and shapes right for her assessment. 

The parent-teacher-conference is next Monday, and the teachers in the preschool have been assessing the children for the past couple of weeks. 

She's apparently considered advance for her age. 

Hmmm, I thought, really? Coz I know she'll get a cultural shock when she gets back to a Singaporean kindergarten. 

Last night, it's been interesting to see how much she wanted to do "work". Thus I handed her a workbook of letters to trace. 

Apparently, doing work helps sleep!!! She went to bed without any protest by 9.15 pm, and that's after her 2 hours nap in the afternoon. Usually, she waltzes in and out of the bedroom. But I can tell she's sleep deprived. Cranky, most of the time when I pick her up in the preschool and she falls asleep as soon as she's in the car. Especially terrible during dinner time. 

I wish I could restart my routine training... sigh, no discipline now, no time, no energy and lots of packing to do. 

Here are a couple of clips of a happy Kristin: 

just for laughs...

That's my cutesy sweetie pie at Tower Hill, London with her silly facial expressions and some shortbread crumbs. Mmmmmh butter! She said. 

school photos in fall...

This is what I'll miss when I go back to Sg. 

The preschool here arranges with a professional photographer to come in to take pictures of the kids twice a year, once in autumn and once in spring. It's so great to be able to look back at how our kids have grown over our three years here. Kristin only has three of these shots taken, while Bryan has five different ones. 

Kristin, looking frumpy despite her haircut at the hair-dresser's. Look at her unbuttoned shirt! 

We gave Bryan a nice shirt underneath his blazer and in the end, he wore only his thermal underwear under the blazer! 

He looks almost the same as he did 2 years ago in this post, minus the baby fat and chubby cheeks. 

Kristin is certainly looking chubby. Check out those chunky arms! And I complain she doesn't eat...? Erb... good thing she doesn't eat much! Maybe it's all the Pocky sticks! 

hey I'm sweet!

This conversation took place when I was changing Kristin on Friday evening. 

K: Mommy, I'm sweet. 

M: Yeah, you're sweet. 

I paused for a while and I thought if I had been feeding my daughter's vain ego. 

M: Who told you that you're sweet? 

K: Miss Alka. Miss Alka says I'm a sweet girl! So sweet! 

Ouch... toothache! 

Btw, Miss Alka is Kristin's teacher this year. Miss Alka once told me that she wouldn't mind having twenty Kristin's in her class. I suppose that's a compliment. But I told Miss Alka, things aren't quite the same at home and I wouldn't be wishing for twenty Kristin's! 

kristin@palmengarten.de

Yay daisies! 

He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me...

The new Pocky Girl! It's Pocky... 

Look Mommy, a red leaf! 

Ok, not the wrong thing in the mouth... 

This is my lipstick, Mommy! 

Pocky, yay!

kristin on swing

My china doll girl... yet another shot done by Miss McKenna @ Make Photographie. 

hello daddy...

K: Hello Daddy! 

D: ... 

K: It's me. This is Kristin. 

D: ... 

K: Where are you? 

D: ...

K: Why are you not coming home to sleep tonight? 

D: ...

K:  Why are you working? 

D: ... 

K: And then...? 

D: ... 

K: Oh... ok! 

D: ... 

K: Bye daddy! 

Me: Oi... pass the phone back to me! I haven't spoken to your dad yet! 

Guess I didn't have to. Cos she has already asked everything for me... and you would have guessed the other part of the telephone conversation. 

Daddy's travelling again.

It tickles me all the time listening to Kristin talk to her dad, demanding to know where and what he's doing and the whys. She's already practising the list of questions to ask a man on the phone! 

woohoo girl

This is driving Bryan crazy. He wants very much to be able to whistle too - it's a cool thing among the boys, like snapping one's fingers. 

But this Ah-Lian has beaten him to it: She can whistle!!! 

a gentle giant?

The kids like to squabble whenever they are in the lift. They start to mark their territories and get pretty agitated whenever their space is not being respected by the other. 

Today, Daddy decided that he would plonk himself right between the two of them before any disagreement ensues. 

Kristin looked up at Daddy in her tiny stature and said in a tone mixed with both exasperation and amusement, "Oh Daddy, you are a big giant!" 

Daddy thought she was trying to cry "bully" in a somewhat pleasant manner. :) 

dino-mania!

Continuing from our Saturday excursion to Senckenbergsmuseum...

By chance, we arrived at Dino Fest, an event held by the museum to kindle/cultivate interest in creatures of the past. 

How else can a child learn more about dinosaur other than creating one of his own? 

Bryan sculptured his very own ankylosaurus out of clay: 

What do you think? It's a pretty close interpretation, ya? You might not be able to take a closer look at its tail. Alan and I are very proud of him that he added so much details to his mini sculpture. He did it without a single bit of help from us - hee... we hadn't the foggiest idea how an ankylosaurus looked like anyway. 

Kristin? A brachiosaurus, of course. Can't you tell? Actually, she only made some of the dino eggs. Mommy made the brachiosaurus simply because that's the only dino she knew how to make: 

Bryan's ankylosaurus, however, did not make it back home intact. It fell from great heights, from Bryan's arm to the museum ground. Luckily, we got home before the clay hardened. Still his ankylosaurus did not manage to escape the fate of amputated limbs after Bryan made his close inspection at his work tonight. 

Daddy is attempting super-glue-surgery. But it sure looks like we need to go buy some clay soon. 

little ambitions...

When Bryan was 2.5 years old, he wanted to be a bus driver, specifically a blue bus driver, i.e. the bus he drives must be blue.

After his 3rd birthday and the fire prevention week in school, he decided he wanted to be a fire-fighter. Then came a craze of him wanting to be a construction worker, just like Bob the Builder. 

Since he turned 4, he's been wanting to become an air-craft pilot. He also mentioned that he wanted to be a Daddy one day and have 4 kids. 

When he started learning about stars, he suddenly took interest in space and decided he wanted to be an astronaut instead. It would be cool to walk on Mars, he said. 

Now at 5, his recent ambition has swung from the futuristic science of space & astronomy to a science that studies the past. He wants to be a paleontologist. He wants to study all about fossils and dinosaurs, he says. 

What about Kristin? 

Well, Kristin didn’t tell me what she wanted to be when she was 2.5 years, though she did mention around that period to her teachers in school that she’d like to be a superstar. 

Yesterday I thought it’d be fun to engage her in some future planning, so I asked her what she’d like to be when she grew up. 

She said without any hesitation, “I want to be a Mommy!” 

Daddy was sniggering away behind his computer when he heard her answer. 

I asked further, “And then... anything else?” 

Kristin said with a wide smile, “I want to be a Grandma!”

I suppose I should take comfort in what my daughter said there... although I would have liked for her to have some other passions other than her love for a domestic life. Funny thing that she takes interest in wanting to be a Mommy... at least I haven’t been staying at home for nothing. 

Kristin's 3!

This post is somewhat over-due. 

Here's what happened on the 22nd of August: 

We celebrated Kristin's 3rd birthday while we're still on our road trip. So far, Kristin had only one birthday celebration in our own home. 

When she turned one, we had a bible study group meeting at a friend's place. So we brought a cake and the birthday girl over.

Her second birthday was a special one. It was just Daddy, Mommy, Bryan and the birthday girl. A quiet, but definitely a meaningful one. Still, I think she'd like a loud part any time. 

We celebrated her third birthday in a holiday chalet in Ruegen. Kristin's definitely going places because next year, her party venue will change again! 

Kristin woke up in the morning and told me that she wanted to have 3 pink candles on a pink cake. Yes, I did order a pink cake, sort of, a strawberry cream cake. But I wasn't too sure about the candles. Thank goodness that the baker knew it was girlie cake so he also provided pink candles for us that night. 

Nothing extraordinary happened, no one cried this time. :) But she did say something that made both Alan and myself feel a little guilty. 

"Yay! I'll be 3 and it's my birthday. That means I can sit on the big chair and everyone will sing me the birthday song!"

Yep, the picture of Bryan's birthday party at the indoor playground was playing in our mind. 

But sorry girl, there will not be a big birthday party for you this year. We try to be fair and equal, but sometimes life isn't always the case. What we can promise you is a party like Bryan's when you turn 5. Bryan didn't have a big birthday bash until he was 5 anyway, although his first birthday was much more elaborate since we were back home in Singapore among family, relatives and friends. 

We love you, Kristin! 

Kristin's pink cake more than 50% of the cake is PINK!

On Kristin's request: I want to have pink ice-cream with chocolate. 

A tearless cake-cutting... :) 

who am i?

After dinner. 

Kristin: Mommy, look at me! I'm a dentist! 

Mommy, Daddy: Whahahaha! 

back in Carl Schurz School...

At last... summer break is over! The kids are back in the preschool again! Finally, I can catch some breath. Besides, I think they're bored with sticking around Mommy 24/7 since June 26th! 

Everything went smoothly. It's been our ritual to take a photo for the first day. Too shy to bring my new huge camera, but when I saw another mom armed with her DSLR, I immediately regretted my decision! 

Nothing new in school too. Bryan's teacher is Scottish and has taught him when he was three, while Kristin's teacher is an Indian lady who's born and raised in England. So perhaps not a very pronounced American accent for this year? Well, it's a good transition back to Singapore after all, isn't it? 

At drop off, I could see tears welling up in Kristin's eyes - someone who did not even shed a single tear when she went for her nursery class last year! I knew she was giving me a tough time again when she clung onto me like a koala! She never does anything like this to Daddy. Somehow dropping off Bryan first did help. By the time I got back to Kristin's classroom with her and told her to pose in front of the classroom door, she was all smiles again. Phew! 

a bouncy castle of sort

When Alan brought Kristin to the bouncy castle a week ago, she was there barely 10 minutes and left. Daddy said she did not dare to let go of his hands.  

Aug 3rd, it was our last opportunity to immerse ourselves in this summer adventure playground. So it didn't bother me that Alan wasn't around to come along. Anyway, other than the first visit, I had been there alone with the kids on two separate occasions. What's more when there's company of 4 others (2 adults and 2 kids)?

Sometimes I wonder if the kids are making things difficult for me... All the heart-attacks I had whenever she fell too near the edge or someone was bouncing close next to her...

Anyway, this clip is for you, Daddy.

kristin's first year of school...

This was the apprehensive little girl on her first day of school. A little nervous and excited, but she did not shed a single tear! Yay!



Just before the Holiday break, here's Kristin posing as a little Santarina.



And now, a big girl at Preschool graduation!

I was always baffled whenever people tried to tell me how much Kristin has grown, or how she didn't look like a little baby anymore. To me, she's still that little baby I've been cradling since Day 1. But looking back at these three shots, yes, I hate to admit it, Kristin has lost that innocent baby face.