grandpa is here...

Look at how happy Kristin is when Grandpa's back! Bryan didn't even cry this morning when Grandpa woke him up for school. Of course, he didn't want to go to school coz there were so many new toys and goodies from Singapore. We had our first breakfast on the balcony today... oops... no pics! Haha... that means we'll have to do it again very soon. :)

perfect weather for a stroll...

It's beautiful spring weather here in Frankfurt! About 24 deg C warm during the day and about 20 deg C warm in the evening. So we have been walking around without jackets!!!! It's just perfect weather for travelling coz it's warm enough to be without jackets and cool enough not to perspire. And lots of walking and fresh air even does the lungs some good. Also, this is the time when it is cooler indoors than outdoors. I really dread the heat in summer. According to a church friend here, the whole country ran out fans two years ago and the heat was unbearable in summer... Let this not happen to us, please. I already find 23 deg C in our bedroom too warm. Yeah, you must imagine that we've been sleeping in 16-17 deg C in winter. How can the children sleep well and through the night when it gets warmer and warmer each day...?

first day in pre-school...

Finally, we've got a place for Bryan in the pre-school. But it's only twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday. And school is going to break for summer on June 6. Look at how excited he is with his new friends. On your right, that's the teacher, Miss Amanda and her assistant (on your left), Miss Athena.

Heidelberg

You must wondering why we've been diligently driving around... well, we've got a guest with us this week! My cousin is taking a month-long break over here, visiting friends and relatives - that would be us! He has come down from Brussels to Frankfurt for a week. It was May Day - just one public holiday and it was between Ruedesheim and Heidelberg. We decided on Heidelberg because it's just a stone's throw from Schwetzingen. Pity we hadn't got time to show him and my Mom the Philosophenweg (Path of Philosophers). This is us and our guest on the Karl-Theodor-Bridge.

Schlossgarten in Schwetzingen

We had a nice drive down to Schwetzingen on May Day on Angeline's advice. It's really worth it! The palace garden is soooo beautiful though I didn't see much of it. I was stuck feeding Kristin on some bench and subsequently lost the rest of the family. But on our detour (mother and daughter), we met some nice lady who gave Kristin a crown made out of buttercups! How sweet! More photos on our outing here.

blue bus driver...

small talk in the bathroom

Dad: What do you want to be when you grow up? (Guess all "big" people like to ask "small" people this question.)
Son: Errr... I want to be a bus driver! (Dad was disappointed, nothing close to a doctor!)
Son: I want to be an airport bus driver!
Dad: You want to be a bus driver who drives in the airport. (Daddy was trying to be as encouraging as he could.)
Son: Yes, and the bus is blue (in) colour!
Dad: Aha, you want to be a blue bus driver!

So there you have it, meet Bryan - the future blue bus driver!
Bryan is a 32+ months pre-schooler who thinks he wants to be a yellow bus driver the next day....

if you're happy and you know it...

clap your hands! *Clap! *Clap!
Yes, it is happening: Kristin is learning this song quickly. She's only eight months old. Bryan could only respond to this when he was almost a year old.
But this same little girl has been giving her parents lots of sleepless nights. My guess is that Kristin is beginning to enjoy attention and she doesn't even want to be left alone at night. Hopefully this phase will pass quickly.

Hong Ying...

another new friend for Bryan
Daddy was catching up with the former Centre Director of Frankfurt, while his son was toasting his new friend silly with Sake... no lah, plain water in Yakult cups.
酒逢知己千杯少！

my birthday...

Thanks Alan for the wonderful strawberry cream cake! It still tastes as yummy as six years ago when you first baked it for me!!! And now, you've got a little helper - Bryan!:)
Kristin, the best birthday present for Mommy is SLEEP! When will I get that from you? Can't you see how tired I am here?

friends at last...

Bryan had company for lunch today. He ate well: Steamed egg, Chinese cabbage & carrot soup, carrot sticks, apples and fried wantons with prawns!
Jacqueline and Lawrence are from Taiwan. They've been in Frankfurt since August last year, 3 months before us. Jacqueline attends the American school where Bryan goes to twice a week for day-care. Bryan can relate well to her because of similar language background. Bryan must be thinking," Finally someone who speaks English, Mandarin, a bit of Hokkien like me! No more eins, zwei, drei and funny German words that I don't know." Actually, we speak more Teochew than Hokkien. But there's not much of a difference there.
It really is a good idea to have the children over for lunch and play. At least her Mommy and I can rest and relax a little, while the children entertain themselves with toys. Actually, not much time to relax. I had to read three books to them, one of which had encore!
There'll be craft work the next time we meet. Now I need to scramble some materials for art & craft. Got to start collecting stuffs for some sticking fun :)

separation anxiety...

Kristin's catching on a lot of things. My mom has been teaching her to wave bye-bye. And this morning, she waved and said, " bye-bye" to Daddy!
She's also quickly developing separation anxiety: A good sign. This means she can tell between the familiars and unfamiliars.
My mom and I took her to Bao's place. (Bao is the wife of Alan's colleague, Vig.) I thought Kristin knew it wasn't her home. I wasn't quite sure until we reached home and Kristin let out a big laugh, like... "Eh, this IS my home."

lunch at Vapiano

We've got Bryan serving us a pizza here.
Fabulous spring weather: blue sky, not a single cloud, although it got cloudier at the later part of the day. Walking around in shirt and t-shirts... no jackets! It was 17 degrees in Frankfurt!!!! It's not even as warm on a wet summer day.

blessing in disguise

Strangely, I think Bryan is finally settling into some form of a routine. He was grounded at home for the week he was sick. And I had to feed him stuffs that he didn't like to eat. If you have a two-year-old too, you know these little people just don't like anything, basically. I was fooled for 10 months when Bryan said "No" to whatever I tried to feed him. Books always tell you that it's a losing battle if you start a food fight with your pre-schoolers. But I finally learnt that it's the old grandmother's method that works: OPEN YOUR MOUTH! And then you stick a spoonful of wholesome nutrition into his mouth. O yes, he cried. But wait there, just listen to that: He was just complaining. He wasn't in pain, munching the food, and cried no tears! In fact, I think he's secretly enjoying the new tastes!
At the same time, I've done lots of stuffs to get him distracted, e.g. I read him a book while we eat. We colour some pictures. We play games: e.g. What does an elephant eat? etc We talk about food: Actually, this book is a life-saver. "Good enough to eat" from Lizzy Rockwell. Suddenly, Bryan realises that little children eat the same types of food too.
It's amazing now that he expects an afternoon nap! In his room, in his bed!!! :) Praise God!!!
So with a wholesome diet and afternoon naps, we should see his weight picking up again. He lost two good kilos when he was sick.

kristin's first tooth...

I was wrong to say that she was cutting her first tooth. Actually it's already out. I felt it with my finger and saw it with my eyes today!!!! The other one is beginning to cut through. So maybe that should explain the poor appetite and restlessness at night. She slept very little last night, with a record number of night wakings, i.e. every 45 minutes to 1 hour. I lost count. Good thing that Alan didn't sleep in the same room with us last night.

back to daycare...

Bryan's fever finally subsided on Monday. One whole week of sleepless nights and days for Mommy and Grandma. We were so worried that we visited the uni hospital on Sunday evening. The doctor was also worried on hearing about the long persistent high temperature - since last Tuesday evening. So she did a saliva test, an urine test and a blood test just to make sure everything was fine.
The hospital was so crowded! So many kids were ill... so we weren't the only sleep-deprived parents out here. It's usually like this: changing of seasons, temperature fluctuates like your shares prices! A week ago it was still 1 to 2 degrees, but last Sunday was so humid and warm that the thermometer recorded a reading of 16.5! How not to fall sick???!!!! Some nights in summer might not even be as warm!
Kristin is cutting her first tooth. So still no hope of decent sleep for me. She's recovering from her cough... I have been thinking of giving her a bottle of formula at night in the hope of better sleep. On the other hand, I can't bear to give up breastfeeding so soon. Big dilemma now... coz introducing formula will definitely lower breastmilk supply.
What else can Kristin do now? She can: Crawl backwards, clap her hands to music, sort of wave bye-bye, babble, scream when her toys are snatched away, complain when her brother comes too near her, shake her head when she doesn't like something. She likes to go out, even if it's to the balcony for some fresh air! She has shown signs of separation anxiety way ahead of her brother when he was her age.