We Give Books

Have you heard about the latest We Give Books cause? This winter, We Give Books is supporting world literacy and encouraging readers to get into the spirit of giving. Every time you read a children’s book online at wegivebooks.org, you can donate a book on behalf of your friends and family, for free!
At We Give Books, each time a reader enjoys free children’s books online, they donate a hardcover or paperback book to a child in need through their great campaign partners. From now through the end of January 2013, you can help support world literacy initiatives around the globe with partners Room to Read, Books for Asia, the Harlem Children’s Zone, and more! These amazing nonprofit organizations work to build libraries, fund schools, provide education to low-income children, and share books with those in need.
We Give Books is a fantastic resource for parents, teachers, and anyone who loves to read children’s books. They have a free online library of over 150 outstanding children’s books available at www.wegivebooks.org, including some of our favorites, like the Llama Llama and Skippyjon Jones books, and DK science books. The best part is, your reading will directly impact the great work of non-profit organizations around the world!
So, head over to www.wegivebooks.org to find out more about this wonderful initiative, and start reading and giving!

Hugh's Fish Fight

This is pretty upsetting to watch. I had to switch channels and then come back again because I couldn't take it when the fishermen started dumping perfectly good fish that would otherwise make a great meal back into the ocean. Sign the petition here!

First drawing

Violet's first recognizable drawing! In case you can't guess what it is, she drew the sun! I am so proud!

Quiet time

Even if it lasted just 15 minutes, at least I was able to sit down with them and breathe. Until Saffron decided to taste the paint and throw a fit when I didn't let her.

They can't really play together well yet. Hopefully in half a year's time things will be better. For now, I hear a lot of "no mei mei!"and plenty of screaming.

Sunday

We had a good day last Sunday. We did quite a bit of stuff and it was a mainly drama free, meltdown free day despite a pretty jam packed day.

We had Brunch in Loysel's Toy cafe. I didn't see any toys and I don't know why it is named a toy cafe. But they have damn bloody good coffee!

The cafe is by the river, we had a little walk after brunch. As much as Saffron can't really walk steadily yet, she just loves to walk! She  loves to follow Violet around. I should remind myself that I must share her enthusiasm for walking now because there will come a point when the novelty of walking wears off and she will want us to carry her all the time.

We went for an exhibit after that. It was at the old railway station. We had to queue for a while but the girls were alright. They were busy walking and running around. i did reward Violet with a ice pop after that. There were a few pop up cafes around the station, but mighty expensive. I realised that the popicle was $5 each and we bought two. No wonder they call it Popaganda. But the lemon olive oil one is good on a hot Sunday afternoon. We went home to change into our swim suits and went off for a dip! It was greast fun, splashing around, laughing. Nothing beats cooling off in a pool. If only I can have that lemon olive oil ice pop in the pool at the same time.

I was hoping that the girls nap well after the dip. No, Saffron has other plans. She didn't nap at all, much to my displeasure. I was hoping to rest a little too, but nope she was up all the way til we head out for dinner with the grandparents. She snoozed all the way in the car til almost after dinner. Then they went on the kiddy rides that Violet spotted while having dinner. Why ah, why are kids programmed to spot playgrounds and rides a mile away? Why aren't parents programmed to spot them before the kids do??!!!!!!

That isn't the end of the day yet. We went over to the grandparents' and they play some more. When they finally sleep, it was close to midnight. But it had been a good day.

My Favourite Time of the day

Is when they are both sleeping or napping. The peace and quiet is almost deafening

Activities

Toddlers are a restless bunch with short attention spans. Violet is just like that. Apart from watching tv, being on a playground and eating chocolate ice cream, there isn't a lot that will keep her occupied more than 10 minutes. Wait, she takes less than 10 minutes to polish off her scoop of ice cream and she is off wandering around the ice cream parlor.
So I am really glad that she is able to spend that amount of time on this colour sorting activity. Amazing what a hundred magnets can do.

Baby Led Weaning

Saffron is still refusing being spoon fed, much to my displeasure. I have all these images of me happily feeding my babies home made purées and them smiling and lapping it up. I suppose that will never happen.

She has decided to follow in her sister's footsteps and go the messy way. The consolation is that she eats way better, is more enthusiastic about food and takes in more. It is quite a joy watching her eat and mess with her food.

Current favorites are kiwi and carrots. She loves broccoli and French beans too. Rice, pasta, corn and yoghurt are agreeable. Tomatoes seem to give her a rash although she likes them. We tried chicken and that is a hit or miss. I'm thinking of getting some beef next week.

How I feel sometimes

Cleaning a house with children is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos.

School

Violet just started school. It seems like she is late by singapore's standards. Makes me feel like an errant mother.

I spent a bit of time scouting for a school, preferably nearby. Most schools are child care centers, and there was a PCF within walking distance. None appealed to us, so I widen my search. By chance I came across Canossian convent kindergarten which is not too far away. It has huge grounds which we like. Plenty of space to play in. It offers quite a variety of after school activities too, like ballet, speech and drama and also
Gym classes. LIKE! Actually we were sold when we saw the huge grounds already.

She starts at this school next year. In the meantime, we had her in another school not too far away, thrice weekly. I would have waited until next year to start her, but she has been telling us about wanting to attend school on a daily basis. Also, it would be good to ease her into school life slowly.

She is starting to enjoy school a lot more now than when she first started more than a month ago. She would cry when we left her there, cry when we pick her up. She would cling to her Chinese teacher the entire time she is there. She would not participate in any singing or dancing. I expected her to be like that, given that she is shy and reserved around strangers. Also no surprise to me that she loved arts and crafts time in school. Great that there is a session every time she goes.

She has since stopped the crying, although she still wears a worried look on her face when the dad drops her off at school. She seems happy, is even taking part in the song and dance sessions now. I thought she would take a bit more time to warm up. She still cling to her teachers, but overall I'm happy she seems happy.

Can't wait til the younger goes off to school too. Then we can sneak off some mornings for some peaceful coffee.

Kindle

My Kindle in sunny Bali!

Have I ever mentioned how awesome the Kindle is??????????? Yes I bought a Kindle. Bought it a year ago. I wrote an entry on it 2 year ago. What made me change my mind about it? Mainly it is the price tag. It has dropped to below 200 USD. Of course I was tempted!

 After getting it, I became a book slut. Jumping from one book to another. Something that I never do when I read real books. I don't have a lot of books yet. A lot of parenting ones, which I am not all too keen to keep but still want to read those because I am such a clueless parent. Fiction I still prefer buying a hard copy. Nothing more romantic than a good old book in hand, with hours and hours to spare and a nice drink at the side. Sigh, gone are such days.

After a year, I am still as in love with it as I first got it. I was blown away by the e ink. It absolutely looks just like book prints! I wish I had it before I had kids. I will bring it everywhere with me. Sit down at a cafe and read to my heart's content. Soon... those days will be back. I just need to cart them both to child care. WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone who loves to read and thinks it will kill the reading pleasure - It won't! Go get it. It will be one of the best things that you can do for yourself. You can't carry The Odyssey or Ulysses around all the time right?

Another good thing? There are free classic ebooks to be had! Now, tell me that doesn't do it for you!

Focaccia

I just saw this on TV today and can't get it out of my mind. I LOVE FOCACCIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This video makes me so happy. The way it was made, the whole process makes me smile. I miss the focaccias I had in Italy. I miss making bread. :) This is food porn.  Another trip is due!

Update

Happy times

Time flies. It does. Saff is already 7 months and Violet is 2 1/2 years old. Things are a bit crazy at home on most days. The younger one is not sleeping as much, she just wants to play with her sister even when she is clearly in need of some sleep. She finally decided to turn over on her tummy. FINALLY. That lazy girl. I can't blame her, being as fat as she is, it isn't the most comfortable position to be in. We felt a tooth pushing through too!

She loves supermarkets

She is just like the sister, refused to be spoonfed. Argh... I will never get to experience the puree feeding phase.She will just her head and keep her mouth closed tightly when she sees me with a spoon coming. She loves to chew on broccoli and french beans. She absolutely adores pineapples. Finds apples meh. Fancies grapes and strawberries. Her grip is so strong, she mashes up carrots before any of that gets into her mouth.

Her trippy drawing she named 'Family'

Violet is in princess mode currently. I was wishing that she would skip this phase. But she is such a girly girl. We never encouraged it, never called her princess nor have we introduced Disney Princesses to her.(She still doesn't know them! Thank goodness!) But she knows what a princess is. She read them in books and seen them on TV. She knows about kings and queens and that they live in a castle. She is trying to be more independant too. Eating on her own, climbing into the car by herself. Walking a lot more instead of wanting us to carry her all the time. She does try to entertain herself a little more too. She would grab a book and do some reading alone She still likes to doodle and colour. Her colouring has improved, from scribbling all over the page to more controlled targeted colouring.

Good thing that they nap together. The only time in the day that I can take a breather. Or try to prepare for dinner. Sometimes I am so tired I will nap with them. Napping with them somehow makes them nap longer and more soundly. I wonder why?

Bali

It is without a doubt indeed, tiring to be travelling with a toddler and a baby. It is made worse when the toddler is sick. I asked myself why I even bother travelling at all. I came back more tired than I was before the trip!

Violet was feeling fine until 3 hours before the flight to Bali. She vomited twice. Once in the morning and again before lunch. We had to rush her to a clinic and found out that she probably had stomach flu. ARGH! 3 hours before the flight and we are told that she has stomach flu. Needless to say she was whiny on the plane and whiny on the first few days. She whined during meal times, she whined when I asked her to take her showers. Whined when I tried to get her out of the villa pool. She whined when I asked her to sleep. It didn't help that it was really hot and humid everywhere we went in Bali. I tried to keep my cool and gave her a little more leeway since she was not feeling too well.

Finally on the 3rd day I gave her a huge dressing down. Frankly I was very pissed off with the way she treats her father sometimes. She bullies him all the bleeding time! She goes to him when she needs a play mate and when she doesn't, she rejects him totally! I hate that! I blew my top and gave her her biggest dressing down ever. That worked. She was less whiny on the last 2 days.

The younger one did better than expected. She slept through the entire flight. She was fine and happy, if a little bothered by the weather. She seems to be more of a homebody, a creature of comfort who craves familiarity. I was worried that she would miss her cot or home. Much to my surprise she was fine and happy! I am glad I plonked down $80 for the foldable tub and lug it with me to Bali. She loved her baths and it is good that she was able to enjoy her favourite soaks in her tub even in Bali. I can't imagine trying to bathe her in the bath tub. Not only are babies slippery little things, I am paranoid about the cleanliness of the tub!

As for us, we didn't get to really relax and do nothing. I was pretty much going back and forth attending to my 2 children. I did get about 20 minutes by the pool reading and basking in the warm late afternoon sun while they were napping. Wished it happened more often though.

Travelling with young kids is very tiring. Would I do it again? As it is, I am planning our next couple of trips already. Am I nuts? Yes!( And I never learn )  But nothing, absolutely nothing is more satisfying to see than seeing your kids taking in all the new experiences with such dewy eyed innocence and unjadedness that I wish I possess. Besides I am a glutton for punishment.

Ultimate Comfort Food

is a bowl of mum's pork porridge. No fuss, nothing pretentious. Simple, honest home cooked porridge.

Reading

I have told myself that this year, I will read 12 books. All fiction. None of that parenting stuff that I have been reading lately. I need some form of escape. Reading fiction provides me that. I miss reading beautifully constructed sentences, they delight me endlessly and puts me in a very very romantic place.

This year, I have so far read a grand total of 3 pages!

I will want to put the blame on my two children. Truth is, that is the truth! Well partially.. I was hooked on pinterest for a while. That site is bad and unproductive! Not really... I found plenty of things and ideas that I love. Like ideas to keep a toddler busy and how to peel a  whole bunch of garlic in 30 seconds.

I need to get back my reading groove.

Sisters

Happiness is seeing my 2 daughters having a good time together.

They seem to have a genuine liking each other. Violet will shower Saffron with plenty of hugs and kisses. She will tell Saffron not to cry in the most tender way. Saffron will always turn her head towards Violet's voice and she always always have a ready smile for Violet.

Violet is 26 months old

V has grown up a lot in the last few months. She is coping very well with all the changes. From having a helper in the house, to a new baby sister. She absolutely adores her baby sister, hugging her and kissing her all the time. We are so relieved!

She finally learn to jump a little before she turned 2. And boy, after mastering that, she wants to walk run, skip and jump everywhere. She always wanted us to carry her around, walking and running only in places that are not too crowded. Where to find such places in Singapore you tell me! She is also singing and dancing a bit more now, singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars, her ABCs and If You are Happy.

She likes hiding in my closet these days. She will open the doors and tells me that she is going home, walks into the closet, closes the door and stays in there for a little while before coming out and repeat the whole process again.

She knows her 123s, her colours and her shapes. we didn't really teach her all that on purpose. We just point things out to her when she is interested and she picks it up just like that. She doesn't know all her letters in the alphabet yet. She knows M (for MacDonald's, hahahahahahaha!) V for her name. She knows a few more, I am not too sure what exactly. Sometimes I wonder if I am not giving her enough to learn or do. I am a lazy mother.

 She talks really well now and we are able to have conversations with her. She is filling up her sentences with pronouns, adjectives and prepostitions, making her sentences complete. She is refering herself more with  I, me, self, mine and my. She still refers herself as a third person but not all the time now. She tells jokes and expresses her own opinions. She says the darnest things too!

Her apetite is pretty good recently. Eating more than she was a month ago. Maybe it has something to do with her running around a lot more recently. One fine day about 2 weeks ago she told me that she wanted to self feed herself. And she did and she is doing a pretty fine job at that. She does feed herself a bit before, things like fruits, bread and other finger food and little pots of yoghurt.  Not rice or noodles.I find it too messy and besides, she doesn't seem all that interested to want to do it, so I didn't push it. Now, she eats faster and isn't as picky. I hope this isn't just a phase! CROSSING FINGERS!

My little toddler is now a little girl. They do grow up so fast!

Saffron is 3.5 months old

She is 3.5 months already. How time flies! She is a really smiley baby. She smiled early, since she was 2 weeks old. Of course I put it down to gas the first few times she smiled. Every time we smiled and talk to her, she would smile back. It can't be coincidence right! She smiles when she just wake up, smiles when she is tired, smiles when her sister is playing near her, smiles when I change her diaper in the early hours of the day. As much as she is smiley, she was a cry baby too. She has some powerful lungs and she wouldn't hesitate to remind me on a daily basis.

Unlike her elder sis who allowed just about anyone to carry her when she was a baby, as long as she was being carried, she didn't care who the carrier was. Not this girl. Nope, she is pretty much the baby koala and I am the mama koala. She is fine with her father, but not all the time. Good news is, she is slowly warming up to her extended family. Yay for me!

She sleeps pretty well. Sleeps at least 6 hours at night without waking up since she was a month old. After 2 years, I was able to get a good length of uninterrupted sleep! Can't say that she naps well now.

She loves her baths just like her sister. :)

She coos and giggles quite a lot these days, especially when someone is talking to her. Oh and she is in her cot looking at her mobile.

New Year Resolution

I don't understand why I am making one this year. I didn't much kept to the last one. This year I will attempt to read at least 12 novels. Quite a feat for a barely-have-enough-time-to-breathe full time mum. I suppose gives me some sort of motivation to attempt to read.

You see, I bought a Kindle.

So much for saying that I will never buy one, but it is getting cheap now! I had it for a little more than half a year already and it is wonderful! I read mostly parenting stuff, but I do have a few fiction books in there that I have been meaning to read. Let's see how many books on the 2011 Booker Prize short list I can read before the long list for 2012 is out!

Don't get me wrong, I will still my paper books. Nothing beats a paper book. In fact I just bought 1Q84! After reading just a page, I realised just how much I really really miss reading novels. I think I am pretty done reading about parenting already. It is time to get back to reading fiction! I just need to get that list of 12 books done.