Trick or Treating

Halloween.

Rarely celebrated in Singapore as it's more an American tradition. But thanks to the many expats neighbours we have, Kieran had his first taste of Halloween last night.

Initially terrified by the lit-up pumpkins in the night, the fear was overshadowed by the candies being distributed at the Halloween-participating households.

So, unprepared, without any costume and proper trick or treating accesories, my first born went about the neighbourhood in his tee-shirt and berms, collecting candies in his plastic bag (compliments of the first house he trick or treated at).

Jack O Lanterns paving the neighbour's driveway

Kieran trick-or-treating

Kieran picking candies to fill his plastic bag

Sharing his loot with Kaitlyn

He had so much fun he woke up this morning looking for pumpkins and Halloween.

Thank You For...

Being a wonderful husband.

Being a great father.

Bearing with me and my bad temper.

Your patience and understanding despite my sometimes unreasonable behaviour.

Making time for me and the kids despite your busy work and study schedule.

Most of all, thank you for loving me.

Happy 3rd Anniversary.

And just like that, we have been married for 3 years. 3 years of marriage, 2 lovely kids. Many more anniversaries to go, I'm sure. As for the kids, let's just stick with 2 for now....they're a joy but more than a handful to manage. :)

My Cutie Pie at 8 Months

At 8 months, Kaitlyn has 2 lower front teeth and 2 strands of hair. Ok, I exaggerate, but the hair growth is still slow and sparse.

And she can:

- sit on her own.
- crawl.
- pull herself up to stand. And while she's up, the tries to stand with one hand, while using the other to grab her bolster. One in 5 times, she succeeds.
- wave bye bye.
- cry like she has been hit or has fallen when you stop her from doing something. The cries immediately stop when you let her resume what she wanted to do.
- suck her thumb big time. Just like her brother.

Very cute.

Overheard

I was with Kieran to ELC at Paragon to pick out his birthday present when I overheard this:

Kid: Mummy, why are you always shopping?? (in an exasperated tone)

Mum: But there is nothing else for me to do, darling.

The life of a tai tai.......nothing else for her to do but shop.

Which leads me to another thank you speech I heard at the Singapore Corporate Awards tonight. An award winning CFO makes his acceptance speech and part of it went like this:

CFO: ......I think I have not said this to my wife before. But I want to thank her for giving up her career to look after out 2 daughters. The 3 of you are my inspiration at work.....

Given his title of CFO, I can only imagine what he earns. So his wife giving up her career to be a tai tai is a bad thing???

Oh my.

Just So I Won't Forget

Kieran's vocabulary has expanded. In addition to what he can already say, he now says "Uh-Oh", "Where you go", "ball" "ish" (fish), "chair", "dockor" (doctor), tatak (penguin - don't ask me why). Calls "papa" but not "mummy". WHY??

There's still a lot of signing going on, sometimes coupled with his words. Very cute. What's really impressive is that despite not knowing how to say many other words, he really understands what we are talking about - and this is shown through his association with things. For instance, my parents will be talking about bowling, and he will walk to the bowling ball and look at it. Then just yesterday, he had just woken up and seemed to be chewing something rather uncomfortably in his mouth. So I asked him, "What's in your mouth?" and he pointed to my hair. I think a strand of my hair from his bed got into his mouth.

The other amazing thing is how he remembers stuff. Yesterday I told him we were taking Kaitlyn to the doctor's for an injection. And then in the car I asked," Where are we going Kieran?" And he replied, "Dockor". So I said,"Do you like to go to the doctor's". He shook his head. So I asked, "Where did the doctor check you the last time?" And he pointed to his chest and ears and butt (where the suppository was inserted).

He also recognises nursery rhymes which I hum and communicates what they are with actions! Super cute! I have them on video, but I haven't figured out how to upload them yet. (Haven't tried la. Can't be that dumb not to figure it out).

Speaking of jabs, I hate taking babies to jabs. My daughter will let out a cry and then go silent for almost 15 seconds, and then the actual crying starts! It's hilarious. She recognises people now and tries to grab everything that she sees.

Ok, that's all the time I have for this update. And really, it's so I don't forget all these things when they are all grown up!

Growing Up Too Fast

It's been a while since I last posted. But this "a while" has flown by pretty quickly, really. Life with 2 kids has been pretty challenging, albeit wonderful.

At 21 months and 5 months, both Kieran and Kaitlyn are extremely fun to be around. Naughty but cute. One learning to communicate and the other starting to respond. Cuteness to the max. With limited vocabulary, Kieran's communication, though can sometimes be in the form of screams, head slapping, and signing. But like my kayester says, "Enjoy the signing while it lasts!"

Kieran's first proper word was "Ice". And it either means he wants ice or ice-cream. Takes a lot of effort on his part to say it though. Now, he has progressed to say 'car', 'house', 'up', 'down', 'star' and just yesterday, "ask".

Just over the weekend, the kids went swimming with their cousins. And getting Kieran and Lauren out of the pool was like pulling screaming pigs out of the water! Terrible.

The kids are growing up too fast, and being a working mother leaves me with so little time with them.

Somebody give me the winning numbers for toto, so that I can afford to stop work! :p

20th February

Kaitlyn's baptism happened on my birthday. Probably the best thing that happened on this day.

You never really understand how the romance dies after marriage until the reality of it hits you. And then you wish you never got married. Or maybe it varies from couple to couple. The luck of the draw. And I happen to get the short end of the stick.