tricycle and car

I went to buy the Little Tikes Smart Trike at a discounted price with the huggies points and it was EXPENSIVE. I mean, I would never pay that kind of price for the tricycle if it's at the original price, but even at the discounted price, I would never have bought it too. OK, so I am a sucker for sales, and I plonked down money when I normally wouldn't have... good thing is, #2 enjoys the bike!

It has 3 stages, but we fixed it at stage 1, where V and #2 can share the same configuration. We just remove the "body bar" so V can sit in comfortably too. #2 is all smiles when he gets to sit in it. My plan wants to bring them down in the evening for them to ride around the estate, but with the recent downpour (hehehe I don't hear the "once in 50 years" excuse anymore, and if anything, it has been strangely silent - perhaps it's time to stop blaming the skies, and get down to digging holes to hide their heads) the kids can only hop on at home, and they go from point a to b, within 3 meters.

When we went to the shop to get the trike (I was quite decided on the kitchen set until i saw the product), it was empty so the kids zoomed in to the toys. We had 3 of them riding the display sets of various cars and scooters and they were enjoying themselves, so much so that they didn't want to leave the toys behind. V kept bugging me for the car, but I told her we have it at home. She was quite puzzled and kept asking where it was. See, I had bought it for her 1st birthday and never assembled it ;P so yes it's at home, just tucked in a corner. I promised her I'll get it fixed. After assembling the trike, there is simply no space for her to ride the car at home! So it will have to go to my mum's house, and I can only transport it when the car is empty. So hopefully I will get down to it soon, else she may be 5 before I get around to assembling it :P

V says and Ian says

V: I wan to go gai gai! I wan to go shopping!

Me: but it's so late already! it's bedtime now.

V: I wan to go gai gai! I wan to go shopping!

Me: Cannot lah, all the shopping centres are closed.

V: Go SPC!

Me: Huh??

V: SPC din't close, can go there shopping!

Me: ...

=============

V: Mr Lxxx, please come here! (calling out to the daddy)

=============

#2 at almost 13 months can say:

papa

dada

mama

jiejie

popo

gor gor

didi

meimei

byebye

gaigai

go go go

mmm oi (dun wan in cantonese)

where

vanessa (we think!)

Just enjoying his babbling now ... so cute ... especially when he's just happily talking to us in his baby lingo, or having a pleasant monologue by himself ...

motherhood and what nots ...

We attended a first month baby celebration today and the new mummy was candidly sharing her experience for the past 1 month. Apparently the experience was traumatic enough that one was enough for her.

I guess, most of us when we share about motherhood, we share the good times, and hardly the bad times. I mean, if I was really depressed, I would be spending my time crying my eyes out and mopping around the house, than to blog about it.

When I had V, the first month was well, nothing short of dramatic. I cried most of the times, lost my appetite (but never my weight nor fats *sigh*), had mastitis, and even restricted visitors to my place because they were just stressing me out (and not that they were understanding - they just wanted to come and bring people I don't even know to see the baby - all of them were something in the archives I think).

So, progression to motherhood is natural, but to me, nothing about it was natural.

I had a hard time to be a mother.

I had a hard time to breastfeed.

I had a hard time trying to feel the emotional bond between my child and me!

But along the way, I did learn to overcome my lack of confidence, my self-esteem as a mother. I used to think "what kind of mother am I to allow XXX to happen?" when things don't go right. I was even scared of holding the baby because baby won't stop crying. All that is now in the past, and I remember one particular phase I wrote in one of those postings then "and this too, shall pass".

Indeed, the difficult and trying times have past, and I have slowly (very slowly) formed an emotional attachment to my children. I can't imagine why I couldn't have love them back then. In fact, I even doubted if I could even love #2 as much as #1. I'm being totally honest, that I love them both just as much. I don't know about equal, because, how do you measure love for your children? I love them both, and that's all I know.

To all new mummies, hang in there. It may be tough now and when the light at the end of the tunnel doesn't seem to come fast enough, remember that "when the going gets tough, the tough gets going". You have the strength to see it through! That's why mothers' love is the greatest love of all, and with that, mothers are the greatest.

Chin up!

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear ...

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around,

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground,

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, show your shoe,

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, that will do.

This was one of the earliest songs I learnt to sing for V, and which she seems to like. Of course it took me a long time to learn it, being the tone deaf one and having lousy memory of the lyrics and the tune.

Then out of the blue, I completely forgot the lyrics, but hey, it was such a easy tune, I made up my own along the way, and V loved it.

Then came Teacher Lavina's classes and it was a staple at her music time... Love it still, but I learnt the "proper" lyrics to it again.

Then came today, at the Library, having 20 minutes to spare before the library closes for the day, we wandered into the children section. V wanted only to go to a certain part of the library and this book, the last book tucked in nicely by the bookend, show "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear". So I took it down and had a quick flip. Looked simple, pictures and very little text, but anyway, I sat down with V and read the book. I liked it even though the lyrics were messed up a little, because it was telling a story of how a teddy bear was lost, and through the help of his friends, found his way home. V liked the way I told the story to her (one of the rare few times) and so we borrowed the book home. We read it again before her bedtime, and her stuffed toys, namely Tigger, "I Love Daddy" Lion (Yes, that's what we call that lion), and camel (the measled- looking yellow camel from Ikea) had turns pretending to be the teddy bear, the doggy friend and the birdy friend. V played the part of the lollipop-man and I, the narrator as well as the owner of the teddy bear.

I even got inspired, ideas now churning in my head how to make it into a puppets play for V. But the sad truth is, come tomorrow, I'll be so busy working that I'll forget all about it.

=(