#19 Little Twinkle - Big Girl

I was scooping ice cream dessert for everyone. Little Twinkle was beside me trying to "help".

Little Twinkle: are you going to give daddy a huggge one?
Me: yes
Little Twinkle: can you also give me a big one please?
Me: hmm. .. why?
Little Twinkle: because I'm a big girl now, like daddy. So has to eat big ice cream.
Me: Ohhh. .

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Searching for good gymnastic school

Raffles Gymnastics Academy
The Raffles Gymnastics Academy offers a wide range of both recreational and competitive programmes for kids aged 1 year right up to teenagers.If your child wants to train as a professional gymnast, then this is the place for him or her.

It also has a physio-room for gymnasts to maintain good and nutritional diets, and it offers different sports massages and physiotherapy to those who are in need of them.The school also organises birthday parties, anniversary functions and boot camps to give the pupils fun and laughter, to offset its more serious training menu.

Raffles Gymnastics Academy is strongly committed to developing good gymnasts and offering a rich variety of personalized and training regimes to suit individual, schools' and corporate needs.

Training future gymnasts from as young as 18 months of age, Raffles Gymnastics Academy‘s recreational classes have trained many award-winning gymnasts with their fun-filled and personalised training regimes. Helping those kids looking to compete at an international level, these guys also offer private parties, functions and boot camps, so your kids can live and breathe gymnastics.

Must-try programme:
Their 'Kinder Kidz' programme, designed for children aged 3-5 years old, teaches kids gymnastics in a fun and exciting environment. They will get to learn on all the apparatus as well as the trampoline and the tumble trampoline.

Address:500 Upper Bukit Timah Road (The Salvation Army Sport Centre)Singapore 678106
Phone: 68384288
Email: enquiries@rafflesgymnastics.com


BazGym Gymnastics School
The school has specially designed movement programs to cater to children aged 3-4 years old, and for older children too. This is another school you should consider if your child is interested in professional gymnastics.

Children above 4 years who have acquired fundamental movement skills are encouraged to enroll into their more specialized gymnastics programs to pursue their interest in the sport.

Must-try Programme
In the 'Mini Bear' class, parents/guardians also participate, allowing the child the opportunity to grow comfortably in a group situation at their own individual pace.Activities include use of trampoline, balancing beam, junior bars, balls and hoops.

Address HomeTeam NS - JOM Clubhouse, Level 4 31 Ah Hood Road, Singapore 329979
Phonel: 62568191
Email: administrator@bazgym.com

Prime Gymnastics
Prime Gymnastics is the biggest private gymnastics club in Singapore in terms of training area and students.They have a strict cap on student to coach ratio, giving each and every young gymnast the undivided attention and guidance from international coaches recruited from all around the world, from countries such as the UK and China.They offer a very impressive professional curriculum for little ones who want to be professional gymnasts.

This not-for-profit gymnastics society was set up in 1987 to provide gymnastics classes and training to everyone in Singapore. Offering both competitive and recreational gymnastics classes, kiddies develop balance, fitness and coordination while having fun and making friends! Once toddlers are off and running, they can join the centre’s Gymtots classes — and if your older ones are already tumbling stars, they can move into competitive gymnastics, with internationally trained coaches ready to guide them in the right direction.

Address17A Lor 7#01-190 Toa Payoh, Singapore 311017
Phonel: 67732901
E-mail: admin@primegym.com


GIM Sports
A Sassy Mama fave since our littlies were only just learning to walk, GIM Sports (the very apt abbreviation of “Gymnastics in Motion”) is an old faithful for classes that improve strength, flexibility and coordination in little ones. Mixing floor-work with old-school gymnastics equipment, their friendly instructors give kids the confidence they need to improve their motor skills and abilities in the gym (and we love that they still offer their PlayGym sessions for teeny tinies on Monday and Friday mornings — these unstructured free play sessions are perfect for active little wrigglers!).

200 Turf Club Road, #04-03 The Grandstand (Turf City), Singapore 287994
Tel: (+65) 6468 1103

Gymkraft
The new kid on the gymnastics block, Gymkraft provides something a little bit different for kiddos wanting to push themselves in the tumbling arena. Founded in 2012, classes include basic gymnastics, parkour (also known as free-running up random buildings), artistic gymnastics, dancing, and aerial arts, with twice weekly open sessions for little ones (from 3 years) to learn and develop their gross motor skills in a free play environment. Home to Singapore’s first indoor parkour training centre, this colourful, padded wonderland is well equipped with parallel bars, balance beams, rings and so much more.
100 Guillemard Road, Singapore 399718
Tel: (+65) 9128 4644

Bubbles Gymnastics
Another popular one in The Grandstand enclave, Bubbles offers a fell spectrum of gym classes for little ones as young as 12 months of age. Teaching the basics of gymnastics in a fun, safe and positive environment, their Gymtots programme is perfect for mamas wanting to dip their baby’s toes in a physical activity class. As the kids grow, they can progress into their  other classes, with both recreational and competitive training available for the older ones.
200 Turf Club Road #02-04 The Grandstand (Turf City), Singapore 287994
Tel: (+65) 6466 4656

Asia Gymnastics Academy
Offering gymnastics camps and classes for littlies from as young as three years of age, Asia Gymnastics Academy is your new go-to for kids who want to develop strength, coordination, and flexibility in a friendly environment. Their classes are determined by age group; 3 to 5 year olds go into Kinder Gym, 5 to 7 year olds end up in Jumpy Kids and 8 years and above become Tumble Kids. If your kiddos have a competitive streak, these guys even offer intensive training programmes for youngsters who want to go beyond recreational gymnastics.
100 Turf Club Road, #01-02 Horsecity, Singapore 287992
Tel: (+65) 9772 6449
1 Orchid Club Road, #02-36 Orchid Country Club, Singapore 769162
Tel: (+65) 8777 3313

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#18 Little Twinkle - "I don't want everybody"

Last night before sleep, I was trying to teach Little Twinkle to be appreciative for little things that people did for her...

Me: "God - ah ma made this blanket for you because she loves you. Next time when you see her, you should say thank you."
Little Twinkle: ...
Me: "姑姑 buys this aeroplane for you because she loves you and dotes on you."
Little Twinkle: (appears to have made some conclusion in her small mind and appeared upset) "I don't want everybody. I want mummy loves me daddy loves me. I want two only. I don't want everybody." ( she replied in a whining and troubled tone)
Me: ... (startled and not knowing how to respond)
Me: "Hmmm it's normal for family members to love you and dotes on you..."
Little Twinkle: (sounds more troubled) "noooo, I don't want everybody. I want mummy I want daddy. Two."

Heart melts. Mummy and Daddy loves you too. :)

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#17 Little Twinkle - First tinge of science knowledge

Just this morning....

Twinkle: Mummy,  my heart here (she points to her left chest where the heart is)
Mummy:... (I was surprised and didn't know how to respond for a while)
Twinkle: Mummy heart here (she continues to point to my left chest where the heart is)
Mummy: wow it's amazing that you know. Who taught you?
Twinkle: my heart beat beat beat (and she makes the heart thumping sound)

I was speechless. Not sure was that from cartoon or school, but I definitely didn't expect that.

(Little Twinkle at 29 months old)


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Days Without Helper #1

Our helper just took a midnight flight back to her home country to attend to her domestic stuff. So I am now all alone without any help looking after an ultra-active 2 years old.

After attending a wedding dinner and settling down after 12 midnight, I decided to start preparing for tomorrow's stuff  - by  first looking up my recipe book to find an easy-to-prepare soup for her lunch tomorrow (since I don't really know how to cook and has all along been reliant on my helper all along) and started packing her swimming stuff for tomorrow morning session. *yawnz*  


Pork slices with apple soup (loads of Vitamin C)... modified from my recipe book to suit the ingredients I have in my fridge... hopefully it turns out fine... haha



Half-packed bag for tomorrow's morning swimming session... yawnz

Time to sleep now since the day starts really early tomorrow. Hopefully I can tide through the days without helper.

#16 Little Twinkle - 1st Day of Playgroup and The Perfect Bag

It's Little Twinkle's first day of (unaccompanied) playgroup - 25 Aug 2014 (Mon)!

 

First day of playgroup - "Little Twinkle" seems to be coping well and was oblivious to our departure, despite us trying our best to get her attention to say goodbye (wow!). However, after they cleared the toys, "Little Twinkle" started to look out of the door as though searching for us (i think...).

First day of playgroup - the real situation behind the scene...

Being first-time parents, we didn't know what are the essential things to bring. So we packed quite a fair bit into our adult backpack, and bring it to her preschool.  My thumb of rule: it's better to over-pack rather than realised that we miss out something and ended up she kick a big fuss.

 

At the preschool, we then realised all her classmates have their own kid bag. It's kind of a discipline for them to put their own bag into their own shelf. (some of the little boys even went to take their own bags and bring it to me to help them unzip, which they then take out their "treasure" aka cuddly toy to show me. Haha...)

 

So immediately after "Little Twinkle's" class (half day on 1st day to try out), we brought her to find her perfect bag at Takashimaya. :))))))

 

She fell asleep when we reached Takashimaya,  so we decided to look around for her bags first while she sleep. We found 4 bags based on her likes (animals and kitty), durability (i.e. it can last till K2), size (able to put in towel, clothes and water bottle - the necessities as advised by the preschool teacher).

The 4 bags that we have found for "Little Twinkle"...

When she woke up, we excitedly show her the 4 bags that we have found, thinking she would like them.... Haha...

 

Mummy: look, there's your favourite - owl! Do you like this owl bag? (excitedly pointing to skip hop bags)

"Little Twinkle":  ... ( hesitate in silence)

Daddy: how about the bee? It looks sooo cute! (Pointing to the bee bag, excitedly as well)

"Little Twinkle": hmm...

Daddy thought that "Little Twinkle" agrees, and proceeds to let her carry it on...

"Little Twinkle": (after wearing for 2 seconds)  不要.... (and she proceeds to take off the bag)

Mummy: how about the owl bag?

"Little Twinkle": no...

Mummy: hmm then how about elephant? ( leading "Little Twinkle" to see the 2nd bag that we found)

"Little Twinkle": (ponders for a while and...) no...

After a few rounds, Little Twinkle kept saying no despite the countless of time we tried to "hardsell" the bags.. and suddenly...

"Little Twinkle": this... (and she pulled out a bag that was totally not in our selection... it's a mini pink trolley bag...)

 

*our eyes roll...*

 

Mummy: You sure you don't want owl bag or kitty bag?

 

"Little Twinkle": this... (still pointing to her mini pink trolley bag)

 

We didn't really expect to buy her a trolley bag, because we thought it's cuter for little kid to have a mini backpack. Haha... so it's a bit "out of our acceptable range" or "out of the box" for us... we tried to introduce her to other backpack and she still insists on having her mini pink trolley bag. (she called it the duck bag even though we are not sure why it looks like duck to her. haha...)

 

"Little Twinkle" with the mini pink trolley bag that she has chosen - in which she called it the "duck" bag.

 

Thinking that perhaps she just prefer a trolley bag, we tried to introduce other trolley bags to her. She tested them out and still prefer her "duck" trolley bag. Really determined!!!

 

"Little Twinkle" testing out other trolley bag, and was still prefer her "duck" bag aka mini pink trolley bag.
Very determined to get her "duck" bag.

 

It's really interesting to us actually, we thought that she may not really know how to choose, but in the end she chose something totally on her own and stand by her own decision. So we decided to respect her opinion and wanted to buy the bag, but it happened to be the last piece at that moment and was covered with some wear-and-tear scratches. So the salesperson told us that the new stock will be coming in 2 weeks time and she will call us when it's here. So "Little Twinkle" shall continue to use our big bag before her "duck" bag arrives.

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Little Twinkle #16 - Playgroup confirmed

We have finally confirmed Little Twinkle's playgroup! Just made the deposit payment yesterday... Wow, suddenly feels that she's really growing fast.

The decision to put Little Twinkle at the playgroup is a last minute one. This resulted because the contract of our helper is expiring soon (beginning of Oct), thus we need someone to help to take care of Little Twinkle from the time our helper leaves until Little Twinkle starts pre-nursery at the church kindergarten.

We've been to this childcare 3 times. On the 3rd visit, we decided to place Little Twinkle in the playgroup but there was no vacancy then. And just happened they have 1 slot currently, which is very lucky for us. :)))

Things we like about this childcare:

• Big outdoor playground - as usual we think it's important for toddlers to run around and have fun, instead of sitting around indoors. 
• Bilingual - they have 1 English teacher and 1 chinese teacher for every class. Both will always be around to speak to the kids in respective language. Thought this is better for toddlers to learn the language through their daily interaction, instead of just 1 hour chinese lesson everyday. 
• Cozy setup: teachers and principal seems to know the kids well
• Variety in kid's lunch menu: I'm rather impressed with their lunch menu which sounds sooo yummy, even for me. Each meal includes protein, carb, fibre. Another childcare that we visited last week offered 3-in-1 milo for all breakfast/lunch with nuggets/ butter cake/ soon kuey / steamed bun etc.
• Near our house: 8 mins car ride

Things that made us reconsider for this childcare:

• Close by 6.30pm latest: not very ideal for dual working parents as most workplace end at 6-6.30pm. This also assumes that one can leave on the dot everyday, which seems unrealistic in our society. And I was told that the kids in Little Twinkle's class mostly leave by 3pm, so most likely Little Twinkle will be without friends from 3pm onwards. I still feel that childcares should operate until 7 or 7.30pm so that working parents have sufficient time to pick up the child after work.
• Inconvenient location: the childcare is about 600+ meters from thr MRT station based on street directory. So it means I have to walk 1.2km (600 m back and fro) to fetch Little Twinkle. So I will walk 2.4km everyday. And I have to walk fast enough to be able to catch her before 6.30pm which means I need to leave my workplace early by 5.30pm assuming I need 30 mins to travel via mrt and 30 mins to walk. Sigh.... 

We have considered putting Little Twinkle at the childcare opposite my workplace, which will be super convenient for me. But the quality is really substandard and the price is more expensive.... 

• Cramped place: like a small office setup
• No outdoor playground
• High teacher-to-student ratio: 1 young teacher to 9 students 
• Unconducive language learning environment: they have only 1 teacher currently and who speaks only singlish to the kids (we do speak singlish as well, but I don't expect a teacher to do that since she's supposed to educate the young kids.) 
• Not ideal lunch menu: the lunch menu is the one I have described earlier with the 3-in-1 milo and nuggets etc.

So my colleagues were saying it's better that the parents suffer (walked 2.4km daily), rather than kids suffer (un-conducive environment). I guess they are right. Hopefully Little Twinkle will be happy in this childcare that we have painstakingly decided. Haha...

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Little Twinkle #15 - She actually wants to be a BOY!!

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Initially I thought perhaps she may not really understand that there's a difference between boy and girl (although she does know how to differentiate "didi", "korkor" aka brother vs "meimei", "jiejie" aka sister ).

 

So I told her that mummy (me) is a girl, but Little Twinkle insisted being a BOY! Haha what can I say when she's so persistent...

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Little Twinkle #14 - Sweet way of feeding medication

"Little Twinkle" is down with running nose, so I had to feed her medication (Zygtec) last night before her bedtime.

 

I filled up the syringe with her medication and tried to feed her...

 

Upon seeing me approaching with the syringe, she immediately lied down on the bed and turned her back towards me, then said "sleep sleep". Indicating that she was going to sleep and thus can't take medication.

 

I tried to play with her, she giggled and turned around to face me. Then I said "oh "little twinkle" is awake now! Now u can have your medication right?"

 

And she immediately giggled and turned her back towards me again, saying "sleep sleep".

 

We tried a few more rounds and she always ended up rejecting my medication by saying "sleep sleep".

 

Then i thought "oh no, looks like there's no way to let her take medication..."

 

Out of desperation, I faked a cry.... not knowing how and whether she will respond to my cries.

 

Her face suddenly turned concerned. She sat up and said "eat eat", followed by opening her mouth for me to feed her with the medication.

 

Wow I never ever expected that... !!!!

 

I fed her the medication without any struggle or resistance or cries from her. It's like a breeze.

 

After feeding, i said to her "thank you for helping mummy to give u medication so easily, mummy appreciates that very much"

 

And she gave me an ultra radiant smile as thought she understood me. *felt sweetness in my heart*

(P.S: This post has been kept in my drafts for months, and I have only realised today that it has not been posted. LOL.)

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Little Twinkle #13 - Search for Playgroup Continues

We went down to Whitelodge @ loewen garden last friday, before Little Twinkle's doctor appointment.

 

This is the 2nd time we visited there. As we haven't found any suitable playgroup that met our criteria, so we thought we should re - visit to reconsider our options.

Source: whitelodge.com.sg

 

Things we like about the school:

• relatively near home (about 5-8 mins car ride depending on traffic)
• outdoor playground (we think it's important to have some sun)
• bilingual

 

Things that we are considering about:

• not easily accessible (MIL would fetch her back home in the afternoon while we send her there in the morning. Public transport doesn't really go there and MIL would has to walk some distance, which may not be easy having Little Twinkle near her nap time)
• doesn't provide lunch or has lunch time (by the time school ends at 12.30 to 1, it's way past her lunch time and at her nap time. Not sure if she's be fine with late lunch/nap at her young age. )
• seems to have mosquitos.  We were bitten while we are there. And most of the kids have mosquito patches on them. Asked the principal and she said it's better to have them on.

 

Nevertheless Little Twinkle did had an enjoyable time at Loewen gardens. She had her first try at trampoline and doesn't want to come down when we are leaving. Haha

 

Her first venture into the unknown ground. Very cautious and not willing to be far from daddy.

Little Twinkle getting more confident on the trampoline.

Enjoying a flying sensation from daddy

(P.S: This post was created on 14-Mar-2014, but has been kept as my draft for months and I've only realised today that I haven't posted it. LOL) 

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Little Twinkle #12 - Doc Visit at 19 months old

Brought little Twinkle to her supposedly 18 months old vaccination (we went 1 month late... oops!). Hooray, this will be the last compulsory one before she goes primary school. Although Doc Darryl Lim did asked us to consider giving her the vaccination for hepatitis A.

 

Doc Lim was friendly as usual, with his ultra kid - friendly and cheerful top. He's the only doc in the clinic that wears the cheerful top we realized,  guess it's to make kids feel at ease when they see him.

 

He asked how many words can Little Twinkle say...I didn't really count before, so i just gave an estimate and said maybe about 30.

 

Her current vocabulary includes both Chinese and English because different people speak different language to her... those that I can remember are:

1. Mama
2. Papa
3. 奶奶
4. 爷爷
5. 公公
6. Ah ma (for her maternal grandma)
7. 婆婆  (should be 太婆 actually)
8. 姑姑
9. Su Su (for her 叔叔, she's not very good with her  "S" pronunciation)
10. 姨
11. 舅舅
12. Kar kart (Little Twinkle called our helper "sister" in malay because my mum kept referring to our helper as "sister" to Little Twinkle, and our helper was fine with being called the "sister" as well.)
13. giu giu (her version of "thank you" which she pronounced the "you"
14. 谢谢
15. Hi
16. Bye bye
17. Placee (her "please")
18. 好
19. More
20. 不要 (to her grandparents)
21. No (to parents and helper)
22. Mai ("no" in Teochew to my relatives from my mum's side)
23. Milk milk
24. Car
25. Tree
26. Apple
27. Ball
28. Bear
29. Miao miao (she means "cat", she prefers to use miao miao even though she can say "cat" as well)
30. Dog  (to parents and helper)
31. 狗狗  (to grandparents)
32. Full (to parents and helper)
33. 饱饱
34. Two (she skipped "one" and moved to "two" direct)
35. Four
36. Eight
39. Nine
40. Nose
41. Eyes
42. Mouth
43. Ears
44. Head
45. Leg (to parents and helper)
46. 脚 (to grandparents)
47. Poo poo
48. 开
49. Pull
50. Box
51. Out
52. Up
53. roll
54. Go
55. Night night

 

And she continues to surprise us with her expanding vocabulary... :)

 

(P.s: this was kept in my draft since 14-Mar-2014, and I just realised I have yet to post it. Haha... )

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Little Twinkle #11 - She says "Night night" :)

Every night Little Twinkle will religiously say goodnight to everyone in the family i.e. papa, 奶奶, 太婆, our helper before she heads into the bedroom with me for her bedtime. 

She tends to give "flying kiss" or hug or wave or say "bye bye" to indicate goodnight to each family member. 

But today she sprouted out "Night" to our helper, and followed on to say "Night night" to 奶奶. We were all pleasantly surprised - she said a new word again! Well done darling! :)

Hang on peeps! It's gonna be weekend soon!!

Little Twinkle #10 - Groceries Shopping!

Last night after work, our helper told me of an emergency - Little Twinkle's milk powder was running dangerously low!! So we immediately rush down to Cold Storage right after dinner.

On mission to obtain milk powder

Didn't know the Cold Storage at Great World City is huge! Little Twinkle was pretty excited and pointing to items that she saw, touching them, saying their shapes / names / colors (with whatever vocab that she has). It was pretty amazing to see how she tried to communicate what she saw!

There's a whole big section all catered to baby products and food! And much more varieties of baby yogurts that I don't see at other supermarkets as well! *pleasantly surprised* Little Twinkle didn't really fancy the previous yogurt (yobaby brand) that i bought for her, so it's great that there are other choices over here that she may actually like. :)

Yobaby brand
- Little Twinkle tried and doesn't fancy it

Yotoddler brand

Vaalia brand

Rachel's brand

Mundella brand

I got the Mundella brand (pear flavour) for Little Twinkle to try given 1) it's the lowest sodium content, 2) I thought pear flavour would be refreshing (as Little Twinkle didn't really like vanilla), 3) the size is small enough for her to try out. Hopefully she will like it. :)

Little Helper at work

Nowadays Little Twinkle is always very willing to help out with tasks, so we always try to let her help with small chores (i.e. carry the lightest item - a pack of batteries in this case) and she would be most happy to oblige.  Good for us too :)

Little Twinkle #9 - First reaction to preschool!

Last week in the morning...

Me: do you want to go to school?

Little twinkle: ... ... (she was pondering while drinking her morning milk... you could literally see that she's really thinking hard about the question)

Me: wow you can make new friends in school,  learn many new things in school, play with your friends in school... (trying to convince her of the reasons)

Little twinkle: hm! (her way of saying "yes")

Me: so... do you want to go to school?

Little Twinkle: ya!!!

Seems like she would look forward to school (at least a tiny weeny bit)... *hopefully*... haha

Little Twinkle #8 - Homemade pasta for Baby

Little Twinkle has been rather fussy with her food lately, since she's been eating porridge since she was 6 months old (though with various permutations e.g fish with vegetables)! Guess she's really tired of porridge YET AGAIN! Hehe

So we have decided to make pasta for her lunch today! We have given her pasta before today too, but at that time (about 11-12 months old) she couldn't really chew well and thus didn't really like it.


Tadah!!! We made home-made tomato-based salmon with broccoli pasta. *burps* Delicious yet without any salt or sugar, perfect for baby and young toddler! *feeling accomplished*

Little Twinkle finished almost all of the pasta, with only about 2 spoonfuls left. Yippee! Maybe we cooked slightly more than what she can take. Haha... But still really happy that Little Twinkle loves the pasta! :)

Got this recipe from a mummy on a Facebook group that advocates healthy eating for baby, who learns this recipe from her Italian friend (also a mummy!). Thus we used herbs such as Basil and Rosemary today as per the recipe.


Also got the above olive oil (for cooking) and extra virgin olive oil (for salad) from Cold Storage. Hehe the little hand on the right is Little Twinkle trying to reach for the olive oil. Have been contemplating to get it for Little Twinkle's dishes but was rather lazy to think of other dishes other than porridge (hehe porridge is so easy to make!). So now that I got this, I guess I have to be hardworking and starting looking for new recipes for Little Twinkle's dishes.


This was Little Twinkle trying to get my attention when we were in the kitchen making her pasta. Drama queen right? Haha!


Her many cheeky expressions as usual when we were playing!


Little Twinkle trying to mimic what we do when we talk on the handphone! LOL

On a side more, I discovered a really good iPhone application for blogging on the go. So now I don't need a laptop to blog, I can blog while watching my cheeky Little Twinkle buzzing around. Perfect for mummy with busy toddler! Haha...

I been wanting to blog our Europe trip and taiwan trip for memories sake, but just couldn't find time to do so. Guess it would now be possible with this app! Hehe :)

And that's our last Saturday of year 2013 - a lazy one!

Little Twinkle #7 - Baby, you are my sunshine!

On the saturday that just past, Little Twinkle went for her first audition at the PS Baby Competition. There were sooooo many babies and parents, even though we were given 1.45pm slot but we still have to wait for maybe about 45 mins - to register, then queue for her photo to be taken.

The theme is "Most Sunshine Baby", and this is what she was wearing that day. Haha... given we thought it's just for fun activity, we only started looking for clothes to match the theme at the very last minute. We managed to find her hair accessory just the night before because Cecilia kept emphasizing on "accessorize accessorize"!!! haha...

Nevertheless, Little Twinkle didn't give her sunshine smile when she was on the stage. :( Every participant only had few minutes in front of the camera, then the photographer will try to get the baby's best shot. MNG went up the stage with Little Twinkle but didn't manage to make her smile. She was busy looking at both the photographer and coordinator warily. In the end, the coordinator did manage to make her smile briefly when she threw the colourful ball to Little Twinkle but our guess is that the photographer didn't manage to capture that. Oh well, it's an experience for all 3 of us too! :)

Daddy's sweetheart having her princess treatment and still unsure of what's going on...

Daddy very focused on dolling up Little Twinkle, but of course Mummy did the final touch ;p

Happily walking into the "battle ground"

Having a proper formal shot before the real audition

Dancing to the nursery rhymes

Daddy, where are you?? 

On a side note, daddy's lil girl is gradually showing her 前世小情人本色. Yesterday we were shopping at IMM for her winter wear (as we are travelling to He Huan Shan in Taiwan and heard the temperature is about 3-6 degree celsius). It was past her sleeping time and she was constantly rubbing her eyes and looking real tired. MNG was carrying her so that she could lie on daddy's chest to sleep, but she was kept awake with all the activities around her. Worried that she might throw a tantrum again if she got overtired, so i tried to persuade her to sleep....i placed my head against MNG's chest and said to Little Twinkle "if you don't want to sleep, mummy will sleep on daddy's chest." Without thinking, she quickly pushed my head off daddy's chest and hug daddy indicating that daddy is all hers. So i  tried several more times to place my head on MNG's chest and every time she quickly pushed my head off daddy's chest again and quickly hug daddy to herself. Haha... indeed 前世小情人本色 manz! There's no more room for 今世情人already... LOL

xoxo

Sensory Play for 1 Year Old #1: Empty Bottles

This was unintentional - we were drinking yakult and Little Twinkle insists / whines to have the yakult bottles, so I decided to wash the empty yakult bottles and let her play with it.

And Little Twinkle managed to play with the empty yakult bottles for a good 40 minutes! Impressive! I didn't expect empty bottles can be so attractive to a 1 year old. And this will help us reduce some expenses on buying toys *ka-ching* :))))

let me test whether it's hot

see my finger skills!

let's see what lobster can do to it

I wonder what is the effect if I knock them together

let me try the taste...

how about blowing??

look mama, i can support with my mouth alone!

hmm...what else can i do??

mama, how about you try it out for me?

I continued to take photos when she wanted to pass me the empty bottles. So she stand up and walks towards me and camera. Oh oh... 

mama, help me with the bottles

After this intriguing (to her) play experience, I enthusiastically told our helper to keep different shapes and sizes of the clear bottles we used going forward. Since Little Twinkle is so interested with bottles at this stage, we will collect the bottles and rotate them for her to play with (and saves money from buying new toys! hahahah).We did the same thing 2 days ago and filled up an empty bottle with colourful peddles which Little Twinkle really likes much.

Just googled and realised there are many things that people used to fill into empty bottles for baby/toddler to play with!  This is so cool! Such discovery bottle toys can easily be recycled from materials around the house which is cheap and easy to make!

Some DIY sensory discovery bottles inspirations:

1. Water with brightly coloured Hama beads - for noise, color and movement

Credit: fun-a-day.com

Beads with water. Credit: The Imagination Tree

2. Ripped pieces of tin foil - for gentle, slow movement and reflection of light

Tin foil. Credit: The Imagination Tree

3. Colored water mixed with 1cm of vegetable/baby oil - for mixing and separation of liquids

Colored water with baby oil. Credit: Modern Parents Messy Kids 

Colored waters with oil. Credit: Play-trains.com

4. Brightly colored bottles - for visual interest

Credit: familylicious.com

Credit: familylicious.com

Coloured bottles - for visual interest. Credit: Plain Vanilla Mom

5. Blue water and a variety of sea shells - for gentle sounds and interesting objects to examine

Credit: fun-a-day.com

Credit: bhoomplay.wordpress.com

Blue water with sea shells. Credit: childhood101.com

6. Water, plastic crystals and a large amount of silver glitter - for noise and beautiful movement 

Credit: thebestjobintheworld-mummyhughesy.blogspot.com.au

Credit: artsyants.com

Glitter with water. Credit: modernparentsmessykids.com

7. Colored water with a large squirt of dish soap - for shaking and creating bubbles

Credit: play-trains.com

Credit: familylicious.com

8. Mixture of poms poms in various colours and sizes - for visual stimulation and early maths concepts

poms poms. credit: pinkpistachio.com

9. Colored shaped buttons - for fabulous noise and exciting colors.

Credit: innerchildfun.com

10. Multi-coloured dry rice or pasta - for fabulous shaky noise

Credit: messforless.net

Credit: organicaspirations.blogspot.sg

11. Coloured water with alka seltzer - for visual stimulation and beautiful movement

Credit: jugglingwithkids.com

11. Animal toy and shredded paper - lots of shaking for animal to appear

Credit: pre-schoolplay.blogspot.sg