Estella & Eliana: At the Animal Resort

Our little visit to the wild side of Singapore (and of course, there are not many such places left)...
*Quite obviously, #2 is not quite used to the whiff of nature in this place*

Estella: Family Portrait

Estella was so proud of her sketch of family portrait. Here's the way to 'photocopy' it - taking a picture with it! She even got Eliana to pose with her.

Here's a close-up.

Estella & Eliana: Celebrating Mama's birthday

On both occasions, the girls had lots of fun blowing out the candles on mama's cakes...

Estella & Eliana: Colourful Carebears

My darlings having fun with their Ah Yee's precious collection

Lest I forget...

This has been created for Estella...

And this is for Eliana...

And a countdown to our next anniversary!

Estella & Eliana: First Flight

Alright, time flies, and this is badly overdue (6 months!!!)... but I still need to pen this down.
Our first trip to Australia! Here are some snippets...

On a night flight to Brisbane...

Comfy hotel where the girls are treated like princesses with all the welcome packs!!

Eliana enjoyed this slide tremendously!

Estella's favourite jumping pillow at the hotel!

At the Gold Coast, Paradise Beach.

Sisterly hug with Janelle...

A group shot before we leave Brisbane...

A little bit of shopping at Harbourtown.

Domestic flight to Melbourne. After their first SQ flight, they know how to self-entertain. See how they check out the mags & remote controller themselves...

Our apartment on Philip Island at the EcoResort.

Our very own hearty breakfast at the apartment.

Basking in the field of lavender at the Heritage animal farm.

At this farm that's right outside our resort. Happily feeding the animals...

Upclose and personal with the animals at the wildlife reserve.

Joy ride on the Puffing Billy Steam Train.

Inside the carriage...

At the Penguin Parade, each with a penguin souvenir. Yes, it was brrr.. very cold.

Our DIY couple shot at the Penguin Parade place.

At another reserve park...

With my darlings...

Drive-out to a beach at Mornington Peninsular.

Our couple shot taken by Estella at the strawberry farm.

Estella: I love to sing! I love to worship the Lord!

Last night while Estella was waiting for me to do the bedtime routine with her, I heard her singing snippets of familiar tunes. She was singing 'You are the light of the world, You are the light of my life, hope of the earth, my Jesus...' over and over again. I know she is in this process of remembering lyrics of her favourite songs. So, I logged on to youtube to look for this song. With the lyrics on the computer, Estella caught a few more lines this time. It ended up a beautiful time of worship as a whole family. (Yes, thanks to Youtube! There are so many other worship songs with lyrics available.)

This is the song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MKDVx6oiKc

It simply touches my heart as I hear our darling bursting out in worship songs on her own accord. Praying that her life will always be a worship unto our Lord.

Estella: I can do it, there is nothing to it... I can do it by myself

Our darling girl has turned 5 last month. With that, we are witnessing a whole lot more of understanding and development in her. Here are some things that we are so proud of her...

1. Making her own bed every morning.

She will nicely fold her 3 blankie/blankets, out them nicely on her pillow, arrange her 2 favourite soft toys (Wuff Wuff & Sheriff Woody) next to pillow, and finally, lay her bolster across. As she folds her blankie, she will recite the simple rhythm that I always used while demonstrating the process in her younger days... 'Corner to corner, put them together... corner to corner, put them together!' This big hearted sister will also help her meimei to fold her blanket, but always leaving the final fold to meimei so she can 'help' in the process. :)

2. Packing her own school bag.

I learnt this method from a dear friend Yushan. By packing all the shower needs into a ziploc bag, it's so much easier to check if all items are in, and the bags can be compressed to save space in their rather small school bags. The usual items include a fresh change of uniform, panty, towel and a plastic bag for damp clothes. As it is, Estella takes great pride in making sure all her items are packed as she unpacks her bag each evening. (Of course this is provided the fresh change is available for packing, i.e., already washed and dry...) No just for herself, she will also prod meimei along to do the same. Yes, I would like them both to be more independent such that they can do these chores themselves.

3. Changing into her uniform and hanging up her pyjamas nicely.

Well, it used to be that the pyjamas were strewn on the floor/bed as we hurried through the morning drill. Now, Estella will hang up her pyjamas on the hooks on her wardrobe (simple but effective solution). That also helps me determine the wash load.

4. Using the adult toilet and cleaning herself after each visit.

Yes, this includes passing motion too!

5. Returning plates and cups to the kitchen sink, and helping meimei to do likewise.

These mark some new milestones for her... 真是我的小大人!!

Darling, Mama is so proud of you! :)

原来Daddy 会讲华语!!??

This night, the usual bedtime story unfolded. Estella wanted Mummy to read the Chinese version of 'Finding Nemo'. Halfway through the story, Daddy joined in.

The story was interrupted by this conversation.

Estella: Daddy, you read only English story books right?

Daddy: Yes, I read you the English ones, Mama will read you the Chinese ones...

Estella: Is it because you don't know Chinese?

Daddy: [Pause] Eh... I know Chinese, but Mama can speak Chinese better, so she reads you the Chinese books.

Estella: Oh... [looking unconvinced]

[At that point, Mama suggested Daddy speak Mandarin with Estella the next 5 min]

Daddy: '讲呀... 讲呀... 讲呀... 讲呀... 讲呀...'

Estella: 原来Daddy 会讲华语!!

Autonomy: My choice vs hers!

It's a daily topic, daily item - pullup pants.

Backdrop: Currently, we have in stock 1 brand of normal diapers and 3 brands of pullup pants for Eliana, thanks to supermarket discounts and the need to sample. Oh yes, and not to forget, our little darling can get pretty fickle-minded too... For simplicity, let's just call the pullup pants A, B, and C. One day she wants only A, and the next day she wants B... etc.

I can't remember since when Eliana started forming such strong opinions about which pullup pants she wants to wear... For 3 days already, she had asked for the same pullup pants from Brand A. And my concern is - there are 2 specific designs in the 30-piece pack. However, she only wanted 1 particular design (let's just call it A.1), which means, anytime I pull out A.2, she will fuss and refuse. Not just that, she will 'help herself' and dig the bag till she finds design A.1!

What am I going to do with Brand A design A.2 (which she has strewn all over the place), and Brand B, C??? Sigh, I don't advocate wastage, and would like her to use up all these pullup pants as part of her potty training.

By the way, she is coming to 2yr 5mth soon, and her sense of autonomy is growing with the day. She wants to dress/undress herself (will only scream for help when she gets stuck!), feed herself, take out/put on diapers herself, get in/out car herself... I am proud of her progress, and need to learn how to balance her 'wants' at times... E.g, if she has set her heart to wear a particular dress/tee-shirt, it would be a raging battle to make her change her mind. Well, and that also explained why she appeared in Daddy's office once in pyjamas, when the next place we headed to was dinner!

Well, guess some of these choices are still alright for her now. I just need to be firm with her when I need to, without being charmed by her doleful look!

Potato!

Lately, Estella took a liking for a new dish - potato. To join in the fad, Eliana worked hard to learn this new word. Here's how it went...

Mama: Eliana, do you want some potato like jiejie?

Eliana: Huh?!

Mama: Po-ta-to...

Eliana: 屁-臭-臭!!!???

Mama: Very funny, huh?! (LOL)

*Upon knowing I had such a strong response to her "屁-臭-臭", Eliana would deliberately say this time and time again, and then laughed out loudly!

I overheard them again...

Another conversation:

This morning, Eliana was holding a stack of photographs that Estella brought to school for 'Show-&-Tell'... She picked out one picture and commented...

Eliana: Look, Jiejie! You are sucking your thumb here. So funny...

Estella: Ya! I sucked thumb last time.

*Beam*

Just for records, Eliana does not suck thumb like her jiejie. Her fav comfort object is her Blankie Blankie, which Mama bought 3 identical ones to facilitate washing!

Best Buddies!

I can't exactly remember when Eliana started talking in full sentences. It just happened so suddenly, and from that day on, Estella and Eliana can talk non-stop from the moment they are awake till they knock out at night. It's such a joy to watch them play and converse with each other. So many times I just watched and listened, smiled to myself, and thank God for them.

So used to that, the 1 night of stay-over for Estella at Godparents' place displayed Eliana's separation anxiety with jiejie. When we were about to drive off from the carpark, Eliana started crying for jiejie, saying 'I want jiejie to be here with me'... 'I want jiejie'... Awww... and her tears kept trickling down! Despite the fact that both Daddy and Mommy were trying to calm her down. She only wanted jiejie... she cried for a full 15 minutes!!

The next day when we picked up Estella, Eliana was overjoyed. That afternoon, I overheard this conversation:

Eliana: Jiejie, I cried last night...

Estella: Why meimei? Why you cried? Is it because you were thinking about me?

Eliana: Becos I love jiejie a lot a lot....

*Heart melt*

My prayer is for them to be best buddies forever!

Day 17

After much coughing last night, yes, Estella has finally seen a doctor this morning. She also has her wish fulfilled - poster colour painting! Yes, she is kept very busy now.

What she told me this morning again made me roll over with laughter. As she was having some yellow discharge on her eyes last night, the doctor had also given us some eyedrop for her. Just when I told her I was going to put the eyedrop in her eyes, she told me 'No, mama, I don't want... I don't want my eye to drop...'

Day 15

The girls had fun at Zachy-Boy's 1st birthday bash! Estella can finally wear the pretty Little Bambi dress (at the right length). Another doting gift from Auntie Lilian. :)

Day 14

1 more week to go. This week's highlight included some new milestones the girls have in school, and my surprise* birthday bouquet.

(*It's been consistently like that for the past years... Hard to keep it under-wraps!)

Girls with their Godbro

Day 10

Day 1o also coincided with my birthday. The morning started easy - late breakfast, Bolt, and then headed to library. Eliana has a good concept of sitting down with a book, and flipping it page through page. The journey of word-recognition aka literacy for Estella is also kicking off, albeit slow. We reckon the process has to be fun, and something she looks forward to. Labelling items at home helps as a start. :)

Next place was TP Swensons with Ah Paw. The lovely video of Estella singing me the birthday song simply melts my heart. I could watch it over, and over, and over, and over again, and still smile each time. Eliana has missed all the highlights which included the birthday firehouse, super fudge malt as she slept through the entire lunch! Well, Estella has to 'taunt' her later on to say all the ice-cream has been finished!

When we got home, it's a time to play again! Rolling, tumbling fun... Since Eliana has had her full dose of nap, only Estella went down. And because Eliana was up, she managed to catch the flower delivery guy and posed a very nice pic with it. How precious, I've also learnt, it is for the girls to nap together at the SAME time.

I am gaining greater confidence now. So much to learn, and still learning. Praise God. Somehow, I also feel very recharged and refreshed by the Holy Spirit in last week's conference. Being able to make it was a great blessing in itself.

Thanks Dearie for the lovely flowers! Psst... you have to come up with a more fool-proof 'reason' next time ;) Love and Hugs.

Day 4

Thank God the 2 girls can play on their own now. That was how I managed to get dinner cooked cum all the washing up done. Latest captivation - Candy House Tent.

After much persuasion, I've relented and surrendered 1 corridor wall for Estella to decorate. So far, we have a caterpillar family, a boat-like paper-cutting, and life-size outline of them both on a huge piece of mahjong paper... There is also this mobile that Estella wanted so much to hang on her ceiling fan (which I relented too).

I am getting to know them more... :)

Day 2

I was pleasantly woken up with my 2 little darlings today. Today is another day of handicraft and movies (Cars). Planning the lunch and dinner menu is a little bit more challenging now as I am trying out the variety. Lunch today was the mild Japanese curry sauce on brown rice, which Starrie still managed to finish up all. Nap time is a good break for me, as well as more clearing up, chores and food preparation.

Handicraft - Starrie had a new dose of inspiration lately as her childcare centre teachers took great pains to decorate the whole place (for the Open House). Over the last 2 weeks, the childcare centre had been totally transformed. She now wants to decorate our house like her school!

Thank God they really play well together. Praying for them to be wonderful sisters, friends all the days ahead. :)