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Saturday, May 31, 2008

MMR jab

Took Chloe for her MMR jab this morning... and the nurse said that she's growing very well... she's at the 90th percentile for weight and 97th percentile for height. She's now at a height of 84cm, weighing 10.6kg..... she's not a very good milk drinker (only 300 to 400ml daily) so I suppose the nutrition she's getting comes from the solid food that she's eating..... Chloe is a big big fan of cheese (yummy)..... she can easily consume up to 4 slices a day, but we typically limit it to a maximum of 2 slices a day. As with the consumption of any type of food - moderation is key.


Anyway back to the jab. As usual, she gave a big and loud but short cry when the needle was inserted. I quickly offered her a biscuit and she stopped crying immediately.

The nurse highlighted that she might develop a fever within the next 2 weeks. I really hope that she doesn't though.....*fingers crossed*.


Friday, May 30, 2008

Chloe's temperament

I was doing some research on the internet and came across this UK parenting website which provided a quiz that parents could complete online to discover your child's true personality type so that you can learn how to better meet their needs. After completing the series of questions in the quiz - it appears that Chloe's personality was described by the author of this website as a 'Spirited Toddler'...... enclosed below is a summary of this personality type which Chris and I think pretty accurately describes Chloe....

"Spirited Toddler
"

The Spirited Toddler is extremely active physically, often wilful, and may be prone to temper tantrums. She is very social and curious and will point to objects and reach out for them and for other kids early on. This child is the consummate adventurer; she will have a go at anything and is very determined. She displays a great sense of achievement when she accomplishes something. At the same time, she needs very clear boundaries so that she doesn't act like a steamroller, trampling anyone or anything in her path. Once they start crying, Spirited Toddlers have stamina and staying power, so you're in for a long haul if you don't have a good routine going. Given good guidance and an outlet for her energy, however, a Spirited Toddler can become a leader and very accomplished in whatever area interests her.


So to the other mummies out there who are keen to find out the personality type of their kids, please check out here


Monday, May 26, 2008

Dora's Pirate Adventure - 25th May 08

Over the weekend, we brought Chloe to the Singapore Expo to catch Dora's Pirate Adventure..... we've been looking forward to it for the past two weeks, and were certain that Chloe would enjoy herself.

Below is an official description of the show from the organisers:

"Ahoy! Dora the Explorer is setting sail with her brand new LIVE musical voyage, DORA'S PIRATE ADVENTURE!. Join Dora, her cousin Diego, Boots the monkey, and the rest of their friends as they embark on an exciting trip to Treasure Island. They will need the audience to help them navigate the seven seas, overcome a few fun obstacles and confront the Pirate Piggies. Along the way, the audience will use their map-reading, counting, musical, and language skills to successfully get Dora to the treasure and all ends happily onstage with a "yo-ho-ho." "




Chloe and her cousin Anthea were waiting "impatiently" to get in to the auditorium.... It was pretty crowded - the place was filled with parents and their excited kids ! My mom, my sister Jaslyn and I accompanied the two little ones for the show whilst Chris, Vincent and my dad went shopping - luckily for them there were was a food fair, the Adidas sale, and the Robinsons' 150th anniversary sale all being held at the Expo on the same weekend.


From the picture above, it appears as though Chloe was raising her hand to ask a question...... "Dora - have you found your treasure yet?".... heehee




As with all live performances, we were told upfront that we were not allowed to take any photos/videos..... however, it was just too "difficult" to adhere to this rule - so I secretly took some anyway.... The show lasted about 1.5 hours and Chloe was generally well behaved throughout the performance.... I guess she was reasonably entertained.... clapping and dancing to the music and enjoying her popcorn.

In a way we were actually using the Dora show as a 'trial' test before we bring Chloe to future live performances/shows. Judging from how she behaved, we now feel more at ease and have already bought tickets to the next show - Barney & Friends' live performance at Suntec City on Sunday 8 June 2008 !!

Let's look forward to a rocking good time with Barney!


Sunday, May 11, 2008

Trip to Hong Kong 5 - 9 May 2008

My parents in-law were away in Japan the entire week of 5 May – therefore Clare and I decided to take time off too and plan our own holiday abroad. We decided on HK since it’s not too far away, and it is probably most similar to Singapore in terms of convenience/language/transport/food, etc. In addition, our good friend Snowden and his wife Anthea welcomed us to stay over at their new home.

This would be the 2nd time Chloe’s taking air travel – her first being our trip back to KL earlier this year. We had reservations as to whether Chloe would be able to weather the 3.5 hour journey. Most children, especially at Chloe’s age, can’t sit still for long periods. Planning a holiday is never easy – it requires time and effort and careful planning, particularly since I wanted things to go smoothly. So I did some internet research and found a couple of websites posted by parents who have ‘been there, done that’ which offered valuable advice and tips to make flying with kids a more bearable experience. Some tips did come in handy – such as bringing along something that Chloe is really attached to, in this case being the portable DVD player and her favourite Barney VCD. Chloe practically watches Barney the entire day but never seems to tire of it…..

With all the anticipation, the day finally came and we were off to the airport. All SQ flights to North Asia (HK, Korea, Japan, etc) now departs from the new Changi airport Terminal 3. It was my 2nd time there (Clare and Chloe’s first) but I must say that the place is pretty impressive. There are number of restaurants/eateries here such as Imperial Treasure, Dian Xiao Er, Gelare, Brewerks, etc, which can’t be found in the other two older airport terminals….

The flight went well and we arrived at about a quarter past 7pm. We took the Airport Express MTR to the Kowloon station where Snowden, his wife Anthea and their 4 months old daughter Franchesca were eagerly awaiting our arrival. We had ‘la mian’ for dinner at the Elements Shopping Centre and decided to call it an early night…

The next couple of days were generally quite relaxing – with Chloe in tow, we didn’t want to pack our schedule with too much activities and exhaust her (& ourselves…haha). We went shopping at a few shopping centres/places (such as MegaBox at Kowloon, Langham Place and Fa Yuen St. at Mongkok, and H&M at Central), visited Ocean Park for half a day, went to Stanley Market and even had time to slot in a studio photo shoot for Chloe!!

The studio photo shoot was something that we had contemplated on doing for quite a while, but somehow we had procrastinated longer than expected. So when the opportunity presented itself (Snowden’s wife Anthea recommended Studio 123 which apparently is very popular) we told ourselves we were not going to defer any further. (See 2nd slideshow below)

Our trip to Ocean Park was exceptionally exhausting. The weather was amazingly hot (summer is approaching) and Ocean Park is really parent/child unfriendly. I lost count of the number of flights of stairs/steps where I needed to literally carry/drag our baby stroller!! Chloe however seemed to have enjoyed the Oceanarium, sea lion/dolphin shows, kiddy rides etc so the trip was generally worth the effort.

The best part of HK would have to be the food – it is (and will always be) what I most look forward to. Dim sum (or yum cha as it is commonly known) is sumptuous and reasonably priced. The ingredients used are always fresh and the variety of dim sum is good. Snowden brought us to this particular dim sum restaurant at MegaBox shopping centre where dining before the peak lunch hour got us a 50% discount!! Apart from dim sum, we had Italian cuisine at Soho, and hotpot (definitely my favourite meal) at Tankyoto Restaurant at Tsim Sha Tsui. I understand from Snowden that this hotpot (i.e. steamboat) restaurant is the only restaurant that serves his favourite ‘tomato soup’ (or ‘fan ke tong’ as the locals call it). We had a combination of two types of soup – the tomato soup which I mentioned above and the ‘pak tong’ brewed from ‘chu kuat’ (i.e. pig bones…… trust me, it actually taste a whole lot better than it sounds….haha).

We found time to have dinner with our friend Danny Chan too. Chloe was at her best – she is normally pretty shy when it came to strangers but somehow warmed up to Danny quite quickly (to our surprise). She spent most of her time at the restaurant walking around independently from table to table (refusing our interference… haha) and waving hello & goodbye to other diners….. it was really charming and at the same time heartwarming. By the time we left the restaurant, I think Chloe probably covered every square feet of the restaurant !!

Before we knew it, it was time to head home. The flight home turned out worst than expected. I suppose the change in cabin air pressure was too much for Chloe to bear. Throughout the final 15 minutes before landing, she was crying and wailing loudly – which made Clare and I the ‘centre’ of attention on the plane….. The ordeal finally ended and we heaved a heavy sigh of relief.

Would we consider bringing Chloe for another overseas holiday? Yes, definitely.

If you cant see any photos, click cross (x) at the top right hand corner to start/continue the slideshow.







Monday, May 5, 2008

Happy 15 months old

My little darling, you turn 15 months today. How u've grown into such a lovely young gal! U are such a joy to be with.

Stay healthy n cheery always, nothing's more rewarding then watching you grow n blossom.

I love you darling!

Hug & kisses
Mummy

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Mummy's worries

With so many reported Hand-Foot-Mouth disease (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand,_foot_and_mouth_disease) cases these days, I couldn’t help but worry whenever Chloe is outside. Especially when she has a habit of sucking her thumb. For now, avoiding crowded places such as children playgrounds are one of my preventive measures.


We have also put on hold her weekend enrichment classes. Hopefully things will get better in a week or so.......but for the time being, spending the days watching Barney VCD and dancing to the music could just satisfy this little missy...