My Lunch Hour Well Spent

Emma & Cate have had a lingering cough / cold on and off for the past few weeks now and they didn't really seem to be getting better. It was also partly my fault as I was home medicating them with off the shelf medication mainly cos I'd been so swamped with work. Friday last week, despite my undiminishing pile of work, I decided enough was enough and decided to take them to the doc's. Between the 2 of them, I spent almost $500 on medication! :O (I told you I should have been a pediatrician)

Anyway despite them being MUCH better today, I decided to keep them home anyway. In fact, to anyone else who saw them, they would be considered perfectly healthy. I was not going to be fooled though. I had let them go back to school after all the symptons had disappeared only to find that they would come home poorly again. This time, I was going to keep them home JUST IN CASE. This way I can also personally ensure long afternoon naps.

During my lunch hour, I decided to take them out to lunch. McD's. I know,.... what am I doing taking my sick children to eat fried, transfat,.... but like I said,... they were really well, PLUS I was craving some McDonald's which I hadn't had in a while.

They had SO MUCH FUN, I felt almost guilty taking them out of school. Check out the happy faces below. Cate with her very rare Apple Juice, Ems with her Hello Kitty Happy Meal toy.

My lunch hour well spent.

The Girls Dormitory

I have been dreaming of how to fit all 3 girls into one room in our little apartment. I am no architect but during some spare time (yeah right), I drew up a little dormitory for my girls.

Each bed will have a little storage area below and there is a pull-out desk for each bed so that you can still push it in and have some play area in the room. It looks like such fun... Emma will be the "Bed Head" of course (but mummy the house mistress will still make the rules. ;P)

Unfotunately, this setup isn't going to be possible cos we need to knock down a wall to join 2 rooms to have a room big enough to fit all this in... Well, it was fun dreaming this up all the same. :)

Emma is feeling the HEAT!!!!

As per my previous post, http://mummy-onthego.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-baby-is-growing-up.html, Cate started on training pants. Well at the same time, we have been trying to get Emma off diapers at nights. (I know, I told you I am crap at potty training)

What I have for Emma is a "Diaper Chart" where if she doesn't pee in her diaper that night, she can put a star on her diaper chart. See below. She needs to collect 7 CONSECUTIVE stars and she will be allowed to wear panties to sleep.

Last night, the most amazing thing happened..... CATE (note, Cate and not Emma) woke up at 2am and took herself to the potty! Emma woke up too and we all woke up to watch in amazement seeing as Emma still can't do it. Cate took her bottoms and pampers off, climbed on the toilet bowl to pee, but couldn't get it all back on again, so we did need to help her.

Anyway TODAY, Emma achieved her "7 consecutive days" and is well excited about wearing panties to sleep tonight... But she was feeling the HEAT as she quickly added "Cate needs to do 7 days on the diaper chart before she can wear panties OK!!???" I think she would hate it SO MUCH if Cate was completely off the diapers before her!!! :O

I can't wait to be saving all this $$$ as both of them go completely off diapers!!! Ok Peng, stop getting ahead of yourself. Let's see it happen first! KERCHING!!!!

My Baby is Growing Up!

For the longest time, Cate has been asking for panties, and we have always just put them over her diapers. Of course she looked funny and extra bulky but it kept her happy and made her feel like a big girl like her big sister, Ems.


Today while changing her, she said, "Wear panties...." and I was like "Ok" and was just going to put on her panties over her diapers as usual. But Cate persisted, "No! Wear panties. No diapers. Big girl!" .... So here she is! Presenting Cate in her training pants! They have a thicker bit of fabric in the middle so that if she were to have an accident, hopefully the fabric will absorb most of it. It is by no means waterproof, so we now have to be on our toes and bring her to the toilet very regularly. Of course we tell her they are panties and judging from her smile below, she is well pleased about that!

I have lots of techniques and tricks to train the kids to do all sorts of things (e.g. sleeping through the night, weaning from breastfeeding, transitioning from a bottle, moving from a cot to a bed, sleeping in a room unaccompanied etc)..... but when it comes to potty training, I am RUBBISH! I think part of it is being scared of the filthy toilets outside. A couple of times while we were out, Cate had asked me to take her to the toilet to "pee pee" and I actually told her to do it in her pampers! The thought of her having her hands all over the public loo just makes me want to faint! Bad mummy!

Emma (Jr AAA) @ NIE Track

We have been planning on signing Emma up for the ColdStorage Kids Run on 1 June. Emma is keen but I'd been hesitating simply cos I am not sure she can run continuously for 800m! Last time I took her to the track for fun many months back, she only knew how to sprint and would be completely knackered in less than 200m!

For her age group it is an 800m run! That is like 2 times round the track! Isn't that quite a distance for a 5 year old???? And the category is for 3 - 6 yrs olds! Imagine Cate running even half a loop!

Anyway last night we took Emma to the NIE track and she had so much fun! She jogged round the track about 6 times in total (with breaks in between) - accompanying the various AAA uncles and aunties on their warm up rounds. It's funny cos her thighs were REALLY ITCHY which is exactly what happened to me when I hadn't run for a long while.

Emma and Papa's gear at the track. CUTE! :)

Emma with Uncle d2.

Well, in conclusion, I think we should be able to sign her up for the Coldstorage Kid's Fun Run, and I think she should be able to finish it. Can't wait to cheer her on!

Quote of the night:

Emma: "Uncle Colin is faster than Uncle Shem you know...."
Aunty Mel (the shit stirrer): "Come Emma, Uncle Shem is just there. Let's go tell Uncle Shem what you just said...."

My Cooooozy Study

This is where I spend most of my time at home (provided the kids haven't accosted me some place else). Working, blogging, surfing,... here's my place.

During lunch today, I decided that it was high time I worked on a "me" purchase. Hadn't had one in ages. So I traipsed down to the lighting centre of Singapore (Balestier) and swiftly bought a lovely Artemide - Dioscuri copy (for half the price of the original of course). I think this might have snuffed out the handbags and jewels "me" purchases for the meantime. Phew!

Ahhh..... what a lovely cosy study I have now....

Well Done Ballerina Emsky!

I am the mother, so I am allowed to be shamelessly proud..... :P

Emma just got her results for her recent ballet exam and she passed with HONOURS!!!! I kept telling her how proud I was of her, and she actually just gave me a little frown as she told me that she actually forgot the "folding blanket part" of one of her solo routines. It was almost like she was trying to come clean cos she was feeling bad that my pride in her was unjust. In response I said, "Wow! You forgot a whole part and you still got HONOURS! You must have done really well on your other parts!"

I was clueless about the grading but it goes like this:

• Pass
• Pass Plus
• Commended
• Highly Commended
• Honours
• Honours Plus

So there is another level that is better than Honours which is Honours Plus, but hey I am happy! :)

Well done my little ballerina!