Its been a long time since we updated our blog!  What is our latest preoccupation?  TEETH!  Yes, Marc has hit one of his 2 year old phases - refusing to brush his teeth.  When he was younger, he knew he didn't have a choice, every night before bedtime we'd brush his teeth and he would open his mouth to let us brush the pearly whites whilst playing with a book or a toy.  Then around one month ago, he just decided enough was enough - no more teeth brushing.  He would clamp his mouth shut and turn his head left and right to stop us from inserting the brush in his mouth.  Even when he cries, he does it with his mouth clamped shut.  I have no idea how he manages that.  So we've tried everything, from buying DVDs with Elmo and Barney brushing teeth, to letting him brush ours, to letting him brush his own, to brushing the toys, and even brushing whilst he is sleeping.  But he still refuses to open his mouth.  And its a bit hard to brush your teeth with your mouth closed.

So we are rather resigned that he's going to have some form of tooth decay.  And we all know that this may be baby teeth, but the decay affects the permanent teeth.  Our parents assure us that they never brushed ours till we were 4 years old.  That explains all the fillings!!! But cold comfort knowing that one day our son will have to see the dentist cos of bad teeth and its going to hurt and he will hate the dentist even more.  I did manage to teach him to rinse his mouth - so he "mock" brushes twice a day (mock brushing = sticking toothbrush on your lips) and rinses after that.  Better than nothing I say!

The best suggestion I've heard so far - buy him a dog bone - the kind that dogs chew on to clean their teeth.  (this came from a friend who has no kids by the way, and naturally, he owns a dog).  Anyone else with better ideas?

I'm feeling nostalgic today...perhaps its because my son turns 2 tomorrow...perhaps also because the day after he turns 2 marks 8 years since I've known The Husband.  Yes September is a special month for our clan...I first met The Husband on 12 September 2001 - the day after "9-11" as we know it.  And 6 years later, on 11 September 2007, our son was born.  I can hardly believe 2 years have flown by in the blink of an eye.  2 years ago, at this time, I had just finished a lovely pizza delivery dinner and was getting ready to go to bed!

I can remember the days events vividly, as if it was just yesterday...I woke up on 10 September 2007, all ready to go to work as it was a Monday.  Just as I was using the bathroom, I realised I had started spotting.  This was some 2 weeks earlier than expected...spotting is one of the signs that baby is ready to arrive.  I woke up The Husband and once it was close to 9am, I rang my Gynae.  She told me to have breakfast, have a shower, get dressed and come into the hospital.  When I arrived, I was ushered to a room outside the delivery suites.  The nurses checked my details and hooked me up onto a monitor, much like an ECG except that it monitors contractions.  I had to sit there for an hour to be monitored and towards the end of the hour I was VERY hungry.  I asked the nurses if I could have lunch and they said no, not until my results were interpreted by the doctor.  Of course, I disobeyed and sent The Husband down to get me a tuna croissant from Delifrance - YUM!

My Gynae managed to give me a call and explain that I was getting contractions but they were not very regular.  I asked her if real contractions should hurt and she said yes, absolutely.  I was puzzled because I felt no contractions at all.  I was actually worried that I could go into labour and not feel it!  Spotting means I could give birth today, tomorrow, next week or the week after, so she asked me if I wanted to let labour happen naturally or to induce it.  I was hungry so I said I want it to happen naturally.  Plus I wanted to let nature take its course, so I was allowed to go home.

I went home and started to unpack the steriliser and try to do some last minute preparations...I told The Husband I wanted a hearty pizza dinner so we ordered pizza delivery and I wolfed it down happily.  Later than same night, I started to feel painful contractions at around 2am.  I tried to sleep through them but lying down actually made them hurt more, so I got up and paced around the room to see how frequent they were.  The Husband slept through all this of course and I finally woke him at around 5am as they were around 5 minutes apart.  We waited till 7am and I ate some breakfast bars just in case (as you can see, food was still a priority when in labour).  We arrived at 7.30am or so and the nurses got me into a gown right away and administered my enema.  (it was horrid I can assure you)

I was told that whilst my contractions were regular, I was only 1cm dilated...I was in for a long ride.  After an hour and a half, my Gynae came in to check on me and told me I was only 1.5cm dilated...she said that she would burst my water bag to speed up labour and administer oxytocin to induce stronger contractions.  The pain was still bearable so I told her I would do without the epidural.  But once the oxytocin kicked in, The Husband was constantly rubbing my back to ease the pain and as I was still 1.5cm, I gave in and said, GIVE ME THE EPIDURAL!  The Epidural itself didn't hurt (I don't mind needles) but trying to remain still despite the pain was the hard part.  Once it kicked in though, it was like HEAVEN. 

As i settled down into a comfortable position to rest, The Husband sat down to read and we waited for what every woman in labour waits for...DILATION!  The worst part - I COULDN'T EAT!  The constant shivering that came with the epidural was bearable but I started to feel the gastric juices churning and that was horrid.  Around 5pm or so I told the nurses I felt the urge to push, and I was right, because I was fully dilated.  The pushing is the hard part, cos with an epidural, the full pain and contractions is not felt.  The Husband was the ultimate midwife - he stayed by my side, encouraged me, read the contractions on the screen and updated me on my progress.  I remembered asking for lipgloss at one stage as I wanted to make sure I didn't look horrible in the pictures...At 5.30pm or so, Marc finally made it out!

I recall the whole thing in slow motion...Marc screaming away whilst being weighed and tagged (like a chicken)....the nurse showing me my placenta after it was delivered, me trying to nurse him and managing to successfully...its quite surreal.  I remember being wiped down by the nurses, being wheeled into my room and being greeted by my in laws and sister in law who were waiting eagerly to meet us.  I even remember the sleepless first night in the room...(in fact, the total lack of sleep for the few months after)...whilst I remember being extremely tired then, I also remember the excitement at finally meeting my baby...and now my baby is no longer one and has grown into a drooly, sweaty, loud, cheeky toddler! 

Having a child is one of those life-changing events and it has truly been exhilirating.  What a wonderful 2 years it has been and I look forward to many more exciting years ahead!!!

Marc can finally feed himself!  Going to school has done him a world of good and I'm a school convert.  Its not so much the academic learning at this age but the basic skills like self-feeding, putting on and removing shoes, packing up toys.  We recently taught him how to throw rubbish into the bins at home too.  (next on the list: fold own clothes!)  He creates an almighty mess when he eats, which shocks quite a few people.  But we're fairly renegade parents and would rather clean him up and give him the chance to learn to feed himself.  Plus he loves food, so feeding himself keeps him occupied, which means we can eat!  We take his feeding chair everywhere, which means we have peace of mind letting him eat off the tray as we can remove it and wash it ourselves. 

And his latest indulgence - MACDONALDS!  He loves the Fillet O Fish, which is our favourite too.  We're pretty indulgent, but hey, life is short, live it to the full right?  :) And to think i was totally anti macdonalds before I had kids!  Somehow, they have the recipe down pat.  Firstly - their eateries are air conditioned - a BIG PLUS in hot humid Singapore.  Secondly, they have kid friendly equipment - high chairs, happy meals.  Thirdly, they give kids free stuff which they like - just last Saturday they gave out free balloons to the kids.   Balloons don't cost much - but it made Marc so happy, he was SOLD before we even walked in.  And if the kids like the place - the parents will go!  If only other businesses learnt this trick too.  We were at Han's just last week for lunch and Marc was making a mess as usual.  I got several dirty looks from the waitresses, who came up midway with a broom to sweep the floor.  I had no intention to leave the restaurant in a mess, and was planning to clean up the chair and pick up whatever food bits I could from the floor.  But even if I didn't - as a family restaurant, having kids mess up the place is part and parcel of customer service and running a restaurant.  If you don't welcome families, then families won't come, simple as that.  Of course, a lot depends on the service staff as well, but Management should communicate to their staff their business philosophies and enforce it.

The other bad thing about school - is that kids will fall sick.  Marc's pretty strong and recovers quickly.  Which leaves me sick for a week!  I tell people that I have no immune system left,  as I gave it all to my son!  Oh well, its part and parcel of having kids I guess!

Keeping toddlers occupied - the obsession of every parent with one!  What do you do with a ball full of energy, who gets up to all sorts of mischief if there is nothing to occupy them?  We've literally had to give furniture away because they were either damaged or too dangerous to keep.  Perhaps its just our son, but speaking to other parents we know we're not alone!

We tried out finger painting a few weeks ago and as you can see from the collage, Marc didn't really paint.  I read on another mother's blog about some activities she came up with to keep her kids busy.  Using the corridor outside her home, she made them finger paint, play with flour, sand and other fun stuff.  The pictures showed the kids having lots of fun and I thought what a great idea!  So I got together with my neighbour who has a daughter 6 months older than Marc and we decided to have a finger painting session at our lift landing.  It started out rather innocuous - we took out the paints and encouraged the kids to paint.  S did start painting, Marc just squished the paint between his fingers and smeared them all over his legs.  He was very happy, but he wasn't painting.  My neighbour brought out a tub of water to let the kids rinse the paintbrushes and to dilute the paints.  Marc was thrilled - he started splashing away at the pail of water.  Before we knew it, the entire floor was flooded and he had not painted a single stroke.  He was entirely soaked, and so was the painting, but he was very very happy.  So this week we decided to bring them swimming.  Literally swimming.  My neighbour bought an inflatable tub and we filled it up with water and the kids loved it!  No pictures cos I was in the pool with Marc, but suffice to say it kept them occupied for a VERY long time.  So if you are looking to buy a flat - one tip - get a point block or a very private corner where you have lots of space to yourself!  We are blessed to have great neighbours with kids around the same age as Marc.

Other things he loves at the moment - escalators!  He bugs us to bring him on the escalator at every shopping mall and we lift him off right at the end.  He shouts "weee!!!" and lifts his feet in the air, forming a 90 degree angle.  Quite impressive I must say.  We think he has potential to be a high jumper or long jumper.  He also loves the supermarkets.  He runs along the refrigerated section and points at every single item, stopping to read out numbers on the price tags that he recognises and scaring all the other shoppers with his shouting.  It doesn't take very much to make him happy and its such a joy to see the wonder in his eye at the simple things in life, which we adults take for granted.

Just when I thought that Marc was not going to speak for a looooong time - he starts making sounds that sound like words! HURRAY!

This is his current vocabulary:

Mum Mum (food)
Men! (Amen)
More (More....food mainly)
Ppppuh! (Please)...ok first 4 words are all food related...let's move on
Daddy (Daddy)
Mama (Mummy)
Ye Ye (Paternal Grandpa)
Nai Nai (Paternal Grandma)
Ah Gng (Maternal Grandpa)
Ah Ma (Maternal Grandma)
Ka Ka (Helper)
Niao Niao (Cat mewing)
FFF...FFF! (Dog Woofing)
Ba Ba (Sheep baa-ing)
Eh Bow (Elbow)
Car (Car)
K (OK)
Awok (A Walk)
Up! (please carry me/elevator/i want to go out)
Ya (Yes)
Ah Guh (Number 7/Train)

Marc also knows the phonetical sound of most of the alphabets from A-Z, although he trips up on the letter Q, U and V...he also loves the number 8 and can repeat it all day, point it out on blocks of flats, car licence plates, lifts...he also knows the number 1, 4, 7, 9 and 10.

We've started playing Chinese children songs at home and he loves them, he can even say the odd Chinese word that he recognises.  He's also started to learn counting in Mandarin.  Our helper has taught him some words in Bahasa too.  In fact, he knows more languages than me!

He's also started to throw tantrums.  Just the other day, Marc refused to keep his cards after playing with them and kicked and screamed for a full 15 minutes before he finally gave in.  The Husband and I sat there with him screaming on the floor and we had to shout to hear each other speak.  Honestly - its much more tiring to NOT discipline him and to let him have his way, I know why so many parents do it.  But we aren't doing him any favours and as Christian parents, we know that God calls us to teach our children in the way that they should go and in the way of the Lord.  So we pray for strength and collide headlong with him.  I am most tired on Mondays - partly the Monday blues and partly what feels like a weekend of fighting with Marc.  He's a headstrong boy who knows what he wants and how to get it, on his terms and on no one elses.  He bullies our Helper and makes her do everything for him.  Which is why we're thankful we sent him to school!  The teacher tells us he's learning to feed himself and just the other day, The Husband saw Marc packing up toys after playing.  He even knows how to remove and put on his Crocs - he doesn't do this at home unless we enforce it as he expects our helper to do it for him.

On the flip side - he's starting to be very charming!  Just the other day, he ran up to me whilst playing at the fitness corner at a nearby block, and gave me a great big hug, before running off to continue playing.  He knows how to give his Mummy a kiss and a hug, which really makes my day.  He's also learnt a few action songs from Sunday School, which he loves to bits.  The only way to really calm him down or to get through to him when he's hysterical is to sing.  I'm glad he loves music and I hope he learns to play an instrument someday! :)

Call me a control freak - I admit, I am.  Throw that in together with a super greedy streak and you get a food nazi.  You can imagine what I was like when Marc turned one month old.  In fact, I probably spent most of my maternity leave preparing for his one month.   Don't get me wrong - we didn't have a party.  In fact, all we did was order kuehs and cakes, brought him to my office to visit my colleagues and that was just about it!  But the cakes and kuehs were VERY important. 

I spent a fair amount of time researching and I wanted the best of both worlds - nice tasting food AND nicely packaged too.  I didn't like many of the "cheena" looking boxes that came with the traditional cake shops.  Neither did I like the very attractive customised gifts, with nothing very substantial or tasty inside.  So we came to a compromise - we ditched the aesthetics for my colleagues, who are foodies like myself and ordered Ang Ku Kuehs, Glutinous Rice and Soon Kuehs from a famous shop in Bukit Merah.  For friends, relatives and contacts of my parents and in laws, we ordered full moon cake sets from Choz.  We were not dissapointed.  Read more about our review on these shops as well as our JUMBO list of cake shops that provide full moon packages at http://www.babywishes.com.sg/BabyWishes/handyresourceshome.aspx.

I digress - back to the picture you see above.  From the first time I tried the swiss rolls from The Rich and Good Cake Shop, I never forgot them.  It was some 1 year before I even got pregnant and I said to myself - I would love to order full moon cakes from this shop.  Why didn't I? Well - no one is really that mobile during the 1 month of confinement, so cake shops that have an online presence and details packages online win hands down.  Unfortunately, The Rich and Good Cake Shop doesn't have one.  I had more than sufficient choices so I gave up.  But I never forgot the swiss rolls. 

We were in the area recently and I told the Husband that we HAD to buy some swiss rolls from The Rich and Good Cake Shop.  So we stopped by and we were pleasantly surprised.  The stall is very inconspicuous - its small and doesn't have a fancy shop front or showroom.  We were lucky enough to be served by the lady boss, Lily and when we enquired about their full moon packages, we were pleasantly surprised.  They have several!  Lily carted out her boxes and started showing us combinations of the various packages that they have.  Starting from the small box of 2 swiss rolls sliced in half at $6, right up to the small walnut cake at $10, their prices are not expensive.  They even have a premium box with a mixture of 1 small cake and 4 other items (cream puff, durian puff, red eggs) or 2 swiss rolls and 4 other items.  Do you know they even sell Almond biscotti and pineapple tarts?  They don't dissapoint in the taste department either - their swiss rolls which they are famous for are moist and soft - their signature kaya swiss roll is filled with home made kaya instead of the usual cream at other cake shops. 

Lily was very helpful and their minimum order for delivery starts at $60 - a lot less than other cake shops offering full moon packages.  The packaging is in a simple cardboard box, and the large square box even has a customised baby design on the top.  If you want to keep it simple, you can opt to use their regular cardboard box, which they will tie up with ribbons and attach a sticker of your baby's details if you like.  They don't use any preservatives - which we like!  It also means you have to refrigerate and deliver your cakes on the same day.  Overall, The Rich and Good Cake Shop is great value for money with tasty cakes that are sure to impress your friends and relatives.

Details: 
Mrs Lily Liu
The Rich and Good Cake Shop
24 Kandahar Street
Singapore 198887
Tel: 6294 3324 / 6288 1494 / 6295 2831

There's no denying it, Marc loves to go out.  The more open space the better.  If there are puddles, he'll go berserk!  He LOVES puddles.  Just give him a rainy day and some potholes and he'll be occupied for at least an hour.  Every puddle we walk past, he'll run and stamp his feet in it.  Even if its a wet patch on the floor, he'll stamp it for posterity's sake.

We discovered early on that boys are TOTALLY DIFFERENT from girls.  Marc's idea of fun is running down slopes at full speed, climbing up and down stairs two at a time and touching every new plant along the way.  We try to bring him out during the weekends for some fresh air and he relishes every minute.  Just today, we went to Labrador Park for a walk and he insisted on walking the opposite direction from me.  Our exchange was something like this:

Me: Marc, come along, this way.
Marc: *continues walking the opposite direction*
Me: Marc, come on, follow Mummy, this way.
Marc: * stops and looks at me*
Me:  Yes Marc, come, let's go see the ships!  This way *waving arms forcefully by now*
Marc: *waves bye bye, gives me a flying kiss, and walks in the opposite direction*

He's 1.5 years old and he wants to leave his mother.  Sigh.  And that's not all - I actually LOSE when it comes to fighting with him.  I pick him up and try to carry him in the opposite direction and I can't even hold him without dropping him!  I almost dropped him today.  And he has found a way to resist being put back in his stroller - he just straightens his entire body like a rod and there's no way I can make him sit.  Petite 1.54 metre me, fighting with my 1.5 year-old son and losing - tis quite a sight!

My only complaint - Singapore is just too hot!  15 minutes in the park is enough to make us both drenched in sweat!  We need to move to a colder country!

A friend of a friend has started a new French playgroup, read on for more details!

Who is it targeted at?

• French families who have recently moved to Singapore and are looking for an easy transition
• Children born of multicultural families whose parents would like them to hear French from someone other than themselves especially if the children are not going to attend the French Lycee
• Children thinking of attending the French Lycee
• Any other children who would like an exposure to French through play!

What is it about?

Petits Singes will be a “total immersion” environment in French where children can play together, sing and do arts & crafts in the safe and nurturing comfort of a black and white house. It will be like an extension of home and all play will be conducted by a native French speaker in an outdoor non- air-conditioned environment and not in a text book indoor like environment – at this age they need play and a multi sensory experience to learn (games, arts and crafts, water play etc…according to the themes being taught).  Children have the natural ability to start speaking a foreign language and early exposure to languages is the greatest gift you can give them.  There is a critical “window of opportunity” when a child is young where the ability to learn languages happens effortlessly.  And this exposure teaches children that there is more than one way of looking at things and expressing oneself.

Do contact Vanessa at 9843 2275 or by email at billness@singnet.com.sg for more details!

Yes - the day has finally arrived - Marc has started school!  We decided to start sending him to school early because of his character.  He's a very Type A person - forever on the go, inquisitive, hates to rest...as you can imagine, its very tiring to keep him constantly entertained.  He won't sit down for long and he ends up running riot at home, touching things he's not meant to and destroying furniture (we've had to buy a new couch, have to blog about that later).  Plus our flat is really quite tiny and I would go crazy at home all day, so we do understand how he feels.

So I took leave on Monday to accompany him to school and stayed with him all day except for 1 hour when I had lunch.  Well, he cried for just about the entire hour.  Initially he was thrilled - as you can see from the pictures, school is like one big playground and he started exploring right away.  But when he realised he was going to be left at school, he wasn't happy at all.  The teachers suggested we take him home early and ease him into school by slowly increasing the hours each day.  On Tuesday The Husband brought Marc to school.  This time he had wisened up and realised that Daddy was going to leave.  So we decided that Daddy would stay with him for one more day, just so that the entire place becomes more familiar and easier to accept. 

Then Wednesday aka D-day arrived.  After speaking with the teachers, they agreed that The Husband should make an exit after settling Marc suitably well into school.  Being a typical mother who hates to see her kids cry, I packed some of Marc's favourite biscuits and toys so that the teachers could placate him and he would be more accepting of something familiar.  When The Husband left, Marc started crying and The Husband hid and watched to see if he would stop.  Well, the biscuits definitely helped and the teachers managed to distract him with a tour of the premises.  Returning several hours later, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that Marc had eaten some lunch and even took a nap - for just under an hour!  If you know Marc, this is nothing short of a miracle.  He HATES to sleep!  Even in his familiar bed, making him sleep during the day is a struggle.  The teacher even showed us a formation that Marc created with some toys, lining them all up in a long row.  They found it quite amusing and we had never seen him do this before.   So we were quite encouraged.

Thursday was a tough day.  Marc cried when left at school and went on a hunger strike.  Apart from biscuits, he ate nothing else from breakfast till 3pm.  Needless to say he came home and was ravenous - he ate some pasta AND proceeded to have his usual portion of porridge for dinner (mind you, his portion is more than my sister in law's entire dinner portion).  When I gave him his bath his tummy was HUGE!  We had a good talk (not that he can really speak yet) and I told him that he needs to eat at school and assured him that Daddy would pick him up from school and Mummy would see him in the evening when she came home from work.

We dropped him off on Friday and waited with bated breath to find out how he would do...amazingly when The Husband came to pick him up, he found Marc asleep - and he had slept for a totaly of 2.5 hours!  He even ate porridge at school!

Besides his favourite foods and toys, I've been speaking to Marc everyday and telling him that school is a fun place and he'll make lots of friends there.  Not sure if that has quite set in yet, but we're hoping this will broaden his scope of the world.  Its very easy for him to think that the whole world revolves around him at home - after all he's the first grandchild on both sides and he has everyone at his beck and call.  We also want him to learn to socialise, learn that you have to obey rules in the outside world and some independence.  We have friends' kids who cried for 6 months to a year while adjusting to school, so we are keeping our fingers crossed and hope that Marc will love to go to school soon!

An article was published in the Straits Times yesterday, highlighting how BPA lingers in the body longer than previously expected.  The research keeps getting worse and I'm glad I switched Marc off BPA free bottles months ago.  What shocks me is the lack of awareness in Singapore at how BPA is present in baby bottles sold here (and highest volumes are found to have leached into baby's milk for bottle brands that are MOST popular in Singapore).  Parents will spend loads of money on special infant baby classes and flashy clothes but are unaware about the dangers lurking in the baby bottle used.  Perhaps its my overseas education that makes me sceptical, but I don't trust government bodies that claim BPA is present in safe levels in baby bottles - why even expose your child to any level if BPA has shown to wreak havoc with their endocrine systems?

Here's the link to the latest article:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_331487.html

You can find out more about BPA and baby bottles at our Handy Resources section:

http://www.babywishes.com.sg/BabyWishes/handyresourceshome.aspx

Do read up and make an informed choice for the benefit of your babies.