Some CNY snapshots

Posing together with the paternal grandparents on the 1st day of the Snake year. Every year, we go to church on the 1st day of CNY, followed by visiting a stream of relatives. By the time we arrive home, it is dinner time. 

Day 2 of the Snake year. Back to mummy's hometown, in Ipoh. Josh playing with fireworks in front of maternal grandparents house.

Next door neighbour's open house on Day 7. Josh posing with the lion head. He enjoyed the lion dance but started trembling when the 'lion' came over to offer him an orange. 

Hubby and I took turns closing B's ears. B seemed ok with the lion dance, but then he was not standing very near them.

The 13 month old

That is his trademark cheeky smile.

At 13 months, he is 76cm tall and 11kg in weight. Much smaller than koko.

He has been very vocal in the past one month. Talking a lot. And without us prompting anymore. He automatically waves and says 'ba bai' when he knows it is time to go out. And he has started kissing too. His flying kiss is no longer just an action of placing his palm over his mouth. Now he kisses his palm before thrusting his hand forward again.

Not limited to flying kiss. He can also kiss mummy, daddy and koko. He seems to prefer kissing our lips than our cheeks though.

Another cute thing that he does is waggling his index finger and saying 'no no'. He knows what he can or cannot do. When he goes near the forbidden stuff, he will waggle his finger and say 'no no'. However, curiosity usually overtakes obedience, so we still have to reaffirm our 'no no' and carry him away from whatever is forbidden.

During the recent Chinese New Year celebration, we taught him to clasp his hands together and do the 'gong xi gong xi' action. He learnt pretty fast and soon managed to say 'gong' as well.

Joshie is delighted that his brother has also started saying 'ko ko'. Bryant doesn't say it very loudly yet though. It is really cute to hear him say 'ko ko' when we wait for Joshie dismissal from school.

Oh..... And this little boy loves dogs. He is not afraid of our neighbour 's big dog too. He would point to it, saying' dog'.

It is really amazing how quickly babies learn.

The walking baby

The day after he turned one, my little B turned from a crawling baby to a walking baby. He just started walking longer distances. It was so cute to see his two little legs toddling away in the playground. And he's been trying to walk really fast, to keep up with the older kids. 

Well done, little B. 

Here are two snapshots of my walking baby. 

The baby is 1

My dearest Bryant,

You are 1 today.

The little baby of the family is growing up. Not much a baby anymore as you are progressing to your toddler stage. In fact, you have started toddling around about a month ago. What started as a wobbly step forward has progressed to 6-7 drunken steps :-), I know you still prefer to crawl as you can move around much faster. But don't your knees hurt, my dear?

Today, your daddy is not around to celebrate with you as he is working very hard overseas. Nevertheless, he misses you dearly and wishes he can plant a kiss on your cute puffy cheeks. To make up for your daddy's absence, mummy has arranged for a few close friends to celebrate with you. As soon as you wake up from your nap, we would be going downstairs to meet them. Mummy's friend has baked 63 mini birthday cupcakes, which have been arranged to spell your name. Your beloved koko is looking forward to blowing your candle (again)!

My dear baby boy. I know I have said it many times, but you are really cute! Cute, cute, cute. An overload of cuteness.

You are trying to talk. You babble a lot. All sorts of sounds come out of your little mouth. Your trademark is 'tekoi tekoi tekoi', thanks to your daddy who just simply babbled some baby language to you and it just stuck to your tongue. When you were 10 months plus, you started saying 'ba bai' when told to wave goodbye. And you have been calling 'ma ma', countless times. That is so sweet to my ears, my dear boy. And when you want to call someone or attract attention, you would say 'ah daaaaaaa' loudly. You say 'ba ba' many times too, but unlike 'ma ma', it is not directed at your father.

You love to point. With your cute little index finger. I am still trying to teach you to point to your head, tummy, eyes, nose, ears, mouth correctly but you don't seem to want to pay attention. Or mummy is a real bad teacher :-D

And you love to press buttons. You itchy little index finger is always pressing the forbidden switch, trying to switch on/off the electric point pad. Not to mention pressing the buttons on the table fan in your room.

Just like your brother, you love books. Your current favourites are 'lift the flap' books. I like to sit and watch your little fingers trying to lift the flap. This is something I really treasure as I know this valuable moments will soon pass. Books can occupy you for a longer time than toys and I am really proud of that. I hope your love for books continue to grow.

You love your big brother a lot. You will smile and laugh when you see him. Even though he can be rough to you, you love him nonetheless. And you have learnt to fend for yourself during your fights. Sometimes when koko doesn't bother you, you 'stir up trouble' by starting to hit him. You are a real naughty and cheeky one. No wonder koko calls you 'my cheeky baby'.

So my dear boy, mummy wishes you a Happy Birthday. My prayer is that our good Lord continue to bless and protect you. Keeping you safe all the time. And may happiness, health and the favour of the Lord always be upon you.

Mummy, daddy and koko love you dearly. And so do your grandparents, uncle and aunt.

With love,
Mummy

His first day at big school

Since we are neither Singaporeans nor PRs, chances of our boys getting into a local school of our choice is very slim. Thus, we enrolled Joshie in international school in 2010, and Bryant was subsequently enrolled two months ago. Wait any longer and Bryant would have been on wait list. I know, Bryant was hardly 1 when we registered him. 

I had a prep talk with J about big school, and gave him a lot of assurance that all will be fine. It helped that a few of his playschool friends had also started international school in the past few months so I could use them as examples to motivate him. 

His big school had also organized a 1 hour orientation in November so he was quite familiar with the classroom environment. 

This is my firstborn on his first day. We were on our way to school. I could tell he was excited, yet a little nervous. 

His classroom. Parents were not allowed to stay, even though it was their first day. We were asked to keep our goodbyes simple. Joshie teared a bit but I gave him a hug and reassured him I would return very soon. Luckily there were a lot of toys to distract him. 

Dismissal time. I was so glad to see a happy happy face. Even happier when my son said 'I like big school, mummy. School was fun'. 

Joshie says

Scenario 1
(walks into lift and crosses his arms across his chest)
Joshie : Oscar is not going to marry Emilie
Me : Oh really? Who is going to marry Emilie then?
Joshie : Me! I am going to marry Emilie
Me : When is the wedding?
Joshie : Next week

(and the next morning)
Joshie : Mummy, Emilie and I are going to have a wedding party. There will be chocolates at the party. But Emilie and I are not going to dance, cause I am shy.......

Scenario 2
Maid : Josh, drink your milk first
Joshie : But I am playing......wait first
Maid : No, you drink now. And play later.
Joshie : Aunty, I said wait first. You need to be patient.

Scenario 3
(we were on the escalator and he was observing the signs showing the do's and don'ts on the escalator)
Joshie : Mummy, you cannot bring the stroller on the escalator
Me: Why do you say so, Josh?
Joshie : It's wrong, mummy......(points to sign).....look there, cannot bring stroller coz it is wrong!!!

Joshie's first surgery

Our dear Joshie had his first surgery on 8 August 2012. It was a minor procedure, according to the ENT surgeon, but he had to be under GA as he had to be very still. Three main things were done during the surgery; i) adenoidectomy - removal of adenoids, ii) tonsillectomy - removal of tonsils and iii) insertion of grommets (ear tubes). We were told that this is quite a common surgery among kids and it is relatively safe. However, as parents, we had our own worries and doubts as well. 

It all started with an ear infection that would not clear, even with 3 doses of antibiotics, and various cough and flu medication. I was just so tired and scared of feeding him medication. He had a URTI in late May and that was when his paed found out, through an ear check that he has an ear infection. A 7-days dose of Augmentin antibiotics still did not solve the problem, so he was given another dose a week later and told to see an ENT for a more thorough check-up. So in late June, we visited the ENT who said that his middle ear still looks opaque (it's supposed to be clear, transparent). The ENT surgeon said that it probably would clear very soon but if it didn't, he'd need surgery to clear the mucus that was trapped in the middle ear. Otherwise, this could lead to other problems, such as hearing loss. 

To cut the long story short, he caught another URTI, possibly from school, so his ear never got a chance to heal. He had frequent fevers, and his cough/runny nose just wouldn't go away. It was a constant battle for us; fighting against the infection. He lost weight, didn't sleep well and I was seriously beginning to consider surgery. So we had a discussion with the ENT, talked to friends who had gone through this and of course consulted our Mr Google. The ENT suggested adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy as well as he said that when he checked Joshie's throat, his tonsils were really large and swollen. He reckons the same with the adenoids too. So a date was booked. And here are some pictures of our Joshie on that day.

I prepped him about the surgery but only casually mentioned the post-surgery discomfort as I did not want him to go into OT crying and screaming away. Here he is in the taxi, still in his pyjamas, at 7am in the morning. He had to fast from the night before. Thank God he didn't fuss about not being able to eat/drink. He is hugging his new Angry Bird soft toy, given by Uncle Gideon who visited him and prayed for him just the night before the op. Thanks so much Gideon. 

Hubby accompanied him till about 9ish am as I had to feed Bryant and put him down for his morning nap before I left house. I felt so torn, wanting to be with my big boy but at the same time, I knew B needed me too. 

Got there early, changed into the OT gown.
Still oblivious and in a really happy mood. Seems so 'new and exciting' to him.

Looks like a big, brave boy, surrounded by all the medical equipment.

And finally he was out at 9am, earlier than I expected. Look at my poor boy. He was feeling the after effects of the GA. Of course he cried and all I could do was to soothe him and tell him that this discomfort is temporary. He didn't really feel the pain and soreness in his throat yet due to medication. He only felt it a couple of hours later.

After about an hour or so, the GA effects were nearly gone and he started fooling around. I was so happy to see his cheeky self again.

We were discharged about 3 hours after he came out of the OT. Throat started feeling really sore by then and he was cranky and crying a lot, especially during bed time. However, he recovered really quickly; he was all OK on day 5, unlike hubby who stayed in the hospital for a week after his tonsillectomy years ago. The method used now is coblation, which is gentler and not so painful.

And look at his hospital tag. I was so blur that morning that I gave hubby Bryant's birth certificate instead of Joshie's. And hubby was equally blur. Luckily they were willing to operate on him without his birth certificate.

It was the RIGHT decision to agree to the surgery. Doctor said there was a lot of mucus inside, which could not be cleared with antibiotics. Oh, and while he was under GA, they performed a food allergy test on him and the result is MALT allergy. So we have been abstaining from food/drinks containing malt and I see an improvement in his health. Hopefully he outgrows this allergy quick. Malt is present in a lot of biscuits, breads, cereals, etc....and he also has to forego his favourite barbeque pork ("char siew") as it is made using malt sugar - maltose =(