Potty Learning Second Time Over

Just when we thought we were all through with Kieona's potty learning, now is Kierra's turn. Although we have conditioned Kierra since birth to be able to regard the potty as somewhere she can put her pee and poop in other than her diapers, it has been rather tough getting her to sit on the potty at times when she wants to do something else.

The past few weeks were sometimes fun, but sometimes heart-wrenching. It seems that Kierra's refusal to sit at the potty were very much determined by who sits down beside her. Recently her appreciation for Mommy's time has become more pronounced with the fact that she is more aware of what she wants, and not. Often when Mommy is either busy with work or Kieona, Kierra refuses to sit on the potty when the maid asks her to. In fact, she screams a lot and insists that "Mommy help me!".

It's been tough especially when Mommy is exhausted with all the cooking and housekeeping as well as the auctions part of the business in the day and having to sacrifice sleep at night to start on the ecommerce business. Having to sit with her patiently at the potty when she asks for Mommy to is no joke, as she can take a while with it. Afterall, she's learning and Mommy cannot really ask for more.

Just a few moments ago, Mommy was trying to get Kierra to pee into the potty but she refused and actually kept away the potty each time. However a little while later, Kierra did the most amazing thing since we started her on panties - she actually brought the potty to Mommy and sat down to pee within seconds when Mommy asked. Oh my! She does understand and could control her pee to bring the potty and get her panties pulled down. What a pleasant surprise. A little later, she could not control and let go a little urine in the kitchen, and started crying. Mommy said it's ok, we'll continue to pee in the potty. Brought her there and she could continue with passing her urine.

Hmm, now Mommy is convinced that she can quickly get over the diapers phase - at least at home. That made Mommy's day! :)

Kieona's Second Portfolio Shots

These were taken in March and it took Daddy and Mommy some time to put up. This time round, as Kieona was tired, the photographer took a lot of effort before we got her to smile for the camera. Shrinking violet? Looking at the photos, we can't tell.....

Kieona Draws Faces

In the past few weeks, Kieona has started to get better with her drawing. What used to be simple scribbles, dots, lines and circles has started to take shape as funny faces, sun, etc. It's a wonder when Mommy suddenly saw that there were longish faces on the drawing board which we got for the girls last year. It was sudden, and when I found out that no one else drew them, I knew it had to be her. Boy, am I proud of my girl.

Given a few days of practising after that, she became better and better. Sometimes she still scribbles as she tries to write the number 1 (or so I think), but generally her favourite drawings center around funny faces - be it long, round, squarish or leaning towards triangle. Overall, her style is mainly a round face with 2 dots for eyes, with the corner of the lips moving upwards. She must be a happy girl. :)

Day Out at Sentosa

It was Vesak Day and the next day will be a school holiday. It's been a long time since we had gone to the beach, so the family had planned to go to Sentosa for an early morning picnic. We invited Wai Gong, Wai Po, Yee Yee's family and Clara Yee Yee's family for the picnic. We reached there early, about 9am, thinking we will beat the crowd in getting a good spot. Boy! Were we surprised to see that there were already hordes of people there at Palawan Beach, but we still managed to get a shady spot under the trees and very near to the foodcourt. The rest arrived later.

Eugene Di Di slept through the morning we were there. Both Belle and Jingle were probably scared stiff when their parents made them go into the sea. Hmm, Mommy thought it was pretty scary for them.....

Both Kieona and Kierra had lots of fun playing at the beach, building sandcastles with the new beach toys and jumping the waves at sea. Although Kierra was a little hesitant when we just got there, she gradually got used to it and started playing. It was a good hour when we packed up and had lunch at the foodcourt and missed the storm that came while we were having lunch.

Overall, everyone seem to have had their fair share of fun at the beach. It was just a little unfortunate that our car got into it's first accident being sandwiched while we were on the way home, and Mommy suffered a whiplash injury.

The girls waiting at the gate...
Building sandcastles...
Kierra having fun by herself
The whole gang....

Mommy, Kieona, Kierra - parting shot

Eugene Dee Dee sleeping through...

Giant Strawberries

We bought some giant US strawberries from Cold Storage. It was Daddy's treat for the girls. They simply love strawberies! Look at them! :)

The girls enjoying the first bites of the large strawberries

This is so YUMMY!!!!

Mommy joins in

So did Daddy....

Kieona's Big Nose Bleed

Kieona fell down on May 5th while playing wildly with the maid. The maid definitely got a good scolding, as Kierra had a huge bump just the day before while playing with her. The two girls were both extremely traumatized by their individual experiences. While Kierra only had a big bump on her head from hitting her head on the potty, Kieona had a bleeding nose. Mommy was so worried her nose was broken that I told the maid never to play so roughly with them. Poor kids. Mama's heart was broken.....

Kieona nursing her bleeding nose

Mommy's 31st Birthday

Mommy went out the night before - it was the first dinner date with a friend, without the kids and supposedly my off-day to enjoy a few hours off as Daddy stayed home with the kids. Look at what they were up to while I was out...

Birthday Card for Mommy

The XL size cardLooking greedily at the cake

Kierra's First Baking Day

It was only the first week at school for Kierra and she had already had a chance to bake some cookies together with Kieona. Incidentally, we believe due to a shortage of teachers in the school, Kierra and Kieona somehow ended up in the same class. As a result, the two sisters had become a lot closer over the few days at school.

Mommy remembered it was Kierra's first Thursday in school when the two girls each brought back a cookie. As Mommy was busy in the kitchen, Mommy didn't know that the sizes of the cookies were different (Ms Sonia was teaching them big and small and they both baked different sized cookies). When I came out to be with the girls, I noticed that the cookie sizes were different and Kieona had a real big cookie while Kierra had a normal sized one. Kieona told Mommy she has a big one. I didn't think much of it after but at night when I read their communication books, I realised that Kieona had chosen to bake a small cookie and Kierra chose to make a large one. Apparently, Kieona got her cookie exchanged with Kierra when they got back. Ah well......

Kieona enjoying her BIG cookie

Kierra enjoying the first cookie she baked

Kierra's First Day At School

Time really passes. Kierra had just turned 18 months and because she is born on the first day of the month, she starts going to the Little Skool House In-The-Spring on the day she turned 18 months.

Kierra looked real small in Kieona's uniform - we were told not to purchase any new uniforms as they were changing the uniforms very soon. It was only recently that we found out their school will not be a Little Skool House Franchisee for long. Look at the picture below. Doesn't Kierra look like she can swim within the uniform?

Kierra looking on as Kieona had her hair done

The first day was pretty fuss-free. Kierra looked a little shocked when she realised she had to be in school and away from Mommy for a little while. Separation anxiety was expected and we dealt with it as it came. Although Kierra was really happy with putting on the uniform like her big jie-jie, she screamed a litte when she was torn from Mommy. We can't expect otherwise, since this is the first time she is somewhere unfamiliar and the first time away from Mommy. Although the first day in school was only for an hour or two, everything went well and we were told she stopped crying once we left. Brave girl, Kierra!

Kierra peeping at Daddy before she went in to school

More than Two Months!

Gosh! It has been more than two months since Mommy had the chance to update this blog. It's a pity... so much had happened during this period and Mommy probably have to post based on her lousy memory. Alright, Mommy will organise them by topics. Friends who are waiting patiently for the new posts.... be prepared to be bombarded. :)