Updates

"This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad in it."

The entire afternoon session of kindergarten kids were singing this sweet refrain as Terelle and I entered the assembly hall. Wednesday is Assembly Day where all the kids gather at the hall for half an hour of praise and worship.

Hearing this just lifted my spirits immensely. Especially when Terelle bid me a cheery goodbye and raced into the hall, yelling out "Lao Shi Wo Lai Le!" excitedly. As i walked away, i saw her form teacher embrace her in a hug and lead her to join her friends.

I feel I have really made a good choice in sending her to this school, praise God!

Anyway updates on Terelle:

1) She is finally finally off diapers , day and night! I was trying to train her to get used to the feeling of not wearing diapers at night while we were staying at my mum in law's house. I felt it was a good time to train her since she was sleeping on a mattress on the floor, so in the event of any accidents, the cheapo mattress could just be thrown away at the end of our stay.

After MANY accidents, i was finally confident enough to let her go diaperless on her actual mattress in the new house. I set my alarm clock to get up and bring her to the toilet once in the middle of the night.

After yet many more hits and misses, we have finally got it. She will pee about 3 hours after she goes to bed, then the nxt one will be when she wakes up in the morning. We have also started a sticker system where she gets one sticker for every dry night and she can exchange 10 stickers for an ice cream treat. And im proud to say she has been diaperless for the past 3 weeks with only 1 accident!

2) She is into this "princess" phase. We put a mosquito net over her bed, our aim was actually to keep her safe from the mozzie infestation affecting out block now. She views it as a princess canopy and everynight she will tell us, in the haughtiest voice she can muster, to invite Her Royal Highness to please enter her bed.

Terelle: (Looking down her little nose at us) Quick tell princess to go inside her bed!

Hb and I: (Flippantly) Princess please go inside your bed.

Terelle: Again! Ask the princess properly!!

Hb and I: (Louder and more plaintive) Preeeeeeeencess...pleassse go inside your bed.

Terelle: ok...hehehe...


Wonder how long this princess phase will last?

3) She is getting increasingly whiny and angsty. When i say she cant have something, she will go on and on asking to have it.

"But I want Mummy I want...I want it Mummy I want I want I want I want!!"

If i continue to hold fast to my decision not to let her have it, her whines will become wails and tears will start to fall, especially if she is sleepy or tired.

Otherwise, she will start hitting me and yelling, "I dont like you! I dont like you!"

Fine fine...I can live with you not liking me for awhile!

4) She takes extreme pleasure from imitating hb and I while we are talking. And when we try to talk faster and she stumbles over trying to follow us, she will squeak and squeal and double over laughing.

And it doesnt faze her if we do the same and imitate her while she is talking. She will squeak and squeal and double over laughing too.


And as for Thane:

1) The maid tells me he is an extremely good boy whenever im not at home. He will sit in the high chair and allow her to feed him his entire lunch with nary a protest, play quietly with his toys and just be a little angel.

Its a different story when im home. He screams to be let out of the chair, bats away the spoon when i try to feed him, spewing food all over himself, me and the floor. He refuses to play on his own and always just wants to be carried by me.

2) He understands many things that we say and can carry out instructions very well, like "Come here!", "Take this to Daddy", "Go wash your hands!" (at the toy kitchenette), "Cook somthing for Mummy!" (he will hold a pot over the tiny kitchenette stove).

He does a very good impression of Terelle crying, by scrunching up his face and going "Waaaaaaah!" , whenever we ask him "How does Jie Jie cry?"

He also loves to peek at our helper while she is busy in the kitchen and go "Waaaaaatssssss" , laugh cheekily and then walk away. I think he's trying to say "Whatsup", cos hb has been teaching that inane word to Terelle as a form of greeting.

3) Terelle needs a blanket whenever she goes to sleep and seeing Jie Jie with a blanket day in and day out, he's taken to wanting one for himself too. Whenever its bedtime, he will lie on it and chew the corners, making little contented noises.

Im glad they do not have a preference for a particular blanket! Any piece of cloth seems to do the job!


4) Stands up for himself whenever Jie Jie snatches things from him. Will either smack her, all the while making admonishing noises, pinch her or if she tries to run away, grab her tee shirt and pull her towards him to continue his assault and verbal "lashing". If she manages to get away, he has no choice but to scream loudly and frantically fail his arms cos he cant run fast enough as yet.

5) And last but not least. he has 7 teeth and loves eating anything that is not his own food, and that includes unedible stuff like rubber bands.