Yoho! Yoho! A pirate's life for me!

Kieran found my Disneyland pirate's hat and started jumping around like a pirate. So we decided to make a eye patch for him. Well, it's blue cos I didn't have any black felt with me. It was either blue, white or pink. And since we don't allow swords and guns in our house and thus that make-shift longish box was his little sword.

As for the little one, I only had 1 hat in the house, so I had to grab a hanky and tie a bandanna over his head! :P Aye! Aye! Captain!

Ahoy! I be damned if I go down w'out fightin' yer!


Rawr!


The captain and his deckhand. Go scrub the decks! :P

Baa..na-na

Kiefer's first 3 syllable word! Loud and clear now!

Baa...nana!

Whatcha sayin' Babe?

Kiefer's speech and vocabulary is expanding by leaps and bounds everyday. He adds on so many words to his vocabulary and says so many new things everyday that I'm finding it hard to keep up. Even as I type this post, I am thinking that I will not be able to recall every little new word or phrase that he has recently started using.

He started by calling almost everyone "mama" a couple of months ago. Mostly, he just yells "mama!" whenever he needs anything. Over time, he managed to evolve the "mama" into "mama" or sometimes "ah ma" for grandma and "ma-my" for mummy! :) He knows how to call almost everyone, i.e. Kor Kor, Daddy, Gong Gong (tho it does sound a little like Kor kor sometimes), Po-po, yi yi, Gu Gu, jie jie.

Some of the words in his speech:
car
watch
house
bag
shoe
water
ball
school (s-kool)
turtle, giraffe, zebra, lion, bird, hippo (pa-po), rhino

He is also attempting phrases and often string words together:
mummy's bag
mummy's shoe
kor kor school
red car
blue car

On the whole, I think this little boy is really talking a lot!! We remember Kieran speaking a lot less at the same age. I guess being the younger child does have its effects. Kiefer needed to express himself a lot more and "fight" for more attention unlike Kieran, who being the only one for the longest time, never needed to really ask for anything. Whatever the case is, I'm really happy that this little boy is speaking up so much and that I know that I'll soon miss this kiddy mispronunciations once he masters his speaking.

This year is "zoo" year!

Now that our Flyer pass has expired, we've decided to get the zoo annual pass for this year. It looks like we'll go visit the animals very often this year! :P

Thank god for the great weather this morning, tho' it got a little warm by noon. The boys had lots of fun looking at all the different animals. I think what really caught Kieran's attention today was the proboscis monkey. He even said that the monkeys were beautiful. :)

We also met Blee there and the moment Kieran saw him, it was "Hi Uncle Blee"!! haha.. he really does like Mark and Bernard. These are the only two "uncles" that he calls spontaneously!!

As it kinda got really hot as we approached noon, we left the zoo at about 1pm after the boys had some fun at the water play area at the children's world.

It was really great that the weather held in the morning. Gosh, what a glorious thunderstorm it was at about 4pm!! It's been a while since I've experience such lightning and thunder. You just can't help marveling at the awesomeness of nature.

Fun morning out with the boys

It's been a while since we brought the boys out on a excursion-type of outing. We were toying with the idea of bringing them to the zoo but they both woke up with super phlegmy coughs and the sky just didn't look too inviting. After some Google-ing, we found out that Science Center is currently having a Pixar - 20 Years of Animation exhibition and so off we went.

It was great that we arrived at SC rather early (before the crowds came in) despite the crazy jam on the CTE. They had a discounted package price for SC entrance and the Pixar exhibit entrance if you have the NTUC card/ Popular card (and some others that I cannot remember). The tickets were $18 for adults and $13 for kids above 3 year old, with the discount.

Both of them were afraid of the huge mechanical dinosaur at the entrance, especially Kiefer. Just look at how Kieran is tugging at Kiefer's shirt! :P


I would say that the exhibition is not exactly for little 4 & 2 year olds, but the boys did enjoy looking at the various sculptures, drawings and animations displays. Even Kiefer recognised most of the characters and was happily rattling off the names in his cutsie mispronouncing way!! :)



Still, we were really glad to have gone as they had the Toy Story zoetrope on display. We didn't manage to show Kieran the zoetrope on our last visit to Disneyland as he was asleep while we were outside the exhibit. Thus we were really excited to show it to him today!! :D

This is the exact zoetrope on display:


After lunch, we went to the regular Science Center exhibits for awhile before we left. Kieran managed to watch the lightning show, to which he exclaimed, " no mummy, I don't like it. " :P This was because in the finale of the show, they put up 2 hydrogen balloons and set off some electricity and the 2 balloons burst into flames all of a sudden. :P But I'm sure he learnt something about lightning and fire today. (On a side note, he saw a bus on fire yesterday and thus this kind of adds on to his learning.)

And definitely we went into the souvenir shop to look around and I realise that they do have pretty fun science related toys there.

Here are some pictures of the fun we had today:
Kieran had fun creating an optical illusion for himself.


A hilarious digital superimposition


Kiefer loved this spiraling moire pattern illusion

My little cheeky babe

Went a'plantin

Or rather we did some major weeding today at Pierce reservoir. It was our school's staff CIP programme. We were helping Nparks weed out the exotic dracaenia plants. It was fairly hard work with the changkos. Thanks goodness we had strong men with us who did much of the digging. We were mostly clearing of the mutilated plants. :p

As with all other projects we done together, they are often more enjoyable in the presence of friends. :)

On my new phone

Just got the Google nexus one and now I'm realizing that it's not really idiot-proof for people like me. :( The only thing I like about it is that even when I accidentally got out of the program, I can always return to it at the point where I left off.

Damn you bug!!

I've been lying in bed all day. What I thought was a simple case of food poisoning turned out to be gastroenteritis. :( I been lying almost motionless because every little movement sets the cramps off. And I can hear all the bubbles in my churning tummy. Still, I'm glad that this is not really that bad, I've had worse. Now to stop the little from jumping on me as I lie in bed.

Meniere's Disease & TCM

After a few sessions with the ENT since April last year, the ENT couldn't pin point the problem with hubby's ear and thus concluded that it is idiopathic Meniere's Disease. It is really rather depressing to be diagnosed as that because when we googled around the web, there is simply no treatment/ cure for Meniere's Disease. Medicines are prescribed usually only to manage the symptoms. And after being on Betahistine and Apotriazide for 9 months, the improvement of the symptoms have seem to come to a plateau. His tinnitus is almost persistent, especially at night.

We decided to visit a TCM practitioner about 2 months back and according to the sinseh, he says that his ear problem is all resultant of a very bad imbalance in his body. His kidneys and heart are "heaty" and to treat the ear, we have to tackle the problem with the heart and the kidneys. After about 2 months of brewing and drinking really yucky tasty concoctions, even hubby says that the condition is improving. We have not gone for an audiogram to check if the hearing is back, but at least he doesn't get the pressure buildup in the ear anymore and the tinnitus only surfaces when the environment is very, very quiet. :) Also, even after a few stressful days and lack of sleep, he didn't have the symptoms acting up either. He has since stopped taking the "western" medicines and is doing really well. It really proved that the meds were only managing/ supressing the symptoms but not doing anything for the cause of the problem.

Here's a website that talks about how TCM can be used to treat Meniere's Disease. And I found that the prescribed herbs are similar to what hubby has.

No smells, no mess. Just pretty nails! :)

I love red nails but I always have trouble painting them on my fingers cos they inevitably look real messy. It's usually either too thick or I'm too inpatient to wait for it to dry and end up getting scratches and wrinkles on them.

My sis gave me this Incoco dry nail appliqué that was easy to put on and there is simply no mess. Such a wonderful product!! Tho I have yet to find out how much they cost!!







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Finally... He figured it out!!

Kieran finally got the peddling figured out!! For the longest time, he was only peddling backwards and last night, he suddenly got it figured out. And now he's peddling away!! On a 4-wheeler of cos!!


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The nai nai bottle again..

thought I forgot to bring home the milk bottle from Aunts house when the daddy actually packed everything up and brought them home. we thought that we would go with the error and not tell him that daddy did bring the bottles home. he still wouldn't drink from the cup. he said "I will drink nai nai tomorrow. don't want milk now." :P

early this morning (620am), while we were in the car, he still remembered his bottle in his drowsy state. "Later we go popo's house take milk bottle." :P :P

新年快乐！Happy CNY!

It's the CNY again. It is kinda crazy how the years seem to just fly by like that! It is Kieran's 4th and Kiefer's 2nd CNY! Gosh!! And every year it seems to just come by and go by even faster.

Here are our 2 little cuties in their brand new PJs.


And just the 4 of us, all decked out in the CNY red! :P

A little adventure

This is a long-overdue post that was sitting in my Drafts.

Been wanting to blog about this since we came back almost 4 weeks ago (gosh... where did time go?). The boys and I had a little adventure as we flew back from the USA all by ourselves. Their daddy had to return 3 days earlier, leaving just the 3 of us coming back on our own!

The adventure started almost immediately when the daddy went onto the plane. I was shopping at Costco when I suddenly recalled that I didn't keep Kiefer's paper ticket when I separated our passports (we all had electronic tickets while Kiefer, being an "infant-in-lap" held a paper ticket). The daddy had already boarded the plane and there was no way to contact him. That started an entire evening of calling NWA to replace that ticket. After talking to them for a long time, they said that we just had to go to the airport earlier to get the ticket reprinted but at USD100 (cos it was taken that it was a lost ticket charge)!! Well, anyway, fast forward to the part after I got hold of the Daddy. He too called NWA in Singapore and they said that there was nothing they could do to waive the USD100 even though we told them that we had the ticket, it was just not with me!! In order to expedite the process for me at LAX, Kiefer's ticket number was left on the system so that the check-in counter personnel could quickly retrieve it and replace the ticket for me.

Well, LAX is one airport that I wouldn't like to fly in or out from if I can help it. Their systems are old and messy and the staff aren't really helpful (and that's not just judging from this recent experience). Well, this lady at the NWA counter, she was simply annoyed that she had to replace the air ticket for me. She didn't know what to do, she wasn't polite and she took a darn long time getting such a simple thing done. I didn't think she was nice at all, cos while serving me, she was darn rude to other passengers and her lines weren't even funny!! Another passenger simple asked her where her colleague (who served them half-way and disappeared, while holding on to their passports) and she simply brushed them off by saying "out for lunch!" It was 830am in the morning. :( She was clearly distressed that I had many pieces of luggage for check in and also the huge chore of reprinting the ticket to do. Clearly not very efficient. I asked her to put in a request for me to have assistance at Changi Airport, she told me a long story of how NWA cannot give assistance for single passengers with children, all they can give is a wheelchair etc. I told her that Changi airport staff will do so and insisted that she do it. In the end, she pretended to write something down on paper and said that she would do it later. At that point I knew that she wasn't going to do anything already! In fact, I thought she probably saboed me cos I had some special meal on the flight, which I didn't request for and I suspect it was probably a diabetic meal or something. :( I also requested for assistance at Narita airport long ago (once we booked), no help whatsoever was offered to me on flight or at the airports. Come on! How can this be service? I was a single lady, travelling with 2 young children!!!!!!

Enough griping about NWA. Well, back the adventure. I had 2 big worries before I flew with the boys. 1) They need to go toilet at inappropriate times. 2) Kieran would be sleeping during disembarkation and I wouldn't be able to get both him and fer off the plane and make the 1h 20min transit time at Narita.

for #1, well, that happened. I was really early at LAX and I kept asking Kieran if he needed to go toilet. He kept saying no until about 10min before boarding, he said," Mummy, I need to poo poo!" :P Gosh, the toilets weren't at the boarding gates. We had to walk a couple of minutes to the toilet, with bag pack and a toddler in tow to get him to poop!! :P :P

for #2, I read off NWA.com that I could bring an umbrella stroller onto the plane and stow in in the overhead cabins. As usual, NWA didn't come through. I had to check my tiny umbrella stroller at the gate cos they said I couldn't bring it up. The fortunate thing was that they actually brought it to the gate really quickly when we got to Narita (note: they took so long to bring the strollers up at Narita on our SIN-Narita flight that even though we were disembarked the plane really quickly, by the time we got our strollers we were at the end of the line for the security checks. By the time we reached our transit gate, we were only 20min to boarding!!) Thankfully, Kieran actually woke up during landing and he could walk off the plane. :)

The plane departed LAX 1hour behind scheduled departure. I was thoroughly stressed out, cos if you remember, I only had a 1hr20min transit time at Narita. The FA said that flight time is reduced by 1hr so I'll still be on time, but being NWA, what happened was that by the time the plane landed, taxiied and doors opened, it was already 5pm!! My next plane leaves at 550pm. The whole time while waiting for the planes to open, I kept telling Kieran, "Kieran you have to run ok.. cos we are very late. " And he was so good. He carried his own pack and walked so quickly with me. Once I got our stroller, he sat in there without fussing and we quickly made our way to the security. I literally half-walked/ran with Kiefer in the sling and pushing Kieran in the stroller. I must say that I've met some really helpful passengers. There was this nice Filipino guy who, at the security told me to just take care of the boys and he will help push my stroller across. :). We made it to the gates and found that the next flight was also delayed for another hour. So much for the mad rush! By the time we boarded, it was past midnight LA time. And once we got on that plane, the boys slept almost throughout the 7hour flight. :)

How was it travelling alone with 2 young kids?
I would do it again. Preferably on an asian airline though. The boys were great on the entire flight. they played, slept, ate, played slept. They didn't ask to walk around or anything. Any walk we took was simply to go to the bathroom. We kinda had fun.

Things I would recommend to bring on board for the kids:

1. snacks for the kids and yourself (i.e. cookies, cheerios)
2. sippy cup for juice/water to prevent spills
3. colouring materials
   
4. playdoh (this occupied them for quite a while, almost 1hr!!)
5. ome video devices (i had the psp and the iphone with me, but i didn't need to use them much. they watched like maybe 20min of video on the entire 2 leg on the flight)
6. handheld games (Kieran had his new leapster, which also occupied him for about 20min only)

Where are we now?

Haven't really blogged even though it's the hols cos we are busy having fun in California!! :P We 've already spent more than a week in California already! Phew, time really flies when you are having fun!! Some photo updates:

At the Farmers' Market in Ventura



At Universal Studios with the Simpsons


At San Diego Wild Animal Park



At Legoland, Carlsbad


Rainy day at San Diego Seaworld with Shamu


At Monterey Bay Aquarium with the cousins

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Another 20 hours to boarding! We are rather excited about this trip as it's been a year since we've last gone California! It'll be extra fun this time cos we've got Kiefer with us! :D The suitcases are more or less packed. We are carrying loads of stuff this time, the amount of milk powder?? Woohoo!! Thank goodness Kieran's off diapers already. That's like 1 suitcase less! :P

I guess this will be the last trip to the US for awhile. I don't see how we can afford long holidays, what with work committments and cost! So we'll have a blast this time around and maybe, in a couple of years, we may just go Disneyland again, but hopefully, DisneyWorld in Florida! :P

100 stars

We started this "Get Star" system sometime earlier in the year when we were trying to potty train Kieran. Rule of the game is simple, you do good (potty or otherwise) you get stars, if you don't then you don't! The aim was to reach 100 stars and the prize? "Sit aeroplane, go use-A, go Disneyland" :P And today, he stuck on his 100th star!! He would have gotten it sooner but we had to space out the giving of stars so that it'll last till the trip. hee.. also, sometimes we do forget to give him his stars too.

Bravo Baby!! For getting 100 stars!!! :D

Kieran's art gallery

Kieran (and Kiefer) is always drawing and doodling and I've always felt bad thrashing their doodles away! I think they really make great showcase pieces! Also, I thought that he'll probably feel more encouraged when he sees his artwork hung up for display. :D



See that little hole on the right-most art? We were all doodling on the floor and I drew a heart there. And since he (Kieran) was drawing an aeroplane, he decided that the heart cannot be there!! I tried colouring over it, but he said no. I had to cut it out!! ha.. perfectionist huh?? :P

I've been googling around to see how I can display/use children's art pieces and there were some pretty good ideas!!

Here are some ideas:
1) recycle as gift wrap
2) cut them up to make greeting cards
3) Scrapbook them
4) Blog about them
5) Create a portfolio for them
6) Take photographs of them before you trash them! :)

Read more at Kids's Craft Weekly

Kiefer's first professional hair cut!

Stylo eh...? :P

He was so calm during the entire hair cut. We knew that he'll probably not fuss, but he surpassed our expectations. He sat by himself, allowed the lady to cover him with the coverall, watched his Barney and let her cut away. At the end of the entire session, he allowed her to vacuum away all the hair even! The only look he had on the face was, "yah.. just cut quickly yah. just get it done." :P Bravo baby!!

Could see from the photos that his right eye is swollen. Some big (mozzie or something) bit his face darn close to his eye. And him being quite allergic to bites, had his eye all swollen from that tiny bite. :(

Feeling blessed..

M: I'm so tired, Kieran
K: Come mummy, I kiss you then you not tired anymore.
M: :)
K: Come, I hug you.
*Kiss & Hugs*
M: :D :D

Kieran's first ever concert

Kieran had his first ever kindy concert on Saturday. Boy! We are so proud of our not-so-little boy! He performed throughout the entire item, no "shocked-and-stood-there" like what many parents told me their children did. He thoroughly enjoyed the event too!



And Kiefer? Well, he was great too. Even though he didn't get to have a good nap before the show, he was a good sport and lasted through the entire 1 hour+ performance!! Bravo!

Ugly shoes

Kieran needed a pair of white shoes for his upcoming kindy concert. We've been looking around and we couldn't really find something for him. And then we saw this sesame street Bert & Ernie one at Suntec that was only $29.90. Initially I tried to convince him that the shoes were nice but he didn't want it (he has this thing for choosing his own stuff). He started whinning and said that he wanted to be ugly (yes, he is in the oppositional behaviour mode these days). So I simply said, "Look! Kieran. This shoe is so ugly! Do you want it?" And it did the trick. He loves the shoes and calls it his ugly shoes! :P

Well, the shoes are starting to grow on me, but the Daddy still hates it!! :P

Yummy Muah Chee!

Made some muah chee the other day and i thought it was rather yummy. Found a really simple method off Little Corner of Mine.

Hubby enjoyed it and the little gremlin also loved it. Looks like we'll make it more often since it is just so darn simple to do so. Tho' it's really a chore trying to clean the bowl after that! :P

Some weekend fun!

Kieran is down with a runny nose again. They go through bottles of Zyrtec and Sinupret like drinking bottles of juice! Was at Guardian yesterday buying new bottles of meds and spent about $73 just picking up the kiddos' standby meds!! Gosh!!

That's the silly boy with a tissue up his nose to stop the mucus from coming down!! He's taken to wearing this hoodie when we are out shopping. And he wants the hood up to cover his head every time! *eyes rolling*

Some itsy bitsy cuteness from #2:

Some mischief that His Royal Cuteness was up to this weekend. He loves to climb up Daddy's swivel chair and then start tapping on the Mac. Well, he somehow managed to slip his legs through the armrest and got stuck there. He started yelling for help and when I saw it, I couldn't help but quickly whip out my trusty Ixus to snap some shots of it. And you can see, he's actually rather happy about it!!

The boys helped the daddy with the car wash on Sunday night. Needless to say, what we got in the end were 2 rather wet little boys and lots of trying to get them not to scratch daddy's precious...

Kiefer is starting to talk!

This little one is now trying to articulate. For sometime, he's been able to sound "allo" but now he tries to articulate more sounds. e.g. "mama" "da...eee" "ah... ma" "byeeee.." He is also more expressive, often able to communicate his needs through various actions and sounds. Yes, the little gremlin is growing up.. :P

Busy busy busy!!

It's exam period and thus I've been really bogged down with marking. And yes.. all the marking's done and so I can be back here blogging away! :P

Despite the busy marking, we've still managed to find time to have some outdoorsy fun with the boys. Our latest craze is kite flying and cycling!

Went (for the very first time) to the Marina Barrage with sisters and their kiddos. All I have to say that it's one whole load of noise and running around them. We didn't fly much kite, we simply spent most of our time there rounding up the kids and hoping they don't get themselves cut by the kite lines!!

Went through lots of organising and reorganising just to get this shot. Kids just don't cooperate! Somehow or the other, someone will be out of position and thus not one perfect photo!! Nonetheless, I still love these shots cos it really shows the energy the kiddos have!!

'twas easier getting them to make funny faces than to smile for the camera!

This is my little pro kite flyer!! :P

What should they be saying now?

Realised that Kieran couldn't do the 'L' sound and thus I was prompted to go look up the sounds that he should be making by a certain age. Got this chart at http://www.talkingchild.com/speechchart.html. It shows the average age at which children articulates certains sounds. I'm glad to know that Kieran is on track! :)

No wake up! No sleeping!

We all slept late last night and thus Kieran was rather grouchy in the morning. He stirred a little and starting whinning, so I asked him to wake up (cos he tended to kick and cry when he is unhappy in the morning). And here's the rest of the conversation:

K: I want nai nai (milk)
M: No nai nai. Hungry then wake up I'll give you cookie.
K: No wake up!
M: Then go back to sleep!
K: No sleeping!
M: Then wake up.
K: No wake up! No sleeping!!
M: :P

We went Melaka to swim again!!

Kieran always associates Melaka with swimming, cos that's we we do all the time while we are there!! We went back there for the last couple of days as we just wanted to get out of Sg for awhile and since there was really not anywhere we could go, we decided to go back to Melaka. We've always liked this little town and it's a great short drive, not too long a road trip for the kids. Kieran thinks that the hotel that we stayed at is Melaka. And every time we leave the hotel, he'll ask," why we leaving Melaka?" :P Since we've been staying at Hotel Equatorial the last 3 times we were there, we are now their "Repeat Stay Member"!! For that, we were presented with a pair of Hotel Equatorial slippers as a souvenir!! In the little letter that accompanied the gift, it says that we can look forward to more gifts on our 8th, 11th etc visit. :D We've been going back to Equatorial cos it's right next to the new mall and their rates are pretty reasonable. This time round however, the room that they gave us was not as big as the last. We were given a corner room on our last visit and it even had a 2 seater couch in it. But this time, only a small round coffee table and 2 arm chairs. :( Nonetheless, the kids had fun at the pool.

Sleepy heads!! These little fellas had the best seats in the car!



Lunch at Seri Nonya (Hotel Equatorial).
Otak Otak . Prawn ommelette . Ayam Pontek . Stir fried vege


Our favourite pastime in Melaka!


Tried to get Kieran to swim on his own with his "muscles" on. He still prefers to cling onto us. :(


Night market at Jonker Walk.

More than words..

Kiefer says "sss" and nods his head for "yes"! :P And he says "ball" too!

it's the end..

This is a really delayed post. Wanted to blog about this some time ago, but never sat down to do it. So here it is now.

Being Biology trained, I strongly believe in the benefits of breastfeeding. Kieran was exclusively breastfed till he was about 10 months? old and after which, I only supplement 1 milk feed a day with formula till he was 12 months old. When it came to Kiefer, I guess after having gone through one round of breastfeeding with Kieran, everything felt much easier and I was less stressed about providing sustenance for my baby. Thus, Kiefer was breastfed for 12 months (i.e. not FM given at all.  6 months exclusive breastfeeding and 6 months breast milk with some solids introduced)!! After which, he started with 1 FM per day with all other 3 feeds being either EBM or direct latch. The EBMs were slowly replaced with FM until he was totally weaned off BM at 15 months old. So in fact, he had breastmik for a good 15 months! And with him, it was simply a decision made to stop breastfeeding because he was it was time to start getting him used to formula and that well.. he's been breastfed long enough!

Nonetheless, I still felt the slight sadness that I no longer have that special closeness with my baby when I latched him on. And with Kiefer, I felt it more as he should be our last baby already. Stopping breastfeeding was like saying that, "hey, the baby has grown up!" So when it was done, it was really a mixed feeling of sadness and relief, all rolled into one.

I'm glad to have breastfed both my babies for as long as I did. I do see that they fall sick less often than other children and when they do, they do not fall as ill either. And especially so with Kiefer, my boys are close to me. So with anyone who is expecting a little one now, I strongly encourage breastfeeding your baby. Don't worry about whether the milk will come or how long you'll be able to keep at it. Just do it for as long as you can and as many feeds you can manage. Any amount is a great amount! Any duration is a great duration.

Here are my breastfed babies!!

And this picture is just to record how long I've breastfed Kiefer!

Anyway, here some random updates on Kiefer:

Words:

Jor Jor (Kor Kor)

dar dar (Daddy)

Mummy is still pretty non-existent :(

Apple

points and yells for things

understands instructions like "bring/give to xx", "come", "hold tight", "sit down"

kisses when asked to

Big kiss (flying kiss)

sticks out foot for you to tickle

smacks Kor Kor

gives things to people

*LOVES* keys

stretches out hand with palm facing up when he wants something that you are holding (mostly it's food)

has about 4 teeth on top, 2 below with 2 more popping out

runs when possible. walk with arms in the air, almost like a lemur :P

*Training* days

Not actually training. We believe that the boys generally will do whatever it is that they are supposed to do when they are ready. Some people may think that we are just being *lazy* but I think that there is no point in trying to push a kid ahead of time to achieve milestones. As hubby says, you'll never see a kid in diapers at 10 years old!!! :P I guess that is the reason why we have a pretty easy time getting Kieran out of his diapers. We simply went along with him. And the actual "training" process took only about a week when we really encouraged him to go off diapers and go to school in briefs. Now, he is COMPLETELY diaper-free! He has been waking up from his nap an overnight sleep with a dry diaper. And 2 nights ago, he said he didn't want to wear diaper to bed anymore. So here we are, having loads of leftover big sized diaper pants. (Just a note, I think it would have been easier to just be diaper or diaperless. forget the in between training pants. It confuses them. Tho' his school wanted him to be in those then.) Anyway, no leaks on the bed yesterday when he woke up. And he is still sleeping now. Had a late night last night. Slept at almost midnight. Then again, he's been sleeping for almost 12hours now, think I've got to hurl him to the bathroom when he wakes up. I'm sure there loads of pee!! :P

Another "training" that has been successfully completed is that we've weaned Kiefer off his pacifier!! I'm sure he'll want to suck at it when he sees it. But it's been a week since we've given it to him. He has been sleeping fine without it and no more yelling for it anymore!! Yipee!! See, they'll do it when they are ready!! Started off by letting him hold the pacifier but telling him that he shouldn't put it into his mouth. Initially, he was irritated by it and when I kept taking it out of his mouth, he simply threw it away after awhile. I think he feels that it was just too frustrating to keep it in!! Haha.. Great job baby!!

Kiefer is 15 months old!

Kiefer is already 15 months old! He is learning to walk, though I think that he is actually quite reluctant to do so. He's a smart one, he knows that he gets to places much faster on fours!! Here are updates of him at 15 mths:

Communication:
eh.. and points to anything that he wants
nods his head up and down for "thank you" and "sorry"
kisses and hugs kor kor
knows when not to touch kor kor's stuff. :P

Eating:
a voracious eater. loves watermelon. Can smell/see food from far far away and go really quickly towards the food source.
is totally off BM and on Enfagrow A+ (3-4 feeds a day, about 750ml a day)
3 main meals a day + loads of snacks in between i'm sure


That's my "no longer a baby" baby!! :P