Matthias & Shannon - Our Gifts from God

Learning How to Do a Somersault...

Mummy's been wondering where I picked up this interest. Suddenly, this week I keep going into a somersault position (ie with head down and hands on the ground support my body). I just lack a bit of strength in my legs to push me forward. The part that Mummy dreads is that I have been trying to do somersaults in the wrong places, like on the sofa and on the bed. Although I had known it is safe on such "soft" grounds, I "forgot" they are raised up and I might end up falling to the ground. Mummy now needs to shop for a nice thick mat for me to "practise" my stunts on the floor.

Packing Up...

Definitely a process that Mummy dreads... As Mummy intends to go back to Singapore to deliver Little Beanie (just like she did the last time for me), we needed to start to bring the stuff the Mummy needs periodically, since Daddy occasionally makes business trips that direction. So we spent the 2 hours this morning packing. Hmmm, actually only Mummy was packing, I was busy throwing stuff in and out of the luggage box. I was totally thrilled by the "task". These are some of the 1st things that are going to be on the way back to Singapore:

Avent Duo and Uno pumps (Mummy's most useful equipment to ensure there is a constant milk supply)

Avent Storage cups and bottles

Fridge-to-go milk storage bag

Mustela cradle cap shampoo (Cross fingers that Little Beanie will not have it...)

Destinee diaper cream (Needed to be used on a FIFO basis since there is an expiry date attached to it)

That's all that can fit in our medium-sized luggage box. Guess we have to bring our second loadful when we return to Singapore in mid April... Hahaha...

Cravings, "Expect"ations and Plans

There are 3 things Mummy would like to talk about today:

1. Cravings

Without having to say much, I think all of you will understand what Mummy is craving for right now. Hahaha... 1st, we need to say a big thank you to Baby Chloe as this photo was "stolen" from her blog, as her mummy has the same craving too.

Luckily for mummy, she is not in Singapore, else she would not be able to imagine the naggings that she will get from Dr Chan (btw, Dr Chan is Mummy's gynae at Glen E.). He is a vegetarian and tells mummy that her limit for weight gain during pregnancy is 10 to 12 kg. See below for the reason behind Mummy's cravings... Fortunately, we are returning to Singapore soon.

2. "Expect"ations

Hmmm, many would wonder what does this mean. Well, it's probably "time" to be public. After some planning, Daddy and Mummy decided that it's time for another Junior Chan... especially, it took more than 1 year to "make" me... So they thought they better start this process earlier (in case it takes another 1 year plus)... But goodness, even striking 4D isn't as accurate as this... And Daddy and Mummy struck it within the 1st month they tried. My little beanie sibling is now coming to 15 weeks old and its heartbeat is a racer. Hahaha... Can't wait to find out whether my little beanie sibling is going to be a little girl or little boy... For obvious reasons, Mummy wanted a little girl (so that she can now start to dress her up, which to Daddy, it means spending more $$$). For even more obvious reasons, Daddy wanted a little boy (so that my little brother can use my hand-me-downs and save $$$). But of course, the other reason Daddy thinks both his children should be of the same sex so that we can grow up sharing thoughts with each other.

Let's count down to 20 weeks (mid of April) until Little Beanie gets his / her detailed scan and we will find out whether it is a boy or girl... So long, folks...

3. Plans

Now, for Mummy's and Daddy's plans. Obviously with me excluded... We are intending to make a trip back to Singapore mid April for 3 weeks. However, Mummy and Daddy had decided that they need to have a vacation before the little beanie comes along end of August. So they have been planning their big trip to New Zealand. This is one of the places that Mummy has always wanted to visit. But a few years back, the NZ$ was too expensive. Now, with the NZ$ depreciating and lower airfares, it just seems like the best time to go. So this is the itinerary that they are currently considering.

http://www.magicbus.co.nz/main/productDetail/index.cfm?productID=79

Unfortunately, they have decided not to bring me and leave me with 爷爷 and 奶奶. So sad....

The "Ballerina"...

I am sure all of you will be so amused by this. Mummy recently found me liking to dance a lot. And in this video, you can find one of my favourite dance steps... Mummy calls me the "Ballerina" now. Cos I keep turning round and round whenever I hear the music box type of music... Hahaha...

I Am 15 Months Old...

I have finally turned 15 months today. Mummy finally decides to sit down and keep a list of my "achievements" so far.

1. Language and Cognitive Development

Pronounces simple words like "Mum Mum" (means food), "Nei Nei" (means milk), Apple, Papa, Mama, Dada
Pronouces simple alphabets like A, F, H, S
Understand words like ball, balloon, dog, flower, story book etc
Understands simple instructions like "Pick up something from the floor", "Bring the pail to the bathroom", "Come here", "No" etc
Shakes his head or uses his hand to wave "no" when he doesn't want something
Makes the "smooch" sound when we ask him to kiss us
Waves his palms to indicate "No more"
Points to things that he wants or knows etc
Claps his hands together whenever he accomplished a task (ie he is able to sit into his Bumbo seat on his own. Once he is seated into it, he claps his hands to indicate he accomplished it!!!)
For some reason, he seems to enjoy the Chinese flashcards more than the English ones
Tries to be the "Helper" of the household by helping with Daddy when he is trying to vaccum clean the carpet etc
Keeps his cellphone around his neck (We gave him a fake cellphone, actually it's a torch light "Nokia lookalike cellphone" cos he keeps wanting to play with ours. Comes with a yardline. He "knows" it belongs to him now, so he always puts it on whenever he sees it. Like we would take it off for him during naptime and put it at the side of his cot and he would put it on immediately when he wakes up)

2. Physical Development

Taking bigger steps when walking, almost running
Squatting down and up into the standing position consecutively
Playing ball (ie kicking, throwing, rolling etc)
Climbing up the steps whilst holding on to handles on the side
Walking backwards
Turn around on the spot
Pushes tricycle around the house
Dances whenever he hears music
Climbs (attempts to climb over the dining table etc)
Tries to be funny by walking on tip toes (But when we see and tell him not to do so, he will walk normally again...)

3. Finger skills

Uses his hand to indicate "brushing his teeth" when we say it's time to brush teeth
Sort out a few shapes with his shape sorter like "star", "circle" and "moon"
Drawing or using the shapes on a magnetic drawing board
Starts to use a fork to eat food
Building to a height of 3-4 wooden blocks

4. Social and Emotional Development

Tries to "talk" back in his own language when we give him instructions
Screams at times when he cannot get what he wants

It's an Early Spring....

It seems that it is a really short winter this year. We really have to deal with the cold for only one month, where we had to turn the AC on. In fact, the coldest time was around the Chinese New Year, where it went as low as -5 degrees in Shanghai. However, right after the 15 days of the Chinese New year, temperatures started become much warmer. In fact, there were a few days this week that temperatures in Shanghai reach as high as 23 degrees.

Check out the 桃花 in the gardens below...

Finally, I am allowed to go for my play sessions in the gardens and the playgrounds in the mornings. Check out some pictures Daddy took for me... Daddy even said I was so 大胆 that I started chasing after and attempting to kick the little dogs (defined as smaller than me!) and trying to stroke the bigger dogs (obviously those bigger in size than me!). That really came as a surprise as I was so scared of the 毛毛 carpet that Aunty Fiona has in her apartment, but I wasn't scared of "hairy" dogs??? Daddy and Mummy couldn't figure this out rationally... Hahaha...

A Naughty Stunt...

Daddy thinks I am becoming naughtier and naughtier. There was one Sunday night that Daddy was playing the building blocks with me on the Ikea breakfast table. And then, guess what I did? I actually threw all the blocks on the floor and then attempted to climb up to sit on the Ikea breakfast table. Daddy managed to catch my naughty stunt on video. Check this out...

Another Two New Buddies...

It's an amazing year... Hahaha... We are just into the Moo Moo year and although the crisis is still plagued everywhere, we definitely have lots to give thanks for. Remember I mentioned earlier that Aunty Michelle is expecting a baby girl (due this April)??? Now we found out that Aunty Melissa (going to be due this August) and Aunty Audrey (going to be due this July) are expecting too... Haven't you all realise I am going to be "Big" Brother??? Hahahaha...

My CNY Outfit..

Today we had dinner with Uncle Joshua (one of our Singaporean friends in Shanghai) and her fiancee Aunty Wendy and her family in Shanghai. After that, it was followed by more firecrackers and fireworks...

This is my Chinese New Year outfit for today...

Our First Chinese New Year in Shanghai...

It is the first time we spent Chinese New Year in Shanghai. Last night, we arranged to have reunion dinner with a bunch of Singaporean friends who were like us who stayed behind in Shanghai for Chinese New Year too. Mummy was hoping to get someone to bring "Yusheng" back from Singapore, as some of the ingredients cannot be bought locally. However, we finally found it being served at Sushi Teh. So we bought a takeaway portion for us to "捞" during the reunion dinner. Picture to be uploaded soon.

We also played a bunch of firecrackers and fireworks after dinner outside Aunty Fiona's place... Here's some videos we took... The whole night that followed was then filled with explosive noises from firecrackers and fireworks all over the streets. It was definitely an experience since we have never played with them before in Singapore... We can still see the remnants of the firecrackers lying on the streets today...

Chinese New Year Light Ups in Shanghai...

Here's some pictures of us at 徐家汇. Check out the light ups there. The 牛 year will here in a few more days... Hope that the BULL will wake up from hibernating and wishing everyone a "BULLish" year ahead... Hahaha...

Glenn Doman Flashcard Method

Mummy has heard and read lots about the Glenn Doman Flashcard method from her friends and websites, respectively. She has ordered a series of Glenn Doman books from Amazon several months back but had never had a chance to really sit down to read them. As part of her new year resolution for 2009, she finally made herself sit down and finished 2 books (still got 2 more to go). Here's the Glenn Doman series of books she got:

How To Teach Your Baby To Read
How To Teach Your Baby Math
How To Give Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge
How Smart Is Your Baby

After reading the first 2 books, Mummy's rather amazed at how a baby's brain can function, so she decided to try this for me. She just ordered a set of words and dots flashcards for me. Of course, before placing her order, she tried using smaller Baby Einstein flashcards for me for a consecutive one week period and I appeared to be quite receptive (although Mummy has been using flashcards for me since I was 3 months, Mummy has never been disciplined to put this into a routine schedule for me) So Mummy's determined that her 2009 new year resolution will be fulfilled. Let's check back in another 6 months and monitor my progress...

New Year Resolutions

It's that time of the year again... It's the last day of 2008... And as usual, today is the perfect time to sit down and review the past year to see if previous new year resolutions were met and make new year resolutions for the coming year. Mummy definitely remembered herself doing this last year.

Whilst it seems like the world in general is still partying during this time (as 婆婆 told Mummy this morning that she saw in the TV that there will be countdown parties at 步行街 and 徐家汇), Mummy is not too sure whether it is simply worth that celebration. After all, we have all seen how everything in the last 4 months of 2008 went downhill and 2008 is coming to an end with a lot of gloom as compared to the festiveness everyone felt in 2007. In 2008, we saw the market suddenly took a sharp turn in September when Leh* Brothers declared bankrupt and AI* suddenly announced that it is in huge financial difficulty. These news were followed by Cit*bank announcing its huge financial difficulty and then later the 3 big Motor companies in Dallas were also hit. Then, suddenly within the last quarter of 2008, the ripple effect from the banks came on to many other industries. Together with it, the stock market and property prices have plunged a big deal in the last few months.

Here in China, we also have the milk scandal issue. There are also lots of news that a lot of factories down in Guangzhou area have closed down due to lack of US demand, increasing labour costs and appreciating RMB. In Mummy's line of work, she also sees a lot of manufacturing companies suddenly turning to losses, especially with the stocking up of raw materials at high prices with the original expected demand for finished goods coupled with sudden falling prices for the finished goods due to sudden lack of demand.

Mummy reads and hears about bad news and retrenchment on a weekly basis. Such retrenchments even happened to some of Mummy's friends at church and at work. Suddenly the financial tsuinami just became so real. Many say that this is only the beginning. At least, there is some cushioning of the impact from the 1st part of 2008. But as we enter into 2009, the real downturn is here as we are likely to see many companies in a sea of red, many companies folding down, more unemployment etc. Of course, there are many who also say that the market will start to recover a bit at the end of 2009.

Despite all these gloom we see in 2008, as Mummy looked back on the past year, she feels that she still needed to give thanks for everything. After all, there have been good things that have happened during the year too.

Mummy finally got the promotion to Senior Manager that she has long awaited for

Daddy and Mummy still have a job (it is important to give thanks for this as retrenchment news are as near to us as our friends)

Although it has been relatively difficult, Mummy did manage to strike a good balance between work and family life.

Mummy also had the wonderful experience being a first time mummy. There has been definitely a lot of firsts. But Mummy is glad that her trial an error methods coupled with her reading up of information work most of the time. And I believe this is an experience that Mummy has had and would not trade for anything in exchange with.

As we move into the beginning of 2009, Mummy's new year resolution is to be able to continue to spend more time with me so that she can help me develop my language, motor and mental skills more effectively as I move into the toddler stage. She is preparing to start looking for a half-day school to send me to so that I can start learning more skills and 婆婆 can also have more time for herself.

Mummy's Breastfeeding Journey

Influenced by the websites and the Nov 2007 mummies, Mummy is a strong advocator of breastfeeding because of its benefits. Here's a list of benefits (for both Mummy and baby) that Mummy has found from Baby Center:

In fact, despite being a working mother that has crazy deadlines at times, Mummy kept hanging on to the thought of breastfeeding me. In fact, Mummy's supply for milk for me has gradually dropped after breastfeeding for 13.5 months.

Originally, Mummy's aim was to breastfeed for 12 months. And now, certainly she has more than fulfilled that aim and she will stop from 2009 onwards. Nevertheless, I am very thankful to Mummy for doing this for me. I want to tell her I really appreciate her for it.

Our Winter Getaway to Macau and Hong Kong - Part 3

Here's my favourite part, Disneyland. I was so excited that I hardly slept in the day when I was there. I was busy taking rides and exploring the streets of Disneyland and making friends with the Disney characters...

Can you guys guess what I am looking at and smiling away?