Singapore noodles

It was 9.30 on Monday night. The kids were asleep. I was drinking a cup of hot coco while cooking for tomorrow's dinner. I prepared the ingredients already and thought I would have time to cook it ealier. However, the day's plans suddenly changed to accommodate an unexpected doctor's appointment and all the extra work to do with an unwell child, including clean up vomit(Sam's 3rd morning vomit), running nappies and extra laundary.

Of course we didn't know it at the time but the vomits signalled the start of another ear infection (or was it the same one he had 5 weeks ago?) and that Samuel would feel a lot worse 2 days later!

[9 months] Sick explorer

Sam is 10 kg @ 9 months old. With him moving around so much, his weight has not increased much in the last few weeks. Sam can now hold onto a chair and walk around the room, he can even turn and move around furniture. Samuel is a climber. He would climb onto the box we put in front of tv to prevent him from opening drawers and cupboards. Sam is a explorer, he squeezes himself into tight spaces and makes a run for the kitchen if the safty gate is left open. Sam loves cables (power cables and telephone cables), doors, wheels and power switches. Lara was never interested in such things, how does Sam know he is a boy?



Sam loves his food. He has tried chicken, pork, fish, eggs and most fruit and vegetables. I switched to a lactose-free (Karicare delact) formula 2 months ago when Sam had running nappies (due to teething) and he's still on that. Sam's two bottom teeth had given us a lot of problem. It looks like more teeth coming on the top. Sam is more clingy and ratty and has red cheeks when he's teething. Teething combined with cold and ear infection in the last few weeks had made Sam a not very happy boy.

When Sam is well, he's very affectionate, loves to give me cuddles and kisses, open-mouth-tounge-saliva-very-wet sort of kisses. He giggles a lot too. A couple of little girls in daycare really like Sam. They called out "Sam Sam Sam" and came and touched his face and showered him toys when they saw him.

Sam's first swing ride at our local park. He was not very sure about it. He didn't cry, but held onto the swing a little too tightly and looked very serious.


Sam's first corn on the cob,he had a good go at it.


Other notable things:
*Sam can't lie still when you change his nappy, he put his hands down there or try to turn around or get up. Every nappy change is a stuggle.
* Sam got hold of the real remote control (he's just not interested in the 'not-working' ones we gave hime to play) the other day and knew to point it at the TV.
* Sam likes to rip the pages off our yellow/white pages and eat it.
* Sam does not want to sit in the bath, he wants to get up and walk around the bath tub.

Sunday roast

Roasted pork loin fillet with roasted potatoes and vegetables (beans with bacons, peas, corn on the cob, carrots and brussel sprouts with cheese and pine nuts).

Parties

Last weekend was the party weekend because Lara had two birthday parties. Simon didn't feel well so I took both kids to the first party. I took Lara to the second party while Simon looked after Samuel the next day.

Tayla's party @ Queen Elisabeth reserve. The park is fully enclosed, with bike tracks, a variety of play stations, nice undercover seating area and toilets, everything you need in a playground. I believed Lara had a great time because it took me a long time to get her to leave.



Sean's party. Lara had fun playing games with her friends.

Mother's Day 2011

The week leading up to Mother's Day was tiring. Sam's ear infection came back and had to be on antibiotics again and Lara had a mysterious illness. She had a temperature on Monday night and kept crying but couldn't tell us what was wrong. Tuesday morning Lara was lathergic and didn't want to go to daycare but by Tuesday lunch time she was as well as if nothing had ever happened. I stayed at home with the kids and didn't go to work on Tuesday. For some reason, Lara was not well on Friday night either, getting up crying every couple of hours, still couldn't tell us what was wrong, sometimes she said she had nightmares, other times headaches. It was Samuel's turn to get up on Saturday night crying at 1am and 4am. We had a family gathering on Saturday but I really didn't want to do anything else just sleep and rest. The best part about Mother's day was that I got a good sleep in. We took the kids to the park after lunch and enjoyed the sun (& vitamin D) for an hour. I felt more alive after that.

Mandarin tree

My favorite tree in the garden!

Our mandarin tree is full of fruit at the moment. Most of the mandarins are still a little green, we picked a few at a time and let the rest ripen on the tree. The fruit is very delicious if only a little on the sour side. I made sure the kids have these mandarins as often as they want for the Vitamin C. Both Lara and Samuel love them. I've been back at work for 4 weeks and Samuel was sick for three of those 4 weeks. Sam is still taking prophylactic antibiotics for ear infection because of yet another cold. This winter has not started too well for us. However, every time I had one of our mandarins, I felt my own coughs getting better. A fruit picked fresh from the tree must have a lot of of Vitamin C I tell myself. Maybe this will be our secret weapon against cold and flu this winter?

So many ideas

Lara was talking non-stop one morning and I asked ger to "stop talking for a minute" and she replied "I can't stop talking, because I have so many ideas in my head"!

Lara knows all the months in a year now., she sometimes forgets May.

Lara asked a lot of "Am I four/five?" quesions. These questions usually led to "so I can do xxx now?" or "xxx do this when she is four!". Lara likes to "tell jokes". One of the her jokes is "What have legs but can't walk?" The answer "Chair legs".

Lara has very definite ideas about what boys and girls should wear. When I picked Sam up the other day, he was in daycare's socks (pink). Lara screamed "Mum take the SOCKS off Samuel. They are GIRLS SOCKS!!!". Lara wanted to marry me or Samuel some days. She also told me "When I am 13 and when Sean is 13, we will be married all afternoon and all day".

I read "Hansel & Gretel" to Lara a while ago. I took the opportunity to ask her at the end of the story "if an old woman said I have lots of sweets in my house, please come in, would you go in?". Lara said "No". Good answer. I then asked her "if a nice man said come inside my car I have a lot of toys for you to play, would you go?" Lara answered "Yes" without hesitation. Have to work on that more.

Sam was coughing the other day and I said "ohhhh poor thing". Lara bursted into tears "you didn't say ohhh to me!" she later explained. Lara regressed a lot ealier this year, she baby-talked and liked to pretend she was Samuel, she's better now. Lara hated going to bed when Sam was still up at night. For some reason, Lara and Sam always want to play the same toys. I can forsee more "fighting for toys" episodes in the future.

Lara is my little helper. She helps me to look after Sam by getting me things for Sam, checking on him adn playing with him, she even saved Sam from breaking one of Grandma's ceramic pots. Lara is also my little translator telling me "When Sam says ma ma ma ma,it means he wants milk".


Lara doing craft with Shani.

We were at Simon's friends for lunch a few weeks ago. Shani, one of the friends who is a school teacher teaching year one this year, spent some time talking to Lara. She said Lara's gross motor skills are very good and that Lara's good with art/drawings, and has great imaginations (Lara made up a rhyme and story for Shani). She thinks Lara is ready for school!

Can you buy me drums for my 5th birthday?

Lara spent a long time playing with Uncle Andrew's drum set during the long weekend.