Welcome! Josephine aka Bibou is growing up so quickly. And now we have a new addition, little Seraphine aka Angel to add to the fun. We've been trying to keep up with all the new things that they do each day.. and thus, a blog to capture that growing years! Click on each pic for a bigger view.
Oh i've been so very bad. I'm guilt-wreck that I've not been able to update the blog. Work work work (and now, I've just been asked to take on MORE!), and we've also had a big bout of illness going on. I'll try and update a bit more very soon. In the meantime, I thought you'd like to see Bibou's most recent school picture. I love love love how the school does this regularly, every year like clockwork. Can't wait for next year either, as Seraphine gets to have her picture taken too! Love Bibou's smile. Wanna see how she's changed over the years?
First, a big big apology for the long silence. I know I've been falling behind tremendously on the blog and it stresses me out to no end that I've been unable to update it. Indeed, I still have a lot to catch you up on, with all our fun summer activities, recent visit of mahmah and kongkong. Unfortunately, that will have to wait for a while,.... hopefully in the next 2 weeks, things will slow down ever so little, and I will do a big post...hopefully! In the meantime, I hope that some recent pictures of my little precious' recent birthday party will suffice.
It is hard to believe that slightly more than 5 years ago, a little peanut with a mop of shocking black hair popped out of me (ok, she actually got dragged out 6 weeks earlier... :), but still, it was a wonderful first meeting.... all 30 seconds of it). 5 years later, that little peanut has turned into a gorgeous, helpful, delightful, active, sensitive , lively princess who loves to sing and dance! We cannot imagine our lives without her.
As always, Bibou wanted a princess themed party and so she did. As it was the start of a new school year, we invited everyone who was on her table in class (and of course her usual 'gang' that she hangs out with.... Dan (gasp, what is a party without Dan), Aaron, Louise and Noemi. At first, we had a little hiccup as apparently one of her classmate / invited guest was also hosting her birthday party on the same day as Bibou and they both shared the same guests. Oh dear, what are we to do? Fortunately, M's mom, got into action, and started making some calls, and changed their birthday party to another day. Now everyone had 2 parties to go to that week. Everyone was excited... but not as excited as Bibou. This year, she really understood what was happening, and was anticipating it! For more than a week, she would tell everyone, and especially Daddy and me, that she was going to be 5 years old and that it was going to be her birthday soon! On the day of the party, you could not have controled her excitment at all. Bless her. She was so happy... every few minutes, she would go, it's my birthday! She would skip and sing, laugh and clap "its my birthday", do a little spin. She helped with the decoration planning everything! and boy was she super happy with her... Barbie Princess Cake. My second year of making it didn't make it go any faster, but at least this year, I didn't need to do surgery on Barbie's legs (I used last year's doll, just changed her dress). I got some superduper frosting color, unfortunately, they were QUITE superduper... and I put a little bit too much blue... EVERYTHING was blue, but it was fun.
Anyway, Bibou couldn't wait for her guests to come. She did stand quietly for me to put on her make up. And then we got her dressed up in the new princess dress that I got her (oh and matching 'high heeled' shoes too! It was hilarious the day i came back with the dress and shoes for the girls.... they rushed to put on the dresses (Seraphine got to wear Bibou's old one). And slipped on the shoes! Both went clacking around the house with them. I couldn't resist taking a photo of them, and when I asked them to show me their shoes... they promptly lifted their skirts. Funny). She was so happy to have glitter all over the face too. When her guests arrive (all 13 of them!), all the girls wanted make up on too... so I made all of them up. They were so thrilled. In the meantime, Bibou was showing all her friends her 'princess room' upstairs.
We played a few games (pass the parcel, bob for apples, oh and hitting the pinata). She got totally spoilt with presents too and all her friends went home with a bag filled with loads and loads of goodies. Oh and she even got a pair of roller blades from mahmah and kongkong, which she did try to.... but kept falling over (of course) but she didn't get frustrated. Instead she couldn't stop laughing! My funny girl. Happy Birthday my baby girl.
Baby girl has grown up too quickly over the past month or so. She’s gone from a baby, literally to a strong, independent, stubborn toddler. She holds her ground very firmly. She knows what she wants and will not stop until she gets it. Fortunately, she’s easily distracted and so doesn’t normally go into big long tantrums… unlike someone we know. She’s EXTREMELY cheeky, really really cheeky. Sometimes it gets you so flabbergasted, but most times, you just can’t help but laugh out loud. She would say no, just for the sake for saying no, and laughs at you. She actually doesn’t care either way. She likes to go nah nah nah at you, and has occasionally stuck her tongue out!! She can roll her eyes, oh and get this, if you are scolding her or ‘lecturing’ her, she pretends that she’s asleep! I kid you not. She will put her head down, close her eyes and pretends to SNORE!!! Ai. But she laughs. She loves to laugh and loves to make people laugh. She’ll do anything to make you laugh. You can hear from the video below, she has a most delicious and infectious laugh. She is very affectionate, loves to give and receive kisses. Most of all, wants US to kiss. For example, when she is in my arms and Daddy comes over to give her a kiss, she’d insist that Daddy gives me a kiss too! And she’d insist that it was on my lips (sometimes Daddy likes to kiss me on my forehead…. And if so, she’d tap her little finger on my lips and look at Daddy sternly. Simply hilarious!) She, however, is not a cuddly person. So sad. Bibou loves to cuddle but Seraphine is too impatient for it. She’d wiggle out of your arms if you try and cuddle with her too long. The only time I get to hold and cuddle her is when she’s asleep or when she’s ill. Poor baby.
She does so like to ‘copy’ me, for example, when I leave for work in the morning, I have my handbag, my laptop bag, my lunch bag and sometimes another bag or two. So baby girl’s favorite thing now is, stuffing things into bags… she LOVES bags and slinging them across her shoulders, putting on shoes and waving to us, saying ‘byebye’. Simply delicious. Ah yes, she loves shoes now. She can put her shoes on herself, most of the time, even getting them on the right foot. Of course, currently they girls are wearing sandals, but still, she needs to slip the shoes on, slip through the buckle and Velcro them down. However, she loves to wear other people’s shoes too….especially mine.
She does stand up for herself, and is a bit aggressive….no doubt all learnt from Bibou. She HATES it when Bibou whines and whinges… and so often goes up to her and smack her when she does it. I think she hates it ‘coz we hate it! LOL. Of course that just gets Bibou all winded up even more. Sigh. They both do get into snatching and smacking fits unfortunately! Arrgh. But like I previously mentioned, Bibou is still protective over her and loves her little sister. She would go up to her to cuddle or for a kiss.
Seraphine is a chatty one. She picks up words and phrases quickly now. Watch the video for more Seraphine fun!
Oh before I forget... the girls got their ears pierced too! Bibou really wanted it so we went to the store. She was really really brave. Didn't cry at all! She was a little startled when it went it but not a peep from her. Seraphine did cry, but only for a very short time.
Well, that's it for now. I hope to be able to upload more pix and videos and news of the kids soon!
Ta-da! Finally, the girls' have got their rooms. It sure took a long while coming but the girls are all moved in like they’ve been living there forever. Daddy and I painted the room pink (Bibou picked out the color herself!) while I picked out their decorations. Daddy laid down the floor. The girls just couldn’t wait to move into their room and had no problem settling in. So are some photos of their room. Note though, that the pictures were taken prior to Seraphine moving into her ‘big girl’s bed. YES, she’s moved from a crib to the normal bed..in fact, she’s got Bibou’s old bed and Bibou has a brand new pink bed!! Ain’t they lucky??
The slopping roof made it difficult to have a wardrobe in the room, without loosing much space. So Daddy just installed a rod and we have an instant wardrobe. The girls are estactic that everything is pink and princess. I found princess rugs too!
The princess blanket from kongkong made a perfect throw over the chair and the princess tent was just the perfect accessory for the playroom!!
And I tell you, the girls just LOVE running into the corners, and hiding there.
Video
Don't you just love the way she asks for me to 'come'..with her hands?
What is summer without spending time with Dan??!! Gasp, inconceivable idea of course. And so, we met up with Dan and his family one hot weekend. As they’d never been to the Gailly Farm before, we decided to go there! What an adventure. Bibou remembered the place very well, as she’d been there various times already. She couldn’t wait to show Dan all the different animals. The first stop was the pigs and donkeys and fowls (ducks, geese, roosters, even peacocks). Seraphine was wide-eyed, finally seeing these animals ‘up close and real’ as she only remembers them in books. I told her that these were ducks, and first she looked at me, uncertain… about to go ‘quack quack’ with her hands under the armpit to do the flapping wings thing, when a duck obligingly started quacking. That got her all wound up!! She started laughing and quacking at the same time. She got on the old tractors and pretended to be the driver.
But the real fun began when we went onto the field where loads of little baby and mama goats were waiting to be fed. The kids all rushed into the pen while I rushed off to collect long fresh grass for the kids to feed the kids (hahaha). Bibou was a pro at it having done it a couple of times and so she showed the others what to do. Seraphine at first kept a clear distance and was trying to hide behind me. However, once she realized that I was being ‘attacked’… I had a huge bunch of freshly pulled grass, by the mama goats, who could jump up to chest level to grab the food, she hid away too. I managed to persuade her that they weren’t really all that dangerous. I showed her how to feed the goats instead of just throwing the grass at them when they came too near!! Finally when the goats were eating out of her hand, she was so happy. She totally enjoyed herself. Then we went off into the ‘forest’ when the Dads took the older kids for a walk. Us Mommies just got gouter ready. Soon we left the farm, to get to the other side of the farm, the harvesting side, where the Bitans gathered some fruits and vegetables. All too soon, we had to say goodbye to them, but no worries, ‘coz they were back again the next day.
As it was a really hot weekend, the kids wanted to cool down in the pool. First, we had a lovely lunch at a Japanese restaurant not too far away. The kids love the food, and so do we. Fresh fish and seaweed too. We next went to Ikea to get a few things. By the time we got home…the Bitans had arrived!! The kids ran to the pool and couldn’t wait to jump in. Little Seraphine however, was exhausted and had fallen asleep in the car. So Daddy took the whole seat out of the car and into the garden..where she continued sleeping (through the squeals and screams of the older kids). The Bitans were amazed at how she could sleep through. But after a while, she woke up and then was all ready to get into the pool with the kids as she saw how much fun the rest was having. At first, she stood around the edge while being splashed, but it was a quick few minutes before she splashed back and jumping around the pool.
The slide is such a hot item…the kids just love it! Ditto the big yellow seal. Bibou just loves climbing on it and hanging on but ultimately tipping over into the pool. The most fun part is climbing on the seal with someone else and tipping over into the pool. She did this with Dan AND with Aidan who came over another weekend. In fact, we often tease Bibou as she’s been seen in the same pool, same pose, on the seal, but with different boys! Ah what a heartbreaker. indeed, we've had numerous number of BBQs in the back yard with friends and MESSAGE colleagues and all the kids just love the pool. Unfortunately, the water isn't quite warm, in fact, it can be really cold, though on a very yucky hot and humid day, esp in the hot and humid train, Daddy says that it is very refreshing to jump into the cold pool. No thank you for me! Well, as long as the kids like it. Seraphine seems to have no qualms about being in the cold. She just jumps into the pool like that, no probs at all. Bibou HATES the cold, though she will get into the pool... but it has to be on her 'terms, at her own time. And hates to be splashed. Of course, Seraphine, knowing that it was something that Bibou doesn't like..... LOVES to splash her. Sigh.
It was Father’s Day next. The girls were all excited about giving Daddy his Father’s Day present (he got some candy, proper English biscuits and lots of books!!)After all the excitement has died down, we got ready and headed off to the Jardin d’acclimintation for the annual MESSAGE Father’s Day picnic. The girls are always really excited about going there, esp with the prospects on getting on the ride! We were met there by lots of MESSAGE friends, and Bibou was real happy to see them. All the kids were delighted as there were gifts of water pistols and bottles of bubbles. Unfortunately, Seraphine has decided that she loves them too, and kept asking for them. However, being the stubborn independent girl she is, she refused to let anyone hold the wand and bottle for her, insisting that she holds them both. She wants to do it herself. Of course, she’s unable to, and also keeps tipping the bottle of soap all over herself. Still she won’t let anyone help her. Daddy gave us some musical relief, playing some children song. We had a nice picnic at lunch time. After that, we decided to head on to the playground area with the Gadrets and the Straights. The kids love it and couldn’t wait to get on the structure. As it was a hot day, the water structures were a big hit! I held Seraphine up to the fine water mist which sprayed out mist intermittently. At first, she was startled by it, but very very quickly grew to love it. She learnt to anticipate the next spurt and squealed with delight. Daddy and I were most astonished and how strong she’s become. She can climb quickly and able to negotiate / push her way through the bigger kids. We found Bibou at the water jet area. As we didn’t bring the kid’s swim wear, they just stripped down to their undies and ran through the water jets. Seraphine loves water…. She loves to drink it, touch it, just put it in her mouth. So we were not surprised when she decided that she was going to try and capture the water jets (that were shooting from the edge) with her mouth. First she decided that she didn’t want to get too wet, so she was going to stand on the ‘dry’ side, and then she tried sticking her tongue out towards the jet..didn’t work. So she sat down…didn’t work. She tried all kinds of method. My absolute favorite is the one of her finally lying almost on the ground with her bum up in the air. Bibou in the meantime finally decided to take the plunge and ran through the cold jets, squealing. And Seraphine finally decided that it was fun too, so followed suit… though she was quite caught with surprise and how cold the water was. Needless to say, the girls all fall promptly to sleep once we got in the car.
The next day, we had the very fortunate occasion to be invited to a friend, fellow MESSAGE member and colleague (she’s MESSAGE’s president) place for a BBQ. Actually, it was their country house, about an hour’s drive from where we were. It wasn’t terribly hot, but we were lucky with the weather as it wasn’t raining… not until all the food had been cooked and eaten anyway. It was a nice drive, the girls fall asleep on the way (thank god for drugs – the girls get so car sick these days…). We did stop to get some delicious cherries and flowers for our hostess. The country side air always smells so different. So fresh, flowerly and such a ‘good for you’ feeling. It was a little bit ‘frais’ though … ie cold, but the girls solved that problem… by running all over the garden, exploring the wonderful toys and adventures that could be found in their new playarea. We were the first family to arrive, but all the other execom members and their family followed soon after. Bibou was especially thrilled to see Louise and stuck on to her for most of the afternoon. The two girls play so well together. Running and chasing each other and being targeted by the older boys. Daddy as usual, broke out his guitar, and everyone had a musical time, esp K. as she loves singing along with Daddy. Bibou was a wonderful accompanist, as always. I do hope she will continue to enjoy music and dancing when she grows up. She does like it a lot right now, always singing, not necessarily ‘conventional’ songs like the ones she has been taught, either at school or at home, but she also loves to make songs up as she accompanies Daddy (well, maybe it’s the other way round eh, Daddy makes up a song as she sings up a storm). Seraphine is always off dancing on her own.
Something I noticed that day that sealed my conviction that having a second child was my best decision ever made. We were sat at the ‘adults’ table chatting and drinking / snacking when we heard a little commotion. As far as we can tell, Seraphine had probably done a boo-boo like pushing the younger Giselle (whose second name, btw was also Seraphine) when she couldn’t get her way. Immediately, Giselle’s brother and another boy (who was ‘tight’ with the brother) confronted Seraphine. You can tell from the photo that the boys were aggressive towards her (not physically though despite the ‘gun’) and they were ‘scolding’ her. She had a most bewildered look on her face, not quite sure how to react. However, Bibou did. She immediately, stood over Seraphine, and was very protectively. She had her arms up and was staring intensely at the boys, making sure that they didn’t do anything to her. And then she just yelled at the kids (I couldn’t hear what she said), and the boys then moved away. She then scooped Seraphine up into her arms and hugged her and soothed her, making sure she was alright. She did me most proud. I was actually moved to tears. And this is not a one-off thing, I saw it again recently at a park in Paris. Seraphine was on a structure and I think had been accidentally (or purposefully, I don’t know) hit by a rowdy boy. Bibou immediately took her into her arms, protecting her, putting her behind her own back and then proceeded to scold the boy. It is what I’ve always hoped for, that the girls will be protective of each other regardless of the situation. Protect first and ask questions later.
What a wonderful day. And Bibou was in 7th heaven as she was allowed to pick flowers and wear them too!
Sorry doesn’t cut it I know. It has been way too long, since I’ve updated the blog. it has been at the back of my mind and nags me every single day. But I’ve just not had the time!! It has been crazy busy at work. And the weekends are also very busy… either cooking for the week, keeping an eye on the kids while Daddy tries to finish up the house or being with friends. It is the end of the quarter and fiscal year for us at work, I thought it would quiet down in August, but no such luck. Anyway, I’m going to attempt to do so now! I’ll try and update as much as possible…. Here goes.
First update on Bibou’s school Concert :In one of the previous posts, I’d posted about Bibou’s end of school concert for her French school. There, she performed with all her French schoolmates with various French songs. Well, not too long ago, it was Bibou’s English school concert. Bibou couldn’t wait for it. It was held on a Saturday afternoon at the American Cathedral in Paris. The children from maternelle section had to wear red, so I chose the reddest dress I could find in her wardrobe – what else, a cheong sum of course, made from red silk. She looked so good in it, especially since she had a bit of color from the sun. Seraphine and I had to wait out for a while while Daddy and Bibou went to practice. Yes, Daddy was also involved with the show as he volunteered to accompany the performance with his guitar. Seraphine and I hung around for a while, exploring the really old Cathedral. After about 45 minutes, the doors to the theatre opened and we went in. A wonderful site greeted us – a sea of little red people on stage! Yah. The maternelle group was going to start first. Bibou’s shiny red cheong sum was easy to spot! And she was dead center of the stage too! Yeah Bibou. Once the room was filled up, the maternelle group kicked off the show. First they started out with a couple of rhythms and finger actions. Bibou was all enthusiastic with her gestures and face expressions! And then they sang the song that she’d been practicing for a long time… doe a deer. Oh made me so very proud. She had all the actions spot on. You can watch her in the video below (if it ever uploads!!). All too soon, her group is finished and off to the side she went while we watched the performances from the other sections. They were quite good, esp the rendition of Romeo and Juliet from the (much) older group. It was funny however, to spot Daddy in the wee corner, struggling hard to match the children’s’ singing that were not in time at all…. At the end of the concert, all the kids from all levels came out on stage to do a farewell song (Bibou at this time was mighty bored, you could tell, but she still stood still, didn’t fidget nor throw tantrums….). At the end, everyone got thanks, especially all the teachers and the fabulous principal. Oh, and Daddy got thanked too “thanks goes out to our very own Mr. D’Arcy”…. Yeah.
After the concert, as we were in Paris, we went on to have lunch at Mirama; the kids just LOVE the food and gobble everything up, no matter that it is really hot. After lunch, we took a stroll back to the carpark, only to realize that they’d blocked off the main road to the Notre Dame. We tried to find out what was happening, only to be told that some VIP was going to visit Notre Dame. We hung around for a while, but the girls were getting edgy so we left. As we exited onto the road, we realized that we were the only car on the road (probably blocked off on the top) with lots of people behind the barricade waiting to see who the VIPs were. Daddy decided to be cheeky and rolled down the windows and the girls started waving pretending to be VIPs. The ‘audience’ all had fun and played along to the kids… clapping and waving back. That was fun. I found out the next day that it was actually the Obamas and their girls that were visiting the Notre Dame.
The following week, Bibou had her end of school fair where there were balloons, candies, games...and Bibou even got her face painted, something she was so very pleased about. That was also the week where the raspberries were all out! It was delicious and the girls love picking the raspberries off the bush, nice and warm from the sun and popping them in their mouth.
Finally, the good weather is here! And what great timing too as it was a(nother) long weekend. It is also the last of the super long weekends (we’ve had non-stop long weekends since end of April!!). The ‘traveling’ petting farm was also in town and Daddy took the girls to visit the animals. They were super thrilled to be able to pet the animals!
And then The Ms were also free, so they popped over for some great BBQing for 2 days in a row. We were so lucky! We had great food (Irish sausages yummy!) and great company. On the second day, A even helped Daddy with complete the flooring upstairs (while K and I watched the kids…. While sunbathing too!). and the Kids… oh the kids had a BLAST! Daddy took out the swimming pool (that reminds me, gotta go get another pool as this one has had it already!!). The best part is,…. The slide that I’d bought for Seraphine’s birthday was a PERFECT accessory to the pool (hadn’t intended for it, but perfect!) The kids were all scrambling to use the slide to splash into the pool! I remember the summer when Bibou was two – she liked the pool, but didn’t quite like to have her head wet, and certside of the pool…. Oh but not our Seraphine. ainly didn’t liked to be splashed or have her head under weather. She’d just stand on the She was splashing and kicking in the pool with her head dunked in. She adored the slide and couldn’t wait for her turn again. At first, K or myself would have to lift her onto the slide (the kids were too lazy / impatient to get out of the pool and use the steps and so were just running up the slide to get to the top again) so she can slide down. She kept asking for “encore” (more), lifting her arms up to be carried. The bigger kids sure weren’t waiting for her (though they all tried to help her!). Finally, Seraphine got tired of waiting and decided that she was going to climb up the slide too….. and after one or two attempts, she was able to do it! Both K and I were a bit worried, ready to jump out of our deck chairs, but oh she was good. And soon she was climbing up and sliding down like a pro. In fact she loved it so much that she practically stayed in that pool most of the afternoon (long after the older kids got bored and came out)! She had loads of hilarious actions that made us laugh and laugh: she would sit on top of the slide and (imitating the other kids) try to wave her hand so that the others would clear away from the slide as she came down! Oh something that she loves to do in our room was jump up on our bed and land on her bum…something we do try to discourage of course! And so she was awfully pleased that she could do it over and over again in the pool (repeating 1,2,3 over and over again with us). She even got to jump in sync with Bibou!
Wonderful day! Enjoy these sunny, funny photos and videos!
Videos
Here's Seraphine first time on the slide. I love the way she uses her arm to wave everyone away - clearing the way for her slide down (so she doesn't knock into them).
After watching the bigger kids, she decided that she was also going to climb up the slide herself, without having to wait to be picked up. And she got it!
Jumping in sync with Bibou!!
Learning to kick in the water and then after hearing us say the word "STOP" all day, started saying it too!!.
One of the most significant feature that we’ve recently noticed is that Bibou has developed a great sense of humor! She’s able to play jokes on you and really make us laugh. The other day, just prior to a BBQ, I’d gone up and changed into a sun dress as it was rather hot. It had, admittedly a rather busy pattern, but I liked the dress. So, here’s how our conversation went :
Bibou : “Mummy, aren’t you going to get dressed?”
Me (busy trying to move some chairs at the same time) : “ Huh? I AM dressed”
B (laughs out loud) : “No, I meant get dressed for the guests. We have guests coming, yes Mummy?”
Me : “Yes, they are coming, and yes, I changed already for them”
B : “Oh” (then silence) So I stopped what I was doing, looked at her and asked : Why, is something wrong with my dress?”
B (Backpedaling really fast now) : Noooooooooo, it’s VERY nice Mummy. Very nice.
Me : “Ok then”, and I went back to work.
Then I heard her say : “ But it’s PAJAMAS!” (I have a very busy patterned night dress that I wear and so I guess she’s associated my dress as PJs!). And she laughed out loud. You could hear Daddy bellowing with laughter from upstairs! Needless to say, I went up to change. And I swear, Bibou kept coming up to me that day to tell me that my ‘dress’ is very nice, Mummy.
As you can see, Bibou’s English has improved significantly over the past year. The stint at the roaming schoolhouse has certainly helped and she does love classes a lot. We must ensure that we sign her up again for next year. She’s articulating more and is able to express herself a lot better. She’s also laughing out loud when she watches DVDs (indicating that she’s now understanding what’s going on). French friends have also commented to us that Bibou’s French is very good (we don’t get to hear her speak in French). It’s amazing too how she is able to switch from one language to another just like that, and sometimes even do ‘translation’. Also I noticed that if she were with us, Bibou would speak English to Seraphine, but French to her if they were with their nanny. She has also developed her drawing / painting skills a lot! She does love to paint and the other day, we took out the painting gear and she started painting…. I was wowed by her painting! And quite flattered too, ‘coz she painted me :)… next to an apple tree. She certainly got her artistic gene from Daddy (def not from me, I can’t draw for nuts). Oh something else she didn’t inherit from me…. balancing skill!!! Recently Bibou has taken to the ‘pedal-less’ bike (that we’d bought like 1 ½ years ago). And she’s been doing REALLY well, able to balance on it. Then the Ms very generously gave us an ‘big girls’ bike, princess and all. Daddy took out the training wheels, got her on it, and OFF SHE WENT! Bibou can ride a bike now (better than her Mummy who can’t ride a bike – no balance).
Bibou had her end of school concert not too long ago (and she will be having another one for her English school in a few weeks). She had to dress up all in white. All the kids in her section (Moyenne) and the one above (grande) came together for the concert. It was sooooo sweet to see all the kids together on stage. Bibou (like all the other kids) stood there so proud and as soon as she saw us, waved excitedly at us. Unfortunately, when the kids stood, she more or else ‘disappeared’ as she was in one of the back rows. But she sang her heart out, as did all the other kids. Later we bumped into Bibou’s teacher in town and she told us how pleased and proud she was of the kids for behaving so well (generally they couldn’t get all the kids to behave during rehearsals!!).
Ah my Bibou…my funny, sweet, sensitive Bibou. The girls do get on fairly well together. They do of course have their constant fights, but they do stick together. They always look out for each other! Every morning, Seraphine must give a kiss to Bibou (whereas she would often say no if we ask one from her). The other day, because the sun was truly really hot, Bibou went and got the sunscreen lotion to put it on herself. Then she turned to Seraphine and told her that she should have some too, and proceeded to put it on her.
Finally. I LOVE this photo of the girls. Seraphine had turned to me to tell me that she had a ‘ca ca’ (poo). So I asked Bibou (who is now my ‘official diaper sniffer’) to ‘please sniff Seraphine’s butt to check”, and Seraphine promptly turned around, hoisted her butt in the air and wiggled her bum at Bibou, who took a big sniff and confirmed that she had a dirty diaper with a big “YUCK. Smelly”. I swear I was in stitches! Never a dull moment at home with my two girls! Pps, and yet another photo, this time of the girls in the sand pit. Seraphine had just done something to annoy the hell out of Bibou. She’s sulking in the corner, and Seraphine’s laughing away! Cheeky girl. Though 10 seconds later…. All is well and they’re back to playing together again. All smiles. In fact, Bibou is also in good spirit, 'coz she just learnt how to cross her legs! Check it out! Daddy told her that she was showing off her panties and she needs to cross her legs... this is her first attempt and she's all so proud! Ah, life’s blissful.
Some videos
A shaky, far away video of Bibou's concert. You can almost make her out....
Here's bibou on her pedal-less bike. Have to take some new vids of her on her real bike!!
My baby girl has turned two, boo hoo. My baby is such a big girl. Well, she is a rather big chubby girl for her age… she wears mostly 3 year old clothes now, whereas Bibou is slim but really tall. Her hair has grown a little, enough for me to tie little plaits which I just love to do hehehe. She is still such as, or if possible, even more bubbly and loves to laugh. She is such a happy go lucky child. And her vocabulary has been increasing at an exponential rate! In the video below, you can see the exchange between us. We love to ask “ Seraphine, how old are you”? She’d promptly reply with “twwwwwwwo”, while putting a couple of pudgy fingers out. Really cute. She has a repertoire that she goes through with me all the time, and adding new words that she picks up. Oh, and she’s really picked up her sister’s love for clothes and staring at herself in the mirror! Recently, I’ve just completely rehaul her wardrobe and so she’s got a lot of new outfits (they’re really not new as they’re hand-me-downs’ from Bibou…but she’s not seen them before nor worn them, so she was really happy). So each morning, after I’d put on a new pretty dress, she would go “wowwwwwwwww”, smooth down the dress and then rush to the mirror to look at herself!!! Really. Every morning. Oh and she’s also taken to saying “ta-dum” whenever she feels she’s done something ‘big’ and wants you to comment on it. These are really cute things that tickle us every day. Other observations that crack me up : she hates cold floors, (anything cold really, and she will complain “cold cold”) and so when she’s without her slippers and steps on the cold bathroom floor, she’d tiptoe across the floor very quickly to get to the wooden side or the mat! She ALWAYS answers to her name with a ‘HUH?’… She can roll her eyes when she thinks that something is funny or not funny; and she loves her sister to bits (though she loves bullying her); she still loves to dance and sing, and is now able to follow the actions on various of her favorite song. Actually she even can sing twinkle twinkle little star (well, 1 sentence). She’s very sensitive to other people’s feelings though, esp Bibou. The other day, they were both in the garden, while I was in the kitchen and Bibou had stubbed her toe and was crying. Seraphine first started calling me, “Mummy Mummy, then came running to get me, pulled me out to the garden, telling me that “Bibou, boo-boo, pleur” (translation – Bibou has a boo-boo and is crying). She loves tattling on Bibou esp when they’ve had a dispute. And she loves shoes. Just loves shoes. She also loves to help you put your shoes on. If she sees you putting on socks, she’d run to get your shoes and slip them on for you..ditto your slippers.
Last week was a celebration of her birthday. First we went to Disney and had lunch with the princesses. On her birthday itself, Daddy made mickey pancakes and then it was time to open presents. As Seraphine has lately been taking her socks and putting her hands into them, Daddy went out and got her some… hand puppets! Lovely. For the garden, I got her a little slide and the girls been active on the slide, using it as part of an obstacle race with the trampoline! I also baked a cake for her so that she can share it with all her friends at the park with their nannies. I didn’t get to taste the cake even, because according to B our nanny, everyone loved the cake and ate it all up!! And Finally, our cleaner, R, spoilt her even more with a lovely toy which she promptly opened and played with but not forgetting to give him a big kiss thank you!
First, big apologies all around for the very long pause in between blogs. This year has been difficult, marked with first emotional events such as Daddy’s surgery and my pay cut. And then we started with our renovations at home and our house, not to mention our lives have been completely topsy turvy. Construction and dust everywhere! The girls’ room have been halved and squeezed though they’ve been absolutely fabulous about it; they’ve taken everything, every new thing in stride, dare I say even nonchalant about it. This has been a godsend, as we didn’t have to deal with tempers/ fears arising from all the changes. Things got really hairy when we renovated our kitchen as then most of our kitchen stuff got moved into the living / dining room, and that made our livable space really small. Cooking (in my second kitchen in the basement) also became really difficult, especially the first weekend, as I’d inadvertently forget something and had to keep running up and down the narrow stairs to get stuff. Groan. But we made it!!! After four long weekends without a kitchen, I have my new kitchen which I adore! Most importantly, I finally have my oven in the kitchen so I don’t have to run up and down the stairs. I love my new kitchen (though it’s still not my dream kitchen – love to have something big enough with an island and a huge dining table so we can eat in the kitchen while I cook). Our walk in closet is also completed; we just need to finish up painting our bedroom. The girls’ room in the attic is almost done. Hopefully the girls can move in soon. They’re all excited about their new room! They’ve been climbing up and down the new stairs, and marveling about everything!! From the pink walls, to the slanting ceiling (wonder what they would say about them when they’re older though – gives me a sore neck!) and soon, princess beds. Ah yes Princesses. The girls, especially Bibou is terribly ga-ga over princesses. That’s why one of the things we did last week … for Seraphine’s birthday, we spent the whole day at Disney!! Given our previous experience (almost 2 years ago, when Seraphine was born), we were a tad bit apprehensive! But everything went very well. We chose to go on a Tuesday, a school day, so the crowd wouldn’t be too bad (there were still lots of people, but nothing compared to the horrific summer crowds). I was just so tickled as we approached the main entrance of the park and she exclaimed really excitedly “You remember?? We came here long long time ago, with Dan!!!” (Indeed we had, it was 2 years ago and it’s amazing that she remembered!!) We were really lucky to have a good friends, Heather and her 2 boys join us. They have an annual pass to Disney so they know the place really well and showed us all the ‘short cuts’ and good rides. Most of the rides went really quickly, with about 10-15 minutes wait only, which was GREAT! Bibou was no longer afraid of getting onto the rides (in fact, she was really looking forward to them), and Seraphine was just game for everything! They loved all the rides, you should hear the squeals of delight from them (I myself, didn’t quite like the teacup and obitron rides that go round and round… but that’s just me :)). The girls were absolutely mesmerized by the “It’s a small world” ride. So much so that we went back to the ride again later that late afternoon. But the best part was the day I think was lunch, where I had made a reservation for us to have lunch with Cinderella and other princesses and prince. By golly, how the eyes of my little princess lit up when she saw all the princesses and prince. I think she was a little awed too! She was a little bit quiet at first! Especially when Snow White and Prince Charming came by to ask her questions…she couldn’t answer!! Seraphine however, didn’t care much for Prince Charming… I think she thought his costume was a bit too poufy! LOL. He was rather quiet and didn’t do much except hold onto Snow White’s waist or hand! Bibou however drank everything in. She loved all their gorgeous princess dresses and most of all taking photos with them and getting their autographs. And then Seraphine had her birthday cake brought in by the singing wait staff…. She even (tried to) blew out her candles. The dessert plate looked really really beautiful (note the word “looked”…I thought that the taste was a little bit too sophisticated for the kids – really dark chocolate!). And the kids went away with a little gift – wands for the girls and helmets for the boys. After a 2 hour lunch (without any melt downs too!), we continued on with more rides. Bibou especially LOVED the Buzz Light year ride where she got to shoot at ‘Zzzzs”. I think she said that that was her favorite ride. We went on until closing, stopping to watch Mickey and friends sing and dance at the parade (while I nipped into the shops to buy a few things hahaha). Bibou so enjoyed the parade that she started dancing on the street with the characters!! To escape the departing crowd (at closing time), we went off to Disney Village to grab some dinner – at a take-out counter. By the time we’d finished and slowly walked back to the car park, the crowd had really dwindled and had a leisurely drive home. The best thing was, the girls were so exhausted (remember no nap even for Seraphine) that they fell straight asleep in the car, got transferred into their bed and didn’t wake up till the next morning. All in all, a perfect day! The weather has certainly warmed up a lot now, in fact, we even have had some really warm days (though it’s suddenly cooled down again now). warm enough for sun dresses and most of all…BBQs! We celebrated Daddy’s birthday with a BBQ and also hosted a MESSAGE magazine BBQ lunch.
We had a fabulous time at our annual Easter Egg Hunt on Easter weekend last. It was held at a park in Paris. This year, close to 600 people (including children) had signed up! Wow. I spent a long time doing the name tags. Though the weather was dismal the days prior (and after), we woke up to a sunny Saturday! I even dressed the girls up warmly and in their boots thinking that the grounds would be wet and muddy. We are started stripping off our layers, Bibou the first to say ‘I’m hot!”. All excited, we got there fairly early (we were first to arrive). I got the name tags all sorted and lined up for the onslaught of arrivals, and then got started on ‘hiding’ the eggs. As you may remember from previous years, Bibou wasn’t all that into Easter in her early years, or maybe it was just too COLD (it was almost snowing last year). She couldn’t grasp the concept of searching for the eggs. Well this year, Bibou not only understood it, she even helped as a ‘deputy easter bunny’ – she helped to distribute and hide the eggs! What a big girl she is! And Seraphine! My golly. She totally got it! She had her little pink Easter basket and caught on VERY quickly. Soon she was running around picking up chocolates and placing them in her cute basket…AND eating them! The girls sure collected a big amount of chocolates (some of which we’d managed to redistribute… and others we’re hiding now!) All in all, we had a fabulous time! After that, we went on to Mirama to have some DELICIOUS dumpling noodle soup and char siew. Gosh ALL of us ate really well. The girls especially enjoyed the noodle soup. That’s their favorite! Sometimes they burn themselves ‘coz they can’t wait for the soup to cool down.
The gorgeous weather continued that weekend and Daddy brought the girls to Parc Heller. There is this playground equipment that is like a huge ring that rotates round and round at an angle. The elder kids tend to try and see who can stand on it the longest as it goes round. Well, our cute Seraphine, she insisted on getting on and…. As it goes round, she clings on to it with her whole body for dear life. I just love the photo of her on it. You can almost hear the squeals of laughter that came from her.
Yup, she’s simply at a most hilarious stage right now. And absolutely cheeky. Recently she’s learnt to say ‘ca ca’ as it’s something that I’d say “do you have ‘ca ca’” when I smell something funky (and I normally get my ‘sniffer’ – Bibou to snif her butt to check to see if she has indeed a dirty diaper. My sniffer is normally spot on :)). I have a sniffer because Seraphine has a tendency to say yes to everything! Anyway, so just this weekend, she announced ‘ca ca’ to me and turned her bum towards me while point at it. Bibou wasn’t around so I bent down to sniff…. And that’s when she let out a big fart AND she laughed and laughed and laughed. She sure got me. She really amazes me with her 'matured' nature as compared to kids her age or even Bibou at that age. For example, Seraphine is now even able to climb up (no surprise there, she was climbing stairs at a very young age, ditto Bibou) but also DOWN stairs, normally, ie not on her tummy or bum but on 2 feet, just hanging on to the banister. Bibou couldn't (or maybe we just were too afraid to let her do it on her own) until she was past 2 years old. Seraphine's also been very quick at picking up words and using / repeating them. We've got fun times ahead of us!
And finally a photo of the girls having their dinner in the garden. They're having their favorite chicken wings! And look at the gorgeous tulips in the background.
This video was taken on another day. Unfortunately, it was going very slow... the kids got totally bored. Look at the look on Seraphine's face like... are we going or WHAT!
See-saw with Daddy.
See saw with the fab singing Bibou!!
Look at how effortlessly she goes up and down the ladder, even with giving a little swing at the bar. And because of her (big) size, many people just assume that she's much older than she actually is!!
I am the very tired but pleased as pie mummy of a active, gorgeous, socialable, intelligent, mischevious gal called Josephine, aka Bibou AND a determined, I KNOW what I want, active, but still sweet little baby named Seraphine or Angel.
