Monday, March 30, 2009

Our 'second' family

Recently, we spent a lot of time with Dan and his family that it looks like we're almost family. Well, the way Bibou and Dan fight all the time, it really does seem like they are brothers and sisters! But they are just so cute together. They talk about each other whenever they're not 'joined'; for example, ask Bibou what she did every day and it's constantly, Dan this and Dan that. Apparently, everyday at recess, Bibou would rush from her classrom to Dan's to seek him out. If he wasn't there, Bibou would ask his teacher where he was! These two wouldn't go anyway without each other! Quite sweet really.

Apparently, Dan has been asking if Bibou could ‘stay over’ with him. I
think the Bitans and we really raised our eyebrows there! What was even more funny was that Dan then VERY quickly insisted that Bibou wouldn’t sleep with him, she’ll have her own bed (mattress) NEXT to him on the floor. Okay. Have to say though, that we are open to the idea, as with Dan’s parents. We just have to find a ‘good time’ for us both. LOL. We did, however, have Dan over, alone, for dinner and movie. After a brilliant afternoon at the park, we thought we’d invite just Dan over for dinner with Bibou. The kidlets were just so excited! They held hands all the way from the park to home, Bibou singing songs. I made a quick dinner of chicken wings, pasta and cherry tomatoes which they all gobbled up. Realized that Dan is very much a parrot too, as he could repeat a few English words after us! Amazing. After dinner, we taught the kids to play Candyland. It went ok at first, but I think it was the end of the night and the kids started to break down. Time to bring Dan home (which caused even more tears, sigh). But all in all, it was a good evening and the kids had a good time.

The following week, we met up with the
Bitans at Acrochat, another indoor jungle gym that’s not too far away. We got there early, at opening time, which was great as we had great parking spot, it wasn’t too crowded, and we could bag great tables. Bibou couldn’t wait to get to the slides and all, and shot off on her own. I took Seraphine to the ‘young kids’ area and though it has been over a year since we’d last been there, she totally enjoyed herself, going up and down the slides and jumping through the pool of balls. Over and over again! Then when the Bitans arrive, the two eldest one just rushed together and off they went. Couldn’t see much of them except for the blur of orange (thank goodness I managed to persuade Bibou to wear the bright orange outfit so we could find her!). At one point though, all four kids were at the trampoline jumping up and down. I was really impressed at how Seraphine was able to keep her balance for a few jumps. And she’s relentless about getting up and trying again and again. Thanks to the little tip from C, we’d bought sandwiches for lunch so the kids could have a couple more hours playing. But soon, it was time to go home as the younger ones needed to get back for their naps. And we had to say bye bye.

And the following weekend was the kids’ school carnival. The kids got dressed up in their costumes that they’d made in school. The theme was spring, and you can see the photos that they were all decked out in green! Bibou was decidedly upset when she saw that there were a couple of ‘princesses’ around (in the petite section)… she wasn’t pleased at all. But she cheered right up when Dan finally came out. The kids then paraded around the block in their costumes. Very sweet.

PS, I'd forgotten to add this about little Seraphine in my previous post. About
a month ago, Seraphine was very much into 'buttons'. She love buttons, or rather, loved undoing them! So she spent her time undoing all buttons (we've resorted to not using buttoned outfits for now!). However, one night, when I returned from work and relaxing with the girls, Seraphine went into her toy chest and reached for the baby doll's potty. And then, in our sheer surprise, she undid her button and 'squatted' over the potty, pretending to ‘go’. We’ve not started her on any potty training at all, so she’s doing all this just by mimicking us! What a clever gal. here’s the video that I managed to snap!



Videos








The funny 'pee' video








Right. Can you say LV? This girl is sooooooooo into handbags. She LOVES bags, especially my bag. This is what she does all the time. Grabbing bags and pretending that she's leaving the house, just like Mummy.



Having Dan over for dinner and teaching him how to say "silly goose".






The kids having fun on the tramopline.







seraphine and Yohan on the trampoline.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Slide Fun!


It was a particularly warm day one day, so we decided to all go out for a walk together. Bibou remembered that mini-fair was still on at the market (she'd been going every day with Bertine), so we took a trip there. There wasn't much, but boy did the kids have fun. First, is this rather large bouncy castle, which has a huge slide! Bibou seemed to be an old pro at it. She ran to it, kicked off the shoe, wave the nice little guy there who was guarding the 'tickets', as if to say that my 'assistant' there will give you the tickets (Daddy) and climbed right up. Ok, let me tell you a little something about how one gets up. Nope, there are no stairs. There is, however, a little rope ladder that you pull yourself up with. It's GREAT for kids with small feet and are light, but torturous for big, heavy mamas like me! It took me forever to get up. Man does it HURT (the balls of your feet) And I had to climb it ONLY because Seraphine wanted to go on the slide too, but she wasn't able to climb the rop
e ladder well... yet. Her little feet kept slipping. So off I went (Daddy's knee wasn't up to it yet). It took a long while before I could get up, but we did it. And boy was it worth it. The squeal of delight from Seraphine was heavenly :). Bibou was a master at it, and kept going up and down and up and do







wn. She even proudly show us her new 'trick'.... she jumped off the slide.


















Next, we went across to the merry-go-round. It was obvious that the girls have been on it. They ran hand in hand into the vehicle that they liked (one that went 'up') and climbed in. Daddy got the tickets and the girls even knew to take the tickets from us so that they can give it to the operator. And off they went, both of them squealing, big grins on that face.
It was a really fun day!!


































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Bibou doing her jump slide.













































































Seraphine sliding down.





















































We're off! The girls on their merry go round.
















































Quack quack!

My cheeky girls


Seraphine growing up too quickly, too quickly for my liking. She’s very much like a parrot right now. She just repeats every word you say. And is very capable of making associations already. For example, the other day, her nanny was going to bring her upstairs to change her diaper. So her nanny said that they’re gonna go ‘en haut’. I joined in the fun and said that “Seraphine is going ‘upstairs’’. She immediately turned to Bertine and said “en haut” and then “upstairs” to me, while pointing up the stairs! Most night, we go through her repertoire which grows everyday! My favorite is asking her what different animal ‘say’, esp dog. LOVE the way she says ‘woof woof’ with her rounded lips and cheeks. I do try to teach her a new word or two each time, but have to say that I was simply gobsmacked the other night when I asked her where different parts of her body were. At that point, she knew where her nose, mouth, eyes etc were, but we’d never ventured past those. So I thought I’d teach her… but she knew them already. Head, arms, hands, legs, face, belly button. I guess she’s been listening to us (and storing them in her little head) when we dress / bath her and could point them out to me.

Unlike Bibou, she’s not quite so whiney. She does have her little tantrums, she is going into her little terrible twos stage, but she knows t
hat it just doesn’t quite work, esp with Daddy he just yells even louder. She won’t cry to get her way, she’ll insist or just brush it off and move on to something else. She’s also very much able to fend for herself. She’s such a quick learner, not just picking up words and sounds and just watching and doing herself too. The other day, Bibou showed her a little trick she’d learnt when she was around 2 years old too, on how to put her coat on the easy way. You can watch the video below, but note that this is the VERY first time she’s doing it, just after watching Bibou doing it once. She’s now a pro at it. She simply copies everything her sister does. She loves to grab Bibou’s markers, but unfortunately, she loves drawing up her table and chairs :(! She also wants to brush her teeth, only because Bibou is brushing hers. When Bibou puts on a make-up, she’d want to do so. And like her sister, she LOVES shoes. She loves to put them on, put on other people’s shoes and loves to help you put yours own. Every night, when I return home, the girls will fight to take my boots off and then run to get my slippers to put on my feet. Ahhh.

She LOVES the sound of laughter, ‘coz she loves to laugh to. Whenever someone bursts out in laughter, she’d follow-suit, giving the big belly laugh of hers. I do so enjoy the sound of her laugh, it’s so ticklish and infectious. And downright cheeky. Oh yes, boy is she che
eky. She loves to play tricks with you like running away to hide if you call her, or hiding in a corner of the bed when you’re trying to get her. She’d hide her face behind those cute little pudgy hands of hers and play peekaboo with you. But her biggest fun trick (not for us certainly, but for her) is hiding her ‘right’ foot when it comes to putting on her socks and shoes. She has this thing where she loves to push forward her wrong foot, the one that already has a sock or shoe on and insists that you put the other sock on, knowing it’s not right. She has a right laugh about it as you get more and more flustered (especially when you’re trying to get out the door!).

Seraphine is also fairly headstrong and determined. She’s eating on her o
wn already and doing a really good job (unlike Bibou who probably was only able to eat on her own closer to 3 years old). Sure there is always clean up to be done, but her motor skills are certainly more advanced than kids her age. She’s also a rather good eater: yesterday, she wolfed down a bowl and a half of my curry chicken! Both kids can eat spicy food, like my curry puff which can be quite spicy. They’d be holding a cup of water and a curry puff in each hand, tears rolling down, but they’d still eat them curry puffs! She wasn’t so much into fruits, like apples, but once Bibou started eating them (she’s very much a fruit eater, thank goodness), and she’d eat them, only just because her big sister is. They will then share an apple.

She
’s also very intuitive and sensitive. Like I’d mentioned, she knows what doesn’t work and works things to her advantage. However, she’s also very sensitive to her sister’s pain. Whenever Bibou’s crying, mostly ‘coz her Daddy is ignoring her or yelled at her, she’d come to me asking me to go and comfort Bibou. She’d also try to comfort her, though the poor thing, she often gets ‘beaten’ for her efforts (when Bibou gets into this state, she’ll only want her Daddy, but Daddy decides he’s got other things better to do, so she spirals downwards, and lashes out at everyone else). I do hope Seraphine continues to be sensitive and not lose hope or just give up.










































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Seraphine putting on her coat on her own. This is the very first time she's doing it, after just watching Bibou.


























































































Being a cheeky monkey.






































































The girls sharing an apple.