Cheeky monkey updates

What better excuse to post new photos of the girls, then posting a new update about them eh? What’s to say? Loads! The girls have grown so much over the past few months. Besides physically – Bibou has shot up over the summer and is really slender (like really really slender!), whereas Seraphine, who has grown taller, hasn’t quite lost her chunkiness yet, though it’s a bit more distributed now…. I remembered that Bibou was like that at her age. Hopefully, Seraphine has her sister’s good genes. Have to say though, Seraphine loves her food. She eats really well, whereas Bibou is picky. And they dislike really different things!

Over the summer, the girls have grown very very close to each other (as they were 24/7 for the whole two months). In fact, on the first day of school after the long summer this year, Seraphine was rather upset that Bibou had to go to school. She cried and hung on to Bibou, nanny had to carry her out of the classroom. She kept asking when she’d see Bibou again. Then the next day, she decided that if she can’t have Bibou at home with her, she’d stay in school with Bibou! So once they got to school, she began to take her schools and coat off and sat down next to Bibou in class!! It took a while for the nanny to persuade her to come away from the classroom. She’s now adjusted to having Bibou a couple of hours per day and it’s perfect. True, they fight a lot (but which siblings don’t? and most times they fight because Seraphine is currently in a very ‘a moi’ or ‘mine’ stage… everything is hers. Of course Bibou will assert herself once in a while (she does give in a lot to Seraphine)). But they adore each other and always look out for each other. Seraphine more than Bibou though. She wants to be with Bibou all the time. She follows her everywhere, does exactly what Bibou does and says exactly what Bibou does. She looks up to her big sister. She has taken to liking dance too, as Bibou likes it! They play really very well together. Bibou will very patiently sit down and show her how to do jigsaw puzzles for example. She’ll set the pieces together, touching ever so slightly, and then you’ll hear her say, ‘here Seraphine, press down on this now. Wow, good girl, you see, you did the puzzle! You want to do another one?’. ‘OUI!’ Josephine can be really patient with her sometimes, explaining things to her and also trying to get her to improve her English. You’ll constantly hear Bibou asking Seraphine to repeat after her : Seraphine say : flower… and always always congratulates her! Seraphine is constantly constantly all about Bibou. If she receives a treat, she will always ask for another, not for herself, but always for Bibou and then she’ll rush to Bibou, ‘bibou, bibou, here, bonbon’. She’ll always grab Bibou’s bag, shoes, coat etc, and hand it to her if she ever forgets.

Their favorite time of the day? Definitely must be bath time. Yes, still! Splish splash. They would also scrub each other’s back. And after bath? Bedtime! The girls love their bedroom and bedtime routine. Bibou has Daddy reading a story to her prior to bed while I have Seraphine. Prior to the stories, it’s their ‘bon bon” time (actually their vitamins), and Seraphine will never fail to remind us. However, not just for her, she will never ever forget Bibou’s vitamins. She’ll always ask for Bibou’s, take it (never eating it herself) and giving it to her, all the while calling out to Bibou. "Bibou, Bibou, here". We’ll also have a short read, normally one of her picture books (and it never cease to amaze me how much her vocabulary has picked up. She recognizes a lot of items now and can tell me what they are in English – and the same in French with the nanny), before she has her suckle. Normally Daddy finishes the story first, and she’d get a kiss on his way down. When we’re finished, she’ll immediately run to Bibou to have her goodnight kiss. Then, she’ll cuddle up into her own bed. Both girls LOVE their 'big girl' beds. Now, for some reason, Seraphine is a kind of hoarder in bed. She needs lots of stuff, no, scrap that, HER stuff in bed with her. There is always her special bolster pillow, her doll (‘baby’), her bear, and always a few books, currently her favorite is her Dora book, which is enormous. Often times, when I go up to check on her before my bedtime, I would find cups, bags, pencils, other dolls, all in bed with her! She won’t part with them too. She’s a funny gal.

Now at 2 ½ years old, Seraphine is very opinionated. Unlike Bibou, who was (still is!), very timid when being scolded, in fact, she would get very upset and breaks down crying… and throwing lonnnnnnng tantrums if Daddy won’t console her. Bibou’s tantrums can go up to 30 minutes… Seraphine is the opposite. She is very very cheeky. She does not need approval, she is unafraid, oh no. She is VERY cheeky. Reprimanding her would only mean her talking back at you, going nah nah nah, she would then run to say the nearby couch and pretend to sleep… SNORE. She knows how to dodge and make you laugh… she will try and make you forget that she’s in trouble. She is also very independent. She wants (and often able) to do everything herself. She’s been able to eat and drink on her own since… oh since she was 14- 15 months. She’s been able to put her own shoes and coat on for a while now, and now she has started to dress herself, insists on picking out her clothes and her favorite thing is to pull on her pants by herself. She’s real proud when she can. And unlike Bibou, who prefers to be ‘helped’, Seraphine wants to do herself, and will admonish you if you try to do it for her. Up in the morning, want a cup of milk? Bibou will ask for her, Seraphine… she pulls her little s tool to the kitchen, climb s to get her cup (yellow no less), opens fridge door, pulls out the milk and pours herself a cup! What’s the fuss? Why wait? This is great of course, until she decides she wants chocolates and candy out of the candy bowl. Oh boy.

She is very verbal. Unlike Bibou who just whines and whines, Seraphine will speak up and give you a piece of her mind. Unfortunately, at this stage, it is mostly gibberish, or ‘Seraphine’s talk’. But whatever she’s saying, it ain’t whining! You can be sure, when she is able to string her sentences, we’ll be getting earfuls I’m sure. Having said that, she is beginning to speak in little sentences and certainly tries to put her opinion across. The other night, at bedtime, I tried to give her one of the other little bolsters as hers was in the wash. She looked at me sternly and said “No, moi pillow downstairs. Ca Bibou pillow. Ca pas moi. No Mummy”. OKaaaaaay. Oh and she can count to two. LOL. I figured that ‘coz when you give her a bon bon, she’ll ask for ‘two please’, or always asking for 'two books' before bedtime. She's really cheeky!

Bibou herself has evolved. A bit more grown up, a little less tantrums (still have them unfortunately) and definitely a lot more ‘big sister’. She is quite sensitive, versus thick-skin Seraphine. She loves to be helpful, and hates being rejected or ignored. She loves to draw and color, and in fact can do it really well. True to her nature, she loves drawing FOR you. These days, she often comes to me when I return home and hands me a little page, saying, here Mom, I drew this especially for you. Once she asked me I could 'hang it up' in my office, so I did, and took a photo for her to see. So I did. She was so happy. It is rather easy to please her! Most of all, she is hilarious, mostly unintentionally (Seraphine is a clown on purpose). One evening, we were talking about colors and so I started ‘testing’ Bibou “ Bibou, what color is your hair?” “brown”. “ Bibou, what color is Seraphine’s hair?” “brown”. “ Bibou, what color is Mummy’s hair?” “black”. “ Bibou, What about Daddy’s hair?” “GREY!!! ”.

I also have my very own anti-telemarketer system now! BIBOU! Bibou will pick the phone up and when the telemarketer asks for Mummy, she’ll say, in perfect French, “Mummy doesn’t speak French at all, she speaks only English. So you can’t speak to her. Daddy is not around”. The telemarketer might continue trying, and she’ll, very patiently tell her, “Yes, I know, but Mummy doesn’t speak French at all, she speaks only English. So you can’t speak to her.” I was doubled up in laughter that 1 day when we had about 2-3 calls in an hour. She turned to me too whilst on the phone, and giving me this big conspiracy grin on her face.

Enjoy this batch of photos and videos. I hope to be able to update the blog soon again….

Here are some videos too (ps, go back to 2 posts below if you'd read them before. I had problems uploading the videos the other night).

Here's Bibou dancing first... singing her own song. She has Daddy's baseball cap on:

Then Seraphine decided she wanted in on the action too. So she popped the hat on and ...watch her. it's simply hilarious...

The two girls playing together, either in the garden or indoors. Seraphine would do just about everything Bibou does. Monkey see, monkey do!

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet

This year, Halloween was on a Saturday and we had the time to carve out the pumpkin. (with the pumpkin seeds, I roasted them in the oven and they were delicious! First boiled them in salted water for about 10 minutes, drain and dry them with a towel, In the meantime, lay a layer of olive oil on a cookie sheet and I sprinkled a layer of coarse salt on it, then lay the seeds on them, sprinkle with more salt and a pat of butter… roast in the oven and oh be careful not to burn yourself when trying to eat them too early). (oh and with the flesh of the pumpkin the next day, I made some yummy pumpkin soup made with beer).

Unfortunately, Bibou had been really ill late that week. We were hoping she’d be feeling better on Saturday, but unfortunately, she was really ill, with a high temperature and was quite lethargic. She didn’t want to do anything all day but sleep. She needed it. Poor girly. So she missed out the treat or tricking our neighborhood organizes every year. I stayed home with Bibou, keep her company and ensure she was alright. She was a really good patient though… not a peep because all she wanted to do was sleep. At around 6.00 pm the door bell rang! They came round to us to see if we were ready to go! I dressed Seraphine up in a little pumpkin witch outfit, with a witch hat. Really cute. Unlike Bibou was at that age, she wasn’t afraid of the scary witches, ghosts etc. Everyone one of the kids were dressed up as something scary! They descended upon the houses screaming “les bon bon”, rushing into the houses to grab the candies! Though Seraphine was the youngest one there, she wasn’t lacking in the candies. She caught the eyes of a couple of the teenager girls and they were taking good care of her! Once they got their candy (well, of course they would), they would run back to get her, carry her through the crowd of screaming, grabbing kids and ensure that her bag had candy in it! And as they made the second trip, they didn’t ask for seconds! They’re good kids. I think we were one of the last houses that they visited. It took a while before they came, but boy did they come. I had a huge bowl of candies and it was gone in a minute. I couldn’t see Seraphine in the sea of black and white, then suddenly near the end, a little orange pipsqueak got pushed through. I don’t know if she realized that it was me, she seemed a bit lost until I called out to her. Even then, I had to grab her bag and stuff the candy into her bag.

After everyone had left, I peeked into her bag, it was FULL. She did have a good run. And ever the precious one, she knew Bibou didn’t have any as she didn’t go, so she first asked if she could have a bon bon, and when we said, yes, she immediately asked if Bibou could have one from her bag too. Aww. Sweetness.

Kongkong and Mahmah's visit

We were most fortunate to have kongkong and mahmah visit us this past October. It had been a while since their last visit, but we managed to do some heavy persuasion. Before they’d arrived, we told the girls about the visit. Of course Bibou remembers them very well, and so was very excited. She kept asking us when they’d be arriving. The last time that Seraphine saw them was when she was 1 year old! I’m sure that she didn’t remember much before the arrival. But she got excited all the same, as she noticed that Bibou was. Once, as we were going up the stairs, she peeped at the wedding collage that I’d made back when. It had been kept hidden during our recent renovations so she hadn’t seen it in a while. I pointed to Kongkong’s photo and asked her who that was… she said kongkong!! Clever girl.

The big day finally arrived. Daddy went off to pick them up from the airport while I cooked some comforting rice congee. The girls, though excided, managed to wait quietly (well, in front of the telly!), while I worked in the kitchen. Traffic was bad, and once again, the girls (and I!!) had to wait impatiently. Finally, the car pulled in. We all rushed out to greet them. It was a wonderful reunion.

As always, we were totally spoilt! The girls received loads of stunning clothes (a pair of red red Chinese cheongsum) and some cute pairs (a pair of green tweety bird sundress the girls look so adorable in) , and a mountain of toys. Loads of princess stuff no less! Daddy also got some nice batik shirts and some go-go gadgets! – one that he constantly uses now is this no-battery-needed (just wind up like an old car) – clip on the head like an old miners hat, night lamp! He uses it at night when he wants to read in bed without waking me up. Me I got loads of delicious spices and food. Things I truly truly miss. It was heaven.

Though they were here for about 12 days, the time flew by very quickly. Every day was jammed packed. Since kongkong loves fruits and loves picking fruits even more, we decided to visit the Farm de Gally. We got there mid morning, as we’d previously only gone in the late afternoon and all the pickings were mostly gone already. Apples were in season of course! Kongkong and mahmah were real pleased about that. They love apples. Their (and ours too) favorite were the golden delicious and we found some nice ones. After picking the apples, we went on to pick other fruits and vegetables. Bibou really wanted to pick some berries, strawberries are her favorite! But daddy wanted to pick fresh corn (yummy!). They were both at very different ends of the farm. So we split up. Bibou and I went with Mahmah and Seraphine had the boys all to herself. We had a wonderful time. We picked strawberries and a cauliflower too. We tried to pick cherry tomatoes, but they were all gone. We met up with the boys just before lunch and they had managed to pick loads and loads of fresh corn on the cob and also a big whole pumpkin for Halloween. It was a fruitful day :)

During the week, while Daddy was at work, we took the girls to the playmobile fun park next to our place. It was a large place! I had thought that the girls will head straight for the pink castle with the princesses stuff. Boy was I wrong… yes they went for the castle… but it was the ‘boys’ castle…. The medieval one, with dungeons and dragons! Seraphine loved the airplanes and copters one too! Bibou spent lots of time with the pirates. Hmmm.

Kongkong and Mahmah were amazed at how Bibou, at five (and she started this summer!) is able to ride a bike without training wheels! She’s even better than her own Mummy – I can’t ride a bike! Seraphine is now also able to coast on her scooter too.

The time flew by too quickly. They had to leave, we hope we’ll see them soon!

Video

Here's a video of Bibou on her bike.

Summer 09 Big UK Trip

FINALLY, our big UK trip. The girls were told that we were going up to see Aunty Michelle. And Bibou kept asking when we’d be there! Finally the day arrived. That night, the girls went to bed, warmly wrapped in warm pjs and were told that we were going to wake them up in the middle of the night for our car trip. At around 1.30 am, we got up and got the car loaded. As we were doing that, our neighbors came back from their super long vacation trip! What a coincidence! They wished us (longingly) a ‘bon vacance’ and lamented the fact that they had to go back to work the next day! Then we went in and got the girls. Daddy woke Bibou up first and as I reached down to pick Seraphine up, she woke up herself (she’s a light sleeper as compared to Bibou), got up and said to me ‘car, Mummy?’. I didn’t think she remembered but she did. She loves riding in the car. Once the girls were all bundled up nicely in the car, with blankets and pillows, off we went. The drive went smoothly. Me taking the ‘french’ side – that took us less than 3 hours to get to Calais. The train ride was about 30 minutes and then Daddy took over. It was about 2 hours to get to Michelle and Luke, who were nicely waiting for us already. They live in a lovely area, all the houses were new and they have this wonderful park just across the street (which came in handy. The girls loved the park there and one day, Aunty Michelle taught Bibou how to swing on the swing on her own. She did it and was sooo proud!! ). The girls were so happy to see Michelle and Luke… jumping all over them. Bibou wanted to tell them all about her trip. We got settled in, bringing with us all the gifts for them. Then us girlies went for our girls outing – shopping where else??!! Michelle brought me to Costco… I LOVE Costco. Why can’t we have it here? Bought TONS, but Saved a lot too. The prices were just incredible. As an example, I came back to check that a pack of 12 Brita water filers cost about €56, I paid like 13 pounds!! Loved it. Then we went to Morrisons and also a Chinese supermarket. Oh I had loads of fun.

Anyway, we also managed to get some activities done that week. One trip we took with Michelle and Luke was to Beaulieu. Actually, Daddy really wanted to go to the beach, but when we got to the highway, it was jammed packed! Looks like EVERYONE had the same idea (it was a really gorgeous hot, bright and clear day). In the end, we agreed to stop off somewhere else. We pulled out at New Forest. Boy was I glad we did. It was gorgeous. And the most wonderful thing about it was that there were loads of wild ponies roaming around. As we drove around looking for a place to have lunch, the Bibou woke up and I pointed out the ponies to her. She was all excited. We stopped at a pub/ lunch place and had a quick lunch and then moved on to a nearby town to stop and admire. On our way, we passed by this group of ponies grazing in a quiet spot, and we couldn’t’ resist stopping. So we did. Daddy carried the girls (one at a time) to see the ponies. They weren’t afraid of us at all.. just continued grazing and chewing. Daddy and Bibou even managed to touch one of them. I was taking photos and videos with my camera and wasn’t paying much attention to them, until one of them approached me. I was wearing his blue sundress, so he must have thought that I was this big, fat, juicy blueberry or something, ‘coz he came right up to me and bite me in the tummy! Ouch! It was quite a nip! I wasn’t bleeding or anything, but it did give me a bruise… and gave everyone a big laugh! Anyway, we first stopped at a place called Beaulieu. And it was true to its name (in French – beautiful place). The site that greeted us was breathtaking as you can see from these photos. Gorgeous picturesque place. It was just amazing to see the wild horses (and cows) roaming everywhere. They weren't afraid of cars, humans etc, though the cars all gave way to the animals. Most of the horses, however, wouldn't let us near them nor touch them. (so i guess the little nipper was an exception!).

On another day, we took the girls out to the farm to visit the animals. The Finkley Farm (http://www.finkleydownfarm.co.uk/) is an interactive farm where the children can feed the animals and they also had regular workshops where the children could touch and handle little animals. We got there and bought a bag of feed. There were lots of animals to feed! There were llamas, angora sheeps, goats, cows! The girls totally enjoyed it; reaching out their hands towards them, calling them and having the thrill of them licking the feed off their tiny hands. It was time for the first workshop, the little bunnies. They re really well organized. Two rows of benches, and the kids, orderly queued up, sat down. They were given a little carpet to put on their wee laps and were taught how to handle the bunnies. Then excitedly they received the bunnies on their laps. They were so pleased! The sweet little bunnies were so docile, allowing the children to pet and hold them. I have to admit that I was surprised to see that our girls were really gentle with the bunnies, not mishandling them at all. Especially Seraphine; she was hold the bunny really tenderly. Another workshop that we went to was for little chicks. Just like the bunnies, the children sat on 2 benches and were given a little basket on their laps (chicks tend to move quickly!). Again, Bibou and Seraphine were super kind with the chicks, handling them tenderly. Bibou said that the chicks were really soft! Really fun day out. They had a huge playground with a massive slide, a hay stack area and the girls even learnt how to milk a cow… it wasn't a real cow, but it sure looked like fun!

We were also lucky to have spent a day in London with the Gohs. Oh what a yummy day it was! We met up in their gorgeous, gorgeous townhouse in Kensington and then went for Lunch at Goldmine (the chef had moved there from Four Seasons. Oh mi gosh, the most succulent roasted duck I’ve ever tasted. They also had daily soup and gasp their chilli oil was heaven,heaven, heaven. I must have eaten like 3 bowls of rice with that chilli oil. I admit that I overdosed on it. If you were on High Street Kensington that afternoon, you would have noticed a women who kept running back and forth from the WHSmith bookstore where she was TRYING to buy some books and the Starbucks next door that had a bathroom. Groan. However, did I learn my lesson? Of course not. Dinner was at Kaisu, again on Bayswater, a Singaporean restaurant. My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach. I practically ordered almost everything on the menu. Laksa, oyster omelets, beef hor fun, satay, curry puff, carrot cake, golly I’m hungry again. It was oh so good, oh so oily and oh so spicy. Yes, needless to say, I didn’t sleep well that night. Bad tummy. But have to say, it was all worth it.

All too soon, we had to leave. It was sad saying goodbye, but we’ll be back!

Videos

First glimpse of the ponies from the car:

The friendly pony that came to say hello :




The girls with the rabbit at Finkley Farm: