Sick week

Ww and Eliza is sick. I not having the same thing as them but I'm watchful.

Anyway I wasn't sure whether it was because Eliza caught a cold playing water at Vivo or she caught ww's virus. Ww has been sneezing quite a lot and when that happens, it's a sign of his low resistance. Anyway we kept Eliza home on monday due to her runny nose, obviously much to her delight. and since she wasn't having fever we let her go to school the next few days. She kinda developed a phlegmy cough and today we kept her home again so we could bring her to the doc for more meds.
at least she wasn't lethargic from fever or anything like the last time she fell sick in dec. I still remember that we were registering for her school and ww took her back halfway to see doctor cos it was taking far too long. They finished before me and I had to rush home in a taxi because Eliza refused to go home wailing "I want mummy!".

Ww on the other hand had his sore throat develop into a voiceless one. Well after talking so much the day before...and maybe also exerting his throat while clearing all the mucus.

I've on the other hand have been spotting a bit since yesterday and then this morning. And it was also with a stomachache, those when you feel like you're gonna have diarrhea feeling but yet coagulating. How confusing! I don't think it was cramps. And it didn't help that I threw up my breakfast, how sad...my fav bread and ham bfast. Plus the day before I was talking to the cleaner lady who was talking about her miscarriage at 6 months. Scare me. :S.

God please protect little one inside and those around me.

Drawing

All kids love drawing don't they?

So far i'm thankful that Eliza doesn't draw on walls and floors, except when she accidently does it. Markers were the last drawing medium i introduced her to just because it stains and is hard to clean off. It has left marks on her clothes, the table and it can't be removed!!! argh!! That was an obscure marker that made me start buying the proper markers, from Crayola.

And at the turn of the year, at one session of colouring with Ww & me, she learnt to hold her pens much better. Actually it was with Ww's help...he has a great way of explaining things, especially to his lil daughter. Of course with a lot of fun and praise. After that she's the one telling us the right way to hold the pen.

After all that she was colouring like mad, and drawing things i haven't seen before...mostly faces and round people with eyes, nose, mouth, hair, hands, legs, and recently mustaches.

I think this is daddy, mummy & Eliza

Her usual painting sessions...this time she was able to draw more things and explore more...although eventually the last part is of course the hand printing part before she'll declare she's done and want to wash up.

This looks like some scary cartoon though

Some books i've gotten too early, meant for Eliza when she's older but it is discovered by Eliza..not sure if she could do it well and follow the instructions but she very quite cooperative.

The clean gal..she'll help to clean up the marks the marker makes on the floor. I'm not sure what she's drawing her though...

Now there's more writing to do, especially the homework she brings home every friday! homework for a 3year old? at least she has been quite game on doing it :)

Bedtime talk

Now that we have moved to my mum's place, I've kept her playpen aka bed and used a single size mattress as her bed. She sleeps beside me for now till the new arrangement in Canberra. I'm also not sure how the arrangement will be when baby2 arrives. But I guess we'll work that out then.

Now that I don't have my mil to do bedtime with Eliza, since we don't stay together anymore, Ww is also learnt to do bedtime with her, without her "complaining" she wants my mil or me.

Anyway my little one has been really affectionate. Coming to me for big hugs and kisses before she lies down on her bed. And it's so nice to be snugly hugged by her. This evening she wanted to hold my hand to sleep, though I told her it's only for a while because I'll need to sleep too. And she said,
"mummy, hold my hand, so you won't fall down (from the bed)"
Sooo sweet of her! *kisses to her*!

Other things she tells me:
"mummy, close your eyes ok?"
"mummy, what are you doing?"
"mummy, I like you leh."
"mummy, don't sleep on my bed ok?" (cos I won't let her come to my bed to sleep at night, I'll tell her she can only come over in the morning)

My favourite recent photos

I've got just too many photos that i have to periodically back them up and delete those in iPhoto so that it doesn't take up sooooooo much space in my computer.

Nowadays Eliza's favourite pose is the *twist* and she gamely always poses for us when we pull out the camera.

This is really classic...it was taken by my sis. And i love her expression here...


See...she knows' i'm taking the photo...and here goes her *twist* again.

We had a great time at our marriott staycation. And Eliza, being older now also had a blast and i felt that she was more aware than when we did staycations last time. I took a half day that day and Ww managed to get her to have lunch (Macdonald's meal..and all she ate was fries), nap and then meet me in Orchard. By the time we arrived at the hotel room, she nicely woke up from her nap. The first thing she said when she saw the room? "Wah, nice room!"

Every kid loves bubbles and her expression tells it all.


January was also the time for school. I joined in with her during the first day of the orientation which was quite fine for her and in this photo, even though i was quite a distance from her, she still saw me with my camera and gave me a pose.



She's still adapting to school but it's getting better. I'm a little disappointed that the school's music enrichment class can't start cos there's only 3 students who has signed up so far, and they need 8 to start. Eliza was really looking forward to it. I wouldn't take another day just to go for the extra lesson when the music school comes to her kindergarten to conduct the lesson, which is really great.

I miss my girl so much...i see her for halfhour in the morning, snuggle with her 15mins while she drinks milk after she wakes up, and 1-2 hours at night when i come home...hmm..seems little. So i'm looking forward to friday to spend time with her and send her to school.

Moving out and 2nd week of school

GARAGE SALE
This weekend we had a garage sale in hopes of selling and giving away some brand new stuffs, books an what nots. We had a handful of people coming and a pre-sale for some friends who took a good amount of baby clothes, stuffs and toys. Essentially we're just glad to clear all these away as we do not have space to keeps these things.

At the end of the day those that didn't get sold or given away was given to the garang guni man and the papers + books sent to the recycling factory.

Eliza somehow had her own fun playing with all the knickknacks, the old key chains and cutting papers. I was glad that she was having her own fun independently, only occasionally needing some attention from us and asking to "eat something"

SLEEPING INDEPENDENTLY
I've also started her on sleeping on her own since we moved to my mum's place. I wasn't sure if it would be too much changes for her with the moving and changing school. But like the brushing teeth consistency, I didn't want to break that habit once I started it. It has only been a week but somehow it has gotten more difficult the past few days. I'm not sure if it's the changes we're experiencing or that it's just her (like how she adapts to school).

So her delay tactics has gotten longer and longer. She would ask for milk again, she would ask for another hug, another kiss, pat her for a while or hold her hand for a while. Still so far she managed to go to sleep on her own eventually. I've also recently started on the reward system which I've been reluctant to initially cos it sounds like bribery to me :S. Still hope it works + my consistency.

2nd WEEK OF SCHOOL
This morning started with a rush cos we had a late night going out for dinner and celebrating my mum's birthday. So she slept late and woke up late.


And from what we discovered, it's not good to arrive late in school. Essentially, it's cos all the assistant teachers would have gone to their classes and there's no one to help her ease into her class which has already started. Considering that this is nursery and not playschool, there's only 2 teachers to 15 kids. Her playschool then had 4 teachers to 20+ kids. I was really glad that then she had this teacher who would always be there to distract her and carry her to calm her down in the first few weeks.
At some point I felt a little regret that I didn't let her continue with her previous school. There, she is familiar with the environment and teachers. It was the timing, 1-5pm, that I felt wasn't suitable for her. While most kids her age has dropped their afternoon naps, she hasn't been doing so. It probably only happens once a month. This lil girl has a bio alarm clock that wakes her once the sun rises, which is about 7am. Rarely does she sleep till 8am. So it's no wonder she's tired by mid afternoon.

Anyway we'll see how this week goes and pray that she'll have good and attentive teachers and that she'll love going to school.

First days of nursery

Eliza's nursery started yesterday and these first 2 days are orientation days so it's from 8-945am instead of the usual 8am-12pm. I took half day leave to join her in school yesterday and so far so good.

She knows I'm at the back if the class so she'll always check that I'm there. Else she was doing quite well. Only problem was that she didn't seem to respond to her Chinese name, Zhiling! If you call her Eliza or Lingling she will respond but not Zhiling. Oopss!

Anyway, as usual she was really excited on the first day but this morning after I got her changed, I explained to her that Ww or me will not be in the class with her. And that was when she started crying and almost didn't want to wear her school uniform. Thank God that she was ok when Ww said bye to her and left her at school. Interestingly of the kids who were crying on the first day, most of them were boys. Somehow I'm thankful that having her at playschool for that half year helped her a lot in adapting to school. After all she cried a lot then too.

I'm not sure how the next few days will be for her when the hours are longer. Hope she'll do ok and enjoy her school.