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.

Food

I wouldn't say Eliza's a picky eater, neither is she a great eater either. She'll eat her favorite foods but most of them aren't like staples. She'll eat her rice or noodles, veg an meats but depending on how they are cooked though.

Here is the list of foods she won't eat
- pancakes
- mashed potatoes
- burgers
- longan
- spicy or minty food


Foods that she'll eat depending on her mood and how hungry she is
- bread. Though chocolates on the bread will get eaten
- crunchy veg like snap peas, cabbage, dou4 ya2. Though she does love the stir fried leafy veg my mil cooks, even the stems which I don't like
- chicken nuggets
- biscuits. She'll eat cookies though, esp chocolate cookies

Foods she'll definitely eat
- rasins
- beans, peanuts
- crackers
- French fries
- sweet and sour pork/ fish/ chicken
- chocolates

She picks on fruits though, some fruits are probably a lil too exotic or not common enough for her to take a liking. So mangos, lychee, persimmon, longan, papaya aren't fruits she'll take much liking to. She loves strawberries, cherries, grapes, watermelon, yellow kiwi, oranges, blueberries. And ahhh...glad to say that she likes durian too!

Food - the rejected ones

I wouldn't say Eliza's a picky eater, neither is she a great eater either. She'll eat her favorite foods but most of them aren't like staples. She'll eat her rice or noodles, veg an meats but depending on how they are cooked though.

Here is the list of foods she won't eat
- pancakes
- mashed potatoes
-

The foods she'll eat, depending on how hungry she is
- breads, though anything with chocolates on the bread will get eaten
- crunchy veg like snap peas, cabbage, dou4 ya2. Though she does love the stir fried leafy veg my mil cooks,

La la lu

It's a song i heard since in was young but didn't quite remember it until recently. It's actually a song from the cartoon movie "Lady and the tramp" which i would watch over and over again on when i was a kid. Still i didn't quite remember that it was a song from that movie, maybe it didn't sound as angelic in the movie than when i heard it later on. It was also a song in the Yamaha JMC course cd that my sis had and about a yr ago i dug it out and started playing at home for Eliza cos of the nice tunes and songs like "It's a small world" etc. Somehow this particular song did get stuck in my mind when i heard it and i began singing it to Eliza. Only problem was, the only lyrics i remembered from this song was 'la la lu'.

Finally, after another request from eliza to sing this song today, i got down to find the lyrics of this song...pretty :)

La la lu, La la lu
Oh, my little star sweeper
I'll sweep the stardust for you

La la lu, La la lu
Little soft fluffy sleeper
Here comes a pink cloud for you

La la lu, La la lu
Little wandering angel
Fold up your wings close your eyes

La la lu, La la lu
And may love be your keeper
La la lu, La la lu, La la lu

you can also listen to it at youtube

I don't remember much lullabys frm my very young age...but i remember the lullaby my mum would play for my sis when she was a baby, it's those tunes that get stuck in our heads. Even my sis had fond memories of those songs. I still have the lyric book for that album but somehow can't find those beautiful songs anymore, it's a cassette tape..and i guess that tape has gotten misplaced or got moldy. Would love to find the cd version of it one day.

Good night baby eliza

Eliza dons the baby receiving blanket's hood over her head.
Eliza : mummy, say "good night baby"
Me (disgruntedly cos she always talks so much b4 she sleeps that I try not to respond too much, else she can't sleep): good night baby
E: ok thank you mummy, thank you mummy
And plops onto her bed to sleep.