Kristen starts school

Kristen, two and a half, started school on Monday. My baby has grown up! After almost seven years with a child or children in tow I was really looking forward to some me time everyday.

Finally, some time to get long overdue tasks off my to-do list and maybe some time for a little bit of pampering- a weekly massage, shopping, an hour of Pilates? As it turned out, I now have barely an hour to myself in between all the chauffeuring on most days, and maybe slightly more on the days Ellie gets off school later. Even though Kristen settled really well into school. ( I left her half an hour after getting to school on the first day, without her crying), having to do the school runs meant that I probably only had enough time to do one small task off my list, in between getting the groceries and running errands.

So it definitely was wishful thinking to have imagined that I could start getting my foot back into some form of work when Kristen started school. 

Kristen finishes her pasta- a big deal

We've always had a fussy eater in the family. Some families have to stop their kids from wolfing down their meals but my problem has always been getting them to eat up whatever it is on their plate. Of course there are the favorite dishes-chicken rice, chicken noodles, french fries. The not so healthy sorts of food which we replicate at home with a healther, less oily version.  But mealtimes at our home have always long drawn affairs.

The latest to join our hall of fame of fussy eaters is Kristen, the milk guzzler who picks at her food at mealtimes and spits out whatever doesn't catch her fancy. It is always difficult to catch her at the point where she is hungry but not hungry enough to start yelling for milk. All the books say that a child at her age (almost 2) should be having regular meals and with their milk as a beverage. With Kristen, it's milk and more milk in between the snack-portioned mealtimes. 

So when, all of a sudden, (literally overnight) Kristen suddenly decides not to drink her milk and decides instead to open her mouth to receive spoon after spoon of pasta, I am stumped. I do recall praying about this but probably in passing rather than in earnest.  I believe God does listen to the smallest of prayers so I certainly hope ths is the beginning of a new dawn- a phase of eating rather than rejecting food. And so it was with great happiness that I spooned out the last spoonful of pasta and stew today at lunchtime and stared at the empty bowl in disbelief. 

Kristen learns to talk

Kristen's word-log at 22 months

early June 2012: "no more chips papa" (one of her earliest sentences)

mid June 2012: "close door now! One two three four five......"(she's learning to count from because I count to get the older ones to do there chores)

29 June 2012: "Mummy look! ant climbing bunny's ear!" (there really was an ant on Bunbun's ear)

05 July 2012: Kristen tells everyone "Tammy gave me this" (her new kitty cat)

05 July 2012:  "Mama, wat you doing in the toilet??" (this is the shocker! I wasn't expecting so many words so soon!)

twinker tweenker leetle tar

Its already March ?!! And this is my second post for the year! Just a few notes before the moment passes.

Kristen (18 Months), is starting to speak in couplets.
Pack....Diaper
Bag....Heavy
Pat....Bed
Drin(k)....Tater (Water)

And sings "twinker tweenker leetle tar, howI wunder hmmm hmm hmm".

The third child does get the fewest posts, but really she such a good humored, funny little cheeky one and a half year old. 

Bible reading Ellie

Ellie is reading the NIV Bible. We gave her a bible for christmas. She wanted a "princess" bible, the one that her cousin Erika has. The princess bible is a regular bible with a pink shiny cover and a diamante clasp, and with absolutely tiny print, something I couldn't read it without hurting my eyes. There are so many bibles for children with a 6 or 7 font size! So I got her the Young Woman of Faith Bible. She's now at Genesis 9, underlining the words she doesn't yet understand.  I'm pretty amazed she's gotten so far-she's five going on six. 

Staycations and Vacations. 2011

I'm post dating this. My list of staycations & vacations for the year 2011. We actually did get out A LOT this year.

• January-Photography conference at Kuala Lumpur, Gardens Residences
• June-Church Family Camp at Kuala Lumpur
•         School holiday Vacation at the Movenpick hotel Sentosa
• August- My Birthday Treat at the Ritz Carlton
• September- Grandpa gives us a free stay at Fraser Suites. We pretend to be expats in out own country in a out of town serviced apartment
•                   Alpha Weekend at Nanyang Executive Centre
• October- K  &; M's Wedding at Bali. Ellie, Cait and Kristen are the flower girls.
• December- Family holiday at the Marriott Phuket

Case notes

Kristen at 15 Months.
79cm tall. 9.5kg.

My blog is beginning to read like a doctors case notes. Just the facts. Nothing more. My mind seems watered down to that.  Surviving on 5 hours of sleep each night. On average. On bad nights it is five hours of broken sleep. Kristen isn't letting us sleep through the night yet. I blaming those 4 molars brusting through those baby gums. She makes up for the bad nights by being absolutely funny and charming in the day- which is why I manage to get by- and don't actually look the zombie I feel I am. And yes it is God's grace. To remain calm and collected with the 3 girls whizzing by, talking non stop, occasionally attacking each other (Kristen, a-ha! is a fighter too!) chasing each other round the house, asking me all sorts of questions as I am trying to reverse park at 1 km/h. (Of course I end up scraping the side of the car ever so slightly.)

At the end of the day, I am just too pooped to even think of writing about the 101 exciting things that happen each day. Which is why the log is just, a log, ....case notes.