The Bub in the Belly

We are shooting a new television commercial tomorrow - will update!

You know that magical moment when two siblings start behaving like siblings? I don't mean when they start fighting, of course! I mean when they start thinking of each other when they are apart, or when they save some of their yummy snacks to pass on to each other later, or when they really do want to hold hands with each other while walking to the park, or when they protect each other and stand up for each other. I mean that magical moment when they show a connection to each other.

We've been having a lot of that magic with our two munchkins these past few months. It's incredibly heartwarming.


Ryan and babydoll can play quite well together now. In fact, Ryan includes her in his play quite regularly. Sometimes he makes up a game for them to play together. Sometimes he instructs her on how to construct something or how to play with something.

He can be quite particular so it's pretty funny when he gives specific instructions and babydoll, not knowing what he means, just grins and chuckles at him because she's just pleased that he's giving her his attention.


Babydoll absolutely adores her big brother. She loves it when Ryan takes notice of her and sometimes when she's having a tantrum, only a hug from him will calm her down. She wants to do everything he does and she's a quick copy - she only has to witness Ryan doing something once, and she can execute the same thing perfectly.


Here they were playing with some walnuts that Margaret had bought for us a long time ago. They swished the walnuts around, lifted the cardboard box up on one side to get the walnuts rolling, checked to see how many walnuts they could hold in one hand, so on and so on. It was lots of fun for them, although their excitement is missing from the last few photos - Ryan was distracted by something behind me.


I guess, when you have more than one child, you hope that they will be able to lean on one another in the future, that they will always have someone that they can count on to share their ups and downs, and that they will never feel lonely. You hope that they will enjoy each other's company, so that every family gathering is a joyous occasion that they will look forward to. It's a vision of the faraway future and there's a lot more to struggle through but, looking at the two of them right now, I think we've got a chance of getting there.


In these photos, Ryan is wearing a T-shirt made by me, using the Raglan Recess Tee pattern by See Kate Sew. I made it for his birthday about two months back. Babydoll styled herself - she is wearing her brother's pajama top over her romper, and she also pulled on a pair of harem pants which I made for her (I posted about it in this post).

Babydoll's usual routine when she gets into the car is to Houdini herself free of the shoulder straps, Houdini herself free of her shoes and Houdini herself free from any hair accessories. In the photo above, she's still got everything on though.

Here's babydoll again, with her uncle. She loves his company.


Babydoll was very comfortable with her relatives this trip. On the previous trip, she showed some anxiety with them, but this trip she was fine. She even started greeting some of her relatives, which made them very happy.


Ryan had such a treat this trip - his pal Brayden came all the way from Singapore and spent a couple of days with him! They went to Kidzania the first day. We left Ryan in the care of Brayden's parents who escorted the boys through the place. This was Ryan's third visit to Kidzania. The next day, Ryan went swimming at their hotel. He had such a great time!


Babydoll in French plaits. I'm so thankful that her hair is curly and hence, naturally messy, because my french plaiting sucks.


This was Ryan learning division - haha! He got so bored one evening at Margaret's house (the older cousins were playing computer games) that he came up to me and asked me to teach him division. Margaret's family had just got back from Cameron Highlands with lots of fresh produce, fresh fruits and veggies, fresh flowers, etc. I grabbed these cherry tomatoes and these side plates, and voila! Instant 5-minute division lesson!


Babydoll chewing on something that we had for dinner (this was taken after we left the restaurant and when we were almost home). Can you guess what it is?


It's a pig trotter (from a suckling pig)! Yum yum.

Here's a rare photo of three of us. We were having dinner at Hoi Peng Seafood Restaurant (the branch at Old Klang Road).


Babydoll took a selfie!


We celebrated a birthday. Richard's sister, Mary, had her birthday the following week when we would already be back in Singapore so this was an early celebration. I'm not sure what babydoll was trying to achieve with her expression. That girl has a complete repertoire of faces.


Here's babydoll and her cousin Justin's remote controlled BMW. She's obviously showing it who's the boss.



Anyway, good trip as always. The kids really enjoyed having the company of their extended family - uncles, aunties, cousins, grandparents, and Ryan had his special visitor. Good memories.

Here's babydoll wishing you sweetness for the weekend. She's having a taste of my iced tea with milk at the roti prata restaurant. Cheeky girl was trying to fish out one of the ice cubes actually. These photos were taken about two months ago.

What are your plans for the weekend? We've got a full schedule, including a trip north to the Iskandar region to have a look-see - any tips or recommendations?

And as if I wasn't busy enough, I hope to get my sewing machine humming again this weekend. Since we came back from our Chinese New Year break, I have only sewn a handbag for babydoll and hemmed a pair of pants for Richard. I'm feeling the itch to stitch!

So let's meet back here on Monday, ok? We'll share our adventures! Have a great weekend!

Richard and I like to toss about versions of our future - how we want to bring up our children, the life we want to build for our family, what we hope to provide for our family. Big stuff, important stuff. Stuff that keeps you up at night.

Having been through the full cycle of Bilingual Playclub (4 terms) with Ryan, we were very familiar with the programme and we knew that babydoll would enjoy it very much. We signed her up the moment that she was old enough for it (18 months).

So does babydoll enjoy it? Oh yes, very much! From her first session, she has been very happy. She is interested and participates keenly in all the activities.


Ok, that's all for today!