Week 153 and Week 66.5 - I hate fat Barney!

Sophia is on the verge of talking.  She is saying a lot more nonsensical jibber jabber - like the line 'wigga wigga wigga wigga wigga wigga' from LMFAO.  We ask Charlotte what Sophia is saying and she says she understands.  Of course she does not tell us.

Sophia is also 'consolidating her nap' - which means she is generally not going down in the afternoon.  This is ok as I can take her out with me on some days now.

Sophia tried to pull a door that was stuck to a magnetic door stop.  When she freed it it hit her in the face (and Imee says she cried and cried).  She has been sporting a dimple-like bruise on her left cheek ever since (There also was a door mark that spanned from her eye to this bruise - which made me very sad to look at.  As children are miracle healers, that mark went away by the next morning).

We are trying to figure out what to do on Sundays - we take the girls out for lunch and inevitably Sophia is melting and does not nap at all.  I told Matt we should go out for an early dinner instead.  It is too difficult to match our girls' sleep schedules with eating out.

This week we went to a birthday party for Anna - wow what a party!  There was a cake, games, food, and Barney paid us a visit.  The party was up on a rooftop of Anna's apartment, and Charlotte was holding a small Barney (thanks to Daddy and Youtube, Charlotte has discovered Barney).  Unfortunately Charlotte saw Barney as he was heading up the stairs to the rooftop... and ran to Daddy in fear of Barney.  So there Charlotte was, in near hysterics, complaining she does not want to see and does not like 'fat' Barney while holding a small Barney.  It was really hard not to laugh.  Matt sequestered Charlotte away from Barney, while I took Sophia to see Barney (she was crying and scared at first as well, but she got over it much better than Charlotte - I think I coaxed her with Gangnam Style, which Barney was dancing to).  Needless to say, a trip to Disney is not in the near future for us.

Anna had a 3D Barney cake as well (in fact she had a second party with a 3D Hello Kitty cake!).  I asked Char what she wanted for her birthday - and she said she wants a Barney cake!  She is all about cakes and birthdays these days.  Generally when we ask her what she wants on her cake she says she wants fire and a candle.  We are thinking of getting her a Little Einsteins cake (she loves the rocketship) as the ship is hovering over fire?  We will do something - now that she has a concept of birthdays and customized cakes.

Argh - I footnote this entry with yet another battle of the food wills from last night.  Charlotte went to bed hungry after she refused to try my vegan mac and cheese (even Matt tried).  This really frustrates me - I played the bad cop today.  Food battles - this is some sort of karmic payback from my own childhood I think.

Sigh - we will start with some videos this week:

Here is Sophia dancing at Anna's party:

Here is a shaky video of Barney at Anna's party (one hand holding a very upset Sophia):

Char swims with friends at Anna's party:

Char swims the hokey pokey:

 

Sophia climbs into and out of strollers:

Distracted Sophia slides alone!

And the pictures:

Sophia shows off her mad squatting skills (when exactly do you lose this?  Was I ever able to do this?):

I did not know Sophia could sit in a chair like this!

Apprehensive birthday girl Anna:

"I hate fat Barney!" - said while Charlotte is holding a small Barney:

Matt can't help but laugh at the irony of this:

Our nemesis - big scary Barney:

Birthday girl Anna!

Anna was a pro - she knew when to blow out the candles and how to cut the cake!  And she just turned 2!

I love this semi-candid shot of the girls!

Calm in a sea of chaos:

Joyful Char:

Char swims!

We were lucky she was having a good day swimming!

A funny Singapore sign - how exactly would they do it?

Char at the airport:

Sophia spilled water all over her shirt at lunch - so we put this swim top on her.  Her belly hangs out and it is SO cute!

A victorious swing shot (involving a bunch of new camera tricks) - yay!

Week 152 and Week 65.5

Matt has resumed his travels to Macau where he is as I write this.  When he is gone I sleep pretty inconsistently and he leaves at stupid early in the morning and arrives back at 10PM on the day he returns (this week Monday and Wednesday).  He flies Tiger Airways which means he is not getting miles or points or any other perks besides direct travel to and from Macau.

I went to bed last night late at 1AM (working on our taxes in the US - Matt in a future life will be a tax accountant given how much he knows about it).  I braced myself for Charlotte coming into my room at some hour as she has now gotten into the habit of sleeping with us.  At 3AM she opened my door, and then just hung out in our office (outside our door) crying and yelling for Yaya to carry her.  I let her cry for a bit, closed the door on her for a bit (which resulted in wailing), and then carried her into our room.  She was remarkably compliant - a marker for being overtired I think.  She has been in a bossy and moody mode these days - super particular with things that she wants (like specific clothes) and whines when Yaya cuts her bread the 'wrong' way or if Yaya drinks her coffee around her this causes a canniption of sorts.  I now know why you give into kids' demands sometimes - because who wants to fight all the time?  The stages are so transient - both good and bad - and I am hopeful that there can be a bit of mellowing in the imminent Three.

Char has slept every night with us this past week except Saturday - not sure if this is a trend but it seems like it.

Remember the fever Sophia had last week?  It became an ugly rash by Saturday (as Murphy's law of sickness is that whenever the doctor's office is closed for the weekend is when your kid get's sick).  I took her to a nice new doctor on Sunday morning who said Sophia was shedding a viral rash which caused her fever from Wednesday.  We gave her some camomile lotion and some antihistimine - but it cleared up on its own by Sunday night.

Sophia has learned the very useful phrase of 'uh oh.'  Whenever anything drops (lots of things drop in a one-year-old's world) that catch-all uh-oh comes out.  She is fifteen months old!  She has learned to climb into and out of her stroller by herself. 

I caught up with some work colleagues yesterday at Marina Bay Sands and Char wanted to come with me - it was fine!  I had falafels as she ate French Fries - she was happy as she could be.

I got the rest of the great pictures from Kristin - some are below!

The serious girls and their happy parents!

Cute family shot with Bucky taking position:

I sense Sophia will be serious and Char a goofball:

Sisters hold hands:

We lost and then found this helmet!  Yay!

Sophia and Char are serious sliders:

Apprehensive first time on this apparatus:

Sophia likes playing with Yaya's bag:

Stroller climbing:

Outfit matching flip flops:

Bucket love:

Sophia, who recently does not like baby jail, sits contently with her Cheerio and raisin snack in hand:

And some old videos (just uploaded off of my old phone):

Sophia's toe curling screams!

Char sings Chinese songs!

Week 151 and Week 64.5 - Hockey Fever (literally)

Matt played in a hockey tournament this week - I don't know a lot about hockey but I do think it is odd that they lost their first 3 games but ended up winning their next two and then winning the tournament!  I took Charlotte to the two games I saw (you know, to get her used to watching hockey games if getting-used-to means seeing a game once every six months or so) and the first game she HATED it.  Something about the noise of the puck on the boards really struck a nerve with her.  She either covered her ears or I covered her ears the entire game.  The second (Championship) game went significantly better - the rink played that interstitial rock music and that proved to be enough of a distraction so I did not have to cover Charlotte's ears.  Uncle Neil was with us too and he taught Charlotte the number 8 (Matt's jersey) - so Charlotte has been pointing out 8's to us ever since.

As of March 1 Bucky has been with us for 4 years!  Wow!  He is definitely a gentle hearted trouper.  He still plugs along the status quo these days - labored breathing, sometimes eating without a piece of chicken, mostly eating with. 

Cute thing for the week - Charlotte says to Daddy - 'I want to sanitize my hands.'  Who knew she knew the word for sanitize?  Then Sophia motioned she wanted some sanitizer too (this is the stuff we brought back from the hospital when Sophia was born).  Matt squirts it in her hand and then she slaps it back and forth between her hands!

This has been an unusually tough week health wise for the kids.  Last Thursday Char came down with a fever - 40 degree territory.  Convinced that she had dengue we took her to the ER to learn she probably did not have dengue.  She had no other visible symptoms but two days ago we saw a tooth erupt in the back of her mouth (I of course had forgotten that she would still be getting baby teeth - I thought she was done till her permanent ones came in).  Yesterday Sophia came home early from the park in the afternoon as she was just not in the mood to play - she too had a fever (a mild one).  She did not want a bottle or to nurse either (she did eventually nurse a bit).  We definitely see another tooth or two coming up in her mouth.  Even though we have been through this before you forgot how traumatizing it is to get teeth. 

For some reason Matt played for a team in New Delhi:

Uncle Neil, master teacher of all things hockey:

Char plays in the stands:

Sophia wears the championship hat!

Sophia's features are so light!

Sophia can slide down by herself!

Tongue shot:

Char shows off her belly:

Virginie and Cristobal:

Virginie and Alix:

A good day for shooting pictures:

Here is a video of Matt's victory lap around the rink (with his new New Delhi teammates):

And Char laughs while saying "Daddy has got the puck!"  So cute: