Dragon lady

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Back in Business

Sorry for the long hiatus. I've spent the past 10 months readjusting to working life in Singapore. The pace is hectic and life just took on a crazy rhythm of its own that left little time for blogging or pretty much anything else.

Anyhow, it's no excuse and I feel bad for missing out on a cool nine months of Mia's life. She's grown more teeth and hair. She's outgrown her "boyish" good looks and is starting to resemble Kayla a little more. She talks a lot, just like her sister and loves performing with her pretend microphone. She sings out of tune but is most adorable when she tries to mumble her way through "LMNOP". She loves her A, B, C, X and W and is always asking me to write them out for her. She loves reading books and will tell you if she wants to spit out something she doesn't want to eat. Yes, she's fussy when it comes to food. She likes milk but doesn't like cheese. She loves anything chocolate. She loves mangoes and strawberries and is always asking for food.

And if all goes well, she'll start school next year - though I really can't imagine her in any classroom setting.

Kayla on the other hand has blossomed into quite the little missy with an attitude. She can be lovingly protective of her sister one minute and say she doesn't like her the next. Yes, they fight or are starting to. She's getting more comfortable with Mandarin but needs a lot more practice before she'll be ready for local equivalent of elementary school. She has best friends at school - Gabrielle and Sam-Yi and loves talking about them. She misses Gilroy a whole lot - and I can totally understand why. Why she used to hang out with the kiddos in the neighborhood riding her bike and skate scooter in the afternoons and evenings, she now spends her days in school doing serious learning. She tells us "I hate learning. Learning is boring". She talks about her pals back home - Virginia, Mitchell, Sienna, Ellie and Ella. She talks about the yard, her playhouse and the lovely playgrounds back home.

Even I wish we had a better playground here. :)

Showered with Pressies and Love

Right before the big move, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Tina, Uncle Ryan and cousin Emily packed tons of gifts and love for the girls. Here's Mia sitting on her stash of birthday pressies.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the purse and Minnie Mouse! Thank you Auntie Tina, Uncle Ryan and Emily for the lovely dresses!!! They were so cute Mia wore it the very next day for her birthday party! :)



Understandably, Kayla got rather upset when she realized Mia was the ONLY person getting presents on her birthday. She calmed down only after she got to keep Mia's Minnie Mouse plush doll. The day before, however, the sweet jie-jie in her drew a beautiful birthday card for Mia.

I think that's her impression of Mia learning her ABCs. The inside of the card features Mikayla, Mia and a drawing of a candle. Not sure what MAF means.

The back of the card is a picture of two happy bunnies. That's what the two sisters are like on a good day--two happy bouncing bunnies.

Mia's One!

We had a small party at the condo's function room, mostly for family and close friends. Since Darrius' (my nephew) birthday is just three weeks apart from Mia's, we chose to combine the celebrations!


Mia with Gong Gong and Po Po.

An impromptu magic show by Uncle Julius. The kids were trying to figure out where the tissue went!

More silly games: The kids pretending to be sleeping lions. In the other, the kids pretending to be elephants!

Little Lucas saying "Hi" to her favorite jie jie Kayla. Kayla pigging out on M&Ms.

The candle's the wrong way round; otherwise, the cake's picture perfect and rather yummy too.

Kayla saying "Hi" to Aunty Jasmine! And finally, the birthday babies!! Happy birthday, Mia and Darrius!

The Hundred Languages Of Children

The Hundred Languages Of Children
by Loris Malaguzzi

The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marvelling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.

The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.
They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.
And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.

Unpacked!

We survived our 131-box move, but I'm not sure I could survive another. Hence, we've resolved not to buy anything unless we absolutely, unquestionably and positively need to. We've settled in nicely at The Dew (lots of young families with little ones just like us) and have met some really friendly and helpful neighbors. In fact, the neighbor next door has a little boy a year older than Kayla and a little girl who's about two. Kayla loves her room because it's pink! (Yes! She finally gets a pink room after all these years) She's also thrilled to have all her toys back. It's taking a little longer for Mia to get used to new surroundings so she's even more clingy than ever. But I think she's starting to kick back and relax just a little.

Here's Mia obsessing with her pretend mail. She sneezes mid-way and when I say "Bless you," she responds with a pretend cough. Yes, when you say "Bless you," she coughs. I have no idea where she picked that up from; it's just one of the many cute little things she does.



Here's a video of the bored girls dancing to the radio at the service apartment. Mia lets out a loud screech at some point so be sure to turn down the volume on your computer.

Stranger Anxiety

The folks at the service apartment are really friendly. Everywhere we go, we're greeted with smiles and a cheery "Hello." So on our way down the elevator to wait for her schoolbus today, I had a conversation with Kayla about how we should say "Hi back" when someone says "Hi" to us. (A lady from the housecleaning crew said "Hi" as we were leaving and Kayla pretty much ignored it.)

Me: Kayla, when someone says "Hi" to you, you should say "Hi" back.
Kayla: But Mommy, I'm supposed not (sic) to talk to strangers. You said I'm not supposed to talk to strangers.
Me: But the lady was just being nice.
Kayla: But she's a stranger.

I guess at this age, they can't quite differentiate dangerous strangers from harmless ones. So perhaps it's better not to force the issue and let her be the indifferent, unfriendly preschooler on the block than turn her into a social butterfly and put her at risk. Agreed?

Oops. Time to pick up her!