She's turning THREE....

Yesterday she came home with another birthday pack, a really nice Hello Kitty pencil box complete with pencils, eraser and sharpener..and she said, "The cat has whiskers.." hahahaa..hmmm...somehow the words "hello kitty" and "whiskers" don't really go together.

So... she wants a Mickey Mouse cake (though we never watched any Mickey Mouse Dvds before?)...and the interesting part ..she specified that after cutting the birthday cake with her classmates, we must bring her home, just like how the birthday gals and boys in her class gets to go home earlier and leave with their parents after their birthday celebrations. I guess every child wants to feel very special on their birthdays. And being the first to say goodbye to her friends is important to her. I hope that's easy enough for me on the that day! time to block that leave..

妹妹背着洋娃娃

妹妹背著洋娃娃

走到花園來看花

娃娃哭了叫媽媽

树上小鸟笑哈哈 ......

This is the song of the month! She could sing it all on her own. :)

Parent-Teacher Meet Up

Met up with T’s teachers today for the once-a-term Parent Teacher Session today!

And here's some bits of what we've got..

:) I find the comments so endearing and cute.

S.R.I.P.

Alphabets for the week..

Animals from all over the World..

Love this floor puzzle. T decided to play with it one fine morning and this has been lying on the playroom this week. Not really teaching her geography at this stage but we're just having fun looking at the different types of animals ie.koalas, giraffe, whale, polar bears, penguins and pandas.



(Seeing thaleia trying to piece a picture of polar bear's head to the body of a seal)
Mummy: Thaleia, to piece puzzles together, you must see the pictures as a whole. The head of the polar bear belongs to the body of a polar bear.

Thaleia: No. I don't want.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF TODDLERS

The Value of 10 Minutes

I SOOOOO need to blog about this.

Daddy and Mummy missed Thaleia's first performance in school concert by 10minutes!!

We (plus lil J) arrived at the school at 5pm, took a while to find the school auditorium and missed her first performance!

Ended up watching her play "mak sak" (toys) with friends instead!

Well she did re-enter the stage for a finale where all the performers gathered and sing a final song..

and..She was happy to see Daddy, Mummy and Lil J , all here to pick her up from school though. Check out her smile..

But..remind me ..remind me..some moments gone are lost forever.

Who could underestimate the value of 10 minutes ..or even a second?

Finger Painting

At 6.30am : Literally PAINTING HER FINGERS!

Pretend Play - Doctor & Patient

collection of:

..a takeaway box from Kenny Rogers....emptied medicine bottles of 3 different sizes...

...plastic measuring spoon....a soft thermometer from one of the toys..

AND we're ready to play Doctor & Patient!

The Dew of Heaven

Have been asked a few times this week by various friends. "The name - Thaleia, what does it mean?

So here's a short and brief one:
The original Hebrew name is spelled as Talia actually and Talia means Heaven's Dew. Papa and Mama made it Thaleia, a variation from the original. When Isaac blessed his son, he said in Genesis 27:28.. "May God give you the dew of heaven, and the good things of the earth, and grain and wine in full measure". Heaven's Dew signifies God's blessings and favor.
When dew falls upon the land, it allows vegetation to flourish and gain a good harvest.

My little gal, you really are true with your name, arriving at a time where you brought such comfort to our souls, refreshing our lives, bringing so much laughter and joy. You do not have to worry that your little brother will make you less special.

Nothing can replace you, our precious little dew from God!

O is for Olivia

Yes..I braved the crowd and went to the Borders MASSIVE Book SALE and I'm glad I did! .Got my hands on 2 Natalie Shaw's Olivia's series. I think Thaleia likes it! Cos She's seems very tickled that Olivia wears a TUTU.

Daddy: Thaleia..what does Olivia wear?

Thaleia: TuTu ..(followed by a hahahah)...

Precious Previous August Weekends

It's the last few weekends before her little brother arrives! And August has been filled with family events, kids's birthday parties and one long weekend, thanks to Hari Raya Puasa festival.
Nonetheless, we tried to load in even more extra fun for these weekends...before we hit September!

20th August at the Singapore Flyer


29th August - Happy Birthday to PAPA!!!!
Lunch at Vivocity....



Followed by a car ride on a red mini Mini-Cooper! This little Cooper is sooo cute..



30th August - Hi tea at Raffles Hotel
She loves the fountain...


and all the yummy pastries and sugar loaded in the Hi tea menu!

If you have no daughter..

No more crying in the morning…Hurray!! Hurray!! Hurray!!
After a good 2 months, Thaleia has finally stopped crying when we drop her off in school. Now she waves goodbye and joins her friends in play once we bring her to her classrooms. We can see she’s really starting to ease in now, smiling at her teachers and responding to her friends. So glad for this progress!!

Learning to sing along
I started playing children songs in her playroom every mornings since last week. And on the way to school..she started singing, “lalala..dotter..lalalala dotter..” . Then I realized she was singing a part of Hot Cross Buns song!! which goes “if you have no daughter..if you have no daughter..if you have no daughter.., you can give them to your son”..so Hot Cross Buns has definitely taken over Head Shoulders Knees & Toes as her favourite song now.

More geography
Thanks to Auntie Lee Ping. My collection of postcards now includes Mexico and New Jersey! When she grows older, she will have a wide collection of pictures of many places in Europe and US…I found a nice floor puzzle of the map of the world in Kiddy Palace on Saturday. Can’t wait for another year to show her the beautiful countries and the animals unique to each continent that God has created in seven days!

All over the Moon Over Honey Stars

This Thursday was Racial Harmony Day so we dressed Thaleia up in a cute little Indian costume for school. Was a gift from one colleague when I visited the Chennai office last year. Glad the lovely costume still fit her. She simply refused to pose for me until I bribe her with Honey Stars.Once she got her hands on them, she's all OVER THE MOON!!!!!!!!!!

Hello..don't I just look like the perfect Honey Star Ambassador for Nestle?

Sugar High at 7am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ten Apples Up on Top

Here's a wonderdul book for car rides..and one with a very catchy tune!

Since Thaleia had high fever yesterday, we stayed indoors most of the tme and to keep her still for 15mins, I decided to just do some activity with her based on this book which counts apples from 1-10. Credits for the idea goes to http://www.makinglearningfun.com/, a great website for art and craft ideas.

Found a duplicate photo which came in handy. Well....Ended up..Thaleia was just interested in pressing the white glue out of the bottle and applying them on Daddy's nose on the photo..so and Mummy was the one counting the apples!

Tell the Time with Busy Spider

A nice Eric Carle book that talks about a spider who focused on building her web from morning to night despite distractions from friends like the pig, cow, dog and cat who invited her to play with them. A decent book to teach about focus and persistence, though I think the book was designed to teach the concept of time. David is usually the one who picks this book and read to Thaleia.
On Saturday morning, we actually spotted a spider in the room and it looks exactly like the one on the book!







Eight legs in full view!

Spelling T-H-A-L-E-I-A

Thought Little T should recognize all the alphabets that form her name! Inspired by ideas from the creative mummy at her blog Counting Coconuts, I decided to do a “I Spy” bottle for that purpose. Collected some nice plastic bottles from the hotel ..nice size, has a blueish tint to it and a nice pink cap! Bought the beads from Gift-A-Name, filled the bottle with red beans and…we got a nice little ' I Spy" bottle cum shaker!


Gonna put this in the car for short ride entertainment..

Ring around a Row-sy

This Educo "Ring around the Row-sy" Bead Maze is one of the toy which outlast the rests. Made of solid wood and sturdy wires, Thaleia has been playing with it since she was 8 months old. It's nice to see how she works her little fingers and adjust the position of the maze to suit her vision of focus.

She can handle the "n" curves for now. The "S" curves are a little tricky and need more practise. Apparently this maze teaches the concept of inside and outside and well, the concept of "around". Was very very tempted to buy a bigger version at one stage but resisted in view of space & storage constraints.

The Hour Before School

Finally she is smiling in the mornings before school....

Starting Childcare..

Thaleia started childcare on 1 June, a wednesday. That week was considerably the most difficult periods of transition we've faced so far.

I remembered a year ago in April when we experienced a first change of routine where we started to place her with Anna in the mornings (where previously she was placed with her granny in the morning). As a 13th month old baby then, she could already sense the shakeup in her routine and would cry very loudly when we hand her over to Anna.

This time round, at 26th month old, not only does she cry, she articulates her anxiety clearer, which makes it very tough for mummy to play the baddie. She will put her hands to her chest and say "scared go"the moment when we dress her up in the uniform, cling-ed tightly to us when the car reaches the school and then burst into tears when we hand her over her teacher.

But well...it is a transition Thaleia and us will have to face some point in time. In future, there will be more schooling moments where Granny, Mummy and Daddy and Auntie Anna will not be around her but she'll have the pleasure of learning from her teachers and playing with her friends. For now, I'm just praying this transition period will not last too long and hopefully she can start looking forward to school.

Lovely Picture of Thaleia

So Nice! complete with her dimples..:) Thanks Laura!