C's school allows parties on Fridays and since this Friday is Good Friday and a public holiday, we thought she wouldn't be able to have a celebration with her friends. Fortunately, Daddy reminded me to give Josiah a call to find out if it was possible for the school to make a concession for her to have her party on Thursday.

The school was very kind indeed to allow that and then it got me all flustered because I usually take months to plan for her party. But I managed to get her a cake she liked and in the evening, bought the gifts for her classmates.

C helped me pack them and in the matter of minutes, we were all done. :)

When we were in Japan, a nice granny introduced this "magic powder" to C.

Apparently, to have this "magic powder" or Furikake, added to steaming plain rice is a norm during meals and C loves it!

My only regret, I should have bought more of this when we visited Nishiki market when we were in Kyoto. C has been asking for it to be added during dinner.

When C saw the size of this bottle, she gasped!

Can you blame ? I was speechless too! Ha ha!

Several weeks ago, I started reminding C that she has to complete certain tasks before I returned from work. 

And so far, it has been successful. She will immediately report her daily activities once I got back and then this afternoon, after a discussion, C said that she wanted to have a check list which she could tick off to see the tasks she has done.

Hence...

I thought I would work in simple learning tasks like spelling for the day and month into the check list.

C seemed excited about accomplishing these tasks as well.

C has been singing in a choir since the beginning of the year. Every Sunday, she attends practice and she looks forward to singing with her friends in Church.

This was her performance for the Sunday School children and it was like a prelude to the real thing Easter Sunday.

Perhaps it is because C loves flowers. This is another flower piece she did for her art.

Daddy and I are pleased that C is making progress with her reading. She is definitely more confident now and can read more fluently.

These days, her English homework comprises of her writing longer sentences and before she writes them, I usually get her to read out loud.

C did her writing this evening.

She still hasn't gotten the proportion of the letters right but I am sure she will in time. I am trying not to stress her out too much as I do not want her to have adverse reaction to doing her homework. I hope my doing doesn't result in her thinking that she can get away with writing that is less than perfect.

We went to Ikea this evening as they were having a sale and we thought we could grab a bed for C.

C tried on a few... Ha ha! She literally plonked herself onto the various beds and even rolled around to see if she was comfortable. But nothing caught her eyes. Daddy too, felt that some of the beds resembled those in the hospitals hence we didn't buy any.

Bed hunting continues...

When Daddy was away in France, he dropped by the Louis Vuitton boutique at Strasbourg.

and he got me this! 

I only learned much later that he bought this lovely bag as an anniversary gift for me. It is our 7th anniversary this year and this was indeed a very sweet gesture. This afternoon, Aunt Angie whispered to me that this beauty has a price tag of $3100 at the local boutique. Gasp! I didn't know! 

"Thank you, Baby!" 

This is my $3000 diaper bag! Hee.

We went Thai this evening! Actually, we had plans to go for Korean food but the restaurant that we wanted to go was fully booked hence it was Daddy who suggested we eat at this Thai restaurant.

Jai Thai! Apparently Daddy had eaten at this place with his colleagues and he found the food pretty decent.

Just look at the spread! We ate so much, all of us were really stuffed!

Oh, but there was always room for dessert! And I must say, the dessert was heavenly! :)

One week of holidays is coming to an end and since C and I spent most of our time at home, we jumped at the chance to meet Aunt Di when she said she wanted to go to Paragon to get some stuff for Baby Asher. Grand Mother and Grand Father had to make a trip to the doctor so it was good for us to take a break too.

It has been ages since I last went to Orchard Road and seriously I was beginning to miss that place. I was also hoping that we could squeeze in a dental appointment because we missed our last one. Unfortunately, the clinic was fully booked for the day so we would have to go another time.

But the day was fun with Baby Asher and Aunt Di.

We had lunch at Thai Express...

And we did some walking at Takashimaya Shopping Centre. Next, we went for tea at 

:) They have such lovely bread. 

And we ended the night with some craft work. 

C has been doing her Math exercises and revising her phonics nightly.

We used to feel and think that the school holidays was never long enough but this was a good break because C and I could spend more time with each other than usual and that in itself is a blessing. :)

When C was younger, I had wanted to take her for massages. But I didn't know of many places that specialises in massages for babies so that plan was put on hold for the longest time.

Once, we went for a massage but she was doing all the watching and this afternoon, I asked her if she wanted to go for one and she said yes.

Precious, waiting her turn...

She was alright. She didn't protest violently or giggle continuously while she was being rubbed down. It must have been a rather relaxing one. 

We went for some dessert after that before heading home. Yeah, we like spending time with each other! :)

Mummies, if you are consider taking your tods, kiddos for a massage, you may want to check out these places:
1) Baby Spa for baby swimming and massage for about 1/2 hr each.
Venue: Northpoint Mall #02-52 Tel: 64894847,
           Harbour Front Centre #03-11 Tel: 62720061
           Plaza Singapure #03-03 Tel: 62386003
Cost: Non Members: $30 (small pool), $33 (big pool) - single session of swimming
         Members: $196 (small pool), $216 (big pool) for 10 sessions
                         $336 (small pool), $356 (big pool) for 20 sessions
                         $10 for baby massage


2) Inspire Mum & Baby for baby , toddler and kid massage and aquatics

Venue: Katong Mall #03-44 Tel: 63487781,
           Safra Toa Payoh Tel: 63554506
Cost: Up to $300 for 3 sessions


3) Tender Loving Touch for private lessons on massage techniques conducted in your home
Cost: $275 (3 sessions) to $475 (6 sessions) for 45 minutes per session
Contact: Gloria Wong at 91596155

4) KKH for baby massage programmes for babies 1 to 12 months old by physiotherapists
Venue: ehabilitation Department, B1 Children's Tower
Cost: Up to $84.42 for 3 sessions held over 3 consecutive Saturdays monthly.
Contact: 63941268 or email : pec@kkh.com.sg

5) Mount Alvernia Hospital for baby massage classes for babies 1 to 5 months old by physiotherapists
Venue: Rehabilitation Centre, Medical Block A, B1
Cost: $32.10 for single session held every last Saturday of the month
Contact: 63476203

I had a budget of $4.6k which I had to spend by the March so we went down to Borders in the morning, all ready to spend like there was no tomorrow.

C was really excited because the bookstore was definitely one of her favourite places.

We were waiting for our bus ride to come...

At Borders! She was all ready with a basket and went hunting for books. She sat herself down at the Children's section and browsed through the many books there. Then she helped with the selection of books that I had. It didn't take her very long before she realised that the little basket wasn't enough to contain all the books that we were getting.

During lunch, we went off to Bugis to meet my friends, Aunt Pei Lien and Aunt Elaine.

By this time, C was famished and she wolfed down her pasta in speedy time. Of course, she had her ice cream. She had initially wanted to go for Japanese food but the ice cream was too good to be missed.

And... I had another surprise! These two ladies got me a birthday cake too! C was thrilled that it was a "frozen" cake. Hee.. Children... they can be so cute! But PL and Elaine are just as adorable! :) 

Thank you, Gals!

We were overwhelmed with birthday parties this weekend! 

Sheldon turns 5 and Aunt Sandy and Uncle Steve celebrated their boy's birthday at Downtown East's Explorer Kids. Needless to say, the children went wild literally running around the place.

The birthday boy with his lovely parents and younger brother!

But ...

I hijacked the party, it seemed! Aunt Sandy and Uncle Steve apparently had prepared me a lovely cake too.

I felt terribly embarrassed but it was definitely a sweet gesture and all of us were extremely touched. 

Thank you, my dear friends... :)

It was really nice and sweet of Aunt Xin Xin and Uncle Leslie to include us in their son's 1st birthday celebration.

 We had prepared a gift for the birthday boy but I realised that I had gotten the older brother a present instead. Ops... so it was an ang bao in the end.

Cheryl is making much progress for her swimming.

She can be extremely playful but the good thing is, she listens to the coach. She is now learning to breath underwater with the help of a swimming board. Daddy and I are pleased that she can swim a considerable length. :)

Another completed art piece from school...

C posing with her piece in the car.

On average, it takes her between 2 - 3 weeks to do a piece.