Run yx Run !

I don't care, I just wanna run from
 one end to another. Chiong ah !

More action here:

Besides shouting "aiyoh", is still "aiyoh". I was amused yet feeling exasperated with her energy out-burst, not to mention I am currently 35 going 36 weeks preggy. It's really no joke. Daddy has already collapsed in one corner while I leaned against a bunch of cushions. I think I forsee terrible-2s coming on soon .... fingers-crossed ...

Baby Bonus in Singapore (updated 2013)

Taken from Heybaby - the government website on having and raising children in Singapore. Just to act as a reference for my children in future - haha.... I am thinking too far isn't it? =}

The Baby Bonus Scheme is designed to help families defray the costs of raising a child. It comprises a cash gift and a Child Development Account (CDA), a special co-savings scheme for children.

Enhanced Baby Bonus Cash Gift

For Singapore Citizen children born on or after 26 Aug 2012, the Baby Bonus cash gift has been enhanced as follows:

Enhanced Baby Bonus Cash Gift

Child Order	Born between 17 Aug 2008 and 25 Aug 2012 (for each child)	Born on or after 26 Aug 2012 (for each child)
1st & 2nd Child	$4,000	$6,000
3rd & 4th Child	$6,000	$8,000

Additionally, the cash gift will now be disbursed more quickly. It will be given out in 3 instalments over 12 months following the child’s birth (instead of 4 instalments over 18 months previously): 

• 50% at birth;

• 25% when the child is 6 months old; and

• 25% when the child is 12 months old.

Your child is eligible for the enhanced Baby Bonus cash gift if:

• Your child is a Singapore Citizen born on or after 26 Aug 2012;

• The child’s parents are lawfully married; and

• The child is the 1st to 4th child of the mother.

Baby Bonus CDA
The Baby Bonus Child Development Account (CDA) is a co-savings scheme for children, where savings deposited by parents into a special savings account called the CDA are matched dollar-for-dollar by the Government, up to a specified ceiling, as indicated below:

CDA Government Co-Savings Caps

Child Order	From 17 Aug 2008 onwards (for each child)
1st & 2nd Child	$6,000
3rd & 4th Child	$12,000
5th Child & beyond	$18,000

CDA savings funds can be used for child development needs at Approved Institutions registered with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). Approved uses of CDA funds include the following:

• Fees for child care centres, kindergartens, special education schools and early intervention programmes

• Medical expenses at healthcare institutions such as hospitals and GP clinics

• Premiums for MediShield or Medisave-approved private integrated plans

• Assistive devices

• Eye-related products and services at optical shops

• Approved healthcare items at pharmacies

As part of the Baby Bonus enhancements, from 1 Jan 2013, CDAs for children born on or after 1 Jan 2006 will remain open until 31 Dec of the year the child turns 12. Parents will thus have 6 more years to save into the CDA and use the CDA funds for the child and his/her siblings.

Your child is eligible for the Baby Bonus CDA if:

1. Your child is a Singapore Citizen; and
2. The child’s parents are lawfully married.

Playgroup Comparison

Following my posting on LEAP Schoolhouse, I tabulated my experience with the following playgroups:

Criteria/ Place	Growing Up Gifted  (GUG)	LEAP Schoolhouse (LSH)	MyGym	Gymboree
1 - Environ- ment	- Small class rooms;  low student:teacher ratio	- Small class rooms; low student:teacher ratio	-Very spacious gym facility; has swings -played loud music (which doesn't go -well with yx)	-Very spacious gym facility; well-maintained  -No swings
2 - Quality of teachers	- Understand children temperament and go with the flow	- Pleased with the teachers' singing and children management abilities.	- doesn't seem to be well-trained but can still manage a class	- Understand children temperament and go with the flow
3 - Curriculum	Hello & Welcome English literacy activities Break time Bubbles Chinese Literacy Activities Singing Goodbye  - No gym time	Free play Hello song Gym time Break time Bubbles Literacy Activities Singing Goodbye - No Chinese curriculum  - No mathematical concepts injected	Hello & Welcome Songs Playing in groups Free play with parent Playing in groups  Bubbles  Goodbye	Hello & Welcome Songs Playing in groups Free play with parent Playing in groups  Bubbles  Goodbye
4 - Management/ administration	- Very systematic, answered your questions straight-away, perhaps has been quite experienced handling many questions from parents.	- One of the administrators can't answer enquiries and often has to "refer to my colleague" for advice. I have to repeat my "story" before I was given a conclusive answer.	- One boy was crying extremely loudly and was lying in the middle of the room kicking and bawling away but it took the over in charge teacher quite a while to intervene when the parents are not taking any action.	- quite pushy when it comes to enrolment

Note:
- GUG and LSH are both with literacy activities while MyGym and Gymboree are just purely action and songs, which explains the colour differences when doing comparison. Main differences are highlighted in bold.
- Activities described for all except LSH  may be not be in sequence since it is based on past few months memory.
- Impression done base on the 1st visit. (I have more than 1 visit for LSH, to compare on the common platform, I base my comparison only on the 1st visit.)

Basically, I find the activities almost similar. It's just the teachers that makes a difference. The above criteria (to me) are considered foremost during my selection process. One might also wish to consider:

• Fees
• Location
• Time slot Availability
• Flexibility of the terms and conditions

I wonder .....

....... if giving birth is like the feeling of going to poo poo, then why can't the process be quickened when you are nervous? cos when we are feeling nervous, we tend to have "butterfiles in the stomach" and the next thing you know is you get the feeling to go to the toilet. So why can't giving birth be the same - the more you feel nervous, the easier it is for the contraction to come naturally and easily and thus you "poop" faster instead of the opposite? I guess I am going on the slippery slope ......

Weight as at 22 April 2013

My Weight = 62.40 kg
Baby's weight (est) = 2.80 kg

Oh no! He is heavier than his sister!

I have been watching my diet 2 months ago when I had a sudden weight gain. I mean, Dr Paul didn't say anything negative or caution me, but I just wanted to make sure my baby doesn't grow too big since I intend to go through VBAC (subjected to doc's approval around week 38 after scanning). =O

I have stopped eating ham (er...plus fries sometimes) daily (which I craved for initially) and other than that, my diet is basically the same as my previous pregnancy. I ate lots of veggies and drank milk for calcium. Ok, no more ham from now....

Summary:

1st to 4th Visit @ LEAP SchoolHouse

Structure of the Class

• Free play for 15 mins & clean up
• Hello Song 
• Gym Time
• Break time 
• Bubbles 
• Literacy:

1. Story telling 
2. Activity related to the story
3. Flash cards
4. Sorting activity

• Actions & Songs
• Goodbye song

Total Duration: 1.5 hours

For all the activities done in class, they will be compiled into a portfolio by the school and hand to you by end of the term.

Our experiences as follows:

Ball games

I have played basketball, netball, volleyball - nothing beats netball I think. No, I am not expert in it, maybe just the kind of camaraderie I experienced when playing netball. The most important element in netball is footwork if I remember correctly.

I don't know if yx will pick up any of these ball games in future but she always wants to "catch" whenever she sees a bunch of guys playing basketball. She was already fascinated with throwing when she was about 6mths+. I am perfectly fine but daddy is not too keen. He said playing ball games will get injured easily. Oh, I thought someone said we shouldn't be over-protective? haha, who is talking now?

Singapore Cord Blood Bank vs Cordlife or Stemcord

Refering to my following posts on cord blood banking,

1. http://ourdearie.blogspot.sg/2011/09/cordlife-vs-stemcord.html
2. http://ourdearie.blogspot.sg/2011/11/cordlife-vs-stemcord-cord-blood-banking.html

I have decided to donate my child's cord blood to Singapore Cord Blood Bank and contacted them recently ("The expectant parent's decision to donate their baby's umbilical cord blood should be done between 32 weeks of gestation and before going into labour.").

Details on how to donate can be found here and the donation process here.

I wanted to bank yx's cord blood with one of the private cord blood institution in Singapore initially but hub and I thought otherwise as we wanted to have a second child so we thought we will do it when we have our second baby since the stem cells are highly compatible for siblings, no guarantee though.

I have also seek advice from Dr Paul Tseng regarding my intention and he is supportive.

So why the change of mind now?

• It is not proven scientifically that the child's own cord blood is "fool-proof".
• Doing a good deed on behalf of our child since we don't keep the blood anyway
• It doesn't cost you anything (ok, my blood - all donors are subject to do a blood test) !

I have done the pre-screening over the phone and I will be meeting up with the nurse co-ordinator next week to complete a consent form and Maternal Risk Questionnaire before proceeding further.

Then just gotta await for delivery... ...

Musical Tortoise

Star light musical tortoise bought from gmarket

Daddy bought this end of last year and its "shelve life" lasted only for 2-3 months as her sleeping companion. In the beginning, yx was fascinated by the music and the stars and moon reflections around the room. Now it has been sitting at one corner collecting dust. Maybe I try to on it again and see if she still remember this poor tortoise..

Concepts I think (or maybe hope hahaa) she should have grasp:

• Differences between day and night -stars and moon can only be seen at night cos she kept pestering me to on it during the day, I showed and explained to her that they exist during the day but can only be seen at night due to the bright sunlight. I don't know if she knows what I am talking about even though I explain in simple terms with actions. 
• Reflections - lights can be reflected; yx is intrigued when the small stars and moon on the tortoise can be reflected onto the walls, not to mention that they look much bigger!
• Shadows - yx has been playing with her own shadows since she was 6 mths old when we off the lights to play with her with a torchlight. She jumps like cat trying to "catch" the shadow dog and butterflies we did on the wall. haha. With this tortoise, she experimented covering the tortoise shell and then shine the shell against her hand and the wall. I am not sure if she knows what's happening but I am glad she had fun. 

Birth plan

I have submitted my birth plan last month to Dr Paul Tseng for his review and I am surprised that he actually endorsed it immediately after reading it although he expressed concerns on sweeping membranes as that may cause waterbag to break. I intended to reword it and bring next session after the discussion but I think it doesn't matter since he mentioned that he will still seek my opinion even if I have a birth plan in place. Well, at least he understands my preferences and concerns. I trust his judgement and appreciate that he respects his patients.

Education: Literature in Singapore

I was reminded by the importance of Literature when I chanced upon my friend Ling's poem via Facebook where she dug up her old poem in the2ndrule.com.

Summer Vanguard (forefront)
---------------------------
{Summer skies --
Dreams are percolating
Rain is ruminating
things are not what they seem to be --}
So we would like to -eat
the bread of idleness -poke,
Fritter away our sun shadows -loll,
These languorous days of tree-leafed azure
Skies---
Otherwise silvered second slots
Trusted for the rush of winds
Quarter this day birds allude to
All sun. All blue. Grey. Rain.
Forgotten--
So.
Spinning the world to oblivion
Tethering on silver Adonis drawn
Skates. Trailing across gold handed waves of
Blue robes.
The day is gone-- But Night
Spins River Nile diamonds
Mirror of fire cities or Elysian memories?
No bother-- we are dissipating
this world in stupored pilled dreams.
- Sherlyn Xie

I have written poems (oh, does Haiku count? ha..) while I was in secondary school, but none of them as sophisticated as this. Ironically, my Lit grades were not as fantastic as I must admit that my emotional maturity level was simply not aligned with my intellectual level (and/or vice versa) and that I concentrated on subjects such as Chemistry and Maths that gives more weight and definition. Honestly, I have "thrown away" most of the theories except for some. I guess the only Chemistry is what binds me and my hubby now (haha!) and Maths is probably more of "Financial Modelling" of everyday life where costs of living in Singapore is getting higher, not to mention that the rate of inflation has increased over the years.

Yes, you have the usual collections such as:

• A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
• Macbeth -William Shakespeare
• The Merchant of Venice - William Shakespeare
• Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

But the following are interesting too:

• A Man For All Seasons - Robert Bolt
• Dragon Seed - Pearl S. Buck
• Emily of the Emerald Hill - Stella Kon
• The Endless Steppe - Esther Hautzig
• The House of Sixty Fathers - Meindert Dejong
• The Village by the Sea - Anita Desai

Over the years of growing up, I understand the value of Literature - the importance of hardship, perseverance, resilience, humility, ethical dilemma, managing multiple, conflicting perspectives and the intrinsic value of life which is beyond what Science or Maths could offer. It is true that life can be better understood with real experience but I would say Literature gives a foundation to increasing the awareness and deeper understanding of the various aspects of human knowledge.

I would definitely encourage my children to read widely and to question whatever they read. Suddenly, it seems to me that it was not too long ago since I have completed my basic education yet the memories are faint.

Mummy and daddy don't know everything, but we will definitely do our best to guide you. 

Buttons, zip, snap, velcro !

My mum has done the following with some old jeans clothings at my request:

But er... yx is not really into it. She just fiddled with it for a while and then leave them aside. hmm. There goes popo's efforts.

Oranges vs Phlegm

I have been cutting down on eating oranges since my first trimester - from almost daily to once a week, biweekly and now once every 2 months. In the beginning, I thought I might have withdrawal symptoms but the feeling was not too bad and I took pear instead. However, I still have phlegm although it is now bearable. 

I don't have such problem of phlegm during my first pregnancy. Very strange huh? The old wives tales said that eating too much oranges will cause baby to have plenty of phlegm. Doesn't seem logical to me ... I am the one now having phlegm! Oh well, it doesn't hurt to believe but I will still eat moderately. =\

Meals menu

For the past 2 weeks, mil has started to alternate yx's meals with rice (soup added) and porridge. I am glad to learn that she is enjoying rice but I think she still needs to brush up her chewing skills.

Ingredients (all of them are cut into bits) mixed in the rice:

• fish (grouper/salmon)
• leafy vegetables
• potato/carrot
• minced meat (chicken/pork)

She loves noodles too! 

When it comes to food, I am really lazy to think what to give her. I think this is dad's and mil's forte and I am happy to leave this to them as I know my mil is experienced (with my 2 nieces) and dad is interested in cooking (at least better than me!) 

I don't mind baking as long as there is someone to clean up the mess (haha, who doesn't want that?). Perhaps when yx is older, I will whip up something and hope she enjoys eating my pastries as much as she enjoys eating ah mah's rice. 

Ice-cream tasting & fun with machines

Tasting nutty oreo @ swensons for the 1st time

I want MORE !

ohhhoooo, this looks fun!

yx @ the library

This book looks interesting.. I will bring it to mummy...

In actual fact, I had a pile of books from her. She was going back and forth bringing all kinds of books she could get hold of the shelves to me. No, she is not going to read them, I think she is having fun bringing the books from one place to another. Anyhow, I let daddy do the running. =D

Hot weather

HOT HOT HOT! I have been sleeping with the air-con on for the whole night without having to cover blanket at 26 degrees. Before pregnancy, I have to cover myself and I don't perspire that easily. I guess with the recent weather, I have become an air-con addict.

As for yx, I just on the air-con to chill the room and after she has fallen asleep, I will off it and then turn on the fan. There goes the electricity bill from now on ....

yx with my Russian (Matryoshka) Dolls

We bought a set of Russian dolls while we were travelling there a few years back before we got married and we placed them at our TV console. Recently, yx is so fascinated with the fact that there are dolls nested in almost every dolls that she tries to get hold of them - open, close, open, close..... urgh. 

I didn't think it was a good idea (ok, they aren't that expensive but I treasure them and is only 1 set) until I realised that she could actually learn something (I hope!) out of it such as matching skills, shapes, sizes, eye-hand co-ordination, etc... 

Maybe we should have bought more sets... ok..how the hell I know?!!