Ring Ring !!

Today, Daddy told me this

Nowadays Royston will pick up phone liao. Faint….cos juz now called home he answered. Only said ‘hello’ and then some other baby speech. After that hang up.

Charlton is reading

Charlton picks up an ABC book, climb up to sit on the sofa & start to read the letters and pictures to En En.

我們兩嵗了！！

Today, we invited family members to celebrate my twins' 2 years old birthday. Simple party foods is served to our guests. This time is special because we bought two different cakes for each boy to blow and cut the cake. This idea is great so we look forward to see them with one cake. Who knows Charlton today is cranky, become uncooperative and refuse to sing the birthday song, cut & blow the cake.

Royston in the end help to cut his cake.

Hardworking Charlton

Ha ha..this is a cute scene.

See Charlton is "applying what he has learn" !

He will come to our bedroom these few nights and start to take Aston gor gor books to browse the pages. This time round, he took all the assessment books and place them on the bed and he quietly flip them.

Learning ONE to TEN

Both boys are in good mood so I decided to flash the number word cards to them. They get curious with the cards and read after I say the number word. You are fast learners !!

Learning Shapes

Joan drew these basic shapes, color them and pasted on the room's wall for my twins boys to learn.

Chinese Medication

Ah Ma is worried so brought Charlton see Chinese "doctor. He took 驚風散 powder and that medicine works on him. Did not hear loud cries these few days already from Charlton.

Improvement

Charlton should be experiencing nightmares that's why he cry suddenly. He has no pacifier with him whenever he cries. He bite & broke the teat many weeks ago ; until last night, we give him a new one. He did suddenly woke up and cried but only for a short while. According to Aunty Joan, he was sucking the new pacifier so he did not cry for long. We think it's because he find comfort & feel secured when he sucks the pacifier.

Wish that Charlton will overcome nightmares and sleep better from now on.

Nightmares and/or Night Terror

It's been happening to Charlton for quite sometimes. We do not know what exactly happen to him and is it he experience nightmares then later become night terror.

At first, we thought it's due to he has high activity during the day, he played too much or he was frightened when we bring him out to busy shopping areas or he has stomach wind.

So many guesses and we have do not know what exactly happen. Ah Ma will use her "own way" of treating you like you are being frightened. Daddy and Mummy will feed you the pearl powder as a form of treating you being frightened.

Then lately we noticed he is crying non stop for as long as 20-30mins. He started crying suddenly in the middle of the night and refused to calm down.
He refused to let us carry and touch him. He will just kick and kick, cry loudly and scream fiercely.

Last night it happened again. This time, we brought you to our room to pacify and coax you to sleep. Did not work at all, so send you back to your own room. You stop crying finally, drank milk and watch TV til you sleep.

So we think it'll happen tonight...what shall we do then ?

Mummy google to know more about NightMares and Night Terror in order to better understand them and handle them for you.

Nightmares
Nightmares are frightening dreams which wake children up and leave them feeling upset and scared that something awful has happened or is going to happen.

Nightmares happen during 'dreaming' sleep, and most dreaming sleep happens towards the end of the night, so children usually wake with nightmares in the second half of the night.

On waking from a nightmare, a child will know that you are there, and usually be able to tell you what has frightened him if he is old enough to be able to put it into words.

What causes nightmares?

• Nightmares may be linked with things that have happened during the day, especially things which are worrying, such as starting school, getting lost, being bullied, being barked at by a dog, having something happen to the family (such as illness or family fights) or something bad happening in the world (something seen on TV for example).
• Dreams and nightmares seem to be ways for people to deal with their worries and work out ways of managing.
• As children gain confidence in dealing with the problems of growing up, nightmares tend to become fewer, but something bad, like a burglary, can bring them back for a while.
• Nightmares happen more often when children are unwell, especially if they have a fever. Some medicines can cause nightmares, while nightmares can sometimes start when other medicines are stopped.
• Nightmares also tend to happen more often if children are not getting enough sleep.

Night terrors
Night terrors happen less often than nightmares, and can sometimes seem like nightmares, but they are different in several ways. Up to 3% of children experience night terrors at some time.

Night terrors do not happen during dreams. With night terrors, children are unable to remember any bad dream or to tell their parents what is frightening them, and in the morning they will not remember that anything has happened.

Night terrors usually happen in the early part of the night, often about 1 to 2 hours after the child has gone to sleep.

It seems that a child almost wakes up, but does not completely wake (a 'partial wakening'). After a nightmare, children fully wake up and cry until you come to them.

During an episode of night terrors, children can cry, shout or sometimes scream, but do not know that you are there.

A child may be sitting in bed or be out of bed, with eyes wide open, calling for you, but she does not 'see' you and may push you away if you try to comfort her.

She is likely to have a rapid heart rate, be breathing fast, and be sweaty, crying, shouting, or even screaming or groaning.

She may continue to cry or shout for a few minutes, sometimes up to 20 minutes, and rarely, for an hour or longer.

Then, quite suddenly she will relax, maybe look around briefly and go quickly back to sleep.

These awakenings often happen for several days in a row, sometimes longer, and then go away for a while. They may come back when the child is unwell, overtired or stressed.

What causes night terrors?

• The cause of night terrors is not known, but having night terrors runs in families (it seems to be inherited). Usually there are other people in the family who have had night terrors, or sleepwalking or sleep talking.
• Night terrors usually start happening when a child is around 4 to 7 years old (sometimes younger) and may happen off and on until the child reaches puberty. It is unusual for them to happen in older teenagers or adults.
• Night terrors seem to happen more often when there is a stressful event such as starting school, but often there is no obvious stress in the child's life.
• Sometimes they occur on nights when a child is unwell.
  They often seem to happen when a child is not getting enough sleep.
• Some people have linked night terrors to developmental stages in children's lives, such as toilet training, but many others do not think these are linked.
• Having night terrors is not linked to having psychological problems later in life. They seem to be a temporary 'phase' which children grow out of.

Habit Of Throwing Things

Both boys love to throw things. We tried to make you pick up from you have thrown back to the toy box. This is one way we think it'll make you learn to organise your things. But really, you are so young, how will you understand this. We thought after many many times of throw and pickup, you will think it's very tired & then decide not to repeat throwing. Then come a brilliant idea, I decided to provide both of my boys with 2 wastepaper basket and teach them to throw their things there. They followed what I told them and they are now slowly realising & remembering to throw things into the wastepaper basket. This is much better method, versus getting angry with them, shouting at them and eventually they still throw and throw on the floor, everywhere on the floor.

Maiden Swim

Today's May day & it is public holiday ! Happily, Daddy & Mummy decided to bring all the boys to have a swim at Sengkang Swimming Complex. We heard alot from many people this is a must visit for kids to enjoy to the fullest. It's comparable to Wild Wild Wet at Downtown East but the entrance fee is more reasonable & cheap, at only $1 for chidren during weekend and $0.80 for weekdays. Aston gor gor & Royston enjoyed themselves so much, Charlton did not go into the water at all. You are too scared by the crowd & cling onto Auntie Joan for almost 2 hrs.

Learning is FUN

Both brothers keep each other company whenever they play, read, watch TV, watch VCD and even drink milk and eat meals together. None of them is bored in any way. Charlton will always wait for Royston to do any activity. Royston will always wait for Charlton to finish playing the toys then he take over to play. All these needed behaviors is taught by mummy during these few mths at home. We are so happy you learn very fast and can remember what's wrong and what's right. At times, you are still shouting very loud for attention, we do not blame you, as you are learning to talk and shouting is out of desperation and wanting us to react fast to your needs. Mummy is really learning alot from both of you and thinking of ways to guide you both. These few days, Charlton is speaking more sight words, you say star, rice, kiss, change, exchange, sit. Royston is still mumbling, we cannot really tell what he is saying & most of the time we are guessing. Both of you are displaying non verbal gestures very well and very clear for us to understand what you want. Mummy really hope by the time you reach two years old in 2 more months, you can converse well and lesser shoutings.

TV-Watching Guideline

Quote from Babycenter : Many of us have moments when we resort to using television or a video as a babysitter, but when you leave your child alone with the TV for a long time, you send a signal that you don't care what he watches.

Oh yes, we are like this now & so we need to change & tailored made for my twins.

1. Limit the amount of TV they watch
I will try to keep TV watching to bare minimum. I will start to break it up into 15-minute increments.
2. Chose calm and quiet programs
I am proud and glad that they have been watching Baby Einstein since 3mths old til now. These are simple programs that emphasize interactivity. It has the best shows that inspire my twins to makes sounds, say words, sing, and dance.
They watch Wheels on the bus, Hi5 and some singing songs. Recently I introduced them to watch Berenstein Bear. It is slower-paced show but it gives my twins time to think about what they are watching and absorb the information.
I will keep them away from violence shows like Power Rangers for sure.
3. Watch with your toddler
Children with moderate access to television who watched with a parent scored significantly higher academically than those children with unlimited access to television & children with moderate access to television who watched without parent.

Fixing the shape blocks

Practice makes perfect. At the beginning, Royston is able to fix them by himself. Charlton requires us to remind him the shape. After several weeks of practising, the boys are able to slot in the shapes by themselves.

New Haircut

Today, the twins as usual struggled during the haircut. More serious one is from Royston who cried suddenly and he is only half way done. Charlton had a short struggle,daddy play balloon with him and he was also given some combs to play, so in the end Charlton complete the haircut in few minutes time. Royston continued his finally. So we conclude that Royston need "half-time" rest before he can carry on. We will take note all these in the next haircut then only we can have a breeze time for your haircut.

Say Cheese !

These are my lovely boys at 21mths old !!

Mummy took these pics before bringing them for haircut tomorrow.

I think Royston is naturally inclined to get ready take pictures...he is very prepared and will give many nice poses..the making of a lady killer !



I cannot say Charlton do not like to take picture. He just do not stand properly let mummy take good pictures. These are like candid pictures.

Mummy want to say..

Today mummy was unsure what time Charlton woke up, he was very cranky this morning and even til lunch time he was crying very loudly. Mummy knows the best to handle. I decided to carry him to our room, let him play some toys on our bed, carry him around and let him nibble nibble the toys...until I realised that he is quite tired. His actions are very slow. True enough, I lie him on the pillow and he try to find his sleeping position and immediately slept until now. He has slept at 12noon without taking his lunch. I peeped at him a few times and I beam with happines to see him still sleeping very soundly.

I just have to say we need to try many times to let the twins sleep with us , else we will be in trouble or have problems coping them without Aunty Joan.

So, I am really very happy with this simple achievement.

Happy 20mths Old !

I let my both boys flip books when they are about 16mths old. This is one way of motor skills that I trained them. In the process of flipping, they get curious and they start to peel the corners of the books. So in the end, some books are torn. Almost everyday, flipping books is one of their favourite activities. We read to them at times and let them know the names of pictures. They absorb quite fast as they can read out Cat, car, star, fish, dog, cow, apple when they see the pictures. You can also understand instructions like come here, pass to mummy, sit down, close the door, keep quiet, noisy, daddy, mummy, aston gor gor, Ah 瑪, joan aunty, 姑姑, Ah 公.

Happy 20mths !!!!

My toddler at 19mths week 2

Babycenter says about this on My toddler at 19mths week 2 :
Toddlers love to feel like they're making an important contribution to any activity, and chores around the house are no exception.

Today, I indeed saw this happening to Charlton !!!

I instructed him to pass me a VCD from the TV area. I also asked him to take a pen from me, he walked from the sofa area and took the pen and followed my instructions to put the pen inside the pen holder around another sofa area. In both activities, he understand what he is doing & is smiling doing the chores.

Last Toddler Jab

Today, daddy drove the twins take the 18mths jab. As usual, they cried very fiercely when they entered the doc's room. Mummy was told to carry you back facing the doc so that she can inject onto your bum. Wah wah wah....Charlton wailed & CRIED at the thunderous loud voice he can..then come next is Royston who sobbed & CRIED at soft continously voice. Finally, injection is completed. Then doc check if you are speaking so we say yah, can say Ah Ma, cat, car...doc nodded her head. Nurse also check on your mobile skills..we say oh yes, very good in holding things, picking up books & stacking cups/blocks. Ha ha we forget tell nurse you are throwing things. You know to throw things so you will not fail mobile test if you have to complete such test. We saw Royston taking the broom & dustpan & this indicate you know they are to be used together. How come you know ? It's easy.. you noticed Aunty Joan sweeping the leaves in our foyer area into the dustpan and put the collected leaves into a plastic bag. Charlton is the ultimate one..you pick up stones, leaves and soil and throw into the fish pond. How come you know ? You observed Ah Gong feed the fish by throwing fish food. I will like to capture you onto video and let you see when you are older.

At 19mths old, both Charlton & Royston weigh 10.5kg..
We are quite surprised both have same weight as Charlton looks more meaty and more heavy when we carry him. Royston is light when we carry him. Your body mass should be same too because you have the same height too !

Happy 19mths old !

Happy 18mths old !

Time flies...my boys are 1.5 years already. Today, they took the chicken pox vaccination at Mt Alvernia's Spore Baby & Child Clinic. I like this clinic as there are not much children seeing doctor so this means queue is shorter and we need not wait for hours to see doc. Just imagine to handle two boys waiting long hours to see doc...we suffered waiting hours before in another private clinic and we learnt not to let our boys get tortured with this so we decide to visit another clinic with proper queueing system. So we only took an hour to travel there, see the doc and travel back home. I can even bring them for a hair cut in the afternoon. I am happy these two things are done so swiftly & smoothly.

At 18mths, Charlton weighs 11kg & Royston weighs 10.5kg.

The more we get together

That is the song that sang like this : The more we get together, together, together, the more we get together, the merrier we will be, for your brothers are my brothers, and my brothers are your brothers, the more we get together, the happier we will be...

My two boys are enjoying themselves bathing together. They squeezed into this bath basin everyday for two times for morning shower and evening shower. These few days, mummy has been watching them enjoying the bath so happily.