Into the 22nd Month...

little General is just that much closer to two. Lately his obsession seems to be Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story movies. He simply adores him and as such we've had to endure countless hours of watching Toy Story 1, 2 and 3 over and over again. His sudden obsession started about 2 weeks ago, prior to this TV watching was an absolute minimum. He's had his Buzz Lightyear and Woody dolls since Christmas so I really have no clue as to how this fascination with Buzz started.

'NO'
is his answer to everything. It's driving us nuts.

Bintan 25 to 28th March
...was great. It's the most relaxing holiday we've had in ages. Matthew had a great old time playing by the beach or swimming in the pool any chance he got. All that playing meant 3-4 hours of napping every afternoon too which was wonderful for Duncan and I to kick back and relax and do absolutely nothing for a change.

First (professional) Haircut 29th March
I got a call from Matthew modeling agency on Tuesday to ask whether he'd be available today for a photo shoot, to which I'd said yes. So I quick trip to the hairdressers was in order. I wasnt going to chance giving him on of my 'Mummy Specials' and botch the job right before a shoot. Matthew didn't budge or whinge during his haircut but you can tell by the pictures that he wasn't too happy. Here are some before and after shots.

Before/During

After.

The Photo Shoot 31 Mar
went real well. Our day started at 930am on location on the Singapore East Coast Park. First up was make up and styling. Matthew refused to have his eyelashes curled and the stylist only managed to put some gel in his hair.  There were a few 'Nos' thrown about :( The biggest 'Diva' moment was when we all had to wait till Matthew finished his raisins before we could start shooting. The second biggest 'Diva' moment of the morning was when the stylists assistant had to fawn over Matthew with more raisins and gummy bears.

Matthew was paired with a Brazillian model as his faux Mum for the cover of Motherhood Magazine. His faux mum, Nadia was really lovely and great interacting with Matthew, so I think we got some really great pictures and the editors have a few choices to select from for the cover. The assignment was for 4.5 hours but Matthew managed to get his shots over with in less than 2. His agent was super impressed at how quickly Matthew completed his assignment. I'm glad it was over with quickly as jumping out of bushes to elicit a smile and a giggle out of Matthew on cue is tough work. Magazine is out May 2011. Will keep y'all posted.

Poh Poh and Goong Goong
are here. Thank goodness.

Not ready for potty training

we attempted to potty train Matthew a couple of weekends ago without any success. The only success we had was making Matthew afraid of the loo.

Matthew has kinda been showing us he's ready for potty training - telling us when he's done a poo in his nappy and we can tell when he's about to do one. Not so consistent with telling us he needs to do a wee but we'd thought we'd give it a go anyway, as the thought of getting potty training knocked over before the new baby arrives sounded very appealing. During the weekend in question, when Matthew indicated that he was about to do a poo, we'd place him on the potty. The first time he just sat there and looked around, at us and at everything else. So we thought, maybe not this time and keep trying. About 10 mins after we'd put Matthew's diaper back on he indicated that he needed to do a poo again, this time, to preempt us, he ran away from us when we tried to put him on the potty. We eventually managed to get to him in time before he did his business to pop him back on his potty but still no poop and this time very reluctant to even stay seated there. After a few attempts it's escalated to Matthew crying when he needs to poo (before and after) and refuses to sit on the potty. Not a good start at all :( Perhaps we'll leave it for another month before trying again.

Oh yes... for a change, Matthew was the 'bitee' at school. Some other toddler actually bit him so hard on his thumb that it left little red teeth marks and made Matthew cry. Matthew's not a crier, not even for vaccination needles, so it must have really hurt him. Part of me thought, well at least now he knows what it feels like to be bitten but the other part of me felt really awful for him. According to his teacher, it was completely unprovoked, the other child received time out, apologised to Matthew and Matthew graciously accepted his apology and continued playing together. Wish adults could behave the same way. 

Here's a picture of Matthew taken last night practicing his fake smile. His face seems to have changed so much in the last month!

Just a quick note about visitors and travel.
Matthew's Poh Poh and Goong Goong have confirmed that they will be in Singapore for a visit from the 30th Mar to the 6th of April. Looking forward very much to having some family around. Duncan's business trip to Zurich has been postponed so instead, we've decided to take a short vacation to Bintan, Indonesia for 4 days and will be away from the 25th to the 28th of Mar.

The sad new and the good news.

Firstly some sad news.

Our beloved labrador Socrates passed away on Saturday. After a long and happy nearly 14 years with our family he sadly had to be put down as his body was failing him. Socrates was a beautiful loving member of the family, loved equally in return by all of us. Rest in peace old friend, we miss you. Sweet Matthew has been hoovering quietly over me with a tissue on hand to dab away my tears. I've not told Matthew that his 'whoa whoa' is gone...

The good news.

We (I am) are pregnant. Currently in our 15th week of pregnancy and safely in the 2nd trimester. All is progressing smoothly, with all the usual early pregnancy tests and scans returning with results that were literally off the charts, in a positive way. I'm also over my bout of mild morning sickness and have resumed my usual pre-natal routine of regular yoga and exercise. We are all very excited to be welcoming a baby sister or brother for Matthew. Matthew is non the wiser as to what all the fuss is about and looks at the black and white ultrasound pictures with curiosity. The newest Baby Bradey will make his/her grand entrance this Sept. The official due date is the 4th of Sept.

More generally, Matthew has well and truly settled into his new routine at school.  I can say with confidence that he really enjoys it there - he happily waves goodbye to us in the morning and never fails to greet me with a big smile and cuddle at home time. He enjoys the classes and activities, particularly music which is held every morning at 1030am and never fails to garner lovely comments from his music teacher. Matthew has also picked up a few Chinese/Mandarin words - 'Good bye' - Zai Jian, 'Apple' -  Ping Guo and 'Thank You' - xie xie. He's learning to be gentle with his friends as he has a tendency so play a little rough which gets him into trouble with his teacher. Matthew is no stranger to the 'quiet spot' both at school and at home.

Around the home Matthew is your typical (nearly) 2 year old toddler. 'No' seems to be favourite word of late, even when he really means 'yes'. As if for extra emphasis, Matthew likes to shakes his head when he says 'No'. I must admit it was very cute for about a day.

Each evening as bedtime draws near, Matthew will invariably try a few of the following three tricks in an attempt to avoid going to bed for as long as possible. He will plead for 'more books, please Mummy' and if I don't submit to his demands, then it's 'please Mummy, please Mummy, please Mummy'. And if that doesnt work, he'll ask for his Daddy. The second is 'Tissue' or 'Nose', which means that Matthew would like a tissue so that he can blow his nose, even though there is no reason for it. The last trick and the most frequently used, is 'Water', he'll ask repeatedly for us to fetch his water even though the bottle is right next to him in bed. All of his little antics provides us with much humor but also frustration. Fortunately though, once he's off asleep, he'll sleep soundly till a very respectable 730am the next morning or when we wake him.

Here is our Matthew, looking extremely cheeky posing for the camera.

bye for now.