Beijing and Singapore, here we come!

29 Jun 2007


We finally got our flights sorted out. We will leave home tomorrow morning at 4am (horrors!!!) to catch a 6am flight to Beijing, stay over for a day and night, and depart Beijing for Singapore on Sunday 4pm.
It is a safer alternative, instead of leaving Mongolia on Sunday morning and connecting to the same 4pm flight in Beijing. The flights flying out of Mongolia is often delayed. The reason is unknown. The representatives of the airline often blame the strong winds and bad weather, but it was too often to be true. And usually it was the Sunday flights which are delayed. Strange, huh? We only have a short 2 hour transit in between and I don't want to take the risk of missing our Beijing/Singapore flight. If we do miss the flight, we lose another precious day in Singapore! I would rather leave early and spend the day in leisure in Beijing. I think Cayden will have fun too since he hasn't been there. Must take a photo of him in Tiananmen Square. Such a touristy thing to do!!! haha.

New Car

29 Jun 2007

Ok, its not brand new, but its a different car. Hubby was kinda forced to changing our car in Mongolia, coz our old car was a piece of junk. It was kinda falling apart, though our driver, Khulee tries his best to keep it clean and shiny. He is a 'car-proud' driver. :)

We traded in our 7 year old Toyota Harrier for a 7 year old Merc ML430. We figured that German cars (especially Merc) are more reliable and will last longer than Japanese cars. It definitely feels alot sturdier than the Harrier. But I realised that this car is a "half piece of junk". The windscreen was chipped, the bonnet has many chipped marks but thats just aesthetic.

This morning, I had to change the parking spot of our car, so I happily drove it to the front of our house. Turn off the engine and couldn't pull the key out of the keyhole! Spent about 30min in the car trying. In the end, had no choice but to call hubby. He said he also had problems before, but just "jiggle it a bit" and it should come out. Nope! Nothing I did could persuade the key to leave the keyhole. So I just left the key in the car (not the smartest thing to do, I know) went back into the house. The key is still in the keyhole in the car now... Sigh.

Learning Phonics

28 Jun 2007

Last night I pulled out the Phonics learning set which I bought a year ago. It was buried under my huge stack of magazines *sheepish*. I enthusiastically bought it last year, wanting to teach Cayden, hoping he would be a “Genius” - just like the title suggested “Yes, Your Baby is a Genius”. But after I flipped through it, I thought it was quite complicated. I told myself that I will find the time to read it, understand the method and teach Cayden. It never happened…

Anyways, I read it again, and still thought that it was complicated. But most importantly, I realised that I have forgotten all of my phonics! Yikes! I was horrified! When hubby saw me reviewing the book, he asked me “So mama, do you know your phonics?” I had to answer him sheepishly “No”, but when on to say “but I revise and remember”. He laughed. I guess its USD100 down the drain…

When to start homeschool?

Yesterday, when I went to pick up Cayden from his school, his Japanese teacher, Ms Kimiko, informed me that she will be going on holiday from July to 15 August. This is very common for Mongolians (though she is a Japanese, she has lived in Mongolia for 5 years) to spend long time in the countryside during summer.

Because of this, I have decided not to send Cayden to school while she is gone. Don’t get me wrong, the school is great, but its just that other teachers don’t seem as caring to the kids. When Cayden first joined the school, there was this other teacher, Mashita (she is Indian, Malaysian) who spoke English well. I liked it when Mashita was there because she could communicate with Cayden and with me too! I was able to find out Cayden’s progress in school. After Mashita left, Kimiko took over, but that was ok too. I could see that she geniunely loves kids and I trust her. The other assistant teacher spoke only Mongolian and also I feel that she was a bit rough with the kids. I do not want Cayden to be in such an environment.

So I guess this is the best time to start homeschooling Cayden. He shall stay at home with me til 15 Aug, at least. Once we return from our home leave in July, I shall start my lessons with him. I will also have my materials because I will pick up my books from Angie when I return to Singapore! This solves my question on when should I start to homeschool Cayden.

We are going back to Singapore!!!!

Yes, we are finally going back to Singapore this Friday. Fingers crossed, we will get seats back in the Beijing-Singapore sector. At the moment, all biz class seats are full and we are waitlisted. There are available seats in Economy but I told hubby that I don't want to travel via Economy. Ok, I am not being spoiled (we always travel on Economy for our holidays), but I think its just not worth it! The company paid for the Biz class tickets so why should we waste it? Besides, its much easier on Biz class when travelling with Cayden.

We might take the Friday flight out to Beijing, stay overnight there and take the Sat morning flight back to Singapore. We can even go visit Charlie and Finn and Tara! We have not seen Charlie and Finn since Tara was born!

I have also made doc appointments and appointment to see Angie (from the Home Library) to pick up our Before FIAR books and see if we can purchase more books for Cayden to last the year...

Oh I am so excited!

Brewery Opening Ceremony - Backdated

The brewery is officially opened on 19 Jun 07. Its a major milestone. A year ago, when we arrived, the land where the brewery sits on now is completely empty! In fact, they weren't even sure if the brewery was going to build there. Now its completed and they have started production...

Hubby and I decided to leave Cayden at home and let Nyamaa take care of him because it was a formal event and we didn't want him to start screaming at the most inappropriate moment (i.e. when someone is making a speech).

Everything was done up very nicely! A far cry from when I saw it the Saturday before. On Saturday, I was doubtful if everything was going to be ready in time! The roads weren't even ready then.

When I arrived at the brewery, I regretted not bringing Cayden because everyone brought their kids! Sigh. My poor child stuck at home... But I still had fun. In fact, I had so much fun that I missed my hubby's speech! hee hee. I felt so bad.

Here are some pictures I took:

Computer Saved!

I guess the title of this post says it all, doesn't it? I am so pleased... the iBook is fixed!

On Friday, Constanze helped me to contact Charlie (who is currently staying now in Beijing with her son and daughter til Sep) to see if she knows anyone who knows how to repair a Mac, since Charlie uses a Mac too. She gave me the contact of this man - Tugsoo and so I immediately called him. He told me that I need to transfer all of my important data onto another Mac and to reformat the laptop. He told me if he locates another Mac, he will call me...

Yesterday, he called me! Immediately I went to his office and he (together with another colleague) spent about 3 hours helping me transfer all of my data and to reinstall the OS program for my laptop. And he did all of that as a favour! He did not charge me! I was so grateful... I will have to show my appreciation somehow... I think I will send over some beer and maybe a hamper?

And most importantly, I will go and buy a hard drive and back up all of Cayden's precious photos and videos since birth....

Anyway, life is back to normal now. Phew!

Come swim with me!

Zoe taking the stage, as usual :)

Sweet Natasha

Cayden just soaking up the action

Since we had such a big success the day before with the pool, I decided to invite a few kids over to join us in the pool on Friday afternoon. I invited Constanze and Zoe, Aivee and her 3 kids - Natasha, Felicia and Lucas.

Everyone had a great time, although the pool was really dirty by the time the 5 kids were done. They were splashing in the water, pouring water out, splashing each other! Poor Nyamaa, she was soaked because the kids were targetting her! I also took out the water pistols which I bought at Narantuul (which costs only $1 each!) and the kids just sprayed water at each other.



Needless to say, the house was in a huge mess. Zoe threw a tantrum after Natasha sprayed water on her so she decided to run into the house all wet (and dirty!) and layed down on my sofa! I nearly fainted. But that's the way it is with kids around right?

Our own pool!

Today was really hot. Instead of joining the usual playgroup at the Children's Park, I decided to blow up our inflatable pool and let Cayden play in the water instead.

While Cayden was taking his nap, I started to blow up the pool, alternating between blowing air physically and using the foot pump. Its much faster to blow air physically so I did that most of the time. But it makes my head spin! Had to take a break and eat lunch and continue. Success!

As the hose in the garden is not connected yet, Nyamaa and myself used 2 pails and 1 stockpot to fill the pool with lukewarm water. Once Cayden woke up from his nap, he saw the pool and wanted to get in! He had so much fun in the pool! He splashed water, jumped, played with the water pistol. He was in the water for at least 1 hour. I was really glad that we were in the water instead of standing in the hot sun at the Children's Park.

Say cheese!!

Cayden playing with his bath toys...

Computer Down!

My worst nightmare has happened! Something happened to our iBook and now I cannot start the iBook! This has to be the worst thing that happens to me because the laptop is my only connection to the outside world! Plus it contains ALL of Cayden's pictures and videos since he was born and we do not have backup!

Why? Why? Why did I have to download iVCD and tried to install in the laptop? There must be a bug in the download. And why? why? why did I not backup all of Cayden's pictures and videos???

Constanze said that one of her friends (Anke) also uses a Mac and she mentioned before that she knew someone who can fix Macs. Unfortunately Anke is currently in Europe now but Constanze will send an email to her and ask her. Hopefully that person will be able to help me. The most important of all is to save all the pictures and videos.

I am now using my hubby's PC to write this post.

This really sucks.

Taku's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday, Taku!

Birthday boy

Kids all going for the pizza!

Baby Sophia - how cute is she?

We went for Taku's birthday party today. He turned 2. It was a small cozy party. Very nice. Cayden had fun. He always have fun when there are other kids around. The only down side was the older children being slightly uncontrollable. I guess they are all ok with they are alone, but together with friends, they went nuts! They were encouraging each other.

2 of the boys were misbehaving so one of the boy's mom went over to discipline her son. To my surprise, the other boy actually scolded her and said "You are not his boss!". Wow, i was taken aback. This boy seriously needs some discipline! I made a mental note to myself not to let Cayden misbehave that badly! This really reflects badly on the parents.

My Wish List

My wish list for this year...hmm... looks like I am going have to start saving a lot more! Only 6 months left!

Leisure Sunday

It was a leisure Sunday. We did the usual things - grocery shopping, lunch, spending time with Cayden. In the morning, Cayden found a new game. He discovered the box of hangers in our guest room and starting to take them all out one by one. That game kept him occupied for a good 30mins. :)

Cayden with the hangers

We tried a new Korean restaurant called "Shilla". Well, it was first time for me, but not for hubby. He has been there several times for business lunches. It was good, although we over-ordered (again!) We ordered a beef rib soup (mainly for Cayden), a spicy chicken vegetable soup, cold noodle, rice.

The spicy chicken soup was not what I expected. In my mind, I was thinking it was more like "kimchi" soup - with chicken and loads of cabbage. But it turned out to be more of a stew with only carrots and potatoes as vegetables. I should have known... this is Mongolia. Mongolians don't eat vegetables. To them, vegetables are potatoes, carrots and onions. But the taste was still good. The cold noodles were a disappointment. It was a clump of noodles, tasteless and icy cold. Will not ever order than again. Anyhow, we still had a good time.

Cayden being a good boy at the Korean restaurant

Food galore!

After lunch, we drove home and Cayden did not fall asleep in the car as expected. Instead, he was singing along with the children songs CD we were playing for him. Ok, he wasn't really singing... he was just repeating the last word of each phrase. But it was still cute.

When we arrive home, he decided to play on the front yard. Hubby took a piece of styrofoam and stuck a few strands of tall grass in it. Cayden took the "stick" and went around brushing all the tall grass. He went crazy! We took a video, but not the crazy part. This was when he was more subdued.

Baking Time!

Almond Biscotti

Banana Sticky Buns

Nutella Cupcakes

These were what I baked last week.

Cayden's favourite - Nutella cupcakes. They were well received.

Almond Biscotti - when hubby saw them, he actually asked what were they? I was quite insulted. He quickly redeemed himself by saying that in his mind, biscotti were shaped long - like the ones we buy at Starbucks. Maybe next time I shall shape them differently.

Banana Sticky Buns - I decided to follow one of the recipes from "Domestic Goddess" food blog. I was so inspired by all the food she cooked and baked. The recipe is slightly different from my usual one. It calls for banana (obviously!) and wheat flour instead of just bread flour. Hubby thought they were a bit hard. I didn't mind it. In fact, I kinda like it because i think its healthier (b'coz of the whole wheat flour)! Like the banana flavour too.

Home Schooling for Cayden?

I have been toying with the idea of home schooling Cayden. Well, not really 100% full time home school, but kinda like part time? Cayden goes to school in the mornings now and after I pick him up at 1pm, I will put him down for a nap. He usually naps till 3.30pm and he will spend the time playing with me till I start cooking at around 4pm (in time for his dinner at 5.15pm). He eats dinner at 5.15pm and after dinner I usually let him watch a bit of TV (usually its Sesame St, or Bob the Builder, or Hi-5) before I start the bedtime routine (bath, milk, sleep at 7pm). As you can see, there isn't really much time for me to teach him anything.

I have been to some homeschooling websites (thanks to MamaBliss's blog!) and think that I can start to do some activities with him. I have been inspired! There are 2 reasons why I want to homeschool him:

1) The kindergarten he goes to - thought the teachers are good and caring, I think they don't really have a program. They also do not speak English.

2) These few weeks, I have observed that Cayden is picking up so words so fast! He is absorbing information so well! I think its a waste to not make full use of this time.

I have been in touch with Angie from The Home Library and have been really inspired by her as well! I have ordered Before FIAR set from Angie and will pick them up from her when I return for our home leave in July.

When we return to Mongolia from our July home leave, I will cut down on the number of days Cayden goes to school - from 5 to 3. The 2 days he stays at home, I will "work" with him and see how it goes. We will take it one step at a time.

Meanwhile, i will start to work with him in the afternoons as much as I can, with the limited resources I have.

Nothing works!

Yesterday was really a bad day for me. First of all, the day started wet and gloomy. It had been raining for the whole night and was still drizzling. This made the house rather cold. The government has already turned off the central heating on 15 May, so 2 weeks ago, we went out to buy a portable heater.

I turned on the heater and it started working for a while. The living room warmed up nicely. After hubby & Cayden left the house, I went upstairs to start the computer and thought I can spend the morning surfing the web, reply to my emails, upload my photos etc... The internet connection was so slow... I was watching the page load... and load... and load... I feel like my fingernails grow at a faster rate!

When we first subscribed to this VDSL service, it was great. It was a fast connection and surfing was such a pleasurable experience. This month we have been plagued with problems. Sometimes the network would be down and we won't have access to internet for a few hours. It's becoming more common now. The connection was also slow... To think we pay a premium price for this service.

So I went downstairs and decided to watch some DVDs instead. I found out that the heater was not working! Sigh. Nothing works today. Am getting quite sick of this country already...

Big Boy Cayden

Another update on Cayden... yesterday he started saying "A-B-C" all the way to "G" on his own. It all started last night, when I was about to put him to bed. He had bouts of diarrhoea these 2 days, and since he has learnt how to tell us whenever he needs to pee pee or poo poo, he said poo poo after our bedtime story and his usual bottle of milk. Although he had his diapers on, I still brought him to his potty ( to encourage his behaviour) and let him sit. While poo-poo-ing, he saw the words on the sleeves of my T-shirt. He pointed to "A" and said "A" and continued all the way to "G"! I was so proud of him! I wished I had a video cam with me recording it all down. Times like this, I wish there was a video cam recording whatever we do all the time! This way, we won't miss anything!

I bought Cayden a new potty at Narantuul yesterday. He already has one but we usually leave it downstairs. He normally poo poos in the afternoon and he is always downstairs in the afternoons. But since he started his bout of diarrhoea, I find myself running upstairs and downstairs for the potty, especially when he wants to go in the morning! I had enough, so I bought him a new potty. He loves it! Its really like a seat with arm rest and all. He even out his arms on the arm rest and start to tap his fingers, like a big boss! Its literally his throne! The good thing is that he does really pee pee and poo poo when we bring him to his throne. Not many false alarms.

Narantuul

Today, my helper, Nyamaa & myself went to Narantuul, also known as "Black Market". Initially, I thought "Black Market" sounds very dangerous, but after being there, its not dangerous at all! Sure, there are pick pockets around but which country does not have pick pockets? I was advised to be especially wary of the small boys because they are supposed to be inconspicuous than men.

I normally go to Narantuul without Nyamaa, but this time I needed her help. Majority of the store owners do not speak any other language besides Mongolian, so when I go, I use sign or body language - whichever helps me get my message across! The last time I went, I attempted to buy 2 zips to replace the broken zips of my pillow case and Cayden's sweater. I found the store, but no one wanted to sell me! This time, I brought Nyamaa, hoping that she can either find out why no one wants to sell me the zipper or help me buy the zippers.

It was a fruitful trip! I managed to buy practically everything on my list! The only down side was that some shop owners saw that I was a foreigner and decided to charge me more! When Nyamaa asked for the price of 1 pair of shorts, she quoted her TUG10,000. Then she heard me speaking English to Nyamaa, she changed her mind and said it costs TG11,000! But I was desperate. I needed shorts! When we first moved to Mongolia, I left all of my summer clothes in Singapore, thinking that everyday would be a cold day! So silly of me, right? The weather is getting hotter, and I really don't feel like wearing jeans or sweat pants everyday. Funnily enough, there weren't many shorts for sale in UB. I think the women don't usually wear them.

On our way back, I told Nyamaa that next time, I shall just zip my mouth and pretend to be mute. She will do all the talking. I will just shake or nod my head. I think that's a good plan.

Oh yes, we also bought a pair of fake Crocs for Cayden. Its so cheap! Its about S$1. Its great because the Crocs moulds his feet and its so light. Very cute too!


I can't wait for us to return to Singapore for our home leave in July/Aug! I really need to shop! Did I mention that I am a shopaholic? So you can imagine being here is really quite tortourous for me.

Wedding Anniversaries

Thought I would post this, as this is the first year both of us forgot our wedding anniversary. To start the story, we have 2 wedding dates (like most married couples nowadays). One is the ROM date, the other is the date when the wedding took place. We registered our marriage on 23 May 2002. Our wedding was held 11 Jan 2003. When we got married, we both agreed to celebrate our ROM date instead of our wedding ceremony date, as that was the day we addressing the other party as my "hubby" or "wife".

But my sneaky husband has been changing the story as and when its in his favour. When it was January, he would say "No, we agreed to celebrate our ROM date!". When May came, he would say "No, we got married in January!". So, I can't win right?

May 23 2007 - the day came and went. Both of us forgot and did not mention anything. Until the next day, my helper asked me about my wedding so I pulled out the photos for her to see. That was when I realised I forgot about my wedding anniversary! I wonder if its a sign????

Hubby & me during our walk-in to the banquet at Four Seasons Hotel

2 of us cutting the cake!

Have to admit, that day was a nice day... of course it wasn't 100% perfect. There were things I would have done differently, like taken more pictures with family and friends. But it was good enough for me.

Lunch at French Bistro

We decided to go to the French Bistro for lunch. As the name suggests, it is a French restaurant, but it has a nice outdoor area to sit and eat. I figured it would be nice for us to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather. Whilst it was nice to sit outdoors, it was also very dusty. Somehow, UB is a really dusty town, especially in Spring/Summer when its very windy. Cayden hands were filled with black dust even before he started eating because he was playing along the window sill!

I ordered Cayden a vegetable soup for lunch and a steak for myself. Sigh. Bad choice... the soup was like mash potatoes (with bits of carrots in it), just slightly more watery. Cayden hates potates, since he was a baby... So mummy & daddy had to finish his soup. In the end, I hate to order a apple tart for him for lunch! Hubby commented that our pediatrician - Dr Tan, will have a lot to say when she finds out about Cayden's lunch menu.

But I really have no choice! Cayden has become really picky with food. He doesn't eat vegetables (especially potatoes!), meat (all kinds of meat, I am serious! Even if I minced it really finely). What does he have left to eat? Bread, egg, noodles, soup. He loves soup - not the creamy ones but the Chinese style soupy ones. Everyday I scratch my head, wondering what else I can cook for him. I wonder what went wrong? I fed him all kinds of food when he was a baby and he was eating really well. But suddenly in November last year, he decided to reject all kinds of food. Real headache.

I went to the blog of Wokking Mum and picked up a lot of recipes. She is really creative and I tried many of her recipes, they were great! Hubby & I loved the food, but not Cayden. Maybe I should be more creative like Wokking Mum, but decorating the food, make it look for appetizing. Worth a try...

Anyway, Cayden always finishes his meal before us and he will want to get down. Now, before he gets down from his high chair, I will tell him "Cayden, Mummy & Daddy are still eating. So if you want to get down, you will have to play on your own. OK?" He says "yes!" (I wonder if he is just entertaining me...) Cayden starts to play "1-2-3 Go!" by himself! Well, ok. Its not "1-2-3" for Cayden. He counts starting with "2" and normally ends with 5 or 9 (I dunno why). He goes to one side of the wall, back up to the end, then count and run to the other side. We took a video:

Pee Pee

I think Cayden has finally figured out to say "pee pee" BEFORE the pee pee shoots out! Since Saturday, Cayden has started to say "pee pee" and when I bring him to the toilet, he does pee! Yay! Hooray! But its also more troublesome now. When he does say "pee pee" we do have to bring him to the toilet, even though he has diapers on (so as to encourage his behaviour and also not to confuse him).

The troublesome part is to put on his diapers. He does not like to lie down for us to put on his diapers now. We should use pull ups, but I want to save the pull ups to use when we are out or during plane rides. Its almost impossible to put Cayden on the changing tray to change diapers on the plane coz its so small! Much easier to ask him to stand and pull up his pants / diapers.

Anyway, I shan't complain, now that my son is kinda toilet trained... He still needs diapers at night, which is ok, because I don't really want to wake up in the middle of the night to bring him to the toilet! Shall leave that battle for later.

On Saturday, when hubby brought him back from the mountain, Cayden came back with arms full of hives-looking bumps. Hubby said that when they were playing, Cayden suddenly starting wailing (which he never does, unless he is hurt). So hubby decided to bring him back to the car. Just as he was strapping Cayden in his car seat, he saw that Cayden's arms were full of bumps! He quickly washed his arms with water. They weren't itchy, coz Cayden was not scratching... but still it looked bad. Luckily the bumps went away after a couple of hours and they didn't bother him. Phew!

I mentioned about this to Constanze yesterday and she said that she had the same experience when she went on a farm excursion trip with her daughter's class last week. She felt a sharp bite on the ankle and it hurt for about 2-3 min. After that there were hives-looking bumps around her ankle. She suspected she was poked by one of the plants. I think Cayden was poked by the same plant too.

Hair Cut

I finally picked up the courage and tried the skills of a Mongolian hair stylist. Ok, I wasn't brave enough to try a cropped hairstyle, but at least it a first step. Astrid had her haircut recently too, and she recommended Grease hair salon and also recommended Degi (the hairstylist who cut her hair).

After Cayden woke up from his afternoon nap on Saturday, hubby & Cayden sent me to the hair salon. I estimated that it will take about 1 hour, so hubby and Cayden drove off to one of the nearby mountains to play with the soccer ball. I asked for Degi but unfortunately she was having her day off. They recommended another stylist and I agreed. Afterall, I made the effort of going all the way down to the salon. I picked a picture from the book (medium hair length with some long layerings) and pointed it to the hairstylist. He nodded. He pointed to the shampoo bottle with a questioning look. Oh yes, of course! I desperately wanted a good hair wash. You can't actually wash your hair properly with you are taking a bath "African style". Remember we still don't have hot water. Somehow, it feels like the hair is still all soapy...

Anyway, to cut the story short, after the hair wash he proceeded to cut my hair at the back. He started to chop off long lengths and I panicked!!!! No! NO! I told him! Don't touch the back! Just the front. Ok, crisis averted. In the end, the haircut look decent. When hubby picked me up, he said that it looks as if I haven't cut my hair much! Men! Not observant at all! He then asked me why I didn't crop my hair, like when I was pregnant! Funny! He hated me in short hair. When I first cropped my hair, he hated it. Now he wants me to crop my hair. Told him that I will crop my hair in Singapore, with my regular hairstylist.

This is me in cropped hair, about 8 months pregnant.

I shall take another picture of myself in my new hairstyle and post it later. Just to make a comparison. I very vain, right?

Cayden is no longer a baby

Yesterday Cayden's teacher commented that Cayden is no longer a baby. He is a big boy now. Then it hit me... yes... my baby has all grown up. He doesn't toddle anymore. He walks with confidence and runs and dance most of the time. He has developed his preferences (even though that frustrates me!) on food, shoes, TV shows, books and I know sooner or later, he will pick what clothes he wants or does not want to wear. He understands what we say and most of time, we understand what he is saying too!

But I cannot decide whether its easier or more difficult to take care of him. Whilst it was tiring and tedious to look after a baby, as long as I follow my regular routine for Cayden, like feed, bathe and put him to sleep at regular times, he was happy and contented.

Now he has a mind of his own. Things that I used to do with ease is a challenge now. He chooses which pair of shoes he wants to wear regardless of the outfit he is wearing. He decides if he wants to stay indoors or outdoors, regardless of weather outside. He decides what he wants and don't want to eat! Today, he even told me that I cannot sit down to play balloon with him! Mama has to stand! Yes, my baby has grown up and he has a mind of his own.

But there's one thing - he is not toilet trained yet. Its a long, challenging process. We are glad that the house we are staying in now is rented, because Cayden has pee-peed nearly everywhere! Whilst he knows how to let go in the potty or the toilet bowl, he hasn't mastered the art of telling adults when he needs to go. So we decide to bring him to the toilet every hour... but he will scream and shriek when he doesn't want to be interrupted with what he is doing. He will kick up a big fuss in the toilet and he won't want to pee. Then almost always, about 5 minutes later, he will say "Pee pee". By that time, its too late, because his pants will already be wet. We are still trying...

I baked a cake yesterday. Lemon cake to be precise. I thought it tasted good, except for the slight sour aftertaste. I think its because I used artificial lemon juice, instead of the fresh ones like the recipe indicated. Hubby won't like the cake because he doesn't like sour food and he has very sensitive taste buds. Cayden liked it well enough, though. He was my first "customer". He ate a slice of it for tea yesterday. He even had it for breakfast this morning!


Lemon cake




Yummy...

I have been contempleting of cutting my hair here in Mongolia. We have been living for close to 1 year, and I haven't visited the hair salon here. I just don't have the confidence in them. I have been having my hair cuts at my regular hairdresser whenever I returned to Singapore. But this time, my hair has gotten out of control before my next Singapore trip is due. And there is an important even for me to attend in 2 weeks. So I think tomorrow, I will be brave and go. How bad can it be, right?

Outing to Terelj - Backdated

Its Children's Day on 1 June here in Mongolia. I am not sure why. I've always known Children's Day to be on 1 October in Singapore. Anyway, Children's Day is a big deal here in Mongolia. Its a public holiday and there are children's concerts everywhere. All kids are decked out in their party dresses (or equivalent). All cars on the road drive with their headlights on. Its weird.

So, since its a public holiday, there is no school and we usually give our helper a day off during public holidays. Constanze's hubby had to work on that day, so she called and invited Cayden & myself to join her & Zoe to an outing to Terelj. Its about 1.5hours drive outside UB. Joining us are Ally & her children, and Kayuri & her children. My hubby initially had to work on that day, but decided to skip it and join us as well.

A bit about Terelj - I found this information from a magazine for expat/tourists:

"Gorkhi-Terelj National Park was created in 1993 and borders the Khan Khentii Protected area. It is one of the most visited protected areas in the country. Terelj itself, on the banks of the river Terelj, is a spectacular valley with high rock formations, pine-covered mountains and grasslands carpeted with wildflowers and edelweiss. Khan Khentii the native land of Chinggis Khan which is covered with forests, taiga and mountain forest steppe, is a protected area located north-east of Ulaanbaatar that can be reached on foot or horseback."

We left home at 10am and arrived at Terelj at close to noon. The kids had such a good time running around, playing with the slide, swing, soccerball etc... I thought it would be colder in the countryside so decided to wear socks & shoes. Bad choice. It was so hot, I would have killed to wear a pair of flip flops.


Terelj - clear blue sky & the mountain


These are gers. Many families in UB still live in them.


Cayden running after the ball


Kayuri, baby Sophia & Zoe on the swing

We had a wonderful lunch at the lodge and the kids continued playing again. I noticed that Cayden is only interested in playing with the big kids, but the sad thing is, the big kids ignore him! I was told that its normal for kids to want to play with kids older than them. I feel so sad sometimes when I see Cayden trying to join in the fun, but is being ignored. But I do not interfere because I know that I can't be around to protect him forever. After a while, Cayden realised that he is not getting any attention from the big kids, so he went off to play on his own with the ball. Good boy!

We started our drive back to UB at 3pm, because I knew that Cayden will fall asleep in the car, and did not want him to sleep too late, as it will interfere with his usual 7pm bedtime. True enough, he did sleep about half way back. He woke up just as we were turning into our compound. Good timings!

The plant outside our house was in full bloom so we decided to take a picture with our boy.


Cayden's expression when I told him to say "cheese"!


That's me & Cayden

All in all, it was a good day. Hubby even suggested that we take another trip to the countryside again this weekend! Looking forward to that.

First Blog

I have decided to start writing my blog today. A bit late, I must say, since I have been a SAHM for 2+ years already! However, I have decided that its better late than never. My memory is not as good as before, and sometimes memories do get a bit fuzzy. This is the best tool so far, to record what I have experienced.

A bit about myself. I have a 2 year old son - Cayden. To me, he is the cutest baby on earth, but of course, all mothers feels the same about their children. haha. Not shy right? Due to hubby's work, we have relocated to Ulaan Batar, Mongolia last July. So far, life has been ok in UB, but of course there are challenges. New systems, new food, new life, new weather to get used to. On the other hand, there are new friends, new experiences too.

Its the beginning of the summer now, and the weather is beautiful. A tad too hot for hubby, but I love it. It was 37 degrees yesterday! I was happy to be in my summer skirt, t shirt and floppy hat. It sure beats being under 4 layers of clothes in the -30 degrees cold!

We went to one of my girlfriends, Astrid's place for a playdate yesterday afternoon. Constanze went as well. Astrid has 2 sons - Sam & Tommie. Constanze has a daughter - Zoe. All children are aged between 2 - 5 (Cayden being the youngest).


Zoe splashing water at me as I was trying to take a picture!

As always, Cayden had so much fun at Astrid's place. Astrid took out her inflatable pool and turned her garden into UB's beach! Cayden wasn't allowed in the pool because he just recovered from bronchitis last week and the water here is icy cold! But he was happy just looking & screaming when the other kids splashed water at him. The other kids had so much fun in the water. It amazing how easily kids can amuse themselves. Cayden entertained himself in the sandpit and with the ball.


Check out Cayden's rosy cheeks!


All kids playing in the sand pit

We also have a inflatable pool at home, but hubby said to take the pool out only when our hot water returns. Oh yes, we have no hot water for 2 weeks starting 4 Jun because they are doing some maintenance work. So everyday, I have to boil 10 pots of water for us to have a bath in the "African" style. *sweat*sweat*