Cayden has started to bargain with me… oh oh… Last Thursday, he wanted to watch Dora in the afternoon. This was how our conversation went:
Cayden: Mama, watch Dora. Please mama.
Me: Ok, mama will let you watch Dora, but one episode only, ok?
Cayden: Two! (while at the same time holding up 2 of his fingers)
Me: No, only one.
Cayden: One more!
I can’t help but laugh. Oh boy, I forsee more trouble coming!!!
Today, we attended Finn’s hair cutting ceremony. Traditionally, Mongolian children do not cut their hair till they are 3 years old (Once the baby is born, he is considered 1 year old). It is an important occasion because according to Mongolian culture, the way your hair is cut, when it first cut will affect your entire future! Hair cutting ceremony also signifies the child is coming of age.
Sean and Charlie (Finn’s parents) are English, but they have lived here for more than 4 years, so they are totally immersed into the Mongolian culture. They consulted the Lama on a auspicious date and time of Finn’s hair cutting ceremony (its kinda like us consulting on the auspicious date and time to get married!). When its time, all gather around Finn and will take turns to snip a bit of Finn’s hair and put it into the bag. After we snip his hair off, we will either give him a present or give him some money.
I gotta say, Finn did very well! He stood there, let people cut his hair, did not fuss! He was really enjoying the attention and thought it was fun! It was good for us to attend the ceremony, because now we know the Mongolian culture a little better… Some pictures to share…
Everyone gathering around …
Little Finn in his traditional Mongolian attire.
Hubby’s turn to cut Finn’s hair.
“Ya, sure!” is Cayden’s favourite words to say recently, especially yesterday and today. Haha. Its quite cute actually, because his pronouciation is a bit off.
“Cayden, do you want some cereal?”
“Ya, sure!”
“Cayden, do you want to pee pee?”
“Ya, sure!”
“Cayden, do you want to play with Finn?”
“Ya, sure!”
My boy is so agreeable.
Cayden has also started to speak in 2 words or more. Like “Mama hug Ca-Kaen” (thats how he pronouce his own name), “drink milk”, “Come on, mama”. Its amazing how he has suddenly started to speak properly. My boy has definitely grown up.
Cayden has also started attending pre-school again since 15 Aug. He loves it there! The only down side of his pre-school is that the teachers don’t really teach anything educational. They teach them life skills like potty training, self feed etc, but nothing too educational.
Charlie (Finn’s mother) had a conversation with the director of the school recently, to understand the reason behind the increase in school fees. Apparently they have decided to increase the school fees but it is unclear if they will plough the money back into the school, like buying new teaching materials, getting a better teacher etc. Charlie has offered to show the school what other pre-schools do in other countries. Charlie just had a premature baby in March and she had to stay in Beijing for 4.5 months. While there, she sent Finn to a kindergarten in Beijing and she said the standard there is just so much better. I think its a good idea. I have offered some teaching materials on my end. Cayden will ultimately benefit from it, so why not?
I have been shopping on Ebay everyday these 2 weeks. Very bad, I know… Hubby started it all. He has been shopping on Ebay for Cayden’s clothes. I have to say, there are some extremely good deals! But we go to ebay.com, instead of ebay.com.sg. Why? Somehow the Americans have really nice kids clothes! Baby GAP, Sesame Street, Polo etc… Of course, not all are brand new. There are some excellent used condition pieces that are as good as new. Kids outgrow their clothes so fast, and Cayden doesn’t know any better anyway. The only downside is that some sellers refuse to ship to Mongolia, or they quote a much higher price for shipping. But it all works out for us.
After we’ve sorted out Cayden’s clothes, I decided to check out ladies clothes and I am absolutely hooked on the BCBG dresses! So far, I have successfully bidded on 7 items! Once I start, I can’t stop! Ok, I have to admit, not all good buys. Some pieces I overpaid (in my opinion) but I didn’t want to give up half way through! I got “hot” bidding on a certain piece and completely forgot to consider if the price was worth it! Terrible huh? I told myself to stop buying dresses, so next I ventured onto Outerwear! Thats one good thing about living in a place with 4 seasons. I can wear all my trench coats, long coats, winter coats etc… Now I have my eye on a BCBG trench coat. Bad girl!
These are some of my recent purchases:
Cayden’s favourites (for the moment):
1. Favourite show: Blue’s Clues and Elmo. It used to be Hi-5, but he seems to be getting tired of it now. He loves Blue’s Clues. Every morning, whenever he watches the show on Nick Jnr channel, he was shout excitedly when he sees Blue’s paw print and shout “Clue! Clue hind!” (meaning he sees Clue behind). When he sees a hand print, he also thinks its Blue’s paw print and will excitedly say “Clue!”
2. Favourite beverage: Milk. Sometimes he goes bersek and will insists on wanting milk in a bottle. That day he cried for a whole hour, asking for a bottle but I insisted that he can only drink the milk from his sippy cup.
3. Favourite food: Udon noodles. It used to be eggs, but I guess he grew tired of it.
4. Favourite game/activity: Swim
5. Favourite friend: Zoe. Unfortunately, Zoe doesn’t seem to care much for him. Sob.
6. Favourite toy: Balls (soccer balls, base balls, basket balls, plastic balls, foam balls etc…)
7. Latest words he learnt: cookie, mama sit, dada sit, water, juice, wait a second, soccer ball, pain, toes, hand, come on, please mama, please dada, help, stuck. He still hasn’t mastered thank you yet.
8. Latest song he sings: Once I caught a fish alive. But of course he doesn’t know all the words, but at least he hums the tune.
6 August 2007
I was tagged by Alternative Mom sometime in June on 8 random fact about me. So sorry that I took such a long time to do this.
I shan’t write the rules down or tag anyone else because I think it has been going around for a while…
1. I tend to procrastinate (surprise! surprise!) in most of the things I do.
2. I hate to exercise and I think I will suffer for it when I grow older. I used to give all kinds of excuses to my PE teacher when I was in sec school and JC. Whenever the teacher sees me walking to her (not changed into PE attire), she will say “You again ah?”
3. I love to shop! Am kinda restricted now because we are living in Mongolia now. Think hubby is silently relived. But I give his wallet a good workout whenever we return to Singapore. heh heh.
4. I am in 2 minds about having a second kid. On one hand, love to have a baby girl and would like the age gap of Cayden and BB2 to be close. But on the other hand, I cannot imagine going through the sleepless nights again! So now, we are leaving it to fate. Let nature take its course.
5. I wish I was more creative or artistic. Unfortunately, I do not have that gift.
6. I am quite anti-social by nature. Before I was married and had a baby, my favourite past time was to stay at home and watch “Sex and The City” all day long.
7. I love baking, although I am not really good at it. The cakes I bake are only good enough for family members. Shy…
8. I love to read “trashy” magzines - those full of celebrities gossips like In Touch, US Weekly etc… Hubby thinks its a waste of money and time to read those. But its my thing…
I have not had the time to post recently. Been so busy, because my helper has gone to the countryside. In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that my helper quit. I think the main reason is because she resents the fact that I refused to pay her during her 2 weeks leave to the countryside. This is despite the fact that I have given her 2 weeks off when we went home to Singapore in early July. Anyway, that’s water under the bridge… I offered her the position of being my cleaner only - i.e. to come to my place to clean twice a week in the mornings. She agreed. So, all I need to do is to find a babysitter.
Have been spreading the word around that I need a babysitter, and coincidentally, one of my neighbour, Bernadette, offered to introduce her cleaner to me. She used to be a babysitter. Interviewed her yesterday, and decided to employ her. Her name is Undra and she will come in the afternoons from 3pm to 7pm.
For the past 4 days, I have been dealing with Cayden alone, playing, reading, doing arts and craft, while trying to tidy the house and cook. Oh man! It is so exhausting! I really don’t know how other stay at home moms do it, without help. Hats off to them! I have only done it for less than a week and I am whining about it already! Shame to me.
Undra is due to come at 3pm today. Lets see how well she can get along with Cayden…
