Mummy dentist to the rescue again

Joelle lost another tooth tonight. This is the 4th that mummy dentist pulls out from her gums. I think she's quite use to me removing teeth for her that it no longer involve tears and whines and whatever fear that associates with dental visits.

Joelle runs for POSB run for kids 2011

This is the first year joelle signed up for the run for kids event by posb and I'm sure this would not be the last. In fact I would sign isabelle up for it once she attain the right age.

Joelle was nursing a cold that morning and I kept reminding her not to over exert herself in the run. I told her to walk whenever possible and that I'll just be as proud if she came in last as long as she competes the run. I might have been more worried about her running than her not running. 

She completed the run safely. She told me that she walked all the way yet she was not the last. I was so relief when I saw her emerging from the finish line safe and smiling. There were kids turning green, vomiting and bleeding from falls. It was actually quite scary, to think it was only a kids event.

It was such a gorgeous morning that I could not resist the girls plea for some good old fun in the sun, sea and sand. Plus the sea was surprisingly clean and clear that morning. It was beautiful. They were all wet, sandy and very happy by the time we left for home.

 

Me and my champion. My little girl with a big heart. I thank God for this sensible child who is willing to wake up early on a sunday for a run just because she knows that she'll be helping some kids if she runs. I pray that as she grows up, her kind, charitable intentions would be able to reach out further to those in need. 

Running clinic for joelle

My beautiful ballerina

 

Look at my ballerina. I was literally beaming with pride at the parent's presentation. She may not be the best ballerina in school but I was melting in my heart with her delicate moves and desirable posture. She looked so beautiful and feminine. I wonder what would daddy be thinking if he was present. He never like ballet Can't wait for Isabelle to start ballet again in primary one.

My little artist... and I'm so proud of her

I'm showing off.. no I'm not showing off.. ok I AM showing off. Why shouldn't I when I have a little artist in my house? These are joelle's latest doodles and I'm so very proud of her. She has an interesting way of drawing and I like it. What do you think?

Joelle's 1st shot on TV

Since I was working on my company's website and updating our showreel, I came across this TVC which joelle starred back in 2007 and thought I should blog this for memory sake. 

She is really adorable and I have to boost that at her age, she did a good job. She did whined a little, complained a little and at one point almost refused to perform, but throughout the entire shoot, she never looked at the camera as instructed. She waited for her turn without running the set down. She sat and had her hair fussed upon. She ate the biscuits even when she had to spited it out (she did not like that particular flavour) once the director shouted "cut". 

I did not have to control her much but I did feel pressurized when she became tired and a little unwilling to do as told near the end of the shoot. It was after all a full day shoot and a little too strenuous for a four year old child. Anyway, I still think it was a good debut for her. She went on to do another two projects before she told me blankly she did not want to act anymore. Well, the last TV trailer marked the end of my "mummy-stardom" days. 

It was nice to see my child acting and appearing on TV. It felt really good.

These made me laugh...

all the time. Did I mention my little princess lost her two front teeth just before christmas? Well, she was trying to keep them on till after christmas as she dreaded the song "all I want for christmas is my two front teeth" but she lost them both just before christmas. I took out the first tooth during dinner one night and she lost the other tooth during playtime with her friends, laura and ryan. I did not witness that incident. Anyway now whenever she smiles at me, I just couldn't help but laugh. It's just too cute.

Daddy is sad that she lost those teeth because he felt that once a child lost her tooth, she's grown up and he likes her to still be his little girl. Well, too bad, daddy, our girls are growing up fast so you better try to spend more time with them before you lose them to another man.

Blading trial

Joelle joined a roller blading trial one saturday with a friend. They had so much fun. I even signed her up for the lessons as it was heavily subsidized by the RC. It was $10 for 4 lessons! What a steal! I would have signed issy up for it too if they had her size.

1st visit to the dentist

Well I never wanted her first visit to the dentist to be one of fear and pain. Unfortunately it was such. Both her lower incisors were being threaten by the fiercely emerging permanent teeth and we had really no choice but to seek professional help as she was starting to experience discomfort. As expected, the dentist recommended extraction and we went ahead. Joelle was very brave indeed to trust us. And I believed she cried out of fear rather than pain. To reward her for her courage, we brought her to the popular bookshop right next to the dental clinic and she bought a "the little mermaid" book.

My baby girl lost her first tooth or teeth.



Oh... and she actually wrote a note to the tooth fairy asking for "some stickers" and well... she got them alright.

Camping in comfort

While daddy was in china, I brought out the tent for the girls to sleep in for the night. They were very excited and brought out their dolls and pillows and blankets. However when its time to sleep, our little isabelle whispered in my ear "I want to go back to my room" and so she brought all her little companions and pillow back to her room. She is one child who only sleeps on her own bed. She could not even sleep on my bed or in my room through the night. She must have her bed and maybe... her auntie mary. So joelle slept in the tent for the night while mummy lay sleepless on the sofa watching almost silent tv program till the wee hours of the morning. I miss my bed too.

Getting creative with playdoh

Joelle as you know by now is very creative. Check out her play-doh creation.

Two new teeth

Apparently the dentist told us that joelle already has two adult teeth at the back of her jaws. Big molars. So plus these two, she has four adult teeth. Wow! And she refused to let me remove the baby tooth that's blocking the adult tooth. Hopefully the teeth will re-adjust themselves when all's out.

My Joelle

This is my firstborn. My little precious baby. She's now six and has graduated from preschool. Come 2010, she will start her formal education in primary one. Then it would be secondary and university and soon she will walk down the aisle and move out of the house. I dread even thinking about it and I'm sure her usually cool daddy might even tear should he walk down the aisle with his baby girl. Joelle has been a wonderful child, minus her lack of interest in academic pursuit. She is incredibly creative and artistically inclined. She is sweet and sensitive and is giving in nature. She has many fears and can be very jealous. She seeks too much attention and might misbehave for it. I still receive complaints from her teachers for talking too much and moving too much in class. She cannot sit still at a table, not even for her meals! She loses interest very fast and will shift her focus elsewhere (except in drawing). She can be rather manipulative and controlling. She's very emotional and affectionate. She's ever so loving and generous with her kisses and "I love you till I die" words. She will even say things like "I still love you so much even when you cane me or punish me". She's very sensible and I'm so blessed to have her as my daughter. I pray that the good Lord continues to shower her with his grace and blessings, to keep her in good health and nurture in her a good heart.

Why didn't I have that...

ok... because I'm from marymount and we wear black shoes. But then again, why are the kids getting "branded" white shoes now? Wasn't it panda or something like that? Well, panda is a brand but not "branded" like fila right? Or was it at our time? Anyway I went to the school for administration day and "lost" some S$400 on textbooks, uniforms, sports attire, shoes, socks, classes and art materials. Someone once told me primary education is not as expensive as pre-school education. Today is far from that understanding. Ok..ok.. alright so this S$400 will last me a year (if she doesn't climb over fences or wade into mud), it's still far from my prior understanding. Anyway thankfully a friend of mine warn me to bring cash as they do not accept nets or cards. But we had fun, really, joelle and I. We went station to station choosing shoes and bags and trying out uniform and stuff. It's like a shopping spree... in a school! 2 hours later, we had a celebratory lunch at ikea. To celebrate a new start (probably not much of a celebration for her) at a new school. Here I have to be thankful for the answered prayers. All the stress and sleepless nights are over and we thank our dearest mother mary for praying for us.

Joelle loses her teeth!

We have been really busy with the renovation, cleaning, painting and unpacking that we hardly have any time for leisure. We did enjoy some recreation during that period which I will have to find time to blog. As for now, the #1 event must be joelle losing her teeth! Yes, not one but two. My little girl has lost her first two teeth! We waited for the teeth to drop after "shaking" for a week but ended up at the dentist when joelle started to experience some pain in her gum and I noticed that her new teeth are emerging really fast and furious. She is a brave girl and really put up a good front at the clinic but broke down when her second tooth came out. The intensity of the entire experience took a toll on her eventually. But I'm still very proud of my little girl.

I took her to popular bookshop right next to the clinic and allowed her to pick a book for bravery and she picked a book on her favourite character "the little mermaid". That night she wrote two notes to the tooth fairy. One for each tooth. On one she wrote "I want to behave for my mummy" and the second note, she wrote "please buy me stickeys" (she meant stickers). Lucky for me, I always have pretty stickers in the house.

Goodie bags for school

It's that time of the year again... joelle's birthday. As it falls on teacher's day, every year, we have been distributing goodie bags to her classmates days before. Last year, the children got a little whiteboard, cereals (mummy's favourite item for goodie bags) and stickers. I'm not a fan of candies and chocolates in goodie bags for young children. Joelle would surrender (usually) hers whenever she received those items. This year they will get a toothbrush, cereals (yes, again) and hankie for the girls and stickers for the boys. To think about it, joelle has distributed goodie bags for five years (she started playgroup at 18 months). I can't remember if I had taken picture of each and every one. What I can remember is joelle's excitement when preparing the bags with me. My firstborn is turning six very soon... time flies.

Joelle's merlion

Joelle went on a field trip with the school to the singapore river. They also went to kampong glam, chinatown, little india, the history museum and the merlion park. When I asked her to draw out her trip, this is what I got.

Pet society

Joelle is playing the internet game "pet society" on my mac. I am actually a basic facebook user until one of my friend introduce me to the fb game "farm town" and I got hooked. Then I introduce my six year old daughter to the game "pet society" and now she is hooked too. So I'm using it to get certain "difficult task" (eating, sleeping) done without much difficulty. The current agreement is a 30 minutes game time if she completes her dinner in 30 minutes. Anything more and she loses the slot. So far it's working.

Joelle the artist

Did I mention that joelle draws beautifully? I like these pictures very much. Look at the richness of the colours. By the way, I have never "taught" her how and what to draw. I always encourage her to imagine, to dream and to draw freely. I'm happy with her style so far. It's time I swift my focus and start observing the little one now.

Joelle's marina barrage

Hey check this out!
Joelle pulled me out from the office one afternoon to show me a surprise. Boy was I surprised indeed. She built a rather big model of the marina barrage complete with the bridge that divide the sea from the reservoir to the water play area and picnic area. She even included the coca-cola Booth that was giving out free bottles of coke-light that day. It was amazing I tell you. This girl is truly creative. I was so impressed. Oh and she took this picture with my canon digital camera and made her sister pose with it.

Lunch with my girl

It was a friday and mummy got the car (brother went to canada) so I decided to fetch joelle from school and have lunch with her. Hopefully we can built on the bond that seems so threatened these days with all that's happening at home. I was so stressed that I'm always angry with my girl who probably could not understand why mummy was so uptight about everything. It was a period of bad relationship for both of us and I hope to work on it before it gets worst. So after surprising her with my presence at the school gate, I took her to downtown east for lunch at our favourite restaurant - subway. After lunch we walk around the new hub a little. Wanted to take her on the ferris wheel but she got scared watching others. She wanted to enter explorer kids but we were not prepared (she was in her uniform and I wore a skirt) so we ended up "sight-seeing". I promise her entry to explorer kids on another day. Hopefully I can fulfil it soon. It was a nice afternoon with my daughter and we had fun, just chatting. I plan to do this bonding trip with the girls individually from now on. It'll be good for all of us.