Here's mama, finally getting down to typing an update on the girls again--this time forced to by a nasty bout of gastric flu. Third day now, and much better, but the stomach's still raging, so I can't clean the floor, prepare the next day's meals or do much else. Pepe's in her 2nd day, and thankfully was able to keep some porridge, liquids and jello down. Polly's quarantined at Gran and Gramps for the 2nd day now, and by all reports, having a grand time (who wouldn't, with doting grandparents, no toddler sis to disturb you at play, and no big sister to quarrel with you, and no mama to rush you about things and tell you tidy up that mess on your table?) I'm sure the sisters miss each other though. They are very often the best playmates, engaging intensely in role play. Pepe just said the other day that Polly was very very good at playing with toy figurines with her. I agree--at least 10 times better than mama (who for all her busyness and much else is less imaginative!). Hopefully Polly will enjoy another night at the grandparents and be back with us real soon. Well Polly really deserves this short holiday. She's been real super at being understanding and obliging, seeing that mama was feeling so sick, and has hardly complained at being left to herself and walking with us to look for a clinic on a public holiday. Hooray for Polly Che-Che!
Pipa continues to meet all her milestones, picking up words and her own little 'bike', climbing onto piano benches, walking up and down gentle slopes, negotiating stairs at the playground, nodding very emphatically indeed, feeding herself with a spoon with some promising success, being able to engage herself for more extended periods of time (when she's not too sleepy, teething, etc... hmm :), and having her Very First Absolutely the Best, Most Favourite Book in the Whole Wide World-- "Dogs Don't Do
Ballet" by Anna Kemp.
Pipa likes this book so much she learnt to say "bayye" and "Biff" (the name of the dog) within a few days of us borrowing this from the library, and she asks for it when it is kept back on our library shelf, and flips through its pages and asks that it be read to her several times a day. When Loy and I celebrated my birthday the other evening with a nice dinner at our neighbourhood restaurant Bathers, she woke up during dessert and was finally calmed down with... yes, Biff!
Having mastered references to family members, Pipa can also say various other words such as "bear", "cut", "bye bye", "hi", "bird", "bread", "yeah", "chou" (that's "smelly" in Chinese), "milk", "nay", "yay!", "take", "thow" ("throw"), "dop" ("drop"), "there" and makes interesting sound effects such as"joom joom", and is often very entertaining, with antics aplenty for Grandpa who loves to take videos. Mama, unfortunately, whom she's with most of the time, takes more photos than videos, and often on her phone cam! But many, and sufficiently-numerous memories are captured, and so she grows--most obviously in her intellectual, etc. developments, less evidently in her physique. She has turned out to be a little one--another Paulina! This is partially due to her being set back many, many grams during the past several months, with one several bouts of flu besetting the whole family, and also due to her being a rather picky eater who would most of the time prefer to feed herself. Some days she absolutely makes me ecstatic and all-satisfied with her appetite and food consumption: cheese toast for breakfast, nibbles of apples, dragonfruit, even papaya, several spoonfuls of porridge for lunch, and a few slices of fish and even steamed broccoli for dinner, with crackers/cereal in between. Many other days, she would simply nibble at our food, eat a little sweet potato, and get miniscule portions of porridge in by herself and refuse to be fed. I suppose much this can be explained by two important, evident, and perhaps juxtaposed factors: she's a toddler now eager to assert her independence; she's still enjoying nursing so much she's usually not all that hungry. Never mind--I absolutely believe that she will outgrow this phase and be a fairly good eater by the time she is 2, or perhaps 3. Dear Polly is doing rather well now, feeding herself mushrooms, fish, yoghurt, eggs, cereal in milk and lots more!
(Our Nature Girl exploring a community garden with her BFF, Meshuggas)
Pepe's learning to read with greater confidence, and even writing just a little more. The other day she designed the cover of a tiny book of hers entitled "Dogs in the Knigh", and wrote "Popelina" (for Paulina) and is getting extremely prolific--just as Polly is--in churning out many pictures and stories each day, and the illustrations and fonts are getting increasingly detailed and often overly fancy! Pepe's also learning to tell time by five minute intervals and got her dalmatian figurine reward yesterday for it. Penmanship practices have also begun, one sentence a day (one of our first was "The Cocobet is bigger than the Tricobet,"--her made-up creatures). Unfortunately though, piano practices have become more like a twice weekly affair these weeks after dear Aunty Michelle left Singapore for a new ministry. Hopefully we'll be able to keep up her piano practices and get her all confident with basic sight reading by the end of the year. Still the more sentimental of the two big sisters, she was so upset by the thought of "we are never going back to our old church?" that she shed a few tears at bedtime. Polly was mostly excited about the move (a good thing too--imagine two emotional drama queens of the same sort! :). Food-wise, Pepe is likely to remain unparalleled for all time compared to her little sisters. A recent surprising discovery: the girl who cannot endure yoghurt enjoys chilled mango/strawberry yoghurt drinks! Her absolute favourite dessert of all time would be still sorbet. One of the favourite book series now would be Arthur by Marc Brown.
Polly loves ballet! Her teacher says she's a little shy in class but I just know that she can pull off her part in the annual concert her dance school is putting up later thus year. She performed in turn during last year's class presentation in the middle of a room full of staring eyes, and she's got a lot more in her that we just haven't discovered yet. For one, almost all the caregivers of her nursery school classmates are deceived in thinking her only as an extremely shy, demure, quiet girl. As her teacher corrects them, Polly
can talk when asked questions! She is also getting very feisty (or her sis may say "testy" at times), and cheeky--especially when we're trying to take a photo of her.
(Don't worry--Pipa is usually not allowed to play with straws... :)
Polly can also almost spell her name--her real name "Paulina"! I told her she'd get a reward too so she's been working at it. Polly's also very adept at using my mousepad to play online games (Miffy, Arthur, Curious George...), and has said recently that her favourite Arthur game is "Muffy's Wardrobe" as she gets to dress Muffy for ballet class! Polly still loves playing doll house, drawing (it's amazing how detailed her drawings are, especially given her wrong hold of the pen), and is becoming increasingly interested in being a big sister who can amuse and watch over Pipa. On the more 'academic' front again, Polly's said that she wants to learn to read and write. She says she's determined, but I've yet to be convinced. I think she's ready though, so literacy lessons at home should begin real soon for her. A real pretty notebook would be one of the first tools to acquire...
This post would not be quite complete without mention of Papa, for these are Papa's girls. Pepe remains the most physically affectionate one who just adores her Papa; Polly always enjoys her night-time cuddle with Papa (and recently, horse-back riding Mama from the study to the bedroom), and Pipa often desperately clings on to Papa at the door when Papa is about to leave for work! Upset about him going 'gai-gai' ("going out (for fun)") without her I suppose!
Feeling a little better now (finishing up this post on a second night), so I'd better get moving... some clean laundry off the sofa before it completely engulfs it! With God's help, tomorrow will be a better day... and praise the Lord for grandparents and a wonderful husband who is still holding up even as he holds the fort (and buys the Lacteol Fort)!
We had but one week to amass our collection of giveaways. Always handy people, we decided to devote most of our remaining leisure hours to the making of art and craft items. I also hunted around the house for knick-knacks that we didn't need and didn't want anymore. We would also teach others our newly acquired skill of making pom-poms.
Penelope was an absolute brick ("generous, helpful, and reliable"-- oxforddictionaries.com), continually engaging the interested passers-by. Polly came in a close second, while Pipa was pliable and cooperative, and didn't fuss much at all about having to 'hang around' the table for hours. Our "Little Miss Shy Princess" even talked to a few young ladies!! We're thankful that we could be a part of the free market, a part of a community, and give a tiny bit back of the countless blessings we daily receive. 
