18 Month - Reflections & Photos

Rebecca has turned 18 months. At the risk of sounding cliche, time does fly.

By God's grace, she has become this awesome being that is oodles of fun and laughter with a dash of cheekiness and a lashing of mischief. I count this chance that God has given her to be my child and me to be her mother a blessing.

She is speaking a lot now, lesser gibberish and a lot more "human" words and phrases. She is able to hold "conversations" -- though these conversations are often peppered with repetitive phrases and sometimes with her baby talk.

She loves to laugh and sing and move to music and dance as well. She's already able to follow simple instructions, though she seems to react faster to instructions at school. Now at JG, she is able to approach her teacher and ask for food with 'please' and 'thank you's and totter to the table where she makes the tough decision to accept either water or juice with her snack. She is able to drink independently from a cup - though the cup cannot be too full.

She's started her Chinese language Playgroup at JG as well and its now week 4, she's starting to sing chinese songs whilst she plays. She runs to greet me each morning with a big smack and hug and this repeats again in the evening as I pry open the door, tired from a day's work.

She is able to say grace and ask for forgiveness - though we are still working on trying to keep still and our eyes shut and heads bowed for the entire prayer. She is able to imitate real well. To my dismay, she is mastering the 'kkrrruuuuuukkkk pppppuiiii' spitting sound symbolic of Shanghai and the popular hobby of spitting. She knows that when we stand by the curbside, it is time for her to smile and raise her hands to bring a speeding cab to a grounding halt.

She talks in her sleep and in between her sleep - in both languages none-the-less. She loves to snuggle in bed with us, although she's only allowed onboard when its nearly time to get up. She kicks endlessly in bed and her poses are not too ladylike. She is starting to show interest in tricycles and bicycles and loves her dolls a tonne.

She has started to experiment with boundaries and limits and tries to see how much ground she can cover with her girly whines and tantrums. I pray that she will continue to have this zest for life and grow to be a confident, God-fearing lady.

Father Lord, we thank you for Rebecca. We ask that you continue to protect her as she grows each day and guide her in your ways. Give B and I the wisdom and resources to bring this child up according to your wishes. We ask that you watch over her every moment of her life and be so real and true to her. In Jesus's name, Amen.

End of Term Party - Term 3 Play Nest

Term 3 has ended for Rebecca at her PlayNest class at JG here in Shanghai. To mark the end of term, the children were requested to come dressed as animals reflecting the theme of the term. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun dolling up the little one, afterall, how else can a mother glean fun out of having a child?

Parents were also requested to bring some food for the children to share during snack time and we could also bring some food for the adults. Emails were also sent to encourage parents to attend the 'party' and I am so thankful that I was able to get off 1 hour from work to attend.

As Rebecca's friend, Daniel - the leopard, is lactose intolerant, we decided to make some home-made soya bean curd using Judy's recipe, leaving out the milk factor. We also made some breaded chicken drumlets for the adults.

I had gone through quite a lot of navigating and activiting of my shopping cum research cum sourcing skills to locate the ideal outfits for Rebecca. Daniel's mom had also asked that I find one for her son. So tah-dah, presenting, my little cutie bunny Rebecca Rabbit. Ain't she adorable? [Indulge me...] [Picture: Look at those cute ears and the round tums! tee hee hee...the little bobbly tail kept me giggling for some time too. I'm easily humored]

I had soooo much fun watching her. We started off with free play. [Picture: Those are the covers for the soya bean curd tubs that we made. I had bought cheap animal posters and we cut them up to decorate the covers. See Daniel in his uber cool leopard outfit. Lay Theng, his mom, told me that Daniel had been practising his growl/roar at home. Kids are so adorable]

Then circle hello time and the guest for the day was Percy the Pig who made his rounds greeting each child indivually. I do like that the children are encouraged to wait their turn as the other children gets their time.

[Picture: Priscilla (Cat), Chewy (Zebra) and Kristy (was a bird but took her feather boa off) were her teachers. The little dog-looking thing is Rebecca's "BABY" dressed up as a poodle. I had gotten the poodle suit for fun - to give Rebecca, but she decided rabbit was better. Baby aka Dolly is a lifesize baby doll and her teachers kept on mistaking her for a new student, especially when when Baby was nanny's "child" during circle time. That's Lucian enamoured with the dressed up Dog/Baby]

Magic box activity for today was puppet show. It was about Penelope the Pig who lost her OINK and went around approaching various animals to seek help in finding her OINK. Chewy made us all laugh with her very realistic impersonations. I think the adults had more fun than the kids. BTW, in case you WERE interested, Percy the Pig taught Penelope how to OINK. According to Percy aka Chewy, you would need to "Open you mouth, take a deep breathe and OINK!" [Picture: Starring Percy and Penelope the Pigs, Dolly sat at the table and joined in the meals too]

The outdoor/indoor physical activity for the day was ball play. Rebecca had loads of fun squashing into the ball-filled inflatable canoe. Joshua's mom, Rose, cornered me during this time to tell me how much she will miss Rebecca's company as Josh and Rebecca will be in different classes next term due to their age gap. Rose was so sweet, she's French, and kept telling me how much she wishes her daughter can be as sweet as Rebecca. [Sweet??? Ok...at times...but most people don't know when she's up to her mischief!]

We had singspiration as usual and as this was the last lesson for the term, the kids got to choose what songs to sing. Of course, it ended up being the parents who chose the songs. The standup song for the day was Ring-a-round the Roses, and I was amazed to observe that Rebecca knew the actions and some of the words. Her back was facing me when it came to the line "Atissue...Atissue...", and I suddenly saw 2 bunny ears jerking downwards and then she fell onto the mats. That set me off into a bout of giggles again. We ended off with "Twinkle, Twinkle", traditionally a time for the kids to lie and look at the stars (ok, manually controlled lights on a dimmer). [Picture: Look at the resting bunny!] It was time to receive her portfolio and graduation cert. Awww...my daughter's first graduation. Pictures of her and me in LayTheng's camera. So here's the others that I helped took. We then ended up with Bubble Time, one of Rebecca's favourite activity. It was only then that she gave up on her THICK rabbit suit and pulled off the bunny ears. We were wondering how long it would take for her to get rid of those ears as she 1) dislikes having things on her head 2) fears the heat. Guess 'immersing herself into her role' overtook her physical wants and she managed to last 1hr and 15 minutes [applause]Here's looking forward to the next Term in 2 weeks time when we start PlayGroup English and PlayGroup Chinese. I am so looking forward to the Chinese part!

Julia Gabriel Playnest

Rebecca is currently attending PlayNest twice a week at the Julia Gabriel school here. Its a new school and its their first term of opening here in Shanghai. God couldn't love us more, not only is this school at short cab ride away from my work place, it also has loving teachers who care so much for Rebecca. We love that the school is very pro-family, pro-parent involvement and they encourage me to drop by to join in Rebecca's activities as often as I can. So far, I've been able to make almost every lunchtime with her. Its such a precious lunch hour for me and I am so thankful for it. I get to join in her snack time, outdoor play time as well as singing time!

Here are some pictures taken from Lucien's one-year old birthday cake cutting during class last week. Lucien is the son of B's ex-secondary school mate. What a coincidence that they found each other through the kids.

Lucien is the one with the bib and Daniel, also another close friend of Rebecca, is in yellow. They are all more interested in trying to get their hands on the cake then anything else.





Here's one of Rebecca on the toy horse during indoor playtime as it was too cold to go out that day.