Pop Tots launches today!

Hi friends, readers of the blog...

Apologies for the very long silence. I've been up to something again, I've set up another online boutique!

This time I've teamed up with a girlfriend to set up Pop Tots, an online boutique selling kids wear. We only have shoes and hair accessories for now, but i think there's already plenty to choose from. I hope you'll like our collection.

Some of my favourite Hair Accessories:

Pom Pom Hairclip

Double Rosettes Hairband

Pink Mini-bow Hairband

Victim of cross-sell

Walked into MAC wanting to replenish my staple Hug Me lustre series lipstick cos. I've been using that same colour for over 10 yrs, thankfully they never stopped the colour.

The salesgirl told me tt my lip colour is slightly pigmented so I needed a dark colour. And she insisted I buy this deep maroon which I now think is wayyyy too early nineties. Somewhat a cross between the black widow and a pregnant cannibal. One of those purchases that will end up at the bottom of my very large make-up case.

Time 2 Paaarrrtty!

Sometime last month, Mountain Man and I debated whether we should organize a birthday party for Mountain Boy. It'd be nice to celebrate his 2nd year with friends we love, but i also knew that it wasn't something we'd be able to keep up every year. Plus, i'm carrying around 7 months of pregnancy weight and i was growing more and more tired by the day. Mountain Man suggested a "relaxed" party and i wondered what "relaxed" meant, and who would be the one feeling "relaxed". I never knew the word could apply to party planning. Anyway, we kept the guest list tight. 7 families with an average of 2 kids each. So that would come up to about 30 odd people.

There were quite a number of setbacks during the day which upset me. The oven broke down which meant that i couldn't bake the perfect pizza i wanted, the stove wouldn't start, and somehow when it did the chicken wings were almost burnt every batch. The kitchen god must have taken the day off.

Thankfully the guests were gracious with praise for whatever food was served on the table. And many later on sent text messages saying how much they enjoyed the party. I was completely exhausted by the end of the night i could only afford to go to the toilet when my bladder was very very full, and even then i had to waddle-limp.

What made it most worthwhile though was how Mountain Boy felt the excitement for days leading up to HIS birthday party (which he now understood). Seeing how he clapped along during his birthday song and how he blew out his own candles just made me swell (not that i'm not swollen enough already) with pride.

Here are some pictures from the night:

Mountain Boy chose the colours of his balloons and it was a surprisingly good combination. I would have just gone with yellow and purple. We bought a helium canister and blew up the balloons ourselves, it was a lot of fun. I also stuck photos of our family all around the house to give the walls a pop of colour.

Kiddo friends...

Savoring the burnt chicken wings. He has no complaints!

Mountain Boy had been waiting for this moment for days! He was clapping along and went "Yay!" when the song ended. Sooo cute...

Just us 3 (almost 4).

First Day of Pre-school

Mountain Boy just started pre-school today. *hik hik*

Actually it's not preschool preschool. This programme is only 3 days a week and 3 hrs each session. In fact we've only enrolled him for 2 out of the 3 days. It's new set-up by 2 of my Singaporean friends who have had years of experience in education. It's not full montessori (ie they don't do much) style like most International preschools in Beijing, i like it because the curriculum is structured but flexible. They actually learn and do things.

Anyway, no sobs or drama from Mountain Boy when we parted. In fact he waved me goodbye like i was going out shopping. But he did have 2 mini outbursts- first at the 1 hr mark and another shortly after. Teacher said he was quickly pacified so it's all good.

He was a bit quiet when i picked him up probably because he was quite overwhelmed by the 3 hr stretch. But i am very proud of him already because he is one of the youngest students. Helps that he already knew the teachers and environment because we've been attending parent-accompanied classes for months. He also has a good friend whom he often played with to hang out/look up to. The friend being the older one was also very sweet to help him ease into pre-school life.

So far he hasn't acted out yet. In fact he slept well (touch wood) and ate well (touch wood). He nodded his head when i asked him if he liked his teachers and his school. Can't ask for anything more can i! Let's hope he keeps this up.

A Boy's Bedroom

I enjoyed putting together this little project. Mountain Boy had a lot of creative say in this.

No prizes for guessing his favourite transportation vehicle.

He chose his own bed. And thankfully he has had more good nights than bad nights on it. He likes the freedom and rightly so because he is almost 2 and almost a big brother! The RoomMates Robot stickers on the wall have actually followed us to 3 different houses. It's amazing how reusable they really are.

His petrol kiosk bookshelf. It's very slim and functional.

I didn't quite think through this wooden cupboard, it was actually the first piece of furniture i purchased for his room. It ended up feeling very out of place and clunky in his bedroom so i decided to spruce it up with some decal stickers. Mountain Boy helped paste most of the stuff and surprisingly he doesn't peel them off even though it's within reach.

He spends a lot of time in his room each day. It's really cosy and breezy because it's north-south facing so the natural light is great. And again to my surprise, he doesn't get up from his bedto play with his toys in the middle of the night (at least not to my knowledge). I always thought that toys and bedtime shouldn't mix but i was wrong.

Toilet Training Part 2

Okay, somebody, anybody, if you know the secret and won't tell me i'd... i'd.... okay i don't know what i'll do except get really angry. Someone out there PLS TELL ME HOW TO GET A TODDLER TO POO IN THE TOILET!!

I've even invested in this 300RMB potty seat and it's about to become a white elephant! But to be fair before i got this potty seat he refused to even sit on the toilet bowl, now at least his bum is on it but he just can't complete the deed.

Prince Lionheart Weepod

Mountain Boy is a pee-pee champion now. He is basically off diapers except during nap time and night time. Even when he is very excited he knows how to tell us he needs to pee. But when it comes to poo, he prefers to do his business in diapers. In fact he has somehow accidentally regulated his poo-poo schedule to after naps because that's when his diapers are still on.

Yesterday i made sure i removed his diapers right after he woke up so he won't have time to "cultivate" the sensation to poo but he ended up not pooing. Okay... so today i waited till he had that "i'm about to poo" look before removing his diapers and somehow the poo just magically gets sucked back in.

What do i do now? Do i offer rewards? Do i wait till he is more "ready" and when is "ready" really ready? Do i just let him constipate in the hope that he'll eventually poo? Please help me!