coaching Rynus, just not as easy..

I often emphasize on the theory of "every kid is special in their own way, and they will achieve their development milestones sooner or later at their own pace.", whenever my friends comment that Renzo is advanced compared to other kids at his age. But when I re-read my post about Renzo's funny patterns at 17 months, quite frankly I can't really keep my cool when I then look at our 17 months old little man, Rynus Chan, with a vocabulary list he's built to date like this:
- words used most frequently: "mama", "korkor";
- words with most syllables: "mama", "korkor";
- only words he seems to know: "mama", "korkor"...

-_-!!

Am I worried? Nope..
Am I concerned? Nope..
Am I bothered? YES man, I am!! Why? Because I feel that it is more because being the 2nd child of the family, Rynus wasn't getting 100% attention from us, and unfortunately, he could never get that..

I remember our ex-helper singing the ABC song countless times a day, reading number 1-20 to Renzo at least 5 times till she could memorize the entire numbers poster. I recite 6x Chinese poems + 三字经 at least 4 times a day, I sing along the alphabets and their phonics sounds introduced by Leapfrog whenever Renzo is watching the DVD, I carry Renzo to the window and spend at least 15 minutes a day to teach him how to differentiate car, taxi, van, bus, motorcycle, etc. And before bedtime, I sing about 6-7 lullabies to Renzo non-stop till he slowly drifted off to lalaland. My full 4 months of maternity leave, plus another 4 months of working from home, plus another half a year that Daddy worked half day in the morning, definitely allowed us to provide more support to Renzo's academic growth.

But for Rynus, I left him to helper alone since he was 2 months old. In order not to distract or rather say over-stimulate him before bedtime, I usually off the room light after his last feed and carry him quietly till he dozes off. That leaves me with no time to really teach Rynus anything. I tried to make some effort, but it seems that Rynus has super short attention span, he could not even sit still for long to play a toy, so forget about books, or study.. He's a happy kid who eats and sleeps to pass time, playing is fun, but not with the same toy for more than 5 minutes. Renzo is the opposite, he's always attentive and he doesn't need much sleep, so most of the time he's awake, he's absorbing new knowledge! And if he is doing something, he can spend hours on it without getting bored.

So my conclusion, it might not be 100% true but if  you want to know whether your kid is a great learner who can be easily coached, just look at how focused he is with whatever he does.

Last night, I finally decided to put in even more efforts, by introducing all the alphabets and numbers to Rynus before bedtime, while carrying him and walking around his room. Even Renzo seems to be concerned with his little bro's progress and he was trying to teach Rynus "sticker", "octopus" and "water", like a real teacher! I've joked with Daddy many times that Rynus doesn't need to be smart, his job for now, is just to stay cute and sweet, so to keep us entertained and melted all the time. LOL..

first staycation with baby Rynus - Marriott Singapore

On September 7, after attending our best friends Joel & Alicia's wedding lunch, we checked ourselves into Marriott Hotel for our first staycation with baby Rynus.

Staycation at local hotel has became our yearly family event, and we usually do it twice a year, because it's simply easier than flying overseas with the 2 boys. Talking about that, I just remembered that baby Rynus does not have his own passport! Lazy mummy better work on that before our next overseas trip! Some might think it's a waste of money to bring young kids for hotel stays, but to me, I believe it's an eye opener and great exposure for them. Renzo knows some hotels require room card to access the lift, which I am pretty sure many adults are not aware of.

With our Marriott Vacation Club Membership, we are privileged to enjoy hotel stays at 7 club resorts, 28 club connection hotels, or even more than 2000 timeshare resorts in 75 countries around the world. We celebrated Renzo's first birthday at Marriott Mai Khao beach club in Phuket, we stayed at Ritz Carlton Shanghai for his 2nd birthday, and we went to Ritz Carlton Singapore for his 3rd birthday as Mummy was pregnant with baby Rynus by then. In fact, when we attended our friends' wedding in Bali this April, we also stayed in Courtyard Marriott so in another word, our recently hotel stays were either Marriott, or Ritz Carlton, that's the way to fully utilize our club membership points since it doesn't come cheap anyway, LOL..

So this time, we decided to give Marriott Singapore a try since we've stayed in Ritz Carlton Singapore for 3 times in the past, including an indulgence in a super lovely premier suite room on our wedding day.


I knew long ago that Marriott has smaller hotel rooms, as compared to Ritz Carlton, so I wasn't expecting much and I just thought their superb location will compensate. Well to certain extend, it's true because we could afford to take a stroll around Orchard area for a couple of hours before the shops close at late night. But in all honesty, their hotel rooms are really dull with outdated interiors, and almost zero scenic views as we were given a room on the 5th floor. I thought I made a wise choice to upgrade the room to a premier suite with a living room area and a massage bathtub. Or else I really couldn't imagine how much the kids would enjoy most of their time inside the room.

We did not opt to add in the breakfast at a discounted price of SGD80 for 2 before tax, usual price is SGD90 for 2 before tax and I've heard lots of great reviews about their wide spread and quality food. I have no doubt in that after trying out their 12 bucks chocolate cake (almost as big as a standard log cake) Renzo insisted to get at their cafe. I am never a chocolate cake fan but I found it pretty impressive.

Rynus was curious about the new environment throughout the stay. It's pretty fun to see him climbing up and down, and hanging on the bed for dear life most of the time. Renzo is not a rookie anymore, he even commented that he prefers his own new house, and Ritz Carlton hotel is his favorite. The best gain of this stay, was the 2 videos we took while the boys splashing water like crazy in the massage bathtub, which I am secretly planning to include in their wedding montage one day. But for now, let's look forward to Rynus' first staycation at Ritz Carlton Singapore in one month time, well yes I've made booking for that and it will be Renzo's 3rd stay there!!

stylish baby outfits? not just for girls...

I am sure all parents want our kids to look and feel great (well yes all kids do look great in my eyes),  I often envy mummies with girls who can dress them up like baby dolls, but that doesn't mean I could not splurge a bit on adorable outfits for my lovely boys.

Quality is forever my first priority when buying clothes for the boys, so FOX kids is always my #1 choice as their clothes are very comfortable and made from high quality fabrics that will last through many washes.

And once a while, when I feel like updating their wardrobe with something different, I will grab stuff online though I usually don't fancy about their quality. But I can't help but googoo and gaga myself over their trendy designs and vibrant colors.

I never like the idea of buying the exact same outfit for my kids, unless they are twins. But I do enjoy matching their outfits based on color, design, or style, etc. All thanks to baby Rynus, dressing up the boys are not as boring as before with added fun of mixing and matching for the two!!

Rynus "mei mei"??

When Renzo was much younger, many strangers asked me if he is a girl, probably because he has rather fair complexion and soft hair. My mother in law's neighbor who's been staying next to us for a year plus, congratulated us for having one boy and one girl (好) in the family after I delivered Rynus, because he thought Renzo is a girl despite seeing and speaking to him almost everyday.

For Rynus, we have even more such encounters and especially after we moved into our new place recently, and met many new friends around our neighborhood, we've been asked countless times about whether Rynus is a boy, or a girl. Obviously, Rynus has much fairer skin, softer hair than Renzo, and, bigger eyes for sure. 

I met a couple at the pool side one day, while bringing Renzo and Rynus for a walk, the uncle spoke to me in Chinese: "You have one GIRL and one BOY?", he then turned to Renzo and asked "You are the Jiejie(elder sister)?", I responded immediately, "Nope uncle, he's the Korkor (elder BROTHER)!", the uncle looked confused, then he smiled at Rynus and said, "Sorry sorry, uncle was wrong, you are the baby GIRL!!"..
 
Just a few days later, when my mother brought Rynus down to the playground, an old aunty introduced herself and her 17 months old grandchild to my mother. My mother said to Rynus, "Baby, say hello Korkor..", the aunty corrected her, "Nope, this is my granddaughter!". My mother felt embarrassed and kept Rynus busy at the slide for the rest of the time there. Till she decided to bring Rynus home, the old aunty walked over and said to her granddaughter, "say bye bye Meimei (younger sister)!!".. Now this time, guess who's feeling even more embarrassed?!

I know Daddy Chan will be very upset to see this, but I promise, I won't play with their hair again and I will never dress them up like dolls, never ever!!

Being the Second Child of the Family

Having a loving brother is never a bad thing. Whenever I look at these two play together and roll around the bed in unison, I think back at the times when Renzo was the only child and how lonely and solitary his life must have been before Rynus came along. Sure, Renzo had Mummy Chan and myself around him, but who better to understand oneself than a sibling who is just a few years apart.

I sit here by the edge of their bed and Rynus crawls over to the curtains and attempts to conceal himself behind it. As an adult, I am amused at the 1-year-old's attempt, and finds it funny because he didn't realise he had only covered his torso, while leaving his stubby little baby legs in plain view (good attempt still...haha). But the very same action triggered very different response from Renzo. He saw it as something wonderful, and immediately mimicked it with the other piece of the curtain, and instantly, we had two giggly kids covering and revealing themselves, flailing the curtain around as if the curtains were the wings of an intoxicated pigeon. I can only imagine how proud Rynus must have been to know his actions led on Renzo to do the same and it must have bolstered Rynus' self-confidence by a bit too.

Being the second child of the family, I know Rynus is disadvantaged from birth. Renzo had dedicated attention and funds when he was the only child for the first 3 years of his life, whereas Rynus will never know how it is like to have that sort of love and fundings (3 boxes full of Renzo's Thomas & Friends trains...). As most parents will say "We love them equally"... yeah.. and we know the equal half of the whole loving heart is 50%. It maybe that because I'm also the second child in the family myself, subconsciously I tend to be more biased toward Rynus, being more tolerant and understanding (at least that is what i gathered from my conversations with Mummy Chan, my sis-in-law and my mum... =/ )

Well, in any case, Rynus IS a cuter, more adorable baby even when compared to Renzo when he was at this age... then again, it might be my subconscious mind drawing at that conclusion... haha... guess we'll have to wait till Rynus turns into the little terrible-two monster to see if it'll change my perception of things...

Rynus Di Di is just as sweet~~

Most of our friends who have seen the boys often, would agree with me that Renzo is a very sweet brother, his tolerable limit is amazingly high when it comes to his little brother, and many have witnessed how Rynus bullied Renzo by pulling his hair, poking his mouth and squeezing his cheeks, while Renzo stayed calm and gave the occasional unhappy frowns without making a single complaint. Although they fight for toys everyday, they can play together in peace and harmony most of the time.

Rynus is often curious about what Renzo is doing. Besides trying to mimic his actions and sounds, every sudden expression from Renzo could be a laughing trigger that makes Rynus giggle out loud. Not to forget this cheeky kor kor is extremely funny and dramatic! So the room is often filled with laughter from the two boys. 

They can be very sweet to each other of course. I've seen countless times when Renzo crept into the cot and kissed his little brother while Rynus was sleeping like a log. When Rynus cries, Renzo grabs his milk bottle and stuffs into his mouth immediately, or passes him his #2 favorite remote control if we refuse to give Rynus his #1 favorite handphone to play. But last Saturday, we caught Rynus wobbly walking to Renzo, and trying to cheer him up by shaking his pajamas right in front of him, since Renzo was upset from being disciplined by Daddy for his mischievous behavior. That scene was absolutely heartwarming!

I know sibling rivalry is inevitable when you have more than one kid, due to personality clashes, ability battles, attention tactics, etc, but promoting sibling harmony and helping my children be friends with each other before they learn to fight with each other, is always on top of my list. Friends come and go, siblings are forever!!

formula milk, it does matters..

Rynus has turned one a few weeks back and the good news to us is, he can move on to Step/Stage 3 formula officially! Experienced parents understand that in order to encourage total breastfeeding, infant formula (1 to 6 months) is extremely expensive, and after 6 months, babies can take Step/Stage 2 formula which is slightly cheaper, and from 12 months onwards, till 36 months, they can be on Step/Stage 3 formula which is usually around 10 dollars cheaper than the Step/Stage 2 formula.

But the bad news is, within 2 weeks, we have spend almost 200 dollars on these:

As expected, Rynus is not taking his Dumex Mamil Gold Step 3 formula well. Why I said "expected"? First of all, Mummy Chan has this lactose intolerance problem and that's why I seldom drink milk. Then, his brother, Renzo had a tough time taking this same formula 3 years back. Both of them started with the Dumex infant formula, and moved on to Step 2 formula at 6 months, but Renzo was vomiting badly like a merlion when he started Step 3 around one year old. TCM doctor advised us to switch him to soy based formula, as he could potentially have problem digesting lactose, which is found in Dumex Step 3 formula as a form of added sugar. In fact it's common to find lactose in almost all brands of formulas, just that at that time, we were not sure about the root cause and resorted to change of milk powder in the end. We even informed childcare teachers not to give Renzo fresh milk for 2 years since we were afraid he is allergic to cow's protein. But we switched him from Soy based formula to GainIQ Stage 3 when he was about 18 months old, and since then he was all good. Now I think back, lactose could be found in GainIQ Stage 3 also, but maybe we dragged a little longer to switch him from Soy formula to GainIQ Stage 3, and during the period he's on Soy formula, somehow his digestive system improved and was able to take lactose since then.

So for Rynus, the moment I noticed that he was drinking extremely slow, vomiting occasionally and having loose stool when he's on Dumex Step 3, I made the call to start him on GainIQ Stage 3 immediately. And then, I didn't realize he's having problem with GainIQ till about 2 weeks later, when he has formed a routine to wake up for milk at 2am, then wake up crying at 3am, 4am, and wake up for milk again at 5am. Although he's not able to sleep through yet, his usual routine is to sleep before 930pm, have one feed at 330 to 430am, and sleep for another 1 or 2 hours at least from there. So I talked to my helper, her feedback is that since I switch him to GainIQ, Rynus has been more active during the day and refuses to take his nap most of the time.

Well I have heard feedback from some mummies that GainIQ is sweeter, and more heaty, and some kids (especially boys) get hyper active with this brand. Please do not quote me on this as I am not an expert, and I am speaking based on my own experience here. I do not know the exact impact of GainIQ on Renzo. He didn't sleep much during the day since he was a baby, so I can't say GainIQ made him more active. He fell sick a bit more often after taking GainIQ and grandparents usually relate that to heaty food he took, but he started preschool around that same period and it's so common for kids to fall sick easily. He had a bit of bad temper and threw tantrums often but I rather believe that's due to his Terrible Twos.

But looking at the reaction from Rynus, I have to believe that his behavior, to certain extend, has something to do with the formula he took. Because last night when I finally switched him back to Dumex Step 2, he slept soundly from 915pm to 4am this morning.

For the time being, I've decided to let him stick to Dumex Step 2 instead since the kind customer care representative from Dumex has advised me that some babies take longer time to gradually move on to Step 3. Although he needs s little more time to readjust again, well frequent change of formula definitely made him exhausted, it's so good to see his bright smile again this morning when he woke up!!

Disclaimer: I am not comparing formula milk here, I just want to record down the fact about certain formula brands which my boys couldn't take well.