Singing and playing doctor

Natalie has recently started to sing songs and "pretend play". It's great! We're so proud because these are pretty big milestones for a little toddler to reach :)

Listen to Natalie singing the ABC's in Video 225. There is no melody whatsoever, but she gets the words (kinda) right.

Also, watch Natalie pretending to play "doctor" with Alex Su-su's stethoscope in Video 226. Somewhere, she's learned how to use it!

Sofa tuck

Natalie has become very fond of tucking herself under the sofa cover (really, they're just bedsheets we use to protect the suede surface). When she's reading, she'll climb onto the sofa and tuck her legs under the "blanket" to read. Here are some pics below:

Natalie reading her Bearenstein Bears books.


"Nat-lee under blaa-khet!" She says.


"Nat-lee read book!" She tells me.


She doesn't talk as she concentrates on turning the thin pages.

"Uh-oh, mommy help." She says.

When she's done reading, she returns the book to the box and picks another book. These Bearenstein Bear books are her current favourite.

Later, I ask her to put her books down and make some funny faces for me. That's not very funny!

That's a nice smile and very cute, but still not very funny.

Now THAT's a funny face!

School Prep

Today, Clark and I went to visit Natalie's school for a "Parent's Meeting". It was our first official Parent's Meeting and it really finally hit home that... we're PARENTS!! This is because we remember when our parents used to go to Parent-Teacher meetings and that was a really grown-up thing to do.

While there, we had to drop off a bunch of forms and also buy her uniforms and school bag. Her uniform is sooo cute! It's a little white, pleated, collared dress with the school crest on it. We put in the order for her clothes and will pick them up in August (photos to come).

Also, we got some great tips on how to prepare your "little ones" for school, such as walking her to and from school, letting her play in her uniform, reading books about schools, and practicing separation from her parents. We're really looking forward to her attending school and hope she likes it!

Natalie likes looking "smart" in her daddy's glasses. This is her mischievious look.


This is Natalie looking anxious about starting school. That's 3 whole hours every day (Mon - Fri) away from mommy and daddy.


Natalie sticking out her tongue. We hope she doesn't stick it out at her teachers!

What are you saying, Natalie?

Watch Video 224 of Natalie saying the word "fox". But it sure does sound like she's saying something else...

Funny poser and copycat

Natalie has become really really fun to play with. You can ask her to do things (like "pose" and smile for photos) and she also loves to copy everything we do. Check her out below:

Natalie in one of her poses. I taught her to put a hand on her head when I say "pose!". This is taking it one step further!


Natalie is practicing to become a model! Here is her "catalogue" smile with a little wave.


Here is her serious look.

Later, Natalie starts to copy my expressions.

Here is Natalie sticking her tongue out while copying me.

Natalie copying my "yelling" face. She's a lot more ferocious than me!

My pouty face.

This is not a face. This is Natalie's natural state.

Natalie's more Oh-Two!

Here are more pics from our small little celebration of Natalie's 2nd birthday.

Natalie can't stop staring into the flickering flames of her birthday candles.


Natalie was such a good little wind-generator! She blew out the two candles by herself.


Here is Natalie enthusiastically digging in to her cupcake. She loves cupcakes.


Natalie posing with Serena yee-yee and Vivo yee-yee with big smiles.

(L to R): Carol yee-yee, Uncle Dave, little Nicholas, Vanessa, Lisa yee-yee, Victoria, and Uncle Dennis all came to celebrate with Natalie, too!

Natalie opens her birthday present from Serena.

It's a 5-book collection of Berenstain Bears! Look at the concentration.

She also (briefly) enjoyed the card.

Natalie is happy with Vivo yee-yee.

Later, she scopes out more cupcakes. But she only got to eat one.

Natalie playing with Vivo yee-yee's beautiful, long necklaces.

Natalie making funny faces with Serena yee-yee.

Dancing Queen

Natalie can learn dance moves! Check out her new moves in Video 223.

We tried to teach her some of the moves from Little Miss. Sunshine but she can't quite seem to get the whole "hands on head, clap your elbows" thing. Yet.

Reading and building

Natalie is learning so much! Everyday, we discover she that has learned at least 5 new (noticeable) things. When we read books, she can point out objects and characters and describe what they are doing. She can also stack boxes one on top of the other without knocking the other boxes down.

Here are some longer videos (approx. 5 minutes each):

Watch Video 221 of Natalie reading a Dora book with me and discussing what we see.

Watch Video 222 of Natalie stacking boxes. She can build the whole box tower by herself!

Music baby

Natalie always sees Clark and I at our computers wearing ear buds as we listen to music or watch a show. Whenever she sits on our laps, she loves to touch the ear buds, but I always say, "No, Natalie, don't touch mommy's things." The other day, Clark finally gave Natalie his ear buds and she loved listening to music with them while sitting in her highchair.

Natalie looks fascinated when she realizes there is music coming from the ear buds.


"Whoa, music!"


Look how happy she is!


She sat there for some time, chilling with Ba-ba.

There was some dancing, too!

Natalie's Big OH-Two!

Natalie turns TWO today. Happy Birthday, baby! And, after today, you're officially not a baby anymore... you are now a toddler. We can't believe how fast time has passed, but you will always be our baby girl :)

Here are pics from a little weekend gathering we had on Saturday with Carol and Lisa yee-yee and Natalie's cousins, and Serena and Vivian yee-yee. These photos are stolen from Serena (thanks!) and there's more to come once I get around to downloading them from our camera. Soon!

Natalie is mesmerized by the candle flames on the mini cupcakes we made for her 2nd birthday.


She had a cupcake last week and is eagerly waiting to eat her next one.


Natalie is quite the little poser for the camera now. And she wore a new dress for the first time. When she put it on, she ran to the mirror and declared, "So pret-tee!"


Natalie was happy to be with Serena and Vivian yee-yee.

And she was really happy to eating another cupcake!

Getting presents (the Berenstain Bears book collection from Serena) was also a very happy moment!

Also, for her birthday, we bought Natalie a new "my melody" bicycle (courtesy of her Nai-nai and Por-por and Yeh-yeh and Gong-gong). She loves it!

Video 219 - Watch Natalie playing with her new bicycle. Now that she's had it for a few days, she always asks to ride it in whenever we go out.

Video 220 - Watch Natalie happily opening her birthday present.

Good napper

We are loving Natalie's 2nd stroller, the Maclaren Volo (we love the first one, too, from Graco). Although the Volo we have doesn't recline, Natalie can sleep it in for a long time. She sleeps longer in that stroller than in her bed!

This Sunday, we took her to dim sum lunch (she can eat ALOT of dim sum!) and later, while we were at dodgeball practice, she slept for over TWO HOURS in her stroller. What a good girl! She woke up just in time to pose in this photo with us.

World's smallest dodgeball player.

Runny nose

Look at what Natalie's daddy Clark did when he saw her runny nose running away onto the seatbelt strap while she napped in her carseat. Instead of grabbing a tissue, he grabbed the camera. Priorities!

Babies' Joint Birthday

We celebrated our Apr-Jun babies' SECOND birthday together on Monday. We went to playtown and ran around for a couple hours (it's amazing in there!) before lighting up beautiful cupcakes (one for each of the babies). We illegally snuck in the cakes and later got in trouble... oops! Here are the pics of the singing ceremony and the eating before we got busted.

The babies (well... babies no longer!) gather around the cupcakes and clap along while we sing the birthday song.


Some are mesmerized by the flickering flames on the candles. Natalie is busy clutching her cranberries and looking around at all the crazy adults whispering the birthday song.


Then we blow out the candles. Natalie tried, but the wind she generated only blew out about 1 cm past her mouth.


Time to eat! This is Natalie's very first bite of cupcake + FROSTING.

The first words out of her mouth were... "That's yum-meeeeeeeEEEE!!!" Her eyes were super wide and her eyebrows high. It was a new revelation for her. It is probably now her favourite food and will be until she's 90.

Here she is enthusiastically taking another BIG bite of cupcake.

I managed to distract her and quickly ate off all the smarties and most of the icing. She didn't seem to notice.

A two-hand hold ensures no one steals her cupcake.

Natalie finished the cupcake while looking super cute in her new little outfit.