The Fall that Cost the Tooth?

My twin son, Asher, fell from his bicycle while riding on it last Friday. His gums near his two front teeth was bleeding profusely for a moment after the fall. One of the front teeth was a little "chiseled" off.

It was the first fall of his life and he cried like as if a huge trauma had happened. Nevertheless, the fall had indeed caused some trauma on his two front teeth - there were "huge" movement of about 2mm, like those teeth that are falling.

We decided to bring him to the dentist. Asher's first reaction was fear - he feared the dentist might extract his teeth. Oh mine, what a reaction from a near 4-year-old kid! I had to calm him down that the dentist's job is not only extraction but also some "construction" work like "Bob the Builder". Asher finally relents.

The dentist took an X-ray of his teeth and said that the teeth is very likely broken and suggested extracting both tooth. Asher may then need a denture for that two tooth! The mommy became reluctant at this option this time around and asked if the dentist could "cement" the trauma teeth and hoped that the tissues around the teeth would grow stronger in "stabilising" the teeth later on.

The dentist somehow obliged but said Asher needs to come back for a review a month later. He thinks the tooth still need to be extracted. I was actually thinking why is this dentist so adamant in getting my young son's teeth extracted?

So anyway, I found a website useful relating to management of dental trauma here. I hope Asher's teeth do not need the extraction as that dentist suggested.

My First Mother's Day Gift

I received my first mother's day gift last week - a card made by my three-and-a-half-year-old twins each! The twins' preschool had taught them how to make the cards. My girl, Gwyneth, made a green card & her twin brother, Asher, made a red one. On the cards, they put on some decos with Chinese words typed on it,"I love mommy! Happy Mother's Day".
I was very touch by this little gesture, though it is not something expensive. They hugged and kissed me when they passed the cards to me. It was such a terrific moment! I have never dreamt of that when I wanted to be a mommy.

My twins:"We are husband and wife"

My husband and I burst into hilarious laughter earlier this week when my twins claimed strongly that they are husband and wife. They were apparently trying to "emulate" what we had told them about our relationship.

"Both of you are brother and sister", we said.

"No! We are husband and wife!",they both said simultaneously. Despite several other attempts to explain the different kind of relationships, they had chosen to ignore what we had said.

It is kind of interesting here because in some ancient Chinese beliefs, they believed that twins of different sex are reincarnation of husband and wife in their past life. That's if you also believe in reincarnation. I began to wonder if that's true for my twins........though it sounded silly. *smile*

In any way, we decided to let this little "husband and wife" dialogue rest. Most likely, it is just one of those young kids' interesting dialogue or small talks that tickle your life.

Sharing Jennifer Lopez Twins Joy!

Seems like twins is the latest fashion statement. Jennifer Lopez is on the latest People Magazine cover with her twins, Max and Emme. Her twins boy and girl were born last month on 22 February.
I share Jennifer's twins joys when my twins, Asher and Gwyneth was born on 12 October 2004. It is a indescribable feeling but it is marvellous. You felt incredibly blessed with a girl and a boy born to you at the same time. See Lopez's tired eyes and glowing face and you would probably understand what I meant.

Amazingly, Jennifer Lopez is not the only celebrity having twins. Angelina Jolie is pregnant with twins now; Marcia Cross from "Desperate Housewife" is also happily blessed with her currently 13 month old twins girls. Even Dora The Explorer, one of my twins' favourite TV show, had caught up with the twins' fashion with a twins brother and sister!

School Bullies in Preschool?

Think that school bullying will never happen to preschoolers?

My twin son just told me last night before he slept,"Mommy, Jarren used a duster to hit on my head.....and also on Gwyneth (his twin sister)." He was also showing the action of the duster hitting his forehead concurrently.

I asked him immediately what his reaction was. He said he had told his teacher and Jarren, his preschool friend, got a "scolding". I commended that he did the right thing and should inform the teacher should such incidents happen again.

In anyway, this is not the first incident since the twins joined the preschool. End of last year, both of them were beaten (on the chest and face) by a bigger size boy in their class, though they were not physically hurt. Apparently, another boy in that class had joined the action, thinking that it was fun. It went on for about two weeks even after my twins "complained" to the teacher and both of them started to develop a fear for school. I quickly spoke to the principal and teacher regarding the bullies "beating" incidence and my then twin toddlers' phobia about school. I think the preschool realised how serious the "bullying" was and not just toddlers or young kids messing around with gentle fight (my kids did not even fight back!). The preschool separated them into different classes this year, counselled both "bullies" and spoke to their parents about the beating incidents. That was when my twins started to re-settle into preschool life; but they remembered that incident and sometimes would still talk to me about it.

Sometimes, as a desperate mommy, I wish that my twins are the school bullies instead of being bullied; I wish that I could tell the twins that if the bullies hit you, hit them back instead of just standing there; I wish I could tell those young bullies off directly; and I also wish I could confront the parents of these bullies. But they were just desperate wishes to protect your own kids and everybody knew that they could never be deployed in the civilised world.

I suppose school bullying is what the twins got to manage in many years to come in their school life.

The Twins' Curiosity about Pets

Recently, my neighbour bought a hamster, probably for their two schooling kids as a pet or maybe for some auspicious reason in the year of the rat (Chinese calendar year).

They happened to put the hamster outside their house and next to the shoe rack. So my twins, Asher and Gwyneth, discovered this little cutie thing inside a big "cage" and ignited their curiosity. Actually, even the mommy finds it too "irresistable" not to look at what the hamster was doing.

The little hamster is so smart and cute - it saw my twins and kept staring back at them. Then it struggled to stand up for while before crawling up the "stairs" of the cage and sniffed for attention. (As in the picture) My twins "squealed" for delight and were obviously thrilled by this action of the hamster.

As we couldn't bring the little cutie out to play, it "sadly" slided down and went back to hide in the "bushes" and slipped for a nap.

Oh, when the twins are sick!

What a rat year this is! On the first day of Chinese New Year, Asher was down with fever and vomiting, and we knew that our house visiting is going to end on that day.

He was running stubbornly high fever, despite continuous 3 hourly alternate doses of paracetamol and Ibuprofen (an NSAID). So on the third day of Chinese New Year, when one of the clinics are opened, we quickly brought him to see a paediatrician. At certain time, Asher was running about 39 - 40 deg C fever, it was terrible for us and him. The paediatrician said he caught Influenza ("the potent flu") where some of the symptoms are fever, vomiting, diahorrea, muscles ache, lethagy, running nose and cough. Asher got all of these symptoms with mild vomiting and diahorrea.

The Dr said that the fever is going to run for around 5-6 days before everything settled. I was thinking there goes my sleep again. I am usually more "afraid" of Asher falling sick because he has allergic rhinitis and when he is sick, his blocked nose will "bug" him even more for the whole night. Basically, I lose sleep together with him as he will keep calling me every half hourly to help him.

This Influenza fever that Asher caught this time was rather "fierce", it just refused to come down for 5 days and was hovering around 38 deg C even after medication. We had even given him "Ling Yang water" to cool the fever and I think that sort of help him a little. On the 6th day, he started to feel better and was more "alive", but by then he had lost some weight.

When everything looked "rosier" for the next few days, Gwyneth started the next round of fever though milder than Asher. And Gwyneth had a shorter road of recovery as she probably only caught "secondary influenza" from her brother. By then, the mommy is the third victim who caught the flu bug!

Twins' Chinese New Year Celebration

It is the fourth year that the twins are celebrating their Chinese New Year(CNY). But this year, at nearly three and a half years old, is supposingly the year where they began to be more aware and "conscious" of the real happenings around them.

It was quite a good start, with their pre-school teaching them some CNY songs, and the twins were singing days long before the first day ("Cu Yi") of CNY. On CNY eve, we had reunion dinner with the twins' paternal grandparents and their 3 uncles plus families. They both receive the first CNY red packets ("Ang Pow") from their grandfather during the dinner.

After reunion dinner, we went to pray at the Waterloo Street's Kwan Yin Temple, near my parents' place. (See Pic) Later the twins visited my parents with whom they also met their uncle and auntie for a sort of second semi-reunion dinner. *smile*

The twins were delighted, partly because they could go to different places, and also because this year they were able to play behind a Volkswagen van we borrowed from their eldest uncle("Da Bo").

Weekend Outings

During weekend, we usually bring the twins to certain places that they will enjoy, mainly places where they could play and splash with water.

Swimming pool, a few shopping centres like Vivocity and Millenia Walk(in picture) where there are real shallow water pool to let the kids have some fun.

Sometimes doing something different provide new stimulation for the twins. And just like any kids or adults, they always love new places and things.

The twins' friends call me Mommy!

Everytime I went to the childcare centre, either to send or bring the twins home, their group of friends will all crowd around me and start talking to me.

They will begin calling me,"Mommy, mommy,....... I have this or that at home" or sort of complaining to me,"Mommy, mommy, Asher and Gwyneth used the crayons to draw on my T-shirt.....". One or two of them will even piggy back on me when I happened to squat down. It is kinda of interesting because their friends simply do not call the other parents the same. Once a grandparent even asked her granddaughter,"Is she your mommy, why did you call her mommy?".

Actually, I do not have a clear reason or idea why the twins' friends called me Mommy. Perhaps in the initial period when helping the twins to settle in the childcare centre, some of their friends got familiar with me when I went with them to a few excursion trips? Or maybe I speak in the kids' lingo and seems to be always listening to them? Nevertheless, it is a good feeling and you suddenly feel as if you have a bunch of kids "idolising" you. *wink*

Gwyneth and Asher are aware of this and sometimes they will protest to their friends,"She is not your mommy! She is my mommy!". And both will start pulling me away from them. *smile* What a silly fun!

Amazed by the twins' dialogue

The twins got a mild flu infection yesterday. And when they woke up early this morning, the first thing that Gwyneth said,"Mommy, I have a flu, so I don't need to go to school today........Di di (her brother), you'll go to school alone today."

Asher retorted by saying,"No....I am also sick, so I don't need to go to school too!". I was a little intrigued when I heard this dialogue. This two young kids actually knew that the "outcome" of being sick was that they could rest at home. And they were thrilled!

Have they not settled in the childcare centre and enjoyed their friends' company? I wondered. Or they just simply love the freedom they have at home of not following a time-table? Maybe I would have the answer much later?

Touched by the twin beautiful soul

The twins woke up today and realised that their daddy is still sleeping at home. Gwyneth asked curiously why was the daddy still at home and wanted to wake him up. I stopped her and told her that the daddy is sick and needed some rest. She asked politely if she could "pet" his dad's leg to show empathy in his dad's "condition". I declined and she did not pursue further.

And so the twins went to the childcare centre. As I could not bring them back home today, the daddy went to pick them up.

During dinner, my husband told me that he was caught by suprise when he went to pick Gwyneth in the centre. She had actually asked my husband,"Daddy, are you feeling better?". My husband said that he was so touched by this beautiful soul of her.

Baking Cupcakes with the Twins

Occasionally on a Saturday weekend, the twins and I will do some bakings. We just did one baking session yesterday - making cupcakes. Kids love cup cakes and they are fun to make.

Ingredients (make 12)

1. 120g butter, softened


2. 120g sugar


3. 1 tsp vanilla essence]


4. 3 eggs


5. 180g flour


6. 1 tsp taking powder


7. 12 cup cake papers

Method

Cream butter and sugar until pale, light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla essence. Add eggs one at time. Fold in sifted flour and baking powder. Fill cupcake papers or tray 1/2 ful with the mixture and bake at 180 deg C for 10-15 mins until the cakes spring back when touched.

The twins love the process of baking. Off course as young kids, they are there for some fun and "messing around" at times. But most importanly, baking with kids is a good time for bonding and you can also see the satisfaction of the kids when they ate their own "production".

The twins excursion to Chinatown

The twins had an excursion with the school to Chinatown today. It is the first time that I am not tagging along since they joined the childcare centre last June. Previously, I followed the twins for a few excursion as they were still settling in the new envirnoment. And the way the twins, especially Asher, waved good-bye to me from the bus today made me felt so proud of them. I think they had truly grown mentally besides physically since joining the school.

But I "trail" them at Chinatown for a very short while, just to keep my promise to the twins that I shall meet them at Chinatown if they are well-behaved.

As Chinese New Year is approaching, the streets are decorated with the festive decors and new year's goods 'sprung' in all shops along a few streets. The twins are a little fascinated with the Chinese new year's goodies , particularly the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse decors (year of rat) and the sweets in beautiful wrappers.

However, the weather today is rather hot and humid, which made the twins and their classmates a little restless.

The twins' curiosity about Insects

"Hey, an insect, mummy......an insect!", the twins shouted. They had just spotted a bee which somehow flew and "stuck" outside a window panel.

They are often very amazed and curious about this group of animal kingdom. Perhaps they had seen the daddy catching flies, bees, lizards etc. Then "shaking and dancing" the "cong cong" (insects) before he lets them had a free fall from the window.

Anyway, this silly bee had really been "helpful". At least the twins got a chance to see a close up view of the eyes, body, wings and other parts of the bee, which they would otherwise not get to see at all.

Can you avoid tantrums?

After reading books on managing tantrums in toddlers and kids, coupled with some experience, I thought that tantrums for my twins could be minimised. But today, I learn that some tantrums are rather difficult to avoid.

Asher thrown his tantrums over a 'minor' incident after he came back from the childcare centre. I immediately knew that he did not nap well in the centre and will continue with the tantrums until he sleeps. That is the issue here. If you send your kids to a childcare centre, you could not have control over the causes of the tantrums, which is lack of sleep here for Asher.

So what should you do then if you could not "remove" the cause or causes of the tantrums? Distraction? Yeah, work most times but for a short time frame. So got to keep your cool till the kid settles his 'mood'. But most times, it is easier said than done, and I just lose some of my cool earlier.

Separation Anxiety - Are twins alike?

This morning when I brought the twins to preschool, their new classmate of two weeks, Rannon, was crying out loud for Ms Michelle, their form class teacher. He refused to go to his class and insisted on waiting near the door for her. Rannon reminded me of Asher when he just joined 6 months ago, but Asher merely had tears in his eyes and was chokingly telling me that he wanted Ms Lily, then form teacher. Toddlers or young kids tend to look for familiar faces when separated from parents.

Actually, Asher occasionly still tears when waving goodbye to me. He is such a "sentimental" boy, or you would rather call "emotional' like what his teachers did. I would consider him having some forms of mild but prolong separation anxiety.

Often, Asher needs a lot of assurance and encouragement before going to school. Thereafter, he will be totally immersed in the school environment and came back happily. It is a much better scene compared to the initial period where he would cry almost every night before he sleep; saying that he did not want to go to school because a certain teacher scolded him. After verification with the teachers, it happened that he misunderstood the teachers' loud voice as a form of scolding.

On the other hand, his twin, Gwyneth is more at ease with herself in school. The only times when she had shown some fears or affected was when her brother's crying was more pronounced in the initial joining period.

Develop Multiple Intelligence through Nature Discovery

Since Asher and Gwyneth started to walk, we often brought them to the gardens near our flat for some "educational fun" walk. We bought two toy-like magnifying glass and let them do some "discovery". They watched the ants crawl in line, the birds & butterflies flying around the trees and discovered the different type of leaves and flowers in amazement.

Even till today, as we walked to their childcare centre nearby, we will often do "snailies watch" and "mimosa teasing".

There are simply lot of snails around that garden near the centre, particularly after some morning rain or drizzling. Asher and Gwyneth would then love spotting snails crawling and searching for foods around the muddy sands or wet floors. We would label the snails -"Ah gong", "Ah ma", "daddy", "mummy" , "Jie Jie"(older sister), "Di Di"(younger brother) or baby snails, depending on their sizes. BTW, the "Ah gong" and "Ah ma" snails are really huge, even bigger than a golf ball. Sometimes, the twins would also spot the snails "doing their big business" and once even saw a couple snails mating!

Being young kids, they also love to 'disturb" and "tease" the mimosa, knowing that they will be "shy" and "close up" after that. This simple reaction of the mimosa is quite a small thrill for the twins.

Acutally we did not intentionally want to teach them anything in specific. We only wanted them to appreciate the beauty of nature. And it seems that the kids have since developed a liking for the flora and fauna.

Enrichment Classes - To send or not to send?

We are those parents who believe in sending the children to enrichment classes for learning and experience. We think that these enrichment classes offer external stimuli which the children may not experience at home.

On the other hand, there are parents like one of my girlfriend, Mokkie, who believe that the childcare centre environment will provide sufficient stimuli and learnings in their appropriate age, and it is not necessary to enrol them in additional classes. She is of the view point that if these children learned far ahead of their age, they may lose interest in learnings later on. Certainly a valid consideration. However, so far the twins have positive experience in the enrichment learnings.

Since 18 months old, we sent them to Kindermusik at Tanglin Mall for "Our Time"(for 18mths-3 years old) music lessons. In the 45 minutes lessons, the teacher will sing or play the CD music and used various musical instruments to engage the toddlers, who were accompanied by one parent. The toddlers also learn some nursery rhymes, opposite words like "high vs low", "up vs down" , action words like "stop", "fly", "row" etc, all through the music. There were lots of actions and you would not be bothered that your toddlers will get bored during the lessons. In fact, normally at the end of the each lesson, the teacher will read a story, usually from famous child author like Eric Carle. The music used is very engaging and my twins love them till today. They could even recalled the dance actions of each song and "replayed" them at home.

The twins thoroughly enjoyed the course and looked forward to the weekly lessons even though they were initially shy, a litle fearful of the group setting and merely passive in their actions. I still remember Asher cried for the first two lessons because he was afraid of the "noise" (our house is a quiet resort); not anymore since.

The Kindermusik "Our Time" course is suppose to spread through 4 semisters (3 months for each semisters). But after 6 months, we think that the stimulation had stagnanted and decided to switch to another slightly more "academic" course at Growing Up Gifted in United Square. We could have stayed in both courses together, but that would be too taxing in monetary terms, the weekend time and for the twins, especially when you enrolling two children at a time.

At Growing Up Gifted(GUG) weekly, one and a half hours, toddlers' programme (18 months - 3 years old), it consists of

• 30 minutes of"project time" - art work of various form, edible work using food, some science project for older todds;
• 30 minutes of "Zoo-phonics" - teaching of alphabets phonics using animals, introducing "zoo bag"(consists of things beginning with the letter of the day) and the 3-letter word of the day;
• 20 minutes of other rotational activites like singing, story book telling etc.

My twins totally love the programme, particularly the project work, you could clearly see their eyes brighten up each time. They also like the "Zoo-phonics" time but during the singing session, they would usually stand aside and watch despite some encouragment to participate. Perhaps they were too shy at that time, so we did not really "push" them during that time.

I think that the GUG one and a half hour programme is actually a little long for younger toddlers, particularly under 2 years old, as the children are required to sit down most of the time. Some of their classmates who were under 2 years old were merely running around the classes; in fact, towards the end of the class, the twins were mostly a little restless too, even though they were more well-behaved.

Nevertheless, some of the things that they have learned in GUG are "more advanced" than the peers and my twins still talked about their GUG schools till today. They have since stopped the GUG lessons last September after they were enrolled in the Childcare centre.

There are actually many enrichment classes for pre-schoolers that we have "researched" and the programmes are also quite interesting eg. Shichida Brain stimulation, Julia Gabriel, Gymboree, The Little Gym, Lorna Whiston etc. We have chosen those that best fit our twins and budget.

Kindermusik : http://www.kindermusik.com.sg/
Growing Up Gifted : http://www.gugifted.com/
Shichida : http://www.shichidamethod.com/
Julia Gabriel :http://www.juliagabriel.com/
Lorna Whiston: http://www.lornawhiston.com/
Gymboree : http://www.gymboree.com/
The Little Gym : http://www.thelittlegym.com.sg/

Twins - Are they the same or different?

A lot of people asked me,"Since Asher and Gwyneth are twins, do they have the same liking or different?" I suppose the other parents of twins would most probably have smiliar answer - besides having the same stimulation and environment, they are quite different in nature, perhaps even more for opposite sex twins.

Their new teacher this year in the Childcare centre, Teacher Michelle, told me that she observed that Asher is able to grasp concepts and learn faster than Gwyneth. She said Gwyn tends to get distracted but would still learn similiar things slightly later than Asher. In fact, that is what we observed at home since infancy.

Asher would speak and learn words earlier, have an almost "once a glance" memory and better attention span. Gwyn, on the other hand, is good with her observation skills and tends to notice things that we (including her brother) would not normally pick up. Both have likings for different colours - Ash loves orange and blue, Gwy loves pink and green; different taste buds - almost contrasting that if I have to cook different food each time, I would have lot of things to prepare. Asher, as a boy, is also more aggressive and loud in nature; whereas Gwyneth is more quiet and keeps her temperament a little better than her brother.

They have some silimiarities, that is both loves to read and sing. Perhaps it may be due to the same stimuli environment, we read and sing to them a lot since they were babies.

I believe twins of the same sex would generally be different in nature too. That is what I observed in the Childcare centre, where coincidentally, they have another two sets of twins - twins boys in N1 and fracternal twin girls in K1. And by the way, Ash and Gwy's teacher this year, Ms Michelle is also one of the other fracternal twins girls! What a twins' centre!