Busy July

July was a busy month. 

In the first week of July, we traveled to Beijing to visit daddy's family. Kodi had a blast with Adam and Tina. She was completely spoiled by Nai Nai and ate many many dumplings and bao-zhi's.

At Summer Palace. 

First time getting a Jianzhi, and first time in a long time since we kicked one when hubby and I were kids.

At Beijing Zoo.
Saw the giant panda of course, and visited the Lion-tiger Mountain, the place where daddy and  uncle had fond memory from their childhood.

We had many delicious meals there too. This braised pork was by far the most unforgettable dish. Alas it was Sze-chuan style though.

We visited daddy's alma mater, Peking University. There was a a big college reunion the day before and daddy partied until mid-night. The campus was pretty, with lots greenery and a misty lake rimmed with weeping willows. They pretty much kept its original landscape as a garden of the then royal family back in the Qing dynasty.

There was a little hiccup with daddy's passport at departure but luckily everything was fine. We came back with loads of food and a yogurt machine. We have been making yogurt at home ever since and I will likely never get another container from the grocery store. The home-made yogurt tastes so much better! 

Kodi on the air plane, having fun dipping the gold fish crackers with the strawberry jam and butter.

After returning from Beijing, we decided to cut short Kodi's nap so that she could keep her bed time schedule in the evening. In order to make the transition easier for both of us, I planned lots of play dates and outings and that's why we have been busy (playing) for the rest of the month. I am very happy that she has claimed a few close friends, which includes not only girls but boys too.There is nothing else so satisfying than seeing my baby blossom into a little person!

Kodi and her ice cream craft. 

She and Shermaine are officially the best friends, and it helped that we have been going to the East Coast to let them play together regularly.

Another big news this month was that Kodi finally found water on the face is not such a scary thing.

For her "entire" life up to this point, the face has been a sacred territory that no water, not even a droplet, could touch. She likes water and swimming but she HATEs to have water splashed on her face, not to mention putting her head in the water. She got so mad and almost walked out of the shower the first time our baby sitter helped wash her hair because there was, of course, water streaking down her cheeks. This is partly our fault as we were always careful about keeping her head up and back when we bath and shampoo since she was a little baby. 

Now that she's got friends who could dive and swim a few strokes, Kodi is more than ready to do the same. Her first attempt was to purposefully splash water on her face. There she was, walking through a water tunnel at the zoo water park, giggling nervously initially but later turned into big laughs and " a-ha ha ha ha".

At the Children's Garden. She completely ditched sand pit  (which she used to love very much) and just went for the water play.

Guess it's time to send her to a swimming lesson. 

3Y1M helping to clean

We had a cleaner the first year we moved to Singapore. She would come to wipe, vacuum, scrub, mop, and iron for a few hours weekly. It was great having her help so that I could spend my time elsewhere. However, her cleaning job became sloppy over time and Kodi (who was 2 at the time) started to associate mops and brushes with her. She thinks those are used exclusively by the cleaning lady. 

As a concerned mother and housewife, I decided to let her go and started a new routine on Saturday afternoons. That is, all three of us roll up the sleeves and get the bucket out!

Kodi has been very interested in helping out various housework. She doesn't think of them as "hard" labor, but part of her everyday play. She likes washing and squeezing water out of the small piece of rag we give her to wipe her furnitures (although we always need to help her squeeze again to get rid of the excessive water). Later we got her a very cute stand-by-itself pink lion shaped duster/rag. She loves to waive it around and claims that she is the "super little helper".

The cleaning time has become a great team building exericse (if you are up for the fancy term) for us. We would each take up a share of the load, rotate between different rooms and comment on the fruit of our labor after the job is done. I would not say that it's the most fun thing we have ever done together, but absolutely a nice way to take care of our home. And for the record, the Saturday cleaning lasts about 1 to 1.5 hours. I scrub the bathrooms and Kun irons his many shirts on a different day. 

3Y1M Folding laundry

The pictures pretty much tell the story. Kodi does the best job with long pants and shirts. The panties are a little tricky because of their triangular shape.

I often fold mine and hubby's laundry while she does hers. I would tell her how to give them a little shake, lay them flat, smooth the wrinkles and make a crease, and last but not the least, fold the laundry across a couple times so that they could fit inside the drawer nicely. 

Keep folding.

Stack them up.

Da la!

3Y1M First Pedicure

I had the most obvious color on my toes recently during a trip to the pedicure place. It was almost-neon-like fiery orange... Not sure why i was in the mood for this color at the time but it certainly caught Kodi's attention.

Tonight she asked me for the very first time that she would like to have a "pedicure"done. 

I trimmed her nails a little (it was due anyway), and painted a layer of pale pink on top. It was right after bathing at bed time so I told her that she needed keep her toes up when we read the story. She did a good job of holding her legs straight and keeping her toes clear from anything. 

Pink toe nails, one happy 3 year old girl! 

The next morning when she woke up, she was estatic to find that the pink polish was still there. 

"I have pedicure"! 

Of course, she showed off her toes at school.