The Lord's Prayer - by Joy-Anne

Children learn and remember best what is caught, not taught.

We've been making it a habit to say The Lord's Prayer in the car as we are driving out. By 23months, Joy-Anne could say it all by herself.

Joseph managed this at about 2.5 years.

Chili's, New Toys and The Magic School Bus

Joseph was supposed to go out with Daalin for their weekly father-and-son-time last night. But it turned out to be a family outing instead.

I realized I had a RM10-ToysRUs voucher that would expire today. So Joseph got two new toys - a HotWheels ambulance and a dump truck.
We went to Chili's for dinner.

Two entrees and two free kids meal got all of us very full.

Joseph ate very well. He fed himself and even ate the broccoli. He said, "I don't really like the taste but I just eat everything."

We've been trying to explain to him that he has to eat everything to grow strong and healthy. I'm glad he understands and is practising good eating habits.

After dinner, the rain had stopped and we stopped by his favourite fountain site.

Joy-Anne wasn't too thrilled so we went back inside to Jusco. Joseph wanted to go to 'the drive car place'.

Before going home, we made another purchase for the kids - 2 The Magic School Bus vcds.

They are currently on a Magic-School-Bus craze. It all started when Pastor Nancy gave Joe a Magic School bus book. Then I found the VCDs at Jusco. So I bought one on the topic of digestion. Joseph loved it. Now he can tell me how the food travels down the esophagus and into the stomach, all about stomach acid, intestines and villi and what happens after that.

I thought it was very educational. So he now has two more in his Magic School Bus collection. He wanted to watch it as soon as we got home but I told him he had to go to bed. Usually, he would whine and kick up a fuss. But last night he was very obedient.

And this morning, he learned that phytoplanktons get eaten by zooplanktons which get eaten by anchovies which get eaten by tuna fishes.

Joy's first Visit to the Dentist

Nana needed a dental filling so we went to the clinic yesterday. Even before we left the house, Joy-Anne kept saying we were going to the clinic to "polish Joy-Anne's teeth". After Nana got her tooth fixed, I had Joy polish Nana's teeth.
Then it was Joy's turn to get into the chair. She was not at all afraid and didn't cry. I actually half expected her to chicken out but she didn't.

And she was a very cooperative patient indeed. At 25 months, she is certainly my youngest patient ever.

No squirming even when my assistant put the suction in her mouth. I was so amazed.... she kept still and opened her mouth for me to clean all the way to the back.

And after all that, she smiled so nicely for me!

This morning I asked her, "Who polished your teeth?" and she replied, "dentist".

Then I asked her, "Who is the dentist?" to which she replied, "you!".

I certainly recommend that parents start their children with regular visits to the dentist from a young age, before they have any pain. Dental visits should not be associated with fear and pain. Regular check-ups and cleaning will save you a lot of time, pain and money in the long run.

Ang Ang photos

We were dressed in red for Children's Church Chinese New Year celebration yesterday. Couldn't resist taking some photos.

Joe : I'm so itchy!!!!

Joy-Anne's turn to not cooperate

I love my sister so much!

Finally a decent shot but Joe's hiding behind

a decent family photo after 3 tries. At least it wasn't 30 tries.

Joy : GongXi Gong Xi

Joy-Anne's nonsense : Hmmpphh!!

love her cheeky face

Papa also hmmpphh!!

Joe's turn to GongXi GongXi

And some singing for Yee Yee as requested...

Huggies TV Commercial

For all those people (like me) who do not watch regular local TV, this is the Huggies ad that got Joy the free diaper loot.

Thanks to Grace for obtaining it for me!

Family Time at Ikea

I had promised Joe that we would go to Ikea after coming back from Seremban, since he had the whole week off from school.

He was really excited. We got there nice and early to have breakfast. Thereafter, Joe went to Smaland while Joy tested out the beds.

I think she quite liked the colourful combinations. She climbed on to different beds and pretended to sleep.
She was also very happy at the slide and tunnel. I'm always amazed at how children are so easily delighted with simple pleasures.

After Ikea, we went over the The Curve. The kids love this playground for reasons I can't comprehend.

While at the playground, Joy said, "Mama, I want to shee shee". So I took her to the baby care room and put her on the potty there. Yup! We carried her potty with us everywhere we went.

For lunch, we went to Pizza Hut. Joe fed himself the bread and soup and had pizza.

It's been a good week for the family. But I'll be glad when Nana gets back tonight.

Huggies for Joy

This came yesterday.... Some time last month, Grace called to say that one of her clients i.e. Huggies - the diaper company, wanted to use a picture of Joy and myself that Grace took a year ago, for their tv ad.

My ears pricked up the moment I heard 'tv'. Blur as I am, I was baffled as to how a photograph is used in a tv ad but dumbness aside, I agreed to it.

Grace said that the 'compensation' would be RM50 cash and about RM200 worth of diapers.

Since I don't watch regular tv (my tv is tuned into channel 613 all the time) , I have yet to see the ad, although one of Daalin's friends said she saw us on tv.

Nevertheless, I'm thankful for freebies!

visiting, keropok and staying at home

We beat the balik kota jam again and got back on Monday morning. The drive home was a breeze. It was still super hot. But up on the 13th floor, I leave the sliding door and windows fully opened all the time so the breeze helped.

my good helper helping to apply mozzie repellent on Joy

On Tuesday morning, we visited Pastor Nancy. The barking dogs frightened Joy and she clung really tight to me but didn't cry. Joe was especially excited about the koi pond.


In the house, Uncle Nat offered them humongus pieces of keropok which made both of them very happy.


At night, we visited Uncle Mark and they had more keropok.


There was a firecracker blast at Uncle Mark's house. I thought Joy was going to cry but she didn't. I had to put my hands over her ears while Daalin shielded Joe's ears.


Today (wednesday) we spent the day at home. Joe helped me to make some punch-outs in preparation for Little Lamb this coming Sunday.

He's been a very good helper at home. Besides feeding himself, He will take care of Joy-Anne by watching out for her (like making sure she doesn't go into the elevator by herself), putting her on the potty and comforting her when she cries.

Some times they wake up from their nap together and walk out of the room hand in hand. It's really a very cute sight.

the helper doing his homework

Joy-Anne will be exactly 25months tomorrow. I'm happy to report she is totally diaper-free during waking hours. This morning, she said, "Mama, I want to pang sai."

At other times, she will ask for the potty to do her small business. It's been a while since we had an accident, I don't remember when the last one was.

She calls herself cutie-pie. And good girl. So her current full name is Princess Cutie-Pie Good Girl.

Princess Cutie-Pie Good Girl says, "All the babies need diaper. I no need diaper".

The downside of it all is that we have to carry her potty everywhere. Joe is very helpful with this though.

I thought she would not sit on the toilet but yesterday morning, she did not protest when I put her on the toilet at Pastor Nancy's house. And she pee-ed in the toilet!

I should buy panties for her soon. Just haven't had time to go shopping...

Chinese New Year 2010

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Love these ang pows from Nickelodeon... Joy-Anne particularly liked the Dora ang pows. Nevermind they were empty.

So we beat the balik-kampung jam and got back on Thursday night. Ah Mah had been busy making lap cheong.

Joseph was very fascinated. We had to keep reminding him that he was not supposed to touch the very oily sausages.

The place is infested with mosquitoes! To smack two mosquitoes at one go is quite a feat for me.

Joy-Anne was pretty miserable. I've no idea but the mozzies seem to love her.

right hand

left hand

By Friday night, just 24 hours after arriving, she was cranky, extremely hot and sweaty and covered with rashes and mozzie bites. She didn't want to eat dinner and she cried, "I WANT TO GO HOME!!!!"

neck

We had 2 rounds of reunion dinner - Friday night with the YongPengTribe and Saturday night without them.

Ah Mah did a lot of cooking for last night. The tu kha was especially good.


This morning being a Sunday, we went to church as usual.


The church service at Seremban Wesley is really early - 8am. So the kids went without breakfast. Just milk. We came home and snapped some pictures before they squirmed out decent clothing and put on more cooling clothes.

The weather is really hot. Daalin says it's particularly hot here because we're near to Jelebu - the driest spot in Peninsula Malaysia.

I hope it rains and pours this afternoon so that we can have a nice afternoon nap! In the mean time, Gong Xi Gong Xi everyone!