Princess Growing Up

My princess is growing up too quickly!

Last week she finally asked for ballet lessons. So I brought her for a trial today.

She absolutely loved it and spontaneously thanked me for bringing her to ballet class. The teacher couldn't quite believe she is only 3 years (plus). I guess we will enroll her until her interest wanes.

Her precocious vocabulary includes big words (used in correct context) like ...

automatic

auditorium

advertisement

celebration

mannivannan

mammenchisaurus

fiddlesticks

and not forgetting essential words like sexy and skype.

She speaks a smattering of spanish, saying Buenos días instead of Good Morning and takes to mandarin more eagerly than her kor kor because she says, "I'm a chinese girl!" unlike her brother who says that he is an English boy.

Her bladder control is way better than mine as a child. She rid herself of daytime diapers at 24 months and night time diapers since she turned 3 yrs. My mum says I wet the bed till I was 4plus.

And her latest phrase that tickles me..... "Wa bo pui....wa tu tu ho!" (I'm not fat....I'm just nice!)

Lantern Walk

Last night we took the kids down for our annual mini lantern parade...

The sky is still very hazy no thanks to all that burning in Sumatra so I didn't see any moon. But the light in the background kinda makes up for it...

We just walked round and round the swimming pool until it started to drizzle a wee bit.

Now that the lanterns are coming down, it's almost time to dig out my Christmas tree... I know it's only September....but this year the tree comes out early before I go into labour!

August happenings

So we're at the end of August. Two thirds of 2011 has flown by. It doesn't seem like that long ago that we were ushering the new year in. And in just over a month's time, I'll be setting up my Christmas tree!!!

August - my parents celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary. With the newest addition to the family, they can now say that their 3 kids are married, with kids.

It's the school holidays! Brandon is here for a few days while his parents attend some training.I stepped into the cinema for the first time in many many years. It's been so long, I can't remember when I last went. Even my son asked me, "You know where is the cinema meh?" Together with another mummy friend and her son, I brought my 2 kids + nephew to watch Cars2.
I thought the automobile-version of a James Bond movie was too 'deep' for the kids but they enjoyed the entire outing nevertheless.
This morning the big boys brought the kids to the park.
Having his cousin around makes it more exciting and fun for Joseph.

Joy-Anne was not to be left out and had no problems keeping up with the boys.


Joe loves zooming down this ramp on his 2-wheel scooter.

Ah Ku tested out his new Canon 550D...

And I did some online shopping...

Pretty dresses make my precious pretty princess very happy!

A new baby in the house

We've got a new baby in the house!

Now before you congratulate me..... the baby is not mine. I'm still pregnant and baby is growing well. Joe and Joy are delighted to have their new cousin in the house for a month. I'm also very happy to see how they are so loving towards her. I just know they are going to be wonderful kor kor and che che when their baby sister arrives in a couple of months.

A Week with the iPad2

It's been just over a week since we've had the iPad2.... While I initially perceived it to be a very expensive toy for the sole purpose of entertainment synonymous with Angry Birds, I now find this is not actually the case.

It can be as educational a tool or as useless a 'toy' as you allow it to be.

I've installed educational apps for Joy-Anne's homeschooling, as well as games that Joe finds fun yet requires some brainwork.

Joy does rhyming with Dora, colours with Barney as well as math, geometry, phonics and chinese.

Joseph has more difficult apps but he tends to play more games. I have to enforce a minute-for-minute rule for him. One minute of learning earns one minute of game.

And every night.....the iPay plays Angry Bird and other games on it.

New BIG Wheels are here!

Nearly 2 months from the date we paid the RM3000 deposit, we took possession of our new ride. This is the best buy considering Daalin's long legs (he pushes the driver seat so far back...) and his desire for kid no.4.

I've driven it only once yesterday to pick up Joe from kindy and he didn't recognize his ride at first.

And for starters...I've warned the kids that I don't want shoe prints or extra marker pen deco on the seats.

'ow' spelling dilemma

Joe asked me this last week after his spelling test. He knew immediately that he had made a mistake even before teacher returned his book (today).

He said....if c-o-w is cow and n-o-w is now, why isn't m-o-w mow???

I guess English words are more difficult and complicated than the Malay language which is mainly writing exactly as you hear it.

Nevertheless, I encouraged my boy and told him he made good use of his ears and common sense in trying to figure out the words.

Exfoliating 51

Joe's top right central incisor (the baby tooth of course) had been wobbling for months. In fact, it was kind of protruded and overlapping the other central incisor for quite a while but I just left it as it was.

Monday being a school holiday because of the Sports Day the previous Saturday, we went to Ikea.....all day! When he came out of Smaland, he told me that he had a bump on his mouth and a wee bit of bleeding. He was cool about it and didn't seem to be in pain so I didn't do anything.

Later in the evening, he pointed out that the tooth was very wobbly. On closer inspection, I found that it was hanging by almost nothing. So I asked him if he wanted it out. Apprehensive at first, but he let me because he was more afraid of swallowing it or having it drop out in school the next day.
So holding the tooth with a gauze, I gave it a twist and out it came. It didn't hurt but he asked me, "Am I gonna die?" when he saw the blood.

Slight compression and a cup of cold Ribena later, he was smiling again when I told him putting the tooth under the pillow will result in an iPad2!

He wasn't fooled.... coz he promptly told me "There no such thing as a tooth fairy!!!"

I think he looks kinda cute. And he paid me with 10 kisses :-)

Durians and Mangosteen

Ah Mah and Ah Kong were here for dinner on Monday night. Tua Pek and Tua Um were also in town for the MTV World Stage concert so we all had dinner together at home. After a lovely dinner of simple home-cooked food which included tu kha chor, we had a feast of durians and mangosteen. Photos especially for YeeYee's drooling pleasure ..... We were so busy eating that nobody remembered to take photos until we were almost done.
Mangosteen were only RM3.50 per kg. So cheap!

Joe's Sports Day

Saturday 23rd July 2011 was Joe's kindy Sports Day. I woke the kids up early and we left home by 7am.

We had breakfast in the concourse area, and then sent Joe into his class and found some seats right under the fan inside one of the tents.

The event started promptly at 8am with the kids' march past and then the National Anthem.

A few speeches followed and then the 6-year-olds did a dance. Joseph had been singing the song at home in the last couple of weeks but absolutely refused to dance for me at home. He kept telling me I had to be patient until the actual day.

While he remembered all his dance steps, he didn't smile. And it's not that he forgot...he said he had to focus on his dance. I guess he's just not the showman kind.

After his dance, I retreated to the back and parked myself under the fan again because Joe's class item was the last one.

Jolly Jelly - they had to run and pick up 2 water balloons and then walk on a bench then run to the end to drop the water balloons into a pail before running back.
I'm still kicking myself for forgetting to switch the camera to video mode. Nevertheless, his red team won the gold medal for his item.

God answered our prayers - the weather was perfect! It was nice and cloudy and the sun didn't come out until 10am.I think the teachers did a great job in organizing the event. Everything went smoothly and the whole event ended by 10.30am instead of the anticipated 12noon.

We had ample time to go home for a shower and some rest before going back for Children's Church and Little Lamb.

Joe came home and immediately put his medal in the glass display cabinet, next to his 2009 Sports Day medal. He said he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I guess this would be one of those things he will miss if he's homeschooled. So for now, the firm decision is to throw him in the 'deep end' and see how he fares in a chinese school. I'm sure he'll be fine.

while we were gone...

...the children were left in the very able hands of Nana.
I think she did a great job ensuring they ate and slept when they were supposed to. On top of that, she took them for walks to check out grass...

...and feed the fishes in the koi pond downstairs.

They took care of each other and gave Nana a minimal amount of nonsense.
They also had a lot of fun in the playground downstairs...

...and also made egg sandwiches.

Nana usually allows them a lot more mess-making than mama does.

To me, the best part is that even though Joseph skipped school for 2 days, he memorized Psalm 23 (the whole passage) at Nana's 'homeschooling'.

Joy woke up at 5am on the 3rd day crying in her sleep/dream for Mama. She says that in future, she will go with us for family honeymoon :-)