Another milestone for JD

JD started his 3 year old pre-kindergarten today.

Over here, compulsory schooling is not required till the children turns four. As JD was born in August, he would have to wait till 2008 before he can starts official schooling.

The pre-kindy is just to help him settle into a school environment, let him interact with kids of his age and getting used to listening, instructions and maybe a bit of a rest for his mommy, haha.

So I have been preparing him for this day. We borrowed books from the library about children's first day at school. We walked past his school every day when we go for our morning walks. We packed his school bag together. We talked about the activities, games he would have fun with. We went for the open day last week and met his teachers. Pretty much I talked to him about school every single freakin' day!

I was a bit nervous myself last night. I expected some tears from him as he has been on a month's break from daycare while his caregiver went on holidays. We have been spending lots of wonderful times together and I imagined it might be hard for him. And by the way, his mommy used to cry all the time when she started P1.

This morning, he woke up loudly exclaimed "Let's go to school!". He put on his red kindy shirt, blue pants, Bob the Builder's undies, a pair of new red sandals he chose for himself, put his little backpack on his shoulder. He had his toast and was ready. I wasn't sure. I hope he was really ready. We were the first one there, and we sat quietly on the bench while we waited for the door to open.

JD being JD, is an outdoor boy. He dashed off to the sandpit once he went in. I had to bring him back in as kindy always start with story and puzzle time on the mat. After 5 mins of mat time, I really had to go, I gave him a kiss and he cried with the biggest drop of tears "I want mommy!!!". I left him to the teachers and calmly but painfully walked out of the classroom.

I came back 10 mins later and I didn't hear any kid howling. I gathered it was fine.

So I did my errands. Went to the post office. Went to get a police clearance check. Did some groceries shopping. Saw my chiro. 2 hrs later I went back to pick him up.

At 11.30am, the teacher opened the door, she called out the kid's name one by one as they came to the door. Some kids were happy. Some were a bit teary. Some looked a bit lost.

As for mine. He walked out looking slightly puzzled but rather pleased to see me again.

The teacher said to me "He did really well". Smiles. I felt really proud of him as he showed me his wet chalk and water colour paintings. He said to me "Mommy I cried because I wanted you". And I said to him "Yes, I know, but I will always be back to pick you up!". And he was happy. And the next thing he said "Mommy I am hungry". That would be my boy.

I want to move it...move it

On the day Chloe turned 6 months, we spotted her moving forward on the floor little by little. She started first by pushing against her feet, then she found her arms, she pushed and pulled, and finally she found her rhythm. Since that day, she discovered a whole new world around her.

She is mobile. She can move. She can go around in circle. Take a turn. She goes for her target. And there is no stopping now.

Her up side has been the down side for her brother. He will be sitting on the floor building his blocks, she will make a beeline for it, snatched a block from the floor and starts licking it. He is annoyed. He moved away thinking she would give up. But it didn't work. For now, he found a safe place by sitting on the sofa, but doubt that would be for long.

For Phil and I, we can't believe our baby is growing so fast. It still seems like just yesterday we had her at the hospital. But she is already kind of crawling. JD started when he was 8 months old, the first day he started at daycare. Perhaps because she is the 2nd child, that she is not going to lose out on all the excitements around her. Or her weekly Gymbaroo session or our daily tummy time with her from 6 weeks on. Whatever it is, she is a baby on the move.

Like her brother, she has been such a joy for us all.

Xmas 2006 Holiday (Part 2) - JD The Farmhand

One of the excitements for JD apart from the fresh strawberries while staying on the farm were the geese!

Each evening, like a little farmhand, he insisted on taking off his shirt, running to the back of the farm, calling out "geese, geese, where are you, come here, come here NOW!!!!". And the greedy bunch of geese knowing what this little boy had for them, would waddle close to the fence waiting to be fed. It's a funny sight, but something that I enjoyed watching everyday. I felt such joy in my heart knowing he has had the opportunity to experience so many different adventures at such a tender age.

One month on since our holiday, JD is still talking about the strawberry farm, the geese, and asking if we are going back to the farm again.

More photos here.

Pretty in a dress

Chloe wore her very first dress yesterday - it was a gift from a friend. I can't help but smile when I put the dress on for her. She looks so sweet, cute and I just want to cuddle her. She looks like she is ready for a party! All she needs is a pair of red shoes :)

The Little Chub Chub

Looking at her, I know I am definitely not starving her at all. She is such a joy at this age.

And yesterday I saw her moving along on the floor by pushing herself forward with her hands and feet. A bit like the commando in action! I caught it on camera but haven't figure out how to put in on blog yet. Nonetheless, it was so exciting for all us including JD!

Chloe says "I am happy with a full tummy!"

Chloe says "Neh neh neh neh, brother cannot catch me!"

"Ok mommy, I have enough of the camera!"

"But I will still pose with my teddy"

Speaking Mandarin

Recently, Crazy Mommy asked me why I am speaking more Mandarin to Chloe. The reason is because I really want my kids to grow up knowing another language and that Chinese is also part of their origin. I grew up learning 3 languages, Chinese, English and Malay.

My husband is an Australian born Chinese, and he speaks limited Cantonese and no Mandarin. My in laws migrated from HK over 30 years ago but my MIL still speaks very little English till this day. I know a bit of Cantonese from watching the HK movies when I was a kid. After I got married, I found it difficult to communicate with my in laws as I was struggling with my Cantonese and likewise they (esp. my MIL) were struggling with English. Over the years, I have become quite fluent in Cantonese.

But then I really miss speaking Mandarin. I like the sound of it. I am always on the lookout for someone that can speak the language, whether it be my colleague, a friend, the shop owner at the Asian grocery store, the old aunty at the supermarket struggling witn English and looking for someone that knows Mandarin.

Or sometimes eavesdropping on someone's juicy conversation :)

Mainly. I always feel such joy and satisfaction when I find someone that can speak the language.

Sometimes I wish my husband can speak and learn Mandarin, but after all these years, he has only picked up 我爱你 and 你好吗？ Recently I also started to type in "pin yin" and I found so much joy and satisfaction when I could type up word by word in Mandarin.

I look forward to the months ahead when I can start printing up Chinese flash cards for Chloe and JD.

With that thought, I became more motivated to pass on this language to my kids. I was a bit slack with JD when I didn't cultivate the habit of speaking Mandarin to him. Whilst it's never to late to introduce the language to him, I wish I have started when he was just an infant.

So I am becoming more diligent with Chloe. I speak to her everyday in Madarin, hoping she will pick up this beautiful language and hoping this will instill an interest in JD as well.

And I look forward to the days when I can have a conversation with my kids in Mandarin. Maybe one day when they both sit on the kitchen barstool, telling me about their days in school while I prepare meals in the kitchen : )

Because that was what I used to do as a kid when my mom came from from work and siting in the kitchen talking to her about who's naugthy in school, who got a detention, who did what, what the teachers did and etc etc

Chloe vs. Sleep

I am not quite sure what's been happening to Miss C's sleeping habits lately. For at least the last 3 months, she has been the coolest baby! She wakes at 7am in the morning, have a 90 mins nap at 9am, feed at 11am, nap again at 1.00pm for another 2 hrs, then feed at 3pm, sometimes even have a power nap at 4.30pm and would settle to bed by 7pm without a whinge each and every night. I was so happy with the routine because her nap times have allowed me to do lots of 1 on 1 activities with JD.

But this week has been a bit crazy. She wouldn't settle to sleep by herself on Monday night and my husband had to carry her till she falls asleep. Unfortunately, I was out attending a parenting course and he had to handle it by himself. Last night we had the neighbours kid testing out his new sound system and the noises were keeping her up. My main struggles lately have been her day naps. She would wake up crying after about 45 mins and would not settle till I put her in my sling.

Our routine is out of the window this week. I hardly did any craft/activities withJD in the morning as she would be crying after a short nap and it is hard for me to do things when I have her in the sling. JD would want me to have a race with him but then how to run with her in the sling oh? And if we sit down to play a board game or read a story, she would keep grumbling because I am not moving around. Hmph.

I am scratching my head for answers. Is it developmental milestone? Is she hungry? Is she thirsty? Or maybe the new rice cereal is upsetting her? Or hehehe, she is telling me she is not so angel afterall? I mean she maybe little in size, but man, her cry is LOUD! It's so loud and pitiful.

She is currently asleep in the sling while I type this with my other hand.

See, now she is happy, but then her mommy is crazily looking for answers. Or maybe I should just go sit down with a cup of camomile tea and hope her body clock gets itself back in order again.

And then I am stressed out about not doing enough proper activities with JD. I am dying to get him learn the alphabets, numbers, crafts, Mandarin and everything an almost 3.5 yo should also be doing but he is more interested in building a rocket with his blocks, grabbing the white board marker off my hand to doodle when I try to draw an aeroplane to show him the "A" sound, or doing anything, anything that involves sitting down to learn. He is starting kindergarten in 2 weeks time, would he be ready? Maybe he is going to be the teacher's nightmare :(

I know JD is the active type, or the 屁股有刺 ( got ants in pants) as my chinese teacher used to say, so getting him to sit down quietly can be hard, but I still want to make sure he gets a balance between active and quiet activities. How am I supposed to do that? I don't know.

Maybe I should just stop worrying for a while. Hmph. On that note, I am going to look for chocolate in my fridge now.

Guns n Not so rosy

One of my biggest dilemas came knocking on my door today. JD went to visit his mama (his paternal grandmother) and he came back with this.

Hmph, it was one of those difficult situations for me when I try very hard trying not to introduce toys of that nature to him. Guns, swords, pistols or anything of that nature, I do my best to avoid it. I constantly warn him when I hear him running around "pretend playing" with shooting.

But what would you do in situation like this? I know it was a gift from his grandmother, but it was against my own set of rules, and I know sometimes my MIL and I have different opinions about raising kids or boys in general. On other hand the child was crazily happy with the new gift.

Can I take it away from him and said it's our house rule that we don't play with guns?

Or maybe I can ask him to put it away?

Or maybe get him to pretend that it is something else other than guns. What's the point?

Or just hide it away when he is asleep and hoping he forgets it. Too mean? Too coward?

Or advice my MIL the appropriate toys for his age.

But my son has got the memory of an elephant. He remembers everything! Hiding it wouldn't solve the problem.

So eventually, I sat down with him. I talk to him like I would talk to an adult. Telling him that mommy doesn't agree in playing with guns, though it's a special present from his grandma. Telling him that we always have this policy at home "No pushing, no pulling, no hitting, no shooting and etc etc". It's the same when mommy said "We play toys, but we don't play guns".

After a good talk, I let him kept his present in his drawer as he wouldn't let me put it away. So I did. But did he understand my talk? I wasn't sure but glad I have explained it all to him.

A few hours later, my MIL rang about something else. My husband answered the phone but JD wanted to talk as he knew that was his mama.

And this was what he said to his mama: "Mama, please don't give me guns anymore. Because I can hit Chloe and hurt her."

I think he understood it all. I didn't have to say anything to my MIL.

Miss C's Report Card

Miss C turned 6 months old yesterday. My sister said Miss C can be Miss Cheeky, Miss Chubby, Miss Chloe or all of the above. We also call her 小肥妹! (Fei miu miu in Cantonese).

Chloe is growing up quick. Phil and I felt that she suddenly feels heavier in the last week or so and I feel it when I hold her under the arm. She also went through a growth spurt recently when she would very kindly wake me up every 3 hours in the night time for a feed. Half of the time, I would fall asleep with her still in my arm before she finished her feeds.

She still loves sucking her hands though she mostly does it when she is tired, which is really a sign for her to sleep. She is rolling onto her tummy and back everyday. Her latest trick is rolling around in her cot till she gets into the corner and not able to roll back, hmph! That's when she lets out a big protest for someone to rescue her. She always give me that cheeky look when she does something like that.

I have also noticed that she is very attentive. She will follow us around in the room with her eyes, turning her head to see where noises are coming from. She still spends a lot of time on her tummy and would prop herself up with her arms straight - a bit like the cobra yoga pose!

She is showing a lot of interest in her toys. At this stage, she is into all the banging and sucking toys, she will hold the toys in her hand, bang it on the floor, on the table before sucking them, eeeee....

Chloe is also babbling away. The 3 sounds I hear most often from her is "Aieh", "Ngeh" and
"Ummmmmm". I speak mostly Mandarin to her and she will look at me when I call her Chloe or 恺仪 or "fei mui mui" . Sometimes when I put her on my lap while doing things on the computer, she will turn her head around to look at me, babble away before tuning back onto the computer screen again, as if telling me something she sees on the computer. She gets really excited when she sees colourful pictures of babies! She shows her excitement by flapping her arms up and dow!

One of the most exciting things this month was her starting solids. At the moment she is only eating rice cereal. I have tried to mix it with cooked puree apples or bananas, but she just scrunched up her face and that expression said it all. But she is one little piggy. She gets really excited when she sees me with her food by banging happily on her table. And she is so "kan chong" (hurry) when she eats. She will keep snatching the spoon off my hand trying to feed herself and gets terribly upset with me if I take it back. Ummmm, got temper already!?

And oh yes, not forgetting she can hold her own bottle when given a drink of water. Cool huh I think!

That's all for her 6 month's report card.

So true

I did a quiz from this website whilst sourcing home activity ideas for JD. It was indeed what I have always thought of him.

Your child has exceptional charisma and physical ability. You may be living with the next great athlete, Tiger Woods or Serena Williams. These children can even grown up to be actors. Don't be surprised if your child is the next Richard Burton or Nicole Kidman. Your adventurous child may even grow up to be the next Sally Ride or Neil Armstrong. Your child loves to move, climb on things, and loves activity and adventure. These children are sometimes labeled hyper active when they don't have outlets for their energy.

Not that I think he will be the next Tiger Woods, but just that he is very strong in his physical ability. He is always doing something. He would not even glue himself to the TV for long. I could let him watch something on the TV, but he will still be doing something while watching TV, be it building blocks, drawing on some paper, coming around to see me when I am cooking, playing with his sister or whatever. And yes, it's true that he LOVES to move. Bring him to a park, that's heaven to him, he can run, he can climb, he can do stunts that I would not even consider. He is quite brave that I need to remind him to slow down at times. His carer's comments about him is always "JD is the usual today, full of beans, happy as Larry!".

We only worry when he suddenly becomes quiet or have no interest for food. That's always a sign that something is wrong.

So true I found! I know a lot of times at friends gathering, people are quite amazed with JD's energy level. Some moms have labelled him as hyperactive. Some said they would have gone crazy if given a child like him. Some always have a worry look on their face when they see him and ask me "Is he ALWAYS active like this at home?" Actually, I think he is just a normal 3 yo boy and it never came across my mind that he is hyper or unusually active for his age. I know he isn't because he is just my very energetic and high spirited child.

My in laws always felt that he is a bit on the naugthy side. That looking after him takes a considerable amount of energy. Well, maybe, because I do a lot of physical activity with him. But then to keep up with him, I also eat a lot of very nurtitional stuff to keep up my energy level. Not easy, but certainly worth the effort.

And from this website, it recommends ways to nurture his talent.

Any type of sports, group or individual, such as soccer, karate, and dance. These children usually love large motor activity. Some ideas for their physical activities are jungle gyms, balls, tricycles, and skates. Also they may like active handwork such as clay, playdough, sewing, and finger painting.

Some other great activities would be wall climbing, playing in the children's play area at your local fast food restaurant, the slides, pools of balls are great free activities for your child.

The good thing is I am already doing lots of activities such as those with him. It just takes more commitment and discipline from myself to come up with activities every day to keep him stimulated and occupied.

Xmas 2006 Holiday - Part 1

Over the recent Xmas and New Year break, we headed down south to Albany for a break. Phil and I have always liked Albany due to its coolish weather, friendliness and a nice feeling each time we are there. We set off on the morning of Boxing Day and it was quite exciting because it was Chloe's first holiday and our first holiday as a family of 4!

I have to say after many driving holidays, my husband is getting really good at packing the car with lots of room left in the boot. We also have the advantage of putting lots of stuff on the roof rack.

We headed off at the time we agreed and both kids were really fantastic in the car. JD at the age of 3 can get a bit bored sitting in the car for a few hours but he was kind enough to keep himself amused by spotting the cows and sheeps as we drove past the farms, yelling out loud when he saw a big truck, singing along to his Wiggles music in the car, making me tickle his feet, snacking, drinking and dozed off when he got tired.

And Chloe, being Chloe, was always laid back, slept a fair bit and only fussed when she was hungry. Chloe always look like when is meditating when she sleeps in the car. Just look at her hands.

During the car trip, JD had a favourite saying of "Are we there yet? " Phil had promised him that we would be going to a nice beach when we get to Albany. But it was 4 hours from where we live, so poor kid, was very patiently waiting for the beach his daddy had promised.

This time round, we stayed on a strawberry farm. It was lovely. The place was run by a lovely couple, with 2 very fat labradors. In the morning, we wake up to the sound of birds and kookaburra, in the evening, we retire to the sounds of cricket, frogs and the stillness on a country farm. At the back of the house, there's a large open area where the geese, 3 bulls and a peacock resides.

At 5 o'clock every day, the geese would come out and JD would rush out to feed some wheat to the geese. That was his favourite part staying on the farm. He couldn't get enough of it.

And the other beauty was we get to eat lots of freshly picked strawberries.

On out first night there, JD as you see was really happy. He was thrilled with the fact of living at a "Strawberry Farm House".

And using Phil's digital camera, JD took a picture of us. We were laughing really hard because it was a funny scene watching him taking the pictures with his very chubby hands.

Tonight's Dinner

The weather has taken a sudden cooler change today. It was thunder storm last night, coolish followed by a light drizzle this morning. So what better to have for dinner than a nice hot curry chicken.

I have been trying to imitate my mom's curry for years, but I just never got anywhere close to hers. So tonight, I added a few more spices and used quite a lot of oil to get that nice layer of chilli oil floating on the top. I think I am close to it. We ate that with some frozen roti prata (Buatan Malaysia)! Yummy, slurp slurp!

He is my boy

JD and I have had lots of interesting conversations recently. Partly because he is not attending daycare this month and we are spending lots of time together.

JD saw me putting the Christmas tree back in its box and ready to be put back in the shed. He looked a little bit dissapointed as he saw me carrying the box out.

JD: "Mommy, why are you taking down the Xmas tree?"
Me: "Oh, because Xmas is over, Santa has gone back to Noth Pole and it's too hot in Australia now!"
JD: "Awwww, no more party!?"
Me seeing his dissapointment then said "Oh, Chinese New Year will be coming soon next month and we can have another party!"
JD: "Oh yeh, then we can eat LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF CHOCOLATES!"

Oh dear!

And tonight while watching the news, a jewellery shop commercial came up during the news break.

Me: "Oh wow, that's a beautiful ring!"
Hubby: "U like it? JD you buy one for mommy?"
JD: "Yeh, I have money, I will buy mommy one. Not for daddy. Diamonds only for girls"

Wahahahaha, he knows about diamonds already!?

On the note about JD not going to daycare this month, my bank balance is looking pretty good for the last few weeks. Everytime I open my purse, I smile seeing there's still cash in there and not being paid out to daycare. I am not sure about other parts of the world, but I find daycare in OZ is expensive. In last year alone, I spent around $10k on one child when I worked 4 days a week. Ouch! And as a couple, we pay the maximum tax and get the minumum rebates back from the government, tax system in Australia S.U.C.K.S!

Holiday after effects

I don't think this muffin can get any sweeter than it already is.

My 3 yo is missing his father terribly after spending a week of holiday with him and having his father with him 24/7 for that whole week. This week he keeps asking me "Where has daddy gone? Still at work?" and he would bring the phone to me wanting to talk to his daddy.

Yesterday afternoon, he woke up from his afternoon nap wanting to make a cake for daddy. So I took out a box of cake mix and helped him make this chocolate muffin for his daddy.

He misses his daddy. And I think my husband is missing the kids too. Because he calls me just too many times in a day to ask what we are doing, if the kids are behaving, are the kids having a nap, what is JD doing, what is JD eating, does JD like his bike, is Chloe a good girl, is she sleeping, what time did JD wake up, and etc etc...

Hello 2007!

We have been back in town since new year's day but I have been busy cleaning the house, packing and unpacking, stocking up on groceries (again) and pretty much easing into 2007. We had a wonderful break but I shall blog about that later on when I have a bit more time. We spent lots of time with each other, hanging out with the kids, lazed around on the beach, building sandcastle, eating, sleeping, reading and bummed around.

So here's wishing you a good year ahead from my 2 crazy kids. Looks like we already know whom would be running our lives this year.

January will be a busy month for me as I having both kids with me full time, 24/7...till JD starts kindy in Feb. And if you haven't heard from me on the blog, I am still around but maybe just buried under the pile of toys, laundry, nappies, cooking, story books, playdough and anything a 3yo and a nearly 6 months old would play and do :)