Monkey girl in action!

My husband used to call JD the Monkey Boy. Now, we also have a Monkey Girl. Yes, she is a real monkey who loves to climb. Maybe 2 terms of Gymbaroo so far have done something good to her climbing skills! Well, just maybe not onto the table and I think soon she might want to stand on the table and sing us a song, hahaha!

Compared to JD, I just don't remember him being such a climber. And I first noticed that when we were at our weekly Gymbaroo session. JD used to avoid doing the ladder climbing, and he was much happier crawling through the tunnel and doing other stuff. Chloe, well, she was off climbing the ladder with little help the first time I put her on it, and that was probably 2 months ago.

Not only that, she likes to squat or stand on the little chair, bobbing her bottom up and down to music. Bollywood star in making perhaps! And I have to keep going back to her, sit her down on the chair and remind her "恺仪, 坐下来！坐好好!" or " Chloe, we sit on the chair, we stand on the floor!" Yes, repeat, repeat, repeat, it will sink in one day!

Nonetheless, I still caught her in action.

Uh huh, here I come, I see a target!

Another leg up and I am on the table top!

Well, my Gymbaroo teacher said to always go bottom down!

Heh, I am happy, got what I want (my mommy's camera lens cover!).

For now, I shall remain seated because my mom said "if I stand on the chair, I might fall and face the VERY scary consequence of 屁股开花! (bottom split open!)" Oops, I can't let them happen and definitely not in front of the camera.

My Robots - JD's Version

JD loves robots, rockets, monsters and aliens. His passion for rockets and monsters have been going on for over a year, followed by robots for the last 3 months and in the last few weeks, the aliens are starting to join the scene too.

While doing his big business this week, he started talking to me about all the robots he has been building with his Lego blocks. I was only in the room next door sorting out the laundry and ran to grab the camera.

So, here you go, as JD talks about Spongy and what his robot and monsters like to eat.

A Very Long Overdue Date

Yesterday was the first time in 2 years we had a day to ourselves, with no kids in tow, for a day anyway. Somehow we just kept pushing it back and back. There's always something that came in the way, like the husband's career change, the excessive workload that came with the job, timing not right, starting out a new business, a new baby, a growing 3.5 yo that requires lots of time and patience, me juggling working full time with a kid, pregnancy .... and the list can go on and on.

I guess, things are just starting to settle down now.

My husband took a day off, and we spent the whole day together by ourselves. We dropped the kids off at daycare bright and early by 8am! We went for breakfast, had coffee, read the paper, chatted, enjoying the company of one another. There was no worrying about the 3.5yo getting bored, not having to worry about feeding the baby, we were free.

To not have that freedom for so long was just exhilarating!

We went shopping, stocked up on a few things for the upcoming birthdays and xmas. We walked, we chatted again! It was good to talk uninterruptedly. Good, quality conversation.

We drove to places, we jumped in and out of the car not having to worry about buckling the little ones into their car seats. We chatted non-stop in the car. Not worrying about one saying "Excuse me, can I talk now?" or the younger one fussing over a toy that was dropped onto the floor. My hubby drove, I sat back, relax.

We walked holding hands, and my shoulder felt lighter all of a sudden. I didn't have to carry my bag stock with nappies, wipes, spare clothes, bibs, water, hats and what nots! I could carry my little handbag with just a purse, a phone and a set of keys! In fact I could not worry about bringing a handbag at all!

We ate. We lunched. Big time at the Oyster Bar. We sat in the warm winter sun, enjoying the view of a bright winter day in Perth! Maybe I ate a bit too much, but heck, this kind of quality time does not come around too often. Pic from top to bottom: We share entrees: Oysters Kilpatrick, Chilli Squid Salad and our Mains: Scoth Fillet Steak and my NZ Grouper!

4pm came! It was time to pick up the kids. It was a good day. A long overdue date.

BLUE

Last week we were into everything BLUE! Somehow, somewhat, for some unknown reasons, we were all a bit disoriented. I had everything planned from Mon to Fri , but ended up we spent most of the week doing Playdough!

I had put down Playdough as one of the activities. So we made a fresh batch of blue playdough taken from this site. JD just wanted to do Playdough and so we did. Sometimes it's better to let him drive the interest than me trying to make him follow what I have planned. Well, within reasonable limit anyway.

Then he wanted to do racing cars! He woke up one morning and said "Today, I want to do everything with racing cars!" I really was scratching my head for idea until JD prompted me to turn on my laptop looking for a picture for him to colour! Ah! Initially he had wanted to colour the whole car in RED. Nothing wrong with it, but I am also trying to encourage him to try something BLUE. It was a big effort for him to stay away from red and coloured part of his car in blue.

JD is usually better with water paint. With crayons or colour pencils, he tends to lose the interest a lot quicker, and when he is bored with it, he will usually colour the whole picture in one colour and more often than not it will be red. Like this.

But along the way, we get to learn about 蓝色, 蓝天. Then we sidetracked and talked about the weather, the storm and some story JD made up about aliens coming to visit us on a stormy day :)

Then JD got an idea. He wanted to cut out shapes of strawberries. So we went further and he asked to cut out lots of blueberries using some red, green and blue craft paper. He is almost able to cut out a circle, but he needs a bit of help to finish it off. While JD was cutting, I noticed that he is still deciding between his right and left hands. He usually paint, draw, eat with his left hand, but he is more comfortable using scissors with his right hand.

But what got JD really excited was making a Blueberry Buttercake. He was almost jumping out of his skin when he knew we were going to get some blueberries from the shop. There he was, happily pouring in a cup of flour, sugar, eggs.



And happiest holding a bowl of blueberries!

While making the cake, JD learned about 糖, 牛奶, 腼粉, 鸡蛋. Then I refreshed his memory of counting and he could still remember 一，二，三，四， 五， 六， 七，八，九，十! One thing though, I have no idea what blueberry is in Mandarin? Anyone?

The best thing though, we all get to have some delicious morning tea.

We don't often get the fresh blueberries here. So we usually get the frozen ones. But the frozen blueberries and strawberries have become quite a healthy snack for the kids when they feel like something sweet or icy! JD loves it!

As for Chloe, well, she has now claimed the green chair that once belonged to her brother. Each time we sit down at the craft table, she will climb onto the chair and sat herself comfortably there. Most of the time, she was more interested in grabbing the basket of fruits and giving them a lick! Just as well they are pretend fruits!

More than rainbow

There was something very funny happening this afternoon.

I went outside to throw the rubbish. As I looked up, I saw this.

I rushed back inside telling JD there was a rainbow. He rushed out and we both stood there admiring it.

Then we stopped, looked at one another and almost together we said "Grab the camera!"

My husband stood there, laughing, and said "Hon, he is becoming like you!" Hahahaha! But at least we can count on him to take some cool family shot! Also taking on my sister's advice, we have given our 8 yo Kodak DC280 digicam to JD, and he gets to see his pics on the computer too!

Is that me?

As part of our playroom, I sometimes set up a little home corner for cooking, fixing, washing the dishes, and sometimes I also put a "baby" there for dressing, nappy changing, rocking and etc etc. JD very rarely show an interest in the "baby" :) but lately Chloe has taken a keen interest in her.

They look almost similar in size, and quite often I would find her in the playroom, patting the baby's head, planting a wet kiss on the baby, before poking her eyes, tossing her around, and very often I also hear Chloe chatting to the baby!

RED

Recently, I tried to put in a bit more thoughts on the activities I do at home with JD. Since having Chloe, I have had the opportunity to take extra time off from work , thus allowing me to focus more energy at home, the children and primarily for the family.

It has been a good change of pace though. It took me a while to adjust but now I really enjoy this special time I have.

Last week it occured to me that once in a while I should blog down on the activities we do. Our theme for the next few weeks are based around colours. Last week's colour was RED. It was JD's favourite colour! As you guess, he couldn't get enough of it.

We used crepe paper, cards, cut them out into shapes of tomatoes. We cut out strips of crepe paper, rolled them into balls, and glued them on. Then JD got creative and smarter, and just glued a piece of crepe paper on, then with my help trimmed the edges off nicely. But he still prefered crayons, and coloured the biggest tomato in red.

Doing craft was just part of an exercise. What I wanted to achieve was getting JD to learn Mandarin along the way. In that activity alone, I taught him to say and recognise:

红色, 西红柿, 大, 小

We learned about size comparisons, superlatives, with the use of his Lego blocks and building up various buildings of different heights before getting into some demolitions fun! It was much more fun that way as it involves him learning while doing the activity.

The next day, I cut up some apples and encouraged him to do some stamping with the cut apples. Once again, we went back to learning 红色, 红萍果, 萍果, 萍果汁. I became cheeky and taught him to say Cili Padi, and that his mommy used to have a "cili padi" temper :) His favourite part was painting his hands red and stamping them on sheets of paper. Chloe found it very amusing! And she also contributed to a set of hand prints too!

On another afternoon, we made Mr. Red Pepper taken from this site. It was a simple task of colouring, cutting, gluing. Once again he learned about 红色, 红辣椒. We also talked about the taste of chilli, I showed him a chilli plant, how we can use it in cooking and etc. It was a lot of fun talking about cooking the chilli as JD and I both love cooking and eating! Here's JD trying to give me a thumbs up for this craft!

So there you go, it was our week of RED. This week's theme is BLUE which I will blog about if I get a chance.

Curry Pork Bread Rolls

Lately I am into cooking again.

Part of it is also because JD is at the stage when he will request for me to make something different. Each time he eats something nice, he will turn around to ask if I could make the same. He has requested for me to make croissant which I am yet to attempt, cheese and vegemite scroll which we did last week, his favourite Siew Yoke a few days ago. Yesterday he wanted me to make some fresh bread rolls!

Thank goodness for the person that came up with the idea of a Breadmaker. The machine did all the mixing, kneading, rising for me! After 1 hr 10 mins, I took the dough out, broke it up into 15 portions and roll them each into a ball.

Next I fried some onions and garlic in the wok, add some minced pork in, seasoned it with curry powder, some salt and sugar. Leave the filling aside till it cooled.

When the bread roll has risen to double its side, I flatten them again and put a heap teaspoon of filling into the bun and tucked in the ends. Put the kneaded ends face down and they are all ready for the oven.

And 15 mins later, we have some fresh curry pork bread rolls!

I love the aroma of a fresh bread on a cool and chilly evening! It warms up the house as well as the heart. Seeing my kids enjoying them was enough for me though.

Right now, I am off to finish sewing the little apron for JD!

Chloe - 11 months old + JD - 3.10 years old

Oh Miss C at 11 months old is a funny one. She is cheeky, real cheeky. She gets really happy and excited everytime she tries something new. And it could be the simplest thing, such as sitting on a rock for the first time, feeling the sand in her hands for the first time, crawling on the grass, learning to blow air onto my face, copying my actions and so forth.

She is finding out lots of things around her. The grass, the sand, the leaves, the birds singing, cars driving past, sound of aeroplanes flying above the sky, new sounds, music, actions, new faces, familiar faces...it's a whole new world for her.

One thing that I find amusing about her is during our daily Chinese flash cards session. I usually do that during their meals time. Without fail, she would always give me big smile by scrunching up her face everytime she sees the flash cards.

Apart from that she is great eater. She knows when I am preparing meals for her and JD in the kitchen. She would crawl into the kitchen at a lightning speed, holding onto my legs going "Mummmmmmm". And if I happened to put the food out for her brother first, she would crawl quickly to his table trying to grab his food. Then when she couldn't succeed, she would get horribly upset.

She likes her vegies. And we discovered that she enjoys eating a corn cob!

She also likes to play with her brother's toys, much to his annoyance at times. She likes the Duplo blocks just as much as JD. And JD gets really annoyed with her when she tries to destroy his special built rocket - not intentionally though! But JD is a good brother - he would just call out for me to grab her and is usually very gentle with Chloe.

Conversely, she is the one that likes to pull his hair. Yikes!

JD loves his sister and they pay a lot of attention to one another. He likes to make Chloe laugh when they are sitting at the back of the car. She finds him immensely amusing and I often hear her chuckle at his antics. Sometimes Chloe will make noise that sounds like "Jayden" and true enough JD would get very excited and said to me "She calls me Jayden!" I think that's beautiful.

I am also trying to include her in our daily activities. Lately, I have put her on the high chair when we do some Play Dough. She would feel it between her fingers and try to eat it when she thinks I am not looking. But a little piggy like her, I have to keep my watchful eyes on her.

I have also included her in some painting sessions. For her age, it's mostly me holding her chubby little hands to do some finger painting or just put some colours on her fingers and let her mess around.

It's a bit of effort, but it's better than me trying to hold her in my arms and stop her from interfering with her brother.

That way, they both get to enjoy and I don't really mind the mess as we can always clean up after that :)

Growing Up Again

JD just showed me that he is growing up again.

In the last 2 weeks, I felt a change in him. He is becoming even more independent and sometimes his independence almost caught me by surprise.

I was going to tuck him in last night. And as we walked towards his room, he dashed off and stopped at his door. He turned around and said to me "Mommy, this is my room. Goodnight!" I asked "How about a kiss and a cuddle?". He said to me "No mommy, I don't need kiss and cuddle anymore. I can go to sleep now!" Wah!!!!!!!!!!!

Then this morning while I was still half asleep in bed, not wanting to get up from my warm bed. I heard some shuffling noises from the hall way. I heard the little steps going into the toilet, overheard some tinkling noises, then back to the bathroom, tap turned on, electric toothbrush went on for a while. Yep, JD got up and did all that while I was still in bed.

I was smiling in bed when I heard all that. I was expecting he would come into my room, but he didn't.

Then the house went very quiet. Too quiet for my comfort to get up and investigate.

This was what I found.

The TV turned onto the kids channel. And he has gotten the bread, margarine out and made himself some breakfast.

JD is growing up.

Quick Dinner 4 Busy Day

Thursday is usually one of my busiest days, especially in the afternoon. We try to keep it easy in the morning starting with some morning walks, then some craft time with JD. After that he is usually happy to sit down to build his LEGO blocks. Chloe would have her morning nap around 10am. Then I would have to prepare JD's morning tea, lunch, pack his bags and etc.

In any case, I would have to get both kids finished lunch by 11.30am, then drive JD to kindy by12pm, after that to Gymbaroo class with Chloe by 12.20pm, finished by 1.30pm, do some groceries on the way home, dropped the shopping off at home by 2.20pm, picked up JD from kindy by 2.30pm, home by 2.45pm, light snack for the kids, then both have a short nap by 3.30pm!

And after that, I would have to quickly prepare dinner before both kids wake up. JD is usually easy, he is happy to entertain himself when I am doing the dinner. As for Miss C, well, she would always be the one hanging onto my legs when I am trying to cook, and it really isn't the safest thing to do. I have to constantly distract her with pots and pans, spatulas, egg whisk, cheese grater, wok, colander and whatever I could find.

Hainanese Chicken (minus the rice) from this website is what I love to do on a busy day, just put the chicken into a pot of boiling water with some ginger and chicken, take the chicken out from the pot 15-20 mins later, let it rest and cool and that's one dish done. I usually mix the soy dipping sauce while boiling the chicken, and leave it aside till it's ready to be served.

Japanese tofu with minced pork is another simple dish. I usually pan fried the tofu ahead of time, leave it aside. Then stir fried the minced pork with some garlic, ginger, seasoned with some light soy and oyster sauce. Once again I would leave it in the wok. When dinner is ready to be served, heat up the meat sauce, lightly mix the tofu in and that is another dish.

Vegetables are my favourites. I like to lightly blanched kai lan in some hot water, drizzle some oyster and light soy sauce over it. No oil required at all!

Zoo Outing

We took the kids out to the zoo on Sunday. It was a beautiful day. Of all the animals, JD's favourite were the orang utans. He spent a long time watching them, hanging on the bar, climbing, monkeying around and he kept going back to see the chimps!

Chloe on other hand was quite fascinated with the elephants! She kept bouncing up and down on her daddy's shoulder when she saw the elephants, communicated to the elephants with her own baby language. It was a funny sight and for the other spectators.

It was very hard to take a good picture of JD as he had this thing about camera lately. As if he was being hounded by paparazzi! And when I managed to get one, it's always him with this cheesy smile!

And Chloe would always give us a smile everytime she try something new. We placed her to sit on this giant rock and she scrunched up her face with this smile!

As usual, trying to get them look at the camera the same time is never easy. This was the closest.

And daddy trying very hard to have a pic with the 2 monkeys!

But at least one of them is obliging, well, kind of :)

PS - Both kids are still sleeping when I am doing this blog, so no one has to be kept behind bars :)

Behind Bars

Well not exactly.

One of her greatest past time recently, is holding onto the gate, swinging one of her legs back and forward, left and right, bobbing up and down, cruising along the gate.

And when she wanted some attention, she would squeeze her face against the gate with a "Mommy, please please let me in" look.

And reluctantly, I would have to let her in. Most of the time is because I wanted to do some blogging :)