 |
 |
| Free invite created with Smilebox |
04 May 2011
28 April 2011
march / april updates...
wow, jus a blink of the eye and april is about to pass us by! in early march, mum sent zoe off for another round of contest, the kids cover looks disney princess contest where she was dressed in a basic snow white constume, complete with tiara, wand and heels. her face was rather tense during the shoot and for the most part, she had this rather awful, forced smile on as the cameras clicked on. but thankfully, there were a pic or two that turned out fine, but it was highly 'photoshopped' as her hair were really messy back then. but nevertheless, the important part was that she enjoyed every bit of the shot as it has always been her dream to be a 'princess'! she's always drawing herself as one!
12 march was the day where zoethan had their very first bowling experience in kallang leisurepark together with the parents and aunty zhuying. we were all dressed in appropriate shoes except for ethan since he's really quite little, but it did not deter him one bit as he slipped his feet into aunty zhuying's pretty strappy sandals and was waddling everywhere like a duck! it didn't bother him that the sandals were way too big nor the ball much too heavy for him to handle - nothing could stop him! he managed to lift a size 7 ball into his arms (but of cos the parents quickly swooped down to take the ball to the aisle along with him), waddled slowly but carefully, placed the ball down before pushing it down the aisle (we had asked for bumpers aisle for the kids so that the ball would never roll into the 'lonkang'!). so, super sl...o.....w....ww.w...llll.....y... the ball rolled and all these while, his eyes never left the ball. the moment it hits the pins, he would jump in jubilation and shout 'yeah!' even if only one pin has fallen! it was definitely a funny sight to behold. zoe definitely had lotsa fun too as she kept asking for more even after we have played 2 games. looks like we'll definitely be back for more!!!
the kids have been showering together every nite when daddy was outstation and they totally enjoy it! there in the shower room, they be busy pouring and spitting water at each other and laughing at each other non-stop. zoethan really has this love-hate relationship with each other. oftentimes, they be playing together happily yet, they can be extreme enemies with each other too. many times, zoe likes to pretend that ethan as his pet dog. she will get him to crawl on all fours while she holds one end of the ribbon and he the other. that blur boy thinks its a whole load of fun and plays along with her too. else, they be playing the doctor- patient game with zoe the doctor attending to ethan the patient with her doctor's kit and putting plasters on the brother. their other favourite game would be rummaging through the drawers for hats and upon finding the ones they like, they would put them on and then put on zoe's old baby socks on their feet and hands (using them as gloves!) and do their weird and funny dance moves to the music playing on the cd player! else, zoe would play the role of a teacher and get the lil' brother to repeat after her when she recites the alphabets or reads out to him from a book.
despite that, they too fight a lot especially when it comes to toys. an old forgotten toy becomes a much sought after toy when either one of them takes it out to play and the other wants a piece of it too. that's when the screaming, shouting and tattling begins. sharing is definitely not in their vocabulary. but through all these, at least, mum is secretly pleased to know that ethan has learnt the 'art' of defending himself and he definitely makes known his displeasure whenever zoe tries to 'bully' him. if zoe were to push him, he'll go, 'zoe push brother!' well, at least, we now know, he's no pushover!!! hahahahha :)
ethan:
ethan is reading alphabets and spelling words everywhere we go. one day, he truly amazed us by spelling 'umbrella' and 'penguin'! in fact, he can now spell even more words than zoe! as such, one of his favourite activity would be to put letters together to form words. each time he successfully forms a word, he would jump and clap for joy and will proudly asks mum to look at it. occasionally, he even commends himself by saying, 'good/great job! 'or 'excellent'! hahahaha :) he's also talking so much more, he now asks questions like, 'what's happening?', and 'what is it?' and it really is good to be able to hold a proper conversation with him though he can't exactly speak in complete sentences yet. he can even say, 'bei bei (his nickname) 'di dao' (his version of saying 'die dao [fall down]' in chinese!).
just this month alone, he fell down twice. first, at the staircase outside our house as he was making his way down. somehow, he missed a step and fell face down though it wasn't exactly a hard knock. there was no visible injury but it was sufficient to send him crying nuts. then fast forward 1.5 weeks later, he fell and knocked the lower back of his head in the toilet. all because zoe sorta pushed him into the toilet as mum was showering and well, the floor was really wet and slippery! this time round, he cried buckets and though there was no blood, but a bump had formed instantly! mum was freaked out but thankfully, on both occasions, Jesus was watching him because there were just no after-effects and he was able to calm down after awhile. thank God!
zoe:
we celebrated zoe's birthday at saizeriya liang court (a japanese pasta restaurant) this time and the party theme was based on the cartoon series, 'superwhy'. the birthday girl was all dressed up as princess presto (mum specially had it ordered from the states! from the series while ethan was dressed up as whyatt, both complete with their 'magic wands'. there were superwhy party boxes and balloons and aunty chinee from pinkgingerbynee specially made a 2d princess presto cake for zoe, complete with lovely heart shaped cookies for the adults as party favours. definitely pretty and yummy!
she had her another birthday celebration in school on her actual birthday and this time, the theme was 'princess belle' from 'beauty and the beast'. needless to say, she went to school all dressed up as princess belle complete with a tiara and earrings! just check out the lovely princess cupcakes that aunty chinee baked here. (oh yes, speaking on princesses, zoe did not win the disney princess contest, but nevertheless, we all think she really does look lovely in the pics!!!)
zoe's now all of 5 and yet, she's still driving mum nuts with that attitude of hers that she so often displays when things do not go her way. she wants something, she wants it now. she doesn't get it and the attitude is out and so the disciplining begins. it is being repeated every so often that mum just detaches and totally ignores her at times when the talking, screaming and spatula-ing doesn't work. she gets all upset when she realises that and will then attempt to apologise or cries to no avail cos mum has decided that enough is enough. in these 2 months, she must have been spatula-ed big time at least twice and there was once when she defiantly displayed her unhappiness at being disciplined with her angry fists, stomping legs and angry voice that drove mum so up the wall that she got bound by tape on both her hands and mouth! yes, it may seem cruel, but mum feels that extreme behaviours calls for extreme punishment!!! period...
other 'milestones' in march / april 2011:
1. zoe's officially out of jmdc cos her tap teacher went MIA-ed (just her new tap shoes arrived from the states! its now sitting lonely in the storeroom!) and the school management just weren't too keen nor able to let her continue having a weekday class as the new teacher was charging much more than the previous teacher. though mum feels that its a waste of zoe's dancing talents but this has officially freed up a day for her to go for a new class with ethan! read on...
2. the kids have officially enrolled into berries! to learn mandarin!!! and they actually enjoyed the lessons very much!!! yipee!!!
3. we went for a 3-generation road trip on good friday. it was fun filled with zero shopping and just eating, swimming and lazing! and not forgetting the fireflies that we saw for the first time in our life! lovely!!!
(p/s: zoe saw ah ma washing her dentures once and asked innocently while staring at it, 'ah ma, why your teeth can take out???' we just couldn't stop laughing!!!)
12 march was the day where zoethan had their very first bowling experience in kallang leisurepark together with the parents and aunty zhuying. we were all dressed in appropriate shoes except for ethan since he's really quite little, but it did not deter him one bit as he slipped his feet into aunty zhuying's pretty strappy sandals and was waddling everywhere like a duck! it didn't bother him that the sandals were way too big nor the ball much too heavy for him to handle - nothing could stop him! he managed to lift a size 7 ball into his arms (but of cos the parents quickly swooped down to take the ball to the aisle along with him), waddled slowly but carefully, placed the ball down before pushing it down the aisle (we had asked for bumpers aisle for the kids so that the ball would never roll into the 'lonkang'!). so, super sl...o.....w....ww.w...llll.....y... the ball rolled and all these while, his eyes never left the ball. the moment it hits the pins, he would jump in jubilation and shout 'yeah!' even if only one pin has fallen! it was definitely a funny sight to behold. zoe definitely had lotsa fun too as she kept asking for more even after we have played 2 games. looks like we'll definitely be back for more!!!
the kids have been showering together every nite when daddy was outstation and they totally enjoy it! there in the shower room, they be busy pouring and spitting water at each other and laughing at each other non-stop. zoethan really has this love-hate relationship with each other. oftentimes, they be playing together happily yet, they can be extreme enemies with each other too. many times, zoe likes to pretend that ethan as his pet dog. she will get him to crawl on all fours while she holds one end of the ribbon and he the other. that blur boy thinks its a whole load of fun and plays along with her too. else, they be playing the doctor- patient game with zoe the doctor attending to ethan the patient with her doctor's kit and putting plasters on the brother. their other favourite game would be rummaging through the drawers for hats and upon finding the ones they like, they would put them on and then put on zoe's old baby socks on their feet and hands (using them as gloves!) and do their weird and funny dance moves to the music playing on the cd player! else, zoe would play the role of a teacher and get the lil' brother to repeat after her when she recites the alphabets or reads out to him from a book.
despite that, they too fight a lot especially when it comes to toys. an old forgotten toy becomes a much sought after toy when either one of them takes it out to play and the other wants a piece of it too. that's when the screaming, shouting and tattling begins. sharing is definitely not in their vocabulary. but through all these, at least, mum is secretly pleased to know that ethan has learnt the 'art' of defending himself and he definitely makes known his displeasure whenever zoe tries to 'bully' him. if zoe were to push him, he'll go, 'zoe push brother!' well, at least, we now know, he's no pushover!!! hahahahha :)
ethan:
ethan is reading alphabets and spelling words everywhere we go. one day, he truly amazed us by spelling 'umbrella' and 'penguin'! in fact, he can now spell even more words than zoe! as such, one of his favourite activity would be to put letters together to form words. each time he successfully forms a word, he would jump and clap for joy and will proudly asks mum to look at it. occasionally, he even commends himself by saying, 'good/great job! 'or 'excellent'! hahahaha :) he's also talking so much more, he now asks questions like, 'what's happening?', and 'what is it?' and it really is good to be able to hold a proper conversation with him though he can't exactly speak in complete sentences yet. he can even say, 'bei bei (his nickname) 'di dao' (his version of saying 'die dao [fall down]' in chinese!).
just this month alone, he fell down twice. first, at the staircase outside our house as he was making his way down. somehow, he missed a step and fell face down though it wasn't exactly a hard knock. there was no visible injury but it was sufficient to send him crying nuts. then fast forward 1.5 weeks later, he fell and knocked the lower back of his head in the toilet. all because zoe sorta pushed him into the toilet as mum was showering and well, the floor was really wet and slippery! this time round, he cried buckets and though there was no blood, but a bump had formed instantly! mum was freaked out but thankfully, on both occasions, Jesus was watching him because there were just no after-effects and he was able to calm down after awhile. thank God!
zoe:
we celebrated zoe's birthday at saizeriya liang court (a japanese pasta restaurant) this time and the party theme was based on the cartoon series, 'superwhy'. the birthday girl was all dressed up as princess presto (mum specially had it ordered from the states! from the series while ethan was dressed up as whyatt, both complete with their 'magic wands'. there were superwhy party boxes and balloons and aunty chinee from pinkgingerbynee specially made a 2d princess presto cake for zoe, complete with lovely heart shaped cookies for the adults as party favours. definitely pretty and yummy!
she had her another birthday celebration in school on her actual birthday and this time, the theme was 'princess belle' from 'beauty and the beast'. needless to say, she went to school all dressed up as princess belle complete with a tiara and earrings! just check out the lovely princess cupcakes that aunty chinee baked here. (oh yes, speaking on princesses, zoe did not win the disney princess contest, but nevertheless, we all think she really does look lovely in the pics!!!)
zoe's now all of 5 and yet, she's still driving mum nuts with that attitude of hers that she so often displays when things do not go her way. she wants something, she wants it now. she doesn't get it and the attitude is out and so the disciplining begins. it is being repeated every so often that mum just detaches and totally ignores her at times when the talking, screaming and spatula-ing doesn't work. she gets all upset when she realises that and will then attempt to apologise or cries to no avail cos mum has decided that enough is enough. in these 2 months, she must have been spatula-ed big time at least twice and there was once when she defiantly displayed her unhappiness at being disciplined with her angry fists, stomping legs and angry voice that drove mum so up the wall that she got bound by tape on both her hands and mouth! yes, it may seem cruel, but mum feels that extreme behaviours calls for extreme punishment!!! period...
other 'milestones' in march / april 2011:
1. zoe's officially out of jmdc cos her tap teacher went MIA-ed (just her new tap shoes arrived from the states! its now sitting lonely in the storeroom!) and the school management just weren't too keen nor able to let her continue having a weekday class as the new teacher was charging much more than the previous teacher. though mum feels that its a waste of zoe's dancing talents but this has officially freed up a day for her to go for a new class with ethan! read on...
2. the kids have officially enrolled into berries! to learn mandarin!!! and they actually enjoyed the lessons very much!!! yipee!!!
3. we went for a 3-generation road trip on good friday. it was fun filled with zero shopping and just eating, swimming and lazing! and not forgetting the fireflies that we saw for the first time in our life! lovely!!!
(p/s: zoe saw ah ma washing her dentures once and asked innocently while staring at it, 'ah ma, why your teeth can take out???' we just couldn't stop laughing!!!)
17 April 2011
plays we watched / are watching in 2011...
12 February 2011: The Gruffalo & The Gruffalo's Child / 5 March 2011: The Gingerbread Man / 2 April 2011: The Ugly Duckling / 9 April 2011: Todd, The Big Green Frog
9 July 2011: The Very Hungry Caterpillar And Other Eric Carle Favourites / 23 July 2011: Rocky The Baby Panda / 22 October 2011: Oh, What A Noisy Zoo!
22 March 2011
a mother's prayer...
mum is at wits end when it comes to dealing with zoe. i simply feel that i suck at being a mum. to have screaming matches with a 4 going on 5 girl is simply unbelievable.
yes, mum is exasperated to no end. she can't seem to take instructions. not even simple ones like showering, brushing her teeth or even peeing. mum has to tell her to go do it again and again before she does it. by then, its no longer, 'zoe, can you please go pee', it would already have erupted ínto shouts of, 'go pee/shower/brush your teeth NOW!!!' to which it would be matched with stomping feet, scowling face and hands clenched up like a monster before THE deed is done. what follows next would be a lecture by mum followed by a total ignorance to the girl, regardless of whether she is sorry or not. most times, mum doubts her apologies for she does not say them until she wants something in return, like mum's hand to hug her to bed or worst, she wants a new toy or something. basically, she thinks we can be easily manipulated. maybe she will succeed when it comes to the daddy or ah ma, but to mummy who faces her most of the time, NO WAY. mum feels she's unrepentent, and even unappreciative of everything that she has or the things the parents have done for her.
yes, though it seems rather evil to ignore the girl, but that seems to be the best way for mum to retain her sanity. at the very least, she seems to be most repentent when she is being ignored. most times, mum will try her best to be nice and talk to her nicely and explain things to her, but then, it never seems to get into that head of hers! the above scenarios have repeated itself more than a dozen times and it is being played out, day in, day out. out comes that attitude. out comes the scowl. out comes the glare in her eyes. mum wishes those eyes can be gorged out. its true pek chek-ness and a constant test of mum's patience and limit everyday. nothing seems to work. not explaining, not sweet talking, nor scolding, nor caning. makes one wonder if there is another more horrible mother like me...
Abba Daddy, i really am at my wits end. i need a miracle. i need You to work wonders. i know not what to do or how to deal with her. thank you that in spite of everything, i am still Your Beloved and that you will never leave me nor forsake me ever. thank you that there is no more condemnation in me who is in Christ Jesus. show me your way Lord. i really cannot go about my human efforts anymore, its much too tough. but You can Lord God Almighty. You know the way. i now cast all my cares and worries about the children into your hands Lord, that You will lead them and show them and me the way. My children will be taught of you. i do not know how to teach them, but you can Lord. its easier to put my trust in you than in my own efforts because You never fail, and only You can bring about a true transformation in us. thank you that we are forever righteous in Christ Jesus and that my yolk is easy and my burden is light. in Jesus most wonderful name, AMEN and AMEN!!!
10 March 2011
07 March 2011
28 February 2011
February's over.... almost!!!
time flies.. flies... flies.... february has come and is almost going... going...gone... it seems that cny was only not too long ago where we were once again back at daddy's kampung for a short visit and dinner before we headed off to KL with 2 feverish kids...fever had struck ethan only the night before while zoe had hers the moment we reached the relatives' place. nonetheless, the fever did not dampened their mood for their favourite activity once we reached the hotel - the long awaited bubble bath time! and this was just about the only 'water' activity they did over the next 3 days since swimming was out as the fever persisted till we returned home several days after. this time round, it was only zoethan in the tub, sans daddy, and both had a good time blowing foam all over each other and practising their 'breaststrokes' while 'swimming' in the tub! it was definitely a delightful sight to behold...
ethan:
its been almost a month since ethan started home-schooling at teacher peggy's house. God has definitely turned things around for good, from her resignation from appletree, to the new horrible teacher and assistant who took over which led to ethan's withdrawal from the playgroup! though initially, ethan was reluctant to stay at peggy's place while mum sent zoe to school, he has since overcome whatever 'separation anxiety', or rather 'reluctance' in about a week or so! he now waves goodbye to mum and jie jie happily when we drop him off and goes about whatever routine he has to while at peggy's place.
he knows that he has to arrange his shoes neatly upon entering the house and that he has to greet the ah ma (peggy's mil) first thing after putting his bag down. in fact, its just amazing how he can listen and follow instructions when told and is able to sit at the the same spot daily for snacks (mostly cheerios!) without running everywhere! even if he does messes up, he knows discipline awaits him and that he has to clean up or risk sitting in the 'naughty corner' till he apologises and cleans up. in fact, he has even learnt to wipe the table after food, something that he has never done before, till now. peggy's home is definitely good training ground.
in just over a month, the boy has learnt his phonics well and can recite them in record speed almost as well as his ABCs though there are some letters that he can't pronounce accurately as yet. he knows that we are super proud of him for he often takes out his ABC book and recites the sound each letter makes and often looking at mummy with a cheeky grin when he's done. we are definitely so really proud of him. it's still another 3 months before his 3rd birthday but he is already able to spell like a hundred words, or, oh well, maybe at least 50 words and its all self taught - courtesy of the applications on the ipad and the iphone! he can spell the various colours, from, red to blue to green and even yellow, animals like, ant to cow to fish to lion, things from bed to car to jeep to shoe to to house and mouse and the list just goes on and on!!! the parents are just totally amazed by his ability to remember things! he's literally a sponge, soaking up everything he can right now! one nite, mum taught him to spell 'sleep' just as we were going to bed and the next morning, when asked for the spelling of it again, he could spell it out right even though his eyes were barely opened when awoken by mum! for the record, his jie jie can barely spell half as many words as he can.
right now, it seems that he's really just living in a world of alphabets, for spelling is the first thing he does out loud when he wakes every morning and he's almost always reading the abc book whether we are home or out. besides reciting the alphabet song or reading it phonetically, he can rattle off at an amazing speed that goes something like this:'a fo..r.rr.r apple, b fo.rr.r..r bed, c fo..r.r.. cow, d fo...rr.r.rr drum, e fo..rr.r.r. elephant all the way and he wouldn't stop till he reaches 'z'. its really funny hearing him and if anyone interrupts him before he finishes all 26 alphabets, he'll just be totally annoyed and then continue from wherever he left off till he finishes all 26 alphabets!!! hhahahaha :) what's more, it took him just under 3 days to learn to recite 1 to 10 in chinese!!! ethan is just mum's amazing superbaby!!!
also, now that's he is approaching 3, he's talking more, using more words, and starting to talk in complete sentences too. he has 'invented' some new words like 'mhug' which actually means 'mummy hug' and 'dhug' which of cos would mean 'daddy hug' (he would scream hysterically 'mhug, mhug, mhug!!!' whenever daddy hugs him). and so we introduced him to 'ahmug' which he now knows to mean 'ah ma hug''!!! LOL!!! once zoe kept butting her fingers in as he was playing with the ipad while seated on the high chair and he immediately cried out, 'zoe!!! sit down!!!' and on another occasion, he actually complained out loud, 'jie jie ... pushed... brother!!!' when zoe bullied him by pushing him! he sure knows how to defend himself right now (by complaining to the parents!!!) and he has also learnt the 'art of bullying' from being a 'victim' of his sister after too many a times! he occasionally 'pushes' her and smiles for he thinks it is funny. other times, he pinches, scratches or even hits his sister (for fun!) but mostly, its when his things are being snatched away by her that he does it. what to do, its now a case of 'monkey see, monkey do' at home. sigh...
one of his favourite 'activity' now would be to stick out his tongue, wet every single one of his fingers with it and them spread them all over his face! definitely yucky! but its even more yucky when daddy takes it a step further by encouraging him to spread his 'saliva infested' fingers all over zoe or mummy unawares!!! gross, definitely! but we do play along with him by squealing and screaming and running away as it tickles him pink and have him chuckling out loud everytime. hehehehehhe ;p
zoe:
its only about a month before zoe turns 5 and mum has been very busy thinking and preparing for her upcoming birthday party. this year, the theme would be 'princess presto' from the cartoon series 'superwhy' and already, mum has placed orders for her party supplies from the US. yeah, she will be dressed up as princess presto, complete with wand (while ethan will also be wearing a personalised superwhy 'whyatt' t-shirt) and she will also be getting a princess presto cake, all thanks to chinee from pinkgingercakes! not only that, she will also be giving out superwhy favour boxes complete with superwhy favours and even superwhy ballons! mum can't wait to see the delight on her face when the shipment finally arrives from the US, all thanks to por por, who is residing there.
she's almost 5 and diaperless for the most part except for naptimes, bedtime and poop time (she refuses to poop anywhere except in her diapers!!!). but this month, she's officially off the diaper during naptimes! hooray! as she often drinks quite a bit of milk before she goes to bed at night, thus for the time being, the diaper stays on as mum is also not quite ready to toilet train her at night, for now. that's still not too much of a concern for mum as compared to her finger sucking habit.
at 4 and 3/4 years, zoe is sucking her fingers more than ever! she sucks them on any and every occasion (except when she's in school or church!). she not only sucks them when she's tired or going to bed, she sucks them when on car rides, she sucks them when she's upset, she sucks them even when she's watching tv! painting her nails with the horrible nail polish doesn't work much anymore, for the sucking resumes almost after 4 hours. initially, mum paints only the nails of those 2 particular fingers on the right hand, but because she has resorted to sucking other unpainted nails when she caves in to the habit that mum now has to resort to painting all 10 of her fingers!!! mum's totally going nutz about this horrible habit of hers and is now at her wits end. Jesus, we need help here! only You can work a miracle in a situation like this!!! Amen!!!
now that zoe is in K1, mum is trying to sit her down and impose a few pages of homework on her everyday so that she'll be better prepared for primary school. she can barely sit still for 10 minutes except when she's drawing and even in those 10 minutes, she would barely do a page of exercise that requires no more than drawing a few circles! for the most part, she would be in her dreams, scratching (she is suddenly itchy everywhere), talking, bothering, 'discipling' or even tattling about ethan. the point is, she would be busy doing everything else except for what she is supposed to be working on. when asked to write her do re mi (by drawing the notes) on her yamaha workbook, even before she could finish with 2 notes, she sat up to complain that it was difficult and that she couldn't do it though there is an example already set out there for her and all she had to do was follow. what happened next was totally unbelievable. when reprimanded, she cried crazily and hysterically for the next 30 odd minutes!!! compare this with her doing the homework, she actually spent more effort crying then doing a simple exercise! the same thing happened the next day when told to continue with her homework. mum is pek chek ah!!! yes Jesus! mum needs your divine guidance and wisdom when dealing with zoe! Amen and Amen!!!
other february highlights:
1. zoethan's officially enrolled into gracefields kindergarten for 2012, where zoe will finish her kindergarten year and ethan will start off in his nursery class.
2. hongkong, here we come (again!)!!! the parents booked a 9 days, 8 nights trip to hongkong at a pre-natas fair since america was way too expensive to go to! sorry por por! you won't get to see the grandkids anytime now...
3. bye bye punggol field, hello cambridge road! we bought our new home and sold ours within 2 weeks. even though we will officially be much closer to town than we ever would (in view of the distance to the kids' future primary schools), but we have 'downgraded' to a 4-room flat instead. boo hoo hoo!!! is it REALLY time to say goodbye to our collection of toys??? mum's really reluctant and saddened by the mere thought of it...
ethan:
its been almost a month since ethan started home-schooling at teacher peggy's house. God has definitely turned things around for good, from her resignation from appletree, to the new horrible teacher and assistant who took over which led to ethan's withdrawal from the playgroup! though initially, ethan was reluctant to stay at peggy's place while mum sent zoe to school, he has since overcome whatever 'separation anxiety', or rather 'reluctance' in about a week or so! he now waves goodbye to mum and jie jie happily when we drop him off and goes about whatever routine he has to while at peggy's place.
he knows that he has to arrange his shoes neatly upon entering the house and that he has to greet the ah ma (peggy's mil) first thing after putting his bag down. in fact, its just amazing how he can listen and follow instructions when told and is able to sit at the the same spot daily for snacks (mostly cheerios!) without running everywhere! even if he does messes up, he knows discipline awaits him and that he has to clean up or risk sitting in the 'naughty corner' till he apologises and cleans up. in fact, he has even learnt to wipe the table after food, something that he has never done before, till now. peggy's home is definitely good training ground.
in just over a month, the boy has learnt his phonics well and can recite them in record speed almost as well as his ABCs though there are some letters that he can't pronounce accurately as yet. he knows that we are super proud of him for he often takes out his ABC book and recites the sound each letter makes and often looking at mummy with a cheeky grin when he's done. we are definitely so really proud of him. it's still another 3 months before his 3rd birthday but he is already able to spell like a hundred words, or, oh well, maybe at least 50 words and its all self taught - courtesy of the applications on the ipad and the iphone! he can spell the various colours, from, red to blue to green and even yellow, animals like, ant to cow to fish to lion, things from bed to car to jeep to shoe to to house and mouse and the list just goes on and on!!! the parents are just totally amazed by his ability to remember things! he's literally a sponge, soaking up everything he can right now! one nite, mum taught him to spell 'sleep' just as we were going to bed and the next morning, when asked for the spelling of it again, he could spell it out right even though his eyes were barely opened when awoken by mum! for the record, his jie jie can barely spell half as many words as he can.
right now, it seems that he's really just living in a world of alphabets, for spelling is the first thing he does out loud when he wakes every morning and he's almost always reading the abc book whether we are home or out. besides reciting the alphabet song or reading it phonetically, he can rattle off at an amazing speed that goes something like this:'a fo..r.rr.r apple, b fo.rr.r..r bed, c fo..r.r.. cow, d fo...rr.r.rr drum, e fo..rr.r.r. elephant all the way and he wouldn't stop till he reaches 'z'. its really funny hearing him and if anyone interrupts him before he finishes all 26 alphabets, he'll just be totally annoyed and then continue from wherever he left off till he finishes all 26 alphabets!!! hhahahaha :) what's more, it took him just under 3 days to learn to recite 1 to 10 in chinese!!! ethan is just mum's amazing superbaby!!!
also, now that's he is approaching 3, he's talking more, using more words, and starting to talk in complete sentences too. he has 'invented' some new words like 'mhug' which actually means 'mummy hug' and 'dhug' which of cos would mean 'daddy hug' (he would scream hysterically 'mhug, mhug, mhug!!!' whenever daddy hugs him). and so we introduced him to 'ahmug' which he now knows to mean 'ah ma hug''!!! LOL!!! once zoe kept butting her fingers in as he was playing with the ipad while seated on the high chair and he immediately cried out, 'zoe!!! sit down!!!' and on another occasion, he actually complained out loud, 'jie jie ... pushed... brother!!!' when zoe bullied him by pushing him! he sure knows how to defend himself right now (by complaining to the parents!!!) and he has also learnt the 'art of bullying' from being a 'victim' of his sister after too many a times! he occasionally 'pushes' her and smiles for he thinks it is funny. other times, he pinches, scratches or even hits his sister (for fun!) but mostly, its when his things are being snatched away by her that he does it. what to do, its now a case of 'monkey see, monkey do' at home. sigh...
one of his favourite 'activity' now would be to stick out his tongue, wet every single one of his fingers with it and them spread them all over his face! definitely yucky! but its even more yucky when daddy takes it a step further by encouraging him to spread his 'saliva infested' fingers all over zoe or mummy unawares!!! gross, definitely! but we do play along with him by squealing and screaming and running away as it tickles him pink and have him chuckling out loud everytime. hehehehehhe ;p
zoe:
its only about a month before zoe turns 5 and mum has been very busy thinking and preparing for her upcoming birthday party. this year, the theme would be 'princess presto' from the cartoon series 'superwhy' and already, mum has placed orders for her party supplies from the US. yeah, she will be dressed up as princess presto, complete with wand (while ethan will also be wearing a personalised superwhy 'whyatt' t-shirt) and she will also be getting a princess presto cake, all thanks to chinee from pinkgingercakes! not only that, she will also be giving out superwhy favour boxes complete with superwhy favours and even superwhy ballons! mum can't wait to see the delight on her face when the shipment finally arrives from the US, all thanks to por por, who is residing there.
she's almost 5 and diaperless for the most part except for naptimes, bedtime and poop time (she refuses to poop anywhere except in her diapers!!!). but this month, she's officially off the diaper during naptimes! hooray! as she often drinks quite a bit of milk before she goes to bed at night, thus for the time being, the diaper stays on as mum is also not quite ready to toilet train her at night, for now. that's still not too much of a concern for mum as compared to her finger sucking habit.
at 4 and 3/4 years, zoe is sucking her fingers more than ever! she sucks them on any and every occasion (except when she's in school or church!). she not only sucks them when she's tired or going to bed, she sucks them when on car rides, she sucks them when she's upset, she sucks them even when she's watching tv! painting her nails with the horrible nail polish doesn't work much anymore, for the sucking resumes almost after 4 hours. initially, mum paints only the nails of those 2 particular fingers on the right hand, but because she has resorted to sucking other unpainted nails when she caves in to the habit that mum now has to resort to painting all 10 of her fingers!!! mum's totally going nutz about this horrible habit of hers and is now at her wits end. Jesus, we need help here! only You can work a miracle in a situation like this!!! Amen!!!
now that zoe is in K1, mum is trying to sit her down and impose a few pages of homework on her everyday so that she'll be better prepared for primary school. she can barely sit still for 10 minutes except when she's drawing and even in those 10 minutes, she would barely do a page of exercise that requires no more than drawing a few circles! for the most part, she would be in her dreams, scratching (she is suddenly itchy everywhere), talking, bothering, 'discipling' or even tattling about ethan. the point is, she would be busy doing everything else except for what she is supposed to be working on. when asked to write her do re mi (by drawing the notes) on her yamaha workbook, even before she could finish with 2 notes, she sat up to complain that it was difficult and that she couldn't do it though there is an example already set out there for her and all she had to do was follow. what happened next was totally unbelievable. when reprimanded, she cried crazily and hysterically for the next 30 odd minutes!!! compare this with her doing the homework, she actually spent more effort crying then doing a simple exercise! the same thing happened the next day when told to continue with her homework. mum is pek chek ah!!! yes Jesus! mum needs your divine guidance and wisdom when dealing with zoe! Amen and Amen!!!
other february highlights:
1. zoethan's officially enrolled into gracefields kindergarten for 2012, where zoe will finish her kindergarten year and ethan will start off in his nursery class.
2. hongkong, here we come (again!)!!! the parents booked a 9 days, 8 nights trip to hongkong at a pre-natas fair since america was way too expensive to go to! sorry por por! you won't get to see the grandkids anytime now...
3. bye bye punggol field, hello cambridge road! we bought our new home and sold ours within 2 weeks. even though we will officially be much closer to town than we ever would (in view of the distance to the kids' future primary schools), but we have 'downgraded' to a 4-room flat instead. boo hoo hoo!!! is it REALLY time to say goodbye to our collection of toys??? mum's really reluctant and saddened by the mere thought of it...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
