Penang Holiday

We had a great time in Penang. For us adults, we had all the yummy food we have been yearning all these months! We had Hamidiyah Nasi Kandar, Banana leaf rice, Lorong Selamat's Char Koey Teow, Anson Road Laksa, Koey Teow Teng, Roti Babi, Nyoya Food at Mama's, Lin Chee Kang and Ais Kacang at New World's Park. We had so much food that we each gain 1 to 2 kgs! We even manage to catch a movie. It was good. Go watch Ip Man. Oh...did I also mentioned that we saw a rainbow on the way back from the movie?

It was also a special holiday because my parents and sister from KL came to Penang on Christmas Eve and celebrated my father's birthday on Christmas Day in Penang. It has been years since our family went on a holiday together.

As for Reese, he had a great time playing with a tent given by a relative of my mother in law. It was a really good tent and the previous owner of the tent is already an adult working in the U.S. hehehe...

We took Reese to Queen's Bay Mall and he played at the Jusco Wonderland. It was a great experience for him. He gets to play on a trampoline and also a pool of balls.

We also took Reese to the beach. It was ok. Reese didn't like the water nor the sand sticking on to his feet! At the end we asked him whether he wants to go home and his quick reply was "Better go home..." :)

On the last day we took Reese to the Botanical garden and walk around but didn't see any monkeys.

Tall trees at the Botanical Garden

Reese and daddy walking up to the lily pond

Making a silly face

Rare sighting of a Rainbow

This is hilarious, sorry for the loud crazy laugh in the above video. Reese was amusing himself by letting the punching bags hit him!

Whenever we ask who's laughing.... he will do his silly laugh. This was at the Botanical garden.

Psst... We are back!

After more than 10 days of silence.... we are back. So much to write about. Just drove back from Penang... taking a rest and reading some news. We spent 7 days and 6 nights in Penang. We had a lot of fun and to make it extra special, my parents and sister from KL also spent Christmas eve and Christmas in Penang. We had a good time eating all the yummy food and Reese had a good time playing with his Ama and Gong gong, going to the beach, botanical garden and playgrounds!

Will tell you about our adventure in Penang with some pictures and even funny videos! Might do it tomorrow... now a little tired... :) watch this space!

Reese and my Students

Reese and some of my students. Because he is the youngest, all my students love him and always give in to him! Reese likes to join them for classes. He will sit behind them and watch them learn or sometimes, if there is space, he will join them on the table and scribble away...while I teach the kids. He doesn't disturb us. :)

Being Bullied

What do you do when your child is being bullied?

Reese is a very good natured boy and lately he was being exposed more to other toddlers while playing. We realized that he is always being bullied. He was pushed many times when playing on the slide. While playing with toys in the toyshop even a younger toddler will bully him. Push him aside and take over his toys! What did my boy do? Nothing. He will just stare at kids and then move on or in the case of being pushed at the slide, he just sit there and let others push him. Hai.... as a parent I can only go over and remind the other toddler to share or don't push. I can't tell my son to push others or snatch back what is rightly his!

One parent told me to teach Reese to cry when being bullied. Do you think it's a good idea? I don't think so and how to teach him to cry? DifficultLAH. When at play with other children my boy is always being bullied by both older and younger kids (suspect older than him just that they are shorter than him). Reese looks big most of the time but actually he is younger than many of those kids! Poor boy! hahahaha.....

So is it better to have a softy or a bully?

Proper Homeschooling

For the past couple of months I did informal home schooling with Reese. I think he is ready for proper learning. He can be reason with, he can understand instructions and he has a longer attention span. He is ready for more active learning.

I am all excited to fix a schedule where I will do specific things with him at least 3 times a week. I am going to enroll him to 2 different playgroups. One run by a church and another by the British Women Association. Both playgroups offer different environment and Reese gets to meet different types of toddlers. It's going to be fun. If time permits, I might also enroll him in Gymboree too. I have checked their play/music/art syllabus. It's quite fun and I get to participate with him too. This way, Reese gets to socialize with other children at least twice a week for two hours. I get to spend quality time with him and probably share experiences with other parents too.

I will be reducing my work commitment so that I have ample time to homeschool Reese. I want Reese to have a balance when it comes to learning, at his age it's all about play and play and more play. That's how toddlers learn. I want him to have alot of fun! I want him to enjoy learning. It's going to be a blast!! Can't wait to start in January/February.

I need to stock up on colour paper, art and craft stuff, stationary........ got to prepare alot of things.... I am so excited.... hehehehe.....

I hope Reese is an easy child to teach.... hehehe.... so far he is a quick learner but not sure when it comes to later stages where academic stuff comes in..... really have to pray hard about it. Oh I really hope I can home school him successfully... I have 3 years to try it out. I need to be discipline, consistent, informative and resourceful and most of all be determine and pray hard for it to be a success!!!

What about you? what's for the new year for your little ones or not so little ones?

My little adventure with daddy

Tomorrow is daddy's 33th birthday. Last Sunday we had a simple celebration with daddy. Ama and Gong gong were here too. Mummy cooked 'Sau Mee' ( Long life noodle) and made 'Yong tau fu' (fish paste wrapped in tau fu skin). Gong gong and Ama bought a cheese cake for daddy. :) I had a little bit of the cake too.

Last Monday was a public holiday and mummy had to work and Gong gong and Ama also went back to Penang. So daddy decided to take me go 'gai gai' (go out) alone! First stop, we sent Gong gong and Ama to the bus station, said our goodbyes.... and daddy decided to take me to Ikanao Powerstation to play snow (fake)! I had a good time there and then daddy took me to The Curve watch the Christmas trees that can go round and round. We had a really good time there and after almost 2 hours of fun we went home. Daddy also showered me and I had my milk and nap followed by a late lunch of maccoroni and cheese. Daddy had maggie mee... hehehe...

Mummy was impressed when she found out about our little adventure. This is the second time I am out alone with daddy. First time daddy took me for a train ride and then we had noodles in town. That was a few months ago. :)

Life is going back to a routine

Reese's grandparents from Penang have gone home since yesterday morning. Our house once again becomes quiet and Reese will definitely miss all the attention showered upon him by his grandparents and we will miss the night time mamak (supper) and also the carefree window shopping and movie watching, not having to worry going back home to take care of Reese! :)

Everything is slowly back to our usual routine and now I have teach the maid what to do at my mom's place. So far, my maid is doing fine and we are somewhat happy with her. Alot of things that she needs to learn to do but it's ok.

Christmas is round the corner, we are going back to Penang this year. My parents and sister are also going to Penang. Our two families are going to celebrate Christmas in Penang!

Funny Reese

Funny shower cap

Don't I look funny?

Carnival hat and my favourite 'yang yang' drink (Longan)

My Handsome Prince at 26 months

Don you think he has grown up alot? He is so mature looking. :)

26 Months Update

Time really flies...... it seems like only yesterday I held him in my arms breastfeeding him and wondering when he is going to interact with me, when is he going to crawl, when is he going walk and when is he going to talk.....I miss my little baby... hehehe...

Reese has grown alot in the past month, suddenly alot of his t-shirts are a little short for his body and a little tighter too. His shoes barely fit him. Browsing his clothes at the baby section is no longer possible instead we have to look at clothes for 3 year olds!

Looking at him makes me feel so proud because now he is such a big boy and very much an individual! He has his own mind and wants things done his way too. He knows how to ask for things that he wants, he will tell you his preference when it comes to food, cartoons, books and just about anything.

He loves to run and jump alot. In fact he cannot be separated from our mattress because that is his playground and just a few days ago, I read an article in The Star that claims children playing on trampolines are good for their coordination and balance and other things which I can't remember. So I will continue to let Reese jump and jump on the mattress!

Reese is a very active boy and most of the time he will be jumping on the mattress, running around the house and the only time he sits still is when he is watching cartoon, playing with water or eating his favourite food.

Reese loves to describe things. He will use alot of adjectives to describe things that he sees. He also love to ask questions like 'What happen.....?', 'Who's there?', 'What is that?'. Funny most kids his age will ask 'Why' but Reese doesn't know how use it yet...hehe... Alot of times he will ask questions and then he will answer them.

He can speak in short sentences and at times adding a few adjectives in them. He also started to tell us what he wants like 'I want mummy sit down', 'I want mummy make chocolate milk' and 'I want beauty and the Beast'.

He still like his books. Love books with flaps so that he can open and close 'doors'.

Reese is less picky with his food now and thus it's easier for me to prepare his daily menu. He still doesn't take rice or any chinese dishes. Currently he will take chinese style soup, noodle soup, fried hokkien noodle, fried chicken, steam chicken, KFC mash potato, spaggetti (beef bolagnese), abc pasta with his fish chowder/mushroom soup/ministrone, fried fish fillet, peanut butter and banana sandwich, fish porridge, gramham biscuits, digestive biscuits, yogurt, fruits, fresh milk, chocolate milk, vitagen, yakult, string cheese and certain fruit juice.

His food portion is also getting bigger. He can almost finish an adult portion! When we go out, we can no longer just order for ourselves and share some with him. Now we have to order a kids meal or another bowl just for him. He drinks more milk now. On top of his usual 4 bottles (6 oz) a day he will add on another 2 bottles(3oz to 4 oz)

Reese is 92cm tall and he weights 15kgs give and take. According to the growth chart, his height is 80+ % (above average) and his weight is 90% (above average). I am trying to control his milk intake. Don't want him to be fat. Reese is a very solid boy, he may not look fat but when you carry him... you will realise that he is super heavy!

Reese sleeps around 9 to 9.30 pm and wakes up at 7 to 7.30am. He takes only 1 nap in the afternoon for about 1 to 2 hours.

From our observation Reese is not the fierce type and when he is around other children, he never snatches nor tries to take away things from other kids. If he wants something and others don't give it to him, he will just look at them and walk away to play with other things! When someone snatches his things, he will just make a little bit of noise and then move on!

Reese is generally a good nature boy. His tantrums now are more managable and when we scold him or talk to him nicely, he will listen. He likes to say thank you when he pass something to you. :)

He is still not potty trained. It's stressful for us so we will try again when he is slightly older. Yeah... we are lazy parents.

Wonder what's next.........