Chinese New Year

Reese in Chinese Costume for the first time

At his grand uncle's house in Penang

Playing the piano with the twins while visiting some friends

Reese's cousin Ashley (daughter of hubby's cousin)

I like this picture..

My mother in law and us

Checking out lanterns at Campbell Street

Family Picture

Playing water at grandparents place in Penang

Reese loves water!

Ah... Gong Xi Fa Chai... I am back to blogging after a week's break. Today everything is going back to routine. Work! ahggrr..

We had a great time in Penang during the first week of CNY. We took Reese to see lanterns in town almost every night. He had a good time. Got to spend sometime with his Uncle Andrew and Aunt Winnie.

We met up with some relatives and spend some quality time with family. It was a quiet CNY. We came back on last Wednesday and the rest of the week was quiet. Most of the time we stay home to rest. We got to eat some delicious cooking by my mom and sister and my favourite 'Yee Shang'.

We also managed to watch two movies! Red Cliff II in Penang and Changeling in KL. :)

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Ah... even though I mentioned before that CNY is just another holiday, while packing our luggage yesterday night, I got a little excited. We will be travelling tomorrow morning at 4am to Penang and will be back in town next Wednesday. I am excited to see my son wear a traditional Chinese 'sam fu' and the fun of going around collecting 'ang pows' from relatives and friends.

I am happy that my dad is out of the hospital even though he is still weak. Can't wait to celebrate CNY with him and family when we come back next week. So now I am prepared to gain a few kgs in the next one week! It's all about good food and meeting up with relatives and catching up with people whom we don't see much. :)

So happy Chinese New Year to all my readers and thank you for your support!!

Gong Xi Fa Chai! (Mandarin)
Gong Hei Fatt Choi! (Cantonese)
Gong Hi Huat Chai (Hokkien)

Ah... I love being a Malaysian Chinese, we not only speak multi languages but when it comes to Chinese... we also pick up many Chinese dialects!

Cheeky Boy

So cheeky

Looking at his favorite lanterns

Enjoying his favorite noodles

Making sense of Reese's sentences

Some funny and surprising sentences that Reese says to us:

Daddy father name is papa Gong gong David.

Mummy father name is papa Gong gong Peter.

Wait first kafic (traffic) light green means go. I want mummy car move.

Ask daddy please open door.

Reese is a handsome prince.

Ask mummy drive car go home.

I wanna ask mummy draw duck in the pond.

Reese wear shoe go gai gai (go out).

Go up eskerketer (escalator) see lantern.

Reese love daddy/ daddy love Reese.

Mummy try find lantern for Reese.

I wanna sit fast train.

For the record

For the first time Reese had Maggie Mee (Curry flavour) yesterday. He kept wanting to try even when I told him it was spicy! So... I gave him a little bit to try and he actually said "Nice mee mee!". It was funny to watch him sweat, watery eyes and slightly red cheeks. Hehehe... I was reluctant to give him because it's not healthy. So I quickly eat as much as I could! I am proud that my boy can take a bit of spicy food! :)

Reese is a dramaking! Last light he refused to sleep and kept wanting to play outside the room. At one point he said he wanted more milk in a very pitiful voice like he was about to cry. We were watching him and after he repeated that a few times I can't help it and laughed out loud. Hubby laughed too and upon seeing us laugh, Reese also cannot help it and laughed with us. He then repeated the sentence in his pitiful voice again and we all had a good laugh. My boy can really act!

Also for the first time he spoke to Ama (paternal grandmother) on the phone last night. He listened to what Ama said and after a while he said "Good night Ama, good night Gong gong" " Ama want to go Pennang" . Ama was delighted and so were we!

How to homeschool a 2 year old?

Ever since the start of this year, I try to crack my head on what to teach a 2 year old? Ok... it's a bit early but then again homeschooling is about flexibility and the child gets to learn at his own pace.

I started Reese on playgroup and he is adjusting to it pretty well. I started to teach him phonics through play. It's more of a revision really. He already know the sounds of the alphabets from watching starfall.com few months back. Now is more of a revision and will be introducing 'at, ag, ab, ad, am...'

How to do it though play? Well,

1. You can get a set of alphabet blocks, alphabet jigsaw or alphabets with magnets to play with your child.

2. Play hide and seek or go treasure hunting. Get the child to hunt for the alphabets.

3. Have big visuals of the alphabets or pictures related to the alphabets and stick them around the house using sticky tac for easy removal.

4. Sing the alphabet songs or better still let them watch different version of the song on Youtube. Just do a search.

5. Drawing and painting session to include the alphabets. Not too many just a few whenever you can.

6. Make up stories about the alphabets and their sounds.

You can also do the same when learning numbers. For Reese we just 'count' numbers in the car, when he 'read' books. So far as of yesterday he can count up to thirty ten (40). Haha...

I have a problem reading a story to him. He never listens and will snatch the book away and start to read it his way. That is flipping through the pages and looking at the pictures and just talk about them. So we just talk about the pictures. No story reading but I guess it fine as long as he is interested in the books. We can always make up our own stories!

Most of Reese's learning is from talking to him about things around him. Now that he talks alot we are having a hard time meeting his demands!

I am a lazy mum, I have so many ideas on how to teach Reese but just too lazy to draw and cut and paste! I really have to go to the bookshop to get some craft stationary.

Dad Recovering

My dad is in recovery now. Doctor is still keeping him in the CCU ward just to monitor whether he needs a permanent pacemaker implanted. We are praying that it is not necessary as the doctor mentioned then it is going to be another liability. We are also thankful that dad did not have a stroke.

My dad looks much better and he is able to eat and talk well. We want to thank everyone who has been praying for him. Thank you so much.

We hope he can be home for CNY.

God is good.

Dad had a heart attack

It's a sad day for me and family. My father had a heart attack yesterday and is currently in CCU (Cardio Intensive Care Unit) of HUKM. His condition is serious and doctors are monitoring him.

Please pray for my dad for a good recovery.

What is it with plastic baby bottles?

Recently I read a post by Darren's Mummy on the danger of using baby plastic bottles by major brands. The concern is that BPA (Bisphenol-A) from the plastic bottle can leach into the liquid and thus can cause harm to our children. There is still no proof that it actually causes harm to human, thus far they only did experiments on mice and it shows harmful effects on them. BPA (Bisphenol-A) is a hormone disrupting chemical that can cause cancer and some other disease. This Smart Plastic Guide gives you comprehensive information of the dos and don'ts. Another website that might be useful http://www.bisphenolafree.org/

I am looking at alternative bottles and there is one by MAM. It is still plastic by safe. At least I don't have to go for Chico's glass bottle... heavy and inconvenient.

By the way.. it's not just baby bottles that are effected ...it's everything plastic that that we use to store food and liquid. At the bottom of your plastic wares, you should see a triangle shaped label with a number in it. Try to avoid using those labeled with number 3, 6 and 7.

I am still sad that everything we consume or use may never be safe! Who should we trust? I am very upset about this but then again... I grew up with these plastic bottles and I seem ok... now you tell me... is there real danger or people are just making a big deal out of it? How come our government are not saying much about it? mmmm.....

My husband's company had issued some statements regarding this issue or plastic leaching into food and liquid and claims there is no harm...bla...bla...bla... so what now? My husband doesn't seem to be concern... but I am... somewhat... So I will be replacing Reese's bottles soon just to be safe.

Conversation with Reese

In the bedroom

Reese: Mummy sit down on the beddddd...
Mummy: Ok. What do you want to do?
Reese: Mummy read storybook. Read Spot Cowboy! (goes to the book bin and pick out his fav. book)
Reese: (flip to the first page) What is Helen (hippo) doing?
Mummy: Helen is standing outside the door!
Reese: Helen outside... Who falls to the water?
Mummy: Steve falls into the water!
Reese: (getting bored of his book) I want orange fish...sooo many orange fish swimming...
Mummy: Ok... go get the book then.
Reese: (pick another favourite book) So many orange fish swimming.... ahhh... ahhh... mummy point fiiisssshhhhh......
Mummy: Ok...ok...

In the car

Reese: Who wearing seat belt?
Mummy: Reese is wearing his seat belt.
Reese: Kakak also wear seat belt. Mummy also wear seat belt.
Mummy: Yes. Everyone must wear seat belt.
(Driving)
Reese: Go see so many lanterns....
Mummy: Ok... soon...
Reese: What's coming next? Tunnel!!
(At the traffic light)
Reese: Red arrow means stop!Green light means go... I want the car move!!!
Mummy: Ok... wait for the lights to turn green. Reese, where are we going? We are going to the...?
Reese: Playgroup. I wanna play with nana (other) children... I wanna play sand... mamber (remember) house? (playhouse at the playgroup)? wanna go inside house.
Reese: Kakak bye bye... Reese go play nana (other) children.

At The Curve shopping centre

Reese: I wanna go playground! Go up escacayter (escalator) go playground. I wanna see fountain. So manyyyyyy fountain.

Passing by the swimming pool

(no children in the pool)

Reese: All the children oink oink (sleep). Who is swimming in the water? Kok kok swimming in the water. Uncle in the water.

Sitting in the living room

Reese: Mummy mamber (remember) show the pink lantern!
Mummy: How many lanterns are there?
Reese: Onnneee..... thrreeee... 4, 5,6,7,8,9,10 lanterns!
(when we ask how many of something... he will count all the way to 10 to 29)

It's just so amazing how much he can converse now! He is speaking in longer and longer sentences. Lately he likes to remind us about things... he will use the word mamber (remember).

Dreams

What does your child dream about when they sleep? Reese still can't tell me what he dream about but I can pretty much guess from all the things he talk about in his sleep. :)

It's funny to watch him talk in his sleep. At times it's about something funny and at times it's probably a nightmare. I realized he dream alot about the cartoons he watches during the day. In his dream he will utter words like 'beast turn into handsome prince' , 'fireworks no more'...

Then at times he will dream about his daily activities like calling his grandparents' name, asking them not to do this or that and just last weekend, he started roaring like a tiger in his sleep... my guess is he is dreaming about the playgroup session we had where he was roaring away. Haha... it's really fun watching him dream. I wonder when he will be able to tell me about his dreams...

Is it normal for a child his age to dream almost every night? I dream almost every night. :)

'Tung Tung Chang'

Dancing to the beat of 'tung tung chang' 

Chinese New Year is fast approaching.... are you prepared to welcome the Chinese New Year? I remembered when I was young, CNY was one of my favourite time simply because you get to see your cousins, wear new clothes, lot's of good food and receiving 'ang pows' (Red packets with money). As an adult, it's not that fun anymore. The festive mood is just not there. Before the arrival of Reese, CNY is just another holiday for us to rest. Hehehe....

Now that we have Reese, we have to make sure he enjoys CNY so that he won't forget his roots. We are too westernized and tends to ignore anything Chinese. As Reese grows... I hope I can share with him what little knowledge I have about Chinese customs and history.

We already bought alot of new year clothes for Reese and getting ready some ang pow packets and money to celebrate CNY in Penang with my in-laws. Another long break for all of us and more nasi kandar and banana leaf rice for us! Hooray....

Ah... today is playgroup day for Reese....got to go get ready.

Second Playgroup

He really enjoyed himself during the sing song session.

Playing with the spider I made.

Playing with bowls...

Playing with home made dough.

Today at the second playgroup, Reese and I really love it. It's actually better than the first because this one has a good coordinator who leads the children to sing and do actions as well as story telling. It's a small place with indoor play only but it has sufficient educational toys and children are free to do arts and craft, play with puzzles and they even have 2 pet tortoises. for the kids to enjoy! Only thing is the first playgroup has much more toys for both outdoor and indoor play. It's ok... I have decided to take Reese to both! Hehehehe..... So next month onwards it's going to be 3 days of playgroup fun.

Reese felt so at home that when I left him with the coordinator to top up my parking meter... he didn't even notice that I was gone... after about 10 minutes I went back to the playgroup and as I was going up the stairs... I heard singing and clapping... immediately I thought oh noooo... Reese is going to cry.... boy! was I surprised with what I saw... Reese was right in the middle of a circle of toddlers and mummies, he was happily roaring away as they sang songs about animals making different sounds... He absolutely loved it! He was so happy laughing away as others laughed at him. I am so proud of him. :) Check out the video as I managed to capture a part of it.

I am so glad that I took him to the playgroup. It's such a joy to see your own child grow up and learn before your eyes. Gosh... I love being a mummy.

First Playgroup

Yesterday Reese attended his 1st playgroup meeting! Upon entering the premise and before I had a chance to introduce myself to the person in charge, my dear son just walk over to the play area and demanded to be let in so that he can play toys. He kept saying "Mummy carry...play toys...I want play toys..."

This playgroup is nice and the play facilities there are great. It has a big sand pit, lots of outdoor and indoor toys. Reese loves it and so do I. :)

It is free play all the way and then snack time followed by a sing song session and then ends. It's from 9.30am to 11.30am.

Snack time was like a mini buffet! There are cheese sticks, crackers, biscuits, raisins, 'keropok', bread sticks, banana cakes, fruits and drinks. The little kids just love snack time. All except Reese will sit down and eat their snacks happily. My little one.... loves the toys so much that mummy had to feed him while he plays.

When it's time to go, Reese refused to go home. Kept saying he wants to go on the slide, play toys.... So after some reasoning with him, he allowed me to carry him to the car! While driving home, he kept saying "I wanna play 'nana' (other) children" " I wanna play sand" " I wanna play toys".

I also realized that Reese is the biggest in terms of size among kids his age. I expected him to be smaller as compared to Caucasians after all he is Asian but apparently I am wrong. Ha!
All the parents commented he is TALL, BIG, WOW! REALLY GOOD SIZE..... hehehe... my son is like a little giant.

I had a good time chatting with other parents too. Can't wait to go next week. Oh...today we are going to try out another playgroup. Can't wait!

Playing sand

Snack time

Random Things for the Record

What he said

It's funny how kids think and make sense of things. Whenever Reese doesn't want something, instead of saying "I don't want (something)" he will say "I want don't want (something)" At first it doesn't make much sense but on deeper thought it does! It's directly telling you he want not to want something.... hahaha... are you confused by my sentence?

Reese's first rhyme!

Yesterday before bedtime, he suddenly started to say this and later decided that he likes it. He kept repeating it.

Mak-mee
make mee mee
Mak-mee
make mee mee

Translation: Mummy makes mee mee (noodles)

He usually calls me mummy but once in a while just to make fun of me he calls me mak-mee.

Drawing


Remember I told you that Reese took an interest in drawing? Well... he will scribble a little and demand us to draw things for him. Below are some stuff we drew over a few sessions with Reese. Each session will last about 5 to 15 minutes. Reese will ask us to draw fireworks, fountain, vulture, butterfly, chandelier, hot air balloon, waterfall, balloon, castle, tall buildings.....

Phobia

Last Saturday we went for a wedding dinner (first time for Reese) and end up being the shortest we ever been and one that we didn't get to eat at all! So what happened?

Reese darling was having a great time running around the ballroom looking at his favourite lanterns for an hour (we thought great...looks like it's going to be ok...) and when the dinner was about to begin.... everyone started clapping when the bride and groom entered....Reese started to cry like there is no tomorrow!! We tried to pacify him and it didn't work. He kept asking to go to my car and wants to go home.... It's so embarrassing.... so what to do? we went home and went to Mcdonalds to 'ta pau' dinner!

How to overcome his phobia?

27 Months Milestones

This month.... one of the significant differences is his speech. He speaks in sentences now. Talks alot and knows how to communicate his wants efficiently through speech. He practically talks non stop. Every minute there will be something that he can think of to talk about! :)

We are enjoying it and in fact it's so much fun talking to him and being amazed by him with what he can say....

Some interesting things that he did and say over the past month:

1. (Poh poh was telling him not to do this and that....) "Poh poh go in the room! Poh poh stay inside, cannot go out!"

2. (Playing with Poh poh on the bed) "Poh poh sit down.... (Poh poh was not paying attention) "Poh poh listen!! sit down"

3. "Reese want to drink milk and oik oik" (sleep)

4. "Mummy draw big red fireworks! I want draw fireworks!"

5. " I want go beach play, make sandcastle!"

6. "What's coming next? Waterfall" (saying it perfectly clear and fast)

7. "Who fall to the water? Steve falls to the water, Helen falls to the water...." (referring to the book Spots and friends)

8. "Who holding the blue pencil? Cheh cheh holding the blue pencil.."

9. " Don't want to go Poh poh's place..."

10. " I want daddy build tall towers"

11. "What's daddy doing?"

12. "What happen to the daddy?" (Reese loves to ask what happen to many things....)

He has shown an interest in drawing. We have been sitting with him and draw things on paper. He will scribble and demand us to draw things and he will talk about them... The only thing he can draw is RAIN...hehehe...

He can also count and understand how to do it. Occasionally missing the number 2. :) Yesterday he surprised me by counting up to 29! Then out of curiosity I continue counting and introduced 30, 31 and waited for his response and he went on 32...33....35.... I think he understand how to name the numbers! Smart boy.... When he is in the mood he will count anything in sight. Usually up to 12.

Reese's memory is fantastic! He is getting very good with people's name, cartoon characters' name!! He knows the names of all the people that are close to him. He knows the cartoon characters and book characters' names very well. Even other children and aunties and uncles he met over the weeks! All we need to do is to tell him once or twice...and he remembers them... not bad huh?

Reese is also improving his mandarin! Didn't really make an effort to teach him mandarin because I am a banana myself...hahah... but never the less he pick up some new words and even can help me sing one mandarin song.... :) he now knows about 20+ words in mandarin. He also pick up some malay words like 'baju' and 'kacau' and Cantonese. Will try to teach him more indirectly.

Reese is growing big! It's increasingly difficult to carry him! Daddy put him on the scale and he is now 16.5kgs! Crazy I tell you. Every where we go people will say he is 3+ or 4 years old!

Few days back, daddy bought him a pair of jeans and the size? 4 yrs!! It's long but the waist line was just nice. He has got a big tummy!

He has a good appetite when it comes to food he LIKES. He takes adult portion when it comes to noodles. Still doesn't take rice and now dislike porridge too. Even abc pasta in his soup he will kinda reject it. Taken a liking to toast and toast in his mushroom soup. Now he will even tell you what he wants for dinner!

He is super active and loves running around the house. Still not very good at imaginative play.

Oh...and he seems more sociable and able to sort of play with other kids. Not afraid of strangers at all but will usually ignore them and go do whatever he wants...hehehe.. He has no sense of fear of losing his parents in public places. :(

Still not potty trained... hehe... parents are lazy...will do so next month. Still not sure that he is ready.

Phobia: Still afraid of large crowd of people clapping.

New Year Eve

Ah....so what did we do to mark the end of the year? We had a satisfying dinner follow by some playtime around a shopping mall which was having a carnival like party! Then it was home and get the little one to bed and later woke up for the spectacular fireworks. Overall it was quite a good end for all of us as compared to last year when all we can do is to stay home with a little baby.... well..maybe not so little in terms of size... hehehe...

We went to Dave's at One U and had alot of pork! We had the pork belly shavings, another pork dish (can't remember the name), ox tail soup and mushroom soup (just for Reese). Dinner was good and will definitely go back again.

Then we went to get a couple of helium balloons given free at the carnival. Reese had a blast playing with them and also looking at some very tall performers (on stilts) walking around greeting people.... Mummy being the kiasu type only manage to get him 2 helium balloons and attempted a few more times to get more but failed... hehehe....

While mummy went to get more balloons, daddy entertained the little one. After that... we all had some fun with the balloons untill it was time to go home.... little Reese refused to move...he just wanted to continue playing but we managed to drag him home....phew...

For the first time, Reese got to watch the fireworks display for a few minutes; we missed the one at HK Disneyland... daddy decided to wake him up... we watched it for a few minutes.... then he requested to go back to the room... then looked through our window for more and back to sleep... next day...he kept saying "go light kakak's room pink fireworks!" ......

At Dave Restaurant