Saturday, October 31, 2009

Talking about Home and all the way to the Sun!

Something amusing that I want to record down. :)
Yesterday while driving home Reese and I played our imaginary planet game. Then after a while he said this:

Reese: Mummy!

Mummy: Yeah?

Reese: Where is home?

Mummy: Where is it sweetie pie?

Reese: Pxxx Sxxxxx. Home is in Pxxx Sxxxxx.

Mummy: Oh... clever.

Reese: Where is Pxxx Sxxxxx?

Mummy: Where?

Reese: In Seleeengorr. Pxxx Sxxxxx is in Seleeengorr (Selangor)

Mummy: *stunt* Yes baby... it is and where is Selangor? (In my heart... Daddy must have taught him)

Reese: Seleengor is in Malaysia. Malaysia is in Asia. Asia is on planet Earth. The moon goes round and round the earth. *taking a deep breath and continued* The earth is spinning round the Sun. And what happen to the planets? The planets got burned. The Sun exploded. *sound effect* Kaboosh!

Mummy: Wow! so clever. You are right Reese. *Smiling from ear to ear*

Reese: Mummy, Malaysia is on the globe....

Mummy: Yes.... :) *totally amazed*

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Sunday Roast

One of our favourite meals! It's always very satisfying to see everyone eagerly consuming this in the shortest of time! :)

Roast Chicken and potatoes with Thyme and Rosemary

Healty salad with lettuce, grapes and apple in apple cider and mayonnaise dressing

See the garlic? It goes very well with the roast

Yummy....

See Reese's hand with the fork? Can't wait to eat!

The way he eats the chicken.... it's like he hasn't eaten for days!

So hungry.... hehehe

Me.... all smiles because I feel like a successful wife and mother at that moment...hahaha

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

At home
Mummy: What are you doing Reese?
Reese: (Arranging saga seeds in a row on the floor) I want to plant the Saga seeds!
Mummy: Oh! What will happen to the Saga seeds?
Reese: Grows into a beanstalk.

At my mum's place
(Morning)
Mummy: Reese mummy will buy you some green beans to plant ok?
Reese:Mummy, I wanna plant seeds and watch it grow into beanstalk!
Mummy: Ok, we will do so.

(Afternoon after his nap)
Reese: I want to plant green beans! I want beanstalk!
Mummy: Ok, let's do it. We need a plastic container, some cotton and your watering can with water.
Reese: (Watching mummy prepare the things) Mummy, I want flower pot!
Mummy: No need Reese, we use the container.
Reese: ????
Mummy: Here, your beans... now put them into the container...... and water the beans and watch it grow. It will slowly grow....takes a few days.
Reese: I wanna see it grow into a bean stalk! (looking closely at the beans)
Mummy: Not right now dear, they will take a few days.
Reese: The beans slowly grow into beanstalk......

(The next day...)
Mummy: Reese, come look... your beans are growing!
Reese: Mummy, the beans hatched! (Smiling and very excited)
Mummy: (Laugh)

Wonders how he will react today when he sees leaves on the beans! :) Reese has been fascinated with beans and beanstalk since he saw an episode of Mickey Mouse Club House and the book Tictch. I took the opportunity to read him Jack and the Beanstalk and Freddie and Flossie Plant a Seed. So for science, he is learning about plants and how they grow and what they need.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Doll House Anyone?



This is one of the latest toy we bought for Reese. It's a doll house complete with furniture and figurines. Reese is at a stage where he likes to do imaginative play. So this new toy will give him alot of that. It can also teach him about household chores, responsibilities and many more.

The best thing is I got it cheap! Apparently a friend told me that they already closed down due to intense competition from China. They killed her friend's market with cheap imitation. So since the creator did it as a hobby or something like that, he decided to close down the business after many years because he was just fed up and angry with the imitators!

He is selling all the doll houses at a fraction of the price which includes 20 pieces of furniture, figurines and even two woven rugs from Turkey! What a super bargain.

All furniture are functional. It means all doors and drawers can be open. Soon we will get some miniature accessories to complement the house and perhaps when Reese is a little older we will teach him to paint the house and furniture! Ah.... so much fun.

The living room with daddy and mummy. Can you spot the rug?

Closer look

This doll house is huge!

Check out the bathroom. The toilet seat can open and close too.

The kitchen complete with fridge and oven..... all can be opened!

The nursery room with a wardrobe, mirror and dressing table....etc

Dining area

Monday, October 19, 2009

Building Blocks

Reese has been building blocks alot the past week and this is one of the many castles that he built entirely on his own. Mummy only helped to stabilize the structure and helping him put the blocks straight or properly so that the castle won't topple! :) He will build and rebuild again and again.

One of his castle creation

Then we took out the Lego blocks for him and this is what he built...

Do you know what this is? We asked Reese and he said "Little city"

Then daddy built him a castle of some sort... :) with four towers...


Reese decided to take charge of the garden and this is what he did...

Wanna guess? He said these were seeds that will grow into beanstalks!

Another view of the garden

He then decorated one of the towers with flowers and marbles.



My son is getting more creative and I am glad that he enjoys building.

Now I am just waiting for him to be opinionated. You know, alot of children at this age will tell you off when they don't like something or explain to you why they want something and so on..... Reese doesn't. He will just tell you he wants/don't want something and that's it. He can be cheeky but not in words. When you ask him a questions, he doesn't even know how to answer you with a yes and no and only the past two weeks we started to teach him to do so. Hehehe... He can speak well but just doesn't know how to answer questions or give opinions or explanation. We are teaching him to do so now.

Monday, October 12, 2009

When Being Bullied...

Although Reese is big in size for his age, he gets bullied easily. Even kids younger than him can bully him! He doesn't know how to fight back, if a kid tries to take away something he likes, he will just hold on to the toy and not let go. He doesn't hit or give you evil stares but maybe make some noises.

We always taught him to say please and thank you whenever he wants or given something. He is pretty good at it. 90% of the time he will use please and thank you. My heart always feels uneasy whenever he tries to take something from another child with a please and yet he doesn't get it. It's hard to explain to him that you don't always get what you want even with a please! :)

Just the other day, we took him to Ikea playland. It was his first time. He was all excited and for the first time we parents are not allow to accompany him inside. So we sat outside and watch through a glass wall anxiously. Afraid that he will fall or hurt himself.

Not too long later, we saw a boy probably 1 to 2 years older than Reese pushed him in the pool of balls. Not just once but 2 to 3 times very roughly and Reese cried so badly. He was hurt. We parents were standing outside watching in horror and can't do much! Poor Reese, the parents of the naughty boy had the cheek to laugh until they realized that we were Reese's parents then only they started to feel embarrassed and apologized! Inconsiderate parents I tell you...

Daddy was so mad that his precious got hurt. I told hubby that sometimes, we just cannot be over protective and Reese will have to learn to defend himself. Then hubby said we will have to let him play with swords and guns! *gasps* What? Is that the way? Hahahaha....

After the whole incident, while driving home, I casually asked Reese what happened at the playland, did a boy push Reese? I told him, next time if someone pushes you or treats you badly, you push the person back and walk away. He somewhat repeated after me. I wonder whether he fully comprehend what I said. In my heart I still don't feel quite right. Ask him to push back? fight back? Is that right? but if not....how do you teach your child to defend himself? At their age, reasoning with other kids definitely cannot work because they cannot communicate well.... Any good suggestions?

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

How to be separated for 2 weeks?

Hubby and I will be going to Europe next month. This will be the second time we travel without Reese. The first time was when Reese turned 10 months old. We left him with my parents for 3 days. It was difficult at that time for me because I just stopped breastfeeding him and first time away from my baby.

Coming November will be difficult for me again. I think this time it will be even more so because we will be away for 2 weeks! Now that he is aware of things, I wonder how he will take it. We have been preparing him by telling him that we are going far far away to London to buy his favourite Little Einstein Rocket (Can't find any Little Einstein merchandise here).

We have been telling him that his grandparents from Penang will be taking care of him while we are away. He seems to understand. I really hope he does. Will he cry every now and then looking for us? Will my in-laws be able to handle him when he throws his super tantrums? So many questions in my mind.

Alot of what if? too.... What if we died on a plane crash? What will happen to my child? No more parents? So scary.... what if...what if...... so much anxiety and yet so excited about my trip!

Mummies, care to share your experiences when you first left your child for a long period of time? I really need some advice and assurance..... :)

Sunday, October 04, 2009

At 3


Haven't update on Reese's milestones for a long time. Here are some updates.

Height and weight: Tall and about 19kgs+

Speech: Talkative

Vocabulary: Growing and way ahead of this peers

Reading/spelling: Reads phonetically and by memory (only when he is in the mood) and knows how to spell 20-30 words(3 to 6 letter words). Longest word that he can spell is 'rocket' and almost can spell 'mountain'. Thanks to Word World.

Numbers: Can count up 30/40 and more if prompted with 50... 60... 70... (He understands how the naming of numbers work). Can count very well.

Story Reading: Always want us to read stories to him. Every night before he sleeps, we will read to him at least 5 different books!

Memory: It's fantastic! He surprised us a month or two ago with reading his entire Goodnight Mood story without missing a word! To date, he has memorized 5 stories. He will read to you with expressions and intonation too!

Just to give you an idea of what he memorized:

I Am A Bunny (by Ole Risom)

I am a bunny.
My name is Nicholas.
I live in a hollow tree.
In the spring, I like to pick flowers.
I chase the butterflies, and the butterflies chase me.
In the summer, I like to lie in the sun and watch the birds.
And I like to watch the frogs in the pond.
When it rains, I keep dry under a toadstool.
I blow the dandelion seeds into the air.
In the fall, I like to watch the leaves falling from the trees.
I watch the animals getting ready for the winter.
And, when the winter comes, I watch the snow falling from the sky.
Then I curl up in my hollow tree and dream about spring.

This is one of the shorter stories that he had memorized. All we did with him was read to him before he goes to bed the past month.

Science: We talk about food digestion in the body (stomach, intestines....etc), where human waste goes to (talk about sewage pipes and plants), body parts (from penis, nipples to anus...etc) and we also talk about the 5 senses and how the 'messengers' will send messages to the brain. Talks about weather, planets and etc.

Social: He mix well with other children even though he still doesn't know how to get other kids to play with him. We noticed he just get into the group and start playing. :) He can play with anyone and warms up with anyone quite fast. Still doesn't know how to defend himself when being bullied.

Arts and Craft: Not interested at all.

Singing: Still sings out of tune. :) He likes adult music. Daddy has been influencing his son with rock music. At times we see Reese jumping with hands up in the air like those concert goers! Daddy is proud of him... hahaha...

Dancing: Oh boy! Reese loves to dance. He is not shy and will dance whenever he wants to.

Emotion: He has his good days and bad days. Thank God the not so good days only comes about once in a while. He is good natured in general but can be very demanding when he wants something. One thing I hate about him is when he wants something, it has to be right now and he will jump and stamp his feet and grunt! Don't know where he got that from! He is easily distracted so it's quite easy to get out of a bad situation.

I am being more firm with him now with punishment like standing at a corner. So far, cane is not necessary yet. Phew!

Food: I am thankful that now, Reese will eat almost anything. He even takes roti canai with sugar! :) His favourite food is still western but at least Chinese food he has accepted. We even took him to a Lebanese restaurant a week ago and he had pita bread with mushroom soup, some briyani mutton rice and falafel!

Play: Reese is creative in his play. He likes outdoor play alot. No longer afraid of the tunnel slide, or swing. He even go on the flying fox. He loves the Ipod. There is a chicken game that he can easily play up to level 6 or 7 on his own. Of course daddy has to show him a few tricks here and there. :)

Reese is a always smiling and also super active. He is very cheeky too.