Mummy come back and love you...

An email from my in-laws:

Hi Adrian and Florence,
 
We think Reese is starting to miss both of you. For the last 2 days he
has been repeating "Mummy come back and  love you" (meaning love him)
and he said this with slightly teary eyes.
 
Just to let you know.
 
Love
 
Mum and Dad

I am feeling so sad now... really miss my dear Reese.

CAN'T WAIT TO GO HOME AND HUG HIM!!!

Greetings from Paris

We are now in Paris, Wind here is strong and thus very cold, got to wear gloves and thicker jacket. Looking forward to visit Notre Dame. It looks great from the river cruise which we think it's not a big deal (the cruise itself) . Ha... and it's 11 Euro per person. Food is expensive and our first meal was lousy. So went to a supermarket and got ourselves some food and fruits to make our own breakfast for the next few days. :) I am already missing the good and cheap food from Rome. By the way.. the Eiffel tower is nice thou I always wonder what's the big deal with the tower? afterall it's all steel right? but when you are there looking at it... it's not just steel anymore.... it's interesting and the surrounding area also helps make it special.

Reese has no separation anxiety!

Is Reese missing us? It's been 5 days since we left for our holiday. Reese behaved well and never cried because of us not being with him! Only asking his grandparents where daddy and mummy were. So he is doing well, no separation anxiety.

I miss my son very much but also having a blast here in Rome. :) So far we managed to Skype twice with Reese and he was usually too distracted by other things than to chat with us.

So it's a good thing huh? He has no problem with us being away but I am a little sad that he is not really missing me... :)

Anyway... can't wait to see my son.

Greetings from Rome...

Having a great time here in Rome. It's our second day. Aches and pains everywhere... walking on cobble stone roads really is not easy. Sights are awesome! Food is fantastic... Looking forward to day three where we are going to the Vatican city.

One of the highlights for us is the food. We don't just walk in to any eating places as we sight see... hubby did alot of research on food in Rome. Some of the best food in Rome. These are frequent by locals and not tourist. First night here took us more than 30 to 40 minutes to locate a nice pizza shop... walking through alleys and backlanes and going around in maze! It was really worth it! Current favourite restaurant is Cul De Sac. Famous place. Was given a number initially and told to wait 30 minutes...but lucky us, they found us a place but we had to share a table with another couple! Nice experience and they have a wide selection of wine...thou we don't drink... :) Ah.... can't wait to go back and try other stuff.

It's been a long time since hubby and I went on holiday alone... :)

Me...so fat... really need to go workout...

Very thick fava bean soup

Involtini ala romana (Veal wrapped in some stuff and fried)

Fantastic pizzas... just different from the ones in KL

On the bridge (Ponte Sisto)

Santa Maria Church in Trastevere

Temple of Saturn at Roman Forum

Colosseum

Unknown... just found it nice...haha

In Rome and maid ran away!

Barely had time to unpack in the hotel and got a text message from my sister that it's urgent that I call back! When my sister called, she said.... Your maid just ran away!

What a perfect start to my holiday huh? Damn.... how can she do that? there is no indication what so ever. Now my poor in-laws will have to take care of Reese alone.

Hey... that maid of mind will not spoil my holiday!!! Yesterday after skyping with my father-in-law and sister, hubby and I went for a stroll in Rome's city centre. We went into the first church and was totally in awe of what we saw! Beautiful. Had our first pizza for dinner and it was really good.

Going to upload some pictures soon! When I get back, I will blog about my maid's story. Everyone seems to have one anyway. I though I was really lucky that my maid is not the running type...I am sooooo wrong.

Stay tune... today I am going to the Coliseum and Palatine hill and more yummy food!

Woot! I am flying today!

Yippie.... I am flying to Europe today..... it's now 4.03am!!! I woke up 10 minutes ago and can't sleep! bleh! Excited and sad at the same time. I am going to miss Reese sooooo much. Bringing our laptop and hope that we can do video conferencing!

Most probably no blogging for the next 3 weeks....but might have a post or two if I get connected and not too tired from all the walking! :) Bye for now!!

Got a favourite routine?

Waiting for breakfast

Can't wait to eat his doughnut

See the chocolate trail around his mouth? :)

I love my Friday morning routine with Reese. We will send the maid to my mom's place and then we go to the playgroup. Before going to the playgroup, we will have breakfast at a nearby bakery. It's something I really enjoy with Reese. Great bonding time. It's a nice neighbourhood and walking towards the bakery is always fun (We rarely walk on the streets!). We talk about the things we see and it's great learning experience for Reese. At the bakery, he will have his favourite chocolate doughnut and hot chocolate while I will have a pastry. Then it's play time to play at the playgroup. After the session, I will fetch Reese back to my mom's place before I head off to work. Can't afford to eat at the bakery all the time.... it's expensive! Hehehe...

Fun activity for this month....

Green beans (The easiest plant to grow)

Thyme growing after 4 days of planting

Isn't it lovely? Can't wait to harvest my own herbs!

One of the activities we are doing now. Planting beans and seeds! Last week we went to ACE hardware shop to get some soil and a packet of seeds. What did I get? I got a packet of Thyme seeds. I didn't have much expectation. All my life, never really successful in planting anything except some spring onions! :)

A few weeks back, Reese and I planted some beans and Reese was so excited seeing the beans grow. So last week we discarded the old bean sprouts and planted new ones. Then Reese kept insisting on planting a plant in a flower pot with real soil (Influenced by his books). So after 2 weeks delay... we finally got the soil, seeds and pot.

Last Monday, we planted the seeds. Reese love the entire process of putting soil into the pot to planting the seeds. Then very patiently he waited every day for the plant to grow and yesterday morning, when we went to my mom's place... surprise! little leaves are beginning to grow... I was so excited... thought it is going to be a failure. What a nice surprise. Both Reese and I squatted around the pot and admire the growth! Hahahaha.... If this is successful... I am going to buy more herb seeds to grow. Buying fresh herbs is so expensive here. Maybe try Oregano next. Oh.... and I am going to show Reese root vegetables that grows easily... like onions.... :)

It's getting closer.....

Ah..... 1 week to my much anticipated Europe trip. As the date gets closer I am getting more confident that Reese will be ok without us. I am not feeling guilty at all now. :) In fact, I can't wait to get on that plane and land on the cold country and 'pak toh' with hubby like what we used to do before having Reese. So excited.

This weekend is going to be busy busy busy. Hubby needs to work. We need to pack our bags, need to go to the market and stock up fruits, vegetables and meat. Need to precook Reese's sauces for spaghetti and mushroom noodles and extra chicken stock for 2 weeks. I am a bit fussy when it comes to Reese's food. I don't trust the maid to cook them the way I want it. She can only cook a few things for Reese that I approved. Oh I also need to work out the daily meals for mother-in-law. So grateful that my in-laws are helping out to take care of little rascal king!

Mmmmm... already dreaming of 2 weeks of pure relaxation and fun with hubby ALONE. No work, no need to watch over Reese and no need to supervise the maid.

Quite a mouthful...

This is one of Reese's current favourite book. The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco. When I first read the story aloud to Reese, I had some difficulties pronouncing the names of the characters! Even hubby finds it difficult... hehehe...

Here are the names in the story:

Marry Ellen
Mrs. Govlock
Baby Sylvester
Olav Lundheigen (this is a killer)
Petra and Dorma Hermann
Einar Tundevold
"Klondike" Berha Fitchworth (quite a mouthful when reading fast)
Feduciary Longdrop

I actually struggled initially to get used to saying those names as I read aloud the story to Reese and because the story is fast pace, I had to add in more expression and speed as I read along and thus makes it more difficult to read those names fluently! But it was fun... :)

Yesterday during our morning breakfast routine, I read him The Bee Tree while he munched on his cheese sandwich, he surprised me again. As usual, I will read part of the story and he will fill in the bits and pieces here and there. Then he started to say most of the characters'names in the book and with almost perfect pronunciation. I am truly surprised. I mean, we are Asians and these are not common names at least not in our 'world' and yet he can say them like everyday names!

This is a great book in the sense that it is a fast pace adventure involving a grandfather and his granddaughter chasing after some bees to the bee tree and meeting neighbours along the way...

From this book, Reese learned about bees gathering pollen from flowers, what is a bee tree, honey comb and how honey is made and also some other vocabs.

37th month Milestones

So what's new? mmmm... nothing much to report. Everything is going on the upward scale.

Oh, Reese is increasingly more sociable with other children. So much so that he scared away a little girl last week at Midvalley. He was trying to hold the little girl's hand and when that failed... he tried to hug her! hehehe... Wish I was there to witness that. He loves to imitate other children when at play. He loves to play chase.

He really enjoys programs that features dance and sing routines. He will dance non-stop for at least a good 40-60 minutes. We will have to repeat the dance song up to 10 or more times.... He has alot of energy!

Lately showing slightly more interest in drawing and the usage of pencils. Trying to teach him to hold the pencil correctly. I think he is a confirmed lefty. It makes it difficult to teach him to write in the future since I am right-handed.

He loves to listen to stories read aloud. As he gets familiar with the stories, he will participate in the story 'reading'. He actually has a pretty deep understanding of the stories read to him. He is able to answer most of the questions related to the stories. Very impressive. Current favourite is Hans Christian Anderson's stories and The Bee Tree.

He loves to build things from blocks, chips and whatever he can find.

He is easier to control these days with reasoning and sometimes threats. He doesn't like mummy to be angry with him. :)

Loves to have mummy hug him to sleep and mummy loves that too! One of the weird things mummy likes to do is blowing raspberry on his armpits...and that will result in uncontrollable giggles and laughter from Reese. ;)

Trying to maintain his weight of 18+ kgs and last check of his height was around 104cm.

Did I tell you that he loves going to his playgroup and always refuses to go home? :)

As my child grows older...

As he walked confidently towards the fountain without looking back....
Met some kids and he smiled at them....
Saw a little girl and affectionately tried to hold her hands...
When he saw rejection... he tried to hug her...
When that failed too he went to another older girl who happily accepted him...
They played together...
They laughed together...
They had fun for a good 30 minutes...
My son enjoys playing with other children and it is getting more apparent that he wants company...
He is bored being alone... :)

Next year we will let him attend the playgroup kindergarten so that he will have more friends and he can polish his social skill. Even though I am homeschooling him, it is essential that he has friends and what I like about this playgroup kindy is that it only runs 4 days a week for 3 hours daily. Very small group, only about 12-13 kids (ages 3-6) with 2-3 teachers. They do not push children to excel in academic but rather let them learn at their own pace and learning through play. Reese is familiar with all the teachers and the surrounding. I know the teachers as well. I think it' going to be great for him! Can't wait for him to start in January....

Reese's Going High Tech...

After months of consideration, we finally bought Reese a Macbook (Just a week or so Apple upgraded the specs for it). So now with a laptop, Reese can play his favourite games (which is actually learning!) and I can use it for his homeschooling both at home and at his grandparents place. And hopefully I will blog more too! :)

The laptop comes with a multi touch pad which we thought it's too complicated for Reese but so far, Reese has no problem navigating his favourite sites with the touch pad. I guess we can save some money getting him a wireless mouse. :)

He was so excited about it that after his nap he looked at us and said "I want the Macccbook, I want to see the Maccccbook!"

So excited....

Using the multi touch screen like an expert

See the little fingers at work?

mmmm.... why so slow? (waiting for a screen to load)

Full concentration