Read Aloud : Books we enjoy

One of Reese favorite from young. It's about a little caterpillar eating it's way to different kind of food and eventually became a butterfly. Reese learned about cocoon and how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The fun part of this book is that on a number of pages there are punch holes representing the part that the caterpillar ate! You can also do counting as it shows how many of each fruit/food the caterpillar ate. It's a fun book. Our book is the board book version so it is more hardy. :)

I have started to do read aloud story sessions with Reese a week back. I started with this treasury. It is a great collection of all time favourite classics. There are 12 books in this collection.

We are reading Caps for Sale (1947) a tale of a peddler, some monkeys and their moneky business. Repetition and humor make Caps for Sale a great read-aloud experience. Reese loves to engage in the furor of the peddler and the antics of the monkeys and delight in mimicking the tsz, tsz,tsz sounds.

As we read this story, we also try to act out the story. It's fun. We pretended to be a monkey, we talk about the many colours of caps. I am planning to do some craft base on this.

Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955)
Reese loves baby Harold. Harold is representative of every child; he is a creator and a person of action. His imagination empowers him but also brings him safely back to his bedroom. He has the magical ability to create two-dimensional worlds that satisfy the needs of his three-dimensional being.

Some of the activities we do that relate to this story are drawing baby Harold's adventure. I am not an artist but it's very simple to draw what baby Harold drew. :) We talk about the things that baby Harold encountered as well as his emotions.

Two achivements today!

First achievement

Reese asked to go toilet because he needed to poo poo... but in his actual words he said " Mummy, want to go shh shh" hehehe.... then later in the day he asked Kakak to bring him to the toilet because he wanted to shh shh and he actually urinated. He was diaperless the whole day except for nap time. Had two accidents. Not bad... this is only his 4rd day training and first full day training. I am so proud of my son. Oh... my mother helped me to train him today. :)

Second achievement

Reese had rice for dinner!!! Yes... yes...yes... he ate rice with some yummy meat gravy that my mom made and secretly we added some vegetables in it. I hope he will continue accept different food so that it is alot easier for me to prepare his daily food menu.

28 Months Milestones

Gosh... time flies isn't it?

Just a quick update on my boy's milestones:

Vocabulary - learning more and more and I lost count some months back. He uses big words too like chandelier , eskekerter (escalator), beautiful, cocoon etc... :)

Speech - Very impressive lately. He speaks in sentences 95% of the time. He uses alot of adjectives. Sometimes in one sentence he can use as many as 3 adjectives to describe a noun. :) He also uses adverbs to describe verbs!!

Pronunciation - Getting very good at it. Even strangers can understand what he says.

Phonics - He already mastered all the sounds of the alphabets. I need to move on to diphthongs.

Chinese Language - He knows over 30 words and learning some adjectives and verbs.

Rhymes - He can recite Humpty Dumpty, Peas Porridge, Twinkle twinkle little star, Jack and Jill completely.

Songs - Can't really sing in tune yet but can recite alot of the lyrics like Wheels on the bus, row row your boat, head and shoulders etc...

Counting - Can recite up to 29 and with help can also recite up to 39. He can count up to about 5. Real counting. :) He understand what many and more are.

Read Aloud time: He has shown interest in me reading stories to him. So I have started on one of the homeschool books I bought for him. He seems to enjoy it and eagerly participate with the reading aloud....

Play: Can play on his own for at least 15 minutes. Has better attention span. Willing to play with other children if they are jumping and running around or even shouting...that is fun to him. :)

Physical: He runs very fast, he can jump quite well. Last check he was able to jump at least 6 inches above ground. He can balance on one foot. He can do summersault on the bed and continues to use our mattress as his trampoline. He can shake his butt and his hand eye coordination is getting very good too. He is working on his fine motor skills alot these days.

Social Skills: Getting better, will happily play with other children and adults. Not afraid of strangers. Warms up very quickly. :)

Fine motor skills: He is learning how to take off and put on his pants and shoes. He is able to feed himself quite well using a spoon. He can open doors by turning the knob. He can easily pickup the smallest item on the floor. He can string through holes.

Potty training: In progress... :)

Self Feeding: Alot of Improvement. Can feed himself pasta, cereal, biscuits, cheese and drink from straw or cup.

Food: Drinks more milk and eat bigger portion! He is exploring with other food that he used to refuse like rice (now for fun he will take a spoon full or two from us), he eats green peas! and a variety of noodles whether fried or cook in soup. He now takes oranges and apples (he likes both now that he can chew better) oh...he also takes watermelon.

Weight and height: Hubby said he is about 17kgs now... as for height we are in the dark.

Character: Eeerrr... still too early to tell. At this stage, we are experiencing the so called terrible two stage... at times it can get worse... no words to describe that. He can be very demanding and so far, we can see that he is not the dominant type. He is very mild, not very expressive and can be easily bullied. He is smart (ahem... sorry... all parents will tell you that...hehehe) and pick up things very quickly. He is also very cheeky and playful.

Emotions: Eeerr.. till today, if either one of us pretends to be sad or cry... Reese don't feel a thing. He will continue to play without being bothered. :(

Demands: When we travel on the road, he will demand to go to a certain road or go through tunnels or a bridge and etc... He recognise the route home, to my parents place, shopping malls... the moment we change our route... he will know and demands to get back to the original route!
He likes to tell us what he wants and what he wants to do. If demand not met, well.. he will kick up a fuss and he has learnt to shout and then scream.

Drama king: My boy has learnt the art of acting. It is so obvious. When he wants something and demand not met, he will show you a pitiful face with a pitiful voice...and I tell you.. it's like a pro doing it, one second he was happy and the next he will be the sad little boy... Once he did this and we can't help it but laugh at him, he too finds it funny and immediately stop acting and laughed with us!

Creativity/Imagination: I find that Reese is not very imaginative or creative when he plays. He hardly pretends to be somebody or pretend things around him to be something else. Maybe he is still young? not sure...

Potty Training Again

Yippie!

We kinda have some success! :)

Ok... so on Sunday I decided to try potty training again with Reese after all he already turned 28 months! This time I explained to him that he cannot shh shh (urinate) on the floor nor can he do so on the mattress and he seemed to understand and even repeated after me. Then I kept asking him whether he wanted to urinate every 20 to 30 minutes and most of the time he will answer me with a " Don't want". He did wet his training pants once. Then the second time I continued to remind him not to do so.... and after an hour or so.... I saw signs that he wanted to urinate... so we quickly rushed him to the toilet and he did it. :) One problem thou, he refused to use the potty. So I had to just let him stand there and urinate...so it's kinda messy. I figure it's ok for now until he can tell me that he needs to go and then later teach him to use the potty. The last time we tried potty training, in less than 2 hours, Reese wet all three training pants and another 2 briefs...this time, only wet 1 training pants :)

Yesterday I tried again in the morning, did the same thing, kept reminding him not to urinate on the floor and kept asking him whether he wants to urinate but in 1 hour he wet his pants 3 times.. after that... I told him it's ok..but you have to tell me.... I show him the mess and told him it's not nice to urinate on the floor...bla..bla..bla.... after that... guess what? He wanted to poo... and I panicked... He kinda told me that he wanted to poo... so we went into the toilet again... i tried to put him on the toilet bowl but he refused... potty also refused... so... I let him poo standing... hehe... and queitly I tried to catch his poo! and I did it ...hehehe.... but there were bits here and there... it was kinda funny cause Reese refused to let me wash him until I clean up the poo on the floor... he is afraid of his own poo... hehe...

So yesterday was quite good.... manage to go without diapers from 8 am to 10.30am with one poo and 1 pee in the toilet. :)

Will try again today..... :) It's definately less stressful when they are ready. So my advice is don't force a child if he is not ready cause everyone will be stressful! :)

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

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.........