Outdoor Park

Yesterday I brought the kids to the outdoor park in our taman. The last time I brought them there was one year ago. (Didn't realise it was that long ago.) I don't remember PaPa bringing them to the park since then too. We don't bring them to the outdoor park often because of mosquitoes. There's an army of mozzies there and they're actually immune to the mozzie spray we applied.

The park was still in good condition last year. But now it's in a really pathetic state. It's poorly maintained, or should I say, not maintained at all. The equipments are very dirty and some are broken. But kids being kids, what do they care about cleanliness and insects crawling everywhere. They still enjoyed themselves.

~ so dirty... yuck! ~

XY played with the swing and climbed the web. This monkey of mine is not afraid of heights. I taught her how to climb up high till she can reach the bar and she was so proud of herself that she managed to do that. As for didi, he was very interested to climb the slippery plank. He's supposed to hold on to the rope but of coz he doesn't know how. So Kakak had to help him and hold him. He was stationed there most of the time, climbing up and down, up and down. At times, he wanted to slide down instead of climbing.

~ my monkey in action ~

~ preparing for an obstacle course? ~

~ sliding instead of climbing down ~

Surprisingly there aren't that many mosquitoes. Probably because it's not the raining season. Very hot indeed. I just let them play for short while coz I can't wait to get them home for a bath. Eeee...

Bathing Together

XY has been asking me many times to bathe her and didi together when she sees didi in the bathroom. I haven't tried that coz the shower area (separated by shower screen in the bathroom) is quite small. They won't be able to move much (which is better, no?) and I'll need to stand at the door when they're both inside.

But the other day, I made an exception. After they played in the garden, I bathed both of them together. There's no bath tub as CE doesn't use it anymore. I just showered them while they're standing up. But still they find that fun. It was evening so don't have to shampoo their hair. I just wet their hair. After I wet their hair and body, I put soap for XY and asked her to scrub herself. Then I lathered soap onto didi. Once done, I rinsed the soap off them. Next, wrap XY in a towel. And she wiped herself dry and wore her clothes while I attended to didi.

I doubt I'll do that often as it takes longer to bathe them together. Scared they'll catch a cold. On the other hand, if they don't do this 'bathing together fun' now, it won't be appropriate anymore as they grow older. hmmm... Do you let your kids bathe together?

A little update on the sick folks at home :
Thank you so much for your well wishes. The kids are much better already, just coughing occasionally. As for me, the throat's not so painful anymore but just a little uncomfortable. Still got lots of phlegms to expel.

Feeling Under The Weather

** Warning : Boring sick post ahead. **

Felt quite horrible today. Having a very bad sore throat and runny nose. The last few days the throat was just a little uncomfortable. Today it's killing me. And it didn't help that I slept at about 2am yesterday. Was watching the TVB series that I recorded. I figured it wasn't 'harmful' coz it's supposed to be entertainment mah. (Yup, the *ss doing the thinking - stay up late not harmful. :p) Then I had to wake up extra early to send XY to kindy this morning (PaPa had to leave early for work). Moreover CE didn't sleep very well last night as he was coughing. So all that added up, the result was a zombie-looking slave. Since morning, I was already looking forward to nap time. hehehe Luckily managed to nap for a few hours with the kids.

Where did I catch the bug? It started with XY. Last week, she was coughing and having runny nose. Her cough's still not completely gone. Sounds very chesty. But she kept saying there're no phlegms. She's only spitting out saliva. Didi's also having chesty cough and runny nose. :( A few times, he coughed till he almost vomited (with the 'uuerkk' sound) but nothing came out. I suppose he doesn't know how to spit out the phlegms (although he knows how to spit out water), so he swallowed them in again. Good thing they aren't coughing continuously the whole day.

Ok, sick people at home, buck up, fight and win the war... fast!

26 Months Old

Here's an update of 26 months old CE:

Food
After he was discharged from the hospital (end of June - viral infection), he didn't quite like bland food anymore. He didn't want to eat what we cooked specially for him. Instead he wanted to eat what we're eating. So I gave him some of our food, just so he'll eat more to get back his appetite. From then on, he's been promoted (food-wise) - with a bit of light soya sauce or sesame oil in his food.

Bowel Movement
He has more bowel movements in a day after the vomiting and diarrhea episode. Previously, he only does his big business once every morning. Sometimes he'll poo up to 3 times a day coz every time he goes into the bathroom (for a bath/wipe), he'll want to sit on the potty. Luckily this only happens at home and not when we're out.

Dislike Bathing
Well, more like dislike to be 'asked' to bathe. Whenever I ask him to go upstairs to bathe, he'll not cooperate. Even when he's already inside the bathroom, naked, he'll still make a fuss. But after I start to bathe him (wet him), he's fine with it. Weird fella. I wonder if this is one of the phases that all kids will go through.

Play Driver
He's very into 'driving' lately. At every chance he gets, he'll want to be in the driver's seat, turning the steering wheel. There was once when I was going to fetch XY back from kindy, he wanted to play with the steering wheel. But I told him he can only play after we're back home. So he cried all the way from home, to kindy till we almost reached home. :-| After 2 or 3 days of crying, he sort of gets the idea that he can only "pooh pooh" (that's what he calls car) after we reached home.

Brushing Teeth
He's not too resistant to brushing his teeth anymore. He likes to stand on the chair and look at the mirror while I brush his teeth (still without toothpaste). And he's mastered the art of gargling! Yay! Sometimes he'll still drink the water, but he knows how to spit it out.

New Favourite Programme
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is no longer his No 1 tv programme. Ever since Dibo: The Gift Dragon started in July, he likes to see this purple dragon more. I've downloaded the theme song onto my laptop and he can watch it many many times (more than 10!). I'll put the cursor at the Play button so when the song's finished, he can just press the left button. Sometimes he'll press it many times (play, pause, play, pause) but after getting a stern warning from me, he'll stop pressing unnecessarily. Coz if he continues, he won't get to watch it anymore. Well, sometimes he's not that obedient. He'll only stop after I whack his hand.

Counting
He can now recite "one, two, twee, por" very well. The numbers after that are not very consistent. He surprised me one day when he said "ten, ewen, tell". Must have learnt 11 and 12 from the tv. :)
As for recognising numbers, he's more familiar with 3, 4, 8 and 9. He gets them right most of the time (but not always). When he sees 6, he'll say 9.

Stamped

This morning, I received a call from XY's kindy. When I saw the caller ID, I got a scare coz they've never called me during school hours. Within that minute, so many thoughts flashed through my mind. What has happened to XY? She didn't feel well? (Couldn't be wor, she was alright before going to school.) Did she get hurt?

While the teacher was still talking (before getting to the point), she mentioned a boy's name and immediately I thought, "Oh no! The boy did something to her?" (Coz the boy has poked her eyes before :-|) Then I was somehow relieved when she said the boy has dirtied XY's uniform with a duster (for the white board). She told me the principal said if I can't get the stain out, I can get a replacement from them (I presume the boy's parents will bear the cost).

~ the stained sleeve ~

It was really a weird coincidence that she was wearing a new uniform today (I've just bought new ones last week as the old ones are very short already) and he chose to 'stamp' her. By the way, he doesn't pick on her, he disturbs other students as well.

I searched the internet for ink removal and the only solution available at home is nail polish remover. It didn't work. So I asked Kakak to put some Dynamo, let it stand for awhile, then wash. Luckily the stain can be removed completely. I think they must have used non-permanent marker pens in class. Now it's as good as new. Phew...

Birthday Celebration For XY

For XY's birthday celebration in kindy, I sent the cake and party packs later in the morning. I also brought along didi and Kakak. The party packs are for her current and previous classmates. During the first half of the year, there were only 1 class for K1. There're 26 children with 2 teachers overseeing them in certain lessons. Then the class was split into 2 after the 2-week school holiday in June. For celebrations like birthdays, they'll combine the 2 classes during the party.

All the children were asked to sit down on the floor, facing the table. But they kept getting closer and closer to 'admire' the cake. The teacher had to warn them if they don't sit down properly, they cannot join the party. But after awhile, they're back near the table again. They were attracted to the cake like bees attracted to honey. hahaha

After the candles were lighted, the teacher switched on the birthday tune and the kids sang in English and Mandarin. XY was smiling shyly, probably coz this is the first time so many people sang a birthday song for her. Then she blew the candles and cut the cake (once). Her teacher took over and cut the cake. XY helped to distribute them to all the teachers.

~ looking shy while her classmates sang "Happy Birthday" ~

Then Kakak and didi came upstairs to the classroom. Another teacher had given didi some jelly so he was holding and playing with them (still unopened). After the kids have finished their cakes, XY distributed the party packs to them. They were asked to keep it in their bag as they were going to play some games. I left then.

PIL (from Johor) arrived in the evening. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby, together with SIL and CH. BIL couldn't make it coz he was still in a business meeting. We booked a room with karaoke (the 3 kids kept hogging the mic) and ordered the set meal. The serving was too much for 7 adults (including the maids). We forgot to tell them to make the fried rice halal. (And they weren't tactful enough to ask us... hmmphh!) So we packed home some of the food that we couldn't finish. After the meal, she had another round of sing-song, candle blowing and cake cutting.

~ cutting her 2nd cake of the day ~

As for presents, she got a mini white board from kindy. So nice of them to give her a present. I bought her some hair accessories and a bracelet. Sen Sen bought her clothes and a necklace. Mah Mah gave her a blouse.

~ presents from Mah Mah/Ye Ye and Sen Sen/Chik Chik ~

BirthdayS

XY turns 5 today. You'd say she's a big girl already but she's actually a big baby. We can reason with her most of the time but sometimes she just wants to behave like a li'l baby. Guess she wants to imitate didi, looking at the 'privileges' he has. I know it's not an easy job being a jie jie - always being reminded to show a good example to didi, having to give in to didi on most occasions. But she's a good jie jie, who adores her li'l brother no matter how much he bullies her. And the best thing about XY is that she doesn't hold grudges. She forgives and forgets easily (the happy-go-lucky type). I hope she'll always be this happy.

At 5 years old :
* She cries easily and then acts as if nothing happened the next minute.
* Very playful, will play with anything (food, insects, name tag, soap, etc), anytime, anywhere.
* Has some hearing problems. If we don't shout, she can't hear us (meaning she'll only follow our instructions if we raise our voice). Sigh...
* She has a 'sharp backside'. So she can't sit still for 10 seconds doing nothing.
* Can count from 1 to 100. Quite good in Mathematics actually. Not much problems adding and subtracting numbers below 20 (as taught in kindy).
* Her handwriting has improved a lot too.
* Very helpful at home. She usually won't complain when we ask her to get things for us.
* A 110% vain pot. She's so 'oi leng' that we have endless battles on clothes. Even when going out for a meal at coffee shops nearby, she'd want to change into "nice clothes".
* She's growing very tall (116cm, measured on 21-6-08). Now she can touch the lights and fan switches in the house by tiptoeing and reaching up her hands.
* Can be bribed easily with food. hahaha

As mentioned in my previous post, there'll be 2 rounds of celebrations. One in kindy and one with family members at night. We're planning to eat out. As for the cakes, some of you managed to guess who M is but A is a little tricky. Here's revealing the characters on her cakes.

~ Annie (from Little Einsteins) & Minnie Mouse ~

Happy Birthday, Sayang!
May you be happy and healthy always.
We love you very very much.

Today also marks the 1st Birthday for SLAVERY BLISS! I made the right decision to start my own blog. I've found so many wonderful friends via blogging. It's a great channel for a SAHM to enlarge her circle of friends. We share so much in common. There are abundance of advice, concern, warmth, and entertainment too. Although I didn't do very well writing paid posts, I'm happy enough that my paypal account isn't showing a zero balance. :p

Slavery Bliss is ONE! *yoohoo!!*