Wondah Woman & Lemonade Awards

I received these 2 lovely awards from Mummy Gwen. Thank you very much!

The rules of this award:

* Put the logo on your blog.
* Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
* Let them know that they received this award by commenting on their blog.
* Share the love and link to this post.

Would like to share some lemonade with these Wondah Women. ;-)
Anggie, Jacss and SueSue

8 Random Things About Me

I owe Mummy Gwen this tag for quite some time already. I've done it last year, but would like to share more about me so we can get to know each other better. Apart from this 8 Random Facts About Me, here's another 8 :

1. I feel guilty if I don't brush my teeth at night. So sometimes if I've fallen asleep with the kids, I'll get up to brush them if I happen to wake up in the middle of the night, even at 3am. Siao or not?

2. I attended 2 years of kindergarten (2 different kindy), which is quite rare for my generation. I don't know, maybe my parents thought I'm a nuisance staying at home. LOL

3. My ambition when I was in secondary school was to be a policewoman. Too much influence from the Hong Kong TVB series at that time, especially with very good looking male cops. :p

4. I'm rather quiet, a person with few words. My girl definitely didn't inherit this trait of mine. When in a big group, I tend to be the listener. Maybe in a one-on-one conversation, I'll have more things to say. :D

5. I have sweaty palms. Very troublesome during school examinations (need to bring along hanky) and rather embarrassing when need to shake hands with people or hold hands on dates.

6. Since I got my motorcycle license at 18 years old, it has been my common mode of transportation till I started working in KL. I'd go anywhere in Penang on my bike. And during my Uni days, I'd go around campus on my bike too. But after so many years of not riding one, I don't dare to ride on my own anymore. Don't mind riding pillion, though.

7. I don't have good fashion sense. When I try on clothes, I need to 'consult' hubby if they look good on me. Usually I need his green light before I buy them. Hubby always complain that I can't make my own decision.

8. I have small feet, size 4. Soon, XY and I can share footwear already. hehehe

Would like to tag some "rather new" blogger friends, hoping to know you better.
Fussy Mum, Mummy Moon, NomadicMom, Irene, Mummykhong and Doreen

2½ years old

CE turned 2½ years old yesterday. I was supposed to scrap his photo and upload it after the kids have fallen asleep but I fell asleep with them. :p Here's the 1-day late updates.

Statistics (measured on 14-11-08)
Weight - 13.6 kg
Height - 97.5 cm

Alphabets
He's now familiar with all the capital letters. Some of the small letters (that look different from the capital letters) which he can recognise are e, n, r and t.

After he's arranged the ABCs like a choo choo train on the floor, he likes to say out the alphabets. He also likes to read out the alphabets on boxes, bottles and cards that he's playing with. When he's spelling the word while looking at it, he sometimes reads them from right to left. At times when I correct him, he doesn't want to follow but insisted on spelling from right to left.

Speech Development
He can now recite the numbers 1 - 10 in Mandarin. 1 - 4 needs a little prompting but he can 'sing' (coz he speaks with a slang :D) from 5 onwards.

He likes to ask questions and answer himself. For example, while holding a blue hanger, he'll ask "What colour dis (is this)?" and answer himself, "Blue!" Another game he likes to play is the wrong answer game. He'll come tap PaPa's hand, "Kakak! No... PaPa!" Then he'll go to Kakak, touch her then say, "Jie jie! No... Kakak!" He thinks it's so amusing. :-)

Colours & Shapes
Colours that he can recognise are blue, green, red, pink, purple and black (white is black to him too :-|). He gets mixed up between yellow and orange.

Shapes he knows : circle, oval, square, triangle, diamond, heart and star.

Motor Skill
While I hold his hand, he tries to walk up the stairs by taking 1 step with 1 foot, instead of placing both feet on a step, before going up the next step. Meaning one foot on Step 1 then another foot on Step 2. He cannot balance very well without assistance. As for walking down, it's still 2 feet at a step.

Gargling
Now he's not so resistant to brushing teeth. I keep telling him that if he doesn't brush his teeth, his mouth will be smelly and Mommy won't kiss him. hahaha Still haven't introduced toothpaste to him yet. Sometimes he doesn't want to gargle. So I've to fill 2 cups, 1 for him and 1 for me. We gargle together and take turns to spit the water out.

Kisser
He thinks that a kiss can ease away the pain. If I'm in pain (either because he's hit me or my own clumsiness), he'll give the affected area a kiss, even the legs. o.O If he's hurt himself on any part of his body, he'll come to me and demand for a kiss. Any kiss is acceptable - wet kiss or flying kiss, as long as it has a smacking sound.

Every now and then, he'll come near me and say "Kiss, kiss" then give me a smack on the lips. Sometimes it's by force where he'll turn my head with both hands to face him. Makes me feel so loved. :-)

Movie Day

Yesterday, SIL and I brought the kids (XY, CH and CE) and our maids to watch Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. We went out in the morning. As planned, we shopped around for awhile (and spent some money at Jusco's amusement centre), had lunch (the food at Food & Tea Hong Kong Restaurant isn't very nice), then watched the movie. Also did some grocery shopping and spent some more money on the battery operated horse rides.

SIL bought 2 large popcorn. The kids started to enjoy their popcorn before we entered the cinema. Even the one who's just recovered from flu and cough (yes, that li'l CE) can't stop asking for more popcorn.

This time, CE didn't nap in the cinema, unlike the last 2 movie outings. At the beginning, he watched the show while munching the popcorn. But his attention didn't last long. Apparently he's more interested in the popcorn than the movie. He wanted to hold the popcorn box himself and when I put my hand in to take some, he barked "No!" o.O

I was afraid he'll get sore throat from eating so much popcorn so I gave the box to jie jie. Of course he protested and kept hitting me. So I whacked him back. Then he cried loudly. :-| Luckily he was pacifiable and didn't cry too long. I gave him a few more popcorn and after he's finished those, he played with the empty box. When he remembered jie jie has some more, he tried to grab hers. When I stopped him, he hit me again. That started the cycle of boy hit mommy, mommy whack boy, boy cry, mommy pacify boy, watch movie. Somehow, we survived the whole show.

XY, on the other hand, enjoyed the movie thoroughly. How not to when she got to eat popcorn, raisins and sweet, so much junk within that short 1.5 hours? CH, who's been to the cinema many times, were very well behaved. He enjoyed the movie while eating popcorn but fell asleep towards the end of the show.

Here's a photo taken last Friday. PaPa bought the headgears from McDonald's. When he got back from work, he wore them for the kids and took their photos. But they (especially didi) weren't very cooperative. They had their eyes glued on the tv (watching PHDC).

~ the tv addicts ~

Traumatised

CE is almost fully recovered. Thanks for all your get-well wishes. It was really traumatic feeding him medicine. Not sure if he was more traumatised or I am. :-|
I tried to bribe him with junk food/snacks. "Dowan!"
I used the cute Grover spoon. "Come, Grover give you medicine." "Dowan!"
I threatened him, "You eat it yourself or else PaPa will catch you later." *shake his head and sulk/run away*
So no choice, have to force feed him.

This round, he was on medication for 2 days (3 times a day, 3 types each time). I only fed him twice. After that, I waited for PaPa. The little fella's just too strong for me. I can't hold him down, even with Kakak's help. His struggling and crying got worse with every feeding. So when he was much better on Sunday, we decided to stop the medication.

Then he had runny nose again yesterday - watery mucus kept flowing out of his nose. Since he only needed the flu medicine, I added it into his milk. Good thing he didn't realise it. *phew*

Annual Concert 2008

We attended XY's kindy's 6th Annual Concert cum Graduation Night on Saturday. For such event, the digital camera and video camera are a must. Unfortunately, the cameras decided to go on strike. :( Before we left the house, PaPa was checking the video camera and then the tape compartment can't close back. It was faulty the last few times we used it, but somehow we still managed to make it work. But this time, it just 'die-ded'. So we asked BIL to bring his video camera as they're going for the concert as well.

Anyway, the school has engaged a professional videoman to capture the event and I've already put in my order for the DVD. But with a personal video camera, we can zoom in on our 'star'. hehehe As for the DSLR, its battery 'die-ded' halfway while PaPa was taking photos during her dance. Yeah, the smart me charged the (faulty) video camera but forgot to check the digital camera. *knock on own head*

~ the tape got stuck ~

XY was involved in 2 performances - percussion and dance. As there weren't enough Year 6 students, some of the Year 5 students were included in the percussion. I think she was playing the clarinet. Can't see what she's holding from where we're seated.

~ mickey ears for the percussion performance ~

There were some hiccups during the event. They had technical problems with the curtain. Some of the children were a bit lost on stage, especially the 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds. Some got too nervous and forgot their speech. But I'd say being on stage in front of so many audience and not cry is already a big achievement for the kids. Must give a big applause to all the teachers and students for their great effort.

Luckily XY did fine. She came out in her rabbit costume and introduced her dance, Tarzan. While practising at home, I kept reminding her to speak loudly and clearly. And boy was she loud! She was holding the microphone too close to her mouth. So her voice came out too loud in the auditorium. This happened every time the student held the microphone themselves. If it was put on the stand, the volume was alright.

~ "rabbit" introducing her dance ~

~ Tarzan dance ~

We stayed till the end for the prize giving ceremony. For the colouring contest organised by her school, she got 2nd in her class. Once we got home, she immediately asked me to open up the present.

~ the masterpiece ~

~ the prize : stamping set ~

Phew... the much anticipated concert night's over. Here starts the one and a half months school holidays. Will I survive? :-)

Back From The Clinic

Yesterday night at 10, didi developed fever (37.8ºC). Gave him a dose of paracetamol. Good thing the fever hasn't returned since then. He was tossing and turning the whole night. And was breathing loud and hard and fast. I was so worried something's wrong. Wished that the hours would pass by faster so that we can bring him to see his paediatrician in the morning.

At the clinic, he was as active as ever. We were the only patient there so he was playing happily with the balls and slide. He didn't fuss much when the doctor checked him. Doctor said his right ear is slightly red. Arrrgh! Ear infection again! Must have spread from the throat. Dr prescribed flu, cough and wheezing medicine and ear drops. I took the antibiotics to standby, in case his condition gets worse.

Didi waved and said "Bye" to Dr when we asked him to. Dr commented that he was behaving much better compared to jie jie when she was his age. I guess he could still remember her screaming and crying the minute she went into his room. :D

Back home, I gave him the medicine. Had to force feed coz he wasn't cooperative. Sweet talking to him didn't work. Letting him fill up the syringe with medicine didn't work. Letting him pump the medicine into his mouth didn't work either. But he didn't mind taking and pumping water into his mouth. :-|

45 minutes after taking all the medicine, you get this...

~ too tired ~