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Bible Verse of the Day |
Ethan and Hannah had a Chinese New Year school celebration last Friday, where the kids were requested to dress up in their traditional attire or something red. Managed to snap this cute picture before we left for school.
Adorable, ain’t it?
She specifically requested me to plait her hair that way for her. 
Before it goes way past Chinese New Year and I have another to-do post to publish, allow me to take you back to the not too distant past and share how we celebrated our Christmas last year.
Our Christmas Eve was spent in Taiping, and although most adults looked forward to the steamboat dinner, the kids’ highlight of the day would be the paddle pool session, courtesy of Ethan & Hannah’s Patrick Ah Chek. It was an impromptu session, so I did not pack the kids’ swimsuits, but we made do with shorts and tank tops anyways.
It was certainly a welcome activity in the hot scorching weather (if only the pool was bigger, I would have hopped in myself!). The kids really enjoyed themselves, save for cousin Jonathan, who was taking his afternoon nap.
Definitely a great prequel to the yummy steamboat dinner we had at home that night. No fancy restaurant could beat a cozy gathering at home with family, and warm food for the tummy…
…and that’s how it came to be…all the screaming and noise died down when the four cousins fell to the temptation of ice cream…
All the bowls had equal amounts of ice cream, but Hannah, no surprise at all, finished her bowl first and asked for seconds…look at her eyeing Phoebe’s bowl…
After-dinner activity for the kids: Uncle Tee Bin busy *hiding* candy canes on the Christmas tree, and then getting the kids to look for them.
Next: gift time! Because of logistic reasons and because “some people” were too eager to open their presents, we had a first round of gifts that Christmas eve.
We went to church after that, and only came back home after midnight. The kids were really tired and fell asleep soundly.
And so did I.
On Christmas Day we took a drive to Ipoh, and the kids were very excited to see Ah Ma and Ah Kong again. It was very apparent that they’d missed my Dad because they kept sticking close to him, especially Hannah.
We had a scrumptious dinner at a restaurant which frankly serves the best chicken chop ever
It was back home to Penang the next day where we had a few more presents to open. Ethan had handpicked a present especially for Hannah, from himself:
…and he was visibly touched when he found out that Hannah also had a gift for him. He was eagerly looking forward to opening it.
They won’t let me call them “Baby” anymore, but I still do..sometimes.
Today both Ethan and Hannah got ready to go to school. Ethan is in Kindergarten 2 this year and Hannah is starting off in Playgroup level. They had both been looking forward to this day for months, and Ethan had been planning with his sister on how she should wait for him after dismissal, how he would hold her hand and take her to her class, etc. The night before, Ethan was too excited to fall asleep, and I believe he only slept at around midnight.
It was a miracle we managed to get ready and left the house at about 8:15a.m. this morning.
Then again, miracles happen when kids cooperate, wouldn’t you agree?
So anyway, we arrived in school and we found out the kids’ new class names. Ethan very independently walked up the stairs to his new K2 class and started playing with his friends again.
As for Hannah, since it is her first time in school, there is an orientation program that lasts till the end of next week, where the parent is allowed to accompany the child in class to sort of ease the process of being in school, away from the parent. This is a very important step to alleviate separation anxiety where possible, and during this period, Hannah’s class will only run for 2 hours a day.
Well, she seemed okay today, and was willing to sit on her own listening to stories and doing her art and crafts. She was also very happy and enjoyed herself while playing in the playground. Of course, it certainly helped that she had already been going to this same school for her once-a-week parent-toddler class the previous year and her teacher was the same one she had.
Lunch, consisting of meesuah soup, was served at about 11:30a.m., and Hannah readily finished the entire bowl. Afterward she even had a few slices of apples.
After her class had dismissed, we waited a few minutes for Ethan’s class to end and went for lunch.
In the late afternoon, Hannah fell asleep and took a very LONG afternoon nap. Must have been tired from all that running around in school!
Another day beckons tomorrow! 
On one of the days when I was running out of ideas on how to occupy the kids’ time, I decided to try this Bean Sorting exercise I had read about in one of my newly-acquired homeschooling books. It was an activity I felt both Ethan and Hannah could share and enjoy..and I was right.
I made use of the Organic Soup Mix beans that I had, and explained to them both that the task was to sort the beans according to type and color into separate cups. They had to work together to complete the task.
It was fun to see how attentive both Ethan and Hannah were, trying to complete the task on hand. I assisted in telling them that they could each take a different type of bean and then sort that out.
They were done in about 15 minutes.
And then I asked them to count the beans in the individual cups and I provided some sticker labels to label the number of beans.
Kids enjoy simple pleasures in life - and they were so proud of their “completed assignment” that day and couldn’t wait to show Daddy when he got home.
Scrap Credits
Child’s Life Kit from Elo Designs
Weight
13.5 kilos or maybe more!
Height
Actually she was previously about 89cm or 90cm , but I recently took her height measurement, and it was around 91cm.
Teeth
19 teeth, or almost there… Right now, she has 4 incisors on the upper jaw, 3 incisors bottom jaw; 2 canines upper jaw, 2 canines bottom jaw; 4 pramolars and 4 more back pramolars are making their appearance slowly but surely.
Developmental Milestones
Hannah: Mommy, what are you eating?
Me: Oh, I’m eating tomyam noodles.
Hannah: Is it spicy? Can I try?
Me: It’s a little bit spicy, Hannah.
Hannah: A little bit spicy?
Me: Yes
Hannah: Why only a little bit, Mommy? Why not a LOT?
Toilet Training
Toilet training for peepee still in progress. She can more or less tell us when she needs to poopoo and successfully does it in the toilet.
Food and Feeding
Still very much a food lover and is not choosy when it comes to food. Sometimes does not want the chicken pieces though, but still loving her fish balls and carrots.
One of the first things we prepared before Day 2 was to get our ez-link cards to use on the MRT and the buses in Singapore. Kids up to 0.9m in height can travel for free, and Hannah just barely made it However, for preschoolers over 0.9m and below 7 years old, like Ethan, we got him the Child Concession Card, which entitled him to a 50% discount on all fares. Of course, Ethan was all happy and felt grown-up when he could also tap his very own card and walk across the gates.
On Monday morning, armed with our day backpack, camera and loads of energy (somewhat), we made our way on foot to the nearest MRT station near Bernard & Pei Ling’s house…..but….halfway there, Pete turned around and asked,
Pete: Did you bring the (Bird Park) tickets?
Me (giving him a blank stare): Nooo…..I thought they were in your bag!
So while the kids happily whiled away their time playing in the play structure in one of the HDB flats, I walked back to the house to get the tickets. It was a little extra exercise for me, and we haven’t even gotten on the train yet!
We had actually left the house quite late and when we boarded the MRT it was close to lunch time. So we decided to stop at Jurong Point Mall for lunch…instigated by pictures of Burger King’s food in the MRT too, actually!
Ethan was busy looking at the MRT map and telling his sister which station would come next and which station we would get off.
…and finally we arrived!
It was our first time at the Jurong Bird Park and one of the highlights the kids wanted to go to was the Lory Loft Feeding.
“Mommy, Mommy, can I feed the birds?” Hannah would ask, and hold up her hands as if holding the bird feed. But when we arrived, as soon as I was handed the sweet bird feed in the little plastic cup, I daresay at least 4 or 5 lory birds swarmed towards me and started eating from the bowl. The kids would not hold the bowl, and they were visibly afraid. We tried to cajole them into feeding the birds, but the most we got was them touching the feeding bowl together with Daddy (missed the chance to take a picture though. Boo.)
Other pictures from our enjoyable Bird Park trip:
It was a hot, hot, hot day that day (contradictory to the weather forecasted then), and the kids had their Kidz Banz sunglasses to protect their eyes (and look cool at the same time)!
Last Saturday morning, Hannah’s parent-toddler class was more or less “transformed” into a Children’s Christmas Party for all the kids and their siblings. It was an annual affair for all the kids in the parent-toddler classes, and they had a garden party with Teddy Bear tents, splash pools, ball pits and also art and craft areas for the kids to explore.
Both Ethan and Hannah had a fun time making a Christmas wreath with Daddy. Check out the level of concentration on my little girl’s face…
And of course, a Christmas Party is never complete without food! Each family was asked to bring something to share with the rest and for a change from my usual cupcake fare, I decided to try my hand out at making Christmas sugar cookies in the shape of Christmas trees
I’d forgotten that I did not have enough icing sugar for the frosting, and my last minute attempt to buy it from Tesco the night before the party failed because Tesco had run out of it too. So I had to use whatever icing sugar I had left to make the royal icing and improvised. Not bad for a first attempt, eh?
The party ended with some songs and fun for the kids, and finally an appearance by “Santa Clause”, who gave away the presents to the kids as part of the gift exchange.
It was a fun Saturday morning for all, and a great way to end the year…
It was a Sunday on December 4th when our long-awaited family vacation was to begin. Both Ethan and Hannah had been eagerly looking forward to this day for weeks, and I had told them that they would need to get up extra extra early that morning, for our cab would arrive to pick us up to the airport at 8a.m.
Well, miracles DO happen when the kids excitedly got ready and did not dilly-dally. We got to the airport well on time and even had time to grab a quick breakfast at McDonald’s in the departure terminal first.
It was another short wait for our plane to arrive, but you know…the kids got restless and kept asking, “Why is our airplane not here yet?”, “When are we boarding?”, and the like.
We’d redeemed airplane tickets using our Krisflyer points (finally), and it was an exciting occasion for the kids because I felt this was the time they would both remember they were in an airplane together. The last time Hannah boarded a plane, she was only 4 months’ old, and could only lie down in a crib!
The kids occupied themselves with complimentary doodle pads from SilkAir and drank some milk and juice that was served, and before we knew it, we had already landed in Singapore.
About a month ago, while we were at MPH bookstore, Ethan noticed the Christmas tree at the bookstore had many many paper hearts hanging on its branches. And he was curious as to what they were.
So I explained to him that it was a charity drive MPH bookstore did every year during Christmas where they would put up names of kids who were in orphanages or who were physically- or mentally-challenged, and the customers in MPH are invited to participate in this charity drive by choosing a child’s card from the Christmas tree and then purchasing a gift from MPH to present to the child. MPH would then wrap the gift up and place it under the tree and present it to the child for Christmas. I told him that it would make the kid(s) very happy indeed to get presents.
Ethan was very intrigued and decided immediately that he wanted to do it. Pete and I choose a present each year for a child, but this year, we decided to give the honor to Ethan.
So he chose a card from the tree, and we helped him decide on an appropriate gift for the child he chose. Then he wrote a message to the child and signed off, “Love, Ethan”.
I thought that was very sweet of him and I am so proud of my big boy with an EXTRA BIG heart.
We just got back from our family vacation in Singapore last week, and I am far far behind in my blog postings. I’ve got so many drafts sitting and collecting digital dust, and other non-blogging things to do too, so while I gather my thoughts and (hopefully) publish alternate posts about our Singapore getaway really soon, here are some pictures taken at Pauline Kor Kor’s condo’s swimming pool, during our recent trip to KL for the Barney show…we had the whole pool to ourselves that day!!!
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Oh and by the way, check out this month’s issue of BabyTalk, where Hannah picture is featured in the Star Toddlers section.
And if you like reading, you could also read one of my personal Christmas stories here, featured in that same magazine Just click on the image to enlarge it.
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