When we reached Hannah’s sitter’s house today to pick her up, Ethan exclaimed loudly, “Hi Hannah!” when he saw her. Hannah squealed in delight, lifted her right hand up and waved! 🙂
She is SO the sociable little baby!
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Last Saturday evening, we popped by the Promenade by the E&O Sales Gallery for the Lights of Teng-Lang celebration. The weather was scorching hot although it was already 5:30p.m., so we hung around the air-conditioned sales gallery for a while.
When we got bored, we checked out the stalls that were set up. The first one we visited had mooncake-making lessons. Since Ethan didn’t want to try making one, I volunteered!
I told him it was just like playing with Playdoh, but he only laughed..
Put it in the oven to bake and walked around the other attractions while waiting.
The highlight of the event was the completion of the Giant Lantern by the sea. See how big it is?
Everyone was invited to participate in painting part of the bottom of the lantern, just so we could say that we had a hand in making it. And of course, Ethan was VERY eager to show off his artistic ability.
What’s more, he even got to put his name on the signature board!
And then he had so much fun playing in the playground that he didn’t even wanna leave. Can you see how ROSY his cheeks were? By the way, Hannah fell asleep amidst all this excitement! LOL
And how did my self-made mooncake turn out?
Not too bad, I would say…I put only lotus paste for the filling, because I know that’s what Ethan loves… and Ethan finished it all! 🙂
Ah yes…that was a great way to spend some family time together. And the next morning, Ethan beamed and proudly told me, “I painted the giant lantern BROWN, Mommy!”
That was when I knew we made his day too! 🙂
Ethan runs up to me and says,
“Mommy, Mommy look! I draw Ethan! Look! E-T-H-A-N, ETHAN!”
By the way, he is SUCH an expert at spelling his own name. And he even knows and can read my name, Pete’s name and of course, Hannah’s.
… from the moment he wakes up till he sleeps (by the way, he normally does NOT take an afternoon nap).
(Negotiating)
Daddy: Ethan, go and take your bath.
Ethan: No, let me play with my toys first.
Daddy: No…take a shower and THEN you can play with your toys.
Ethan: No Daddy, wait for Mommy first.
Daddy: Mommy’s busy. Daddy will bathe for you.
Ethan: No Daddy. I’m dizzy. I want to sleep first.
(Complaining)
Ethan: Mommy, I hurt my finger.
Mommy: Awww…come here darling, Mommy will kiss and make it better (kisses his finger).
Ethan: I feel better.
Mommy: Okay, good 🙂
Ethan: I want new finger, Mommy!
Ethan: Ouch Mommy…my feet (points to a bump).
Mommy: Aww, lemme see, darling.
Ethan: I want a Band-Aid Mommy.
Mommy: Okay, here’s a Band-Aid. You feel better now?
Ethan: Yeah…
Ethan(runs off to show Daddy): Look Daddy! I have a Dinosaur band-aid!
Ethan: I want new feet Daddy!
(On the way home from school)
Ethan: I wanna say “I love you Daddy”, Mommy…
Mommy: Okay. I’ll call Daddy when we reach home, okay?
Ethan: Okay.
Mommy: What about Mommy? Don’t you want to say, “I love you Mommy”?
Ethan: No…Hannah says “I love you Mommy”, Ethan says “I love you Daddy”.
(Making sense)
Ethan: Mommy…carry!
Mommy: Why? Are you lazy?
Ethan: No, I’m dizzy.
Ethan: Mommy…carry! Carry Mommy!
Mommy: Are you a lazy pig, Ethan?
Ethan: NO, I’m not a lazy pig. Daddy’s the lazy pig!
(Placing a Request)
Mommy: Mmm – mm- mmm- mmm-mmm- mmm- hmmm (humming a song)
Ethan; No Mommy, don’t say “mmm mmm mmm”. Sing!
Mommy (singing): Polly put the kettle on…
(Protective)
Stranger (to Hannah): Hi baby! (Smiles and touches Hannah on the head/cheek/hand)
Ethan: NO AUNTY!!! No touching Hannah!
(Mr Manners)
We were about to pay for our parking at the mall, when a stranger arrived at the parking payment machine at the same time as us. The man promptly stepped in front of me and proceeded to make the payment.
Ethan (pointing at the man): No Uncle! THAT’S NOT NICE, Uncle!
The uncle ignored him. So much for politeness in our society!
(Taking turns)
Ethan (playing the piano at Uncle Tee Bin’s house and singing): Twinkle twinkle little star…
Mommy (sits down next to him and starts to play too)
Ethan: No Mommy. Wait for turn!
My motherly instincts are always in extra full force when any one of my kids are not feeling well. And that was how it was last week when Hannah fell sick.
I worried when she registered a fever of 38.5°C that night. I was relieved that giving her the PCM suppository helped to bring it down.
She also had cough and a runny nose, so although we didn’t like the idea of bringing her to the hospital and exposing her to germs, we decided to bring her in for a checkup.
As soon as I explained what she was there for, we were asked to wait while the nurse assessed Hannah. Her temperature then was 38°C.
We were then asked to go to the Accident and Emergency section where Hannah was to take a throat swab and then we had to wait for 1 hour for the results.
An hour of worrying later, the throat swab test for Influenza A was NEGATIVE. Hannah was prescribed the usual Polaramine and Rhinathiol. She had a little bit of an ear infection which the doctor hoped would subside by the next day (which it did).
She’s back to her normal cheerful adorable self now, and I am none the happier… 🙂
He loves:
- Rice with soy sauce gravy
- Butter sandwich drizzled with a little bit of sugar. Shape of sandwich will be requested by him. Current favorites are STAR, TRAIN and TRUCK. Coming in a close second are DIAMOND and SQUARE.
- Koay teow from the chicken hor fun served at Old Town. You should hear him say “Koay Teow” 🙂
- Roti Bakar from Old Town (sometimes only, depending on mood)
- Bananas
- Apples
- Blueberry muffin
- “Golden bread” a.k.a. golden potato bread.
- Hard-boiled egg white with some soy sauce.
- Homemade pancake with maple syrup.
- Milo chilled.
- Fresh milk. He now ASKS for fresh milk. It was so funny that day when he spelled “SEGAR” and asked me what it was.
- Pediasure milk chilled.
- Vanilla ice cream from McDonald’s.
- Fries.
- Chocolate “anything”!
BUT… over the past few days, I learnt that he has been eating quite well in school. 🙂
It was one of my primary concerns that he would not eat at all in school and go hungry. So I always ask the teacher to let me know what he has eaten, if he has. A few days ago, Ethan told me happily that he SWALLOWED chicken! I was ecstatic, but I wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not. So I asked his teacher and she said yes, they served fried noodles, and there were pieces of chicken on top, and he ate them!
The following day, Ethan told me he ate carrots. I checked with the teacher and she said he was served porridge with carrots and he ate it too, albeit being fed. And today, he told me he ate chicken, carrots AND mushroom!
But why won’t he eat the chicken at home?
Maybe it’s because his teacher told him he has to finish his lunch at school before he can go home… LOL
Two weeks ago, we brought Hannah for her first haircut. Her bangs were getting too long, and I wanted to have the hairdresser do something about the “bald patch” at the back of her head. After a short wait, it was Hannah’s turn, and I held her in my lap as the hairdresser did the trimming. My hairdresser recommended we shave off the back portion of her hair, so that when the hair in the “bald patch” grew out, it would grow together with the bottom section. For her bangs, she trimmed it a little bit shorter in a side parting manner. Hannah’s sideburns were trimmed too.
She sat quietly while she had her haircut. And then she smiled for the camera when the haircut was done!
Ain’t she a darling? 🙂
Oh, just in case you were wondering, it was just the kids getting their hair done that day. So Ethan got the (ahem!) royal treatment too!
Scrap Credits
Film Star QP from retrodiva {designs}™
Boxed words from Chantal
Heart button from Doodle-iscious alphas from A work in progress
Splendid alphas and heart button from Shabby Princess
How time does fly! Without me realizing it, my little bundle of joy is now an adorable, bouncy little baby girl, achieving milestone after milestone before my very eyes!
Weight
9 kilos! Dr Jessica had only one word to say, “Wow!” 😛
Height/Length
If I remembered correctly, it’s 67cm – will check with doc and update later.
Motor Skills
- Can support herself with hands straight and on both her knees, as if preparing to crawl. Then she rocks and pivots her body forward and backward!
- Can also lift up her body so that her butt is high up in the air, and she is on tip toe, something like what her brother did with his downdog.
- Able to sit independently for longer periods of time, her favorite place being the green and yellow playmat. Her sitting position is still more towards the front, where she needs to support her weight with her arms, but she can go a few seconds without using her arms as support too.
- Can crawl backwards, in backward commando or caterpillar fashion. Can also move around by using the same method.
- Can hold and grasp objects very steadily and pass them from one hand to the other.
- Will try to grab hold of everything within her reach: drinking cup, plate of rice, etc.
- Can sometimes extend her arms out to ask to be carried.
- Her “breaststroke kicks” are getting stronger and stronger.
- Loves to bounce up and down on our laps when we carry her holding her under her arms.
- Can arch her back backwards when she is sitting or being held.
- Can hold a toddler sippy cup quite steadily and drink from it!
Communication and Social Skills
- Smiles and responds very well when spoken to.
- Blowing a whole lot of raspberries!
- On occasion, I have heard her saying “Momma” or “Memma” when she either wants milk or Mommy.
- Loves to be carried and held.
- Squeals and giggles.
Food and Feeding
Every ounce of milk she takes is Mommy’s milk. I started her off on rice cereal about 2 weeks ago, but stopped for a while because she had a diaper rash the day after, and then she was a bit unwell, so I am now waiting for a few more days before continuing.
Just several days ago though, she gave me quite a scare because that evening, she totally refused to nurse from the breast, and instead kept biting me! In the end, I had to express my milk and fed her with the sippy cup, and she eagerly finished 6 whole ounces!!! She even cried when we took her cup away after 4 ounces to refill an additional 2 ounces. I was shocked and surprised that she would have weaned herself from the breast automatically like that, and I was worried too that I would then have to express milk by the clock 😛
Pete was all, “Okay what…then you don’t have to resort to using Bonjela!”
But thankfully, that night she was okay with nursing from the breast again, and she’s back to her old self again now. Whew! 🙂
Some people might think I am a fussypot, but my criteria for selecting a daycare for Ethan is really very simple: he has to enjoy himself there. I believe that a kid his age should not be made to do homework, or forced to study, instead all I am looking for is for him to mingle with his peers and have a good time. Only then will he be able to learn in a conducive environment.
So upon our return from the States, we visited some centers and schools in Penang to see which one is suitable. One was too far away, although I actually like the teaching methodology they employed, allowing the kids to learn through play. But a 45-minute drive there and another 45-minute drive back home every day was definitely not acceptable. One center which was nearer to our home gave me the impression that the kids were being forced to read. And another one which was just down the road from our place, I didn’t like it because the principal did not teach the students. Instead it was a daycare franchise. Some of the centers did not have openings available, so we didn’t bother checking them out.
In the end, we enrolled Ethan in a center/school for half a day, for something called a Playgroup (for his age). It would take me about 10-15 minutes to drive there though, which was rather acceptable. The good thing about this school is that they allowed a 2-week orientation period, whereby the parent would accompany the child for 2 hours and then slowly extend the period till he was confident enough to be on his own. I knew that Ethan would be fine on his own for just half a day, but it was the getting used to the new environment, making new friends and all that would maybe be too overwhelming at first.
Before he started school, we prepped him for it by telling him every day, “We’re gonna put Hannah at Ah Poh’s house, okay? Then we’ll leave Daddy in the office, and then we’ll fetch Ethan to school. After that Mommy will go to the market.”
So when we ask him, “Where will Hannah go?” , he’ll say, “Ah Poh’s house!”
And “What about Daddy?” – “Daddy goes to office!”
“And Ethan?” – “Ethan goes to school!”
“Mommy?” – “Mommy goes to market!”
So even though it was only 2 weeks before the one-week school holidays were to start, we started Ethan off on his 2-week orientation. I thought we were good to go with the prepping, but I was so wrong! The first few days, he clung on to me like a leech. He didn’t really want to participate in the activities, preferring instead to sit on my lap or asking me to carry him. On the way to school, he would whine and complain, “I don’t want to go to school, Mommy!!”
But little by little he began to participate and join the other kids. On the 5th day when I took him to school, I asked him if it was okay that he played with his friends in school, while Mommy goes to market and that I would come and fetch him later…he said “Okay.” 🙂
And then the following week, we slowly extended the duration he was in school. First he was on his own for 2.5 hours, then 3. Here are some pictures of Ethan, taken by one of his teachers during the recent Merdeka Day celebration the school had (dunno why Ethan had that serious worried look on his face…)
Nowadays, most of the time, he would happily go to school, and he would be all smiles when I pick him up afterward. Occasionally he would not want to go and would not want me to leave, but I suppose it could be because of the long weekend or holiday.
Just last Monday, he didn’t want me to leave when the teacher greeted him at the door. After a few minutes of persuasion, I realized he was asking me to KNOCK the door first before he could enter! LOL So I knocked the door, the teacher opened it, and he entered the classroom happily…hehehe
One of his teachers commented that Ethan is now more settled and can play with his classmates. She even said that he can speak really well, which left me beaming with pride. When he comes home, he would tell us about his school friends: Annabelle, Nicole, Sharmay … how come all girls huh? 😛
I’m glad I am able to play a major part in this milestone Ethan is experiencing. Never mind the initial screaming, occassional whinings and sometimes tear-filled eyes when I take him to school…all that disappears as soon as I see his face light up when he sees me waiting to pick him up after school. And it makes it all SO worth the while. Sometimes when I leave him feeling sad and unhappy at school, I worry about how he’s doing, but he puts all my worries to rest when he tells me after school, “School’s so very fun, Mommy!” And that’s all I need to know.
So our weekday routine is more or less established now, except sometimes he wakes up quite late. On the way home from school, he will ALWAYS request to go to “O McDonald”, where he wants either “Vanilla ice cream” or “Fries”. Maybe we should be given a frequent diner card at Mc-D’s!
