Bible Verse of the Day

July 2010

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soccer2

Last week, Ethan was literally counting down to the weekend, because we told him we would take him out to play football in the field.  You see, it’s quite hard to experience the Jabulani ball at its fullest potential by merely kicking it around the house, yes?

Even on Friday night, he was already telling me, “Mommy, tomorrow will be Saturday the 24th of July.  I’ll go and play FOOTBALL!”

Yes, he was THAT excited. 🙂

So on Saturday morning (well…actually it was quite LATE in the morning), we packed his ball, his boots and socks and we headed off to the Esplanade field, where Daddy and Ethan could kick some ball.  On the way there, while in the elevator, and in our apartment lobby, Ethan was eagerly telling every Tom, Dick and Harry that he was going to play football.  He even told the apartment cleaning lady!

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We got him into his gear when we arrived and he went absolutely crazy!  He really had a lot of fun, running around and screaming GOAL!!!!  everywhere… even though there was no goal post.

A Dutch family, who was in Penang for a vacation, happened to be there too, and coincidentally, the twin boys in that family were Ethan’s age.  So Ethan had two new friends playing football with him.

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Just look at the way he kicked the ball!

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And here’s how you complain to the referee…”Hey ref!  That was a FOUL!” Ethan said.

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We have GOT to get him that makeshift goal.

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Ethan experienced his first ever Sports Day last Sunday.  He had been looking forward to it for many weeks now, and every day leading up to the Sports Day, he would report to us the preparations and pratices he did in school.

We arrived about 15 minutes before the events kicked off, so little Hannah had some time to roam around too…

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First, they had a torch run and then the kids from all the classes did a march past.  Look at my little boy, all grown up! 🙂

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For the events, each class was split into two teams of different colors.  For Ethan’s class, he was in the GREEN team, challenging his other classmates in the YELLOW team.

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First they had to walk on a balance beam.

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…and then weave in and out of the traffic cones.

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Then, pick up a small coconut, aim and hit a row of 4 cans. 

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Pick up the coconut, arrange the cans back in order, and run back to the team to tag the next person.

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Cheer as loudly as you can for your team!

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It was a close fight, but at the end of it, Ethan’s green team won!  … and parents of the kids in the green team cheered and high-fived each other! 🙂

Yay for team spirit! 🙂

The kids each got a medal and a goodie bag:

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There were also events for the parents to participate in together with their kids.

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I had not planned on taking part at first, because I had to care for Hannah, but one of Ethan’s teachers offered to carry Hannah for a few minutes, so I could participate.

And our team WON!  Yay!!

All in all, Ethan really had fun during his Sports Day.  In addition to winning his medal and prizes, he got to hang out with his friends after his event.

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Photo credits

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..and of course, he kept saying that he WON! 🙂

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oldsandals

How quickly kids grow up…Hannah finally outgrew her first pair of sandals, and even though we can still put them on her, it’s very clear that they are beginning to get too tight on her feet.  They are too tight cuz we can see her little toes peeking out from the front of the sandals.

I do so like her first pair of sandals, because it feels so comfy, but I suppose we’ll have to let those go eventually.  We finally found another pair for Hannah last weekend in size 6 (her old pair was size 4.5).  Let’s see how long these will last.

In any case, I suddenly remembered we bought a pair of brown dress shoes, Mary Janes, if you will, from the US.  They were much too big for her feet then, but I thought we’d take them out now and try them on for size.

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Gave me a shock when I discovered they fit her EXACTLY, as in “wait a few weeks and she would outgrow them”!  So looks like Hannah will be wearing these brown Mary Janes for the next few weeks then 🙂

Ah yes, girls and their shoes…She’ll have more shoes than Mommy soon, I’m sure.

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Two weeks ago, I decided to take Ethan to the movies for a treat.  His school was closed on that day, so we headed off to Queensbay Mall to catch Toy Story 3.  Check out his happy and excited face:

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Unfortunately though, all the tickets were sold out and so we had to walk away disappointedly 🙁

Of course, to appease him, we hung around Queensbay Mall for a little while longer and did some fun stuff.

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And I promised him I would take him to the movies some other day.

Little did I know that the screening of Toy Story 3 ended on that very same day, so I was left to look for other suitable kids’ movies.

..which was when I heard about Despicable Me.  The title sure doesn’t sound very kid-friendly, but I read a few reviews and apparently it was deemed more suitable for kids compared to Toy Story 3.  Plus, a few of my friends had watched it, and gave their thumbs up.

So yesterday, since Ethan’s school had declared a holiday/rest day following their school sports day on Sunday, my boy and I trotted off to the cinema to catch a movie.  It was Ethan’s first ever experience watching a movie, and we could tell he was really hyped up about it.  The night before, he had exclaimed, “Yay!  Tomorrow we’ll go and watch a movie!”  He even proudly told our neighbors in the elevator that we were going to catch a movie.

We were a little bit apprehensive about bringing Ethan to the movies before, because at home when he is watching TV, he would ask to change the channel every now and then.  And we ALL know changing channels is not to be heard of in movies, right? 😛

But just last week, he managed to sit through an entire movie session of Toy Story 2 on my laptop, so we figured he must be ready.

So anyway, to make perfectly sure we had tickets, I had booked the tickets online and collected them a day before the movie.  Before we left the house, Ethan reminded me over and over again to bring the tickets.

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We arrived in Queensbay Mall and had a quick chicken rice lunch, after which Ethan said we should hurry to the cinema before the show starts. Got ourselves some popcorn, and headed into the cinema.

I got back row seats, so we could exit quietly if need be, but there was really no reason for concern.  At first, Ethan asked lots of questions, and commented on why the show had not started, all LOUDLY.  But after I’d explained the basic rules to him, he was good throughout the movie and sat through.  There were times when he said the movie was “a little bit scary” and he held on to my arm, but most of the time, he watched it intently and even went “Uh-oh” and “Hurry!” at the right parts.

All in all, we had a blast and after the show, Ethan wanted to sit through all the credits too.  We’ll definitely do it again…hopefully really soon! 🙂

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Ethan’s got new playthings!  Check ’em out…

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We finally managed to find a pair of football /soccer boots for Ethan in his size, and Daddy got him a Size 1 Jabulani ball in the Liverpool flavor too!

Ethan has been *scoring goals* around the house ever since, and he really can’t wait to break into his new boots too!

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There was something else we are seriously considering getting for Ethan…we’re holding back only because it’s a little bit big on him…but what do you think?  Should we get it anyway? 🙂

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hannah_16_monthsScrap Credits
Happy Place QP from Fly Pixel Studio
Fresh Breeze Alphas from A work in progress

Weight

We haven’t weighed her lately, but she sure does feel at least 10.5 kilos!

Height/Length

We have not measured her height lately too, but she should be more than 77cm now, because she is able to reach higher and higher areas.

Teeth

8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with a few more teeth appearing at the back, possible pramolars. 

Motor Skills

  • Hannah can tip toe around.
  • She loves to climb on top of everything: the couch, the naughty stool, the bed, the toy train!

Communication and Social Skills

  • Consistently waves and says “Bye!” in a very cutesy high-pitched tone.  And when she is ready to sleep, she will toddle to the room, turn, wave and say, “Bye!” 🙂
  • Asks for things she wants by using the word “Give!”.  She says “Gheee!!!” and extends her hands, opening and closing her palm, or she will point to the item she wants.
  • Can tell me when she has “poopoo”-ed.  She will point to her diaper and go, “Poopoo”.  Sometimes I will be in time and place her on the toilet bowl before she poos but often times it will be too late.  Good start, though.
  • Can point up and say “AAh!!” (for Up) and “Down”.
  • Point to nose, hair, tummy and teeth when prompted.
  • Says “Ah-per” for Diaper.
  • *Sings* Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to the rhythm, but without the words, just “ba-ba-ba”.  She loves doing the actions though.
  • Hannah can say “boo” for “book”: she says it when she wants us to read a book to her or if she wants to flip through a book.
  • She can say “Mamak” for food, and ask for a piece of bun, by saying, “Bah!” and pointing to the bun on the table.  Her favorite is the wholemeal potato buns.
  • She can understand “go kai kai” (she will walk to her stroller and wait for us to load her in), “go and wash hands” (she will walk to the bathroom and extend her hands to be washed), go to sleep (she will walk to the room, even though the door is closed, she will wait patiently for someone to open it for her), go bathe/take a shower (she will know how to go to her room and wait to be undressed, and then walk to the bathroom for her shower).
  • She understands “Go give Daddy/Mommy a hug” – she will walk/run to us and give us a loving hug 🙂

Food and Feeding

Hannah eats almost everything we eat now.  When I cook at home, she will have homecooked food and when we eat out, she will sample the food we eat.  I do try to minimize her salt and sugar intake though.

She drinks a lot of water, and so far is very open and willing to try new foods.

As for milk, Hannah is still on 100% breast milk.  However, there were times when we were out for six hours plus straight, and she didn’t need any milk, so perhaps I will start her on Pediasure or fresh milk soon, just to supplement her milk intake.

She loves chicken rice, chicken, Milo, Cheerios, potato bread, koay teow, kiwi and banana, just to name a few 🙂

scissors

I knew this day would come, but it came a little faster than I had expected.  Using the scissors is very important fine motor skill to master, especially for toddlers, and Ethan is now old enough to learn and perfect that skill.

He has been showing a very keen interest in mastering the scissors, so I try to coach and guide him as best as I can.  I got him a scissor-cutting book with different shapes and lines to cut, and of course, a pair of safety scissors. The first pair of scissors we got for Ethan was way too blunt.  It did not have any steel blades, only plastic edges.  And this became very frustrating to use.  So a few days ago, I spotted a pair of scissors with steel blades but BLUNT points, and the packaging mentioned that it was recommended for children aged 4 and above.  Perfect, I thought.

And Ethan has been happily using this pair since.

Among the *skills* I am emphasizing are:

  • How to hold the scissors (point blades down when not in use)
  • How to pass the scissors to another person (i.e. close the blades, hold the blades and pass the handles to someone)
  • Turn the paper, NOT the scissors
  • Alternative ways to cut shapes

We try to cut out shapes and lines a page a day, but we can only indulge in this when Hannah is asleep.  Hehehe…

Don’t let this sweet adorable innocent face fool you…

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Look at what she did to the straw on her tumbler…

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It happened last week while we were out in the mall.  Suddenly Pete noticed the “condition” of the straw as Hannah was holding it.

Needless to say, I have been *checking her poopoo* from then on, but so far, nothing yet! SIGH.

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When I picked Ethan up from school yesterday, he had a medal around his neck.  He proudly showed it to me, saying, “Look Mommy, I’m a STAR KID!”

Apparently, his school has a Star Kid of the Week award whereby kids who are at their best behaviour get awarded with the Star Kid medal for the week.  Ethan has mentioned this Star Kid award before, but this was the first time he has gotten it.

His face was beaming ever so brightly, and Mommy is as proud as can be. 🙂