Little Miracles · January 2013

Winter Festival

January 28, 2013 in Celebrations, Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah | No comments

Last Friday evening, we attended the Winter Festival organized by Ethan’s school’s PTO. It was like a mini carnival, with games, food and activities for the kids. We were surprised by the turnout despite the freezing cold weather!

The festival was held in the school gym and the school cafeteria, and only Ethan needed a ticket (@$2). Adults and kids 3 and under enjoyed free admission.

Ethan started by playing some basketball in the gym.

Unfortunately, he met with a mishap when he scored a basket in one of his games. He’d jumped up and down in celebration and accidentally bumped his top incisors on a metal horizontal bar. 🙁

He was bleeding a little, but thankfully the bleeding stopped after a while. However, he just wasn’t himself the rest of the evening, and it took him some time before he was back to his cheerful self. Poor boy. 🙁

(At the time of writing, his teeth are okay. He was feeling a little bit of sensitivity for a couple of days after the incident, but he’s okay now.)

I had also volunteered to bring in a cake for the Cake Walk. Here’s a glimpse of some of the other cakes brought in by other volunteers.

The Cake Walk is a fun game open to all kids at $1 per dance. All the participants will start dancing when the music is played and when the music stops, every one chooses a number to stand on. A number will then be drawn from a can and the kid whose number is called will get to choose a cake of his/her choice! The rest of the kids will win a consolation prize of a lollipop each.

Hannah wanted a go at the Cake Walk:

…but then she got upset when someone stood on the number she wanted to choose…in the end, she won a lollipop anyway.

And then, just before we left for home, the kids wanted to get their faces painted.

Meet Batman…or Batboy… 🙂

…and say hello to Little Miss Cheetah!

By the way, if you’re wondering what I used to wash the face paint off, I started with damp hands and then lathering up some shower gel and then applying it all over the face, gently massaging the face as I went along. I rinsed off with some warm water, but only about 75% was rinsed off. After drying the face, I used regular baby lotion with cotton pads and gently wiped off the remaining stains. About 5% still remained after the first night, so I did the moisturizer thingy again the following day and managed to remove everything.

A Little Wobbly Tooth

January 24, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones | No comments

Yesterday morning, while I was in the midst of waking Hannah up, Ethan happily rushed into the room after brushing his teeth and washing up, and excitedly announced, “Mommy, Mommy!! One of my teeth is wobbling!!”

Yes, he had been anxiously awaiting the day when his first milk (baby) tooth would fall out, and he knew, as well as I did, that that day would be soon. Most of his friends already had a few teeth out, but so far, Ethan has managed to keep all his milk teeth.

He opened his mouth wide and I checked his teeth, and true enough, one of his bottom right incisors was wiggling. In the evening, I used a flashlight and saw the permanent incisor already sprouting, right behind the milk incisor!

It’s won’t be long now for the tooth fairy to visit us! 🙂

Getting into the School Spirit!

January 15, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | No comments

The elementary school that Ethan goes to assigns a special day each month called Spirit Day. The aim is to have the teachers and students come together as one to promote the school spirit and also usually they would have a community or charity drive too. The school Spirit Day for the month of January was held last Friday, and it was themed “Crazy Hat Day”. Everyone was to wear a crazy hat to school and also if possible, bring something (like canned food items or toiletries) to be donated to the community cupboard.

So I made this simple crazy hat for Ethan, by sewing on several playdough cutters around the rim of his cap. 🙂

…and he had a great time in school!

In fact, I can tell that Ethan is really enjoying his school life here. He brings back homework every Monday in a folder, and the homework is assigned for the whole week through Thursday. Friday is when the homework is due, and of course, weekends are rest days for the kids, which is how it is supposed to be. 🙂

School hours are from 9:05a.m. to 3:05p.m., which means Ethan has lunch in school. He makes his choice from a selection of 4 or 5 menu items each day, and I pack his lunch money is small ziploc bags for easy handling. Initially, I had wanted to write a check in advance to pass to the cafeteria, but Ethan says he prefers it this way. He feels more grown-up! 😀

Look At My Kitchen Mittens!

January 10, 2013 in Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | No comments

For weeks Hannah has been playing with her toy kitchen utensils and pretend food in the lovely little toy kitchen set we got her for Christmas. In her own creative way, she has been using little plastic bags and wrappers as kitchen mittens.

It was an absolute eyesore for me, so I took out my sewing set and what I brought along with it, found some pieces of felt material and measured Hannah’s hands. I simply sewed two pieces together using the backstitch (oh yes, I know what a backstitch is even though I did not take Home Science in school!), and then turned them inside out!

I made one mitten two days ago, and Hannah wanted another one, so now she has two, and it’s such a joy to see her “cooking” now.

Even more fulfilling is when she gave me the biggest widest smile and said, “Thank you for making me the kitchen mittens, Mommy! I promise to share them with Ethan!”

Getting a Haircut

January 8, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

It wasn’t easy finding a hair salon suitable for the kids over here. Personally we feel haircuts are overpriced, but in any case, the kids were long overdue for a haircut and we decided to just walk in to a nearby salon after lunch last weekend.

This salon charges $12 for a kid’s haircut, not including tips. And it was one of the cheapest we found too…

Anyway, the kids got their haircuts done at the same time, and they got to sit on these high cushions propped up on the regular salon chairs.

Ethan’s haircut took a little longer than Hannah’s because the hair stylist was not too adept at trimming his hair in the “slope-like” manner he was used to.

I forgot to mention that the $12 haircut also includes a hairwash, if you so desire. I asked Hannah, and she was game for the hairwash, so this is the one and only picture I took of her having her first salon hairwash.

She seemed to enjoy it though, and didn’t mind the experience. And now they both have brand new haircuts!! 😀

First Official Day at School for the Kids

January 4, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting | 1 comment

My precious kids make me even more proud of them each and every day, and this week was no different. This was a very eventful week for all of us, especially for Ethan and Hannah. After more than a month since we moved here, the kids are finally officially starting school!

It had been a rollercoaster of obstacles we had faced in getting the paperwork and submission sorted out, especially in Ethan’s case, but we’re glad it’s finally completed and Ethan and Hannah were so excited to be going to school at last. 🙂

On Wednesday morning, after much persuasion, Hannah woke up bright and early and got ready for school. She would be in the pre-kindergarten (pre-K) class, and she was really looking forward to it. There was no hesitation from her at all when we arrived at her classroom, and she immediately hung up her bag and jacket and joined her class (but not before she gave Mommy a big HUG and KISS).

I then took Ethan to his elementary school to submit the last of the paperwork needed. There were some delays due to the long year-end holidays, but thankfully, we managed to get everything done and sorted out that morning. Ethan would be in 1st Grade. 🙂

Before we left the elementary school, we met with the one of the English language specialists in the school. It was her job to assess foreign students on their English language proficiency via a simple assessment test on English reading, writing and comprehension. We were with her for about half an hour and Ethan did really well on his test. 🙂 The English language specialist said that he reads very well and that he would be placed in an appropriate level.

I then confirmed that Ethan’s official first day of school would be on Friday, and he was to arrive by 8:45a.m., where his teacher would meet him at the front office and then take him to class.

On Thursday, Hannah went to school as usual and Ethan and I stayed home. Ethan did tell me that he was a little bit nervous about his first day of school the following day, but he was also excited to be meeting new friends. I reassured him that it was normal to be a little nervous, but he could always ask his teacher if he needed any help.

Fast forward to Friday, and we thankfully managed to get the kids up and ready by 8:05a.m.!

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How We Built a Snowman – Part 2 of 2

January 3, 2013 in Ethan, Exercise, Funny Moments, Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

After our “snowhill but no snowman” incident the other day, the kids had been pestering us to take them snowman-building again.

“Mommy, is the snow wet enough today to build a snowman?”

“Can we PLEASE go and build a snowman today? I don’t mind building it in the dark!”

So on New Year’s Day morning, we promised the kids we would get our snowman built provided they got up early enough and that it was sunny.

And this would be me, giving them a headstart and a hand in the snowman-building project:

It’s hard work, and a very good workout! 🙂 Just imagine, your body needs to work extra hard to fight off the cold (especially when the wind starts blowing) and also, you need to keep rolling and patting the snowballs to make it larger and larger for the snowman, all the time making sure the snowballs stay intact and that the snowman doesn’t topple over!

The kids again enjoyed every moment of their time in the snow. They had fun rolling the snowballs around and watching them grow bigger and bigger…and now, they also had Daddy to throw snowballs at!

After some really hard work and teamwork, we began to see the snowman take shape…

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How We Built A Snowman – Part 1 of 2

January 2, 2013 in Ethan, Exercise, Funny Moments, Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

Several days ago, when I figured there was snow thick enough to build a snowman, and the sun was out, I took the kids out for our snowman project. The kids were, of course, more than eager to put on their winter jackets and get started.

We found a nice spot just outside our home, and before I knew it, the kids were already busy making snow angels!

Unfortunately though, the snow was too hard and dry for snowman-making. We just could not pat it into balls. All we got were big chunks of brittle ice. The kids called them “icebergs”!