Bible Verse of the Day

June 2014

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A Walk Along The Heritage Trail

June 29, 2014 in Emma, Entertainment, Ethan, Exercise, Hannah, Parenting | 1 comment

Several weeks ago, a old friend of ours paid us a visit.  We had not seen each other for yonks, so we had a good time catching up on what’s going on with each other.  We also took this golden opportunity to visit the Heritage Trail in Georgetown together with our friend and his family.  Although we have been living in Penang for so long, it was Pete’s second visit and the kids’ and my first visit.  It was slightly cloudy that day but we managed to cover quite a few key places.

Khoo Kongsi

Obligatory Street Art Photos

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Emma at 15 Months

June 26, 2014 in Emma, Milestones | No comments

Scrap Credits
Pink Love QP from Delicious Scraps

Weight

About 7.2-7.3 kilos.

Height/Length

Not measured.

Teeth

7 teeth: 3 bottom teeth (either 3 incisors or 2 incisors and 1 canine) and 4 upper incisors.  I suspect she is teething again because she has been waking up more often at night nowadays.

Motor Skills

  • Emma can squat and stand repeatedly unsupported now.  She is also very pleased with this accomplishment of hers and loves to bask in all the appreciative applause she gets.
  • She loves throwing and dropping things on the floor (i.e. casting), and will giggle when we pick it up and let her repeat the same process.
  • Emma loves to crawl under chairs, through holes and squeeze into confined places.

Communication and Social Skills

  • She waves “buh-bye” quite readily and on cue now, and sometimes says “Babber” or “Baba” when she does that.
  • She gives flying kisses by putting her palm to her mouth and then removing her palm.  Took her like less than a week to get this.
  • Flashes her cheeky grin whenever she gets the chance to.
  • I blogged that she will attempt the actions to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” but I noticed that she actually recognizes the words too.  When I say the words “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” without actually singing it, she will start doing the actions.
  • Likes to say “There!” while pointing.  She uses this method to indicate where she wants to be carried to.
  • She likes to give/hand us her toys or any item she is holding, most times accompanied by “There!”
  • “Deh-deh” for Daddy and “Momma” for Mommy is quite consistently used now.

Others

  • Emma has been able to fall asleep in Daddy’s arms for several nights now.  I find it heartwarming that she is comfortable enough with Daddy that way.  And of course, Daddy’s not one to complain 🙂

Food and Feeding

Emma is still drinking mostly Mommy’s milk with a smattering of new foods introduced here and there.

Some of the foods she has tried this month:

  • Soy Bean Curd, which she absolutely loves
  • Dragon Fruit
  • She’s also become more accepting of salmon now, especially salmon in porridge. 🙂

Little Missy Had a Little Pedicure!

June 13, 2014 in Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 2 comments

I decided to give Hannah a little treat for the holidays and took her for her first pedicure ever!  Well, it wasn’t exactly a pedicure because she didn’t get the foot soak and she had no callouses to treat, so she only got her nails trimmed and painted.

Nevertheless, she was very excited when the day came and kept reminding me to be on time because she did not want to be late.

First she got to sit in the big soft armchair while her toenails were trimmed.  While waiting Hannah chose her nail polish color.  She was so amazed by all the colors available!

Eventually she chose a golden glittery color… very “blingy” but a very good choice. 🙂

The pedicurist even offered to draw a little flower on each of her big toenails.  Cute huh?

We certainly have a very happy (and pretty) camper here! 😀

Grandma’s Lullaby

June 12, 2014 in Emma, Growing Up | No comments

“I’m Geronimo Stilton Today!”

June 11, 2014 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | No comments

No need for uniforms in school today because as part of Book Week this week, all the kids are invited to dress up as their favorite book character.  Naturally, Ethan chose Geronimo Stilton…

It was very hard to find a GREEN suit just like Geronimo Stilton’s, so Ethan is going as Geronimo Stilton on vacation (in green t-shirt and shorts).  I painted and crafted the mouse ears for him yesterday and fixed it onto a hairband, and Ethan had fun making his glasses out of pipe cleaners yesterday afternoon.  Some eyebrow and eye liner on the nose completed the look together with the red tie Stilton wears.

We Are Ready for The Greatest Show on Earth…Are You?

June 10, 2014 in Entertainment, Ethan, Exercise, Hannah | No comments

Cooking Up A Storm with MasterChef Junior

June 7, 2014 in Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 1 comment

Just over a week ago, Hannah and I were selected and invited to attend a MasterChef Junior Cooking Workshop inspired by the recent MasterChef Junior series on television.  Those of you who saw my Instagram picture might have thought that this was a competition, but on the contrary, it was just a cooking workshop, held mainly to encourage and foster a special bonding time between parent and child.

The cooking workshop was held at the Cooking School in Tropical Spice Garden, and that morning, since Emma decided to sleep in, Hannah and I drove to the venue first; and Daddy took Ethan and Emma a little bit later on.

Hannah, of course, was very excited about the whole thing, and was even more pleased when she was given her very own MasterChef apron to wear!  Mommy got a matching apron too…yay me! 😀

Together, Hannah and I made 3 simple dishes: Apple Crumble, Baked Chicken Leg and Coleslaw.  Hannah did most of the cooking except for using the knife and the stove.  The recipes were fairly simple but quite tasty.  I would make them again.

We had a lovely time that day, and we hope to be a part of more cooking workshops to come! 🙂

Just for fun now…here’s a shot of Ethan in front of the lunch buffet spread we had.  This photo was taken while waiting for Hannah and Mommy to finish our cooking workshop:

 

A Whole New Level of Independence

June 4, 2014 in Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting | 2 comments

Two nights ago, we crossed an important threshold in Hannah’s childhood:  She finally moved out of our room into her very own room.  We can’t say for sure now if this will work out to be a totally permanent situation, but it has been two nights now, and she’s doing really well.

We’ve moved into our new home here for close to 6 months now, and although we’ve already had her (pink and girly) room set up for her, complete with a queen-sized bed (decked in pink bed linens chosen by her), and a desk and chair, Hannah has been bunking in our room on a mattress adjacent to our bed.  She has been telling me that she will move to her room when she is ready and I have trusted her.

Two days ago, she confidently told me that she’s ready and would like to sleep in her own room now.  I figured maybe she was just saying it for fun…’cos sometimes she says things and bail out at the last minute.  However this time, she kept repeating it consistently, so I prepared her bed for her that night.  I told her I would stay with her in bed till she slept and then I would creep out.  I left the bathroom light on for her in case she needed to use it at night (she can’t reach the light switch yet).

She brought along 2 of her doggie soft toy friends: Sunshine and Cliffer, and they kept her company through the night.

I had half-expected her to show up in our room in the middle of the night, but that never happened.  I was awakened only by Emma, and Hannah independently slept in her own room the whole night through.

The following night, she asked to take her shower and brush her teeth in her own ensuite bathroom.  So I moved everything there for her: towel, shower gel, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, and even her little step stool.

She’s done it two nights in a row now, and I’m so proud of my little girl.  Not entirely sure what really prompted this to happen: it could be due to the fact that she’s just gained some confidence or that I recently told her about a dear friend’s daughter who recently moved into her own room too. 🙂

Thing is….I’m missing her now. 🙁