Precious one-on-one walk-training sessions from big brother to little sister:
All about Ethan
A year has passed since you came into our lives
A year since you, our bundle of joy, arrived
You gave us adorable smiles and cutesy giggles
Happy happy birthday, my sweet darling little girl!
On Hannah’s birthday, we decided to take the kids out for a treat. Pete took the day off and after we picked Ethan up from school, we headed over to Gurney Plaza. Incidentally, we also took Ethan to Gurney Plaza on his first birthday. 
We ended up having lunch at Chili’s…it had a been a long while since we ate there and we wanted to check to see if they had improved since then.
Ethan of course enjoyed himself tremendously. He couldn’t decide between the spaghetti and the hot dog, so he ordered both…and also had free flow ice lemon tea…which prompted a few visits to the loo…haha.
Hannah had some home-cooked porridge and was very well-behaved indeed.
Hannah enjoyed her rusk while we dug in to our meal….
…and sometimes she did her upside-down stunt…
…and at other times, the birthday girl was entertained by her brother’s funny antics…
We walked around Gurney Plaza a bit after our hearty meal, stopping at some of our favorite stores, including Ethan’s favorite Toys R Us (which he noticed a mile away!).
Oh, and here’s another shot of Hannah doing her infamous upside-down pose again….this time, a close-up:
Happy birthday Hannah! Sure beats a day at the office anytime, eh Daddy?
I am often amazed at how much Ethan has grown, how much he is a big boy now, and the fact that he is starting to ride a bike makes me realize how true the adage “How time flies” is.
He will sometimes ask to be taken downstairs to the porch to ride his bike, and we’ll try to get him to do *something* first before we take him down, e.g. finish his dinner
Still needs a little fine tuning on the pedalling aspect, but he gets the bike to move anyhow…now, doesn’t Ethan look cool, bike, helmet and all?
Endearing shot of Mommy and Ethan, taken during the reunion dinner.
Found some time for a family photo too. This year, we had reunion dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the new Flemington Hotel in Taiping. Atmosphere is certainly different than that of a reunion dinner at home, but one thing good is that we don’t need to do the dishes!
Ethan being *shy* when asked to pose for a picture.
…and now, he’s all warmed up!
Ethan being all big-brotherly and sharing a *conversation* with Hannah.
My little princess and me
In Ipoh, a picture taken with Ah Ma and Ah Kong, and the two girls: Hannah and her little cousin Caitlynn. The boys (Ethan and Collin) just weren’t interested. Haha.
Instead, they were busy with Collin’s birthday cake. In Taiping, Ethan was all “I wanna go to Ipoh to cut Collin’s birthday cake!” So here they are…those 2 boys observing a momentary silence as they await what will happen to the cake.
…and finally…Ethan striking a PIRATE pose!
Guess who’s been getting into the American Idol craze recently? Do you think Ethan can pass the scrutiny of the judges, especially with his unique rendition of the ABC song, which he learnt from Choo Choo Soul?
Well…Ethan himself certainly thinks so!
…and then lately, he has been saying this…
Surely, he will give Ellen Degeneres a run for her money, huh?
Hannah has an excellent training regime to aid her in her walking. Superb trainer and the sessions are fun for both the trainer AND the trainee. Watch:
Sometimes they fight and grab stuff from one another, sometimes they cry and scream…but it’s always a joy to see them play together so adorably.
I’m glad this is happening more and more often now.
And sometimes, there are even moments of great brotherly love being displayed…. (awwww….)
And sometimes things get out of hand….
Ethan’s birthday culminated in a celebration amongst relatives. We decided to have a buffet lunch at the E&O Hotel, and it goes without saying that Ethan was very much looking forward to this celebration.
See, he even willingly posed for a nice shot before we left for the hotel.
… and then, he started being his CHEEKY self again.
I think the part Ethan enjoyed most about the birthday lunch was the chocolate stuff: chocolate-covered marshmallows from the fondue station, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake….
..and the part that Hannah enjoyed the most was the teething rusk she was chewing on. She even fell asleep while holding it!
…and woke up for a moment to give it a few more chomps, then she was off to dreamland again….Even after she awoke, and her Ah Ma was carrying her, she was still holding the rusk.
Such “devotion” can only be admired.
So anyway, after our very filling lunch, we all adjourned back to our home to cut the birthday cake and to open the presents. After three days of preparation, I was very pleased to unveil the birthday cake Ethan had requested for. On the 1st day I made the cream cheese frosting and chilled it, on the 2nd day I baked the cake, and the night before Ethan’s birthday, I relived my childhood playing with *edible play-doh* a.k.a. fondant.
After he had cut his Thomas cake in school a few days back, I had asked him if he liked the cake, and his reply was, “Yes…” and then after that he said, “Where’s my Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake, Mommy?”
I had told him the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake was gonna be for his home celebration. Haha.
err….you see that small DENT on the lower left of the cake? That was caused by Mickey having the first taste of it; you can see his nose is a little bit blue… 
I chose to make the nutritious and rich carrot cake with cream cheese frosting I had tried a few weeks back.
And his expression when he saw the cake was just priceless.
The birthday boy then continued opening all his presents, including the HUGE present from Daddy, Mommy and Hannah. I had to enlist the help of one of my neighbors to help store it first lest Ethan sees it in our home and spoil the surprise.
He tore open the wrapper, and…..immediately got on it!
…and wouldn’t get down! It was a tricycle in his favorite color: YELLOW. He had wanted one since a few weeks before we left the US, so we figured it was high time we got him one now.
Look….all the pictures we took with him after that were of him on the trike.
Ain’t it weird that you can’t see the rest of my body in the photo above?
…and one with both his grandmas…
Ethan definitely had a LOT of fun on his birthday. He proudly announces he is FOUR years old now, and that he can play toys that are meant for “FOUR AND ABOVE”.
He even asked me for more presents to open…
Happy birthday, dearest Ethan Boy!
Being an SAHM poses a different set of obstacles to overcome every single day. Obstacles that the corporate world could never ever train you for, no matter how many learning courses you attend.
Some days, I have had to battle with my (on-the-way-to-independence) toddler on why he has to finish his dinner. Coaxing him and promising him something he would like *if only* he would finish just a few more spoonfuls.
Some days, I have to sadly throw away most of the porridge I cook for Hannah. She would take just one mouthful and then subsequently close her eyes and turn away when offered the porridge.
But some days, I taste sweet triumph…just like today.
Ethan, who, for as long as we can remember, will only agree to taking “rice with soy sauce”, asked for rice with FISH and CARROTS today. And he really ate them. Hallelujah!
Hannah, finished her entire bowl of rice, oats and millet porridge cooked with chicken, red dates, pumpkin and broccoli…and even asked for SECONDS!
Ahhhh…sweet victory indeed.
Two days before Ethan’s birthday, we ended up having dinner at Friday’s. The birthday boy had requested for spaghetti…yes, he said “PLEASE…???”
While Ethan and Daddy went to the loo, I inquired on whether the folks at Friday’s could sing a birthday song for Ethan that night. I knew he loves to blow out the candle, and he loves cake, so we agreed to have them sing for him.
After our dinner, a group of Friday servers came over and Ethan was asked to stand on the chair. Of course, he willingly did it.
Ethan looked very overwhelmed but he was very happy when they started singing, not in the least bit perturbed by the loud voices.
And after blowing out the candle, he dug in to the slice of chocolate cake, finishing every single morsel.
It was the perfect end to a little family celebration. And even though he wasn’t yet officially 4 years old then, Ethan proudly announced that he was!
Sometimes he’s the really loving brother, just like that….
But sometimes all we hear around the house is, “No, Hannah NO!!!” It’s like an anthem for him.
Mommy: Ethan, can Hannah go to school with you?
Ethan: No, too small…Next time when she’s bigger, she can go to school.
When Hannah holds his toys or plays with them, he’s rush over and say, “No Hannah! It’s for 3 years old and above!”
SIGH….kids…
A few months before his birthday, I had already discussed with Ethan that he was gonna have a small celebration in school with his friends and another one at home. And when asked what birthday cake he would like for his birthday celebration in school, he had replied that he wanted a Thomas the Train birthday cake. And because his favorite number is 2, he also wanted the train with the number 2 to be on the cake, i.e. Rheneas.
I could not find a picture of Thomas with Rheneas, so I managed to coax him into agreeing to have a cake with Thomas, James and Percy on it. And that’s how I ended up ordering this cake:
I thought the bakery did a great job and the cake looked fantastic…well, as long as Ethan likes it
The celebration in school began around 10:10a.m. (because I was a little bit late arriving with the cake), and Ethan was given the honor of placing the FOUR birthday candles on his cake.
Then we all sang the birthday song, in English and Mandarin, and Ethan promptly did a great job in blowing out all the four candles.
He also cut the cake three times! LOL
I had also prepared party packs for Ethan to give out to his friends. In line with the Thomas and Friends theme, I had wanted to get Thomas party bags, but alas, I had been unsuccessful. I also enlisted the help of friends and relatives (you know who you are, thank you very much!) to help me look for them in KL and Ipoh, but they were all sold out.
In the end, I decided to make simple party packs myself in the form of Thomas paper bags.
In addition to being in *theme* with the event, paper bags were also environmentally friendly as opposed to plastic.
I also *converted* some Winnie the Pooh yoyos into Thomas yoyos, as one of the party favors.
It caused me several late nights, but it was well worth it. Ethan had fun and so did I!
Why did Ethan say, “Oh no, our house is falling down!”
Because in spite of the fact that we told him not to spin round and round, he did exactly that, and when he stopped his spinning act, he lost his balance a little and made that exclamation.
SIGH. Kids…you just GOTTA love ‘em!
Ethan: Daddy, can I watch Playhouse Disney, please?
Daddy: Just a minute. Daddy wants to watch TV first.
Ethan: Why you wanna watch TV Daddy?
Daddy: Because Daddy wants to watch sports.
Ethan: Which channel Daddy? Channel 812?
Daddy: Yes Ethan. Channel 812. I’ll let you watch 613 in a minute, okay?
Ethan: Why Daddy? Why you want to watch sports on channel 812, Daddy?
Daddy: Because Daddy likes to watch sports.
Ethan: And WHY Daddy? Why you like to watch sports Daddy?
Daddy: Errr….because I was born that way.
Ethan: And WHY are you born that way Daddy?
Daddy: Errrr….go and ask your Ah Ma…
Ethan: Which Ah Ma, Daddy? The Ipoh Ah Ma or the Taiping Ah Ma, Daddy?
Daddy: The Taiping Ah Ma.
Ethan: Okay….now can I watch 613 Daddy?
Ethan received a huge letter from Playhouse Disney last Monday, and this is the note that was included inside the letter:
Playhouse Disney also included some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and My Friends Tigger & Pooh stickers for Ethan as a little gift. And our little boy immediately wanted to stick them all over his books.
In less than 5 minutes, he was already complaining, “It’s not enough Mommy! 10 stickers are not enough!”
Well actually, last weekend Pete had already seen Ethan’s face appear on the Playhouse Disney Birthday Book for the month of January. It caught him by surprise, because I had told him Ethan’s photo was not selected due to the fact that PHDC did not inform me (they said they would if the photo is selected). So anyway, Pete was the only one who saw Ethan’s face, and since that day, I had been waiting to capture the clip on video.
And finally…..I did! It’s very poor quality because of the lines caused by the refresh rate of the TV, but we can definitely clearly see it’s Ethan!
Ethan has been *hinting* that he wants to be on the PHDC Birthday Book ever since we returned from the States. He loves singing the Birthday Book song and naming all the names of the kids in it. I am so glad that I made his dream a reality
After several weeks of collecting the Guardian Big Headz stamps, some of the times Mommy had to insist on being given extra stamps for purchasing Star Buy items, and being presented with additional stamps from both his grandmas during Christmas, Ethan finally finished collecting all 40 stamps entitling him to a Big Headz soft toy from Guardian.
What started out as an activity I thought up during the school holidays turned into a craze for Ethan. He obviously LOVES numbers, and of course seeing those 40 squares fill up with stickers, and having to count them every time he stuck those stamps on the card, was also one of the main reasons he was adamant to complete his collection.
Each time we visited Guardian, he would run up to the Big Headz display, hug the ZEBRA and say, “I love you, Zebra!”
No points for guessing which animal he would choose then.
And on New Year’s Day, Ethan happily stuck his 40th stamp on his Big Headz card.
When we walked into the Guardian store to redeem the zebra, Ethan went up to the counter, holding his card, and said loudly, “I want a Zebra, PLEASSSSEEEE???!!”
If I were in charge of redemption, I would have given the toy to him, whether or not he had a full card!
Yesterday marked the first day of school for many kids. Ethan too officially started his first day at Nursery school yesterday. He has been looking forward to going back to school to see all his friends and having fun.
“School’s opened today?”, “I can see all my friends?” were some of the questions he has been asking our way.
He’s in an all-new classroom this year, with many of the same friends still around and a few new ones. I had also found out his teacher’s names so he already knew them before he reached school. One of his teachers is the same one who was with him during Playgroup last year, so that would make him acclimatize himself much better.
When I accompanied him into his classroom yesterday, there were lots of parents standing around the classroom. Some kids were having separation anxiety and were sobbing away, or looking very sad. I don’t think Ethan was having separation anxiety, because he didn’t look sad at all. Instead he was walking around the classroom, pointing out his name, and the numbers and even gave his teacher a hug.
But still he wouldn’t let me leave.
After the kids had had a small tour round the school, and had washed their hands for their snack time, I asked Ethan if I could leave and pick him up later.
He said, “Yeah.”
So I left.
Today, I took him to class again, said buh-bye and told him I would come and get him later.
We’re getting there, inch by inch and step by step, my boy is learning a little bit of independence all on his own, and growing up right before my eyes.
…was definitely a joyous occasion.
Coupled with the fact that we were away from Malaysia last Christmas and now that Ethan can talk a million words a minute, this was definitely a Christmas that did not contain a dull moment.
This year, Ethan (especially) has been looking forward to Christmas, counting down the days every day since the 20th. He would ask us how many more days to Christmas, and we’d tell him 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1. And in the days leading up to Christmas, he was my little helper, helping me hold the tape while I wrapped the presents, and also bringing the presents to arrange them under our Christmas tree.
And on Christmas morning, he woke up cheerfully and greeted everyone, “Merry Christmas everyone!”
We knew then that he was ready for his presents.
…and MORE presents!
Some “sharing” of Christmas presents amongst cousins was also apparent, especially the colorful toys.
Little Hannah, who was celebrating Christmas for the first time, decided to have a little beauty sleep of her own, and only awoke past 10a.m. (which is why she is still in her jammies). Here she is *showing off* her blouse and jeans Ethan *got* for her.
And then much later, after she washed up and got dressed, here’s my little princess, sitting pretty on her *throne*.
On Boxing Day, we celebrated baby Caitlynn’s full moon.
I think Ethan was the one who enjoyed the cupcakes the most.
…at least I *thought* he looked like he was enjoying it the most!
And then when we got back to Penang, there were more presents to be opened! Yup, we kept some at home because we knew Ethan would love opening presents everywhere! In fact, he would readily offer his gift-unwrapping services too!
…and another one…
Just makes our day to hear him say, “Wow!! Thanks Daddy and Mommy! I LOVE it!”
Here’s the look of JOY on his face when he opened one of his presents: A Mickey Mouse KITE.
Ain’t that precious?
And after that he said, “I want MORE presents, Mommy!”
We received several wedding invites in the recent weeks, some of which Pete decided to go it alone, simply because it would be too tiring for the kids to attend. However, we did bring the kids to a couple of wedding receptions (brave as we are!); one was a dinner reception of Pete’s nephew, and the other was a buffet luncheon.
Took the opportunity to take a family photo with the view of the sea before the dinner reception started.
Hannah was VERY interested with the candy cane wedding favors we received…
Never mind that I had to pick it up over and over again each time she *dropped* it…as long as she’s happy, yes?
Of course, it certainly helped that we had very *willing* baby sitters at the wedding too…here’s a precious shot of Hannah with Kor Kor (her godma too!)
And crystal wall hangings are ALWAYS a very good distraction, provided parental supervision is present.
And what about our little energizer bunny, Ethan? He was busy running around with cousin Jonathan; in and out the banquet hall they went, chasing after each other, hopping here and there.
No wonder he was the first one to knock out…
Not long after, Hannah followed suit…
Oh, and what about the buffet luncheon? No pictures from that one, cuz both kids were at their most active levels and I had no time to whip out the camera, and before we could even say “Yum Seng”, it was time to go home! LOL
Won’t you just look at that? Ain’t that the sweetest loving embrace you have ever seen?
This is Ethan in one of his loving big-brotherly moods. And if you’re wondering what he is saying while he was hugging Hannah, check out the video below….simply PRECIOUS!
So good we had so much fun that Mommy very nearly forgot all about the photos we had taken! …and that was like three whole weeks ago!
Our main prerogative was of course to see little baby Caitlynn (ain’t she sweet?):
But apart from that, we (both adults and kids alike) certainly had fun!
Here’s the customary shot right before we left Penang. Everybody’s wide awake and all excited.
We made our first detour in Taiping and had lunch at one of Daddy’s all-time favorite chicken rice stall.
Hannah’s looking rather happy despite the fact that she can’t taste the chicken rice yet.
And Ethan is all smiles, because he too, like Daddy, LOVES chicken rice.
Next stop: Ipoh. We broke our journey here and had a pit-stop for the night. Took the opportunity to have the ngah choy kai too. Somebody looks really hungry…
And here she is again….still yearning for food…
The following day, we headed for KL, and checked into our hotel, much to Ethan’s enjoyment. Despite the fact that we didn’t get to stay on the 18th floor like he wanted, he adapted really well to the 17th floor too.
And this is one of the reasons why….actually this would be the MAIN reason.
Hannah wanted in on the fun too, but let me tell you, it was rather terrifying, because she tried to stand and play with the bubbles just like her brother!
The kids also got to meet up with their cousins…it’s so heartwarming how the boys can play together now.
It didn’t take long for Ethan to bond with Collin. In the hospital where we visited Aunty Pei Gee and Caitlynn, both Ethan and Collin were busy *spreading* the cheer around.
And the following day, when we met up with cousin Jonathan, Ethan and Jonathan were like best buds!
Jonathan was wailing and complaining when it was time for him to leave! And the sweetest thing was that Ethan ran over and gave the crying Jonathan a hug! (awwww…….)
We also had good food during our vacation. The hotel room comes with buffet breakfast, and the spread is really good.
Poor little Hannah could only look on as we ate. So I decided to introduce papaya to Hannah. You be the judge as to whether she likes it.
Holidays always come and go in a blink of an eye, and before we could even say “IKEA”, we had to pack up and leave. (we did go to IKEA though…)
Here’s Hannah posing for the camera in her dress. Ethan calls it “Hannah’s pretty dress”.
On the way home, my girl discovered that she didn’t have to look straight at the back window all the time. She found out that, hey, if I lifted my head and turned around, I can see Mommy! Peekaboo!
We certainly had an awesome vacation, and we can’t wait for the next one!
Ethan is a natural with numbers. He picked up counting on his own, without our prodding or pushing. He can count to a hundred very well now, but I was totally surprised when he started counting in Chinese one day when I was out with him.
He is exposed to both English and Mandarin in school, as he has two teachers: one for English and one for Mandarin. And so by the by, he has also managed to pick up counting in Mandarin too, although to us, it sounds rather *slangy”, if you know what I mean…
Last Saturday, we had some friends visiting from KL, and for want of something different and intriguing for the kids, we decided to meet at the Esplanade field for a kite-flying session in the morning.
Now, it has been ages since I last flew a kite, but I knew the feeling was out-of-this-world. And I knew that it would be something that Ethan wouldn’t wanna miss.
There….look at the kites…Ethan flew the one on the left. He’d borrowed the kite from Uncle Kin Hoon.
Of course, Daddy had to release it into the air and allow the kite to take flight first.
Ethan was chasing Daddy all around the field, going, “I wanna fly the kite, Daddy!” And so, when the kite was flying nice and high, Daddy passed it to Ethan to fly.
Check out that look of intense concentration.
..and a turnaround pose for Mommy to take a picture.
Ethan had so much fun! …and he also got a tan! LOL
We walked over to Fort Cornwallis after that. We had never been inside, despite being residents of Penang for so long.
Here we are, posing by the statue of Sir Francis Light.
…and Ethan *reading* something, also showing off his newly-acquired tan and rosy cheeks.
And the *compulsory* pose with the canon.
And finally, my attempt at getting a rather nice shot of the wall and canons:
We put up our Christmas tree last week. And guess who had the honor of putting the Christmas star at the tree top?
Easy does it….easy easy….slowly, THERE!
Ethan is a very friendly and sociable guy. Only catch is that he tends to get REALLY shy amongst strangers or even familiar faces in a new surrounding. It takes him some time to warm up and then he’ll be his usual boisterous self.
Just like a couple of weekends ago when we attended his classmate Griffin’s birthday party. Ethan was all excited in the morning of the event, because it was a pirate-themed party. He read aloud the words on the gift too, he said, ” Happy Birthday Griffin. From TWO Ethan!” (the 2 dots were read as *two*)
But as soon as we stepped into Griffin’s home, Ethan clung on to me like a leech and didn’t want to join in the games at all, even though several of his friends were there.
By the by, he warmed up and soon he was running around happily and playing with the birthday boy and his other friends too.
More smiles could be seen as time went by. He even posed happily in front of the pirate ship backdrop
…and he found some *treasures* to play with too!
Can you tell just how much he is enjoying himself? LOL
Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, he downed two sausages by himself.
…and a LOT of yummy chocolate birthday cake!
After that, he went home with his very own mini treasure chest which contained goodies, among them a really COOL telescope.
Is it any wonder he told me, “Mommy, I LIKE Griffin’s house!”
Today marks the last day of the schooling year for Ethan. I can’t believe that it’s been 3 months since he started school. Feels just like yesterday that I was bringing a clingy toddler to class, and now, I’m glad to see that he is happy to go to school every day.
It certainly makes it easier when I see him ask to “wear his bag” and run eagerly to his class. He’ll say bye to me, and when I pick him up, he’ll exclaim, “Mommy!” as he runs to hug me.
He’ll tell me all about his day in school, who he played with, what he did, and sometimes he would proudly bring back and show me the art and craftwork he has done.
It makes me proud too that he has made many new friends in school. In fact, when I show him a picture of his classmates, he can remember ALL of their names!
His grasp of the alphabet and phonics has also increased tremendously, and even though he was only introduced to the Letterland characters in August (when teacher was teaching M), he can remember all of them now. I was really amazed, and still am.
He has also surprised me when he started counting in Mandarin! His school employs a dual-language approach, and although he sometimes looks a little bit confused when the teacher speaks in Mandarin, I’ve caught him singing in Mandarin too! And sometimes, he tells me he learns “Chinese”
Of course, he’s also had his share of fun in school. From birthday celebrations, to bringing goodie bags back from school, to special events, Ethan certainly enjoys it.
His class had a little Halloween class celebration not too long ago, where the kids had a fun activity to paint a *ghost* made from dough.
Ethan is a very *work-proud* boy and when he brought his YELLOW ghost back home, he could not stop showing it around.
And of course, nothing beats that smile on his face when we praise him sky high for his beautifully painted yellow ghost!
So school ended with a blast, or rather a SPLASH, today as the kids all had a great time playing in the giant rubber pool in the school compound.
On the way back from school today, Ethan told me, “I had so much fun in school today Mommy!”
I’ve no doubt you did, sweetie…
Ethan loves numbers! And the amazing thing about this is that we didn’t even force him to learn his numbers. He picked it up all on his own, with his own interest.
Here’s a really cute video of him counting, finger actions included…(a result of nothing else better to do while waiting for the food to arrive). Check out how he positions his fingers for numbers 3 and 8. Priceless!
I am very pleased that both my kids are fully on drinking cups now, be it regular cups or sippy cups. No more bottles to wash, no more bottle nipples to scrub…
When we left for the States, Ethan was still on the bottle, and I had planned on weaning him off it while we were there. I was about 70% successful. He was only taking the bottle once in the morning and once at night, and then slowly we eliminated the night one. When we returned to Malaysia, he went totally off the bottle for good
As for Hannah, since I breastfed her for 5 months without having the bottle, it was expected that she would not want the bottle, so now when she is at the sitter’s, she drinks from a sippy cup. A toddler sippy cup, mind you…the kind without the valve. We don’t have to worry at all about weaning her from a bottle
I bought these Tupperware bell tumblers from US, which comes in 4 different colors. Ethan drank from these when he was at the daycare in US. But now in Malaysia, he rarely wants to drink from them anymore, preferring instead to use regular cups. The pink one is Hannah’s. She drinks her EBM and water from that one.
The NUK sippy cup is meant for Hannah, but so far it doesn’t seem like she likes the spout very much.
We’ve also got these 2 cups for the kids. Got them from Gilroy Gardens. At first we didn’t want to get them because we only found Ethan’s, but then when we saw Hannah’s, we knew we had to get them both. Ethan sometimes drinks his water from his “Ethan cup”. It will be some time still before Hannah will be able to drink from hers.
Ain’t it fun being a kid, when you have all these pretty colorful cups to drink from?
I’m happy to note that the sibling relationship between Ethan and Hannah is significantly better now. Granted, he still sometimes prevents her from playing with most of his toys, but he now (usually) will say “I’m the big brother, Hannah’s my little sister”, and I find that really sweet.
Ironically, I got them cute outfits that had the words “Big Brother” and “Little Sister” sewn on them, and thought it would be a good idea to have a picture taken of both of them in it.
Precious, precious, simply precious shots!
…although it was tough to take the pictures too, because Hannah kept wanting to touch Ethan’s hair and ears, while Ethan wanted to prevent her from doing so, while saying “Cheese!” at the same time! LOL
I asked Ethan to put his arm around Hannah in the last picture above
Don’t they both look happy?
A couple of days before Ipoh Ah Kong’s birthday, I took Ethan card-hunting. We were looking for a birthday card for his granddad, but I had no idea it was so difficult to find one specifically for granddads. We saw loads for Moms, Dads, Grandmas, Brothers, Sisters, even Aunts and Uncles.
Anyway, we found one just in the nick of time. Ethan chose the card, and I helped him prepare the card to be sent.
Ethan wanted to sign his own name on the card, and I gave him the pen to do it. That was when I discovered my little boy could write E, T and H all on his own! I guided him to write A and N, and then we sealed the envelope, he helped me glue the stamps on it, and happily put it in the post box.
Ah Kong was very pleasantly surprised to receive the birthday card, and Ethan was just as happy! What an awesome way to send love!
Last week, Ethan only went to school for 3 days. His school was closed for 2 days on Thursday and Friday, because all the staff was involved in a charity concert the school had organized. This meant that I needed to find something for Ethan to do that won’t keep him bored.
So on Thursday morning, I took him to the children’s library. It was just a very small one, but Ethan was VERY excited to step into a library…so much so that I had to remind him to NOT be too noisy (not that there were a lot of people there to disturb anyway).
Ethan chose several books and we sat at the table to read them. Then I taught him how to put the books back in the rack or the bins so the librarians could arrange them back again.
My only complaint about the children’s library was that the books were very old, and during the time we were there, I didn’t really see any books that were that good. But the important thing was that Ethan had fun!
I told him we could borrow the books, but he told me he wanted to BUY them! LOL
Anyway, in the afternoon, we had lunch at Fatty Loh’s at Nagore Road, and then drove to Queensbay Mall, where we went to the bookstore to get some magazines, and then went to the post office to post some letters. There were some Halloween decorations up then, and Ethan went absolutely crazy! He of course wanted a picture taken too, but he was moving so much it was hard to get a good shot.
Then we did a quick round of grocery shopping, and headed back for home.
Friday morning, we baked some chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Ethan was asking for it the whole morning, and he was quite the helpful kitchen helper indeed. He helped me pour the mixture, mixed it, and then he helped to lay out the cupcake wrappers in the molds. Oh, and of course he helped in eating too!
We did have a great time, and I am quite sure I answered his question when he said, “School’s closed today, Mommy?”
When I feel down, when I feel hurt, when I feel sad, it’s amazing how Ethan always manages to make it all feel better. Just like whenever he wakes up from a nightmare, and comes to me asking me to make it better for him, likewise, my little boy does the same for me.
Yesterday, I felt really gloomy and sad. Clumsy me had knocked over my freshly expressed bottle of EBM and 2.5oz had spilt onto the kitchen counter. While cleaning the mess, Ethan asked me what I was doing, and I told him I spilt the milk. He looked at me gently, came over and said, “Don’t worry Mommy, we’ll pour more milk later, okay?”
And then after I had downloaded some photos from my camera, one of the nicest shots I had taken of Ethan and Hannah ended up corrupted. I was fiddling with it on the PC trying to restore it, and Ethan wanted to know what was wrong. I sadly told him that one of my favorite pictures was spoilt. He immediately put his arms around me and said, “Here’s a hug Mommy. Don’t worry, everything will be okay.”
You just gotta love him
(By the way, I am still trying desperately to restore that picture. If anyone knows how to restore a corrupted jpg file, please let me know!)
Followers of the “Children should be seen and not heard” school of thought would certainly click their tongues in disapproval and shake their heads in despair should they see and hear what Ethan is like these days. When he is watching TV or doing something and he is concentrating: Ethan: Be quiet! Shhhh…. (holds finger to his mouth). No talking!
*****
Daddy attempts to change the TV channel.
Ethan: No watching FOOTBALL, Daddy!
and lately…
Ethan: No Daddy, change the channel to Playhouse Disney, PLEeeeeeeeASsssssssE!!!! PuhLEeeeeeeeASsssssssssssE….???!!!
*****
When someone laughs at him, with him or loudly:
Ethan: It’s not funny, uncle!! That’s not very nice!
*****
At the restaurant, a waiter approaches us.
Waiter: Sir, do you need a baby chair for your son?
Ethan: NO! I’m NOT a baby! (points at Hannah) Hannah’s the baby! I’m a BOY! I’m THREE years old!
*****
At the restaurant again, the waitress assists Ethan by pushing his stool closer to the table.
Ethan: NO! No touching me!
*****
When I am having a conversation with someone:
Ethan: No talking Aunty! Mommy talk first!
*****
When about to go out:
Mommy: Okay buddy, go put on your shoes.
Ethan: No no, not SHOES…sandals!
In school:
Teacher: Alright, take off your shoes.
Ethan: Not shoes, teacher. SANDALS!
Last week, Ethan surprised us yet again with another one of his newfound abilities: Coloring INSIDE the lines. I bet he must have picked this up from school, because we never pruposely force him to color inside the lines. I prefer to allow him free reign of how to express himself artistically. And look how handsomely that has paid off!
I’m so proud of my boy, and can’t believe how much he has grown up!
When Ethan was much, much younger, we took him once through the automated car wash, and he cried his lungs out. After that, we only ever washed the car the manual way.
But I recently discovered a couple of automated car wash coupons stashed away, and decided to use them.
So one fine day, I asked Ethan if he would like to accompany me to the car wash. I explained the whole procedure to him and he was VERY excited about it.
And when we actually drove through it, I guess it did not disappoint him.
He was giggling away when the *uncles* sprayed water and soap on the car.
And he laughed when the bristles of the gigantic brush cleaned our car from top to bottom.
And after the entire process, he exclaimed, “That was so FUN, Mommy! Our car is SO clean and shiny now!”
I bet he would LOVE washing the car next time!
…and no prizes for guessing who had the most fun!
I had an enjoyable little birthday lunch treat at McDonald’s with Ethan:
Then in the afternoon, I took Ethan to the playground for a few minutes:
We had dinner at home. I cooked a simple dinner of conchiglie (Ethan calls it “shell pasta”) with pasta sauce and steamed sausages:
And Pete surprised me with a birthday cake, much to Ethan’s joy, of course!
It was a carrot, walnut and raisin brownie-like cake topped with cream cheese frosting. A healthier option to the regular birthday cake, and it was also an ingenious idea to get some carrot into Ethan
Ethan told me specifically “I don’t want the raisins Mommy. YOU eat the raisins!” (but he ate the walnut and carrot willingly!)
Last Saturday, October 17 2009, little Hannah was baptized in church, in a simple meaningful ceremony. She didn’t really put up a fuss at all, although at times it was hard to keep her hands away from everything; from grabbing the book, from grabbing my hair, my pendant, and from being ever-so-wriggly!
In fact, she was so active that I could not position her properly for the holy water to be poured over her head. This here is my attempt…
Hannah was curious to see what was going on…
I had to pass her to Daddy, the expert…and that also, some of the water entered her eyes!
Of course, there was the compulsory family photo after the end of the ceremony,…errr… positions all a bit out, but everyone was there nevertheless. (baby in front is NOT Hannah…that’s Phoebe, her cousin. LOL… Hannah too busy with *other* things at the back)
I also wanted a family photo of just the 4 of us. We didn’t have many of those, but I discovered that it was becoming increasingly difficult to get a proper shot.
Hannah’s baptism of course calls for a reason to fill our tummies…and fill them we did, at Mama’s… No photos of the food, sorry!
With 2 kids to attend to, it’s rather impossible to whip out the camera, set the macro and focus…but trust me when I say the food was definitely scrumptious! To quote Ethan, “Smells…..LEEECious!!!!”
Last Friday, when I picked Ethan up from school, he greeted me with a big smile, holding a plastic vase filled with a piece of sponge with some stalks of flowers in it. On the plastic vase was his very own name, and he was VERY proud of it, I could tell.
He told me he made it in school. (I just LOVE all these stuff he brings back from school!)
And when we reached home, he wanted to water it, so I assisted him in sprinkling some water on the flowers.
And then he wanted to give his plant some sunlight. I asked him to put it near the sliding door. He put it there for 1 second and said, “That’s too much sunlight…”
So we put it on our shelf instead.
Last weekend when all our relatives came over for a visit, Ethan was proudly showing off his plant to everyone.
I’m wondering if I should get him new flowers when these wilt away in a few days’ time….
We do not believe in forcing our child to write or forcing him to hold a pencil or pen, when he is not ready. We would rather he take his time to play and learn and discover it on his own. That being said, Ethan has always loved numbers and alphabets. And he LOVES experimenting, especially on his doodle pad.
One fine evening, he surprised us by using the square-shaped mold from the doodle pad to *write*. He calls it “draw numbers”. At first he wrote 1 and 2, and he was mighty pleased when we applauded. He then proceeded with other numbers.
And writing this was his own idea…watch…
Ironically, that is also how Pete and I write the number 9.
But when I ask Ethan to write 6 after that, he looked at me with those sweet adorable eyes and shakes his head, “I don’t know how to write 6, Mommy!” LOL
Oh, how I love my little boy!
Yesterday morning, Ethan ran up to me and told me he was scared of the *monster*.
I asked him, “Where’s the monster, Ethan?”
He then pointed at my derriere and went, “There! There’s the MONSTER BUTT!”
What?? Now he is calling my butt a monster butt…and he kept repeating it over and over again, until he was so tickled by my reaction. (It didn’t help that Daddy thought it was funny too).
SIGH…maybe it’s time I really started on my exercise regime…
Anyway, later that day, Ethan was fiddling and messing with my hair during dinner (somehow he likes to do this), and suddenly he said, “Uh-oh, Mommy…your head’s breaking…look!”
SIGH…must be because of the very fine and thinning hair…
And even later that night, I asked him again, “Ethan, do you still see the monster butt?”
He took one look at my behind, and said, “No Mommy, it’s not there anymore. Now you have shorts on!”
Maybe it’s time I put away that “monster butt” pair of pants forever, eh? LOL
We had a very simple at-home celebration for Daddy’s birthday recently. I had asked Ethan what cake he wanted to get Daddy, and he had consistently replied, “Handy Manny cake!” Maybe he sees Daddy as being very handy in the house
Anyway, much as I wanted to bake the cake myself, there was no way I could have done it as nicely as this ordered one:
Maybe someday when my kids are able to help me in the kitchen, I’ll be able to bake something nice like that… hehehe…
Anyway, Ethan surprised Daddy with a “Tadaaaaaa!!!!” We sang the birthday song, blew out the candles and cut the cake.
And the person who enjoyed eating the cake the most? The little boy in green in the photos above! He donned a green shirt, just like Handy Manny did on the cake
…or is it a form of (healthy) competition?
When Hannah was on medication a couple of weeks back, we asked Ethan to *witness* her taking the medicine using the syringe. By the way, if you are not already aware, it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to feed Ethan medicine. He would kick and scream till the cows come home.
Anyway, Ethan was very intrigued watching us feed Hannah. Hannah, on the other hand, was initially receptive of the medicine, but after a few rounds, she knew how to turn her head away when she saw the syringe. Only Daddy knew how to administer the medicine in one swift motion
A few days later, Ethan started sneezing. So I asked him, “Ethan, are you sneezing?” He said, “Yes”. I said, “Do you want to take some medicine? You’ll feel better after taking it, and then when you are all better, Mommy will take you swimming.” He paused and kept quiet. I continued, “I’ll ask Daddy to shoot the medicine into your mouth like Hannah, okay?” He said, “Okay.”
And I almost fainted.
I asked Daddy to get the medicine ready, and MIRACULOUSLY Ethan allowed his Daddy to give him the medicine without any fuss. After that he downed it all with some Milo.
Therefore, do not underestimate what Hannah can do or influence at her young and tender age.
As a SAHM, I try very hard to think of activities that would be interesting and stimulating enough for both Ethan and me to enjoy together. After all, he is in school for half a day, and the rest of the time, he needs something to while away his time (other than watching TV ).
So last week, I asked Ethan if he would like to help me make some cookies. He was excited and said YES. Ethan’s favorite cookies are chocolate chip cookies, and I figured it would definitely be a healthier option to eat homemade ones rather than commercially purchased ones.
For the recipe, I again turned to Happy Home Baking for her Chocolate Chip Cookies (Drop Cookies, as she calls it), and made sure I had all the ingredients. After all, I had achieved good results with the Horlicks Doggie Cookies recipe before, so I trusted the track record there
I taught Ethan how to stir the egg and vanila into the mixture, and then I showed him how to fold the flour into the cookie dough. And fold he did…never mind that some of the flour fell on the table, chair and floor… hehe. Then Ethan helped to bring me the chocolate chips and poured them into the mixture (I think that was his favorite part). And he watched as I scooped tablespoon after tablespoon of cookie mixture on the cookie sheet to bake in the oven. Okay, he couldn’t resist *testing* a bit of the mixture though…
He then excitedly watched the cookie bake in the oven and exclaimed “WOW” when I took them out to cool on the rack.
I told him we had to wait for a while for it to cool first, because he was impatient to eat them. He counted the cookies on the rack while waiting.
The verdict? The cookies tasted not-too-sweet and had a crumbly texture. Ethan LOVED it! And when Daddy came home, he told Daddy, “I made cookies!”
There are no more cookies now. Should we bake some more next week, or should I devise a new project instead?
Easy! Get his help making Orange Juice popsicles!
Even better…Ethan had his popsicle served in a YELLOW popsicle holder, his all-time favorite color!
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!
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!
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!
These precious smiles that greet me in the morning makes it all SO worthwhile…
It must be because of the excessive amount of time he spends with both Hannah and me. Ethan has certainly started to display some form of inevitable sibling rivalry and jealousy.
It all started about a week after we touched down in Penang. Pete had started work then, and I was still in the process of looking for a daycare for Ethan. So meanwhile, both kids would be at home with me 24/7. At first it was all right, although it was quite difficult for me to juggle cooking, cleaning and caring for both kids at the same time.
But then I think Ethan got a bit bored with staying at home all the time. He started his tantrums and his whining. And when I breastfed Hannah, he would say, “No feeding Hannah, Mommy! Let me close it!” and proceed to *help* me “close up” my blouse. On the contrary, when we ask him, “What does Hannah drink then?”, he’ll reply, “Hannah drinks milk!” By the way, he does NOT forbid me to feed Hannah when Pete is around. And he did NOT forbid me to do so when we were in the States.
Also, Hannah is in the drooling stage right now, so whenever Ethan sees her drool, he would say, “No spitting, Hannah!” Sometimes he would use his fist and sort of hit her on the head or the chest. It’s hard to see this happen, and I always try to gently but firmly tell Ethan, “No hitting Hannah, Ethan. It hurts her, okay?”
And when I pick Hannah up, Ethan would ask me to carry him too! He’d ask me to “Put Hannah away, Mommy!” But when I put her down, he will be busy playing with his toys. I try to *entertain* him at home as much as possible with stuff like coloring, water-color painting, and his favorite videos, but Ethan is at that age where he wants to assert his individualism and independence at the same time, hence the “No!”s that abound time and again.
So beginning August, we decided to put Hannah with Ethan’s ex-sitter, Mrs Tan, for about half a day, just to see how she copes. At least I would have about half a day to run some errands and find a daycare for Ethan. I was a little worried about Hannah not taking any milk while away from me, because she does not take to the bottle at all. Well, anyway, after a few days, I decided to start her off on the regular toddler sippy cup and I am happy to say she is drinking well now. Psst….might need to get rid of her bottles soon!
With Hannah away for half a day, we managed to get Ethan started on halfday daycare at a nearby center. He is currently at the tail-end of his two-week orientation and will begin regular halfday daycare when the new school term starts in September.
That aside, the sibling rivalry still exists and I forsee it will be around for some time still. Lately he has also started to say, “No crying Hannah!” or “No laughing Hannah!”
But at the end of the day, sometimes Ethan surprises me and does loving big-brotherly things like holding Hannah’s hand while he falls asleep.
And that’s just one of the things he busied himself with while we were cleaning our apartment back home…amazing, ain’t it?
A little less than a month ago, we (literally) packed our bags and left our San Jose apartment. I admit that I felt a little sad to leave the place, but honestly, I didn’t have much time to dwell on it because we really had to hurry through all the packing. Coupled with the fact that little Hannah decided to attain her personal milestone of rolling over on that very same day we were to leave, we virtually had to pack while making sure she was safe
I think Ethan had no real inkling as to what was happening when he said goodbye to his friends at daycare though. He was still all jovial and boisterous.
And with all the rushing, we managed to make it to SFO and checked in about ONE hour before takeoff!
It was also our first time flying with a stroller, and both the stroller and the infant carrier had to be stored separately in the aircraft.
This time we managed to get the front row seats because Hannah was provided with a bassinet. Front row seats means more leg space for us and more running-around space for Ethan!
I couldn’t resist this adorable photo of Hannah fast asleep in the bassinet. When I first put her there, she did not sleep long because (I think) she felt cold. Later on, she fell asleep in my arms and then I put her in the bassinet with her blankie.
And during our short stop in Hong Kong for refuelling, I carried Hannah around in my sling, sans stroller! Check out her rosy cheeks, a result of being exposed to warm weather, I think.
The journey home was a lot easier than we had anticipated. Ethan made himself busy with whatever he could find, and Hannah … well, let’s just say I have mastered the art of changing soiled diapers in turbulent weather! She’s also exclusively breastfed, so no worries about bottles, powder and hot water!
Our little family is safely back home in our home in Penang now. And trying our very best to adapt.
Here’s Ethan doing the downward-facing dog pose:
During our past 9 months or so here in San Jose, Ethan has definitely enjoyed a tremendous time here. And while we are in the midst of all our packing, I do think it is inevitable that Ethan will miss the precious time and the fun he had at daycare when we leave.
From a rather shy and not-too-many words little guy, Ethan is now talking non-stop, complete with a mind of his own! His confidence has skyrocketed, although he sometimes still is a little shy with strangers.
He has learnt SO many new things at his daycare: singing, dancing, reading, counting, adorable expressions, good manners…the list goes on.
He’s also made many womderful friendships. Wouldn’t it be cool if these kids were to meet up again a few years from now?
And I bet he also learnt a few things about how to be a good big brother too!
Yes, Ethan will definitely miss daycare here, but I am just so very thankful that he at least had the splendid opportunity to experience it.
And now, I just pray that we can find a good daycare back home that Ethan will love just as much.
It has always been a struggle to feed Ethan medicine. Back when he was still breastfed, I would just rely solely on breastfeeding to get him well. But when he was weaned, I dreaded it when he became ill. Usually, we just let nature take its course and he would eventually get better. Most people say that over-the-counter medicine for kids in the US are more palatable and hence, we should buy some to take home with us. Medicine that comes in various kid-approved flavours like cherry, bubble gum and grape definitely appeal to kids.
Well, most kids, anyway…but not Ethan.
Ethan has been coughing for several weeks now. The problem is he refuses to drink a lot of water AND he refuses to take medicine. We bought a bottle of Tylenol in GRAPE flavour. And although the mixture tastes really good, just like concentrated grape juice and nothing like the yucky tasting Rhinathiol or Polaramine, Ethan would have none of it.
We forcefed him this Tylenol Grape a few times, or rather we *tried* to feed him with it, but he would just spit it all out. Even though the characters in his favorite Dr Hippo books drink Grape medicine when they are sick, Ethan does not want to follow suit.
Now, our typical conversations would go like this:
Daddy: Ethan do you wanna drink GRAPE?
Ethan: No! I don’t want it!
Daddy: You have to choose: either drink Grape or drink water.
And of course he would gladly drink the water.
We tried to add the Tylenol into his chocolate milk a few times, but after just the first time, he suspected we had added it in, and he told me, “I don’t want grape Mommy!” And he would stand behind me as I poured the chocolate milk for him, just to make sure I did not add anything else in.
Sigh…
He is still coughing though, but I guess we have to wait for him to heal himself. Here’s what we go through every day:
Ethan: (coughs)
Daddy: Are you still coughing, Ethan?
Ethan (shaking his head): Nooo…I’m NOT coughing Daddy…
Daddy: You just coughed Ethan. You have to drink Grape!
Ethan: No Daddy. I don’t wanna drink Grape Daddy.
And then today…
Hannah coughs.
Ethan: Hannah coughing? Drink Grape!
Mommy: (coughs)
Ethan (immediately): Mommy, are you coughing?
Looks like our bags will not have bottles of grape-flavored medicine then!
I have no doubt in my mind that Ethan will miss Gilroy Gardens when we get back home to Malaysia. Almost every weekend, when we ask him where he would like to go, he would exclaim, “I wanna go to Gilroy Gardens!” It’s a good thing we decided to get the season pass (Lotsa Card) so we could enjoy unlimited entries into the theme park.
Well, last weekend, we made our final trip to Gilroy Gardens before we head back to Malaysia. As soon as we turned into the theme park, Ethan said, “I see it Mommy! I see the Gilroy Gardens signboard!” Yup, he was THAT excited. He even started dancing to the music before we entered the theme park.
Because it was our last visit (for a long time anyway) there, it was as if Ethan could feel it too, and he wanted in on as many rides as possible. Normally he would bypass the race car ride, but that day, he insisted on getting in.
And when we were ready to take the choo-choo train ride, Hannah was awake, so for the first time, our little family got on board the train together. There were only a couple of rides that allowed infants on, and the train ride was one of them.
The hot sunny weather was the perfect recipe for a good splashing time in the sun. And that’s exactly what Ethan had. There was this water squirting area where the kids could play in the water, and Ethan had a jolly good time there.
It was a fantastic day at Gilroy Gardens, and for what it’s worth, I think I am gonna miss this place too.
Goodbye Gilroy Gardens! We hope to come back again next time!
Reasoning
Daddy: Is Ethan a boy or a girl?
Ethan: A boy!
Daddy: Good! What about Daddy? Is Daddy a boy or a girl?
Ethan: Daddy is a boy!
Daddy: Very good! Is Mommy a boy or a girl?
Ethan: Mommy’s a girl!
Daddy: What about Hannah? Is Hannah a boy or a girl?
Ethan: Ummmm….ummmm…
Mommy: Hannah’s a girl!
Ethan: No! Hannah’s a BABY!
Authority
Mommy: Ethan, let’s go take a shower!
Ethan: No, Mommy, I don’t want it!
Mommy: You gotta go take a shower Ethan, you wanna be clean, right?
Ethan: No Mommy, NO! Go sit the naughty stool! Don’t do it again, okay, Mommy?
Customization
Daddy (playfully to Hannah): Who’s your Daddy?!
(Hannah smiles happily)
Ethan runs really quickly towards Hannah.
Ethan: Where’s my Ethan?!
Daddy: Who’s your Daddy?!
Ethan: No no Daddy, stay right there, okay?
Ethan (to Hannah): Where’s my Ethan?!
Last week, Ethan had his first visit to the dentist. I know we should have brought him when he was about two or two-and-a-half, but I was searching for a good pediatric dentist, fussypot that I am. Anyway, I stumbled on this pediatric dentist’s site and the pictures in his clinic looked really cool; with soft toys everywhere and smiling kids, I knew this was where Ethan could go.
I promptly made an appointment, and although we arrived at the clinic a little late, we quickly registered (while Ethan busied himself with Super Mario Bros.) and were ushered in. I went in with Ethan while Pete stayed in the reception area with Hannah.
The dentist’s examination room was nothing like the regular dental clinic. It almost seemed like a child’s playroom! Ethan immediately went for the Ikea bolster thingy, which coincidentally was the identical one he has at home.
Then the dental assistant got Ethan to warm up by giving him a giant toothbrush to brush the “dino”’s teeth:
It was funny cuz Ethan wanted to brush his own teeth at first!
Next, the dentist came in and explained that he would just be checking Ethan’s teeth and *counting* them. Unfortunately, despite Ethan saying “okay” back home when I told him what the dentist would be doing, he refused to lie down. So I had to hold Ethan, one leg on either side of my waist, then I faced the dentist, and lowered Ethan’s head so his teeth could be checked.
There was some buildup along the gumlines of some of his teeth, but thankfully no cavities. As usual, the dentist asked Ethan to brush at least twice a day and floss too. And as expected, when his teeth was counted, he had only 18: the 2 missing teeth were his two bottom incisors, just like Daddy’s.
We were then ushered to the x-ray room where Ethan was the perfect angel while his teeth x-rays were taken.
No fuss, no mess…he just bit on a piece of material for the x-ray to be taken, then his teeth picture was snapped; twice: once for the top jaw and once for the bottom.
Here’s his anxious look waiting for the x-rays to be ready.
Well, that soon turned to happiness when he was asked to choose a balloon: Ethan chose the red one:
His teeth x-rays looked fine, and we could see the permanent teeth below his milk teeth. It is possible though that he will still take after Pete and have 2 incisors missing in the bottom jaw.
Oh, and before we left the clinic, Ethan was asked to choose a toy too. He is very into musical instruments, so he chose a purple recorder!
We were told to make another appointment for cleaning of his teeth, so I did. And his teeth-cleaning appointment was 2 days ago…
I had explained to Ethan that it would just be a very simple brushing and cleaning and he would get a balloon and toy after that. On the way to the clinic, he was all, “I wanna see Mr Dentist!”
But as soon as the dental assistant was ready to start the cleaning procedure, Ethan looked very troubled and began sobbing. He lied down on the bench-like chair (totally flat, not reclinable like a regular dentist’s) and looked very upset. Maybe he wasn’t very sure what to expect, but after a few minutes of consoling and reassurance (and me holding a red balloon for him) he quietened down, wore his *sunglasses* and had his teeth cleaned.
The dental assistant did the following:
-
flossed his teeth
-
brushed his teeth with a toothbrush to show me (and Ethan) the correct way of brushing
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cleaned his teeth with a rubbery vibrating tool
-
wiped his mouth and teeth dry with cotton gauze
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applied flouride *bubble bath* on the teeth
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wiped his teeth again
Ethan was to refrain from food and drnks for half an hour after that.
Good job, Ethan! Look at how sparkling clean his teeth are now!
And this is the toy he chose:
Looks like I’ll have to get him a balloon and toy the next time he visits a dentist in Malaysia!
We made a 4-hour-or-so drive northeast to South Lake Tahoe for a one-night holiday last week. Pete had taken the week off from work, and the decision to travel there was kinda impulsive. We knew it would be our last vacation to somewhere in the States before we headed back to Malaysia next month, yet it would be our very first trip together as a family of four.
Thankfully, I managed to secure a hotel room at the last minute at a whopping 40% discount, and even better, it came with a king-sized bed with the famous Tempur-Pedic® mattress, which was absolute heaven for our weary bodies. Unfortunately the hotel did not provide a crib for Hannah, so we had to bring her infant-toddler rocker for her to sleep on.
So how was our holiday?
Well, to tell you the truth, despite the rather long journey, and having to make a few pit stops for when Hannah needed a feed, or for when Ethan had to go to the potty, or errmm…for when Mommy had to go potty, I think we did pretty well. Took us slightly longer than usual to get to our destination, but it was definitely very worth it. Of course, we were entertained along the way by the usual chatters and singing from our very willing Mr Bulat (when he wasn’t asleep).
Let’s just let the pictures tell the story…
Here’s Ethan enjoying the sunset at the recreation park by the lake. Our little boy kept whining that he wanted to “go home” but he seemed very happy when we stopped by the lakeside after dinner! LOL
A picture I took of Pete and the kids. It was supposed to be just Pete and Hannah, but Ethan wanted in on the photo too, as you can see!
Before we left for home, we drove to indulge in the scenic view of Lake Tahoe. Here’s a family picture taken with the picturesque Emerald Bay in the background. Hannah was asleep…or so we thought!
She promptly awoke, I guess cuz she wanted to take in the spectacular view too! She was all smiles, so we did what every smart parent would have done!
And then of course here we have Ethan wanting to leave the scenic spot because he insisted he had to go to the Men’s to wash his hands!
Oh yeah…I won’t forget pictures of the breathtaking view.
It’s summer now, so there’s no more snow where we were. The temperature was also way warmer than I had anticipated. I had packed a considerable amount of warm clothing, only to have them occupy luggage space instead!
This was the closest Ethan got to seeing snow:
Not bad for a 2-day-1 night vacation eh?
Ethan asked for pasta for lunch today, so we decided to go try this place called Pasta Pomodoro. Coincidentally, they have a Kids Eat Free promotion on Tuesdays, so it was great because Ethan doesn’t really eat much.
The kids’ meal came with a drink (either milk, soda or apple juice), a main course and chocolate sundae for dessert. Here’s Ethan enjoying his milk…
He wasn’t at all interested in the meal we ordered for him, however. I ordered Easy Cheesy Pasta, which was like mac-n-cheese with conchiglie (shell pasta). Instead, Ethan asked for what Daddy was having: Frutti di Mare, i.e. spaghetti with mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari, garlic, tomato sauce.
Excellent choice, I’d say! It certainly did not bother him that it was slightly spicy too!
He finished his entire plate, then gulped down the whole glass of milk and then tucked into his chocolate sundae dessert.
And when we were done with lunch, as we were heading towards the car, he told me this, “The pasta was good, Mommy!” He had never ever said that before.
I do worry about Ethan.
I worry about his eating habits; how he only seems to live on rice and gravy and nothing else. Well, he takes hard-boiled eggs on occasion, but it really depends on his mood. No other form of protein, and if we’re lucky, just a few small pieces of meat and that’s it.
Lately, his daycare giver says that he has taken a liking to Mac-n-Cheese, and would eat a LOT at daycare, but when I prepare Mac-n-Cheese for him at home, he wouldn’t even taste it! Not even if it’s Mic-a-roni and Cheese, i.e Mac-n-Cheese made with Mickey and Friends pasta shapes.
I worry that he is not getting any fiber in his body. He does not like vegetables, although he basically knows the names of all the vegetables I put on the table. Sometimes he even makes a special request to ask me to buy carrots or broccoli when we go grocery shopping. But eating it is a no-no.
As for fruits, he will only take apples now. His love for bananas has also waned. I once tried whipping up a chocolate banana milkshake to entice him, but he only took a few sips of it.
We are trying to jazz up his Pediasure nowadays, using colorful straws and cups. Works some of the time…I also make a batch of Pediasure and chill it in the fridge for his evening consumption. Whatever goes in, I am thankful.
Despite all this though, our Ethan is still very much active all the time, full of energy and always making us laugh.
Things he won’t turn down? Ice cream and yogurt…is it any wonder why this yogurt freeze from the Ikea Deli managed to *entertain* his taste buds so well?
Yesterday morning, I had the perfect opportunity to do some baking because Hannah decided to sleep in till 11:00a.m. or so. I had seen these yummy Milo doggie cookies baked by Angie and Hooi Ling, and after I was done salivating, I found out that the recipe actually originates from Happy Home Baking’s Horlicks doggie cookies recipe! Since the only Milo I have here is the 3-in-1 variety and hence not suitable, and since I have some Horlicks brought from Malaysia, I decided to bake some of these cute doggie cookies.
With no electrical mixer available, I relied on my trusty wooden spoon where I had to manually stir and mix the cookie mixture. It look okay by my standards, not lumpy or anything!
The first batch of cookies turned out way bigger than I had imagined. I must have used too much cookie dough. They looked more like fat doggies…hehe… No Koko Krunch here either, so I used Cocoa Pebbles instead, resulting in smaller doggie ears. LOL
I managed to bake 39 cookies in all, although the recipe had estimated 48. Nevertheless, the cookies smelled fantastic! And they were very crunchy too…tasted a lot like those typical Chinese New Year cookies, y’know? Good thing about these cookies is that it’s not too sweet, with the sweetness coming only from the chocolate chips!
I love baking homemade cookies because I’d know exactly what goes into them. With Ethan loving cookies so much, it’s a fantastic idea to make nutritious cookies for him. And like Happy Homebaker whom I got the recipe from, I would want to find that ideal cookie recipe with the right balance of nutrition, wholesome goodness and great taste too!
These Horlicks cookies called for some milk powder too, and I’d used Pediasure for that
Ethan made quite a mess last night when he ate doggie cookie after doggie cookie. The crumbly nature of the cookie caused that, and he preferred to bite off a little at a time, and lick the chocolate chip (nose of the doggie)!
During the recent long Memorial Day weekend, we made a trip to Gilroy Gardens again. This time, the theme park was really packed. All the rides involved a long wait in line. We had wanted to go for the paddle boat ride in the *swans* but the line was REALLY long! So we decided to go for the little sit-in boats instead.
Pete waited with Hannah (who was asleep), and I waited in line with Ethan. There was no sign indicating how long we had to wait though, which made me rather uncomfortable.
All through the wait, Ethan was complaining, “I wanna ride the boat, Mommy!” and all the time I had to reassure him that our turn would come soon, telling him that the line was moving, and distracting him whenever possible.
And when he was tired of standing, he would either climb the railings or ask me to carry him.
Finally when our turn came after about a 30-minute wait, Ethan was all smiles
I could tell he was enjoying the ride tremendously, checking out the scenery, while oohing and aahing.
It was as if the long wait was truly worth the while.
…and after the boatride, we had a well-deserved cool treat too! Nothing beats enjoying a yummilicious ice cream cone in the warm sunny weather!
I’m sure Ethan agrees wholeheartedly too! Look at the satisfaction written all over his face!
This is Ethan doing his impression of a pirate. He says he learnt it from watching Backyardigans.
Oh by the way, this is a picture I took of him while we were riding in the carriage of the ferris wheel in Gilroy Gardens last Monday. Ethan thoroughly enjoyed himself - in fact, he personally requested for the ride!
Some people have asked us the inevitable question: “Is there sibling jealousy since Hannah arrived?”
Hmmm…while it is apparent that Ethan absolutely adores little Hannah, there are times when he displays some jealous streaks too. He would ask for us to carry him when he sees us carrying Hannah, he would insist that I put him down to sleep even when I am breastfeeding Hannah, and of course, he would ask us to “Put Hannah cot!” when he wants our undivided attention.
On the other hand, it appears that Hannah cries for attention more when her brother is around. Perhaps she senses some *competitive vibes* and so she responds with the only method she knows thus far.
Sibling jealousy goes both ways, I’d say…and yet, I can hardly wait for the day when my kids can play together happily, enjoying each other’s company.
At 2.5 months, we still can’t firmly decide if Hannah resembles her Daddy or her Mommy more, but one thing’s for sure, she certainly looks like Ethan! I dug out some pictures of Ethan taken when he was about 2.5 months too, and well…you guys be the judge…
Of course it’s quite hard to tell because of the differing amount of hair, but still…
…same engaging brown eyes…
…same cute lil button noses…
…same rosebud lips…
…and the same happy cheerful (toothless) smile!
Yesterday evening, Ethan had not one, not two, but FIVE surprises when he came home from daycare. The mailman delivered these five books from the Dr Hippo Series, which is a wonderful collection of stories written by Dr Charlotte Cowan, depicting animals with an illness, and how they recover from it with the help of a pediatrician named Dr Hippo.
As soon as I showed Ethan the books, he got all excited and he wanted me to read the books to him. I asked him to choose which one he wanted to read and he chose this one:
The Moose with Loose Poops tells the story of a little moose named Miles, who is suffering from gastroenteritis. Coincidentally, Ethan has had gastroenteritis before, and as I read the story to him, I was not sure if he recalled the ordeal he had been through. The book describes the symptoms of gastroenteritis in simple kid-friendly terms, referring to tummy upsets as “having waves in the tummy” resulting in Miles “throwing up”, and having diarrhea as “pooping a waterfall”.
Ethan adored the beautiful illustrations in the book. They were very colorful and drawn really well, enough to sustain my toddler’s attention till the “The End” page. He kept pointing out the details in all the pictures, i.e. the various toys, the animals etc. I found that I had to ad lib the story at times, because impatient Ethan would ask me to “turn the page” very quickly. And also, because he is more used to Daddy and Mommy instead of Papa and Mama as is being used in the book, I had to make the necessary modifications too.
All in all, a very informative book that teaches kids about what happens when they are ill. I also liked the fact that home-trusted remedies like “drinking lots of fluids” was included in the story, and I took this opportunity to stress the importance of that to Ethan.
Our boy was already very sleepy then, but he was still determined to finish reading all five books consecutively. After book number 2, I had to take a break from reading to breastfeed Hannah, so Daddy took over the reading task. After two books, Daddy remarked, “Why is everyone sick in these stories?” LOL - at that time he did not yet know the concept of the Dr Hippo series.
Well, you see, in addition to educating kids about the illnesses, these books all come with a detachable guide for parents on the back cover that provides parents with everything there is to know about gastroenteritis. Very useful for times when we don’t feel like reading through some thick childcare book.
Ethan fell asleep with the five books at his bedside last night. And he asked to read those books again today. I foresee the start of a beautiful friendship there…
Scrap Credits
Every Day kit from Jen Yurko
Ethan entertains us everyday with his happy smiles and cheeky antics, and it is always a pleasant joy to engage in conversation with him.
He has learnt to say “YES” and “DON’T KNOW” now; he probably picked up the latter from times when he would inundate us with neverending questions, and finally when the question was too *difficult*, we just said, “Donno”
The way he says “YES” is classic. He stresses the last bit of the word so much that it sounds like YESHHHH, or perhaps more like YETHHHH… and sometimes we just like to ask him questions just to hear him say the word.
“DONNO” he says it while shaking his head, and sometimes it would seem as though he is thinking of an answer before he responds with “DONNO!” However, he learns fast, and as soon as we tell him what the correct response is, he will repeat it after us.
That’s our funny little big boy for you right there. He provides us with endless hours of entertainment.
Much to my delight, Ethan has developed a keen interest in reading books lately. He would ask us to read to him all his books over and over again, and although sometimes he impatiently wants to turn the page, he would be all smiles when we read to him. Unlike his behaviour before when I tried reading to him, where he would push away the book disinterestedly, Ethan now voluntarily brings his books to us.
We do not have many story books here with us in the US, so instead of pathetically reading the ABC or Numbers book repeatedly, I decided to get him some new ones. Lately I have been trying to get some books online and it’s addictive, really!
I was so glad when this came in the mail today. Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar has got to be one of the most popular children’s books around today. And when Ethan refused to bathe yesterday, I showed him his surprise *treat* to be enjoyed after he took a bath and off he willingly went.
After his bath, he remembered the book, and happily asked me to read to him. All through the book, he was eagerly pointing out the things he saw. The moon, the sun, the caterpillar…he even counted the fruits like strawberries and apples.
And when we read that the caterpillar turned into a beautiful butterfly, Ethan exclaimed, “The End!” Sure meant a whole lot to me when he turned to me and said, “I like it Mommy! Thank you Mommy!”
Later that night, I read the book a couple of times to him again, including using it to calm him down when he was throwing a tantrum.
I’m sure we will be reading about the hungry caterpillar again this evening. And I can’t wait to share other wonderful stories with him.
Isn’t it amazing how this little box of 20 sidewalk chalk can amuse Ethan so?
I just remembered it had been collecting dust in one of our boxes for goodness-knows-how-long, and I was reminded of its existence when I saw some kids playing with their sidewalk chalk on the sidewalk recently.
Now when we go for our walks in the park with Ethan, he’ll want to bring along his box of chalk. He won’t even allow anyone to carry it for him, and he’ll hug it really tight too.
Unfortunately some of the chalks have broken, due to *mishandling* on Ethan’s part… He’ll run over to tell me that “it’s broken, Mommy!”
Nevertheless this is a really good creativity tool to have for kids. Yesterday evening, I introduced simple hopscotch to Ethan too!
Hehe…I’ve asked Ethan to say thank you to Aunty Audrey for the chalk, when we next meet.
Scrap Credits
Daydreamin’ kit (papers, elements & alphas) from Megan Turnidge
Word Art (I Treasure You) from Dirty Feet Designs aka Heather Benson
Lately Ethan added the word “buy” to his ever-expanding vocabulary. Actually I don’t even remember when it had started, but he understands the concept of buying stuff now.
Ethan: Mommy, I wanna watch vi-dee-lio (video)!
Mommy: Which video do you wanna watch?
Ethan: Ummm…ummm…Madagascar!
Mommy, But we don’t have the Madagascar DVD darlin’…you wanna watch something else?
Ethan: BUY Madagascar!!
Mommy: Ok, we’ll see if it’s on sale this weekend, okay?
Ethan: Okay Mom!
Mommy: Alright Ethan, go get your jacket and wear your shoes and socks!
Ethan: I wanna wear purple socks!
Mommy: You don’t have any purple socks, my dear…how about your green ones?
Ethan: BUY purple socks!
There’s Ethan’s very simple solution to get anything he wants!
And then just the other day…
Ethan: Mommmeeee….I wanna drink milk!
Mommy: Okay Mommy’ll get some for you. Which milk do you want? (I’d expected him to choose between chocolate milk, his Pediasure or soy milk)
Ethan: I want green milk!
Mommy: Green milk??!! There’s no such thing as green milk, Ethan!
Ethan: Errmmm…BUY green milk!
It will take some time before he realizes not everything can be bought!
Scrap Credits
QP from Galiscrap
Elegant word art (proud of you) from Bethany
Ethan is becoming more and more sociable now. If he was a shy little boy previously, fearful of strangers and people he meets, there is absolutely no indication of that shy trait at all now. He is gaining confidence every single day and his friendliness is so very contagious.
Someday I know I will look back at these short conversations he has and laugh about it. I know I already am…
In the elevator when someone else enters it with us
Ethan (to the other person): Hi!
While out and about
Ethan (to everyone he sees): Hi! (while waving his arm)
and…
Ethan: Bye!
At the grocery store
Ethan: Hi!
(Fish seller doesn’t respond because he doesn’t hear Ethan)
Ethan (louder, and waving his hand): Hi!
Fish seller: Oh hi! I didn’t hear you!
Ethan (proudly to me): I said Hi!
Me: Yeah, I know you said hi, darlin’.
At the supermarket checkout
Ethan (to lady behind us): Hi!
Lady: Hi sweetie!
Ethan: What you doin’?
Lady: I”m shopping. What you doin’?
Ethan: Go to mite house (He says “mite” when he means “my”)
(So now he’s inviting people to our house???!!!)
At the playground
Ethan (to everyone): Hi!
Man in the park: Hi!
Ethan: Look at Riverdance! (and does the tapdancing stunt)
Ethan: Go to mite house! (smiles happily)
Scrap Credits
NSD 2009 freebie template from Jen Caputo
Without End - partie 1 kit from Scrapmalin
Rough & Tumble Add On paper tear from Flergs
Worn Alpha from Bethany
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“Hi Hannah!” It’s very endearing to see Ethan going up to Hannah when he wakes up or when he comes back from daycare and greet her that way. Sometimes he will add in, “How are you, Hannah?” or “I love you Hannah” or “What you doin’, Hannah?”
-
“Hannah, wake up!”
-
When Hannah starts to cry when we are out in the car, Ethan will respond with, “Oh Hannah, don’t cry…we’re moving!” You see, Hannah, just like her brother when he was small, loves it when the car is moving, and as soon as we stop at traffic lights or an intersection, she will start to cry. Sometimes we would reassure Hannah by telling her that we are moving soon and tell her not to cry, so I suppose Ethan, in his own amazing intuitive ways, caught on.
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“Sit down, Hannah!” , while pointing to the couch.
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“Eat, Hannah!”, offering Hannah his milk or yogurt.
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When Hannah starts crying and wants to be fed or carried, Ethan will go up to her and say, “Oh, it’s okay Hannah, … don’t cry!” When we ask Ethan to give Hannah a kiss, sometimes he will touch his forehead to her head.
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“Here, Hannah…pull it!”, offering the musical mobile toy to Hannah, and then “Touch it!” while he holds Hannah’s hand to the toy. Just the other day, Ethan took his yellow Numbers book and put Hannah’s hand in such a way as to hold the book.
***
And when he wants Mommy’s or Daddy’s attention on him, when either one of us is carrying Hannah, he will say “Put Hannah cot!” He puts a lot of emphasis on the “T” after the “Put” so much so that it sounds like he said, “Put THE Hannah cot!”
Oh, by the way, Ethan pronounces Hannah as “HA-NA”, and not “Hen-NA” like us. It’s just so adorable the way he says it! And I bet those things he says to her right now are all just the tip of the iceberg with many many more to come as they both grow up!
Daddy and Mommy took Hannah and me to Gilroy Gardens last Saturday. I asked Mommy to dress me up in my pair of cool blue jeans and happily got into the car. Hannah took a nap in the car on the way there, and usually I would too, but I was too excited to sleep as I was looking forward to riding on the “mare-go-wown” (merry-go-round). I had been to Gilroy Gardens a few months ago, but didn’t dare go on the rides myself, but I am a big boy now and I was all ready to have FUN! There were also many more pretty flowers now since it is springtime.
Daddy and Mommy got us the Lotsa Card season tickets, which means we would be able to go to Gilroy Gardens an unlimited number of times this year! Yippeee!
I spotted the mare-go-wown as soon as we walked into the entrance, and pulled Mommy towards it. There was nobody in queue and I was the first one on the little merry-go-round, so I got to choose the horse I wanted to ride on!
Further down the road, we saw an even bigger merry-go-round, and I just HAD to get on that too! Even Mommy got to sit on one of the horses!
Next up, it was rides galore! I think Mommy enjoyed herself too because she could not ride on most of the rides last time as she was pregnant with Hannah. This time, Mommy got to enjoy some of them with me! I only wished Hannah was old enough to join me…
When we were riding in these gigantic strawberries, I saw a really exciting ride in the shape of a giant banana that was rocking up and down! I asked Mommy and Daddy if I could ride on it, but they said I wasn’t tall enough yet. I must start doing some stretching exercises!
I did get to ride on little golden fishies (can you spot me?), on a fire engine and in a racing car!
…and then Daddy went on a balloon ride with me too!! Too bad only my hoodie can be seen…see?
Mommy couldn’t ride in the balloons because she was carrying little Hannah who had fallen asleep in the sling.
Must have been quite comfortable for Hannah, cuz she slept for a long time in there…not that I wanted to be in the sling anyway! I had so much fun running around because there were so many things to do!
Sometimes Daddy had to catch me and stop me from running, but I just could not help it! We had rides in the choo-choo train, of course, but when I tried to get on the roller coaster, I was not allowed to do so because I was not tall enough. 
We then decided to take a break to have a treat.
Hawaiian Shaved Ice definitely sounded good, and just look at all the colorful juices that would go into it!
I heard Mommy and Daddy say it was a very expensive bowl of ice with syrup, but it sure looked good!
Initially I made a face because it was ICE all the way. C-O-L-D!!!! But soon, Daddy, Mommy and I finished the whole cup! Yummy!
The one thing we MUST do the next time we come again to Gilroy Gardens is to ride in the paddle boats that were shaped like swans! There was a long queue for the boats so Mommy decided to take me on the giant artichokes instead.
And before we left, Daddy took me for a final choo-choo train ride.
…with breathtaking scenery…
Oh, we are SO coming back here again soon!
Scrap Credits
Spring Blossoms QP from Bon Scrapatit Designs
Elegant word art (little moments) from Bethany
Without End - partie 1 (papier 04) from Scrapmalin
Ethan is getting very good at being polite now. He says Please and Thank You at the right times. When he does something wrong, he will look very sad, apologize and say, “Sorry Mommy” or “Sorry Daddy“.
He even says Good night and Good morning! … although these depend on his mood.
I remember a funny incident when he asked me for some chocolate. We would tell him that he can have just ONE Hershey’s Nugget on condition that he has finished his dinner.
Ethan (opening the fridge): Mommy, I want chocolate.
Me: Okay, since you have finished your dinner today, Mommy will give you one piece of chocolate.
Ethan (smiling happily): Chocolate!
Me: Here you go…what must you say, Ethan? (I was expecting him to say “Please”)
Ethan (without skipping a heartbeat): CHOCOLATE!
Me: No… you must say, PLEASE..
Ethan: Please Mommy…
Me: Okay, here you go…now what must you say?
Ethan: Thank you Mommy!
Now, the Please and Thank You come naturally
Lately, he has also learnt how to say “Excuse me“, but sometimes it sounds like he is saying “Kiss me“!! And yet, sometimes when someone or something is blocking his way, he forgets his manners and says, “MOVE!!!”
… well, sometimes he does remember to say, “PLEASE MOVE!”
Scrap Credits
Elegant word art (child’s uniqueness) from Bethany
Quick page par Soco - Avec le kit Lilou de Moune & Worn Alpha from Soco, scraps et loisirs
Our little Ethan boy is getting to be quite the inquisitive little fella. Besides asking us where did so-and-so go, his favorite query now is to find out what we are all doing.
He’ll go, “Hi Mommy! What you doin’ Mommy?” or “What you doin’ Daddy?”
Oh, I know it should be grammatically corrected to sound, “What ARE you doing?” but he sounds just too cute! And he can go onandon, I tell ya… “What you doin’ Mommy?” , “Mommy, what you doin’ Mom?!!”
Gosh…looks like after the “where” and the “what” phase, we should brace ourselves for the “why” phase next eh?
Last weekend marked our first one alone with the kids. My parents headed for home on Friday morning, and Pete and Ethan sent them off at the airport. The plan was to drop Ethan off at daycare after thar, but when Pete reached the daycare, Ethan started crying loudly and pitifully, asking for Mommy all the while. So Daddy took Ethan home and we all had lunch at home. Ethan had FOUR steamed paus!!! (normally he only takes two)
Then after lunch, we managed to persuade him to go to Aunty Van’s, and he happily went.
Hmmm…we think his initial crying incident at daycare could be due to his insecurity. He must have been afraid Daddy would leave him, after he said goodbye to his Ah Ma and Ah Kong. Well, I believe he certainly misses his Ah Ma and Ah Kong very much, because he keeps asking where they are, and I have no doubt the feeling is mutual…Never mind Ethan Boy, time passes very fast (especially when you’re having fun) and you’ll see Ah Ma and Ah Kong very soon back home in Malaysia!
So what else did we do last weekend? Apart from the usual grocery shopping routine, Daddy, Mommy and Ethan got our haircuts. Ethan can now sit independently on those planks they place on salon chairs, for kids…so proud of him, and he got a nice haircut too!
On Sunday I made Ethan some star-shaped pancakes, which he walloped with aplomb! Then he requested from circle-shaped ones too. LOL!
Looks like the first weekend alone for our little family went rather well. At times, we would expect it to be challenging handling two kids, without the additional two pairs of hands from my parents when they were here, but we’ll manage…
…..somehow.
Maybe he just wants to join in the crowd…
Ethan has been requesting to carry Hannah on his own nowadays. He would make his request with both his arms outstretched.
I’d allow him to carry Hannah with her head on his lap and him sitting on the couch. I feel it is important to let Ethan know that he plays an important role as a big brother. Maybe this makes him FEEL like a big brother.
But one thing’s for sure…they look so adorable together, don’t they?
Ethan loves playing with jigsaw puzzles, and solving them, of course! That’s a good thing, right? Jigsaws hone a child’s ability to think, be creative and it’s fun!
A few weeks ago, my Mom got Ethan a 24-piece Little Einsteins jigsaw. He was thrilled when he saw it, and wanted to fix the puzzle immediately. We had to guide him the first few times, so he was able to solve it. Then by and by, he would practise on his own, trying to fit the pieces together. Sometimes he would try a particular piece, turning it in all directions, and when he saw it did not fit, he would try a different piece. He would only ask us for help if he was really stuck.
Ethan would practise solving his jigsaw puzzle almost every day, sometimes several times a day. And each time he completes it, we’d praise him and say, “Wow, you did it!” and applaud his efforts.
Well, practice indeed makes perfect, for now Ethan can solve the jigsaw puzzle all on his own, in just a very short time! He’s all seriousness when he’s at the puzzle, sometimes saying, “Two more pieces…” and “One more piece..” as he completes it. And then when he does, he’ll go, “I did it!” and flash a jubilant smile!
How do you like my hairstyle? Daddy did it for me last night after my shower…
No gel, no hairspray, just plain ol’ water, is what he used…
My cheeky grin suits it just fine, eh?
After promising Ethan for such a long time that I would take him swimming “when it gets warmer”, I decided to *take the plunge* last Sunday afternoon, when I saw that the sun was shining and the weather was warm. I could see a few people sunbathing too, and the pool looked absolutely inviting. The day before we managed to get Ethan a new swimsuit (shorts and shirt), so I was quite eager to see him in it too.
However, when we reached the pool, I put my finger in it to test the temperature and retracted it immediately! It was freezing COLD!! I asked Ethan to feel the water too, and he said, “It’s cold!”
So what to do? We decided to try the heated jacuzzi nearby instead. For months, we had seen people enjoying the bubbly jacuzzi, but we had not tried it ourselves yet. Pete switched on the timer on the jacuzzi and Ethan and I stepped in.
He said excitedly, “Look at the bubbles!”, and man, was the jacuzzi relaxing!
It was a win:win situation for all: Ethan had fun splashing around, and Daddy and Mommy experienced some therapeutic water massage!
When most toddlers would request to watch Barney and other cartoon DVDs, Ethan is currently displaying a rather *mature* and musical taste in DVD selection. What does he asks to watch almost every day?
The Riverdance DVD!
Riverdance is a concert performance comprising mostly of Irish tapdancing, with some great song performances as well as musical instruments. Ethan would ask to watch Riverdance and even better, he would imitate the dancers in the show. His favorite is Thunderstorm, a flawless tapdance performance that is performed without music. This is Ethan’s version:
Sometimes Ethan would invite us to dance along with him and at other times, he would also *sing* along to the songs in Riverdance. He also loves to dance to the music in the performance he refers to as the “instruments” track, a musical repertoire by all the musicians. Ethan would identify all the instruments, such as the flute, accordion, violin, drums, bagpipe and so on.
Ethan has definitely improved on his dancing skills to date, and he has learned to move his arms to the rhythm too. But the other day, when I was showing him his old videos, he still manages to dance in his back and forth manner!
Scrap Credits
Poppy paper from Happy Go Lucky kit from Shabby Princess Designs
Photomask #10 from Kylie M Designs
Photo Mask Sampler from DigiLover’s Addiction
Elegant word art (unbelievable) & Worn Alpha from Bethany
Ethan has shown a remarkable improvement in his language skills since we relocated to the States. His prowess in phonics has been especially exceptional, and even Aunty Van, his daycare provider, has reported that Ethan is getting very good at phonics.
In fact, I have no doubt in my mind that he can already read. And here are some scenarios to prove my point:
-
As Ethan was playing with his Leapfrog Word Whammer on the fridge one day, Pete guided him to spell the word “bus”, by asking him to put in the letters “b”, “u” and “s”. Ethan immediately said “bus!” when he was done. And that’s not all. One day as I was cleaning up in the kitchen, he pointed out a word to me by saying, “Mommy, cold!” I turned around and looked. He had spelt “koh” and he proudly announced that it was “koh!”
-
His Aunty Van told me that Ethan read off the word “pink” on her sweater, even though there wasn’t a hint of the color pink on her.
-
Ethan was *accompanying* me in the kitchen and he wanted to spell the words on the dishwasher. He went, “O-F-F”, and I would ask him, “What does that spell?”, and Ethan would say, “Off!”
Then he went, “O-P-T-I-O-N-S”, and when I asked, “What does that spell?”, he happily exclaimed, “Octopus!”
Why, of course! He recognized that the word OCTOPUS has similar letters to the word OPTIONS! -
Lastly, he surprised us one day when he was about to play on his computer. We’d created user profiles on our PC, and we had to click on the profile to enter. Ethan knows he has to click on the “Ethan” profile, but that day, he suddenly said, “Jors!” and pointed to my name! Nobody taught him to say that but for some reason he knew that was how it was pronounced!
Now, he would say “I wanna click on ‘JOYCE”!”
Yep, he has already got the pronunciation down pat!
We celebrated Hannah’s full moon sans the traditional full moon set of the red chicken eggs, angkoo and turmeric rice. We figured we would have those done during her first birthday instead, since we would be back in Penang then and we would also be able to distribute the full moon sets to relatives and friends. So for her full moon celebration, we just had a simple lunch in our favorite Layang Layang restaurant.
The adults all enjoyed the food while little Hannah also enjoyed her meal when she decided it was feeding time during our lunch!
After lunch, we drove up to Pier 39 in San Francisco, where it was really springtime in full bloom!
Everyone was eager to take pictures with the pretty flowers and hoarding almost all the photo spots, it was almost impossible to find a good spot.
The weather was sunny but chilly and windy, and at times I had to just hold Hannah close to keep her warm and comfy.
Ethan had fun looking at the sealions and after that, he asked to go to the merry-go-round! Wow…he remembered!
This time though, he could ride on his own…and daddy, who was accompanying him, even got to ride on a horse by himself! LOL
Ethan rode on the merry-go-round twice, and if we hadn’t stopped him, I bet he could be riding the whole day long too!
And while all this excitement was happening, Hannah was oblivious to her surroundings, being kept cozy in a snuggly warm baby sling. I’m still quite the novice at baby-wearing though, having only worn the sling with Ethan when he was a wee babe, but Hannah seems to be enjoying it, no? Look at how peacefully she’s sleeping!
Oh, and of course we didn’t forget to do our usual routine of Boudin clam chowder before we bade farewell to Pier 39 that day.
Ethan’s favorite song right now has got to be the ABC song. When he first started daycare, he would sit quietly and listen. Then by and by, he picked up the song himself, and would be very happy when we sang it to him at home. He would smile happily and clap when we were done.
And then one day, when they had the singing session at daycare, he suddenly stood up and sang the song all by himself. His Aunty Van was the one who told me this, and I was so proud of him then
Sometimes when we start to sing the ABC song at home, Ethan would say, “No! I’ll do it!” and he would start singing it on his own. It started with a slightly off-key version, but now the song is beginning to take shape…well, he does it in a most adorable manner now.
Here’s his slow version, video taken right before bedtime:
… and a faster version of the song, sung after dinner:
Ain’t he a darling?
Last week he surprised me with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, full version. I need to get a video of him singing that soon
Scrap Credits
Template XVI from In The Making Design
“don’t be blue” kit from Simply Sweet Designs
Newsprint Epoxy Alphas collaboration from Bon Scrapatit Designs & Snowsmoon’s Design
Word Art from Le digiscrap de Choukette
Yesterday evening, Ethan came home from daycare and greeted me at the door with these four precious little words:
“I missed you Mommy!”
… and he repeated himself many many times after that!
He then gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek! How sweet is that?
Awww…. I missed you too, Ethan!
Just the other evening, while we were relaxing in front of the TV, Ethan suddenly brought his yellow Numbers book and said it was for Hannah. You see, Ethan has four favorite board books: the red Animals book, the blue ABC book, the green Words book and the yellow Numbers book. All this time, he has self-assigned the red book for himself, the blue book for Mommy and the green book for Daddy. The yellow book was unassigned till that day.
Anyway, I then asked Ethan to read to Hannah. And so he did.
He flipped to the addition and subtraction page in the board book, and started pointing and read aloud to his sister.
He goes, “Five plus Five equals TEN!” and “Four plus Six equals TEN!”
He doesn’t say the word “minus” though, so he goes, “Three Two equals ONE!”
Credits
Word Art from DigiDesigns by Denise
Ethan has been lovingly executing his brotherly duties, thus far, and these include:
Last week, we brought Ethan and Hannah for a routine pediatrician checkup; Ethan had his 3-year-old checkup, while Hannah had her 2-week checkup done.
Ethan was very cooperative. He happily undressed and put on a very cute hospital gown, and stayed very still while his blood pressure was taken, his eyes, ears and throat was checked, and he was very well-behaved too as Hannah was being checked.
Ethan’s height: 3′ (0.914m)
Ethan’s weight: 28lb (12.701kilos)
The doctor assessed Ethan and we were VERY amazed that Ethan could draw a CIRCLE when the doctor asked him to! Isn’t that spectacular?
Anyway, the doctor required that Ethan take a Tuberculin skin test and an anemia test. The anemia test is a simple finger prick test, and we were given the results immediately: Ethan is not anemic. As for the Tuberculin skin test, we had to return 48-72 hours later to obtain the results. The Tuberculin skin test (also known as the Mantoux test) involved injecting a little bit of Tuberculin into the skin layer of Ethan’s forearm and observing the reaction.
Our poor boy of course wailed and cried when both the Tuberculin test and anemia test was done. Not even stickers would pacify him.
The doctor also prescribed fluoride tablets for Ethan, given that the tap water in the area we live in does not contain fluoride. Ethan calls it his “circle” vitamins now, and thankfully, he happily takes one a day (they are grape flavored!)
Anyway, back to the Tuberculin test…we returned to the hospital 2 days later for the reading, and it was positive. Of course, Pete and I think it is possibly due to the fact that Ethan had his BCG vaccination at birth. Kids born in the US do NOT have the BCG vaccination and they take the Tuberculin skin test to test if they had been exposed to the TB bacteria. Now because Ethan tested positive for the skin test, as a routine protocol, we had to get a chest x-ray done on him to ensure he did not have the active TB bacteria in him.
Two days after the chest x-ray, the doctor called to let me know that the x-ray was fine and Ethan did not have an active TB disease in him. However, the doctors here are worried that the TB bacteria could lie dormant in the child’s body, as in latent tuberculosis, and recommended Ethan go on a 9-month medication.
Pete and I are declining this because it is very certain that Ethan’s initial positive skin test result is due to his BCG vaccination. Furthermore, Ethan will definitely NOT like to be on medication for such a long duration and also we would be headed for home in about 4 months’ time.
In any case, we learnt a few new things from this experience, but what is confusing is…the BCG vaccine is not a 100% fullproof prevention of the TB disease. If this is so, why are babies in Malaysia being vaccinated at birth? Why can’t they do away with the vaccine and perform the skin test instead?
Credits
Favorite Place wordart from Kathy Winters Designs
Ever since Ethan had been elevated to big brother status, he has wowed me with his maturity and sensitivity when it comes to caring for Hannah. He would willingly help me bring stuff I need when Hannah needs a change or he would ask in his sweet little way, “Where did Hannah go?”, when he didn’t see Hannah anywhere around.
But sometimes a little bit of jealousy does surface and lately we noticed Ethan will get a little bit possessive of me when he sees me nursing Hannah.
He would request, “Mommy carry!” when he sees me feeding Hannah, and sometimes when I explain to him that I need to feed Hannah, he would say, “No! Hannah - Daddy carry!”, indicating that he wants Daddy to carry Hannah instead. It breaks my heart to say no to Ethan
So sometimes, in fact most of the time…you will see me nursing Hannah on one side, and then hugging Ethan on the other! His behaviour is understandable, of course, and I don’t blame him at all. In fact, he is showing signs of being a terrific big brother!
I do try to spend as much time with Ethan as I can, modifying my schedule to make it happen. During the weekdays, I will take my shower earlier in the evening and if time and opportunity permits, give Hannah her bath before Pete brings Ethan back from daycare. This is so that I can spend more time with Ethan after his dinner and bath. I try to be there to tuck him into bed with his favorite book, but sometimes it gets a little bit tricky if Hannah needs me at the same time too.
Nevertheless, we are trying our very best and hanging in there
Four days after Hannah was born, Pete took Ethan to the San Francisco international airport to pick my parents up. Yup, my folks are here for about a month or so for a visit, and of course to see their two grandkids. Unfortunately Hannah and I could not go along because the Accord we were having at that time could not fit everyone in.
Pete and Ethan had to wait for an hour or so in the airport arrival hall and it was quite strenuous too as our lazy little boy insisted that his Daddy carried him most of the time. We were a little bit worried that Ethan would not recognize his Ah Ma and Ah Kong, but he smiled as soon as he saw them. And he was trying to be all helpful, wanting to push the airport cart even though it was way too heavy for him!
Now, it’s “Where did Ah Ma go?” and “Where did Ah Kong go?” all the time! LOL
As soon as our little family reached our home after Hannah and I were discharged, we told Ethan his little sister Hannah had presents for him. Of course Ethan was very excited and kept asking for the presents, even before having his dinner!
A few weeks ago, I prepared the presents in mention, and wrapped them up into nice boxes with gift-wrapping paper bearing Ethan’s favorite balloon motifs. Everybody now knows that giving a present from the newborn baby to the older sibling is a good way to start off a (hopefully) jealous-free relationship. I didn’t want to just simply get something for the sake of getting it, so I made sure every item in the gift box would be something our boy would like.
So we (Hannah) got him a LullaBible board book, with lovingly illustrated A-Z promises from God, complete with an audio CD, a Mickey Mouse tumbler, three granola bars and the highlight: a Lego Duplo train set!
Ethan LOVES to open presents now, and he didn’t waste much time tearing the wrappers off.
Ironically, he chose the Lego box to open first and was SO happy when he saw what it was!
Then he tore open the wrapper of the other present and when he saw the goodies inside, he exclaimed, “WOW!!!” And then he began to eat the granola bars. LOL
It looks like the brother-sister relationship has gotten off to a great start!
Credits
Elegant word art (smile sister) from Bethany
Monday March 2 2009 was a historical day for Ethan because it was then that he was elevated to Big Brother status.
Mommy gave birth to baby Hannah at 2:17p.m. and at the same time, presented Ethan with an added responsibility.
I had to stay in the hospital for that night, and Pete had to single-handedly care for Ethan. It also marked the first time ever that I had ever been away from Ethan at all. My fears were unfounded, of course, because when I called home that night, Ethan sounded very cheerful. Pete assured me that everything would be well taken care of, and it certainly was!
Ethan only came to visit me and his sister the following evening, right before Hannah and I were discharged. I was very happy to see Ethan and likewise, I think he was happy too!
I had brought along a photo of him to place by my bedside, just to let him know that I was thinking of him. And of course, he noticed it and grinned happily when he saw it.
I am very glad to be home now, and I hope Ethan is as excited to be a big brother as I am about embarking on a new chapter in our lives.
Scrap Credits
Sweet Surrender QP from Irene V. Alexeeva
Word Art (Remember Moments) from Dirty Feet Designs aka Heather Benson
Yesterday, I had my (now) weekly prenatal checkup with the OB/GYN. I am 38 weeks along now.
Coincidentally, Ethan’s daycare provider had an appointment in the morning, so Ethan had to tag along with us to the medical center for the checkup too. It was the first time we brought him along, not because we didn’t want to before, but because it would be a daunting task keeping his curious little hands away from all the equipment in the examination room.
Anyway, while in the waiting area, Ethan was very much his active little self, even offering his *services* to put away all the magazines that people had left strewn on the chairs. Of course, it goes without saying that his curiosity got the better of him and he began asking what this was and what that was. He even rehearsed saying, “Hi doctor!”
Then when my name was called, he looked on in amazement as the nurse took my weight. And in the examination room, he insisted on sitting on the chair by himself, and pointed at the pictures on the wall, asking what they all were.
But when my doctor came in, Ethan became very quiet all of a sudden, and it was only a few minutes later that he mustered up the courage to say hi to the good doctor. For the first time too, Ethan heard his sibling’s strong heartbeat when the doctor did his routine checkup. I was also due for a cervix exam, and while Pete *entertained* Ethan, the doc informed me that although the cervix was softening, it was still closed.
The checkup was all done in a jiffy, and Ethan said “Buh-bye!” to the doctor as we left.
He’s gonna be an awesome big brother, don’t you think?
…and he does it HIS way…
… asking for his toothbrush and toothpaste
… complete with gargle and spit action using his own cup
… and yes, *sometimes* (actually more often than not nowadays) he would insist that Daddy and Mommy brush our teeth too, after he has completed his task!
How can we turn down a “Mommy, brush teeth!” or “Daddy, brush teeth!” request that comes with a gentle shove towards the bathroom?
Ethan is a big boy now…
Scrap Credits
Freebie Janvier - Partie 5 kit from Scrapmalin
Chipboard & Glitter alphas from Creative Confusion Designs
Priceless price tag from Digital Fingers by Louise Williams
Label Alphabet & Words from Scrap-Pit
Just look at what Ethan has been up to recently…
He would ask us to stuff his toy football or basketball under his shirt, and he would proclaim “Tummy!”
And then he would prance around the house, and more often than not, his *tummy* would then fall out! LOL
Scrap Credits
QP from Bronwen van Esch, made with Kim B’s new Roche kit
Elements from Freebie Janvier - Partie 5 kit from Scrapmalin
Stained Alphas from Designs by Sarah
Oooh yes. Another phase we are going through right now.
Ethan has moved on from asking “Apa tu?” to asking “What’s that?” almost everywhere he goes.
So our conversations will go a little something like this:
Ethan: Mommy, Mommy…what’s that? (pointing at item)
Mommy: That’s a computer mouse.
Ethan: What’s that? (pointing at the screen)
Mommy: That’s a volcano, darling.
Ethan: VOLCANO… what’s that?
Mommy: That’s the color purple.
Or sometimes when we are in the parking garage:
Ethan: What’s that? (pointing at one of the vehicles)
Daddy: That’s a truck.
Ethan: What’s that?
Daddy: That’s an SUV.
Ethan: SUV. What’s that?
Daddy: That’s a car.
Ethan: A Car! What’s that?
Daddy: That’s our car!
Ethan: *hop-hop-hops towards our car*
It ain’t always easy though. Sometimes he asks some trying questions too:
Ethan: Mommy, what’s that? (pointing to somewhere on the couch)
Mommy: That’s the middle of the couch, darling.
or…
Ethan: (pointing to a decorative item on the wall of the restaurant we were dining in) What’s that Mommy?
Mommy: That’s called a buluh sumpitan in Malay. Daddy: Blowpipe laaa!!!
(ooops)
***
On a separate note, Ethan likes to practise the many words he learns every day. Pete related this incident to me one evening when he was fetching Ethan back in the car:
Ethan: Sunny? Sunny outside?
Daddy: No Ethan, it’s dark outside now.
Ethan: Sunny? Glasses…. sunnyglasses?
Daddy: You wanna wear your sunglasses. No Ethan, it’s not sunny, you don’t need your sunglasses now.
Ethan: (pauses) Moon??? Moonglasses?
He is truly the JOY of our lives :)
Last Saturday (Valentine’s Day), after lunch, we decided to take a drive to Monterey Bay. It was an hour and a half away, and although the weather was yoyoing between rainy drizzly, and sunshiny, we decided to go anyway. Pete had been to Monterey before, but Ethan and I had not.
Ethan, as usual, fell asleep almost immediately while we were driving on the freeway, and only awoke when we arrived at Monterey Bay. The place was jampacked, and it took us quite some time before we found a parking spot by the side of the road.
Ethan, in his just-woken-up state, of course wanted to be carried, and refused to walk on his own.
Monterey Bay is a very picturesque place, and the streets were filled with shops bearing familiar names like Ghirardelli, Thomas Kinkade and Nestle Tollhouse, among others. There were also little stalls serving clam chowder samples in small cups to passers-by. Of course we couldn’t resist trying them!
The view by the sea was simply breathtaking! Ethan was also fascinated by the telescope but it was way too heavy for him to handle anyway!
We didn’t go into the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but we did walk along the exterior part of it. It had wooden benches on wooden platforms overlooking the sea. Our boy had the time of his life, making rhythmic sounds on the wooden platforms with his tapping feet and oohing and aaahing at the waves below.
We could tell that Ethan was intrigued by the beach and the waves and the seagulls, and it wasn’t long before he pointed and said, “I wanna go down there!”
Believe it or not, it was Ethan’s first time ever at the beach, looking at the waves coming into shore. Look at him displaying his excitement! He laughed out loud every time the waves came in and didn’t seem at all afraid!
(Note to self: need to take Ethan to the beach when we get back to Penang!)
While we were walking back to our car, we passed by the Ghirardelli chocolate shop, and I noticed every one was eating a piece of chocolate as they walked out of the store. Curious, we walked in, and the sales person was indeed handing out samples! We each got a piece of milk chocolate with peanut butter filling chocolate square - Ethan got a piece too!
Ethan was never much of a sweet tooth, and I thought Ethan would take one bite and pass the rest of the chocolate to me, but I was dead wrong
He bit off piece by piece till he was all done! Psst….that’s the first time he has had peanut butter… (peanuts are still off limits!)
It was definitely an enjoyable time for all of us, for Valentine’s is all about spending it with the people you love…
Credits
Elegant word art (every time you smile) from Bethany
Mag-papier5 from Freebie Janvier - Partie 5 kit from Scrapmalin
Scrap Credits
Chocolate Dipped QP from Amy W. Designs 2009
Magnetic Poetry pieces from Digi-Designs by Nicole
Hearts! freebie from Andrea
Elegant word art (love is in the air 5) from Bethany
I received an early Valentine from a special guy today…and it’s not Pete!
Well, to be fair, the Valentine was *for* Pete too! LOL
Today, when I picked Ethan up from daycare, he was very excited about the “heart” he had made, and wanted to hold on to it all the way to the car. It was the first time he presented us with a Valentine card and he was really happy when I told him how beautiful it was!
Most importantly, it was a Valentine that was given from the heart…
Ethan has taken a strong liking to the computer. He frequently asks to use the “peter, peter, peter!” (Nope, he is NOT calling his Daddy by name; that’s how he calls the “computer” for short!)
Most of the time, we’ll tell him we’ll let him play on the computer AFTER he has had his dinner, or AFTER he has taken his shower. Seems to work some of the time.
Previously when we allowed him to play, he would need our assistance to click on the mouse, but he has since mastered how to do that all by himself. We normally allow him to surf the Playhouse Disney on Disney Online site, because most of the characters he loves are there.
Check out how he performs the left-click on the mouse in the snippet below. In this video I took, he is doing some digital coloring on the My Friends Tigger & Pooh section of the site. See how Ethan drags the numbered honey pots to the corresponding number on the picture and clicks the mouse to fill the picture with color. And look at how jubilant he is when he finished the activity!
Last night, he asked for the computer again. I told him he would get just 30 minutes before it was time for his bed.
And he said, “Okay Mom!”
I extended the 30 minutes to 45 minutes because he was so well-behaved, and when it was time to shut down the PC, I told him that was all for the night, and he obediently helped me shut down. He got his bedtime books ready (one for Ethan, one for Mommy and one for Daddy), scooted into the room, and before long he was in dreamland.
That’s my boy! 
Scrap Credits
Sweet Shoppe Cookie Decorating Template from Sweet Shoppe Designs
Courage Kit from Summertime Designs
Freebie Janvier - Partie 4 kit from Scrapmalin
Cartoonish Alphas from Faith True
Scribble Alpha from Amy Sumrall
Ethan is constantly amazing us with his neverending ability to pick up new words. And even more so, his smattering of Hokkien, which he speaks with an accent, …. well, sorta. LOL!
Most of the time, we speak to him in English, but we used to throw in a few Hokkien terms before, and while he did not repeat after us then, he says them now, much to our amusement.
One of his most-used Hokkien terms is, undoubtedly, “kakai”. Sometimes he would wake up in the mornings, sit up in bed and go, “I want to go kakai”…except it’s funnier if you hear him say it.
And oh, of course he’ll ask to go potty when he is ready, but he will also say “I wanna pangsai” or just “pangsai”, while he is sitting on the throne.
He also recently picked up the term “geelee!” when I started tickling him one day, and he also loves to use the word “BULAT!” Well, okay, not exactly a Hokkien term, but I used to cup his face in my hands, rub our noses together and say, “Who’s Mr Bulat?” and he would giggle. Now, *he* will be the one cupping my face and going, “Bulat!” Oh, you’d be surprised at how precise his pronunciation of “BULAT” is!
…and it is just so ENDEARING when he does that!
Scrap Credits
Vintage Valentine freebie from Fanette
Cover Stories #4 Alphas from Kellie Mize
Sweet Love Sampler ring from Kristin Aagard Designs
Love Bug elements from Redju Designs
Ethan turned three on January 31st 2009. Having survived the “terrible twos”, are we allowed to heave a sigh of relief now?
On the contrary…I think not!
Weight
He was weighed in at about 29.3lbs when he visited the doctor last month, and that converts to about 13.3kilos.
Height
36 inches.
Developmental Milestones
- He is becoming more assertive in his actions, and knows how to take his stand when he wants something. Surely a sign of independence, but sometimes can lead to tempers too. He even says, “NO! Don’t do that!” when it suits the situation.
- Can count from 1-40 now, but strangely he leaves out number 16. He is learning really fast, and he knows the concept, i.e. I have heard him attempting, “Forty-ONE, Forty-TWO,…”
- Calls out endearingly to his Daddy, for example, he would say in a singsong way, “Oh Daddy…!”, and sometimes when I pick Ethan up before fetching Pete after work, upon seeing his Daddy, Ethan would smile and go, “Hallo Daddy!” and “Miss you Daddy!”
- Does not really like to reply in the affirmative YES, but he uses the term “okay” sparingly. Lately, he has even started to reply “Okay, Mom!” (yes, that’s right, Mom and not Mommy!). Oh by the way, his favorite word is “NO”
- Loves to show us what he has built or done, especially with his Lego set. He’ll go, “Look! Look!” while proudly displaying his masterpiece.
- Learning to take turns by saying, “My turn!”
- Has a great sense of humor, and sometimes does things that makes himself laugh out loud. He especially finds it funny when we accidentally drop things, and say “Oops!”, and he’ll laugh and say, “Funny!”
Food and Feeding
Depending on his mood, he will eat a lot or very little. There have been times when he will finish 2 whole bowls of rice, and sometimes he would even take the chicken meat. But sometimes, he would reject rice completely, choosing only to have bread or cheese or muffins or chocolate milk.
Scrap Credits
Plum Pudding kit from Stacey Towers
Elegant word art (love chocolate) from Bethany
We have never known Ethan to have a sweet tooth. Yes, he likes to play with candy canes and sweets, but they hardly ever enter his mouth.
Lately however, our little boy has been showing a keen interest in all things CHOCOLATE.
It all started when Mommy began craving for come chocolate milk. So off I scooted to get a gallon. It sure did taste good, but was rather sweet too. I didn’t give any to Ethan at first, but you know our boy…of course he was curious when he opened the fridge and saw that big container sitting there.
So I told him it was chocolate milk and asked if he would like to try some…and what happened after that, as they say, is history. He simply LOVES chocolate milk now, and can down about three half cups at one go. Sometimes he would even wake up in the middle of the night requesting for chocolate milk. I sometimes mix a little bit of fresh milk to his chocolate milk, just so it is not too sweet for him.
In fact, since he loves chocolate milk so much, we have stopped his night bottle feeds on Pediasure now. He only has Pediasure with his bottle once a day, in the morning.
And guess what? He is also incredibly addicted to chocolate cake…Ethan’s Mickey Mouse birthday cake was a chocolate cake, and he has been eating most of it. He asks for chocolate cake and specifically wants ONLY the brown part! He’s not a fan of the cake frosting, you see. Well, he finished the last of the cake yesterday, but he is still asking me for more…perhaps I ought to bake a chocolate cake in the next few days.
Last Saturday, January 31st 2009, was the 3rd anniversary of us celebrating the wondrous miracle that God had blessed us with three years ago. I look back and wonder at how fast time had flown past us, and how amazingly Ethan has brought immense joy and happiness to us for the past three years. And once again, as I have always done so, I say a silent prayer to the Lord, just thanking Him for everything…
Ethan woke up that morning in a most cheerful mood indeed. Obviously memories of his birthday party the evening before were still fresh in his mind and he spent his morning playing with his balloons and other toys. We had a superb lunch at one of our favorite Korean-Chinese restaurants, Tong Soon Garden, and we were pleased to see that Ethan had a HUGE appetite!
After lunch, we took a drive up north to Pier 39 in San Francisco. The weather was beautiful! Sunny and warm and just nice for a nice stroll along the pier.
In fact, the weather was so amazing that we decided to go along with our plan to take the Bay Cruise on one of the ferry boats.
Ethan was overwhelmed with the excitement of getting onto a boat, and he certainly didn’t hide it.
The ferry boat ride from Pier 39 was also a first for Pete and me. It was supposed to last 60 minutes, and included a ride around Alcatraz and also under the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course, additional bonuses included breathtaking views of San Francisco…and seagulls trying their best to catch up with the moving boat!
Although the weather was nice and warm, it was VERY windy out in the open seas, but there was a certain sense of freedom that the wind brought.
Here’s one of my favorite photos which Pete candidly took…
Most of the time it was tough getting Ethan to pose and smile for a nice picture. He was just too active and wanted to roam around the boat!
Then it was time for one of the highlights of the cruise…cruising under the Golden Gate Bridge. The view was magnificent for we had never seen the bridge from that angle before.
Of course, apart from oohing and aahing at the spectacular sight, Ethan found other ways to entertain himself too…
…and he insisted that Pete and I imitate what he did!
Well, we didn’t go on the cruise that included the Alcatraz tour, but our boat went close enough around the famous island.
Ethan definitely enjoyed the entire cruise, and since the sun was out too, he had a chance to try on his new pair of sunnies, our birthday present to him!
Don’t you think he looks way cool?
After the cruise, we took a leisurely stroll to look at the sealions (Ethan imitated the noise they made to the tee!), and then we walked by the many shops and stalls. But then suddenly Ethan caught sight of the merry-go-round!
He had to be accompanied by an adult because he was below the minimum height requirement, but I am sure he enjoyed himself nonetheless! No more crying and whining, all we saw were smiles and looks of amazement, as he shouted, “Look! Panda!”, and “Look! Horse!”
Our day out ended with the much craved-for clam chowder at Boudin. Ethan ate a LOT of my share, and he was even dancing to the romantic jazzy tunes that were being played in Fisherman’s Wharf. The birthday boy really had the time of his life, and was even reluctant to leave!
It was a special day for Ethan and of course, an equally special day for Daddy and Mommy too! We love you loads, Ethan boy!
For Ethan’s 3rd birthday, we decided to have a small do at his daycare on Friday, the day before his birthday. After all, all his friends are there and we figured he would have so much more fun that way.
I prepared party favor packs for each of the kids at the daycare, and we chose the (what else?) Mickey Mouse theme.
Inside the party bag, there was a toy spring (Ethan goes “BoinggggkKKK!” when he plays with it), a mini spinning top, a kaleidoscope, an activity sheet and a big sticker for the kids.
I also baked Ethan’s favorite “featherberry muffins” for the party, and we ordered two pizzas too!
Of course we also had some balloons! Ethan had been asking for “banoons” since early January, and I told him he would get some for his birthday. And these did not disappoint….
Driving with a dozen helium-filled balloons and a gigantic Mickey Mouse balloon in the back seat of the car was a scary experience, but it was worth the while.
And oh, we certainly didn’t forget the cake! Here in the US, (surprisingly) it is so hard to find a bakery which does character cakes on the cake itself that was edible. But we managed to get an adorable Mickey and Minnie cake for Ethan from Safeway. Although the figurines aren’t edible, we were sure that Ethan would love it, simply because of Mickey and Minnie!
All the kids were excited when they saw the cake, and in order to prevent the cake from being *destroyed*, we decided to do the cake-cutting first. When we lit the No. 3 candle on the cake, Ethan looked stunned, perhaps a little awestruck?
He looked all of seriousness, and it was as if he was deep in thought. He still looked so serious when we sang the Happy Birthday song to him, and didn’t even smile when we asked him to….
Still serious when we blowed the candle out….
Still serious when we cut the cake…
…and still deep in thought when we posed for a picture…
Maybe he was just letting it all sink in…..still figuring out how to react to all this “birthday boy” attention he was getting…
And then…he decided to do something!
We all had a fun time at Ethan’s party (pizza was good!), and I am sure Ethan was thoroughly enjoying himself too!
I know for a fact that he was absolutely delighted with the balloons!
And that infectious laugh and happy face never fails to brighten up our day…. at the end of it all, it just makes it all the more worthwhile when he voluntarily exclaimed, “Thank you Daddy!” and “Thank you Mommy!”
Awwwww……..
Scrap Credits
Le petit prince a dit cluster frame from Elodie
Toy Store - Partie3 paper and ribbon from Digital-Crea
Elegant word art (sleep) from Bethany
It all started about 2 weeks or so ago. Ethan contracted high fever, up to 39.5°C. I had to stay home with him to monitor his condition and at times it was pretty scary, because the fever fluctuated up and down throughout the day. We then decided to take him in to Urgent Care, where we could just walk in and not have to make an appointment. But that meant waiting for quite a long while, and after the doctor’s checkup, and we had gotten the prescription filled at the pharmacy, there was the arduous task of force-feeding Ethan the antibiotics. Not a pleasant scene at all, I can assure you.
In addition to his fever, Ethan was also coughing and thus, he was finding it difficult to sleep and rest at night. He would kick and scream and refuse to sleep soundly, resulting in both Daddy and Mommy not sleeping well either.
But thankfully, he is better now. It is always a joy to see him back to his usual cheeky and perky self.
Being at home with Mommy for that extended period resulted in an uphill task in getting him ready for daycare after that. He would grumble and throw a big tantrum and became extremely whiny when we had to leave the house in the morning. And that’s not all…one day after we picked him up from daycare, he decided to make a big fuss about not wanting to leave the car, crying and screaming his lungs out in the car garage. And when we finally got him back home to our apartment, he started crying again. Although we put our foot down and warned him sternly that he was not to repeat it, it hurt our hearts to see him behave that way.
We were quite certain it was Ethan’s natural reaction to finally realising he was going to be a big brother soon, and we figured it was his way of trying to get our attention as much as possible. And we were at our wits’ end as to how to overcome it.
Then the weekend came…and amazingly, Ethan slept through till way past 9:00a.m. both on Saturday and Sunday! When he awoke, he was cheerful, smiling and had happiness written all over his face. He also had his afternoon nap. And added plus was that he began to have a better appetite for food!
So it looks like Ethan has finally inherited Daddy’s and Mommy’s traits of loving to sleep. Well, a growing mind and body definitely needs more sleep, and it is obvious that sufficient sleep makes for a happy toddler. And certainly, no one is complaining!
Scrap Credits
Chinese New Year QP from Armina Designs
Hearts as One alphas from Snowsmoon’s Designs
Beautiful Rage Floral paper from Scarlet Heels
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
Polka dotted arrow from Dúnia
Kit Moka tag from MissVivi
We have been training Ethan to wish “Keong Hee Huat Chye!” since December last year, I think. We are, after all, Hokkien, so might as well teach him how to say it in Hokkien. Well, at one point, I *thought* he was attempting to say “Happy New Year”, when I heard him saying, “Happy… you…”, but then when he started adding the clapping, stamping, and shouting “Hooray!” actions, I discovered it was his version of “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands!”
Anyway, Ethan started by repeating just the “huat chye” portion enthusiastically. He would usually complete what I say…when I say, “Keong Hee”, he would chime in and say “huat chye!”
Then he started saying the whole phrase, and the way he said it was just too cute!
But just a few weeks ago, when we prompted him to say it, he would smile and say, “No..!” And no matter what we said or did, he won’t say even the “huat chye” part.
Then this morning, I asked him again, and he said, “huat chye!” Hehe….
Happy New Year and Keong Hee Huat Chye to everyone!
**Updated at 11:11p.m.: When Daddy and Mommy gave Ethan his angpows this evening, he said “Keong Hee Huat Chye!”
After almost a week of endless fun, we were ready to head on for home. We had initially planned on visiting the nearby Carlsbad Factory Outlets before hitting the road, but decided otherwise, given the fact that we had a rather long journey ahead of us.
So after we checked out of the hotel, we headed towards LA. Ethan fell asleep in the car on the way there, but woke up in time for lunch at In n Out. After lunch, he refused to go back to sleep and started chattering away till evening. When we were approaching Gilroy (about an hour from home), he fell asleep again. It was already pretty dark by then.
We had Vietnamese food for dinner before we drove back to the comfort of our home.
I am, in fact, extremely proud of Ethan for being so well-behaved the entire journey. We were rather worried about the long haul but he proved that he was able to handle it. I remember somewhere along the way back, he told us he wanted to “go potty” to “pangsai”, but since we could not immediately find a suitable rest area, he managed to hold it till we reached home!
His sense of direction is rather good too, for he could recognize the route we were on, even though it was dark. As we were passing by the mountains and hills, he mentioned “horse”, “cows” and “many trees”, which was what he saw 6 days ago.
The memories we shared are like treasures in our heart that will live on forever. The phrase below just about summarizes our most memorable vacation as a family.
Credits
Elegant word art (together have it all) from Bethany
Kit Moment papers from Sueli Colbert
Pacific papers from Lindsay Jane Designs
Grungy papers from Pillowgirl
Check out the waffles we had at the hotel for breakfast! These were the self-made ones (I’m getting pretty good at this, aren’t I?), and the rest of the breakfast spread was also rather good. There were fruits, juice, milk, bagels and hot chocolate too!
Thanks to our 2-day park hopper tickets for Legoland and Sealife (which is a recently-opened section just next to the Legoland entrance), we started our adventure on Day 6 by visiting Sealife.
Here’s a picture of Ethan posing with an undersea background, simply because he saw some other kid doing the same. LOL
Ethan had a fun time running around the undersea exhibit areas, and even had the chance to touch a real starfish!
Here he is poking his head through one of the many viewing windows which was built in such a way so the viewers could view the fishes swimming all around them.
After Sealife, we entered Legoland, and continued our exploration, with the rides and viewing all the cool Lego exhibits.
The crowd on the second day was unbelievable and most of the rides had at least a 30-minute wait time. So while waiting for the queue to shorten, we visited areas like Miniland USA, which had breathtaking Lego structures.
Some of the exhibits had buttons at the side, which allowed visitors to press them and watch as parts of the exhibits came to life, e.g. some of the figurines would move or light up or something. And guess who was the one who went around looking for these PUSH ME buttons?
We also had fun at Explore Village, where kids and adults alike were all really intrigued with making music with the musical fountain. Lots of people were reliving their childhood there, I tell ya!
See, when someone steps or hops on those yellow circles on the floor, water would shoot out from the corresponding musical instrument in the musical fountain! Now, who could resist that?!
Ethan even had the opportunity to ride on several “thrilling” rides. For every ride that Daddy took him on, the person manning the ride would ask that Ethan’s height be checked, and since most of the rides had a 36″ minimum height requirement, he managed to get on them, being exactly 36″ himself!
Here’s Ethan smiling happily before Captain Cranky’s Challenge started:
And here’s how the ride went… see if you can catch a glimpse of the two boys!
Well, one of the food specialties in Legoland not to be missed is the famous Granny’s Apple Fries. It’s a Legoland original creation, and looks just like the regular fries, except it’s made from Granny Smith apples, dusted with cinnamon and sugar, and THEN served with vanilla cream dipping sauce. Sounds healthy, just cuz it’s made from apples, right?
Seriously…not to be missed!
Here’s Ethan posing again, because he just wanted to:
We could tell Ethan really loves playing with Lego (as do all kids!), and it was incredibly tough to get him to leave Legoland.
This is him playing at one of the play areas, refusing to leave, but instead arranging letters on the board (ironically enough) in a straight line. Hmmm…I wonder who he learnt that from?
Well, we all definitely had the time of our lives at Legoland. And I am also incredibly proud of Ethan because he was not in the least bit afraid even when Daddy took him on a mini roller coaster ride on the Coastersaurus! Yup, he’s a little thrill-seeker, all right!
You can’t see Pete and Ethan in the video (they were in the last carriage), but you know, these roller coasters have cameras ready to take pictures of the people riding it? We checked out those pictures after the ride, and Ethan was literally grinning from ear to ear!
Not surprisingly, Ethan did not nap at all that afternoon, and when we reached the hotel after dinner, Ethan had a really quick bath and fell asleep soon after.
Nope, our Christmas vacation ain’t over yet…
Remember the comfortable king-sized bed in our Ramada Limited hotel room? Well, we all overslept because of that! Still it was a good thing because it was raining in the morning and there was nothing we could do about it.
Oh yes, we greeted Christmas Day in San Diego with a rainy morning! And Ethan greeted us with a jolly, “Santa, ho ho ho!” He learnt that phrase from watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
We got up and went to the hotel lobby for breakfast. Unfortunately the space was very small and only had 2 small tables. We had to stand while we ate our breakfast.
Ethan had a leetle bit of waffles (I suspect it wasn’t too appetizing to him because it wasn’t the freshly-made kind, but the frozen-and-microwaved kind). He had more fun pointing out the ribbons and baubles on the Christmas tree in the lobby…never mind that he accidentally spilled cranberry juice on the floor!
After breakfast, we quickly packed up and checked out, then drove to SeaWorld to continue our adventure there. It was a considerably warm day, and absolutely excellent for photo-taking
We proceeded to view sealife exhibits which we had left out the day before, with Ethan demonstrating that he indeed had a good night’s rest! Our boy was actively running all over the place!
Sometimes it was hard to make him leave a particular place he loved, and we had to use all sorts of tactics to convince him to. And sometimes,…well…I just whipped out the camera and took random shots. LOL
The day before, while we were rushing to see one of the shows in SeaWorld, I caught a glimpse of the pink flamingos, but we didn’t have a chance to stop by till the second day. Look what a pretty picture they make!
For a quarter, visitors could buy some grains (I think) to feed the flamingos and these were dispensed from a nearby machine. I thought it would be a fun experience for Ethan, so we got some flamingo feed and started throwing the food at the flamingos.
Unfortunately, since the flamingos were too far away, and we could not throw that far, the ducks which were nearer to the bridge where we stood, walloped all the food!
We tried to view as many kinds of sealife as possible, including starfish, eels and sharks, but Ethan soon became rather restless and asked for “Elmo! Elmo!” Aaahhh…he remembered!
We headed back to the Sesame Street Bay of Play, where Ethan had loads of fun playing on the rides and running through the obstacle course. And Daddy was with him all the way!
We bade a fond farewell to SeaWorld after that, but not before we got a polar bear soft toy as a souvenir for Ethan.
He loves it, and sometimes he would ask for his polar bear when he is ready to go to bed.
Most of the restaurants were closed for Christmas, but we finally found a nice Thai restaurant nearby, which served really authentic Thai food. Ethan loved the food, and that was sufficient for me.
After lunch, our next stop was a good 30 minutes’ drive away up north to Legoland in Carlsbad, CA. Meanwhile, Ethan had a nice nap in the car (after the SeaWorld adventure and the big lunch).
Don’t ask me how he managed to remove his right shirt sleeve that way, with the seat belts buckled up!
When we arrived at Legoland, it was already about 3:00p.m., and although the park was to close at 5:00p.m. that day, we went in anyway. Good thing we did too, cuz there weren’t many people queueing up for the rides then.
Almost everything was built out of Lego, it was amazing. Ethan requested for a few photos with some of his favorite characters too.
Actually he was the one who spotted Bob the Builder, and when we were done with the picture, he even said, “Buhbye Bob!”
Ethan definitely LOVES playing with Lego, and if we had left him in the children’s play area for the whole night, I’m sure he wouldn’t have minded!
We have no regrets visiting Legoland, albeit for only two hours. Ethan had the opportunity to ride on several fun rides, and was hopping around happily and grinning from ear to ear after each ride.
Our boy is exactly 36″ tall, which was the minimum height allowed for most of the rides, although he had to ride with a chaperone. He even went on some rides that had a good possibility of him getting wet (he didn’t but, Daddy did), and he was also happy to ride on one that included a speedy, slopy descend! Pete said Ethan was not afraid at all!
He also got into some of the Lego-built toy cars and commanded them to “MOVE!”
There was a fireworks display that evening at Legoland, and we watched it before we left. We also had to promise Ethan we would be back the next day, only then was he willing to leave.
We then checked into our “home” for the next 2 nights: La Quinta Inn (king-sized bed also, yippee!), and headed out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant not too far away.
That night, Ethan fell asleep before 9:00p.m. Couldn’t really blame him though, cuz the bed was really really comfy
It was a really wonderful Christmas Day we had as a family and one we would never ever forget!
Scrap Credits
Template 10 freebie from Pure Scrap
Freebie Janvier - Partie 1 kit from Scrapmalin
Yin Paper Pack - Brown Paper Packages from Yin Designs at GDS
Stamp cluster 4 (modified) from Lindsay Jane Designs
Endless Love Red Alphas from Meredith Cardall
We bought some strawberries at Safeway over the weekend, because they looked so juicy and also because they were on sale at 50% off. As soon as Ethan saw the two boxes in the fridge, he requested for the “straw-de-berries”.
So we had them for dessert last Sunday after dinner. It was the first time I had strawberries and cream, and boy, did they taste yummy! Ethan was definitely intrigued but he only licked the cream off , although he happily posed for pictures with the strawberries. Don’t those pictures bring an immediate smile to your face?
Scrap Credits
Template 45 from Liz Designs
January Free Mini kit from Enchanted Studio Scraps
Freebie Janvier - Partie 1 kit from Scrapmalin
Project 365 add-on freebie alphas from Kristen Rice, K Studio
Yesterday, Ethan’s daycare caregiver had to take her daughter for a doctor’s appointment in the morning, so I became designated SAHM for the first half of the day. The night before, I had logged in to complete whatever could be done workwise, so that my workload would be less for the next day, in view of Ethan being around.
As usual, Ethan and I woke up about the same time, and as he watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I made some pancakes for breakfast. Ethan loves pancakes with maple syrup.
After Pete left for work, I gave Ethan a shower, and got him dressed. He wanted to play with his Leapfrog fridge magnets, so we spent some time forming three-letter words then. I am amazed by how much Ethan has learnt and he is able to follow voice instructions and got all the three-letter words correctly. He is also very patient in finding the letters to form the words.
Ethan wanted to play with his Lego set next, so we opened up the box and began constructing some stuff. I put on some praise and worship songs for kids while we played. And sometimes when a particular tune amuses him, Ethan would get up and dance or march. Thing is, he would INSIST I march along with him. Not very funny seeing a pregnant momma marching round the coffee table, I’d say!
I would also teach him the actions to some of the songs and he naturally would be VERY amused and follow suit. It’s so cute to see him perform the actions.
We also read some books (his favorites are the Animals and ABC books) and then he wanted to watch the penguins. So I put on Happy Feet for a while.
Ethan was a good boy throughout the morning, and he really didn’t give me much trouble at all. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again…I could really get used to being a SAHM! The fantastic thing is Ethan was in a really good mood the whole day long too, and I’d like to think it’s because of the extra wonderful quality time I spent with him in the morning.
Scrap Credits
Anxiously Awaiting QP from Scraps ‘n Pieces
Dandelion dream alphas from A work in progress
Winter Spell3 -Partie 2 elements from Scrapmalin
Staple beads from Tracy King
Anxiously Awaiting QP from Scraps ‘n Pieces
Dandelion dream alphas from A work in progress
Winter Spell3 -Partie 2 elements from Scrapmalin
Staple beads from Tracy King
Sometimes we do catch Ethan deep in thought, as if he were engaging in a session of soliloquy. How I wish I could find out what he was thinking.
“I wonder how many of these Lay’s baked potato chips Mommy will allow me to eat. I’m not giving anyone any…”
“Why do I have to wear this hood over my head?”
“Should I take a nap this afternoon?…Nah…maybe I’ll run around the house.”
“Should I dismantle my train track, and make Daddy fix it back again? I do so love the different tracks he can create.”
“I wonder if Mommy will allow me to eat crackers for dinner, and nothing else.”
“Will Daddy and Mommy take me to the mall afterwards?”
“Should I tell Mommy I want to go potty, just because I want to flush the toilet? Maybe I should just go potty cos I just want to change my pull-ups. Hehe.”
“Hmmm….what will it be today? Would I look better in my car pull-up pants, or the cowboy pull-up pants? And why does Mommy always ask me to wear that blue minky training pants?”
“..and why are these weird-looking aunties and uncles offering me food?”
We were checking out of the tiny hotel in Anaheim today! Yay!
We got ready for breakfast as usual, and wonder of wonders, Ethan actually willingly ate the waffles I had made! The hotel breakfast area had three waffle makers, and although I had diligently queued up the past two mornings to make hot waffles, he didn’t want them till today! Maybe it’s because the waffles I made on the third day looked way more pleasing to the eye. Anyways, I’m so glad he loved them!
We then checked out at about 10:15a.m. and drove further down south to San Diego. It took us about an hour and a half to get to SeaWorld, right before lunchtime. Ethan was very excited about SeaWorld, we could tell, because we’d told him he would get the chance to see whales, dolphins, sharks, fish, sealions and other sea animals. Of course he repeated the names of these animals to the tee. Even as we were walking in the parking lot towards the SeaWorld entrance, Ethan was very happy to see seagulls and kept chasing after them, giggling and shouting loudly, “Bird! Bird!”
We noticed SeaWorld had a new section built since Pete’s and my last visit there some years back. They now had a children’s play area called Sesame Street Bay of Play, and guess what Ethan said as soon as he saw it?
“Elmo! Elmo!”
So we stopped by for a spell, and Ethan enjoyed running around for a bit, and he even rode the Elmo’s Flying Fish ride with Pete! Little did we know that this was going to be one of many rides he was gonna take!
We had to hurry on to catch some shows in the other areas in SeaWorld, but we promised Ethan we would be back to see Elmo the next day (we bought the 2-day park tickets, see?).
So before lunch we managed to catch two shows:
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a 4-D Sesame Street presentation (where we had to wear those special glasses). I was afraid Ethan would not be used to it, but he was all right, and during some parts of the show, he reached out his hands to *grab* the things he saw too!
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“Believe” at Shamu Stadium - This was the famous killer whale show that everyone would not want to miss. We are so glad to share it with Ethan and he really had a good time. Oh yeah, he learnt to say “Shamu” too!
We had lunch at one of the restaurants in SeaWorld, Shipwreck Reef Café, and I was pleased to see Ethan having a very healthy appetite that day. He had hot dog (just the sausage, which he walloped in record time), fries (but of course!), chocolate milk and crackers.
There was a nearby pond too, and after lunch, Ethan was happy just to look at and interact with the ducks swimming in the pond.
We caught a few more other shows after that, including of course the Dolphin Discovery show.
We also watched Clyde and Seamore’s Risky Rescue, which showcased a sealion, an otter and a walrus. That was pretty entertaining. Other than sea animals, there was also a Pets Rule! show which had dogs and cats and pigs. Because it was the Christmas season, there were also a couple of shows themed especially for Christmas, namely Clyde and Seamore’s Night Before Christmas and Shamu’s Holiday Night. We watched both, though it practically rained throughout the Clyde and Seamore Christmas show. We had to take shelter viewing some indoor exhibits after that while waiting for the rain to stop. ‘Twas a good reason anyway for Ethan to see his “polar bears” and “penguins”.
Thank goodness the rain stopped, because Shamu’s Holiday Night was really an unforgettable experience. The sight of whales swimming gracefully to the strains of Christmas music beautifully played live on the saxophone and accompanied by a choir of magnificent singers was enough to wow us all.
Ethan was also taken in by all the magic and music and he began dancing around and clapping to the music, but when Silent Night was played, our boy eventually fell asleep! LOL
We called it a day after that spectacular show and drove to a nearby Chinese eatery to tarpow dinner back to our hotel. We checked into Ramada Limited and we loved our room at first glance: there was a king-sized bed in it! Ethan fell asleep at around 9p.m. to recharge for the next day.
Scrap Credits
Fall Memories kit from A work in progress
Laugh Alphas from Cathy K Designs
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
Love Word Art from Jamie Lee Designs
Weight
Should be about 12.5kilos.
Height
36 inches.
Teeth
Loves to brush his teeth on his own, even carrying his step stool to the sink, asking for his toothbrush and toothpaste and imitating his Daddy brushing his teeth. I have a feeling he swallows a little bit of the toothpaste though, but I am still using the fluoride-free toothpaste on him, so that’s perfectly fine. Ethan allows me to brush his teeth for him too, when he is in the mood. Of course, I am always happy to do so.
And oh yes, his teeth-brushing sessions always end with a good gurgling and spitting session.
Developmental Milestones
- Becoming more confident in the way he speaks, and can make short sentences like, “Look at that!”, “I wanna go outside!”, or “I don’t want it!” and my favorite: “Daddy, wake up!”
- Knows how to work his charm using magic words like “pees” (please) and “thank you”. When I give him a Ritz Bits cracker, he will say ever so sweetly, “Thank you Mommy!” - melts my heart every time he does that.
- Loves to hop and jump around. I guess it is just him practising and perfecting his skills. In addition to jumping and hopping on level surfaces, he sometimes also jumps from a slightly higher level (like the bottom step of a flight of steps).
- He uses the term “Go Potty” when he wants to have a bowel movement. Sometimes if he peepees in the potty, and we applaud him for doingso, he will say, “I pee pee in the potty!”
- Knows how to put away his toys. I especially am pleased to see him detach his Lego pieces and put them away nicely in the box. He’ll go “put it away”, and does the deed.
- Loves to share his toys, his food, his milk etc with one and sundry, … well especially his soft toys. It’s so cute the way he goes, “Here, Mickey..”, and “Here, bear…” and then “Here, Daddy…”, and “Here, Mommy”, while he gives out the item he is sharing.
- Ethan is a very sensitive and affectionate boy, and is always asking for a HUG. And he is very PASSIONATE about things. Even when he is watching TV… he gets very engrossed when something bad is about to happen to Dora, for example, and says, “No, no, noooo!!!!” almost in a pleading tone.
- Has started to say numbers like “Twenty-ONE!”, “Twenty-TWO!”, etc…
- Wants to go swimming in the “swimming pool”, but we told him we would only take him when the weather is warmer. It’s enticing to him because he sees the pool every time he steps out of our apartment.
- Becoming more sociable and he actually looks forward to meeting all his friends at daycare every day. He knows all their names and sometimes during holidays or weekends, he would mention their names too. And now, who wouldn’t smile when they see Ethan saying “Hi!” while waving, or “Hello Daddy!” first thing in the morning?
- Can tell us where we *should* go or where he *wants to go*, by saying, “This way!” and pointing to a particular direction.
- Demanding to be more independent and his favorite phrase now is, “I’ll do it!” He wants to buckle up on his own, climb into the car seat on his own, take off his shoes on his own, etc.
Food and Feeding
Lately Ethan has started eating more, we noticed. He has been asking for “more milk”, “more rice” and (yippee) “more chicken”. His favorite food of course is still rice and he absolutely loves rice with “saw-soyce” (soy sauce).
I absolutely love the way he pronounces “milk”. He used to say “nenno” but not any more. Now it’s “merlk”…you know, the VERY precise pronunciation.
On Day 3 of our vacation, woohoo….a bright sunshiny day greeted us in the morning! We got ready right away and had breakfast at the hotel. Initially we wanted to walk to Disneyland, because our primary reason for booking that hotel was its close proximity to Disneyland. But in the end we decided against walking because although we definitely had the energy to walk in the morning, the walk back to the hotel at night could be tiring as Ethan might want us to carry him all the way, … or it might rain at night…
So we drove again, paying the $12 for parking, which I must say is $12 well spent!
As soon as we had parked the car (there were more cars today - must be the good weather), and alighted, Ethan ran happily towards the pickup point for the tram to Disneyland, shouting “castle”, “Mickey” and “Goofy” all the way. But since there were more people today, we had to wait a bit for the tram to arrive.
We headed straight for California Adventure Park, and coincidentally saw that Pluto was having a “meet the fans” session, so Ethan had a picture taken with Pluto, all on his own.
We then decided to rent a stroller for the day (cost us $12), because for some reason, Ethan appeared to be more clingy. It certainly appeared as if he was *conserving energy* for the day ahead, having experienced the previous day which was filled with so many activities. He would walk a bit and ask us to carry him around. At times, he would only want “Mommy carry!”
We managed to catch a few shows in California Adventure Park, including Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage, and then we moved on to “a bug’s land”. There were a few kiddie rides there which we could enjoy, in fact, Ethan also enjoyed the queue in line, I’m sure!
Here we are taking the ride in Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train, where I had to ride in the carriage in front and snap pictures.
We also soared through the air in *flying boxes* known as Flik’s Flyers and guess what…Ethan wasn’t in the least bit afraid. On the contrary, he was smiling all the way! Well, he ain’t afraid of heights and he also ain’t afraid of getting dizzy, cuz when we rode in the spinning ladybirds in Francis’ Ladybug Boogie, Ethan was thoroughly enjoying himself! I think the adults were the ones who got dizzy!
Next, Ethan wanted to take a ride in the bumper cars, Tuck and Roll’s Drive’Em Buggies. Our boy was exactly 36″ tall, so he met the minimum height requirement, but he would also need a chaperone to ride with him. Since pregnant mommas were not allowed on this, Pete took Ethan, and that went really well. Look at how much those two enjoyed themselves!
The bumper car ride was really a breakthrough for Ethan because it proved that he did not need both Mommy and Daddy to be with him on the ride. We are so proud of him!
On the way out from “a bug’s land”, we stopped by Princess Dot Puddle Park, where Ethan had a field day splashing around a gigantic faucet. Actually it’s like a water fountain maze, and believe you me, it was really tough coaxing him to leave that place!
Wanna see how it is done? Check out the video…
California Adventure Park has a lot of rides for bigger kids and adults, and I remember having the time of my life on the California Screamin’ roller coaster and the Maliboomer (vertical launcher), but since (obviously) I can’t do any of that right now, and neither can Ethan, we just took a nice walk round Paradise Pier and checked out the sights.
Yep, our boy decided it was not really fun to spend the day in the stroller, and preferred to be riding the “Daddy horse”. We made use of the stroller to cart Ethan’s bag instead. Hah.
We also stopped by the “Brother Bear” area where we had wanted to watch “The Magic of Brother Bear” Totem Ceremony, but little did we know that the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail was situated at that same area. So no….we didn’t find the ceremony we wanted to watch, but instead Ethan had fun on the rock slides, the rope bridges, the hollow logs … you get the idea…. of course, Daddy was the designated person to follow him all around!
Here’s a photo of Ethan with the Brother Bear figure right outside the Challenge Trail. Yeah, he asked for a photo… and he wanted to *touch* the bear paw.
At this point, Ethan was already getting restless and kept asking over and over again for “castle” and “Mickey!”, so we hopped over to Disneyland Park. On the way to the park, we decided to snap a few photos with the giant CALIFORNIA alphabets outside California Adventure Park. It wasn’t dark yet, so we could get quite good pictures. And also the letters had been festively decorated in the Christmas mood, with Christmas colors.
Ethan immediately ran towards the letter O, for what reason, I do not know… then he noticed that A had a Goofy figurine on it, so he went, “Goofy! Goofy!”, pointed and ran towards A. There was a short queue of people waiting to take photos, so we had to wait. And then….Ethan suddenly noticed C had Mickey… so he ran to the other end to have a picture taken with Mickey too.
Trust me when I tell you we have countless photos of those alphabets in our memory card
Well Disneyland was immensely crowded that day, and we hardly wanted to get in line for any of those rides. It was a good thing we rode on It’s a Small World twice the day before, because the queue now was unbelievable! We stopped by Toontown for a bit, but left after a while because it got so crowded!
Then we walked back to California Adventure Park for the Pixar Play Parade, which was really very interesting and wonderful to watch. In the middle of it, I turned to check on Ethan’s response on one of the floats, and realized that he had fallen asleep! He had literally drifted off to dreamland in Daddy’s arms!
So after the parade, we carried Ethan into the stroller and walked back out to Downtown Disney to that same souvenir shop for some souvenir shopping. It was much easier to shop when Ethan’s asleep anyway. Unfortunately we were not allowed to bring the stroller out, so we had to park it somewhere first and strong Daddy had to carry Ethan.
He slept for quite a bit and when he woke up, he seemed to have renewed energy. We bought a few souvenir items, namely 2 snug-fitting pajamas for Ethan and some squeezey toys, just because they were Mickey Mouse related! Hehe…
By the way, you see those toys in the round plastic packaging? Those are Ethan’s latest bath toys now…
Well, anyway, after the souvenir shopping, we walked back to California Adventure Park for a superb clam chowder dinner, which Ethan really enjoyed!
We had one more parade to watch and that was the Disney’s Electrical Parade, which saw Ethan clapping and waving his hands happily.
Then our final stop for the day was back at Disneyland to witness the awe-inspiring “Believe…In Holiday Magic” Fireworks. The crowd was HUGE, and Ethan sat atop Pete’s shoulders watching intently, going “Wow!” as the spectacular display unfolded before his eyes.
It was definitely another tiring day for our boy and once again he fell asleep right away after his sponge bath and warm milk when we reached the hotel.
Naturally we were all very excited when we woke up the next morning after the long journey from San Jose. After all, we were headed for the happiest place on earth!
We had purchased 2-day park hopper tickets which allowed us 2-day unlimited access to both Disneyland and California Adventure Park. It was Pete’s and my second visit there, and we were very anxious to share the *happiness* with our boy. We did not need to pay for Ethan’s admission ticket though, because kids under 3 can enjoy free admission!
But this is what greeted us when we were about to go out of the room:
We had already kinda expected it as the weather forecast for the day showed that it would be pouring that day. SIGH.
Ethan had some boxed apple juice in our room before we went for breakfast. I could tell he was getting hungry, and somehow he discovered how to open the fridge on his own.
So we had breakfast at the hotel, and after that, since it was still raining heavily, we decided that we would drive to Disneyland instead of our original plan of walking there. Despite our hotel being about 15 minutes’ walking distance to Disneyland, we decided not to get drenched in the rain, and besides it was definitely getting heavier. The parking fee was $12, but thankfully it was a sheltered parking lot.
Ethan was very excited as soon as we parked the car, and kept saying, “Mickey” or “Mickey Mouse”. Coincidentally, we parked at the Mickey Mouse level.
We then took a tram to Downtown Disney, and visited one of the biggest souvenir shops there. We had to buy rain ponchos for ourselves because it was still pouring when we arrived. Too bad there weren’t any ponchos in Ethan’s size, so he had to make do with his hooded jacket. We did manage to get a few quick shots of Ethan wearing that ever-popular Mickey Mouse hat though, but it looked like he was too eager to enter the park!
Since it was still drizzling, we could only enjoy the rides that were somewhat sheltered, and the first one we saw was the Disneyland railroad train at Main Street!
And running and skipping as fast as he could to board the train was Ethan, all the while screaming, “choo choo train!” He would also get impatient when the train stopped at certain stations to pick up passengers and took a long time to get going.
The rain certainly did not dampen our spirits, and when we finished a complete ride round Disneyland, we spotted Mickey and some of his friends entering a nearby building. So we rushed into the building, and I tell you, I will never forget that priceless look of admiration and joy on Ethan’s face as he met Mickey, Minnie and Pluto. He was really star-struck! So much so that I think he really could not believe he was seeing the onscreen characters he loves in real life! Look at some of the pictures, it’s as if he was checking to see if they were real!
We then continued our adventure round Disneyland, snapping photos whenever we could, and trying to do as many things as possible in spite of the rain. As you can see, it was not easy getting our boy to pose for photos because he became easily distracted by all the sights and sounds around him!
See how wet Ethan’s pants got after a while of hopping around in the puddles?
The crowds weren’t that humunguous and the queues for the rides weren’t that long, probably because of the rain, and we managed to squeeze in a few rides before lunchtime. From past experience with Ethan, we purposely went for rides where the three of us could go on, and that included the Storybook Land canal boat ride and the ever-popular It’s a Small World. Although Pete and I were apprehensive that the It’s a Small World ride would result in the song sticking to our heads for days to come (it did the last time we went on it!), we knew it was going to be an enjoyable experience for Ethan. Here’s Daddy and Ethan all ready for the ride…
We were actually very happy with the It’s a Small World ride. Because it was the Christmas season, the music they played was a mixture of Christmas carols interspersed with It’s a Small World, and so the experience was truly truly amazing. Throw in all the colors and wonderful sights and you have a very happy toddler (and Mommy and Daddy too)!
Lunch was, of course, burgers and chips….well, cuz most of the restaurants in Disneyland serve that. Ethan thoroughly enjoyed his chips, but still would not take our burgers…A rather funny incident happened though. Ethan was drinking water from a plastic cup, and when he was done, he began playing with the cup, and suddenly he tore it! Instinctively, I said, “Oh no! You tore the cup?! Quick, say sorry to the cup, Ethan!” and he went, “Sorry, cup…”
The rain stopped around lunch time, so after we had eaten, we were able to roam around without our rain ponchos. Took a few other train rides (yep, there are several here in Disney), and even had the chance to do a boat ride!
Here are two precious shots of Ethan enjoying a casual male-bonding moment with Daddy. My hands had nothing else better to do while we were waiting in line for one of the rides…. heh.
We headed for Mickey’s Toontown next, and I remembered it being one of the most colorful places in Disney.
And as soon as Ethan caught sight of the slide in Goofy’s playhouse, he ran towards it and had the time of his life! Ah, the simple pleasures that makes a boy happy huh?
Some of the Disney characters were available for photo sessions too, and Ethan managed to get one with Goofy. After queuing up for a bit, I tested Ethan to see if he would go take a photo with Goofy on his own, and he did!
Well, he looks a little confused there, but still, it’s a priceless photo!
Here’s one of Ethan and Pete in one of the Toontown buses. Ethan loves climbing up to the driver’s seat, rotating the wheel, and shouting, “Move!”
It was certainly difficult to pry Ethan away from Toontown, but we managed, somehow. And after all that excitement, Ethan finally fell asleep, all tired out, on Pete’s shoulders, at about 3:30p.m. So Pete and I took the opportunity to sit down at a nearby cafe and had clam chowder instead.
Ethan woke up shortly after that, and we headed for the “castle”, since he demanded for it. He really really loves the castle, I can tell, cuz even today, he still remembers the “castle”. Sleeping Beauty’s Castle really is a breathtaking view, especially during Christmastime.
Oh yeah, we also managed to enjoy It’s a Small World for the second time that night. And the night decorations make the place look so much like fairyland. Plus, on the way there, there was a *snow* experience for us too, as soap bubbles were released making it look and feel like snow. It was magical…
Before we called it a day, we witnessed the special “A Christmas Fantasy” parade. Ethan was very happy when he caught a glimpse of Mickey and his friends, Buzz Lightyear and Woody (whom he refers to as the “cowboy”).
It was a long, tiring but very fulfilling day for all of us, and after Ethan had his warm nightly bath, we could tell he was exhausted because he “asked” me to sleep with him. Normally he would play around first and then sleep a little bit later, but immediately after he had his milk, he wanted to sleep. He even hugged his Mickey Mouse soft toy to sleep, but not before looking at Mickey with a look of wonderment, not really believing that he had met Mickey in the flesh.
Both Pete and I had a 2-week long Christmas and New Year break to look forward to, and so we decided to do something extra special with Ethan for Christmas.
Filled with excitement and anticipation, we got up as early as we could and headed out on our road trip. It was gonna take about 6 hours to reach Anaheim, CA (home of Disneyland) and we were hoping to get there as soon as possible so we would have ample time for rest. In the end, we only left our home at about 10:16a.m., stopped for lunch at In n Out in Gilroy, and continued on with our journey after that.
Along the way, Ethan was very intrigued by the surrounding sights and entertained us with his endless chatter. He pointed out “many trees”, “animals” like “horses”, “cows”, “pigs”, and when we passed some snow-capped mountains, he exclaimed, “many colors!”
Shortly after that, Ethan fell asleep and slept for a good 2-3 hours. At one time, I thought he was gonna wake up, but he only yawned, changed his position and continued in slumberland.
Of course, when he woke up, he was all bright and cheerful and in a good mood.
We arrived in Anaheim at about 5:00p.m., slightly delayed due to some traffic jams when we were passing the LA area. Thanks to our newly-purchased GPS though, we were somewhat able to avoid part of the jam because it was intelligent enough to lead us on different routes where possible.
We were all very tired, especially Pete, who had driven for about 7 hours (excluding that short lunch break in Gilroy), and as soon as we walked into our hotel room (more like an inn, really), we were rather disappointed to note how tiny it was! All three of us would have to squeeze into one queen-sized bed, and the washroom was also very small, although it could fit a bathtub and a WC. Thankfully though, there was a microwave and a small fridge in the room. Well, we would only be using the room to sleep in, so it was not too bad, we hoped.
Ethan was definitely all geared up for the adventures in the coming days. He saw a Disneyland banner outside our hotel/inn as we were driving in and immediately shouted, “Mickey!”
Needless to say, we all slept quite early that night, i.e. before 11:00p.m. It would have been a peaceful night’s sleep had it not been for some stranger knocking on our door at 1:00+a.m. thinking it was her room. SIGH.
Pete and I had a special surprise in the form of a Christmas present for Ethan, but we did not bring it along on our trip. So the morning after we reached home, after he had showered and got dressed, we told him we had a surprise for him, that we were giving him a present.
Boy, if you could only see his face light up, as he smiled and said, “Present!”
And then as he tore the wrapper bit by bit, his anticipation and curiosity became joy and happiness as he discovered that he was gonna have a new toy: a 71-piece Lego-Duplo set! He immediately started playing with it (and so did his Daddy!), and before long Ethan was already building stuff!
Check out that giraffe structure, which he did all on his own!
Now he would tell us, “I built a house!” and show us his very colorful house which is usually the tallest tower he can construct… or he would build a truck, or an airplane…oh ooops…sorry…the airplane was built by Daddy for Ethan!
It’s definitely THE perfect gift for Ethan to hone his creativity and imagination, and next up, we are eyeing the expansion pack…heh…cuz frankly 71 pieces ain’t enough to go around!
On Friday evening before we started our Christmas vacation, Ethan came back from daycare with a beautiful work of art. Well, beautiful in my eyes, I would say.
According to Van, he had made the red Christmas stocking all on his own, with her instructions, and he had stuck all the stars, deco and cotton by himself. Now what’s a mother to do other than to proudly display it on the fridge?
The artwork on the right was also made by Ethan a few days earlier, using popcorn as snow.
Scrap Credits
“QuickPage Glam Xmas” from Fanette
White Christmas mini kit from Southern Creek Designs
Snowflakes from Misfits Scrapz
Christmas Bling from Lindsay Jane Designs
We’re back home now from our one-week vacation, and I am so proud of Ethan for he behaved himself rather well throughout the trip. He has learnt so much and gained so much from our trip, and I am sure the memories will stay with him forever.
Scrap Credits
Quick Pages Sampler 6 from Amanda Heimann Designs
The Little Drummer Boy frame and polka-dotted paper from Piggyscraps
Winter Spell -Partie 2 tag element from Lilipruneau
Splats Freebie from Sev Designs
Ice Cold Alpha from Christie Lemmon Designs
Heart doodles from fei-fei’s stuff
Ethan’s favoritese character right now is none other than Mickey Mouse. His face will light up with joy whenever he sees Mickey strolling up the path at the beginning of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show, and even before the show starts, he will ask for “Mickey! Mickey!” And if we allow him to start watching the show in the morning before work, we have to wait till the show finishes with the Hot Dog Dance before we can leave the house. SIGH.
We recently bought him a Mickey Mouse soft toy from the Disney Store at the mall at a steal! It was only $8 and he absolutely loves it. Sometimes, he would *share* his water, his milk, his muffin, etc with Mickey. And sometimes he would also take Mickey on horsey rides on his shoulders, much like what we do with him. He really loves his Mickey dearly, and as his mood allows, he would also ask for Mickey before he goes to sleep.
Well, no prizes for guessing where we will be heading off to for our Christmas vacation next week!
Scrap Credits
Kit Féérie from Cécile Design
Asphault Alphas from starwarsgirl06
Netter’s Alphas from Scarlet Heels
Weight
Did not weigh him recently, but he certainly looks more *bulat* now.
Height
36 inches
Teeth
We recently discovered that Ethan LOVES to brush his teeth together with his Daddy. So whenever we get the opportunity, both of them will brush their teeth together. After all, we have 2 bathroom sinks side by side to accomodate that
Developmental Milestones
- Can and chooses to unzip his jacket and remove it all by himself. In fact, he wants to do most things by himself now, including buckling himself up in the car seat.
- Can recognize and verbalize most colors, for instance “yellow”, “red”, “blue”, “brown”, “purple”, “white” and “green”. For some reason, though, “orange” is still “afoo” to him.
- Picking up words and expressions we use like a sponge. His favorite one currently is, “Oh man!” (which I think he heard from watching Dora the Explorer).
- More 2-syllable words and 2-word phrases too are used by Ethan now, like “C’mon!”, “Color”, “pancake”, “masee” (for “muffin”), “forbee” (for “strawberry”), “jacket”, “water” (he *rolls* this word like the angmohs) and oh yes, of course “Mickey”, “Minnie”, “Goofy”, “Donald”, “Daisy” and “Barney”. “Pluto” is still “dog” to him LOL.
- Has begun *singing*. He loves it when I sing the ABC song, and sometimes he would join in too. But he is rather self-conscious and if we look at him while he is *singing*, he’ll just stop.
- Pronunciation of numbers is getting more precise. He says “seven” clearly now, instead of “fem”, and we also heard him distinctly say “thirteen”.
- Loves playing with a computer software game at daycare, and according to Van, Ethan can handle the mouse pretty well. At home, we let him play around on the Playhouse Disney site.
He still needs us to click on the button that says “Oh, Toodles!” but he just simply loves holding the mouse and moving it around!
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Learning to love watching movies too. We recently bought the Happy Feet DVD, and he totally adores the dancing penguin! He sat through most of the movie though, although he fell asleep half way.
Food and Feeding
Rice is still his staple food, and he absolutely LOVES English muffins with butter. From his daily daycare reports, we learnt that sometimes Ethan will request for rice if noodles are served.
Oh yeah, and he still loves to eat whatever Daddy eats, especially at breakfast.
Scrap Credits
Ambiance Feutrée kit from DigiScrapBooking.ch Boutique
Scrap Credits
“Name that kit” QP freebie from Mesokee Designs
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
“A Walk in the Park” eclectic alphas from Tangie Baxter Designs
Guess what? Ethan’s afraid of the sun!
It’s true!!! Everytime we go out for car rides or to the mall when it’s sunny out, as soon as the warm sunshine hits him, he will start complaining, “Aaarrgghhh!!!! Sun! Sun!! SUN!!!” It’s just too funny actually…
And he wants *me* to reach over from the front seat and shield his face from the sun with my hand! I always tell him, “Boy, you can cover your face yourself too!” But nooooo……Mommy has to do it.
I always tease Ethan by saying, “How can you live in sunny California where all the surfer dudes are, and yet dislike the sun so much?” Hehe….oh, and he is very happy when we allow him to wear our sunshades. That picture above was taken about two months back though, where he is seen sporting my pair of shades.
Maybe it’s time we got you your OWN sunnies, huh Ethan?
NOW do you see why we are always worried about getting complaints from our neighbors downstairs?
Scrap Credits
Cozy collection & Bellissimo freebie from retrodiva {designs}™
Kit “Memory” Costura cross-stitch from Sueli Colbert
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
Elegant Fall Alphas (punctuation commas) fromTracy King
Paper word strips from Sugarplum Paperie
Among the many words that have crept into Ethan’s vocabulary of late, one very important and precious word has been added too. And that word is “sorry”.
However, he doesn’t really use it much in the apologetic manner, but more so when he accidentally bumps, or hurts himself. For example, when he is playing or running around, and he accidentally falls down or knocks his knee, he will put on a really adorable and sad face and say, “Oh sorry, sorry…”. And only when we kiss the spot that hurts does he go about his own business again.
Speaking of getting hurt accidentally, we have noticed that since Ethan started attending daycare, he has become more gungho and is more adventurous. Sometimes he throws caution to the wind, and well, ends up getting hurt.
But regardless, with that face, and that tone of voice going, “Sorry”, it’s really hard to resist not giving him a hug and kiss!
We had planned on spending the day at Gilroy Gardens during the Thanksgiving holidays, but we found out that the theme park was gonna be closed temporarily then. So we decided to go the weekend before Thanksgiving, and boy, we sure had a blast!
Gilroy Gardens is a family theme park, complete with rides for the kids and beautiful landscaped surroundings. It’s like a mini Disneyland, except well…it doesn’t have all those Disney characters. But still, it’s a very fun place to spend the day and unlike the 4-5 hour drive to Disneyland, this one only takes about an hour.
Kids and adults are bound to have endless fun here, and it was also a good way to bond with nature. As you can see, fall has lent a warm and colorful touch to the foliage here, and the trees and plants are all so well-groomed.
One of the things I noticed in Gilroy Gardens was the existence of many weird-looking trees. This was the first group of trees that caught my eye:
But there were even more weirder ones to come:
And look at this one, growing in a zig-zag manner! It even has a pear-shaped fruit hanging from one of its branches!
Anyway, enough about trees already! Let’s move on to what we did at the park…
We wanted Ethan to have a go at as many rides as possible. Some of the rides were not suitable for him because he had not reached the minimum height requirement, whereas some of the rides required that he ride with a chaperone.
The first ride Ethan got on was the mini carousel. He appeared very happy when he saw that he could ride on a horse. These were all really small horses, so don’t expect adults to sit on them! Ethan was happily strapped on, but as soon as the carousel started to move, he began to panic and screamed to be let down. I think he figured Daddy and Mommy were not around, so he got worried, the poor dear.
So off we went to try a different ride, this time with a chaperone. We chose the Apple & Worm ride, and I rode with him.
At first he was happily posing for pictures, but when we started to move, he realized that his Daddy was not around, and he wanted to climb out! The lady manning the ride had to stop the ride to let us out.
So we figured we had to start with a ride that both Daddy and Mommy can ride on with him. And we ended up queueing up for the train ride.
Here he is, waiting anxiously to get on.
When it came to our turn, Ethan obediently sat in his seat, put on his seat belt and held on to the safety bar. Anxiety turned into curiosity and excitement, and then….HAPPINESS
Oh, how he enjoyed that ride. And we were really pleased.
There was another train ride that ran all around the theme park, and as soon as we found the station, we got in line too. Look at Ethan, he can’t even wait to get on the train now, and he wanted to climb through the gates! He kept saying, “Open door, open door!”
But he was a good boy and didn’t put up much of a fuss. When the train came, we got on and the look of happiness on Ethan’s face was simply priceless.
In fact, he loved the red train ride so much, we went for a second round!
Next, we made a stop at the beautiful Bonfante Falls. They are really just mini waterfalls but intriguing, nonetheless.
There was a section where we had to walk right under the falling waters, and of course, get wet. That was fun, but extremely cold once we got out of there. Good thing Ethan’s jacket had a hood. LOL.
We also had fun in the Rock Maze, which is a confusing maze that is bound to get anyone lost. Our boy sportingly walked in with us, that lil adventurer!
Oh, I also put on gloves for Ethan for the very first time, since it got pretty chilly in the late afternoon.
But although he kept them on for a spell, he decided to go without them after that. I do so think the gloves suit him so, don’t you?
And finally, of course we had to make a pitstop at the children’s play structure where Ethan had a really fun time playing on the slides and the steps and the mini bridge, among others.