Little Miracles

The Horsy Show

December 25, 2010 in Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah | 3 comments

We took the kids for the Horse Show at Penang Turf Club a week ago. We managed to find time on Friday, so it would not be so crowded. Besides, we were due to go on vacation the following day, so Friday was the only day we could make it.

Ethan and Hannah were really looking forward to the outing, and Ethan kept asking us, “When will we be going to the Horsy Show?” This was because we had to run a few errands before we finally drove to the Turf Club, but once there, the kids were ecstatic! It was also my first time in the turf club and I must say that the Penang Turf Club is very well maintained. Ample car parks located in a multi-storey car park, clean grounds and beautiful landscaping.

The kids immediately wanted to go on the horse carriage (RM4 per person), so we got tickets and got in line.

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Ethan wanted to ride on the carriage with 2 horses, and I thought it would be fun for the kids to ride up front. Since there weren’t many people in line, we waited to get in the carriage and sat in front.

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See how surprised and stunned Hannah looked? She must have been amazed to get up close and personal with a horse for the first time in her life! After she had warmed up, she kept saying and waving, “Hi Horsy!” and “Buh-bye Horsy!” 🙂

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The kids were treated to a splendid display of different breeds of horses, each one in its own stable.

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We also satisfied our curiosity as to what the Farriery Demonstration was all about. There were farriers showing visitors how to make and shape a horseshoe, and also some real horseshoes on display. Ethan was only too happy to be offered the chance to take a picture holding a hammer, as if he was shaping a horseshoe. Of course, the person-in-charge had to look for a smaller hammer for Ethan 🙂

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Our next item on the agenda was the Pony Ride. We got Ethan a ticket and was already in the queue when our plans were spoiled by the rain! SIGH…we got refunded for our ticket, but we were sorry Ethan had to miss the pony ride. Ethan, however, was very mature about it, and said, “Oh, that’s all right Mommy…”

With the rain storm, we practically ran to our car, trying our best not to get even more drenched than we already were. And as we were leaving, Ethan asked me if we could come back again. “Of course, baby…if they have another horse show next year, you bet we’ll be back!”

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Sunday at the Carnival

December 15, 2010 in Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah, Parenting | 1 comment

Pete’s workplace recently organized a carnival event at Gurney Plaza. It was basically a family day kinda event, where the employees were allowed to invite up to 5 family members and friends for a fun-filled day. Ah Kong and Ah Ma from Ipoh also came to Penang to join us for a day out.

Ethan and Hannah, as usual, were really looking forward to the carnival. Ethan, especially was all geared up for the coloring contest, which I told him about.

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There were coupons for kiddy rides for Ethan and Hannah, but unfortunately there were only two coupons (i.e. 2 rides).

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There was also a booth for us to take a family photo, and a couple of coupons for a 3-minute back massage (Ah Ma and Ah Kong enjoyed their 3 minutes of pampering there!)

We also wanted to get ourselves a footrub and manicure, but too bad, all the appointment slots for those were taken up for the day.

There were clowns giving out balloons and there was also a magic show for the kids.

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But what Ethan was really waiting for was the coloring contest. It was his first one ever, and he kept asking me when the contest would be starting. His set of color pencils was getting worn out, so just for this coloring contest, I specially got him 2 new boxes. There were 3 categories for the coloring contest, and Ethan was registered into the Age 4-6 Category, where they were each given a picture of the sun to color. Time limit was 1 HOUR!!!

…and he eagerly got down to work…

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Check out our little artist at work…Ethan’s coloring skills have improved tremendously!!

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Hannah wanted to join in the fun too, but she was underaged for the contest, so I had to get her a random piece of paper from my bag, just so she could do some coloring of her own.

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Meanwhile, Ethan’s coloring was taking shape…

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He had to make the sun colorful, because nobody remembered to bring a pencil sharpener…and when the colors he was using ran out, he had to use other colors…hahaha…

And here’s Ethan with his mentor…looking on, as Ethan puts his finishing touch…

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Ta-daaaaa!!!!

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And now, we’ll just have to wait for the results…

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Here’s how pleased Ethan looked, after the magician gave him a sheet of Thomas & Friends stickers…

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The results for the coloring contest was announced after the magic show. Ethan was in the category with the most number of participants, and the names of the consolation prizes were announced first, followed by the 2nd runner-up, 1st runner-up and the winner…and you know what? We were all pleasantly surprised and proudly beaming when Ethan’s name was called up as the WINNER! Woohooo!!!

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Look at that look of surprise on his face!

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Ethan got himself a medal, a set of color pencils, a crystal paperweight and a recorder.

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Picture of all the winners…looks like Ethan is the smallest-sized of all.. LOL!

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Congratulations Ethan! We are so very proud of you…You must have inherited those “coloring contest winning” genes from Mommy, huh? *wink*

We also did some sand art before we left the carnival. It was a first time for all of us too.

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Here’s Ethan with his masterpiece…

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He had wanted to do another one, but the person-in-charge told us that one child was only entitled to one piece of sand art.

So Hannah had one done too…with the help of Ah Ma! Hannah chose the colors she wanted and Ah Ma did the “sand-arting”:

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It was a very exciting day for all, and Ethan and Hannah really enjoyed themselves to the brim! Although the grown-ups were all tired out after the long day of events, the kids still had the energy to go on and on and on!

Butterflies and Lobsters

December 9, 2010 in Celebrations, Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah | 5 comments

A week and a half ago, we finally took the kids for a fun trip to the Penang Butterfly Farm. I use the word “finally” because all this time, we’ve been reading countless accounts about fellow bloggers and friends taking their kids there, but we had yet to make the trip. Ethan was really looking forward to this trip and he was certainly very excited about it.

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We reached the farm at around 3:00p.m. The weather was simply beautiful, not too hot and not too cold either. Although it did rain a few drops, our experience at the Butterfly Farm was not fazed.

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Amid all the “Wow!”s and the running around, we managed to get some pretty shots of some butterflies too…

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The area was not very big, and we found ourselves making round after round and round. The kids had a lot of fun, chasing the butterflies and also each other. And when they were tired, they made a pit-stop at the exhibition room. Ethan exclaimed, “Wow…it’s so cool in here, Mommy!”

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This was what he told us he wanted to do at the Butterfly Farm, and I’m glad he had the opportunity to do so…

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After our Butterfly Farm visit, we headed on to Rasa Sayang Hotel with our hungry tummies, and had a splendid seafood buffet dinner at the Spice Market Cafe. It was our first visit there, and the food was simply amazing!

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It was a daunting task to take pictures of all the glorious food while looking after our hyperactive kids, and there were so many other dishes I left out. For dessert, I adored the cheese cake, tiramisu, and the small bowls of crème brûlée. Sorry, no time to take individual pics of these, but just a faraway shot…

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See how much Hannah enjoyed the food too?

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Ethan didn’t want to take a photo because he was too busy eating! LOL

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“Daddy…may we come back again, please?”

Ethan must miss school

December 4, 2010 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up | 2 comments

It’s hard to believe that a whole school year has already passed. It feels like it was just yesterday when I took Ethan to his school on the first day of the school year in January, as he started his year in Nursery. And now it’s the end of the year, and he is anxiously waiting for the coming year when he would be in K1.

Yes, my boy loves going to school. And yes, he tells me that. All the time 🙂

I’m so thankful that with Ethan I don’t have to deal with tantrums and tears on why he doesn’t want to go to school, because he genuinely LOVES school.

He has made so many friends in school, and he has grown in leaps and bounds in all aspects: physically, emotionally, spiritually and socially. He started school as quite a shy guy but now his teacher tells me he is quite *noisy* in school and will volunteer information and answers quite readily. His confidence, too, has skyrocketed and he has mastered many useful skills.

In fact, I am not surprised that he looks forward to school. During the final week of the school term alone, Ethan was out on a school field trip to Sushi King, where they learnt how to make sushi, ate the sushi they made and had plain clean fun. On that day, his teacher had asked them to arrive at school before 9:00a.m. and although I was afraid we might not be able to make it on time, Ethan wasted no time in getting ready and we arrived at 15 minutes to 9:00a.m.!

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And then on the last day of school, there was a school party, with water play, food and games for everyone.

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How could Ethan not love school?

Well, much as he loves school, he is also enjoying his school holidays very much now. During the 1st week of the school holidays, Ethan attended a Circus School Holiday program and next week, he’s looking forward to a Science Holiday Program. Whatever it is, we’re trying to keep him occupied as much as we can, because we know he has tons of energy to expend! Besides, we all know that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop, yes?

Just because I love you

November 29, 2010 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 2 comments

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We use the “naughty stool/chair” method as a form of discipline for our kids. So whenever one of them misbehaves, he/she will get sent to the naughty chair and “sit out” his/her time. For Ethan, he needs to sit for 4 minutes and for Hannah, it’s 1 minute; the number of minutes spent on the naughty chair is equivalent to the child’s age.

After their “time done” we’ll explain to them what they did wrong, and the child concerned will then promise to not do it again. He/she will apologize and give each one of us a hug.

There was once when Hannah did something wrong. I think she hit me with a toy or book, so she sat in the naughty chair. When she was ready to say sorry, she came over and gave me a hug.

Ethan said, “Daddy, come here. I want to hug you too. But I didn’t do anything wrong. I just want to hug you because I love you…”

Awww…..

If Ethan were Handy Manny…

November 19, 2010 in Entertainment, Ethan, Funny Moments | No comments

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Ethan has been picking up a few foreign language terms lately. He learns a little bit of Chinese (Mandarin) in school and he has been asking me how to count in French (thank goodness I paid attention in class), how to say simple phrases like hello, goodbye, etc. Other than French, he picked up how to say “hello” in Spanish.

Ethan: Hola!
Me: Hola! Yes, Ethan..that’s Hello in Spanish…just like Handy Manny, right?
Ethan: What, Mommy?
Me: You know, Handy Manny? He says, “Hola! Handy Manny’s Repair Shop! You break it…?”
Ethan (without missing a beat): YOU FIX IT!

Well…that’s how Ethan would run his “repair shop” 🙂

You make my day

November 19, 2010 in Ethan, Growing Up | 1 comment

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Ethan: Mommy, your makeup today is beautiful. I like it!
Mommy: But Ethan, Mommy’s not wearing any makeup today.
Ethan: Really?
Mommy: So do I still look nice?
Ethan: Yes of course Mommy! 🙂

Making an Influence

November 18, 2010 in Ethan, Growing Up | No comments

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As the eldest among all his cousins, Ethan’s role as an influencer is reinforced each time he meets up with them. Of course, it goes without saying that he gets daily practice by being a role model for little Hannah.

Hannah adores and admires her brother. She follows his actions and his words and looks up to him like any girl would look up to her big brother. He is her idol, and Ethan…well, he basks in all that admiration.

Ethan’s influence does not end just there. When his younger cousins are around him, they tend to gravitate towards him and follow his every move too. Not long ago, I witnessed his cousin Jonathan, learn how to jump, just by watching Ethan. His cousin Collin also followed exactly what Ethan did when he last visited us a few weeks back.

Big brother. Role model. And superstar to his sister and all his cousins. Ethan has really come a long way from being Mr Bulat. 🙂

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Ring Around the Rosy with Hannah

November 9, 2010 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

One of my favorite playtimes with Ethan Koko is when we play “Ring Around the Rosy”. Sometimes Mommy would join us and we would all join our hands and make a little circle and sing and dance around together. Sometimes it will just be Ethan Koko and me, and Mommy will sing the song.

But there are times when Ethan Koko is busy with his other activities. During those times, I customize my “Ring Around the Rosy” playtime and have a lot of fun by myself too!

Who says we can’t have fun on our own? 😛

Our Genting Highlands Getaway

November 1, 2010 in Celebrations, Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah, Vacation | 5 comments

Two weeks ago, we took a short and much-needed vacation and headed up to Genting Highlands. It was our very first trip up there in a really long while, the last time we’d been up there being in late 2005, a few months before Ethan was born. The kids were both totally psyched up about the whole idea of the holiday, so much so that they didn’t even sleep at all the entire journey! Normally Hannah would fall asleep midway, but this time, she was very much awake, and Ethan was asking, “Why is it taking so long to get to Genting Highlands?” all the way there…

We took a little bit longer than usual to reach our destination because we had to make more stops than usual: Ethan had to go for very frequent toilet breaks.

And despite the fact that the kids had no sleep at all the entire journey, they were as excited as ever when we arrived!

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Besides being a chance for the kids to have fun, we also met up with Ah Ma and Ah Kong from Ipoh in Genting Highlands, and the kids were pleased as pie to see both their grandparents.

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Although the 3D2N stay in Genting Highlands left us all tired out, we all had a lot of fun… 🙂

I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

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Got the All Park day pass for us so that we could enjoy the rides in both the outdoor and indoor theme parks. Hannah could still enter the parks for free for now, but there were some rides she was not allowed to ride on.

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