Bible Verse of the Day

Ethan

All about Ethan

splintertoe

Two days ago, Pete discovered a splinter in Ethan’s big toe, and there was no other way but to remove it.  We explained to him that it was gonna hurt a little bit but his toe would be better afterward, but the moment he felt the *tinge* he cried out that he didn’t want the *sharp thing*.

I had to hold Ethan down as best I could while Pete tried to remove the splinter by applying some antiseptic cream and then pulling out the tiny splinter with a tweezer.  Definitely not an easy feat when Ethan was kicking, squirming and screaming.

I realize then that removing a splinter in the toe is just as painful for the remover as well as the removee.  We knew it was painful but we just HAD to do it.

And after all the agony, Ethan (brave boy he is) got to choose his band-aid.

Last Wednesday, Ethan’s school organized a field trip to Taiping Zoo.  An invitation was also extended to have one parent accompany the child on the trip.  Because I am still breastfeeding Hannah, Ethan went with his Daddy.  It was a good thing Pete managed to take the day off 🙂

A week before the field trip, Ethan had already begun counting down the days to the trip.  Each day, he would ask me what day it was, and then he would count how many days to go before he would reach Wednesday.

So he was very excited when the day finally arrived!  I dropped both boys at school in the morning, where they were to board a bus to Taiping.

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Arrival at Taiping Zoo, everyone eager and raring to go

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After running around in the hot sun, Ethan sporting a *cool* mohawk, courtesy of Daddy

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Some of the zoo animals that they saw, while riding in the tram

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Having a McDonald’s Happy Meal for lunch…doesn’t somebody look happy? 😛

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…finishing up his iced Milo

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Goodbye Taiping Zoo!  I had a great day today with Daddy!

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Ethan sat with his Daddy on the bus on the way to the zoo, but he wanted to sit with his friends on the way back.

The field trip must have tired him out big time!  Ethan fell asleep on the way back home, after I picked them up from his school, and continued his LONG nap at home till about 5:00p.m.!  Definitely a record for Ethan because he hardly takes an afternoon nap.

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There’s no doubt how much Hannah adores her big brother Ethan.  She loves to play with him all the time, and looks on in awe as he goes about his funny antics, and laughs hysterically when he does funny things.

But she doesn’t quite behave as he did when Ethan was her age.

*Gung-ho* is a word that is quite aptly used to describe Hannah.  For she may seem sweet and adorable, but I think deep down inside she’s a real toughie.  We’ve started using “No” to indicate to Hannah she is not supposed to do something, but all she does is turn around, look at us with a look that says, “Huh? Why am I not supposed to do this?” and then calmly she will walk away.  No tears, no whining.  Ethan, on the other hand, used to bawl the very moment we firmly said, “No”.

One of the *weird* things that attract Hannah is the TV panel at the bottom of our TV.  It’s an enclosed panel that flips open when pushed.  And our girl figured it out.  So she would walk to the TV, push the panel open, and then swiftly walk away.  Even though we have told her countless times NOT to do it, she still does it.

And what’s even funnier is how Ethan would promptly shut the panel and tell Hannah, “No Hannah…stop doing that!”

And Hannah will repeat it over and over again.

Upon the insistence of Ethan, I put Hannah on the naughty stool a few times, but it doesn’t appear to work YET because Hannah seems to enjoy being on the stool.

Although Ethan and Hannah look almost the same, with those killer long eyelashes and BIG eyes, they have totally different behaviours.  And that’s what makes them unique and special, no?

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He wants me to call him a “big boy” now, instead of “baby”. 😛

I have not been documenting all of Ethan’s achievements thus far, more so because there have been so many, that they have surpassed my ability to pen them down.  He amazes us every day with his vocal prowess and intelligence, and it is hard to believe that he was once a shy guy.

  • Ethan now knows all the months of the year, from January to December, in order, and he even knows the numerical equivalent of it; e.g. October = 10th month of the year, June  = 6th month of the year.
  • He knows the days of the week in order, and can even sing them!
  • He knows how old Daddy and Mommy are.  Sometimes he says my age out LOUD in public! 😛
  • He can say his name in Chinese (Mandarin), and he even knows Daddy’s name, Mommy’s name and Hannah’s name in Chinese.  Sometimes he calls us by our FULL Chinese name.
  • He can name some of his body parts in Mandarin: hair, ear, eyes, mouth, hands.
  • He can perform addition using his fingers.  Sometimes he asks to “borrow” our fingers and toes too! 🙂
  • When he is in a good mood, he will guide Hannah in playing with her toys. “Here Hannah…put this triangle here.  Yes!  Good job, Hannah!”
  • Spontaneously says, “I love you Mommy!” or “I miss you Daddy!”

He may be a big boy, but he still looks like an angel when he sleeps… 🙂

cheeky_ethan

Several weeks ago, when I had exhausted all methods of getting Ethan to sleep, I introduced the concept of “counting sheep” to him.  I explained that he should imagine seeing the sheep jump over a fence in front of him, and count them as he lay down on the bed.

So Ethan said out loud, “Okay, Mommy.  One… two… three…four… five…six…. seven… eight… nine… TEN!  There are TEN SHEEP Mommy!”

Duh.

So I told him to count in his head, NOT out loud.  And that he was suppose to keep counting ’em sheep.

And this time he counted only THREE.  And he still could not fall asleep.

There was another time when I asked him to count sheep yet again, and he replied, “There are NO SHEEP today, Mommy.”

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My little baby boy, once my little bundle of joy, is really growing up right before my very eyes!  It seemed just like yesterday that I held him in my arms, a crying, helpless child….and now..look at him.  Well, of course I still hold him now, but it’s different…

He went for his first field trip on the last day of his first school term about a week ago.  The whole class, together with the teachers, took a bus to the toy museum that Friday morning.

I bet they all had a lot of fun, but I couldn’t help being a little concerned about his safety.  After all, it was the first time he would be visiting someplace without either Pete or me.  His teacher very kindly offered to take a few pictures of the trip for me with my camera, so I was eagerly waiting to see the photos too.

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All my fears and concerns were unfounded when I picked him up after school and he told me all about his trip: who he sat with on the bus, what he did, how he would LOVE to go on the bus again…I knew he had enjoyed himself tremendously.

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He’s really growing up…and I am just so BLESSED to be able to share his growing up years with him.

Precious one-on-one walk-training sessions from big brother to little sister:

 

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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.

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Hannah had some home-cooked porridge and was very well-behaved indeed.

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Hannah enjoyed her rusk while we dug in to our meal….

…and sometimes she did her upside-down stunt…

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…and at other times, the birthday girl was entertained by her brother’s funny antics…

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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:

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Happy birthday Hannah!  Sure beats a day at the office anytime, eh Daddy?

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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? 🙂

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Endearing shot of Mommy and Ethan, taken during the reunion dinner.

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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!

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Ethan being *shy* when asked to pose for a picture.

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…and now, he’s all warmed up! 🙂

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Ethan being all big-brotherly and sharing a *conversation* with Hannah.

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My little princess and me 🙂

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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.

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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.

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…and finally…Ethan striking a PIRATE pose!

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