Elementary School Sports Day!!
All about Ethan
… he orders the Grilled Salmon entrée and you get his kiddie meal instead.
My kids have a truly affectionate bond with my parents, i.e. their maternal grandparents. Ethan and Hannah especially are very much attached to Ah Ma and Ah Kong from Ipoh. When Ah Ma comes for a visit on her own, Ethan and Hannah will have to make a most *difficult* decision on who would get to sleep together with Ah Ma.
However, this time around, Ah Ma and Ah Kong both came for a short visit. Ethan and Hannah were naturally very excited. They had lots of things to talk and discuss with Ah Ma and Ah Kong, lots of games to play, including question games and spelling games. Even then, Hannah would sometimes ask if she could take a short nap with Ah Kong in the afternoons.
Yes, such is their fondness for Ah Ma and Ah Kong, whom I’m sure love and adore them to bits too. 🙂
Ethan and Hannah would make interesting remarks like, “Mmmmm….now the room smells like Ah Ma and Ah Kong! NICE!”
Ethan can even independently follow Ah Kong and Ah Ma around without me being around now. He loves tagging along when they have their breakfast at the coffee shop and doesn’t even mind taking a walk back home with them. Of course, Ah Ma tells me that Ethan’s pace is getting a little too fast now! Haha….
Emma is still very attached to me though, but there are some signs that she would grow fond of Ah Ma and Ah Kong soon too.
Here’s to more happy times ahead with Ah Ma and Ah Kong! 😀
Recently, Ethan has developed a passion (or addiction) for reading books from the Geronimo Stilton series. I take full credit for starting the ball rolling. 🙂
You see, early this month, while Ethan was having his soccer practice, Hannah and I hung out at the library, and on a whim, I decided to borrow a couple of Geronimo Stilton books for him. Well, whaddya know? He LOVES them!
He even asked me to print out a list of all the Geronimo Stilton books so he can check them off as he completed reading each one. He borrows at least 2-3 Geronimo Stilton books from the library every week and he can finish reading one book in less than an hour now! 🙂
So anyway, as Ethan and I were discussing book reports the other day, I asked him if he would like to write a book report on one of the Geronimo Stilton books he had read and he was up for it. So here’s his first book report:
Please disregard the ratings at the bottom of the report. The kids were playing Master Chef and giving the “dishes” their own ratings…
Children are tomorrow’s generation, and who better to carry the mindset of change better than children themselves? With ever-open minds that absorb knowledge like a sponge, a child’s education is determined by his upbringing and his exposure to events around him. As parents, we play a pivotal role in ensuring our children get a wholesome education not just for now, but for life. We are examples for our children through what we do and say.
A couple of months ago, while we were in Six Flags, a lady manning the cash register struck a conversation with Ethan.
Lady: Hey buddy…how are you doing?
Ethan: Good!
Lady: Did you have a great time today?
Ethan: Yes, we had so much fun!
Lady: Where are you guys from? Are you guys Chinese?
Ethan: No. We’re Malaysians!
Earlier last week, I was with Ethan and Emma at the bank, to open a savings account for Emma. While getting the documentation sorted out, Ethan was waiting for me at the side when one of the bank officers/tellers started making small talk with him.
Bank Officer: Is your father an Englishman? (I think she meant Caucasian. We get that a lot because a lot of people seem to think our kids look mixed…well, anyway…)
Ethan: No he’s not.
Bank Officer: No?
Ethan: Yeah, my Dad is a Malaysian!
Bank Officer: Malaysian? But Malaysian got 3 TYPES wor… Malay, Chinese and Indian. Which one? (What the..?? Now you see how most Malaysians are still bent on race)
Ethan: Malay!
************
I’m extremely proud of Ethan that without any prompting from us, he can confidently answer that he is a Malaysian, forgoing the need to stress whether it’s Malay, Chinese, Indian or “lain-lain”. If only more Malaysians can think the same way…
Happy Malaysia Day, everyone!
Ethan expressed an interest to learn how to cook, and today I told him he could fry an egg for me for lunch. 🙂
After all, seven is as good an age as any to learn how to cook, no?
I let him crack the egg into a bowl on his own; choose the egg from the fridge and hit it firmly on the edge of the bowl, then pull the shells apart so the egg slides gently into the bowl (he did it beautifully, with the yolk intact, and no remnants of eggshells floating inside).
Then I turned on the stove and explained that the pan needs to be hot before we poured the oil in.
Then Ethan poured the egg into the pan and waited for it to cook, and then he used a spatula to lift the egg out of the pan and onto my plate.
He was so pleased with himself, and he’s asking me what he will be cooking tomorrow.
Are there any Junior Masterchef classes in Penang? 😀
Our third (and final) day in Anaheim was supposed to be a short one, because our flight out from LAX to HKG was at about midnight that day. However, our plan of waking up extra early to get a headstart on all those Fast Passes with our Magic Morning entry went up in smoke when we all slept in. Fatigue and exhaustion from the previous days and all that jazz.
Nevertheless, we made do with the time we had and since the kids placed priority on the Radiator Springs Racers ride (at California Adventure Park) they had missed the day before, we headed straight for that one. Unfortunately the Fast Passes for that ride were all taken up and the wait in line (without a Fast Pass) would be about 1.5 hours.
I suggested that they just go for it, since we had no choice anyway. The queue would definitely get longer and longer as time wore on anyhow. So Pete, Ethan and Hannah proceeded to wait their turn, while I took Emma for a walk. Good thing they did too, because the queue became longer and longer as time wore on…in fact, it was more than 2 hours when they were done!
Anyway, my time alone with Emma wasn’t too bad. There was a very comfortable child care center, complete with nursing room, changing tables, child potties and sinks not too far away. There was also a similar-styled baby room in Disneyland.
I loved that:
- Each individual diaper-changing station had a fresh stack of paper liners for the diaper changing table. Very hygienic!
- Each diaper-changing station was also padded along all four sides, and the place where baby would be laid down was on a lower level than the edges. I thought this was a very useful and preventative measure to ensure baby does not roll over and fall over.
- The room was tastefully decorated in baby prints.
- There was a sink and soap provided, together with paper towels.
- They also had little potties for smaller kids. Definitely cozier than the adult restrooms! Only Hannah *qualified* to use these little potties though.
The nursing room in Disneyland had at least 5-6 comfortable chairs for nursing, and there were 4 chairs at the center in California Adventure Park. There were also magazines and reading material, and also a table and power outlet for moms who wanted to use the electrical breast pump.
On hindsight, there should have been a few of these rooms in the park, not just ONE for each of Disneyland and California Adventure. But I digress.
Recently the kids expressed a genuine interest in trying their hand at bowling. They had “practised” bowling in the iPad and also in the arcades, but never the real deal.
So yesterday, I organized a small kids’ bowling session with friends. Someone recommended the Premium Lanes bowling center at Sunshine Square, as it was rather new, non-smoky and had suitable balls and shoes for kids. Ethan and Hannah were literally counting the hours till we left the house, and yes…it was my first time bringing all three kids out on my own. (Well, now that we have two cars, it’s easier for me to bring the kids out)
We chose the morning session because the rates were considerably cheaper (RM3.50 per person per game), and I had called earlier to arrange for the retractable rails to be set up for our bowling lanes too. Retractable rails are the latest in bumper bowling, which is so cool if kids are bowling. It ensures the bowling balls don’t roll down the gutter!
This bowling center had shoes to fit the kids too, even Hannah! Rental of bowling shoes was RM2.00 per pair. We paid for one game each first to see if the kids would like it, but at the end of the two hours plus, the kids went through 3 games!
The lightest bowling ball was the 6lb one, which Hannah used. Ethan used the 8lb ball, I think.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering how I managed with 3 kids, baby Emma did the wisest thing: she fell fast asleep right through the entire bowling session!!
The kids had fun bowling. Never mind that their technique was not correct. Never mind that the ball sometimes deflected against the railings to score a spare! It was certainly a great session, of plain fun and making friends…and guess what…the kids have requested to go yet again! 😀
I could ask for nothing more than my three little miracles, each one created with love, unique and special in their own way.
Every morning I wake up not knowing what the day will bring, but resting with the fact that it will be filled with their laughter and banter, “Mommy, can I have this, please?” and “Mommy, he did this to me!” and “Mommy, she’s whining!”
I want only to cherish them, nurture them and give them the best I can give. I want them to grow up beautifully, knowing that they can always be confident in who they are and not have to live up to the standards of society, whatever they may be.
I am blessed because in their own little ways, I know, deep in my heart, that they love me too. He still holds my hand when we cross the street, she says, “I love you a bajilion times, Mommy!” while giving me squeezy-hugs, and the littlest one’s gaze follows me wherever I go. Can’t wait for her to start talking. 🙂
My life is filled with challenges, and yet it is filled with love.
And every night I go to bed, it is with a fervent prayer that God’s blessing be upon each one of them. I’m so grateful for their presence in my life and I could ask for nothing more.
You didn’t think we’d leave California Adventure Park out of the vacation while we were there, did you? Well, we didn’t!
We had gotten ourselves 3-day park hopper tickets and Day 2 saw us make our way to California Adventure Park. The queues to get in were unbelievably long and following Murphy’s Law, our line was the slowest-moving of the lot! We also arrived somewhat later than the first day, though….haha.
Our first stop was at the newest section of the park: Cars Land. I had been to California Adventure Park twice before, but this is the first time I stepped foot in Cars Land!
Modeled after the hit movie Cars, this was Radiator Springs in the flesh!! How awesome is that!?
Can you just tell that the kids were getting so impatient to get moving into Cars Land?
Ethan and Hannah had wanted to get on the Radiator Springs Racers ride where they would ride in cars around a race track, like what you see in the movie Cars. Unfortunately, the Fast Pass for this ever-so-popular ride was all taken up for the day, and the wait time was like 2 hours! So Ethan was contented with just a picture (for now).
