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Growing Up

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Hannah Turns Four!

March 5, 2013 in Celebrations, Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones | 3 comments

Last Saturday, my little sweetheart of a little girl turned FOUR!!  She had been looking forward to this day for a long, long time, and she had already started the countdown to this auspicious day after Ethan celebrated his birthday about a month ago.

Being a little paranoid and worried that my third little bub might arrive on that same day, I had a contingency plan in place for Hannah’s birthday cake.  Thankfully, this year, Hannah requested for a cake that did not require much shaping and moulding on my part.  So the backup plan in case I was not around was that Pete go get a store-bought cake and then decorate the top with my ready-made cake topper.

However, in the end, since my third little one decided that it was still more comfy in Mommy’s womb, I still got to bake and decorate Hannah’s cake….and a whole lot of fun I had!

 

Hannah’s crazy about Princess Jasmine and the song from the movie Aladdin: A Whole New World, so it came as no surprise when she’d requested for a Princess Jasmine-themed cake.  I ordered the edible cake topper online and only had to bake the chocolate cake and decorated it with chocolate ganache, frosting, chocolate rice and some orange slices.  The addition of the fruits was Hannah’s idea too.

 

And afterward, because the weather was not-too-cold, she took her present for a “test drive”…or “test ride”.

It was the first time Ethan took his scooter (our Christmas present to him) for a spin too…and boy, did we have fun!

Definitely an awesome way to spend a birthday!  Happy Birthday Hannah!

Snow Play with My Little Miracles

February 21, 2013 in Entertainment, Ethan, Exercise, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 1 comment

We’re right smack in the middle of the School Winter Break now, and the kids are just enjoying the vacation.  Today, I single-handedly brought both of them grocery shopping and told them that if I was pleased with their behavior at the store, I’d take them out for some snow play.

I kept my promise.

After lunch, the kids were garbed in their snow gear: snow pants, snow boots, hat and mittens and we took a quick stroll to the little playground area in our apartment.  There was a slight breeze, but the kids were kept nice and toasty in their snow attire… and they had so much FUN!

 

Elegant word art (have some fun) from Bethany

A Visit from The Tooth Fairy

February 20, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting | No comments

Last Sunday, as we were driving home from lunch and grocery shopping, Ethan suddenly announced, “Mommy, Mommy, my TOOTH just fell out!”

I turned around immediately and true enough, he was holding his tiny little incisor..yes, the one that had been wobbly for a little over 3 weeks now.  He was just telling me a few minutes before the incident, that he felt his tooth was going to fall out any time that day.  Apparently he had fiddled with it and it fell off!

I took the tooth from him and wrapped it in some tissue and then gave him some tissue to dab his gums of whatever blood that was there.  It did not hurt him because he had waited for it to fall off on its own, and he was so excited after that.  He didn’t have a toothless grin because his permanent tooth had already half-grown in the place of the baby tooth which had fallen out.  And he says he can now chew properly again. 🙂

When we reached home, I washed his tooth and put it in his tooth pouch.  Look how tiny the little tooth was! 🙂

Ethan wrote a short note for the tooth fairy and I put the pouch and the note under his pillow before he went to bed.

I had asked Ethan what he hoped the tooth fairy would give him in return for his tooth, and he said, “Ummm….maybe a little gift or a treat?” (I was pleasantly surprised and proud that he didn’t say “some money” :))

However, at close to 2a.m. Ethan awoke and excitedly told Daddy the Tooth Fairy had paid him a visit!  He had woken up and checked under his pillow!  LOL

But Daddy managed to ask him to go back to bed first and get a better look in the morning….so here’s his little Tooth Fairy treat! 🙂

Our boy is now looking forward to future Tooth Fairy visits.  He’s wondering when his next tooth is going to wobble!

 

Hannah Having Fun in Pre-K

February 13, 2013 in Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones | No comments

It just dawned on me that I have not been updating the progress on Hannah’s days in school.  She’s currently in pre-K now and she goes for the half-day sessions, which is around 5 hours every day.  I normally drop her off at about 9:00a.m. after I drop Ethan off at school, and Hannah will be at school till about 2:30p.m. or so.  She takes lunch in school and sometimes even has a short nap before I arrive.

Of course, for security and privacy reasons, parents aren’t allowed to take photos of the kids in school, but we do get pictures of our kids sent home, and I always welcome these because it just goes to show how much fun Hannah has in school!  We’ve also enrolled her in the Phonics Adventures program which introduces and teaches phonics to early readers like Hannah.  So far, we are pleased that she enjoys her 1:1 phonics sessions, which she has twice a week.

Here are some of the activities she has been up to in school…the photos aren’t very clear, because I had to take a photo of the photo printouts that were sent home.

Ethan Is Seven Years Old!

February 1, 2013 in Celebrations, Ethan, Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Milestones | 2 comments

Yesterday, my little Ethan turned seven.  I still can’t believe how much he has grown.  I told him that now when someone asks how old he is, he can say, “I’m seven years old!” instead of his usual “I’m six…but I’m gonna be seven soon!” 🙂

Here in Massachusetts, schools are very strict about food being brought into the classrooms in view of hygiene and food allergy.  So instead of edible stuff for the kids, I prepared little birthday treats for every one of Ethan’s classmates, so that he could pass it round during snack time.  His teacher(s) had suggested something practical and useful for the kids like a pencil or a fun eraser, so here’s what we prepared:

The kids helped me with the packing and arranging.  The treats were just something very simple and useful: A mini memo pad and a cute little pencil.  The memo pads came in 5 different colors and the pencils were just fun-looking and colorful.  Ethan told me he had a great time passing these round to his friends, and they were thrilled to get them.

Back on the home front, we had a little celebration of our own.  What would a birthday be without a birthday cake eh?

That’s right!  I made him a Captain America shield cake! 🙂

He’d been consistently asking for it for a year and thankfully, it wasn’t too difficult to make, but I ran into a few minor glitches when I realized that I had left my cake leveler, fondant smoother and offset spatula back in Penang.  So I had to just make do with whatever I had here, which explains why some parts of the cake were a bit uneven.

Ethan didn’t seem to mind though, and was really looking forward to blowing out the candle and eating the cake.

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A Little Wobbly Tooth

January 24, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones | No comments

Yesterday morning, while I was in the midst of waking Hannah up, Ethan happily rushed into the room after brushing his teeth and washing up, and excitedly announced, “Mommy, Mommy!!  One of my teeth is wobbling!!”

Yes, he had been anxiously awaiting the day when his first milk (baby) tooth would fall out, and he knew, as well as I did, that that day would be soon.  Most of his friends already had a few teeth out, but so far, Ethan has managed to keep all his milk teeth.

He opened his mouth wide and I checked his teeth, and true enough, one of his bottom right incisors was wiggling.  In the evening, I used a flashlight and saw the permanent incisor already sprouting, right behind the milk incisor!

It’s won’t be long now for the tooth fairy to visit us! 🙂

Getting into the School Spirit!

January 15, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | No comments

The elementary school that Ethan goes to assigns a special day each month called Spirit Day.  The aim is to have the teachers and students come together as one to promote the school spirit and also usually they would have a community or charity drive too.  The school Spirit Day for the month of January was held last Friday, and it was themed “Crazy Hat Day”.  Everyone was to wear a crazy hat to school and also if possible, bring something (like canned food items or toiletries) to be donated to the community cupboard.

So I made this simple crazy hat for Ethan, by sewing on several playdough cutters around the rim of his cap. 🙂

…and he had a great time in school!

In fact, I can tell that Ethan is really enjoying his school life here.  He brings back homework every Monday in a folder, and the homework is assigned for the whole week through Thursday.  Friday is when the homework is due, and of course, weekends are rest days for the kids, which is how it is supposed to be. 🙂

School hours are from 9:05a.m. to 3:05p.m., which means Ethan has lunch in school.  He makes his choice from a selection of 4 or 5 menu items each day, and I pack his lunch money is small ziploc bags for easy handling.  Initially, I had wanted to write a check in advance to pass to the cafeteria, but Ethan says he prefers it this way.  He feels more grown-up! 😀

Look At My Kitchen Mittens!

January 10, 2013 in Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | No comments

For weeks Hannah has been playing with her toy kitchen utensils and pretend food in the lovely little toy kitchen set we got her for Christmas.  In her own creative way, she has been using little plastic bags and wrappers as kitchen mittens.

It was an absolute eyesore for me, so I took out my sewing set and what I brought along with it, found some pieces of felt material and measured Hannah’s hands.  I simply sewed two pieces together using the backstitch (oh yes, I know what a backstitch is even though I did not take Home Science in school!), and then turned them inside out!

I made one mitten two days ago, and Hannah wanted another one, so now she has two, and it’s such a joy to see her “cooking” now.

Even more fulfilling is when she gave me the biggest widest smile and said, “Thank you for making me the kitchen mittens, Mommy!  I promise to share them with Ethan!”

Getting a Haircut

January 8, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

It wasn’t easy finding a hair salon suitable for the kids over here.  Personally we feel haircuts are overpriced, but in any case, the kids were long overdue for a haircut and we decided to just walk in to a nearby salon after lunch last weekend.

This salon charges $12 for a kid’s haircut, not including tips.  And it was one of the cheapest we found too…

Anyway, the kids got their haircuts done at the same time, and they got to sit on these high cushions propped up on the regular salon chairs.

Ethan’s haircut took a little longer than Hannah’s because the hair stylist was not too adept at trimming his hair in the “slope-like” manner he was used to.

I forgot to mention that the $12 haircut also includes a hairwash, if you so desire.  I asked Hannah, and she was game for the hairwash, so this is the one and only picture I took of her having her first salon hairwash.

She seemed to enjoy it though, and didn’t mind the experience.  And now they both have brand new haircuts!! 😀

First Official Day at School for the Kids

January 4, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting | 1 comment

My precious kids make me even more proud of them each and every day, and this week was no different.  This was a very eventful week for all of us, especially for Ethan and Hannah.   After more than a month since we moved here, the kids are finally officially starting school!

It had been a rollercoaster of obstacles we had faced in getting the paperwork and submission sorted out, especially in Ethan’s case, but we’re glad it’s finally completed and Ethan and Hannah were so excited to be going to school at last. 🙂

On Wednesday morning, after much persuasion, Hannah woke up bright and early and got ready for school.  She would be in the pre-kindergarten (pre-K) class, and she was really looking forward to it.  There was no hesitation from her at all when we arrived at her classroom, and she immediately hung up her bag and jacket and joined her class (but not before she gave Mommy a big HUG and KISS).

I then took Ethan to his elementary school to submit the last of the paperwork needed.  There were some delays due to the long year-end holidays, but thankfully, we managed to get everything done and sorted out that morning.  Ethan would be in 1st Grade. 🙂

Before we left the elementary school, we met with the one of the English language specialists in the school.  It was her job to assess foreign students on their English language proficiency via a simple assessment test on English reading, writing and comprehension.  We were with her for about half an hour and Ethan did really well on his test. 🙂  The English language specialist said that he reads very well and that he would be placed in an appropriate level.

I then confirmed that Ethan’s official first day of school would be on Friday, and he was to arrive by 8:45a.m., where his teacher would meet him at the front office and then take him to class.

On Thursday, Hannah went to school as usual and Ethan and I stayed home.  Ethan did tell me that he was a little bit nervous about his first day of school the following day, but he was also excited to be meeting new friends.  I reassured him that it was normal to be a little nervous, but he could always ask his teacher if he needed any help.

Fast forward to Friday, and we thankfully managed to get the kids up and ready by 8:05a.m.!

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