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Growing Up

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How We Built a Snowman – Part 2 of 2

January 3, 2013 in Ethan, Exercise, Funny Moments, Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

After our “snowhill but no snowman” incident the other day, the kids had been pestering us to take them snowman-building again.

“Mommy, is the snow wet enough today to build a snowman?”

“Can we PLEASE go and build a snowman today?  I don’t mind building it in the dark!”

So on New Year’s Day morning, we promised the kids we would get our snowman built provided they got up early enough and that it was sunny.

And this would be me, giving them a headstart and a hand in the snowman-building project:

It’s hard work, and a very good workout! 🙂  Just imagine, your body needs to work extra hard to fight off the cold (especially when the wind starts blowing) and also, you need to keep rolling and patting the snowballs to make it larger and larger for the snowman, all the time making sure the snowballs stay intact and that the snowman doesn’t topple over!

The kids again enjoyed every moment of their time in the snow.  They had fun rolling the snowballs around and watching them grow bigger and bigger…and now, they also had Daddy to throw snowballs at!

After some really hard work and teamwork, we began to see the snowman take shape…

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How We Built A Snowman – Part 1 of 2

January 2, 2013 in Ethan, Exercise, Funny Moments, Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

Several days ago, when I figured there was snow thick enough to build a snowman, and the sun was out, I took the kids out for our snowman project.  The kids were, of course, more than eager to put on their winter jackets and get started.

We found a nice spot just outside our home, and before I knew it, the kids were already busy making snow angels!

 

Unfortunately though, the snow was too hard and dry for snowman-making.  We just could not pat it into balls.  All we got were big chunks of brittle ice.  The kids called them “icebergs”!

However, we still had a lot of fun building a snow hill, and playing with snow…

 

Yes, we had a blast…and some of us threw snow too!

I had to persuade the kids to come on indoors because my ears were starting to freeze!

We ended up with a nice little snow hill, which became a really smooth snow hill when it began to snow heavily a couple of days later.

The kids asked for hot Milo after our activity, which is always a nice comforting way to warm their tummies after a cold outing.

The One Where The Kids Went to School

December 21, 2012 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah | 1 comment

…well, not exactly.  After visiting a couple of childcare centers, we’d decided to arrange for a trial session for Hannah at a nearby center, about 3 minutes’ drive away.

Since I had an appointment at the hospital for an ultrasound scheduled, we decided to conveniently schedule the trial session on that same morning.  This childcare center had a before/after school program for kids in elementary school too, so Ethan got to have a trial there as well.  Worked out so well for us because we didn’t think kids running around in the ultrasound room would be at all welcome.

So anyway, the childcare center director decided that Hannah would be most suitable in the pre-K class, although age-wise, she should be in a younger class, i.e. preschool.  This was because Hannah would turn 4 very soon, and most of the kids in pre-K had just turned 4 or about to turn 4 soon too.  In addition, the pre-K class was a much smaller group compared to preschool, and it would work out in Hannah’s favor too, because she can be quite shy in large groups initially.

As for Ethan, since all the elementary students were in school at that time, they were still not at this childcare center.  So Ethan spent his time in the Kindergarten class, which is something like K2 in Malaysia.  He got on pretty well, and before I left, I peeked into his class and saw him raising his hand, volunteering to answer a question!  How’s that for confidence, eh?

Anyway, the kids were there for about 3.5 hours, and when we came back to pick them up, we were surprised to find Hannah taking a nap on a little mattress, as were most of the other kids in her class.  Ethan was ready to go, and even had a little time to feed the pet guinea pig in the school.

I could tell the kids had fun.  The center director told us they both did very well, and were participative and there were no problems at all.

Hannah brought back her artwork, and couldn’t stop talking about them.

Ethan told me he learnt some Spanish that day, painted a rainbow sky picture (which was still drying) and wrote a sentence.

We’ve more or less confirmed that Hannah will be going to this pre-K class, and as for Ethan, he will be going to a nearby elementary school in 1st Grade.  We’re getting the registration submission all sorted out and hopefully they can begin schooling soon.

A Very Long Journey Here But We Made It!

November 22, 2012 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting, Vacation | 3 comments

Those who read my personal blog and follow me on Facebook and Twitter would have already known that we have touched down safely in Marlborough, Massachusetts, in the United States.  This would be our home for the next several months.

I still can’t believe we’re here though.  There were many obstacles along the way which we had to overcome, tired though we may be; but we eventually did.

Well, first of all, the packing and shipping was a big rush given the short timeframe, so undeniably, there were many late nights, with insufficient sleep.  Our flight out from Penang to Hong Kong on November 17th was at 7:40a.m. in the morning, and we were expecting our cab to arrive at 6:00a.m.  With the last minute packup and check of our home before we left, we had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 4:00a.m.!  I only went to bed at close to 2:00a.m.

Well, we made it to the airport on time though 🙂 – and although the check-in officer took a LOOOOOOOONG time to get our boarding passes ready, we boarded on time and were well on our way to Hong Kong.

Our first connection to Hong Kong was a relatively short one, and the kids were not tired at all initially.  Hannah fell asleep towards the end of that flight, but only for a while.  The child’s meal served to the kids were excellent, way better than the adults’; in fact a little too much for little tummies to handle.

We only had about 2 hours before our next flight out from Hong Kong to San Francisco, and that precious time was cut short because there were some issues at the transfer counter (we stopped by to request for seats together on our US domestic flights, but wasted time there because the Hong Kong staff could not do anything about it), and also some delays at the security checkpoint.

Long story short, when we arrived at the airport lounge, we only had very little time to relax.  However, we still managed to take quick showers (very glad we did because it was invigorating, and we definitely needed that for the next long-haul flight).

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My Little Boy’s Graduation Ceremony

November 16, 2012 in Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting | 2 comments

Last Saturday, we attended Ethan’s Graduation Ceremony.  It marked the end of his pre-school journey and signifies the beginning of another exciting one.

In a simple ceremony held in his school, it was truly a joy to see so many happy faces, although it rained heavily sometime in the middle of it all.  Doesn’t my boy look handsome? 😀

Unfortunately though, little Hannah drifted off into dreamland right before the event proper started.  We tried to wake her up but our efforts were futile; she continued sleeping despite the fact that it was hot and a lot of mosquitoes were flying around.

After a short performance by the graduands, the graduating certificate was presented to each of them individually.

The whole ceremony was simple but meaningful at the same time, perhaps Ethan felt a little bit emotional too, just like I did. 😛

There was a mini garden party after that, and while saying our goodbyes, I had to fight back tears (because I’m emotional like that).

Happy Graduation, Ethan Boy!
We are all so very proud of you!

 

Bringing the “Piggy” to the Bank

November 13, 2012 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting | 1 comment

Yesterday morning, we squeezed in an important lesson of saving money.  Ethan and Hannah both have cute little “piggy banks” given by Ipoh Ah Ma in the shape of an elephant (for Ethan) and a cow (for Hannah), and they have been diligently saving their coins and asking friends and relatives for extra coins to add to their collection.

I thought it was high time I took them to the bank to save their moolah there, since I had been telling them about it for a long while.

Thankfully we only had to wait like 1 minute for our turn, and the kids eagerly handed over their piggy banks to to bank teller for counting.  They were delighted to see the coins being poured into a box and then to hear the coins being fed into the coin-counting machine.

We were done in a jiffy and I then returned the empty coin boxes back to them for future savings. 🙂  Definitely a great practical experience for them both! 😀

Here’s their voluntary “silly-face” pose before we left the bank:

Goldilocks and The Three Bears

October 30, 2012 in Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting | 3 comments

I absolutely love it when Mommy tells me a bedtime story before I go to sleep.  My current favorite is Goldilocks and The Three Bears.  Although we don’t have a copy of that storybook at home, Mommy can tell the story even without reading from a book!  Amazing, right?

Anyway, I have been asking for this story on most nights now. My second favorite story is the The Three Little Pigs.

I love all the parts in the Goldilocks story and sometimes I add in my own sound effects too!  I always go to bed with a smile on my face after listening to that story.

Then just a few nights ago, Mommy said she was very tired and she instead asked ME to tell her a story!  So I chose my favorite story to tell, of course! 🙂

I changed it a bit though…I mean, Papa Bear can’t be cooking porridge all the time, right?  It would be waaaay too boring for the bears. So I told the story of him cooking noodles!! 🙂

Mommy had a good rest while listening to my story, and I enjoyed myself telling it too!

Tales of the Arabian Nights

October 26, 2012 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones | 1 comment

Months of intense practising, which started at the end of January this year, and afternoon stayback sessions in school, which had me ferrying him to and from school, and countless times of Ethan telling us, “It’s gonna be a surprise!  I’m not gonna tell you what will happen!” when I asked him specific questions about his role, has culminated in an afternoon of sheer enjoyment when we witnessed our little man perform in his inaugural K2 concert at Dewan Budaya in USM last Sunday.

Unlike most school concerts which had sporadic skits and items performed by the kids, it was the tradition of Ethan’s school to hold a full-fledged concert akin to a school play.  It was a tri-lingual concert, and in the months leading up to the concert day, at times Ethan would be intently practising his lines, be it singing or speaking.  He had speaking lines in Chinese and Bahasa too, and they even had recording sessions for the kids prior to the concert, just like a professional recording studio.

Oh yes, it was a MAJOR affair.  And our Ethan was truly truly excited.

In addition, he was playing a few roles too, as were his classmates; one of his roles was that of the Sultan, whom Princess Scheherazade would tell her stories to, for a thousand and one nights.

Yes, that was the title of their concert this year: Scheherazade – Tales of the Arabian Nights.

Unlike last year when Ethan only had one dance scene in his school annual concert, since he was in K1 at that time; this year, as he is in K2, he had speaking, singing and dancing roles.

Here are a few photos taken during the concert.  Photography and videography were prohibited during the concert proper, in order to ensure a smooth production without any disruption, so some of my photos were nicked from the official photographer’s stash 🙂

Pre-concert photo taking session, while waiting for the show to begin...

It’s Finally Showtime!!

Here’s Ethan playing the role as the Sultan…love the elaborate costumes and headgear!

Ethan resting at his “throne” 🙂

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Kids and Pregnancy

October 20, 2012 in Ethan, Funny Moments, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting | 5 comments

Hannah: Mommy, Daddy is not pregnant, right?

Me: No, he is not.

Hannah: Only you are pregnant, right?  Daddy, Ethan and Hannah are NOT pregnant.

Me: That’s right.

Ethan (in his usual big brother “I know more than you” style): Hannah, only girls can get pregnant, NOT boys.

Hannah: Oh.

Ethan: And do you know why?

Hannah: No, Ethan. Why?

Ethan: Because…you know, a baby will come out from the tummy from the private.  And only girls’ private is big enough for the baby to come out from.  In boys, the hole in the private is too small!

Hannah: Oh.

Ethan: Hannah, do you know why you cannot get pregnant now?

Hannah (thinking): No, Ethan.  Why?

Ethan: Because….you are still a small girl, and not an adult.  Your private is too small and the baby cannot come out from there yet.  A baby can only come out from an adult’s private!

Ethan has been constantly reading my favorite book in conception and pregnancy by Dr Miriam Stoppard, and has been learning a whole lot of stuff about babies and pregnancy. 🙂

(N.B: By the way, my kids know the correct term for male and female genitalia: i.e. penis and vagina, although they also use the term “private” to refer to them interchangeably)

Artist at Work

October 18, 2012 in Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting | 1 comment

I simply love watching Hannah coloring.  She’d seem so engrossed and focused, and the results are no less impressive too!  Well, maybe she takes after her Mommy (since I’ve won a few coloring contests when I was a little girl too…ahem! :)).

This was one of her masterpieces today.  She even took the trouble to choose a skin tone color for the skin!

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