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We’re Playing Chinese!

March 29, 2012 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 4 comments

Well…look what we have here….Ethan has been playing with this new electronic toy/tablet for about a week now.

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When I was first introduced to this PlayChinese tablet, I was a little apprehensive about getting it for him.  It’s basically an Android-based tablet-like device which encourages users to learn Chinese by merely Playing it!  There are Chinese characters which allow you to practise the strokes and verbal pronunciations to help the user pronounce it.  What’s attractive is that points are allocated each time you write a character.

Well, I said I was apprehensive at first because I figured I could perhaps find a similar app in iTunes for him.  So I searched.

I did find a few apps and when Ethan tried them, he was initially excited, but then he told me, “Mommy, I WISH I had a pen to write the characters with!”

You see, the apps which I found for the iPad and iPhone only allowed him to write using his fingertips.

So I decided to try this PlayChinese tablet out.

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Well, so far so good.  It comes with 4 colorful stylus pens, which allows you to *write* on the tablet, just like the days of the Palm Pilot.  And Ethan is very happy to write the characters with them too.

Our intention is for Ethan to learn the verbal aspect of Chinese first, but if he shows a keen interest on writing it, then let it be.  After all, he will not be going to a Chinese-medium school, and we won’t be forcing him to do anything he does not like.

This 7-inch tablet appears to fit the bill quite well.  Ethan is currently practising his writing as well as the Chinese spelling exercises I prepared for him.  Oh yeah, they have pinyin capabilities too, which makes it easier for me to *locate* characters…

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Next step is probably to get a nice casing and screen protector for this tablet!

Sunday School

March 19, 2012 in Christianity, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | No comments

The kids went to their (somewhat) first Sunday School a couple of weeks back.  Well, I say “somewhat”, because Ethan had been once when he was a little younger, but hadn’t gone since.  For Hannah, it was her first time, of course made so much easier with the presence of her brother.

That Sunday, the kids had a praise and singing session at the start, followed by classroom activities according to age group.  Ethan and Hannah happened to fall into the same class (age group 3-6).

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I expected them both to be a little shy and reserved, it being their first time, but I was surprised that Ethan was very vocal, and Hannah was not intimidated too.  They spoke freely to the Sunday School teacher and did their coloring and even volunteered some answers!

A definitely fruitful Sunday, which the kids enjoyed immensely.

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Oh How My Babies Have Grown!

January 4, 2012 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting | No comments

They won’t let me call them “Baby” anymore, but I still do..sometimes.

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Today both Ethan and Hannah got ready to go to school.  Ethan is in Kindergarten 2 this year and Hannah is starting off in Playgroup level.  They had both been looking forward to this day for months, and Ethan had been planning with his sister on how she should wait for him after dismissal, how he would hold her hand and take her to her class, etc.  The night before, Ethan was too excited to fall asleep, and I believe he only slept at around midnight.

It was a miracle we managed to get ready and left the house at about 8:15a.m. this morning.

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Then again, miracles happen when kids cooperate, wouldn’t you agree?

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So anyway, we arrived in school and we found out the kids’ new class names.  Ethan very independently walked up the stairs to his new K2 class and started playing with his friends again.

As for Hannah, since it is her first time in school, there is an orientation program that lasts till the end of next week, where the parent is allowed to accompany the child in class to sort of ease the process of being in school, away from the parent.  This is a very important step to alleviate separation anxiety where possible, and during this period, Hannah’s class will only run for 2 hours a day.

Well, she seemed okay today, and was willing to sit on her own listening to stories and doing her art and crafts.  She was also very happy and enjoyed herself while playing in the playground.  Of course, it certainly helped that she had already been going to this same school for her once-a-week parent-toddler class the previous year and her teacher was the same one she had.

Lunch, consisting of meesuah soup, was served at about 11:30a.m., and Hannah readily finished the entire bowl.  Afterward she even had a few slices of apples.

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After her class had dismissed, we waited a few minutes for Ethan’s class to end and went for lunch.

In the late afternoon, Hannah fell asleep and took a very LONG afternoon nap.  Must have been tired from all that running around in school!

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Another day beckons tomorrow! 😀

Sorting Beans Can Be Lots of Fun!

December 30, 2011 in Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah, Parenting | 2 comments

On one of the days when I was running out of ideas on how to occupy the kids’ time, I decided to try this Bean Sorting exercise I had read about in one of my newly-acquired homeschooling books.  It was an activity I felt both Ethan and Hannah could share and enjoy..and I was right.

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I made use of the Organic Soup Mix beans that I had, and explained to them both that the task was to sort the beans according to type and color into separate cups.  They had to work together to complete the task.

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It was fun to see how attentive both Ethan and Hannah were, trying to complete the task on hand.  I assisted in telling them that they could each take a different type of bean and then sort that out.

They were done in about 15 minutes.

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And then I asked them to count the beans in the individual cups and I provided some sticker labels to label the number of beans.

Kids enjoy simple pleasures in life 🙂 – and they were so proud of their “completed assignment” that day and couldn’t wait to show Daddy when he got home.

Day 2 Singapore Getaway: Jurong Bird Park

December 28, 2011 in Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah, Parenting, Vacation | No comments

One of the first things we prepared before Day 2 was to get our ez-link cards to use on the MRT and the buses in Singapore.  Kids up to 0.9m in height can travel for free, and Hannah just barely made it 🙂  However, for preschoolers over 0.9m and below 7 years old, like Ethan, we got him the Child Concession Card, which entitled him to a 50% discount on all fares.  Of course, Ethan was all happy and felt grown-up when he could also tap his very own card and walk across the gates.

On Monday morning, armed with our day backpack, camera and loads of energy (somewhat), we made our way on foot to the nearest MRT station near Bernard & Pei Ling’s house…..but….halfway there, Pete turned around and asked,

Pete: Did you bring the (Bird Park) tickets?
Me (giving him a blank stare): Nooo…..I thought they were in your bag!

So while the kids happily whiled away their time playing in the play structure in one of the HDB flats, I walked back to the house to get the tickets.  It was a little extra exercise for me, and we haven’t even gotten on the train yet!

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We had actually left the house quite late and when we boarded the MRT it was close to lunch time.  So we decided to stop at Jurong Point Mall for lunch…instigated by pictures of Burger King’s food in the MRT too, actually!

Ethan was busy looking at the MRT map and telling his sister which station would come next and which station we would get off.

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…and finally we arrived!

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It was our first time at the Jurong Bird Park and one of the highlights the kids wanted to go to was the Lory Loft Feeding.

“Mommy, Mommy, can I feed the birds?” Hannah would ask, and hold up her hands as if holding the bird feed.  But when we arrived, as soon as I was handed the sweet bird feed in the little plastic cup, I daresay at least 4 or 5 lory birds swarmed towards me and started eating from the bowl.  The kids would not hold the bowl, and they were visibly afraid.  We tried to cajole them into feeding the birds, but the most we got was them touching the feeding bowl together with Daddy (missed the chance to take a picture though. Boo.)

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Other pictures from our enjoyable Bird Park trip:

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It was a hot, hot, hot day that day (contradictory to the weather forecasted then), and the kids had their Kidz Banz sunglasses to protect their eyes (and look cool at the same time)!

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Share-A-Gift of Love

December 17, 2011 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 1 comment

About a month ago, while we were at MPH bookstore, Ethan noticed the Christmas tree at the bookstore had many many paper hearts hanging on its branches.  And he was curious as to what they were.

So I explained to him that it was a charity drive MPH bookstore did every year during Christmas where they would put up names of kids who were in orphanages or who were physically- or mentally-challenged, and the customers in MPH are invited to participate in this charity drive by choosing a child’s card from the Christmas tree and then purchasing a gift from MPH to present to the child.  MPH would then wrap the gift up and place it under the tree and present it to the child for Christmas.  I told him that it would make the kid(s) very happy indeed to get presents.

Ethan was very intrigued and decided immediately that he wanted to do it.  Pete and I choose a present each year for a child, but this year, we decided to give the honor to Ethan.

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So he chose a card from the tree, and we helped him decide on an appropriate gift for the child he chose.  Then he wrote a message to the child and signed off, “Love, Ethan”.

I thought that was very sweet of him and I am so proud of my big boy with an EXTRA BIG heart.

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With a Great Big Hug and A Kiss From Me to You

December 1, 2011 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 3 comments

Mommy: Hannah, we’re going to KL this weekend.  Do you know who we’re going to see?
Hannah: Barney!!
Mommy: Yes..
Hannah: …and Baby Bop!  And BJ!
Mommy: Oh yeah…and..?
Hannah: And Riff…and Mother Goose…
Mommy: Hehe…oh yes..
Hannah:…Oh…and the kids.. 🙂

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Turns out we did see all of the above at the Barney’s Space Adventures show, held at Plenary Hall, KLCC last weekend…well, save for Mother Goose and the kids though.  Mother Goose did not make an appearance because I suppose she doesn’t take too kindly to anything “outer space”y, and as for the kids, well,…they were replaced by some singers and dancers who looked quite like adults to me.

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Hannah was in total awe when Barney and his friends appeared on stage, so awestruck was she that she could hardly sing and dance, and could only watch in amazement.  During the 20-minute intermission in the middle of the 90-minute performance, she was visibly upset for a while, asking me, “Where’s Barney, Mommy?”

And when I told her Barney and his friends had to make their way to the perfectly purple castle and the journey would take them 20 minutes, she wailed, “Nooo…:(”

Her brother Ethan, on the other hand, was having the time of his life, singing and dancing and clapping to almost every song during the performance.

In fact, Daddy looked more excited to watch Barney than he was when we went to watch Cats some years ago. 😛

It was an enjoyable show, and fun-packed with great songs the kids enjoyed.  I might add that the seats were really comfortable too, and the sound system was superb.  There were some people who showed their true Malaysian kiasu colors by moving from cheaper seats at the back to the front more expensive seats, since the hall wasn’t full…ah, but that’s a story for another day.

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We had a great family time together watching Barney, and if that wasn’t enough, later that night, we celebrated cousin Caitlynn’s birthday at Friday’s at Alamanda too!

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Feverish Nightmare

November 21, 2011 in Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 2 comments

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Today marks the completion of a 6-day antibiotic course for Hannah.  She had been taking Cefaclor, a yellowish liquid form of antibiotics, which I suspect tastes a little lemony.

Prior to her antibiotic course, I was in great distress last week when Hannah suddenly developed extremely high fever.  On Monday morning, she woke up with a low-grade fever of 37.5ºC, which shot up to 39.9ºC at lunch time.  We brought the fever down with some PCM, but it went up again at dinnertime, and I decided to give her Bufren.  At that time, her fever was 40.1ºC, and I was going out of my mind.

I tried to remain as calm as I could, and called the doctor, who said we could continue sponging and monitoring her condition first.  The hospital’s pediatrician on duty was not Hannah’s usual doctor, and I preferred to wait till morning.  It was a very worrying situation because at that time, Pete was away on a business trip overseas, but thankfully his parents were staying with us.  Another worrying factor was that besides the immensely high fever, there were no other symptoms like sore throat, cough, earache…

Anyway, we got through the night and I brought her to the doctor early the next morning.  Her fever was registered at 39+ºC at the clinic, and after she was given a dose of PCM, we were sent to the pediatric ward immediately for sponging.

Although we did some sponging of our own at home, I learnt the correct method of sponging a child, and here are some pointers to note:

  • Strip child completely, but diapers and undies can be left on.
  • Using lukewarm/tepid water (NOT cold, NOT warm), wet some towels and when slightly dripping place towels on child’s body.  I used traditional nappies to sponge at home, because I find that they are lightweight enough, yet can hold sufficient water for the purpose.
  • Leave the towels on the child for some time, and repeat where necessary.
  • Wipe dry when sponging is completed.
  • Temperature should drop about 10-15 minutes after sponging.

Because of her high fever (and no other symptoms), Hannah had to take a blood test to rule out dengue.  We went home after that, but because her fever was still high, I gave her another dose of Bufren (Bufren is not to be administered if a patient is suffering from dengue).  She didn’t mind the Bufren because it was orange-flavored.

Bufren brought her fever down somewhat, and when I called the doc for her blood test results, it was negative for dengue (thank God), so that only meant and indicated that Hannah was suffering from a bacterial (and NOT viral) fever and infection, which meant she needed a course of antibiotics.

Because she was in a lot of pain and suffering, I had to sometimes overlap her dosage of PCM and Bufren (yes, I had also just learnt that we can do that if necessary), and continued with sponging whenever she allowed me to.

After a dose of the Cefaclor antibiotics, her fever subsided to around 38+ºC and throughout that night, I made sure it did not go above 38.2ºC.  In the morning, Hannah woke up with a smile and when I took her temperature, it was 36.9ºC ! 🙂

“I don’t have fever anymore, Mommy?” she asked.

No you don’t, baby…and I am so glad to have you back to your usual cheerful, cheeky and adorable self.  Her appetite is improving now and I’m so very pleased.

Little Meaningful Messages

October 11, 2011 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 2 comments

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I was clearing up some of the kids’ stuff and books last weekend and I found this little notebook that belongs to Ethan.  In it, I found a message that Ethan wrote early this year.

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Just in case the message is hard to decipher, it says, “Dearest Mommy, Sorry Hannah accident(ally) drop(ped) 28 Super Dominoes.  Please do not bring me and Hannah to hospital.”

Actually, all I said was, “Uh-oh…Hannah, did you drop those dominoes?  Please be careful, okay?  If you drop those dominoes, you might slip on them and hurt yourself.  Then I’d have to bring you to the hospital.”

Hannah didn’t know how to apologize then, but Ethan took the initiative as a big brother to apologize on her behalf.  Doesn’t he have a BIG heart? 🙂

Lately, my two kids have sometimes been involved in sibling squabbles.  Most of the time, they will be playing happily together, but sometimes, the inevitable happens.  He would be playing with something and he wouldn’t allow her to *destroy* what he created.  She snatches from him.  Or sometimes Ethan asks Hannah to play with him, but she doesn’t want to.

Little things like that, ya know.  Small to us, but a big deal to kids.

Well, anyway, we try to get Hannah to apologize to Ethan, and she would say, “I’m sorry Ethan” or “I love you Ethan.”  And we’d ask her to add, “Please forgive me, Ethan.”

And then they’d hug.  (awwwwwww)

The other day, Ethan was engrossed in reading something and his sister wanted to show him something she had drawn.  He impulsively crumpled her paper, and she came running to report to me, “Mommy, Ethan crumpled my paper!” , while pouting.

And then later, Ethan asked me for a pencil and said he wanted to write a message to Hannah.  This is what he wrote:

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Makes me feel all emotional inside when I see such caring behavior from someone so young. 🙂

Forgiveness

September 16, 2011 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 1 comment

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This is one of my favorite photos of Ethan with Daddy.  Every time I look at this picture, I am thankful for what a big heart my little man has and how much he has grown up way beyond his years.

At an age when most of his peers are so keen on fighting for their toys and always wanting to have their own way, my little boy has, in many instances, shown us that he understands and knows what are the more important things in life.

Just last week, when Daddy was playing with the kids, Daddy had wanted to hug Hannah, but Hannah playfully pushed Daddy away.  Daddy was sad and in jest, he mentioned that “Hannah is a naughty girl.”  This conversation then ensued.

Ethan: What, Daddy?  Why is Hannah naughty?
Daddy: Because she pushed Daddy.
Ethan: Oh…but you can forgive her, right?
Daddy: Oh yes, of course I can…

I am so proud of my boy that he can think of forgiveness in such a situation. Good job, Ethan! 🙂

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