Bible Verse of the Day

You Know Your 9-Year Old is Really a “Teenager”….

November 27, 2015 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | No comments

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  • When he discusses video game tactics, and leaderboard scores with his dad, and you have absolutely nothing to contribute to the conversation.
  • When he knows most of the songs on the radio, including the singers
  • When he knows trivia about entertainers you know nothing about.
  • When he figures out how to tune the radio in his room to his favorite radio channel, and spends time “chillin'” by listening to the radio.
  • When he goes off for “jamming sessions” with his friends and performs onstage playing the ukulele in school talent shows (and emerges a winner!)

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[ Apologies for the blurry image – can I say I did that on purpose? ]

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  • When he seems to be hungry for food all the time.
  • When we have to change his shampoo from the kiddie type to the regular kind.
  • When he expresses his “genuine concern” on financial matters.

Why do kids grow up so FAST?

Note: We respect your privacy, so if you see a picture of your child in this post and would prefer for me to blot out his/her face, please email me at joyce.cheah (at) gmail.com and I will do the needful.  Thank you.

Emma at 32 Months

November 23, 2015 in Emma, Milestones | No comments

Emma-32months

Scrap Credits
Romantic Spring Collaboratio Kit from Ptitesouris

 

Weight

9.8 kilos.  Slowly but surely reaching the big ten soon!

Height/Length

Not measured.

Teeth

After that first visit to the dentist, we can now confirm that Emma has a total of 18 teeth, with 2 top molars to come.

Developmental Milestones

  • Emma is very much the little copycat and enjoys copying whatever her siblings do and say, especially Hannah.
  • She is also very exploratory in nature and loves to show me she can do lots of stuff, saying, “Mommy, look at me!”
  • Likes to be “part of the conversation”. When Ethan and Hannah are talking among themselves and make a joke, Emma will also chime in with laughter.
  • Loves watching shows with musical elements in them, her current favorites being the Little Einsteins series.

Food and Feeding

Her current favorite foods are chicken porridge, pumpkin porridge, chicken (steamed or roasted), steamed broccoli, “wan ton mee” and “shang mee”.

She is still consuming Izumio and Super Lutein as health supplements for her general wellbeing and also to tackle her eczema issues.

 

Emma at 31 Months

October 29, 2015 in Emma, Milestones | No comments

Emma-31months

Scrap Credits
June Part 2 collaboration kit from DMS
Fresh Breeze Alphas from A work in progress

Weight

9.6 kilos ~ there hasn’t been a lot of change to her weight.  Probably because she has been running around a lot lately.

Height/Length

Not measured.

Teeth

After that first visit to the dentist, we can now confirm that Emma has a total of 18 teeth, with 2 top molars to come.

Developmental Milestones

  • Emma enjoys playground equipment, especially the slides.
  • Loves dancing and will move her entire body to music, smiling and saying “Haha…dancing!”
  • Loves to paint ~ by dabbling the paint with a brush all over the paper.
  • She is making short sentences now: “I want eat chicken rice”. “I want go downstairs”.
  • She asks “What’s that?” or “Oh what’s that?” to almost everything and anything.
  • She gives her opinion: “Hannah funny!” or “Ethan funny!”
  • However, I have noticed that she will assert her “power” when she doesn’t get her way.

Food and Feeding

Hand-spoon-mouth coordination has improved and there is more food going into her and less food outside, but cleaning up is still a headache.  She prefers rice but sometimes will ask for noodles (which she affectionately calls “tarpow” ~ because I hardly cook noodles at home) and “Koay-teow”.

She is still consuming Izumio and Super Lutein as health supplements for her general wellbeing and also to tackle her eczema issues.

Toilet Training

I am not consciously potty training Emma yet, but she sometimes does tell me when she needs to peepee or poopoo.  In fact just yesterday she said “Mommy, poopoo” and gave me that “poopoo” look.  I promptly took her to the toilet and she successfully made her first deposit!! 🙂

I am blessed to have Hannah who is very willing and happy to help toilet train her sister; Hannah will eagerly give Emma stickers for every successful toilet training achievement.

Magical Adventure in Hamelin and Treasure Island

October 15, 2015 in Celebrations, Entertainment, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting | Permalink

At the pinnacle of Hannah’s preschool journey, we have the school concert.  Unlike any regular preschool concert, her school prides itself in producing spectacular performances which is one-of-a-kind, in a edu-theater style and is a whole play in itself.  From the writing of the script, to choreography and to the beautiful costumes, I am always left in awe when I watch her preschool concerts.

This year was even more special than last year’s, because it was her final year in preschool, and Hannah had been eagerly waiting for the concert day.

Now, unlike the past years where the concert was produced in either tri-lingual or bi-lingual, this year the kids put up 2 separate stories which were loved by all: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (in Chinese) & Treasure Island (in English).  I found the story line more enjoyable when the concert is done in a single language for separate stories, like this year.

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From the beginning of the school year, Hannah had been eagerly awaiting the concert.  From the inception of the play to the casting of the parts, to the selection of costumes, and rehearsing, she had been excitedly updating me in bits and pieces…so as not to reveal the entire story altogether.

For a bunch of 6-year-olds, performing this school play was no mean feat, given that there were many costume changes involved and everything had to be done in super-quick time.

Here are a few random shots from her concert performance.  Hannah played several parts in the concert:

  • One of the mice in the Pied Piper of Hamelin
  • One of the citizens in the village of Hamelin
  • Tattoo Charlie in Treasure Island
  • Queen Benjamina Gunn in Treasure Island (The original story casted this as Benjamin Gunn, the marooned crewman on a remote island, but in Hannah’s concert, the script was rewritten to replace Ben Gunn with Queen Benjamina Gunn)

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We have every reason possible to be beaming with pride for our little girl.  She performed every single role with such passion and commitment, and she was full of confidence on stage.  I could hardly believe she was just a wee little baby not too long ago.

She told me later that she enjoyed performing so much, she wished there would be another concert soon!

Well done, my little snowflake!

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Note: We respect your privacy, so if you see a picture of your child in this post and would prefer for me to blot out his/her face, please email me at joyce.cheah (at) gmail.com and I will do the needful.  Thank you.

 

Emma at 30 Months

September 24, 2015 in Emma, Milestones | No comments

Emma-30months

Scrap Credits
Kit collab Digital Crea “365 project” from Line & Ninie
Acrylic Alphas from “A work in progress“

 

Weight

9.6 kilos (Yay, she’s gaining weight!!)

Height/Length

Not measured.

Teeth

After that first visit to the dentist, we can now confirm that Emma has a total of 18 teeth, with 2 top molars to come.

Motor Skills

  • Emma can climb up the stairs by holding on to the balustrades.
  • Runs around a lot.

Communication and Social Skills

  • Emma shows her opinion often by telling us what she needs or wants, “Eat Bee-kurt”, “Eat Snacks”, “Drink Barney cup”, “Go upstairs”, “Take shower”, “Read book”.
  • Says “Goodnight Daddy”, “Goodnight Ethan” and “Goodnight Hannah”.
  • Still working on “Please” and “thank you”.

Food and Feeding

Emma loves snacking on seaweed crackers.  She can more or less feed herself now but will make a mess which needs to be cleaned up after.

Inside Out At The Cinema

September 23, 2015 in Emma, Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting | No comments

Last Saturday, our initial plans of going swimming were dashed when the unhealthy haze still loomed in the air.  So we made a spur of the moment decision and decided to see if we could get tickets to watch a movie instead!

Oh yes.  It had been ages since we had watched a movie in the cinema, and it would be Emma’s very first time! After all, we would be going for Hannah’s school concert in a dark hall soon, so I decided to treat this movie outing as a trial run.

The only movie available and suitable was Inside Out.  Ethan had already learnt that the movie was all about “voices and things in our head”.

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Emma was all excited when we walked together to the cinema.  Of course she had no inkling on what to expect.

This was taken right before the show started.  Apologies for the grainy picture because lighting was bad and errrr….. it was almost time to put away our phones anyway…

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We had the usual popcorn and water for snacks and Ethan offered to share his seat with Emma.  The show was, on the whole, very entertaining and the cinema was nearly a full house.

Get this: Emma SAT THROUGH the entire movie without getting out from her seat!  No crying, no whining and not even once asked for milk!

I am truly, simply amazed!!

After the show, we asked if she had enjoyed the movie and she gives us her usual, wide-eyed, knowing nod.  She said, “I watched the BIG TV!”

Emma’s First Time at “School”

September 18, 2015 in Emma, Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting | No comments

A couple of weeks ago, Pete and I were discussing if we should let Emma start school (Playgroup) next year.  We were not sure if she would be ready yet though, but if she did start school, I would at least have a few hours to spend alone with Hannah next year, since she would be homeschooled.  It was a debatable topic because if she started, it would mean travelling to school every morning too.

Anyway, we decided to let Emma go for a trial parent-toddler class, just like Ethan and Hannah did at her age.  Last Saturday I took her for the 9:00a.m. class.  Woke her up at 8:30a.m. and got her dressed and cleaned up.  However, our little missy fell asleep on the way there!

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Good thing she woke up without a fuss when we arrived.  She is very familiar with the school playground because I often take her there when I pick Hannah up from school.

Parent-toddler class is just an avenue for the child to explore various activities while interacting with the parent and hopefully thereafter, kids their age.

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Emma certainly looked like she enjoyed her parent-toddler class session.  When we came home, I sang the action songs she was introduced to during circle time and she could even remember the actions, and did them happily, despite only hearing them for the first time that morning!

We will be bringing her to another session tomorrow.  I’m sure she’s looking forward to it! ♥

 

Koala Bear’s Little Adventure

September 10, 2015 in Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

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Last weekend, Hannah brought a little friend home from school.  It was a little Koala Bear stuffed animal and Hannah’s task was to make her little guest feel right at home, and at the same time write about her adventure with the bear.

She was ever so excited and was eager to bring Koala Bear everywhere she went.

Rather than type out her story, I captured them all in pictures straight from her journal.  Hannah was very independent and creative and did all the writing and illustrations by herself, all entirely her own ideas.  The only thing I helped with was printing out the photos.

Go ahead and take a look.

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She misses Koala very much, but a bear’s gotta do what a bear’s gotta do… Goodbye little Koala Bear, we had loads of fun with you!

Emma at 29 Months

August 29, 2015 in Emma, Milestones | No comments

Emma-29months

Scrap Credits
Designer Pack QP Freebie from Dees-Deelights

Weight

9.3 kilos

Height/Length

Not measured.

Teeth

After that first visit to the dentist, we can now confirm that Emma has a total of 18 teeth, with 2 top molars to come.

Motor Skills

  • Emma is mastering the art of climbing up and down the stairs, on her own.  When she goes upstairs, she will scale up the stairs on all fours, and when she comes down, she holds on to the balustrade.
  • She does not like to sit in the stroller when we go out now, preferring instead to walk on her own.
  • She has started to really enjoy her bath time now, and sometimes we have to negotiate with her to end her bath.

Communication and Social Skills

  • Emma can sing along to some songs which are played often, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, some Barney songs, and she loves singing with her siblings.  She catches the words pretty quickly when she hears the songs on the TV.
  • Emma can count 1-10 by rote, sometimes she will also say 11 or 12… 🙂
  • … and some parts of the ABCs too.
  • She can recognise a few colors and can point to items of that color when asked.  Still working on it, but she usually gets PINK and GREEN correct.
  • She can address “Ah Kong” and “Ah Ma”.

Food and Feeding

Emma will eat mostly what the whole family eats now, and she is starting to love chicken too.  She also loves her rice and “char hor fun”.  She will say that she wants to “eat tar pow rice”. 🙂

Emma’s First Visit to the Dentist

August 27, 2015 in Emma, Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting | No comments

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We brought Emma for her first visit to the dentist recently.  In the past, my kids began seeing the dentist at least once a year when they turn 2.  So it was the same for little Emma.  We make it a family affair where everyone gets their teeth checked.  It’s a good practice and it’s something I would recommend for all families.

Here she is browsing the reading material in the waiting area…

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I had told her about it so she would be prepared, and she watched as Hannah and Ethan took their turns sitting in the chair.

When it was Emma’s turn, she was very confident and ready to go.  The chair was HUGE compared to her, and the dentist gently coaxed her to open her mouth so he could look at her teeth.

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I was actually surprised when the dentist told us that all her incisors and canines were there!  I had thought Emma was missing an incisor all this while!  She now has 18 teeth with 2 more molars to come soon.

Good job, Emma! 🙂

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