Bible Verse of the Day

Saturday Evening at Straits Quay

November 19, 2011 in Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah | No comments

When I heard that the Penang International Kids Storytelling Festival (PINKS) was coming back to Penang for the second time, I was undecided about bringing the kids there.  Last year, they had it at Youth Park and it was scorching hot, even under those tents equipped with strong-blowing fans.  But this year, they changed the venue to Straits Quay, and since my Mom expressed her interest in checking out the festival, we decided to bring the kids there.

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The kids had been looking forward to this event and were very excited when we finally arrived.  Got slightly delayed due to the heavy traffic.

We only managed to arrive in the evening, close to the end of the program, but we were still in time to witness Jeeva Ragunath (from India) entertaining the audience with storytelling, song and dance.

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The Christmas decorations at Straits Quay were already up, and my “models”, as usual, were ever ready to pose. 🙂

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We had a simple dinner at Secret Recipe and were just about to leave Straits Quay for home when we heard a very mesmerizing rhythmic beat coming from the foyer near the sea.  Turned out it was a group of talented performers from The Performing Arts Center of Penang (PenangPAC), making rhythm and sounds using drums, tambourines and other percussion instruments in a Drum Circle.  Ethan and Hannah started dancing to the beat, and some of the musicians started asking some of the kids to join in with the musical instruments.  Ethan and Hannah were not excluded. 🙂

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Ethan got to play with some rhythm sticks, and Hannah played a triangle.  They enjoyed themselves so much and could be seen shaking their booty along to the rhythm.  They even sat in the circle together with the rest of the players.

At the end of it all, it was all in great fun and the kids were tired but definitely happy.

No wonder they’re both knocked out now!

Hannah at 32 months

November 15, 2011 in Hannah, Milestones | No comments

hannah_32monthsScrap Credits

Natural Freshness Kit from Manue Designs
Boys & Girls Corner Alphas from Nathan Design
It’s Only Natural Alphas from Scrappy Bug

Weight

13.5 kilos

Height

92cm (she has grown!!)

Teeth

I just noticed that her 4 back pramolars have begun to emerge.  So she’s going to get 19 teeth soon.  Right now, she has 4 incisors on the upper jaw, 3 incisors bottom jaw;  2 canines upper jaw, 2 canines bottom jaw;  4 pramolars and 4 more back pramolars are making their appearance slowly but surely.  This would explain the bout of “nightmarish screamings”.

Developmental Milestones

  • Hannah is learning very quickly, judging by the amount of questions she asks all the time.  She asks Why, Who, What, Where, How endlessly and is fast becoming a chatterbox.  She is always fighting for “talk time” with her brother.
  • She takes pride in her achievements, however big or small they are.  If she discovers a particular pose (e.g. stand on one leg while lifting both hands up), she would do it and proudly and loudly proclaim, “See, I can do this!”
  • Hannah is showing a certain degree of shyness with people she is not familiar with or people whom she chooses to be shy with.  If she doesn’t want to verbally say hi, she would be contented just to wave.
  • Stubbornness is beginning to show and she has exhibited instances where she adamantly wants to get her own way.
  • Loves (jigsaw) puzzles and can occupy herself doing it.
  • Loves to point out little girls who “look like her” in videos she watches.  She’ll ask us, “Which one is like me, Mommy?”
  • Curious and inquisitive.  When I take her around, she’ll almost always ask, “Where are we going now, Mommy?” or “Where are we going first, Mommy?”, followed by “Then?” 🙂

Toilet Training

Very keen on peepeeing and poopooing in the toilet, even when we are not at home.  I need to get her those trainers soon so that she can utilize them properly when we are outside.

As soon as we come home from anywhere at all, she has a habit of going to the toilet and putting her kiddy toilet seat on the toilet bowl, and then she will carry the step stool by herself next to the toilet bowl and climb on it by herself.

Food and Feeding

Still very much a food lover and is not choosy when it comes to food.

Wake Up Call

November 13, 2011 in Ethan, Funny Moments | No comments

ethanandahma

Ethan and Hannah love it when their “Ipoh Ah Ma” comes to visit.  She’s a fantastic storyteller, a great singer and sometimes even a budding *magician*!

But one of the rare highlights of her visits, at least for Ethan, would have to be Ah Ma’s cellphone.  It’s not a fancy-schmancy cellphone, but what intrigues Ethan about it is the fact that the alarm on Ah Ma’s cellphone TALKS!

Every night, Ethan would request that Ah Ma set the alarm on her cellphone to a certain time, say for example 7:17a.m. And the next morning, Ethan would be awoken by the alarm saying: “It’s time to wake up, it’s 7:17a.m.” repeatedly.  If he wakes up before the alarm goes off, he would stay in bed and eagerly wait for the alarm to *wake* him up.

Ain’t that cool?

Dancing and Exercise Go Hand in Hand

November 4, 2011 in Entertainment, Ethan, Exercise, Hannah | No comments

I’m always amazed at the amount of energy my kids have day in and day out, and even at home where space is kinda limited, they can find some activity to indulge in.  Whether it is building an imaginary house on the bed or running their own little restaurant, I love to watch their antics and know that they are having fun.

Recently Ethan asked me to bring their Veggie Tales audio CD from my car back to our home, because he and Hannah wanted to dance to it…oh, and did I mention that Hannah also tried singing to the songs?

We’ve Reclaimed Our Bedroom, but…

October 24, 2011 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Sleep | 3 comments

Ethan and Hannah have been sharing our bedroom space ever since they came into our lives.

Ethan, who started from the crib, and moved to the cot and then to our bed and then to the mattress on the floor, had been indicating that he is all ready to move out to his own room, on the condition that the bedsheet is a Cars bedsheet.  You see, he currently has a Cars bedsheet, but it’s on a single mattress.  We figured it’s time we moved our little big man to his own room with his own bed, and currently our only available option is our 2nd bedroom which has a queen-sized bed.  So we had to get a Cars Queen-sized bedsheet set.

Hannah, on the other hand, has been wanting to sleep on her brother’s single mattress for the longest time, and has requested for a Barney bedsheet.

Coincidentally, we finally found the Cars bedsheet (in Queen size) last weekend, so we got it for Ethan and he was very excited when I washed it clean and laid it out on the bed for him.  He happily said goodbye to our room and moved to his new room with his new bedsheet.

The plan was for Ethan to sleep in the other room and for Hannah to move to the single mattress in our room, as a form of gradual transition.  But what we hadn’t expected was when Hannah requested to sleep on the single mattress in Ethan’s room too.  She wanted to be with her brother, apparently.

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That’s not all.

She asked me to LEAVE the room and said that she could sleep by herself.

On the first night, I sat at the foot of her mattress till she fell asleep.  On the second night, she asked me to leave the room.  On the third night, she wanted to lie down with me.   But now most of the nights, she can fall asleep on her own.

I was still a little apprehensive if she would be able to sleep on her own, so since Ethan and Hannah moved out, we have left both the room doors open, and on almost every night, Hannah has either wandered back into our bed in our room, or she has cried and I’ve carried her into our bed.

I say “almost every night” because last night was the very FIRST night that she slept through in the room with Ethan.  I woke up in the early hours of the morning and discovered that she wasn’t by my side.  When I checked on her, she was fast asleep, albeit she had rotated 180º!! 🙂

That’s a HUGE improvement and we are so proud of both Ethan and Hannah for making this transition.  Shows that they are growing up in leaps and bounds…

…but why does our room feel kinda empty now? 🙁

Happiness Is…Just Having Fun in the School Concert

October 23, 2011 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up | 1 comment

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For weeks and months, Ethan had been telling me all about his concert practices in school.  Initially he would show me some of his dance steps, but as the date of the concert drew nearer, he told me he was not going to reveal anymore, because it is supposed to be a surprise.

His school’s annual concert has always been a grand affair, and this year the concert, which was entitled “The Broadway Kids – In Search of Happiness”, promised to be a truly enjoyable one, because I am a big fan of Broadway.  The school’s annual concert is performed by all the kids from K1 and K2, and is even grander than the wee concert.  Typically the K2 kids would play the main roles and the K1 kids will be supporting as dancers, but nevertheless, I was very excited.

Check out the one of the many lovely backdrops used as the concert props.

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As the date drew nearer, Ethan would grow more and more excited.  I gave him extra vitamins every day to prepare for the concert.  They had concert camps and staybacks, full-dressed rehearsals complete with makeup and photo sessions too, and when the day finally came, we dropped Ethan off at Dewan Budaya in USM at 1:00p.m. and quickly went off for lunch before coming back at 2:00p.m. to get ready for the concert at 3:00p.m.

I’d extended invitations to our close relatives and family members, but only my Mom could make it.  Ethan was thrilled.  And his sister was equally excited to watch her brother perform live onstage! 🙂

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Although we weren’t allowed to take any videos during the concert, I did see some parents ignoring the request.  I didn’t take any videos though, but the full video will be made available to us soon by the official videographer.

The show was very enjoyable and it was so much fun to see Ethan out there having fun (I’d have to say the makeup was a tad garish though, but that’s concert performance makeup for ya).  All the songs were taken from famous Broadway musicals, either in their original English forms, or translated to Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia, all with the kids voicing and singing the words.

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Ethan’s item was a very lively and well-choreographed dance done to the song The Other Generation from The Flower Drum Song.  In addition, he also made an appearance in the Concert Finale, singing the theme song: Happiness.

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Ethan was very happy and relieved when it all ended well, and that night, he slept ever so soundly! 🙂  (I’m not surprised!!)

I’m looking forward to next year’s concert excitedly when my boy will be contributing more 🙂

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Faith in God

October 20, 2011 in Christianity, Ethan, Growing Up | No comments

ethanclimbingondaddy

In his young age, Ethan just *may* have grasp the difficult concept of faith in God.

While he was playing with Daddy a few days ago, I overheard this verbal exchange between them.

Daddy: Haha, I’m gonna tickle you!
Ethan: Noooooooo!!!! (climbs on top of Daddy and tries to wrestle him)
Daddy: Ethan, Daddy’s gonna get you soon!
Ethan: I’m not afraid!  God will help me! 🙂

Spoken confidently with true conviction.  Ain’t he a gem? 😀

Hannah at 31 months

October 14, 2011 in Hannah, Milestones | No comments

hannah_31monthsScrap Credits
365 Project Part 6 Collab Kit from Line & Ninie

Weight

13.5 kilos

Height

88cm

Teeth

Still 15 teeth: 4 incisors on the upper jaw, 3 incisors bottom jaw.  2 canines upper jaw, 2 canines bottom jaw.  4 pramolars.  4 more back pramolars have not made their appearance.

Developmental Milestones

  • Hannah’s scribblings and drawings are sometimes taking shape.  She would come and show me what she has drawn: sometimes it is a flower, sometimes a tree, sometimes an animal.  Oh, she loves animals!
  • Likes to help me around the house.  For example, “Mommy, come, I help you keep the vacuum cleaner!”
  • Hannah imitates what we do really really well.  The other day, she watched me make cake pops and then later that evening, she was “serving” me Lego cake pops, all with different flavors!
  • Still wants to do almost everything by herself: buckling up her seat belt, putting on her clothes.
  • Loves to read and to be read to.
  • Can participate in church by singing the “Alleluia!” together with her brother. 🙂
  • Hannah is still sometimes a little shy around strangers but when we start walking away from them, she’ll immediately ask, “Mommy, who is THAT?”

Toilet Training

Toilet/potty training is still ongoing.  Hannah has shown a really keen interest on going to pee in the toilet and sometimes she would tell me she wants to pee.  Her chart is filling up relatively fast and she has since obtained two rewards (of which I will share in a separate post).

I’m happy to note that poopoo accidents are becoming lesser now, and I was very pleased that she was even able to tell me on one occasion that she had the “poopoo feeling” when she had diarrhea.

Next step: I will be introducing training pants for her soon!  Yay!!

Food and Feeding

Very adventurous when it comes to food, Hannah will ask to “Let me try” whatever we are eating.  She even enjoyed the kiam chye boey I cooked the other day.  She loves dragon fruit now and will eat so fast, we have to hurry up and eat some too, lest we don’t have any left for ourselves.

Little Meaningful Messages

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

together

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:

sorry

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

Happy Birthday Dearest Daddy!

October 6, 2011 in Celebrations, Ethan, Hannah | No comments

daddy-bday-2011

I made the cake, but it was the kids who helped keep it a secret.  We kept it a secret from Daddy for one whole week… 🙂

And Ethan helped it stay a secret right till it was unveiled before Daddy’s eyes!

Happy Birthday Daddy!  Hope you had a great birthday! (the kids sure enjoyed the cake though) — hopefully it will be a sign of great things to come for Liverpool this season!  Heh Heh… 😀

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