Escapades of Ethan and Emma

my princess is 4!

2011-12-26T20:15:00.000+11:00

emma my little darling... you are 4 years old today!

i look at you and i cant believe how quickly you've grown up. from the tiny little screaming baby who woke every hour when you were about 10 mths old, to a little princess who can sleep through the nite now (it's me waking up at 3am to check on u and gor gor now.. life's not fair, is it?!?)

i think you'll grow up to be a superb lawyer. your ability to ~~argue~~ reason is way beyond your age. you take a while to ponder your answers but i can understand why you do that cos you always leave me dumbfounded when you answer my questions with your cleverly crafted answers! i can only hope you put your reasoning skills to good use when you're older (translate: don't use them with me or papa!)

next year you'll start kinder while gor gor goes off to a different school for prep. i really hope you'll be ok without him cos i know how much u enjoy playing in the back yard during break times. you just need to learn to be more independent and make heaps and heaps of new friends ok? and while i don't particularly enjoy you clinging to my legs when i drop u off at school, i know it's something i'll miss when you 'outgrow' me so i better enjoy it while it lasts eh?

you certainly are growing prettier by the day (papa's getting worried....) and vain too! Choosing your own outfits, accessories to wear, shoes, etc.. you love your sparkly shoes with the bling blings, don't u? I promise i'll get you more when we head back to SG for the hols next month.

i have been quite slack with you when it comes to writing your ABCs and doing your maths.. something which I'm planning to go full steam ahead with in 2012. so u better be prepared!! for now though, i just wanna say:

happy 4th birthday my little princess... i love u berry much :)

thank you for my birthday present, por por!

i love the teddy from my cousins sarah & krystal!

a magical tinkerbell cake for our little fairy :)

my little graduate

2011-12-15T22:58:00.001+11:00

we attended ethan's kinder graduation ceremony last evening.

yeah i can hardly believe it myself. my little boy is going off to school next year!

the graduating class of 2011 put on a lovely performance for us, singing a medley of songs that included Michael Jackson's Heal the World. I felt my eyes welling up for a while there... was rather emotional as it hit me then ethan had grown up too quickly and i had missed enjoying him as a pre-schooler in my mad, daily routine rush :( i have to constantly remind myself they are what matters and everything else is secondary. i must try harder to spend more time nurturing and coaching them now while they are still coming to me for advice, cos i'm pretty sure it'll be too soon that i'll just be labelled an old nag (and hag for that matter!)

congratulations my little one. mommy is so proud of you - you have achieved so much in the last few years and come such a long way, from a helpless little baby to a little being now capable of finding the pause button on the TV remote (and getting angry with me when i accidentally press 'stop' instead of pausing your dvd cartoon as it means you will have to start all over again :P)

happy graduation my darling ethan!

christmas concert

2011-12-10T17:01:00.001+11:00

every year the childcare centre that the kids attend will organise the children for a christmas performance.

both ethan and emma had been giving me sneak previews of their performances at home and i was really looking forward to seeing them on the big day!

ethan did a fantastic job - especially compared to last year when he refused to perform. this year he was all smiles and sang and danced beautifully. that's my boy!

emma... oh... what can i say? she seemed fine at first as they filed out nicely onto the stage, but then as soon as a little boy accidentally brushed his elbow against her eye, she started to sob quietly and so basically didn't perform at all :( she came and sat with me while the rest of her classmates performed. last year she pretty much stood there throughout the entire performance too. ah well.. one final try for you next year emma!

advance birthday celebrations

2011-12-04T15:34:00.001+11:00

the problem with being born during major holiday seasons is that your birthday event just kinda fades into the background as everyone is busy celebrating the major holiday.

so yes.. i believe it is something that emma - our boxing day baby - is going to have to live with the rest of her life.

we celebrated her 4th birthday yesterday as i knew everyone would traditionally be involved in family activities during the christmas/boxing day period. i have a feeling this advance thing is going to be an annual occurrence!

i guess it didn't really matter that it was 3 wks early - the smile on emma's face just made it all seem right :) i was happy to see her enjoying herself with her little friends. and we were rather lucky that the weather held up alright for us as well otherwise it would have been a really muddy affair...

another bonus is that she gets to enjoy all her birthday gifts in advance too! hehe

already?!

2011-11-30T21:56:00.001+11:00

how quickly time flies when you're having fun. the kiddies' grandaunts are leaving town tomorrow and heading back to singapore :( pity the weather hasn't been that great since they arrived last sat. we only managed to get one nice sunday afternoon at the strawberry farm, and then just this sun, we visited the rose garden at werribee.

well the kids certainly enjoyed having them here - all that attention and pampering! will be so much quieter around here tomorrow evening.... i hate goodbyes...

yummy strawberries!

2011-11-21T21:53:00.001+11:00

with relatives in town and clear blue skies, we headed out to sunny ridge at the mornington yesterday for a nice afternoon of strawberry picking. needless to say, the kids had a blast! although emma, being the typical "xiao jie" that she is, started complaining about being tired about an hour into the activity. oh well.. what's new?! so we just kinda ignored her :)

cooling off after a nice hot bbq in our backyard!

2011-11-17T22:40:00.001+11:00

more parties

2011-11-01T11:02:00.001+11:00

we had 2 parties over the weekend. on sat we celebrated our friend's son's 1 year old party.

on sun, it was emma's best friend from school - roxy. i think it's fascinating how at this young age they're already capable of forming their own 'clique'! in this case, it's emma, roxy and janice. even at the party, they were inseparable - you could see the 3 of them just hanging out together all the time. very sweet :)

mucking around at home before the party

L-R: Janice, Emma, Roxy

happy halloween!

2011-10-31T10:43:00.004+11:00

after-party party

2011-10-24T22:10:00.000+11:00

all i can say is... i'm disappointed with the melbourne aquarium! i guess i just hadn't expected it'd be that tiny :( you could certainly have completed the tour in under 30min

on the positive side though, ethan and emma had a really good time at the birthday party on sat. the cupcakes were simply unbelievable! till this day, i'm baffled by how much time and effort people invest in making such pretty cupcakes. i just don't think i'm that sort of person with that sort of patience. you can count on me to eat them though! hehe

so anyway the kids came back from the party with some goodie bags (filled with lollies.. what else??) and a paint set each. they insisted on doing the painting on sunday morning as soon as we woke up.

thank goodness for the alfresco cos i would NOT have been happy if they'd made all that mess inside. it helped that we had a warm sunday too - 27 degrees as compared to the chilly 15 degrees today!! no wonder i'm falling sick again!

i think they had more fun mixing all the different paint colours up than actually painting the pictures itself. looks like they're finally starting to enjoy the fascinating world of science!

nothing much

2011-10-17T20:00:00.000+11:00

we haven't been up to much the last couple of weeks. i guess mainly cos i was down with a bug and wasn't in the best of moods!

we've got 2 birthday parties lined up over the next 2 wks though. this coming sat, ethan's friend has invited him to a party at the melbourne aquarium! i think that's pretty cool considering i haven't been there myself heh.

then next sat, emma's got an invite from her friend to an indoor play centre.

now... i just need to find the time to get the gifts!

looking all grown up!

on the iPad...

ethan's current lego collection

bicycles!

2011-10-03T20:51:00.002+11:00

we got the kids their first bikes 2 wks ago. the 1st sun, i took emma to the park to cycle - she enjoyed every moment of it! ethan wasn't there.. cos he'd rather stay home and watch transformers 3 :|

fortunately it didn't happen the 2nd time around. he happily took his bike out and joined emma last sun - we rode to the park nearby and they both had fun cycling as well as on the playground.

how long more before the training wheels come off?!?

can we build it? yes we can!

2011-09-26T20:19:00.000+10:00

kids had heaps of fun at torquay with their new sandcastle building "equipment" :)

"look!! i built this on my own!"

2011-09-20T21:03:00.002+10:00

ok ok... so ethan might be exaggerating a little. daddy did help with like 10% of it ;)

you're 5, ethan!!

2011-09-14T18:57:00.000+10:00

my dearest ethan

5 yrs ago, i held you in my arms for the very 1st time - just almost the size of a loaf of bread. i can't believe you're tall enough to go on roller coaster rides now!

then, u were just all fragile and delicate, and i was too afraid to even give u a bath on my own for fear of breaking your neck!! today, you're taking your own showers (ok with like 20% assistance from daddy or me) and always running ahead of me whether we're in the malls or just going down the street to the park.

all u did then was gurgle and drool - now u can hold intelligent conversations with us and u just never cease to surprise us with your observations and analysis of the world around you. sometimes u r logical and thoughtful... at other times you're just cheeky and reminding us that you're still a 5 yr old :)

and your drawings... i LOVE all of your drawings, cos u put so much detail into them. i enjoy listening to u tell me all about what you've drawn. you're also really good at putting lego pieces together, and i can safely say that you are far more superior in lego skills than i ever will be! (it's a boy thing, according to daddy)

one thing that hasn't changed though, is your kind hearted, warm and friendly nature. you've always been a bubbly little boy with a really big heart - your mind incapable of harbouring any mean thoughts. u give in readily to your little sister, sometimes with a little grumble, but most times your protectiveness over her brings a certain warmth to my heart. i know u will always look out for her, even at times when daddy or i are unable to. when i sometimes knock my hand accidentally against the table, you'll come over and ask me affectionately if i'm in pain, and plant a little kiss on where i'd injured myself, telling me "it's ok" :)

your ready smile and infectious laughter will always be a source of inspiration for me, and a reminder that the most important thing in life..... is happiness.

5 yrs ago i couldn't wait for you to grow up quickly so i could get my 8hrs of uninterrupted sleep through the nite. now, all i wanna do is freeze time because i just love the way u are!! you're going to prep next year and i'm pretty sure i'm going to cry on the 1st day of school and make a complete fool of myself in front of your little friends!

happy 5th birthday, my darling ethan. may you always be happy, healthy and all your wishes come true.

love always,

mommy

1st macca's party

2011-09-12T20:19:00.003+10:00

we celebrated ethan's 5th birthday on sat. invited about 10 kids fr his childcare centre.

being extremely busy (and not to mention lazy!), i decided to just have it at mcdonald's. i figured they'd be happy so long as they had their friends to play with and a place to run around and scream in. and of course, you cant go wrong with macca's for 5 yr olds right?!

i'm not sure if these photos captured just how much fun ethan (and emma for that matter!) had.. but i can assure u he had a blast! they were still talking about the party when they met at the childcare centre today :)

everything just tastes better...

2011-09-04T15:54:00.003+10:00

when you have to fight for it!!

happy father's day!

2011-09-04T09:56:00.005+10:00

it's father's day today in AU. the kids made some special gifts for their papa in school earlier this wk. i'm pretty sure i saw a tear welling up in daddy's eye when they presented it to him :)

happy belated birthday.. to me!

2011-08-31T20:05:00.002+10:00

this post is only about 1 mth late heh

celebrated my birthday last month with this deeelicious cake! as usual the kids couldnt wait to sink their teeth into it. rasperry carrot cheesecake :D yuuummm

i could devour another 1 of these all by myself! guess i'll just have to wait another year :(

how to grow your own bean sprouts

2011-08-29T21:42:00.003+10:00

here's an interesting story to share :)

couple of weekends back i was bored and so were the kids. i thought we'd entertain ourselves by putting some green beans into a container and grow them into bean sprouts. so we went about doing the little science experiment. took us only about 15 min to get everything all set up and then all we had to do was sit back and wait for it to grow.

before i knew it, ethan had drawn up a marvellous user guide - this little boy is just full of surprises!

How to grow your own bean sprouts:
1. find a container to grow your green beans in

2. go out to the garden and get some soil from your planter box to put into your container

3. add water

4. wait for your green bean to grow

5. and one day when you have made enough money fr selling all the beansprouts that you've grown, you can buy your very own farm house and start your own bean sprout farmland!

Writing her name

2011-08-28T20:27:00.003+10:00

Wow I didn't realize it's been almost a whole month of me not blogging! Where's all the time gone?? I guess I'm surprised at how I've never been busier at work. Ironic especially when u consider the fact that I'm supposed to be serving my 4 weeks notice.

So anyway updates on the home front... Emma's started writing her own name :) I've noticed it's much more difficult trying to get her to do her abc's as compared to Ethan last year. She really is a tough cookie! Although I cant say I'm surprised... We always knew the moment she was born.. Choosing to come out on boxing day... When yeye and nainai were on the plane back here to help us. She just has to make everything challenging! She's such a cry Baby now too. I think she knows she can get away with SO much the moment she cries. Obviously we are having to put a stop to that.

.

I've been busy planning ethan's 5th birthday party too. Decided to invite his friends this year and have a proper party since I think he,s old enough to invite who he wants. I toyed with the idea of indoor play centers but then shelved it cos I couldn't find one near enough that was interesting or that he liked. He didn't really like the ones he went to before, when he ws invited to his friends' parties. So in the end, I did the most boring thing... I booked a McDonald party... Yes I know... Can't say it's the most embarrassing thing I've done in my life, but at least 1 I'm not proud of either! Anyway I'm sure the kids will have fun wherever it is. All they wanna do is run around and scream anyway so it doesn't really matter where right?

So my nokia phone doesn't allow me to upload photos to flickr anymore which is also another reason why the blogging has slowed down. So time consuming to download photos fr the camera onto the Mac and then upload again!!!

emma's 1st invite!

2011-07-24T09:44:00.002+10:00

emma got invited to her 1st birthday party a couple of weeks back :) she was so excited and kept talking about it for DAYS before the event. and now she's asking for a fairy party for her own birthday... hmmm

flavour of the month

2011-07-24T09:33:00.003+10:00

this is what ethan's been obsessed with over the last few weeks. i was quite impressed with his drawing! can u tell what it is?

mazes on a saturday

2011-07-17T13:19:00.004+10:00

it was a rare saturday that we had yesterday - in the sense of a sunny winter saturday!

we took a drive to the ashcombe maze & lavender gardens in the mornington (didnt really know where else we could go cos it was already 12pm by the time we left).

i LOVED the lavender labyrinth obviously cos it smelled heavenly! the hedge maze was pretty fun too, but i could tell emma was scared cos she refused to let go of my hand all the while we were in there. it can actually be quite scary cos it's not easy to get out! ethan followed closely behind us too ;)

if only we could have more days like these in winter...

disney on ice

2011-07-14T21:13:00.007+10:00

we took the kids to their 1st disney on ice performance on sat evening. i'd bought the tickets waaaay before we even decided to go to gold coast, hence the timing is pretty close together. if i'd known about the gold coast trip, i probably wouldnt have got these tickets! at that time, i thought it would be fun for them cos they'd never been to a disney on ice performance. but then if u consider the fact that they'd just seen tweety bird, bugs bunny, and all the superfriends just a week before, it somehow "dilutes" the awesomeness of mickey and friends, dont you think??

anyway thankfully ethan was mesmerised throughout the entire performance, esp with the opening act being the lightning mcqueen one. emma didnt warm up at first (what's new *yawn*) and hid her face in daddy's shoulder all the way through the mcqueen piece, and only started to enjoy when the little mermaid ariel skated onto the ice. i think she enjoyed the tinkerbell one the most. well, i know i did!

it was hard resisting the temptation of buying all those disney merchandise at the rod laver. thankfully emma wasnt too insistent and we managed to walk out fr that whole event not a cent poorer! (you would have had to pry $15 out of my cold lifeless fingers before i'd buy that frozen slurpee that came in a fancy little mermaid cup).

would i go for another disney on ice performance? at the moment my answer would be no, because i think they would all be kinda the same... i'd rather save that $$ and take them to the disneyland in hongkong. yes, i heard it's really small and lame compared to the one in the US, but for kids who've never been to one, i think it'll be a magical experience nonetheless :)

tweety bird, elmo, dolphins...

2011-07-02T16:07:00.007+10:00

we spent 5 days in the gold coast and got back earlier this week. the itinerary was simple. with a 3.5 and 5 yr old, what more did we expect to see apart from theme parks after theme parks right?

so before we set off, we already purchased the VIP pass which entitles the holder to unlimited entries to each of the 3 parks: sea world, movie world and wet & wild. we gave the wet & wild a miss cos we werent too keen on getting blown by the cold wind, even though the skies were blue and sunny. we visited movie world on the 1st day and because we couldnt finish it in 1 day, we went back again thinking we could easily cover off what we missed (huge mistake cos this week marked the start of the QLD hols!). we also spent 2 days at seaworld because honestly, after all that ridiculous queuing and waiting for everything - from rides to meals to toilets - how could anyone (with kids) possibly finish 1 park in a day??

QLD has BEAUTIFUL winter weather. it was a comfortable 21 deg every day that we were there and we only needed light hoodies in the evening.

ethan, we discovered, is a thrill seeker. he went on the kiddy roller coaster so many times that daddy at the end of it actually felt a headache coming on. ethan dashes fr ride to ride without hesitation. that's my boy! i've always loved roller coasters myself hehehe

emma was the apprehensive one. she didnt enjoy the 4D movies, choosing to hide her face in my shoulder the whole time. she even ran away from the looney toons characters and we couldnt get her to take photos with them! i'm glad she did enjoy the merry go round and 1 or 2 other rides though. not all in vain.

it was great that we had friends join us fr singapore as well. i think the kids had an extra good time cos there was someone there on the same "wavelength" as them :)

and then too soon it was all over and we had to head back to chilly melbourne... sigh. but we've got lovely photos to remember the trip by...

on the merry go round (had to do a little bit of convincing with emma, as i'm sure you can tell fr the look on her face):

the view fr the balcony of the hotel room:

emma's favourite "birdcage" ride (she smiled and laughed the most here):

ethan loved his 1st experience with the bumper cars!

with tessa and jayden (who is now ethan's new best friend). (*emma was behind the camera with us, crying cos we tried to force her to take a photo with tweety bird and daffy - duh!)

puffing billy

2011-06-15T19:05:00.003+10:00

my brother and his family are in town, so we thought it'd be nice for everyone to drive up to belgrave and ride the puffing billy.

the wind was surprisingly freezing cold that day though so we were really glad to have found a 'covered up' carriage on the return trip.

dropped off at lakeside and had a nice picnic at the park next door. too bad it was a tad too cold for everyone so we ate quickly and then hopped back onto the train.

all in all, i think the kids had a really gd time. but i doubt i'll be back there in a hurry.

and next wk - we're off to the gold coast!!

because we cant afford domestic help...

2011-06-05T20:27:00.002+10:00

maternal instincts

2011-06-01T21:35:00.004+10:00

isnt it funny how girls are just BORN with maternal instincts?!

emma's been carrying this baby everywhere with her since we got back fr singapore (it was a gift fr my mom). she talks to it, consoles it, feeds it, pretends to take it to daycare and then says bye bye to it cos"mommy" needs to go to work. basically whatever we're doing in real life!!

and the strange thing is we never steered her towards all this 'mothering' thing. so i guess it really is just mother nature at work :)

playdoh

2011-06-01T21:27:00.004+10:00

we also started making our own playdoh (the ones you buy off the shelves just dry up too quickly and it's too expensive to keep buying new tubs!)

so we've been spending quite a bit of time lately making all sorts of things out of this homemade playdoh. i like that they're slowly getting more and more creative with this colourful-but-gets-everywhere-especially-on-our-carpet stuff.

cake specially created by chef ethan :)

ethan and the ipad

2011-06-01T21:20:00.003+10:00

we started limiting the amount of time ethan could spend on the ipad.

so far so good (touch wood!).

he gets about 30 min each weekday nite, and on wkends it'll be around 2 hrs. he knows that in order to get his hands on the ipad, he needs to do his math first, so when he automatically takes his math book out, we know what he's after ;)

with each passing day he's also getting better and better at drawing... tell me the drawing below is not impressive in the amount of details for a 5 yr old??

my poor baby girl

2011-06-01T20:17:00.003+10:00

there we were at our friends' place on sat nite, all gathered around the dinner table while the kids were in the other room playing.

suddenly i heard crying.. it was emma's. i told daddy to go see what was wrong. thought nothing of it as it sounded like a "normal" cry from emma when she doesnt get her way.

daddy cried/shouted "oh no!!!! why like that?!" all panicky, and i rushed over to see what happened. emma's finger was flattened, bruised and crooked! she had her little finger in the door when another kid slammed it.. and when i say flattened i mean ReALLY flattened like pancake. it was contorted in such an unnatural angle too! we feared the worst and our hearts literally sank. the pain that shot through our hearts that moment, can never be described unless u r a parent yourself. fortunately one of our friends is a nurse and after she inspected emma's finger, told us it didnt feel like a broken bone inside so we just needed to ice pack it and give her nurofen for pain relief. my poor poor baby girl!!!

it's been 4 days now. the swelling has definitely subsided, but we took her for an xray yesterday just to be sure there isnt any fracture. she still hasnt gained full control of her finger yet, but at least she is slowly starting to move it and is grasping things. the result will be back tomorrow so we'll find out for sure. hopefully it's all good news...

fall in!!!

2011-05-25T19:39:00.003+10:00

our household routine after 5.30pm on weekdays goes something like this...

us shouting: take off your shoes! wash your hands!

*kids grumbling*

us shouting: hurry up eat your dinner!!

*kids take 1 hr to finish their meals (if we're lucky)*

kids whinging: can we play the ipad? please.. please... PLEASE... 5 min only.. please... please... PLEASE?!?!

*us giving up after 10 min of incessant whinging and they get their grimy hands on the ipad*

us shouting: go upstairs and take your bath!

*kids take 10 min to get off the sofa and trudge upstairs to the bathroom and we have to bathe them.. yes.. STILL*

us shouting: brush your teeth! go to bed!

*kids take another 40 min to do this*

time check: 9.30pm.

and that is how we spend our family time together in the evenings :)

first love

2011-05-10T20:08:00.003+10:00

since ethan was 1 or 2 yrs old, he's had this intense obsession with race cars. and it's intensified over the years!

recently in school the teachers asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. there were the usual "doctors", "teachers", "firemen", "fairies" (ok maybe not so 'usual' this one).

ethan's answer? "Race car driver" -_-

anyway he's gotten so good at drawing them race cars. i especially love the way he puts in the tiny details...

his favourite car at the moment is the pagani zonda. yes... he aims really high!!

happy easter!

2011-04-21T14:41:00.002+10:00

5 days off work! woo hoo!!! i hope you all have a great easter too!

ps: the kids had an easter hat parade/hunt at the centre yesterday :)

back at the old centre

2011-04-11T22:07:00.003+10:00

yep. we switched the kids back to the old childcare centre. today was their 1st day back. their usual carers were all on leave today though, so probably not the best day for us to start!

thankfully the kids seemed rather happy during the morning drop off. i think there's still a sense of belonging for them there - afterall we were there for 3 years! let's hope everything goes smoothly for the rest of the year... what happened with the new centre, i hear you asking? well... i guess the level of care just wasnt up to our expectations.

anyway this pic i posted has absolutely nothing to do with this post. i just thought it was a rather nice one with the 2 of them in it, taken a couple of weeks back when we were in beechworth. yes. for a 2nd time. their beesting cakes are really to die for!

fear...leads to anger... anger leads to hate...hate...leads to...

2011-04-10T19:59:00.003+10:00

the dark side....

back for a month now

2011-03-20T21:46:00.002+11:00

yep. 4 wks since we've been back. we've fallen back into routine now. the kids took about a wk to adjust back to their normal sleep/wake times. they're doing really well at the new daycare centre too! and i'm really glad cos that was a rather big worry on my mind... but it's all good :)

so in the last 4 wks, we only managed to get out 1 wkend to beechworth bakery. the other few wkends were just spent doing housework, and a massive, crazy lawn mowing/gardening exercise - think 15 black garbage bags worth of mulch :S

the kids LOVED the bakery - especially the cute colourful meringues/cookies. i thought their pies were pretty yummy too :)

our 3 week holiday

2011-03-01T21:56:00.010+11:00

huh what? it's over?

i cant believe our 3 wk holiday in singapore is over! we've been back in melbourne for a week now. the holiday that we'd been counting down for 4 mths is well and truly over. it was all a blur, if u ask me.

in between catching up with family and pigging out on our faves (crabs, fishball noodles, japanese cuisine, prata, etc) we managed to take the kids to the universal studios and zoo, just to name a few of the more interesting places.

we all had a wonderful time and just wanna say thanks to everyone who's made our trip so special!

here are some special moments we managed to capture on film :)

Having their 1st earthquake at swensens! (they OD'd on ice cream that day for sure)

Going crazy with the arcade games at Timezone

Universal Studios was a hit!

Meals at hawker centres are the best!!

ethan was absolutely thrilled with his kiddy set meal at a japanese restaurant (emma unfortunately missed it cos she fell asleep)

Waiting eagerly to take the MRT train

sg

2011-02-17T13:58:00.001+11:00

the kids are having a blast in singapore! will blog when we're back from our holidays.... too soon, it will be over :(

not quite ice cream

2011-01-31T23:08:00.002+11:00

ethan licking the cream cheese frosting off the cake beaters :) he's starting to look a lil' pudgy to me actually. but at this age, it's all too cute!

changes

2011-01-29T16:38:00.002+11:00

i'm changing the kids to a new daycare centre. it was a difficult decision for me - i was torn between wanting a better kinder program for ethan (they've got computer literacy program at the new place, plus their kinder teacher is from sg too!) and not wanting to leave the old centre because emma had already settled in so well (remember she went by for a period of time not uttering a single word throughout the day??)

anyway i guess at some point in our lives we all have to learn about moving on and accepting changes as they come. making new friends and learning new experiences. so i bit the bullet and they are now enrolled at the new centre - they'll start there after we get back from our sg trip.

here they are at the 1-hr orientation on thursday. as you can see, someone wasn't entirely happy with the change...

pipi catching @ venus bay

2011-01-27T22:12:00.011+11:00

we took a drive down to venus bay yesterday - that is one of the most beautiful beaches i have seen in my entire life! (ok maybe my standards are pretty low cos most of the beach memories i have are of east coast park :P)

so anyway, we braved the 3-hr drive there cos a friend of ours had told me we could actually catch pipis there and i thought that'd be an interesting experience for the kids.

we armed them with a bucket each and slapped on the sunscreen, all ready to fill our buckets with pipis! i had already been thinking the whole afternoon about how i wanted to cook them - sambal? white wine with garlic? grilled? yum yum...

i dont know what i was thinking, but i had this impression the pipis would all just be lying there on the sand waiting to be picked. turns out i was the biggest idiot around. cant blame me. i've spent 99% of my life indoors in shopping centres, restaurants, cinemas... and all the shellfish i've ever encountered have always been served to me on some sort of platter :|

i didnt realise we actually had to DIG into the sand to find them. and that is actually rather tiring!

ethan was afraid of the waves, so ran half a mile up the beach to where the waves couldnt touch him (yes ok we'll take him more often to the beach, i promise) and while emma was initially having loads of fun, helping us dig into the sand to find the pipis, along came a sudden huge wave which threw her off balance and she plopped, clothes and all, into the cold sea water! rude shock. didnt like it. whinged all the way thereafter. i had to take her top off cos that was making her even colder when the wind blew.

and after all that hard work, how many pipis did we collect? it was a grand total of.... FOUR! (well originally we had 8 but then when the wave knocked emma over she lost the bucket too and all 4 of our pipis with it)

i will definitely go back to venus bay though - not for the pipis obviously, but just to enjoy the lovely lovely beach :) and this time, if we wanna attempt catching pipis again, i'll make sure we're also equipped with shovels and spades ;)

picnic at phillip island

2011-01-24T19:29:00.003+11:00

took the kids for a picnic on sat. the weather was just beeeeeautiful! we need more summer days like these :)

camping

2011-01-17T21:21:00.007+11:00

yeah you read that right.. we went camping!

so this post is a little late, cos we went camping last sat - spent 1 nite at the big 4 ballarat windmill caravan park. it was probably the best camping grounds for 1st timers like us - we had all the luxury of modern day amenities (think microwaves, hot water showers, proper sanitation...) so i guess the only thing about it being different from home was that we slept in a tent! heh

the kids really really enjoyed themselves (except for the irritating mozzies) and i did too. it's great that they were able to run around and play with the other kids. the friends we went with were all seasoned campers, so they had all the camping gear under the sun that you could possibly need, ie portable cooking stove, eski, utensils, tents (we borrowed one of theirs cos we werent sure yet if camping was our cup of tea), electric hot water pot (really useful for hot coffee, tea and milo!)... etc. you get the picture.

certainly the fact that we went with them made it so much more enjoyable cos at least someone knew what they were doing! (the last time i went camping i was 12 years old, and i got homesick and my teachers had to ring my parents and make them come get me on the 2nd day hehe)

we've now booked our 2nd camping trip in march. time to start looking for our own tent!

first movie!

2011-01-04T22:40:00.003+11:00

i took the kids to ACMI this afternoon to catch their very 1st movie - snow white and the seven dwarfs!

i was quite sure ethan would love it (judging from how long he can stay glued to the tv at home!) and i was right. wasnt so sure about emma.

thankfully she managed to sit through the entire movie without too much dramas. at 1 stage she started complaining and wanted to go home. i'm glad it didnt turn into a full-fledged tantrum! she eventually fell asleep just about 1/2 hr before the cartoon ended.

guess who's been drawing on herself again?

2011-01-04T22:13:00.002+11:00

a typical day

2011-01-04T18:00:00.001+11:00

and here's wishing you & your family a very happy and safe 2011!

2011-01-01T23:46:00.003+11:00

note: we were at a friend's place ushering in the new year last night and we saw some fireworks, which prompted ethan to draw this today :)

kinglake

2011-01-01T23:18:00.004+11:00

we took the kids up to kinglake on tue since it was a public holiday here. i thought it'd be a nice change from being indoors all the time. i mean, australia is an 'outdoor' country rite? hiking, cycling, nature walks, etc.. we should be getting outdoors more!

anyway we came across a raspberry farm along the way and i thought it'd be a nice experience for the kids. i guess i was 50% right in making that assumption.

ethan absolutely loved it! emma? erm... let's just say i think she's still a singaporean at heart. she started whinging about 5 min after we started, grumbling about how hot it was and refusing to walk any further, insisting that we carry her. she's getting too heavy for us to carry now (last check she was approx 15 kg) so we had to draaaaag her all the way back to the starting point :P

today i asked her if she wanted to go to the mornington peninsular to pick strawberries. she blurted out a "yes!" right away. i'm not that convinced yet. still thinking about it...

happy 3rd birthday emma!

2010-12-28T22:11:00.005+11:00

My dearest Emma

I hope you enjoyed the little 'party' we organised for you on Sunday. Your papa and I were slaving in the kitchen for what felt like eternity, preparing the food for all your guests - nasi lemak, curry puff, satay, prawn crackers, pappadums, bubur hitam... and i forgot to take a photo of all that after we were done!

So anyway I think you had fun running around with the other kids and I hope you liked your birthday gifts.

At 3 yrs old, you certainly test our patience at times! You somehow have learned to cry at the littlest thing, even if kor kor accidentally brushes against you, you'll come to me complaining and crying about how he's hit you. Your incessant whinging about anything and everything is also something that I hope to see less of as you grow older...

You seem to like 'girlier' things now and I'm heaving a sigh of relief, cos for a while you were so into trains and cars like your brother! So i'm rather happy to be indulging you in princesses and fairies and dora toys now :)

You speak fluently in Mandarin, but I still have a little trouble understanding you when you speak English. Obviously, it's just a matter of time before you speak English as fluently as kor kor so nothing that i'm worried about here.

You still drive me nuts at nite when you refuse to go to bed quietly. It takes at least an hour before you will stay in your bed and really go to sleep!!! I am patiently waiting for the day that you will be able to sleep right after i give you a cuddle and goodnite kiss. Of course, i shouldnt be complaining at all because i still remember the days that you woke up every hour when u were a baby!!

There's so much to share that I can't possibly jot it all down in one post. All I wanna say is that I love you so much baby girl, even though you sometimes drive me up the wall with your ridiculous tantrums :P

Happy 3rd Birthday, Emma!

Love always,

mommy

merry christmas!

2010-12-25T21:01:00.002+11:00

wishing everyone a very merry christmas and may the season bring you lots and lots of love and happiness!

how many times?!?

2010-12-21T21:29:00.003+11:00

each nite after i read bedtime stories to them, i'll tuck them into bed, give them some cuddles. say our I-love-you's, and then lights out.

do they go to sleep immediately?

hell no. that's even more impossible than striking the 10-million lottery!

so emma will get down from her bed and wander over to my room - at least 10 times- before she finally settles and goes to sleep. each time there'll be a different excuse - scared of something, reminding me to buy her present, or forgetting to take something to bed, etc....

ethan recently has been more cooperative. he doesnt normally get out of bed once i cuddle and tuck him in. that might be because he's dropped all his afternoon naps since a couple of months back. when he was still taking naps, it was almost impossible to get him to bed before 10pm!

he still does occasionally not stay in bed though - like tonite. i had to trudge back and forth 5 times. in a way i'm glad santa exists to them cos then i keep telling them if you're not sleeping then you're not being good and that means no presents from santa! maybe santa will exist all year round for us now that i've found this secret weapon hehe

it was worse when emma was having a 2-hr nap in school a few months back too. after we dropped it to an hr, she's at least getting to bed around 9pm now.

of course. those are just the mon - fri routines. on weekends, they both DONT nap anymore. boo hoo hoo.. i miss my naps too!!!

my very own fairy!

2010-12-21T10:33:00.003+11:00

i just love the girls in the penguins room so much. they do such an excellent job taking care of the kids and at the end of the year, they'll even put in extra time to make little xmas gifts for the kids to take home.

this year, they made us a 2011 calendar. they dressed emma up in a fairy costume! i was told emma was so eager to put the costume on and was just hopping up and down constantly while waiting for her turn. as soon as she put it on, and was asked to smile, she gave her widest grin!

i LOVE this photo :)

just monkeying around the christmas tree

2010-12-14T22:18:00.004+11:00

new discovery...

2010-12-14T22:01:00.004+11:00

we took our first trip with the kids to the great ocean road last weekend. stayed over a night at apollo bay. the kids were pretty fascinated by the little motor inn i'd booked us into as they'd never actually slept anywhere else but in their beds heh

anyway the 12 apostles was simply breathtaking.

but that wasnt the only thing that took our breath away.

we found out, through this journey of long winding roads, that emma's prone to motion sickness!

yep. the poor lil gal puked as soon as we arrived at the reception. she'd starting complaining of a tummyache about 1/2 hr before we arrived at the motor inn. we thought she just needed to do her 'business' and that was that. then while we were at the reception filling out some forms, she just threw up all over! thankfully the owners were understanding and didnt look too upset about cleaning up the mess ( and stench!) that emma left behind on their carpets...

so anyway, we were prepared on the trip back. emma didnt disappoint - she threw up in the car but i didnt manage to catch all of it in the plastic bag that i had on standby, so we had to do major cleaning of the car's interior and her car seat when we got back :(

i'm just glad we found out about emma's motion sickness now cos this means we'll be prepared on our flight back to sg next year!

hoping she outgrows this over time - is that even possible?!

like brother, like sister

2010-12-14T21:52:00.002+11:00

in true brother-sister fashion, ethan too refused to perform at his concert last week. he just stood there sulking (as you can tell from this photo!).

stage fright? or just didnt feel like doing what the others were doing?

no idea. but his teacher said he does it all so well during rehearsals.

maybe the fact that we were there to watch him made him just a little anxious?

i dont know. i just hope next year he will participate more enthusiastically!

so did she?

2010-12-07T22:55:00.004+11:00

no... she did not :(

dance at her christmas concert that is.

i kinda had a feeling she wouldnt cos she usually shrinks into oblivion when there's a big group. she's little miss chatterbox at home for sure, but once she realises she has an audience, she just clams up! she used to go the whole day at the childcare centre not uttering a SINGLE word, and had us really worried there for a bit. thank goodness she's come out of her shell now and chats quite happily with her carers and little friends. she just takes a long time to warm up to new people and places!

so we didnt get to hear her sing or dance last week.

maybe next year sweetie? we're definitely looking forward!

ps: tomorrow is ethan's concert. i sure hope we get to hear him sing and dance! stay tuned for updates ;)

when did this happen?

2010-11-26T21:05:00.002+11:00

ethan finished his drawing and showed it to me. it took my be surprise because i didn't realise he was capable of drawing little people! then it occurred to me that he'd been growing up right in front of my eyes and i'd been too blind/busy to see it. i really do need to stop and smell the roses more often, and quit worrying about how the laundry is piling up or how the spiders are getting really comfortable in our home :P

fairy penguins and seals

2010-11-22T22:20:00.003+11:00

we took a day trip to phillip island on sat - the weather was just PERFECT and we all had a great time.

well maybe not all. cos by the time we were at the penguin parade waiting for the little penguins to come up onto the shore, ethan was whinging and wanting to home - cant blame him cos it was already 8.3opm - past his usual bedtime!

i think he enjoyed the cruise to see the seals at seal rock more - we did that in the afternoon. he and emma both took turns steering the boat as well!

mothership

2010-11-17T13:20:00.001+11:00

this is his best yet!

vainpot

2010-11-13T20:57:00.002+11:00

emma INSISTED i take her photo when she saw me holding my camera. and she INSISTS on choosing her own outfits these days too. everything i pick is just wrong :P

my girl is turning into a little vainpot - and i like it! hahaha

he can write!

2010-11-13T20:55:00.001+11:00

only his name for now.. but it's a good start :)

YTF (yong tau foo!)

2010-11-09T21:21:00.004+11:00

bought some YTF home on sat for lunch. i thought the little star-shaped happy face fishcakes were pretty cute and the kids would love them. i was right :)

emma ate it up right away - ethan saved the best for last. different personalities showing!

creativity

2010-11-02T21:51:00.002+11:00

ethan's definitely getting more creative with his lego blocks these days. i was pleasantly surprised when he came up to me today to show off a couple of his creations, mostly either aeroplanes or guns.

sunday trip

2010-11-02T21:41:00.004+11:00

we took a day trip to daylesford with some friends on sun.

i think it'd be safe to say the train ride was the highlight of the day for the kids.

ethan putting on one of his angry faces. dont ask me why.

@ trentham waterfalls

here's a song.. or two :)

2010-11-02T21:37:00.002+11:00

why...

2010-10-24T21:14:00.002+11:00

does she like doodling on her own face/body/hands so much?!?

my brave little one

2010-10-24T21:08:00.003+11:00

we took ethan for his 4 yr old immunisation jabs today.

he was such a brave little boy. only a slight whimper when both needles went into each arm - at the same time! they had a dr and a nurse administering the shots concurrently to save time.

i am so proud of him :) we got him a couple of hot wheels to reward his bravery.

no more shots to worry about till he's in year 7! woo hoo!

shoot out!

2010-10-17T21:43:00.003+11:00

had this in the garage for a couple of wks now but just kept forgetting to assemble it - sorry ah yee may!

here's a video to make up for my forgetfulness :)

first official cut

2010-10-10T21:39:00.003+11:00

brought the kids for their 1st official haircut yesterday - $10 each at a friend of a friend's :)

they were extremely well-behaved... i told them if they moved they'd get their ears snipped off but i'm sure that wasnt really the reason they sat so still! hehe

lanterns

2010-10-04T21:23:00.003+11:00

big thanks to por por for sending these all the way from singapore!

they are really really LOUD these lanterns... oh my poor ears (and sanity!)

happy 4th birthday Ethan!

2010-09-24T21:40:00.008+10:00

yes. i know this post is a little late, but hey, i managed to make it before he turned 5! *patting myself on the back*

so anyway we had a small little gathering for ethan's 4th birthday. i think he enjoyed it - well the presents at least! the nemo ice cream cake didnt taste all that great to me, but it definitely was a crowd pleaser with the kids cos it was oh-so-colourful!

and obviously, running around with the other kids and screaming their little heads off was a highlight of the party as well.

as for me, i was glad to just be able to sit down and have my lunch in peace and have decent conversations with the other adults - cos the kids are finally at that age where they're able to entertain themselves :)

so happy birthday my little cupcake!

since then...

2010-09-24T21:30:00.005+10:00

ok. it's been a while since i blogged. i have a good excuse!

it was ethan's birthday, and then we had friends visiting from singapore.

the kids had a blast with their new friends. the close age gap made it all the more fun cos they could understand and appreciate each others' silly jokes :)

their little friends returned to sg yesterday. and i've now got 2 unhappy campers in my house. it will certainly take a while for them to settle back into their boring old routine....

what have we here?

2010-09-08T13:56:00.002+10:00

this is how most of my friends would have remembered me through my uni days during exams...

i never thought emma would start this young though.

dont be mistaken, we're not drilling her with ABC's or 123's. she was just doing some colouring and then we noticed it'd gone pretty quiet in the rumpus.

this photo was taken at 5pm on Sat.

because she refused to take a nap at 2pm that day -_-

that old car...

2010-08-29T22:08:00.002+10:00

just dug this out again for them to play with. glad to see we're still getting some mileage out of it ;)

look what he drew?

2010-08-20T08:22:00.002+10:00

it started out as a face, and then mutated into a monster (at least that's what it looks like to me!)

i'm trying to get him started on writing his alphabets (i know compared to most sg kids he's waaaaaay behind cos they're already writing their own names right?!). takes a lot of time and patience..

@ the park

2010-08-01T21:16:00.001+10:00

we had some nice weather on sat morning so i took the kids out to the park just behind our place.

so different

2010-07-29T13:31:00.000+10:00

sovereign hill

2010-07-26T21:14:00.003+10:00

now that the kids are a lil older, we can afford to be a lil more adventurous (read: be on the road for more than 30 min). drove up to sovereign hill on sun - only an hour and a half away :) their fave moment had to be the horse-drawn carriage ride.. which lasted only 5 min!

mucking around with the photobooth again

2010-07-21T19:17:00.002+10:00

crazy hair day

2010-07-19T22:28:00.002+10:00

an annual event at the childcare centre they attend :)

she's quit her nappies

2010-07-17T23:24:00.003+10:00

yep - emma has officially moved on from nappies in the day :) she only needs them when she sleeps at night.

and it all happened rather quickly too. one day she was telling us she didnt wanna wear her nappy, and we kept telling her she had to tell us if she wanted to go. and we only had one accident with her at home. none at school - her teachers were so impressed!

she mastered it all in under 1 wk.

so what they said about girls being quicker than boys at toilet training is true!

well done emma :D now i just need to figure out what to do with all the excess unopened packs of pampers we have....

singing and dancing

2010-07-13T22:43:00.002+10:00

an old video i found in my mobile - taken just over a month ago. i think it's one of my faves!

and just like that, we bid farewell to mr tutu

2010-07-13T22:26:00.004+10:00

i cant believe how easy it was getting ethan to give up his dummy. UNBELIEVABLE.

and i didnt even plan this, cos i was just dreading the whole exercise as i imagined how it was going to be a nightmare, seeing how attached he was to his darling 'tutu'.

anyway it all happened on sun nite... yes, just 2 nites ago. he made me so mad cos it was bedtime and he was still hopping around refusing to go to sleep. so i said "FINE! since you're not going to sleep, then why bother eating your tutu??". so i snatched it away and vowed not to give it back to him cos i was just steaming from the ears. i was prepared to stay up all nite long anyway, so his crying and screaming for about the next hour was pretty cool by me.

yes, that's all it lasted. ONE HOUR. by then, he got tired, pissed at me as well, and then went to bed. i told him i'd give him a reward for giving up his dummy, and daddy told him he'd get a lollipop. he pushed me away when i tried to give him his goodnite kiss, but oh well... he'll thank me for this years later when he has a nice set of teeth :)

and that's that! he woke up around 3am that nite, came over to my room and i had to bring him back to his bed. but he never searched nor asked for his tutu.

he is such a darling :) so yesterday, i bought him a couple of chugginton die cast trains (fyi his fave is the Action Chugger) and he was pleased as can be. last nite, he went to bed again without the dummy - and again, tonite.

i cant believe how smoothly this all went. and i am so proud of my little boy, cos he even told his grandpa today, "You know why i have an action chugger? cos i quit my tutu!"

WE ARE FINALLY A DUMMY FREE HOUSEHOLD!!!

haircuts again

2010-06-29T21:08:00.006+10:00

we figured we'd better ask yeye and nainai for a last favour before they fly back to sg this weekend. yep! give the kids a hair cut for us please!!

I dont know how the kids will be at the airport this sat.. they're definitely old enough to know what's going on. i just hope it wont be too weepy a scene :(

stone ages

2010-06-15T08:19:00.003+10:00

we've moved... and it seems back to the stone ages! no internet at all where we are. i'm not going to bother explaing why here. you'll just have to ask me the next time we meet.

anyway that means blogging is going to take a backseat as i barely have time to do it at work.

at best, it'd be once a month?

we're still busy unpacking but managed to take the kids out over the weekend for some retail therapy. i'd take photos of our new place, but have no idea when they'd ever get uploaded!

i found this rather cute - we ordered on the other side of this counter and i told ethan to go to the front to pick up his strawberry drink. he literally went right up front to the counter, even though there was a whole bunch of other people waiting :)

dial up?? nooooooo!!!!!!

2010-05-31T06:32:00.003+10:00

so we're planning to move this coming week, which means we're going to be offline for a little while.

that's not so bad, you say? well, it is if you consider the fact that we might not have broadband services where we are moving to!!! (yes.. we are still in australia. and no, we are not in the stone ages. sigh.. long story. another post maybe if i have the mood to explain further.)

anyway we're going to find out later this week if we really need to consider moving back in time and using dial up *horrors*... i really hope not. cos i dont think i'd be blogging that much with that sort of connection (which means you wont get to see as many cute photos of emma like this!)

stay tuned to find out more....

we got it!

2010-05-31T06:29:00.003+10:00

yes! ethan's been offered a place at the kinder! only problem now is the days are just a tad 'challenging'.

4 days a week... 3 hours a day. what am i going to do with him for the day he isnt there? worse ... how am i going to pick up/drop him off on school days when the hours are right smack during my office hours??

will be ringing the school to see if we can work this out...

sick pups

2010-05-16T14:52:00.003+10:00

both of them are down with cough, fevers and snotty noses (cant really tell from these photos of course). poor babies. havent been getting much sleep at all - and that goes for everyone in the household!

get well soon my bunnies...

gifts

2010-05-11T23:26:00.003+10:00

yes... mother's day has come and gone. i guess when you have kids as young as 2 and 3 yrs old, mother's day doesnt really mean you get the day off to relax or you get extra love and attention from your children (although we shouldnt really be showing our love for our moms only on this 1 particular day of the year!!)

however, while ethan and emma are still too young to give me a break (harsh, but true!), the event was at least still 'commemorated' with the assistance of their carers at school. i received a card from emma, and a 'flower pot' from ethan - both lovingly handmade, i'd like to think!

thank you my 2 little pumpkins. that has made the day just that lil' bit more special for me *hugs*

and to my mom - i'd like to say thank you for all the wonderful things you've done for me, and i know i dont say this often enough, but "i love you"... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

songs galore

2010-05-01T11:04:00.002+10:00

videos taken over the last few mths which i just discovered i had in my mobile :P

like my new haircut?

2010-05-01T09:39:00.002+10:00

mommy says times are hard and we have to cut costs in whatever way we can. i'm glad my social life isnt something i'm too concerned about right now...

kinder

2010-04-21T19:56:00.003+10:00

i cant believe ethan's starting kinder next year - i still remember him as a baby like it was yesterday...

today we took him for an "interview" at the kinder we wanna send him to. apparently the no. of applicants far exceeds the no. of places available, so they have to meet everyone and then at the end of next month we'll know if we've been offered the position. hmm.. sounds like a job search huh!

anyway the interview wasn't a test of how clever the kids are (although it wouldnt have been a problem for ethan even if it were cos he's so bright! i know, i'm shameless - but which mother isnt when it comes to her own kids?!?) . it was more to ensure that you didnt have issues with a Christian way of education since it's a Christian school. I obviously dont since i attended a methodist school myself . i think it basically teaches you how to be a good person anyway. ultimately, whether you decide to be a Christian? well that's a personal choice that the kids will have to make when they're older obviously.

so wish us luck! i hope the lady likes us cos we sure like the school :)

defending herself

2010-04-11T23:16:00.002+10:00

emma has learned how to defend herself now. if ethan snatches her toy away, she actually tries and fights back by hitting him! previously she just used to scream really loudly (fat lot of good that did! haha).

back then ethan was the only one doing all the hitting. but now that emma's learned too, things have become really exciting in our household cos you never really know who you should be reprimanding when both are claiming they've been hit!

sensitive new age guy

2010-04-11T23:05:00.003+10:00

is my son overly sensitive or is this normal behaviour for 4 year olds?

scenario: ethan's relentless request for lollies as breakfast is rejected by me

me (in a slightly sterner tone of voice): no, for the last time, u cant have lollies for breakfast because it'll give u a tummyache. i'll give u some after you have your breakfast ok?

ethan (looking dejected): i'm hurt

me: why? i've just told you very nicely that u can have them after breakfast

ethan: i'm hurt

and then he walks away, sits in a corner by himself, eyes turning red and tears welling up.

i walk over to him and try to explain again to him why he cant have the lollies.

ethan: i dont want the lollies anymore. i dont want breakfast. i dont wanna go shopping. i dont want sweet drinks. i dont want toys...

me (losing it): ok! even better!

so, all i'm wondering is, is this a passing phase or have i got an overly sensitive new age guy in the making??

sim city

2010-03-28T00:29:00.004+11:00

it looks like ethan's got a whole city going in this picture!

it all started out with only a couple of cars. he then asked us for a hanky on which he could lay out the cars. next came the train tracks (ripped out from the thomas train set we got him), followed by a couple of lego blocks and before we knew it, we had this!

fyi, he has to have them cars all arranged nicely before he goes to bed every night... i'm glad i'm a patient person.

bumbo revisited

2010-03-28T00:26:00.003+11:00

i spent some time today just trying to get rid of all stuff in the garage. took this bumbo out to take a pic of cos i'm planning to sell them all off online. emma insisted on squeezing into it.

for sale: emma+bumbo = $5.

any takers?

PJs

2010-03-24T13:17:00.005+11:00

this is emma's favourite set of PJs at the moment (zan: looks familiar? hehe)

she insists on wearing it every night, and because that obviously cant happen since we have to wash it, we have mini pre-bedtime battles as she tries to decide on an alternative. i tried putting on a thomas one for her last nite (hand me down from ethan) which got her really upset. eventually she decided on a lightning mcqueen one and then we could all go to sleep.

ethan, as usual, doesnt give us any problems. here he is in his red thomas PJs (if you have any comments about the state of our living room.. please, be kind...).

buddies

2010-03-15T23:54:00.004+11:00

i'm glad i managed to sneak this shot without either of them waking up :)

ethan and emma are becoming quite the best buddies these days. when one wakes up in the morning, he/she will ask where the other one is (they're still in separate rooms at the moment). when they're home, they'll play together quite nicely for most of the times (there's the occasional fight of course). they'll play doctor-patient (with ethan always being the dr and ordering emma to sit on the chair to be 'inspected'). or he'll be playing with his cars and then asking her to come look at what he's done. he hates his cars messed with, and emma knows that, so she makes it a point to stay far away from the cars that he's configured nicely on the carpet (will snap a pic of this another day). if she does accidentally kick them, she goes "uh oh - gor gor angry" (note: they both converse mainly in mandarin). it's cute watching them play together!

and they do look out for each other too. when it comes to vitamin time, one will always ask for an extra for the other and then happily trot off to distribute it to the other sibling who might at that time be preoccupied with something else (ie watching tv, playing with cars/balloon...). they fight over tv programs though - ethan's fave at the moment is little einstein, while emma's is the wiggles. and when we've got the latter on, ethan always exclaims "aye mei mei! why always wiggles? cannot watch so much wiggles ok?". and when emma doesnt get her way? easy. she just goes into a screaming fit!

anyway, right now, i am completely enjoying their close age gap and just hoping these good times will last a while :)

ps: emma can now confidently recite 1 to 10 in mandarin, and ethan 1 - 20! he's still struggling a little with 11 - 20 in english though, but who's complaining?! ;)