Photos

Baking cookies.


Lucas's car collection.

Sleeping...Not on the Bed

It is very hard to get Lucas to sleep. Takes easily half an hour to an hour to fall asleep. Sometimes, he was just so tired, he can sleep in any position.

In his car seat

Draped himself over the edge of the bed.

Sleeps on the floor

Crawling

Chloe is crawling. She learns fast. Her development is like overnight. One day she was struggling and crawling backwards. The next day she is crawling all over the room. I thought she would never crawl as she does not like to be on her stomach. She somehow managed to crawl sitting. Not on her stomach. Then, the day after, she can push herself up when she grabs on something. Now, whenever she grabs on anything, she will be standing up. Getting handful - can't leave her for seconds.

Enjoying day out.

Happy girl, and still no tooth.

Whenever she is not sleeping, she will be standing like this waiting to be rescued from her babycot.

How Many Times?

Kids can be like a parrot. Lucas has been quite aggressive lately.....talked like me, at times when I lost my patience!

We were at a supermarket checkout counter and Lucas saw Mentos (candy) and asked to buy.
Lucas: Mommy, I want the yellow Mentos.
Me: No, you have enough Mentos at home.
Lucas: But I want the yellow Mentos.
{this goes on for a few times then he said}
Lucas: Mo-mmy, how many times do I have to scold you! I want yellow Mentos.
Me: NO.
{he made me sounded like I am the naughty one}

Me: Lucas, what did J (his classmate) bring for snacks today?
Lucas: Salad.
Me: So healthy. What did Y (another classmate) bring for snack?
Lucas {busy playing}
Me: What did Y bring for snack?
Lucas: Banana. How many times do I have to explain to you!

Chloe: {pulling Lucas' hair}
Lucas: Chloe, stop pulling my hair.
Chloe: {continued pulling}
Lucas: STOP IT. How many times do I have to tell you to stop pulling my hair!

This incident happened a few months back and thought I should blog it.
Lucas: {spilled milk on the bed}
Dom: Lucas, why did you spill your milk on the bed?
Lucas: Be-cause, you need a little of practice cleaning up!
Dom: {flabbergasted}

Punishment

We gave Lucas a taste of punishment and surprisingly he understands the concept very well. He is always grouchy if we wake him up from his afternoon nap. He has to wakes up at his own terms. We have been tolerating and thought he will get over it. But on Sunday, he was impossible. It was past 6pm and I woke him up. He was in such foul mood and even turn aggressive. First, he said he did not like my shirt (shirt I have been wearing even before he was born) and asked me to change. I was busy feeding Chloe dinner and asked him not to disturb me. Then he goes on and on for 10 mins about my shirt. Even tried to push me to my room to change. My temper is rising. After Chloe finished her dinner, I asked if he wants to go to the playground or go cycling. He said no. Fine. I took Chloe to the garden and he started wailing asking me to go inside the house. Somehow, we managed to calm him down. He said then he wanted to go for a drive. Great, we were planning to drive out to buy dinner. In the car, he said he wanted milk. We told him no. It's dinner time and he can have his milk after dinner. He made such a big fuss. He refused to eat his dinner and still insist that he wants milk. That's it. We had enough of his temper.

We gave him his bath and told him he has to go to sleep hungry. No milk, no reading and we will not accompany him to sleep. After his bath, he has to stay in his room. To our surprise, he did not protest at all! No crying and obediently followed our instruction. Stayed in his own room with the door closed until he falls asleep at 10pm+.

On Monday, he was great. He apologised. He said 'Mommy, I'm sorry. I have been naughty'.

On Tuesday, he did it again. This time, he wanted milk and not dinner. So, we gave him the same punishment. He followed obediently. No protest, no crying.

This morning, he apologised again. He said 'Mommy, I'm sorry. I have been naughty. I will be a good boy on 10 (today's date)'. And he is.

Guess parenting does not get easier with older kids!

Chloe is 8 months old

Today, Chloe is 8 months old. Lucas said she is zero year old. He cannot compute in months yet. Again, Chloe celebrated with a visit to the doctor. She had the same celebration last month. There is this strong bug that has been going around. Lucas caught the bug first. Started with running nose but luckily no fever. Then I got the bug. I got bad sore throat for days. Then the maid got it. She was down with fever. Then Chloe got it. She has running nose, coughing and slight fever. And now....Dominic got it. He was just complaining about fever. What a stubborn bug!

Chloe weighs 7.7 kg and her length is 70cm. She has been making very good progress on her movement. When I put her on her back in her babycot, in seconds, she will sit up, and then push herself standing up by holding the bed railing. Now comes the problem. She does not know how to sit down. She will either fallback and hit her head on the bed railing, or slid down with her leg caught between the railing. Of course, she will cry. Can get tiring for me at times. I put her down to sleep, walk out of her room to wash her bottles. Before I get to the kitchen, she has already started crying. This can repeat for many times. Now, after I put her on her bed, I will hide near her babycot and wait for a while. If I think she is going to fall asleep, I will walk out quietly. If she is going to sit up and stand up and get stuck, at least I do not have to do so much walking.

She is also learning to crawl. She has all these stunts where she is trying to position her legs correctly. Sometimes, her legs crossed and she fall on her face. When she gets it right, she will be crawling backwards. She is definitely getting handful.

Her skin is a bit yellowish. When I asked the paed, the paed said it is too much beta carotene yellow, not jaundice. It will not do any harm. Too much vitamin A and her liver cannot process fast enough. Now, I'm cutting down on her carrots and papaya.

What To Do During School Holidays?

Lucas will be having one month school holidays in 2 weeks and we are cracking our head. What can he do to keep himself busy and let us stay sane?
I catched up with a friend with 3 kids and she gave me loads of ideas! Take the double decker bus on the city Hop-In Hop Out, Go to High-5 bread showhouse, Domino's Pizza showhouse, Selangor Petwer School of Hardknock, speech and drama class, holiday camps etc.
Now....am I so hardworking to do these activities with him? Let's see....