Van Gogh or Dilbert?

This is how Lucas drew himself! Very good for his age, I must said... His handwriting is clear and neat too.

His logic reasoning is getting better too. Here are some example:

Me: Lucas, hurry up. Brush your teeth. What are your ears for if you are not listening.
Lucas: I pretend not to have any ears.
Me: Let me pull your ears then you remembered you have ears.
Seconds later - he was asking for his body lotion and I was not listening.
Lucas: Mommy, let me pull your ears. You are not listening to me.

Lucas: Mommy, you, me and Chloe go shopping to buy Mr Day Dream (he is crazy about Mr Men books now).
Me: It is still early. The shop is closed. The shop will only open when you are in school.
Lucas: I don't want to go to school.
Me: You have to go to school. We will buy after your school.
Lucas: No, we go buy now.
Me: I don't know the way to the shopping.
After a few minutes of pestering,
Me: OK, I will go and buy while you are in school. I will give you the book when I pick you up.
Lucas: But, you don't know the way to shopping!.
Me: Urg..I call Daddy and ask him.


Meanwhile, as Chloe grows older, she can express her expression, she is getting more assertive. If Lucas snatched a toy from her, she will answered with 'urgggg', clearly showing her displeasure. When Lucas shouted at her, she will give the same answer. Not a person to be bullied.

My weekend starts today and it's a long weekend. Taking the kids to Singapore. It is going to be Chloe's first trip outside Malaysia.

I just realised I have lost my credit card. Must have dropped out of my wallet when I last used it last Friday, and only realised it now! There is already a RM1500 fraud on the card. Sigh...have to file a fraud report and don't know if I will be seeing that money again. These few weeks have been really lousy - lose unnecessary money like this fraud and buying so darn lousy unit trusts. I need to 'change' fate (chiun wan)

Manicure

What do you do with kids who love colours? One day, I passed by a neighbourhood nail shop and walked in to get the phone number. Lucas saw the nail polish colours displayed on the shelves and were awed by them. He pulled me in and pointed at the nail polishes. The worker was kind enough to let him chose a colour and painted one of his nail. On the way home, he was complaining why only one nail has colour. He wanted another 9 colours for the other nine nails. When he got home, he told his Daddy, 'There were thousands of colours on six shelves'.

On every Tuesday, the shop has 30% off the manicure/pedicure services. Today is Tuesday and I do not have a late afternoon / evening call. And it rained rather heavily. Lucas can't go and play in the garden. He was watching TV again and I wanted him away from the TV box. So, I suggested if he wants all his nails painted this time. Of course, he said YES immediately.

Selecting his nail polish colours

Getting his nails painted

Pleased with his more than rainbow colour nails.

Why he was busy getting his nails painted, I had my pedicure done :)
Let's wait and see what Daddy says when he comes back, and what his teacher will say tomorrow!

TV & Computer

We always tell ourselves not to let our kid be a potato couch or hook into computer games. And somehow, we failed thus far. Lucas is into watching TV. He can spent his whole afternoon, after school and lunch, watching TV. He doesn't mind if the shows are re-run for umpty times. Then, he is into computer interactive games. Playhouse Disney has interactive games for most of its shows and he will somehow managed to navigate the mouse and started playing the games. Pathetic activities for a 3 1/2 years old.
So, I am determined and trying to break his bad habit. I tried to get him to do any other activities other than watching TV and playing games. I got him watercolours to draw - this took 30-45 mins off TV time. When I am not in a conference call late afternoon, I will get him out of the house. We will either go to the neighbour's house jumping on trampoline or in the garden playing with ball, sand, water or cycling.
Now I understand what it means when others said you need to spend time with your kids. The kids need to be encouraged and accompanied to do their activities. If they are left alone or the parents do not have the time, watching TV is the best solution for both the kids and parents. Sad but true.
Everyday, I am thinking what can I do to get Lucas to do to get him off the TV and computer. And when will he be old enough to do this own things without being accompanied 100%. It is not easy.

Sleep, Oh, Sleep

And don't know why, Chloe has been waking up more often in the middle of the night. The last 3 nights, she woke up 3 times at night and she stayed awake for an hour. The first time it happened, I let her cry until she goes to sleep. Then the next morning, Lucas told his teacher 'I'm tired. I didn't sleep well. My sister was crying all night.' Argg....I got the message. The second night, I did not want her to wake Lucas up, so I sleep standing beside her cot, while she sings, happily kicking away. After a while, I couldn't take it anymore. I just bring her to my bed and she felt asleep soon after me ( I guess. I was asleep before her). The third night, I did not want her to expect to sleep on my bed, so, there I was sleep standing again until she dozed off. What a peaceful sleep I had! Hope it will stop tonight - fingers and toes crossed. The first thing I need in the morning is strong coffee.

Meanwhile, Lucas has been just the opposite. He falls asleep before her and sleep thru the night. When I complimented him the next morning, 'You are such a good boy. You came to Mommy's room zero time yesterday'. He gave his proud smile and said 'Thanks Mom'.
Lucas has stopped taking afternoon nap. When I asked him to nap, he will reply 'I am not sleepy at all'. I have stopped pressuring him to take nap. He sleeps much earlier at night 8.30pm and it is better for me and him.

Chloe's Teeth are Out

Oh....after months of false alarm about her tooth coming out, it did finally make its grand entrance. She has 2 teeth on her lower gum. But that doesn't stop her from sucking her fingers all the time.

She is crawling fast, climbing stairs, cruising like a pro and bringing everything her hand can reach down with her.