Holiday, School and Holiday Again Soon

So, what has come and go?? So much…
The kids had their mid term break, back to school and very soon summer break.
During the mid term break, Dominic took them to Cameron Highlands. The last time they were there was when Chloe was 6 months old. That's four and a half year ago. I had to stay back as I have no leave. They sure had a great time without me. The postcard they sent me from Cameron Highlands just arrived yesterday..2 months after they sent it.

In the playground on one of the tea house

With the grandparents visiting tea plantation

Plucking strawberries…something they wanted to do for a long time

Lucas said his favorites activities are plucking strawberries and drinking milkshake in front of a fire place.

Back home, missing the iPad.

Back to school, we had parents teachers meeting, the last meet for this academic year. Lucas maintains his status on being the top group in his class but he has to work hard to move to the next level. His teacher lists out the extra effort he has to put in such as all the varieties he has to have in his writing skills (use adverbs, use adjectives, use dialogues, more details etc). He has to keep his daily work even during summer break to keep his momentum going.

For his drum, he is doing very well. He managed to keep his enthusiasm and in fact play very well. He was doing some 'promotional' work for his school by performing in public on behalf of his music school. I just hope his drum enthusiasm lasts a long time. 

He dropped his drum stick half way in the performance but he was very cooled about it. He picked it up and continue playing without missing a beat.

Chloe is doing very well in school too. She has everything exceeding her peer groups except for Listening and Speaking. She still made sentence like 'I eat strawberry yesterday'. It looks like she needs to read more. I tried to get her to read Enid Blyton books. Lucas has almost the complete collection of Enid Blyton books. It is too much for her. Well, slowly…

Chloe has piano lesson and boy, wasn't she lazy. She never practiced her piano except for 1 minute before she goes for her lesson. Each time I asked her to practice, she replied 'Tomorrow'.

She loves the face painting she had in one of the friend's birthday party. She refused to have her face cleaned that night. Slept with the Hello Kitty painting and asked twice at night if the painting has come off. Then she asked me to print this picture so that she can enjoy looking at herself!

2nd Last Week of Holiday

This week is the second last week of the kids' holidays. How did they spend their time? Let's see. Lucas spent a few days at his cousin's place, we finally got him his drum set, they had cousins visiting and had a jolly good time playing together and they consumed loads of paper and sticking tape.

Chloe is drawing, coloring, cutting paper into heart shape, making cards, wrapping presents for future birthday cards. She used up a bundle of A4 paper, lots of smaller size paper, and sticking tape. I can never keep sticking tape for more than a week no matter how many rolls I buy. She is just happy doing that all day long.

Lucas is into making paper aeroplanes. I have loads of paper aeroplane, boats or anything he feels like folding. He plays his drum and keeps a diary. His dairy sounds like his life is so boring. He writes, 'Lucas wakes up and changed, He had his breakfast, watched a bit of TV and play his drum. Then he read a bit of Harry Porter. After that, he had lunch and watched more TV. He folded some paper aeroplanes and watched more TV. Then we went out to play, had shower, east his dinner and went to sleep'.

I have all the things ready for school except for Chloe's shoes. Need to make a trip to buy her shoes. It is hard to find white tiny school shoes. I had them write their names on their books and they seemed to enjoy it. They happily packed their school bags. Oh boy, their school fees are getting higher as they move up their school!

Lucas has a performance for his drum in mid September. I had been sending him to his drum lessons and I sit outside his room to listen to him play. I must said he played quite well. But the problem is his teacher made him play that same song over and over again, until it is perfect as he said it. He has been playing the same song for 2 months! I seriously not sure if this is the right way to learn and enjoy music.

Chloe is still underage. I asked what instrument does she wants to learn and she has been consistently said piano. I was suggesting maybe violin and she said piano. That's fine, we have a piano at home. There is no need to buy the instrument. The hardest part is to get a good and children in-tuned teacher. When I casually asked if she wants to do ballet, she showed me her tap dancing instead!

My work has wind down a bit. I don't have to work until 10-11pm everyday. I get to enjoy tucking the kids to bed and watch a bit of TV after that.

Holiday Plans

Next week is Lucas's last week of school. Holidays again....
We have decided not to force him to go swimming. So we are scraping the 2 hrs a day 5 days a week swimming plan. Instead, he started taking Mandarin class. A teacher comes to the house twice a week, one hour each time. The teacher will read him story and they will have their discussion on that topic. On his first lesson, he learnt about bouncing big and small ball. After the class, the told his father that learnt about big and small but he has forgotten about how they are said in Mandarin! I'm trying to get my kids to be bi-lingual and trying so hard to switch the mother tongue from English to Mandarin. Each time I speak to them in Mandarin, they will both jokingly asked 'how put how?' (how are you or literal translation is fine or not?) and burst into laughter.

Other than Mandarin class, there is not much plan. Not travelling this holiday as Dominic has no more leave and we are getting a bit lazy. Staying in a hotel in city center on 31 Dec to party - eat and watch fireworks. Trying to arrange some play-dates for the kids and do some cookies baking for Christmas. I'm sure time will fly.

Half-Way

Lucas is half-way through his school holidays. He has lots of programmes that make me more exhausted than him. I sent him to proper swimming lesson where a qualified instructor teaches him on one-to-one basis. On the first lesson, he started making a fuss about not wanting to go even before the lesson starts. We persisted and he survived the first lesson. The teacher said he was a bit nervous about going underwater. On the second lesson, again he started making fuss before the lesson. Some miracle happened in the pool - the instructor managed to 'break' him and now he is looking forward to his next lesson. In fact, he wanted to go swimming today but I'm just too tired to take 2 kids to the pool again.

He asked for piano lesson and of course I found a class for him. Now, he had drum and piano class on Saturday. He liked the piano lesson better because there is theory and the teacher gives out stickers!! Dominic is not impressed with his piano teacher and kept wondering if the teacher knows how to play piano, but Dominic was very impressed with the drum teacher. He is considering of learning drum himself.

Lucas is such an expert in playing his iPad games than even adults cannot beat his high score. His Ninja Jump score is the highest and Dominic is trying very hard every night to beat Lucas's high score. Even my sister is trying to beat his high score. Can one earn a living by playing computer games?

I sent Chloe for her baby ballet but it was not very successful. She is still abit young and the teacher is not very baby friendly too. Will have to wait for another few months and try again. In fact, I need to introduce her to classroom environment first. Will be sending her to playschool twice a week starting September.

Meanwhile, I have some time to catch-up with my reading. Have been buying more novels for myself. Next week, we are going to Gold Coast for a week with the kids.

What Do We Do?

Trying to get the kids busy during their waking hours in school holiday is a real challenge. They are either too hooked up to the TV or iPad and that is not good at all. Since, I am not working, I have no excuse not to get them off the TV or iPad. So, what do we do??

- We go swimming more often, like twice a week.
- We have playdates where we meet with Lucas's other friends in indoor playground and let them play for hours.
- We try to cook/bake more together like making jello. Will start on making cupcakes soon (once I'm confident it is going to be turned out well).
- We go to the outdoor playground more, whenever the weather permits.
- I took them to grocery shopping with me.
- They go to the grandparents' place more often.
- I sit down and get them to do some activity (like homework).
- I send Lucas for whatever trial class I can find. So far, he has attended drum class and Wing Chun Kung Fu class. He is asking for piano class and I will sure find him a trial class to attend. Chloe has also been asking for music class but nobody wants to take her at such tender age. I am trying to find a ballet school for toddler for her.

Honestly, I am more exhausted now than when I was working.


Learning to hold the drum stick correctly in his first lesson. The teacher initially was reluctant to teach him as he was saying Lucas is too young. After the first trial, the teacher was impressed enough to take him on for the full trial program i.e. 4 lessons. I was impressed too. He remembered all the drums names and can follow instructions from the teacher. Now, I am trying to brain-wash him by saying playing drums is cool. His grandmother kept asking if I really want him to learn drums - all the noise during practice. Let's see how long his interest goes.

I wasn't there when he had his Wing Chun Kung Fu but according to Dominic, the first thing Lucas said after the class was, 'This is so tiring!'. What a worm! But according to Dominic the class is not suitable for him. The kids are from 5 to 17 and he is too young there. It is very frustrating for his sparing partner whom is older. So, no more Kung Fu. Next, I will try him for football.

I'm not neglecting Chloe either. Had been calling so many music centres if they teach any instrument to a 2 year old and the answer is always NO. I will just have to accept it. Now, I'm looking for baby/toddler ballet. She loves dancing, unlike her brother. She can just hyme some tunes and starts dancing. Also, looking for a playschool for her. Found one but the fees are rather pricy. Let's see if I can find a cheaper alternative. Planning to start her with playschool when Lucas is back to school in September. Then, I get some peace and quiet in the morning. :))

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!

Home Studio

Since last year, one of our mini home projects is to hang the paintings. Well, we did for the paintings we wanted to put up. We still have space on the staircase wall for the kids' photos. So, today, Dominic's good friend, a famous photographer (also our wedding photographer) came over and took some photos of the kids. We turned the living room into a studio. Check out his work .








Will have to wait for the final prints

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....

Chloe's First Swim

We took Chloe for a swim last Tuesday. To play safe, we usually waited until the kids got the jabs until 6 months before we take them to the pool. For Lucas, we did not have a float for him, and we did not have a swimming diaper too! Did not know that swimming diaper exists then. As a result, Lucas had such a bad diarrhoea from drinking the pool water. This time, we are more experienced. We had a float and swimming diaper for Chloe. So far, Chloe is doing well ... keeping fingers crossed.

Well...Chloe did not seem to enjoy the water. Maybe it was her first time and she was overwhelmed and confused. She was busy looking around and looking uncomfortable. She just sat on her float and I pushed her around the wading pool. Before we leave, we took her out of the float and Dominic carried her and and swim on the adult pool. She was not amused either. Hope the subsequent trip will be better.

Now with 2 kids, we both had to go to the pool. Dominic cannot handle 2 kids in the pool by himself. I used to sit around and wait for Lucas to finish swimming and then take him for a bath. I do not need to get wet at all. Now.....I don't have such luxury. Quite an effort to go swimming. Had to get both kids ready with the sun block, swimming diapers for Chloe and then swim wear. Then have to pack spare change of clothes for all before we drive 5 mins to the pool. No more taking an elevator and go 3 stories down the apartment. On the bright side, we are now treating going swimming as family activity. Hopefully, something the kids look forward to.

Where am I? Big bath tub?

Lucas swimming at 8th month, June 2007. Same float, isn't it?

Lucas is happy...Chloe is not so amused.

Baking Cookies

It all started when one fine day Lucas came to me and said 'Mommy, I'm making pancake (using his play dough) but I don't have a cooking hat (chef hat). You buy for me a cooking hat, ok.'
During one of our shopping trip in Sydney, we saw a pack of kids disposable apron and chef hat. It is a pack with 4 sets with all his favourite colours. We took the apron and hat but need to do something to use the apron and hat right. Then we saw Christmas cookies cutter with the shape of Christmas tree, reindeer, star, angels. So, it was decided that we are going to bake Christmas cookies with Lucas.

Mixing the dough.

Showing off the finished dough.

Cutting the dough with the cookie cutter.

Decorating the cookies with sprinkle.

Savouring his fruit of labour.

Dominic did most of the preparation and baking. I did the most important task, that is clean up the kitchen after all the excitement.
One Monday, Lucas brought the cookies to school to share with his friends. His friends asked for more. He and Dominic are all excited now and they are planning to make cupcakes next!

Things that Lucas Does

Some of Lucas' pastime:

Watching his favourite cartoons, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.


Lucas: Mommy, I almost fall down today.
Me: What did you do?
Lucas: The house was turning (actually he was the one turning until he gets giddy)


Lucas: Mommy, I hide under the curtain today.
Me: Why do you hide behind the curtain?
Lucas: I spit my saliva because I need to draw.
Me: Yicks..which bedroom did you spit on?
Lucas: YOUR bedroom.


Dominic: Lucas, do you want to go cycling?
Lucas: YES
Dominic: Do you want to ride on my bicycle or you want to ride on your own?
LUCAS: I want to ride on YOUR bicycle.


While all these are happening with Lucas, Chloe is blissfully sleeping in her dreamland.

First Week with 2 Kids

I survived the first week with 2 kids very well. That is because I have plenty of help. Dominic is on leave and is taking care of Lucas most of the time, the confinement lady is taking care of Chloe and the family's meals, the maid is doing the housework and cleaning. That leaves me time for breastfeeding and rest. The real challenge will be when Dominic has to return to work and the confinement lady is no longer around. I can imagine myself trying to breastfeed Chloe and putting Lucas to sleep at the same time - won't be easy until I established a routine and both kids cooperate.

Chloe escaped the photo-therapy for jaundice. We had to take her to the hospital twice to check her jaundice level. Her jaundice is not serious enough to be admitted and she should have passed the peak point which is the third day to the eighth day. Apparently, if the either the mother or baby has blood type 0 positive, the chances of jaundice is very high. Blood type O positive is not compatible with any blood type except itself. Otherwise, she is doing very well. Sleeping all the time and have to wake her up for feeding.

Breastfeeding is more successful this time round. Chloe can latch and suck well. The only problem is she barely can keep herself awake during the feeding. So, she suck for 10 mins and fall asleep. 10 mins later, when she is awake, she will cry for milk. This will go on for 2 hours!! After the second hour, I have enough myself. I will just expressed the milk and feed her from the bottle. She will gulp the milk down and happily go to sleep for the next few hours. I am telling myself that feeding from bottle will have to stop after she recovers from her jaundice. She has to work for her food. My back also hurts after 2 hours for each meal. I will need to check this breastfeeding pillow which is highly recommended by a few friends.

Meanwhile, Lucas is starting to feel the attention split. He started to become whinny since Saturday. If I said no or raised my voice a little bit, he will start to frown and wanted to cry. I guess the baby sister's presence finally sinked in. Dominic and myself are trying very hard to make sure he is not left behind. He is so bored at home and always asked, 'What are we going to do now?'. We get him busy by asking him to help the maid to wash the car and water the plant. On top of that, he has his cycling later in the afternoon. We have to come out with more ideas on how to keep him occupied.

Dominic is on leave until this month-end. It is nice to have him around after he has been weekend husband/father for almost a year. I think he enjoys spending more time at home too.

Swimming Again

After the last incident with swimming, we tried to 'repair' the situation. For starter, we inflated his plastic pool in the garden and filled the pool with water. Lucas was still not interested in the water. He was more keen in spraying the water from the hose.
This is more fun than swimmming

Suburb Activities

Now that we live in a suburb, we have different activities for Lucas. Weekends late afternoon are spent on walking around the park in the neighbourhood.

Cycling...wait, I am camera shy.

Running...Mummy why are you so slow?

I am all sweaty and thirsty- need my water.