World Record

Lucas is obsessed with breaking world record and being on newspaper. Each time he think he did something well, he will come to me and asked what is the world record for 6 year old.

He skipped 30 times on a skipping rope and asked me what is the world record for a 6 year old on skipping? When I said I don't know, he said go google it!

He hit the shuttlecock for 15 times and again asked what is the world record.

He balanced himself on a bag (sitting on a ball with hands and legs on air) for 15 seconds and asked what is the world record.

Many times, he asked how can he get himself to appear in newspaper! If I am very good, will I be in the newspaper? And he asked his father if he has been in the newspaper.

Maybe some day, he will break a world record.

Similar Kids

Chinese New Year comes and goes so quickly.
This Monday is already the 15th day.
The kids had a week off for Chinese New Year. Chloe of course cried on her first day after returning to school. She was ok on the second day. Third day is a holiday. Let's see if she is ok tomorrow.
Lucas did not shown much enthusiasm about returning to school. In fact, he is more excited about his Mandarin classes at home. He can recognize quite a few words now, but his pronunciation is off - he speaks like how a western would speak.

Chloe's teacher wrote a comment on parent's communication book - 'She is shy and takes quite some time to warm up. She can be very chatty when she is in her right mood.' When I read this, I had this deja vu feeling. I had read the same comment from Lucas's teacher! Yes, my kids are so similar and yet so different. Wonder it is the nature (the genes) or the nurture (how they are being raised). If it is nature, there's nothing much we can do. If it is nurture, I wonder what can I do differently. It is not good to be so shy when they grow older. Hard to survive this competitive world. Or just hope this is a phase thingy and it will go away...

Back to Normal

Today is Lucas first day of school, after 2 weeks break. He was very excited about going back to school. I told him yesterday that he needs to go to sleep early as he has to wake up early to go to school. He is ok with it and did not protest. In fact, he replied, 'You have to wake up early too. You have to wear for me my shoes and my socks'. What a boss! I used to brush his teeth for him till this morning. A few months back, we had a deal that he will brush his own teeth starting Term 3. And he honoured the deal we made. I must say he is very mature in this thinking for his age. If he agrees with the timeline he set, he honoured his word without any fuss. Just like he agreed to go to poo in the toilet when he turned 4 and he did.

So, this morning, when I asked him to eat his breakfast (usually a slice of cheese as he has his milk when he wakes up), he said 'Cheese is power food. I have a lot of power now. So, I don't need cheese'. He went early to have more play time in this school. Oh...I must say I am sooo glad that he likes school.

Meanwhile, Chloe was saying most part of this morning, 'I want to play with ko-ko (elder brother)'. She missed the play and fight she had with her brother in the morning. And Chloe is making good progress with the maid too. At least she allowed the maid to play with her for awhile, feed her and put her to nap.

What a Long Time!

Wow....I haven't blog for 2 months! Where did all the time go, I wonder!

Chloe is talking very well.....she is making 3-4 words sentences. Another chatterbox in the making. Her pronouncation and grammar are pretty good too.

Me: (dropped a stool on the floor and the crash was making lots of noise)
Chloe: What are you do-ing??

Chloe: I m eating rainbow ice-cream.

Chloe: (pointing at her shirt) Ni-ce shirt.

Me: Did you finish your milk?
Chloe: I didn-'t.

Chloe: (pushing me towards a direction) Go get it!

Chloe: (asking Daddy to go to her room to read bedtime story) Dad-dy, COME. COME.

Me: Chloe, where did you put the ball?
Chloe: I DON'T know.

Chloe: (gave me a pencil) Draw flo-wer.

Me: What do you want to eat for lunch?
Chloe: Noo-dles.

Meanwhile, Lucas got his first mid term report from school. While I was explaining to him what his teacher is saying about him 'Lucas is well mannered, helpful boy who is always polite ......', he interrupted 'Yes, that is what I am!!'. Aiyor, so 'perasan'. BTW, he is not as such when he is at home with me. Only when he is outside and when I am not around!
He used to be addicted to Playhouse Disney Channel 613. Now he has outgrown that channel. He is watching Cartoon Network and is crazy over Tom & Jerry, Ben 10, Power Puff Girls.

Cheeky Lucas

Lucas's vocabulary has improved so much to the extend of being cheeky / rude now. Some snippets on our conversation:

Lucas: One two, buckle my shoe, three four, shut the door..............
nine ten, big fat Mommy....(laugh)
Me: Is Mommy fat?
Lucas: Yes (laugh again)


One day, after I gave him his bath:-
Me: Hurry up, come and wear your pyjamas.
Lucas: Is Mommy smelly?
Me: No, Mommy had her shower.
Lucas: Is Daddy smelly?
Me: No, Daddy had his shower too.

2 days ago, Lucas walked to me:-
Lucas: Mommy, you are a slow turtle.
Me: Lucas is as slow turtle, not Mommy.

During bedtime at my parent's place, my sister was talking to a cousin while Lucas was trying to sleep:-
Lucas: I don't want to hear anymore noise.
My sister: wow.....(surprised with his choice of words)

Back to Reality

The confinement lady has left and Dominic is back to work (weeks ago). I now have 2 kids to care for. I must say it is really a challenge. I am lucky to get to clean my teeth by noon and have my shower by 11pm. The kids always have their demand...
Yesterday, Chloe was making a fuss after her feed. When I tried to carry her, she continues fussing. I had enough of her 'unreasonable' demand and decided to let her cry her heart out. So, I put her on her baby cot and watched the time. It was 10.10pm. I just lied down and watch her to make sure she doesn't vomit and choke herself. She cried for 10 mins and take a breather for 5 mins. Then she continued crying and take another breather. She keeps doing that until 10.47pm and finally goes to sleep! I suppose that is not too bad considering this is her first time. On another note, she has grown quite a fair bit. Think she doubles her birth weight. Will get the official measurement when she goes for 2 months check-up and vaccination.

Meanwhile, Lucas missed his 'comfort' zone. We spent a few days at my parent's house and he is glad to be home. He missed his cars and bicycle and the cartoon channel, Playhouse Disney. Schools starts Sept 1 and I have to figure out how to send him to school with Chloe in tow. Lucas has been 'bum-ming' on our bed since Chloe's birth. It is going to be another training to get him to sleep on his own room. The last time, it took me 3 months to train him to go to sleep on his own room. Another 3 months this time round?

As for myself, I have 4 kgs to shield.......

Bottomless Pit Chloe and Bored Lucas

Chloe has her fair share of growth spurt. On her third week, one night, she had 9 ozs of milk in 4 hours. She cried for milk every 2 hours. Initially we ruled out the food factor as she has just eaten but her mouth was like a bird 'searching' for food. We couldn't believe it when she finished all the milk we gave her. I nicknamed her bottomless pit and sometimes I nicknamed her eating machine. My milk supply is not able to catch up with her and I have to use the spare milk from the freezer. Yesterday, she drank 9 ozs of milk in 2 hours! This girl will only go to sleep when her stomach is very full.


Meanwhile, Lucas always asked 'What should I do now?'. I always replied 'What do you want to do?'. He is spending 2 afternoons a week with his grandparents. I need to arrange a playgroup for him. This morning, he found a feather-duster and that keep him occupied for an hour.

Our Life-time Boss

I wonder how many parents are dumb-founded with what their 2 1/2 years old can said. And I believe Lucas is just one of the kid.

Incident 1:
I was on the phone talking to my father-in-law. Lucas must have asked whom am I talking to and I must have not heard him. When I hanged up the phone, he was a bit annoyed and said 'Mummy, make up your mind! Are you talking to Daddy or are you talking to Ah-Kong (grandfather)?' in an annoyed tone. I was like - speechless.

Incident 2:
He was cycling on the road instead of the pedestrian path and we told him many times to go to the pedestrian path. He then mumbled, 'I don't know why I have to go there (the pedestrian path)'

Incident 3:
Dominic was about to assemble a stand fan we just bought. Lucas was milling around.
Dom: Are you going to help Daddy to assemble the fan?
Lucas: Ya...(he likes to say ya and not yes)
Dom: (walking away to take a blade to open the carton)
Lucas: Hey, Daddy, where are you going? You have not put up the fan!
Dom: (looking at me) He is my life-long boss!
Me: Yup..whether your like it or not.

Incident 4:
We are driving home...
Lucas: Daddy, why drive so slow. Drive faster.
Dom: (step on the accelerator a bit) Is this fast enough?
Lucas: No
Dom : (step on the accelerator even more and we were probably driving at 130km/h on a 110km/h road) Is this fast enough?
Lucas: Ya

Little Screamer

Lucas is back to his high pitch screaming again. His screams is a sign of his dissatisfaction. It is another way of saying 'NO'.

Lucas: (playing with his food during mealtime)
Me: Lucas, don't play with your food!
Lucas in good mood: Mum mum (eat)
Lucas in bad mood: Arrggg...

Lucas: (throwing everything that displease him)
Me: Stop throwing!
Lucas in good mood: (spank his own hand)
Lucas in bad mood: Arrggg...

Lucas: Out (wants to go out)
Me: Wait, Mommy have to finish work first
Lucas in good mood: Wait
Lucas is bad mood: Arrggg...

Lucas: Arrggg...
Dominic: Lucas, you are like a girl.
Lucas: Arrggg...

I hope this is just a phase. At times when is he not in his screaming mood, he understands and replies.

Lucas: (drinking his bath water during bath)
Me: Don't drink the water.
Lucas: (look at me and shake his head) No. (He is telling me he is not drinking the water. He is learning to blow bubbles like when he was swimming).

Lucas: Arrggg...
Me: Lucas, stop screaming. The neighbours are going to complain. You are too noisy.
Lucas: No. (stop screaming for awhile)

17 months!

Lucas is 17 months today. I have not been tracking his birth-month for awhile. He can be so adorable and behave like a little rascal at the same time. Here are how he spices up our life..and his own:
1. He thinks it is funny to give his high pitch scream when he is not happy with something.
2. He thinks farting is funny.
3. He knows how to make demands - asking for his music in the car, asking for food, deciding what fruits he like and dislike, asking to go out, screaming not to have his hair cut, asking us to get out of his way. It is amazing with his 20-30 words vocab, he can communicate with us and definitely understand what we tell him.
4. His favourite game is hide and seek.
5. His favourite toy is the broom.
6. He weighs 10.7 kg, and has 8 tooth (4 up and 4 down).
7. He is our alarm clock.
8. Taking care of him is our weight loss program.
9. We have to learn to sing children songs and recognise cartoons character.
10. He is selective of the people whom he allows to carry him. Usually big size guys get priority.
11. He taught us how to eat our dinner in less than 5 mins.
12. And most importantly, he shows us a different kind of joy.

Jealousy

I have a new born niece now. When I carried my niece, Lucas is actually jealous or feeling insure. The first time, he pulled my hand and wanted me to carry him as well. When I said no, he frowned and wanted to cry. He looked so pitiful!
What amazes me is how or where did he know jealousy or feeling insure. How does he know that another baby is a threat to him but not another adult. Amazing how he can piece the puzzles together.

Baby Words

It is interesting to observe how babies learn to talk. We speak a few baby words to Lucas since he was born. 'Nien Nien' is milk, 'pom pom' is bath, 'oii oii' is sleep, 'gai gai' is going out. And till today, he never say any of the four baby word. He said 'milk' (quite good pronouncation) when he wants his milk, and point at the door and said 'door' (emphasize on the 'r') when he wants to go out. Last week, he surprised us with his own baby word. He said spoon as 'bing bing'. Now, when he wakes up, he will say 'bing bing' and he goes to sleep holding 'bing bing' in his hand.

Potty training has been unsuccessful again. He still refused to sit on it even for seconds. I even tried to fill the potty with water and let him play with it during his bath, and he still refused.

Lucas doesn't like his hair to be cut. We tried bringing him to three different hair salons and he wails everytime without fail. Two out of the three salons did not even bother charging us. We even tried cutting his hair on our own. No one said he is cute after our 'work' - you can guess how bad the outcome was.

Kindermusik

Lucas has completed his three months classes at Gymboree. We started looking for another playgroup for him. I wasn't that pleased with Gymboree play gym classes. It is like an indoor playground. So, we found this music class at Kindermusik. Took up the trial class and was quite impressed with the class and his new friends. Now, we signed him up for 8 classes. It is a class where the teacher will tell stories and then uses different instrument to make different sounds. Each time the teacher plays an instrument, Lucas is in full attention. When it comes to story telling, he is exploring on his own. There are another 2 boys in the class, just like Lucas. I came to my conclusion that gender also plays a part in children behaviour. Boys have little patience in passive activities. They prefer activities with movement and sound. So, now Lucas has 2 new buddies and I don't feel too bad that I spoilt him. It is the boy thing!

Happy New Year 2008

We celebrated the beginning of 2008 with food and champagne. It is Lucas's third year - born in 06, and now it is 08 and he is not even two! Looking back, I do not remembered how I managed the pregnancy period, and trying first two months after he was born, and now, the mobile toddler. I should congratulate myself for the job well done......ahem.
Let me try to recall what is he up to now - he can pronounce some words very well such as 'door', 'up', 'down', 'back', 'book', 'ball', 'more', 'bye bye', 'there', 'no', 'open'. His two word sentence is 'no more' and then gesture with his hands. He just loves to throw anything he can get hold off. Just today, when he was about to throw the house key, I said 'no'. He looked at me, threw the key and said 'no more', then gesture with his hands. That really caught me dumbfounded.
His favourite toy is 'mote' (remote control). He has 10 teeth now, four at the bottom and six on top.
We are still working hard on his sleeping habit. We let him sleep with us on our bed and then transferred him to his cot. This is not working well now that he knows how to get down from our bed. So, now, we put him on his cot and let him fall asleep on his own without us being around. Of course, he cried. The last time we timed, he cried for 15 mins before he falls asleep. We are timing it everytime and see how long does it takes for him to sleep without crying...
I am also planning to start potty train him again. I tried when he was 11 months old and he refused to even sit on it for a minute. Hope he is more ready for it this time round.

Learning Fast

I haven't been posting for a while. Work is getting busy and Dominic has been travelling. For the past few days, Lucas was showing off what he learns.
1. Whenever I do laundry, I will make him participate in the chore. I asked him to put the dirty laundry into the washing machine to keep him occupied. Yesterday, he 'did' his own laundry. He dragged his laundry basket into the washing area, and place his laundry into the washing machine. Then the took his washing detergent and wanted to open the detergent compartment. Dominic and I were so surprised that he knows the drill. We took some photos and I will try to put them in a slide.
2. He has been showing off his dancing skill. He will say 'dance' and then bend both his knees, kick one of his leg, and make a small jump. This is his new-age dance.
3. He knows and can say 'bread', 'grapes'.
4. His molar tooth is coming out and it is making him cranky at times. He will put one finger from each of his hand into his mouth. His appetite has not been good as well. He hardly finish his solid and skip the night feed.
5. He wants to feed himself when eating solid. He holds the spoon with his left hand (left handed?). He needs to be guided on how to hold the spoon correctly. Most of the time, half of the food is on his shirt, his high chair and the floor. Lots of cleaning for me.
6. He enjoys brushing his teeth, more of biting the toothbrush to ease his itching gum.

Christmas is around the corner, and we have just put up our Christmas tree. This year, we bought a fresh cut tree from Ikea. Later today, we will decorate the tree with Lucas. Our hope is he will enjoy the decoration and yet leave the tree alone. That will be a challenge for us to teach him. And I have not started my Christmas shopping.

Lucas is 13 months old

Lucas turns 13 months today. His new development or milestones are:
1. He weighs 10 kg (22 lbs).
2. He is 77 cm (30 in) tall.
3. He babbles a lot but can say 'mama', 'mum-mum' (food), 'bird', 'ball', 'book', 'down', 'ty' (aunty), 'da' (daddy), 'there'.
4. He can gesture 'no' with his hand. Quite cute.
5. He eats 3 solids (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and 3 feed of milk, 7 oz each feed a day.
6. He can walk quite steadily.
7. He knows how to protest when he is being told to do something he doesn't want or like. Eg. when I tell him to 'stop throwing your spoon', he will raise a voice a bit and babbles away.
8. He can feed himself very well with his hand but not spoon.
9. He sleeps an average 12-14 hours a day.
10. He has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 at the bottom.
11. He is also getting naughtier. Terrible two starts early for him!

Lucas is walking

Finally, the day we have been waiting for is here. Lucas is walking! He can take more than 10 steps and seems happy practicing it.

Getting Better at Gymboree

With work now, there is less time to blog and less time to observe Lucas's development.
I took Lucas to his Gymboree class this morning. I must said I am very pleased with his development. I was just thinking that seeing him interacting with other children gives me a perspective on how he is faring.
He used to cling to me all the time during the class. If I put him down, he will pull my shirt and refused to let go. Now, he breaks from his comfort zone and explore on his own. He will crawl to places of interest to him. He will go to the tunnel and crawl happily thru the tunnel. That is a big achievement.
He used to hate the parachute. He just did not like to be sitting on it or under it. Now, he will not make any fuss. He just sit there and look, or rather stare at his play-mates. The most interesting observation is when the instructor put two chests of 'treasure' aka toys in the middle. Lucas will be the second toddler to crawl there and help himself. I suppose he is not shy person. He will empty the chest until he finds one that interests him. If any of his play-mate takes his toy, he will not (yet) snatch back. That shows he is not aggressive. I think both are good characteristics.
I realised he matures a lot more after he hits his first birthday or rather he is developing his character steadily.

Full of Activities

Lucas continued his Gymboree class on Tuesday. This is not the Music class (they are not offering Music for under 16 months), but the normal class. Gosh..the class was big for a Tuesday morning. There were about 10 babies there. The coordinator was quick to add that 3 babies are having replacement class and 2 are on trial. The class is meant for babies from 10 - 16 months and Lucas is the youngest, I think. He is not walking and when he was crossing the bridge, the actually sat there. I had to carry him cause he is creating a queue behind him. He did not like the parachute at all. Made a fuss when I tried to make him sit on it or under it.

We also found a swimming instructor for him. Now he is swimming on Wednesday. The instructor is teaching him to blow bubbles. He is happy in the water and as usual, drink lots of water each time. Luckily, he is not discouraged after drinking the water. The funny part of his swimming is there is an entourage cheering him. His grandparents, the nanny, myself and Dominic are there watching him...like a superstar. Well, afterall, he is our superstar.

We are taking a trip to Penang for the weekend to visit some relatives. This is going to be Lucas's third trip ( 5 hours drive including pit stop) and hope he will not make a big fuss on sitting in his car seat.

Anything but Mama and Papa

Lucas woke up from his nap, looked at the fan, pointed his finger (his third finger) and said 'pan' (fan). Yesterday, he saw some birds flying and said 'bird' (he can pronounce this word quite well). He is saying anything but mama or papa or mommy or daddy or anything close...sigh...

The nanny has been here for 3 days and she is getting closer to Lucas. Today, she actually kisses Lucas on his arm when she arrives and before she leaves for the day. She looks like she means it, and not to please me or put up a show. When she washes Lucas's hair, she actually massages his scalp! I found out today she showered 20 toddlers a day when she was working in the kindergarten.