Christmas 2008

This Christmas was Mei Mei's first time going to Church. Both of us kept fighting for Mommy's attention in the church. Don't you think that our attire were kind of a Christmassy theme?
Later, at Amah's house - both of us busy opening our Christmas presents.
Dinner at G Hotel...
This year, we didn't go back to Poh Poh's & Gong Gong's house for Christmas because both Mei Mei & I have just recovered from HFMD. So, they all came to Penang instead, with Ta Yi and Chiu Chiu and Jie Jie. We have lotsa pressies to add on to our collections! Hey, it looks like my toys were more interesting, huh? Everyone's looking at me!

They didn't stay for the night, though. We had a long lunch at Kim Gary because both of us were fighting for Mommy's attention. Everybody tried to entertain us, but in the end, both of us still wants Mommy.

After that, we went home for a rest because both of us were tired. But upon reaching home, none of us want a nap. Instead, we continued playing with our toys. We then went for a dessert at Haagen-Dazs before they all head back to Ipoh.

Dongzhi Festival

See how fast I grow up? This is so much in contrast to last year's Dongzhi festival!

I'm 3!

My 3rd birthday is something to remember.

Mommy has asked me what cake I wanted, I told her I wanted a Barney & Elmo cake. But she can't find a cake with 2 characters inside, so I have 2 instead!

I celebrated in school the day before - which happened to be a Friday. Mommy also ordered some mini cupcakes for my friends, thanks to the contact from Aunty Shooi.

Daddy has asked this question - What can RM158 buy? Two cakes? Mommy answered - 50 cakes!

Not really, it's more than that... Happiness, friends, childhood, wonderful memory...

with Daddy, Mommy and Amah

with my classmates (the rest were on holidays)

with my teachers and schoolmates

Cake cutting ceremony....

Enjoying the cakes...

Isn't it wonderful? And on the real day itself...

Wait... where's Mommy? You must be thinking that she's the photographer. Oh, how I wished! But wrong. She's in the hospital. With Mei Mei.

Yes, Mei Mei was admitted to the hospital due to HFMD (coxsackie) on this very day. Unfortunately, she got it from me. Daddy rushed home to celebrate my birthday with me after completed the admission process. Yes, you can see from the pictures that it's going to be a party. Amah has cooked lots of goodies. My cousin Sarah would be coming in awhile. Everything was cancelled at the very last minutes. But I still got my presents.

Mommy only managed to catch up with me when Daddy relieved her in the evening. I was in Tesco with Amah & Chik Chik then.

Oh, it was certainly a birthday to remember. I wished Mei Mei would be well soon, I was not allowed to visit her in case it spread back to me. How nice if bad things never happen on birthdays.... that will be my birthday wish for all my coming birthdays.

Starting School

I finally started schooling on 1st July 2008 at Fingertips. Mommy took me there and stayed with me for a while. She left after 10 minutes or so. The principal told Mommy that she will keep her posted on my progress. Of course I cried after Mommy left, but I settled down after awhile. I took 3 days to fully settle down – didn’t cry at all on the 3rd day when Mommy left, and could even say bye bye to her.

Well, I started with half day at first. Took my lunch there too of course. What did they serve? I had rice with meat, vege, soup and fruits on some days, bihun or porridge on some other days. Normally we had western food like spaghetti or pasta on Fridays. They will paste the menu for that week at the entrance so that our Mommies would know what we eat. In the morning, we have our breakfast at 9am (normally biscuit or bread, with cereal or milo). Normally, Mommy will warmed up her EBM and let me drink before she dropped me at school, but since I was always in a bad mood (coz not enough sleep), I always refused to drink. So, she would pass it to my teacher to feed me. There were also times when she would just pass the frozen milk to them and they would warm up for me.

On Fridays, we normally have outdoor activities. Well, unless it rained. So I also need to shower or wash my hair on Fridays. Yucks! I hate it. They made me tilt my head backwards and wash it. At home, I never allow Mommy or Amah to do this to me. I’ll yell and cry until the rooftop falls. So they still need to wash my hair like a baby. But unfortunately I can’t use this trick in school. And much to Mommy’s surprise, I didn’t cry when washing hair at school at all. I guess I know when to behave myself, ya.

Oh yes, the school managed to break one more habit of mine. I gave up my pacifier! Ah, but unfortunately, I suck my finger instead. So, in the end, Mommy decided to give me back my paci.

Anyway, you must be curious to know what we did at school, right? See for yourself! The pictures tell a thousand words...

Mommy and Amah noticed that I speak more Mandarin now that I've started school. Before that, most of my vocab was in English, even though Amah speaks with me in Hokkien + English while Daddy & Mommy speaks to me in Mandarin + English. I've also learnt to be more independent. I could go the toilet on my own. At home, I would insist to do everything myself - from taking off my pants until pouring my urine from my potty into the toilet bowl and flushing it off. Of course Mommy was worried that I made a mess of everything so she forbids me to do the last part on my own. Hmm...sometimes we just don't know what these adults want - when to be or not to be independent. So, sometimes I just use the toilet directly - instead of my potty.

I guessed the biggest accomplishment of my starting schooling is I slept earlier now. Last time, it used to be ~2am in the morning. It didn't really help when I started half day at school. But when they switched me to full day for 1.5 months, they managed to train me to sleep earlier - around 10++ to 11++pm. That is really a major relief to Mommy, Daddy and also Amah. After that, they switched me back to half-day at school.

Well, despite all these 'good' things, there are some downside of me starting schooling. Yes, besides always getting sick and later passed it to Mei Mei, I also had lots of mosquito bites. Oh, but not only from the mosquitoes, I was also bitten by my schoolmates. I learnt to bite from school - and much to Mommy's dismay, I like to bite myself!

Recently we have a get-together and I got to perform in the Beijing Dance. We've started ractising a few months back and since then, I've made Daddy, Mommy, Amah and Chik Chik to dance with me at home. They were amazed that I could remember all the steps - not only for my part, but for all the rest of the others. You see, there were 5 characters in the dance - Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying, Ni Ni (my part), and I made them practise as these characters. If they made a mistake in the steps, I would be angry and correct them. Besides this dance, I also thought them all the other dances that the other kids need to perform like the Thai dance (by the 4 years old kids), Yankee Doodle (by the boys) and The Bear Dance (by the 2 year old kids). Initially, they thought that I would perform in all these, until the principal told Mommy that I'm only performing in the 3-year old category. Daddy managed to get this recorded on his camcorder, but too bad he had not converted it that so I can't share it here. Anyway, here are the pics.

Oh yes, I got an award for this semester, much to Mommy's surprise.

I got a trophy for best participation!

More pics from our get-together that day...

Well, overall I had a great time in school. Too bad it was a little too far from my place so Mommy & Daddy decided to stop me next year and find a nearer one instead. I would surely miss my teachers and friends. I learnt a lot, played a lot, and the most important thing of all, I had fun!

What I've been up to

Hello Hello everybody, it's been nearly 3 months since I last blogged. Well, I've been busy. I helped to take care of Mei Mei, started schooling, and busy growing up :)

But you know what? I've also been on a mega project with Mommy - check this out! http://littleszejuin.blogspot.com

Hope to catch up soon by posting what I've been up to. So, stay tuned!

Mei Mei's Arrival

Finally the wait is over. My little sister came to this world on May 18th morning at 3.15kg.

Mommy has been having contraction pain on May 16th night (Friday) and I was sent to inform Daddy. We were both on the bed, Mommy preparing to put me to sleep. But I was naughty and kept wanting her to read story books to me, look at my photo albums and play with the camera. Then suddenly Mommy felt the contractions coming. Daddy was in the hall, so she sent me to tell Daddy, just so that he's aware and be prepared. She's been waiting for signs that never came ever since she started her maternity leave on May 13th.

I went to the hall and told Daddy that Mommy was in pain (Mommy tong tong). Daddy came in and asked Mommy to time the contraction. It was not regular yet, but he went off to prepare the camera, camcorder, etc. He even called Amah to say that he might be sending me over anytime. But after midnight, no more signs, and I get to sleep with Mommy.

The next morning, no signs as well. So Mommy and Daddy took Poh Poh and Gong Gong and myself to market. They came over to accompany Mommy when she started her maternity leaves. We had breakfast and did some marketing. Poh Poh and Gong Gong cooked lunch for us all. At about 4.30pm, Mommy started to feel the contraction pain at 5 mins apart. She and Daddy got me ready and sent me over to Amah's place. When I reached Amah's place, I was already asleep (I woke up very early that day and didn't sleep until then).

And the next thing I knew is that Mommy has delivered a baby girl. They said she looked like me when I was born last time. And I was told that her name is Mei Mei :)

Mei Mei

Me

For more details on her birth journal, you can read at Mommy's blog.

Time for Some Arts

Since I was at home with Mommy the whole day during her maternity leave, Mommy let me be a home artist for the first time. She had bought all the necessary stuffs for me long time ago, but she did not have the chance to let me try this. So, when she saw me didn't want to sleep and ran out of ideas what to do with me, she suddenly remembered this...

Ya, I made such a mess that she finally made me sit on the newspaper. Even with that, I couldn't help adding more colors to the floor.

Ta-da....here's my final work :)

Finger Tips

Mommy took me for a trial at Finger Tips when she started her maternity leave on May 13th. I was exactly 29 months old that day. My place at Tumble Tots was already taken, so Mommy let me try Finger Tips. I enjoyed myself very much there.

When I first arrived, I felt very much at home. I went to the toys section straightaway, and I introduced myself to the other kids. Then, we played with the playdough. The teacher read stories to us, and we sang songs. Mommy was very impressed with the kids, they seemed to know all the songs and actions by heart. As for me, since I don't know what they were singing, I sang my own version - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star :) Mommy couldn't help smiling at me.



Could you see me? Yes, I was at the corner there, Mommy always said that I like to be by myself rather than be at the center with the rest.



Since I enjoyed it so much, Mommy decided to get me started the very next day. She took me for the influenza shot that very day itself so that when I start the next day, I would be 'protected'. There were so many sick kids there, some have cough, some fever and some have runny nose. It's the sick season again.

The next day, Mommy took me there for my first lesson. I didn't have enough sleep, and I was in a bad mood. I wouldn't want to participate in the activities. Since I just had my milk, I wouldn't want to take the breakfast there. Instead, I went to the toys corner and played with the toys. Later, we did some water color painting. The teacher gave us a sponge each with different characters. I got a bear. She painted some color on it and let us dabbed on our paper. I could see lots of bear bear printed on my paper after that.

Later, we washed our hands and went on to do some writings. I was not interested, so I played by myself instead. After a while, I grew tired and wanted to sleep. I asked for my boh boh and chut chut, the teachers laughed at me while the kids were so curious with my chut chut and kept pulling at it. I was angry, and cried. Later, they left me alone and got me a mattress so that I could lie down and sleep.

After awhile, when the rest of the kids sat in a circle and sang songs, I was intrigued and went to join them.

But my attention span was not long. See what I was up to next?

Yes, I want to sleep! Then, I saw a car seat nearby and went to rest in there. See, Mommy took some evidence to show Daddy that I was not participating in school that day... oops!

I then asked for nen nen, but the teacher asked Mommy to let me try some bihun instead. It's supposed to be our lunch that day. Luckily, I liked it, so later, I joined the rest to eat at the table. I had a second helping!

We finished school by ~12.45pm and then Mommy took me home. We had to fetch Gong Gong and Poh Poh, who have just arrived from Ipoh.

Well, so did I really start school? After some discussion with Poh Poh and Amah, Mommy and Daddy decided not to start yet but wait until Mei Mei's arrival later to decide. That's because Daddy would need to fetch me during lunch time everyday when Mommy's in confinement, and it might be too tiring for him - with the hospital trips, etc..

Chopsticks Skills

Look, I have learnt a new skill today!

A Little Helping Hand

That day I was helping Mommy to change my bedsheet. She's so proud of me and quickly called Daddy to take a photo of us :)

Hmm... would Mommy expect me to help her everytime she changed the bedsheet? :)

Trial at TumbleTots

Mommy has registered me for TumbleTots weekday sessions starting on April. However, the teacher told Mommy that it's a Hand Foot Mouth disease season and advised us to start later if possible. Mommy agreed, but took me for the trial weekend session at Tumble Tots. Even though the activities would be different (this one would be focussed more on physical activities), Mommy still think that it would give me an idea what kind of school this would be like.

I went with a friend, Alexendrea for this trial. We had a great time, although I wouldn't want to listen to instructions. And I wouldn't let the rest of the teachers touched me, I only let Mommy or Daddy led me. We started our activities by sitting around in a circle, singing songs.

After that, we started the physical activities. Sorry no photos because it's not allowed. We went thru a swing, crawl under the tunnel, and have to go thru some kind of steps, etc. I loved the part where we need to tumble down using a ball. It was very dangerous and Amah got really worried about that. She kept on telling Daddy and Mommy not to send me here, why want to expose your child to such danger? The teacher explained to Mommy that children learn thru play, this will teach them to focus because if they lost focus, then they will fall.

I was so tired after the whole 45 min session and I dozed off right away for a straight 3 hours nap later in the afternoon.

Toy Museum

We went to the Toy Museam near Batu Ferringhi, which was the largest toy museam in the world.

We were charged RM10 per person for the entrance fees. I, of course, got to enter free. However, Daddy and Mommy were quite disappointed with what they saw - everything was framed up just like an exhibition. Anyway, what could you expect from a museam?

I, on the other hand, quite enjoyed myself. I got to see so many toys there, and in no time, I was running from shelves to shelves, admiring the vast display of toys.

Hey, there was a spiderman on top, and he's not framed up!

Well, no matter what, this was still a new experience for me.