As parents, it is only natural that we strive to do our best for our babies (yes, babies because they never grow up in our eyes). Not sure if it is because of that innate sense of responsibility, I have been changing my blog templates for probably a gazillion times. None seems to be good enough.
I finally found this Christmasy template and has even a counter to count down to Christmas. Had to fudge with the html codes a little to get the counter working because I found out that the setting was for Christmas 2 years ago.
Until after Christmas is over, I probably will stop giving giving this place another facelift. Too many face jobs can lead to a botch job (Ok... bad joke... God bless MJ's soul =p).
Thursday 29 October 2009
Wednesday 28 October 2009
New Kid on the Block
Elaina started playgroup at Matty's school on Monday and my girl has done me proud. Not only did she not shed a tear, she has been enjoying school so much she comes back smiling and is always looking forward to another day there.
My heart will surely break to see any of my kid cry because he or she got "abandon". Thank goodness both Matty and Elaina didn't make me go through that stage.
My heart will surely break to see any of my kid cry because he or she got "abandon". Thank goodness both Matty and Elaina didn't make me go through that stage.
Saturday 24 October 2009
How Sweet
I suffered a skin-crack on the underside of my left thumb last week due to excessive washing and wore a band-aid around it for a couple of days.
Earlier this week while in a car ride, Elaina suddenly turned to me and asked "Is your boo-boo better?". I couldn't catch what she was referring to at that moment and she went on to say "show me your hand"... grabbing my left hand. Seeing that the skin had healed she exclaimed that "Oh, its better now. No more boo-boo".
That was heart-warming and it is the existence of such moments that make one remember the worthiness of parenthood.
Earlier this week while in a car ride, Elaina suddenly turned to me and asked "Is your boo-boo better?". I couldn't catch what she was referring to at that moment and she went on to say "show me your hand"... grabbing my left hand. Seeing that the skin had healed she exclaimed that "Oh, its better now. No more boo-boo".
That was heart-warming and it is the existence of such moments that make one remember the worthiness of parenthood.
Thursday 8 October 2009
Independence
When you are old, you wished you were young. When you are little, you wished you were bigger. The latter is the stage that Elaina is in right now.
These days she will scream her head off if she is "deprived" of doing something that she wants to do. Like climbing into the car seat herself and buckling up, removing her own clothes, switching off the TV, making her own milk, choosing her own clothes and the list just goes on.
On one hand, we should be happy that she is gaining independence and wants to take on some responsibilities but on the other hand that learning process is slowing everyone down on a busy morning when we are dashing out of the house for school and work. Patience will wear really thin from time to time. Her consistent tantrums became a convenient excuse to justify that lack of patience. Honestly, I feel so bad towards her when that happens and wished that I can be more tolerant.
One thing I can never work out is why she can be so enthusiastic about doing all the "grown-up" tasks but somehow she just refused to be toilet trained. That's what I call a true liberation (suitable for her age)!
These days she will scream her head off if she is "deprived" of doing something that she wants to do. Like climbing into the car seat herself and buckling up, removing her own clothes, switching off the TV, making her own milk, choosing her own clothes and the list just goes on.
On one hand, we should be happy that she is gaining independence and wants to take on some responsibilities but on the other hand that learning process is slowing everyone down on a busy morning when we are dashing out of the house for school and work. Patience will wear really thin from time to time. Her consistent tantrums became a convenient excuse to justify that lack of patience. Honestly, I feel so bad towards her when that happens and wished that I can be more tolerant.
One thing I can never work out is why she can be so enthusiastic about doing all the "grown-up" tasks but somehow she just refused to be toilet trained. That's what I call a true liberation (suitable for her age)!
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Witty Solutions
Matty has recently picked up the skills of retorting. Not in a negative way but he leaves me speechless.
Last week he told us that he doesn't want to wear his watch ever again the reason being that each time we tighten the strap, it leaves him feeling some pain. When I asked him how is he going to tell the time if he is staying off ever wearing a watch, he replied in a matter-of-fact manner that he can always look at someone else's watch.
Took the kids to the zoo last Sunday again and decided that we should probably take up membership since the kids are enjoying zoo so much. They were going gaga over the new membership card and I had to remind them that if they drop the card we will never be able to enter the zoo again. Matty promptly offered me a solution - we can always buy another card. Good one my boy, but it ain't going to happen since your mother doesn't print money for a living!
Last week he told us that he doesn't want to wear his watch ever again the reason being that each time we tighten the strap, it leaves him feeling some pain. When I asked him how is he going to tell the time if he is staying off ever wearing a watch, he replied in a matter-of-fact manner that he can always look at someone else's watch.
Took the kids to the zoo last Sunday again and decided that we should probably take up membership since the kids are enjoying zoo so much. They were going gaga over the new membership card and I had to remind them that if they drop the card we will never be able to enter the zoo again. Matty promptly offered me a solution - we can always buy another card. Good one my boy, but it ain't going to happen since your mother doesn't print money for a living!
Fun Can Lead to Fear
We attempted to get Matty into proper swimming early last month but it hasn't been working out very well.
The first lesson was a breeze but by the second one he wasn't too co-operative and by the third lesson he simply refused to get into the water. We found out the reason to the opposition - he choked on some water while learning to "blow bubbles" underwater. We figured that it must have happened during the second lesson. For now we have pretty much shelved the plan until he is a little older, although we still try our luck once in a while by persuading him to give it another shot. Not getting lucky though.
We also found out from this episode that Matty has a very skewed idea of what swimming is actually all about. He kept insisting that there was no swimming done during the classes. We eventually worked out that because he has been doing nothing but water-play at the pools since he was 6 months old, to him swimming consists of splashing water and waddling around the pool. After much explanation, we managed to clarify this misunderstanding. So now he calls it "fun-swimming" instead.
I am starting to worry if he will have the same repulsion when he starts formal school. At the moment, school has lots of fun factor to it. Oh dear.... he will be shocked to learn the truth.
The first lesson was a breeze but by the second one he wasn't too co-operative and by the third lesson he simply refused to get into the water. We found out the reason to the opposition - he choked on some water while learning to "blow bubbles" underwater. We figured that it must have happened during the second lesson. For now we have pretty much shelved the plan until he is a little older, although we still try our luck once in a while by persuading him to give it another shot. Not getting lucky though.
We also found out from this episode that Matty has a very skewed idea of what swimming is actually all about. He kept insisting that there was no swimming done during the classes. We eventually worked out that because he has been doing nothing but water-play at the pools since he was 6 months old, to him swimming consists of splashing water and waddling around the pool. After much explanation, we managed to clarify this misunderstanding. So now he calls it "fun-swimming" instead.
I am starting to worry if he will have the same repulsion when he starts formal school. At the moment, school has lots of fun factor to it. Oh dear.... he will be shocked to learn the truth.
Friday 2 October 2009
Die Already
Die already lah.... how to make Matty stop using the phrase "die already"?
He kept using this phrase last night whenever he saw someone on TV made a blopper or had an accident.
I did a self-check and I know that it wasn't me.... not one of those phrase that I had actually used before. When I asked him where he picked that up from, he wasn't able to tell me. All he could say was "ya... because he die already".
Elaina being the mimicker of her older brother these days, started repeating it shortly after.
This time really die already!
He kept using this phrase last night whenever he saw someone on TV made a blopper or had an accident.
I did a self-check and I know that it wasn't me.... not one of those phrase that I had actually used before. When I asked him where he picked that up from, he wasn't able to tell me. All he could say was "ya... because he die already".
Elaina being the mimicker of her older brother these days, started repeating it shortly after.
This time really die already!
