Happy 3rd Birthday – Pt 1

I can’t believe that my cute-cute baby boy* is now a 3 year old. Or at least will be 3 year old in a couple days time. Usually we will hold a birthday party at our house for him. But this year, with a lil baby around, I am too tired to organize one, and I am even more tired to think of the cleanup required later on.

So we decided to just hold one at his school.

We told him that he will have a party at school and each time we tell him that, he will protest.

“Don’t want. Don’t want Barney cake at school. Want Barney cake at new house. Later Ah Fong blow my candles.”
Or
“Don’t want. Don’t want to let Ah Fong eat my Barney cake. Mummy, beat Ah Fong.”

(Note: Ah Fong is not as bad as what Bryan puts him. He is one of his classmates older brother. They are not in the same class but somehow, Bryan likes to kacau him and vice versa.)

Anyway, despite his protests. We went ahead to have a small party for him at school.
(Update: the next morning, Bryan told me to buy BIG BIG Barney cake and put in school again)

Just like last year, he had Barney cake. This particular baker that I go to makes fabulous cakes, but the cake decorations is not very nice. At least the Barney designs. Last year, the icing on the cake melted. This year, the icing is fine, but the Barney don’t look like Barney.

Hubb was commented that right at the shop that the color is not right. And WX’s mummy told me this morning that Barney looked like a crocodile. Kakakakakak.

Luckily Bryan and his classmates can still recognize that it is Barney. And his teachers loved the cake. It was fresh cream sponge cake with longan & lychee fillings. (Same flavor as last year, coz i really love this flavor. Plus his principle said, no chocolate so that it is less heaty)

Not just cute, but cool baby boy

Both hubb and I took half day leave to be at his party. We sent Bryan to school at the usual time, then we went to pick up his cake and back to his school at 10am.

Bryan was very excited to see us and wanted to go home with us immediately. Then he saw his cake and forgot about going home.

It was just a simple event. The kids all gathered to sing Birthday song for him. And boy was it LOUD. There was another 5 year old kid celebrating her birthday. So there were > 40 kids (30 from Bryan’s playgroup & 10++ fr 5 year old class) & singing birthday song – in English, Mandarin & Malay. I told his teacher to teach them how to sing the song in Indian, then will be complete liao.

And the kids are all so well behaved. Though there were so many of them. They all sat at the mat and none of them tried to blow the candle, touch the cake, etc. And when their teachers asked them to back to their classroom, and wait for the cake to be served, all of them went back obediently….Well, all except for a few KPCs who wanted to sit next to me and tell me stories about THEIR birthday parties.. *such adorable children*

I have also prepared simple party packs for Bryan to distribute to his playgroup mates. This is to give Bryan a chance to learn how to give things away.

And all of them line up to collect the pack. Again, I am impressed with them. There were no fighting to be in line first, and none of them open the packs. They are not allowed to open the party packs in school. They have to take them home and show it to their parents and get approval from their parents before eating the items in the packs. So all of them kept the packs in their bags when asked by their teachers to do so. I was really impressed as there are 30 of them in the playgroup, ranging from as young as 20months – 3+ years old. (2 class of 15 each). And the teachers need not even need to raise their voice to get them to follow instructions.

Happy Birthday cute-cute boy!

*Cute-cute baby boy was my nickname for him when he was a small baby. His daddy later modified it to something else, which I will need to blog about later*

Dylan’s 8th month update

Weight: 7.5kg, when weighed 2 weeks ago.

Physical skills

• Able to get into sitting position by himself.
• Able to pull himself up to a standing position.
• If we put him in the play pen and then walk away, he would pull himself up, stare out the pen and start screaming for attention.
• Already started to practice cruising, but not very stable yet. Still have yet to master the coordination of his legs to be able to cruise.
• Loves to stand in his bath by holding on to the 2 sides of the bathtub.
• Able to clap his hands when asked…”pai pai shou” (clap clap hands)
• Able to wave bye-bye.
• Loves to rotate his wrists about in mid air. He seems fascinated by his ability to do this.

Verbal

• Like most babies at this age, he’s very talkative. Earlier this month, he started calling ma ma, mi mi for attention. Even my 9 year old niece noticed that he can say mami. Personally, I don think he meant “mummy” then.
• But now, I am noticing it more and more often that he will call out “Ah maaaaaaaa..maa ma maa” when he wants my attention
• But I must say that he has a different tone/ voice to express what he wants.
• We can tell if he is hungry, wants to play, calling for attention..etc.

Social skills

• Will ask someone to come to him, by waving his hands up & down and nodding his head. => Actually he does that more to the neighbour hood dog than us la. If we take him out and he sees the dog, he would be waving his hands excitedly and nods his head until the dog comes to him.
• Favourite person? Mummy of course. Will immediately call out to mummy and asks mummy to carry the moment I come home.
• Second favourite – Daddy of course! If mummy is already home, and daddy comes home, will ask daddy to carry for a while…Then it is back to mummy.
• Loves smiling at people, even strangers.
• He’s definitely a hit among the neighbours being so friendly and being the youngest kid on the block.
• Already started to fight for my attention with his brother. A few nights ago, I was reading a book to him. He was happy and contented to sit on my lap. Then Bryan saw us and wanted to join in the fun. So I asked Bryan to sit next to me. And guess what, Dylan started to throw a minor tantrum when Bryan sits next to me and starts asking me question regarding the book.
• Needless to say – he is already fighting for toys with Bryan. Whatever Bryan is playing with, he wants too!

Food

• Takes 4-5 ounces ebm, about every 2-3 hourly.
• I am such a lousy mommy this time. I am sooo slow at introducing new food to him. This month, I introduced
• Pear puree -> hates it at first taste
• Carrot puree -> loves it initially, now a bit bored
• Pumpkin puree -> loves it
• Baby rusks + ebm -> loves it
• Brown rice cereal -> seem to love it
• But but but…I bought a blender & mixer last week. It has a small container that is perfect for making baby food. So mummy promise to make u more goodies ok.

Other skills

• Can remember where things are being kept. He saw my parents hid the alarm clock under the pillow. The next time they placed him on the bed, he crawled straight for the pillow, reach under it and take out the alarm clock.
• Very sensitive to sounds. Turns his head to the direction of the slightest sound.
• Will stand at Bryan’s toy box and starts digging for toys to play. When bored…throw away! *Sigh* Another baby to pick up after.

Getting naughtier by the day…but also getting more adorable to us. *Muakkksss*

Paint & lunch

I bought a paint set for WX some time ago. Her grandma accidentally threw away the paint set. Since then, she had been bugging her mommy to take her to my house.

So 2 weekends ago, her mommy finally was able to bring her over.

Bryan and WX are classmates in school. So it was really easy for the 2 of them to play together. Though Dylan was tired, he was really KPC when he saw his bro having fun outside, and he wanted to join in the fun as well.

I like the way Bryan folds his legs in the lotus position in the pics. I didn’t really notice that he sits in this way until I saw the pics.

WX’s mummy even cut out some potatoes for them to stamp with. But the 2 kids seem to prefer painting.

WX is more “serious” in her painting. She told me that she was drawing a spider (I think, forgot liao).

Meanwhile, it did not take Bryan long before he lost interest in painting. Soon he was fooling around and decided to stamp the floor with paint instead.

While they were painting, I prepared a simple lunch for them. Corn & egg salad, hard boiled egg slices, steamed edamame and steamed mantau. (Healthy eh? But these are the easiest to make, and less cleanups to worry about. )

We decided to let them have an alfresco lunch (cos this mommy lazy to cleanup after them ). We thought that it would be easy for them to finish their food since they got partner. But no… WX decided that she din like the egg in the salad. Bryan did not like the corn in the salad. And both of them did not like the mantau.

In the end, I made some cheese sandwiches which both of them walloped happily. And for desserts, 2 cups of Calciyum yogurt each.

I told WX mummy, next time just order pizza for them. Save me the trouble to prepare food :p

Sleep buddy

Such a big bed and yet both of them tend to roll to the same spot when they sleep. I put a bolster between Bryan and Dylan. But nowadays one of them will roll over

to the other side to sleep with each other. In the above pic, Bryan has rolled over to Dylan’s slide and is using the bolster as the pillow.

I have woken up in the middle of the night realizing that Dylan is missing, only to find Dylan at the other side next to Bryan.

Usually Bryan will be cranky when we wake him up in the morning. But if the first thing he sees when he wakes up is Dylan – he will be all SMILES.

Ain’t it good to have a brother to sleep with

Mommy’s note: We’ve really come a long way from the time Bryan used to be jealous of Dylan. I used to wonder if “today” will ever come. I am really proud of the way things have turned out for the brothers, and how they are loving each other more and more each day.

Little cacing

Took Dylan back to my grandma’s house last weekend. My grandma is old and has weak legs, hence she cannot stand for long periods of time. So whenever she held Dylan, she have to hold him while seated.

She had not seen Dylan for some time. And not long after she held Dylan, she returned him to me saying, “Aiyo, he is like a “cacing”. I got no energy liao.”

Dylan, oh Dylan…

Ee-ee used to call ge-ge Bryan as mau-mau-cong (caterpillar), now Ah Chor is calling you a cacing. Looks like you are really trying to fit into ge-ge’s shoes.

Fun at the Youth Park

I love taking my kids to the park. Nothing is better for them than plenty of exercise, good air and sunshine. For the raya break, we took the kids to the Youth Park. It’s been a while since we went there. I liked that park the best so far because it has got the most variety of play-stations for the kids and there are lots of nice shady trees to keep the place cool even at mid-day. Unfortunately, Youth Park is quite far away from our place, so it is not convenient for us to take them there every time.

I am surprised to see how much Bryan’s physical skills have improved since the last time we took him there. He hardly needed our help in any of the stations he wanted to play. Just look at his concentration at climbing those bars.

Aside from the usual slide, swing & see saws, Bryan also played on the gym equipment. It was definitely not easy for a small guy like him to work that equipment…

Bryan was totally drenched in sweat not long after we got there. Can you see the glistening sweat in his hair?

We have been contemplating to let him keep his hair longer a bit, so that we can take him for design cuts instead of the usual mamak shave. But we look at how much he sweats when he is playing,….it just doesn’t seem like a good idea. He looked like this almost everyday when we picked him up from his playschool.

Btw, Bryan was not resting…He was actually admiring one of the water fountains at the park.

Outdoors is actually the best place to take photos. The greenery compliments our skin tone very well (or at least, that’s what my sifu told me). So naturally, I took a lot of photos.

Dylan was more cooperative … (maybe because he was stucked to the stroller.. ).

We could not a get any nice photos of us with Bryan because he would wriggle away.

Eventhough it was quite a humid day…Dylan still dozes off. I love watching the way he sleeps, and I don’t mind carrying him until my hand wanna break. I think he is sooooo cute, even with that piggy mouth

Happiness is…

Seeing your children laugh and smile…

Wish all the children in the world good health & happiness always!

Mommy’s sorry

I am sorry that I yelled at you when you spilled the milk powder on the table when you were scooping the milk into your cup. I was the one who agreed that you can make your own milk but I forgot tat you are not even 3 years old yet.

I am sorry that I was rough at you when you were a little too rough with Dylan. I forgot that you are still a small child and do not have the maturity to fully judge what is right or wrong.

I am sorry that I told you to wait until I finished nursing Dylan when you woke up in the middle of the night 2 nights ago asking me to switch off the aircon because you are feeling cold. But I forgot and dozed off while nursing Dylan and found you sleeping curled up the next morning.

I am sorry that I could not spend as much time as you want to help you with drawing, coloring or building blocks.

I am sorry to expect you to behave like a perfect child. You are not, and never will be as I am not a perfect mother too.

I am sorry that I am not always able to pat you to sleep though I know you love to have me do that. I need to get Dylan to sleep first before I can tend to you.

I am sorry to force you to grow up, be a big brother without even considering if you are ready for the role yet.

I am sorry for the many things that I have forgotten to say sorry to you.

I am sorry, but remember tat MOMMY LOVES YOU no matter what.