I will be enrolling him in a Chinese national school, so I know speaking Mandarin will not be a problem for him. And I heard enough about the standard of spoken English at the national school, so it may be just up to me to make sure that his spoken English will not be a problem. But how, if he refuse to speak English to me….

But in the last few weeks, he is beginning to speak more English to me.

It started with just basic, “yes, no, I don’t want.”

Now, he is beginning to say the whole sentences.

“Mummy I finish already. I want some more.”
“Mummy I want to read story book.”

And his pronunciation is definitely improving.
He is beginning to say “McDonalds” instead of “nenenno.”
“Queensbay mall” instead of “Ah-mo-mol.”

He’ll tell me -
“I want to go Queensbay Mall.”
“I want to go McDonalds eat burger.”

Last Sunday, at the butterfly farm, I asked him, “Bryan, are you scared.” He answered, “Yes, I want to cry.”

Bryan: Mommy, I want to go Butterfly farm!

Yup, that’s what Bryan said to me the first thing on Sunday morning. Both of us slept in that day. Dylan woke up at about 8am, I bf him, passed him to hubb, then continued to Zzzzz with Bryan. (lucky me! )

When we woke up, hubb had already made breakfast for us as Dylan had went back to sleep. Toasted tuna sandwiches! (I can be quite lucky sometimes). So hubb took Bryan downstairs for breakfast while I took my own sweet time to wash and change.

When I got downstairs, Bryan asked again for Butterfly farm.

Hubb: Aiya, he talk only one la. He doesn’t know what is butterfly farm one.
Me: He knows one.
Me: Bryan, do you want to go butterfly farm.
Bryan: I want to go Butterfly farm. Wo yau chu hu tiek kong yuen (repeat in Mandarin version sommo leh)
Me: See, i told u he knows what it is! He remembers he had been there before.

So we decided to take him as he had been quite well behaved lately. It was already close to 11am, and hubb said that it will be close to lunch time. So timing is quite bad.

No worries…. I checked my fridge and told hubb that I will just pack some sandwiches and we can have lunch on the go. So I made some salmon + cheese sandwich, put some apple juice into a tumbler for Bryan. Meanwhile, hubb quickly gave the boys their bath.

We left about 12 noon, taking the scenic Balik Pulau route. It took us almost 1 hour to reach the farm…and I could see Bryan getting sleepy by the long ride.

Bryan was very excited when we entered the farm. “Wahh.. so many butterflies.” He exclaimed happily. But soon, happiness turns into fear. He got scared of the butterflies. He refused to let go of hubb the entire time.

Wanna see more of his scared expression?

Photos not enuf, wanna see his scared video? Wuahahahahaha

Darn funny to see Bryan so scared. But really geram also coz we drove all the way there and he is scared of this and that. Even scared of the huge fishes in the pond. I asked him why scared, and his reply was, “Wo tiek tau li mien.” (I fall down inside) – he’s scared of falling into the pond.

How about Dylan? Dylan still blur blur la. He was happy to be in my sling and did not care where we were. He did attract a lot of attention being in my sling.

We took the Balik Pulau route on the way back again, because we wanna have some durians!! Yes! We did stop by at one of the roadside stalls and have some durians. Bryan loved it! No photos coz our hands are all sticky from durian. Dylan had already fell asleep then, so I had to have my durians with him asleep in my arms.

Durian not enough…got laksa sommo. Hey, we’re at Balik Pulau mah, how can we not have their famous laksa as well.

I did not post the photo YET because I want to photoshop that flashlight reflection at the back of the photo first. But no time to do yet. But since you so kan-cheong want to show off your photo, post first lo!

This has got to be one of the happiest things a mommy can hope for – to see the kids get along well.

Bryan is extremely protective of Dylan. He wouldn’t let anyone that he doesn’t know to carry his didi. My aunt came to visit me a couple of weeks back. And of course my aunt wants to carry Dylan. I was at the back of the house doing laundry at that time, and Bryan ran to me and asked me to carry Dylan. I told him that it is ok to let my aunt carry Dylan, but he insisted that I carry D instead.

Sometimes, some of my relatives will joke to Bryan that they want to take D home with them. Wrong move! If Bryan hears that, Bryan will refuse to let them carry Dylan. Not just for that day, but next time in the future as well. Bryan will be very wary of them and do not allow them to carry D.

When Dylan cries, Bryan will ask me to quickly carry Dylan. If I have carried Dylan and Dylan still cry, Bryan will ask me to bf Dylan. Hehehe..even Bryan realized that bf is soothing & comforting to Dylan. Bryan will even tell Dylan, “Didi pu yau ku. Mommy kei ni he nen-nen.” (Didi don’t cry. Mommy will let u drink milk).

Dylan sleeps with Bryan nowadays. Sometimes when I am tucking Bryan to bed and he is still too playful, I will threaten not to let Dylan sleep with him. Or I will threaten that if he still don’t go to sleep, so & so will come take didi away to sleep with them. These threats will usually do the trick to get Bryan to go to sleep.

Bryan doesn’t mind sharing his toys with Dylan. In fact, he will gladly share his toys with Dylan whenever we asked him to. Right now, Dylan will just hold the toy and wave it about. We’ll have to wait and see if Bryan is still this generous when Dylan can really play with the toys.

Bryan was really cooperative at dinner yesterday and we managed to snap a nice photo of us together.

School: Eats whatever the school gives him. Never heard of any complaint from his teachers.
Home: Picky la. Don wan vege, don wan this today, don wan that tomoro…

School: Can take off his own pants.
Home: He did try, but usually he waits for us to take off the clothes for him.

School: Drinks his milk from CUP by himself
Home: Expects mummy to spoonfeed him. Tried to ask him to use the cup, but he just ignored me and walk away.

Overall, it is not too bad. His principle told me that some children retaliates at home by being very very naughty. Initially his principle kept checking with me frequently if Bryan is giving me more trouble at home. If he is, it meant that he is still not settled with school EVEN if he did not give them any problem in school. So far, Bryan is still is usual notti self, so he is not too bad.

But surprisingly, he only cried and whine when he was entering his playschool. I got an sms from his principle 15 mins later that he is already enjoying himself – laughing and singing happily liao (he sings a LOT when he is happy). No trouble getting him to nap in the afternoon, and no crankiness when he woke up as well.

Today, he even sang songs as I carried him into the school. Yeah, he still refused to walk himself into the school. But as I took off his shoes, his teacher opened the door for him, and

Bryan: Good Morning Bryan.
Mommy: No, you should say “Good Morning Teacher.”
Bryan: Good morning teacher *then walks in happily into the school*

Mr Bossy
He thinks he is the boss of the house. If he is watching TV, and we talk, he’ll say, “(whoever) pu yau chiang hua!

Yesterday, hubb gave B a bath. Hubb sat on the bed and kept an eye on B while B is playing with water in the tub.

Hubb: *whistled*
Bryan: Daddy, pu yau eee-eee-eee (imitating the whistling sound)
Hubb: *hum a song*
Bryan: Daddy, pu yau Hmm-hm-hmmmm
Hubb: *Hug B’s bolster*
Bryan: Daddy, pu yau na (Daddy don’t take)
Hubb: Na sen mo? (Don’t take what)
Bryan: Daddy, pu yau na wo te bolster (Don’t take my bolster)

Then when it is time to tuck both boys to bed, normally hubb will help to carry Dylan upstairs. As soon as we are in their bedroom, Bryan will crawl into his side of the bed.

Bryan: Daddy goodnight.
Hubb: Goodnight Bryan
Bryan: Daddy pu yau kiss mommy. Daddy chu qu. (Daddy don’t kiss mommy. Daddy go out).
Mommy: Daddy kiss didi?
Bryan: Daddy pu yau kiss didi!
Mommy: Daddy kiss Bryan?
Bryan: Daddy pu yau kiss Bryan.
Mommy: Bryan kiss daddy.
Bryan: Pu yau kiss.
Mommy: Bryan kiss daddy, then daddy will go out.
Bryan: *Crawls over and kiss his daddy* Daddy chu qu!

How time flies!!! Dylan is already 4 mths old. Yeah, it seemed that it was just yesterday that I posted on my delivery story. Now he can laugh, flip, hold rattle in his hand, ask us to hold him – He will stretch out his arms and legs when he want someone to hold him.

He is now: 6.2kg, 600gm increase since last month. PD said that this is good, as babies his age normal monthly growth should be about 300-500gm. Since he is a fully bf baby, his weight gain is normally much lower than a formula fed baby, but he definitely much healthier.

Bryan had a nasty throat & ear infection and PD was quite worried that Bry would pass to Dy. But we are glad to see that Dy did not contracted it. I am sure it is due to my bfg effort. But me, on the other hand may have contracted it from Bry. I have a mild flu now and I am hoping that it will go away soon with lots of Vitamin C, Manuka Honey, and Manuka Honey & lemon drink.

Anyway, back to Dy. How did we celebrated his 4th month accomplish. By taking him to the PD for 3 vaccinations.
- DTaP - Hib
- Prevenar (Pneumococcal)
- Rotavirus

Actually DTaP - Hib jab is 5 in 1, so actual total is 7 types of vaccinations. And Rotavirus is an oral vaccination. It has a milky appearance and PD says that it is the most expensive milk in the world. It cost RM139 per dose (excluding consultation, of course). It is cheaper this time compared to his 1st dose at 2nd month which cost RM159. PD says that he got a bonus from the pharmaceutical company because of his volume, so he is reducing the price of the jab to pass the bonus to us.

So my poor Dy actually got a jab each on both thighs and got fed 1 dose of Rotavirus. Cry or not? Of coz cry la…but only for short while.

I also cry ah..when I see the total bill! Childcare is just so expensive nowadays. And I have 2 more doses of Prevenar to complete for Dylan… *cry*cry*

How to have more children? All these jabs are so darn expensive. Boh lui liao la! (No money already).

Yeah, some people will opt not to take these optional vaccination, but hubb and I decided not to take the risks. We did ask the PD on his recommendation on these optional vaccinations. His reply, “If you can afford it, take it. I won’t force it as they are very expensive. The choice is yours. If you don’t take it, of course there are risks, and the risks are greater when the child is smaller.”

It is indeed very expensive but both hubb and I very kiasi when it comes to our children’s health. So we rather save in other areas than our children’s medical bills.

Luckily Bryan has completed most of his vaccination. His next one won’t be due until 1 year later.

He finally managed flip over last Friday. From front to back and from back to front! The first time, he was having some tummy time, then he flipped himself over, got startled and started to cry.

Later that day, he was lying on his back, then turn, turn, turn…flipped over again!

He is still mastering the flipping technique but I am sure he will be an expert in no time. So for the record, Dylan turned when he was 3 months, 3 weeks and 5 days old.

Btw,if you liked Dylan’s smiley photos,…here’s sommo

Hubb caught these on camera. Dads. They just have a way to make the kids smile and laugh.

That was how Dylan spent some of his time lately. Propped up in the bumbo seat with something to look at.

Sometimes I will put the bumbo on the dining table and let him sit there while I do some work – sorting out mail, etc.

It is really useful, especially when I am babysitting both Bryan and Dylan alone. And he does enjoy sitting in the Bumbo as he gets a better view of the things happening around him. And of course, it is more secure than propping him up on the sofa.

Gotta thank my fren for lending it to me! Thanks dear.