All About Bryan and Dylan

Immediately after I complained about Dylan’s refusal to smile for the camera, I got this

Hubb came home after a 3 week business trip and Dylan was so happy to see him. He warmed up to his daddy almost immediately and both of them “chatted” so happily.

See how happy he is with his daddy…

Until now, I still could not get a clear photo of Dylan smiling. Each time he is giggling and babbling happily, I will quickly retrieve the camera. But when I get the camera in front of him. He will not smile, or laugh, or babble.

Instead he will just stare at the camera!

It is just so frustrating because he is such a happy babbling baby most of the time and I am unable to catch any of the moments in photo/ video.

Whei Dylan, Smile la please. Later when u grow up, don blame mama how come koko got so many nice smiley baby photos and u have none.

I bought a pouch sling when I was preggy with Dylan after reading all the benefits of sling wearing to the baby.

However, I could not grasp the technique of using the sling properly until recently. The moo mummies in my company are now into slings thanks to our in-house dr (who is also a moo mum) who showed us how to use the sling properly.

The sling I bought unfortunately was a little too big for me, so she advised me where to do the alterations so that I can still use the sling. It is a minor alteration that can be easily removed if I decided to sell it later or give it away.

Anyway, with her advice, i can now sling my baby. And Dylan loves it. Last weekend, I put  Dylan into the sling as I was busy entertaining Bryan. He fell asleep not long after and stayed asleep even after I had slipped myself out from the sling.

Isn’t slings great?Now I have to learn other sling position to use and how to bf in sling.

I have not heard of any complaints from Bryan’s teachers at school when it comes to meals. But at home, getting him to finish his meals on the dining table is a big challenge.

So I tried to vary the food that we offer to him and at the same time try to make his food more interesting. This is what i did for him yesterday.

It was carrot & tomato rice with omelet.

As he was eating the rice, i was mentally counting “ok, 1 rabbit down, 3 more to go. 2 rabbits down, 2 more to go…” And you can imagine my relief when he finally downed all the rabbits + omelets.

Did having the designs make feeding him easier. Yes & no.

Having fanciful designs on his dinner plate does help to get him seated at the dining table. But if he doesn’t like the food offered, he would not eat them just because they looked nice.

I know because i offered him star molded hard boiled egg 2 weekends ago, and he took one bite and spit it out almost immediately.

Looks like i have a lot of work to do if I want to make each meal a happy one.

After breakfast this morning, Bryan told me, “

Bryan: Mummy I want to go Tumbletots.
Me: Huh?? You want to go Tumbletots?
Bryan: I want to go school
Me: You want to go school *sheesh I am sounding like a parrot*
Bryan: Huan yi foo chu school (Change clothes and go to school)
Me: Ok, Ok, mummy change clothes then we can go to school

So getting him ready for school was not much of a challenge today. But he did change his mind as we were leaving the house and say he did not want to go to school. But there were no major struggles or cries. Just minor minor whining.

In the car, he was a bit fickle minded.

Say want to go school la, don want to go school la. So I diverted the topic and we talk about something else.

When we arrived at school, he told me to put on shoes for him and yet want me to carry him into school. But no cries, and he greeted good morning to the “kakak” who opened the door for him.

Since it went pretty well this morning, I smsed his principle when I arrived in the office:

Me: ALMOST no cry this morning. Whine a bit as we were leaving for school, but overall pretty good.
Principle: Great to hear that. He already started to make the babies cry
Me: Adoi, he good mood then he go disturb other people ah.
Principle: Yalor, he finds it amusing when the others cry

You see la, my boy is turning into a little bully at school. He loves to pinch the younger kids face, fight for toys or push them away if he wants something from them.

Pinch one..ok la, not really bully. He normally do that to cute kids, coz people always do that to him mah. “Aiyo choobee lo” (cute lo). So he always do that to younger kids too. No prize for guessing that poor Dylan gets that all the time.

And when the kids start crying, he will look away and pretend like nothing happen, as if he is innocent. But sometimes he can also be a darling at school. A few weeks ago, there was a new kid in school, only 18 mths old, so the teachers call her the baby. Actually she is the cry-baby. And Bryan was given the “task” to console the child. And whenever the child cries, Bryan will go and tell her not to cry, will hug her and sayang her. Good tactic hor…ask the big cry baby to take care of the small cry baby. But problem is when the cry baby stops crying, Bryan will remember his own misery and start crying himself.

But the crying is getting significantly less. Crossing my fingers that it will continue to get better.

Dear daddy,

When are you coming home?

Mom is really a bit cuckoo nowadays taking care of koko and I by herself every morning. Sommo she still want to pan leng-leng everyday though she has to rush to drop koko off at school before going to work.

You know what she do when she prepare breakfast ah. She leaves me alone in the play pen leh. You know how dangerous it is boh? Koko also jump into the playpen when I am inside and want to sleep with me.

Sometimes ON me sommo ah. Even if koko don sleep, he will be jumping here and there… can step on me one u know…so dangerous.

Then hor, this koko also very mah fan one. Cannot drink his own milk. Mummy have to spoon feed him. And koko want to watch Disney’s Magic English while drinking milk, so they will go to the living room and leave me alone. So boring leh, lie in the playpen look at the ceiling, so I mah cry lo.

Then u know what mummy do boh? She take me to the living room and just prop me up on the sofa. And then leave me there to cry while she feed koko milk.

Koko sayang me very much, so when I cry hor, he feel that he must kiss me to make me less sad. So hor, even if his mouth full of milk hor, he will kiss my face and make my face all sticky…eee yeh…

Oh-oh, that’s not all. Yesterday during dinner, koko as usual was running and climbing here and there. Mummy off TV, so that koko will stay in the dining room to eat. But koko keep running back to the living room, switch on the TV and sleep on the sofa.

Mummy got so mad hor, she throw away koko’s rice even though koko is not done yet. Koko was blur blur watching TV, he also donno his rice all gone liao, until he saw mummy wiping the place mats and table. Then he begged mummy to give him rice, but mummy said no more liao, all in the dustbin.

Koko really cry leh, say he wan sommo rice, but mummy just went upstairs to take her shower.

Luckily popo kesian koko, and give him some bread, otherwise, poor koko will be hungry.

But good also mummy teach koko a lesson. Yesterday night when mummy was feeding him milk, he showed his vomit face. So mummy say she is going to throw away his milk also if he vomit, and koko got really scared leh. Finished the milk really fast. I think he also think mummy is a bit siao-siao already.

Daddy, when are u coming back to save us?

Love,
Dylan

I thought that poor Bryan will be confined to our house when daddy is away. Coz daddy is the one that normally takes him kai-kai in the weekend.

But, no. First weekend that daddy is away, mummy got an invitation from his favorite auntie to go swimming. At 5 Star hotel sommo leh. Sommo this auntie volunteered to drive us there. Such good auntie, where to find eh?

So 4 of us mommies with our lil tots met up for some swimming fun. I thought that Bryan would be ecstatic when he sees the pool. He wasn’t. He was afraid of the water. He diden want to go in. And when he finally did, he diden want to let go.

I am utterly puzzled by this behavior because this boy LOVES to swim. My guess is he is unfamiliar with that pool and that right now he is dealing with security issues due to the recent changes around his life.

While his friends are all busy playing or tasting pool water, he clung to me tightly. Even WX who was usually afraid of water was very adventurous on that day.

It was only when we are about to leave for lunch that he warmed up and was willing to let go of me. But we can’t play anymore cause the mommies’ tummies are hungry and we had made arrangements for a Japanese buffet.

Initially, I was worried that having 4 kids at lunch would be unmanageable. But it was not. It was rather pleasant. I still get to eat everything that I wanted, and Bryan did not go wandering around during lunch as well. Of course, it helped tremendously that auntie HL brought some crayons and papers to keep them entertained.

Before we went home, the kids enjoyed themselves at the koi pond.

I was so afraid that Bryan will spot the pond before we went for lunch. If he did, I would have a hard time taking him into the restaurant. Or he would be demanding to see the koi fishes all through lunch.

It was certainly a wonderful way to spend our Saturday afternoon. Have to thank HL for organizing it.

How time flies.. Dylan is now 3 months old

• Weighs 5.4kg
• More sociable than last month. Definitely more “talkative.”
• Head is more steady now. Can hold his head up by himself for longer period now.
• Usually poo only once a day in the morning. Sometimes one more time in the evening. This one i very happy coz i have less bum-bum and nappies to clean.

I wish i could snap photos/ video of him laughing, but when i have the camera, he won’t smile or the photos come out dark. Haiya..hopefully better luck next month.

Mummy: Bryan, do you want to eat apple
Bryan: No no, pu yau pu yau
Mummy: Apple si sen mo lai te? (What is apple ?)
Bryan : Eeeezard
Mummy: Huh? Dessert ah?
Bryan: Eeeezard

Apple is not dessert.

Apple is the lizard. It’s the new pet at his playschool. And though he loves to see it, he is scared to hold it and is scared when his teacher takes it out from it’s aquarium.

And it is the teacher’s tool to get him to stop crying at school - Because Apple loves to go near crying children (muahahaha). And if he cries non-stop, Apple will go to him. That’s what the teacher told him.

A few nights ago, after dinner, he was drawing on his doodle board with his daddy

Bryan: Daddy draw Apple
Daddy: *blur* blur* drew Apple – the fruit!*
Bryan: Pu yau pu yau, wo pu yau apple. Wo yau Apple, EEEZARD, EEEZARD, EEEZARD!!!!
Daddy: *Looks even more blur….*
Mummy: Lizard la! The new pet at school.
Daddy: Aiya say la lizard, eezard pulak. *and drew a lizard*
Bryan: *happy with the lizard drawing* eezard pah pah pah (lizard crawl crawl crawl) *starts moving the doodle board about*

And yesterday to add to the “Apple terror” Bryan watched the DVD Snow White. And he was so scared when the evil step mother gave the apple to Snow White and she fell to her deathly sleep. He was crying, “Pu yau chi apple, Pai Syue Kong Chu pu yau chi apple” (Snow white don’t eat apple). Tell u ah..he was really scared of that scene la, so funny to see him.

So I think Bryan will be staying away from apples for some time. Hmm..gotta try give him apples this weekend and see how…hehe

P/s: One of his school teacher remarked that the lizard should be named Mcdonald or KFC..that will probably keep the school kids from asking for these fast food. Good idea eh!

My mom hang a traditional Chinese calendar next to the bed at the room downstairs where Dylan naps during the day.Last month, hubb, Bryan, Dylan and I were all lazing in that room and Bryan stood up on the bed and start reading the day of the week (mon, tues, wed, etc) that the calendar is showing in Mandarin. At first, we thought he was just lucky, but when we randomly flip to another day, he got it correct too.

Yesterday, he did it again and I asked him to repeat it to my mom. He got all the days below correct.

Except for these

But I don’t blame him as there are some similarity between “zi” (sun) and “si” (four).

We never formally taught him how to read those characters but my mom remembered that one of the education VCDs that he owned did have a lesson on days of the week. That must be where he had picked it up. But he had not watched the VCDs in a looong time.

I am not really surprised that he knows this as we had noticed that he seemed to have a photographic memory. He remembers road directions pretty well, could tell us where this or that road will lead to, or which advertising bill board is coming up.

I wonder what else he knows that I don’t know yet.