Boobies talk

Look at my Isaac. He's such a big boy already. He'd be turning 5 this year in August. My friends comment that he looks a bit different in real life compared to his photos. Apparently his photos make him look older than he is. Looking at these two photos below, you can almost see how he'd look like as a teenager. I'm crossing my fingers that he'd still have complexion this good when he is in his teenage years.

11 April 2012 | Isaac @ 4 years 8 months

17 May 2011 | Isaac @ 3 years 9 months

It's easy to sort of ignore the fact that your kids are growing old... until you start to realise that they are getting to be more aware of themselves, people around them and their surroundings. It started sometime last year when hubbs had his first "sex education" talk with Isaac.

I'd come home after work, and Isaac ran to the door to greet me.
Isaac:"Mummy, Mummy! I know how I am born!"
Me:"Really? How? How were you born?"
Isaac:"Yes! I was in your stomach, and then you push me out!"
Me:"Er, right! That's right! Who told you?"
Isaac:"Papa!"
We walked into the house. Hubbs was having his dinner, and I sat down to join him.
Hubbs:"So, Isaac, you told Mummy what you learnt?"
Isaac:"Yes, I told Mummy already."
Me:"Yeah, he told me he was in my stomach and I pushed him out."
Hubbs:"Huh?! That's all!? Isaac! You learnt much more, didn't you? Papa told you..."
Isaac:"huh?"
Hubbs:"Remember, Papa told you about Mummy having an Egg. Then Papa have many little sperm, in the balls, then the sperm go and fertilise the egg, then you will be in Mummy's stomach? Remember?
Isaac:"Oh yah..."
Me:"Erm, what brought this about? How come suddenly got this, er, lesson, huh?"
Hubbs:"Oh, we were peeing together at the toilet bowl, then Isaac pointed to my balls and asked me what they were. So I told him, they were called balls, or testicles, or lam pa..."
Me:"*bulging*eyes* Did you have to be sooooo specific?!"
Hubbs *grinned* at me. Faint.

4 February 2012 | Shawna @ 25 months

So maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised when Isaac started to notice stuff... like boobies. Now, for the record, I didn't teach him that word...

A week or so ago, I was drying Shawna after her bath, and dressing her when...
Isaac:"Hey Mummy, look, Shawna has boobies!"
Me:"*splutter* What?! Oh yeah. She does, doesn't she... where did you learn this word "boobies" from?"
Isaac:"Oh, it's Angus, he says "boobies" hahahahaha..."
Me:"Oh I see" Angus is Isaac's classmate.
Isaac:"Mummy, why is Shawna's boobies so small? Yours so big."
Me:"Er... That's because Shawna is still young, next time when she is a big girl, she will have bigger boobies. And they're called breasts lah; can you please don't say 'boobies'?"
Isaac:"Oh! I know! So when she is a Mummy like you, then she will have big boo - breasts?"
Me:"Not really. She doesn't need to be a Mummy to have bigger breasts. When she grow up, she will have bigger breasts already."
Isaac:"Ohhhhh..... Only girls have breasts, right?"
Me:"Er, technically boys have breasts too. Just that boys breasts are smaller than girls' breasts. Like, see Papa, his breasts very small right? Oh, and we usually call boys' breasts "chest". Yes, something like that."
Isaac:" ... " *info*overload*

Then a few days ago... it happened again...
Isaac:"Mummy, Mummy, look! Shawna is just like you!"
Me:"Oh, really?"
Isaac:"Yes! She has boobies like your pump-milk-things!"
Me: *stunned* (even though it's happened before!) "Oh, you mean she has breasts like I do? They're called breasts, darling. Don't say boobies. Not nice. Who taught you this word?"
Isaac:"It's Angus! I told you before, you forget!"
Me:"Ah yes, Angus. And you forgot I told you that boobies are actually called breasts."
Isaac:"Oh yah, I forgot. Sorry Mummy."
Me:"It's okay. Just don't keep saying boobies okay?"
Isaac:"Okay, Mummy!"

29 November 2011 | Shawna @ 22 months

17 May 2011 | Shawna @ 16 months

So, does Shawna have boobies? Yes, indeed she does. Manage to pull out the above pics which show her cleavage, but is not too chao-gng (over-exposed). Most of our friends and family have noticed her very natural cleavage. It's so amazing. Who'd have thought that one can have a cleavage at such a young age?!

Asher the lazy eater

Asher stares on in horror at Shawna licking her plate clean... | Pic taken on 7th April 2012

Asher and Shawna are as different as twins come. As you can see from their sizes, Shawna definitely eats more than Asher does. But then, anybody can easily eat more than Asher does, even a 10 month old, I'd say. That's coz Asher doesn't eat much at all.

While Shawna took to solids with great gusto, trying almost everything, lapped up the porridge, then rice, and now noodles and meat and vegetable... Asher just didn't eat. He survives mainly on the formula milk he drinks. Other than that, he doesn't seem interested in most solid food. When we fed him solid food, he used to gag, no matter the amount of food we fed him.

With most kids, when they take to solids slower, people just wave it off as a "late" bloomer. But with a twin sister around, people kind of assume that you should be more or less the same pace as the twin, if not, something must be wrong. Everyone was very concerned. Were Asher's tonsils too big? Is his tongue stuck to the bottom of his mouth? Are his teeth too small? His tongue too short? Too big?

The boy and his chocolate cake | Pic taken on 30th December 2011

Rubbish. You know what gets his mouth open? CHOCOLATE. This boy luurrrves chocolate. He had his first taste of chocolate when he was about 18 months old, in Margaret River, Perth, Australia. Chocolate from the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. You could feed him a whole chunk of chocolate, and he'd know how to bite it, chew and swallow it. So there's nothing wrong with his teeth or his tongue or his throat or whatever. He's just inherited my love for chocolate - though he's much more extreme than me!

He's just a lazy eater with a sweet tooth. He used to only take cereal for his meals. And it's not cornflakes kinda cereal, it's the Nestum, Quaker Oats kinda cereal - the really runny and gooey stuff. He likes gooey stuff, apparently. Just swallow. Asher's improved a bit lately. He likes spaghetti, chinese thin noodles, and sometimes takes rice. Recently, we even resorted to giving him "spaghetti rice" - rice with spaghetti sauce on it. Though with him, we tend to have to cut up the noodles and meat a bit, coz the lazy eater him just swallows his food.

Comparatively, Shawna and Isaac are much easier to feed.

No, she didn't eat ALL of those...

Above two pix: The kids first taste of hawker food. | Pix taken on 19th February 2012

Shawna likes most food but we realise that she likes variety. She may love the food you're giving her, but if you give it to her too often, she starts to reject it. So even though she likes rice, she started rejecting it for awhile. Until I realised that she wants variety. So now, I make sure we stock up on different types of pasta: abc pasta, macaroni, angel hair, spaghetti, the shells, etc. 

Isaac has his favourites that are good fall-backs: chicken rice, char siew rice, pizza, spaghetti... He used to be really picky till he started childcare, so he's pretty good with eating most stuff now.

It's good that they all like spaghetti. We're ready for a trip to Australia now :) kekeke...

Backpost... safer?

Recently with all the kidnapping scare, I've been wondering if I have been too open on my blog, about our lives. Am I giving away too many details about ourselves? Is my blogging endangering my children's lives? One good habit I have, I suppose, is that I try not to blog about "upcoming events". I usually blog about events that have past. I remember a picnic we had several years ago with some close friends of mine, and I took pictures of the kids playing. My friend turned to me and said:"So I guess we'd see these pictures on your blog only after a few months? Or maybe... next year?" :p

Well, unfortunate as it may be that I am so'late' in my blogging (blogging about something which happened months ago), it has appeared to be a positive safety "feature" in these scary times. hehehe...

So without further ado, I present to you my latest backpost - New Stuff for the New Year!

Hmmm... "latest backpost" - oxymoron?! :)

How the Grinch Stole Breastfeeding

I love Dr Seuss books, and when I posted "Breastfeeding, the Dr Seuss style" the last time (which Andrea sent me), she sent me another one! This one below!

How the Grinch Stole Breastfeeding

By Chuck Dufano, WIC breastfeeding coordinator with the Johnson County Health Department in Iowa City, Iowa (with thanks to Dr. Seuss).

Every Who down in Who-ville liked breastfeeding a lot
But the Grinch,
Who lived just north of Who-ville,
Did NOT!

The Grinch hated breastfeeding -- no matter what season,
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be, he thought, there wasn't enough nourishment.
It could be, perhaps, to see it caused him embarrassment.
But I think that the most likely reason above others
Was he thought the Who-kids would love only their mothers.

And the more the Grinch thought all about breastfeeding
The more the Grinch thought, "I must stop this whole thing!
Why for fifty three years I've put up with it. Now,
I must stop these Who-kids from breastfeeding...but how?"

Then he got an idea.
An awful idea!
The Grinch
Got a wonderful, awful idea!

"I know just what to do!" the Grinch laughed in his throat.
And made a quick Santy Claus hat and a coat.
And he grabbed a big briefcase with great Grinchy pep.
"In this get-up I look like a formula rep!"

All the Whos were dreaming sweet dreams without care
When he came to the first little house on the square.
He climbed down the chimney while the Whos still slept
Then off to the nursery on his belly he crept.

He took all the bra pads and breast shells.
He took all the bags for expressed milk as well
He took the diaper log and breastfeeding diary
He took the La Leche League book from the library.

In their place he put powdered Enfamil cans
And Prosobee concentrate for soy-formula fans.
Next to it all with a great heavy lug
He placed a gallon store-bought filtered water jug.

"And NOW," grinned the Grinch, "the last thing to dump
Is the electric double breastfeeding pump!"
And the Grinch grabbed the pump, and he started to shove.
When he heard the small sound like the coo of a dove.
He turned around fast and saw a small Who.
Little Cindy-Lou Who, who was not more than two.

She stared at the Grinch and said "Santy Claus, why,
Why are you taking our breastpump, why?"

But you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
"Why my sweet little tot," the fake Santy Claus lied,
"There's something wrong with the wiring inside.
So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear,
I'll fix it up there.  Then I'll bring it back here."

But Cindy-Lou Who started to fret.
"Oh, my Daddy's going to be awfully upset!
He feeds baby mommy's milk when she is away,
He does this at least two or three times every day!"

"You mean your Daddy can feed baby breastmilk?"
The Grinch asked Cindy-Lou.
"Oh, yes," she replied,
And he changes diapers, too!
He gives the baby a bath and they play peek-a-boo.
When mommy's nursing he brings her a cup of water or two!"

Now the Grinch stood puzzling and puzzling 'til his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
"Maybe breastfeeding," he thought, shouldn't make me moan.
"Maybe breastfeeding...perhaps...isn't mother's job alone!"

And now that his heart was no longer bitter
He became the official Who-baby sitter.
And to all those who listened to his heeding

He...he HIMSELF!
The Grinch encouraged breastfeeding!

Dating life? Huh? What's that?

 

I'd recently been invited to joined a Closed Group on Facebook - a group of Singapore Mom Bloggers. It's a pretty active group, not surprising really, since it's a group of women who love to blog and are hence, more articulate than the average person. It's nice to talk to people who are as susceptible to succumb to verbal diarrhoea as I am :p Verbal Diarrhoea Anonymous kekeke...

 This morning, Evelyn wrote this blog post on her blog, and asked the question "How long did you take to get your dating life on track?" Adeline said:"Huh? What's that?" (which I immediately "Liked" and promptly borrowed her line for my title of this post).

With three kids, it is indeed very difficult to have time for just the two of us. When the kids are in childcare, we're at work. At nights and during the weekends, hubbs and I make it a point to treasure the time we have with the kids and be with them. We enjoy taking them out (park, playground, swimming, zoo, bird park, visit friends...) or just doing stuff with them indoors (play boardgames, jigsaws, read books, watch movies on our home theatre system...)... However, this conspires to ensure that we hardly have time for ourselves to even read the newspapers in peace, much less have a 'date'.

 

However, every once in awhile, hubbs and I would try to find time to spend a few quiet moments with each other. Usually, we'd take advantage of the situations/circumstances in our lives. For one, hubbs and I enjoy going for concerts and plays/performances. So a few times a year, when certain artists we like throws a concert, we'd book tickets to go. These past years, we've been to Eric Moo concert (where I fell asleep hugging hubbs' leg as he was standing on the chair having a raving good time), went to Chong Feng (Singapore xinyao) quite a number of years, Air Supply concert, Kit Chan concert, and recently to a performance by Corrinne May. Thankfully, my parents, in-laws, or my sister would help us out with babysitting the kidzes for a few hours.

Sometimes, we would take leave and spend the day together. Or when the childcare has some school celebration (for Christmas, Chinese New Year, and whatnot) so that we are supposed to be at the childcare at 4pm for some performance by the kids - we'd both usually try to take leave that day, so that we can spend the morning and early afternoon together while the kids are in childcare - yes, we send them in as usual! :)

On such occasions, we don't usually do anything spectacular. But we usually make sure we have a good meal together - whether it is a Japanese ala carte buffet, or head down to Chinatown for my favourite jiao-zi (dumplings) and his favourite frog legs porridge or even something as mundane as a meal in our nearby coffeeshop. But at least we get to eat in peace and quiet, something which is hard to come by with 3 kids!

We also enjoy having a foot/back massage together. Or we go check out some place that we've been hearing about but never got the chance to go yet - like this obscure industrial building at Kallang River that has been repositioned as an eclectic mix of idunnowhat. Called Ture (as in the last syllable of "adventure" - yes, horrible name indeed). It has a gourmet coffee joint on the ground floor, a children's enrichment centre, a ukelele shop, and a rockclimbing gym, to name some of the tenants.)

The thing about stealing time together - we talk a lot about the kids! We enjoy laughing about the antics the kids get up to, and re-enacting the funny look/face Asher did the previous night. Laugh about how feisty Shawna is. Commiserate with each other on how Isaac's whining is driving us crazy. So in a way, the kids are always with us. And having recharged by spending some leisure time together, we go fetch the kids from childcare a littler earlier, so that we can have more time with them that night. We found that we miss the kids!

That said, I think it's important that we still have our couple time, even if we spend most of it talking about the kids :) So, I wouldn't say we have a dating life - but we do try to steal some time alone, now and then. And that works for us.

Now, what I would like to get back, is the number of photos we have taken as a couple! There're virtually none in recent years! I managed to find these three above from a photoshoot we did back in April 2010!!! Which is almost 2 years ago!!!

Rockclimbing is more brain than brawn!

Last Sunday, we went to our friend's place for a rockclimbing session. Our friend, Chee Beng, a rockclimbing enthusiast has a rockclimbing wall installed on the side of his corner terrace home. So he and his family welcomes us over anytime to climb his wall. Being a rockclimbing enthusiast himself, hubbs is happy to oblige and drop by to climb.

Below is our Isaac, trying to climb the wall. A half meter higher (than in the picture) is about as far as he got that day. It was his third time climbing a wall. He tried a few times on Sunday, but I don't think he made it to the top. We tried to console ourselves that "he's inexperienced" and "he's just a little boy". But our friends,  Chan Peng and Xiaofeng's sons, just put that theory to rest.

 

Photo collage courtesy of Hay & Yu's parents' Chan Peng & Xiaofeng

The boy above in red is Yu, he is 4 years old this year. And Sunday was his first time climbing a rockclimbing wall. And look, he made it to the top! Below, the boy in white, is Yu's older brother - Hay, who is 6 years old this year. Also his first time climbing, and he managed to scale the entire wall too. As you can see, these boys aren't exactly mini Ironmans or anything like that. Yu is average in size, and Hay is one of the scrawniest 6 year old boys I have ever seen, and yet, they could do it. They scaled the wall.

Photo collage courtesy of Hay & Yu's parents' Chan Peng & Xiaofeng

We realised that rockclimbing is, in a way, more brain than brawn. All things being equal, having the right attitude is more important than having more muscles. Hay & Yu persevered, and kept trying, and they managed to scale the wall.

Isaac, on the other hand, kept saying things like "I cannot do it." "I can't I can't", and gave up a bit too easily. Looking back, I wasn't surprised, as Isaac is the type that has to have a lot of early success in order to bolster his confidence into persevering and doing well. This extends to other parts of his life. Just that it is in this instance, that it brought this aspect out so starkly.

Discussing this with hubbs, it triggered another discussion on an issue which was lingering at the back of our minds. Isaac starts primary school in 2 years time, you see. And hubbs being a Catholic High School (Pri & Sec) alumni, Isaac would have priority to get into Catholic High Primary School. Our problem is that it's sooooo far from where we are currently staying, so we are thinking twice about sending Isaac there. It seems a fightful waste not to send him to such a good school though.

But now, this discussion triggered a thought. Isaac is a very bright boy and from what we can see, he is above average amongst his peers. But, given his character, perhaps Isaac would fare better if he were placed in an average school where he is amongst the top-performers; rather than go to a good school like Catholic High, and he average there. Hmmmm... food for thought... we have one year to decide where to register him for...

Note: Photo-collages were used with approval. They first appeared at the Chans' blog here!

Corrinne May @ St Mary's

I had a fantastic day today. I took leave today. Had the morning to myself after dropping the kids off at childcare. In the afternoon hubbs and I went to Parents' Day at the kidzes' childcare, to see the kids perform (this warrants another post altogether). After that we whisked the kids off to my sister's place where Isaac had swimming class - I finally got to take some pix of him in swimming class as I am usually at work when he has his swim class. Then in the evening, we headed off to my church to attend a free concert by Corrinne May! Oh and did I mention that I listened to my favourite Corrinne May CD - Safe in a Crazy World - in the car all day while driving?! :)

Ah! Corrinne May was fantabulous. I like her voice, I mean, I'd always liked her singing. But today is the first time I see her in person. And I like her. She's humble, she's funny, she's sincere and earnest, she's generous(free concert!)... oh, and she mumbles. It's funny how her singing is clearer than when she speaks. Perhaps she was nervous; or maybe she was rushing coz there wasn't enough time. But it was cute. The mumbling, I mean.

But I think what touched my heart was that she is Catholic, and she is a mother (like me!). She has a little girl called Claire who's about 3 years old. And she's a Catholic (like me!!!). From her songs, I'd guessed she was Christian. But I didn't know she was a Catholic Christian. (Anyone who says that Catholics aren't Christians deserves to be short - yes short. Short-sighted and shortened lifespan, I say! :p)

I digress.

Corrinne May's faboo! I love her songs coz they always have some kinda story in them, and they just seem to tug at my heartstrings. Today, she sung songs from her new album that was just released this month - Crooked Lines (out in all good record stores in Singapore, now! grab yours before they're all gone and you have to resort to Amazon!)

Before singing each song, she briefly spoke about the song, what it's about, or what inspired her to write that song. She has songs inspired by her daughter's drawings, by her daughter playing on some ipad app, by the Easter candle lighting during an Easter Virgil mass, by the story of two loaves & five fishes, of how life is precious and that everyone should be given a chance to live... and many more. Very down-to-earth, and real, and of topics close to my heart. 

Several times while she was singing, I was moved to tears. I don't really know why. Just sitting there, in the pristine church, letting her music and lyrics wash over me, thinking of certain people who were in my life, and of how blessed I am right now in everything I do. It just was.

And suddenly it wasn't "so weird" that I was sitting in my church, the Church of St Mary of the Angels in Bukit Batok, the church which I have attended for more than 20 years of my life, the church I got married in, where my three kids and I got baptised in - listening to a pop star belting out her latest album. I believe the songs tonight were carefully chosen, to reflect the venue.They were very apt.

All too soon, the night drew to an end. The audience shouted encore, and Corrinne obliged us two more songs. And after that, we all quietly and sadly sat as we looked at Corrinne and her band walk off the stage. Not one person asked for another encore though I knew that everyone wished she could have sung for another hour or more. I know I did. I almost wanted to shout "Awww.... JUST ONE MORE!? PLEEEEASE!!! ANGEL IN DISGUISE!!!" That's my favourite Corrinne May song, Angel in Disguise (see youtube vid). But we were all so polite - as was her constant refrain tonight. Too polite.

But I couldn't have asked for more. I'd caught a free concert given by one of my favourite musicians of all time, in my very own church. And in doing so, I found that not only is she a great singer/musician (she writes great lyrics, composes great music, she can sing and talk while playing the piano, sing while playing the guitar, AND she can sing while sucking on a lozenge - how fab is that?!) - but that she also has a great personality to boot. You can't say that for all stars. But for this one, you can :)

Thank you, Corrinne May! We had a lovely time tonight :)

Isaac likes high number

Isaac @ 4 years 7 months plus | picture taken 13th March 2012

It's the school holidays this week. Technically the kids don't have school holidays since they're in childcare. But as it is the school hols, hubbs found out that there was this 2 day Chinese course thingy, and he promptly signed Isaac up for it. Hubbs is consciously trying to make sure that Isaac has a healthy interest in the language.

So Isaac didn't need to put on his uniform today. I dressed him in longs coz I kinda assumed that the place would be air-conditioned and he might get cold. This morning, as I was dressing him, he took a look at the print on the shirt and said -

Isaac: "Ninety. Look Mummy, ninety."
Me: "Huh. Not ninety. It's zero, nine. So it's nine, not ninety."
Isaac: "Zero, nine. Is nine?"
Me: "Yes, Isaac. You know that what. Zero and nine is 9. Nine then zero is 90."
Isaac: "Huuuuh.... I don't want 9, I want 90, I like high number!!!"
Me: "Er... 9 is high. 9 upon 10 is very high also."
Isaac: "Oh alright, Mummy."

Isaac has a tendency to fuss about the oddest things, and I was just glad to avert another episode. When he saw pictures of hubbs and I, ones that we took when we were dating, before we even got married. Isaac'd ask why he wasn't in the pictures. After I explained to him that that was taken before he was born, I tried to distract him by telling him about where that picture was taken - in Vietnam. Then Isaac started to fuss and complain that he hasn't been to Vietnam and he wants to go there. I'd say, "Okay, next time, we'd bring you there." and he'd say things like "But I want to be there with you when you took THIS picture!" And we're like !?!?!??!?!?! My Isaac, my Isaac!

Regarding the above 09/90 conversation, I was also amused to hear that Isaac "likes high numbers". I didn't get to ask him this morning why he liked high numbers as I was trying to avert an episode. Why would he show a preference for "higher numbers"? My guess is coz he's so competitive. That he wants to be the best and win all the time, and most of the time, the higher the number, "the better the results". Well, this is my guess. I'd have to ask him sometime :)

Look what we learn in school

One thing I like about the kids' childcare centre is - they take pictures of the kids' activities and paste them on the wall. I'm not sure if all the childcare centres do this, but I thought it was a pretty good practice, so that the kids can look at it in class, and remember the activities they did. And also so that parents can see a sample of what their kids have been doing in school

 

 

Asher's and Shawna's hand and foot prints. I'm praying that they don't turn out to be flat footed like Isaac and I. Those customised insoles sure don't come cheap! But they certainly seem to be helping (both Isaac and I are wearing them), so it's money well spent, in my opinion.

Below is a chart that shows picture talk - I think the kids were shown pictures and they were supposed to describe what they see. Apparently, out of the 5 kids in their class, only Asher and Shawna managed to actually say something about the picture. 

Shawna said:"Shawna water bottle." and Asher said:"Barney bottle Asher"

Friends whom we've met up with often comment that Asher & Shawna are very articulate/verbal for so young an age. Perhaps, I thought, but I recall Isaac even being more verbal that the twins are. Anyway, it's very amusing to hear them talk.

 

Below are Asher & Shawna's work of art. They were given balls (above) and paint, and just given free hand to create their own work of art. It's great that they do this in school. At home, we're usually too concerned that they'd make a mess of the house if we allow them to do such an activity. I know! We shouldn't think like that, but we can't help it! In any case, great that they get to do this in school.

Below is apparently a documentation of a show and tell session of dress-up. Sooooo cute. It's quite a good idea actually, to just bring out some old clothes and let the kids have fun in it. I love getting ideas from the childcare for stuff to do at home with the kids :) Particularly love it when I see such pictures, coz the kids are still too young to really verbalise and tell me what they do in school. So these are really great. Appreciate the effort put into all the documentation!

Once in awhile, I love to go into the kids classroom to take pictures of all these. So after the twins' class, I went over to Isaac's classroom to take the following pictures. This year, Isaac is in Kindergarten 1. Previously, in N1 and N2, he had the same classmates. This year, the school mixed up the two classes a little, so he has some different classmates this year. This could be why the teachers made them do this little "self-introduction" thingy above. I didn't realise my photo chopped off a bit of the left hand side of the paper... But basically Isaac wrote:"My name is Isaac. I am 4 yrs old. I like to eat chicken rice. I like Ironman and Spiderman".

All the kids did a version of what Isaac did below. They drew some books and wrote words with the gist of what Isaac wrote above:"Do not bend the books. Do not throw the books on the floor. Do not step on the books." I didn't get a chance to ask Teacher Sharm whether she dictated the words to the kids, or whether they phrased it themselves. I suspect the kids phrased it themselves, becauseI saw one version that says "Cannot bend books. Cannot throw books. Cannot step books" from a boy whose English was below average. It's great that the school teaches such values as well.

 

The above is hilarious. Haven't got to ask Isaac about it, but perhaps they were learning about sounds? He writes:"I like the car tyre sound. teeeeees. I like my neighbour's doorbell sound tinge ting" hahahaha...

At first when I saw the stuff below on a table at a corner of the class, I was wonder "What in the world is THAT?!" Then I realised... they're supposed to be toothbrushes!!! hahahaha... 

"The dentist will check for tooth decay. We need brush teeth before going to bed." Very good, very pleased they're also reinforcing this in school. No wonder Isaac has been more willing to brush his teeth before bed nowadays... :)

Pictures taken in March 2012

Saving petrol for tomorrow?

Hubbs posted this on his Facebook wall last night:"Was cruising home in the car with Isaac. As the cars beside us are overtaking us, he turned sideway and asked:"Papa, are you saving petrol for tomorrow?" LOL"

 

Now, let me give you the background to that quip...

Isaac has always been a competitive child. He wants to win all the time. Well, I guess most kids want to, right? But we've noticed that Isaac is slightly more competitive than average. It shows in his reactions when he plays boardgames etc.

Lately, he has even started to make comments like...
Isaac: "Hah! See, I finish my milk FIRST. I am FASTER than Asher & Shawna! hahaha. I WIN! You two LOSE!!!"
Me:"Okay, that's good Isaac. Good that you're fast. But there's no need to compete in everything. And don't say that Asher and Shawna are losers. If they finish their milk, they are also winners. You're all good boys and good girl if you finish your milk. It's not nice to tell others that they're losers, you should instead encourage them, say "You can do better, Asher! Try harder next time! Okay?"
Isaac:"Okay, Mummy! Ah! Asher! You're done! You're the second winner! Shawna, come on! You can do it!!!"
Me:"Hahahaha..."
Isaac:"Like that, Mummy?"
Me:"Yes, that's right, just like that."

Isaac @ 4 years 5 months plus | Pictures taken on 29th January 2011

Like the typical boy, Isaac also likes to race, and be faster. Lately, when we drive in the car, he'd ask us to speed up the car to overtake other cars on the road etc. So, the night before last night, we had this conversation in the car:
Isaac:"Quick, Papa! Go faster! See if you can be faster than this gray car... ... ... ah yah, we are too slow..."
Me:"Isaac, there is no need to go faster than every car on the road. There will always be cars on the road ahead of you."
Hubbs:"Yeah, no need to go so fast. You see, now got traffic light, all stop. Go so fast also no use."
Me:"That's right. Waste petrol only."
Hubbs:"Yeah, go so fast - waste petrol."
Isaac:"Waste petrol?"
Me:"Yes, because you use up more petrol when you accelerate the car too quickly."
Isaac:"What is accelerate?"
Me:"Er... accelerate is to go very fast."
Isaac:"Oh, go too fast will waste petrol?"
Hubbs:"That's right. Too fast waste petrol. Then traffic light, all stop. All wasted!"
Me:"Yes, and petrol is very expensive. You need money to buy petrol. If you waste petrol, you waste money. We must save money."
Isaac:"Ah... I must save money so that I can buy my small house in Australia?"
Me:"Yes, you must save money to buy anything, including your small house in Australia."

So it was particularly hilarious, when last night... we were driving back home, on the road when Isaac observed that our car was not as fast as some other cars on the road and he said: "Papa, are you saving petrol for tomorrow?" :) He's a fast learner ;p

Backposts January 2011

"Faint! Mummy's forever behind in blogging!!!" Asher @ 12 months plus | 22nd January 2011

Here are the rest of January 2011's backposts! Yay!

• Click here to see all January 2011 posts (oldest posts right at the bottom)

Or click on the links below to see each post individually.

• 2-Jan-2011 - Mini-cuzzies hang out!
• 7-Jan-2011 - Kor Kor Isaac
• 17-Jan-2011 - The Story of the Double Stroller
• 21-Jan-2011 - Do the twins look alike?
• 23-Jan-2011 - Balance bike
• 29-Jan-2011 - CNY 2011 Reunion Dinner

Backpost: 1st Jan 2011 - The twins turn ONE!

1st January 2010
Isaac @ five days to 3 years 5 months
Asher & Shawna @five days to 1 year old

If you look to your right, you would have noticed that we have added a Facebook plug-in for a Fan Page of the Tan Family Chronicles!!! Yes, I've finally got round to doing it! So, in order to celebrate that, I've done a nice long backpost with pictures of Asher & Shawna's one year old birthday party, and what turned out to be like a "year in review" post for 2010. Here's the link, enjoy!!! :)