Ryan @ 3y7m

During our breakfast, we were talking to Ryan about not crying when we sent him to kindy.  By talking to him that we say good-bye mummy, give a kiss and hug.

Suddenly, Ryan came out with this:

Ryan:  when I big boy, I have kid, I send him to kindy

Mum:  and then...

Ryan:  if he cries, I quickly go up into the car and go off

Mum:  huh, so I treat you the same

Ryan:  NO NO NO

Little Helping Hands

From a very early age, household tasks can be a place where children stretch themselves. As well as; bond with you, strengthen their sense of home and belonging, learn team work, develop responsibility, learn commitment, build skills, feel a sense of accomplishment, discover the value of cleanliness, learning that work is a natural part of life, develop gross-motor skills…

  

Lovely Ian asked for some ideas on age-appropriate chores for children, especially for him, what he can help me.

These are some sample guides:

Some points to consider:

Patience
Don't get them helping if you're feeling rushed, they'll sense your impatience.  Accept that their 'helping' will make chores take longer.

Forget perfection
It's not about getting things done to our standard, it's about being involved together, and as they become older, doing it so that they feel they're doing it well enough.

Praise
Don’t forget to praise them by appreciative words as  it’s an important motivation to them.  Like saying “Thank you” or “Good boy! What a brilliant job you did putting books away.  You’re amazing”

Consistency
Fitting chores into your routine, like living in a general rhythm anyway, helps children accept chores as part of the daily life.
If you really are rushed and choose to do something yourself, choose something that they probably won't notice it's been done for them. If a child learns it's optional, that's such an easy way out, for any of us!

Teamwork
I find that just asking a child to do a task can be hit or miss.  If I can do something side by side with them, there's a better chance of success.  If I remind them the toys need tidying, I'll also mention that I'll start lunch.  When he was younger, we tidied his toys together.

Be Specific
Tidy up, clean your room, clean that mess, even set the table....  Try instead, time to place the toys in their boxes, please could you pick up all the dirty clothes from the floor/your room, here are the cutlery for you to place for each person.  The wording would change, but being specific goes for every age.

Fun
Make it fun whenever possible.  It can also be a time to chat together.
Children love 1-2-1 time with their parents, so if household tasks means also special time with mum or dad, wow, what a motivator, right?!

Boat Riding

I received a call from Golden Horses Health Sanctuary, it's about a free 1 night stay with the selection from either one hotel in Palace of Golden Horses, Mines Wellness Resort, Country Heights Resort, Ancasa Resort Allsuites, Perdana Beach Resort or Equatorial Hill Resort.  Besides that, there's also a 10 min boat ride from Palace of Golden Horses to Mines Wellness Resort.  The term & conditions is husband and wife must attend an hour briefing on their product.

On the 7 Apr 2013, after the boat riding and visiting their premises, it almost took us 3 and half hours for the whole briefing and ended up with less choices of hotel to select.  Finally, we've chosen Country Heights Resort in Kajang to stay.  Due to the Palace of Golden Horses and Mines Wellness Resort are not in the list of our voucher.

Futsal

Ian has stopped his kids futsal training nearby our place, coz the time table crashed with the English lesson.  James found another one in Sunway, so we just went there have a trial session, but only 1 big kid + Ian.  :(

Kid'z Paradise

On 5 Apr 2013, Ian & Ryan were no school, after picking up Ian from the tuition centre, we proceed to have fun at Kid'z Paradise which is located at Level 4, The Mines.

I grabbed a deal from Livingsocial on Jan 2013, it's only RM10 per child for a full day admission.  I bought 4 tickets, so we can still visit one more time with this special offer.

The normal rate is:
Admission (per day)
- Weekdays RM25
- Weekend, School Holidays & Public Holidays RM38

Business hours:  Mon - Sun 10am to 10pm
For children from age 6 months to 13 years old

I think the specialty is the black sand pool, they enjoy playing...

Sand Pool

Trampoline

Uniqlo Opening @ Alamanda

5 Apr 2013, the first 500 customers will get an exclusive UNIQLO tumbler at Alamanda store grand opening or with every RM200 nett spent in a single receipt.

We'd attended the last 2 grand opening in KLCC and Setia City Mall and the freebee was the Uniqlo recycle bag.

Ryan was no school, so brought him along to get the tumbler, and we managed to grab some good deals.  Altogether 4 tumblers.

After shopping, we'd our lunch at Old Town Kopitiam @ Alamanda.

A Secret

After picking up Ian from school, on the way back, Ian said:

Ian:  Mom, I've a secret with Daddy
Mom:  What is it about?
Ian:  It's a secret, secret means cannot tell.
Mom:  Ok

So I checked with James, what's this "Secret" about...

The secret is:
He has a plan to bring me to Riverside Grill & Bar on Mother's Day.  So sweet...

Ian 8th Birthday

Ian is turning EIGHT.  He's been awaiting his birthday!!  Coz he knows there'll be a present for him.  I promised him to buy LEGO for him, initially he wanted to buy police station, but it’s out of stocks, so finally he’s chosen fire station.

Weight:  25 kg

Height:  130 cm

Summary of the Year:
7 

- May have trouble concentration in school;

- Can blame mom for something go wrong;

- Sometimes unkind to Ryan, must win;
- Start to like sport & Daddy let him to explore on football game, it’s involving good physical control, but still need more practices;

7½ 

- He’ll know to turn off the TV (Rule set by Daddy).  Get used to routine of doing homework at 7:30pm and showing me the homework after finished;

- Ian has rewarded the Attitude Improvement Award for the month of August among primary 1 in school.  

7¾ 

- Strong on personal preference like what to wear, eat;

- Helping out around the house.  He always lends a hand with tasks in the kitchen and garden.

Milestone:
Sleep - 8:45 pm goes up to bedroom, drink milk, read bible/story book.
Talking - He mostly speaks Mandarin, but still can speak English and Cantonese.
Separation & independent - He's still clingy with us, especially need one of us to accompany him to sleep.  And I think he still has a shy, anxious or timid temperament.

Self-Care
- He’s comfortable taking a bath or shower on his own
- can tidy-up/pick-up the toys after playing
- packing his school bag daily

- Wash his own dishes

- Carry in groceries

- Could not tying shoes lace

- with annoying habits

Prayer:
God, thank you for Ian and this day, his birthday.  Thank you for the cake, the presents, the party, and for everyone who loves and care for Ian.  Bless Ian and grant him many, many more memories in the years to come.  May God continue to equip you to be a great person of God & walk in the light of His love, in Jesus name, Amen.

Lego City Ambulance

Ian has addicted to Lego, he likes it very much.  Every time after completion of a set, I can see the satisfaction on his face.

This's a birthday present requested by himself from YeeJiong & YenYee.

Term 1 School Break 2013

Only 1 week of break, it’s really short.  Ian has attended 3 days computer class titled “Cartoon Maker”.  During the school holiday, normally I'll bring them to watch movie without a miss.  After the last day of the class, we brought them to watch Ah Boys to Men.  Initially I wanted to bring them to watch cartoon, but Ian insisted to watch that movie.  Before the movie, we had tea time at I Love Yoo then dinner at Kim Lian Kee Restaurant.

Actually, there're 2 plans still have not done, that is:

1)  Art & Crafts - Air Plane

2)  Go Kid'z Paradise @ The Mines

Dynabook Grade Exam Certificate Presentation 2013

When Ian was requested to enroll by his teacher last year, we are also not sure what it is.  We requested to pay RM40 for the exam fees.  The course topic he took is Creative Painting + Typing Skills. 

The Grade Exams are held from July to Mid-September in the school computer labs every year, in which scores are divided into 40% theory-based and 60% practical-based.  The certificate received by students will be issued by both Dynabook and SEGI University College. 

We’re surprised that Ian brought back a notice mentioned that he obtained a distinction for the exam and with a reply slip whether he wanted to attend the certificate presentation ceremony.  It was held on 24 Mar 2013 at SJKC Yuk Chai.

Before we entered to the hall, there’re some booths for us to visit and understand in details of the products and course.  There’re also a soft-launch of Smart Bees Online Learning for Primary School, so it took quite long for the opening speech.  After that, I think it’s a bit torturing for the students as well as the parents, due to the participants were numerous.  All you need to do is to wait patiently.

I think this's certainly worth for attending, it's really built the confident on learning and exploring for the students.

Congrats!  Ian

Ninja Warrior

What a joke?  Ian said he wants to train up to participate in Ninja Warrior when he's 18 years old.

We always bring them to this playground in our garden to play while James can do his jogging.

EleFUN Holiday - Sunway Pyramid

After Ian's Dynabook certificate presentation, we proceeded to shop at Sunway Pyramid.  When we arrived we noticed that Sunway Pyramid organized an EleFUN Holiday: A Pygmy Elephant Project from 16-31 March 2013, to create public awareness for the vulnerable wildlife and encourage shoppers to Go Green to save the elephants.

The displays of pygmy elephant sculptures as painted by independent local artists and talents can be found at LG1 Main Concourse.

Throughout the period, there are plenty of fun-filled and educational activities, including:

·           the Leo & Leona Walkabout

·           Go Green With Leo & Friends Workshops

·           Colour A Pygmy, Pot-a-Plant

·           Forest Talk and Save Energy Workshops

There are also:

Eco-friendly "HEARTS" Bag Redemption: 
Redeem and personalised your own eco-friendly HEARTS bag when you spend RM400 in 2 receipts (RM300 for HSBC Cardmembers). 

However, we didn't spend so much...

Love Note

A Love note from Ian...

Computer Radiation Reducer

I bought this environmental friendly product - OSIDUN Computer Radiation Reducer @ RM299 with 3 years warranty.

It's claimed that:

-  Reduces radiation around computer and surrounding devices up to 6';
-  Reduce electric-magnetic, electronic field, low, medium and high frequency radiation;
-  Filters hazards of electronic radiation;
-  Easy to use and simple installation using USB port;
-  Protects computer users' health.

KFC Breakfast

The boys always bugging for McD breakfast, so James agreed to buy them today, unfortunately, we're told that it's not ready yet.  They're so disappointed, James suggested to buy KFC which was on the same row of the shop.  They immediately jumped up and nodded their head.

Wall Photo Frames 2

After the post dated May 2011, I managed to select the photos and make the collage of the photo frame.  I placed it nicely on the floor and let James to hang it.  James used the 3M Medium Interlocking Fasteners to hang the frame.  And we're short of it, so it's half way done, need to continue next round after buying the fasteners...

Preparation for Ian's 8th Birthday

Almost one month ahead, I've planned for Ian's 8th birthday party from choosing the party theme, invitation card, goody bag tag, candy wrapper, bottle label, food label, banner, thank you card and the food menu.  Initially I've chosen a football theme for him, but he does not like it and finally ended up with "Iron Man".  Therefore, I crazily searching for all the related stuff.

Ian Keep on bugging me for packing the goody bags for his birthday.  In fact, they're really helpful and excited...

A lazy Saturday

Lazy Saturday

Piggy Bank

Make a trip to bank in their angpow money into the bank, surprisingly, there's a free piggy bank for each of them, so added up there're 4 for Ian and 3 for Ryan.

I think teaching kids about how to handle money responsibly is one of the most important jobs as a parent.  Good money management is about simply forming good habits, learning good savings habits is an important life skill.  The younger the kids learn about saving money, the better habits they will have for their life.  

I always encourage them to take birthday and holiday money and add it to the savings account.

  

I practice to have them to use part of their allowance to buy small gifts for family members, especially around birthdays or holidays.  I hope this helps them to learn how to share, love each others and as well as budget.

Ryan @ 3y6m

After kindy, 

Ryan:  my friend was wearing the same "Micky Mouse" underwear with me
Me:  How do you know?
Ryan:  Coz I pulled off my pants to show him, and he also did the same
Me:  OMG, these little boys are so cute...

After dinner, Ryan brought the dragon fruit and fork for popo to eat, it's so sweet...

Before go to bed, Ryan hugged popo and said good night, see you later...

有感而言_3

After serving the dinner to them, I was washing the pots & utensils and my 2 little boys asked: 

Ian/Ryan: mummy, r u done? what're u doing there?
Me: washing...
Ian/Ryan: come and eat first, wash later...
Me: so warmed...

Police Girl

It's an awesome outfit, the police costume is belongs to Ryan, they're playing "police & theft", nobody wants to become theft.

So cute, nice to see cousins bonding and having fun!

Hangout

It's been awhile that we did not go shopping, after Ian's class and before Children Church, quickly asked James to drive us to Mid Valley to buy Ophelia's birthday present which supposed to buy last Dec, due to no stocks in the shop so dragged till now...  And Ian also has chosen his birthday gift.

After that, we had our lunch at Kim Gary.

Day dream

Wow, like having breakfast at Venice...

25 Feb 2013

CNY 2013

Part 1:
Plan for the CNY 2013 is to relax at home for a week, unfortunately it's became a most busy week.  Mom fell from stairs on 10 Feb 2013, elbow fracture and the ligament torn on the ankle, did an operations on the elbow and spent 3 days 2 nights at Columbia Asia, Balakong.

However, it's blessed to all of us including mom, a senior citizen fell from stairs (10 steps) and eventually lucky that only injured the elbow and ankle.  Thank you Lord for loving all of us all the times...

After a week, back to work on 18 Feb, I gotto wake up at 4am to work till 9pm coz I need to work, cook, laundry, folding shirt, ironing, mopping floor, fetch & pick up sons.  It's sort of torturing... And suddenly I noticed that my hands look like 50 years old... Mom when will you be recovered?

Part 2:
CNY 2013 Activities:

YuChien's 8th Birthday Party-14 Feb 2013

CNY 2013 @ Lim Palace-16 Feb 2013

With Princess Charlize @ 3 mths

18 Feb 2013

有感而言_2

My little Ian has grown up "a bit", he reminded popo to take medicine last night at 8pm...

有感而言_1

Guess what? Ian gave Daddy & me an angpow last night, guess how much he put?

Haha, only RM1 each... He said he got no $... (he took from his Ben10 wallet)

It's the thought that counts and both of us wish that by God's grace, we can mould him to be a good boy/son... 

And his move made us "felt", "touched" & 贴心...


p/s:  钱的数目多寡不重要，因为小孩对钱的价值观不如大人。最重要的是，他那种自动自发给父母红包的意愿，很多时下年轻的，都不会给钱父母，反而做伸手将军呢！更何况这个年纪是给RM1，如他一直keep着这一种自发意愿，逐渐长大，数目肯定也会随之增加的嘛，对否？

Chopsticks

I tried to buy Ryan a pair of chopsticks for him to learn, but ended up with 2 pairs.  Don't buy the right side with the rabbit head, it's very difficult to use, that's why I bought the left one, it's ok but Ryan refused to use it (Don't know why).  I bought both from Daiso @ RM5 each.

Sometimes, maybe I'm thinking too much...
One day, during our lunch, Ryan said he wanted to use the chopsticks to eat his meal and he used it naturally to eat his noodle.  Praise the Lord and we really don't need to worry too much.  

8 Feb 2013

Art & Craft_Year of Snake

Ryan's Art & Craft from the kindy for the Snake Year 2013...