Jovann has turned 3 and a half

Jovann just turned 3 and a half, and Jazreel is turning 17mths soon. Watching them play together always brings a smile to our face, and re-affirms our decision to have 2 kids. Its priceless, watching their interaction, their hugs, their bickering. My fav times of the weekend is when we sit down together after dinner, watching them run amok around us. I always find it difficult to get up to start their bedtime routine.

(his 2nd trip to Night Safari, this time with Gong Gong Ma Ma. He had a great time that night.)

- He’s a sweet brother at times when he’s not quarelling with Jaz. Once, I tried feeding Jaz yogurt and she happened not to like that flavour. I looked sad, and Jovann asked me “Why Mommy?”. I told him meimei don’t want to eat. Jovann immediately asked “Can I feed meimei?”. When I agreed, he took the tub and spoon from me and carefully scooped and fed her spoon by dainty spoon! Jaz, on noticing that its gorgor holding the spoon, walked over and opened her mouth wide. She ate! Spoon by dainty spoon! Hehehe. It’s really heartwarming seeing them interact this way.

- Once when meimei cried and complained in the carseat on the way out, gorgor leaned over me and told her “meimei, don’t cry ok? Later we go home I give you toys to play ok? How about that?”

- He has quite a good memory. Few days back, he noticed again the NDP decal on Daddy’s car, and he asked me what’s that, and I told him it’s a sticker. He then told me it’s a sticker that’s given by a taxi uncle when we took a taxi last time. I was struck dumb for 5 seconds until I realized it’s true! It was about June last year (9mths) when we went to JBCG and we took a cab and the taxi driver gave us 1 decal! Gosh!

- One of his favourite persons is his 3rd Uncle. for some reason, he has developed attachment to his "sa zek" during the 1 mth Sa Zek was home for his school holidays. And when he left to go back Canberra to continue his studies, Jovann cried and cried that night when Daddy told him he won't see Sa Zek for some time. So when Sa Zek came back again recently for a few days, we made sure Jovann spent some time with him before he flies off. Sa Zek bought a fab glow-in-the-dark watch for Jovann, which he proudly wore. And the box it came in is now his everyday box in which he puts his fav dinosaurs and cars.

Look how happy he looks!

- He loves watching children's plays. Recently watched Julia Donaldon's Room On a Broom with Der Nen and Amabel, he loves it but was slightly afraid of the dragon like DN.

Also brought him to Child Size (Act 3) - A Festival for the Young Ones. Its an event where everything under that roof was customised for children aged 3-7. We bought tickets for both the Playden package and the Chamber Package, but had to miss the Playden one on 7 March coz he was coughing badly. He seemed to enjoy the Chamber Package on 14 March quite a lot. It started off with some free and easy craft activities, then a puppet session lasting 45mins.I had thought he won't sit through it, but surprisingly he was riveted to the story line, about a little mouse who was madly deeply in love with the moon because he thought it was one big piece of cheese. The mouse tried ways and means (making a spring, using balloons) to reach the moon, and Jovann turned to me and commented that maybe he can use a bird, or a unicorn because they have wings. Heee so cute. The puppet show was followed by a culture dance segment, where 2 indian teachers taught the kids how to do some simple indian dance steps. But, probably because we took a break after the puppet show to eat some breakfast, Jov needed a long time to warm up to that segment and refused to participate. After that was a segment by Act 3 themselves teaching rhythm and singing, culminating in a short stage performance by all the kids on the mini stage set out in the music room. Very fun, but as Jovann was too busy playing instead of learning the steps and lyrics, he basically just fooled around on stage. Hahaa.

After that, it was some craft activities again where we played with some cut outs from magazines to make them into decent man-looking or woman-looking figures which we can then dress up with magazine page clothes. Then we went to another segment where I made him a dinosaur which he can hold up with a black stick and pretend it's alive. :P

- One of his favourite show on PlayHouse Disney is Imagination Movers. He can sing the songs, and will get down to dance wildly when the song starts. Jaz also got in the mood.

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- He can be quite a charmer, and will compliment me on my dressing if its nice, saying "Mommy, you are very pretty" or "Mommy, you look like a princess". Needless to say, that charms my socks off. And his compliments are genuine too, 1 mth ago we met up with Auntie Karen whom is a pretty korean lady. Before we left the restaurant, he told her "You are so pretty!". hehehe. And just 2 weeks back, we bumped into a neighbour who happened to be carrying a branded bag. Before we went on our way, Jovann told her "Your bag is very nice.". Hahahahaa! He's also very very observant. When I am wearing long tights recently, he looked at my tights and told me "Mommy, you are like "Nobody"(WonderGirls)", just because he's been watching the Wondergirls video recently and he actually noticed they wear tights!!!

- Had a fun evening with DN and DS recently. They came over to our place and we ordered Pastamania. Jov and DN had a romantic dinner of classic spaghetti at the table.

I Love this SIBLINGs shoot.

CNY 2010

It is a very different CNY this year. Due to some recent events in the family, we are not supposed to do any CNY visiting. So the entire CNY is devoted to spending time with family, going out or to in-laws place for reunion dinner, carrying out the annual tradition of paying respects at ancestors resting places, and eating yummy food.

Reunion Dinner with Ah Gong Ah Ma.

She insisted on having a bowl of rice to herself and had fun "self-feeding"....leaving many grains of rice all over her mouth. :P

The brother and sister are in matching PJs. I love how they look in them! Who says different gender cannot have matching clothes! There you go!

CNY morning. She's making this face because she's lifting up her head letting gorgor tickle her neck. Jovann learnt this from hubby, coz hubby likes to trick Jov into looking up by asking him "Jovann, what's that up there huh??" and when Jov looks up hubby will tickle his neck. Although Jovann already wisen to the trick, but he still willingly lift up his neck, giggling madly all the way even before being tickled. And now he likes to do it back to us, and his meimei. Jaz loves it so much she will, without prompting, lift up her neck and chuckle. Heeeee......

Going to Ma Ma place!

Pretty Pedipeds... awwwwwww....how I love these cutesy red glossy things....
They better look cute enough for that kinda $$!

Well....they(Pedipeds) are the "Next Best Thing to Bare Feet" after all.....
...and eh....
Their philosophy is Comfort, Quality and Style.
...
and hhmmm...
They are the first children's shoe company the American Podiatric Medical Assosication awarded their Seal of Acceptance for promoting healthy foot development!
...
Ok ok! I am a sucker for pretty shoes!

Actually Jaz love her shoes very much too, she had on a pleased look when putting them on for her, and everywhere she goes she happily points out the shoes to Gong Gong or Ah Gong, and likes walking around in them once they are on.

CNY 2nd day

3rd day of CNY, went shopping at Paragon with Ah Gong Ah Ma! heeee...

Our yellow sun dresses

Its lovely when you can wear matching clothes with your little girl, hehehe! SO FUN! this is our second matching wear, but bought at different times. in fact, mine is ordered during my pregnancy days when she's still inside my tummy. Hers is bought when she's a few months old.

I love this photo! Taken at Hort Park in early Feb. :)

Jovann and the Hollywood Dinos

* How did he come to "play traunt"? Can't blame him, he had a good time (but worrying time for us) at home with attention from caregivers for many weeks when he's sick. On the day we sent him back to school, he kept insisting he's sick, and pretended to cough to prove his point. He even said "If I go to school, meimei will miss me". Good try Jovy.

* He loves telling me "You are so pretty, Mommy", and has learnt that saying that brings a smile to my face so knows when to use it (e.g. when I am mad at him for something). Hahahaa.

* He is very protective of meimei when out playing with friends, and will get fierce if anyone snatches her toys or accidentally nudges her. I guess only he himself can snatch her toy, sigh. But I must say he's getting slightlyyyyyyy better at sharing. Hope this gets better.

* He is eager to demonstrate to meimei how to use the nebuliser, and is very helpful and accomodated me when I asked him to dance in front of Jaz to distract her from the nebu.

* He grooves and bounces very happily when there's fast music.

* He loves "helping meimei walk", and will hold her hand or nudge her when she's taking toddling steps. I am usually torn between stopping him from making her fall or encouraging his brotherly concern.

* He likes to say "Its a morning day" when describing that its daytime...he also say "Its night day" when describing night time heheeh.

* Since he turn 3 yrs 3 months, IF he happens to wake up at night and we are still awake in the living room, he no longer cries, but will open the door, walk out of the room and calls out "Hello!!!" then contentedly gets back to bed with one of us and falls asleep again within 1 minute. This boy slept through the night at 4mths till he's 1 yr old, whereupon he started waking up.... It got better and he slept through again, then around 18mths he has these night terrors in which he started crying/screaming in his sleep and is unaware of our attempts to soothe him despite our efforts, but will soon stop at his own accord. Then the episodes dissappear and sleep through again. Until nowadays he will wake up sometimes one time at night between 12-1am, like how I mentioned above.

* He love playing with meimei more and more now, and the feeling is reciprocrated. The 2 of them had a very good time whenever they play in this submarine ball pit. Jovann is very considerate and will wear a mask when playing with meimei if he's sick.

* At SSO Babies Prom 2009. We managed to be there early this year for the pre-concert activities, which turned out to be rather interesting. Besides the free balloon arts, they also set up 4 stations introducing the different types of instruments - woodwind, percussion, string, brass, and showing where each group of musicians will be sitting during the concert by their different colour t-shirts.

* He's totally....TOTALLY...into dinosaurs. He loves them to bits, anything dinosaurs goes. He can identify and pronounce the names, syllable-perfect, of the following types of dinosaurs:
 >> the more common ones...
 - Tyrannasaurus Rex
 - Stegosaurus
 - Triceratops
 - Velociraptor
 - Bronchiosaurus

>> and the more obscure ones (at least to me!!)
 - Pterosaur
 - Ceratosaurus
 - Spinosaurus
 - Scelidosaurus
 - Ankylosaurus
 - Therizinosaurus
 - Duckbill dinosaurs
 
Thanks to him, I had a crash course whenever we read him the Dinosaurs Encyclopedia which is his current favourite book at bedtime. He has countless dino books, dino National Geographic card game, dino puzzles, numerous dino figurines, dino umbrella, dino bubble gun (which doesn't work...bleh), dino cup, personalised dino wallet (thanks Auntie June!), personalised dino bag (of course!), and of course.....tickets to the Dino Hollywood show!
 
But then again, that was quite a dissappointment lah, to us, NOT to him. He had the time of his life. He kept pestering us to bring him there once he knew we have tickets to a "Dino show". We bought 4 adult tickets from my corporate road show as we know he is bound to ask to go again a 2nd time. And he did! Anything dinosaurs goes...and these ones can roar and move and blink! Though he was terrified that first time and refused to touch any, but he couldn't keep his amazed eyes off them, and kept up a running commentary throughout. He kept asking for stegosaurus and duckbill dinosaurs though, which wasn't at the exhibition. The adults (us) found the show lacking in that it doesn't have sign boards indicating the dino breeds, period of existence and characteristics. Strange that such a much talked-about show lack the fundamentals. It was smaller than we expected too. However, the 2nd time we went there, the boards were up! Kudos to the feedback process!
 
There was this bridge that was mechanised to feel like its rocking on wild waters that threaten to throw you over into the waiting jaws of the dinosaur on the left of the bridge. I thought that bridge was quite fun heee.
 
Both times, after the show, he went wild at the merchandise display store...really tonnes and tonnes of dino related merchandise. I myself couldn't keep that calm that first time there. :P
 
In between the 2 visits, Jovann and I happened to make a handmade picture frame. Jovann did 60% of the painting himself, and he was mightly proud of it. He chose a photo we took (him, myself and a Ceratosaurus) during that 1st show to take the place of honour inside the frame. And at the 2nd visit, he wanted to bring that picture frame to show the Ceratosaurus!
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Jazreel ... The Aspiring Golfer?

Its been very very long since I updated on my 2 darlings. During this period of time, Jovann was absent from school for nearly a month in total due to a prolonged cough, and Jazreel fell sick too. It was a trying time, don't wish to go into details.

During this period of time too, Jovann learn how to play traunt, and Jazreel learnt how to play golf.

Yes, PLAY GOLF. Watch her go! Introducing.....the new.....Tigressssss W@@ds!
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She cries "Dah!" every time she hits the ball. :P Though she can't differentiate a birdie from a bogey, nor tell an iron from a driver, you must admit she has the determination to get the ball. That round thing doesn't have a chance.

Actually the toy golf clubs and the ball came from this cute toy I bought. It comes with 3 clubs - a driver, a putter, and an iron, 3 golfballs lookalike but lighter, and a 4th ball that is attached to a pendulum that is in turn pivoting on a stand. Its suitable for indoor play coz whenever you hit the ball, it swings on its hinge and will not go anywhere. Cool!

* When I am cleaning her mouth with tissue, wet wipes or hanky, she loves sticking out her tongue to taste it. She also sticks out her tongue to taste the nebuliser mask. :P Yeeeks.

* She is super cheeky, can give her gorgor a fight for his money.

* She needs to hold something in her hands most of the time, especially when she's going down for a nap or bedtime. Her favourites are small kodomo baby shower foam bottles, the aluminium saline nasal spray bottles, her Angel Baby bum balm jar, wooden fruits, sometimes even medicine bottles. She loves anything with caps/covers and in bottle shape.

* She has a favourite bedtime item, a pink princess cloth book I bought. She loves it and look for it in her cot before nap or bedtime, and pick it up first thing in the morning when she wakes.

* Since she's about a yr old, she has enjoyed feeding herself. As of 13 months old,she can use fork to spear up pieces of fruits or pancakes and self feed. She really enjoys herself doing that!

* Since she's 11 weeks, she has slept through the night. Even now, she still does. Aside from the teething period on and off between 6-12 mths, and the periods when she's sick and coughing and phelgmy, or rare days when she's over stimulated before bedtime, she sleeps from 9.30pm to 7am. No longer the 9pm-9am when she's 2.5-4mths old of course since now I keep the curtains open so the sunlight filters in and she will wake when the day turns bright.

* Even on times she does wake up at night, she's relatively easy to put back to bed. Once she sees me in the room, she will plonk her backside down onto the cot, lies down, and wait for me to pat pat her bum.

* She can say "Ah Ma", "Ma Ma", "Ball", "Daddy", "Dad dad", "Water", "Papa", "Dog dog" (she loves flipping the pages of Blessings Everywhere just to reach that page with the dog and point at it), "Bear", "Star", "Yes", "No", "There", "Hi", "Thanks", "mum mum", "Done done", "Bird bird (she's pointing this out on the playmat to me)", and will always attempt to pronounce new words we teach her. And can sign "More", "Water", "Thank you", "Please", "Baby", "Eat", "Shoe", "All done", "Tired". She still calls gorgor "Baba" though. Hhhmmmm.....

* She smiles and laughs when we are carrying her and calls her name softly in her ear.

* She's affectionate and if I pout or hurt myself or pretend to cry she will come over and put her head on my body or lap, her way of sayanging me. She does that to gorgor too.

* She started a certain degree of nursing strike when she turns 14mths. Sometimes refusing to nurse during day time naps, suckling a few seconds then stopping and shaking her head. It eventually progressed even to bedtime feeding, refusing to latch at all. And thats when I started to panic. My supply!!! what if it continues??? I am not ready to wean! Fortunately....it got better. Though now she does nurse shorter period at bedtime, but at least she's eager to nurse.

* Since she turns one, she has refused drinking from milk bottles. She wants to be spoon fed. Ma Ma said she think she want to be adult. So now we spoon feed her EBM in the day.

* Bibinogs trial back in Nov. Its such a fresh change from Jovann's JG days. Friends would recall that he refused even to chew his food when he turns 2. So it was always a struggle during JG snack times. But with Jaz,whewwwwwww.....no such issues.

* So fun having a girl when you can wear matching Mommy-Daughter outfits!

* Its fun too when you can play with their hair!

* Entertaining herself at Adele and Spencer's place in late Nov.

Her new bike

Love this bike, very sturdy and I like the colour combi. She likes it too. :)

Had a nice ride with gorgor at WCP one day in Dec. She was so pleased with it, chuckling and making so much noise, and kept on pressing the buttons in front to hear the music.

Another day, riding downstairs our block. She love the little "handbag" I bought for her, slinging it so daintily on her arms. :P

1st Lunar Birthday 抓调

Some families celebrated the 1st lunar birthday of a child by this ceremony called 抓调. Its really fun, whereby you lay out 12-13 items for your child to choose, with the belief that the first thing he/she picks up would point to his eventual career in life. With Jovann, we didn't know much about the entire procedure, so we just let him choose 4-5 items on that day. With Jazreel, it got more fun.

It all started....with 2 giant ang ku kuehs. I meant GIANT. Not all kueh kueh shop does this, you have to specially order, its really huge and needs a box of its own. Chinese believe that if a birthday child steps on the giant ang ku kueh then steps into a pair of new shoes, he/she will have a smooth journey in life. So, giant AKKs, here we come! See the size compared to the shoes.

Seems silly to only travel so far to get just 2 pieces of red kueh. So we bought some other stuff. :P Yummy!

She was wearing a new dress and was really squeamish when stepping on the AKKs. So would I!  She screamed after that first touch.

Of course, not forgetting the de facto red egg mee sua. For hubby's family, this is the must have during lunar  birthdays. But in MY family, its the tang hoon soup with hardboil egg.

抓调 time! Here's the list of things we have. This is the "modern" version. It used to have items like scissors, to signify a career as a tailor. The only thing I couldn't find was wheat grass. I even managed to find the seal!

書: 會讀書，適合做學者、專家
Book: Studious, May become a scholar, professor etc.

筆墨 : 會成為作家、畫家
Pen and Ink: Writer, Artist, Publishing

印章: 有權勢，會做大官
Seal: Has Authority, Politician, Judge etc.

算盤／計算機: 會當商人、會計師，適合從商
Calculator: Merchant, Trader, Broker, Financial Officer

錢幣: 將來會很富有
Coin: Will be extremely wealthy

雞腿: 有福氣，表示一生將不愁吃穿
Chicken Leg: Prosperous, A life of satisfaction

尺: 表示將來可成為設計師、建築師
Ruler: Architect, Product Designer, Land Development Surveryor

蔥: 代表聰明
Spring Onion: Very bright (May amount to any careers due to brightness and braininess)

蒜: 代表善於計算
Garlic: Good in accounting for and calculating (May amount to any careers or personality that requires this trait)

芹菜: 代表勤勞
Celery: Hardworking and Steadfast (May amount to a personality that values hard work)

稻草: 適合農事工作
Wheat Grass: Agricultural, Horticulture, Natural careers

刀劍: 能當軍官、警察
Sword: Soldier, Policemen, careers in the airforce, navy, infantry

聽筒: 適合醫護工作
Stethoscope: Health Services, Doctors, Vets, Nurses

We will keep it to ourselves what she chose. Heeeeee!

Jaz being rewarded with the the drumstick after the "ordeal".