Cheeky papa

Last Thursday, while on the way home, I asked hb to stop by the Chinese shop near our house as I needed to buy milk for the kids. Lynn asked for lollipop. I did not want the kids to get down from the car to the shop with me as I wanted to make it quick, so I asked what lollipop she wants and I would buy for her. She was happy that I agreed to buy the lollipop and did not insist to come down with me. So three of them (hb, lynn and hao) were waiting for me in the car. This happened while I was inside the shop and hb told me about this the next day.

While waiting for me, Lynn saw there was a ride in front of the Chinese shop. Immediately she asked hb to take her for the ride. There was no parking space and hb stopped the car at the road side. So it was not possible to let the kids to have the ride.

Lynn: Papa, I want to sit that one. The kitty cat!
Papa: Er... why do you want to sit that one? The one that you are sitting now (referring to the car as all of them were sitting inside the car waiting for me) is better! It's bigger and can move. That kitty cat cannot move.

Obviously Lynn did not know how to answer papa. She asked for one more time and get no response from papa. Then a while later, she told hb "So sit this one is better-la, bigger and can move, that one just sit there shake shake shake and cannot move."

LOL LOL LOL! I wonder next time the same cheat still work on her or not. LOL LOL LOL!

Big Sister

Lynn and Hao, when Hao was 6 months old.

Few weeks back, I was reading some old post dated 2 years ago, the time when Hao was just born. During that time, Lynn gave us lots of headache due to the jealousy over the brother. I did not and I could not blame her. She was merely 2 years old at that time and she is the first born. She was so used to having full attention from all of us. And now she had to learn to share. So what have she learn over the past 2 years?

The very first thing I trained her was to sleep by herself. I was the one used to put Lynn to bed. Actually was more on she needed me to be there with her before she fall asleep. She has her own mattress. I used to sleep beside her until she had fallen asleep. She would cry if I left her before she had fallen asleep. She also rejected hb to get her to sleep. When Hao was born, I was still accompany her to sleep, but not on her bed. She would sleep on her bed, while me on my bed in the same room. Not long after that, I let her fall asleep by herself. I would leave the room after I had done with nursing Hao. To unpack and pack Lynn's bag for next day, to clean and sterilize the breast pump and bottles for next day, store and milk according to date etc. I was glad that she did not make much fuss about it and the whole process went on very smoothly. Today, she would give us good night kiss and go to bed together with Hao. As for Hao, as long as I have spent some time with him on the bed, he never needs me to accompany him until he has fallen asleep. I used to let him sleep on my bed, and I would carry him to his crib later when I sleep. Now after we have switched him to sleep on the floor next to our bed, maybe he used to see Lynn sleep by herself on the floor also, I never have issue asking him to go to his own mattress to sleep after finish nursing him on my bed. He would obediently get down from my bed and go sleep on his mattress with his bolster. And if I did not remind them to sleep, they could continue playing after I step out of the room. Yes, they like to play. :D

Lynn was feeding Hao ice cream. :D

Whenever we dine out, sometimes we would share our food with both of them, sometimes we would order another set and let both of them share. As for the drink, we usually let both of them share one drink. And Lynn would not finish the whole cup. After she drank some, she would go over to Hao and offered him the drink. Whenever she asked for food at home, she would take some for Hao also. Let say for yogurt, she would take 2 spoons, one for her and one for Hao. At the beginning, before Hao learn how to self feed, Lynn would feed Hao to eat. But, after she finish feeding Hao and wanted to eat her own yogurt, Hao would cry for her share of yogurt too! LOL! Poor Lynn. To avoid that, usually I would feed Hao so that Lynn could eat together with Hao at the same time. :) When they share the ice cream, Lynn would take turn to feed Hao and herself the ice cream. One spoon for Hao, one spoon for herself, until all ice cream finished. She hardly rejects sharing food with Hao. She would just ask for more! Hahahaha! Just one thing, they will never let mommy to eat alone! They will always want to eat the food from my plate!

She learns to play together with the brother, including sharing the toys. And she enjoys playing with him. Why? Because this little boy listens to whatever she said! LOL! She taught Hao to sing song; she taught him to dance; she taught him to somersault (only on our bed and not on the floor); she taught him how to play the toy etc. Basically Hao would just follow Lynn for everything. Of course if Lynn did something naughty Hao would follow also. So have to keep an eye on what they are doing.

They learn to "share" papa and mama. 1 year ago, whenever I let Lynn or Hao sit on my lap, the other one would get jealous and sure come to me and asked for sitting on my lap as well. Now, when Lynn or Hao sits on my lap, they would make space and call the other one to come over to sit on my lap as well. So one sits on the left; and one sits on the right. :) Papa likes to play with them carrying them on his back. They would take turn to be on papa's back. Instead of saying "me me me", they would say "my turn, your turn". They stop fighting for papa and mama anymore. :)

Lynn loves to play the role to take care Hao. Whatever I asked her to do, let say go take Hao's water bottle, take Hao's clothes for change, take Hao's handkerchief etc, she would happily do it for me. She would also take Hao to the potty or toilet, take off his pant, help him to wear back his pant, comb his hair, serve him milk, wear his socks for him etc. She's my little helper when come to taking care of Hao. ^_^

I would say from a jealous sister, Lynn has become a caring sister. Sometimes she would still fight with him though. For example when Hao was not listen to her that he should not play the remote control; when Hao took away her color pencils when she was coloring; when Hao took away her school books. Does Hao like Lynn? I think so. One day, while I was taking my shower, I heard some quarrels and Lynn was crying came look for me in the bathroom.

Lynn: Mama, didi beat me.
Me: Why didi beat you?
Lynn: Because didi want to eat the cereal, and I said cannot.

Right before I took my shower, Lynn did ask me if she can eat the cereal. As it was very close to dinner time, I rejected her. Hao must be seeing the cereal and wanted to eat too. And Lynn knew that I won't allow it. So she disallowed Hao to eat the cereal too.

Hb went to check Hao and scolded him for beating Lynn. Hao came up to look for me too. So now 2 crying kids outside the bathroom! Hao cried because papa scolded him. 

Lynn: (now got papa back her up, she talked loudly to Hao) Cannot beat Jie jie!
Hao: (still crying) Mama.... mama.....
Lynn: Say sorry to jie jie.
Hao: (still crying) Mama.... mama.....     
Lynn: Say sorry to jie jie.
Hao: No! Mama.... mama.....

Finally I finished taking my shower.

Me: Hao, cannot beat jie jie. Say sorry.
Hao: (Crying) Mama... mama.....
Me: Say sorry to jie jie.
Hao: (Crying) Mama... mama.....
Me: (In a very firm voice) Say sorry to jie jie.

I insisted that he should say sorry to Lynn. But he just refused and was still crying there. I get annoyed and scolded him for crying so long and yet it is him who beat Lynn. Guess what? He turned to Lynn and still crying, saying "jie jie.... jie jie.... "; asking comfort from Lynn! Hahahahahaha! Just few minutes earlier he was angry with Lynn because Lynn disallowed him to eat the cereal. And now he seeks comfort from Lynn because mama scolded him! And what was Lynn's reaction? She gently pats his head! She was not angry at him now! LOL!

Lynn: It's ok. Jie jie sayang. Why you beat jie jie?
Me: Say sorry to jie jie and sayang jie jie.
Hao: (Hugging Lynn) Sorry jie jie.

It's a nice feeling seeing both of them becoming more loving to each other. Two weeks ago when we had problem with the cars, we were so glad that we have 2 kids to entertain each other instead of come bugging us for carry or whatever! Of course they are still not perfect yet. Hao has to learn to listen to Lynn when Lynn reprimands him for doing something not right. And also learn to share and be more caring to Lynn. Nowadays whenever Lynn say something, he will sure say "No!" back to Lynn. LOL! And Lynn also has to learn to talk to Hao in a more gentle way, when Hao is doing something not right. I feel so blessed having both of them with me. ^_^

One Hand, Two Hands by Max Lucado

One hand, two hands,
Five fingers, ten.
God, thanks, for my hands.
Please, use them again.

After waiting for almost 2 months, finally I received this book on last weekend. The beautiful illustrations straightaway captured the kids' attention and requested me to read for them on that night.

One Hand, Two Hands is written by Max Lucado in rhyming text and illustrated with the charming art of Gaby Hansen. The language is very simple, plus the interactive illustration, it is very easy for the children to understand. It teaches what wonderful things our hands can do from clapping, scratching, latching, squeezing, waving and petting a pup to washing dishes with mommy and putting toys in a box. As I read along, the kids will actively follow along doing all sorts of fun activities using their hands. Besides that, Hao is also attracted by the beautiful and sweet illustration of the book. This is one of the few books that he will sit with me listen to me finish reading the whole book without running around. :)

I like the message of the book - To encourage the children to help others with their hands, and to encourage them to be creative and think about other ways they can use their hands to be helpful. I rate this book 5 out of 5.
 
Disclosure: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Unlucky but Lucky

This week did not start well for me. Some unlucky things happen, but seem like God pity us and give us some good luck though. It started with Monday morning, when we wanted to leave the house heading to office and drop by the kids to kindy and child care along the way, my car could not get started. After a few tries, the car alarm system was triggered and could not stop! I called up the service center; he taught me a simple way to use the remote key to stop the alarm. But it failed. Then he said if in this case, should be the car battery problem. Luckily hb was with us. He went to the nearby workshop to get a new car battery using his car, and then fixed it to my car. After that I sent my car to the service center to get the calibration done. It is for resetting the gear box after changing new battery. I left my car at the service center for servicing too. And I went to collect it on Tuesday morning when going to work.

Tuesday morning, I went to collect my car. Drove it to my parents' house and parked there. As after work, we will pick up the kids from my parents' house before heading home. Due to limited parking space near office, I and hb usually just drive one car to work. So I parked my car near my parents' house, and went to work with hb on his car.

After work, as planned we went to my parents' house. The road of my parents is a dead end. It is a slope too and my parents house is somewhere in the middle. We drove down the road, make a 3-point turn and wanted to head back up the slope so that later when we go home, we could drive out straightaway. Just right after hb had reversed the car and wanted to drive up the slope, something wrong with the gear! The screen at the front panel was showing the gear at the N position, and no matter how hb tried to change the gear, it did not engage at all! The car was stuck there blocking the way. We tried to push the car to the side of the road but as soon as we released the break, the car was actually moving backwards due to the slope. One Indian man saw that we were having problem with the car, came out from his house and helped us to push the car to the side. At the same time, I called my father for rescue.

As soon as the car was pushed to the side of the road, I saw my father walking down the road coming to us. He asked us to open the front bonnet, put his hand inside and pressed/pushed something (I could not see clearly whether he was pressing or pushing the thing), and asked hb to check what gear was it. Eh seems like can change gear from there! My father made the gear set at D, so that hb could drive the car to the front of my parents' house. Apparently, something has broken inside the thing where we switch the gear. That's why the gear was not engaged.

For 2 days, our 2 cars gave us problem one after another. LUCKILY
1. My car was just battery issue. And hb was around to change it for me. Could not imagine if just me alone with the kids! I would probably need to get help from neighbour to jump start the car so that I could drive to workshop or service center to change the car battery.  
2. Hb's car gear problem happened outside my parents' house, and not in the highway or when he was driving! It could be dangerous especially if the car was moving up the slope.
3. My father is a mechanic. He could not fix it on the spot without some tools. But he could drive it to his workshop the next day and get it fixed.
4. Since I parked my car near my parents' house that morning, we did not need to borrow car from my parents to go home.
5. I'm glad that I get my car fixed on Monday itself despite we could just drive to work using hb's car. Mainly due to the noisy alarm. We did not want the neighbor to complain about it.

I consider myself very lucky when come to car issue. Since my father is a mechanic, whenever my car gives problem I just need to tell my father. I also don't have to worry getting cheated or slaughtered by any bad mechanic. I never feel shy or shame whenever people ask me what's my father's occupation, just because he is not a manager or someone works in big company or someone who works inside an office. My father is a handyman and he fixes lots of things that not working in the house. I respect him a lot. And at one point, way before I was dating hb, I even wish to get a handyman husband like my father! LOL!

Rumble! Zap! Pow!

This is a very good quality hard cover bible storybook for children. It highlights the adventurous stories in the Bible and points its readers to God's mighty power. The language used is simple and the stories are short, about 3 pages. The stories are presented in cartoon-style art to keep the kids engaged. Lynn is very much attracted with the bright pictures of the stories. This is our very first stories book in comic's style. Each story is paired with a “Mighty Thought” — a simple statement that summarizes the Bible story. There are total 42 stories in this book, started with God created the world, Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark etc.

Despite Lynn like this book due to the cartoon-style art, I personally quite disappointing with the book. The stories presented are too brief. As I'm not a Christian, I do not have good knowledge on Bible. I have some difficulty relate the stories to each other. I cannot see the connection between each story. For some of the stories, I also could not relate the stories with the "Mighty thought" that summarizes the story. The stories are just way to brief. Or it could be just me who does not have good knowledge on Bible stories. The story also ends with an activity designed for the active child, for example measure yourself with books and measure Goliath’s height with books; make a megaphone from a milk jug—to have a loud voice like Jonah needed. As our reading time is usually before bedtime, I did not do much of those activities with Lynn. 

I will rate this book 2 out of 5.

Note: I received this book free from Tyndale House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.