Parents' nightmare

Earlier this evening, when I went to pick up Lynn at her school around 6.30pm (school over at 6.20pm), I overheard a mother talking to the 2 teachers in-charge there telling them her child has gone missing. According to her, her child usually will wait for her inside the school but today her child was not there. She borrowed the hand phone from one of the teacher to call her husband to come over help to find the child.

Honestly I'm getting worry upon hearing that. It was just 10minutes after school hours and there were still about 40% students left waiting to be picked up. Usually there are 2 teachers staying around to make sure all children have gone home. And most of the time class teachers from Standard one will be around too but they won't stay till very late. They would be gone when most of the students from their class have gone home.

From very first day of school, I have been telling Lynn that never ever follow anyone going home. She must stay inside the school compound and wait for me to come. She can follow me only and not any other person. If raining days I may be late depending on the traffic but no matter how late she still have to wait for me inside the school. And never follow any other person, regardless she knows them or not. If I can't pick her up, I will tell her in advance who will pick her up and only follow that person and no one else. I told Lynn about the child missing incident I overheard just now and reminded her again that she must follow no one except me. Earlier I also have taught her how to make phone calls using public phone in case she needs to reach me. I gave her some coins for making phone calls and told her only call when necessary. There were twice that I reached her school very late, almost 7pm. First time I was stuck in an unexpected traffic jam and the other time I was very sick and overslept after taking the medicine despite I had set the alarm. Both times she was sitting in front of the guard house waiting for me, together with few other students and one teacher. While I was surprised there were still students around but I was glad she's not alone and not the last one.

I know I should not trust the guards fully, but I still would like to have some faith with the school. The school has a very strict rules allowing parents and even students entering the school. All parents entering the school must register with the security guard and then report to the school office before proceeding to whatever matters they need to be inside the school. Even students entering the school much earlier than normal school hours also have to register with the security guard. There are total about 4 security guards if not mistaken, all are local Chinese. I do not see any foreign worker which I'm glad of. But all guards are in their 50s and above. And I have been seeing them guarding the school since at least 4-5 years back. The school is just next to the shop area where we visit frequently so we always pass by the school entrance.

With the increase of social crime rate at the parking lot of shopping complex, nowadays I dare not bring Lynn and Hao to shopping malls without one other adult accompanying us. If I really need to go, I will get hb to come along or I go alone. One good thing is me and hb do not like window shopping and we do not have the habit going to the malls every weekend. So we only go when necessary. The only public area I dare bring Lynn and Hao with me alone is during weekdays picking up Lynn after school. Normally I park near the shops and walk about 100m across the shop lots to school to avoid stuck at the long queue in front of the school. We have been going to the few eatery shops there every week for the past 8 years so I'm quite comfortable look after the kids by myself there. But I won't eat at the shop with the kids alone. If hb is not with us I would just buy back home. Ever since the kids can walk by themselves, me and hb have insisted the kids must hold our hand when going out. And we are still keeping this rule. Both Lynn and Hao are not afraid of strangers and thus I always paranoid bring them out. Those of you that have met Lynn and Hao before will know what I mean. We have been telling them and from time to time reminding them not to talk to strangers. And I always make sure they are within my vicinity. Since we are not staying with the parents and hb always come home very late from work, I have no choice but to bring them with me whenever I go. I limit my grocery shopping to only few places and since I always go there we are quite familiar with the shop people there. I usually only buy what I need which I already know beforehand and thus my shopping usually is very fast. Once a while, I will go supermarket alone and get the things like butter spread, cheese, muesli etc that are not available from the normal grocery store.

The kids have to learn that this world is not safe. While I try my very best to protect them, they have to learn to protect themselves too. As for the mother i saw from the school earlier, I really hope that she can manage to find her child. Just hope maybe the child has the urgent to go to the toilet right before the mother was there.

The Power of “Interactive” Play – Brought to you by Fisher-Price

Following a successful first time, Fisher-Price will be bringing child development expert; Ms. Carrie Lupoli, Founder of Live & Learn (Singapore) once again to Malaysia where she will be able to share the importance of interactive play with children come June 16th 2012.

Why play is so important?

Playing is the most natural thing to do for any individual, but what you may not know is that there's so much more to it than just having fun.

But in recent years, the amount of parents who have started to use technology as a substitute to spending actual quality time with their children is increasing at an alarming rate. Many disregard the importance of interaction or play with their children. Fisher-Price, a firm believer in the development of children through play and bonding notices this trend.

Play is the best means in helping children with brain development and learning. When children can actively manipulate and explore toys in their environment, they learn best. Adults playing together with children will enhance the relationship between the parent/adult and child which is pivotal in a child’s development.

Through The Power of “Interactive” Play Workshop, Fisher-Price would like to share the benefits of play through the five development stages (Sensory Stimulation, Sitting & Reaching, Speech Development, On the Go and Walker & Rider) and to further encourage adults to spend more time with children.

The Power of “Interactive” Play Parenting Workshop will exhibit the different kinds of activities and exercises that adults can have with children. It will further elaborate on the different tools that can be used to further assist with the different development stages of children. 

I'm a parent who prefer my children play with the toys for their age. I'm not a mother who will give my children to play with my smart phone or tablet or video games or pc games until my children are much older. I believe at their age now, they should be playing with each other interactively, but not sitting down in front of pc or PSP or smart phone. I'm glad that Fisher Price is holding a such workshop for parents. I'm going to attend it. How about you? 

The Power of “Interactive” Play Parenting Workshop:

Date:         16th June 2012 (Saturday)

Time:        10.00am – 1.30pm

Location:    Grand Ballroom, Empire Hotel Subang,

             Jalan SS 16/1, Ss 16, 47500 Selangor.

Entry Fee:    RM60 per person plus over RM100 worth of goodies.

For more information or to book your seats kindly contact 03-7803 5310/012-292 1378 or email to admin@mamababyworld.com.

Toilet training - Completed!

Hao is toilet trained since 2 years old + and since then he's off diaper during day time. But at night I still let him wear diaper to sleep. Occasionally he would tell me he did not want to wear diaper to sleep. But most of the time his diaper was full in the morning, so I thought he's not ready for it yet. It's not very easy to toilet train him. I could never imagine how am I going to train him go diaper-less at night. But I told myself to worry about it later.

About 2 months ago, during one of the night Hao woke me up from sleep, telling me he wanted to go toilet. I was surprised but I woke up anyway. I helped him to take off his diaper, switched on the light of the toilet for him. And after he was done, I put back the diaper on him and he went back to sleep after that. It happened twice in a week. Then I also noticed that in the morning when i checked his diaper, most of the time it was dry!

After monitoring for about one week plus, with dry diaper on every morning, I told myself that he's ready to go diaper-less at night. So I told him, that he's big boy now, no need to wear diaper to sleep. And asked him to wake me up when he wants to go toilet at night (he would like me to switch on the light for him). So from that day onwards, Hao no more wear diaper to sleep at night. Even when we went to Ipoh during Hari Raya break, I let him go diaper-less too and he would wake up himself to go toilet.

It's been about 2 months already, so far he has wet his bed twice. Most of the time he sleeps through the night. If he needs to go toilet he will wake me up. I'm glad that finally I don't have to spend money on getting diaper now. I remember when I tried yo get Lynn go diaper-less at night last time, I would wake her up in the middle of the night to go toilet. And I did it for quite a while. Thus I never thought of to let him go diaper-less at night can be such easy and hassle free! Well done, Hao!

A Trip to ER

Since young, Lynn always has this tendency to show interest to do things by her self. Thus when she shows the sign to learn, Hb and I always teach her and let her do things herself. Before 2 years old, she can eat by herself, wear her own shoes. Before 3 years old, she can change her own clothes, bath herself, and even help me to feed Hao eating porridge. Since then, she and Hao have been bathing together. While I apply soap for Hao and she applies soap for herself. If not mistaken approaching end of last year, or maybe early this year, Lynn requested to bath by herself. And I think maybe it's time to separate them from taking bath together. However as she is not tall enough to turn on the water from the water heater, so I will make few trips to the bathroom to check on her as well as turn on and turn off the water for her.

The weekend before last, after I have bathed Hao, it was Lynn's turn to shower. As usual, I went to check if she had finished apply shampoo and soap. And seeing her still applying soap to her body, I came out. Within few minutes, I heard a loud "bang" and followed by a loud cry. I dashed to the bathroom, and to my horror, I saw a very big cut right above her eye brown and blood flowing out like pipe water. I quickly called hb for help. I was actually panic not sure what to do with her. She was standing there with whole body full of soap and blood on the floor. Hb quickly gave her a hug to calm her down. Then I quickly wash away the soap and shampoo for her. I dared not touch the wound. It was very deep cut. I did not take a picture; do not want to take a picture also. Trust me; you won't want to look at it. It is as big as her eye, exactly same size. She told me she fell down and hit the tile edge below the shower screen. (Later she admitted that she was twisting there and thus explained the fall.) Hao was frightened seeing so much blood. 

After cleaning up Lynn, hb tied a tower over her head, trying to stop the blood. Seeing Lynn in this condition, I did not want Hao to distract us in the hospital. Luckily our neighbor was at home and they were willing to help us looked after Hao for us while we attended the gal. It was past six o'clock in the evening. Traffic was smooth. We did not take long to reach the hospital. We went straight to the Emergency.

At ER, Lynn was attended immediately. The medical officers put a bandage on Lynn's head to stop the blood. Then a nurse came to take her blood for testing. The doctor said the cut was very deep until can see the bone. Thus they wanted to do an x-ray on her skull. I was very worried and prayed it was nothing serious. I also want to thank the friends who were praying for us too. I could not think of anything besides praying for her safety. Right before going to the x-ray theater, the cut was bleeding again. And thus another round of wound cleaning and bandaging.

Lynn while waiting for x-ray to be taken. She has stopped crying before we left the house. 

See the needle on her hand? Poor gal, she was poked twice (one on each hand) as the first one, the needle was out of position after the nurse took the blood, thus the injection did not get through. 

They took 2 x-rays in total. One from the back view and one side view. After the x-ray, we back to ER to wait. Not too long after that, the doctor came told us the x-ray results. Thank god nothing happen to her skull, so they were arranging Plastic Surgery doctor to come over ER to do stitches on her cut. We felt a little relief upon hearing this but still we were worrying. It breaks our heart when we thought about the nasty fall. Hb said the amount of blood that Lynn had lost was equal to the amount of blood that I lost during giving birth. 

Due to Lynn's young age, they wanted to sedate Lynn for the stitching process. Unfortunately, this gal has strong will and fight to fall asleep. Eventually she did not sleep at all throughout the whole stitching process. They wanted me to accompany her at her side. For the first time in my life, I watched how a stitching done on human skin, on my daughter some more, right in front of me. And how I wish Lynn does not have to go through this kind of pain. The plastic surgery doctor first stitched the inner layer, using absorb-able thread. And then he stitched the outer layer with not absorb-able thread. I did not count and did not ask how many stitches were done for the inner layer. But there were 10 stitches for the outer layer. Since Lynn did not sleep at all, she knew something was done to her. But she could not see it. I asked her to close her eyes; the doctor also put a paper to cover her face and head leaving only the forehead visible for him. There were moments where she complained pain and at one time, she even lifted up her arm trying to stop the doctor but we managed to grab her arm and calm her down. Whenever she was complaining, I would talk to her trying to sooth her. Despite some complain of pain, she did not cry at all and did not struggle or give any hard time to the doctor. I should feel proud of her for giving full cooperation to the doctor. But my heart was so heavy at that time. I really wish this whole thing never happen. :( If I did not let her bath herself, then this won't happen. But then, should I take away her wish to be independent? This is so contradicting. I remember my mom stopped bath for me before I reaching 5 years old. And I did warn both Lynn and Hao that they should not play inside the bathroom with wet floor. It is dangerous. That is another reason I separate them from bathing together because they tend to play together while bathing.

Waiting to go home after the stitches. Doctor put back the bandage as there was a vein at the wound (which explain why she bleeds so much), the bandage is to help to stop the blood.

This was taken the next day after removing the bandage. I have to take good care of the wound. Cannot touch it and cannot make it get wet too. 

Doctor gave antibiotics for one whole week and fever medicine to stand by. The antibiotics do not have nice smell and after 1 day, Lynn started rejecting it. She would stare at the medicine for very long time before having the courage to swallow it. At one time she even threw away the medicine and told me she had taken it. But I did not get cheated by her. I told her that it is very important for her to finish the antibiotics. Since then she obediently finished all antibiotics, and I also make sure she took it in front of me giving her no chance to cheat. 

We spent total of less than 4 hours in ER and it costs us RM 55. We are required to go back to hospital to remove the stitches after 5 days. And there will be a follow up appointment with the plastic surgery clinic 6 months later.


Next post: Removing stitches

Hao at 2 years 8 months old

My "good"+"nottie"+"fatty"+"sexy" boy!

And.I.just.can't.stop.loving.him

99.9% of those who has met him personally will say this "Wah, he looks like angmoh."

This boy of mine, unlike me, hb and his sister, all three of us our hair color is very black, but this boy has blonde hair! His hair is fine and smooth also, made me so jealous! He also has rosy pink cheek. Hb said if I comb his hair very neat, he really looks like an angmoh boy!

I think boy is really a boy. Hao likes to jump around, run around and climb around. And he still likes to be carried, always ask me to carry him.

Beginning of this year, he has stopped using milk bottle totally. At home I never give him milk bottle. Since 18 months when I started to give him fresh milk, he's always been using the cup to drink. Only at child care he will use milk bottle. However at child care, all children at age 3 will not be given milk bottle. So now I can throw his milk bottle away. :) I also have stopped bf him 4 months ago. So he is fully on fresh milk now. 

Hao is an easy child especially when come to food. He's not very choosy, as long as the food is easy for him to chew, he will wallop everything. This boy can really eat. As long as there is food still available on the table, he won't stop asking for it. As he is not a very talkative child, he pays full attention on his food. He can finish half bowl of rice, plus the meat and vegetables so it's about one full bowl of food. Sometimes he will still ask for more. Not much change on his preference on food. He still loves butter, cheese, bread, rice, yogurt, ice cream and biscuit. But I notice he does not like jelly. He's gaining weight, getting bigger in size, rounder face, and almost going to have double chin. Sometimes I like to tease him "fatty boy". Hahahaha! He looks so sexy if I let him wear shorts that very short and fit. And I like to pat his buttock. LOL! So sometimes I call him "sexy" boy. :) The last time I weight him few months back, he's about 15kg. Can't remember what his height is though. It should be between 90-100cm, but I can't remember the exact number.

Hao has very different character as compared to Lynn, but they have common thing too - stubborn. And Hao is the more stubborn one. Being hard on him usually does not work very well with him. I have to be soft to him, and persuade him until he's willing to corporate with me. Sometimes I walk away and return to persuade him 5-10 minutes later, and sometimes I need to repeat this several times before he gives in. Sometimes I use Lynn to trick him as he likes to imitate the sister. Playing ignore is not that effective to him as compared to Lynn.

Hao still pretty much a cry baby at this stage, which annoy hb very much. This maybe also related to he cannot express himself very well yet. His speech development maybe slower than his peer. Sometimes we could not grab what he's talking about too. And he's also not a talkative child. Many times I have to encourage him to speak up and answer me. On the opposite, Lynn is talking too much. Hao can speak English, Mandarin and little Cantonese.

Besides can eat by himself, Hao can wear and take off the shoe by himself, wear the clothes by himself with some assist, can take off and wear the pants by himself, know when need to go toilet, willing to sleep by himself without me (together with Lynn on the same room). When I shower him, he started to show sign want to shower by himself. He would like to apply the shampoo to his hair himself, and will ask for body shampoo for his body too. However he will give up quite easily. Like he wants to button by himself, but after a short while (like one minute or maybe less) if he still can't, he will give up and tell me "I can't" and want me to button for him. Maybe he's the last born; he is less initiative and give up easily. He's a child who needs lots of encouragement. Or maybe he is too well taken care by Lynn, until we have to ask Lynn to stop doing things for him, let him learn to do by himself. Because sometimes Hao will get annoyed with Lynn on helping him also. Not sure what's in his mind, but recently lots of time he rejects Lynn helping him, he wants me instead.

This boy, despite Lynn always share food with him, always share the toys with him, lots of time he refuse to share his food, and share the toy with her. He even not willing to share his food with me! I'm still working hard on this part.

Hao is a very friendly child, especially to adult. Sometimes I think he's too friendly. When we go to the regular shop to buy groceries, even though it is his first time meeting the Bangladesh or Pakistan workers there, he won't be shy to greet them, or even go hug them! *FAINT* Sometimes I feel so worry that he may follow any stranger to go home. However, he scares of crowd. When we go shopping mall, seeing lots of people walking around, Hao always ask me to carry him as if he panic seeing so many people.

Hao is going to be 3 years old in 4 months time. I won't say he's giving me a "terrific 2" or "terrible 2". He's not a 100% good boy all the time. But I won't say he's very naughty also. There are times that I do get mad at him, but there also lots of times that he made me smile. He gives me a totally new challenge. Not sure why, I get less irritated with Hao. Of course I will be firm with him when I need to. I treat both children equally. I love both of them. 

p/s: Boy I really wish you can learn sharing and be more loving to your sister!

(Ops, did not realize such a long post. Did not feel like I have so much to talk or write about. >.< )

Hao's Toilet/Potty Training

It has been a while since I last update about Hao. Just few months before Hao turned 2 years old, we started to potty train him. I'm not too sure is it due to each kid is different, or because Lynn is a girl and Hao is a boy. The process of potty training him is not smooth at all as compared to Lynn. But of course the environment is totally different for both of them. And Lynn plays an important part in Hao's potty training.

Lynn was potty trained before she turned 2 years old too, by her nanny at that time. This was before we went her to child care and before Hao was born. This was not difficult to potty train her at all. Accidents seldom happen as long as we reminded her to go potty. And very soon she could tell me when she needed to go potty and did not require us to remind her at all. That was until Hao was born. The first month after Hao was born, lots of accidents happened at home. Even though I was mad about it but on the other hand I knew that I could not blame her at all. She was coping with the new family member at home. She probably was having stress about it too. Luckily the accidents part did not last long. I think on the 2nd month she improved a lot and slowly went back to normal.

As for Hao, as we are sending him to child care, so those children about his age are potty trained at the same time. However Hao is the slowest to cope amongst all children. As we did not spend time with him during weekdays, I only get to potty train him during weekend which is very limited. During first two months, accidents always happened. Sometimes I was so tired that after few accident happened on the same day, I gave up and put him back on diaper. I recognized it as he's not ready for potty train. But next day I would still try to make him diaper less and see how it goes. And at the same time I always reminded him to go potty. In child care, the comment that I got is he won't tell when he needs to go toilet. So when they did not remind him to go toilet, accident will happen. At one point, they almost want to give up on him. But I continue to make him diaper less at home, despite just twice a week. 

After few more months, accidents still happen but were getting less and less. But still need constant reminder to ask him to go toilet. I noticed that when he is so concentrate on doing one thing, even if he's just playing, he won't remember to go toilet. When we go out, I would bring him to toilet too despite he was still wearing diaper (I dare not let him go diaper less outside the house yet). Just want to make him a habit to go toilet instead of relying on the diaper. And despite child care told me that he won't tell them if he needs to go toilet, but at home he would tell me, or Lynn. I did not specifically ask how they potty train him (I did not want to sound as if I don't trust them). At home, each time after he goes to potty by himself, I will sure praise him and he will give me back a big smile on his face. Accidents were becoming less and less, almost down to zero but not entirely.

About 3 months back, when we go out for a short trip, I let Hao go diaper less too. I want to try force him not to rely on diaper. That means I have to be hardworking taking him to toilet. And that's another problem. Public toilet is definitely not as clean as home toilet, especially if we go to those Chinese restaurants for dinner. That was same problem with Lynn last time too, before she get used to those public toilets. For Hao, at the beginning, he told me he needed to go toilet but when we were there, he told me no. So we returned to the seat and 5 minutes later, he told me want to go toilet again. And again, he said no when we were in the toilet. Only at the 3rd time, finally he was able to pee. And that was probably because he could not hold back anymore. Hahaha. Can't remember exactly how long, but I think he get used to it after several times. And with this small achievement, I requested the child care to let him go diaper less when we go pick him up. And at the same time I constantly remind Hao to tell us if he wants to go toilet.

Accidents happened few times when we were outside. First time was on my car. He did not tell us he needed to go toilet. Second time was in a shopping mall while I was carrying him. Again he did not tell us he needed to go toilet. And despite this, I still insist he go diaper less when we go out. Because I fear that once I let him go back diaper, the toilet training will become more difficult. Third accident happened in my car too. But this one I could not blame him. We were stuck at the traffic jam on a highway on the way back home. He told us he needed to go toilet. But he could not wait for us to stop the car near any drain for him to unload.

Another person who plays an important part in contributing to Hao's potty training is Lynn. My this little girl, is like my spy on the boy, without me telling her to be one. Hahaha! She would "report" to me, when Hao peed on the floor. However if Hao went to potty himself without being told, she would praise him "Wah Hao good boy, shh shh in the potty" and then "reported" to me too "Mommy, you see Hao very good boy. He go to potty shhh shhh!" As if she's so proud of him. :) And when Hao requested to go toilet, Lynn will take him there. As I notice, Hao would prefer someone take him to the toilet. He would be glad if either me or Lynn take him to toilet, even though we are at home. Thus I think without Lynn, probably he's still way behind when come to potty training.

Oh yeah one mistake that I made when potty train him, is I did not ask him to pee while standing! >.< So used to "sit" potty. LOL! Until the people from child care reminded me.

Now, whenever Hao is with us, he will always go diaper less. Regardless when we go out for short or long period, I make him go diaper less. He will tell me or we will ask also, if he needs to go toilet, whether for big or small business. I know in the child care, he is on diaper when he takes the afternoon nap. But not at home as I can never impose their afternoon nap time at home. He just will not take the afternoon nap when I ask him to but he will go to sleep by himself when he get tired later. So I just let him go diaper less since I do not want to wake him up just to change diaper. I think it is about 7 months since the potty train started. It's a long and slow process, but I'm happy what he has achieved now - diaper less during day time, whether at home or outside. My next goal is zero accidents. :) 

Dinosaur, A Boy and Mommy

Lynn likes to draw. At first, she started with drawing "sausage", long long sausage. Lynn loves to eat sausage. :) Not sure because of this reason or it is just simply easy to draw. Hehehe. Then I taught her to draw flower. Now I don't see her drawing sausage anymore, but she still draws flowers. She will draw the flowers and let Hao colors the flower. Last week when I went to pick up the kids at my parents house after work, Lynn showed me her drawings, and asked me to write her name on it.

She told me this is a dinosaur. Blue dinosaur.

This is a boy. 

Upon seeing this, I asked her to draw a girl too. I have seen her drawing a girl with beautiful eye lashes. But she refused to draw me a girl now. So I asked her to draw mommy instead. So this is "me".

Mommy with red and green hands! LOL! 

She said mommy is holding a green handbag (Actually I don't have any green handbag! LOL). I asked her where is mommy's hair. She said mommy has no hair! o_O Alright at least the face is orange and not blue face (like the dinosaur). LOL!

Thinking of enrolling her into art class. Her kindy has this Da Vinci Arts class. The fee is RM100 per month, or RM270 for 3 months. For her age, will be more focus on coloring, in different tone, using crayon and water color. Drawing will be depends on the child. Sounds expensive. But I heard from others it is usually somewhere around this price. Do you think I should enrol her? Or wait till her get a bit older, maybe next year? She is 4 years old now.

Siblings Love

Lynn did not behave well last week. So I penalized her for not getting her usual food snacks on yogurt, vitagen, biscuit, ice cream and those breakfast cereal for a week. One weekday morning, when we were getting ready to leave the house.

Lynn: Mama, can me and Didi eat this cereal? (She was holding honey star on her hand.)
Mama: No, you cannot have that. No snacks for you this week.
Lynn: I no good girl, so I cannot eat?
Mama: Yeah.
Lynn: Then can Didi eat or not? Can Didi take this to school?
Mama: Yes.

The next morning, she asked me again.

Lynn: Mama, can Didi take vitagen to school?
Mama: Yes.
Lynn: Hao come, jie jie take vitagen for you. (She opened the fridge and took one vitagen for Hao.)

I was surprise and glad that despite she is not allowed to take the snacks, she was not selfish and complained when Hao got the food.

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Me, Lynn and Hao were at the kitchen after taking our food. Hao was standing on a stool with his hands stretching out to the basin and playing on those dirty and oily bowls and cups.

Me: Hao, come down please. Don't play with the bowls. Dirty.
No response from Hao.
Me: Hao, come down please.
Still no response from Hao.
Me: Hao..... can you please come down.
Hao was still playing there.
Me: Hao..... (started raising my voice)
Still no response! I’m started getting frustrated.
Me: (Shouting) Hao! Come down!
Still continue playing! Grrr.
So I walked over to him, give a pat on his buttock. He cried out loudly and finally, stepped down from the stool.

Hao: (Still crying) Jie jie..... jie jie.... (walking towards Lynn who was just standing next to me).
Hao: Jie jie... jie jie.....
He's trying to seek comfort from his sister. This is something new to me. Hahaha!

Lynn: Never mind la. See, who ask you don't want to listen to mama? Why don't listen to mama, huh?
Sounds so familiar, LOL!

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It was Sunday's afternoon. Me and hb were sitting in front of the pc and both kids were with us on the same room. Lynn was doing some coloring.

Hao: Jie jie, jie jie. (Hao was trying to get Lynn to play with him.)
Lynn: Don't disturb jie jie. Jie jie wants to color.
Hao: Jie jie, jie jie.
Lynn: Don't disturb jie jie, jie jie wants to color.
Hao: Jie jie, jie jie.
Lynn: Heya, jie jie wants to color.
Hao: Jie jie, jie jie.
Lynn: Hey, can't you see jie jie is doing coloring? (Lynn started feeling annoyed.)
Hao: Jie jie, jie jie. Jie jie, jie jie.
Lynn: (Shouting) Stop calling jie jie! Jie jie wants to color!
Hao: Jie jie, jie jie. Jie jie, jie jie.
Lynn: Grrr..........
Hao: Jie jie, jie jie. Jie jie, jie jie.

Lynn still continued on her coloring. So Hao changed his target. He came to me asking to sit on my lap. Oh poor boy. Already being rejected by the sister, can't be rejected again by mama right? So I carried him to sit on my lap. :D

Hao @ 2 years old

At 2 years old, Hao is still not talking that much. However he can understand us very well, and able to communicate with us very well even just using single word: -

drink - he wants to drink
(wa)ter - want to drink water
juice - want to drink juice
(yo)gurt - asking for yogurt in the fridge
(vita)gen - asking for vitagen in the fridge
eat - tells us that he wants to eat
blood - one day, not sure how he got his finger cut and it was bleeding. he showed me his finger and said "blood"
pain - tell and show me which part is pain
ball
(bis)curt - one of his favorite food. :)
throw
want
don't want
drop - not sure why he likes to take off his shoe in the car. When we ask him why, he said "drop" and pointing at his shoe.
(thunder)storm - when it rains heavily, he will point to outside the house and said "storm"
scare - he is scare of lightning
bread
(car)ry - ask for carry
shoe
up
down
(mor)ning
night night - our sleep time ritual - good night kiss
gai gai - going out
more - asking for more food.
bag
car
bu(s)
(bols)ter - asking for his bolster before going to bed
book - want to read book
milk - refer to fresh milk that we give him
nen-nen - want me to nurse him
bye bye
pant - want me to wear the pant for him after potty time
(mu)sic - want us to turn on the radio while we are traveling inside the car
wet
(un)cle
(aun)ty
(ice) cream
"fan" - 饭 rice in Cantonese - he will call us to eat rice during meal time
"dan dan" - 蛋 egg ins Cantonese. All food to him is "dan dan". Hahaha.
"bao" - 抱 carry in Mandarin. But he seldom say this.
"chuan" - 穿 wear in Mandarin. He was asking me to wear his pant for him. I only heard him saying this once.

Those in bracket means he's not pronouncing it but he means that word. It's like a guessing game. But so far me and hb can guess what he's trying to say. Even Lynn also can understand him very well. Most of the words he speaks are in English. He also can call all family members, in Cantonese. Despite he's not speaking much Mandarin or Cantonese, he can understand us very well as we speak to him in both Mandarin and English. My parents speak to him in Cantonese. Child care is using English as the medium. When I read books to Lynn, he will follow me pronounce those words that I read out loud for them.

As for his diet, I would say he has big appetite. See him eating is a happy thing; you will feel that he really enjoys eating the food served to him. ^_^ He can eat more than Lynn, almost same serving as a young adult. So taking him to buffet is definitely worth it. LOL! He loves milk, cheese, rice, and noodle; basically he's taking almost all food that is being served. He eats vegetable and meat too, as long as it is soft and not difficult to chew. He does not like food that is too sweet. Despite eating a lot, he will stop eating if he's full. Dining out is very easy for me now as he will eat by himself. I just need to serve the food to his bowl.

I'm still nursing him, not so much as a meal but more for the minerals and the antibody from me. From 1 serving of fresh milk in the afternoon, I have increased to 3 servings a day for him - morning, afternoon and night. Basically whatever Lynn is eating, he wants a share too. At first I was worry if he will reject bm after taking fresh milk. So I serve the fresh milk in normal cup for him (I never give him milk bottle at home). But he's still asking bm from me in the morning and before going to sleep. Looking for comfort? Maybe; but the bm still tastes good. :)

Hao is an easy baby and I believe the extended breastfeeding does play a part of it (I breastfed Lynn up to 10 months only). I love looking at him when I am nursing him. Sometimes he will look me back with his eyes full of love. Then both of us will smile at each other. I did not get to do this much with Lynn because Lynn has this comfort sucking habit. She just sucks to fall off to her dreamland so most of the time she sucked with eyes closed. I also carry Hao more than Lynn. Last time due to pregnancy and Hao was still a baby; I did not carry Lynn as much. In fact, I almost stop carrying Lynn after Hao was born as I carry Hao most of the time. Hb will carry Lynn instead. I actually miss carrying Lynn when she was a baby. Soon one day he won't ask for carry anymore. Due to this, I seldom reject Hao whenever he asks for carry. Sometimes hb thinks I carry him too much. Hao is very much attached to me. In fact, both kids very much attached to me. Hb says Hao is a mommy boy. Everything - mommy. Hahaha! Well, if mommy boy = easy baby, those effort spent on bf is definitely worth it. :)

At 2 years old, Hao no longer just plays by himself. I can see both Lynn and Hao enjoys playing with each other. From not-so-like the sister, I can see now Hao is getting closer and have better relationship with Lynn. In the past, whenever Lynn rests her hand on the arm rest of the booster seat, sure Hao will complain about it. But he's not complaining now. He also more willing to let Lynn holds his hand. Why the change? Lynn always gets food for Hao. She serves him milk, she will ask me for yogurt and vitagen and always get one for Hao too. Whatever she's eating, she will surely get a share for Hao. As for toys, sometimes they will still fight about it. It depends what toy it is. Both of them love playing on my bed. Jumping around, playing somersault. But usually I don't let them playing somersault on my bed, worrying they will fall down. They can play on Lynn's mattress which is on the floor.

I have a tough time dealing with Lynn when she was at the Terrible 2 stage. As for Hao now, I wish it will be a Terrific 2 not Terrible 2! Hehe greedy me. ^_^

Hao's height at 2 years old - About 86cm

Hao's weight at 2 years old - About 12kg

2 + 2

Today is Hao’s 2nd birthday. Time flies, he’s 2 years old now. I still remember 2 years ago, when I started blogging using BlogSpot. Before that, I was sort of like writing on My Multiply. It was also about that time, I started blog hopping. During confinement month, I decided to start my own blog in the blogosphere using BlogSpot, simply because it is free. :)

Before me giving birth to Hao, I always wonder how to juggle between two children. People around me told me, you will just know what to do when the time come. And they are right. The first 6 months was tough actually. Lynn was not even 3 years old during that time. I think asking her to give way to the brother must be tough for her. But we don't have much choice as Hao was still a baby. When Hao reached 1 year old, I thought well, should be easier now. Not entirely though. Hao was getting jealous over the sister. He was also being bullied by my niece at that time, fighting over the toys most of the time. Lynn did not bully Hao directly, but she did not take much care about Hao too. She won't protect Hao when he was being bullied. So there was not much siblings love at that time. The bully stopped when Hao started to walk few months after that. And now, three of them will be playing together happily. Well, kids are still kids; I won't say no fight at all. But I can see Hao is getting so much closer with Lynn now. :)

Having 2 kids also made me think - am I dotting one of them more than another? I don't know, maybe, but I don't think so. Maybe to Lynn I may appear to love the brother more. Unlike Lynn, Hao is not a rebellious child. And he will listen to me most of the time, like 80%. While when Lynn was at his age, she was very rebellious and 80% of the time she's not listening to me. So I tend to scold her more, talk louder to her more, as compared to Hao. It's not that I don't want to scold Hao; it's just that there is no reason for me to do so. I said no to him much less and much later too. Hao does not suck the thumb. He seldom put toys inside his mouth. It was an easy task to feed him. Hao is an easy baby! Hb also thinks that I'm dotting Hao but how can I not to? :)

Due to so many celebrations in this month, we decided not to call for a special family dinner just for his birthday. We will just follow the normal schedule, where Tuesday the kids will be picked up by my parents. I will just buy a cake over so we can blow the candle after the dinner. 

Happy Birthday my dear Hao.  

May you happy always.

"Please" and "Thank you"

We are teaching Hao to say "Please" and "Thank you" each time he's trying to ask something from us (usually food). Notice how I ask him to say "Please" and "Thank you".

Hao: Mommy, gurt, gurt *pointing at the fridge, hinting to me he wants to eat the yogurt*
Me: (Looking at Hao) Say "Please".
No respond from Hao.

Me: Say "Please".
Still no respond from Hao.

Me: Say "Please" first. Mama will give.
Hao: Plead.

I open the fridge and pass him a yogurt.

Me: Say "Thank you".

Hao: Kyu.

-------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday afternoon, Lynn wanted to eat raisins.

Lynn: Mama I want to eat raisins. Can I have some raisins please?
Me: OK.
Lynn: Mama I want this green spoon and this white spoon is for Didi. (Whatever food that she is asking, she will always get some for Hao.)
Me: OK.
Scoop one spoon of the raisins for Lynn and another spoon for Hao.

I was feeling a little hungry too. So I asked them to share some of the raisins with me.

Me: Lynn, can give mama one raisin?

Lynn passed me one raisin.

Me: Hao, can give mama one raisin?

Hao: No! (Taking one for himself.)
Lynn passed me another raisin.

Me: Hao, share share? Give mama one raisin?
Hao: No! (Continue eating by himself.)
Lynn passed me another raisin.

Me: Hao, just give mama one raisin, can?
Hao: No! (Munching his raisins.)
Lynn passed me another raisin.

Me: Aww... why don't you want to share with mama?
Hao: No!
Lynn passed me another raisin.

Hao: (Take a look at me) "Plead".

Me: Oh, you want mama to say please? Hao, can you please give mama one raisin?

Hao passed me one raisin finally.

Me: Thank you! :D

Erm, I did not say "No" when the kids are not saying "Please". So this one definitely not from me. Hehehe.

Anyway, now Hao will automatically offer me the raisin simply because he saw Lynn always do this to me! So it's really important to get Lynn to show the good example. :)

First Hair Cut

Hi it's me, Hao. What do you think of my hair? Long? Po po (Grandma) said if I still don't get my hair cut, I'm going to become like a girl soon. >.<

So on Saturday morning, when mama put a stool outside the house at the car porch, I "guai guai" let mama carried me to sit there. I even posed for her to take a picture of my handsome face. Wait a minute. Mama has never cut hair before! I will be her guinea pig! If I let her cut my hair, will I become not so handsome? No way! Now I feel a bit regretted not to let Po po cut my hair last week! >.<

So despite mama gave me a small box of cereal to eat, so that while I sit here eating my food mama would cut my hair for me. But thinking that this is her first time, instead of busy eating I was actually busy turning the head left and right, disallowed mama to cut my hair! Mama had a hard time to cut my hair. It was difficult for her to cut it straight with me shaking my head most of the time. She had to keep on asking me not to move. Until papa also coming down from upstairs to take a look what were we doing. And because I was shaking my head left and right all the time, mama was unable to cut my hair. At the end, papa got to hold my head still, made me can't move so that mama could cut my hair! Actually I scared mama would cut my skin instead of my hair, so when papa hold my head tightly, I feel more secure to let mama cut my hair. So mama had to be fast as I disliked papa holding my head for too long. I need to move! Guess what? Mama was complaining not good enough. Papa became impatient and took over the scissor and started to cut my hair too! After papa was done with the side, mama touched up a bit on the front and the side. Mama wanted to cut the back shorter but with no success without papa around to hold my head.

I saw lots of hair on the ground. And mama was kept on looking on my hair, checking here and there and cut cut cut!1 There was no mirror at car porch there for me to see my new hair style. I wonder am I still handsome? Well, don't care now. Already cut. What to do? Just hope my friends and gong gong po po won't laugh at me when they see me next week.

What do you think? Lynn Jie Jie said I am still handsome. I overheard mama telling papa that she think the back can be shorter some more and currently it is not so even. But papa think it was a good try for mama (and papa) since it is their first time. As for me, I feel more comfortable with shorter hair! And from now onwards I will make sure mama remember to comb my hair. If not, I will take the comb for her so that I look handsome all the time. ^_^

Btw, this is not my first hair cut. But first time mama cuts my hair!

Having fun with Scratch Art

Saw this scratch art pack when I was browsing at the stationery shop nearby office during lunch time. Not too expensive (it costs RM3.90 for a pack). So decided to buy it for Lynn.

This curious girl can’t wait to start working on it. The pack come with 1 stencil, 1 scratching art card, 1 wooden stick and a brush. I chose a flower picture as Lynn likes flower.

Place the stencil on the scratch paper. I used cellophane tape to secure the position of the stencil.

Use the provided wooden stick to scratch on the empty area to reveal the colors. When done, clean the drawing by using the provided brush.

Ta-da! Done! Lynn enjoys working on it very much. :D

Simple Craft

Bought some simple craft books from Popular Book Shop. This one is about making animals.

Just need to cut the shape out from the book.

Fold the cow and glue the black patches into the cow’s body.

Done! Lynn posing with the cow (without me asking her to do so). :D

We did the peacock on another day. Again, she posed without me asking her to do so!

Feeds himself

All these while whenever we are eating together I have to delay taking my food as I have to feed Hao first (kids always cannot wait for their food!). Not anymore. At 20 months old, Hao can feed himself now. I did not train him on purpose. But about some time back I noticed he wants to hold the spoon and feed himself. So I scooped the food and place it on his bowl, he would take the spoon and feed himself. He tried to scoop the food himself too but with no much success. Oh yes, unlike Lynn, Hao is a clean eater. He won’t mess up the place very much. 

Recently I noticed he is getting better in scooping the food using the spoon. Last Sunday, I let him eats the rice by himself. He scooped the rice slowly, and then brought the food to his mouth carefully. He repeated this again and again until he finished all the rice in his bowl. What surprised me most is he did it without wasting much food! There is little rice on the table and the floor. He dropped some on his pant but he picked up that rice and eats too. So it was an easy cleaning! Totally opposite of Lynn! But what actually made me happy most is Hao can eat by himself! Lynn can eat by herself before her reaching 2 years old. As Hao is a less independent child compared to Lynn, I was actually expecting he can do this much later. So I am very happy with his achievement. Now I can enjoy my food together with everyone (of course still keeping an eye on Hao) during meal time! ^_^

Concentrate on scooping the rice with the spoon. Had to remind him to turn over his spoon. :)

Bringing the food to his mouth. Trying his best not to drop the food.

Mission complete! Yum yum!

Not so naive anymore

It is very interesting to see how a child grows. A lots of time, I'm amazed by the nature, like no one teach them (I mean the kids), but they just become like this. Being the youngest in the family, and constantly being bullied by my niece and also sometimes by Lynn in the past, Hao has become very protective. Whenever my niece get near him, he will shout at her, giving warning "don't come closer!" as he knows that she will snatch the toys from his hand. And with Lynn, we have been keep on telling Lynn don't snatch, but ask from Hao. She did change trying to ask Hao to give her nowadays, but Hao is also getting smarter, he won't give the toy to her easily anymore. He knows Lynn wants the toy and he "purposely" does not want to give her. Hahahaha! See, what you sow is what you reap. :D This is what I told Lynn "You see, last time you refused to share the toy with didi, so didi learn from you and refuse to share the toy with you now." When I told Lynn in the past, definitely she could not understand what I mean about that. Until now when Hao does the same thing to she. Well, it's just the matter of time for Hao to learn to share.

Nowadays Hao knows how to get our attention. He will call us "papa papa", "mama mama" all the time. Asking us to carry him, sit on our lap, want us to play with him etc. Sometimes, when Hao is sitting on one side of my lap, and Lynn come over to sit on the other side, Hao will complain and try to push Lynn away! My mom even told me that one day Hao tried to push Lynn away because Lynn refused to let him step out of my parents house. But at home, they will still play together. And very often Lynn will come and tell me "mama, didi refuse to give me toy"; "mama, you see didi take this to play"; "mama, didi ...... "; "mama, didi...... ". :D

In terms of food, whatever food that Lynn is eating, Hao wants a share as well. In fact, he's eating more than Lynn. Cheese, ice cream, vitagen, yogurt, juice etc you name it, all are their favorite. Every weekend, they will come to me asking for food almost every hourly. Hao started to choose what he wants to eat. If he does not want to eat that food, he will shake his head. He will point to the food telling you he wants more. He will point at the fridge and ask me to open for him to take food. He can finish the whole cup of fruit juice within 5 minutes but take half a day to finish a cup of plain water.

When I am washing dishes in the kitchen, he will bring a stool, climb on it and see me washing. And then stretch his hand over the running water, or the wet basin to play with the water. Exactly like Lynn last time!

Hao likes to imitate Lynn a lot. Whatever Lynn shows us, Hao will imitate also. Sounds like kiasu hor. Hahahaha! But sometimes this is good. :) Like Hao used to complain whenever I wash his hair, as I would just shower the water right from his head while he's in the standing position. So he will complain when the water runs into his eye. But not so anymore after he saw that Lynn has no complain about it! I used to shower both kids together at the same time. Lynn can bath herself, and put on her own clothes. So basically I just need to attend Hao. One day when I was getting them ready to bath, Lynn told me "Mama, boy and girl cannot bath together." I'm very surprised with that sentence actually and I did not expect she will say something like that. I did not ask her but I suppose must be the teacher from the school told her that. Hahaha! I replied her "Other boys cannot, but didi can." Hahahahaha! When I first bathed them together, Hao got curious over Lynn's body and stretched his hand over wanted to touch her. And immediately Lynn shouted "Don't touch jie jie! " Hahahaha!

I have no problem taking care the basic needs of 2 kids. But when come to educate them, to love each other, to share with each other, definitely it's a much more challenging job. However at this stage, I don't want to think too much about that. I think it's just the matter of time for them to learn. I can see that Lynn is learning and she definitely loves the didi more then the didi loves her. So it's just the matter of time for Hao to understand about siblings love and we just have to continue telling the right thing to them. Despite Hao is getting mischievous, I have not become annoyed yet and instead, I enjoy myself very much to have them around me. It is very interesting to see how the 2 kids with different character, interacting with each others, and with people around them.

Stay dry at night (Part 2)

Have you ever heard of cannot talk how good your child is? Else he/she will "hear" it and become the opposite? I'm not the type that pantang this pantang that, but it happens quite a number of times already so I tend to be more careful now. I'm sure you guys are very smart and know what I'm going to write... so I don't have to spell it out very clearly. Also not sure if this is still early to tell, but keep my fingers crossed. :D

In July, I talked about Lynn started go diaper-less at night. Since about 2-3 weeks back, I stop waking up Lynn in the middle of the night to ask her to go toilet. Why? This is because when I woke her up, she refused to go toilet! She will tell me she went to toilet already and she just wants to continue sleeping. Previously, I will insist she has to go, because if not very high chance she will wet her bed. And if she wet her bed, in the morning I will tease her.


Me: Eee... Lynn chou chou (smelly).

Lynn: Then mama wash the bed sheet... no more chou chou
Wah so smart, know to tell me to wash bed sheet some more.

Me: Er... don't want to wash the bed sheet. Let you chou chou. Mama asks you to go toilet, you don't want. So now chou chou.

Lynn: Mama wash the bed sheet la.
Begging me some more, hahaha!

Me: No. Lynn should go toilet and not wet the bed, make the bed chou chou.
Insist to her that I'm not going to wash the bed sheet just because she wet the bed.


Not sure if this works? Or she really has grown up? Or could be both? Since 2-3 weeks back, when she refused to go toilet, I let her be. And guess what? No chou chou in the morning! For the next few days, I continued to wake her up but she always gives me same answer "I go toilet already" and refused to go. And the next morning, same thing! And first thing after she wake up, she will visit the toilet. :) So since then, I stop waking her up in the middle of the night. She can have better sleep through the night too.

Am I happy? Of course! Except her bad habit of picky eating and thumb sucking, she's easy. Never thought I can complete the night toilet training in about half year time. Any tips? Not much. I do give her rewards when she keeps the bed dry for a period of time and that make her happy. But one thing for sure is I consistently wake her up every night to go toilet. And consistently tell her that, must pee in the toilet and not on the bed, and don't pee when sleeping. I hope next time when it's Hao's turn... it is also as smooth as Lynn. *Keep my fingers crossed*

Hitting the Big 10

Hao was born quite big size - 3.67kg, exactly 1kg more than his sister Lynn. He gained 1.4kg within the first month. So when Hao full moon, he was 5.1kg. When I brought him to hospital for check-up, people kept on asking me - was Hao a 3 months old baby? Hao continued to gain >1kg for the 2nd month. During 2nd month, Hao got fractured femur and was admitted to the hospital for the first time. And subsequently I sent him to a different babysitter, as Lynn's babysitter was unable to take care of him. After that, Hao no longer gained 1kg in a month. In fact, he gained about 200-300g in a month only. At first, he was on the 90th percentile. We were thinking he's on the big size and worry if he might become over weight if he continues to gain >1lg in a month. But then later when his weight was not increasing much, I started to worry about his growth as Lynn got a steady 1 month 1kg when she was a baby. Both are fully breast fed. When breastfeeding Hao, I even cooked soup everyday for myself so make sure my body is strong enough to produce good quality bm for the baby.

After few months of unsatisfactory weight gained on Hao, I asked the paed what I can do during one of the check-up appointment. The paed first asked about Hao's diet, she then recommended me to replace one milk serving with semi-solid food. And on top of that, give him those food with higher fat, like butter, cheese, olive oil. Very interesting thing is Hao was weight 8.8kg and height 77cm at 1 year old, exactly same as Lynn! But don't forget Lynn was born 1kg less than Hao.

Soon after Hao turned 1 year old, I replaced his 2nd morning milk with baby cereal (previously I used to give him baby cereal during weekend at home, but not for weekdays. So now extended to weekdays): -


Weekdays
7am Morning milk at home, from mama ^_^
10am Baby cereal
1pm Porridge
3pm EBM
5pm Porridge
8pm Some rice and food, from our dinner
10pm Last feeding of milk, from mama ^_^


Weekend
7am Morning milk at home, from mama ^_^
10am Bread with butter and cheese, and some biscuit
12pm Baby cereal
3pm Another milk from mama before taking afternoon nap ^_^
6pm Porridge
8pm Some rice and food, from our dinner
10pm Last feeding of milk, from mama ^_^


After 4 months, we noticed his face become rounder and heavier when I carry him (alright, must remind myself to post some recent photo of him. :D) Yesterday Hao was having some fever, so I took him to the doctor and managed to weight him. He has gained about 1.4kg and finally hitting 10.2kg at 16th month. Not sure if this is a good weight gain (I hope so) but as long as his weight is increasing I feel happy and relief. :)

Fighting for Mommy

As Hao grows older, he's becoming more and more attached to me. :D Nowadays, he likes to sit on my lap. Let's say I am eating and he comes over to ask food from me, usually I will ask him to sit down before giving him the food. I prefer the kids are not running around when eating, to distinguish eating time and playing time. Whenever I ask him to sit down, he will turn around and try to sit on my lap. After he has sat down on my lap, he will lean his back to my body, enjoying himself. :D When Lynn saw this, she will come over, trying to squeeze herself, on my lap too! Hahahaha! So I will have Hao on the left and Lynn on right. :D


Usually when I was using my pc, Hao will play with Lynn on the same room with me. Sometimes when Hao get bored of playing and wants to have my attention, he will come near me, standing next to my chair and asking me to pick him up. Before I manage to pick up Hao, Lynn will come over and ask for some attention from me too! Sometimes she may try to find more space to get closer to me, and thus squeezing Hao and Hao will complain about it! Hahahaha! And if I pick up Hao, and put him sitting on my lap. Lynn will try to climb up the chair and sit on my lap too! :D Similarly, if Lynn was the one next to my chair and I was talking to her, Hao will come over and try to ask for my attention too!

Am I enjoying this? Indeed. Do I sound evil? Hehehe.. Just trying to enjoy being the center of attention from the children. Who knows, when will be the day where they no longer fight for me. :P

Firstborn Personality

Took this quiz quite a while ago for fun on Lynn and this is what I get: -

Whether or not the child you took this quiz for was actually the first child born into your family, she definitely has a Firstborn Personality. What does that mean? Well, even though she's a natural born leader, she'll want to uphold the status quo, and continue to do things the way she sees her parents doing them. Typically, the firstborn child will not be the family rebel. She will not necessarily try to shake things up. The firstborn child thrives in the glow of all the attention she receives in being the first and only child of the family, for at least a little while - until the younger sibling come along. Being the firstborn, your child has some insight into her parents' personalities; therefore, she absorbs much of their belief system and attempts to impart that to her younger siblings. When the other siblings come along, you can expect your firstborn child (or your child with the firstborn personality) to be an eager little helper and occasional babysitter (where she gets to boss the younger kids around!) The role the firstborn child fulfills enables them to become capable, ambitious, hard-working adults - albeit a bit neurotic.

This is quite true actually. Lynn likes to play the big sister role and boss Hao around. :D She will scold Hao what is the things he cannot do. She knows what food not to be given to Hao. She will play the spy role and reports to me what Hao has done. Whatever food that I give to Hao, she wants her share too. And not only that, she also want to take over my job to help feeding Hao on cereal and porridge. Unfortunately she cant do it well yet and ends up I got to do more cleaning.

Not sure if good or not for her to boss around Hao. At home, she also likes to play the pretend game where she was the "teacher" at school, ordering her friends to do this and that. But I do tell Lynn not to shout at Hao. This is papa and mama's job, not her job. I don't want Hao to have a sister who always scolds him around. In terms of food, Lynn is very generous and she does not mind to share her food with any of us. However when come to toys, she is not that generous yet despite we keep on telling her to share. Sometimes she expects Hao listen to her instructions but she does not understand that Hao is still young for it yet. It is nice to see them play together at home but sometimes it is also headache when they started to fight for the toys. Sigh. Lynn is still pretty much jealous with her brother here and still asking lots of attention from us. Still trying my best to make her understand we love them both and each of them has special place in our heart.