A busy week

It's so nice to be able to sit and relax after a very busy week.

My Form 5 student had her SPM trial exams the last 2 weeks. So I've been teaching tuition everyday since last Sunday to juggle her last minute studying as well as teaching her brothers and sister. I've been doing last minute work to type study notes for my students too since she hasn't been able to do her own.

So my days have been filled from the moment I woke up until I sleep. It feels like working full time with extra work to do at home!
My routines were:
- Wake up and get Sean to have his breakfast with the maid while I do notes for my students.
- Lunch and some errands.
- Back home and get Sean to have his nap (which takes close to an hour everyday)
- Immediately go to teach tuition
- Come home, have dinner, have bath
and then continued making study notes while Sean pulls me every 5 minutes to play with him. Consequently I don't get to do much work.
- Get Sean to sleep (which also takes at least an hour)
- Get back to typing notes until 2 - 2.30am.

The only break in the routines was when I and Sam had to go to the Immigration to renew my spousal pass on Wed and pick it up of Fri. We had to wake up even earlier on those days! As well as Sean's playgroup on Thu's morning. Hence, my lack of beauty sleep for the past week until yesterday.

So today, we went to visit Samantha, Kai and Keane.I had a great time, chatting with Samantha, while the the kids attempt to play or not fight with each other. Sean is still not able to play together with other kids yet, but I'm sure eventually he will get used to visiting friends and be comfortable at other people's place if we go often enough. =P

24 months update

This is rather late, but I thought I should just note these thoughts down before I forget about them.

Approximately,
Height: 89-90cm
Weight: 14.3kg

Speech
I would say that there has been many temper tantrums recently. It's probably because his speech is still very limited. Compared to his peers, he's rather slow, but I'm told that many boys come to speech at around 2 1/2 years old. Some of his new words that I remember: dark, duck, star, shoe, hot, knock. If you notice, some actually sounds alike.. ha ha ha...

Most of the time, he just says NO!
This morning while I was waking him up.
I said " Wake up, Sean. We're going to playgroup today."
Sean goes, " Noooooo!", turns and went back to sleep.

On days he has nowhere to go, he wakes up early on his own. On days he has to wake up early, it's so hard to wake him up! *roll eyes*

Routines
He's starting to have his own routines.
When he wakes up, I'll bring him down to watch TV and have his breakfast.
After that, we'll play in the garden. Sometimes he just wants to watch more TV, so I let him and i read my book.

I've been letting him play with the rabbits recently. He enjoys going into the rabbit cage and gets really excited when I run around trying to catch a rabbit. I put the rabbit into the inflatable pool which has now become the rabbit petting area. But he still doesn't know how to pet them properly. He just likes looking at them. After enough playing, then he has his bath.

On good nights, we'll play until he says an emphatic "Ne!", which means he wants to breast feed. He'll pull me to bed and sits on my side of the bed. I'll ask him, "Do you want to read books?", then he'll say "Boook!" Then he'll breastfeed while I read him books, until he fall asleep.

Sometimes it's really cute to see him climb the bed on his own, sit and pull the blanket to cover his legs and wait for me to get on the bed. So Cuuutteee! =D

On bad nights, there'll be lots of temper tantrums, until I say, "Enough!", off all the lights, carry him struggling and screaming to bed, snuggle into the bed under the blanket, breastfeed and stay still for a very long time, until he calms down and goes to sleep.

New playgroup try-out
On Monday, we went to try out a new playgroup at Gospel Hall. It's more structured and each mum is required to come along. The first half hour is free play following the Montessori principles. There are lots of puzzles and toys on the shelves. Each toy has a sticker label which is the same as the sticker on the shelf the toy is on. Each child is meant to learn to put back the toys to its original place after they play. Of course Sean doesn't know how to do it yet, but I think it's a great way to teach about putting things back to its place.

Then they had half hour of singing, a short snack time, another half hour play outside on the big toys while the mummies drink coffee and chat, and lastly, a short story/teaching time.

I like the system, but Sean wasn't co-operating. He had temper tantrums after temper tantrums. Just as he was starting to get into the activities, it was time to start another one. So he got frustrated. When he wasn't crying to get his way, he wanted the toys the teachers were using as examples, or he'll run round and round within the circle of kids and mummies. He's not shy about going to the front and taking toys and behaving as if it was his right! It was so embarrassing, but all the other mums were nice about it, except for one grandmother who told me to watch my son because he was sneaking behind the teacher to take the fire engine. Oooppss... =P

I guess Sean looks big for his age and people expect him to behave better. The only time, he wasn't making a fuss was during snack time when there was a little girl who was having a bigger temper tantrum than him. He looked at her crying and behaved himself and ate his snack quietly. ha ha ha.... =D

We couldn't get a place because the playgroup only accepts a certain number of people, but I was told that we should be able to get a space in January. I'm looking forward to more activities with Sean. It should be quite fun. =D

Whatever type of day it is, I love being a mum. I feel so blessed that I can hug and kiss my little darling as many times and anytime I want to. It's really the most satisfying feeling. =D

Craft: Home-made Play dough

I made some play dough last week. It was so easy and fun to make. The result is so satisfying, not only it's better than the "Playdough" you buy at the stores, it smells better too. =D

I even managed to salvage the drying bought ones and revived them by kneading the old and new together. The almost dried play dough took a lot of work to knead together though. I had to crumble bits of them into the new play dough and knead longer. But the result was like brand new ones. Now Sean can play as much and waste as much as he wants because I can make more whenever he runs out.

Recipe:
1/2 cup fine salt
1 cup flour
1 tbsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp oil
1 cup warm water
food coloring and essences

Revised instruction:
Dissolve the salt in the water in a saucepan. Add cream of tartar, oil and essence. Put the saucepan over a small fire and add the flour a little at a time. Stir continuously until it clumps into a ball. Remove from heat and knead. Use a little flour while kneading to lessen the stickiness.

If you're making one color, you can add the food coloring in the saucepan. Otherwise, take a batch and add the food coloring a little at a time, and knead the color into the dough.

Be careful with the coloring if you don't want to have colorful hands. I had colors all over my hand because I wasn't careful while mixing the colors. It took 2 days to wash away. So if you have disposable gloves, use them. Just make the primary colors: red, blue and yellow. you can knead other colors from these. It's a great color teaching tools for older toddlers.

I used vanilla and banana essences. They smell really good. =D

Additional Note:

Leave the new dough in air for a while and re-knead once in a while. If you keep them inside containers too soon, they get too soft and soggy.

Use flour to knead until you reach the consistency that you like. If you keep inside closed container for too long, it gets too soft. So open the container once in a while.

Just to add:
The reason my previous playdough was so soft is because I forgot to add the oil!!!!. So remember to add the spoonful of oil. If you forget, just take a bit of oil and knead into your dough. It should work as well.

Sam & Sean

These are my current favorite photos. Like most of my photos, I took these photos with my hand phone camera. It's such a cute Daddy & Sean moment. I wish I have such photos of myself and Sean. Unfortunately, no one else in this house knows how to capture a great photo moment.

Birthday celebration

We had a simple birthday celebration for Sean at home. Sam decided to try a new barbecue sauce and cooked ribs. I got Sean a very small birthday cake (o.5kg) because I'm usually the only one who eat the cakes. It's going to take some workout to get all that cake from my system! LOL =P

Sean got a bible and a racing set from Akong and Ama which he enjoys looking at while we play.. ha ha ha. We got him a Spiderman stuff toy and a Duplo farm set. He'll order us to turn on the conveyor belt and pile blocks after blocks into the barn.

Auntie Paik Ling gave him 2 "Car" coloring books and stickers to add to his growing collection of "Cars" items.


We also had a small birthday bash at his playgroup on Thursday, shared with Eason who also turned 2 that week. I made fruit sticks of watermelon star, rock melon heart and rambutan globes, chicken and egg mayo sandwiches. It was a small thing, but enjoyable.

Happy Birthday Sean!

You are now 2 years old.



You are such a cutie, cheeky and full of fun.
Your various expressions makes me smile.
When you smile, my day becomes better.
When you laugh, it makes me glow inside.
When you frown, it makes me giggle,
because you just look so funny! =D


























My little baby is growing up.
No more a baby, but an active toddler,
who has strong opinions about things
even though you speak so little.

Goodbye babyhood.....
Hello.. Terrible Two!....
Sigh....


























I know you get frustrated when you can't express yourself.
I know you can't help but whine when things don't go your way.
But my little darling, you have to learn some patience,
as well as to speak words so you can talk to us.

You are my dearest heart...
My unlimited hugs and kisses.
Life is just wonderful with you in it =D

Mummy looks forward to see you grow and learn,
discover the world and the amazing things in it.
with hope that Terrible Two doesn't last very long. =P