Photo Frame - Poh Poh & Ern

This was an 'unprepared' shot when we brought Ching Ern to her first professional photo shooting. While Poh Poh was trying to lift Ern up from the floor to change, the photographer just snap the photo.

We only developed the photo in 4R but the size is odd. I guess the shop must have trimmed off the top and bottom of the photo, trying to create more business opportunities on customized photo frame.

In order to cover the blank area on the frame, I used the same lace on Ern's Portrait Photo Frame and it turned out to be quite ok. It gives me a 'window' look.

With the colorful background on the photo itself, I just paste a small rose on a knitted flower.

The Winter Solstice Festival (冬至)

{back-dated post}

On this special occasion, it has been the family practice to go over to the temple for a praying & offering session to my paternal grandparents.

While waiting for Daddy to lock the house door and everything, Ern roamed around the porch area happily.


On our way to Poh Poh house, Ern dozed off. It is a blessing to us to see Ern loves to read the Puja Book (Buddhism Verse Book) over her normal flip and flap books that we put in the car. The Puja book has no picture but words after words. Still, she loves to hold and if I am sitting next to her, she will ask me to read the verses to her.



Once we reached the temple, Ern was ‘charged up’. After paying respect to the Buddha and her Great Grandparents, I let her run around the hall area. Can you imagine a mother half band her body to chase after an active toddler, with a camera in one hand trying take photo? 45 mins later, an exhausted mother sitting on the step while the happy Ern still running.



Ern met a 2+ old Che Che, isn’t she has a beautiful eyes and face?
Ern was trying to say hi to Che Che..but it looks as if she is trying to beat Che Che, right??!! LOL

She is a mixed, according to her Yeh Yeh. At first, we thought she is a Chinese-Caucasian child, but to our surprise, her mother is a Thai. She can’t speak much like Ern but both kiddo run and played happily.

Poh Poh is too busy to prepare the Tang Yuan by herself. So, she bought some while also received some homemade Tang Yuan from our neighbors. This is the 2nd DongZhi festival for Ching Ern but she only get to eat the Tang Yuan this year. She gets to eat 3 because Poh Poh said she is 3 years old (in lunar calendar year age counting)!! No need to guess also can know Ern loved it (because it’s sweet)!! She didn’t chew the Tang Yuan but just swallow it immediately. Actually, Ern hardly chews on her food except biscuit. Weird huh?! We are still in the process of teaching her chewing.

Merry Christmas

A very happy & blessed Merry Christmas to you & family

With Love,
Ching Ern & Family


Scrap credit: Nancy Wilkins

When She Is Geram...

This is what you see...



Now that she moves so fast, it's so hard to take a nice photo. I have to repeatedly ask her to stand still (obviously unsuccessful) and after a few times of "Ern, stand there", she get fed up and showed me this face! Naughty mummy!!! LOL

Bubble

Few weeks back, saw a Bubble Shooter sold at Tes*co and without much hesitant, I bought it although it's meant for 3 years and above.
3 reasons:
- Cheap (~ RM17)
- Bubbles can flow out easily & repeatedly because this is battery operated
- The trigger needs energy to press. At Ern's age, she doesn't have the energy to press.

Last Sunday, I decided to let her play (or chase) with the bubbles since we were at home on a hot afternoon. To have better space for Ern to run after the bubbles, we brought her out to the porch.

We knew Ern will be delighted but didn't expect her reaction to be so excited. When the bubbles started to flow out, she was shouting in delight and chasing after the bubbles.

Daddy was standing at one corner to make sure the bubbles flow at the middle because we knew once Ern started to chase the bubbles, she won't look out her way. While Ern was happily running around, poor mummy has to walk (and chase) like a duck in order to take picture.

A video clip to share with you how excited Ern was!! Enjoy!


Scrap credit:
Frame & Papers: Shelleyrae Cusbert
Stamp frame:Monica Evan
Flower:Tabrizia
Button: Amanda Carlson
Doodle: Thaty Borges
Alpha: Brenshevia Taylor-Boon
journal tag:Danielle Engebretson

Walking Rocker??

Have you seen a 'walking' rocker? If not, here goes.



It all started when Ern started to climb over and sit on my tummy. Somehow she found out the great joy of leaning backward and forward on ME! Hey, not easy to support a 10+ kg toddler on your tummy muscle! So, I have to put a pillow on my chest as she would dive straight onto me and it's painful (argh!). After a while, she thought putting pillow on my chest is part of the 'rule' and she brought along her pillow whenever she wants to sit on my tummy! *slap head*

It's fun!! :-)

17 Months Old

Gosh, another monthly update on Ern! So fast...:-)
Anyway, at 17 months:

Vital Stats:
Height: 83cm
Weight: 10.2kg
Teeth: 11

Dietary:
Proper Solid: 3 times per day (1 porridge at noon, 1 cereal/wheat at 6+pm & dinner at 8pm)
Light Solid/Snack: Round the clock whenever she is awake or we are eating/munching
Milk: 1X of 6oz at Poh Poh’s house & 2X of 8oz when she is with us

Development:
-- Started 2 pieces puzzles and she is able to pick up 3/4 objects correctly.
-- Throwing tantrum by moving her hand front and back. (sigh)
-- Kiss us (when we asked) by opening her mouth and follow by a 'arm' sound, as if she is biting something something
-- Fell down more frequent as she walks faster now.
-- Loves to sit on steps
-- She enjoys (the most) watching one the Japanese children educational programs at 12noon Mon - Fri at As*tro Channel 963. She will immediately jump down from the sofa, clap and turn in round as per the teacher demonstrates. It's so fun to see her 'kanchiong-ness' (no such word, I invent this term myself!)
-- She is able to 'communicate' better with us, especially when we asked her whether she wants milk or sleep. When she nods her head, she really meant it.
-- when we say 'oh oh', she will mimic us as well -> silent "oh oh" by opening her mouth in the 'O' shape.

Vocab:
-- Not much big progress as she is still very much in the pointing stage though she is able to recognize the object we taught her,
-- We frequently hear "a-chez" from her but yet to find out what does that mean.


Scrap Credit:
Paper: Chamuel
Frame: alittlescrapofme
Heart shape embellishment:Iara Gome
Red ribbon bow:natali
Flower sticker: Shelleyrae Cusbert
Wordart: Gina Marie Huff

Animal Biscuit

I think most of us ate this animal biscuis during those childhood days. I am so gladful it is still selling now that Ern gets to taste it before the factory 'close shop' or what. LOL.

I can still recalled when I was a little girl, I asked money from my mum (like RM0.20), run to the kedai runcit and came home with a packet. Now, I pay RM1.00!

Anyway, I have been using the various animal biscuit to teach (remind, to be exact) Ern about animal, like elephant, rooster, cat, rabbit,etc. She knew most of it from the animal board book but I thought this is something fun and just not treating it like biscuit!

Ern loves it. See her cheecky smile!



PS: The one you found in department stalls are sweeter. So, get this from those kedai runcit. Ern's PD is using the same biscuit to give away to children too.

Another Po*oh Bear???

Another Po*oh Bear toy??? No, this is NOT a toy.

It is actually a biscuit tin!! Cute right?? That's why I bought it when I saw it at Hadyai. Cost me RM9.90 with 2 packets of English cookies. I haven't try the cookies as we brought a lot of food home this time...haha

Did I give it to Ern? No...I actually use it to keep some of my paper scrapbook materials. *grin*

Right At Home

*Back-dated post*

I bought this cloth book back in May and only introduced to Ern like 2+ months ago. One thing I like about cloth book, it is safe for our kiddo to bite and washable. Even at 16+ months, Ern still bite occasationally as she is still in the teething stage. This book is handy as it's zipped and a holder to carry around. Definetely a good idea for traveling (I have done it during our Hadyai home trip)!


This interactive book comes with 8 animals for the children to put in the right homes, like "Turtles live in shells", "Dogs rest in a kennel'. Each animal is placed in a nicely sewed pocket with a name on it. So when Ern is older, this is a good tool to teach her to recognize the word.

Ern loves it on the very first day when I introduced this book to her. I guess she is like her daddy, an animal lover, especially on dog (don't know if it's related to the Dog year she was borned).


The first 2 animals that she put in the right homes are turtle and fish. 2 simple reasons: Turtle is on the first page, so her concentration is higher. Moreover, she can lift up the shell. As for fish, she is so fasinated on the so called fish bowl (a plastic cover actually). I guess that attracks her attention.

After few weeks of repeating, she was more or less can place the right animal at the right home, except on dog and kangaroo. Maybe they look alike to her and confused her sometimes.



Just last week, she is able to place all the 8 animal at the right home. Hooray...happy kid and happy parents!! LOL

Bat*man??

Don't ask why Kong Kong bought this for HER because when I asked him the same question, he just chin-chai gave me an answer like 'just buy niah'. He got it from the morning wet market weeks back near my parents house.

Did we the adult like it?? BIG no as the music from the toy car is so loud and annoying. The little fella, first few days, scared her off whenever we pushed the 'on' button. She even cried on the first day because of the loud music and car spinning motion. She hugged me like a koala bear!

Several days after, she stopped crying but just walked away when the car moved into her direction. Better improvement.

After then??? See the clip below for answer.

See, she is so happy whenever we turn on the music for her. She clapped happily and even did a Break Dance by moving her head left and right. Didn't notice? Watch the clip again. :-)

PS: The background voice is Brenda Che Che.

Scrap credit:
Paper & frame:PinkuPixie
Embelishment: Sweetmoongraphics

When You Ask Her...

When you ask Ern "Where is Mei Mei(beautiful in Mandarin)?", this is what she will show you.



It all started from the hair clip because I told her she will look 'mei mei' with it. Btw, we can't place anything on her head right now because she is at the phase of pull it down and look at the pin that makes her look 'mei mei'...LOL

Puzzle

I started introducing puzzle (2 pieces only) to Ching Ern last week. It was a recommendation by a friend, Neoh (a Montessori trained teacher from London) who runs an online boys & books store called MyToysandBooks.com.

At first, I was a little hesitate whether it is too early to introduce puzzle to Ern. In the end, I still give it a try because I thought I can keep it later if she is not ready. I choose a "transport" puzzle set since this is something we have not really taught her (except car).

I was totally IMPRESSED when I received the parcel because Neoh has included a 'checklist' to guide the parents how to play the puzzle more interesting & interactive with the toddler like:

1) Purpose: Daddy & Mummy go to work by using the CAR.
2) Sound: Neeeee-oww (sound of aeroplane)
3) Where can you find it: On the farm/construction sites (for Tractor)
4) Parts: Cabin, seats, driver (for Train)
5) Others: Need to buy train tickets before travel (for Train)

On day 1, Ern showed no interested on the puzzle but demonstrated her 'take out and put aside' skill or take the whole box shaking up and down. "Sigh" & "Is she too young for it?" were my first 2 reactions.

On the very next day, I wrote a mail to Neoh to seek help, as in how I can attract her interest. Neoh suggested I must introduce the object (in full picture) to Ern before I can start the puzzle. I followed her tips and started repeating the 4 objects for several nights, while also followed her tips from the 'checklist'.

After a week of 'hard work', it finally paid off yesterday night. Ern is able to 'match' (not 100% perfect) the Aeroplane and Train though she can't fit them nicely. Instead of putting all 8 pieces which may complicate things, I decided to place 4 pieces (from Aeroplane & Train) and let her choose and 'match'. She will take the 2 pieces and bring to me (ask me to fix for her).

Now, I am working on the Tractor and Car. Hopefully within the short period, Ern is able to match them perfectly. :-)

If you are unsure what to get for your kids, do write Neoh a mail and she can recommends the right books/toys that may suit your toddler/kiddo.

PS: This is not a sponsored or product review post. I thought this is something useful to share with other parents. :-)

Tag: All About Me

Another long overdue tag from Ethan Kor Kor. He wants to know more about me. *shy*

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Not born yet. Maybe still in my previous life! hehe

What were you doing 1 year ago?
I 'told' my parents I am a TV Buff

Five snacks you enjoy:
No preference because whatever given to me, I would eat them.

Five songs that you know all the lyrics to:
None but I can recognize some of the cartoon songs like Little Einstein, Mickey Mouse, JoJo Circus (obviously they are my favourite)

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
Hmm...I don't know because my parents also don't know what to do if we are millionaire.

Five bad habits:
- Must smell on the corner on my pillow
- I still can't nap for more than 2 hours
- Throw tantrum by moving my hands up and down
- I don't poo at the regular pattern and hour. So, my parents can't potty trained me.
- Playing water (who doesn't!!)

Five favourite toys:
I don't really have the so called favourite. I treat them all alike..ahem! :-)

Five things you like doing:
- Smell my pillow corner
- Rub my palm against the pillow corner
- Play with the pacifier
- Eat
- Shower

Five things you would never eat:
I am still a 'wai sek mao", so I love food just like my parents! *grin*

Back

Mummy is back in action. Didn't know Daddy 'secretly' post up a short note.

Anyway, thanks to all your wishes. Discharged from hospital this afternoon after a minor surgery. Nothing serious, "just want to get rid of it" type of surgery. :-)

Will post up more about Ern.

A break for mommy...

Speedy recovery to mommy...

Lower Left Molar

A note for mummy - discovered Ern's lower left molar sprouted out. :-)

Christmas Exploding Box

I did another Exploding Box for Ern, in a Christmas theme...

Well, we will be having a Christmas gathering with friends and their kids, whom are quite similar age with Ern. So I thought this Box is something meaningful to capture these good moments.

Top View:


I have yet to decorate the whole box. Only plan to do that once I have the pictures ready. Actually, the original idea on the lid is just tie a Christmas ribbon. Somehow I made a mistake by clipping the lid with a paper clip for too long. Hence, there is a clip mark left on the lid. So in order to cover the 'mistake', I need to use a wider width ribbon and cover the whole thing. Didn't expect the outcome turns out to be quite ok.

Inside View:


Somehow half way cutting the card, the idea of putting all polka dots came into my mind. That's how you see I used all polka dots patterned papers.

Nice??? :-)

Maze Book

This is Ern's first ever Maze Book from Mummy. I learn from here and honestly, I was quite satisfied with it. Not that I did a good job or what, I guess the colorful and bright patterned paper bring out the "sunshine' feeling. LOL

I have yet to figure out what theme to go with this book. Hence, I have not decorate the book much.

See below photo for a closer view inside. You can paste 16 small pictures in this book. I kinda like this concept because it's handy to bring everywhere.

Xylophone

This is the continual from the 'drawing session'. :-)

See, Ern cried the moment we took the white board and marker pen away from her. To distract her, we brought in this xylophone, which was a gift from MIL. Phew, she stopped crying and immediately turned into the delightful mode. I think weather change also not as fast as her..children, children, they are mostly alike!



See the clip below. I think you would be able to gauge how much she LOVES sitting on the step. Enjoy!

Drawing Session @ Home

Since I missed the fun of joining the other Jie Jie & Kor Kor in the last playgroup (you can find details here, here and here), Mummy decided to ‘compensate’ me with another drawing session.

I was pretty excited when I saw this white square thing becoz I can recognize the Pooh Bear. Mummy bought this from Tesco, which comes with a marker, eraser & 2 magnets.


I started to ‘draw’ after my Mummy showed me how to hold a pen. See, the broken lines are drawn by me. The connected line is from my mummy. Can easily tell, right?!!

As I was so curious about this ‘black, wet’ thing (Mummy: the pen ink), I kept on touching on it with my finger and palm. Wow..it was so nice to touch it and in the end, I decided to extend my drawing outside of the board, ie on my hand and leg.



I thought this looks cool on me though my Mummy almost pengsan with me already. Oh by the way, I have also decided to draw on my shirt since it is so plain. Luckily Mummy didn’t really stop me, or too late for her to stop!! *grin*



See, not only I can draw, I can erase the board well also, after seeing how Mummy did it.



After a while, I get tired just sitting drawing on the board, arm and leg. Hmm…then I discovered I have a BIG ‘drawing board’ – the floor.



Mummy stopped me immediately the moment I started to draw on the floor because she thinks I may start to draw on the wall!! Mummy removed my pen and I cried so loud because the whole drawing session was just less than 20 mins. Argh…so short, sure cry loh!

In the end, Mummy brought me the xylophone and only then, I stopped crying. See, I am naughty, right??!! But then, I really enjoyed drawing mah…

Fish

This post is 1 week late as I was busy working on several paper scrapbooking projects. :-)

I took Ching Ern touring around Equatorial Hotel after our lunch at Kampachi (Japanese Restaurant) since Daddy had not finish taking his buffet lunch.

There is a big fish pond just right outside of the restaurant. Ern was so excited when I told her we are going to see fish. I brought her pretty near to the pond so that she gets to see the beautiful and big koi fish swimming around. Trust me, these fish must be fully fed by the hotel staff (or the guest?), all of them are quite big in size.

At first, I thought she may get frightened by these fish but to our surprise, she wasn't. In fact, she wanted to free herself from us and get down to the pond! *roll eyes* Look at the second photo on the left, she either wanted to 'dive in' to the pond. Or, she would turned her body facing us and about to do the butt down to the pond. She was really 'all out' to the fish!! LOL

Scrap credit: Valjs

Better Hand Coordination

I bought this toy for Ching Ern when she was 8 months old. I bought this toy from ToysRUs for 2 reasons - it has double sided activities and it was on sales. *grin*

When I first introduced the toy to Ern, she showed great interested just on the 3 shape blocks. Even then, she didn't like to play the shape sorter but just carried the shapes everywhere. Subsequently, she showed some interested on the phone, the blocks and the flowers.

Just few hours ago while I was working on my paper scrapbooking, I let her played on her own while supervising her from time to time.

Suddenly, I saw this:



I quickly rushed to get the camera and manage to ask her to do it one more time, with her in the picture:


Yay, Ern knows how to put the flower inside the hole and connect them one to another. The missing piece is for her to turn the big flower so that all the flowers will move together.

Let's see wait is the day then.

Sitting On Step

As the title speaks, Ching Ern LOVES to sit on step like:

1) At the staircase - which also indicate it's time to fix up the baby safety gate



2) At the door step



3) At the step between the living and dining room



See the video clip below and you can tell how happy she is whenever she sits on step.

Yes & No

Ya, finally she can distinguish and understand what is ‘yes’ & ‘no’.

Having said so, there are things that she will sometimes say no:
- Drink water (esp when she is full)
- Oah Oah (sleep)
- Pau Pau (carry)
- Keep (we have started on discipline in keeping her toys)
- Share
- Give

This is what she will show you when she say no:



Ha, there are certain things she will never so ‘No’:
- Kai Kai
- Mum Mum (eat)
- Pom Pom (shower)
- Watch cartoon
- Milk

Setting The Stage Right...

Looking at the title itself, it was as if I am talking in office - Setting the Stage Right??!!

Well, this is not only happening in office but on Ching Ern as well. If we don't set the stage right at the beginning on her, this will happen...

1) CRY: Before we place her in her car seat, we need to tell her we are going 'kai kai' (go out) and remind her to take car seat. She will happily nod her head and make no fuss about it. There were several occasions we forgot to say the 'magic' word (especially when Poh Poh carried her) and she cried so loud the moment we placed her in the car seat.

2) STROLLER: Again, we need to use the same 'magic' word or else, less than 15 mins, she would ask us to carry her out from the stroller. Also, we cannot carry her out 1/2 way through because she would never want to go back and sit in her stroller anymore.

3) CAR SEAT: Same thing like stroller, never take her out 1/2 way. Unless we get out from the car for a while, only then she willingly sit back. She must have thought she went for 'kai kai' already. LOL

4) SLEEP: We will need to 'remind' her it's bed time and we will need to deem down the light. Else, she can toss on our bed easily for 45 minutes before she gets tired and sleep.

See...how can we not set the stage right at the beginning?? :-)

Dancing

Kau Foo (my brother) just came back from his Yun Nan, China trip and he gave this so-called 'ferry tag' to Ern. According to Kau Foo, the tag was to differentiate which kind of ferry a person can board when he visited one of the famous lakes. The tag has the name of the ferry.

The moment she got it from Kau Foo, Ern put it on and danced along while she was watching the tele.

Cheeky, right??!! :-)

Exploding Box

I just love this Exploding Box. It is unique, small in size (3-4 inches only) and yet, able to keep up to 20 photos. I decided to start off by journaling on Ern's 1st Birthday.

Anyway, I learn from here and it took me:

- 1+ hours to complete the box & lid
- 1 hour to cut out and paste the patterned papers, ribbon & deco the lid.



- Another 1+ hour to paste the picture, wordings and put up some simple embellishments.



Personally, I think the color combination can be much better. However, I thought I just utilize the paper pad I had and make something out of it.

3 Molars

Ern has 3 more molars sprouting out from lower right & left and another upper left. Can't really see it but when you touch it, can feel the sharp edge.

Ya..for me to find out, it was a painful process. This fella, started to bite when we tried to put our fingers in..argh!!!

Ponytail

Finally, Ern's hair is long enough for ponytail!! Still a little bit to go to tie up all nicely, especially at the back.

At the same times, it also means time for mummy to shop for more nice & cute hair ribbons...hoho...another excuse for mummy to shop...LOL

My First Paper Scrapbooking for Ern

I started digital scrapbooking after read this blog and this blog. These 2 mummies did an EXCELLENT job in scrapbooking! Trust me, do hop over to their website and soon, you will fell in love with this new hobby. LOL

I can't recall how and when I found out about paper scrapbooking. The next thing I know, I "invested" quite substantial in this new hobby. It is a TOTALLY feeling between digital and paper scrapbooking.

This is the first ever scrapbooking I did for Ching Ern. It was a professional photo taken when she was 10+months old. I can't frame the picture because some part of Ern's face would be covered. Many thanks to the photographer!

Anyway, thanks to Evan's Mummy for suggesting the idea of using this 'paper stand". Then, Jo-Nee.com gave me some ideas to decorate the stand and tada, this is the end result.

It is a simple one, indeed. Nothing creative or special. Honestly, I am not a creative person! I used lace ribbon to frame the stand, add 2 flowers with a brad in between, 4 flowers and a chipboard sticker.

Closer look: