Another Happy Cake

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December is a month where Ern gets to blow her 'happy cake' twice. Daddy and Kong Kong birthday fall in the month of December.

We went for a family dinner at one of the Chinese restaurants and follow by the cake cutting. Originally, Kong Kong didn't want the cake but after knowing the intend was more for Ern to blow, he happily agreed.

Of course Ern was the happiest person. When the waiter took away the cake to cut into slides for us, Ern almost wanted to burst into tears as she thought Koh Koh will take away her 'happy cake' forever!!

Merry Christmas

Ern Ern wishes everyone to have a blessed and happy Christmas!

My "Piano"

So far, this is the most 'tahan lama' crayon set I have ever bought for Ern. The previous sets, they were broken after 1-2 falls from the tables.

One of the weekends, out of no where, this little fella arranged the crayon nicely and she told me this:

" Mummy, Ern Ern play piano!"

I was surprised she said 'piano' because we don't have one at home (even I know how to play). I don't remember there is one at the school either. Guess she must have picked it from up her cartoon or during her class.

Then, she 'bang' both her hands on top of the crayon and humming to herself. I think she is mimiced as if she is playing a piano. :-)

Toilet Train - UPDATES

This is more of a note to myself, to capture the toilet train progress of my lil fella :-)

After 4 weeks of starting toilet train, Ern is not 100% trained YET but we do see improvement.

At school:
- She is able to tell the teacher more frequent on her needs (from once every few days to once every day)
- She is able to hold her bladder longer like 1+ hour
- She is able to follow the 'toilet q' and pee set by the school (right after their morning tea break)
- She would nod her head and say yes every time when asked if she wants to pee

At home:
- She would take off her pants and run to the potty to wee
- She would tell us the needs by saying "Mummy, wee wee/shee shee".
- She would nod her head and say yes whenever we asked her if she wants to pee

However, when we are outside of school/home, she would say 'no' even we know it's about time to pee. Less than 1 min later, she wet her pants :-(
I tell you, we can tell from her facial expression that she was in shock and shy. After changing her, we reminded her (in a soothing mode) that she needs to tell us.

After talking to some mummies, I was told we need to bring Ern to the toilet even if she said no. That's because they are not familiar with the public toilet and refused to pee. Great learning (thanks Mummies!)

Will see how she progress in a month time....

Constipation No More

Actually Ern is sitting on a potty to do her 'big business' (past motion) in this picture!.

It all started many months back, she called me out that she wanted to past motion at 3am. I was worried if she would catch a cold inside the air-conditioned room, hence I put up her blanket on her. Ever since, she always asked for a blanket! *roll eye*

Well, all along Ern doesn't have past motion problem until 4-5 months back. Instead of daily 'depositing', it became every alternative days. Sometimes, can drag to 3 days!

We have seek PD advice and we were told to introduce more fibre/vege to Ern. We added more serving but not much improvement.

One day after talking to Charlotte's mummy, I was told the fruit/vege intake for Ern is consider a lot. So, Ern shouldn't have this problem. So, I draw a conclusion that my lil fella 'simpan her treasure"!!

Then, I decided to introduce and 'programmed' past motion is part of Ern's routine. I make her understand the importance of past motion. Of coz she doesn't understand what I was tying to tell her. In the end, I have to 'force' her by threatening her like:

" If you don't "ng ng" (past motion), worm will stay inside your tummy"

"If you don't "ng ng", you are not a good girl".

She freaked out on the worm trick and sit on potty obediently. She did past motion daily ever since. (thank goodness) Right now, we don't need to remind or threaten her anymore as she would tell us she wants to 'ng ng' before lights off.

Other than threatening , I did a role play with her.



I asked her to 'ng' bear bear, just like how we 'ng' her! hahaha...I tell you, it works, ok?! So back then, whatever tricks worked on Ern, we buy that! :-)

Yesterday night before she fall into sleep, she was talking to herself by doing role play (i guess):

"Bear bear, you ng ng in potty ok?"
" Come, quickly!"
" Ng..ng..ng" (she made the sound)
" Are you done?"
" Wait for Ern Ern..Ern Ern take wet tissue to wide your 'pi ku' (bum bum)"
" Good girl..no worm!"

I just couldn't stop laughing (inside my heart) after hearing her conversion. She has grown up so much!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We had a family dinner (good food!) to celebrate daddy's birthday few days ago.

Knowing daddy had ordered a hot serving sweet dessert, I bought a pandan cake instead of the regular creamy/icing cake. I thought it will go well with the dessert since pandan cake is less 'jelak'.

Well, it turned out as if it was Ern's birthday. She was so excited when we took out the cake and she shouted " happy cake"! Actually, she is able to pronounce 'happy birthday' but when it comes to cake, somehow she will say 'happy cake' instead of 'birthday cake'! *grin*

Of course, she steal the show that night! She was waiting anxiously to blow the candle right after we sang the birthday song. Look at the clip below, she really blew the candle with her lung out! LOL



Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Where Is It?

** Story continued from here and here **

Suddenly, Ern put her head like the photo above and start counting 1-10. It was so loud on her counting until there were 2 hotel guest pass by had to stop, look at her and smiled.

I was clueless when she did that! Right after she finished counting to 10, paused for a while and said this - WHERE IS IT?

Oh dear, then only I knew what she was doing. She was playing "HIDE & SEEK"!!

Again, this is something she must have picked up from school as we never taught her about this game.

I captured a clip but it's without her saying " where is it?". She only said once, somehow :-)



Our kiddo really bring us lots of surprises everyday...

Tell Me What Is It?

Story continued from here:

Soon, Ern discovered a real cannon displayed at the promenade, of cause it attracted her attention!

First, she discovered the big hook and she put her hand through it. Then she asked me:

"Mummy, tell me what is it?"



The "tell me what is it?" is the 1st sentence that she learnt from school. It has been frequently said by the teacher during the lesson :-)

I didn't answer my girl immediately as I was caught red-handed. I was stunned for a while. Before I could answer her, she peeked through the hook and said "Ah chaik' (hide-n-seek in Hokkien)

I managed to snap a photo through the hook (as shown in the scrap layout). Personally, I like that picture.

Scrap credit:
Quickpage: Anita Quilts
Word Art: SCARLETHEELS

Run..Ching Ern..Run..

Finally, I managed to take satisfying pictures of Ern in RUNNING. I have tried many times but never successful for many reasons - poor effect, night mode, blur picture, etc.

It was taken at the promenade of E&O Hotel during Kaitlyn's full moon party (thanks for inviting us, Kaitlyn's Mummy!) Well, the promenade is just right in front of the coffee house, giving the guest a very spectacular sea view during their dining experience. Most children tend to run along the promenade area after they are done with their meal, so as Ern!

I managed to take some other photos too. More post coming up. Stay tuned.


Ready...Get Set..




RUN.. (I like this picture the most, as if she is sprinting all out in 100m! LOL)

Trick Me?

[ Back-dated Post ]

Making animal sound was one of the ways that we used to teach Ern to speak out. It started after she turned 1 year old.

Even now at 2.4yo, we still play this game with her occasionally. Daddy played this the most as he can make really good animal sound compare to mummy. :-) What we did was, we would name an animal and Ern will say the sound.

One day out of sudden, Ern asked me to play this game again with her. So, I thought I want to trick her at the end of the session. To my surprise, she didn't fall into the trick. She refused to say her crying sound when I asked her.

Toilet Train

It has been a week since we started toilet train on Ern, both at school and home.

Well, we have started toilet train at home for many months but we were not successful. She still pee on her clothe diaper and refused to tell us even she knows how to say the word "shee shee" or "wee wee". She only told us after she wee as she wants us to change her clothe diaper.

So, I thought getting the school to co-help on toilet train would be a great help because I have heard many great milestones achieved on children for 2 main reasons:

1) teachers have creative ways of teaching
2) peer pressure

Oh ya, Ern has no problem in telling us when she wants to past motion long time ago. So, the toilet train is primary on past urine.

First 2 days, Ern wet her pant once. Day 3 onwards, she didn't wet her pant. Her class teacher was able to gauge her interval and consistently bring her to toilet.

I know toilet train is going to take a while. So I only checked with her class teacher on Day 3. The feedback that I received - Ern approached and informed the teacher on Day 2 by herself that she has the needs. The rest of the time, it was the teacher who remind or bring her to the toilet.

While at home, we have diligently removed her clothe & disposable diapers at home so that we can bring consistent message to Ern. Well, we still put on disposable diaper on her at night since it's a long night and we know Ern can't get up middle of the night.

After 1 week, we see some improvements on Ern because she started to:

- tell us she needs to wee (once at school and few times at home)
- nod her head when we asked her if she wants to wee. (she used to tell us "no" but 1 minute later, she wee)

Let's hope THE DAY will come when we can say bye bye to diaper during day time for Ern.

Patience..patience..patience.. :-)


Scrap credit:
Everything by Sharon Kenealy

Singing

My little princess finally opened her 'golden mouth' to sing. LOL

She was able to tell us the correct cartoon show name when we sing the theme song to her since many months back. However, she doesn't sing when the song is played but just danced along.

Few weeks back, she started to sing 1 sentence of the song. Well,she started off singing without the right music tone, so she was like reading ! haha

Eventually, we get to hear some pitch out of it although it wasn't 100% accurate.

Songs that she knows how to 'sing' now:
- Bob The Buil*der (she sings "yes we can")
- Thomas and His Fri*end (this is the 4 words that she sings)
- Little Ein*stein

Of all, she loves singing Little Ein*stein like the video clip above. She started off by saying 12345 instead of the reverse. After a while, I think she can memorized the right wording..now, she gets it right.

This little girl would request me to sing Little Ein*stein to her because she wanted to sing the 54321 part. So, I need to start off the song for her in order for her to complete her part.

Oh ya, when she sings the song, she needs to point and move her finger up and down, as if she is counting! Dunno why....

"Yes" and "No" Battle

Since 2 months back, Ern started to drive us to the wall almost every day, sometimes few times within a day. She would whine, cry, scream when her needs are not met or when she is cranky, especially when she didn't get enough sleep from her afternoon nap.

We were need to go through the battling of "yes" and "no" with her. She gave us inconsistent answers during the battle. For example, after she said yes over what we offered her (after we 're-negotiate' with her) , she can changed her mind immediately and said no. Then, we left her alone to cool off (after she said no), she cried even louder and beg us by telling us the yes answer again. Same thing, when we gave her, the 'no' answer came in.

So, this whole "yes" and "no" can last for a while. When luck is with us, we can easily distract her within 5-10 mins. At times when she didn't buy the idea, the battle could last for like 1 hour!

The first few times, we gave in. After a while, we sort of know she was trying to get our attention and we also lose our patience, we just ignore her. Of coz she cried even louder! Until we warned her to stop crying by giving her the stern look, she would stopped. At times, it worked but sometimes it doesn't, the 'yes' and 'no' drama started all over again.

In the end, we decided just to totally ignore her, trying to make her understand the trick she used doesn't use, while also trying to educate her not to give us 'yes' and "no' answer. We started to see the 'span of crying' is shortening now!

The old wive tales said this is sibling jealousy, an unexplained situation happened when the mother is expecting. Somehow, the toddler is able to 'sense' he/she will be getting less attention from their family members soon. Well, some said this is one of the phases of Terrible Two.

Well, I don't know which is which, I just hope this phase will go and not come back again when her sibling is born.

Keep our fingers cross :)

Driving The Car!

Ern loves this "car kiddy cart" (right term?). She never missed 'driving the car' (that's what she said) whenever she sees one.

So far we don't have to pay for her to ride because the past few experiences, no one was there to collect money as it had passed their business hour. Of cause the cart was latch and can't move.

My girl just went inside and 'drive' her way without the cart moving! LOL

Maybe one day, we should pay and let her experience 'driving' with the cart moving.

Scrap Credit:
Papers: Wenchd Grafix
Rickrack: Sarah Möller
Button & embelishment small flower: Miss Mint
Flower: ANDRÉIA MENEGASSI

School Update - Day 2 till Day 5

School update continue from here:

Day 2:

I walked her into the classroom door and one of the teachers took over from me. No goodbye from either one of us as I wasn't sure if she really cope well.

No phone calls.

When I was peeping through the school from our house balcony, I can see flash light inside the classroom. It was a photo session for the elder kids on their graduation. I saw them wearing the rope and waiting outside for their turn.

I picked up a happy girl at 12noon.

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Day 3:

I walked her to the front gate and passed her to the teacher. We waved good bye to each other and I didn't see 'unwilling' facial expression from Ern.

No phone calls.

When I picked her up from school, I spoke to her class teacher. The comment that I received from teacher : She is hyper active!

Don't know to laugh or what.*grin*

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Day 4:

Same thing, just walked her to the gate and teacher was showing her how to take off her shoes and place at the shoe rack. I reckoned she hasn't got her 'designated' place to place her shoes. However, Ern knew the only empty place left for her is on the most upper rack, which she needs to tip-toe a bit to reach that.

Introduced Poh Poh to the teachers as Poh Poh will be picking her up Day 5 onwards.

Oh ya, she came back home with an empty bottle tumbler. Means she finished almost 10oz of water within 4 hours at school! I know Ern can't finish that by herself without any 'reminders' from the teachers. I was quite pleased to see that.

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Day 5:

I went back to office in the morning right after I dropped Ern to school.

Everything normal. No tears and no phone call.

I gave a call to the school late in the afternoon, trying to speak to her class teacher to see if Ern is ready to start her toilet training next week. Only found out from the principal that her class teacher works 1/2 day with the school only.

Yup, Ern is not fully toilet trained. She is able to tell us when she wants to poo but not wee.

The principal agreed we can start the toilet training with Ern Monday onwards. From the conversation, I found out 2 things:

1) Ern sneaked into the office and climbed on the Principal's chair and sit. So, the door at the office is now closed at all times.

2) The school has the same house structure like our house. So, there is a 2 small platforms that link the living room to the dining room. Ern likes to climb up and down at home, and she did the same thing at school! So now, we (both school and I) will try to correct and stop her from doing that.

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That's the brief update on Ern's school progress from Day 2 to Day 5.

Just hope this will continue on...

School Update - Day 1

Finally, we were able to start Ern on her playschool this Monday. Yay!

Sunday Night:

We have prepared Ern by constantly reminding her through the conversation below:

Mummy: Ern, you will go to school when the sun comes out!"
Ern: No..no school
Mummy: Ok, no school. You stay home with Mah Mah/grandma (I was using reverse psychology due to her recent 'Yes & No" behaviour)
Ern: No..no..Ern Ern go school
Mummy: Ok we go school

We tucked her to bed slightly earlier than usual, at 9.30pm instead of her usual 10-10.30pm since she needs to get up early (like 7.45am the latest)

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Day 1 (Monday, 10th Nov)

Ern woke up by herself at ~7.30am. Somehow she woke up with a fuss because she refused to let me go to make her milk. Only after like a good 10 mins coax from MIL, she took her milk finally and settled down eventually for shower.

She was very excited when I dressed her up in her uniform. It's the same uniform for everyone in school except the boys will wear the pants while skirts is for girl!

Before we left the house, I brought her to the balcony that looked across the school. I asked her the same question again like the night before:

Mummy: Ern, we go to school ok!
Ern: Yes.
Mummy: Good! When you are in the school, you get to meet teacher, Kor Kor, Che Che and play hammer*, ok?
Ern: Ok

* I brought Ern along when I signed up the school 2 weeks back. She was given a wooden toy to play - a hammer to hammer down the color pillars.

Before we left the house, I took a picture of Ern, with her school bag on it. I have signed up the 1/2 day class with shower + lunch for Ern. So, we were asked to bring extra clothing to change, together with towel after lunch.

See her face, you can tell she was happy!

We walked across the road and get to the school like 8.10am. I thought it's good to get in a bit early so that Ern get to "warm up a bit' before it starts at 8.30am. We were led to the principal office to meet the principal. Before we entered into the office, Ern pointed to the shelves where the hammer toy was kept and asked for it. She remembered where the toy was kept even she just been to the school once.

After a quick chit chat, we were introduced to her class teacher. I sat down for like 10mins to accompany Ern, while she was busy playing the hammer toy.

She didn't mingle around but very focus playing with the hammer. After another 10mins, I asked her teacher if I can leave, she said yes.

I didn't sneak out quietly, nor say bye to Ern. She saw me leaving the classroom and didn't say bye to me either. She just continued to play her hammer toy!

I told the teacher, call me if they really can't settle her. I will bring her home even just 1-2 hours. However, teacher asked if I am ok if she cried a bit but still within their control in handling Ern. Of course i nodded my head and say yes!

I went home like 8.30am, just right before the school starts. Took my breakfast and do my work. I took my mobile phone every corner I went, so that I can answer the phone fast.

No phone call the whole morning until the door bell rang at 11.45am. It was Ern with her clothes changed already! Her class teacher brought Ern home for me, as Ern showed sign of sleepiness and the teacher thought it was close to her nap time.

The comment I received from her teacher: No tears and she is active.

I was very happy and pleased to hear that, especially on the 'no tears' part. The "she is active' is just like a bonus for me!

She dozed off half way through the journey to Poh Poh's house. Guess she was overly excited and exhausted! :-)

Next Post: More updates on her school from Day 2-5

When She Ain't An Angel...

This is how she drives us to the wall lately..

Ern started to 'master' the art of Persistent Crying (long winded if you may call) in order to demand what she wants or doesn't want to do.

She would cry with tears(of coz we all knew the cry is fake one), confused us with her frequent change of 'yes' and 'no' answer, hard to distract her, etc. Most of the time, we just leave her alone crying until she is exhausted and realized this method doesn't work! Only few occasions, we were able to distract her.

When we confront her, she knew she was wrong and apologized to us by saying 'sorry' and hugged us for forgiveness. However, she is unable to get the message into her mind that it is not suppose to be repeated. So, almost everyday, we need to deal with this Persistent Crying.

Hopefully, it's a short phase we need to go through.

Delay In School

We were suppose to start Ern to her playschool on Monday but we decided to postpone it for another week.

Ern was admitted to hospital last Friday at 2am. She had fever (~ 38+ degrees) but she was shivering non stop. I know shivering during fever is a symptom of bacteria infection, in which not a good sign of sickness. So without much hesitation, we sent her in immediately.

Thank goodness, the next day the 'package deal' of flu + cough kicked in. It was such a relief to see that as we know Ern just had the normal viral infection.

During the 2 days stay at hospital, Ern has been very demanding, cranky and whined to get our attention. The mucus and phlegm on her nose and throat caused her discomfort in breathing, especially at night. For the last few nights, she didn't sleep well, so as us.

She is getting better now. Flu is gone but still need to deal with the phlegm & cough, which is more challenging because she tends to vomit middle of the night (after her muscle relax which narrowed the airway).

Well, it's normal to see most people fall sick lately due to our crazy weather. I am prepared to see more of this after she starts school!

It's a phase we all need to go through..:-)

Now & Then...

While cleaning up my hard drive's photo holders, I pulled out Ern's photo when she was first born.




Look at how much she has grown and changed...

Our Maid

Our Maid is:

- Capable -> can keep Ern sit still for long and leave us time to do our works.
- faithfully available at 24X7
- Make Ern giggles and dances
- Calm Ern down or divert her attention
- She isn't Filipino, Indonesian or Cambodian

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She is none other than TV!!!!!!!!!

Ern is "addicted" of watching cartoons. Luckily only the cartoons and not the rest of the drama/movies. She would request us to turn on TV for her by saying " XX, watch (car)toon" and take 2 remote controls for us (one for TV and one for As*tro).

One day, i can't remember what was the topic of the conversation but I was telling Ern I can't see it because it's very far.

Then, my little girl showed me this:



And she said "telescope".

At first, I was stunt and puzzled where did she picked this word from. When I asked her who taught her, she didn't answer. Then, I rephrased my question to "where can you find telescope?", she happily answered " Mic*key House".

Then I recalled. Mic*key House has a telescope and it can move to the top of the roof by moving round and round the house.

Geez...she is learning new vocab from watching her 'toon'!!!

School Hunting

I bought this book during my last business trip in Singapore, thought it is useful to explain the concept of school to Ern. She is able to name all of objects on the book but I am not sure if she really understand what school means or not.

Yup, we will be putting Ern to playschool starting November for several reasons:

1) Start school before her sibling is born: I do not want Ern to feel being 'left me out', as in only send her to school after her sibling is born.

2) I know most kiddo fall sick regularly during the first few months after they start school. So I want Ern to 'go through' this cycle now so that I can 'minimize' number 2 being fall sick, especially at the first 6 months before the immune system is built. I know I can't avoid fully but I thought that's something I can do.

3) While I still have the time, I want to accompany her to go through the transition into school life. We plan to put her half day as a start and see if there is a need, we will put her into full day care.

4) Toilet trained: She is still not fully toilet trained at home. She has no problem telling us on past motion but not on past urine. So hopefully from peer pressure of seeing everyone go to toilet to wee, she is able to follow suit.

5) Self Feeding: She is able to feed herself using fork but not spoon. Not her fault because we never let her self feed during lunch/dinner for one simple reason: we don't have the time to clean the mess! Another 'mission' for Ern to learn at school.

6) Learn: We want her to learn something while play at school.

Hence, I have been searching for playschools for the past few weeks. Looking around our neighbourhood and Poh Poh's areas for 1 reason - logistic convenience to transport Ern back and forth from school.

Out of 7 schools that I went, I have shortlisted to 3. Generally, the syllabus looked more or less the same to me but school fees varies. One can be RM280/month to another premium price at RM400/month. It's half day school inclusive lunch & shower.

Then, Daddy went for another round on these 3 shortlisted schools so that we can 'share notes and compare" before we decide the school for Ern.

In the end, we choose the one near our neighbourhood (walking distance) although it wasn't the top of our choice. Again for 1 simple reason: CONVENIENT

- Daddy will be on business travel frequently, which means I need to 'kau tim' Ern and # 2 all by myself. So, time is precious to me.

- In case of any emergency, MIL can be reached easily to take care of Ern.

- We would expect Poh Poh to pick Ern up from school. In case of any delay, MIL can pick Ern up and wait for Poh Poh at home. So, Daddy and I are relieve from fetching our girl from school.

This morning, we brought Ern along to school for registration and made some payment on fees. She didn't cry but you can tell her eyes were busy 'looking around' exploring the school. Daddy stayed with her while I talked to the principal. She seems ok playing with the toys and when we told her it's time to go home, she refused to follow us home. Until Daddy carried her, then she waved bye bye to her friends-to-be and teachers. No tears or struggle.

Let's see how she cope next Monday. Keeping our fingers cross!

Hokkien Char Bor

[ Back-dated Post]

Ever since As*tro introduced Channel Hua Hee Tai (the Hokkien channel) 1+ years ago and giving their customers free trial, my parents been 'addicted' to a Taiwanese Hokkien drama called "Love" (direct translate from Mandarin as I do not know their real English name). When it is no longer free, my dad subscribed because of this movie!

During weekday from 3.30 - 4.30pm, my dad will surely turn on the TV and follow. So my little one been hearing the theme song for 1+ years and she is going to listen to the same theme song for another 1+ years. Now you can tell how long the drama will be!

One fine day, my girl sang this out of sudden when the theme song was playing.



She sang the chorus of the song - Wah Meng Tee. In Hokkien, it means "I Asked God" while in Mandarin, it means 我问天.

My parents were stunt at the beginning as they were puzzled what Ern was trying to say. She sang again and point to the TV! Only then, they burst into laughter!

For now, this is her favourite song! *roll eye*

If any of us sing sing this song, she would asked us to "Stop Singing", as if it's her sole right to sing!! LOL

Photo Frame

It was suppose to be a birthday gift for a boy but as I looked at the frame more, it looked more 'girlish' to me.

In the end, I changed the alphabet from "B" to "E" and tada, another collection of photo frame for Ern.

It was the left over patterned papers from my previous work and 'utilize' over here instead of treat them as thrash :-)

You may noticed I like to put rickrack & flowers on my scrapbook work. Yes, they are my useful 'tool' to decorate...

Building Blocks

I read reading the September issue of Young Parents magazine and there was an article talked about blocks and how it benefits our child in their development.

Immediately, I bought a 90 pieces of blocks for Ern, at a marked down price. Nope, I didn't invest into the famous Le*go brand as I wasn't sure if she will like it. Moreover, Le*go easily cost me 3X more than the set I got for Ern!

Yup, I 'hit the right button' as Ern LOVES it so much! So much so she can sit on the floor quietly and alone easily for 30mins . Of course at this age, she can't seem to form the object per the instruction book. However, she can building something and tell us the 'object' she is building!

For now, she is able to staged them up real high vertically and horizontally. Then, she would tell us the 'object' is:

- rocket ship (yes, she watched too much Little Eei*stein)
- Shampoo & Comb
- Ice cream & spoon
- Strawberry
- Hammer & Screwdriver
- Boat
- House

So far, these are the common terms we heard from her.

Oh ya, this is also a good family toy, especially for Daddy to play with. I have "outsourced" playing blocks to Daddy while I am still holding the 'mamasak' role with Ern!!

The second set of blocks that we got for Ern, came with wheels and rounds. Daddy is on his way of building every single objects from the instruction book to show to Ern.

Below are the benefits of blocks that I pulled out from the web (source here) for my own knowledge. Thought it may be useful to share:

1) Physical benefits: toy blocks build strength in a child’s fingers and hands, and improve eye-hand coordination. They also help educate children in different shapes.

2) Social benefits: block play encourages children to make friends and cooperate, and is often one of the first experiences a child has playing with others. Blocks are a benefit for the children because they encourage interaction and imagination. Creativity can be a combined action that is important for social play.

3) Intellectual benefits: children can potentially develop their vocabularies as they learn to describe sizes, shapes, and positions. Math skills are developed through the process of grouping, adding, and subtracting, particularly with standardized blocks, such as unit blocks. Experiences with gravity, balance, and geometry learned from toy blocks also provide intellectual stimulation.

4) Creative benefits: children receive creative stimulation by making their own designs with blocks.


Scrap credit:
Papers & aeroplane: Sarah Möllerhg
Sun: Sarah Design
Rickrack Stripes: Amy Bleser

Only Now...

I have heard story on some mothers, when they first returned to work after the 2 months maternity leave, they cried because they 'ng seh tak' (unwillingly) to leave their baby to their care-taker.

I didn't have this 2 years back until it hit on me last Monday morning.

When I told her I am leaving for work, she said ok. As I was driving out the car, Ern was standing at the door, waiving good bye and giving flying kisses to me. She didn't cry or show any sad face. She just stood behind the door while holding her Kit*ty Cat (her favourite soft toy).

At that moment, I felt a little "ng seh tak' but I didn't shed any tears!! Strange feeling. Not sure if it's because I am expecting that cause me more emotional (due to hormone change)or it is really the real "ng seh tak".

I have left Ern behind many times with her daddy and travel on both business and personal vacation. I had never felt 'ng seh tak' before because I know they are short trip and I also take travel as a short break for myself to have "Me Only" time.

Do you have this right now with your toddler?


Scrap credit:
Paper & frame: Karen Lewis
Butterfly stitch: Shabby Princess
Wordart: Sueli Colbert

Ern's First Art Work

Yesterday evening, while we (mother and daughter) were sitting together for a 'color + draw' session, Ern drew this. She claimed it's a fish!

Ern: Mummy, Ern Ern draw circle (she was referring to the body)
Mummy: Ok
Ern: Mummy, eye (point on the small circles on the left side of the picture)

Her 'drawing' skill still needs more improvement but I was very happy to see this. At least something can 'kin tak yan' object....LOL

More on Ern's Paper Scrapbooking Layout

Back in February this year, we had the opportunity to have my friend to shoot on Ern using her DSLR. Well, she is not a professional photographer but invest a DSLR because she loves photographing while travel. Yup, she travels a lot, not work but vacation!!

Of coz with a DSLR, photos turn out to be good. So, I scrapped 2 albums for Ern from the photo taken.

Here's some of the 12X12 I did (my favourite too) layout:

Ern's 2nd Year Paper Scrapbook

Finally, i managed to complete all the paper scrapbook in 12X12 size for Ern, summarizing the key milestone/event for Ern's 2nd year.

I prefered simple layout (and this is the best I can do!), so don't expect to see any fancy scrapbook techniques used from my layout. It's just a hobby thing..:-)

Some of my favourite layout:

The Revolving Restaurant @ City Bayview Hotel

We took Ern to experience a moving restaurant at The Revolving Restaurant. Nope, we didn't dine in but just hop in for desert and drinks.

Well, nothing to shout about on their desert as there were only 6 choices to choose. The reason we wanted to take her there was to 'tell' her the restaurant can move! Ern and I shared one while daddy ordered some drinks. There is a live band but can't really sing well ( to my standard).

Too bad, my girl focused more on her ice-cream that the moving part. She didn't seem to understand even Daddy was trying to demonstrate to her by placing a glass from one end and let to move to the other.

Ipoh Town

We checked into Syuen Hotel as the bride has gotten us a special room rate and more importantly, it saved us lots of travelling time.

When we got into the room, Ern was SO excited. She was jumping up and down the king size bed and running around the room. She can even played hide-and-seek by covering herself from the blanket.



We were glad to see Ern liked the room (means 'clean') but at the same time, we felt a bit guilty of not taking Ern for vacation much earlier. *sigh*

Hubby took Ern to the dinner and I ordered room dining service. I had an enjoyable 'ME ONLY' time by watching TV and eat my meal. Nothing to shout about on food.

Sorry, no photos on food because I was so hungry and totally forget about snapping photos. LOL

Hubby's friend recommended us to try "Gowan Kai Ngah Choi Kai" but it was still closed when we reached there. So, we went to the kopithiam opposite and eat the ngah choi kai. To us, they are already good. Only the next day, we found out "Low Wong Ngah Choi Kai" is just few streets away. *sigh*

We went to Fu Shan for tim sum on the next morning. CROWDED. We waited for 30mins before we get our table, and that's also need to 'tap toi' (shared table) with another family. Of coz they are not as good as the one I ate in Hong Kong, but it taste much better than what we have in Penang.

Father & Daughter - Part # 2

After we get off from the tram, we have a stroll at the zoo. Daddy decided to put Ern over on his shoulder to enable Ern to have a better view of some of the animals...

It was really hot and we just walked under the shades. We hang out there like 10mins or so before we call it off.

Next, Ipoh town!

Zoo...Part # 1

Last weekend, Daddy has to attend a wedding reception at Ipoh and we decided to tag along. How could we (or me only!!) missed good "Ngah Choi Kai Si Hor Fun" and Dim Sum at Ipoh?! LOL

On Friday night, I have prep Ern that we are going to zoo and get to see lots of animal (i name a few). When I asked her back 'where are we going?", she did replied what I told her but instead of the usual tiger, elephant, she said snail,pig and giraffe! You may wonder why snail and pig, right? That's because the current puzzle that she is playing has snail and pig. So, the first few animals that first come to her mind all those animals from the puzzle.

We left home at 10am on Sat and Ern slept through right after we crossed the Penang Bridge till Taiping. Yup, we detour to Taiping, just to bring Ern to visit the Taiping Zoo. It was also her first 'real' vacation other than our usual monthly home trip to Hadyai.

We reached the zoo before noon and it wasn't crowded. We paid RM5 each on our zoo entrance ticket while Ern is still entitle for free entrance (below 3). It was a hot and humid afternoon, hence we decided to hop onto the tram car to see the zoo rather than walking. Lazy you can say! LOL



Ern enjoyed the ride although the tram moved a bit too fast (for her) before we get to explain and point to her where is the animal. Can you imagine it was so hot and humid until most of the animals were hiding under the shade! I think she didn't enjoy to the fullest as some of the animals were not familiar to her (like Chimpanzee and some bears). Or things just move too fast before she can digest them! Some she can recognize immediately were:


1)Zebra & Giraffe



2) Bird (we didn't teach her the species of bird)



3) Bear



4) Ostrich




5) Tiger



6) Rhinoceros



7) Elephant



I was disappointed with the zoo as it was a bit run down. I don't know if it is because the last zoo I visited was the zoo at Sydney and I have a 'pre-set' mind on the zoo standard??!!

Start From Young

To Ern, this Wishing Well may be just another 'fun thing' to play with, by seeing how the coins move round and round before it drops into the hole. To us, we wanted to cultivate sharing/giving to the needy folks at young age if possible.

Nevertheless, our little girl enjoyed this 'game'. She never failed asking us to stop at the well whenever she sees one. We gave her some coins to play but haven't tell her what's that for. I think she is too young to understand what is giving (or I may underestimate her??)

A Look After Hair Cut

[ Back-dated Post ]

We took Ern for another round a hair cut since she sweat a lot. Keeping her hair short helps to cope with the hot weather and look tidy.

No photo for the hair cut as it was a last minute thingy. We just went to the usual saloon near our house. We waited for like 20 mins before our turn.

Ern sat quietly on the high stool and let the aunty trimmed her hair. Unlike at home, she kept on rubbed her eye and moved around..

Looks like I can never save my RM7 on Ern's hair cut!!! LOL

"Home Trolley"

Before Kong Kong left for his annual Shanghai vacation trip, he bought a big luggage ( with 4 wheels) since the old one almost wore out already.

A day before he flew off, Ern discovered the luggage. While I was watching the "Wah Lei Toi" Hong Kong drama, suddenly I hear Ern giggled so loud. The next I saw, Kong Kong put her on time of the luggage and push her around the house.

While giggled, my little girl also said "horsey horsey"!!!

Looks like I need to get her a real horse to ride one day...

Ern's Sibling

Yup, Ern is expecting a sibling sometime early March. Today marks the 4th month of my 2nd pregnancy.

I had morning sickness on my 1st trimester but thankfully this round, baby was growing ok. I lost 3-4kg from my pre-pregnancy weight due to constant vomit, nausea and indigestion. Nevertheless, we were very thankful I don't need to go through mental stress like what we experienced during Ern's time. So all these morning sickness, considered 'kacang' to me liao! *LOL*

I even flew to Hong Kong to meet my travel kaki for vacation early this month. To be exact, it wasn't really a real vacation but rather a 'makan' session. We indulged ourselves for an expensive high tea at Peninsula Hotel and throughout the trip, we literally just find famous restaurants for the food we want to eat. We can take MRT and walked like 20-30 mins (we were lost) just to eat one "Por Lor Pau". With all these 'non stop eating', I gained 1.5kg from the trip! But i tell you, food is heaven in HK!

We tried to tell Ern she will be a big che che (sister) soon but I don't think she gets the idea.

Anyone has any tips to share to avoid sibling jealousy?

Ern's Conversation

Ern has improved a lot lately on her conversation. Other than surprising us on her new vocab, she started to form longer (though not complete) sentence. So this post is more for my own recording. :-)

Conversation # 1: Family Introduction

One evening when we passed by the pizza house:

Ern: Hi Pizza
Mummy: *try to catch what she will say next*
Ern: This (is) Mummy (pointing at me) , this (is) Daddy (pointing to hubby)
Mummy & father: *amazed*
Ern: This (is) Ern Ern (pat at her own chest)


Conversation # 2: longer sentence

Last Sunday morning, I asked Daddy (we speak in Mandarin) to make me a cup of Milo as I was too lazy to walk down to the kitchen to make one myself.

Ern: Mummy..
Mummy: Yes, Ern Ern
Ern: Daddy?
Mummy: Where is Daddy? (I asked her back because I know she knew the answer)
Ern: Daddy (is) downstairs make Milo..give Mummy..
Mummy: Yes *having the feeling that my girl really grown up*

Ern's First Pet

She doesn't own them personally but it's publicly shared at the community of the apartment. :-)

It is one of the outdoor activities when Ern is under Poh Poh's care, which is something Poh Poh consider 'safe' to take her out from the house. Not to say our community safety is extremely poor, Poh Poh just being extra caution and take zero risk on this thing.

Poh Poh bought Ern a BIG packet of feed, which can easily last for one good year! We pour it in a small bottle so that it's more handy for Ern to take it.

Obviously at her age now, everything she also want "Ern Ern, self", means she wants to do it by herself. Well, I let her dirty her hands by touching the feeds and even put her hand into the pond.

Ern doesn't know how to pour the feed slightly away from the pond, hence she get herself wet (a little) because the fish is so hungry that jump and fight for the feed! See video clip below and you know what i mean. :-)

Punishment Corner at Poh Poh's House

For whatever reasons, Ern likes this little corner of the TV cabinet at Poh Poh's house. Can you imagine she can tip toe, stand on the edge of the glass door (like 1.5cm width) to support her weight and push her half body up to the cabinet!! She will then swing her leg, as if she is in the pool kicking the water type!

One day, Kong Kong decided to give Ern a lesson. He carried her up to the cabinet from the back, which gave Ern a shock. You can see from this picture, her face is 'white a little' and panic!

After standing for few seconds, Ern told us she is 'stuck'! When we "lectured" her not to climb to this cabinet and the dangers, she nodded her her and say yes.

BUT....she still climb up the same way till now...obviously she forgot her promise and the punishment.

Lantern

There is no kiddo around Ern's age at our neighbourhood and thus, no Mid-Autumn Celebration or carry lantern for Ern Unlike my childhood day, we (a big group like 20+ of us) used to ronda around the kampung and we had so much fun. Pity our child generation now, hardly get to expose to the 'traditional way of enjoying lantern', especially those stay in city.

Nevertheless, MIL still got Ern a modern lantern (she insist to pay) and we let Ern choose it. of coz she choose Fuwa over the rest of the characters. We didn't get her the traditional one we think her hand coordination is not ready. I think she will blow the candle more often the carrying the lantern!

I tell you, the music played from the lantern is SO noisy, yet my girl liked it so much! She even danced although hubby and I find it irritating! See the clip below.