Botanical Garden

For 2 consecutive Sundays, we were at Botanical Garden for a short stroll before meeting Poh Poh and friends for yummy breakfast! The main reason of getting Ern up early to ensure she naps early and takes her lunch before the Kindermusik class.

The night before, I already told Ern we are going to see monkeys and there are a lot of che che & kor kor to meet. She doesn't know how to say monkey (yet) but when she woke up on Sunday, she said kor kor & che che. She remembered what I told her and signaling to me she is ready to go.

After her milk and change her, off we go. Crowded as expected and took me a little while before I can find a parking space near the park.

I decided to bring her to the garden instead of the usual walking/running track since it's kinda dangerous to let her walk on her own, when there are so many people jogging/walking in speed. Afraid I may not be fast enough to grab her and if she were to fall down, she will definitely get hurt since the track is tar road.

Before we really walked into the garden, she stopped and reluctant to continue the walking. She stared at one direction and slowly moving her hand.


Ah ha, there were several aunties/ah poh grouped around for their line dance and they played fast beat music. Soon, one of the aunties walked to Ern and asked her if she wants to dance by reaching out her hand.

To my surprise, Ern followed her by holding her hands!!! She didn't follow the aunties to dance but just stare at them puzzled.


When Poh Poh was done with her workout and meet us at the garden, Ern only walked away and meet her Poh Poh.

Soon, she found another excitement.


And it's this!!!!


She likes fountain and thought there are fishes around in the pond. Keep on saying 'yu yu' (her version of fish).

Shortly, my goddad and aunty joined us.

Still.....

When she was 12-months-old, she started to fall in love playing it.



At 21-months-old, she still love playing it.



Not only that, she has found out she can do this


And see herself "beautifully" from the glass door. *roll eye*

First B&W 12X12 Layout

This is my first attempt in using black & white photo on a layout. I noticed it is much more easier to match the color combination because B&W just fits perfectly for all colors.

Stay tuned. More to come. :-)

My First 12X12 Layout on Paper Scrapbooking

This is my 1st attempt to work out a layout on a 12x12 for Ern's 2nd year.

To start off with, this is her 13th Month photos.

Stay tuned for more photos...:-)

PS: Apologize for the blur photo.

Open the Door

Gee...Ern is tall enough to open the door already! Which mean, we can never leave her unattended unless the door is LOCKED!!!

She surprised us one day when she walked out without us realizing (we were busy finding shoes). Luckily she walked to the lift, the normal routine when we walk out from Poh Poh's house.

If she happen to grab the house keys, she will SURELY walk to the door, try to put the keys into the hole(of coz not successful her hand coordination is not so advance yet) and open the door.

Now, everyone at home is very caution to keep the door lock until we are ready to go out.

Horse Riding

Ern doesn’t know how to say the word ‘horse’ yet…but she knows how to say ‘klock klock klock’, the horse riding sound.

It was a hand-down gift from one of the aunties from our neighborhood, whom is close to our family. The material is the same like the swimming float and we need to brow it in order to get the shape up.

Whenever this horse came to Ern’s sight, she will not miss playing with it, although for a short white only. She would first take the whole horse up, then say ‘klock klock klock’ and move the horse from one end to the other end, which is within the distance of her hand movement. After then, she will put the horse down, stand up and sit on it! Look at us and give us a BIG grin…

Scrap credit:
Papers & buttons: Carrie Bombria
frame: Amanda Carlson
Scallop: Danielle Engebretson
Doodle: AnnieV
Ric Rac: ida Merola
Flower: Shabby Princess

"Butterfly" Sitting Position

No matter how many times we tried to put her leg down, Ern would still end up curl her leg up and put them on the car seat. We adult thought it's uncomfortable but to her, she finds comfort in it.

I took this picture during one of the evening home trip. From my driver seat view, her leg position looks like a butterfly. :-)

Does your kiddo have the same weird sitting position too?

2810

Hong Kong famous director,Wong Kar-wei has a movie called "2046" with Tony Leong & Gong Li as the main actor/actress.

Our little Ching Ern has a 'movie' called "2810" too because that's the current number counting she knows how to say it out. LOL

It all started couple of weeks back, she started to say "8" & "10" very clearly when we walked her up at our house staircase. Just yesterday evening, when we started to play the "1,2,3" game, she said "2" clearly with her "6" as "jik".

Let's see if this 4 digit will strike us "4 ekor' tonight. :-)

Ern is 21-Months-Old

Vital Stats:
Height & Weight: Didn’t measure
Teeth: Still 14

Dietary:
Proper Solid: 2 times per day ( lunch & dinner)
Light Solid/Snack: Round the clock
Milk: 3X per day (5-6oz each serving, we are cutting down her milk intake since she takes heavy solid meal

Development:
1) The biggest development over the past few weeks is on her vocabulary. Although she is very much still talking in single word, she surprised us when she said “Ma, go down” one day. Which I think she is almost there to ‘break’ the barrier and speak out. New words that she can say (those I can remember) are:

- Kakult (Yakult and Tesco)
- Potty (she says this very clearly)
- Cold (pronounce it very clearly too)
- Bloon (balloon)
- Ba-ber (burble)
- Bite
- Kito (mosquito)
- Moon
- Tar (Star)
- Ouk (House in Cantonese)
- Ti (Aunty)
- Por (Poh Poh)
- Pong (Prawn)
- Yu (fish - she used to say wee but somehow it changed. Not sure if she is saying it in Mandarin or English. Nvm :-)

2) She is able to understand the same thing in 3 different languages – English, Mandarin & Cantonese like Fan/Fong Shan/Fong Shin

3) She loves drawing & coloring. These activities can easily get her to sit still easily 30 mins. However, 30 mins later, we will see a pair ‘colorful hands’ on her.

4) She loves sticker – stick on it and peel them off. Again, this is another activity that can get them to sit still like 20 mins, depending how many stickers we give her.

5) She understand & takes instruction more like:
- Can only draw/color on a book. Occasionally, she curi-curi to draw on the table and when I ‘happ” on her, you can see she quickly move her marker back to the drawing book while give us an innocent “ I am sorry” look. LOL
- Keep her toy before she can ask us to give her something else

6) Peer pressure: This is a very powerful influencing tool to educate our kids on certain things. For the past 2 sessions at her Kindermusik class, Ern refused to return the music instruments when I asked her to do so. However, when I told her other toddlers are returning and asked her to see herself, she automatically walked up to the teacher and return without a fuss! Sai ler huh!

7) Thank goodness she is able to sleep through the night now, after I found out her ‘transitional object’ – her own bed. Phew!!

8) Poh Poh reckon Ern will have big foot as she outgrown her shoes very fast. Wonder when she grows up, if we can share the same shoes. Haha

9) She likes hard & crunchy food texture, like crispy ikan bilis (anchiovis), Capsicum, biscuit, vege’s stem, etc


Scrap credit:
Quickpage By Raspberry Road

Wooden Name Frame

I got Ern this wooden name frame when I was in Singapore. I thought this is a good door sign to hang at her room..

Bom Bom Dance

Every time we are back to FIL house, Ern likes to walk bare-footed all over the house. Luckily FIL hired several housekeepers/butler to keep the whole house tidy & neat

I managed to snap several nice photos on Ern while she was walking around the house and poolside. More so, I was able to coax her to lift her dress up like bom bom dancer and my little vain pot obliged in doing that. Infect, she was so happy because I praised her she looked pretty. LOL

I hardly take any photos on Ern lately because it's no longer easy to take a "moving almost non stop"-toddler. Most photos turned out either blur or not the way I wanted it to be. Sigh...it reminded me whether I should get an entry level DSLR but that's a separate story.

Scrap credit:
Papers by Shabby Princess

Wooden Frame

Simple design :-)

- Ikea wooden frame
- Wooden alpha from Bangkok --> I drew the white dot
- Checked flower & button from Bangkok
- Clear Stamp

Viola.

2 Words

Ern surprised me this evening on her vocab:

1) Ma, go down! (use her index finger and point down, indicating she wanted to get down)
2) Ma, sit (and followed by patting the floor, indicating me to sit next to her)
3) Ma, up (she wanted to go up to the house)

New word she learned lately:

- Beow (Cat Meow & Bell)
- Cold (she says this very clear & she knows the opposite meaning is HOT)

This is How Ern Dance...

This is how Ern dance.

I think she felt dizzy after few rounds of turning. That's why she paused for a while to stable herself before she DANCED again!! LOL

Music Class

Last Sunday, we brought Ern to a trial class - "Our Time", one of the toddler musical courses under Kindermusik. It is a 45-minute class to enable to toddler to enjoy singing, moving, listening and interacting socially, and playing simple instruments.

The whole intend was to introduce the concept of "school" to Ern at early age so that when she needs to go to the real kindy/playschool, she will not develop any strangeness/fear going to school. I don't know if this will work but no harm trying. After all, most toddlers like music and I thought this is a good start. :-)

Well, We wanted to send Ern to the baby class, ie "Village" much more early but there were not enough babies to run a class back then. Now that Ern is 20 months, she is big enough to join the "Our Time", which is meant for toddler 1½ to 3 years old. Also, there were several classes available, to suit to our convenience.

The moment we stepped into the music school, Ern stayed beside me for < 5 mins before she released her hand (from my hand) and walked towards the toy section at the waiting area cum reception. She had never been to this school but she showed no sign of strangeness. Soon, she played together with other toddlers whom were also here to join the trial class.

There were 4 toddlers in the class, 3 girls & 1 boy, almost similar age as Ern. Everyone of us (including the parents)MUST wear socks (for hygiene purpose) before we can enter into the classroom. A thumbs up for the school in keeping cleanliness as their top priority.

Soon, teacher started the class by telling the parents the objectives of the class and how it will help our child. The rest of the sessions were playing instruments, dancing, relaxing, interacting and moving.

Ching Ern reacted VERY well in the class. Being first timer, she was able to follow certain instruction and get along pretty well. You can see she was giggling and moving her body along with the music. Also, when it was time to keep the instrument, she walked up to the teacher and return it without even us asking her to do!

Looking at it, we knew Ern liked the class and without hesitation, we signed up the course for 1 semester (5 months).

We look forward for the actual class, which will commence next Sunday.

Scrap credit:
Papers, frame, overlay, ribbon: Doreen Stolz
journal pad: lliella