Rivalry again

As usual, Ethan was the "intruder" to Nicole's playworld. Nicole was immensely upset with Ethan for collapsing her kitchen set. She yelled at the top of her voice.

Nic " Mummy, Look at what Ethan did!! I told you not to give birth to a baby boy! See? I am so angry with Ethan. I will only have baby girls next time. NO BOYS!"

**faint ***

Mini concert

Back to the 60's. The kids were really good

at the dance. Add another 10 years to their age, they could really make it to the "new kids on the block" group :)

Fun with Ethan

Ethan has been rather expressive lately. He would come and hold my hand and pull me to one corner, holding a toy doggy in the other hand.

Ethan “ Mama, sit down. Sit down with mama”
Me “ ok. I will sit here with you”
Ethan “ Doggy sit down with Mama”

And I obediently obliged. Within seconds, he would get up and lead me to another corner and repeat his action and words. I literally walked around the house with Ethan holding my hand, sitting at every corner as he dictated it.

Wasn’t he just so adorable? J

Magic brain under repair!

Nicole has not been putting in much effort in learning lately, be it Maths, English or Chinese. This is all because I am not around during the day and my mom is pretty easy with her.

Me “ Nicole, what have you learnt in school today?”
Nic “ Nothing much, just playing”
Me “ What do you mean? Surely you learn something new everyday?”
Nic “ No, my magic brain has broken down and it is under repair! So I didn’t learn anything….”

What would you do if you get this from your little girl? ***faint***

Sleep with eyes wide open :) ?

Nicole was still sound asleep when it was way past 8am. Her lessons starts at 830am.

Me “ Nicole. Wakie! Time to go to school. You will be late. Your baby is wide awake already” (referring to her dolly with wide open eyes)

Nic “ No. My baby is still sleeping. Don’t wake her”

Me “ Of course not. Your baby is wide awake with 2 big round eyes”

Nic “ No. Shhh! I have trained her to sleep with eyes wide open!”

***LOL*** faint***

Nicole's favourite dolly

Girly play - That big eyed dolly is Nicole's all time favourite = that is how she trains her "baby" to sleep with eyes wide open :). Nicole is even willing to share her smelly nappy with her "baby".

**..LOL...**

Art of delegation

Lawrence and I were chatting casually in the bedroom when Nicole came dashing in, leaving Ethan all by himself in the living room.

Me “ Nicole, where is Ethan?”
Nic “ He is outside, playing”
Law “ Can you please keep an eye on him? Just so that he doesn’t get into trouble”
Nic “ Ok”

Nicole scootered out while yelling at the top of her voice.

Nic “ Auntie Rose, where are you? Can you please look after Ethan? I am very busy”

Lawrence and I just kept very silent upon learning how swiftly our little housekeeper had delegated her job! :(

Little Chub

I kinda raised my voice when speaking to Lawrence as I was very much worn out after 5 consecutive nights of interrupted sleep as both kids were unwell while he was snoring away in his afternoon nap! I had to tend to the kids all on my own as Lawrence was away on trips!

Little Chub was very observant. Upon hearing the change in my voice tone, he added :

"Mommy scold papa. Papa naughty"

"Mommy scold papa. Oh oh!"

I just felt bad instantly. Though Chub was running a high fever, he was still very much alert and aware of my feelings and emotions! Poor boy, pray that he will get well real soon.

Nicole's bird or airplane?

Nicole's airplane?

I like the flowers alot though...they looked real :) You reckon?

Botanical Garden

We have not forgotten about the lovely swans at the Botanical Garden. Every so often, we would take the kids to "catch up" with their old friends.

Perhaps, the recession has hit even our little friends in the pond. Based of past experiences, the swans and fish were usually so well fed that they would refuse food given to them but this trait was certainly absent during our last visit! They were all so hungry and would eat up the smallest piece of bread floating on the surface.

Local delicacies

I have not had a taste of "sambal petai" for a long time and I decided to have a full serving all to myself for lunch, on top of my favourite "assam laksa" while lawrence had his, - "nasi lemak" + "Ice Kacang".

Rose as usual had something "safe" and non spicy - Char keow teow while Nicole consumed almost a full serving of dumpling noodle soup, washing it down with a full glass of rich "Volcano" !

Ethan wasn't quite interested in the food served but he had a great time driving the Barney car!

It was a nice Sunday family outing!

Sharks?

Nicole told me these were dophins...but I thought they were sharks ! ha

Math application

As I have been keeping very busy at work, I must confess I have been “neglecting” Nicole on her academic progress to a certain extent though I did try hard to provide guidance to Nicole and to a lesser extent, Ethan whenever possible. We still read and talk about her school work but we certainly have not been focusing on her mathematical skills.

It just dawned on me last week that I needed to buck up. I needed to revitalize her interest in Maths. So, I thought of an idea. I gave her some real money- mixture of coins and notes for her favorite purchase – McDonald’s softcone.

Nicole had to come up with the right combination before she could go to the counter and ask for her ice-cream. She was also expected to know how much change to get back if she handed $1 over to the lady. I think it got on to her nerve at one point and she retaliated.

Nic “ Mommy, just give me the money! I don’t need to count. The lady will know how much to give me back.!”

***LOL***

Sunday class is back!

I have not been able to conduct our usual Sunday class for many weeks since I started work again. Seeing that the girls really enjoy each other's company, I decided to resume it. We did something simple to refresh their memory - mental subtraction! Yes, without the fingers by counting backwards!

Then, the girls were told to write a short journal of anything and everything. It turned out that it was indeed a real SHORT journal! They had a fair idea of how to form a sentence though not entirely grammatically correct. They needed a little help with some spellings.

As usual, they ended the lesson with their imaginary play. This time, they had to include the self invited little boy in their girly playworld as Ethan quickly helped himself to the cooking set, as soon as the girls displayed them!

Holiday Breakfast Outing (4)

After sending me off to work, Lawrence took Nicole out for a cozy breakfast at Riders' Cafe. It was indeed a luxury being able to enjoy breakfast right next to nature, breathing in the morning fresh air with a pleasant flora scent. Nicole enjoyed pony watching while sipping her glass of 100% fresh orange juice. This is what Lawrence termed as "quality time" with Nicole.