brotherhood

the long raya break was awesome. i’d 5 days off including the weekend. swell!

an is also free from school for a week, so timing was perfect. at least i get to spend more time with him, if not the whole 1 week. it was pretty restful, nerve-wracking @ times (especially when i needed to get some cleaning done pronto) but other than that, sweeeeet!

i learnt a lot about my 2 boys during this time. an has gradually, from my observation, developed a sense of responsibility toward his younger bro. he has grown into a much loving & caring older bro, plus can be very protective over lil han. for instance…

when passing han’s babysitter’s home during the hols…
daddy: we’ll be sending ti-ti to aunty's place.
an: no! i don’t want him to go there.

after having scolded han for being repeatedly naughty…
an: mommy, don’t scold ti-ti ok. he’s still small.
mommy: ok (touched by his concern).

when han was playing with a musical toy & no sound was coming out of it…
an: mommy, it’s off, i’ll turn it on for him (then turns ON the toy for his bro).

on the contrary, lil han loves the attention when big bro isn’t around. when an was over at grandma’s place, this is what happened…

mommy: where’s ah-hia*? (*ah-hia is older bro in hokkien)
han: (smiling) huh…?
mommy: call ah-hia.
han: (still smiling with the i-pretend-not-to-know look on his face) huh…?

despite the brotherly squabbles, sibling rivalry & whatnot, they are inseparable. i truly take pleasure in watching them play, giggle away, tickling each other, having the time of their lives ~ moments i'll absolutely cherish forever!

an & han watching fun song factory with undivided attention.

mommy's lil helpers

this is what happened when mommy did laundry during the weekend ~ the boys had a ball playing cleanup.

introducing my horse, mr moppy

giddyup horsy!

don't miss the spot there

who left this piece of junk on the floor?

can we clean up? YES WE CAN!

our very FIRST family vacation

DESTINATION…
manila

DURATION…
4 days, 3 nights

PACKING…
was hard cos i wasn’t sure where to start! i knew what to pack for hubs & myself but for 2 kids?!? now i know what mommies go thru when they pack for everyone. i brought everything extra for the kids, just in case.

AIR TRAVEL…
was great. i thank GOD that the kids were alright with the take off & didn’t fuss in the air. i was a bit concerned beforehand but lil han surprised me when he dozed off after we've all settled comfortably in our seats, before take off i.e.

BUS RIDE…
from clark international airport to metro manila went smoothly except for the heavy traffic flow. we arrived on a saturday, hence the jam. it'd normally take 2 hours or less to get there from the airport but the plus side was that we got to see the outskirts of the city.

ACCOMODATION...
edsa shangri-la. beautiful hotel. very cozy. scrumptious breakfast. need i say more :o)

SHOPPING...
was my main intention. haha! i was told by many that manila is a shopping paradise. i shopped mostly for the boys & YES, i definitely see more choices & greater bargains there! we managed to experience the last day of sale in asia's largest mall, a.k.a. the mega mall manila.

the best part about this shopping centre is that there are strollers for rent. we rented one for P180 (approximately RM13.23) to last the whole day. i carried lil han while big bro an sat contentedly in the stroller when he's tired from walking.

i for one love shoes & bags & i got to see so many - it's crazy! i'll have to go shopping for ME on our next trip. yup, there'll be a next trip. i'll make it a MUST :o)

of course not all is perfect. the kids did get cranky & lil han wanted ne-nen all the time! so he was hanging onto me 24-7! i'd really have to put us in the marsupial category - i'm mama kanga & lil han is baby roo.

we headed to greenhills on the second day of our travel. i absolutely enjoyed this place. it's a flea market-cum-shopping mall under one roof, selling all sorts. i love flea markets! hubs & nico, my BIL babysat the boys so that faridah, my soon-to-be SIL & myself can go bargain hunting. i'll give her 2 thumbs up for being a hard bargainer.

PICTURES...
were hardly taken since lil han was extremely attached to me. hubs managed to snap a few, so here goes...

lil han twisting away in bathroom slippers

outside the hotel - an made sure daddy took a picture of him with the water jetting upwards

big bro an sure likes fountains - big & small

outside teriyaki boy, waiting for our table

NICE BREAK...
for all of us. i'm grateful...

déjà vu

i sent big bro an to school yesterday. as we reached the school gate, he turned to look at me & spoke in a small voice…

an: mommy, where are my books? feeling the weight of his bag.
me: you need your books for school?
an: nodded his head with a shy smile.
me: looked at him in the eye & couldn’t help but smile too. we ended up having a good laugh.

so i reversed & we went back to get his books. thank goodness his school is just LITERALLY around the block.

the reason why his books were left at home was cos he’d to revise them for the coming assessments. normally their books are kept in school, therefore i wasn't aware of his missing books earlier on. as i put them into his bag, he proceeded to ask me…

an: is my water bottle in the bag?
me: yes.
an: is my container in the bag?
me: yes.
an: what’s in my container?
me: don't know. ah ma prepared something for you. you’ll have to wait & see in school.

the part about him forgetting his books & his need to get his books before school made me recall my childhood days (miss it!). there were days when i accidently left a text/work book at home & how i've asked dad to turn back so that i could go home to get it. i’d feel really bad then & i’m sure an was feeling the same when he forgot his books.

i’m pround of him, proud that he is being a responsible student, young as he is :o)

picturesque sunset @ tanjung aru beach

sunday, 10 september 2006, the famous 4 headed to tanjung aru beach for the grand viewing of a magnificent sunset. we got front row seats as well!

an loves the sunset & it's one of the lil miracles in life that i know i tend to forget/overlook. he gets excited over it & asks a zillion questions as to the whys & hows of a sunset plus he can be so mechanical about it! he's 4 & very inquisitive!

this picture was taken by hubs. not a bad shot!

love the colours of the sky!

one…two…LIFT!

despite having a busy schedule, i relax by taking pictures of my boys in their most carefree state. i learn to liberate myself more by watching them. why take life so seriously? a question i constantly ask myself.

thanks to my SIL, i did find the next best thing, i.e. work that gives me access to weekends/public hols with my truckers. whoopee! no more working on saturdays, sundays (occasionally) & public hols! i say AMEN to that! so nope, i won’t be officially a SAHM but i’ll certainly have more time with big bro an & lil han.

dad’s youngest sis, we call her se ko (youngest aunty) came down from kota belud last friday with heaps of fresh goodies including coconuts. lil han couldn’t resist them & observed the coconuts from every angle. he kept saying, “kick the ball. kick the ball.” he’d normally say that when he’s about to kick one. we’d to explain to him that coconuts aren’t balls & he’s not to kick them ever. big ouch there!

here's han trying to be hercules. he must be thinking that coconuts are extraordinary balls – they’re hard & positively HEAVY!

my lil han-ney bunny

busy bee

i’ve been bogged down by work lately - who isn’t? i’m taking a breather, a short one before the workload comes again. ah, nice ^_^

i’m alright really as i’m going to be a SAHM again (mid of next month) until i find the next best thing. yippee! this time i’ll have my long awaited BREAK for sure! what a relief!

one night, big bro an said to me, “mommy you don’t go to work tomorrow. i’ll share the cheezels ah ma bought for me with you.” i smiled at him. he then proceeded to say, “you understand?” i almost burst out laughing. how cute! he was sounding so much like the parent. tsk tsk tsk!

i’ve probably said this a zillion times but time truly flies in just a blink of an eye.

portugal out

i’m truly saddened by the fact that portugal didn’t reach the final. it would’ve been THE MATCH to watch but i’m sure many would think otherwise. portugal have played well with the addition of a few unnecessary blunders.

i’d give the french team credit for proving themselves worthy of coming this far after their last unimpressive performance in the 2002 world cup. being that it’ll be zidane’s last match in the final after having announced his retirement from the sport, he deserves all the glory.

i’m praying real hard + fingers & toes crossed that italy wins the 2006 world cup & that portugal defeats the germans for 3rd placing! go portugal!

any soccer moms out there?

fruity han

lil han is into fruits now. he can consume up to 2 bananas a day which is the max we give him. too much of a good thing wouldn’t be too good either. we’ve also given him grapes. he didn’t really fancy the squeezed orange juice i offered him the other day though not sour. i’ll try that on him another day. yet to give him puréed apple & pear. as for green leafy veggies or beans, he has no problem at all - thank goodness for that!

anyway, ah ma bought him an apple & an orange from the market yesterday morning. it was intended for him to hold & observe the fruits closely, more of a mini social science class. we’ve noticed that with him, anything red is apple & that includes tomatoes!

lil han was clearly happy with his apple & orange. he did look at them attentively for a bit before the poor fruits became his bowling balls! he smiled with glee when he rolled them repeatedly on the floor. tsk! tsk! tsk!

ole brasil!

hooray for world cup 2006!
an is rooting for brasil &
i’m for portugal & korea.

however an thinks that every yellow jersey
belongs to brasil. this is one scenario…

ah kong & an was watching tv together & ah kong wanted to watch some sports, so he switched the channel & came across a football match.
an: ah kong…look…brasil… (exclaimed excitedly)
ah kong: no…columbia…
an: nooooo…brasil…
ah kong: it’s co-lum-bia (tried explaining to an)
an: daddy said so… (he said stubbornly)
ah kong: ok… (gave in)
** the columbian team was in yellow **

talkative han

lil han, who’s coming to 15 months, is fast at picking up words, loves imitating new sounds & does excellent in both. his development in speech began much earlier than big bro an, who only made more effort to speak at the age of 2 1/2. lil han also started to crawl & walk earlier. based on all his milestones, i reckon he’s trying to catch up to his big bro. he adores an & loves to play with him or just be around him. nope, they’re not entirely, 100% angelic towards each other & yup, they do fight over a whole lot of things but they never fail to look out for each other.

han’s vocab includes…
daddy
mommy (sounds more like ma-may)
baby (sounds more like be-be)
bye-bye
papaya (fav word)
banana (sometimes he calls it a-na-na)
apple
egg
duck
bird
bus (he says bu first, then pause for a second before the s-sound comes out)
button
tank
gine (short for engine)
star
wow! (he actually says wow! when he sees something he likes)
watch (sounds more like atch without the w)
ouch!

in hokkien he can say…
ah kong (grandpa)
ah ma (grandma)
ah ku (uncle)
titi (younger bro - referring to himself)
tia-tia (painful)
teng (light)
ee (chair)
bo (none/don’t have)
mai (don’t want)
oi (shoes)
bang (mosquito)
pah (beat/hit - normally used when he sees a mozzy & wants to smack it)

he makes sounds for…
cat – mau mau
dog – wou wou
lion - oar
car - bur bur
heli - po..po..po..po..
water - shh...shh...

last but not least...
mo-mom for food & ne-nen for milk!

han amazes me every single day!

when i grow up...

an & i was lazing on the couch last night after i put lil han to bed. he was busy scribbling & doodling on his wipe-clean book & i was watching one of my fav program, project runway season 2. i was thinking to myself that if only i'd the skill & patience to sew, i'd love to be in their shoes. i like the thought of designing clothes, bags, shoes, jewelries, well hey, the entire collection for that matter! why not if i can actually do it! *wishful thinking*lol*

i turned to look at an & wondered what he'll grow up to be. so i asked him, "what would you like to be when you grow up? " he gave me 3 answers in the order below...

feet up

this was a fluke shot! it was taken a while back, in the middle of the night to be exact, when lil han didn’t want to sleep at all! he was so energetic & simply wanted to do his thing! i was trying to stay awake while he walked, tiptoed like a ballet dancer, stumbled, mumbled, hummed, did his lil dance move in the room almost all nightlong. then bingo! i grabbed my camera & tried getting candid shots of him.

i like this picture of his lil feet up. they were up for a mere second & it went straight down. cute lil feet! but very soon it won’t be that small. big bro an wears a size 13 - it’ll be a full-size 1 in next to no time!

family day

an’s school organized a family day last fri, 26 may. he’s in the small class where they introduce mandarin to the kids before they start their formal mandarin schooling years. it was also report card day. he was assessed in mandarin, english, bm, maths & moral. tsk tsk tsk! can’t believe they start so young!

so the program for that day was…
1. friendly parent-child art competition between classes
2. assessment papers & report card given back to parents
3. lil gifts presented to all students
4. speech by the school principal
5. light refreshments
6. prize presentation for winners

like always, we made a fire truck for the parent-child activity. there were 4 categories to choose from & i chose to construct something out of recycled items. i brought a shoe box, 4 yellow buttons for the lights, blue paper for the windscreen & we cut out the rest from recycled paper – tyres & a ladder. we painted the box red & the tyres black. it was fun! i was back in school doing all the things i missed! we got our hands dirty & an had a streak of black paint on his thigh but it was all worth it!

i met his friends too. so cute! they wanted me to take their pictures & then look at it on the camera afterwards. one lil fellow waved at me while he was queuing up for food. cheeky but cute!

i became a kid again! what bliss!

world cup fever

we brought lil han to the barber recently & had his hair shortened to half a cm. ah kong wasn’t in favour of the haircut as he prefers han’s fine, baby hair. by cutting his hair this short helps thicken his new grown hair in the traditional sense. i believe it to be so as he has more hair growing now. we did the same to big bro an when he was lil but he was never fond of having a haircut til he was 3. he’d put up a massive fuss & we’d all be stressed out at the end of it. on the contrary, lil bro han doesn’t mind at all :o)

i reckon han looks sporty & rugged, like a mini soccer player, all ready for the heat & excitement of the coming world cup!

spelling bee

an has mastered his alphabets & numbers 1-10 about 2 months back. i’m sure lots of kids are more advanced at the age of 4 but i’m just so proud of his achievement. he can also spell the numbers 1-10 & some of his fav words like fire truck, lorry, car, bus, van, boat, etc. he can’t read as yet but can dictate his fav books by heart. if i happened to skip a passage, he’ll say, “mommy, you forgot to read this part.”

i buy books based on his interest & i’ve noticed that he’s keener to spell & understand the words in those books. he glows when he recognises certain words or when he’s “reading” the story to me.

he knows his colours & shapes as well. one day he was reciting all the shapes to me & then it came to “rhombus.” i asked him what’s “rhombus”. he used both his thumbs & forefingers to form a diamond shape & said, “it’s a diamond shape.”

kids pick up fast these days!

helpful an

ah kong was doing a bit of work in his lil garden the other day & an wanted to assist him. an was then given a pair of gardening scissors to help cut the weeds. he trimmed them with intense concentration & of great importance. bottomline was he enjoyed himself thoroughly.

fantastic four

10 may 2006 @ 9.45am, big bro an turned F O U R. how time flies! i remembered being pushed into the delivery room after 6 hours of tedious contractions & 5cm more to go before he can pop, then having to wait in pain for another 2 awful hours before he really popped. phew!

he’s the lil man in my life, not forgetting my other “littler” man! he taught me a lot of things before han came along, & so i’m grateful to him for the challenges we overcame together.

an taught me…
PATIENCE
to listen more & speak less
to loosen up
to have a bigger heart
to be a better mommy

on the fun side, an taught me…
to wrestle
the names of cars, trucks, big machines, etc, on the road & work site
the names of insects
to be a more creative & imaginative mommy

2 days before his birthday, he wasn’t well (consistent fever & tummy ache). doc said it was just “wind” & gave him a bottle of syrup to take. but on his birthday he was still hot all over & tummy wasn’t too great. referred to a cousin doc, she suspected it to be viral fever, told me to monitor him & if fever & pain persist, to come see her.

we ordered pizzas & also a scrummy choc fudge cake from coffee bean, his fav foods. he was indeed hungry given that he hadn’t been eating well. he took in a slice of pizza but it didn’t stay in his tummy very long. poor an! despite not being in the best of health, he smiled generously for the camera, blew his candles & cut the cake! bravo my child!

time out

i need to get away from work for a bit. it becomes demanding during the festive months. great for a career in a&p, but not too great for the boys. some days big bro an tells me flatly not to go to work especially on public hols when he’s off from school. he wants me to play with him or read to him. sigh!

anyway, the 2 brothers slept next to each other last night, resembling 2 peas in a pod (but of course one much bigger than the other but nonetheless stuck together like siamese twins). SO CUTE! i was tempted to take a pic of them but didn’t want to switch on the lights & in the process wake them up. i normally stay in the middle so that an won’t accidentally kick lil bro han as he “wiggles” a lot in his sleep. but last night he insisted on sleeping close to han & lil bro didn’t mind at all. so i left them in that manner & both fell asleep till dawn. surprisingly an didn’t budge from that position the whole time.

i’m taking leave this weekend to be with my truckers again. if only i’m patient enough to teach (tried & tested but still no passion). figured i don’t have the blood for teaching like my parents (too bad)! skipped a generation i suppose! teaching, i think would be a great profession for most mommies. i remember we’d all go on trips during the school hols cos both dad & mom are having hols as well. what fun it was then!