"Play dough"

Today, decided to have some fun with Caleb by making our own "play dough". I just simply add flour with water. I read the internet and you can actually add peanut butter and salt so as to make it 'edible'. But I felt it was quite a waste to add peanut butter as Caleb is not exactly going to eat it.

So here's the process of making it. Initially, Caleb was quite uncomfortable in getting his hands dirty. He kept saying, "Yeee..."



But after assuring him that its fine to get dirty all for the sake of fun, he was slightly more comfortable with touching his dough. (sigh. Thought all kids like to get dirty. Didnt imagine myself having to encourage my child to get dirty)



Check out his "flour-y face".

Here are some figurines I made with the dough with my pathetic creativity. No prizes for guessing correctly but I would be super impressed if you did!

Ok, so why dont you try guessing just for the fun of it?



From left to right: tree, snowman, guitar



From left to right: A person, car and a star

Here's our little artist at work.





We had quite a lot of fun!



I seriously think that for Caleb to enjoy the activity, he needs someone to play with him as well. If not, he would be bored and would probably wander off after 5 minutes at it. It's like he knows whether I am really interested in the activity or bored. Seems a bit parallel to teaching. When I stand in front of the class disinterested in teaching, the students would be able to pick it up and would also show the same kind of bored-ness. But if I go into the classroom excited and passionate, the kids would feel it and show the same kind of attitude too.



So, playing with Caleb made me understand how I should really get involved in what he is doing and truly enjoy playing WITH him.



Meimei joined us slightly later and Caleb actually took the dough and placed it on her feet. Ha.

Stuffed animals

Finally, the stuffed toys in my house has been put to good use. In the past, I would use the soft toy to amuse Caleb but he always takes it and throw on the floor without thinking much of it.

But during this past month, he has learnt to take a good look at them and hug them in the proper way.

During car rides, he would request for his Mr Bean's bear. Oh by the way, I do not have much stuff in my car to amuse the kid. Its only 2 soft toys- a dog and a bear.



When he watches TV and so happen, the show has a bear or whatever things we have at home, he would go and take it.


So as you can see, he is now watching a show where there is a bear and a cow.

Am glad now that at least the soft toys will not be left to collect dust as I thought they would be.

Punishments

Caning children has always been a debatable issue as discussed in newspapers and I definitely approve using the cane as that was how I grew up with. Yes, I was a very naughty child in my growing up days as I would lie alot and forge my parents' signature on tests which I did badly. I will never forget the times when my mum would threaten to cut my tongue with a scissors, eat chilli etc. But eventually, I understand why my mum had to do all that she did to me..and that is love.

A few years back when I met a parent whose child has been giving problems to all his teachers and the father told me his only regret was that he had never caned his child since young. He regrets not caning him and now that he is in secondary school, he cannot cane already as he is too old for that. And after hearing such words from a parent, I was determined that caning is the way for me to bring up my children as I do not want to live with such regrets in future when they grow up and they start disrespecting people around them and refuses to do their homework etc.

So I conclude that any method of punishment works for the child just as long as you do it because you love them and not do it because you are angry.

Starting at 18 months old, CT and I have been enforcing punishments on Caleb as he now understands what we want from him. We have so far punished him for playing with the water in the fish tank (which works because he has not done it already), for throwing things on purpose, for screaming and shouting, for not listening to CT and me etc.

There was once in the afternoon when I punished him by spanking his hand with a drum stick and placed him in the naughty corner, he actually fell asleep!! I was surprised how still he was. So when I went up to him, he actually sat until he dozed off. Ha!

To be frank, Caleb has been a good boy so far as he does not resist punishment. Instead there have been times when he knows he has done wrong and he automatically puts out his hand for me to spank.



And when placed in the naughty corner, he would cry and sit still without moving. CT and I would definitely continue to teach our children by disciplining them and would not tolerate any defiance or disrespect. But of course, everything is done out of LOVE.

Jealousy (part 2)

Besides being jealous of meimei wearing his shirts, he would also say, "No!" when meimei sits on his bumbo seat.



I would place meimei on the seat whenever I want to do my own stuff and need both my hands as she doesnt like to be placed lying in her cot. She likes to be upright. So instead of carrying her, I place her there which I know is going to be temporary as Danielle doesnt really enjoy sitting in there because I think she is outgrowing it! Whenever I get her off the seat,she gets stuck in it. Unlike Caleb who is still sitting on it to get his haircuts and he is already coming to 2 years old!!

Caleb would also say a loud,"No!" when he sees meimei in the pram and he wants to be in it. So most of the time, he sits in the pram since he is heavier and also because we prefer some peace to our ears, instead of hearing Caleb whine and cry.



Most parents who have their second child would always wonder how their first child would adjust to having a new sibling. Well for one, I am thankful that I have both of them at a very close age gap. Most would hesitate to get a second one within a year as both of them are still young and its difficult to take care of 2 young babies who have yet learnt to talk. That is true but on the other hand, I only had Caleb for a year and the second one comes along. So in a way, he is not that attached to me yet as compared to having a child that is about 3-4 years old (who is used to being alone and suddenly another family member arrives) and moreover, he is still young to be overly jealous.

So I am quite happy that his 'jealousy' is still manageable. On the other hand, when he goes down to the park with Vicky, he would once in a while bring back flowers for meimei.



He also asks for meimei whenever he wakes up from his sleep and enjoys going onto the bed to play with her. I feel meimei also enjoys Caleb's company as she would stop crying when Caleb talks to her and smiles once in a while.

So all in all, CT and I are both happy that our children's age is just one year apart and we continue to pray that they will continue to love each other and have a close relationship.

Jealousy

Today, meimei was wearing Caleb's t-shirt and shorts when he was young. And when Caleb saw Meimei wearing that, he kept saying, "No!" and started whining and crying. It seems that he remembers that those were his clothes.

As you can see him crying in this picture.


Here's a closeup of Meimei , dressed like a boy. Haha.



So, we changed Caleb's shirt to a red shirt to match meimei and he stopped crying.



But Caleb was still very moody and sulky.

The Birth of Keane

Today, Keane comes into this world from my sister-in-law, Ally and her husband, Klein. I have been eagerly awaiting for the arrival as its a new addition to the family and that means, Caleb and Danielle would have one additional playmate.

In the late afternoon, we went down to East Shore Hospital to visit Ally. Its a great feeling to be back at the hospital, where both Caleb and Danielle was born in. But this time round, I returned as a visitor and not a patient. So it feels great!

Keelia, my other sister-in-law's daughter was excited to see Caleb as usual and she kept wanting to hold Caleb's hand.



She also tried to kiss Caleb. Reaction from Caleb? Simple stunned and slightly hostile as he tried to push her hands away and tried to avoid her kiss. But eventually, she managed to kiss him.



Ok, and here's Keane (which initially we didnt know how to pronounce-is it as "keen" or "cane"?But as confirmed by the mum, its pronounced as "cane")


I didnt carry as I was having a bad cough. But here's CT with the baby.


All babies are cute and they look just so small and fragile. For once, Danielle suddenly looks big.

I remembered my pastor once said how a newborn is so 'useless' in the sense that they cant do anything-they cant talk, they cant help us in any way, they cant walk etc..but yet as parents, we would do all that we can to love them and protect them.
So if we, as earthly parents would do that to our newborns, what more God, the creator of us, would do? How much more love He would definitely shower upon us?

In the still of the night

There are nights when we look out of our windows and we see nice colours in the sky. Tonight was one of these nights. The sky was orangey yellow. Very nice. So the whole family just gathered at the window to admire the skies.



There's Caleb on the stool, looking outside the window.


There are times also at night when CT would be playing with Danielle on the bed. So far, Danielle has been a rather happy baby. She would smile alot and laugh too.



So far, she has been a joy to look after and play with.

Snip Snip

I finally bowed down to pressure when Vicky and CT both have been commenting to me that Caleb should cut his hair and I have been holding it and pushing it just so that I can see how Caleb's hair would look like when its long.

But I finally decided to cut it today as he was perspiring so much even after his bath and even when the fan was blowing at him.



So here's his neatly cut hair from his personal barber- Vicky and not to mention, I was hard at work too, trying to find ways to distract him and amuse him.

Typical Boy

Caleb, being a typical boy, loves anything related to trains, cars, trucks, bulldozers, excavators etc. He also loves to construct things with his lego. As a person who enjoys playing as well, I really can't wait for the day when Caleb would be old enough to play with lots of different LEGO sets as I love building LEGO too! My dream house (that is if I suddenly have lots of money) is to have a room full of such toys and movie figurines, though I know its going to be a waste of money.



ANYWAY, here's Caleb fixing his Lego from the bottom. He fixes it quite fast.



And here's one of the models he built from scratch all by himself!

The cough bug

Caleb has gotten the cough bug and then he started spreading to me and Vicky. Danielle does cough occassionally but not as frequent as all 3 of us. Sigh.

So because of that, I have learnt a new dessert (Almond paste) from my mum which is good for cough. It is one of my favourite desserts and I am so happy that I now know how to make. Thanks mum for telling me how to make it!

First, you need to have the nan xing ('south' almonds), bei xing ('north' almonds). The South ones are sweeter so the ratio of south almonds to north almonds is 2 : 1. (I used about 300g of south and 150g of north)

Then I soak them in water for few hours. After few hours, you can smell the fragrance of the almonds already. Its as if you can just eat the dessert right off! But of course, you dont do that. You pour the almonds and the water which you soaked it in with, into the blender.



Then you blend until its quite mashed. It will turn dry, so I just add water which will help to blend the almond seeds.

After that, I take the mixture and pour it into the filter bag and start squeezing the juice out into the pot.



Once squeezed it dry, I would put the dried up mixture into a container and add water to soak it while I squeeze the next batch of mixture.



So I just keep rotating and putting the mixture of almond mash and water back into the filter bag to squeeze it again. Be careful not to rotate it too many times as the fragrance of the almonds may be lost and diluted.



Then just place the pot on the stove and boil it.

To thicken it, I add potato starch(flour) into it. Then add rock sugar to taste.

Its so easy and nutritious! Great for cough!

It really tasted like authentic dessert bought from Chinatown! Haha..



Best when taken hot as it is very soothing to the throat! Enjoy!

Breakfast picnic at Marina Barrage

This morning, I woke up at about 645am to make breakfast for the picnic at Marina Barrage. I did ham and cheese sandwich, egg mayo sandwich as well as sausages kebab.

This outing was organised by my church cell group. We arranged to meet at 9am but I was there at 845am already. Actually we got ready way beforehand but purposely waited at home for time to past so that we would not reach there too early. But, we were still too early. Sigh.

Anyway, Caleb was happy running around and we took a couple of pictures before our friends came.





As we were exploring, I caught sight of 2 strange looking fish in the water. I have no idea what this is. Do you know?





Caleb had fun in the wading pool as usual with lots of caution as he seems easily scared and do not dare to go near the waterfall..


It is only when we literally dragged him to the fountain, then he will move and play with the water. If not, he would probably sit on this floor for hours without moving!


As for Danielle, it was her first time dipping her legs in.


Here's Dayna playing with Caleb.


After playing for a while, we went up to the rooftop for our breakfast.





There were so much food to indulge in. We had chee cheong fun, roti prata, sandwiches, sausages, curry puff, fried wanton, you tiao, sausage roll, tau suan,drinks.



Here are the children having their own picnic. And there is Caleb who as usual cant sit still.



As for Danielle, she was left in the pram. Poor girl as she cant join in all the fun.



Despite the weather being so hot and sunny, Caleb didnt mind at all. In fact, he would whine and cry when we brought him under the shade. Sigh.



He enjoyed being OUT THERE as he was watching some of our friends flying kites. CT also had his share of fun flying the kites. Here's CT carrying Caleb as he flew the kite.



The kids were also playing frisbee.



After the while, the kids had a break from the sun. However, Caleb was still insistent to hang around under the sun that Andrew, bring a good korkor, held his hand and brought him under the shade. To my amazement, Caleb actually listened to Andrew and held his hand and followed him all the way back in without whining.



We had an enjoyable time with the cell group. Cant wait for the next outing.