Haircut

Charlotte had another haircut session together with daddy at a salon last Sunday. We were not prepared for her to get her haircut session but just right before we entered the salon her daddy asked her if she would want to join him. She told her daddy that she just wanted to get her fringe trimmed, but not the back. Her daddy agreed to her, but then told the hair dresser to trim her back too... *shh*

Haircut sessions have been very pleasant for us and Charlotte probably enjoys it too as she behaves so well every time. I did not bring my camera along so I took the pictures with Pat's phone camera. I just thought it was just a very nice scene to capture.

Isn't she an angel?

Happily posing after the session :)

We Voted Earth

28th Mar, 2009 marked the first global election between earth and global warming and we, a small family also did our part to vote for earth!

As usual, I knew we will be out for dinner at this hour so I had all our lights set to off from 8.30pm-9.30pm that night. I also told Brenda to do the same and she did! We were home around 8.45pm and the whole house was dark and quiet. I only lite up the candles for the aroma burners, and Charlotte was very curious why we didn't turn on the lights.

She was very excited about all this, it was quiet and calm, no TV, no music, no laptops. Charlotte is too young to understand what global warming is about, so I turned the subject into "appreciation" instead. The story I associated her was "long long time ago, people's house had no lights, no air conditioning, no TV, no fan. We need to be thankful for what we have now, and thus when not using it we need to make sure to switch them off." She understood that very well, and the example she gave me was "Like Tarzan hor?" *LOL*

That night, she said her thanks in her prayer and we were all happy that we did our part in this small voting activity.

First Field Trip

Charlotte's first dental visit was in Oct last year, and we have been making dental appointment for her every 3 months for regular check-up since then. You can imagine how pro she is by now when comes to dentist.

Her school sent out a notice just before the holiday started saying that they will be bringing the children to visit a dental clinic as well as getting their teeth checked during the 1st week of the new term and asking for parents agreement. Why not? It is free, and it is almost time for Charlotte's dental check-up anyway. So I signed the agreement and submitted.

I agreed to the school teachers that I will help to drive some of the children that day but I did not tell Charlotte that I will be there. So, she was VERY happy to see me when I showed up in her school! Her teacher arranged 3 of her best friends to go with her and she had the biggest smile ever! She kept asking with a big grin on her face "mommy, why my friend friend all go with me?"

They had a short briefing on proper ways of taking care of their teeth and proper way of brushing. Everyone was so well behaved and focused on the briefing.

One of the many things that I am very pleased with the school's teaching is they really teach and remind the children of good manners at ALL time! Each one of them was asked to greet the dentist before they proceed with the check-up, and to say "thank you" when it is done. Every little one did exactly as told. The teachers didn't forget the children's drinking bottles even for that short 1.5 hour event. The teachers brought all the bottles in a basket to the clinic.

After the briefing, they moved into the dentist work area and introduced all the tools and equipments used by a dentist to the children. I think it was a very good strategy to let the children know what those are and how it is used to minimize the anxiety one may feels.

Then the examination started, the children were called one by one for the check-up while a teacher prepared with a story telling to keep the rest occupied.

One small observation I made was, see the gloves the dentist wore and the paper towel on the kid? The dentist changed to a new pair of gloves and new set of tools after each child's checking (yes, he should right?), no big deal but he also changes new paper towel for each child even though the checking was a VERY "dry" process. There were about 16 of them, I bet the nurses had the most to throw away and clean up/sterilize (the tools) that day.

That was not all, before they left the clinic gave each of them a small pack of present. It contains a Oral-B kid's tooth brush, a pack of drink and biscuits. Can you imagine that it was all FREE? I think the dentist has done a very good contribution back to the society. I appreciated his effort and willingness to do that and very thankful to the school for making such a meaningful event for the children.

p/s: The clinic is located at Sunway Tunas, "We Care Dental Clinic".

Holidays! (Part III)

Well, it was a spontaneous trip as we were not planning for it before hand. But this last event of the trip was planned after we got to know that we will be going to KL.

photo credit

Yup, it's the Disney On Ice event! The timing was just right and how can I give it a missed? We told Charlotte that we will be taking her to Disney On Ice this trip and bought our tickets at the Tower Record, Gurney before we left. All she knows about, cares about this trip was the Disney On Ice but it didn't happen until the very last day of our stay. Now you know why she was asking of "what's next?" everyday before.

It was our first experience to Disney On Ice, definitely it was Charlotte's first too. It was so crowded when we arrived at Stadium Putra, Bukit Jalil. So crowded that they didn't even bother to check for tickets but only seating. I could have bought only 2 tickets instead of 3.

It was only a 90min show, with a 15min break in between. Personally, it was rather short and brief but I guess they don't expect kids to stay on the seat for longer than that. The theme was "Princess Wishes" and it was presented by all the Disney 6 popular princesses that Charlotte could probably remember the stories by heart. She definitely enjoyed the show very much, only a little disappointed when she didn't see something that she was expecting. During the Aladdin presentation, there was no magic carpet on sight when the song "A Whole New World" was presented and she asked me "why no magic carpet one?". Then came Beauty & The Beast, the song presented was "Be Our Guest" instead of "Beauty & The Beast". It didn't occur to her until the grand finale when Bell was dressed in the signature yellow color ballroom dress and she asked "where is the beast?", "why no beauty & the beast song one?". She also asked where are the mice when it was Cinderella's story. Overall, I think the show was just ok, not as great as I expected. I probably will not pay for another show again.

We grabbed a quick lunch on our way back to the hotel and tucked Charlotte in for her usual afternoon nap before we leave for our flight in the evening. Overall, this was a very flexible trip for us and Charlotte was behaving like a big girl, very understanding and cooperative throughout the entire trip.

Holidays! (Part II)

It was Friday, that means it was still a working day for daddy. We had breakfast together with daddy at the hotel before he left for work and I already had plan for the 2nd day *evil grin*

Daddy let me had his car and the GPS, that means I will be able to get around anywhere!!! Then again, I am a paranoid person, more so when Charlotte is with me. So we didn't get too far, I took Charlotte to 1-U. Shopped around, had lunch and went back to hotel for a nap.

I was planning to go over to IKEA that afternoon but Charlotte woke up from nap asking for Skechers Mirages that we saw at 1-U earlier. I have to admit that it is a very nice pair of casual mary jane, plus the light flashing outsole. I didn't buy it earlier because I thought Charlotte has just too many pairs of shoes already. But after considering the fact that it was on 50% SALE, so soon after a light snack Charlotte and I went back to 1-U for it *guilty*.

Daddy called when we were about to leave 1-U *oops, caught in the act* and I was crossing my fingers not to get scolded for buying another pair of shoes for Charlotte. Luckily he too agreed that it is a very nice pair of shoes to add to the pool.

We had dinner at the Bavarian Bierhaus for daddy's favorite pork knuckles and linguine pasta for Charlotte. I like the restaurant very much, and no question on the food quality by just looking at how much Charlotte ate.

We strolled around for a short while and headed back to the room. Charlotte was asking "mommy, what is after dinner?", I told her that we'll call it a night. She kept asking the same question for the next day, and I'll tell you why in my next post.

Day 3 was a family reunion day. We first went to KLCC for another shopping spree and had lunch there before we prepared ourselves for a family reunion in Seremban. We drove down to Seremban after Charlotte's nap to visit Pat's eldest sister. There were a total of 11 of us coming from different directions and met in Seremban. A very nice meet-up but nothing much to blog about, it was all the talking and eating. By the time we went back to hotel was already past 11.00pm. We had to make sure that Charlotte had enough rest for the next day, a special agenda for her.

Vacation! (Part I)

With the current economically challenged situation we really have to watch our spending, that means no expensive, luxury holidays for awhile *sob*. Pat called me from work 2 weeks ago invited us to join him to go to KL from 18th-22nd Mar. I wasn't really prepared and anticipated a holiday but I guess I could use my 2 days unpaid leave that I entitled for Mar. So, I agreed to the plan. I had to purchase flight tickets for Charlotte and myself though (got it at a very good price from MAS though, all in only RM64 each!) Pat will only come home mid of this week.

We left Penang last Thursday morning and I prepared a snack for Charlotte.

By the time we arrived in KL was already past 1.00pm, daddy had to rush for an business appointment after we settled lunch. As usual, we stayed at the Royal Bintang Damansara as we find it very convenient. Charlotte and I of course had a nice shopping time after daddy left. Our first stop? Daiso, again! The last time I made it there was Dec, I just had to pop my head in to see what's new. Bought quiet a load but the stuff are still in KL, Pat will only bring them back this week.

I then let Charlotte spent a short 10min at the playground at the 2nd floor as a small reward for her well behave. As I was about to leave The Curve, we went into one last store (big mistake) and Charlotte found this...

Call it a fair set. Charlotte was asking for "butterfly wings" for quite some time already and I promised her that I will made her one but had been procrastinating. It is a simple craft to do, all I need is just the right materials. Well, since there is a ready made and it comes with a wand and a hair band and only cost RM24.90, why not? So I bought it and she insisted wearing the set out for dinner that night! She caught all the attentions while walking along The Street as we were heading towards Tony Roma's. I bet daddy will feel very uneasy if he was with us (daddy had to attend a business dinner that evening). A scope of vanilla ice-cream (comes with her meal actually) after dinner was another reward for her for being such a good girl that whole evening! We had a good mother-daughter time :)

That was a very smooth shopping & dining first day.

You Made Me Proud!

A week before I was very worried if Charlotte would let me leave for work everyday this week as it is a school holiday week. I started to prepare her for what's coming, explained to her what school holiday is, and the most important message is "mommy has to go to work". I am very proud to say that her response and supportiveness was way beyond my expectation.

Not only that she is good to let me leave for office every morning without any fuss, she also been behaving very well at home. She did her home work, voluntarily. Her school doesn't have home work for them but those are simple worksheets that I prepared and have asked Brenda to make sure that she spends some time with Charlotte for simple learning instead of watching TV all day.

When I went home on Monday evening Brenda told me that Charlotte switched off the TV herself soon after I left for work and asked for her homework. The worksheets were very well done and she had not watch any movie that day. Same thing happened yesterday (Tuesday).

I have been very busy with work and have teleconference on most weeknights recently. I am usually exhausted after work and have not been emphasising in Charlotte's academical learning, shame on me. I only started to teach her simple spelling a week ago. Simple words (3 to 5 letters), as we came across them. It was spontaneous. I also started her on spelling the numbers, like "O-N-E", "T-W-O", and the last one was "T-H-R-E-E". Yesterday, I asked Charlotte "now, do you know how to spell four?" and she replied softly and slowly "hmm...F-O-U-R"! Guess who has been teaching her...Brenda! I am thankful that Brenda is very sincere and helpful too.

Charlotte is definitely showing her maturity and understanding more now than before. When I have night teleconferences and daddy is not around, I usually give her advance notice and that she will have to let Brenda to tuck her in bed (I used to sneak out when she didn't pay attention, and hide in my room at least 1hour before the meeting time for her to finish her screams and cries before the meeting starts). Now, I just need to make sure I have my work schedules planned ahead of time. She doesn't react very well with last minute notice though, then again, don't we all too? It's all about respect, even with the little ones.

Both Pat and I are very thankful that we are blessed with such a wonderful daughter!

Preview

Remember the crochet dress that Brenda (our maid) made for Charlotte? It didn't occur to me that I have a "sifu" (teacher) available 24x7 that I can take this opportunity to learn this skill until lately. When my company announced pay cut in Jan, we are entitled to get 2 days off every month and I started to wonder what I can do with this extra free time that I have.

While chatting with Brenda one day about the crochet workshop available at one of the mall nearby she said why not I go learn up this skill with the 2 days every month and I seriously think that was such a great idea! But I didn't go sign up the workshop, instead I went to a book store and started to look for books on crochets. I studied the instructions and I think I am able to interpret at least 70% of it. I was thinking, it doesn't matter even if I don't understand the instruction as Brenda is definitely able to figure it out. So I bought this 2 books, but they are in Chinese.

I started to look for a simple pattern, with simple instruction to start with. It has been months since I started my 1st piece of work. You must be thinking, "she is too free ah?", "she no need to work meh?", but the truth is I have been spending a lot late nights doing it. I can only do a very small portion at a time because I am not familiar with the work and I need to watch the time so that I will not take too much time off from my sleep hours.

It is not complete yet, but here is a sneak preview as I tried it on Charlotte today. Actually, Brenda has been making a lot of corrections, repairs and additional rows when I was away at work. Otherwise, it will take another few more months if I do it all by myself.

I think it looks great on Charlotte!

A Little Token Of Appreciation

This is my 2nd time baking Cranberry cupcakes and this time it is for Charlotte's school teachers and every helpers in the school just right before the school holiday starts. I didn't quite satisfy with the result earlier, I thought it was a bit dry. So I made some adjustments to the recipe this time.

I don't really have a complete recipe but what I had in mind was maybe to add a little bit of milk to improve the texture. I used my usual butter cake recipe and added some milk. I have been wanting to make orange flavor but again I don't have the recipe. So I just followed my instinct and added a small amount of orange juice. And the result?

It turned out very well! The cake texture is very fine and moist, and the orange flavor gives it a very fresh feeling as it melts in the mouth. So I packed as many of it in the Correll French White oval bake dish and bring to Charlotte's school this morning as a small token of appreciation.

More Bento Tools

I know, I said no more bento tools Dec last year but aren't they just irresistable? They came in just the right time as next week will be school holiday week and we will be going out of town for a few days. I will be making more interesting bento for sure :)

Determination

We noticed that Charlotte has strong determination since young. If she decided to get something done, she will not stop trying until she gets it. We first noticed her strong determination when she learn to drink from a regular cup (without the sipping cover) and she mastered the skill at around 18months if I'm not mistaken. She also insisted to wear her own shoes (with Velcro) and she got it before she turned 2 too.
* Each child has unique development milestones and I'm not saying that she is ahead in her motor skill development. I am saying about her "determination" in getting things done, especially things that interest her.

Lately, she takes interest in buttons. She wants to get every button on her dress done, all by herself. She will be fuming mad if we try to help her. Once I lost my patience and I thought I get 3 out of the 4 buttons on her school uniform done for her and let her work on 1 to shorten the time. She broke into big tears and started to make a big fuss out of it. To calm her down, I had to unbutton it all and let her work out all the 4 buttons. She is now able to get bigger buttons done, but smaller ones are still tough for her.

Nice Dining Out With You Lately

Pat and I decided to bring Charlotte to Victoria Station for dinner last weekend as we recalled the last time we took her there she was probably under 1 year old. We stopped going there for quite some time now because the food isn't really great compared to the price they charged. But we made an exception last weekend just for the lil girl.

I made simple pancakes with a Hello Kitty pan that I bought and decorated it a little bit. It also has been a long time since I made pancake for Charlotte and I knew she will be thrilled having it again. I also made a couple of cheese cutouts with Hello Kitty face to balance the diet and I felt much more assured going to somewhere without having to worry if we can find something suitable for Charlotte to eat.

Charlotte was very excited when we showed her the train and we spent the first few minutes taking photos outside before we make our place into the restaurant.

I usually like either steak or lamb and I never order combo meal. After I ran through the menu I ended up ordering a combo meal because I wanted to try my luck of getting Charlotte to eat the food served by the restaurant. I ordered a combo with lobster and chicken but before the food was served she already asking for her bento. I tried to delay her by offering her a sticker book, with stickers of course but that didn't last. So, I pulled out the bento box and her reaction was "Wow! Pancake!"

She emptied the box before our food was served. That was the last thing I wish when we dine out because the experience told me when she is done with hers it is assumed that we are done with ours too. Luckily when I offered her the cheese baked lobster she ate almost half of it! So, it was just another nice dinner!

The next day we went to an Italian restaurant, I didn't prepare bento. Charlotte had half of my spaghetti! No, I am not complaining. I have been waiting for this day for the last 3 years and it is here finally!

I Love Veggie!

Well, this was what Charlotte told us lately when dinning with us in the evening. Does that means she really loves veggie? Not quite.

I think getting our little ones to eat veggie is one of those big challenges most mothers get, and so do I. Charlotte takes veggie but only selectively and most of it are "bean" types. She takes long beans, ladies fingers, snow peas and she also loves beans like edamame but when it comes to green veggie, especially the "leaves" type veggie she will pick out even the smallest piece that we hide in the rice. I gave up trying to force veggie down on her but instead make her take more fruits as her source of fiber.

Her willingness to take veggie improved since she started school (her school only serves vegetarian food) and I am very pleased to hear she says "I love veggie!", "Mommy, I want veggie" at the dinning table. She doesn't really meant what she said all the time, she may just took one bite and said "Enough already, I eat already" but at least she is willing to try now then totally reject it.

She is now willing to take broccoli, cauliflower, choy sum, and even spinach! We had spinach last night and as usual I don't scoop veggie for her assuming she already had that in school but she asked for it after awhile. So I happily gave it to her and I was mentally prepared that that could be the first and the last bite of the spinach. I was wrong! She said "Mmm, it's delicious!" and she ate quite a big portion of spinach for dinner!

I don't know what is the right word for it but I am just very pleased and relieved that I have found a right school for her. I am very thankful to all the teachers and helpers in the school that in many aspects they take care of our children like their own.

Fairy Bread

I learn about "fairy bread" from here and I thought it was an excellent way to prepare a simple sandwich which often perceive as boring. Especially for Charlotte, I immediately thought of preparing it for her to lure her to eat sandwiches and breads.

I first tried that about 4 months ago and I let Charlotte brought that to school which she was attending back then. What a big mistake! She only took the hundreds and thousands but returned me the sandwiches untouched. I tried that the second time about a few weeks later but the same thing happened! So I stopped preparing the "fairy bread" since then.

Yesterday, as usual we are eating out on weekends but we were running out of idea of where to go. So to be on the safe side, I decided to prepare simple bento to bring along, just in case...since I was not online, I couldn't refer to my bookmarked bento examples I thought of just cutting simple sandwiches with strawberry jam that Charlotte loves. But as I was preparing the bread, I remembered the hundreds and thousands that have been sitting on the shelf since few months back. So, I thought maybe I should try the fairy bread again since Charlotte is a much more mature "eater" now then before but I kept it very simple just not to be disappointed again.

Did she eat? Oh yes! You should see her big smile when she saw what's inside the box and she did not pick on the hundreds and thousands only this time. She emptied the box while we were still cracking our head of where to eat!