Daddy's Girl

What can be better than spending a nice sunny morning in a pool, goofing around?

I see obvious resemblance in this picture

 

Pat likes to carry her the baby way, not just in the water you know?

Good Workout

We spent a very long and good time at the park last weekend and Charlotte surprised me by how much she has grown and so much more adventures then I knew. 

After the exercise with her scooter and bicycle, as usual we moved on to the playground. She used to be very conscious, she needed help on the slide, and swing. But this round all she interested was the climbing and we were surprised to see how strong her upper body is as she showed us the moves.

She must had a very good workout that evening, she ate quite a big portion at dinner! 

A Promise Is To Keep

It has been a long and busy 2.5 weeks. Actually, I was only away from home for 1 week but it takes longer than I expected it to be to clear the work backlogs.

While I was away, daddy made a promise to Charlotte that he would take her to horse riding one day. I don't know where and how this idea came about until one night Charlotte was reading her bedtime story book. There it was!

The same evening I touched down the airport, we headed to the north side of the island and daddy kept his promise!

However, come next Monday I had trouble getting Charlotte to school. She felt like she didn't have enough time with me and that separation anxiety kicked in again. It was a difficult week, every morning I had to deal with a crying pre-schooler. I tried to distract her with treats and play after school but it just didn't go very far.

One night, it was just me and her as daddy was still busy at work. I had a very close heart to heart talk with her. I told her that she made me very sad that every morning I had to leave her crying and drag myself to work. She didn't understand why initially but I pointed out to her with some examples and she finally agrees that she would feel the same way too if it is mommy that cries. I then told her that I kept all my promises to her, she asked for early picked up and I did, she asked for Crayola Finger Paint Book and I got her one from my trip, she asked for a new princess crown (I broke the previous one) and I bought her a very nice from from my trip too, plus many extras but I told her that she didn't keep her only promise to me. She kept quiet.

The next morning, she whined but not as much and I thought oh well, all that talk last night didn't work out. As I was dropping her off in front of the school, she said "mommy, I don't want to cry but please come pick me up at 4pm!". I thought that was an improvement alright. I wasn't plan to pick her up at 4pm because she asks for that everyday anyway. But then I considered it again, maybe I should because we talked about promises the night before and she was trying to keep her promise! So I took 2nd half off from work and went to pick her up at 4pm. When she saw me coming, she was really really happy. I pointed at the clock to her and told that I am keeping my promise again. I also told her that there will not be any more 4pm pick up after today and she has to keep her promise and do her part.

So far, the "promise" episode works out well. Let's hope for it to go far as I will have a very busy work schedule starting end Apr :(

Up!

I took off for another business trip right after my brother's wedding, didn't have a chance to review all the wedding pictures and video took from various source. This is something I "must" do this week so that I can post some sharing about the wedding.

While I was away, Charlotte had her "school holidays" too. She used her power of manipulation and gotten away with grandpa and grandma. I was quite mad when I got to know about it and she actually didn't not come to pick me up from the airport thinking she could get away. Well, I did not punish her very much because to me it is more important to know that she was taken good care of.

We planned and make sure that she had good weekend and that would be my negotiation with her to get her back to school schedule come this new week. We bought her another new kite and took her kite flying over the weekend.

We arrived at the beach nearby Queensbay and we did not worry about wind and all as we usually saw many people flying their kites far and high during the weekend. However, we tried for almost 45min and there were no success, no wind! Charlotte's face turned very sour because she was disappointed!

We sat down for a little bit and I was calling it off but Charlotte did not want to leave without seeing her kite up in the sky. Both Pat and I were tired from the earlier trials but as our kite flying spirit was running low we felt a strong breeze coming up and very quickly Pat and I stood up and threw the kite up to catch the wind. Thank goodness that we got the right timing this time, Charlotte's kite flew up very quickly!

We then passed the "control" to Charlotte and we could see her face lighten up almost immediately. As she was holding on to the roller, she turned around suddenly with a very serious and concerned expression and asked "Mommy, I can fly up or not?" I didn't catch that immediately but I quickly realized what she meant! She just recently watched the movie "Up"! She must have felt the strong tension as her kite was at its' last inch of string!

Those of you from Penang island would know how close it is from the Queensbay Mall to the Penang airport. There were many airplanes heading towards that direction for landing and the planes were flying rather low and we didn't realize how close the distance was between the kites and the planes until Charlotte shouted "Mommy, the plane is going to crash into my kite!!" No, kidding!

Good Friends, Great Time!

It's been quite awhile since we last took Charlotte to the park during weekend and Pat announced the idea last Saturday morning that if Charlotte is behaving he will bring her to the park in the evening. I was quite worried with the plan as the weather these days is very unpredictable and we will have a hard time telling Charlotte that the plan is canceled if it rains. Thank goodness that it was a very nice evening last Saturday and Charlotte had a long long nap in the afternoon so she woke up refreshed and cheerful. We set 1 ground rule with Charlotte before we headed off, that was to have her agree to end session happily when it is time to go.

She had a great time cycling and playing her scooter at the park. I noticed that she was able to pull the bicycle break this time! We were trying to take pictures of her but this cheeky person kept on making funny faces. This was the best I got...

As she promised, she happily and willingly end the session when it was time for dinner. We were so proud of her!

As we were at dinner, I received a test message from Ann inviting Charlotte to the park Sunday evening. I thought we should skip the session since we were just there then Ann offered to bring the girls if that's ok for us. Pat was more than happy to have a little time off for us (selfish thinking, I know) and we agreed to the plan (Thanks Ann!).

The girls (plus Aiden, Chloe's lil brother) left for the park around 5pm the next day and Pat and I went quickly to run errands and had a quick snack (Laksa & Rojak, Yum!!). We went pick up around 7pm and the girls were all happy, laughing and chat chatting away, sweaty though! We, 2 families made dinner plan and the children continue their night at PSC. Chloe decided to go with our car and the 2 girls had Hello Kitty pancakes that I prepared (I always have food to back up because of Charlotte). They were making funny faces, sharing funny stories and chit chatting while munching the pancakes. It was definitely a very lively journey and they made us a few good laughs too.

It was late when we finally called it a night. The children had a good bonding time, the adults had a greater time catching up. It was a very good gathering, casual but good!

Another Day At The Beach

We love the beach at the northern part of the island ever since our last trip. We've been trying to go back for many weeks now but the weather was not permitting. Finally we made it there again last week.

This time the sun set a little later. We were there around 5.30pm but it didn't set until 7.30pm. We played quite a bit at the beach, we build sand castle, we raced at the beach, we jumped, we shouted, we screamed, we laughed...then both Pat and I got tired and we decided to sit down while Charlotte still kept going on and on...

She was very busy working with the sand and water, Pat and I were busy talking...on and off, she asked to be escorted to pick up more water. Only after awhile, we noticed she was like working on a big project. So focused, so engrossed, full of determination...

She said "I'm cooking!". Cooking? Cook what? She said "shell soup" with very serious expression. I looked at the "soup" and was telling Pat that better she doesn't ask us to drink later on... :p

We had to leave just shortly after sunset but Charlotte was very happy and satisfied. She was more than willing to call it a day when we told her so. I brought many bottles of clean water for wash up and Charlotte changed into clean dress before we headed to Batu Ferringgi for dinner.

Another fun weekend, another new week ahead...

Fun, Fun, Fun

Charlotte said "I never go to beach before" with a sad face a few times last week and we tried hard to tell her she did but it didn't work out. Sometimes when she says "never" she meant "it has been a long time". So we promised her that we will bring her to beach again during weekend.

The beach that we used to go is only nice if we go in the morning as it faces the West and hence the evening sun can be very unpleasant. We couldn't go there on Saturday morning anymore since Charlotte started ballet lesson and we always sleep in on Sunday morning. So we decided to bring her to the north side of the island instead.

Surprisingly, the beach is still very clean and well maintained. Charlotte was excited and keep saying "this is a new beach hor mommy!". She started to enjoy the sand with her same old set of shovels and spades almost immediately...

The thing that I never expected was she was getting her hands dirty this time too! She dropped her shovels and spades after awhile and started to explore with her hands. She was really comfortable in doing that! That's the true fun being at the beach isn't it (well, daddy was very keen to get her swim too)!

She was exploring the sand, sea shells, dancing, racing with daddy...

and see who/what we met? Dogs, or rather puppies! First we met one, this one seemed to like Charlotte a lot...she kept coming back and wondering what Charlotte was doing...

Then, we met a few more...these 2 seemed to be very interested in me :) See the one finding himself so comfortably sleeping under my legs?

Charlotte had been asking for a puppy a few weeks now but we told her we can't keep another dog as nobody is there to care of them. Her initial reply was "when I go to school, mommy and daddy can take care!". Of course, she doesn't know that my status now is a SAHM but we told her we both have to go to work. She finally agreed to keep that idea for now. But look at these puppies, aren't they adorable? Charlotte was very comfortable having them around too! I think she is ready for a puppy, maybe we will get her one soon in the future.

When we were done, Charlotte said she wanted to have KFC nuggets. So we went to a nearby KFC outlet and let her enjoyed her meal. Pat then thought since we were still quite full from lunch we might just want to get something light. So we went to have our long time favorite, "Lok Lok"! I didn't have to worry about Charlotte because she already had her share.

The Lok Lok store is always packed and crowded. We got ourselves table and I couldn't believe my eyes, look at the variety!

Even Charlotte had quite a bit of this and that too :) Well, I didn't really encourage her to eat more because it wasn't very hygienic, but it was a good experience for her. She even asked to stand up on the stool because she wanted to look at the pot of boiling water in the middle of the table (Oops, sounds like a katak di bawah tempurung)

Oh btw, we went for Japanese buffet on Friday night at Waka (previously from Rasa Sayang) and Charlotte enjoyed the Ika Ebiko (raw squid that was cut into thin strips and top with prawn's roe). Sorry, no picture to show as Pat and I were too hungry by then. Charlotte loves the ebiko sushi usually when we have Japanese food but I didn't think that she is adventures enough to try raw stuff like Ika. We all had a lot to eat, including super duper beef teppanyaki, fresh oysters, sashimi, green tea ice cream...

What I can say is, we did a lot last weekend and I was thrilled to see Charlotte has graduated from super-picky-eater to sot-so-picky-eater :)

It Was A Nice Day Off

No, not off from work...but from the kitchen! It was those very rare day that Pat agreed to cook *grin*. We bought 3 pieces of fine cut rib eye and a bottle of red wine from Cold Storage last Saturday night and we decided to have a nice home cook steak on Sunday evening. It was a nice day off for both me and Brenda (yes, Pat cooked for Brenda too) and the little Charlotte enjoyed her Domino's thin crust pizza and her favorite cinnastix.

Looking back, it was like a special day for us. We had a pretty occupied day last Sunday, nothing planned but all turned out well. Charlotte and Simba (our golden retriever) had a nice play at the beach in the morning, we had a very peaceful brunch (peaceful means Charlotte ate well, ok?) after that. Then a short bicycle ride in the evening before daddy took over the kitchen :) No pictures on the steak, we were all too hungry but I gave it a 2 thumbs up!

I told Charlotte a few days before that Simba is very sad because he always stays at home. She then told Simba that morning "Hey Simba, I bring you to the beach ok? You don't sad ya!"

They played very well together. Simba is very tame and gentle, unfortunately we couldn't let him ran freely on the beach because there were quite a lot of Malays around that day.

My First Scooter!

If I'm not mistaken, Charlotte started to ask for a scooter before Christmas last year. I had no idea how she got the scooter idea but she seemed so consistent asking for it and I promised her that it will be her 2009 Christmas present as I thought she was not ready for it.

When she started school in Jan, she asked for it again and again and one day I saw there is 1 scooter lining among the bicycles, tricycles and cars in front of the school playground. "No wonder she remembers the scooter!" I thought to myself.

3 weeks ago, daddy promised Charlotte a toy (I forgot what was the deal) and off we went to the mall. Charlotte as usual looked around, didn't know what to get. She then saw a preschooler learning computer and insisted on it. She already has one at home, another one at her grandma's house so we didn't think it is a choice. I then remembered the scooter but then again I thought she wasn't ready for it. So I told her we are going to check out the scooter and instantly her sad-dying-for-a-computer face changed to a big grin! I told her unless she knows how to maneuver the scooter, we are not buying it and she agreed (this is my girl, we need to define the deal before hand).

She spent the first few minutes getting herself comfortable with the scooter as we got her one to try on. We thought no chance she's going to make it and we might get to save the few hundred bucks and get her a cheaper toy instead. She started of moving even slower than a walking pace, then she slowly trying out her coordination, and then she was able to move a little bit more, and a little more and then...she got it!!! Well, not exactly how you should play a scooter (what do you expect, she is only 3 years old!) but she was able to do more than we expected! That means, there goes our $$ and she got her scooter finally!

It has been a few weeks and she's getting better with her new toy. She spends a lot of time exploring the scooter inside the house, from the living room to the kitchen, then to the bedroom and out to living room again. Other time we also took her to the park and let her experience on the real track. But when we were at the park, she preferred her bicycle, I guess because she was able to move faster with it then her scooter :)

She Just Knows How!

Back dated post...

My eldest brother invited us to his house for lunch on the second day of CNY, I couldn't be more happy to get that invitation because 1. I didn't have to crack my head thinking of what to cook for my family, 2. Charlotte will have company!

So off we went but I didn't forget to pack along the Nintendo Gameboy that my sister-in-law gave to Charlotte. I know my 3 nephews are such high tech worms, they played not only computer games, each of them has a computer to themselves, used to own a Gameboy each (1 given to Charlotte now) and now they have PSP, Nintendo Wii...I bring that Gameboy along so that Charlotte will feel belong when her brothers were grossed with their high tech games.

I thought she wasn't really know how to operate the Gameboy until I took a minute and sat down beside her. I looked at her controlling the game and making the moves and I realized that I was wrong. She really knows!! Nobody ever taught her how and the game is brand new to her! I just couldn't believe my own eyes!

Gotta be really careful of what we offer to kids these days and never under estimate them!

Fun Time!

Last weekend was one of those extraordinary busy weekend for us, not because of any special occasion but just with extra activities. We usually try to have a slow and easy weekend simply because our weekdays are always so hectic and tiring. We did more last week but was spontaneous.

One of those were daddy's idea of bring Charlotte to the park. Usually it turned out to be a disappointment when we announced it earlier. It's either rained, or one of us fell sick or some other unexpected agenda happened. So we decided to keep it to ourselves until the day comes.

Charlotte woke up pretty late Sunday morning and we got the very important task (feed milk) done before announcing the plan to Charlotte. She was very excited when we told her that we are taking her to the park but I guess she didn't know where or what exactly a park is (it's been a very long time since we last took her there). Half way through the journey, she asked "mommy, where we go?" and I told her we are going to the park for her to ride her bicycle and play at the playground. She then replied "oh! far far away?". Yup, the park is quite far from where we stay.

It was her first time riding on her new bicycle since she got it. I mean she was previously riding it IN the house or at the front porch but was never on the road. She struggled with the initial paddling coordination but soon she was on the move!

She spent maybe a good 30-45min on her new bike, cycling round after round on that track. Both Pat and I were walking beside her and after a few rounds she actually asked us to go sit down and she wanted to adventure on her own. I went outside of the track and took the opportunity to snap a few more pictures while her daddy was watching her from far.

Can you spot this little girl among the crowd?

When she finally had enough of her bicycle, she wanted the slides, swings, seesaws and etc. Very soon, her daddy ran out of patience coping with her ever changing demand, but Charlotte had the biggest smile that morning.

After all the fun at the park, we grabbed a quick brunch nearby while Charlotte's having the Hello Kitty bread that I prepared with the newly edible writing pen that I bought (no picture, I told you it was a spontaneous decision, didn't I?). She finished all 6 pieces of it (which is equivalent to 2 slices of bread)! I'm not sure if she was really interested in the colorful kitty face drawing or because she was hungry after all that exercise. What matters to me most is, she ate!

Splishy Splashy!

It has been a wet wet weather and we have put our Equinox membership card in the bag for the longest time. We usually will take Charlotte for a swim during weekends but the past couple of months was either very occupied or it was raining cats and dogs.

Last Saturday Charlotte found her home pool in the room and was asking for a swim. I looked out the window and it was a bright and warm afternoon, and I agreed.

I can't help but agree how fast time flies. I used to worry that she would slipped and fell in the pool when she played in it last time. Look at her now, her size has out grown the pool and she can entertain herself now...

After awhile, Charlotte asked if Simba (our golden retriever) can come out and play. Of course I said no! I know my Simba, he is still very playful and I don't want to see Charlotte and Simba in the same pool! The cheeky daddy then tried to splash water at me since I was sitting so close to Charlotte, he thought that was funny but that lead to a water fight. We were all so wet after that water fight (but it was a lot of fun!) then Charlotte decided that it wasn't so fun just her alone in the pool...hahahaaaa!

Sorry dear, getting you a sibling is not the answer but we'll get a bigger pool for you ok? Then all of us can go inside the pool next time :)

You Got It!

Remember this motorbike? The last time we took Charlotte out riding on the bike was December last year. Back then she wasn't quite able to control the direction yet, and now...

In fact, she can do this a few months back. I just didn't have time to take video clip until last weekend. She even pretend to stop by a gas station for refill, move and stop according to the traffic lights signal (daddy and I were the living traffic lights lah, who else)

Imaginative Play

Grandma bought her this big masak-masak set few weeks back. It was just in time to rescue her because I was at the edge of my temper when she threw up after the last spoon of her milk. She stood still as I was scolding her and getting her changed, and she knew that a few slaps on her backside was coming. Grandma and grandpa came to visit just in time and she was rescued and distracted with this toy set. A short moment after that, she pretended to serve me with food that she cooked with a "fake" smile on her face, it was just like "let's try if mommy accepts this and forgive me..." kinda look.

Last night, she asked for the set again and she was happily playing with a different type of mood as compared to the last time she played it.

I'm Going To The Beach!!! (Again)

It's school holiday and Charlotte's cousin, Christopher arrived Penang on late Friday noon last week. Since there is no access to the beach in KL, Pat suggested to bring them to the beach on the weekend. Charlotte, the playful little one as usual very excited about it, below is the picture taken when she shouted "I'm going to the beach!!!"

This time, I noticed she has overcome the fear of the dirty sand, and the sea water that wash her feet while she stood by the shoreline. She was very engrossed in only 1 activity --- picking up shells and throw it into the sea.

I was wondering how she could keep doing that and as I took a closer look, she was not only picking up and throwing, there is something else she did in between, find out what that is from the video clip...

4 Contented Mommies + 4 Happy Kids

It's almost time for my Equinox membership renewal come this June and I still have 7 guests coupons unused and will be expired by June 1st. Coincidentally, a few of my mommy friends were talking about swimming last week and I invited them to the EQ pool.

However, it rained the entire Friday night and I was so worried that we have to cancel our plan. I told Charlotte that I have invited some of her friends to go swimming and I asked her to pray so that she could go to the pool. She did before she went to bed, this was her prayer: "Jesus, please don't rain. Little Charlotte wants to go swimming. Please don't rain. Thank you Jesus. Amen"

I woke up around 1.30am and it was still raining but I know Jesus heard Charlotte's prayer and I went back to sleep after I said the prayer myself quietly. When I woke up around 8am, I went to check at the window and it was a bright sunny morning and off we went to EQ!!!

We had so much fun swimming and singing with the kids. We spent about 1 hour in the pool and we were ready to head for lunch at Kampachi! The kids were very well behave at lunch, it was beyond our (mothers) expectation to have lunch with 4 kids to our own!

After lunch, we spent a short moment at the pond outside of Kampachi for the kids to see the Japanese koi and some photo shots.

By the time we left was about 1.30pm. Charlotte napped from 2.00pm to 5.00pm that afternoon! It was so much fun for all of us, the kids enjoyed the outdoor playtime and the mommies were good companions.

I took Charlotte there again on Sunday evening, and as we were about to leave to meet her grandparents for dinner she pointed at Kampachi and said "I want to eat mee mee there!" *faint*

Sand & Beach

Charlotte had her 2nd experience with sand and beach last Sunday, together with a couple of her playgroup friends. I picked up her beach play set a few days ago and thought it has been quite awhile since we took her to the beach. So I made her a promise that I will bring her to the beach again this week and also inviting some of her friends. It was not a pre-arranged event but we had a very good turn out! The kids had fun, the parents discovered new beach :)

Charlotte's previous experience with sand and beach wasn't very encouraging but she has improved so much this time round. In fact, she enjoyed the sand, water and sea shells so much that I managed to "cheat" 2 delicious sandwiches that JM made while she was happily playing.

We all brought along quite a number of beach toy set and all the kids had fun digging, pouring, and building sand molds.





Both Charlotte and Bryan soon advanced out to the sea water, Wei Xuan was very determined and only wanted to play with the sand. Charlotte then discovered that she could make rain with the watering pot that we brought and she was very busy filling water and pouring it out over and over again.




What an interesting post she made!?

It was a great great outing I have to say and it is a better location then the famous Batu Ferringhi beach considering the distant and crowd. I think we should do it again ;)

New Game

I used to have a mountain bike when I was in high school. I loved to cycle to tuition classes and sometimes I even cycled it to my school in the evening, it's about 40km round trip. I seemed to have lesser time to exercise after I graduated and my mom sold it one day when I was in the US for a business trip. She said it was too dangerous for me to cycle because of the busy traffic nowadays.

Two weeks ago Pat and I decided to get 2 bikes for ourselves. We have a very nice neighbourhood that we can cycle around without having to worry about the traffic and it is also a very good form of exercise that we can do that suits our busy schedule (another excuse to workout after the Equinox membership). We went ahead to look out for it on Saturday afternoon after I tucked Charlotte to sleep and we came back with 2 gorgeous mountain bikes. We fixed a toddler carrier on one of it so that Charlotte can join us and have fun!

She was so excited when we showed it to her and she enjoys the rides on the mountain bike so much that we have to find another distraction to get her down from the bikes every time. Poor mommy and daddy had to go round and round because she didn't want to get down even though we cycled it all around Sg. Ara, Bayan Lepas, up and down the hills.

Last week, we bought her a new helmet for safety purpose since we are cycling outside of the residence area. That's the smallest we could find, size 48-54cm. It still looks so funny on her because her head now looks so much bigger than her body.

This has been our new activity during weekends. Hopefully mommy and daddy will loose a few pounds soon :)

Outdoor Fun!

We bought Charlotte a battery operated motorbike back in June this year. She barely had the control of the motorbike back then. She always ran into corners or hitting at the road blocks after short ride.

Pat took out the motorbike last Sunday morning and Charlotte had so much fun riding on it. She is now able to control the direction very well with the handle, lift up her right leg to stop and make U-turn or change direction by pushing and turning the motorbike with her legs.

Inside the house, she is also able to ride from the living room to the kitchen and make u-turn back to the living room without hitting at the wall or corners. Sometimes, she shows a big grin on her face and we can tell she is so proud of herself too :)

Slide, shooo....

There is something very funny about Charlotte, she associate most of the thing/object with sound (or maybe that's because I use this method to teach her). For example, if I point at a dog and ask her what that is, her response is always "dog, wou wou". If I pointed at an aeroplane and ask her what that is, she'll say "air-plane, fly high high, weeooooo". When it comes to slide, sha says "lide, shoooo"

Lately, she is very into slide. We didn't have a slide at home but she will ask me to curl up my knees to form a V (upside down) shape and pretended that that's a slide. She will sit on my leg and start to slide for quite awhile. I told Pat that it's time to buy her one as I saw a set on Toys"R"Us brochure, but it's expensive. Slide + swing = ~RM4xx.

Then I remember my sister-in-law (Charlotte's KimKim) has a small slide which Charlotte loves to play every time Charlotte goes to her house. It is definitely too small now for all my 3 nephews. So, I decided to ask her if she would give it to Charlotte. The answer was "yes!" of course. In fact, most of Charlotte's toys are pass-downs from my nephews and those are very well kept.

Charlotte has been playing with her new favourite toy for the last 2 nights, she loves it!