That Was Amusing!

Charlotte picks up Mandarin at a very fast pace, at times I was surprised when she blabbed out something that was totally unexpected and other times she got herself confused by all the new words and sentences she just learned.

A very amusing incident with her last night:
Charlotte was playing at the living room when I was trying to get some work done with my laptop. She suddenly decided to give me a kiss and so she ran towards me but she couldn't stopped and knocked herself at me as she was running too fast...

Me: Ouch! That was so painful!
Charlotte: (looked at me, feeling guilty)
Me: What must you say to me? (while rubbing my head in pain)
Charlotte: Mmm...不客气! (you're welcome!)

My Bento Attempts

I stopped making bento ever since Charlotte started with her new school in Jan this year. Since she is attending a full day school and I do not want to make her feel neither she is different/special nor she has a choice when comes to food, she has to have food prepared by the school. I only make bento when we are dining out and the food may not suits her or when we are meeting with friends and we can't make people/food to suit her.

Although I made a lot of investments in bento tools, I'm not as creative and artistic as most bento making mothers out there. I usually just made simple food with those cute cutters and molds I have without taking the extra miles of decorating it. Now that I have more time and able to prepare bento in advance whenever we are having an event I try to make Charlotte's bento a little bit more interesting than before.

I recently follow a very creative, artistic and hard working bento making mother's blog and I looked through her bento archives and picked something simple whenever I need to prepare one. Even that, it always takes me a lot of time doing what she had done for her kids and yet the results were never any close to hers :p

Here are a few I did very recently. One was at the Valentines Day when daddy and I decided to dine at a Korean restaurant. I know nothing at a Korean restaurant is close to Charlotte's taste buds so I had to prepare something that she would enjoy and yet filling. I know she loves to have ham sandwiches, and to make it more interesting I copied the idea this mother used to make 2 simplified happy face ham sandwiches with the soft buns that I bought from a bakery and some dried cranberries.

It is important that I prepare food that Charlotte loves so that I will have a peaceful time enjoying my meal and don't have to worry about her empty tummy issue. She finished the bento just like I expected!

This other one was prepared last weekend when we had a dinner meet-up with some friends. In fact, I did 2 bentos that evening, the other one is filled with small treats and snacks like marshmallows and mini pretzels as I knew we were going to hang out till late night. She saw me when I was preparing it and I had a tough time holding on to her bento until the food was served at the Thai restaurant. You may ask why didn't I give it to her earlier? Well, I need to make sure the timing is right otherwise when my food is served she will be asking to get out from her chair.

It took me quite awhile getting the Hello Kitty face fixed. I finally found a shop selling the kamaboko and many other Japanese specialities in Penang. It is located in Kelawai Road, it's called the Meijiya Mini Market. If you are looking for any of the Japanese ingredient for your cooking, this is the store to look for.

Pretty Little Chef

Two weeks before CNY I received a message from Charlotte's school that they are going to make peanut cookies for CNY! Coincidentally, I made a dentist appointment for Charlotte that day and thought of sending her to school only after the dentist appointment. I then asked what she wanted to do, see dentist and probably missed the cookies making session in school or join the cookies making and see dentist other time. She said she wanted to make cookies and so I called up the dentist and changed the appointment time.

I didn't get any update after the cookies making but each of them brought a small box of peanut cookies back just before they break for CNY holidays. It tasted great! (didn't take any picture of the cookies)

Last Friday, as checked into her message bag (she brings back message bag every Friday) and as I flipped through her files and updates I saw this...

I almost couldn't recognize that the girl in the picture is my Charlotte! It was taken during the cookies making session. It was so cute! I'm sure they had a lot of fun and learning through the lesson.

The tiny little note the teacher wrote says:
Pretty Little Chef
See! You need to slowly roll it to make a perfect round peanut cookie!

No wonder she could made the 汤圆 so well!

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 :)

New Poem

Charlotte picked up quite a few new poems from school, many of those are in Mandarin and I am very pleased that she picks up Mandarin at a faster pace than I expected!

Last night, she blabbed out something new out of a blue and I only managed to catch some of it after she repeated a few rounds. She said it with action, very cute!

请你跟我这样做
我有头发摸一摸
我有眼睛眨一眨
我有耳朵拉一拉
我有鼻子。。。(she forgot what about the nose)
我有嘴巴笑一笑
我有双手拍一拍
我有双腿站起来
。。。。。。。(I couldn't catch this last sentence but she folded her legs and sat down after this)

I am very surprised that she is able to remember it, it is quite long of a poem and it's in a new language to her. Well, good job baby!

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!

A Nice Morning With Charlotte

I like these pictures...it was taken minutes before we left for school and office this morning :)

This one, Charlotte asked me to snap for both of us. As I was focusing the camera at us, suddenly she turned and kissed me!

This one, taken by Charlotte. Not bad eh?

She was in good mood, I think it was that little trick I did on her hair! Vain, I know. I can do more tricks if only daddy doesn't bring Charlotte for hair cut that often.

The Lee Family

This is my side of the family, nothing close to the Chan though. Even that, there is still 1 person who has yet to be officially Lee - my second brother's girl friend (next to Charlotte).

This picture was taken during the first day of CNY, we had dinner at the Evergreen Laurel Hotel. Charlotte was wearing a very nice red color "cheongsum" unfortunately she was rather cranky because she skipped her nap that afternoon.

A Beatiful Ballerina

Charlotte loves singing and dancing (well, which child doesn't?) and she asked for ballet lessons earlier but I didn't think she was serious. Not until she was invited to Emily's (her cousin) ballet performance last Nov. We were told (we did not attend but just sent Charlotte there with her KooKoo and Ah Mah) she was very engrossed throughout the performance and she even asked people to stop talking during the show.

Ever since after, she kept asking for ballet lessons but I still didn't think it was time to send her at this young age. Until one day, I really ran out of reasons to tell her why she is not allowed to go and so I called up one of the popular ballet schools hoping for answers like "No, she is too young" or "Maybe wait for another 6 months" kinda thing. I was wrong! I was told that they even have children at 2 years old. What can they do at 2 or 3 years old? They haven't even master in their walking, running and jumping and they are expect to do some dancing tricks and pointing their toes as they dance? I sent her to a trial class anyway after enquiring much information. That was 1 month ago and she continues the lessons since then.

I have to say that Charlotte really show interest in ballet!!! She is so happy and excited every time I told her that I am getting her ready for ballet lesson. I was right that she can't follow every action asked as yet but she certainly is a fast learner and she also benefits from of those basic lessons that I thought her at home.

Most people drop out from ballet lesson when exams started and/or fighting time to balance with school homework and activities. Will see how long will Charlotte last.

Actually, I prefer gymnastic instead of ballet...but I don't know of any gymnastic school here in Penang. Anyone care to share?

KABOOST

As I was browsing the web lately, I found this very interesting yet useful tool to add to my already-more-than-enough feeding accessories - KABOOST! The only reason I wanted to get was because I am trying to train Charlotte to sit and eat at the dining table with us instead of having to set the feeding table aside just for her. It was my mistake not training her since young to sit on a high chair during meal time, I was almost never successful trying to feed her while strapping her down on a high chair except at the restaurants. Now that she is able to climb onto and off a chair unassisted and not to be restrained to keep from falling I feel that I could use this tool to start a better eating habit.

Besides the creative design, the size also makes it very portable. I was thinking if at any chance a restaurant ran out of high chair or doesn't provide one, we can always bring along this and use it to raise the chair instead. I was certainly disappointed when I found that it is not available in Malaysia and I definitely not going to purchase it online as international shipping always cost double the price of the product itself. But at last I found a nearest distributor and yet I don't have to pay a cent of shipping! It is in Singapore! I quickly wrote a letter to one of my sister-in-law who works in Singapore and was coming back for CNY holiday! The timing was just never better!

I have been using it and encouraging Charlotte to take her meals with us at the dining table. So far the return of investment is very good.

A Night With Daddy, Alone

Charlotte is slightly over 39months now and her only time alone with daddy was when I had to be on business travels (twice before, a couple of weeks each time). Then also she was staying over at my parents place and our maid, Brenda was around to help out. So it wasn't really a daddy-daughter one-to-one kinda time.

Until last Wednesday, I wanted to attend a dinner event with some colleagues of mine. Although it wasn't an important event that I couldn't afford to miss, I was really trying to make effort to participate in activities with friends/colleagues once in awhile without having to rush back and get busy with baby and house chores. I had not done anything like that since Charlotte came along. Now that Charlotte is bigger and she is able to express herself better I feel more comfortable leaving her to someone trust worthy and get a little space of my own sometime. Pat was nice enough to offer the help since we do not have Brenda with us this week (Brenda is on "loan" to my SIL in KL who just had an surgery before CNY). I wasn't really comfortable with this whole arrangement not because Pat is not trust worthy but it really was the 1st time for Pat to handle Charlotte all by himself. Furthermore, Charlotte had not done her "big business" in 3 days and Pat's biggest task was to get her to "pangsai" (pass motion). Other than that, it was just normal routine like bath her after school, feed her dinner and milk before bed, brush her teeth and get her to sleep without me.

Pat picked her up from school and everything went so well. He text message me when Charlotte finally "pangsai" after feeding her dragon fruits that I prepared earlier on. I was so relief getting that message. Later on, Pat text me again letting me know that Charlotte had 3 chicken nuggets. 3 is a lot to me as she usually just barely finish 2. No more news after that...

I was home around 10.20pm, it was all silence when I opened the front door and I know Charlotte was already in bed. I didn't went wash up right away because I had to clear Charlotte's school bag and prepare for next school day. I saw milk cup, tooth brush soaked in the sink and I know daddy had done everything.

Good job, daddy!!! XOXO

年初一 (First Day of New Year)

This is how she looked look during the 1st day of Chinese New Year. I got her dressed up and made her stood in front of us (Pat and I) for the 1st time to wish us happy new year and to gain her 1st ang pow (red packet). She didn't forget to wish Simba (our golden retriever) too while waiting for daddy to setup the fire crackers.

We got an 8 feet long fire crackers the night before but we didn't light it during the eve simply because we know there is a new born baby just a few doors away from our house. It was about 10am when we were all ready to set the noise and welcome the new year officially. No fengshui or checking if it was a auspicious time to do that simply because we are Christians. It was all about fun and letting Charlotte to experience it (we didn't have it last year).

Usually we will go to MIL's house first and then only go to visit my parents but since MIL was not in town this year I get to visit my parents first :) We were just in time as my parents went to church for the new year service and they were on their way home when we arrived. I didn't take any picture then, must be too busy enjoying the mee sua my mom prepared. Same ingredients, same recipe, somehow mom's cook tastes better always.

The rest of the day was just busy eating, visiting, gathering, giving ang pow...

恭喜恭喜! 新年快乐!

Charlotte wishes everybody happy new year in Mandarin this year, she says "恭喜恭喜! 新年快乐!" and I am so proud of her that she picked up so fast in just a short 3 weeks of school (Chinese speaking). She can even sing the first verse of one very popular chinese new year song "每条大街小巷， 每个人的嘴里， 见面的一句话， 就是恭喜恭喜...". I was so surprised when my mom told me that Charlotte was able to sing together with her when she sang this song to her during the new year's eve.


I was suppose to host the reunion dinner at my house this year but MIL had to go down to KL to visit her youngest daughter who needed to go through a surgery 3 days before Chines New Year. So we had the reunion dinner at my mom's place this year. I decided to cook the 汤圆 (glutinous rice ball) since we didn't have it during 冬至 (the winter solstice celebration). Charlotte helped me with the 汤圆 and it made me I realized how much she has grown. I was hesitated to let her participate because I was worried about the mess that I will have to clean up after that but I was wrong. She did a great job, all the 汤圆 were nicely done, round and almost perfect, no mess and she helped from the beginning till the end (I was expecting a quit like 5min after).

We then got ourselves ready and headed to my parents house. Charlotte is able to join and have a lot of fun playing with her cousins this year and I managed to enjoy the reunion dinner (and also the following few days events) very comfortably time round.

We took out some fire crackers and fire works after the reunion dinner. My 3 nephews and Charlotte were all excited as Pat getting the fun going. They were not allowed to light the fire crackers/works but only watched from a distance and that too brought a lot of laughter and noises to welcome the 牛 year.

The kids also enjoyed the "bak kua" and I think they made a pretty good advertisement for the Kiew Brothers bbq meat...

It's a practise that my mom will give us the dried "longan" and red dates every year and she always says (in hokkien) "给你红枣, 望你年年好;给你龙眼，望你有好末境" (sorry, don't really know how to translate) before we went home. We were told to cook the desert (tong shui) with it and serve on the first day of Chinese New Year.

Bedtime Prayer

I started Charlotte on bed time prayer since she started half day school. At the very beginning, she just listened to what I say and she said "Amen" together with me. It wasn't very regular initially as sometimes she refused to say a prayer before bed but I am very happy that today she even reminded when I pretended to forget. She also started to say her own prayer about 1 month back. She has her own story that she wants to tell Jesus, a few special people that she wants to ask to be blessed, and she also remembers those who are not feeling well. Although I don't quite understand what she's trying to say sometimes, I know God loves to hear the little one's prayer and He knows best.

Charlotte also found a new bedtime prayer song from a CD that I have in my car. She will ask me to sing to her and the song goes like this...

Now I lay me down to sleep

I pray dear Lord that you will keep

Your eyes upon this sleeping world

Every little boy and girl

Bless the children far away

The ones who don't know how to pray

Those who are not feeling well

The little one who slipped and fell

Bless the puppy down the street

The neighbours I have yet to meet

Bless my mom and dad especially

Just one more thing I like to say

Before I close another day

I'd like to thank you Lord for all the ways

That you bless me

Recently, she wants to be the first one to say the bedtime prayer and she wants me to say mine (out loud) when she is done. So I did and I thought it is not a big deal to say it out loud and share it with my daughter. Last week, we did the same thing and when I was done Charlotte said "now it's daddy's turn!". I could tell that Pat was all blushed. I told Charlotte to teach her daddy and she was so happy that finally she can be the teacher! She asked her daddy to sit up straight and then she started her prayer and her daddy followed after each sentence. So this is what we've been doing, every night since then.

I think children can be a very good example sometimes!

No Sweat

This week is the official week Charlotte starts full day school. She is having 3 meals a day in the school and she is going to nap in the school. Besides the mandarin speaking environment, meals remain my main concern. I did a lot of preparation with Charlotte, I showed her her sleeping bag/set, I told her that she has to eat her food otherwise she will be hungry and most importantly I told her I'm going to be there when school ends.

It's been a week, a no sweat week. Every morning, I send a happy girl to school and every evening I see an excited girl running out from the class, couldn't wait to tell me what happened in school. Her class teachers everyday give me a very good progress update and that not only relieves me but also confirm that we made the right decision by sending her to this school.

The first thing she told me when I went to pick her up yesterday was "see my hair! my teacher tie for me!".

She eats well, she naps, and she adapts well to the new environment. I am very surprised to hear when her class teacher told me about 70% of the time Charlotte understands the conversation they had in the classroom. So I did a small test on her yesterday evening...

After playing bubbles

Me: Charlotte, 洗手 (wash hand) then want to eat dinner already

Charlotte: OK (went straight to the washroom)

Me: Hey, you know what is 洗手?

Charlotte: Yes, wash hand!

During dinner

Me: Charlotte, you want mommy feed you or 你自己吃 (self feed)

Charlotte: (patting on her chest)

Me: 你自己吃?

Charlotte: Yes

I think she's got it (some of it), she even said "saya makan", "saya minum" :)

Today is the last day of the week and as usual she was all happy when I went fetch her. I started by walking her to and back from school during the first week (half day) and I brought along an umbrella because it was very hot at 12pm. Now, school finish at 5pm and she still wants me to bring her princess umbrella even though the sun already set.

All children changed into sport attire after lunch and I think she looks so cute in it :) I'm just so proud of how she adapts to the new school, new arrangement. She is a big girl now.

Invited To Be The Flower Girl Again

Last Saturday we attended one of Pat's friend's wedding and Charlotte was invited to be the flower girl to arsh the newly wed couple during the reception dinner. Charlotte was very happy knowing that she is going to be the flower again. She was the flower girl for her uncle's wedding last year and back then she was only 28 months.

She did a lot more better this time as her coordination is better now. She could walk and throw the flower at the same time (last year, she walked but forgot to throw the flower petals. When she threw the petals she stood there and forgot to walk. It was quite hilarious)

Some pictures to share...

Getting ready...

Picture with the bride and another flower girl (7 years old)

Almost time...

And go!

Daddy was assigned to get her started when the door is opened and I stood in front to let her know where to walk to. Overall, it was done very gracefully!

三代同堂 (3 Generations All Together)

I mentioned that Pat's family was having a big reunion last Christmas as one of his sisters, Veronica and family were back from Australia. It was my first time meeting them although we met her elder son Brendan early last year.

I come from a small family and I always overwhelmed with the number of people in Pat's family. Even until today, I feel suffocated and kinda uneasy sometimes when everyone is back, like in Christmas and CNY. When I first met Pat, I thought I would never figured out who is who in his family.

The whole family of >30 people gathered at a photo studio on 26th Dec for a big family photo session. It was a BIG group and the studio even warned us that they can't fit so many people in the studio but will take their hall (studio lobby) for the family photo. Each individual family also took the opportunity to take the family photo of their own too. We gathered at the studio at 4.30pm and only finished at 7.30pm (I think) before we all adjourned to a restaurant for dinner!

Last week I got a call from the photo studio that all the photos are finally ready! I drover to the studio and collected all of it. All pictures turned out very well but the big family photo we developed for MIL is really big and couldn't fit into my car. Luckily I drove my Jazz and I told the studio guy to fold down the back seats so that the big frame can fit inside and it did. Phew!

I believe each family was busy putting up the family photos last weekend (at least we were). We took our family photo last year with the same photo studio but I did not develop or enlarge of any the picture until now. Luckily they still keep the soft copy and we enlarged this one to put in our living hall.

We don't get soft copies from the studio as usual and I "reproduced" the pictures with my lousy digital camera just to share it on this post but they are not as clear as the originals.

The Big Family

With Parents-In-Law

Pat decided we should take one more round of family shot of our own and Charlotte was in very good mood. The pictures turned out to be very natural and we made it into a 3-in-1 frame and put it up on the wall at the dining area last week.

This year, the pictures are the new year decoration for our house and we are ready for Chinese New Year!

How Do You Pronounce "L" & "Y"?

I heard people say little kids have problem in pronouncing "s" for words such as "star", "school", and "snake" and Charlotte did that too earlier but I hardly came across mispronounce of "L". Charlotte says word with "L" as it is in "Y", such as, she says "look" as "yook", "yellow" as "ye-yow", "louder" as "yao-der" and "low" as "yeo"...

I didn't think it is necessary to correct her because just like "s", they will outgrown the speech phase as the time comes but it has been annoying hearing that, specially now that she is old enough to understand better. So I decided to correct her.

I spent a nice evening with her yesterday out at the front porch, she was happily cycling around as we chit chat. Then I caught her repeat the "L" and "Y" thingy when she said "Mommy, yook at me! Mommy, yook!". There I started with the correction and showed her the correct way to pronounce "L" by lifting the tongue a little. She followed and the word came out a little better than before but she also thought that it was funny throughout the process. I wonder if she learnt seriously or she thought it was a funny game.

I wonder if there is a better way to correct this?

What My 3 Year Old Said Lately

No 1:
We were very busy doing Christmas shopping and in the end we bought a lot of presents and clothes...
Me: See, so many presents! That's for Christmas!
Charlotte: I cannot believe it!

No 2:
Once I was away for a short moment while we were at a department store. When I came back, Charlotte ran towards me and gave me a big hug and said: I missed you so much mommy!

No 3:
Charlotte: Mommy, I want snow!
Me: Sorry dear, mommy cannot make snow, just like mommy cannot make rainbows.
Charlotte: I can ask Santa Clause.
Me: Huh? Why Santa?
Charlotte: Because Santa Clause house got snow ma! I ask him to take me to his house loh!

No 4:
Charlotte: Mommy, I want to kiss you.
Me: OK, come, come (she came forward and I gave her a quick "muak" on her lips)
Charlotte: No, not like this. I want long long one! Like the Beauty and the Beast...
Me: *faint*

No 5:
Once she was happily playing a balloon in the car with Auntie Brenda. As they were beating the balloon back to each other, the balloon once landed on her head.
Charlotte: Ouch! Say sorry, auntie!
Brenda: Sorry!
Me: No la, ask the balloon to say sorry to you, it hits you ma!
Charlotte: No, cannot. My balloon no mouth one!

No 6.
Charlotte: Mommy, mommy, I want to watch the Mermaid movie
Me: Ok, later I play it for you ya
Later on I forgot what she wanted and I showed her Toy Story and she said yes. So I played. But in the evening, suddenly she remembered...
Charlotte: Mommy, I want the Mermaid movie
Me: Oh, ok
Charlotte: Why you play the Woody? You forgot!
Me: Yeah, I forgot. Sorry.
Charlotte: Next time I tell you, you remember huh? Understand or not?
Me: *lost of words*

No 7.
Pat is a night person. If he comes home early from work, he will have more agenda for the night, such as supper, movie time, or going out to mall. Now that Charlotte has started school, we set her bed time around 9.30pm. There isn't much we can do during weeknights. This is what happened last night, daddy has plan to go out for supper with mommy
Daddy: Charlotte, you want to sleep with Auntie Brenda tonight?
Charlotte: No!
Daddy: Why not?
Charlotte: Hmm, because I want to sleep with you
Daddy: (heart melted) oh, ok loh!

Naomi

Naomi is 2 years younger than Charlotte, she is Pat's best friend's daughter. Charlotte and Naomi met up a few times before and Charlotte will never stop asking for "mei mei" after we said goodbye.

Last week, Naomi's mommy delivered a baby boy at LWE and we took Charlotte along to visit the new baby. Naomi was there too when we arrived. She was ever energetic and playful, and I was trying to take a good picture of Naomi and Charlotte together but failed.

As I looked through the pictures, I made up something and it seems like a story of what Naomi and Charlotte were up to when I was trying to snap those pictures.

Isn't she cute?