Losing baby teeth

Kieran is starting to lose his baby teeth. The first one took a real long time to come off and then suddenly his lower teeth all start to shake. The crazy thing is, the start to shake dangerously overnight!

for the record:

21 Jan 2013 -  bottom center
28 Mar 2013 - bottom center
11  April 2013 - bottom,  left
12 April 2013 - bottom, right

10.5 weeks of school flew by just like that!

Yup, we've survived finished ONE term of school! Yay!! That was 10 and a half weeks (yes, school started half a week earlier) and boy are we glad the holidays are here!

Other than complaining (a lot) about having less TV and play time, I must say that Kieran has done pretty well in this term. He even made it through 3 weeks of assessment tasks in the final 3 weeks of school.

Even though he has much less time on weekdays, we've been spending more time as a family in our weekly Saturday morning cycling at ECP. Both boys are cycling very well now. We can now cycle for about an hour from the hawker center to the Safra resort and back.

Kiefer is also doing very well in his Chinese class. We have been so busy with Kieran in primary school that we simply ferry Kiefer to and from his class every week. We do not go through his work throughout the week (his bag stays closed until the next Chinese class) and to our surprise, he managed to score a 59/60 for his final review. This little one really surprises us all the time.

We are almost halfway into our one-week break. We'll probably head out somewhere for a couple of days and then back to our schooling routine next week, :( .

Kieferisms again

25 Jan 2013
Kieran saw us browsing airfares online and asked if we are going anywhere. So we said "mummy and daddy are going. if you guys are good, maybe." So he went to Kiefer (who was showering and told him about it (Mummy and daddy going on holiday). After he came out, we heard Kiefer shouting from the bathroom " Kieran! Kieran! I need to talk to you! Are they going without us?!!" :P

and no, we are not going anywhere. browsing airfare is just one of hubby's favourite past time.

27 Jan 2013
Next time my wife will put on sunblock for me.
Me: next time you put on sunblock for your wife! Like how daddy does it for mummy.
*thinks for a bit* then he says:
Ok, I'll put it for my wife and my wife puts it on my sons.
Me: will you have daughters?
K: no. Err.. I think yes! 

28 Jan 2013
The context: Both of them were still chatting and Kieran still fiddling with Legos when they were supposed to be sleeping.
Me: Should I get Daddy in here? You are scared of daddy but not me right? Are you scared of Mummy?
Kiefer: Nope. Only daddy. *gives that cheeky face*
Mummy: Not scared of mummy? why?
Kiefer: cos you are thin!
Me: and daddy?
Kiefer: Daddy is f... erm.. strong!
Me: you were going to say fat right?!
Kiefer: no! daddy is strong!
Me: but thin and strong are not opposite terms!
*changed subject when Ah ma walked in*
Kiefer: I'm fat fat! *lifts his tshirt*
Ah Ma: You where got fat?!
Me: yes kieps! you are skinny bom bom
Kiefer: no! gege's skinny bom bom and I'm a rascal!

Glad he knows he's rascally!

31 Jan 2013
on bedtime rules:
Why do adults sleep later?
Cos adults are less tired so they sleep later?
When I'm a adult I'll also be less tired?

Kieran's first weeks in primary school

Just wanted to record some of the more memorable incidents about Kieran's first 3 weeks in school. Hopefully, I'll scrapbook some of these so that when he looks back when he grows older, he'll too, laugh at these little things that he does.

Kieferisms

I started this term "Kieferism" for all the funny things that Kiefer says. This little fella does say a lot of funny logic. And he usually does it with such a straight, matter-of-fact face that you'll want to break out laughing! He also gets the joke after a while and laughs along. That's my funny boy!

The term "Kieferism" started with this conversation (29 Nov) I had with him. But of cos, he already had loads of funny sayings before that.

29 Nov 2012 (This was by far the funniest. Until the one I heard today. Scroll down to read that.)

On winding the car window down to let a fly out.
K: why did u let the fly out?
M: so that it will not irritate us right?
K: u let it out so that it can irritate other people?

18 Nov 2012
Kiefer: I made the rain stop.
Daddy: what do you mean you made the rain stop?
Kiefer: I sang the song and the rain stopped. I'm good at making the rain stop.

The I realised, the sudden downpour really stopped and he really was singing "rain, rain, go away" at the window and the rained stopped just as he finished singing!

17 December 2012
Upon seeing us drink coffee.
Why are you drinking coffee? Huh? Huh? *with an exaggerated, exasperated look on his face and wild gesturing*
Only gong gong and ah ma drink coffee.
(Trying to say that we are too young to drink cos we hardly drink coffee but he sees his gong gong and ah ma drink it every morning. )

27 December 2012 (This one is a mix of Kieferism and Kieran's generosity.)
I was on the computer when I got a light tapping on my chair (he usually just squeezes himself onto my lap when I'm on the computer!)
Kiefer: *points to his daddy's table behind me*
The rest of the conversation continued in whispers.
Me: uh-oh, did you break gege's Ninjago
Kiefer: can you fix it? can you fix it please?
Me: are you scared that gege is going to scold you again? (cos he always breaks what Kieran builds and Kieran complains that it is "wasting a lot of his energy".)
Kiefer: yes. can you build it pls?
Me: you go tell gege yourself and say sorry and ask gege to build it again.
Kiefer: you do it for me.

end of story: Kieran found out while we were whispering and true enough, started yelling at his brother. But then again, after I told him how scared his brother is (of breaking his Ninjago) he actually felt guilty for yelling at Kiefer and asked Kiefer to bring it over for him to rebuild. :)

31 December 2012 (2nd time breaking Kieran's toys)
On broken Kre-Os (Kre-Os break quite easily):
Kiefer: Mummy, can you fix for me?
Me: go ask gege
Kiefer: He will scold me again! He ALWAYS scolds me! (whinning)

*packed everything into a plastic container for him to bring downstairs to Kieran*

From upstairs, this is what I heard:
Kieran: Aiya, you broke it again?!!
Kiefer: Accidentally, i accidentally!
Kieran: again!
Kiefer: Accidentally!
 
14 January 2013
Kiefer: what's that sh-ume on your eye?
M: what's a sh-ume?
Kiefer: there! *takes a photo of my eye on my phone and ten points to the "sh-ume".
He was referring to my eyeliner.  

21 January 2013
Kiefer keeps making me carry him around (ie carry him off the bed, sofa etc).
M: u keep making me carry u, next time when u have children, u'll definitely have to carry them all the time.
K: I can get my wife to carry them! 

Bali (9 - 13 December 2012)

This is a back-post on our Bali trip in December.

Happy 2013!

We are still kind of settling into the swing of things. A whole new chapter of our lives has started, our usual routine is changed, as Kieran enters into his formal education years.

Girlfriend!

Teachers tell me that he looks after her all the time in school.
Seeing them together is just oh-so-sweet!! He likes her a lot and so does she! :P
Thankful that he's also found a best girl friend in school. Think he just loves having somebody to take care of!

Kieran has graduated from kindergarten!

4 years flew by just like that. I can still clearly remember the first day I dropped Kieran off at the kindy. He cried whenever he didn't see me. I'm glad that he has grown into a much more confident and mature boy over these 4 years!

Orientation at Rosyth (Kieran)

Rosyth had their Primary One Orientation really early. That's was probably a good thing to get out of the way so that we can enjoy the rest of the holidays and slowly purchase all the things we need for the new school year.

First thing we did when we got into the school was to go to the name list to have him find his name in his allocated class. He looked up and down (past his own name) and just didn't see it until I had to point it out to him! Blur!!

One of the things that I worried about would be that he'll not find food that he would eat. Luckily, the canteen does serve a very large variety of "Kieran-friendly" food! :P He knows that there's a stall that sells all sorts of chicken rice. He was pretty excited that there was Japanese curry chicken and spaghetti sold in the canteen. And, worse case? They even have nutella bread at the snack stall. We asked him to try buying something. He walked up and down and originally wanted spaghetti, but because it was orientation day (Saturday), they didn't sell that. So he settled for a hotdog instead. 

And then it was off to the multipurpose hall (?) for assembly. He was rather excited about the welcome kit that he got. I think it is pretty thoughtful too, the things that they included in the pack. I particularly like "An eraser: It's all right to make mistakes - that's how we learn." On top of these items, they were also given a small pack of animal biscuits and a bottle of drink.

That's him. First to arrive (hopefully we'll stay punctual throughout his entire school years). 

We were entertained by a concert put up by the lower primary students and I must say, the string ensemble and the wushu troupe were rather impressive. 

After the concert, we finally meet the principal and after a short speech by her, the children were sent off on their school tour. The briefing for parents then started. 

The briefing is a usual one that included housekeeping stuff and school Vision, Mission, Values. It almost felt like I'm back in one of our own parent nights. :P I must say though, I have gained more confidence and assurance after I heard the P's talk (not that I had no confidence for the school initially, but I was plagued by the crazy thoughts normal anxiety of a first-time parent.)

By the time we collected him from the classroom, he was enjoying himself, watching a DVD cartoon (or a story) with his classmates. He didn't even want to follow us. So we went round trying to see if we could get books/ uniform (which we didn't buy in the end because of the long queue) and then collected him for the second time.

So, looking forward to 2013!

Speaking Mandarin

I'm just glad that the boys are attempting to speak more mandarin at home these days. Small fry more so than the big one. They aren't fully conversational yet, but I'm really proud of the effort that they are making.

Some of the phrases they are using these days include:
妈妈是我的 女孩子（女朋友）
我要妈妈帮我穿裤子。
我爱妈妈。
 我过马路要上（举）手。

They have some random substitution of words and I think that's really fine. At least they are trying to express themselves and I think that's wonderful. 

The rest of the Melbourne trip

This is getting way too long and overdue to be posted. Enjoy the slideshow instead! These photos are the proofs from the photobook that I made of the trip. :P

This photo slideshow generated with Smilebox

For the record

Kieran
weight: 17.9kg
height: 118cm
Still lightweight I know, but I'm glad it is steadily increasing in the last couple of months.

Kiefer
weight: 16.7kg
height: 107cm
Probably heavier than Kieran was at the same age, but I think he is getting lankier. He's losing all his baby fat!

Phillip Island Activities (5-6 Sept 2012)

After Puffing Billy in the morning, we drove on towards Phillip Island. We arrived at Phillip Island at about 530pm. It was just about right as the Penguin Parade begins at about 630pm. We were told that the penguins will start coming in at about 639pm that day (cos they did that the day before). As we were entering the park as a family (and that we also intended to visit the other attractions on Phillip Island), we had a pretty good package deal price. The tickets that we got for the penguin parade got us "grandstand" seats and from where we were, we saw hundreds of penguins come in to shore that night and as they waddled towards there burrows, we could literally walk side by side with them. If we were to stretch our arms our of the boardwalk, we'll definitely be able to touch them.

Photography was not allowed. So all I had was this photo of a taxidermied penguin.

See the egg?

Yes. They were safely back in their burrows.

The next morning, we were off the the Koala Conservation Center and the Churchill Heritage Farm.
The first sight to greet us was this really old, old tree. It is supposed to be about 200 years old. Ain't it magnificent?

Love the woodland of tall eucalypt trees. Though we were in the woodland, surrounded by the eucalypt trees, I didn't smell the distinct eucalyptus oil.

 

Love how the bark peels off the trunk.

Spotted a mummy? koala with its baby. Koalas eat such an indigestible food source that they spend most of their time dozing while their body detoxifies the eucalytus leaves they ingest.

I think these are the inflorescence of the eucalypt trees.

Love, love, love this picture of the 2 of them.

After the Koala Conservation Center, we drove off to Churchill Island Heritage Farm. It is not exactly a working farm, more like an exhibit farm. We didn't stay there for long as we were trying to make the 530pm Serranto Ferry. The boys had fun there nonetheless.

It was just nice to be away from the city for a while. Really lovely to be just seeing trees, grass, sheep and cows.

The Puffing Billy (5 Sept 2012)

We landed late in Melbourne. After a late dinner (at Stalactites) and a night's rest at Rydges, we drove off the next morning towards Phillips Island. On the way, we first went by Belgrave to the Puffing Billy.

We left Melbourne CBD a little late and thus would miss the 1030am train. So we detoured a little and stopped by Pie in the Sky for a light brunch. In our opinion, erm, the pies were just ok. I found them a little too dry. Or maybe we ordered the wrong stuff. I had an Aussie meat pie while hubby chose the mushroom one. Kieran didn't like the mash potatoes either. However, it was a nice a quaint little place.

Loved these beautiful "weeds" as we walked towards the train station. 

See the little rascal's cheeky face? He was getting ready for his next stunt!

We didn't know he was climbing the rails until we saw it on the photo!! 

 

We stopped at Emerald Station and the boys played at the playground for awhile. I think they really do love the playground in cold weather. They can run all they want and yet remain nice and cool. Not smelly and sweaty like back here.

 Silly boy got himself stuck in the swing!

 After about an hour at Emerald, we were back on the train back to Belgrave and then continued our journey to Phillip Island.

Meeting up with the Daddy in Melbourne

Hubbs was in Melbourne on a study trip for a week and we thought it would be nice to fly in at the end of his trip and have a short family holiday. On Tues, the boys and I flew on the SQ A380 to Melbourne. It was a pretty "fun" 7 hour flight with the boys. I remember saying that I don't think I want to fly alone with the boys after the USA trip 3 years ago. This time, they are much older and they could pretty much entertain themselves. Only kiefer kept wanting to use the bathroom and kept wanting me to change movies for him on the flight. Between the 2 hour nap they took, the movies and the inflight meal service, we arrived in Melbourne in no time. Once we got out of the arrival hall, tge boys were so excited as they spot their daddy waiting for them. I guess their happiness was worth flying solo with them. :)

Hello Mr Chaplin!

Had an early birthday celebration for the daddy today. The cake was an Awfully Chocolate fudge cake and as usual, he was his messy self as he gobbled slice after slice of the cake. In a moment of inspiration, I decided to swipe some fudge on his lip and there he is! Mr Charlie Chaplin!

Cycling

The boys didn't have swimming class today and so we went down to East Coast Park to cycle. The original plan was to get them the four-wheel car-like vehicles but we found out that they didn't rent that anymore. So we put them on kiddy bikes with training wheels and got ourselves on a bike each too. We rode for about an hour and throughout the entire hour, there was just yelling at the boys (especially Kiefer) to keep their bikes straight and not crash into anybody!

Sty in the eye

Still as rascally even with the bothersome sty.

The sty started as just a small little reddish inflammation when we were going to HK in June. Kieran had it too but Kieran's one subsided after a week's application of an antihistamine. This little fella's didn't and it eventually developed into a full blown sty about a month ago.


The sty already looked pretty small in this picture. It actually became much larger in the last couple of days but it simply refused to pop. After a $100 instructions were given advice at an ophthalmologist clinic yesterday, the sty finally popped and partially drained out. We repeated the hot compress today and more pus came out. I think it's finally going to heal. Poor little babe.


That's him at the ophthalmic clinic getting his eye checked. On the bright side, the doctor said that he has very good eyesight. And that the sty didn't affect his vision and we could just leave it to s.l.o.w...l.y heal. She suggested using hot compress, which worked wonderfully! At least now he will look good on our photos when we are in Melbourne!

Beautiful sunbird

Saw this beautiful sunbird while I was at a nursery yesterday. I hurriedly dug my iPhone out of my bag to snap a picture of it. I daren't go too near in case it flew away. Zoomed in on the phone and thus a rather grainy picture. But it was beautiful nonetheless. The pretty yellow bird against the bright yellow flowers. Beautiful.