End of 2nd Semester

Today is the last day of second semester and Ryan will be moving on to third semester beginning next week, September 2007. Looking back, Ryan had been attending kindergarten for 6 months now and he had definitely learnt so much and his knowledge is improving by leaps and bounds daily. This is the progress report I received from Che-che Ann recently :

"His motor skills are still poor but we're still persisting with it. His concentration span is short and before, he used to cry, make a fuss about work. Now, he's getting better. His memory for words and alphabets are also improving. Slowly but surely making progress".

I guess for Ryan, transforming a 'playster' to a studious person will definitely be a challenge as he's so playful at this stage and getting him to sit down to do 'work' will put our patience to test.

But anyhow, I'm quite proud of tis lil boy of mine as I'm impressed that he can read! He has no problem reading words like 'look, Mummy, Daddy, I, like, is, here, no........' from his Vital Years reading series and when I use the Peter and Jane reading books, he can actually recognise those words that he had learned in school - so, it's not memorising words on pages in his workbook but rather learning the words themselves. I quite like this style of teaching as compared to other kindies. Apparently, SmartReader's students were taught to memorise words from their workbooks and when they were given other story books, they couldn't read! (even like after 1.5/2 years in that particular kindie)....scary....

Ok...gotta ciaw....will be waking up very early tomorrow morning for morning church prayer and later, Merdeka prayer walk!

Happy 50th Merdeka to Malaysia!

Wow.. seems like no posts for a while eh? :)

Well, we've been rather busy and my 'sub-con blog poster' seems to be away from duties as well.
Just a short update on happenings I guess.
We are taking part in our church's 21 day fast and prayer campaign - so blog updates is not really a priority area at the moment :)
The house is coming along well, and we expect that it should be done within the next 2 weeks. However, we probably will not have 100% of the stuff inside ready, so we'll need to work out when we plan to move in.
Of course, I can't wait - but that's mainly due to the fact that I want to 'get it done!' ASAP. Running around every weekend and even at times weekdays scouting for stuff, monitoring the progress of the renovations, etc, is REALLY tiring.
I can't wait for the time when I can just lie back on my sofa and say - ok, it's done :)

God bless

PS. Here's Jaden closing the door for me this morning before I went to work.



PPS. Seems Krystal has just posted something while I am editing the spacing of my text, which seems to always go wrong when I post.

It has been a while...

...since mama blogged. Aiyo, weekends are so busy and now with the 21-Day Fast and Prayer (13 Aug - 2 Sept), papa and mama are so exhausted by day-end. Papa had been consistently waking up and reaching church by 5.30am and Ryan and mama only started joining this week since it's Ryan's school holiday. Have to say that God's presence is so strong every day that it always leave me in tears and awe!

Anyway, below are some backdated pix taken with Jaden on Bumwear cloth diapers. The cloth print is so pretty that it is simply irresistable! Have to add that it's very soft for the skin and also very absorbent indeed!

We also went to a Thai restaurant last week to celebrate Tai Yee (mama's sister) farewell. Tai Yee will be going to Australia for 9 months to complete her fully-funded research and sub-specialisation in endocrinology.

Tai Yee, we will miss you definitely! *sob sob*

Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)

When I was just a little boy
I asked my father what will I be
Will I be a pilot
Will I be a F1 driver
Here's what he said to me

Que sera sera
Whatever will be will be
The future's not ours to see
Que sera sera

Blog Rating

What??!! My blog is PG rated? How can...Nicole's blog was rated G and she writes about naked men and me....only talks about my two boys. Hmm....something wrong with the rating formula :p

Global Footprints

Got the link from Nicole's blog.

Mama's footprints:

My Visited Countries

Get your own Visited Countries Map from Travel Blog

As for Ryan, he had been to China (while in mama's womb), Thailand and Japan.

My Visited Countries

And lastly, Jaden - a bit pathetic. Only been to Japan (while in mama's womb) :p

My Visited Countries

Busy busy weekend!

Activities were lined up for the weekend even before Saturday arrived. I always find that weekend passes by so quickly that if you don't plan ahead, nothing gets done at the end of the day.

Saturday morning, papa and mama went separate ways to fulfil our duties for the day. Mama went to market to stock up on fresh vegetables/fruits and meat/fish for the week while papa took Ryan and Jaden to the hospital for their vaccination. Jaden was 2 weeks late for his final(3rd) pneumococcal vaccine while Ryan also took the same jab (only need 1 jab after 2 years old).

At the hospital, Ryan and Jaden apparently had a well of a time, making friends with all around them, especially Ryan. He was seen sitting on an auntie's lap at one time and munching away on chocolate and snacks given by yet another auntie later. Sigh...this super-friendly-son of ours is so adorable but quite dangerous in a sense that he could be kidnapped by a stranger or something :(

Generally, the boys' physical development are on track:

Jaden

Height: 80cm Weight: 10kg

Ryan

Height: 105cm Weight: 15.6kg

After mama came home, the salesman from Roboclean came to demonstrate his product. It seems like a good product, suppose to clean/sanitise the air (like an air purifier) and the best part is that it can clean the mattress and sucks up all the dust mites, the droppings, etc etc.... Papa has sensitive nose, so the product would be good for him, as well as other asthma and ezcema sufferers. There are many other advantages but these 2 stand out the most. It's quite expensive though, so we may only consider after we have moved.

Later in the afternoon, we went to a furniture mall at Old Klang Road. They had quite an impressive collection and at one children's bed shop, we were quite tempted to buy 2 'mini cooper car' beds for Ryan and Jaden. Ryan particularly like the steering wheel at the end of the bed frame....hmm....see how our budget goes :p

At night, papa went to church alone.

On Sunday, papa woke up early to play golf. We waited for him to come back to meet the curtain measure man from Macy at the new house. The poor chap must be circling around the neighbourhood for quite a while as he called mama around 12.30pm and again at 1.30pm to check if he could come earlier. Anyway, the measurements were done swiftly in less than an hour and now, it's papa and mama's job to move our butts to their store at Ikano to choose materials and discuss about cost.

We went home to pick up Jaden before we went to our next destination - Mid Valley Modern Home Living & Property Fair. We reckoned that Jaden would feel sad if we leave him at home all the time, so had to bring him along to the fair lo. We didn't decide on any piece while we were there, but rather took the time to scout around to look for furnitures and fittings that we like.

At day/night end, we were so tired that we slept like a log!

The Boys' Chinese Names

We were at popo/gong-gong's house yesterday to celebrate Ryan's birthday and mama took the opportunity to ask popo how to write the boys' names in chinese. Mama had asked many times before but the paper always seemed to get lost, so this time round, mama will post as a blog to make sure the names are kept somewhere.

The top name is that of Ryan Yuen Zhen-Lin with the word 'Zhen' meaning 'politics' or 'political affairs' and 'Lin' meaning 'continuous heavy rain' or 'aplenty'.

The bottom name is that of Jaden Yuen Zhen Han and the word 'Han' means 'writing' or 'scholar'.

So in essence, Ryan's chinese name means abundant health, wealth and water to flow in his life while Jaden's chinese name means scholarly or studious person.

Below pix taken back in condo with his presents:

Happy 3rd Birthday Ryan!

Today Ryan is officially 3 years old. He has indeed grown up to be such a wonderful and energetic boy, bringing so much love and joy to the family. The things he can do to make us happy or drive-us-up-the-wall, be it good or bad are countless. He can be mischievous at one time and angelic the other. Like what Pastor Daniel mentioned during Vincent's son (Jovin's) birthday party last Sunday, Ryan is also our little guardian in the house, reminding us to give thanks for our food during mealtimes whenever we forget to do so, or when he did not hear us say the prayer aloud.

Ryan, you're such a darling and we love you so much!!!

Happy Birthday!!!





Below pix taken at Hartamas shopping complex recently:

Ryan's 3rd Birthday - Early Celebration in school

Invaders in Pangkor Island resort room

Over the weekend, papa had an ISACA Board meeting at Pangkor Island...so mama and the 2 boys also tagged along. We stayed at Pangkor Island Beach Resort for 3D2N. The deal was not bad considering that we travelled in a big group of 30+ including children. Children below 6 are FOC. But I'm sure papa had something to say about the BBQ seafood dinner on Saturday. The seafood BBQ only had fish and prawn and many other misc. - what a ripoff...haha!

The journey from KL to Lumut jetty was a pleasant one even though we nearly missed the ferry at 3.45pm 'cos we took quite a while to look for an 'open' restaurant at Sitiawan at 2+pm. (Obviously the Sitiawan people also practice siesta time, like the Greeks...aiseh).

Friday was rather uneventful (as compared to Saturday, which I will elaborate in a while). We reached the resort around 4.30pm and papa was actually quite tired from the driving. Ryan, the super-duracell boy, insisted that papa bring him to the pool immediately...and papa had to negotiate with him - that the sun is too hot lah, tired lah, etc... but Ryan finally got his way at around 5.30pm.

Saturday was jammed pack with meetings for papa, so mama had to entertain the kids. After breakfast, mama brought Ryan and Jaden to the pool. We swimmed for quite a while until 11am. To kill time, I also brought the kids to the Kid's Club. There weren't many activities there, except for T-shirt painting at that time, and Ryan and Jaden were much too young for that, so we left after a while, to have a short rest in the room, before joining papa and the gang for lunch at 12.30pm. As we walked back to the room, we were fascinated by some monkeys hanging around the balconies and roof top and as I was watching, I noticed a familiar packet being held by one of the monkeys. I panicked and ran back to the room. When I opened the door, I saw 2 monkeys in the room, scavenging our belongings, in particular foodstuff. I panicked again when I saw milk powder on the floor!! SH**! That is so important for my 2 boys! HOW HOW!

I calmed down, called house-keeping to send cleaners over to clean up the room and later, headed to the receptionist to ask for help. They told me I can either go to Pangkor town to get the milk or his staff can try to buy the milk for me from Lumut. With the latter, I'll have to wait for the next ferry to arrive, which was 2.45pm. I thought of waiting since the kids will be having their lunch soon and wouldn't be asking for their milk. Also they charge exorbitant fees for the return taxi to Pangkor town - RM30, which is like the cost of my milk!

I also found that there was an untouched milk powder for 1 feeding (8oz) in the plastic milk container (phew!). After lunch, the kids were tired and wanted to sleep. And they will always look for their nen-nen. We gave Ryan 4oz first - not enough, the boy asked for more - 2 more oz - not enough, Ryan cried for more again - another 2 oz and milk all gone. Jaden how???????? Solution : breast is best!!!!!!!! (Thank goodness I have not stop BF :p) After a short while, both boys were in zzzzzzzzz land. The milk finally arrived at around 4.45pm, as they missed the earlier ferry (tension only!)

Lesson learnt: MUST MUST remember to bang and lock the balcony door real hard. We actually closed the door but maybe didn't lock the door properly.

(We observed later that the monkeys actually climb from one balcony to the other and check/open the doors - real smart fella's ya - darn)

Hannah's Party and Trip to Ipoh

Ryan attended Hannah's 3rd birthday party at KidzSport (1 Utama) last Saturday, 07/07/07. Being such a 'special' day, many parents took the opportunity to celebrate their kids' birthday as there was also another concurrent party that took place.

Ryan sure had FUN FUN FUN!!!! And when it was time to go, the lil' man sure needed some enticement. I had to tell him that papa and mama will bring him to the swimming pool in Ipoh later. Yes, we had to travel down to Ipoh for 'tai pak gong's' birthday.

Ryan loves slides but he was actualy afraid to go on the giant slide alone. So, the poor mama had to go down the slide with him. And imagine this clumsy mama, wearing a super smooth pants (with no friction) going down the slide.... *bong*... landed at the bottom... how embarassing... thank goodness my legs didn't flip upwards *wink* SO no second time for Ryan, who kept pestering me.

Other entertainments during the party include face painting, tattoo printing and sand art.

The highlight of the party was the party pack that was distributed to each chilid. It was actually a party BAG, full of goodies (for Ryan) but junk (as mama see it :p). The spiderman bag has about 20 items in it - mostly junk food, biscuits, drink, a bottle of bubbles, sticker and stationery set.

Ryan's Little Transitions

As Ryan approaches 3 in 3 weeks time, mama would like to do some blogging on his transitions from the Terrible Two stage:

1. He can now actually sit through a meal, eating peacefully (thus giving papa & mama time to finish our meals too), unlike previously, when he had to run about all the time during lunch/dinner. Just like last week, during dinner at Souled Out, we happened to sit next to a couple with a young boy, who refused to sit quietly on his highchair. The mother pointed to Ryan and told his boy...see koko, so good boy, sit down and eat his dinner....I was secretly thinking...Hah! Ryan was like your boy too, last time...

2. He can now sleep much earlier, by 10 - 10.30pm, thanks to his normal kindie routine, which requires him to sleep early and wake up early. Previously, he like to sleep at 11.30 - 12am, which really frustrate us 'cos we don't get to do our own things...

3. He can now pee-pee and poo-poo by himself. He even told kakak...kakak, you go outside first, smelly, I ngm-ngm first...Previously, he refused to shit in the toilet but insisted to do his business in the diapers.

4. He can take shower/wash hair without much fuss. Previously, a little water down his face will send the lil' rascal crying like there's no-end.

5. He is more independent now, in terms of the things that he does. He insists that he feeds himself at times (even tho' mama really detests messiness :p). We can also leave him to swim/float by himself.

6. What really brings a smile to our faces is that he can alleviate a tensed situation. Just like the other day, papa and mama were having some disagreements over renovation works. Ryan, who was sitting with us, supposedly heard our conversation and said 'Papa/mama don't be angry' in the midst of our conversation and we were stunned for a while.

7. At times when we were down, especially when mama is moody, Ryan will ask 'Mama, why you angry?' I will explain the reasons and he'll try to cheer me up. Like on Monday, I came home from work and he told me that he broke a toy. I was tired and saw some broken wheels. I was furious that the maids left those broken pieces lying around, especially when it could be choking hazards to Jaden. Ryan sensed that I was angry and he tried to make me happy. He followed an action on TV and repeated 'You are so cool' with his lil' arms stretching outwards. It tickled my heart and made me laugh. Until today, whenever I'm angry, he'll do the same actions to make me happy....'Mama, you happy?' 'Yes..... I love you'

Decisions Decisions...

We have been scouting around for new furnitures lately but we still have not decided on any yet. We'll let the boys decide :p

In the pics below, Jaden seemed to like the coffee table at Lorenzo. It looks slick, sturdy and rounded - definitely a plus point when you have children around. Ryan, on the other hand, seemed comfortable reading his truck book on a lazy chair at Rozel. Pa...should we let the children decide?? hmm.... :D

We also checked the home furnishing at Ikea. Ryan definitely had a good time there.

Jaden's Comprehension of Words

I read an article yesterday saying that it is possible for babies/toddlers to read words even before they can recognise alphabets or numbers. This rapid development of the brain happens from birth till 2 years of age and all parents should seize this window of opportunity to communicate and read regularly to their children. Hmm...the more I read the article, the more guilty I become. Excuses like 'where got time lah...lazy lah....full-time working mum lah...' crop up. But it was interesting to note that during his research and video presentation, infants/toddlers were able to point to different parts of their body after reading cards (e.g. nose, ears) flashed before them.

Yet other researchers were saying that babies could sign language even before they could talk. I do not doubt a baby's ability but all these cost money and more importantly, TIME. Would you go the extra mile to give your child a headstart in life? All these programs claim to increase IQ lah, read better lah, blablabla.....

Hmm...Jaden has been allowed to progress at his own speed and I was thrilled that he can understand simple instructions such as:

1) 'Jaden comb your hair' and Jaden will use his fingers to comb the hair

2) 'Jaden wipe your mouth' and Jaden will reach for a wash cloth, hanging on the chair, to wipe his mouth

3) 'Jaden clap your hands' and Jaden will put his hands together

4) 'Jaden brush your teeth' and Jaden will hold an imaginary toothbrush to brush his teeth

5) 'Jaden say bye-bye' and he'll sob.... :p

Home Reno

Well, we've finally started our home renovation - last Saturday.

It was a VERY long process, but thankfully, work has begun. Special thanks to 9 Uncle for all the assistance.

Contractor has told us that he can get it done in 2 months, but I have given him a 2 and 1/2 for safety (although I'm not telling him that lah!). More of our own buffer. But that should give us enough time to move in by Mid Sept.

It'll be exciting, and wonderfully, our new home somehow coincides with the development of the DUMC Dream Center!! The Dream Center was supposed to be ready around May - and we were supposed to move in around May. HAHAHA... now the church is expecting that our first worship celebration can take place in Week 1 Sept. And we should be moving house not long after that.

An update on the work-in-progress, our contractor is pretty quick. He has hacked down all the bathrooms, the dry kitchen and has also opened up the windows when I went there today.

Here are some pics I took this morning while on the way to work. (notice the upstairs windows have all been hacked out - we are enlarging them)

Jaden after bath

I've to admit that I was looking for photos for my scrap and some older photos of Jaden are just too cute :p

Ryan has grown up!

We had dinner at Mid Valley on Sunday and after dinner, we went for 'furniture and fittings' window shopping. Our new house renovation work has just started and we're looking to move in by September 2007. So, we really have to start looking for new furnitures, else we'll end up sleeping on the floor!

Ryan, as usual, was running about and trying out the new sofa sets. Jaden, on the other hand, refused to be carried and insisted to walk. Wherever he walked, he called 'Pa' loudly, as though the whole shop belonged to him...aiyo...

By the time we finished window shopping, it was quite late. It was time for 'nen nen'/milk for both boys. Ryan sat in the pram while the maid carried Jaden. Papa had to go and pay for parking ticket. So when we reached the car, I carried Ryan. During the car journey, Jaden cried and cried dunno-for-what-reason. Maybe jealous that I'm carrying koko. But anyhow, I reasoned with Ryan and asked him whether it was ok for mama to carry dee-dee 'cos dee-dee was crying and needed mama. To my surprise, he willingly went behind to the maid with his milk bottle in the mouth. He's a big koko already and a good boy indeed! :)

The two boys were fast asleep when we reached home. LOL!

Scrappy Mama

I've always love scrapbooks and have gone to the extend of making and paying RM95 for Ryan's first scrap photobook back in 2005. Now that digital scrapbook software is so freely available, hmm... I'll think twice before going back to pixart again :p However, I have to say that I was pretty impressed with pixart then for coming out with such product - high-quality paper and book binding.

I've tried my hand in making my first digital scrap and....

Happenings...

Jaden had his chicken pox jab last Thursday and it hurts my heart to see the lil boy crying out in pain when the super-long needle entered his left thigh. But thankfully, Jaden returned to his normal self after a short while...phew! And maybe because of the pox virus in his body, the lil fella gained extra energy and courage to take his first independent steps! Jaden is slower than Ryan in terms of walking but I'm not particularly concerned as walking earlier also means more bumps in the head and occasional blood from the lips, as what happened to Ryan :(

Jaden before his jab

Jaden's weight is more on track now (9.5kg) and height (78.5cm). Maybe the vitamins helped to increase his appetite but not sure. Aunty Meli said his appetite is still the same. In fact, his appetite was so bad yesterday that he ate very little (also because he's having flu at the moment). He refused to take the apple cereal in the morning (something that he really liked normally), macaroni cheese in the afternoon (just a few spoonfull) and chicken soup noodle at night. However, he loved the Japanese yoghurt I made for him.

Ryan, on the other hand, is such a joy to feed. He opens his mouth big-big whenever I feed him during our outings. He loves noodles (especially Hokkien mee) and fried rice and of course, nuggets and fries (but papa and mama don't bring him often to McD or BK). Although he eats a lot, he will never be a 'fat boy' cos he's ever so energetic. We have to actually bring him to an open space (shopping complex or playground) regularly to let the Action Boy run about so that he can release his 'energy'.

Ryan has also learned to be friends with clowns. During koko Ryan Yap's 5th birthday, Ryan Yuen was initially terrified of the clown when the clown arrived at the house but slowly he became friends with Uncle Clown and participated in the games.